There's a pretty devastating softlock + save issue. It doesn't seem like stat upgrades get saved, only the your story progress, money, and Frens you've collected. So whenever a save file is loaded, each Fren reverts back to their base stats. This is made worse because the final boss room has places where you can get softlocked before you can trigger the dialogue/fight:
<- don't go here, you will be trapped.
This happens on the right side as well. Reloading a save to solve the softlock resets everyone's stats, which then makes the boss fight impossible, I'm guessing, unless you grind back to where you were.
I still had a good time with the game, though. It was nice being surprised by the wide variety of things referenced in the Fren roster, and the art and music was great. I'll probably try again later with a new team.