I feel for the writers a little, they *really* wanted you to like these characters, which tells me they were most likely based around them and their friends, and this is one big, roleplaying experience, sorta
End result is an overdose of "Quirky" that turned into cringe, and overwhelmingly forced emotional moments. Sometimes both happening in the same scene. (Lmao its super duper important to get myself this rare children's meal toy!/...That's okay, let's give all of these burgers to the children at the orphanage i grew up in...)
Writer here was penning an inside adventure to people who were outside, and it does give me the feels, from what ive seen, they really love these characters (or more likely, the people theyre based on) but in trying to introduce them to the public they forgot they were writing for an audience outside their circle
Snickerdoodle is the best character in the game