Don't even get me started on "visual novels" which usually fit into one of two categories - thinly veiled erotica or relationship simulators with the emotional context of a per-adolescent
And where do visual novels like Higurashi, Clannad, Fate/Stay Night, Steins Gate, Banshee's Last Cry, 428, 999, Zero Escape, Ace Attorney, Snatcher, etc. fit into these narrow "categories" of yours? The narrative content in visual novels are far more diverse (not to mention much better-written and with more meaningful narrative choices) than other video game genres, which are almost exclusively limited to action/adventure-oriented plots which rarely ever have any meaningful narrative choices.
To be fair visual novels have less to worry about when it comes to balancing gameplay with stuff like character development and story. Its just a book with pictures and press x to make a choice and proboly a puzzle here and there. Im not hating on visual novels since I liked stuff like 999 im just calling it like it is.
Well yeah, that's kind of the point. Because the gameplay is mostly limited to choices & consequences, visual novels can flesh out those choices & consequences far more than games that have to balance them out with the gameplay content. For each choice, the amount of gameplay content increases exponentially, but if the gameplay content is reduced to a bare minimum, the choices can be fleshed out without worrying about increasing gameplay content. In other words, the more interactive the gameplay becomes, the less interactive the narrative choices become. And by reducing the gameplay's interactivity to a minimum, visual novels can go much deeper with the interactive storytelling.
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