HOLY CRAP
You're not even close to properly communicating how intensely, cryptically difficult that game is. Playing it without a walkthrough would take more than one's lifetime.
And THEN there's the original free version which is even less user-friendly.
I'm too stubborn to look up wikis or walkthroughs, so what I've been doing is putting the game down for months at a time. Every time I come back to it I make a surprising amount of progress before I hit another wall. At this rate I might finally finish the game when I'm about 75.
This was my exact thought when I cracked it open.
Then I put it down.
And the cravings started...
(What a game!).
Link
Teacat
Consult a La-Mulana wiki lest you spend eternity trying every possible thing to figure out out to make progress! That game is non-stop obscure secrets.