The paid one time bench thing etc is for a narrative reason, the main point of the story as far as I played is about the church scamming people on every occasion. Money won’t be an issue once you reach act 2, I always have more money then I can spend even after buying out all merchants I’ve seen.
As for no benches in front of bosses it’s to discourage throwing yourself at the boss without reflecting on where to improve. The long runs I saw people complain about also were mostly like 2 screens. Worst bossrun so far was probably the judge which was only like 2 screens when you think about it.
I really enjoy the game so far, I’m about half way through act 2 I’d say so maybe it gets super hard later, but right now I think it’s very balanced between a bit challenging but not frustrating. I do feel that the game was created with players like me in mind, someone who did all pantheon, steal soul mode as well as all achievements in hk but is a little bit rusty from the long wait.
Oh wow I didn’t know the fleas moved there. Mine are still in greymore, maybe I should talk to them again sometime. I did get an achievement that I have half the fleas so I’m still missing a lot.
Ye I also don’t think it’s unreasonable, like I said I’m super rusty from not playing hk for quite a while. I do feel like a lot of people just forgot how hk played. I’m having a blast with the game so far, it’s lovely.