Glad to hear the manual made the game play clearer. The UI was my biggest "if only" for this game, but I had the manual in the back of my mind as a bit of a crutch. As for the story, it was important to me that Micro RPG felt like a complete adventure you might have in any RPG.
If you like the combat system, check out "One Deck Dungeon" by Chris Cieslik; Micro RPG's combat was inspired by that system.