Thank you for the detailed thoughts!
I think you are more skilled than the average player if you found the game on the easy side, especially if you also reached some True Lords with only one element (which I knew was possible in some cases, but didn't really intend players to do unless they were trying some kind of challenge run). I'm glad it was still difficult enough to be fun though. The boss difficulty slider is only for making the game easier, and was added after a playtester spent around 45 minutes trying to beat one of the false lords (not the demon form). Even though "struggle" is supposed to be a big part of the game, I felt like if the difficulty was ultra hard, then too many people would just give up....
I would say that reaching the true ending without costumes is not that much harder than how most people approach the game. It's only really different if you relied a lot on the devil/angel or the unlockable help features from Aria. The secret ending becomes a good deal more convoluted and time-consuming without costumes if I remember correctly, though not much harder in terms of execution.
Aria wanted to add that she doesn't actually know much about parables as a literary form and just thought it was a name for a certain kind of simplistic moralistic story. It's interesting that you mention stream-of-consciousness writing because sometimes I feel like the way I design games is to let it flow out of my consciousness....
We are coming around to feeling better about the game after seeing more people's reactions and seeing some people say that they did find it moving. A friend said that the story feels like an "emotional space" you can explore and play around in and I like thinking of it in that way.