Crisis difficulty is only brutal for the first dungeon, afterwards grinding is pretty manageable. I'm a slow player who often goes AFK so there's probably a lot of wasted time, but I finished the game in 16 hours. This includes the true simulated Apollion.
You can do a massage, but the massage molests you
Only level 40ish? wha? I only beat the non post game final boss after reaching level 90. There should be an event involving a giant robot if you continue to the post game as well as an event involving your tanned friend.
Crisis difficulty is pretty pointless tbh, it gives the same 'awards' as very hard difficulty apparently. Crisis kinda multiplies enemy hp by, I don't know, maybe 4 times?