In which case, why even need Sprints?

Yep, exactly. This is the punchline.

Timeboxed sprints are a stepping stone towards a more effective style of agility. I'm in favor of both removing the fixed, recurring timebox aspect and the word "sprint".

Software engineering is about iteratively releasing value to customers, not sprinting towards the end of a fixed timebox.

The other challenges you mentioned aren't unique to narrative development. What I read in that list are challenges from a hypothetical team who is ignoring the 12 principles of agile. Would you agree?