Yeah, I can empathize with that.
I was fortunate to have a skilled artist on my team. Your animation far surpasses anything I could manage in a week. I would basically have had the opposite problem, where it would have ended up looking and sounding like garbage.
I wouldn't underestimate the value of aesthetics. They give a game its charm; without it, it's hard to get people to even give it a chance. Hang in there!