It turns out there is an Underdog Bonus for JP, as well? Looks like it is based on the total amount of accrued (and not wasted) JP, with the only characters getting it are Gloria and Elvis both of whom I had as a capped class (WM/BM) for two of the late Chapter 2 boss fights. That means the early parts of Chapter 3 likely have an expected target JP of about 1.5-1.8x the amount of JP that it takes to master one class. Level 22/23 is underleveled for Exp bonus for my entire party. I'm on Hard, but I don't think it makes a difference for any of these numbers.
Maybe I just SUCK big time but I feel like the game basically forces you to try different comps throughout the game cause I seriously can't beat two asterisk holders in a row without even grinding the newly-acquired asterisk. I can't rely on old comps to power through the bosses.
There's a lot of nuance to the game, and bosses do progressively get more demanding in terms of understanding the mechanics. There's an inflection in power from Tier 1 (Rank 1-4), Tier 2 (5-8) and Tier 3 (Rank 9-12), and also gradually increasing demand on blending passives and tweaking your gear. I think you can mostly get by on the Tier 1 skills up until mid Chapter 1, and only at the end of Chapter 2 do I think the game really demands that player are starting to learn some of the big damage moves in Tier 3.
I've never felt like the game has been over specific on using the newest jobs for the next bosses.
So how's everyone feeling now about the switch from round-based turns to individual turns? I know it was a very divisive decision before release and I'd say it seemed like most existing fans of the franchise weren't fond of the idea based off what I saw.
For me it's the absolute game changer I thought it would be. Entirely a personal taste thing for sure, but I find myself enjoying the standard enemy encounters a lot more this way in particular. In the first two games I eventually got worn down pretty badly by inputting all the turns at once, and I do know there were a lot of QoL options to simplify that process but it just never worked that well for me. I was never entirely sure that this was my issue with the first two games (I didn't dislike those games but I did sort of have to force myself through them after certain points), but after 15 hours in this game and enjoying every second of it (as well as loving Octopath Traveler's battle system) I'm starting to understand that I think I like this way a lot more.
This is a giant improvement, but I'm usually pretty down on Round Based RPG systems anyway. I've played hundreds of RPGs at this point, and Round Based systems often fail to capitalize on the nuances of the game's battle system and mechanics. Boss battles are consistently more engaging and demanding than anything I encountered in my (incomplete) playthroughs of BD1 and BS.