Like, for real though, if y'all have suggestions or ideas I'll definitely be open to it! Most of the time, when I ask for suggestions for the combat, I end up with responses like "Make it better" which is kinda vague to say the least, so I'll definitely appreciate any suggestion and ideas for specific issues y'all have with the combat system!
Issue with the combat system, as I see it, is that it's attempting to replicate something from the show that doesn't necessarily fit with the game.
Naruto, as a show, is of a decidedly different genre to Jikage Rising. Where Jikage Rising is a porn game themed around mind control and the corruption of female characters towards sexual ends, Naruto is a shounen show themed around the ideas of friendship/cooperation and violence being a means to an end that should be disdained before it turns towards lethal ends.
It's likely impractical to cut the game's combat system entirely, given how many elements of the game (such as the capturing of certain characters and the obtaining of items necessary for the outfit system) are tied to it, but my first reaction would be to argue for attempting to cut it from the game even so.
I understand it's one of the systems that provides players with things to do outside of reading through scenes with the girls, so I would say that the system should be replaced with something else, such as a strategic system in which combat and missions are abstracted. The previous Act 2 Intel/mission system caused many problems, but something along those lines still feels as though it would fit the game better; ordering around other people feels a much better system than a direct combat system.
If cutting it is infeasible (which would be understandable), then my direct suggestion would be to cut down on the number of skills available. Focus on a smaller number of skills that can be numerically balanced easier; perhaps each character could have one or two skills with different levels of direct damage and status effects, and upon venturing into combat, you're asked which characters you want to take along, with the option to form a 'default party'. Examples include:
- The main character, as someone to whom raw combat means relatively little, seems the perfect person to inflict relatively little raw damage but inflict 'Confusion'-style effects that cause enemies to attack each other or waste turns while DoT effects tick down.
- Sakura, as a combat medic in training, is the perfect character to serve as a health and status healer, and as the character most likely to be obtained first (especially as such a system would intrinsically encourage you to take her along and progress her path naturally along the way), also your first character with a relatively hard-hitting attack.
- Ino could be someone who inflicts a variety of mental status effects, similar to the main character; confusion and berserk, most likely. An 'ultimate attack' could be to give you temporary control over a single opponent for a number of turns equal to her chakra capacity, at the cost of leaving Ino's body open to attack.
- Tenten could simply be an AoE damage dealer with varying levels of damage and chakra expenditure.
- Hinata could be a single-target damage dealer with attack-down debuffs and a stun attack.
Obviously, these aren't perfect as they're only thoughts occurring to me as I type out this post, but something along those lines would likely be preferable to the current system. It places the emphasis on growing your overall strength by mind-controlling the girls under your purview, rather than increasing your own personal strength, and the big draw of the game is seeing the girls, so encouraging you to use them in combat fits with the main appeal of the game.