Welcome! Feel free to introduce yourself here.

[magnuschase]

 community created by magnuschase 

 

 

Welcome to Otomeworld! Here are some resources and rules.

RULES

 

 

1. No attacking others for their ships or route choices. Ignore anything you don't like, and move on.
   
2. Fan content (fanfics, fanart, etc), reviews, or just screaming over something is all welcome here.
3. Feel free to advertise here when you post a review on another website, like your personal website or tumblr.
4. Also, feel free to advertise your own otome games! We'd love to see your creations.
5. Please do self-introductions on this post.

As long as you're polite, nice, and don't spam, you're welcome here! 

RESOURCES FOR NEWCOMERS

What the heck is an "otome game"?
An otome game is a romance game that targets women, though men and nonbinary folk have also been known to play them. There are typically multiple "routes", which are the stories of the characters you choose to romance. These characters are usually men, however sometimes there will be nonbinary or female characters as options too. Some games even have bad endings, so make sure to do your research and be careful with your choices if you don't want to sit there going "wow, did that really happen?"

Where do I get games?

PC Gaming - Steam and Itch.io 
iOS and Android - Here is a list of games currently available on these two platforms in English. If you'd like another language, simply click the filter button and change the language.
PS Vita and other handheld platforms - Check out your local gaming store, or simply order it online. "Aksys" is the main source of English otome games.
 
What otome games are there?
VNDB is a site where you can find out what visual novels there are, and included is an otome category that I have linked to without any language or platform filters. Caution: There are a LOT.

Ok, so I like this one character type. Do you have any recommendations?

Feel free to ask in a weekly thread I'll be hosting every Saturday! If you can't wait, don't worry and just make a thread. More discussion is always welcome!

 

 

 

Introductions

 

Introduce yourself here! Use this format if you'd like.

Name, pronouns, and age:
Other sites you are on:
Favorite otome game:
Other interests: 
Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?:

 

Comments

Hey all!

[secretimmortal]

Name, pronouns, and age: Ollie, they/them, 21

Other sites you are on: I am on both tumblr (though who knows how long that's gonna last now) and ao3 as SecretImmortal

Favorite otome game: Heirs & Graces, Love 365

Other interests: I like to read and write (mostly fantasy), as well as share my thoughts on film with anyone who will listen

Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?: I'm a bit of a newbie both to sites like dw and otome games but I'm hoping to make some friends on here

Re: Hey all!

[magnuschase]

Welcome!! I play Love 365 too, though I have to play it on an emulator on my computer so I'm very slow in going through routes, haha. Who's your favorite route? I like Ayato from My Last First Kiss.

Re: Hey all!

[secretimmortal]

Ha yeah I currently only have an Amazon tablet and their selection of dating sims is pretty limited so finding something like Love 365 was definitely a blessing. I really liked Seiichiro from My wedding and 7 rings!

Re: Hey all!

[magnuschase]

Oooh, actually if you have an Amazon Tablet you can get google play on it with some relatively simple tinkering. Here's a guide to it:

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/get-google-play-on-fire-tablet


I have an Amazon Fire tablet and it works pretty fine, didn't affect aything at all. I had used it to play Fire Emblem Heroes, which is more sizable than otome games on Android. Though, depending on your file size I imagine suddenly having a huge selection might slow it down depending on how many games you install.


Also, eyy you have good taste. Seiichiro looks cool. (Just now noticed it calls him an "unpredictable cyborg" Okay, he's perfect.)

[mikogalatea]

Name/Pronouns/Age: Gala, she/her, 31(!)

Other sites: MikoGalatea, yomigaere

Favourite otome games: Collar x Malice and Norn9

Other interests: Various other video games, plus all kinds of anime and manga; I have a full fandom list here in case anyone's curious. Outside of fandom, I'm a dog lover.

Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?: I mostly play otoge on the Vita and plan to do so on the Switch as well once that gets more titles in English. I haven't really written about otoge on my DW so far, but I'd like to do some liveblogging in future since I did a bit of that on Tumblr; I finally got physical copies of the Psychedelica games for the Vita and am eyeing up Nightshade on the Switch, so I'd be more than happy to write about my experiences with those (and potentially others, of course) once I'm playing them!

[magnuschase]

Welcome! That's a nice and detailed list of fandoms you have. A fellow Devil Survivor fan---awesome!

If you'd like to crosspost or just link to any reviews to the community, definitely feel free to! I'd love to hear about your experiences with handheld games. I have an unused Vita and occasionally used Switch lying around that I need to buy games for. Psychedelicas and Collar Malice are pretty high on my to-play list, too.

[alias_sqbr]

Name, pronouns, and age: Sean, they/them, 39
Other sites you are on: tumblr
Favorite otome game: *looks at my 100K+ words of words of fic* Hakuoki, vampire samurai 5ever :) Second fave is probably Hustle Cat, or We Know The Devil if that counts.
Other interests: I make my own visual novels! Also, I like romance novels, Bioware games, and other sorts of interactive stories with visual elements.
Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?: I have a whole bunch of reviews on my dating sim tag.

[magnuschase]

Welcome!! [eyes] Hakuoki fanfic, huh? Any chance you've posted it online? :D

Do you make visual novels for sale, or do you make them for yourself? Either way sounds pretty cool.

OOH REVIEWS. I'll have to look through them! I love any excuse I have to get more otome games.

[alias_sqbr]

I've made some fannish ones and some quasi-professional ones, I might make a community-locked post about it since I don't link my fannish and professional identities publicly.

[magnuschase]

Go right ahead! I think I'll add a little rule in the introduction post that self-advertisement of games is acceptable. The more games, the better!

[dhamaphorn]

Hello!
I'm Dhamaphorn/she-her/age:22
tengu_dono and dhamaphorn
Favorite Otome Game: Kyoukai no Shirayuki
I like to draw, craft, and collect nendoroids. Nothing much to say about myself besides hoping to make many new friends!

[magnuschase]

Thank you for joining~ :D Hope you make some new friends on here too.

[dhamaphorn]

Thank you for inviting me! I also want to hear about good games I’ve never heard about before!

[caramarie]

Name, pronouns, and age: Cara, she/her, 30
Other sites you are on: caramarie, genusshrike
Favorite otome game: Maybe Nameless? Although alias_sqbr's recent posts have reminded me I never finished all the routes ...
Other interests: Comics, vidding, sci-fi/fantasy, other narrative-heavy games
Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?: I am a very lazy player who usually only completes a couple of routes :p I don't post about everything, but some relevant tags on my DW are cheritz, hanako games, otomate, zeiva.

[magnuschase]

Welcome!
Haha, don't worry. I'm a pretty lazy reader too. I've been trying to complete all the routes, but then I find another otome game, and then the cycle just continues.

Hanako Games!! I love their games. I played their Cute Knight game when I was a little kid, and then I found out a while back that they had EVEN MORE GAMES and I was delighted.

[cloudedhues]

name, pronouns, and age: jay, she/her, 23
other sites you are on: cloudedhues @ tumblr/ao3
favorite otome game: speakeasy tonight, nameless, aloners, wilder, collar x malice, love 365 (in your arms tonight, irresistible mistakes ...)
other interests: anime, console video games, writing, theatre, general visual novels, romance novels
anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?: i'm a big softie at heart. anything that gets my heart fluttering, count me ready to stan. my favorite li types are beta heroes, childhood friends, comic reliefs, kuudere, tsundere (to an extent. like if they're a proper jerk, count me out). i mostly play otome on vita, ios, and steam. right now, i'm playing 7scarlet so we'll see how that goes.

[magnuschase]

Welcome!

Speakeasy Tonight... GOD, do I wish that would get updated again. It looks like it could be one of my favorites but I'm so wary of getting attached and wanting more only for it to never happen.

Good taste in LI types. I like tsunderes too, but you're right---sometimes they get a bit too jerkish.

[cloudedhues]

ohh but i highly recommend it even with the pain of having it be incomplete. it's so good i'd risk the pain. if you ever want to try it, vince and neil's routes are my go-tos.

yeah after a succession of alpha male jerks and tsundere who push the button a little too far, my main draw in an li has just been rooted to friendship and mutual respect with the mc. i don't like too much unhealthy toxicity and contrived drama in the relationship although i do understand why some players have a liking for that sort of thing, which is part of my pet theory for why the yandere type still has fans.

[magnuschase]

Hmm, I got some tickets saved up so I might check out Vince's route. He looks pretty cool.

And yeah, that's understandable. If you don't like something, of course it's gonna suck if it keeps getting shoved at you.

[cloudedhues]

yeah! you should definitely check him out. he's great if you like hot-tempered, loyal, charming rum runners.

[hako_aiko]

Name, pronouns: Aiko/Clover, she/her/they
Other sites: Twitter, tumblr (artblog too lazy to link), AO3
Favorite otome game: Nameless ~The one thing you must recall~
Other interests: Anime manga in general, visual novel in general, good light novels, BL, GL, harem of all kinds
Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?: I'm mainly gushing about BL and harem...but I also write things about games (VNs in general). I rarely play otome games now, but I still love it. Hopefully I can finish some otome games that are now dusty on my shelves. I like to read other people's reviews for some reason, too, so I'm looking forward to read other people's things.

[magnuschase]

Welcome!

Ah, harem games. They're feel so hard to find. I mean, there's all these games in which you have multiple love interests, but the ones I've encountered all seem to end up ignoring the rest of the casts feeling once you choose a route.

I hope you'll be able to finish those games too!

[hako_aiko]

I meant harem of all kinds, even outside games, but yes harem routes are terribly rare...even more so the good ones.

[godhaunt]

Name, pronouns, and age: sei, she, mid-20s
Other sites you are on: :T
Favorite otome game: ha... haha... i've.... never played one....
Other interests: manga and anime, some arts & crafts when the planets align, bts
Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself? sooo... i never played an otoge-- actually, no, i played one once, but i failed (? lol), and just wasn't up to playing it again. i tried playing other visual novels twice, but they were long and tbh not that interesting to me. thing is, i don't have patience for games. there's a few i'd like to play, but i know i'd give up, bc i'd rather watch something than be part of it. BUT. i really wanna give it another go with otoges, and when i saw this comm i thought "hey...... that's a sign." so here i am. just a humble beginner, with barely any experience under my belt.

[magnuschase]

Welcome!

Haha, I'm pretty impatient with games too. I have to play in short bursts at a time. If you feel you're too impatient for longer otome games, there's an option on VNDB to search by length.

Here's the "very short" option or otome games: https://vndb.org/g542?fil=length-1.lang-en&m=0
and heres the "short" option: https://vndb.org/g542?fil=length-2.lang-en&m=0

There's also the option of playing mobile otome games. I find that ticket otome games are pretty good on days I'm too busy to play otome games, because they give only so many episodes a day. That means you can be done with that day's reading very quickly, and then you just have to wait until the next day for more episodes. Ciagram, Shall We Date, Cybird, and Dearead are good publishers for that.

However, if you DON'T want to space your otome gaming out over the course of a month but you're still interested in mobile games, there's always the option of buying your routes. I don't recommend doing that in freemium games such as The Arcana because it can get pretty expensive, but I've found that Love 365 (there are temporary free titles if you want to get an example of their storytelling) isn't too expensive, and there's an entire line of paid apps on Shall We Date's website:

http://shallwedate.jp/en/paid.html


Hope you find something that you'll like!

[godhaunt]

ohh thank you! i didn't even remember vndb was a thing... gonna make use of those filters. a few listed titles caught my eye, i'll try one this week! (not gonna lie, "get dumped ✩" got me curious... and it's free!)

i got a little overwhelmed with the mobile system, but i'll try digging around to see how it works.

thank you for all these recs and resources!

[magnuschase]

Yeah, VNDB is one of those sites that I forget about too until I actually need it, haha...

And you're welcome! Glad you found a game. :D

[deborah_judge]

Name, pronouns and age: Deborah, she/hers, 46
Other sites: deborah_judge
Favorite (so far only) game: Hakuoki. Favorite routes: Okita, Saito, Sanan, Heisuke, but there are things to love about all of them.
Other interests: Currently fannish about Rurouni Kenshin and Star Trek: Discovery. Previous fandoms include Silmarillion, Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica
Anything else? I've never played an otome novel before Hakuoki, and the reason I got into it was that I fell in love with Saito from Rurouni Kenshin and then found out that he's also a character in this other canon. And, now I have eleven other men to be in love with too.

[magnuschase]

Welcome!

I had a similar reason for getting into Hakuoki---I wanted to see what their interpretation of the Shinsengumi was like, compared to lets say...Gintama. Yes, the gag manga.

Get into a series for one character, end up with 12 characters you love. I find Otome games are great for that experience, haha.

Hope you enjoy your stay here!

[deborah_judge]

Gintama is definitely on my list of things to watch or read next. :)

Hi!

[vanillil]

Name, pronouns, and age: i'm Lil, my pronouns are she/her, and i'm 22!
Other sites you are on: i'm on twitter as @lilvanillil
Favorite otome game: HMMM that's a tough question. code:realize or re:birthday song, maybe! i've played the demo for ayakashi gohan as well and it was really good but i still haven't managed to buy the game itself. i also feel like i'll probably like collar x malice so this list might change when i get around to playing it
Other interests: naruto, video games in general, roller coasters, other animes as well
Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?: i'm still not entirely sure how dw works so please be patient with me lmao. i'm always looking for new otome games to play so feel free to recommend me your favorites!

Re: Hi!

[magnuschase]

Welcome!! Both to the community and to Dreamwidth. I've only been here for a week, but luckily the site itself has been here for twenty years so google and the sites FAQs are pretty good at helping one understand the site. :D

Re:Birthday Song has really nice art! I'm currently playing the game myself, not too far in it, but the owl is pretty neat. I also like the protagonist. Cocoro is such a cute name.

Hello~

[not_krys]

Name, pronouns, and age:
Krys, She/Her preferably, but I'm cool with they/them too. 31 years old.

Other sites you are on:
KrysImeteri krysimeteri

Favorite otome game:
Too many. But my two favorite go-tos are Hakuoki and Ikemen Sengoku.

Other interests:
I watch anime and read manga on occasion, mostly shoujo with some shounen now and then. I'm a huge sucker for romance and reverse harems, especially if it's done well. Extra bonus points if there's magic and/or fantasy involved. Outside of that, I also draw a bit of fanart and write fanfics if the mood strikes me and I have the time for it.

Anything else you'd like to tell us about yourself?:
I used to do otome character and game reviews on tumblr, but I have been slowly making my way back to DW since I used to RP here a lot, and with the new policy changes on tumblr, I felt it wasn't a good fit anymore. So, my goal is to rejoin the DW community, make some new friends, and get back to writing again. I have all of my old review links from tumblr posted in my profile, but I plan on updating certain ones when I bring them over to DW (esp the Collar x Malice ones since they are at least over a year old now and some thoughts and feelings have changed since then).

And my preferences tend to lean towards Kuuderes, the Obnoxious Flirt, and the Mom Friend for favorite character types. And I'm always down for the pure and wholesome stuff with everyone just being cute with each other, like holding hands and hugs are my jam. Hurt/Comfort is also one of my big favorites. One character caring for another that's sick/injured or went through a traumatic event and is comforted by the other is what I live for.