First of all, please, refrain from double-posting. Use "Edit" button and multi-quoting features instead.
Now, to the posts themselves.
Difficulty setting have nothing to do with build-in story-related puzzles. The only thing that changes is the amount of Stamina and Willpower as well as some negative state resistances. Nothing more.
(Well, the "Spectator mode" also removes some events from the game, but that difficulty is a completely different matter and thus omitted.)
About the puzzles themselves. Well, this game contains lots of puzzle elements, ranging from simple timed skill usage ("Call the Yuuma's name") to a whole scripted battle where one mistake will lead you to an instant "GAME OVER" (I still hate you for that nightmare, Sphinx). Frustrating? Maybe. Unfair? No. Second Lucy battle is the very good example of giving the player a feeling of utmost despair while he is desperately thinking of what to do in a situation, where the only "visible" way is to give up and become the food to the Iron Maiden. And I'm grateful for such design - as it makes you, the player, to believe in the events that are happening on the other side of the screen.
(Also, that battle with Sphinx is very, very fun, with hilarious dialogue and great screen effects.)
About the battle system. It's hard and complex. It contains lots of elements, layers and states
as well as completely fucked up and retarded RNG that makes First Lap HARD (FOOD) Genocide run is nearly impossible. Yet, once you get a good grip on it, it becomes really enjoyable. You almost feel poor Kazuya being raped into submission while thinking in the overdrive what the hell you're supposed to do now. One of the best combat systems ever created. Also, it's very fun to take that system on another level by making yourself dominate over the enemy. See my recorded fight with Daji.
And lastly, about the machine translation. This game was created for the Japanese market and for the Japanese players. It wasn't designed to be sold overseas. Period. It was your choice to play it without knowing the language it was written on. You have no right to say that this game isn't accessible to occasional gamers, because it is.
@Lv1VillagerA,
@Shrifted and some other people are trying to create at least a partial translation for it, please, respect their work and be grateful that they are making it possible for you, the player without the knowledge of Japanese language, to be able to play this game. If you want to truly understand this game, spend some free time learning Japanese and then play it without the patch like I did, since, for now, it breaks more than it fixes. Or wait for the fun translation to become more professional. Or wait for an official translation, which was announced. Maybe, if you would understand the game it will be less frustrating for you.