Thank you very much for your in-depth thoughts, and I'm glad you enjoyed MERCANOID!
While a lot of effort did go into the smut, an equal amount of effort went into character and story, so I don't really mind at all. ♥ As for combat, it's my hope that it's more engaging than just mashing Attack, but without veering into puzzle territory for every single fight - it sounds like that balance has been struck nicely with you. But interesting, something I've found in feedback is different people swear by different weapons, which is great to read for a game with a much more limited sandbox to future projects I have in mind with larger scope.
On the topic of modification: Pauses? Do you mean when you're opening Dialogs, like the inventory windows? I've not encountered any delay in those, so that's a little odd. As for this limitation - it was done to cut down on any bugs that might've occurred on my end from actively adjusting a weapon's stats whilst equipped, as well as shaving the Modification scripts a little. But I'll keep it in mind.
Again, glad you enjoyed! ♥