About Story mode, it should really be called a Hard Mode, as you should attempt it probably in the very end, after you get really good with the sandbox and figure out all the useful moves. It will punish you for every single mistake at some point. So, you have to consider basically every click you make, all the experience you gain, all the skills you learn.

About the main game, you're a bit mistaken. It's not a CRPG, it's rogue-lite, which means you will be losing. That's the way the genre works. For example, there are so called bonus points, which can make your life much easier, but you earn some of them by having Game Overs, and you get more of them when you play without saves, which means you are probably replaying them all over. And to know what skills will work you'll need experiments.

And in my opinion it works okay. Being defeated doesn't mean having a game over, it means getting an 18+ scene, so you're not wasting your time losing, you can kinda enjoy losing and getting used to the battle system.

Yeah, I agree that 90% of skills are worthless, and developers should consider taking out at least some of them, or making them like being extremely situational. But you absolutely can learn to make viable builds and defeat your opponents. You may check out wiki, Stats, Skills, Walkthrough pages, and anything else. Maybe it helps. Yes, the game has a pretty rough start, but that's what makes the adventure feel real for you. When you go around and pound their asses you know it's because you are better. And if you decide to go satisfy some enemies, you don't feel yourself a lazy whore. You could defeat them if you wanted, you just made a gift to them. That's much better than just having buttons to tap and mana to manage.

For me personally, the combat of ToA is it's primary draw, moreso than the content, even. I find that most turn-based RPGs are far to simple for my tastes, and so we can agree that the game's combat system has a far higher degree of complexity than most turn-based rpg combat systems.

There are several things I like about it:

• Each stance keeps the number of options that you have moment-to-moment relatively limited, while at the same time allowing for a lot of different moves.
• What is most effective in combat depends on how your character is built, which blends the JRPG style mechanics and the WRPG style mechanics seamlessly.
• All 6 attributes are meaningfully baked into how the game is played, allowing you to have multiple unique playstyles & meaningful choice.
• I actually find stance-driven combat to be more intuitive as a martial artist than non-stance-based combat systems. 
• As a rouge-lite RPG, the game's difficulty actually feels fair to me-- fair the way that X-com's hardest difficulty mode is fair. I don't want or expect the game to be unfair in my favor. 
• Each level up offers me a linear increase in my character's power-level, which I appreciate a lot. Each level requires the same amount of experience points as each previous level, which I also appreciate.
• It feels meaningful to choose between saving up my points for more powerful abilities/upgrades and spending a lesser amount to broaden my horizons. 
• The turn-based nature of the game allows me to go at my own pace with it, which I appreciate.
• Furthermore, the turn-based nature of the combat system means that Hiro's skill-level or ability to overcome challenges is based on how Hiro is built mechanically, rather than my technical skill as the player, which helps me immerse myself in the Role-Play.
• I particularly like how the amount of strategic information that you, the player, have to work with depends on Hiro's perception level. (It's an intelligence/wisdom stat that actually makes the character feel intelligent/wise.)

Honestly, I'd really like to see a game like this but without it being NSFW just so I can share it with more people.