Played every chapter when it was new so far. What a stupid mistake from the dev to not stopped when the game was good to a small group of people.
Well shit, how else would you like to learn more about the story and lore of the game? Getting a book in your inventory out of thin air that you can study or not? I can already see how people would claim there is no story at all because the inventory resembles their brain, never to be used in life to avoid investing time.
The dev explained several times the level up system was removed to keep a certain difficulty range. The more you explore, the easier it gets. Classic RPG stuff, leveling alone was never the only true option.
There are limits to RPG Maker games and what can be done. Not everyone is a seasoned pro and can bend it to its limits just like that. You might know that already unless this is your first RPG Maker game and you try to act clever now out of need for attention.