I've been procrastinating reading sadly so Idk if my words hold any weight but even so... I feel like merging the routes would be best for both the story, your workload and mental health. It would also reduce the risk of the vn being on hiatus or worse so retention wouldn't dip. 

That being said, are you only streamlining the story moving forward or will the whole thing be streamlined? If it's the former (and you decide to merge), decide on a point/day/event to merge the routes and make it known that something has changed in the writing. It'd be slightly jarring if the writing style changes suddenly imo. If it's the latter, maybe put out  a version of the game with what's already been done as an extra download so that people can go back to it.

Also, haven't really commented since early in the first build iirc so I wanna say that I've been enjoying the story a lot. Keep at it, I wanna see this to it's conclusion! (but please also take care of yourself obv)

How about a mixed approach? Maybe something like this: you finish writing for one route (so the story is somewhat linear going forward but at least that one's done) and then work on the other 2 afterwards and coterminously? Then when those are all done you can decide if you want to go back and add more lines to fill them in some, add whatever cutting room floor scenes were skipped, and so on. That way it goes something like 1 year, 2nd year, and then if you decide you're sick of working on it at least you can call it done for your vision, but if you still treat it like a passion project you've left yourself some room to keep at it. 

I guess the downside there is you'll have to leave yourself a lot of room in the writing to add whatever was skipped and still have it make sense in the meantime and not reference stuff we wouldn't know about. 

Either way the game is amazing and I hope you find a solution you're happy with. I can't speak for everyone else but I'm willing to wait/stand with the game for whatever the duration is. I agree with everyone else that you shouldn't burn yourself out as the most important thing really.

You should work on finishing the one route you as the writer most enjoy.  Once that's done you can then set Violet Memoir as a linear VN or continue with other routes. Either way this should make the burden of choice weigh less on you. Remember that whatever task you do it is a lot funner when you take it one piece at a time rather then trying to get everything done at once. 

I've seen to many VN's fizzle out because they try to do EVERYTHING at once.

Honestly i liked the single routes (just oscar 🦦) and the decision making but that alone is alot to do so i understand if you feel like its way to much on you. 

Whatever makes things easier and less stressful in the long run go for it. 

I think you should focus on the story though and then let the romance follow as it progresses Its pretty early to pick a route honestly.

Whatever works and easiest for you I'd say! 

The characters and their set up are already there, so even if you pull back on some "fluff" we, the reader, already know them extremely well by this point. Whatever is easiest for you, I would say. 

The worse case scenario is you burning out! I think everyone rather have a completed story than you ending up hurting yourself to do the max amount. ^^ 

That's a hard question to answer really because I'd say it depends on the VN and how you use the "fluff" scenes really. One example that jumps to mind is in Leigh's route. Spoilers for anyone that's not reached it I guess, but at one point he asks you which outfit you prefer of his, A or B and that choice feels meaningless in it's current form, but I feel like even as a bit of fluff it has the potential to have a subtle impact on the main scenario in a small way. For example since this is part thriller, during one of the "thriller" sections we could encounter Leigh but he isn't really Leigh, he's something else that guides us towards a "bad ending" if multiple endings are ever going to be a thing for this VN. The real Leigh could say alter the outfit they wear to suit the one we choose because of their growing interest in Wallace, because we all change and alter ourselves for those we fall in love with, so Leigh choosing to wear what we find more appealing would be a good little tip to tell us if a fake Leigh shows up as part of the thriller part of the experience (I'd also assume there would be others things like things the characters tells us about them).

But I think for now, your best bet is to focus on getting the finished version of the story and base experience you're trying to give us, say as a Version 1, and you can add some fluff in a say Version 2 once the story is complete and even add little connections to make some of the choices we make in the fluff parts actually have a consequence or help us better deal with the consequences when we have some choices to make during those thriller parts. If you notice you write some "fluff" that you don't feel is helpful for the main push of the VN, then just save it on a separate document with all such fluff and see if you can make it work once it's finished. The biggest issue with fluff in a VN like this is when you give us choices that just...do nothing, but if they can be made to do something, in the context of the VN.

I'd even be ok with you removing the multiple routes option (I'm guessing based on the cover art that Oscar is the original "love" interest right?), and maybe adding it later once the stories done if that makes things easier. Personally I prefer the multiple routes but if starting out with one makes it easier on you then do that first. You can always go back and edit it into a multiple route one later, when you feel you can do so.

Well so far I like both the romance and the story a lot so maybe a bit of both?

Especially since nothing so far really feel like filler as others have said

Like, you have the main story and instead of entirely different routes romancing someone just gets an extra line here and there aknowledging it plus a few small extra/alternate scenes.

Eg: days 1-4 would mostly be the same, day 5 change bc it's a date with the love interest or a friend outing. Then day 6 onward back to the main story etc.

P s. Maybe another option would be if you could have some help?

The romance is imho one of the best parts of the VN, I think you should consider other options, maybe lighten up the word count a bit, but don't cut off the romance, please.

Honestly, my favorite part is the romance and I think there's not too much of it aside from Oscar's route. Everything is taking its time and it's ok because it feels more realistic but you should speed some things up a bit. 

I don't think that removing the routes would be a good idea at all you would have to rework everything and people wouldn't be able to choose who they like the most. 

Overall, the story needs a faster pacing and a few cuts here and there. The reason why it's taking so long is that the writing pace is very slow. With a faster approach you would be able to fix this problem.

oh no! the romance fluff is my favorite!  but it is your story and you should not stress too much over it.  Do what is fun for you and makes you proud!

honestly, i've kinda been here for the romance above the thriller stuff, but a lot of the story has been feeling more weighted there than i think is intended, so maybe having the romance elements be more of a backseat for a few updates would be for the better

the romance part is my favorite part but I think taking out some fluff could be good overall by making the scenes where they engage more substancial than just some flirting that leads nowhere (I like a build up but sometimes it feels that its almost too much), wishing you good luck on your decision and hoping for the best cuz I just love this vn <3

I'd say it's best if the story prevails, cutting a bit of romance but keeping the separate routes still allows each character to have a customized storyline which feels very satisfying in the multiple route format and encourages readers to explore each one for the full story. It's just good! Shared scenes are usually the go to for these sorta things as well but given we're already locked in with one third for two routes and halfway for the other, I don't think wasting time on rewrites is a great idea 

Personally I’d love for the story to pick up the pace and cut some fluff.

Some of the last few updates have been tough to get through for me; I can only read so many scenes of “awkward but sweet and sincere romantic character interactions” in a row before I just lose interest. I also find that most of those scenes don’t really further the characterization as much as describe previously introduced traits again, and I find that boring, at this point.

Regarding that, when the protagonist’s inner monologue points out so often that other character’s actions are because of/show off a trait I find it a bit condescending or cringey, like the story doesn’t trust itself or the reader and thinks that the information won’t get across unless it’s pointed out. Basically, I think the story could use some “show don’t tell” for character traits.

yeah I  think cutting the fluff would be the way to go.

Even though this is like the only story in recent memory that I actually like the filler in, we've already got a good amount of that in the beginning. On top of that I could see it becoming kind of a slog and getting weighing the vn down in the long run. So yeah go for that shit.

Though, I would be willing to wait 4 years for you to finish the vn if you go about it the way you've been doing it, which I still really like.