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Imagine a game mechanic where you solve one path and it unlocks opportunities in another path. Therefore to get the whole story (or at least all the secrets) you'd have to play through the game multiple times. Would you find this interesting or frustrating?

That's a pretty standard feature of Visual Novels; I've always enjoyed it. 

(Although, most VN have an ability to skip quickly through parts of the story youve already seen.)

I'd enjoy it. Esp if the story builds on the other (like sideplots in the first are main plots in the second, etc etc)

Classic mechanic of VNs, as Seth stated, so I'd likely enjoy it. I'd highly recommend making a "map" of the pathways, though.

I'd really enjoy it, especially since it would add to the sense of accomplishment. It also adds another layer of re-playability to your game.

This was already done in Homo Perfectus 5, and I think I suggested a similar thing in another thread. I'd say go for it.

It certainly can be a lot of fun. There was one on this site done like that... what the heck was it... you are a kid in school and have to learn about all the other people around you... and when you learn, you end up back at the start, sort of like Groundhog Day... and then when you finally learn about everyone, you find the "real" ending... I stink at remembering things like titles and names...

Note: I don't mean to say that since it has been done that you should not do it! Please do write away!

Through Time

Yeah. No one disliked the format, but there were several people that thought it was a dating sim because of the format and the first ending they got, lol.

In fact, there were some people that wanted it to be even more restrictive (because you technically only needed one end to unlock the true end).

A choice that takes you back to the start with the new paths open would be the way to do this, I think. Sort of a New Game +, not actually just ending the game and having the reader start it up and go through it again. Even if it was just a matter of being able to make more informed choices with info they didn't have before, it'd be difficult to structure the story so they weren't stumbling into what was supposed to be the later content without some way to track what they've seen so far and gate other parts off accordingly.

Yeah I was thinking it would be along the lines of when you get near the end of one path (or at least far enough into it where you won't stear into another major path) you'll be given information. When you have that knowledge you can apply it in another of the major branches through the form of another choice appearing far into a branch that wasn't availble before.

Good deal, originally I thought they'd be meant to end the game and restart it and I wasn't seeing how that would work, since most people would be rating and commenting after the first playthrough when they haven't seen the optimal ending or most of the content.