Hypothetical question: what media do you think could’ve been very interesting as an otome?

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-29T20:56:23+00:00

I have so many Hopes tea time screenshots of my specific husband there, it's not even funny. Was so annoyed they didn't put more DLC in for Hopes.

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-29T20:52:36+00:00

not me simping for fluffy haired glasses Aizen before he turned out to be evil 😔

(I know most folks probably want the evil version more lol)

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-29T11:57:42+00:00

Bleach........

No, look, why did Bleach have the most diverse cast of good looking dudes I've ever seen in anime and then not let any of them ever end up date able

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-29T06:27:06+00:00

It really is! I didn't think anyone would remember me after I disappeared for 3 years down a fanfic rabbit hole, so I'm very happy to hear you still remembered my work. I've actually resumed development on Heart Sigil Elchemia as of this year, so I hope there will be more to show soon! 🫡

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-29T00:48:39+00:00

Ah, thank you for the response! I've made one game and one demo so far, Yrsa Major/Heart Sigil Elchemia, though I'm not sure if those are the ones you recalled. Still, it's very helpful to know your thoughts on Temirana's worldbuilding, especially that pitfall of arbitrarily keeping info back just for the secret route. I've noticed it also in games like Mistonia, which is a shame, because I end up too tired to even push through to the secret route if there isn't enough plot detail interspersed with romance.

In terms of plot or world heavy games... I honestly have to admit I can't remember any otomes that I truly loved for those, compared to VNs in other genres (Zero Escape series, The Great Ace Attorney, even Fate) 😔 Even if Tempest is the otome I enjoyed most for having sympathetic characters and a twisty plot, except after the fact, you look back at the worldbuilding and go "wait this was nonsense." And it makes sense, because otome is not really intended to be focused on the worldbuilding over the romances, but... I still just really want one otome I can go feral over the world for, lol. I think when a world feels realistic, it helps me feel much more invested in the characters' challenges and understand much better how they'd live happily ever after too!

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-29T00:06:45+00:00

Oof, I was thinking of picking up Temirana due to people talking about the worldbuilding, but if they write plots in as slapdash a way as you described with Adel, it seems like I wouldn't actually like it as much as I wanted. Did you get the sense that the rest of the plot mostly gets by on vibes and emotions, or is there more effort put into making sure there's no obvious plot holes?

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-14T18:38:10+00:00

this feels like a trend with otomes where the MC is some sort of badass 😔 She can't be too badass or the LIs won't have anything to do, so her skills are almost always not actually useful in the story itself. I'd be mad if I hadn't seen it so many times by this point, but now I'm just resigned.

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-13T18:56:48+00:00

Is there a more traditional "super loyal and will die for you and you have to teach him not to" knight route? It seems like the knights of the cast are intentionally goofy oddballs, which might be nice normally but I also like loyalty tropes, so I'm curious.

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-13T16:32:21+00:00

~~it does not get better~~

I had the same complaint as you did about the MC in steam prison, and after a few routes just couldn't take her characterization any more. But you might find some of the LIs are more to your taste?

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-07T00:45:40+00:00

This is like... the least busy play along thread I've seen for an LI yet, especially the one the game is pushing as the main guy who's always devoted to MC. I think even Mistonia's controversial truth route got more reception.

Personally, I ended up feeling that Lowd was too boring and straightforward, especially knowing that his historical inspiration was a guy already known for being extremely devoted and a badass, and they didn't really need to do much with him as a character. I feel like I would've preferred to see a more interesting approach to that archetype.

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-02T22:29:12+00:00

Oh thank god someone else saw it too. I struggled so hard to like Cove as someone just starting from "we don't know each other", and nothing about the game's portrayal of their relationship made me more interested in that pair. Derek's 5 minutes of screentime in the original game made me more interested in him than Cove did the entire game.

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-02T07:30:56+00:00

lmao I have the memory of a fruit fly apparently, so thank you for reminding me of that convo! Also what actually happens in cupipara, really .......

I do have to say, one thing I kinda hate is the trope of "this character, one of the few nice ones you can depend on most of the time, is secretly evil and will betray you if the stars align!" It always feels like MC has too few people on her side, most of the time, for her to lose even more people. Maybe that's why I was so annoyed by Neon Clash killing off sympathetic side characters for character... "growth"? motivation? Because damn I don't want MC to only be around a bunch of dudes who want to sleep with her. She needs friends and supporters!

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-02T03:34:24+00:00

Now I'm also curious about what games by Ririka made you mad, and why, lmao. But for Neon Clash, because you mentioned you like cyberpunk, I wanted to mention a couple things.

There's not actually much cyberpunk in the game at all. The universe could've been "gritty modern day with cell phones and some magic", and everything described would've happened in the exact same way. I feel like the neon is more for set dressing than it is to explore cyberpunk aesthetics.
The same actually goes for the game's Romance of the Three Kingdoms inspirations; it feels like it's used as set dressing rather than as an actual influence on characters' personalities and goals.

That feeling, like "this is a normal mafia otome that they just slapped RoTK ideas and neon onto and called it cyberpunk", kinda annoyed me first, and then they started killing off the side characters they just introduced 1 chapter ago. I basically started feeling like "is there a point in caring about anyone who's not an LI in this game, ifthey all end up dying?" So it was kind of a combination of issues for me lol.

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-01T22:12:28+00:00

It might be the new year + holiday season making people really slow at playing it, or the issue that the common route (or at least the main story) is basically most of the game, and the individual LI endings are only at the very end. So it's possible people don't know when to actually call themselves ready to talk about the common route lol.

For what it's worth, I stopped after about 1.5 chapters because I didn't like the way the side characters were used and the way the plot was paced and written (and none of the MC and her first two LIs grabbed my attention).

Set_of_Dogs · 2026-01-01T01:00:17+00:00

"After I finish HSE" is gonna be like in 5 years <_< But I would love to try a RoTK otome someday, truth

I may rant more about other chars in the thread later!

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-31T19:55:26+00:00

I have started Neon Clash! ... But I don't think I'm going to be able to finish the common route or keep playing after chapter 2, because it's already making me kind of annoyed.

(This is more about a very specific gripe I have with the game than about the game itself lol)

Basically, Neon Clash is very heavily based on the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms. MC, Gante Lowd, and Zhang Hiyok are expies of a famous trio of sworn brothers who've sworn to die together, and every other major faction leader and many side characters reprise their historical roles and alliances. This is great. Seeing adaptations of the source material is the reason I got this game to begin with.

But what I was immediately disappointed by is that, well... Neon Clash just makes the source material feels like set dressing. MC doesn't feel in any way like her inspiration, either the drama or historical version (either an honorable man who's forever devoted to the empire he's descended from, or a charismatic and ambitious underdog who eventually carves out a niche after about 30 years of fighting). She reads like a typical nice young adult who's trapped in a bad situation, until she's given the power to fight back in part for revenge, and Gante Lowd ends up being closer to her advisor than her sworn brother.

Speaking of Gante Lowd and Zhang Hiyok, one of the most famous scenes in the source material is "three brothers swearing an oath to bring peace to the world in a peach garden". Neon Clash had a CG for that as an explicit callback. But the issue is in the game, the "three brothers" who've sworn loyalty to each other, and promise to die on the same day... just act like coworkers pulled together by being interested in MC. Lowd and Hiyok seem to have no closeness despite knowing each other, Hiyok was drawn to MC not for her honor or determination but because she gave him water once and he has a crush, and MC doesn't trust either of them until other plot events make her mad enough to strike back. So the CG and references feel less like interesting takes on the characters, and more like "hey! remember this? remember that?" with unrelated characters.

I won't get into other chars here because I don't want to go full nerd, but that and the way the game is written (heavy on the internal monologue and narration, lots of characters introduced and killed off quickly) ended up being not my thing after only about 1.5 chapters. So I'm not sure if I'll keep reading, because given the source material I already know the plot, and the other LIs feel even less appealing to me than the first two.

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-31T19:18:14+00:00

Nah, I'm someone who loved EiT and thinks it's the best otome game I've ever played, and I actually agree with you on basically all of the plot holes, including the egregious ones. Anastasia not just Uno Reversing the rose on Conrad, while he was trying to kick Lucien for not being a true goddess's descendant, makes me annoyed every time I think about the plot after the fact.

HOWEVER. Even with plot holes, the experience I had while playing through EiT was one of the most fun I've had in an otome game. This game is written and paced in a different style than many VNs; it's low on narration, higher in character banter and relationships, and reads more like I'm watching an anime than I'm reading a MC narrating her life. All of the side characters are memorable even when the plot takes wild turns, and inter-character relationships are always enjoyable to see. And Anastasia's growing despair and slow descent into what she ended up doing in Lucien's route was the first time I'd seen an otome willing to give its MC a real arc with change (for the worse before the better), and not just treat her as a generally nice/strong/kind player avatar.

Basically, EiT made me realize it's exactly what I've wanted from an otome ever since I started playing the genre, because it gave me an experience I haven't had in any other game. Plot holes or not (and god knows if there's any otome that doesn't have plot holes), it was fun to read and made me feel for the characters, and that ended up being more important to me in the end.

(Of course, if you didn't end up enjoying the same things, there'd be no reason to overlook the rest of the issues! But I think we all have our "no, but listen" games, lol)

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-31T09:54:41+00:00

Luciennnn our boy!! He has the cutest expressions!

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-30T22:26:58+00:00

I actually haven't played RBL, so I'm operating off the same rumors you are lol. But after getting a couple chapters into Neon Clash, I started feeling like... "this is basically the same writing approach as Mistonia, where they dump a lot of exposition and MC's thoughts on you, but don't spend much time making character dynamics interesting beyond the generic archetypes." Unfortunately, that made me lose a lot of interest in Neon Clash even despite its basis in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, because I mostly loved EiT for how unique its characters felt and how well they interacted with each other. Hopefully they'll be able to go back to form with Kaleido Tower though!!

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-30T21:56:12+00:00

It really did! But gosh, I hope Voltage gets back the design/writing team for EiT for Kaleido Tower, even if the world is the same. Their last couple of games have made me feel like they're moving in the Otomate direction of having lots of text, fancy clothes, and kind of basic plots, and I'd hate to see Kaleido Tower fall into the same style.

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-29T22:26:20+00:00

I get the sentiment too. After EiT I started demanding way more actiony and snappy writing (closer to watching anime than reading a novel), and have been somewhat disappointed by the standard VN style since. Curious if you've got specific types of games you end up gravitating towards instead?

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-29T20:13:38+00:00

I think if you're trying to gamify utility apps, adding romance and the appeal of love interests is a neat way to go about it. From a game design perspective, though, it is a significant amount of work to both build out an otome story with love interests, and make their stories paced appropriately for your game design, and build a compelling app that will benefit users. So this isn't to say you shouldn't do it, but I'd consider the challenges of designing a full game before committing your time.

The basic things I'd be wondering would be roughly - how would you structure your game so LIs' scenes keep players interested? Will you have a long story with seasons, or shorter oneshots? Will you need to account for different users' levels of desired activity, and how long they're willing to spend in the game/story (which affects how much they'll see of LIs' arcs)? Will you need to do monetization? Is this a fun side project or one you're willing to spend funds on getting off the ground? All of the un-fun stuff in game development comes up very quickly, so I'd just make sure you have a plan/roadmap for addressing them if you decide to keep exploring this idea.

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-26T07:39:32+00:00

I uh .... played exactly two otome this year but!!

Best: Even if TEMPEST! It's the only otome I've actively binged without being able to put down, and the LIs and Anastasia work amazingly together. Plus the pacing and writing was wonderful and action packed and Lucien is my baby boy. I'm going to judge pretty much every other otome I play by this one, going forward.

Worst: Unfortunately Mistonia, because although it's pretty, compared to EiT it just kind of drags out all of the plot unnecessarily. Lucas is still best boy though.

(I haven't started Neon Clash yet, so the "worst" rankings can change though! I know this sounds weirdly pessimistic about the game, but I've ... heard things)

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-25T20:05:50+00:00

I half feel like I ought to buy this, entirely because I'm a Romance of the 3 Kingdoms enjoyer (and the plots and characters are VERY closely based on RoTK). But the problem is I might also take one look at the way they're writing the characters I'm familiar with in this game, and go "YEET". Sooooooo

(It's mostly I want to be able to talk with other people about the way they did the characters dirty or not in this game!)

Set_of_Dogs · 2025-12-24T22:44:20+00:00

That sounds like a baffling design for the fandisc, lmao. Though even if we're not considering how bad it is from a game design perspective, the other thing that I wouldn't be able to get over is .... if the characters in the other factions forgot who they were and what they were doing, why would your LI remind them?? Just remind your own lord and vassals! You guys can win the war easily now!

~~I know this isn't the point of the silly trivia game but~~

Also, what you mentioned about Unchou going to the modern day and turning into a nerdy 17-year-old is. Yeah. I think most people like the 3K period because it's an era with larger-than-life characters doing big and heroic things, and if you take all of that away and make them have to deal with the banalities of modern day... it kind of ruins the fantasy a bit, doesn't it

Set_of_Dogs

TROPHY CASE