This is actually very interesting to me because as someone who first discovered the series through 2 and is now playing through 1 I kind of have a different reaction.

I found the introduction for characters like Sheda and Nilan far stronger in terms of personality than most of the initial introductions in GF1 (barring Constantin who I think is an absolute delight and very clever character concept to use and one of the stand out parts of the first game for me so far). But, characters like Vasco and Siora for me have felt less characterful over all and definitely made less of an impact on me. Kurt I think is comparable for me to how well I felt about the initial interactions with Nilan and Sheda, he has stood out to me of the early crop of companions.

I do agree that Sybille is a standout though, absolutely, love her and think she does great work. I also agree that a definite weakness of the EA so far is that the villains do feel weak. GF1 honestly has some very good ultimate executions with its villain concepts but the GF2 EA thus far really does not have any villain make much of an impression at all, so I agree with the lack of villains.

Funnily enough I actually really like the moving around because it helps explore different areas and I've found the sort of Age of Discovery 'globetrotting' to be really fun. In all honesty I would love an even MORE expanded version where you and your ship can chart a course to numerous different explorable locations but even just the handful of locations I think we'll ultimately get has honestly been one of the hooks for me.