The AI in most Tales games isn't much better. xD (Fond memories of Genis running up to attack enemy when he runs out of TP) And the AI in SO3 all depends on how you level it. Of course, no computer controlled character will ever be as effective as a human controlled one, but the AI is generally reliable when Attack and Defense are leveled to about 4.

In the Tales games, it's pretty much block, avoid magic (in later games) and wait for an opening to combo the living daylights out of the enemy. And maybe you'll equip certain equipment for elemental resistance. In Star Ocean 3 the combination of Fury (no button mashing), Minor and Major attacks and AAAs (you can't just constantly attack either), and sidestepping and counters to avoid attacks, give its battle system much more thought than that of any of the Tales games I've played. I'm not saying that Tales games are devoid of any strategy, because that obviously isn't true, but SO3 has proven to me that it has the most strategic battle system of any action RPG I've had the pleasure to play.

Although, I will admit I've gotten into the habit of just controlling all of the characters manually since playing on the higher difficulty levels.