Yeah, beat I to VII and played a bit of VIII in the past and they're really not that grindy. Of course, grindier than FF, but still not as demanding as other RPGs out there
Depends on the version actually. Most of the remakes tone down the grind, but the originals were kind of guilty of it. If it wasn't XP that was in short demand then it was usually Gold. Either way, it always seemed like you were under-leveled or under-equipped.