^^^^ this 100%, i think character writing is perhaps more crucial to a story than any other part of the writing (although vast error does well on all fronts while still keeping an air of intrigue for now). i think being able to be invested in all the interpersonal relationships and individual characters+their developments, while not feeling overwhelmed by any of it, is an extremely crucial and charming part of vast error that even homestuck itself lacked to this degree.

for the number of characters in this story, it's very hard to feel like it's overbloated with characters, even with some of them and their backstories/relationships needing to be gleaned from supplementary content like sbb and thaumatrope. and i've always hailed this as one of the strongest points of the comic, esp whenever im advertising it to a friend or something to get them into it! c: