The 'ridiculous' comes in when the bars advance very fast, there is no pause when it's your turn and you need to move through several menus to get at things like healing - which means you have no time to use any abilities except hit fast and hope like heck they die before you do.
The 'at least slightly boring' comes in everything else. With the traditional 'everyone stands in a line' JRPG approach, there is no tactical element whatsoever and no real strategy, either. Your group is either powerful enough, or they are not.
Have you tried Dofus, Heroes of Might and Magic, King's Bounty or Fallout ? They are turn based, and neither of those things you describe. With what you describe, it seems to me you've only played J-RPG (as turn based games).
Well, let me see... I have played HoMM 2, 3, 4 & 5, though not the latest because of the DRM. I have also played a number of the Tarnum campaigns released for 3 (Though not all, as I did not know some of them existed, sadly) and have both expansions for 5.
I have played Armoured Princess (Though not the original King's Bounty), and think it should probably be called 'Bikini Princess' instead! It's a very good game, and I would recommend it.
I have also played more RPGMaker JRPGs than I could even begin to name and could recommend more than a few if you want to know what the good ones are.
So yes, I am well aware of what can and cannot be done with turn based combat. And I still maintain that it is always and inevitably a bad choice for RPGs.
Without exception, I have played turn based RPGs in spite of not because of the combat system.
It's a very good game, and I would recommend it.
