I heard other fans on Discord talking badly about it

I am not even sure if I'll have time to finish it TBH!!! The story seems very confusing for now, I don't like much the "inner demon" and the dreamy / otherwordly scenes. I must confess what I like more so far is the RPG part, though I agree the combat has also some issues.
For example, so far enemies I encountered all attack from distance, taking advantage of your party grouped together, and in some cases they're a bit too long indeed.
Also while the explorable map is nice, I think I prefer 3d stuff like Elden Ring, exploring a 2d map is very tedious (maybe beause I'm playing on PS5 so it's even worse without a mouse).