Thanks for playing as far as you did, especially since it mostly just frustrated you. Turns out that the tile-based collision system I've tired to implement to make building levels easier, didn't work on all the levels. Hence why you could walk all over the place.
The game holds your hand quite a bit in the first mission. Originally it used to be that you can just wonder around and interact with it when you want to continue, but players never actually got there, and got lost. So I figured it might be better if the quest comes to the player instead, after some time elapsed.
Frankly I am not certain about the pacing myself, sometimes it seems too long-winded, and sometimes it seems too little, leaving people confused and lost. I figured IMMINENT DEATH would be a good motivator, regardless of the personal morality of the player. It also makes sense that most of the rewards be money. In an RPG with no real equipment to buy, or consumables to use in combat.
Transporting to the gym is to introduce the player on how to level up, but not clump it together with all the other tutorial stuff. Which is already a lot to explain how the combat works for a newcomer. It is right after that when the game should have opened up, and allowed wandering. Sorry it didn't work out.
I'm glad you think the combat is decent, it is one of the main cores of the game. Again, thanks for taking the time to play and write me about it.