This was a good read.
I don't know if there was anything I've read where the path transcends the heroine, since I tend to love every character I meet in a visual novel. I guess that's how incapable I am of hating someone.
In that regard, I view a route as good basically because it is good. At least for my tastes. I do agree that sometimes the route shines more than the heroines do. Again, in Fate/Stay Night. But of course, it also depends on the type of eroge, like what you've said.
Haaaaaaah. Guess it'll be hard to know whether I'm reading something that has plot>heroine or heroine>plot or heroine=plot.