To be fair, this is not an easy environment to work with: funds will always be an issue and a lot of people need to train relevant skills in order to make it. Like I can code, but I can't draw for shit, and my story needs work. The price of entry is steep for game dev in general, and in porn dev...
aside the stuff that has already been mentionned, I have a soft spot for sandboxes, like Lilith's throne, Strive for Power, Lab Rats. Having a smidge of RPG and management, on top of my pervy stuff.
For graphics, I find that art direction is better than the uncanny valley of realism.
The issue with DAZ assets, everyone seems to use the same models over and over.
The issue with hand drawn assets is that it requires talent/skills as well as an increased amount of time to make.
With AI, it...
I don't mind them, I like to personify my characters and I'm not exactly the most fit person, so it's somewhat easy to get into the skin of a "fat bastard". Also, I'm kinda tired of games where you play a young 18 years old immature boy.
50% visuals
25% story
25% characters
I'm a visual person. I would have difficulty going through a VN if the visuals do not appeal to me. But if the story and characters are subpar, I can still skim through and have a quick look at the scenes.
Definitely cheating. My MC is going to have sex with all the ladies. But in everything else, I'll get deeply angry at anyone who even thinks about it.
Same for Netori and rape. the fantasy is enchanting, but the reality of if is loathesome.
Tags are just supposed to give a heads up about the what the game has to offer. I'm a butt guy myself and I would be pretty sad to see my "anal sex" tag become "non-vaginal" and get drowned in games with handjobs/buttjobs/titsjobs, etc. Tags should represent the type of kink people are into.
somehow, I love sandbox mechanics and procedural generations. It feels closer to a game to me than just a "movie" with some choices. or even just a "movie"
I like the grind when it's justified and well implemented in the mechanics. (In strive for power, I think the grind is well implemented.)
But in some cases, it feels like the grind has been added just to waste my time. (in superpowered, it feels super slow and boring)