Otome Games

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A place to discuss otome games and related merch/events. BL games also welcome.

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What was your first Otome game? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Mine was cinderella phenomenon. I have no recollection of how I stumbled across it. I was obsessed with Ouran high school host club as a teen so it probably looked intriguing to me as second time I'd seen a "reverse harem" on a cover. I played the entire thing within a single weekend. Then... I didn't play another otome game until Piofiore came out on the switch. No idea why I didn't. I vaguely recall not being able to find any other free games that were of similar quality, but I was an adult when Cinderella Phenomenon came out so it's not like I couldn't buy things online.

Anyway, like many others I bought a ton of switch games during the pandemic and one of those was Piofiore; I've been playing otome ever since.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My first Otome was Mystic Messenger in 2018 because a close Dragon Age fan highly recommended it. I was into it for two months and then went back to regular life for 2 more years without playing any visual novels. Unless The Walking Dead by TellTale counts as a Visual Novel but I think that was before 2018. If Telltale counts, then they were my first visual novel. I just didn't think of them as a genre I would seek out per se, since I was still loving in Dragon Age and Detroit Become Human, the Witcher, and Mass Effect so I was busy with all those.

Then during the pandemic I tried Cupid because it was free, then Confines of the Queen got me intrigued enough. But then I found Cinderella Phenomenon and absolutely fell head over heels for the genre and have been burning through VNs like crazy ever since.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I was lucky enough to not find mystic messenger until the pandemic, so the odd hours it required weren't too big of a deal. I could just mute myself on zoom.

I think the tell tale games are usually called adventure games or walking simulators depending on how much you like them lol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

@Catch42

Crimson Spires is absolutely an romance visual novel (3 guys, 1 lady) and had walking around interacting.
Echoes of the Fey has walking around the town, clicking on NPCs, and turn based battle mechanics and it's considered a romance visual novel/ otome.
Loren the Amazon Princess has turn based battle mechanics and is consider a romance visual novel.
Boyfriend Dungeon is definitely considered a romantic visual novel but has hack and slash fighting all the way through.

I'm not seeing how it's not a visual novel. I'm no expert of the genre by any mean, but I don't see much difference between Telltale's Walking Dead and the above games I just listed. Can you explain what you see as the distinction?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Genre's are by definition somewhat fluid and only exist as a concept to help communicate what a piece of media is about beforehand. So I can't claim to be an expert on the genre either. In video games the main genre tends to be based on game mechanics (ie RPG, shooter, etc.), then a secondary genre identifier marks theme (romance, sci-fi, etc). Of course lots of games have multiple mechanics. I've noticed that when games mix multiple genres they tend to be defined by their most dominant one. So Crimson spires gets marketed as a "visual novel with adventure elements" and Loren the amazon princess gets dubbed a "visual novel with RPG elements". I've seen it the other way too. I've heard the recent release Loop8 called an "RPG with visual novel elements"

The Telltale games could very well be visual novels as my response was based on what I've heard other people call the telltale games. Do they have novel aspects to them? Looking at the screenshots of telltale games I don't see anything that looks like a visual novel, but again I haven't played them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“Walking simulator” actually is a term for a genre, not just a derogatory term to toss at games you don’t like.

They’re mostly movement and environmental interaction, often without elements such as combat, puzzles, or even a win/lose scenario. (Taken off Wikipedia)

I hate them, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad. They’re just not to my taste.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I learn something new everyday 😀