I talked to a decent amount but didn't dive into the books. One other thing I'd like to point out was how much world/character building is in this game. I can't recall seeing it done this much or well since Xenogears (my favorite JRPG). And they respected the player with the story. I was able to predict a good portion of the reveals (not all) because they'd drop hints 5-10 hours prior, not acknowledge it much then but if you payed attention they let you piece it together. And they wouldn't do things absurd either in reveals or character behavior just to do something shocking or to try and milk drama. It all was well earned, great character progression and characters reacted to situations in reasonable ways. Which isn't always the case for JRPGS