Naoki Yoshida's Comment in Regard to Jump Potions/Boost Potions

[aeoncs]

Well gameplay should be more important than story.

Obviously something that can potentially keep players around for months is more important to the game as a whole than a few hours of story content every three~ months. Still, this is a Final Fantasy game and if you don't care for its story and lore at all, there's a really good chance that there are better games for you.
Again, the content new players have to go through is definitely too much but that doesn't change the fact that SE is taking the easy, and obviously most lucrative, way out.