PQ is a game rather than a VN. It's designed to take a while, the MC starts as a peasant rather than a seasoned warrior. The gameplay might not be to your taste, and that's fine, everyone's tastes are different.
The earliest content in the game is generally the oldest, animations weren't even added for a while. A few of the early LIs got animations for existing early scenes when new character models were applied. There are almost 40 LIs and dozens of animated scenes, with hundreds of vids for different camera angles & situations (like preg vs non-preg). But as you noted, very few of them are available early on.
There are some built-in cheats that make things MUCH easier, both fighting and lewding.