I think you could have Tigey (was that the name?) be like "here's a free attack on the house!" after showing up, and that way you still have the initial moment of despair while getting the ability to farm score after that. Because I agree, the sense of despair is a fun part of that bit.
I wondered if it was possible to win without eating fish. There were a few spawn points that just made me way too nervous, anything where you had to curve near the edge of the screen.
Understandable about tying the song length to level length on Sunday, that makes sense! The music you used throughout the entire game was killer, I loved all of it.
Also, wanted to say I remember you from last year and your JRPG is still the game I've put by far the most time into during any of these jams lol