This one's really channeling that old-old-OLD school vibe. Though, I'd encourage the inclusion of as many modern quality of life aspects as is doable.
In truth, things do move quite slowly, especially the act of setting up equipment and navigating menus. Admittedly, I neglected to finish even equipping the characters due to the time it was taking. There's no shortage of popular RPG's out there to emulate when it comes to navigation, so I can only recommend doing so. But for my own two cents, text could be sped up and some text messages could be omitted altogether. Animating the textbox in and out of the screen may not even be necessary.
The game does a great job of channeling the old-school vibe, and for me the closest thing I can relate it to is pokemon red/blue, which even back in the day I considered to be too slow for their own good. An advantage of doing old style with new systems and practices is that you get to be snappier and less limited by hardware, so try to rev it up. That goes for the intro as well. The plot is set up well, but be wary of the amount of story you give between giving the player control. It's something I struggle to find a balance with as well, so always consider if every single line of dialog is really significant or if it can be omitted.
Have to wish you good luck in how you progress with this, as the style and premise has a lot of potential to feel like an old school game with a new-age dynamic.