What does SE, REP, GIL, FLAT & CRUL represent?

I'm all about a little old-fashioned RPG. But this one is kind of a dog with fleas.

First off, okay, you're playing a high school kid navigating social interactions, trying to build up self esteem and yadda yadda. Not the premise I'd choose, but whatever.

But the graphics (what little there are to speak of) look like they're just blatantly taken from some other dungeon crawler. The items you equip are often not explained at all (Like what's the difference between a ragged notebook and a knockoff handheld? You kind of just have to guess.) and the story...well, I mean, other than kind of feeling generally sorry for the player character...

Seems like a lot of this could be resolved with a fresh lick of paint on the artwork (maybe some close-up portraits of the character or object you are currently interacting with?) maybe one or two sound effects, and either in-game descriptors of the objects/stats/whatever or even just put them in the author's comments.