I laughed, but on the other hand, Blow's not exactly wrong. I also had to start my game over 30 minutes in after getting irreversibly stuck (ran out of weights) in Temple of the Sun, or whatever the area's called.
Your response might be, "why didn't you carry more weights," or even more, "what are you doing in the Sun Temple 30 minutes into the game?" But the reality is that the game doesn't really offer you that kind of guidance. If you're new to the game, how are you supposed to know that you shouldn't leave the first area until you've found the holy grail, or heck, even until you've beaten the first boss?
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it a "poor" game design, but it's most certainly a punishing design in a world where few games allow one to be trapped in that manner. People are conditioned to expect that there's always a way out of an unwinnable situation, but that's just not the case in La-Mulana.
(I do like the game.)