Thank you very much! That's an expertly crafted analysis of what I also think / hope to add value with!
It's a lot about the story and psychology behind the encounter (For our niche) as well as the paced progression, note that I am experimenting with new things every game, which sometime result in the neglection of the core elements of the game. For example, adding more variety / scene combinations between more characters will end up in less time-resources spent on making a specific path more deep. I'll try to avoid those in the future (since the experiment didnt prove that quantity > quality)