I don't have a problem with branching so long as the characters add to a significant part of a story. Good writers introduce characters that, usually, directly affect what the main protagonist does or chooses to do.
Zorlun is a first timer and I think that he's done very well. The drawback that I see is being on this type of platform which, in a lot of cases here, is the heavy, direct influence (or its potential) of the followers. What starts out as an NPC, winds up being a minor character, due to follower clamor. That's not necessarily a bad thing but, if doing so makes for an unnecessary branch, it's better to just leave it out.
Stories like this one, which represents Some semblance of reality, should be reflective of said reality. Think about it. If you were traveling and you met someone, had a nice conversation, did or had a good deed done, you wouldn't be interested in that person's whole life story because of that one experience, would you? No. You'd move on from the experience, taking that memory with you.
A perfect example is the early scene with Aiden. Mi did a good deed and went about her business.
Zorlun gave him a 2nd appearance because, like RL, fate stepped in. It doesn't require a permanent interaction (meaning another branch in the story). Keep in mind that, ancillary characters are called NPCs for a reason. IMHO, I think that, by trying to appease all of the followers, the story grew exponentially, thus all of the story line branches. To his credit,
Zorlun has been able to keep up and put out good updates in a timely manner but, it has to be exhausting at this point, and it is that type of thing that creates burnout, which in turn, leads to a fall off in quality storytelling. I didn't need to see the detective have a branch and become a potential LI, it could have been simply business then moved on but, it was well done nonetheless. How BoBo is being handled in the story is how some other minor characters should be handled and, so far, it's been okay. Tbh, we really don't need more scenes on Kimberly, the porn actress or the two patrol cops because Mi doesn't Have to see them on a daily, semi-daily, or even weekly basis. They're just NPCs, meant to flesh out a little more of Myriam's personality. It shouldn't mean that we need to have major interactions with minor people but, as I said, it's been well handled.
