YS VIII and tower defense I keep reading impressions that the tower defense missions are a huge break on the action and it makes me concerned about the game.

The biggest draw for the Falcom games for me was always the nearly uninterrupted action and/or the plot development/interaction happening with the characters.

In a YS game, I welcome more Kiseki-interaction (cutscenes, etc) and faster-paced action with the winsome party-based combat, but I really don't want to engage in pointless mobile-like tower defense missions every 10 minutes.

Can these be totally avoided and can I still get the true ending without them (i.e. reputation requirement)?