They really do say that a lot. I wish they didn't, because there are still obvious things that will have to be done in the future as we progress. For example some generic human guys because we only have the armored picture now or some new clothes or a proper armor somewhere down the line.
Every time they said one of the phrases you quoted they just finished doing something necessary that took a lot of time and then started doing the next time consuming thing right away. A cleaner and less misleading communication would be something along the lines of "yes, this took a lot of time, but had to be done". Simple, truthful, no wishes or promises.
I honestly wonder how long a "simple" update would take them. Others have shown that Nomo's drawing speed has been consistent and the number of words written into each update has been going up, so in theory at least they could still make a new patch in ~3 months if no other complications came up.
I think it would be a good PR and business decision for them to just make a simple, streamlined update as fast as possible. Something like 3 months, 3-4 scene 2-3 reused sketch scene, a bit of story. No new assets, no new locations, no new characters, just work with what they have. Quick and to the point.