OH my wow, that was so helpful, thank you thank you thank you. I almost fell out of my chair laughing! A couple of items:
1. English is my first language (maybe it's not as good as I thought!)! Hahaha! I was rushing with the dialog (no excuse) and when you test test test sometimes what you think and what you type don't always sync, but I did correct that.
2. Worked out/ on the balancing throughout and it is much better now. Fish now can only be used in the menu, but fish are important in the main game so I left as is as far as what is does for continuity.
3. Fluke is in the second floor of the Inn and he joins your party if you choose...which is a good idea...for the story anyway (hahahahaha), but I must have forgot to add a conditional switch for the ninja battle if you don't have him. On a side note I changed it to where you now have to go to fight the "evil wizard." It adds some story elements, but should this still be optional?
I don't understand what you mean by "linearity of maps" if you could explain that to me I would really appreciate that.
A million thanks again for the wonderful advice!