I meant instead of having Tabs the player can navigate, you transport the player to those tabs sequentially. i.e the player negotiates, gains exp and gets to spend his skill points. then is transported to the board where you can pick the next person to negotiate with. Things like the inventory can remain as tabs, but for the "Main" scenes they should be rotated automatically. i know this gives less freedom for the player, but maybe youre giving them too much freedom?
in the end This is just an opinion, a game like this can easily go either way and be just as good. Good Luck With It!