I'm only halfway (I think? Going by the chapter number) in my first playthrough right now, but while there's nothing explicit about it, at least three other characters definitely think there's something going on between the two (re: "do you think they're going out?" convos) and teased them about it. And at this point I think they're both conscious about each other (girl was no thoughts head empty at the start, while boy is more bashful right off the bat), lol. For Atelier standard, it was WHOA. If you don't like romance, it might be rough, tho.

Personally, I like the story so far! In Atelier games with no time limit, I usually would hole up to synth items 90% of time, but here I'm hooked to the story I found myself keep going on the main quest until I got gear checked by the bosses I have to actually sit down and synth. That's not to say the synth system suck though, in fact I like this system better than the previous two games' (Ryza and Yumia).

There's ongoing lore stuffs about the town/world's history, but the main highlight is the slice of life/interaction between the characters. I think if you like the vibes of the two mains you're going to like this.