Thank you for giving my game so much of your time, both playing and sharing your thoughts!
I think you made a lot of solid points. Most of all your control woes, I see you made a game in RPG Maker so you're probably familiar with how common ZXC control schemes are. I grew up on them and am super used to them, but obviously they're more strenuous for most people than I anticipated. I intend to implement controller support ASAP, and along with it rebindable controls.
I never considered the character advancing slightly on attack. At first, I thought this was a pretty clever idea, but enemies universally have contact damage and this is something I don't intend on changing. At the moment players are rewarded heavily for positioning, managing to pin an enemy to a wall can end in an easy defeat, and if the player advanced when they attacked they would waltz directly into the enemy's hurtbox. I agree that this works in many games, but I've never seen Link advance in any of the top down Zelda titles, and I imagine it was for the same reason.
I've had a few complaints on the death screen. I don't want the player to be able to instantly jump back into gameplay, I think some of the game's emotional weight can be damaged by treating a game over in too arcadey of a manner. That said, I am considering ways to mitigate the frustration of players being stuck on the screen. I was considering either letting players skip through loading screen tips, or adding an actual game over screen, with options to continue or exit. I think the ability to advance the screen quicker with player input would help a lot.
As for invincibility frames on getting hit; you do actually get some. some. The issue is that the player isn't the only one who's frail in this game. I could introduce giving the player a healthy second or so of invincibility frames, but it would have to come with additional draw backs. If the player is simply invincible for longer, they can rush enemies, ignoring damage, taking advantage of their invincibility and taking the enemy down with DPS alone. If it isn't clear, I'm more concerned about the game being too easy than too hard. This necessitates a solution, here's a few simple ones.
A: Not letting the player attack while invincible
B: Stunning the player outright
C: Increasing boss's HP, probably by a lot
I'm not saying I would never make these changes, but I like the way the game is now. Consequent to the current way player damage is handled, positioning is very important. Being in a bad position means you take damage, and being in a terrible position means you die instantly. And the main grievance of getting annihilated instantly by enemies wanes as the player's maximum health increases.
It's worth mentioning that some of the swords you described as useless, I was told by other players were overpowered. The bone sword in particular. This is exactly what I intend, for swords to be comparable in damage and application such that different swords lend themselves to different situations and playstyles. It's also worth mentioning many of these swords will be acquired in completely different orders for different players, meaning swords that seem redundant will sometimes be relied upon by players taking an unorthodox route :)
I think the complaint I most resonate with however is your obvious disdain for grinding. I agree with you. Grinding is awful. This is part of why the maximum number of materials you'll ever need for a sword is 8, often obtainable purely as a byproduct of progressing through the game. The grinding for the soul material is lame and bad! I wanted to include something else west of that bridge but unfortunately ran out of time for the demo and was forced to include several enemies that drop it at all. I promise in the full game I will work as hard as I can to disincentivize grinding for materials. It's lame and bad.
I don't want it to come off like I'm shrugging off your feedback. I consider everything, and the more I hear a complaint the more likely I am to address it in game. I immensely appreciate tear downs like this. Thank you again for your time.