I totally agree that the cases themselves aren't so bad conceptually (as you say, most of them are basically just prepositions turned into post-positions/ending

I totally agree that the cases themselves aren't so bad conceptually (as you say, most of them are basically just prepositions turned into post-positions/endings); I don't think it's any worse than German or Russian. But I have to say that the mechanics of calculating consonant gradations etc. is decently painful—I think you might be overselling the lack of difficulty haha. I enjoy studying languages and have learned enough Finnish to get midway through the Harry Potter series, and even just getting to the point where I could smoothly look up words, let alone remember them, took a fair amount of practice. (The form you see on the page often needs to be un-consonant-gradated before you can find it in the dictionary, and the rules are somewhat complicated, though very regular.) One funny aspect of Finnish pronunciation is that the ubiquitous long sounds give it a bit of a herky-jerky rhythm. It's always sounded to me as if the speaker is trying to figure out the grammar too :)