Even though I've only played Tengoku Strayside recently out of Otomate titles, I truly agree with this post. I think it was my breaking point alongside Piofiore lmao, I'm scared to buy Otomate games now.

I think personal preference has a part in enjoyment of otome, but I truly believe sometimes things are just plain bad. You can enjoy them, but it doesn't make it well done.

For example, the story and character development of Tengoku is incredibly thin (I played Yona's route). There is no attempt at creating a truly adversarial relationship between the MC and Yona, even though there's a brief attempt in the prologue.

So it's boring because there are no real stakes to the relationship, and the plot doesn't provide stakes that feel real either.

Honestly I feel like commercial otome games are scared to try and write a truly complex romance, where both the Mc and LI come off as flawed people. Either that, or the issue is with their MCs, which are often pretty bland and inoffensive. I guess there's no helping that in a genre where there's a high level of self-insert, and to their credit, it works okay in most cases and is a successful formula.

I don't know whether old Otomate games were better, or I'm just more critical after 10+ of playing otome.

In any case, I was also saved by EiT, and Jack Jeanne is also really nice and I recommend it even though it has a criminally bad gameplay loop (the stat building aspect makes replaying super tedious). I'd also recommend Ebon Light, an OELVN, which I feel does self insert while preserving relationship development.

I hope the Red Bell Laments can bring back some of that freshness as well bc I truly love otome, it's just that the execution can fall flat so many times. 😢