ALL companies spend lots to advertise and market (esp. place) their products. Bike tool manufacturers are selling into a specialized market. For a specialized market they have to develop specialized - and relatively low-volume - products. Such development is expensive so the the specialized tools tend to be expensive. The volume is low so the margin must be high. Some advice:

There is a LOT of re-branding and foundry sourcing in the market. The foundries - e.g. Lifu - make pretty darn good tools and you will pay a lot for them under a well-known brand. Instead, look for "house" or discount brands and you will likely get the same tools a lot cheaper. Spin Doctor (Performance) is a decent house brand. Even the Harbor Freight bike tool kits are pretty decent.

Don't buy the un-specialized tools like digital calipers and torque wrenches from "bike tool" makers (or marketers). They use the implication that their versions of these tools is somehow superior in the specialized application. They're not; they are the same tool with a hefty margin. For instance, I recently compared a Nashbar 1/4" torque wrench to the Harbor Freight version. Nashbar was pushing it as a "house" alternative to the even more expensive Park Tool wrench and had it on sale for about $60. The Harbor Freight version at $20 was the exact same tool.

One unfortunate side-effect of "buying from your local bike shop" is that the brands offered are generally uniform if there is a large selection, or if non-uniform like a small shop stocking what they think is the best the selection is pretty small and generally limited to tools for "modern" bikes. I'll buy local if I can find a good deal, but now that I'm not looking for basic tools, I more often go to BikeToolsEtc where the selection is much broader and includes stuff you'll never see in local stores.

To get started, buy a small Spin Doctor Essentials kit or the equivalent. (Warning: This advice depends on the vintage and type of bike you're dealing with.) For more generic stuff, go with the level of quality you are comfortable with: Harbor Freight/Craftsman/Snap-On. If you have tools that work - like the little crescents you mentioned - then by all means use them. Certain jobs you don't want to use non-specialized tools for. A pipe wrench will "work" on a bottom bracket - maybe even twice. A Stilson #10 might get that freewheel off, too. But short of driving into a concrete abutment it's also a good way to ruin the bike. More experience - and advice - will steer you around those boondoggles.


P.S. I don't mean to diss brands like Park Tool. PT in particular does excellent product development. They often have a 'better' version of a classic tool. Go for these like they have boobies. Just don't assume that all tools with that "really good" brand are Miss California.