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Otome Community Thread: A New Era of Beefcakes

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Dee Dee

Dee Dee

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,868
I just tuned into the Otomate Party stream and everything is Hakuoki.

Ah, they are talking about Cupid Parasite now - I like the gameplay stuff they are doing with that one.

EDIT: LINK!


I have no idea what's going on, but Kenichi Suzumura, Kousuke Toriumi, and Shoutaro Morikubo are narrating the trailers, so I'll just leave this on in the background while I work. XD

I missed the first hour, right now it's just trailers for already announced and released stuff.

EditEditEdit:
No need to read my rant below, Gematsu has got you covered, a lot of stuff I thought was new was actually announced last year already apparently:
https://www.gematsu.com/2020/07/oto...m-paradox-tokei-jikake-no-apocalypse-and-more

EditEdit:
Okay, it's over here's stuff from the first hour that I ... think... happened (OFFICIAL INFO WILL BE PROBABLY BE OUT ON ACTUAL NEWS SITES):

They announced a bunch of stuff coming to mobile as "Otomate Selection".
They announced a game called "Charade Maniacs".
F8Ex0L2.png

There's a promo live action movie or stage show planned for this in October.

Next announcement is... I can only read the Katakana, it's somethingsomething "apocalypse" and the first word has "time" in it I think?
p6LQwAR.png


Next was a really long segment on CollarXMalice with a live reading from the voice actors from last year's live event. Please buy our DVD, thank you. Gyyyaaah.

Next up was Lover Pretend:
6eNQ1S4.png


Haha, those subtitles....
I don't know if it's new, I've not seen anything for this on the Otomate channel before.

They made a weird announcement then, basically:
gvwiNJC.png

So QuinRose is now part of their Otomate Label and they will make new games in the "Alice no Kuni" series. Damn.

Next up was a live reading with the voice actors of Piofore (from the 2019 live show, please buy the DVD thank you).

The next bit was also weird, because I have NO IDEA who 8Piece are, but you can date them in "Pardigm Paradox" apparently.
okNuKpT.png

K0YhH6T.png

I think the only guy I know here is Arthur Lounsberry. I'll have to look into this nonsense.

Well, now back to work. ._.
 
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Saphirax

Saphirax

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,337
Charade Maniacs is just a port so Otomate only announced one new game. That's pretty bad when compared to previous years.
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483


Nicole is the otome title coming to consoles. It is a stat raiser but I do enjoy the Winter Wolves titles so I might pick this up again.
 
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ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
Shizuka said:

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
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Yes, the whole situation is really sad and learning how little some of the translators were paid in regards to their titles like Be My Princess as well makes me no longer want to support their Switch releases. Vice also has out an article:

www.vice.com

Visual Novel Maker Says It Will Replace Its Striking Writers

21 freelance writers for 'Lovestruck' have gone on strike, after management refused to negotiate with the group collectively.
www.vice.com www.vice.com
 
Xita

Xita

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
9,185
Voltage too huh? Read something similar with Abracadabra Games not paying their translators, mobile game development continues to be scummy. Hope the writers are able to get their pay.
 
Dee Dee

Dee Dee

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,868
As someone who works for a translation agency, the amount of publishers and devs that rely on community/fan translations is always baffling to me. But hey, you can't beat "free".
And for the record, if they basically pay you "lunch monies", that's as good as working for free in my book.

Power to those Lovestruck writers, I hope the community will keep voicing their discomfort with their treatment.

Man, with how appalling the text quality on those D3 Publisher Switch releases and on a lot of mobile games is, it's really hard to argue for better pay as long as those actually sell.
I wish the standards for "translated" works available in English weren't so low that companies still make money with shitty labor like this. You'd think the competition was high enough with as niche as the audience is, but unfortunately that is the type of game where you need to just churn out new stuff, since people will consume it in a day or two and be done with it. And as long as it's new and free (to play), people will just roll with it.
If you don't profit from merch and licensing like the bigger publishers, there's only so much money you can make with an Otome - I still think it's in your best interest to make the money with a quality product that has been produced by fairly treated workers to ensure brand loyalty and continued interest in your output.

I think the "Arcana" studio profited from interest in their characters and is selling merch okay on top of their ingame currency for example. That only works if you make the stuff good enough for people to really care.
I also think the success of MysMes is due to the studio continuously working on improving the translation and quality of the game before starting to add events and continuous stories.
 
Curler

Curler

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,604
Dee Dee said:
As someone who works for a translation agency, the amount of publishers and devs that rely on community/fan translations is always baffling to me. But hey, you can't beat "free".
And for the record, if they basically pay you "lunch monies", that's as good as working for free in my book.
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I almost wonder if fan sub/translation communities almost created a bit of the stigma where they undervalue their own work? I mean, I know there is sometimes a disdain fan communities have against legit sources, and can have an ego that their work is more "legit/closer to the original" than the official paid sources, with a "look what we can do for FREE!" Many are passion projects, on stuff that has never been translated, but since there is such good work like that being done for free, companies can take advantage and offer little pay cause "hey they are doing it anyways!" Not just with game translation, but seems to be something with anime as well, at least, looking back with how many fansubs used to be done back in the day and "speed sub" that was quick work, all for free (being done for those internet cool points of being 'first'). It's not right to take advantage, but I just wonder if seeing what fansub/translation communities can do for free, have had these companies be able to take more advantage of them.
 
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Shizuka

Shizuka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,114
That's why as otome fans, we gotta support Aksys. They're the only one around that is actually putting effort, at least when it comes to console releases.
 
SnazzyNaz

SnazzyNaz

The Wise Ones
Member
Nov 11, 2019
1,874
www.coworker.org

Lovestruck Game Writers Deserve Fair Pay!

All of the Lovestruck writers are members of marginalized genders and/or sexualities. Voltage has given us an invaluable foot in the door to the industry and a platform to tell stories that represent our voices, our passion, and our experiences. We are also all fans of the app, and we care...
www.coworker.org www.coworker.org
 
deepFlaw

deepFlaw

Knights of Favonius World Tour '21
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,495
Curler said:
I almost wonder if fan sub/translation communities almost created a bit of the stigma where they undervalue their own work? I mean, I know there is sometimes a disdain fan communities have against legit sources, and can have an ego that their work is more "legit/closer to the original" than the official paid sources, with a "look what we can do for FREE!" Many are passion projects, on stuff that has never been translated, but since there is such good work like that being done for free, companies can take advantage and offer little pay cause "hey they are doing it anyways!" Not just with game translation, but seems to be something with anime as well, at least, looking back with how many fansubs used to be done back in the day and "speed sub" that was quick work, all for free (being done for those internet cool points of being 'first'). It's not right to take advantage, but I just wonder if seeing what fansub/translation communities can do for free, have had these companies be able to take more advantage of them.
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Mhmm. While it's true that there's always gonna be people who whine about how official localization is ruining everything and how the fansubs (regardless of their relative actual quality) were totally better, I do want to get into some of the nuance around this dynamic.

Cause I know some fansubbers that do have some disdain for official paid streaming sites that's for a different reason... cause in their case it's because those services do have bad translations, and they're people who care about both translation quality and other translators being treated well. The bad quality is not universal of course, but from what I've seen there are definitely just cases where a streamed series is going to have incredibly inaccurate official subs for its entire run due to who's working on it, and that just sucks to see. Sometimes it's to the point of being totally grammatically correct within each line but nonsensical to follow in practice, and sometimes it's totally fine seeming but what was said is just absolutely not what the subtitles make it sound like, and I'm not sure which is worse. And that's what you're stuck with if you want to watch that show officially, and the site is not going to improve it if you bring it up, and tons of people might not ever even realize the issues to begin with.

And while I think it's fair to consider that there is/was an issue of fansubbers undervaluing their work and that companies probably have taken advantage of that, it should also be said that one of the selling points the paid sites historically have pushed is actually the opposite argument - something along the lines of "us paying translators means our quality is inherently better". And the criticism from the fansubbers I know is over how and why this falls apart: sites will say this yet have inaccurate translations and don't pay people nearly as much as they deserve to do the translation/editing anyway. Which maybe isn't that surprising... when you're going to pay the bare minimum no matter what and you apparently just need the video to have coherent English sentences on it, what do you actually care about how good/accurate the work was? You're probably not going to pay someone what they deserve if you don't actually care about their experience and qualifications at all, because you don't actually don't value their output beyond the fact that it exists. If the average anime fan will eat up whatever they're served without complaint or even an understanding of something being wrong - as long as they don't see any modern slang/references that they can start rioting over - there's not going to be enough outside pressure to improve any of that...
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
Curler said:
I almost wonder if fan sub/translation communities almost created a bit of the stigma where they undervalue their own work? I mean, I know there is sometimes a disdain fan communities have against legit sources, and can have an ego that their work is more "legit/closer to the original" than the official paid sources, with a "look what we can do for FREE!" Many are passion projects, on stuff that has never been translated, but since there is such good work like that being done for free, companies can take advantage and offer little pay cause "hey they are doing it anyways!" Not just with game translation, but seems to be something with anime as well, at least, looking back with how many fansubs used to be done back in the day and "speed sub" that was quick work, all for free (being done for those internet cool points of being 'first'). It's not right to take advantage, but I just wonder if seeing what fansub/translation communities can do for free, have had these companies be able to take more advantage of them.
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I feel like it is a bit of this and also these companies take advantage of the fact that a lot of these translators are in fact fans of visual novels. The translators see working on vns as their dream job and the companies know this and use it to their advantage.
 
Dee Dee

Dee Dee

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,868
Dibs on the dude that's clearly just Chuuya from Bungo Stray Dogs.

Edit: Oh, that's Ryohei Kimura. Noice. Easy pick.
 
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Shizuka

Shizuka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,114
Just pre-ordered Collar x Malice Unlimited (along with Tomoyo After) for the Nintendo Switch. As I already had the past few Switch titles from Aksys for my Vita, this is the first one I'm getting as it's the first of the three exclusive Switch otome titles from Aksys this year. Definitely going to pre-order the other two next month.
 
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Shizuka

Shizuka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,114
AL: In terms of upcoming visual novels, your team has Root Film and Aokana coming up, is it safe to say that you have no plans moving on from publishing VNs in the west?

ALGF: We're always on the lookout for opportunities from Japan, especially quality visual novels, so while we're diversifying, we are definitely still looking for new titles like those, and maybe one day, even otome (speaking for myself, I would love some pretty boys or even, who knows, yaoi…).
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noisypixel.net

Infinite Combate Interview - Publisher Talks Bringing Visual Novels West And Keeping An Open Dialogue

Noisy Pixel interviews PQube about the western release of Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? – Infinite Combate.
noisypixel.net noisypixel.net
 
Dee Dee

Dee Dee

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,868
More Otome is more good in my book. I hope she gets a chance to work on a dream project like that.

Just someone send a bunch of roses and chocolates already to the Japanese Broccoli office to charm their tight glittery pants off and tell them the mobile versions of UtaPri aren't enough.
I understand that maybe voice actor licensing (???) could cost them when they publish in the west, but how is one of the most prolific and longest running otome series from Japan still not localized here????

Doesn't GungHo have a Western publishing office now?
Someone nab "Jack Jeanne" please!

Other than kissing up to Broccoli I'm not sure which company they could get attractive titles from that doesn't already have some connections to publishers here or an own Western branch.
I mean, unless someone wants to go some extra miles and pry Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side off of Konami's cold, cold, dead hands completely while they are at it.
(Can't believe they are still pretending the 4th game will ever come out at this point... They originally said 2020, and I can understand if it doesn't make it in these shitty times, but there's literally been no updates for more than a year.)
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
It would be nice to see Genso Magene get a western release, along with the only yaoi Switch title I can think of.
 
Curler

Curler

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,604
*whew* Best Buy put my Collar x Malice LE in a box... I was crossing my fingers this time that it wouldn't be another Code:Realize LE bubble mailer :x
 
Saphirax

Saphirax

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,337
Shizuka said:







Several users on Twitter are pointing out how Collar x Malice Unlimited's localization is really, really bad. I thought I should share those here, for whoever is thinking about the game with this week's release.

Also (Siliconera mispelling "Engrish" during this whole situation makes it a bit funny):

www.siliconera.com

Interview: Learning More About Otome Visual Novels Piofiore and Cafe Enchante's Localizations

www.siliconera.com www.siliconera.com
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Not a misspeling - it's the name of the company.

Not surprised Aksys did a sloppy job, but am amazed they've somehow gotten worse at it. No idea how Nintendo handles patches, but if it's anything like Sony we're never getting them.
 
deepFlaw

deepFlaw

Knights of Favonius World Tour '21
Member
Oct 25, 2017
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Well... I guess my copy's going into my backlog instead of trying to get to it soon to avoid the backlog just growing and growing? I guess? Sigh.

Would love it they could not fuck up like this after finally getting new things out...
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
My copy arrived early so I had already opened it all up before I got around to seeing all the typos and errors. I hope this gets fixed since this was one of the games I was really looking forward to this year.

Piofiore gets into some rather adult situations, due to the nature of there being multiple gangs engaged in illegal activity involved. How has this affected the localization process?
Taguchi: From the onset, we realized the game would touch on adult themes, so the first step was to determine whether there are issues in terms of the audience we would be reaching out to with the game. We decided that our audience would be mature enough to enjoy the story, so the next step was to ensure that we wouldn't "water down" the content for the sake of censorship.
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While I understand what is being said here, I honestly do not think it was something they would need to worry about? Considering the type of content that has been getting removed from titles, otome titles do not have that content.

Have you noticed a difference in Otomate game "styles" with more recent games, like Cafe Enchante and Piofiore, compared to older games like Hakuoki and Code: Realize?
Taguchi: The general style hasn't changed much, but what I do find interesting is that the stories are a lot deeper and more intense than before. The stories are constructed in a way that you see different sides to characters depending on the route you take. This is especially so for Piofiore. Hence, I feel like the Otomate games have taken a step up with how they are delivering their stories.
Asuka Yamataki, Aksys: I've noticed the overall tone has been shifting a little bit in that otome games used to be something girly with butterflies and sparkles and something males might find just for otome's literally, but lately as seen in the Collar x Malice series as well as Piofiore: Fated Memories, the story is more deep and dark even with a hint of the sinister.
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Considering what happens in Hakuoki, both of these answers seem really odd especially the butterflies and sparkles bit. I also would not lump Hakuoki and Code: Realize in the older together considering the gap between Hakuoki's original release and Code: Realize's original release.
 
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Shizuka

Shizuka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,114
After Bad Apple Wars two months ago, I decided to give Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly another go, going to try and finish all routes this time. Slowly but surely, I'll get through all of them in time.
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com

A patch is apparently going to be released for Collar x Malice Unlimited. Hopefully it fixes all the issues and Aksys either reviews the QA company's work more for Pio and CE or goes with another company altogether.
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
Saphirax said:
Not sure if this counts as an otome, but it does have a female protagonist:

www.exophase.com

Gothic Murder: Adventure That Changes Destiny Trophies - PS4

Achievements, guides, leaderboards, and discussion forums for Gothic Murder: Adventure That Changes Destiny
www.exophase.com www.exophase.com

Seems we'll be getting it in English soon-ish.
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The bit at the end of the overview section in this Gematsu article kinda makes me think it is: https://www.gematsu.com/2020/07/gothic-murder-unmei-o-kaeru-adventure-now-available-for-ps4-in-japan
Investigate the manor and make deductions based on the information you gather. Solve the mysteries of each case through intuitive and simple controls. If your deductions fail, the Lord's death awaits. If you manage to save him, will a secret love lie beyond?
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And the official website calls it a romantic adventure: http://orange-app.jp/game/GothicMurder/index.html
 
Dee Dee

Dee Dee

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,868
This is one of the less shit Voltage ones, still a bit overpriced for what it is (you can get each route for 4 bucks or something like that on the phone separately).

When I say "less shit" then of course this still means the premise is super problematic and stupid to begin with, so you shouldn't check this out unless you have the massive willpower needed to ignore most of the dumb stuff. But compared to "Kissed by the baddest bidder", this one is a LOT more stomacheable.

I do have a soft spot for Yamato (red haired main dude) since I really liked his route in "My Wedding and 7 Rings", so if they ever bring this to Europe, it goes ... straight to my "wait for sale" list.

Shizuka said:
After Bad Apple Wars two months ago, I decided to give Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly another go, going to try and finish all routes this time. Slowly but surely, I'll get through all of them in time.
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I should also get on that one, it's been sitting in my Vita backlog forever. But every time I boot up my Vita it reminds me I still need to go through the true route for 7'scarlet, and I had to put that one down because my head was aching from all the stupid plot twists.
If I ever get past 7'scarlet, is this one fun, or should I finish white hair dude's route in Bad Apple Wars instead (which was NOT fun)?
 
deepFlaw

deepFlaw

Knights of Favonius World Tour '21
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,495
Mhmm, I wouldn't say Black Butterfly is particularly great overall. Like it's not something that ranks among things I disliked enough that I remember my issues in detail, as does happen when I really wasn't happy with something. But it's probably skippable if there's other stuff that actually appeals to you in your backlog.
 
Dee Dee

Dee Dee

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,868
I guess I'll keep ignoring the pile of shame and wait for Piofiore.
(Mobage keep me busy anyway, A3! about to start releasing Act 2 for global this month.)
 
Xita

Xita

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
9,185
I haven't finished Black Butterfly, but I remember 2 things about it:

1) Some really appalling sexism, like yes even worse than the usual tropes otome goes for
2) Yamato is the best, which seems to be a near-universal opinion from what I've seen of the reception
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
Episode 2 of Taisho x Alice is available to purchase! On a related note, I got a chuckle on how Steam's "Is this game relevant to you" cannot tell me if this game is relevant to me, even though I completed the first episode and gave it a positive review.



I really have to hand it to Primula for wanting to give this series a second chance in the west after the dumpster fire that was its first release.
 
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Shizuka

Shizuka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,114
ShyMel said:
Episode 2 of Taisho x Alice is available to purchase! On a related note, I got a chuckle on how Steam's "Is this game relevant to you" cannot tell me if this game is relevant to me, even though I completed the first episode and gave it a positive review.



I really have to hand it to Primula for wanting to give this series a second chance in the west after the dumpster fire that was its first release.
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How many chapters are there in total?
 
Curler

Curler

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,604
Rae said:
I would be surprised if Broccoli would consider it for the overseas audiences since they've always been anti-globalization lol.
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Broccoli HAD a presence in the early 2000s with Broccoli books, publishing stuff like Di Gi Charat and Disgaea manga, and a bit of a part of a partnership with Sync-Point fkr anime DVDs. Both went away though, so I guess they only came and went during that anime boom.
 
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