I'd reckomend giving it ago. I got abit fed up of the combat because I felt Tartarus was a bit too samey but the characters and darker story really pull you along.
If the time investment is really an issue might be worth playing P3P instead if you have a PSP or Vita, despite not having the extra FES content (but you could just watch the story bits on YouTube after) as it's abit more streamlined and its easier to pick it up and put it down around other things.