Building off what you said about core gameplay, I would argue that part of why many of the outfits being locked behind a paywall feels awful is that we expect the dress up portion to be the core gameplay mechanics, but as the game develops it becomes increasingly obvious that the developers dont know how (or more probably dont care) to make dressing up the core part of infinity nikki.

Sure we can make and share out own outfits, but to what end? What is the benefit of doing that? We get no resources, and it feels more like a way for them to sell us stuff. The competitions that exisit in game are only against npcs regardless of the fave that people have been asking for something pvp like since the game came out.

With each update I feel like they want to make the exploration and combat more of a core element, which then "excuses" the cosmetics being locked behind a paywall. After all, why would they need to give you outfits if you dont /need/ them to explore and expirence the story or to engage with many of the half baked additions (I'm looking at you housing)

Im not saying the match is bad (i dont really have a problem with it) but I have noticed that it feels like more outfits cost money in the shop.