I agree on the limitations of the engine overall, but on the character controller, there’s been a lot of work for custom character systems: [Studio Beta] AvatarAbilities Library for a Luau-Based Character Controller.
I saw you left replies to it though, so it’s not new to you. In fact you say you want more control. But, In short, I think the CharacterController and otherwise work by that team would reach what you’re after with time.