That was very informative 👍. Now for my unwanted commentary 🤓.
It is possible to render some of the "grain" invisible (mostly) with post processing. This does not take much time but the images will never be as perfect as they would be by doing right from the start. Obviously that is unrealistic unless you have multiple PC's and a fortune in hardware. I am reworking a game right now with similar issues (only much worse than yours).
As for the death of a "named" character I would be very careful. I have abandoned two games for that reason. Of course it is unlikely that you would be dumb enough to kill off the best character in the game (but it has happened). I know we are now well into a spoiler-y discussion so I will end that part here. 😉
As far as animations go, I do not think animations are necessary to make a game great. If you are a master of animation and use Blender you can do some incredible effects. Any less can actually detract from the game. That is just my take on the matter after seeing some of the best animations ever done. Most dev's are not capable of doing those and must hire a specialist.