I'm kind of a completionist, for the most part but not always. Like, I might be done with the game actually. I can't beat the hardest boss and I'm kind of ok with that.
I never dodged through the whole game except at the very end during a certain fight where I just couldn't parry effectively. I saw no point when I needed the counterattack damage to beat characters, so I just kept replaying and learned the timing. Some insanely difficult timings for a lot of fights, really cool battle system. I thought it was going to be strictly turn based like FFX, and now I'm glad it wasn't as the fights were way cooler this way when you have to play active defense.