Sorry about the first sentence haha, it was more of a 'is this not the best thing ever?' kinda sentence structure.
For the intro, I agree that more characters are a bad idea but I still think having one with extra focus/appearances would do a lot. Everyone in town did have something interesting to say, but it would be nice to have one the player cares about more (think like Zelda / Groose in Skyward Sword).
For the combat itself, the reach was fine, but the width was too small. Having to jump and time each hit and not sure if it would. I understand the need for skill but it was annoying if I'm in front of a moth and can't hit it at all.