Direct modeling isn't a "lite" version of parametric CAD. It has no feature tree at all — which is exactly why it works so well on geometry that never had one.
History-based (parametric) modeling — the SolidWorks, Inventor, and Creo default — builds a part as a chained sequence of features, each one a parent that later features depend on: a sketch, then an extrude that consumes it, then a fillet that rounds an edge the extrude created, then a pattern that copies the fillet. Direct modeling — SpaceClaim, or SolidWorks' Move Face, or Fusion 360's direct-edit tools — throws that dependency chain out entirely and edits the finished solid's faces and edges directly, with no tree, no parent-child relationships, and nothing to regenerate. Neither one is a simplified version of the other. They are two different underlying strategies for representing "how do I change this shape," each with a real, distinct advantage the other doesn't have.