While gauging sentiment, I once came across someone saying that the UI looks like a spreadsheet, which is funny, because the buttons, dropdowns, checkboxes and scrollbars seen in the engine are remade versions of Visual Basic controls as they used to look back in Windows 95/98/ME. I literally used my version of Excel to study the pixel art for authenticity. Welp, in its current state, the project is more of a simulation software than a standalone game, anyway.
On the other hand, I'm left with... not much to go from there. If spreadsheet = bad, do I just need to add a brighter color scheme? Or different borders, font choice or size? There's probably some sort of UI etiquette I'm inadvertently violating... maybe I should get with the times and include tap and scroll touch controls. Customization has been an essential part of the engine since the beginning, so now I'll definitely include support for custom UI graphics in addition to characters and database entries in case it's just a visual issue. If it boils down to unsalvageable UI design, I've got some studying to do.
Thanks for leaving feedback, fren! Sorry for taking so long to write back; was sorting stuff out IRL.