So yeah, this game is great. I've been holding off until now because I fear The Thirst. And it looks as though I'm right, since I'm part of the way through Chapter 2 (getting around to side-quests before Jenis now) and it keeps improving. Olivier is awesome in general, but I find the scene with him in the slammer most interesting. There's an undercurrent of absurdity to Morgan's arrest and incarceration of the main characters, which Olivier's story-telling makes all the more noticeable. It's not just that he's a bard, it's that Falcom uses him for utmost comic relief while simultaneously making him out to be more than he lets on. I could say the same for the protagonists, Schera, even sideshow people like Aina and Josette (latter's got the Waifu Award so far).
Flaws exist, of course. It took me too long to figure out some enemies' behaviors (the first Insectoids in Rolent mainly), and I feel like the game could have done a better job telegraphing in what circumstances they would attack a character. I also take offense to a couple of plot events, like when a monster tries to ambush Estelle while she's gloating to Luke and Pat in Esmelas Tower. Problem here is the monster did not at all seem threatening, so Cassius jumping in and using her as an example (which she goes along with) doesn't ring. I'd rather have fought the damn thing and either won or lost, a kind of role-playing that I find more meaningful compared to some quest choices. Speaking of those, I find the Air-Letten nephew quest tedious, since there's no easy way to figure out which option is the best other than reloading—good thing the bad options are still hilarious.
My bad habit right now is fighting too much and exploring areas like Esmelas Tower and the Nebel Valley way ahead of time (went immediately through the latter as soon as I could, even before registering in Bose). I'm not sure I'm over-leveled, but it's hard to know when a challenging fight's coming because of this. Oh well. All the Sophisticated Fight haters can suck it! That song keeps me going for much too long with how catchy and modern it sounds.