I have to say the UI is weaker in this entry than in their other three titles (1/X/2). A few things get smoothed out as systems unlock. I've always considered MonolithSoft as UI masters, and it just feels weak this time around.
Like, one of the cardinal sins of inventory management is, when your menu scrolls, you only let it scroll when your cursor is at the very bottom. This is stupid because it's like crossing the road without looking, or trying to piss in the toilet blindfolded.
The proper way to do it is to scroll 2-3 before the bottom. Then you get a preview of what's to come. Especially when you're going to have a flag of "new" on things that goes away as soon as you roll past it.
Also, took me way longer than it should have in order to get the camera out from my butt. "Camera mode 1/2/3", nice and descriptive there, guys. Also, it's ZR + right stick down to zoom out overall.
Edit: Through a bit of Chapter 3 now. Still have occasional issues with the camera. Gameplay is decently deep. Many of the systems are unlocked by this point but some are probably missing..? It's nice playing a true science-fiction game, and it's at least been resistant to anime tropes so far. Resistant, but not entirely without...
Dropped it off of Hard for part of Chapter 1 but after getting the full party, stuff died too fast so I bumped it back to Hard for now. Eventually, I'll get bored as the difficulty catches back up and I'll drop it back down. Almost died to Chap2 EndBoss, somehow didn't, so it may not be too long w/that.