Hey Cari,
if you remember me, I am the guy who thought that the apex of character design is that you can't decide who your favorite girl is like in OiaLt. Once I was "devastated" by the fact, that Nova was my favorite girl, but after playing 0.4, Alex and Dahlia moved to the pole positions.
Therefore I updated my theory: The apex of character design is to be able, to change the favorite girl of the player willingly. I guess in 0.5 Nova and Penny will reclaim their pole positions again just like in 0.3, so I'm really looking forward to the next update.