That being said, "the generic visuals, the stock animations, the boner-killing sex scenes and the unavoidable absurdity of the HAPPY events", these work because they point to something all of us (here) seem to know: this game is about its story. If I'm to read a book, sure, visuals help - but I'm not a kid, I'm here to draft meaning from the letters. Thus, if you have a good story to tell, compelling characters and an engaging plot - people will not care that much about everything else. That is, if you too distance your adult game from being an adult game, as Selebus did.
Without any sort of attack on "Lost in you" (in fact I'll play it again once it's finished to give it a fair shake), its visuals and overall programming are not that different from LiL (although LiL is still superior in every strictly technical aspect imo). So why does it not take off? Well, I personally did not dig the story. It's not bad, it's just not enough for me to ignore it being a game. This is the effect LiL has in me, it's like, rather than a game, it is a type of fruit that I have to peel to consume. The actual comsumption is the story, and the peeling is the stupid Selebus crap.
You can make a game that has less peeling involved (as "Lost in you" has), but at the end of the day, if the fruit itself is not that tasty, memorable or leaving you with wanting more - then it's just whatever. It will keep sitting on the shelf as I have to work to peel off the tastier one. Again, nothing against "Lost in you" - I just feel like it helps to explain LiL by comparing the two. Basically, why LiL is LiL, and "Lost in you" is an adult renpy game called "Lost in you". You see what I mean?