That extra challenge sounds like a masochistic one rofl. The Train stage gave me nightmares and I don't intend to do it again anytime soon with even more hurdles than the game physically intends to put on the player.
I literally maxed out to Level 30 before I could finish it on Very Hard.. I probably had some shit tier luck.
But you're right, Ichika might become useless at Level 1, considering that if luck is on your side and you get a Battlehawk, you can oneshot all common mobs. Seriously, how the fuck does a simple ass pistol do more damage than a semi automatic military sniper rifle? And speaking of Pistols, the Revolver is good enough as an infinite ammo two-shotter, but the Cyber Pistol is worse than even the default gun. I think it needs some balancing, like making it fully auto and also having it become more accurate while firing instead of losing accuracy.. explain it away through it being an alien weapon idk
PS: Seeing the Battlehawk
completely disintegrate mob enemies with one shot while you're buffed, is a wondrous sight to behold.