Anyway to speed these up or skip them entirely? They are incredibly annoying after you have seen them one or two times and is really the only gripe I have with this game because you have to backtrack or go up and down elevators and it takes forever to get moving again.

Yep, there's the "fast forward" button. It works in and outside combat. Just press and hold it; it's the button bound to one of the keys left of the "return/enter" key. You can also use it to speed-run across the map.

thanks a lot, I'm going to try this out next time I play. now I can get back to enjoying this game lol...and funny enough I didn't have an issue at first with the battles until the first dungeon, so that fast forward button should help out a lot :P


Edit: Man, that speed up button is a lifesaver...I can't believe the game itself doesn't even mention it, even in the configurations.

It was added later in a patch.