It sounds like a lot of work, but I think it's for the best. The intro sequence is the most important to get right, hence why it will take a lot more time to make than other parts. I get the impression this happens often with RPGs, the early bits are neatly polished to a shine, but late in the game players are already invested and will tolerate more hokeyness and jank.

The exception to that usually being projects where the developer grows as they're working on a project and don't/can't revise the early bits to catch up to that standard. then you get games where people give up before they get to the good part!

Spreading out tutorials is probably for the better too! FWIW I did think the runes tutorial was already quite good!

These tutorial changes seem significant enough to warrant playing again, the bits after that which I assume are unchanged don't need to be also tested.

These FF games all have this thing I find, where they have this big cinematic opening and a coherent plot, but as things go on things get more and more incoherent. The final bosses are usually good, but the final bits to get there often feel like a slog. Especially the dumb side content!

Speaking of stupidly long RPGs, I did finish Pokémon Reborn, and it took me only 160 hours!! Talk about a long game.