Mary Skelter Finale - Playthrough Part 1

Started playing Mary Skelter Finale - the third game in the series. After a disappointing sequel I was worried where this one would go and the start of the game sure is troubling. One good thing is that from the main menu you can access all the events from the previous 2 games, so you can catch up completely on the story. There are also 3 novels that presumably add more context to all 3 games and I'd imagine those can be easily read on the Switch while in bed or on the go. The game starts after the end of the first Mary Skelter (since part 2 was sort of a prequel) where our heroes reach the surface after they escaped from the alien Jail Tower, which was underground. Unfortunately they were met with mountains of corpses and were suddenly attacked by a group of women named Massacre Pink. Each of them is named after an execution method and all of them are sadistic bitches, except for Pyre, who is unwilling to kill. They make short work of the Blood Maidens and seriously injure Clara. Their goal apparently was to kidnap Alice. Before they can complete their task Hikari uses her powers and teleports everyone to safety, but because she was injured they are all separated. One group is Jack, Otsuu, Clara, Hikari, Mamoru and Miku. Now, one might ask how the hell Otsuu is alive considering she and Little Mermaid died before the events in the first game, but apparently if you replay the first game in Mary Skelter 2 both are somehow resurrected at the end. Not really happy with that since I find Otsuu insufferable. I knew they were in the game from the trailers, but I was hoping they had a more minor role, but Otsuu is front and centre yet again. That aside you finally get to play the game after 45 minutes and explore a small dungeon, but eventually hit a dead end. Then the game introduces the Zapping mechanic where you can switch parties in order to solve puzzles and such. Here though you are to relieve the events again through the eyes of Clara. Then you do it again from Mary's perspective, who is inspired from The Little Match Girl and may have the ability to become invisible (fitting). She has a friend called Charlotte, but I'm not sure who she's inspired by. You do this again for Red Riding Hood and even Pyre who is separated from her evil sisters. This is not good design or story telling. Out of 2 hours only 5 or so minutes are gameplay and you often repeat the same plot points over and over again. I've barely talked about the mechanics because I didn't get the chance to use them. Hopefully things get a bit better from this point on.