MMX being better than 6 through 8 is a bit of a stretch. Why do you think that?
Well, i played X (didn't finish it, but it's still there when i want to) months ago (a year or more maybe) but i remember battle was interesting, maybe the best of the series in that regard (although i like 3-5 battle-system ), some nice improvements here and there and a couple of terrible features like travelling is now a issue, loading time and also travelling/shopping in town is a real pain.
Maybe at some point, mods could fix the travelling and town issues, didn't check yet but hopefully when i'm ready to finish/restart it, there will be some nice mods.
Replayed MMVII with mods and i can't stomach the battle system, right in the first island, the fucking dragonflies attacking you unaware (from behind, from the sky ) is a fucking pain, of course, there's the slight noise hint when they hit but it could come from afar, then you realize it's on, you turn around 2 or 3 times before you can spot the offender, that's a fucking pain.
I just wish the game paused/went turn based automatically as soon as an enemy targets me.
Well, in the options, 3 buttons are greyed/unusable, maybe it's there but mods destroyed it.
From memory, you had this option.