Thank you so much for taking the time to play and write this awesome feeback!
I watched the VoD and it was really enlightening to see someone play the game for the first time. I saw a lot of pain points that need improvement and I'm already working on them. Even some minor adjustments you mentioned like the color of each row made a lot of sense and it didn't cross my mind until then. I also had a good chuckle (and embarrassment) with the missing translation bug, should be fixed now along with the endless mode bug.
The reason the shop is not available at all times is because I want it to be a powerful checkpoint for elite/boss regions providing better items/pacts, do you think it is lacking in that regard? I'm also thinking of ways to make allies more synergistic with each other and player characters.
Also, there are healer/mage allies, you unlock more allies as you defeat boss regions (regions 10, 20 and 30). I realized by watching the video that this is not clear so I'll work on making it more intuitive.