That's probably the most annoying part about this game. You don't necessarily need to read their routes for the true route, but they all have a minor significance to the storyline and characters. And while you could complete the true route without that knowledge, it won't have the same level of immersion that it would otherwise. If you add on to the fact that every side route except Chinami's is poorly written, you end up having to make a chore out of reading them. I feel that the gains far outweigh the losses if you do decide to read them though, the final route is superb. Since I usually rate VNs based on my experience with every heroine route, I ended up giving this a 5.1 overall, but the true route by itself was an 8.5 to me.