Besides minigames/gameplay, common frustrations: misogyny, normalizing abuse, sex negativity, sex work stigma, body shaming NPCs, lack of content warnings, protagonist being too perfect, trite dialogue when bonding with characters, lack of diverse body types.

Making a good RPG, or management game, or puzzle game is hard work. It needs game design, careful balancing/difficulty adjustment, programming, assets. And some VN devs are good at writing and drawing, but not necessarily all that.

So while it is a powerful tool... I'm too used to seeing failures.

I really like when VNs use (well) the resources of the medium, including both choices/interactivity and minigames.

But some devs seem to think any gameplay at all is better than text. So they make (e.g.) the worst RPGs I ever played, generic and unpolished, and it becomes nothing but a chore.

These "gameplay segments" are often the biggest source of frustration, not because I prefer games to not have them... but because they are often terrible. Grindy, poorly implemented, boringly easy or frustratingly hard, repetitive.