Honestly, since you now understand all the mechanics, it's actually much faster the second and third time through, also all the character get unique spells and Shotlocks so it's not like your original collection is the full collection either.

I felt all three played really well, I had some issues with Terra cause he was far more defensive than I thought he would be but he is was still pretty fun even if his playstyle kind of screws him against one of the game's superbosses.