I know this might not be the proper place for this, but I'm rather pissed off, so you'll excuse me if I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here.
You should've made this into a Rant-view for the memes, funny stuff, but in all seriousness, Shrift is far from fallen from grace, at worst you could argue they switched priorities/focuses, but in terms of quality, they did actually improve by a lot (higher quality animations and scenes, more gameplay aspects etc.).
1&2. I do admit it can be a Grindy game, but there are strats to optimize that grind (there are comments detailing some of those strats, such as the one close to after yours), to the tune of easily clearing the last dungeon, on hard, preferably at night, with all the Exp boost Weapon add-ons equipped (each unique one stacks, so you should equip the x1.1, x1.3 and x1.5), and Kage-onna (Shadow Lady) to find the Elemental Weakness of the rare Flame wisps that give bonus exp, you can easily grind levels upon levels even at >80 lvl.
Also you should reliably be at least >lvl 60 to be doing decent against Demons reliably. That goes double if you choose a Faith-reliant build, as your damage will scale on your max Faith (max HP). Pro-tip, hit up the gym daily, alternating each of the 3 exercises, until you'll have the Max lvl (10) for each buff per day (this will give you much increased max Faith, Vit, and other stats, including PASSIVE REGEN FOR BOTH).
Honestly, playin' on Hard, I think this game is wayyyy easier than the first, as that one was quite limited on the resources you had at your disposal at any given point, whereas here, you can easily grind yourself to lvl 99, and have immense passive regen, to the point of the only challenging fight so far having been the current last one of the Chapter 2, and even that one, only if you don't rush the initial phase of the fight.
3. I do think it's a bit annoying to not have that specific option, I might add it soon to the Mod that I already have for the game (when Ch2 is finished, when I'll also add the new monsters to the Fight Gallery etc.).
However, you can remove UI by pressing Shift. Also switch perspectives of the H-scene, when available (shows top-right if possible) by pressing Q. Fast-forward text might not be in the normal game, but it sure works if you use MTool (also used for Translating the game).
4. This is literally what you should expect of most niche games, honestly, especially those in foreign languages. Inevitably, Japanese speakers will be able to find more info on this game, and this still will remain relegated to threads on forums for the most part. It's not every game that gets its own dedicated wiki, no matter if it's a high-quality h-game or not. Just look at the Circle-tequa games, or even from RR Research Society, and you'll also see that you don't quite have a database for them, either. But realistically, that's far from the game's fault.
You also compared Shrift to MGQ, considering how big and how much of a staple MGQ is as a game series, bigger in scope, in length, in content, and even having an ongoing sequel series. That's as fair as currently comparing Helldivers 2 with the entire Call of Duty series, even if Helldivers 2 is a higher-quality game than each one of them. MGQ obviously has more photos on image boards, hell even on the clear internet, with a Wiki for both MGQ series and mods as well.
Last part was a bit cringe, but at least you got it out of the system. In the end, Shrift is quite clearly an H-game, just as much as some games that barely have sexual CG in them, and a small variety of them at that. You simply don't like the 2nd game on a personal level, and that's fine.
Many of you people(speaking about others not you) are playing the game wrong because I checked out some of your save files and you all don't use the death indulgence accessory. You have to use the red death indulgence in order to properly feed your demon girls and grind sp fast. For farming, use siren and equip an accessory that boosts magic as she has useful spells that outclass every other demons for farming, also recovers both hp and mp after the end of every battle. Max out your spell tree especially the attack all ones. Buy medicine and nutrient pills for the night debuffs; spend your days either at the gym or stores to replenish supplies. Only go to the hotel and farm at night as day time is a waste of resources... yes, the grind is still annoying but manageable as you can max lv in 10-30 mins depending on luck.
You spoke perfect gospel, aside from using Siren as the partner, how you missin' out on my girl Kage Onna, she has that innate Analyze skill to use to see the Elemental Weakness of the Flame Whisps, since they peace out immediately if you don't guess right their weakness.
You can get that skill also from Weapon add-ons, but honestly, I'd keep those slots for the 3 Exp boosters that we currently have (and here's hopin' for more in the future, for the x2.0 one maybe).
