You know, I never played Lisa but I might now.
I did play Undertale. My actual inspirations are a game called Knuckle Sandwich and the game everybody knows about, Earthbound.
I felt nervous during the whole process, kinda like stage fright but for "developers" (It feels weird to call myself a dev), but I achieved my goals which were to make a fully functioning game. There were lots of things that need polish but I am proud of myself for getting all the important things finished for a working prototype of something I'd see myself come back to later.
As for the combat difficulty scaling, I didn't want to sacrifice the game's gimmick of making it all about landing those perfect hits on the sphere. I also remember when I was young playing random home-made games from the internet, and many of them being utterly terrible but in a kinda cute way. So I was kinda just happy to re-create that "game dev early years" vibe I remember.
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You're definitely a dev and a good one. I would personally say the gimmick is still very relevant even if it's not necessary to win as it introduces a separation between the skill floor and skill ceiling. That will help get new players in as if they struggle from the get go they're less likely to stick around. But I totally understand if that's not what you want.
I would recommend Lisa, I think you'd like it!