I probably will be playing Laura as my third or fourth game. Especially with the desire to hear BT Ver 8 in Ventus’ quest. In any case after awhile, I got sick of weak enemies and sometimes welcome the tougher enemies. So I can actually get level 4 skills. Sometimes though I’m surprised when I do win some battles.
St.Ajora
Don’t give up on Laura’s quest, man. It’s perfect for beginners cos it has very hard and very easy stuff. Don’t worry, after you get to Vaftom, you’ll get this dude named Francis who will make your life so much easier. After that, you can do the Abandoned Castle Quest. Then, after finishing the stuff in Escata and the Elemental Gears quests, you’ll be able to do quite a few sidequests. Don’t worry, it only gets easier from there. I’m still at the last boss though 
I haven’t tried fighting him cos I still have 2 more sidequests to do, and I don’t know how to do one, and the other one REQUIRES swimming, which I don’t have, Grr.
I’m currrently in the middle of Laura’s game. And I’m not sure if I’m past the fourth part yet. But I have gotten past about 8 or so scenarios for her. Some of her parts seem to require you to enter areas besides Inns or something close to that.
St.Ajora