Is it just me or is this game INSANELY grindy?
Not just you, but not exactly true grind either. Depending on your goals, it can take awhile to collect necessary resources, yes. There are tactics to limit the repetition/maximize rewards. Typically, I have all powers by March and most talent and stat increases by May.
You really don't need to to do any of that, really though. You really need Enhanced Senses, Flight, Mind Control, Psychosism, and Sympathic Link; I typically accomplish that by end of Jan. The other powers (Armor of Terra, Kinesis, Mercurial Speed, Polymorph) are
nice but not essential. Among the talents, Concentration near max is exceedingly helpful and decent scores in Personality, Persuasion, and Reflex make situations possible/more reasonable. Natural stats-wise, Natural Mental and Natural Social near max are helpful.
For me, the worst aspect for grind is attempting to achieve enough random outcomes to accomplish some of the more esoteric events -- like getting Sophie comfortable enough to fuck you overnight when she crashes at your house or achieving enough critical successes at Globex to accomplish -- well anything.