Yeah, there's definitely some similarities there. And a lot of these subplot events occur at a gradual pace. The game also runs off of a calendar system for a lot of the overall game's progression, which I guess shares some similarities to how VN's are often structured. This of course has a lot of pros and cons in a fullbore RPG.

One thing I will confess is that I did have to play through a lot of the game with a strategy guide to help min-max on certain decisions and preferred results. It's not the kind of thing I'd normally do with RPG's, but on my first attempt I nearly got screwed over during this one chapter that REALLY forces you into a strategic corner if you weren't prepared before-hand. I ended up using the guide as a little bit of a crutch here and there for some of the more complex decision-making actions.