If you find the monsters repetitive, try getting their Monster Info for your student book and read their individual descriptions. Some are more memorable than others and some are palette swaps from yet others. The same could be said about any series, though.I can't picture the enemies I have fought so far in my mind. I find them forgettable. Dungeons do not do a great job with ambiance: Textures and layout are very simple. Look repetitive.
Maybe a good counter-example could be Digimon Cyber Sleuth. Dungeons are usually very simple as well, but they look pretty. Another vita example could be FFX HD, game is an eye candy.
Even P4 that is a dungeon crawler...dungeons have more 'personality'.
I've only seen two dungeons so far, but the problem is they are very samey. My concern is that this stays true throughout the game.
Thanks for the other info, I'll keep at it a few more hours.
In terms of dungeons: what you've seen so far takes place in the same building, so it's not surprising they look similar to one another. There are a couple of more areas to go through in that same building, and, equally unsurpisingly, they make use of the same textures but different gimmicks. Dungeons outside that building have their own textures, but are not by definition more interesting. I personally do find them interesting, but that's because I can draw comparisons with dungeons or patterns in the other games in the series. So while the dungeons get slightly more interesting visually than what you've seen by name, it never reaches the levels of the games you mentioned -- those are games created with far larger budgets, larger teams and with more time than Trails of Cold Steel put together with.
Seeing your nickname and avatar, however, I really encourage you to overlook the game's visual flaws and endure until the game's political dimension comes around.