Like with old FF games, I imagine there will be settings for speed, and I imagine the speed of the game will feel faster when you're playing it rather than watching it. Your mind will be picking out which option to go with and sometimes you don't want to be rushed on that.

I don't feel like it's soulless any more than I feel like any other FF is soulless. I'm really unsure how you define a game as having soul or not. I think KeyBash is probably right in that it's a word that anyone can throw around about any game if they just don't feel attachment to it.