It's not nightmarishly hard, but there's a lot less hand holding than in the newer FF games, and a lot more trial and error.
BTW, FFI had handholding compared to PC88/PC98 JRPGs from mid and late 80s , the most simple example of handholding is including airships for faster travels . My point is the whole point of FF experience and console RPG is more handholding compared to PC JRPGs.