As the person that did all that writing, I'm always so happy when someone gets all the way to the end, so thank you for that!
We put in better usability for the abilities *just* after the deadline, so that's sad, but I'm glad you could get through the fights without. In the earlier versions that was pretty much impossible thanks to some very overpowered enemies :D
We want to polish the game now that the jam is over and add in the fights with the fourth team member that will allow you to actively use the tether skill yourself, so if you're interested in giving that a try, we'll put it up eventually!