Thanks for playing and for the detailed feedback Frogboy!
Your surmise was kind of correct in that this game was essentially a prototype for a system I am considering in the future for a full-length project. I anticipated it might be too big or over-scoped in a few ways, but also made some miscalculations in terms of fight length and pacing to boot, having had to trim a lot of story and dialogue because the game was already running long.
While I think the mechanics turned out OK, and some players were very invested, others were put off by the level of complexity given the jam format, which is understandable.
Glad you were able to give the game a try and found some elements to be enjoyable!