To give a short explanation, I was really in my feelings when I made this and wanted to have a lot of things going on melodically to create a really pleasant, immersive experience. Is there anything that throws you off?

Big thanks for the thorough feedback! A lot of your points were things I sort of skimmed over and instinctively knew were weak areas of the track so it's very reaffirming to know that my instincts on where to improve are not too far off, thanks again for your thoroughness. The pads are from a Minimoog Voyager Old School, ran through a lexicon effects unit (absolutely blissful reverb, can't go wrong with lexicon). At the climax, the violins and main synth are sent to a return which has a freeware reverb called Protoverb on it. Protoverb tends to enhance harmonics and yield a really thick sound so you have to make cuts to it. Sometimes I'll put a sidechain on it just to make sure it isn't taking away from the original signal's clarity, and I might even delay the track a bit.

The minimoog is secondhand, I'd spare the story but this is a knowledge-sharing community after all! So I'm in the secondhand gear store, all of a sudden I turn around. It was exactly the same feeling I had when I was in a gas station in an ugly part of town and one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen walked in the door. So after two months of obsessing and a failed attempt to profit from reselling used clothing I finally begged my dad to help out and add to the 1000$ I'd saved up, and somehow managed to talk to the guys at the store down to 2300. It's good to just go into one of those places on occasion just to see what gems you might find. The same place also had a Sonic 6 come in right after the minimoog