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I never found out what was causing it, so if you figure it out, let us know!

I wager it's something cosmetic I was doing to my character, since I had a preset customization I was pasting in from several versions ago. I really have no idea, though. On a final run of the game, I opted to just grab Puppet first while doing as little as possible of anything else.

Fortunately, besides providing you with an early Bone Lance, it's not a very great companion, it just looks cool. You're not necessarily missing much if you don't get it.

I don't want to spoil it. It's just some little fun stuff that you can't get through Debug.

You have to talk to the puppet next to the final dungeon.

To add to what proflational said, note that sacrificing Size gives a lot more ability points than the others. Just keep sacrificing and stay at level 1 or 2 (or 10 or 20, because I like multiples of 10).

Not 0, since you should keep at least one stat point in a "main" stat to make the Strange Fruit bonus go to the stats you want. Don't worry about increasing the ability tree for the stat you like the most. They're mostly disconnected mechanics, just grab what's useful.

In the main plaza of Town, look for the building with a green sign in front of it. Talk to them rather than Trade, and you should see the option to Transmute Essences.
(The name was a joke lol)

You can also find a similar NPC in the Ruins Dungeon and, I think, the Facade Dungeon.

Little easter egg I found, since I'm trying to unearth the last stuff I didn't know about this game: in the deeper floors of the Sewers (I found this on floor 22), there's a valve that can show up. Turn it and the fountain in town turns back on, allowing you to get a free 10% growth boost to all stats, as long as you keep interacting with the fountain when you return from a dungeon.

In other news, trying to find the last of the Rena puppets. Anyone know where all 6 of them are? There's 2 in town, 1 in the canyon, 1 on the beach... where's the last 2?

EDIT: Found 'em. There's 1 at the Docks and 1 at the Electric Mine (top of the entrance to the canyon, next to the save point).

And by the way, if you want to redeem the prize for finding them all, you have to talk to the puppet next to the final dungeon.

Sorry, afraid I don't know how to fix that. :P

If you're talking about the Sewers, you have to fight the boss that shows up on floor 5 (or 10). They drop the key that opens the door on floor 0.

If you're holding a certain sword that makes you grow when you hit enemies with it, take it off, it saps your AP.

Yeah. The amount you can zoom is based on your body, but the system is kinda jank and doesn't respond to Bust very well.

By the way, for anyone wondering how long it takes to beat the game (i.e. kill final boss and unlock debug mode), I was able to finish it in 2 hours 41 minutes without using console, bugs, or exploits.

If you want an easy vanilla path, here's a mini-guide (and I'm sure someone could optimize this):

Run a mix of Bust and Size. Scrounge up 200 gold around town, then go into the tavern and grab Solon (the big purple gal with the throwing knives).

From here, prepare yourself and do either Sewers or Lich Dungeon. Stay in the dungeon until you find the root and pull the nail out, AND Solon reaches 10 affection so she won't leave. Get the blacksmith key from near Lich Dungeon and grab a magic rod from the blacksmith. Prepare yourself again and go to the Docks, fight through to the dude at the fence and jack 'em for his Dock Key, then use the Dock Key to unlock the back gate.

Look around for some bright red crystals growing out of the ground, because there is a guaranteed Red Hot Fetish, the most overpowered weapon in the game.

Pick it up and then go to the bridge, down into the mines, and into Crystal Cave, because essence drop rates are highest down there. Kill stuff until you reach about 200 in Bust and Size from essences, then leave and run to the Final Dungeon (go towards the tower, enter the bamboo forest, hook a left somewhere, down onto the beach, through the cave, fight off the bunny, and there you are).

Pick up everything you see, and feel free to leave and save on any floor. You should find a lot of essences and pure metals here, which you may want to take back to town after a few floors, but you are probably powerful enough at this point to kill the final boss.

Does fixing Puppet work in 6.8? I've found Puppet dozens of times, I've even seen it pop up in town, but no matter how many essences I have on me, it never gives me the option to interact with it.

EDIT: I was able to fix broken puppet the first time I saw it on a new save. No idea what the heck the difference was. I was earlier in the game than I was on the other save, so maybe stats can break it?

EDIT 2: I found Raving Fan, he is NOT from the bandit boss. To get Fan, you have to defeat Lesser Commander, who is hanging around to the right of the alternative gate to get into the second area (skip the entrance to the Docks and keep following the wall).

Leveling is mainly for the ability trees. You get stronger by collecting Essences. They're found in higher quantities in deeper floors of dungeons, and some dungeons drop more than others. In the meantime, take advantage of the fruit tree (next to the Sewer entrance), the town slime (the purple dude near the front gate), and the workout weights (behind one of the buildings in town). Experiment with different weapons, too. Status effects aren't particularly fair in this game.

Don't eat Essences as you pick them up, either. Go to an apothe-christ and get them converted to the stat your weapon is using.

Also, find companions. Some are stronger than others.

I don't know where they all are, since I'm still missing at least two (Fan and Puppet), and I also don't have their names since I'm writing this from memory. Not counting the tavern, here's the ones I know about:

- Giant Rat from Sewers (I think it's 5th floor(?); beat the rat with the red hair)
- Slime from Lich Cave (find Lime Slime inside the dungeon, who will likely blend into the crowd, talk to him and give him any potion)
- Chimera from the Docks
- Kobold from Dragon's Cave (give about 1000 gold or something and the option opens up)
- Bunny Samurai from the entrance to the cave leading to the tower
- Rockeater from Crystal Cave (I think it's 30th floor, unlocking this one is hard but it's hard for a reason)

EDIT:
- Fan is from Lesser Commander (see my other comment)
- Puppet shows up randomly (it can even show up in town!). Note, you need an empty essence to activate Puppet, and once you do, it moves to the Tavern in town, where you can hire it for 50.

You actually cannot hire most of the minibosses. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but besides Chimera and Bun, the only other one you can hire (and the only one I missed on this list) is
- Barrel Master (near front of town)

Does anyone know how to fix Broken Puppet? I've seen it everywhere, but it won't let me talk to it.

When you leave town, go to the left, you should see it in the valleys.

Nope, the game in general won't be getting any more updates, at least not for a while. DFB's going on hiatus and afterwards is moving on to other projects.

Which probably isn't too surprising, since the first build for this game was uploaded 5 years ago (it's been on Itch for almost 3).

I messaged the dev with this question a couple of days ago, and they said the last update will be up for free some time this week, so hopefully. No idea exactly when, though.

The way this game works is kind of "win before the battle begins". Meaning, prepare before you venture out. I've been playing this game for a while, here's some tips you might find useful:

STARTING TIPS:
- Your level doesn't matter, you will probably spend most of your levels upgrading the talent tree. The real prize you're going for is Essences, which raise your stats permanently. There's a few them behind some fences around town. You don't have to spec into Muscle for those, just find/buy some Muscle Potions, drink two, and that's enough. Grab them at the start of the game for some extra power, they don't respawn.

- So, the real question is, how do you get your stats up so you can explore for essences? Well, here's a really helpful starter boost: drudge up 50 gold (loot the non-huge barrels in the house near the gate, run around and loot whatever you find on the ground, sell whatever isn't an essence). Use 25 gold at the slime to receive a boost (you want to use the slime every time you return to town), and then buy a fruit at the tree next to the Sewers. Together with the gym buff, you can start whatever dungeon you want at a much higher "level" than you would normally would be at. These buffs are only lost upon exiting a dungeon. Continued below...

- The slime will give you the buff you ask for, with access to a higher bonus as you do it more times. The fruit will buff your stats in proportion to the level of the fruit* and the stats you currently have LEVELS in (essences and other buffs aren't counted). What I do is that I choose one or two stats I want to focus on (pick any of them, but don't pick all of them at the start), and keep at least 1 point in it permanently, keeping everything else at 0. That way, when you eat a fruit, all of its buff goes towards your primary damage stat(s).
* The fruit is leveled up by removing nails from roots that show at certain levels in dungeons. I don't know where they all are, but I know one can be found in the Sewers (at the well in the back of town), and another can be found pretty early in the Lich's cave (to the left after leaving town).

ESSENCES?:
- Now, where do we find Essences? Early, you can find them occasionally in the Sewers and the Facade Dungeon (to the right after leaving town). Make sure to search barrels and grass as you pass by them, since they can drop empty essences. Those gray balls can be turned into an essence of your choice at the Apothecary in town, but that's really expensive. It's a little more time-consuming, but much much cheaper, to just enter either the Facade Dungeon or (later) the Ruins Dungeon and use the Fountains that show up in them. Each Fountain can convert an uncharged essence for you for free.

OTHER TIPS:
- Take Dodge from the start of the Leg tree immediately. Many of the attacks in the game, especially ranged attacks, can be dodged, but only if you have this skill. Not taking it means losing a lot of battles that you otherwise would have won by just using Dodge -> <any growth skill>.

- Drop the broken sword or put it in your off-hand (it grants an exp bonus if you upgrade it). Fix the blacksmith first (either by doing the Sewers or finding the key outside) so you can buy a weapon relevant to your chosen stat.

- Size, for some reason, grants way more points for the talent tree than any other stat. Size isn't my thing, but I still tend to splurge it straight to max before anything else because it lets you easily afford the buffs on its tree, the overall tree on the left, and the first-tier buffs on the other trees. Size also unlocks an ability that increases exp gained from crushing enemies outside of battle, which significantly cuts down on farming if you end up wanting to farm the talent trees.

- Get companions. Any companion. You can use the Tavern in town to hire mooks, unlock the giant rat companion from the Sewers, find Lesser Commander and steal his peon, etc, etc. The guy in the straw hat from the tavern is the fastest to get at the start. He doesn't seem very good because he's not, but here's how this works: the more you fight with a companion, the more they will let you modify them. It doesn't take very long. A legit strategy is to grab Mr. BlankWhite, fight until you can change his stats, reallocate him to Bust, give him a lightning staff, and watch him go ham.
Even better, companions tend to draw aggro, and are capable of fighting on even if you die, as long as they're still alive. They make (most of) the game much, MUCH easier.

Some SPOILERS here:

If you've already found Real Blacksmith, the key doesn't do anything. It's only used to allow the first, fake, blacksmith to sell you items without having to complete the Sewers. If you gave that guy the key, the shop would shut down again after freeing Real Blacksmith until you found the swindler in the field to return the shop stock.

If you never delivered the key to the fake blacksmith, but still freed Real Blacksmith, he will just open his shop like normal. The blacksmith's key will still be findable out in the field, but it won't serve any purpose since nobody needs it (Real Blacksmith is able to get into his own house just fine, apparently).

Are you sure it's the blacksmith's key (name of it just says "Key", but the description when you mouse over it will mention the blacksmith)? Also, where did you end up finding it? Once you have the key, all you have to do is hand it over to the blacksmith by talking to him, then the Trade option will open up.

Alternatively (if you start a new save), you can just do the other blacksmith quest and ignore the key entirely.

EDIT: I was on the Patreon build, so just to make sure, I downloaded and checked for the key on the Free build, too. I found the key in the exact same place as in the screenshot.

I found the key on the path to the left after leaving town. If it's randomized, like the other guy said, I'd add that it was sitting amidst some big, conspicuous, glowing rocks and I was able to pick it up with no battle.