Otome games!

Three reverse harem games released in English, in just the last week. Whoa.

• Hakuouki on PSP, both in UMD and Playstation Store paid download format. Since I didn't get around to reserving a copy, and since I haven't spotted one at a nearby video game store, I chose the latter option. According to what I read on the Aksys Games forum.

• A full version of Hatoful Boyfriend. The freeware version was an amusing story with a bit of simulation gameplay. I'm curious what features have been added.

• A doujin game called The Second Reproduction. This one may be nearly impossible to purchase, since the original doujin circle has folded... If you are willing to use services that help people buy goods from Yahoo Auction Japan, then you might be able to obtain a new or used copy.

None of the three contain any explicit content, but two of the three may not be exactly worksafe. Hakuouki did get a Mature rating for violence and implied sex.

Finally, it sounds like Jjjewel and crew are close to releasing their first translation patch for the Korean Nintendo DS version of Otometeki. (A game which is also far from being obscene, but not exactly worksafe either.)

A couple years ago, the group Roseverte released a freeware VN called Duplicity ~Eternal Lie~. Now the group is selling an expanded remake called Duplicity ~Beyond the Lies~. On the "about" page, they clearly explain what changes have been made in this version. There is a free demo, and the full version will cost $20 US.

Roseverte is a unique group in that its members speak a variety of languages. The group's first two games are available in Japanese, English, and German. Duplicity ~Beyond the Lies~ is currently available in two of the three languages.

I've played some of the recommendations on this page. I really like playing games from a female perspective, as long as there's some multiple demographic appeal. If it's just pure romance it's pretty boring to me but if it includes some mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, or action elements I find I actually prefer a female protagonist. I've read some free otome games from the Lemma Soft forums (Requiem of the Abyss, Frozen Essence, etc) and they were fun, but I really wish I could read something similar only with higher production values but I haven't really seen anything like that. Tokemeki Memorial/Starry Sky both seem like they're very heavily romance oriented which isn't something I'd read.

Adaira, you stated that you're looking for VNs with a woman main character, "gen" plot elements such as mystery/fantasy/sci-fi/action, and relatively high production values. Some stuff you might enjoy...

Some of Hanako Games' creations seem to meet your criteria. Magical Diary is basically a life simulation with a variety of romance options, and the game seems to balance both. Likewise, the indie game Spirited Heart is similar to Princess Maker 2, but with both guys and girls as romance options if you purchase the expansion pack. (The player takes the girl's role, and she turns 18 right after the intro, which helps to reduce the squick factors seen in several Princess Maker games.)

Science Girls is a fairly simple and not-very-serious RPG about girls fighting aliens. Also, I believe it passes The Bechdel Test.

Loren The Amazon Princess is an interesting example, as I think it's more of a Western RPG than a visual novel. The same creators at Winter Wolves made a similar game called Planet Stronghold not long ago, which is basically a western RPG with combat more reminiscent of eastern RPGs. Anyway, both games feature mostly plot with some romance options. There are male and female main characters, and Everyone Is Bi.

The freeware story Faery Tale has a unique art stye and a woman as the main character. While it does appear to be a romance game, it does not seem to be reverse harem. (The creator is one of a few people creating VNs with a distinctly western art style. If this is your interest, search the VNDB for "Cinders," which is set for release in the near future.)

Much of the Atelier Series features women as main characters. They're general fantasy fiction stories with Eastern RPG / Simulation Game gameplay, and not much emphasis is placed on relationships. If you own a DS, look for Atelier Annie — it should be fairly inexpensive. If you own a Playstation 3, look for Atelier Rorona and Atelier Totori — I've been seeing their prices slowly decreasing.

Both Hyperdimension Neptunia and its sequel feature women as main characters. They're ridiculous comedies about moe console girls and game piracy. If you're concerned with reviews, the first game got rather bad ones, while the latter got a few decent ones, including RPGamer saying that it "doesn't suck."

Aoi Shiro is a VN with great visuals and a woman as a main character. Though I'm not sure how much emphasis is on relationships, and it's a worksafe example of the Yuri Genre. A full English patch is available. The original host site Solelo seems to have died quietly, but I had no difficulty searching for the patch.

Shikkoku No Sharnoth is another VN with great visuals and a woman as a main character. Some explicit content, and not reverse harem. The setting is a fantasy version of Victorian Era London. Was translated by Amaterasu.

Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is a doujin VN that was recently localized by Nyu Media. The main character is a girl, and the story is about comedy rather than relationships.

Hanako Games has just released Long Live The Queen, a rather hard stat-raising/life sim. Players take on role of the Crown Princess of Nova and try to survive long enough to reach her coronation.

While the game itself is relatively short, there is a heap of depth to it that will need multiply playthroughs to work out all the intrigues in the game.

There's also an interesting little mechanic to the stat raising - The Princess is always in one of eight various moods that are modified during the VN sections of the game and taking part in activities at the weekend. Each mood gives bonuses and penalties to four of the different parent skills affecting how quickly she learns, adding an extra lair to the game's juggling act.

edited 2nd Jun '12 7:08:43 AM by RedDeimos

Not sure if you're aware of this, Red Deimos, but in Papillon's first post on the Long Live the Queen WIP thread, she said, "This is not an otome game - the princess may wind up engaged, as marriages are important in politics, but don't expect romance paths!" Since she is the creator of this indie game, I believe this statement can be considered Word of God. Therefore, it's probably best to consider Long Live the Queen to be a Simulation Game.

Well, it IS from a female perspective though, and the original person asking for recs didn't like too much romance in their games, so LLTQ might be right up their alley. And in any case it's a fucking hardcore game that everybody should play regardless of gender anyway.

If you like games that are 1) complex, 2) cute, and 3) not focused on relationships, then you may enjoy Long Live the Queen. A lot of Hanako Games' content is like that.

Voltage Inc has released "Be My Princess for GREE" in English. It should work with most iOS and Android devices. From the description on its official Facebook page, it seems to be a combination of romance game and social game.

Hey, has anyone here played Starry Sky ~ in Spring? I've been in the mood for an otome game lately and since this is one of the few translated games, I was wondering if it was any good.

Normally I'd just go ahead, play it and form an opinion for myself first, but considering the English patch is nearly the same size as the game itself, I'm a bit hesitant. :/

extremely late, but - no. Starry Sky is pretty but dull as ditchwater. You will have a much better time with pretty much ANY of the western-written otome games, IMO. If you really want a Japanese-written otome game go with the translations for Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side or Love Revo. (Well, and Hatoful Boyfriend but that's a slightly different thing.)

Already played Hatoful, Tokimemo, and Love Revo sadly enough. Otome games are in such short supply...

And yes, a little late. I ended up installing Starry Sky. As you said, about as fun as watching paint dry. I'm gonna play the white-haired guy's route simply because he's voiced by Sugita, then quickly uninstall. Other two guys are dull or extremely aggravating. :/

Is it me, or does the plot of Love Revo sound really creepy and chock full of Unfortunate Implications?

OK, so it seems like the protagonist is dangerously obese, so losing weight might be a good idea (though I'm wondering what kind of person considers "attracting boys" more important than "avoiding heart failure"), but seriously, a literal "lose as much weight as you can!" game... I could easily see governments banning that, and I wouldn't hold it against them.

Please tell me there are at least some endings where the love interest tells the protagonist "you're beautiful as you are; don't change for my sake".

Sorry to barge into the thread like this, but the description of that game made me feel a bit sick.

There is now an official Quinrose game available in English. That's a surprise. Alice in the Heart ~Wonderful Wonder World~ was just recently released on iTunes US. Here's how pricing works, according to the page: "The first episode of each character and the opening are free... 1 character: $7 ($5 without sounds)... A set of all characters: 38$ ($25 without sounds)." In other words, it's possible to purchase individual character routes or the entire story, and choose either voiced or unvoiced dialogue.

With this release, and with Mangagamer finally localizing an otome game (Ozmafia), it seems fandom is changing.

Also, it has been almost two years since Doktorvon Eurotrash's message... oops. Otometeki Koi Kakumei Love Revo is something of a curiosity: '90s simulation gameplay with not much story, but it also has genuine worksafe girl x boy romance. It's challenging enough that an FAQ will be useful, but I don't think the story is meant to be taken seriously. Also, I do not believe it was meant to troll or insult the reader / player.

edited 10th Aug '14 7:23:56 AM by dorkatlarge

Try the iPhone/Android Shall We Date? Franchise. The + Versions are free. You'll cash in-game though, which you either gain by mundane daily tasks or by converting real life dough. If you can get past this without worries, some are actually quite interesting, like Niflheim+. Some have really crappy plots though, so well, yeah...

Also, Lilly here is attempting to translate the Person A ~Phantom Of The Opera~ Game practically alone. You should seriously consider supporting her.

edited 9th Jan '15 10:19:25 AM by Espun

I, for some reason other than having the money, bought and played all routes of season 1 of Kissed By The Baddest Bidder. I'm not into the bad boy type that is the target audience, but I liked the game nonetheless. The routes, in order of how much I liked them:

1. Mamoru: I liked Mamoru's route a whole lot. Mamoru himself is by far the most compelling and likeable character of the cast. His cynicism and laziness managed to resonate well with me and the romance with the heroine (whom I named Nanami Tsunemori on a whim) was good. Not great romance, but he's #1 because the character itself.
2. Baba: Baba's route was pretty fun. Despìte me coming up with 1935728 fedora jokes during the course of the route, he was pretty entertaining by himself without outside help. Now, the romance itself was pretty damn great. Mostly because he actively seduces and courts the heroine tenderly and gentlemanly to the point he sounds like somebody a girl would fall in love with. Also: He looks like he's 20 but he's older than Mamoru, who looks 45. Dropped the ball there, lads.
10. Soryu: Well, I didn't care much for Soryu. In fact, I have not a lot to say about this route because I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it, either.
15. Eisuke: Meh.
9999999999999. Ota: Ota is a complete and utter fucktool.
Overall, it was not bad. There was a bit of a wide gap between the routes I liked and those I didn't. Eisuke and Ota were shit though. For a better written possessive lover type story, read Soredemo Sekai Wa Utsukushii.

edited 12th Mar '15 10:08:47 AM by Logograph

So, Chertiz released Mystic Messenger's fifth main character, and it's a female. I can't tell if she's the playable or a romanceable character. Popular speculation has it that she's a romance option, but I'm waiting until we get more info.

On the other hand, currently playing Nameless and loving it. I sort of now want to get Dandelion but that game is a dating sim, and I'm not a fan of the stat raising stuff. I'm kind of hoping that Mystic Messenger is a visual novel like Nameless instead of a dating sim like Dandelion. (It was unclear on the website. Just mentioned that it was a storytelling messenger game which has me pretty confused.)

edited 11th Jul '15 8:57:22 PM by sparkykandy

I was just wondering, do H-Game otome games exist? I don't think so, but I could very well be wrong.

I think so. Check out VNDB, you can search for multiple tags like otome game and sexual content pretty easily.

Well, Cheritz went ahead and uploaded both the English and Korean openings of their latest game Mystic Messenger to Youtube.

English:

Korean

If their previous games are anything to go by, the unknown guy of this game is probably going to be the "true" love interest.

edited 7th Feb '16 11:41:08 AM by sparkykandy

Is this forum still alive? Then I guess I can post in my recs then.

Most of Otomate's recent otome games have become better and better over the recent years. Unfortunately, most of them are untranslated , but the writing quality is still good by the way. Here're a couple I know of:

1. Clock Zero ~Shuuen no Ichibyou~: The main character is a strong-willed, independent young girl, who, while being physically incapable of fighting to defend herself, relies on her wits, smarts, and sharp tongue to make up for the lack of that throughout the story. While she spends most of the plot starting from the middle part as a hostage to two separate groups (depending on the routes), she's not a damsel in distress. Heck, her personality won her a lot of fans in Japan with her being considered one of the best otoge protags by a lot of reviewers in and out of her home country (she usually places in the top 5 of otoge heroine popularity polls). You can think of this plot as slightly similar to Bokumachi, so expect time travel tropes to abound. Here's its info on VNDB.

Oh right, the best part of her character is, as one reviewer put it in her review, when she deals with her respective love interests: if they try to pull the "I'm leaving you so I can protect you" card on her, Nadeshiko's reaction can be summed up with this line: "NO YOU’RE MINE BEECH!"

2. Code:Realize: Cardia is an awesome heroine with great character development and can kick ass in this story. 'Nuff said. Plot's good too. Unlike most examples in my list, this one has an English release so check it out.

3. Taisho x Alice: Heroine Yurika is a complete troll and tease. She's pretty aggressive and flirty with her love interests, but only to a comedic extent without being annoyingly overt about it. Basically the plot is an Alice in Wonderland meets genderflipped fairy tale characters type of story with Mind Screw mixed in with its plot twist. They said that it's gonna get an English release sometime in the future, but there's no fixed date yet. Highly recommended.

4. Wand of Fortune: Lulu's a fairly traditional strong heroine in a shoujo manga (you know, the optimistic, let's all be friends and conquer all our hardships together in our magic school type) but I guess that's the main charm to her character, with the other being a kick ass heroine with magic! by the end of the day, despite having 0 property for it at the start. Gameplay has a mix of some elements from JRP Gs like the Atelier series if you're interested. No translation has been made yet, sadly.

Edit: I forgot to mention: Lulu constantly places (or placed? I haven't kept up with the polls recently) in the top 3 of Otomate's favorite heroine character polls like Nadeshiko, and I've seen her win it at least twice. That should probably be a testament to how good her character is as a VN Fe MC. Oh, and in the Vita port of Wo F, she's voiced by Yui Horie! Too bad only her stock quotes were voiced and not her dialogue unlike the Norn9 heroines

5. Kenka Bancho Otome: Hinako's one of the most badass heroines out there who got enrolled in an all-boys school full of yankees and delinquents after her long lost twin brother coerces her into putting on a Twin Switch act since he doesn't want to be the head bancho (and get beaten up by the stronger boys there in school) which Hinako can manage all on her own and succeeds at the end of nearly all the routes. Oh, and her boys only get to find out she's a girl midway through their routes during some...awkwardly-timed moments. The game has quick time events that let you fight in some scenes, and there're dialogue options in the middle of the sequences too which you can use to charm the boys. They blush like complete dorks if you choose the right ones. No English translation for the game as of yet but there's an ongoing translation of the manga adaptation right now. Just google it.

edited 6th Sep '16 12:17:27 AM by Hinooka-Homu

Thanks for posting them!! I don't really get a chance to play V Ns or games anymore due to other commitments, but it's always nice to hear about what's currently good out there. So even if the thread is dead, I appreciate it.

No problem! I just want to get some Otome Games noticed out there because, like the ones I've mentioned, some of the most recent Otoge plots are actually on par with the writing quality of the regular V Ns out there and are criminally underrated overseas *cough* Clock Zero *cough* because there's no English translation. Norn9 and Code:Realize are just two of the luckier good and recent ones that got a localization abroad plus received animated adaptations (soon to have for Code Realize's case) that got them more recognition to boot.

That saying, here's the latest otome game that's hot in Japan right now: Collar x Malice, which is about a 21-year old policewoman named Hoshino Ichika who's investigating a series of organized murders after someone knocks her out and puts a collar on her neck that would kill her with poison if she fails to do a certain task under a set time limit. Ichika's kind of a weirdo country bumpkin here from what I've heard, but she's otherwise a fun main character to play as. Oh, and this game's getting a localization sometime in 2017!

That looks pretty interesting. I love the art style. Like I said, I've been really out of the otome scene. I think the last Japanese VN I played was Clover no Kuni, which I quite liked (though I hear Quin Rose has gone downhill from there, just churning out sequels?) I've been playing some western games, in particular the ones by Hanako. Though the mechanics of Black Closet were a bit off putting so I've not really been keeping up there either.

Recently played Mystic Messenger. If you take a gander at my page, you probably know I love the game to bits. All the routes are great (Except Yoosung's, his was kind of dissapointing.). It's a bit of a time-waster though, due to the real-time mechanic. I'll play more of it whenever I get a break from school.

On Cheritz, has anyone here ever played or watched someone play one of their Otome games? They're actually pretty good.