Otome Community Thread: A New Era of Beefcakes

Shizuka · Nov 4, 2017

An otome game (乙女ゲーム otome gēmu?, literally "girl game") is a story based video game that is targeted towards the female market. Generally one of the goals, besides the main plot goal, is to develop a romantic relationship between the female player character and one of several male, or occasionally female characters. This genre is most established in Japan, and is mostly made up of visual novels and simulation games (particularly dating sims).

Source: Wikipedia.

Yo-Jin-Bo: The Bodyguards (PC)

The story focuses on Sayori, a modern-day school girl with an interest in history. She joins her history club in an excavation, and discovers an old Jade pendant buried in the mud and takes it home with her. That night, the pendant comes to life, glowing a weird green and putting Sayori in touch with the ghost of a princess named Hatsuhime, who used to live in the castle that the club was excavating.

Source: VNDB.

Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (PSP) - Also available as Hakuoki (iOS), Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi (3DS) and Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi (PS3)

Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom is a Samurai Romance game set at the end of the Edo period of Japanese history - a period that witnessed the decline of Shogunate as the ruling of power in Japan. One of the few example of the Japanese sub-genre of Otome, which centers on story-driven romance from a female perspective, the game features a unique blend of adventure and decision-dependant gameplay. Additional features include: multiple possible endings depending on choices made, and fluid anime style animation.

Source: GameFAQs.

Sweet Fuse: At Your Side (PSP)

Saki Inafune, niece to legendary game developer Keiji Inafune, can't wait to visit her uncle's new theme park. She's been invited to the opening day ceremonies, and is looking forward to a day of fun and excitement when suddenly Count Hogstein - a villain as corpulent and cliche as he is evil - blows up the Ferris wheel, takes the park management hostage, and declares the beginning of a deadly series of games. Desperate to save her uncle, Saki volunteers to be one of the participants in Hogstein's games, and finds herself thrust into the midst of excitement very different from what she'd expected when she woke up that morning. She'll need all of her cunning, determination, and exceptional insight to get herself and her fellow participants - all available bachelors - out alive and maybe, with a little luck, find love along the way.

Source: GameFAQs.

Amnesia: Memories (Vita, Steam and iOS)

On the 1st of August, you awake as the Heroine, with previous memories of who you are somehow snatched away from you. In your confusion, a mysterious spirit named Orion appears to help you regain your memories. Youll explore your own world as a complete stranger, trying to understand what was once familiar all while hiding your condition from the five men close to you. Because, as Orion warns, you may jeopardize any chance of recovering your memories if anyone finds out. Its now up to you recover the past to rewrite your future love story!

Source: GameFAQs.

Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (Vita)

Restricted to an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of London in fulfillment of a promise to her father, lonely Cardia lives day to day isolated from the world. Her body carries a deadly poison that rots or melts anything her skin touches, prompting the locals to call her a "monster."

Her last conversation with her father two years ago, telling her to stay out of sight and never fall in love, is the furthest back she can remember. One day, her quiet solitude is interrupted as the Royal Guards break in to capture her. It is then that Cardia meets Arsène Lupin, a chivalrous thief, who helps her escape the soldiers' clutches. She soon finds herself on a journey with Lupin to locate her father, who holds the answers to her mysterious condition. The two are soon joined by four more interesting and handsome gentlemen…

Source: PSBlog.

Norn9: Var Commons (Vita)

While on a school field trip, child prodigy Sorata Suzuhara wanders off after hearing a mysterious song and blacks out. When he comes to, he finds himself in unfamiliar place, and soon encounters a girl who informs him that he's currently in turn of the century Japan.

In order to help him get home, Sorata follows her to a ship that she's waiting for but when it appears it is not a wooden sailing ship, but a round aircraft that flies using technology that is beyond Sorata's imagination. Even stranger, he discovers that the other 12 passengers — 3 young women and 9 men — are all supposedly espers with special powers, and are on some kind of journey at the behest of a multinational entity only known as The World.

Source: PSBlog.

Hatoful Boyfriend (Vita, PS4 and Steam)

The events of Hatoful Boyfriend begin in the year 2188, when the protagonist, a teenage human girl invited to attend the prestigious bird-only St. PigeoNation's Institute, starts her second year of high school. After a hectic and surreal freshman year of attendance at St. PigeoNation's, the protagonist has grown accustomed to the confusion of being the only human in a school full of birds, and is looking forward to her sophomore year. The story of the dating simulation portion of the game follows the protagonist, and the inter-species love and hijinks—of both the mundane high school and quasi-anthropomorphic bird-specific varieties—that ensue as she draws the attention of and attempts to romance one of a number of eligible birds she comes in contact with over the course of the year.

Source: Wikipedia.

Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star (Vita, PS4 and Steam)

Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star is a sequel (companion piece) to Hatoful Boyfriend: A School of Hope and White Wings. There are 4 main episodes and 6 short episodes contained within it, a gallery, as well as a six part radio program that answers questions from the fans.

The main episode unlock one by one as you play the one before it. Each of the first 4 short episode and the radio programs seem to be unlocked by playing each of the main episode (the first main unlocks the first short and so on). The 5th short episode appears after the 4th main episode is finished. The 6th short episode is unlocked after all the radio programs have been played (and all short episodes too probably).

Source: Hatoful Boyfriend Wikia.

OZMAFIA!! (Steam, PC)

Fuka is thrown into an unknown land with no memory of her past. Not long after that, a strange silver-haired man suddenly points a sword at her, and the whole town is running about trying to escape. When the heroine is resigned to the prospect she is about to be killed, a helping hand is extended to her by...?

The heroine will live together with the members of the Oz Family, a Mafia family, who are the brave boss managing the organization, named Caramia, the shy and blunt Kanbu/executive leader Axel, and the mild mannered, subdued advisor Kyrie.

Source: VNDB.

Bad Apple Wars (Vita)

Bad Apple Wars is a love action adventure game about the cycle of death and rebirth (samsara) and a tale about life and love. Beyond the greatest tragedy of "death", this is an unconventional story about people existing as souls with no bodies and being only able to touch each others' souls. What is beyond this...?

Source: Otome Jikan.

Collar x Malice (Vita)

"Who put this collar on me?"

The protagonist is a policewoman who works in Shinjuku, which had become a dangerous city after a series of brutal incidents popularly referred to as the "X-Day Incident".

She had been busy working in her assigned area everyday in order to keep it safe. But one night, an unknown assailant attacked her and placed a collar built in with poison around her neck.

Amidst the chaos and right before the protagonist's eyes were men with suspicious backgrounds. They're all part of an organisation composed of former police officers and have taken it upon themselves to investigate the brutal cases.

Without knowing whether she should trust these men or not, she suddenly became the person who held the key to this massive case.

In order to remove the collar that places her at the edge of death and to liberate Shinjuku from the malice that binds it, she cooperates; beginning to investigate the incidents with the men.

Who holds her life in their hands?
Will Shinjuku ever return to its former glory?

Source: VNDB.

Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ (Vita)

With the help of your childhood friend, Hiroya, you decide to play the online RPG game "Arcadia" in order to look for clues as to the whereabouts of your missing older brother.

You are suddenly engulfed by a blinding light and lose conscious. When you wake up, you find that the scenery has changed into that of a video game fantasy world.

As you are overwhelmed by the sudden twist of events, you learn a terrible truth: to escape this deadly world, you must clear the game.

In this cruel world, you were selected to become the key to clearing the game - the holy sword. With this, you are the target of everyone!

Source: VNDB.

Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome (Steam, PC)

Ema Tachibana is a tall, gloomy and unsociable girl with a bad case of resting bitch-face. With all that working against her, she's never really had any friends. That didn't really change when she started at a new school. Everyone kept their distance because they were scared of her.

But Ema herself was quite content with that state of affairs. She was all set to spend the rest of her time until graduation invisible as ever.

That is until two men turned her life upside down…

"I've finally found you. You are my... my one and only muse!"

Miki Hiraizumi—recently returned to Japan from abroad, he's loved making clothes ever since he was a little kid. He has a strong desire to help make charming, unusual women shine. (Also a bit of a masochist.)

"Listen, you may be nothing but a little shrew right now, but even you have some potential to shine. I'll just have to polish you up."

And Saito Shinjou—he frequently finds himself bored because things have always come easy to him. He wants to find a way to do something so big, it'll change the world. (He's also a bit of a sadist.)

These two ambitious and attractive fellows decide to give Ema Tachibana a makeover!

"No… I'm not really interested…"

But Ema has other ideas.

Source: Mangagamer's official website.

I want to thank MidnightRain for the constant help with the banners and every single otome fan that requested this thread! Here's your place in this community and I hope we all continue to cherish the romance for years to come!

Shizuka · Nov 4, 2017

Reserved for future releases, coming up!

Saphirax · Nov 4, 2017

We're back! Thanks for all the work, Shiz!

UltimateTrainer · Nov 4, 2017

I fell in love with otome games with Code Realize. I really hope publishers learn that there is a market for Otome games in the west. I need Kenka Bancho Otome in my veins

Saphirax · Nov 5, 2017

UltimateTrainer said:
I fell in love with otome games with Code Realize. I really hope publishers learn that there is a market for Otome games in the west. I need Kenka Bancho Otome in my veins

I'm sure SC is doing everything possible not to bring Kenka over at this point :P.

Xita · Nov 5, 2017

Yo.

Been 3 years now and I'm still searching for an otome as good as C;R. Never before in an otome did I like the plot, heroine and characters so much.

At least the fandisc should be coming out sometime next year.

Shizuka · Nov 5, 2017

Xita said:
Yo.

Been 3 years now and I'm still searching for an otome as good as C;R. Never before in an otome did I like the plot, heroine and characters so much.

At least the fandisc should be coming out sometime next year.

I'd suggest trying Collar x Malice or Sweet Fuse.

Xita · Nov 5, 2017

Shizuka said:
I'd suggest trying Collar x Malice or Sweet Fuse.

I found Collar x Malice to be really disappointing tbh. Felt like I fell for all the hype people gave it before release. Didn't like Ichika, thought the plot by the end was largely nonsense and Takeru was the only dateable guy I really liked (Kei is okay).

I have Sweet Fuse but the artstyle bugs me so I haven't gotten too far into it.

futurememory · Nov 5, 2017

Woo, watched. Really happy that this thread is up!

Has anybody played Mystic Messenger? It's on iOS (not sure about Android), Korean in origin, and emulates a chat room. It's free-to-play and occurs in real-time. It's actually fairly easy to accrue the in-game currency. Most of the other mobile otome options I've tried have been woefully lacking, but a lot of the MM routes have actually been diverse and quite emotionally impactful. I'm running through 707's route, and it's been surprising me in all the best ways.

Saphirax · Nov 5, 2017

futurememory said:
Woo, watched. Really happy that this thread is up!

Has anybody played Mystic Messenger? It's on iOS (not sure about Android), Korean in origin, and emulates a chat room. It's free-to-play and occurs in real-time. It's actually fairly easy to accrue the in-game currency. Most of the other mobile otome options I've tried have been woefully lacking, but a lot of the MM routes have actually been diverse and quite emotionally impactful. I'm running through 707's route, and it's been surprising me in all the best ways.

Personally not into mobile games, but MM is fairly popular. I know a few people from the previous thread played it.

Xita · Nov 5, 2017

MM is pretty great but I'm not a fan of F2P otome. I vastly prefer the mobile otome that let you pay for the whole route instead of waiting/paying for just a small snippet of the story to advance at one time. Unfortunately that method made Cheritz a shitton of money so I doubt that they will go back to the traditional way of selling otome games :/

Shady practices aside, I thought the game was great. Loved Seven and Jaehee.

Saphirax · Nov 6, 2017

New game announcements time!

Dance with Devils is getting a fandisc called Dance with Devils My Carol. Out March 22 2018.

Primula also announced a new game Gunka o Haita Neko. Out in 2018 for PC.

While not exactly an otome game, Bamco announced IDOLiSH7 Twelve Fantasia! for Vita

Enkan No Memoria from Dramatic Create is getting a Vita port.

VitaminX Destination has a new trailer:

Dandy Crocodile · Nov 6, 2017

Yay! We're back!

MidnightRain · Nov 6, 2017

Thanks for making the thread, Shizuka! :D
It's nice to be back.

Saphirax said:
I'm sure SC is doing everything possible not to bring Kenka over at this point :P.

Yep, that wouldn't surprise me.

futurememory said:
Woo, watched. Really happy that this thread is up!

Has anybody played Mystic Messenger? It's on iOS (not sure about Android), Korean in origin, and emulates a chat room. It's free-to-play and occurs in real-time. It's actually fairly easy to accrue the in-game currency. Most of the other mobile otome options I've tried have been woefully lacking, but a lot of the MM routes have actually been diverse and quite emotionally impactful. I'm running through 707's route, and it's been surprising me in all the best ways.

I like Mystic Messenger, but the game totally messed up my sleep schedule. My favorite characters so far are 707, Jaehee, and Vanderwood.

futurememory · Nov 6, 2017

Xita said:
MM is pretty great but I'm not a fan of F2P otome. I vastly prefer the mobile otome that let you pay for the whole route instead of waiting/paying for just a small snippet of the story to advance at one time. Unfortunately that method made Cheritz a shitton of money so I doubt that they will go back to the traditional way of selling otome games :/

Shady practices aside, I thought the game was great. Loved Seven and Jaehee.

MidnightRain said:
I like Mystic Messenger, but the game totally messed up my sleep schedule. My favorite characters so far are 707, Jaehee, and Vanderwood.

Are there any other mobile otome games that are actually good? I feel like most of them are pretty... crappy.

Before I started playing, I totally thought that Jumin would be one of my favorites. I have to say, his route is very... oof. I won't go into spoilers, but yeah. I enjoyed Zen's route a bit more than I thought I actually would! Jaehee was fantastic, and I'm on Day 10 of Seven's now.

And completely right, it has been messing with my sleeping. I've had to save/load a few times. Hate that it costs hourglasses... but that's the F2P way.

iceblade · Nov 6, 2017

It's up! Thanks Shizuka :D.

Sousourocket · Nov 6, 2017

futurememory said:
Woo, watched. Really happy that this thread is up!

Has anybody played Mystic Messenger? It's on iOS (not sure about Android), Korean in origin, and emulates a chat room. It's free-to-play and occurs in real-time. It's actually fairly easy to accrue the in-game currency. Most of the other mobile otome options I've tried have been woefully lacking, but a lot of the MM routes have actually been diverse and quite emotionally impactful. I'm running through 707's route, and it's been surprising me in all the best ways.

Personally I love MM although 707... I have some less than charitable feelings about him these days lmao. His route does end up good tho. MM is the only f2p otome I could enjoy despite feeling like I'm being bilked. I really fucking hate f2p pricing.

Hi y'all! I've been enjoying hanging out in the otome discord but it's so good to have this thread again. It was about the only place I posted regularly in the old place and right now I anticipate the same lol.

Fantastic to meet you and see some old faces again too. I am currently like three games behind in my otome backlog (bad apple wars, collar x malice, hakuoki rerelease) due to working on my own otome so at least it's sacrifice for a good cause, hehe. But I will catch up... eventually. Decided to skip out on Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome after the reviews.

Saphirax · Nov 6, 2017

Sousourocket said:
Personally I love MM although 707... I have some less than charitable feelings about him these days lmao. His route does end up good tho. MM is the only f2p otome I could enjoy despite feeling like I'm being bilked. I really fucking hate f2p pricing.

Hi y'all! I've been enjoying hanging out in the otome discord but it's so good to have this thread again. It was about the only place I posted regularly in the old place and right now I anticipate the same lol.

Fantastic to meet you and see some old faces again too. I am currently like three games behind in my otome backlog (bad apple wars, collar x malice, hakuoki rerelease) due to working on my own otome so at least it's sacrifice for a good cause, hehe. But I will catch up... eventually. Decided to skip out on Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome after the reviews.

I should get back to BAW. Just barely managed to finish Satoru's route and start Higa's.

luchikita · Nov 6, 2017

I couldn't get into MM because I've kept missing messages and found what I could get from the story/interactions underwhelming, so I decided that the format wasn't for me and uninstalled the game.

Esfolia · Nov 6, 2017

Yay! I'm going to watch this thread. Hoping for more news on the yet-to-release Otome games.

I have most of the Otome games on Vita except for Bad Apple Wars (that I really want to get) and the Hakuoki games.

futurememory · Nov 6, 2017

Speaking of Hakuoki, which is the best version to get? The entire series has just gotten so confusing with the constant re-releases. Are all the releases the same game? Tracking it is really, really difficult. I have all of the platforms that it could be played on, but I've never pushed the button because there's just too many versions!

luchikita · Nov 6, 2017

futurememory said:
Speaking of Hakuoki, which is the best version to get? The entire series has just gotten so confusing with the constant re-releases. Are all the releases the same game? Tracking it is really, really difficult. I have all of the platforms that it could be played on, but I've never pushed the button because there's just too many versions!

You might as well get Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms when the latter comes out since that's the most complete package. If you want to play the original and don't care about the new characters or story then get the PS3 version.

ShyMel · Nov 6, 2017

futurememory said:
Are there any other mobile otome games that are actually good? I feel like most of them are pretty... crappy.

Before I started playing, I totally thought that Jumin would be one of my favorites. I have to say, his route is very... oof. I won't go into spoilers, but yeah. I enjoyed Zen's route a bit more than I thought I actually would! Jaehee was fantastic, and I'm on Day 10 of Seven's now.

And completely right, it has been messing with my sleeping. I've had to save/load a few times. Hate that it costs hourglasses... but that's the F2P way.

Which mobile ones did you try? I enjoyed the earlier Voltage games. I stopped playing the mobile ones due to phone storage space but the Voltage USA ones seem to be positively received on Tumblr.

Curler · Nov 6, 2017

Just found the thread.

Anyways, I'm guessing the huge amount of otome from Aksys next year is due to ArcSys being their own publisher now (and yet I always thought that ArcSys partially owned them?) So with probably no more of those titles, gotta fill the gap with vns! Glad otome games have been doing so well for them to continue to bring more out, though. I've been doing my part and buying when I can, even though I have no idea when I'lll actually get around to them.

Saphirax · Nov 6, 2017

Curler said:
Just found the thread.

Anyways, I'm guessing the huge amount of otome from Aksys next year is due to ArcSys being their own publisher now (and yet I always thought that ArcSys partially owned them?) So with probably no more of those titles, gotta fill the gap with vns! Glad otome games have been doing so well for them to continue to bring more out, though. I've been doing my part and buying when I can, even though I have no idea when I'lll actually get around to them.

Aksys announced 4 otome games in 2016 as opposed to 3 in 2017, so I don't think ArcSys establishing their own western branch had anything to do with it.

I'm hoping this means we'll get even more otome from them though!

Curler · Nov 6, 2017

Saphirax said:
Aksys announced 4 otome games in 2016 as opposed to 3 in 2017, so I don't think ArcSys establishing their own western branch had anything to do with it.

I'm hoping this means we'll get even more otome from them though!

However, there's 5 titles coming out next year. It felt like they knew it was coming, and prepared more localizations from other publishers to make up for no big Guilty Gear/Blazblue for the year.

ShyMel · Nov 6, 2017

I actually thought that ArcSys already had an overseas branch before the recently announced one and the only reason they were not publishing Blazblu and Guilty Gear was because Aksys had a contract stating that they would publish those series under terms laid out in the contract. Either way, I definitely share the hopes of this meaning we get more otoges!

Saphirax · Nov 6, 2017

Curler said:
However, there's 5 titles coming out next year. It felt like they knew it was coming, and prepared more localizations from other publishers to make up for no big Guilty Gear/Blazblue for the year.

Workload is smaller though. CR's FD is short, so are the two Psychedelica games and they won't have to do much work with CR's ps4 port.

supremeplatypus · Nov 6, 2017

New to the otome thread. I've posted mostly in the Danganronpa V3 ones. Actually found an interesting free otome game on Steam with good reviews. It's called Cinderella Phenomenon and apparently the protagonist goes through a lot of good development throughout. Been playing it, and I actually like it so far.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/568770/Cinderella_Phenomenon__OtomeVisual_Novel/

Sousourocket · Nov 6, 2017

luchikita said:
I couldn't get into MM because I've kept missing messages and found what I could get from the story/interactions underwhelming, so I decided that the format wasn't for me and uninstalled the game.

That's fair! It's a giant pain to miss and I paid a lot of in-game currency to stay current (I had a lot from the free ones they gave at the beginning but eventually I spent money on HG and bought the VIP and their damn DLC drained it because they made it more expensive. It's a bit ridiculous.) I think thay unfortunately the game gets more engrossing a few days in and of course when you are participating so it's fair that you wouldn't enjoy it in that case.

ShyMel said:
Which mobile ones did you try? I enjoyed the earlier Voltage games. I stopped playing the mobile ones due to phone storage space but the Voltage USA ones seem to be positively received on Tumblr.

I played Samurai Love Ballad Party for a bit because I liked the boys (despite the... questionable artwork) but my god I have never felt so aggressively shaken down by a f2p game in my life. There's too much shit to collect and you're constantly being interrupted to pay money or otherwise wait weeks to make any progress. It was so off-putting. I tried some hakuoki ripoff game before I'd played hakuoki as well which did the route by route pricing but I'm just over all f2p games that aren't MM. And even then that one is on shaky ground with me.

Curler · Nov 6, 2017

Saphirax said:
Workload is smaller though. CR's FD is short, so are the two Psychedelica games and they won't have to do much work with CR's ps4 port.

Good point. Not as hefty in text if it's a port. I sure don't mind short VNs from time to time either, to fit in between massive sized games.

ShyMel · Nov 6, 2017

Sousourocket said:
I played Samurai Love Ballad Party for a bit because I liked the boys (despite the... questionable artwork) but my god I have never felt so aggressively shaken down by a f2p game in my life. There's too much shit to collect and you're constantly being interrupted to pay money or otherwise wait weeks to make any progress. It was so off-putting. I tried some hakuoki ripoff game before I'd played hakuoki as well which did the route by route pricing but I'm just over all f2p games that aren't MM. And even then that one is on shaky ground with me.

The Voltage ones (or at least the older ones) are not traditional F2P games. While the prolog is free, you pay upfront for the routes you want to pay. Personally, My Forged Wedding was one of my favorites.

Saphirax · Nov 6, 2017

Standby mode on Vita has one big flaw - when you think you saved your game so you start another.

RIP BAW progress.

Shizuka · Nov 6, 2017

Upcoming games banner updated with Hakuoki Edo Blossoms, thanks MidnightRain!

hikaru · Nov 6, 2017

That banner of upcoming titles looks soo goood.

supremeplatypus · Nov 7, 2017

Thoughts on Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome? Thinking of picking it up.

futurememory · Nov 7, 2017

luchikita said:
You might as well get Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms when the latter comes out since that's the most complete package. If you want to play the original and don't care about the new characters or story then get the PS3 version.

Thanks for the info! I'll probably wait and hold, then. I don't think I could get Kyoto Winds and be satisfied since it's literally half the game, but I really want as many characters as possible!

ShyMel said:
Which mobile ones did you try? I enjoyed the earlier Voltage games. I stopped playing the mobile ones due to phone storage space but the Voltage USA ones seem to be positively received on Tumblr.

Hrm, I tried Shall We Date: The Niflheim+, but there was so little content in each chapter that it made me really annoyed. The frequent breaks were really annoying. I do like how many options there are, but if there was a paid one I'd much prefer it.

I should probably look into some of the Voltage stuff, although paying for each route makes me irrationally annoyed, as stupid as it sounds. It probably makes it seem more expensive than it actually is, and it's hard to know what's going to be a quality item since the market is so saturated.

UltimateTrainer · Nov 7, 2017

supremeplatypus said:
Thoughts on Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome? Thinking of picking it up.

Its very much not a standard otome, but FLML is really funny and I enjoyed playing through it. Still need to finish it however.

Kirie · Nov 8, 2017

Oh shit, didn't even see the thread made it over. Glad to see so many familiar (and some new!) faces here.

Stoked about next year's releases! Also waiting on Cheritz to release a Ray MM route because I'm a huge fangirl. Plz Cheritz.

Saphirax · Nov 10, 2017

I finished BAW and uhh...Alma's ending has me scratching my head a little. Having 5 writers is never a good idea. Higa and Shikishima's routes were a mess and Satoru was such a nonentity. I liked Alma and White Mask even if the ending in Alma's route could've been executed far better.

Esfolia · Nov 10, 2017

Saphirax said:
I finished BAW and uhh...Alma's ending has me scratching my head a little. Having 5 writers is never a good idea. Higa and Shikishima's routes were a mess and Satoru was such a nonentity. I liked Alma and White Mask even if the ending in Alma's route could've been executed far better.

Aww that's sad to hear.. would you still recommend the game?

Saphirax · Nov 10, 2017

Esfolia said:
Aww that's sad to hear.. would you still recommend the game?

I'm not sure to be honest. The game definitely suffers from having 5 writers and being on the short side. It has an interesting premise and touches upon some neat concepts, but does leave a lot to be desired. Game is nowhere near as bad as Period Cube though.

Satoru - like I said, his route is the least involved with the main story. Good thing in his route is how Rinka gets more proactive about stuff (she literally has to because of Satoru). I personally didn't like his character at all, so his route was the worst for me.
Higa - he's a mess. Even in his own route, and especially if you finished his route and Alma's bad ending. His character is at odds with what he wants and what he does. What he wants is clearly established in his route, but what happens is the opposite. So you end up with a happy ending that, if you think about it for more than a few seconds, isn't actually happy at all - it's nonsensical.
Shikishima - I should elaborate that as a character, he isn't hot garbage, but his ending definitely was. Everything was peachy until you reach his true ending. No idea what the writers were thinking.
White Mask - I liked him and his route, but he'd definitely shine more if the game was longer. His type of character is definitely a slow burn, so the game's length might be off-putting to some people in that regard.
Alma - Just like White Mask, I liked him as a character as well, but some stuff in his route was...questionable at best. Although that's mostly concerning the ending. I spent 30 minutes thinking about his true ending before I gave up. It kinda works...if you don't think too hard.

Esfolia · Nov 10, 2017

Saphirax said:
I'm not sure to be honest. The game definitely suffers from having 5 writers and being on the short side. It has an interesting premise and touches upon some neat concepts, but does leave a lot to be desired. Game is nowhere near as bad as Period Cube though.

Satoru - like I said, his route is the least involved with the main story. Good thing in his route is how Rinka gets more proactive about stuff (she literally has to because of Satoru). I personally didn't like his character at all, so his route was the worst for me.
Higa - he's a mess. Even in his own route, and especially if you finished his route and Alma's bad ending. His character is at odds with what he wants and what he does. What he wants is clearly established in his route, but what happens is the opposite. So you end up with a happy ending that, if you think about it for more than a few seconds, isn't actually happy at all - it's nonsensical.
Shikishima - I should elaborate that as a character, he isn't hot garbage, but his ending definitely was. Everything was peachy until you reach his true ending. No idea what the writers were thinking.
White Mask - I liked him and his route, but he'd definitely shine more if the game was longer. His type of character is definitely a slow burn, so the game's length might be off-putting to some people in that regard.
Alma - Just like White Mask, I liked him as a character as well, but some stuff in his route was...questionable at best. Although that's mostly concerning the ending. I spent 30 minutes thinking about his true ending before I gave up. It kinda works...if you don't think too hard.

Hmm ok I don't think I'll go out of my way to buy this game anymore. Maybe buy it when it's on sale. Thanks so much for writing some insight on the routes.

I also didn't like Period Cube, was repetitive as hell.

Xita · Nov 10, 2017

Period Cube was really bad but me treating it like the trainwreck it is saved me from having as bad a time as I did reading Norn9.

Esfolia · Nov 10, 2017

Xita said:
Period Cube was really bad but me treating it like the trainwreck it is saved me from having as bad a time as I did reading Norn9.

I'm from the very small minority of people who liked Norn9. It was my first Otome and I loved every single one of the characters except one, and I thought the art style was beautiful.

Saphirax · Nov 10, 2017

Esfolia said:
Hmm ok I don't think I'll go out of my way to buy this game anymore. Maybe buy it when it's on sale. Thanks so much for writing some insight on the routes.

I also didn't like Period Cube, was repetitive as hell.

BAW is definitely more of the same in terms of repetitiveness. All routes follow the same pattern with minor alterations based on who you sided with. So yeah, either wait for a sale or avoid it altogether.

Shizuka · Nov 10, 2017

I really enjoyed Norn9, specially coming out almost at the same time as Code Realize. One is story-driven and the other is romance-driven.

weblaus · Nov 10, 2017

Due to lack of time I still haven't gotten very far in BAW, but I still liked that bit more than all of what I played of Period Cube (one route and then I got bored quickly).

But I wonder whoever at Aksys had the bright idea to use that horrible font for BAW - it's ungly and actually uncomfortable to read, which is obviously a huge problem for a VN.

I own all Otomes released in English for the VIta so far and I'd rank C:R as my favourite, followed by Amnesia: Memories (I so wish that one had a physical release, sigh) and Nurse Love Addiction is a guilty pleasure (or doesn't that count as Otome because of girl-girl relationship focus?)

Saphirax · Nov 10, 2017

weblaus said:
Due to lack of time I still haven't gotten very far in BAW, but I still liked that bit more than all of what I played of Period Cube (one route and then I got bored quickly).

But I wonder whoever at Akysy had the bright idea to use that horrible font for BAW - it's ungly and actually uncomfortable to read, which is obviously a huge problem for a VN.

I own all Otomes released in English for the VIta so far and I'd rank C:R as my favourite, followed by Amnesia: Memories (I so wish that one had a physical release, sigh) and Nurse Love Addiction is a guilty pleasure (or doesn't that count as Otomoe because of girl-girl relationship focus?)

Aksys had no say about the font in BAW, unfortunately. The Japanese devs were the one who insisted on it.

And yeah, NLA isn't an otome game :P.

Kirie · Nov 10, 2017

I agree with Saph on her summary of the character routes in BAW, though I really loved Shikishima.. but as she said his ending is a dumpster fire. Him and Prefect were by far my favorites. I'd personally rank them Prefect > Shikishima >>>>>> Alma >Higa > Satoru

"I'm gonna hit you if you cry too much, idiot" "You...you can't do that..." "Now I want to do it even more, I'm a bad apple, after all" like I know he's joking but uh,ooookay. My Higa loving friend loved him but hated his ending lol

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