It's not really the attempt at greater than average realism that's the problem with AWAM. It's a big part of what attracted me to pursue it all those years ago. I couldn't properly appreciate all those games where relatively young men managed to assemble a harem, or the women with their stupid "ahegao" faces & air-bag breasts. There was much, much more I found not to like & then along came AWAM, which back then seemed as though it was going to be genuinely erotic, written & illustrated by an adult for adults. At the outset it promised a greater level of credibility & delivered on this IMO.
If the attempt at some form of realism, ( an 'ism' which has been declining IMHO), was abandoned completely, AWAM would still exist but many fans would decide to give it a miss, as yet another example of averagely concocted juvenile porn. There is every reason to stick with the notorious "slow burn" of AWAM & if anything I would say that the timetable of 30 playable days for Sophia to commit adultery, (probably with several people), is an absolute minimum of what's needed for disbelief to be suspended. It's because I value some 'realism' that I raised the issue of the odd choice of clothing.
This famous lack of extra-marital sex & the time that's being taken to remedy it stems solely from the Dev's observable commitment to slowing down the roll-out of the game/VN to the point where there can be few fans left who sincerely believe it will ever be finished, or if it is, may not be around to see it. Like you, I sometimes regret becoming addicted to this stuff & I definitely still wish it to succeed, (as a pirate, if only from enlightened self-interest) but for the last 2 years at least, all the indications have been "contra".