This is a very important point to make. Explaining the history may help with understanding.
In Japan, where the term “visual novels” as a game category was born, games such as command-select adventures and Ace Attorney are rarely classified as visual novels.
I know some people probably think this distinction is pedantic, but I really think it matters. This genre is too diverse to lump every game with portraits and text together under one vague "visual novel" umbrella, and it obscures the real history behind it.