I forgot to mention: The girls thing, although it has also been very overwhelming for me, I have been testing it over the last few months, and people don't seem to complain if I dedicate one version to main content (quests, advancing the story) and another version to extra content + girls.
So I'll probably stick with that dynamic from now on. That way, it's less overwhelming for me. Trying to bring main content + extra content as there are more girls... it's crazy.