YMMV, but I think it’s pretty light on grinding. I log in for maybe 10-20 minutes a day, and am able to keep up with whatever events are going on just fine. The story episodes are much longer, but you can go through those at your own pace easily enough.

As for the stuff in the article about the game being a little dated and clunky after all these years…that’s a big “yup” from me.