The Animu is strong with the game, yes, but hey, it's a Japanese game, a coming of age story, with artwork like that, so of course it will be packed to the point of breaking with shounen tropes. It's not like this is a new issue either. That's just how these things go. The Japanese are anything if not predictable in these situations. Sit back, relax and treat it as a kiddo show like Pokemon or whatever, only with a guest appearance of Tifa. At least the main guy isn't a total and utter twat. Normally, that's kind of a requirement. And I dunno, I'm loving the environments. Chapter three has treated me well so far.
On potions, way I see it: You only need to run after the potions if your healer doesn't do their job, or if your party members somehow can't get to them instead. They will disengage and grab what the party needs whenever they're not getting aggro.
Like Demi said, topple etc only gets unlocked during chapter three. Which is also when you enter a new area and learn how to break orbs, which in turn allows you to do some ridiculous damage. Plus some mildly interesting story stuff. Takes a while to get the game going, no doubt. Then again, they utterly botch the teaching via meaningful tutorials, so barely anyone who isn't determined to get to the bottom of the interlocked systems will ever bother to learn "proper" combat - so it's kinda worst of both worlds, late unlock and little to no explanation.
It's pretty clear that this game was rushed IMHO. Doubt they will address many issues, but hopefully there will be a few QOL improvements in a patch down the line.