Thanks for your post, I appreciate your kind words and interest in my game!~ <3
The reason for the growing length between updates is because the aim for .29 is to really finish up a lot of what the game is supposed to be,so things like combat, quests, story, and items/shopping will be more carefully tweaked with the actual gameplay in mind rather than as aspects that have the foundations made but without being filled out.
The levelling is restricted to avoid issues before encounters are more tailored, though in hindsight I should have unrestricted it so that people could buy more skill points since the only way to currently get them is through levelling.
Questing is still being added to and adjusted, Lancet's quest is more of a test, so .29 will be a bit more fleshed out.
Part of .29 is adjusting the exploration mechanics to make the castle exploration more intentional.
The Village and the Forest of Dreams won't be in Act 1 of the game, but it will be in Act 2.
For more recent updates, I have a more informal devlog in my discord server, so if you're interested in seeing how progress on .29 is going feel free to drop by ^v^