Thanks! Yes, there's different combo combinations for each character. The skills inside the Techniques menu show what combination you must put down for the combo to activate. For example, Eric's "Bolo Punch" asks for Up + Up, so you gotta input Jab two times. If you do get the chance to replay, I hope you can get more enjoyment out of the battle system with the combos.
& yeah, that F.O.E. isn't actually meant to be beat in the scope of the demo (though I still put in the rewards just in case), but all F.O.E.s definitely will be beatable with enough experience in the full version.
Also, I think I see why battles seem more difficult once Canary joined. I didn't up the difficulty once Canary gets added, BUT the right side of floor 1 intentionally has 1-2 more enemies in each random encounter. The "envisioned" path is for a player to go left to get Canary, then go to the right if they want to, before fighting the boss.
And hey, it's actually good to hear you're relieved you played in the easier mode! I'll probably make it so that players can change difficulty at the rest point in future releases, so a player doesn't have to be locked into one mode before knowing how the normal mode's difficulty is.
Thanks again for the feedback, I appreciate it!