Yeah, the level design is definitely not great thus far, but the actual visuals almost make up for it. I've seen a lot of videos, but damn, it looks much better in person. The first area may be very simple design wise, but it actually feels quite large in scale. That atmosphere makes a big difference in negating the poor design.
I don't know if I'll enjoy it long term or not. It's more engaging off the bat than pretty much every other JRPG outside of Lost Odyssey, though, which isn't saying much. I kind of like the main character and Sazh, but the rest are pretty bad thus far due to the over the top cheesiness. We'll see...
I suppose it's exactly what I expected thus far, but I haven't played beyond the demo yet.