Whilst I've enjoyed the game far more after the slow beginning I still find 11's pacing really off... it feels like every game in the series seems to have some pacing issues. 4 resets you every couple of hours, 5 drags at the second gen, 7 is a fucking nightmare, and I really didn't like the tutorial sections and dungeons of early 11.
The only game I've played where I was kinda comfy throughout was 9. You had your simple acts and collectables, towns rarely last more than an hour, the story never lost momentum. The only bits I remembered getting held up at was metal slime farming for skills which was more on my poor planning than the games fault
I don't know how 1 and 2 will feel. I hear they're shorter and more replayable though.