I'm glad the usage of soundfonts worked out! Honestly, I do own professional plug-ins, but I've been making music with retro soundfonts for years, and it's probably what I'm most comfortable with. So, I thought it was the best choice for this undertaking. Plus, soundfonts are just vibey to me.
I appreciate the mix of genuine compliments with criticism. All of your criticisms are things that I more or less thought of when I took a step back, so I think that's a good sign? There are definitely some things I would have changed had I had more time.
I also know mixing is definitely not one of my strong points currently. It's definitely something I need to work on soon. I actually experimented more with EQs on this project than I normally am used to.