The game isn't really supposed to be a JRPG, but it can be seen as such I guess. I'd say what you feel is relevant and I know that the gameplay is not perfect, but I am a solo developer so I can't just implement all the systems needed for it to feel complete and good.
The artwork style, while not ideal, I'd say works better than just showing their full portraits. Due to how I've designed combat to be based around the position of a character on the field, it would be difficult to make the full portraits have good visibility. You can already see them on the side.
I know currently combat feels a bit sluggish due to the larger than usual HP pools, but that is intentional in the sense that I have plans on reducing the amount of times you need to play the same stages.
For stats, I don't want to give freedom to players with stuff like items and any sort of powerups. I have three reasons for that. First, it doesn't really make sense lore wise. Second, it is not in the ability design philosophy I have. Third, I want to give the vision of the character I have with their given stats. While it would probably be fun to customize them in some way, I do think its going to be a hindrance in the long run. At least if its done in a very freeing way. I am not saying that there won't be another power up mechanic in the game, but it just won't be very free for you to customize.
Exploration isn't really a gameplay focus of this game and I don't see why it should be. As I said, I don't focus to make a JRPG - just a game with a gacha system for collecting lots of muscular girls.
I know it is a shame to see my past two games not being actively developed. Expanding Horizons just got too complicated to develop as I was a novice programmer and the spaghetti code just piled on and on. As for Growing Explorations, I still intend to do one final update to finish it off. Don't know when that will be
I am glad you like the game and I am very happy you enjoy the art! Takes quite a bit of time to make it. This project will continue to progress, but be on the lookout of something new incoming too in the (hopefully) not too distant future. (Doesn't mean this game will be deprecated though)
I really appreciate your comment and all the feedback you've given! I'll for sure make use of it when developing the game! Thank you!