I guess the Ys games suck too, right? All that grinding! 
Ys... I definitely have mixed feelings for that series. On the one hand, basically the entire series is almost 100% grind, but on the other hand it's mostly very well-designed and polished grinding, so it's more fun than most. Still, I have never finished an Ys game. Hopefully I will eventually, I am partway through several of them. I like Ys I for the Master System for some reason, that's probably the Ys game I am farthest in. (Of course, I like Efera & Jiliora too, grinding aside.)
If you're rushing ahead so you get swarmed by enemies instead of fighting 'em one at a time, that's a bad tactic. If you walk over all the environmental hazards instead of dodging them, that's a bad tactic. If you run at enemies pell mell, slashing away wildly instead of timing your attacks so only the enemy takes damage, that's a bad tactic. If you can't figure out how to use magic and items effectively, that's a bad tactic.
Honestly it sounds like this game is too much for you. Turn it off and go play Dragon Egg or Mystic Quest.
Most of the things you say here you really can't do in this game, so there's no need to be so insulting.
Rushing ahead -- You really can't do that in this game, you'll die. You don't have much health early in the game. You also can't really move while attacking, attacking causes you to stand still. This isn't Ys. Facing more than one enemy at a time is almost certain death unless you have plenty of room to move around in or you're in a place they can't easily get to. You've got to take your time and find a place you can take them out from without them swarming you. Maybe the warrior is better at dealing with multiple enemies, but I'm playing the mage.
As for "slashing away wildly instead of timing your attacks so only the enemy takes damage", I don't know what you're talking about there. Again, you can't just charge enemies, you'll die. Enemies charge straight at you when they see you, you press down the attack button to attack them when they get in range (while trying to do so from a position where another enemy won't get too close before the first one is dead, since you an only hit one at a time), there isn't much more to it than that.
Environmental hazards - there aren't many of those so far in this game, but of course you avoid them, what are you talking about? Taking damage is very bad in a game where only a couple of hits kills!
Magic and items - Items heal you. Magic, one spell heals and the other is a very basic short-range attack. There is more magic later, but I don't have it yet. Nothing there of any complexity or challenge to learn. Easier ways to heal your magic, and more spells from early on, would be things I'd have loved to see in this game, I like magic systems (best of all, for me, is D&D's).
Really, is it so hard to understand? I expect that once I get to the end of an area in action-RPGs through normal, reasonable play, I should be able to continue on, fight the boss, and progress. But instead, in games like Ys or Efera & Jiliora, it doesn't work like that at all. You need to stand around grinding for some time before you are able to compete in each area, or against each boss. It's a design style that covers for the moderately-sized levels and limited amount of content or puzzles with high jumps in required level between each area or bossfight in the game. Newer games would at least probably give you alternate tasks to do, quests in the current area and the like, but these early games have none of that. Note how the Niconico playthrough of this game apparently has the guy start by grinding to level 12 right at the start! It's got very little to do with how quickly you get through an area. Quickly or slowly, unless you stand around grinding a lot, you'll be far too low level to progress. I know plenty of people don't mind this, but I always have.
