The combat is mostly SMT except the physical damage types are from Fire Emblem (Sword/Axe/Spear) and once you start getting the combo attacks you're easily able to cheese the later parts of the game.
The thing people had their panties in a wad over was a combination of Nintendo and a (Japanese) Karaoke company requesting certain themes be toned down. The Karaoke people needed the outfits to be toned down for their booths and Nintendo of America was not cool having a 17 year old (and a 16 year old colleague introduced in the following chapter that makes a cameo during a photo shoot) be introduced into the world of Gravure (sexy swimsuit) photography and the section was rewritten for general modeling instead. But at that point the Wii U was bleeding out so it was claimed as a victory for those opposed to the censorship when it didn't sell a bunch of copies.