Towns feel like a chore? (OT2)

I'll start by saying I'm a bit of a completionist when it comes to video games. I like to talk to all the NPCs, complete all the special requests, and find all the hidden items.

With that being said, I'm finding exploring towns in Octopath Traveler 2 to be a bit of a slog. With all the different path actions and the day and night cycle, it seemingly takes forever to just scrutinize and steal from all the NPCs whenever I visit a new town. Plus, if it's nighttime, you have to spend time breaking them or mugging them. And if you aren't successful, you can only fail 5 times before you have to go restore your reputation at the tavern.

Does anyone know a way to make this process a little less boring? At this point, I'm considering just not bothering scrutinizing every person or stealing every last item. For me, the combat and the story chapters are the main draw of this game, and I'd rather just get back to that as soon as possible