...And just finished it. Huh. Well that's... not what I expected from the end of the patch. I guess I don't really know where previous stuff really ended but I kind of expected a bigger climax than what we got.
As for character opinions (also, I don't know any spoilers)
Black Swan is pretty neat. I like her more than I thought. I don't usually go for the motherly/older sister types but she's not bad, she's mysterious without being annoying about it.
Aventurine sucks massively. Not in a bad way for the story, as said, but good lord this guy is a douche.
Sparkle is very different from what I expected. I kind of like how sharp tongued she is, but she's a bit too antagonist for my taste and verges on unlikable. She hasn't quite crossed over into that yet, but I dunno. Need to see more of her, still.
Acheron is great. She's suspicious and her red speech fuels all kinds of theories about what might be going on, but just in general she's very fun. Being slightly a dork is big points.
Firefly I absolutely do not in any way believe is really dead. Her death is less believable than Tingyun's. They finished up absolutely nothing about her story despite focusing on it for the vast majority of the story, and then killed her off with a sudden unceremonious scene before moving straight on? Nah, ain't buying it. Besides that story stuff, she's super cute. There's all kinds of speculation I have about her character but it's clear to me she's going to still be central to the plot going forward.
The rest of the characters haven't left much of an impression on me. I am, however, slightly annoyed that they sidelined Himeko again for the story despite ending the last patch with a "I'm coming with you this time, look forward to it!" and she continues to be the least interesting member of the Astral Express despite being the leader of the crew.
Also I hope we get to go to at least a few of the other Dreamscapes in the coming patches. Golden Hour is really cool but Penacony is suppose to have 12 total ones and only seeing one of them so far is a bit disappointing (though not majorly since we do have upcoming patches they can put them in).