I'm actually ok with Vanille - didn't like Hope at first, but he got better later on.
I just got up to Gran Pulse today too - game turns really open at this point of the game, and despite being fine with the streamlined linearization beforehand, I'm absolutely loving this freeroaming and completing marks.
So far my biggest complaint with the game is that when the game switches up your party members, you lose all of your Paradigms, even if you switch back to the original party - couldn't have they figured out a way to preserve them? The fact this is my biggest complaint so far speaks volumes for the game I think - it's incredibly well done, and might be one of my favorite FFs, although I'll have to complete it to be sure.