When your game world has 4 methods of increasing travel speed (faster walking upgrades, teleport bottles, ship travel, & geoboard riding) and still ends up a chore to navigate… well, that’s a serious problem. Especially considering that right before the final battle a ton of sidequests become available, and finding/completing them requires backtracking across and re-visiting everywhere you’ve been before. The Xillia cameo is also pretty painful.
Ultimately I would have to say that this game is not worth bothering with unless either:
A) You have not played Zestiria (and want to)
B) You have not watched the Zestiria Anime adaptation (and want to)
As the background here will help enhance the story and events there.