heya! thanks for the feedback! it really means a lot to me when people engage with the game like this.
bird cancelling hitstun/blockstun is intentional. the strongsmin strat you mention is a lot stronger in this version of the game than it is currently... i've made a lot of changes to how meter works and how counter hits work since then. i think the key things that nerf it are that strongsmin's light attack now only does 1 damage, counter hits no longer double the damage, just add one extra damage + some more hitstun, and your meter is now persistent between rounds. if you have meter to burn then it's an option you have at your disposal, but there's more important things you can spend it on, hopefully.
as for jailing, i really should look into it. i kind of like the idea of reversal parrying out of multi-hit moves but in execution it does just make characters like blademin strictly worse than swordmin. i did halve the reversal parry window recently, but you can mash parry out of a lot of moves anyway. i'll have a play around with it and see how it comes out! if it's in the game when it comes out, know that it was you who made that happen!
thanks again for giving me feedback, stuff like this really does make a difference!