I came here from your YouTube video about grindless RPG design, because that's a topic I've been pondering as I plan my own RPGs. Are you familiar with the games Wine & Roses and Teenage Costume Squad? They use a similar principle of purely equipment-based progression, but are much smaller in scope.
I hate RPG Maker's art style, but you said the art's a placeholder so I won't harp on that too much. One thing I will harp on, though, is that the framing of Makoto getting run over is very poor; I could barely tell what happened because it happened so fast and at the corner of the screen. It would be clearer if the action was centered (and if the car was accurately sized proportional to the people).
The control tutorial is a nice QoL. I know some players can be confused when playing RPG Maker games for the first time. But why does the control tutorial not highlight the more convenient Z/X?
The protagonist buying an actual, physical game already feels dated, which both amuses me and makes me feel old.
Does RPG Maker support italicized text? That might be better for narration than parentheses.
Aw, it's sweet that Makoto doesn't steal Lucant's hat. I see he's willing to steal from everyone else though.
I love how much flavor text there is. That's always been one of my favorite things in RPGs and I'm sad it's fallen out of favor in modern ones. I also like the way treasures are described, it creates more intrigue and anticipation.
A suggestion: Could the healing statues also prompt a save? I often use them as save points anyway, but this would be a good way to remind players to keep up-to-date saves in case they're not used to a save-anywhere system.
I'm a little unclear on the purpose of inns when there are so many free healing statues. Are those a placeholder mechanic?
Escaping from bosses should really be guaranteed. There's not much point in watching them slowly kill Makoto if you realize you're outmatched.
I don't see the point in fighting the same boss in different locations. Given that they're puzzles, if you can beat one there shouldn't be any question of if you can beat them again.
Damage variance is very annoying in a game where statistics are so tight. The difference between beating an enemy in one or two turns is a really big deal. I'd recommend eliminating damage variance so you can better control the intended length of fights.
The Awkward Headband doesn't seem to do very much; the Majesta and Sandasteron still dodge almost every attack even with it equipped. I generally dislike random miss rates in general, and they seem an especially poor choice for a combat-as-puzzle game like this one. Could it be buffed to make you never miss (barring accuracy drop equipment like the Hulking Greatsword) without breaking any fights?
Overall, an interesting concept, but not terribly fun to play. Almost all battles are won entirely on the equipment screen; the battles themselves are just selecting "Attack" over and over. (I also never found a use for the Crystal Dagger.) The games I mentioned earlier all start off with multiple party members and abilities, which gives the battles tactical depth. I'd recommend expanding Makoto's moveset to provide something similar.
Regarding the question of optional grinding -- it's not really optional if you're forced into encounters. I know you said you planned to shift away from random encounters, but I'd advise you to prioritize that. As it is, I quickly ended up with more money than I could ever use just by fighting the random encounters. Additionally, random drops are the absolute worst form of grinding, because the payout is not proportional to the time or effort spent. I think it would be better to take a page from Final Fantasy XII and make enemies always drop monster parts but no money; that would make money and item grinding equivalent in effort, but force the player to choose between them.
There are also a lot of typos and grammatical errors in the text. (I took screenshots but find myself unable to attach files here, alas.) You seem to have some trouble with using commas, so I'd advise brushing up on them, particularly comma splices.