still haven't managed to take ome time and play further than the intro. Last time I wanted to take the time I accidentially selected "exit" and the game exited right without any confirmation. I was just done with the introduction part... doh.

Back to the menu:
On my system they are too fast. I tend to skip the option I originally wanted to select because it switches so fast to the next one. You could improve that a bit.
I haven't played Secret of Mana much, but I wondered why I can equip weapons directly from the main menu whereas for armor I have to go to a sub menu first.

The bear hunting was a bit strange to play. I wondered how the game would play if double tipping a directio key enables running isntead of Shift. Maybe it's worth a try.

I found some minor mistakes in the texts - you should check them again.

But now to the positive things. This game is really fun and I like what I've seen so far. You came further than msot people here trying to create such kind of game alone. That deserves a "well done"!
The flair of a console classic is there, so keep on improving the game.
I think when taking a look at the proposals odne in this thread and picking some of them, you can make a really great game.

I will report again once I played more than the ship wreck sequence.