I started out on hard, got incredibly frustrated at having my ass handed to me by just about every mission that was available since the missions seem horribly paced (Yeah, Square? My level 12 party can't take out a level 50 Red Mage with dualcast and horribly overpowered status-inducing spells, why did you make me waste my gil paying for a mission I had no hope of completing?)
Sup, optional boss fight?

Hard is hard near the beginning, but both normal and hard become easier once you have access to the broken setups.