The first game was better than this one. Buggy dungeons that every time you press advance often gets stuck in the same stage and when you finally reach the end of the dungeon your companions have 1hp , you only can get coin in works by selling your body, less interactions with characters than the first game, unlimited chats with companions x day but study and train doesnt work (it doesnt upgrade stats)... if i keep playing im sure i will find more but i cant play anymore for now.
This game is still in the demo phase, it's already made great strides. It's buggy, incomplete and a bit confusing. But I think you're a little unfair.
I'm having no problems with the dungeons (had the bug you mentioned on the earlier versions, but not on 0.3.0e.)
As for money, that's easy. I start off by fishing, selling all the fish, doing quests, whenever possible upgrade the amount of missions I can do, make sure I have two melee weapons and two characters with the knight class and just spam fire cleave.
Oh, and make sure to train your slaves while dating. Go to the date menu, click on train and nothing else at first.
By day 19-21, I am usually the mayor and no longer have to make payments any more.