Maribel will grow on you. give her time she's meant to be really obnoxious at the beginning, though. and it takes a while before you start to see the other sides of her character.
also, I seem to remember the boss of the fourth island being brutal. I remembered right >_> two attacks per turn and hits like a truck. fair warning to all of you he was worse in the original if I remember correctly though; I think he always attacked twice instead of just occasionally. I beat him first try this time around, without much prep, level 11~12ish. he definitely gave me a game over on the PSX