Same feelings here. What you said is basically the reason why I like Farewell a lot more. One thing I liked is how it combines all the gimmicks introduced in the base game for Farewell single levels (and adding some new) which makes the challenge more complex, while I was playing it I felt the base game should've used its gimmicks this way instead of a single gimmick per chapter. Not to mention the wavedashing as a core mechanic (really hard to dominate); some people say Farewell is overly difficult, I think that's what makes the self-improvement message convey a lot better.