I feel you. Not in this game but in other games I have the same effect "I hope I could ignore the annoying and ugly character A, but I need to seduce her to get on B's good side and/or move the main plot forward", even in some of my favorite games. However, if a game has an overarcing plot and if the characters and you play a role in it, it is probably unavoidable without writing what amounts to umpteen different stories to get to the same content in the multiple versions of which girls you went how far with.
E. g. if you ignored Gracie, the chemistry between the two of you would be different, so many scenes would have to change somewhat, then again for if you ignored Luna, then if you ignored both. That's already 4 different approaches, not complete rewrites each time, but quite a few lines and new renders without opening plot holes. And that's just the beginning. Assume you were still in Gracie's good graces at "The Punishment" but left them by "I'll protect you", then it would be different from what would happen if you ignored her from the beginning. The only alternative would be cutting any connection and tracebacks off the game altogether, which would mean it would not so much be an overarcing story, more like in early TV series one episode and back to status quo.
Which can be done of course, many of those series are great in their own right, and there's no reason why a VN/sandbox game shouldn't pull it off, either, and some do. But here it is obvious that Hopes is aiming for an overarcing story, so it is unrealistic to have this kind of choice.
While I wouldn't say Gracie is my favorite character (my favorites go as Luna in first place, followed by Cordia, then third place equals being Gracie & Isabel), but I still find both Gracie and Isabel really endearing.
I just feel in this game, all girls developing deep bond and romantic feelings towards the MC feels more like a natural progression than just going on solo route (this is complete contrast to other games, for e.g. Being A DIK, where I currently have basically multiple saves with each girl's path).
Also, there's the fact that I don't normally like missing out on content (for example, some players decided to not pursue Isabel netori path, but I did [even though I like Antonio] because I just don't like missing out).
Assuming we have MC pursuing all the main girls to the foreseeable future, that does leave me wondering about the endings (yeah I know, I know. It does look like I'm jumping the gun, especially that it will be a loooong, loooong time until DeLuca comes to an end. But in my defense, this is a topic that I've seen discussed several times previously by folks).
Some people wish to see the harem ending, and I wouldn't mind it.
But I would also love to see solo-Luna ending. Other girls' solo ending, while I wouldn't be quite as invested as Luna, would still pique my interest quite a bit as well (regarding the community, it seems it's pretty split regarding this).
So it's gonna be interesting how the story develops in terms of relationships. Will there come a time where MC is made to choose who to continue his relationships with (branches which locks out relationships with girls he didn't choose and fully committing solo to that specific girl), or will it continue like this but all girls loving MC (to the harem ending path).
Guess only time (in what Hopes decides regarding that) will tell.
