Was a problem with Nascent Necromancer. Love the story but the characters keep getting into inane arguments I have to choose sides over. Normally I LIKE to choose sides and don’t like the neutral position being the golden ending all the time, but most of these arguments I have no stake in.
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You and me both. I got sick of choosing something my MC thought was intimidating only to find out it was sarcastic because the tone wasn’t conveyed in the choice. I also want to know, before I get too far in, if my MC is going to have to be a one-dimensional cartoon who only trains one skill and should never spend time with their teammates because missing one training session is the difference between a good ending and everything going to shit.
I don’t have so much free time that I can waste three hours playing a game, then restart it due to one lousy choice. It’s the main reason I think these games need “back” buttons (the second is that I have accidentally hit ‘next’ without meaning to do so and had to start the effing game over again). I know the story why it will never be allowed, and that’s the publisher’s choice, but any author who puts in saves at the end of each chapter, or a reload or something where you can restart before certain points deserves a basket of brownies or whatever treats they want. Anything to keep me from having to restart from the damned beginning.
This also applies to non-IF games. Any video game without regular save points, or the ability to save when you want, can kiss my ass.
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I’m of the opinion that visual / tonal indicators should be a heavily encouraged setting for IF games as options, I’m implementing them in my game with a simple on off option. They tell you what stats will change/are tested , or what the tone of a reply is respectively when relevant. The WIP about Persephone & Hades has tonal indicators, I think it’s a great set of features though, so you don’t feel you have to look it up since you can just have it presented within game.
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that’s when I know the game is stat dependent. if I have to keep opening the code tab every time i hit the next page you bet i’ll just play it once 
(except when I’m looking for a specific choice/outcome)
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I like them for the flirt options. I can usually tell, but sometimes it isn’t super clear. I haven’t figured out how to put the little hearts in my projects, but I want to
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How do you all feel about conversation options that start with the stat before each conversation option, like:
- (Strength) Why don’t we step outside?
- (Desterity) Why don’t I just walk away from this before we both regret the outcome?
- (Charisma) Why don’t you come upstairs?
Unrelated question:
How did you feel about Doki Doki Literature Club?
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I feel like Doki Doki is hardly an Otome? Isn’t it more of a horror game than anything else?
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Right, but they were discussing yandere stories & I immediately thought of #JustMonica.
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I like it. For both stat check options and stat bump options. Saves me the trouble of code diving.
Well, saves me the trouble of code diving for skill specific choices.
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Funny enough I just got an answer to this from someone, or at least how they do it. It’s the windows emoji keyboard. Which from my understanding can be accessed a couple of ways.
Windows Key + Period( . )
Windows Key + Semi-Colon( ; )
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I really appreciate games that give the option to turn that sort of thing on and off (like A Crown of Sorcery and Steel). I vacillate between finding it useful and immersion-breaking, and I imagine plenty of people fall on both sides as regards whether they prefer it or not.
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I don’t have that one. How did they implement the reader changing the option mid-game? Is there a button on the stats screen or something?
Doki Doki is a bishojo game, otome games usually consist of a group of attractive men and always centers around a single female lead.
Speaking of otome games, a lot of the heroines are just down right boring. I understand this has to do with cultural differences as the Japanese audience prefers a more docile and quiet heroine. I feel like you can have that and still give her some agency. It’s nice to see why her love interests fell in love with her in the first place, it adds to the story telling.
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I see a lot of people talking about this game, but didn’t played it yet 
This is so true. I hate the type of stories where there are a lot of problems with the heroine and the RO that should be easily resolved if they just talked. That’s why my favorite heroine of otome games is Teuta from Bustafellows. She isn’t afraid of talk about her feelings or what she’s thinking. I really like to play as characters there are more assertive and mature, like her.
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This is a thing in RPGs in general. The issue with giving a character more personality is that it gives players more chances to clash with the character. Just look through any RPG forum for lines like “My MC would never…” or “My MC actually hates…” and you’ll find tons of people objecting to even the most basic elements of characterization given to a protagonist because they’ve constructed an elaborate headcanon for their character and they dislike it when the story gives them an element that clashes with it. The blank slate progatonist is rarely the best option but it’s almost always the safest option.
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And that what makes most otome games a drag to get through, the heroine hardly emotes to all the shenanigans happening around or to her. You gotta hope that the love interests are compelling enough to carry the game.
If anyone has ever played the otome game amnesia, you know about infamous situation with one of the love interest. I was expecting more push back from the heroine but she was just straight chilling through the whole situation with only a confused face.
I want a system that lets us develop our main character personality through out the game like how Odessa dating game was………
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Wasn’t something like this used in one of those console ARPGs? Can’t remember which one now, but I didn’t really play it much. I can see why you’d like to have it though I hope it will be a toggle so those who want to play it without having immersion being broken will have that choice too.
My disliked trope for today, after reading a little bit of Royal Affairs, is the insufferable rival character present in almost every CoG game and a lot of WIPs. They usually have a very petty reason to be cross with you, if any, and the whole romance either relies on MC being exceptionally nice and allowing them to step on them (not in a kinky way) or forgiving them in the end.
I know some people like that, it’s a popular trope for a reason but the idea of winning disgruntled - and sometimes abusive - people with kindness never sat right with me.
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Yeah!
I think this is the important part. The enemies to lovers trope has 2 extremes, and it really doesn’t work if it fits one of them. The first is what you described. They don’t like each other for zero reason. They meet and decide to hate each other immediately. On the other end, you have a murderer or something. Someone you shouldn’t date, but the MC does for some reason. A good enemies to lovers story would be one in the middle. They have a legitimate problem with each other, but it isn’t anything that can’t be worked through
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