Out of curiosity, how would the duplication glitch affect normal mode runs, and would this make people interested in routing normal mode more extensively?

As in normal difficulty as opposed to easy? I imagine it would be the same. I don't believe routes are any different, but I could be wrong.

Regardless of the route you can't afford to pass up the, essentially, unlimited amount of money that Sage's Secrets give you and the flexibility of such potent restorative items so early in the game. Also you skip the cancer casino so I wouldn't even dream of running a route that includes that nightmare.

However, OhKae or Q would definitely be able to better answer the routing questions as I'm just a novice myself.