I would like to give some advice. firstly around the combat, the fight I'm currently stuck on is way WAY to hard. you just don't get enough stamina and when you doge your stuck since usually  by the time your attacked again you have just enough to doge again and if they do it 2 times quickly  in a row you basically fucked and have to just eat the damage. It could just be a skill issue from me but I don't think it is. I would recommend either to do one of these few things,

1 stamina regen faster 2 make dodging cost less or 3 after parry's their stunned for a second or 2. or 4 just make it like half a second longer till you get hit or have to press a key. (and also sometimes the input just doesn't work/register and I get hit anyway?!?!?)

secondly my items are gone. I used them than died and now I don't have them back... I don't know if that's intentional or not.

anyway I think its way too difficult and I've been trying for like and hour and a half and i only made it to the second phase like... 5 times and I'm not gonna try for another hour or 2 just to get all my stamina depleted and just have to sit there and tank the hits and die

this game has doki doki literature club vibes, i like it. Were you inspired by it?