Can someone explain to me what happened in the beginning?

[Blade]

I just spent a couple minutes running around town with some girl named Sophie and then watched some demonic figure change a number from 34 to 33 before the girl disappeared. WHAT IS HAPPENING?! Are they rushing the story? I hate writing like this because I had no idea who she was, had no connection to her, and no idea what was even going on, nor did I care. They didn't take the time to properly introduce her and allow me to develop any kind of attachment to the character. Then they didn't take any time to explain what was even going on before it happened, so it failed to impact me emotionally or pull me in. It concerns me for the writing in the rest of the game. That was just too lazy and way too rushed. What even happened?

[SS]

This is why your father beats you. You don't pay attention Jeremy.

[Blade]

Originally posted by SS:

This is why your father beats you. You don't pay attention Jeremy.

Nah, nothing interesting has happened for me to absorb it and it was rushed. Gas lighting me won't change anything. Thanks for the award too. <3 I was looking for an explanation though, not a troll, so I appreciate the response but you need to chill.

[SS]

Originally posted by Blade:

Originally posted by SS:

This is why your father beats you. You don't pay attention Jeremy.

Nah, nothing interesting has happened for me to absorb it and it was rushed. Gas lighting me won't change anything. Thanks for the award too. <3 I was looking for an explanation though, not a troll, so I appreciate the response but you need to chill.

Bro it's all so blatantly explained that there's no way to miss it outside of just skipping the conversations. Restart and read the words very slowly.

[METAL]

It's all nicely explained. Can't help if you skip dialogue and cutscenes.

[Derriere]

I mean, if you actually pay attention to the dialog and look at the setting around you, they set up the story pretty well, but of course there is a lot to uncover and a lot is left to discover later. The writing isn't lazy or rushed, but if you aren't paying attention you're going to miss a lot.

The setting is post-apocalyptic, 67 years ago the world was ♥♥♥♥♥♥ through some eldritch means and Lumiere (France) was thrown into the ocean with some surviving population. A monolith appeared on the mainland that started counting down from 100. Every year on the same day, "the paintress" wakes up, reduces that number by one, and everyone that age experiences "gommage" (they are erased, are dead). That was 67 years ago. Today is gommage, the number changes from 34 to 33 and everyone aged 33 is erased.
Sophie is 33 and today is gommage, so it's the last day alive for her and for many others in town. People "celebrate" gommage as a way to send off people who will be gone.
Gustave is established as her ex, they broke up years ago over a disagreement (Sophie didnt want to bring children into a world where everyone is doomed to become orphans, as revealed during discussions with a couple people), but he wanted to make up with her while they still had the chance because feelings were still there.

Also, there is some information about how expeditions are sent out by Lumiere, full of people who choose to dedicate their last year alive (before their gommage) to trying to venture out to the monolith to stop whatever is causing this.

There is a lot of information left unclear at this point in the game, by design. If for some reason this still doesn't clarify the intro for you, just remember that this is a JRPG and you can boil the plot down to "we're a team of plucky adventurers with the goal of killing god(s)". You don't know Sophie for long, but you know what's at stake in this world, and you know what Gustave (and Maelle, Lune, Sciel, the other expeditioners) are dealing with.

I don't know, maybe re-play the prologue again when you are feeling more attentive. The story is great, but you still need to let yourself be immersed in a story to gain attachment. And if it still doesn't click, just remember that it's okay to admit something just isn't to your taste.