Correct.... Final Fantasy has always been fairly menu based....
However...
In an offline game you only have to worry about 1 players perspective.
You can completely pause combat
Eden or Knights of the Round can take forever and thats ok....
Menu based combat works for slower combat or combat that can be paused
But in a game like this... i don't know that it would be the best option
The current UI doesn't really work either.

The main problem (and every other problem this game has) can be attributed to the fact that the game was rushed
2 different UI's should have been made to accommodate both keyboard and mouse and also Gamepads
Instead we have one that pleases neither crowd

Keyboard and mouse users:
-tend to like hot keys
-Like doing most or all keyboard commands with their left hand so the right hand doesn't constantly have to alternate between the mouse and the keyboard
-Dont like to scroll through rows of actions yet want to see all cooldown timers

Controller users:
-Have less buttons to work with
-Don't want to have to "D-pad" through tons of abilities
-want to have all abilities be as few buttons presses away as possible
-Want no reasons to have to touch the mouse OR the keyboard

I don't know what a Keyboard and mouse user interface should be

But as far as gamepads.... (Which I use)
A cool interface idea would be 3D radials stacked so you could see them all.....
and each radial being a different category.. Magic, Abilities, Weaponskills
Weaponskills that would come next in a combo have that purple outline glow.. and conditional abilities (like War Drum, Feint or Haymaker) have a Yellow outline glow when the can be used
the radials could even encircle the character and each icon would look like a floating glyph

I don't know... just an idea...