Probably. Idc. It takes real money.
Yesss both Wilders and Aloners by that author are pretty fun~ Despite not having a large selection of ROs.
(Im still always a bit miffed at games where they only give you one same-sex/nb/other as a RO though 
)
Theres also Gansters in Love and Castaway! Loves Adventure that features a female RO, and Astoria: Fates Kiss that also has nb RO~
I’ve always wanted to make Otome games but I have no clue to do coding.
I just want to draw stuff 
#illustratorproblems
1 Like
Sign yourself up for a team project or hire yourself out as a VN artist.
2 Likes
I don’t mind games that only give you one same sex or nonbinary option, as I am a heteroromantic (Or at least hetero-oriented, but strictly speaking I don’t care about gender? Like, I imagine myself in a heterosexual relationship, but if a woman or nonbinary or trans person caught my eye I honestly wouldn’t care about their gender in the slightest.) asexual myself, however I’m all for diversity if one includes a big cast in a dating sim game.
Oh, that’s great to know! I’m not into mobile otome games (besides Mystic Messenger, which I’ve been a fan of from day 1) though, as I have the opinion that they are mostly rather shallow games that easily dig a hole into your wallet. I’m a huuuge fan of indie projects though and would probably back half the games on kickstarter if I actually had that much money to spend, haha.
@Feather You could easily be a part of a visual novel project. A LOT of visual novel projects search for good artists, like, all of the time. You could easily join one, for sure. I looked at some of your art and I really, really love your way of doing lineart. It’s so clean and detailed!
2 Likes
I think you’re thinking of Date or Die? I’ve been loosely following development for the last couple years and from what I know the description sounds similar. As of right now though, I think only a demo is out on itch: Date or Die: The Pilot Episode by Arden
I hope that helps 
5 Likes
@Laguz do you know If I can do It here?
@Cirrocumulus Thank you for checking out my stuff! 
Know where I can start? XD
I find that Voltage and other mobile otome game companies like it to be very linear - not much choice - more like choose the right answer.
Cheritz was originally a VN company before mobile. their MM is a whole new concept I feel and introduced a new type of interaction 
or maybe its just me
Here isn’t really a VN place. Maybe the Ren’py forums? Or tumblr to boot?
1 Like
I’m eagerly awaiting Date or Die. The Host is dreamy. 
3 Likes
The Host is my first romance planned for it too
[] I seem to have a type for people like that in otomes lol []
As an artist you shouldn’t have any problem posting on the likes of the lemmasoft forums asking for a writer/coder to help you out. It’s usually artists that seem to be in high demand (or was when I last lurked there). Or you can join a team project.
Here, we’d teach you how to code, alas. 
And choicescript isn’t the best for heavy illustrations.
1 Like
What kind of character is the Host, I mean, what do you usually call them in otomes? I too am curious since I gave the demo a try and was like - “Yup, totally going for the Host, lol”.
A sh*t, that’s what.
I don’t actually know the otome terms for some of the stereotypes outside of a tsundere and a kuudere, sorry!
1 Like
In Japanese terms, there isn’t really a matching category - the only common “dating sim stereotype” that touches on violence is the yandere, which is kind of an obsessed stalker that comes off sweet at first but escalates to bizarre behavior when jealous. There’s the rarer descriptor “Saiko” (Psycho) for a personality type that is simply a disturbed criminal.
Fetish-wise, characters like The Host fall under hybristophilia, a leaning towards cruel or dangerous individuals.
p.s.: “Otome” tends to refer to games where a female protagonist dates a cast of men; “eroge” or “dating sim” is more correct for a mixed cast.
5 Likes
Chu~
Everyone, thank you very much for some great recommendations about games! I found several really nice titles which I have never heard about.
I hope you would not mind me suggesting some games that are really worth playing?
- Everlasting Summer. To be fair, this is not an Otome game. The main character is male and there is a cast of girls, whom he can build romance with. BUT! Even though I prefer playing as female MCs only because I am a girl (or young woman? I am not entirely sure about foreign age classification) and I am straight, which means I feel uncomfortable romancing female characters, this very game particularly caught my attention.
The art is eye-catching and really nice. The characters are well-developed and after playing for some time, you will find them as realistic as any of your friends is. I also liked the setting, but I am not sure other people will look at it in the same way as I do. The story takes place in a pioneer camp called “Sovionok” and has a surprisingly good plot twists related to different mysteries.
No matter what your attitude to games made in Russia is, I cannot but recommend trying this game out. I am sure it will be worth your time. And Everlasting Summer is absolutely free-to-play.
You can find more information about the game here: http://everlastingsummer.su/en/
Or you can play it on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/331470/
- My second favorite title is Dandelion - Wishes brought to you -. I remember seeing somebody’s message about it, but I would still like to mention this title. I bought it when it had been released many years ago, when there was a special security server, which you had to access every time you started the game. Now it is way easier to play it via Steam, so the process of playing has become even more pleasant.
You can read my review of the game here, so I will not write about all the game features in this topic: http://steamcommunity.com/id/futabatian/recommended/321290/
- Seven Kingdoms. I love this game! It was really interesting to work out this whole stats system, to build an ultimate character, to find all possible romance scenes and to read them. I have played the demo more than 100 times for sure! And it was really worth it.
Again, this game has already been mentioned, so I see no need to post any links about it.
-
Amnesia™: Memories. I do not even know what to start with. The art is gorgeous, the characters have interesting personalities and you might fall in love with any of them, the story is breathtaking at some points. Even though the game is somewhat expensive, as many other Otome titles are, it is worth every ruble/euro/dollar/etc. I should also mention that the game design is amazing. And there are even some additional mini-games available via the main menu!
Look it up here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/359390/ -
OZMAFIA!! Mmmmm (imitating Homer Simpson). Just try Caesar’s route and you will understand why I love this game. However, I should also warn anyone willing to play the game that PC version is not that good. I always complain that all pictures are a bit blurry, as if somebody has washed my screen with a bar of soap. So just keep this issue in mind while looking at screenshots for this title.
Steam link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/303290/
- Long Live The Queen and Princess Maker 5. Both these games are raising sim simulators, but they also have lots of nice CGS and a solid story related to different interesting things like ruling a country, finding love and friends, magic, war and peace and etc. Both titles are astonishingly good-looking as far as design elements are concerned. Some people might find the raising-sim features somewhat boring, while they can become quite repetitive, but trust me, every playthrough is worth your time. There are so many paths to discover! So many secrets to reveal! So many cute boys to pursue (at least as far as Princess Maker 5 is concerned). It took me a month to complete one game in PM5, can you believe it?! Mostly because I was playing an untranslated version and it was difficult to figure out all aspects of raising a child (as if it is easier in real life, my mother would say). Long Live The Queen is available via Steam and it is a very good English translation. In case with PM5, you will need to download fan-made translation. It is complete by about 80%, but the most important parts are translated, so you will find it easy to play the game.
Steam link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/251990/
This is all for now, while I need to go to work, but I will definitely add some more games sometime later. I hope participants of this discussion will find the titles I have already mentioned interesting and will enjoy playing them. ^^
3 Likes
A Foretold Affair is out, full game on itch! Steam release end Feb to early March!
5 Likes
I bought it and so far it’s amazingly entertaining. Buffalo Seer is the most sarcastic, over-the-top protagonist I have seen in an english Otome Game so far and I love them to bits. Currently romancing Kea and their attitude towards Seer’s declarations of love and constant attention seeking are so cold but endearing and it’s just so, so much fun to play! Not a game for everyone, for sure, but I enjoy it very much for its unique setting, funny protagonist and interesting premise. One of the few Otome games where every scene, even if they lead to nothing, is just enjoyable to read because the characters are all very well crafted. =)
Okay, so I’ve finish my first playthrough of A Foretold Affair - Kea’s route. I’d like to write a little review here, first with my overall thoughts, then the thoughts on Kea specifically, and then I will talk a bit about spoilers which you should avoid if you haven’t played the game yet, especially not if you haven’t played Kea’s route yet, of course. For those who do not want to read too much, just read the bold and italic bit towards the end~
Overall Thoughts
A Foretold Affair has a wonderful cast of characters that all hold an impressive amount of depth to them despite the lack of backstory that you get to know aside from little stories that the characters tell each other about their childhood. You mostly get to know their personalities, which shine brightly and everyone acts very human, especially for a visual novel that often relies on humour. Said humour, btw, is amazing. There were a couple of times when I snickered because Buffallo Seer, our wonderful protagonist, just has such snarky charm that you have to love them for it. And they actually develope well and mature throughout the story, which I appreciate a lot. At the end of the story everyone will have changed in little ways that have influenced them for the better.
In the character apartment, this game gets a 9/10.
The story does get pretty dark at one point and while the twist came out of left turn without packing a real punch for me, since it seemed rather underwhelming, I do appreciate how it was incorporated into the plot without feeling forced though. The main villains were interesting, though the second one to be introduced looked a bit off, compared to the art style of everyone else. We don’t particularly learn a lot about them though, sadly, and the story does use the trope of kidnapping rather often without a lot of changes that would make it interesting to read through a new escape attempt for more than once.
In the story department, this game gets a 7/10.
The world building was done well though and I would have loved to learn more about the Abnormal and Normal societies in general, which you don’t really get since most of the game revolves around the characters being stuck in the wild, away from society. We do get very well made character portraits, slight animations and a wonderful soundtrack though, that only becomes slightly boring after a while. I would have liked one or two more tracks to give it variety, but overall that was very well done. It all works well to immerse you into the games world, so that was fine by me.
In the atmosphere apartment, this game gets an 8/10.
What I found rather sad was that while some of the backgrounds looked very well crafted and nicely detailed, some of them were little more than scribbles that vaguely resembled an environment. The art quality between those can vary drastically, as can the quality of the CG’s. Some of them are very heartwarming, while others are just lacking and don’t even deserve a picture, in my opinion. Other scenes would have been way more emotional had they been graced with a CG. Really, a picture of Buffalo Seer’s knee and half the body of the main villain being all that you can see in a CG (and there aren’t many, 6 neutral ones and 6 for each character) is a rather low blow and not something I want to look at when I visit the CG gallery. A couple of CG’s suffer from this minimalistic approach of only seeing a single hand, just the head and the arms of a character or no detailed background.
In the art department, this game gets a 6/10 (Backgrounds 6/10, CG’s 5/10, Art Style 8/10).
The choices were well peppered throughout the game and while you could do no wrong choosing one or the other, they certainly gave Buffalo Seer more personality and I like that. I would have liked more variety with some of the outcomes, though some choices have an impact on events that happen later on. Overall don’t expect to influence the plot as much as you influence how you see Buffalo Seer yourself. It isn’t for everyone and undermines replayability, but it makes it way easier to feel like you really are Buffalo Seer.
In the choice department, this game gets a 7/10.
I found the ending to be rather lackluster, as while the characters chat about their possible future, the ending itself felt unfinished since we did not get a proper goodbye with each character, even though that could have been very emotional. They talk about having to say goodbye to each other, though we never see it happen, so it felt rather disappointing, really. Also, the whole point of Buffalo Seer seeing the future and thus their future spouse is never something that we see come to fruitition. Heck, Kea’s route (as that is all I have played so far) ends with only a vague comment towards what holds them back to maybe not be a problem in the near future, perhaps. And it doesn’t feel like the endings for the other characters would be much different, sadly.
In the ending department, this game gets a 5/10.
Kea’s Route
First off, I LOVE Kea as a character. They start out being skeptic, rather shy, icy and weirded out by Buffalo Seer but all of their behaviour makes sense in retrospectice. How they slowly become more comfortable around Buffalo Seer was very believable and I adore their character design. Kea is much more mature than they look and how they could relate to Buffalo Seer was wonderful to watch. Overall, it felt like they got to make an incredible deep connection throughout the game. Kea admits mistakes that they make and Buffalo Seer does the same and never, ever does any one of the two want to make the other uncomfortable when it is important. Consent is so big here and it is so, so heartwarming to see two characters fully understand what it means to want to be close to someone and realising that doing so needs to be done in small steps (Buffalo Seer, mostly).
The moments that you have with Kea feel genuine and the whole relationship between them is so pure and makes me as an asexual very, very happy since it never mentions any type of physical attraction, rather it is all about the mind and personality. Needless to say, I love that.
Now, spoilers down below:
It’s great to see how the relationship with Kea developes, though we never get more than them sort of holding hands towards the end of the game. It is perfectly understandable that Buffalo Seer wouldn’t kiss anyone considering they are in full robes and wearing a mask all the time, but we don’t even get a hug. We get them sitting ‘next to each other’ (Kea on an armchair, Buffalo Seer sitting before them) at the end of the story, but the CG that we get is a close-up of Kea’s face. No snuggle times, ever. No hug. We don’t even get to see under their scarf, even though I would have loved to see a CG where we see Buffalo Seer’s back towards us with their mask on the ground and Kea without their scarf on. They both value remaining hidden behind clothes and for Buffalo Seer it is even against their belief to show others how they look, but I think this could have cemented their relationship wonderfully, especially given the fact that Kea is supposed to be their future spouse in this route and it would have meant a lot to me if they could have shared something like this to show how much they trust each other. In the end they are friends with a future together, but since we never even get a glimpse into said future it all felt very poor executed. I wanted more cute moments, especially with such a premise of a game. sigh
Overall, I give this game a rating of 7/10. It is a good game, though 15$, as that is what I had to pay due to tax, is too much for it. It is definitely worth the story that it tells and the amount of content that it provides (one playthrough took me roughly six-seven hours), but the uninspired CG’s, the difference between background quality and the lackluster ending give it a sour note that would have been easier to swallow had it cost 10$ instead. Conclusion: Pick it up if it ever goes on sale once it is available on Steam.
1 Like
This is me just arguing for the sake it but… I always found it hard to judge something based on their price. If you go to the movies, you pay ~15$ to have 2-hours worth of entertainment and in the end you may or may not be satisfied. When you compare it to a videogame, like Foretold Affair, with 5-7 hours of gameplay plus alternative routes, it seems kinda fair. But then again my miser pursue is feeling a bit light so I wouldn’t complain if the product were cheaper.
1 Like
It would be fair, if A Foretold Affair had no competition that offers a better product for the same price. As it stands I have played better visual novels, in terms of sheer quality (CG’s, Backgrounds, Endings) than A Foretold Affair for the same price range, or I paid around five bucks more for way more replayability and quality value (since I doubt this game has a lot of it, considering that one playthrough ended with me getting all but 7 of the 24 available CG’s; I’m missing four for January and three for Piper despite never having played a route that isn’t Kea’s).
If I go to the movies and pay around 15$ for a movie that does not satisfy me (which happened just last week, god was that a trainwreck of a movie) then I am equally able to say that the quality was not up to my standard. Maybe I would have enjoyed an underwhelming movie had I rent it for 2$ from a video store, but I did not, so I compare it to the other standard of all the other movies that I have seen at the cinema for the same price and come to the conclusion that other products are more worthy of my money.
A Foretold Affair isn’t a bad game, I wouldn’t have given it a 7/10 otherwise. I enjoyed myself. But the quality standard varied wildly, with more spell errors and less detailed backgrounds the longer the game dragged on, and I can comment on that. As it stands I say pick A Foretold Affair up if it ever goes on sale once it’s up on Steam. It is worth spending money on, but I wouldn’t buy it again at full retail.
2 Likes