So first time player, is it worth bothering with? Sounds like a lot of people like the game enough to get pissed about the dev slacking off.
If you haven't played it, there's a lot to enjoy.
Image and animation quality is default Honey Select, so... between mediocre and average. The story is completely linear and it can get very silly sometimes although it's quite original.
Its strong points are a very funny script, great narrative and awesome characters. They're very well defined, the dynamics between them are great and among the women there are many different stereotypes and all of them quite attractive.
This is true for... the first 80% of current content I'd say. Past that, the dev became unmotivated or uninspired and every aspect has become duller and duller with each update.
That's the reason for people not to be happy about the current state of development. But it doesn't change the fact that the game still has a few good hours of gameplay to enjoy abundantly.