The sandbox is probably the biggest seller of the game to me, however i reckon there needs to be a balance - of development - between all of the parts that make the whole. Sandbox is really fun, but even in a perfect state, would need some backbone - ie story - to keep the game some what fresh and to prevent my brain turning into mush with all of the details of the computer generated side.I think I agree with you about ditching the story to focus on the sandbox/slave sim side of things, as I'm not invested all that much in the story to begin with, and only come back for the sandbox side of things too.
The story doesnt even need to be good, like it is a porn game after all, but something to either guide the player along and experience the arguably the best parts of the game - in my opinion, the sandbox and the world building. So it really brain fucks me with Innoxia says some shit about the new boss in development is too "boring" or smth like that im too lazy to read the blog shit again. I dont want her serving a weekly portion of slop content or anything, but from her blogs it really seems like she is taking way too much care into the story. This is despite pretty much butchering it after talking to Demon Aunts mommy it that fucking massive lore dump.
I really wish she focused on the little shit, like more stuff like the taverns in Elis, and stuff like the farmers market.