Branching is good on and off paper and the game would be objectively better if it had better branching (incentive to play non harem paths).
I disagree but that may be because of personal preferences and my own playstyle. I cant be bothered to play the same story twice. Maybe it is different for others. I'd rather the dev spend 8 months making 4 hours worth of content for one path that I am going to play as opposed to him spending those 8 months making a bunch of different branches that would result in me spending just 1 hour per update.
I guess it really depends on how you play and how much time you are willing to invest in the game. For me once I have experienced the plot for the first time, it immediately kills all interest I have for replays - there is not as much to look forward to the second time I play. Skipping feels unsatisfying and going through a story I already know just to get a different lewd scene or even different variations/extra lore makes me bored so I dont care much for replay value.
All the major plot points would have already been covered in the first playthrough and the only thing branches offer in other games are extra background lore and new lewd scenes. However the overall story is still the same so this alone is not enough for me to want to replay. Unless the branches offer radically different stories, I am simply not interested. I like reading stories for the first time and the lewd scenes just make everything better. If only like 10% of the scenes are new each time I replay and explore a branch (especially if I have to replay from the beginning), it is simply not worth it to me.
So for me this development approach is ideal. I have pledged on patreon and a big part of why I pledge is because I know updates will be huge and I will get several hours of entertainment with each update. I would not support a game (outside of a one-off steam purchase) where I need to wait for 8 months just to get 30 minutes of content due to all the branches. But like I said - this is only because of my preferences and playstyle. I guess it sucks for those who are willing to explore all branches. But I am not one of those people so I am happy
