Yep.
Other tiers have some extra benefits, but if you only want the game the basic one is enough.
If you get in literally today, the most you'll get is access to updates and polls to decide how the rest of the game will be shaped.
That being said, I plan to make early test build availible at the start of may for patreon volunteers, and actual update with fixes released about week after that. So in short, you'd get to play the 1st major update before the 2nd payment date would come.
While I'd love for as many people as possible to play it, I feel like it'd be unfair on the people who directly supported it during development (or after it by buying it).
I don't plan for it to be a pricy thing despite all the improvements and larger size than my previous titles, so I think that's fair.
I'm not certain how well it'll work with putting it on itchio, but I'll try both. It'll 100% be availible for direct download on my Patreon. If I can also manage a full release here I'll do it (though with a small pricetag). Steam release would be separate and probably more costly considering how large of a cut goes to Valve.
To complete the demo? About 3 hours I guess.
For me to make the next major update? About a month (availible for patreon people).
For the FULL game to be done? About 5 more months. (Again, patreon. Though I'll try to put it on steam when it's done, but it'll be more expensive there cause Valve takes most of the money.)
It will be possible to do a melee run, but it'll be very clunky and probably annoying, as you're not a trained warrior. There will be many more spells to make the magic more interesting though.
And the whole point of playing as Vectron is <because> he's not a foot slave material. (So you can either RP as him trying to stand up for himself, or slowly degrade his self-esteem to the point where he becomes one.)
When we're talking ,,bigger", think sideways. Beating it once in lineral way will be probably similar-ish to Adventure Call (maybe a bit longer), but this one is planned to have huge replayability value. With different routes and content availible depending on your choices.
So ye, in one run? Let's say idk, 20% longer.
In ALL runs? Twice? Thrice?
#1 The hospital was made in a week to make it in as a halloween joke.
This one I already spent a few months with, and intend to another half a year (give or take). It's going to be much larger and better than anything I did in Adventure Call.
The #2 is simply not happening. If anything the amount is going to increase. It's either that or no images at all. And you'll be hard pressed to find many people who'd like a femdom/foot fetish game with absolutely zero actual feet being visible throught the whole title.
As for the random fights offering no rewards, I'm adding more random drops to them right now, so that every wild beast after the intro has a chance of giving you stuff. Because it's a fair criticism, and if there will be a chance to fight something in the wild you should at least get some potential profit out of it.
What you've described is the very first fight of the intro. One that, mind you, can be soloed by Vectron himself without even having Alexander in the party. (I've done that several times when testing, though granted it's not 100% win rate with only one character.)
The whole Demon Queen boss fight is designed in such a way that making it even easier than it already is would be actively preventing people from the ,,actual content" you mentioned. As for the fights you have any trouble with, Wind Lashes spam + Strong Attack (true, RNG based, but it's the identical one the entire Adventure Call was built on) cleans up everything with barely any damage done to the party (dragon is an exception, but you get 100% healed after it).
And idk what you mean by ,,no healing", you literally have a character with a heal spell. Not only that, she even has an amulet that regenerates HP if you don't want to use any of the potions or wine that you loot in the castle.
Either way, that's literally just the intro. You don't use RNG based attacks afterwards, and you'll get plenty of opportunities to find healing items.
Hina's storyline has 2 possible outcome.
You either beat her twice, she leaves, and you can then befriend her friend in Noblesse Oblige at night, or you lose to her at least once to unlock another bad ending, also in Noblesse Oblige at night.
The progress is slow and steady, just like it was on this one. Plenty of plans for it(and other projects) that are still in motion.