Thank you for the feedback! I'm especially thrilled to hear that you enjoyed it despite the story not being up your alley. It is a pleasant surprise to me!
I tried my best to not be overly ambitious for this first project, as the aim was to build a good foundation as a novice VN developer. So it's a rather simple VN. But I hope I made up to the with a (hopefully) meaningful story with a lot of love poured into creating it.
You're right and I definitely agree that the look of the GUI plays a huge part at making a game looks more polished and professional. First impression is indeed very important. I've been spending the post-release period to delve more into Renpy UI customization. Future updates will hopefully include visually improved UI.
Thanks again for the feedback! I'm looking forward to apply them for my next projects