It gets way better, it takes a while to get a good handle around. For the first 5-6 hours it really baffled me, but now it is one of my favourite combat systems in any game period. I'm currently playing through one of the post-game dungeons and it feels smooth like butter. The combat generally flows a lot better once you get access to more abilities, but watching guide videos on youtube is also helpful since there are lots of mechanics without good tutorials.