You won't notice the auto-attack when you really get into the game. It's the arts and talent arts that are the brunt of the battle system, combined with chain attacks and foresight. I certainly had my reservations about the battle system going in as I wanted it to be more action oriented, but instead I grew to enjoy the system they had in place. Made battles a bit more than button mashing. I feel like I probably would not have enjoyed the game as much if the battles were more in the vein of Monster Hunter (which is a good game in it's own right) even though that kind of battle system would have drawn more interest from me going in.Yeah, i didn't like the feeling of how fighting is kinda automated and you just move and the character keeps attacking. Of course, I still didn't go as far as the tutorial level yet because of my limited time, but I'm planning to play it again before judging it completely. And with the awesomeness of this game, I'm hooked even if it's the same gameplay
As for X, I'm really looking forward to it because I was blown away by Xenoblade Chronicles. That game has made be go back and give older JRPGs a chance.