Nooooo don't worry about it, I really appreciate the detailed feedback!!
The puzzle elements were definitely a challenge for me. Originally, the "hints" were gonna just be the preceding convos before the selection of each ingredient. I was gonna try and have ppl figure out recipes through the convos, but then I found it made the convos way too forced. You can see my attempt at it with the gryphon gunner though, with talking about sunny days before you choose sunflower, and then talking about courage/daring before you choose the made-up ale. Then I gave up and thought up a hint system instead lol. That particular example you brought up with the catalyst for the cat thief was something I really, really wracked my brain over. I didn't want too many characters to use the same ingredient (the rainwater) even though..... well, clouds are basically water. Maybe I didn't need to be worried about it, but I did want more variety in the spells at the time so I went with what I had. I do agree that the puzzle element could definitely be refined some more.
In the build I'm currently working on, I'm writing in a hint system where at the end of the spell the familiar will check one ingredient for you and tell you whether it's correct/incorrect. I'm making it so it can be only be done once per spell. Tbh, it feels I'm using the hint system as a bit of a crutch for the less satisfying puzzles.... buuut going in this direction with the game is giving me more ideas for the 5th day. Hopefully I can use what I've learned to make some satisfying endings, what I have planned for the 5th day so far breaks the mold a little...
re: the cloud mage, I had personalities in mind for each of the clients when I started writing the game, but I didn't really have any personalities in mind for the cloud mage and her familiar at all. Their personalities just emerged as I wrote the game. At some point I got the idea for night convos where the mage writes new info in her journal while the familiar initiates a few convos, and somehow the game grew into being more and more about the relationship between the mage and her familiar and how they bond over day-to-day events, so I'm glad to hear you liked their relationship! I think the cloud mage ended up business-minded because of the nature of the game. As for her reaction to the plant tamer, I tried to hint at how she was schmoozing him because ppl who garden/farm would have a lot of use for weather spells. She's trying to convert him into a regular customer, basically. And it's funny you should mention the gryphon gunner convo bc I left that specific convo blank for a while. I came back to it after I finished writing a couple of the other days and I still had no ideas for what to put in it so I just wrote in the first bit of filler I came up with. I guess it shows, pfffft.
I caught the two instances of bugs you mentioned, actually! I fixed them, but I haven't updated the game files yet... still in the middle of the hint system rehaul :X
Oh, and I think I've been using 'it' for the familiar, because it's a bird. I didn't really think of the familiar as having strong tendencies towards any gender.
ANYWAY!!! Thanks again for the detailed feedback, I really do appreciate it. It gives me a better idea of problem spots I can target in the puzzles and writing (๑و•̀ㅂ•́)و✧