Yeah... the thing about the quantity route is there's usually only one or two girls that I'm even interested in to begin with; I'll end up playing the other girls routes just so I can unlock the harem route so I get more content with the girl I liked in the first place.
Quality always beats quantity. Of course, having both is nice as well, and there are plenty of examples that have neither, so (not) having one does not automatically mean that the opposite is true for the other.
It's great to have both quantity and quality, but since I have to pick one then quality.
No matter how many girls a VN has in it, if the story for each girl is sub-par then it won't be a great VN. Whereas a VN with one or two great story routes will be remembered and recommended by all who have played it.
A relationship to help remember this rule:
1 Saber > 1000 random girls
I prefer qaulity cause even if there's only one girl it's the story that makes the game worth while, most of my friend play vn's cause it's the closest they'll get to a full realtionship with a girl..they have bad luck they aren't unatractive..and we hate games that are only hentai oriented like prison battleship ...just saying this since he told me to defend my answer
Quality obviously. I've played games with only one or two girls that were far better than games that had over five. I know of plenty of games with lots of girls that weren't all that good.
If, however, it's a game with a lot of girls, and each of them is quality, then I'll take those.