The reason I rewrote some scenes was because I just wasn't relating to the MC anymore. I wanted Iris to be a bit more mature since it always did feel like she wizened up and changed her mind a little too fast about Alden at the very end. I wanted to show her growth more during the whole story. And yeah, a lot of the things you mentioned I thought were too cheesy and I took them out. I guess MC was too influenced by all the teen dramas I was watching at the time that now I can't stand watching lol. Maybe I took it too far in the opposite direction. I remember receiving criticism at the time that the MC was too annoying lol, so I know nothing will please everyone. But for this very reason I still keep the old version up on my blog. If anyone likes the original more, it will always be there.
The MC not having a sprite was because I noticed I enjoy it more in VNs and makes it easier for the player to insert into the character and makes it more "their story". I feel like this is the kind of story where inserting yourself works since the MC is just a girl, not a certain person in history, or a princess or Alice in wonderland etc. And I'll be honest, I could have given the option to turn the MC sprite off, but I was too lazy to draw it and just wanted to finally release this remake since it was sitting on a shelf for literal years. I was going through a bit of bad time and I wanted some validation to pick me back up. I am thinking of adding back the sprite at some point. That's if I'm going to do CGs, since I don't love the look of the faceless MC in CGs, but yeah, IDK yet.
With the rewrite I also hoped to have toned down some problematic topics. I did suffer from a bit of 'not like other girls' syndrome when I was younger and it showed in my characters. Sorry you didn't enjoy this version more, it wasn't my intention to change the characters too much. I just wanted to make them a bit more grounded in reality. But thanks so much for playing it and sharing your thoughts!