Its more the battle system starts slow than the narrative. If I remember right, its like 15 hours or so before you open up everything in the battle system.
It is the battle system that is the slow part at first. If you think shit was going down in Chapter 1, just wait until later on in the game. You are in for a ride.
Here are some pointers for beginners that I think GREATLY enhances the game. I will however spoiler-tag them in case you want a full blind playthrough. None of this spoils the story, just helps you ease into the somewhat complicated battle system and pointers on lesser explained mechanics (or mechanics not explained at all) Feel free to come back to this post if you find yourself getting a little confused or forgetting a tutorial on accident.
Very important! Ignore the game telling you to go through an Auto Attack combo, move Rex after he strikes his first blow and keep moving him after each first blow. I recommend just flicking the stick since it does the trick. This greatly speeds up the flow of battle as it gets your arts loaded up QUICK. The damage is never worth it. This is an intentional mechanic in the game called Auto-Attack Canceling. I don't believe it's ever properly explained.
Always use an art after an auto attack to boost its efficiency in raising the gauge. The game tells you this but some people forget and wonder why things move slow, you should boost a level after using three arts so it takes no time at all.
The battles ARE NOT slow if you follow what I said above. In fact it makes them very engaging and a lot more fun since you're constantly moving and planning each attack.
You can always use an expendable item to transfer blades between characters. Do not worry too much about who you open it with, the game isn't that evil lol.
When you get a new affinity skill with a blade it's actually not registered until you open the menu. This gets a LOT of people. Be sure to keep browsing the affinity menu for the tasks you have to perform to unlock the skills, some of them really change the game, like the area skills, etc.
The top right is a preview of what elements you need to perform in order to do a blade combo. It's pretty easy once you learn how to read it. For example: Fire>Water>Fire (End) Water>Earth>Air (End). This helps you make the most of each battle easily and it's not complicated at all!
I HIGHLY recommend going to the sweets shop in Argentum and buying the sweets there and putting it in your pouch. Pouch items are so awesome and the sweets in Argentum refill your driver arts so with the auto attack canceling AND the flow of battle never feels like it drags on because you're constantly engaged. The great thing is you can almost always warp there!
These are just off the top of my head but seriously this stuff makes the game SO much more fun and I actually was a bit annoyed at the flow of battles until I learned about this stuff. This isn't a deep dive into the mechanics just stuff that makes your life so much better! Have fun, it's such a good game! DLC is fantastic, too!
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