Otome Game

[Permagate]

I have never played otome game before, so I'm kind of curious. Has any of you played one before? Is there any good one? I am sort of interested on in Black Wolves Saga since its release, but I keep delaying because... Well, it takes great courage for me to read an otome game But BWS looks cool, it's darkish and has a great premise.

[Saber]

Let's see, I've played a few otome games, some which have H content and some that does not. The second reproduction is not bad, and black wolves saga is also quite good (though I've only played the second reproduction). I don't think that reading/playing otome game is any different from playing an eroge or galge in terms of what it can offer which are great stories, great characters, etc.

[Alice]

I've played a handful of otome games, and most of them are in PC. (Though I'm playing Arcana Famiglia at PSP at the moment). There are a couple of good ones around, and most of them still focusing on fanservices though, not most of them are very good at the plotline .. I've also heard things about BWS too.

How about checking this blog if you want to know a lot more about otome games? It helped a lot.

[Guest]

yeah hinano's blog is like the biggest one in the english otome game world. she's got a livestream video too which I go in every now and then

[Alice]

yeah hinano's blog is like the biggest one in the english otome game world. she's got a livestream video too which I go in every now and then

Yeah, her reviews are always giving me the chill to either playing the game, or not. It's a very good blog.

[Permagate]

Thanks! I read a couple of posts from the blog. I have to say I like the her(his?) writing, sparkly men notwithstanding.

[okami55]

I have never played an Otome game either. I would love to see an Otome version of Katawa Shoujo.

[Guest]

Found a pretty good list here: http://brokenforum.com/index.php?threads/gigantic-list-of-otome-games.4167/

it looks like most of them are western developed?

Commercial:

Hatoful Boyfriend*

Café 0 ~The Drowned Mermaid~*

dUpLicitY ~Eternal Lie~

Date Warp

Always Remember Me

Fatal Hearts*

Magical Diary

Yo-Jin-Bo

Heileen and Heileen 2: Hands of Fate

Law and Order

Matches & Matrimony: A Pride and Prejudice Tale

1931: Scheherazade at the Library of Pergamum

Lucky Rabbit Reflex

The Flower Shop: Winter in Fairbrook

X-Note

Cute Knight Kingdom

Second Reproduction* (R18+, Japanese, has an English patch, trigger warning: suicide, rape)

Starry Sky ~In Spring~ (Japanese, has an English patch)

The Host Holic

Loren The Amazon Princess

[meru]

Hmm, even though I'm female, I've never played an otome game XD I do play BL stuff though~

I'd also be interested to hear people's recommendations.. I might give one a go and see what I think.

[Supah Kawaii Weeaboo]

Sturgeon's Law ("ninety percent of everything is crud") is just as applicable to otome games as it is to pretty much everything. Be optimistic, but don't go in expecting the first game you see to be a masterpiece.

The list on Broken Forum doesn't include Hakuouki for PSP. It's is a rare example of a GxB story that's been professionally translated. Nor does it mention any visual novels for iOS devices. The VNDB list for Android is quite similar. And if you search iTunes or Google Play for terms such as "romance game" or "dating games," you can find a variety of different apps, often with their own gameplay style or focus.

Also, don't forget the three translated DS games (Tokimeki Memorial Girls Side 1-2 and Girlish Love Revolution). A number of people on the Gbatemp.net forums, including Jjjewel and Phoenix Goddess, worked on them and completed them in a relatively short period of time.

it looks like most of them are western developed?

Yeah. The Most Gamers are Male phenomenon has existed for years, and it certainly extends into visual novels. There have been visual novels with NSFW content since at least 1983, as well as ones with serious fiction themes. It's difficult to find any video game that had even a hint of girl x boy(s) pairings before the 1994 Super Famicom game Angelique. This tendency also exists in the translation scene. The first translated GxB visual novel was Yo-Jin-Bo in 2005, and except for iOS/Android content, there have been very few official releases. Also, it's still much easier to find fan translations of BxG or general plot-driven games.

I'm not entirely sure how the movement to create GxB visual novels in English began. The indie group Hanako Games might have gotten things started, and it took just a couple more years before Winter Wolves realized that some of their GxB games were selling rather well. As for freeware, RE:Alistair was definitely not the first free otome game in English, but the creators wanted it to make an impact on fandom, and I think they succeeded.

[Araina]

Hm...there are lots of English free otome games in Aaeru's link. I'm too lazy to play all of them. Jap otomes are always good, but they never translate them into English...what a pain. Good VN means Japanese...

[Otomegirl24]

Fortunately, there's a lot of doujin made otome games for the PC as well as visual novels and life simulation games. Now that Christmas is over, there are sales on many of those games right now until the end of December for the PC. You can always play the demos first before you purchase them so there's really no downside. I've left a link below if you're interested to see what games are on sale.

http://www.hanakogames.com/xmas2012.shtml

Oh and if you own a PSP, why not look into Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom or Persona 3 Portable? Both have dating elements in them. Also, there's this new Korean otome game that was recently translated to English called Dandelion - Wishes brought to you -. You can also look into playing the demo of that game if you're interested. I hope this information helps. ^-^

[Permagate]

Amnesia looks like it has a very interesting gameplay. Shame it's only available in PSP :(/>