Oh damn that's a big review, thank you! I'll try to answer as much stuff as I can in the same order.
I'll be honest, I don't understand hat first point very well. I get that some rooms look alike, which is especially true of the ocean since it's more designed as a dungeon, but I feel like most rooms in the city are pretty identifiable overall. Of course I'd love for each room to be completely unique, but that would sadly take way too much time to do. That being said I am working on an slightly updated visual style, which should make the rooms easier to understand. What did you have in mind when you said interacting with buildings?
The art definitely takes a while, but it's also a big part of the game. I do plan on hiring other artists to help me with it eventually! And yes, I'd like the chibis to change depending on the character's rank as well, though only for rank 1, 3 and 5 in most cases, for time reasons. Also I just wanted Rose to have backboob, that's about it. She might get an alt sprite eventually, we'll see.
Thank you! I do plan to add more dialogue and character development. To be fair, this version is more of a proof of concept, this isn't the actual beginning of the game, for the most part.
That's where the character art comes into play! There will be some booty, but no nipples/genitalia. Custom panties?
I'm glad to hear you found it easy! I've actually heard the opposite most of the time. If the combo meter didn't refresh when destroying a shape / casting a spell, it would be impossible to maintain a combo when refreshing the grid. Items are one reason to reach a high combo, the second one in this version is to be able to use combo spells, which is something I need to make more clear. There are also other reasons to get a high combo in the new version I'm working on (which will also make it more of a hit to lose it), but that's for later. Also, eery fight in this demo only has 4 block colors, but there will be up to 6 in total, along with more special blocks and effects, so I think the combo system is at a pretty good place currently. I disagree with knowing in advance which items you can get from which monster however. The almanach indicates how many different items can be found on a monster and indicates which ones you've found, so it's up to the player to discover what can be obtained from which monster. As for the difficulty, the game will be easier than this demo at first, and will become harder after a point. To be honest the level I gave to each enemy was somewhat of an afterthought for this demo. Then again since skill plays a big part, it's actually possible to beat the demo at level 3 or so, the stats are only a factor. Again, you're one of the few I heard saying the demo was too easy.
Visibility is definitely a problem yeah, I've improved the UI a lot for the next demo which should make it more easily readable, flashing the enemy's sprite or deforming it in some way is good idea! I'll definitely keep that in mind ^^
There is actually a trick to avoiding random encounters, but yes, there will be a few ways to instantly dispatch them.
That's because this demo is more of a proof of concept, which is why I didn't bother too much with balancing absolutely everything. I'll do my best so that's not a problem in the next demo and final game! For now the items are mostly for alchemy purposes.
That's just how equipment works in this game, as it does in most RPGs. Some items will be required to solve certain puzzles, and sometimes these items may be equipment, but yeah I recommend selling or storing equipment you don't need anymore in general. I don't plan to change that!
And I think that about covers everything! Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this, you brought up a bunch of interesting point ^^ I'll make the next version as good as I possibly can!