Overall mechanically I think things are fairly well balanced until Entertainment District 3, if you've used up your Dazzle Blasts at that point you pretty much have to save scum for some good luck. If you do have DBs you can still get hosed by RNG if you miss or just overly spread the damage. If you enter the alley already Slipping you will probably auto-lose to the Trainer without good RNG from either Hard Knocks or Hard Times. It's kind of a bummer since you can basically end up in a near-fail state on your game with no chance to recover short of just getting really lucky.
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This is by design. It's supposed to be a challenge, to make the host club a tempting alternative. Of course the club isn't in yet, so it's just extra punishing for now, but that'll be the structure of it eventually. You really should have at LEAST one Dazzle Blast at that point unless you've been wasting them though. The game gives you a ton. Some people were even carrying them over to the boss until I prevented that.