So, I made it though the first generation after all.
Turns out that, a lot like the first game, once you get access to better combination attacks the battles become… not easy exactly, but much faster and less of a slog. There’s still quite a bit of grinding involved however, so if your console’s connected to the internet I strongly suggest grabbing all the free DLC to help with Gold and TP (and get the bonus dungeons).
You may not want to use the free DLC items though, as they’re quite overpowered and may make it harder to pick up on the combat system’s quirks (while I used them in the first game, I avoided using them here).
If you’re worried about missing things, I strongly, strongly suggest checking out one of the two True End guides around, as after finishing the 1st generation I took a quick look to see what events I missed, and apparently something like 50% of them never showed. It seems most require extremely specific character affection levels to trigger and are timed besides. I also tried out that Bathhouse minigame to see if it was as terrible as suspected… and it kinda is. Speaking of ecchi:
The ecchi issue is still quite serious, with the end-of-generation ‘choose a wife’ bit being much worse than I remember it being in the first game. And then there’s the protagonist for the second generation, who’s a huge asshole and hates his predicament. He’s even worse than the equivalent in the first game, apparently being vocally misogynistic on top of it all. This generation might actually end up being more of a trial than the last if his personality never improves.