Regarding the writing, I look at this game more as a collection of character portraits. Batman, for example, isn't a terribly interesting story but the indvidual characters are quite interesting. Aura is meant to be a naive savior archetype and I think the writers have done well to portray her real reactions to the grittiness of Roya. More could be done to show exactly what Aura is fighting so hard to protect, especially in the real world. Aura does need to work on her communication skills but I hope those develop over time. Again, I look forward to seeing how future demons are handled, as I think that is the best part of the game. Showing how the demons exploit the weaknesses of the people to bind them to soul contracts and the creation of toxic environments is the heart of this game's storytelling.
Yes the combat is challenging and I think it does well to show the challenge of keeping Aura pure in such a flawed world. Yes the RNG gets annoying but it does punish poor battle planning. Tactical Advantange evade is probably the biggest culprit of RNG madness though.