not a fan of pokemon games inside vn's. If i wanted to play pokemon i would grab my wifes phone but i have no interest. the game is gonna just end up more complicated as it goes along and slow down creation of new content because of it. i already left the discord cause it was pointless for me to even bother giving my opinions.
Given the way Sylphine seems to be structured, I doubt the battles are going to be a major role on it. It reminds me of Heroes Harem Guild fishing system - You can make the game in "a whole fishing simulator!" but it is just an optional pastime to help alleviate stat grind with the characters.
If this comes true, it is actually good as it provides you a distraction and a way to say "oh wow I'm awesome" in a more first-person perspective. It is one thing saying "and so you obtained the sword of infinity +1". It is another thing showing you the sword. And it is something completely different doing both and letting you cut through enemies like butter to show how powerful the sword actually is.
However you are right that if not done properly it can just make the game
more grindy instead of less, or add layers of complexity which increase the learning curve.
At this point it is always good to recheck what you want to the game to become and make sure everything in the game, no matter how meaningless it is, actually contributes to the main goal or is just a minor time investment for a temporary important objective e.g. Christmas specials.
I would have quite some fun with such system, but having a button to skip the battle altogether, specially when it is not relevant to the plot, might be a good idea too. (iirc, Sunrider has one of such buttons)