spockitty

21 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

LOL I-I was giving a generous description of him XP But yeah, on a serious note, he was a serious bastard in every other route but his own. After seeing him act like a psycho in some of those routes, I was not looking forward to romancing with him. (Although, I thought he still looked cool despite being half-crazy >,>) As a random comment, in the initial game, Kazama's route lacked the most details and felt rushed for the most part. Thankfully the newer versions fixed that problem and managed to flesh out his route.

He did look cool, and most importantly, he sounded  mighty cool :'D Although I had to manually bump up his volume cause I could barely hear him sometimes. In great contrast to Nagakura, whom I had to dial down to almost nothing because's so damn loud~ 

Well, that's just a crying shame. I gather you meant some version before the Steam release? Just how many versions does this game have o-o 

21 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Haha, yes~ He looked super cool in those tattoos! Not to mention, he was like an ace with a gun when everyone wsa using swords XP I grew fond of him during Harada's route. It was completely unexpected for me, but I liked his character development in that one. Not to mention, he had amazingly beautiful long hair  In other routes, well... Yes, he was a big douche 😅

Yep! He also gets some redemption in one of the new routes  Also, he's not the only one with a gun anymore ❤️  

21 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Yamazaki is dateable, too? O.O

YEP, which only makes it more heartbreaking when he dies all over the place >.<

21 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

I guess because it was super popular? X'D I mean, they made so many versions of it (that I lost count, lol) with each game adding something new whether it be an additional gameplay mechanic or added scenes/plot threads. Did you know they also have an action game for Hakuouki? (Don't play it. It's bad.)  Hence why they also made two movies for Hakuouki despite already having an animated series for it  

Yeah, I get that, but the cynical part of my brain is surprised that they didn't just go like: add the additional routes for the existing characters and then sell the new 3 as a DLC or sth. Though I suppose with the way they're interwoven into the plot, it'd have been difficult to do hmmm. I've seen some complaints about the game being divided in two parts but I honestly don't mind. Maybe it'd have been more immersive to play the whole route at once, I did have to at least go through 1st part's CGs to remind myself what the route was about. BUT on the other hand, you don't get spoiled the later plot right in the first route. And I feel the divide was pretty organic in it's placement.

And honestly if it's about the price, complaining about that would be just ridiculous, both of them combined are cheaper than a lot of lesser otomes.

I didn't know there's an action game LOL is there manga? because then they'd have all bases covered XD

7 hours ago, secret_no_03 said:

TRAX was very good, co-founded by Yoshiki, but once Rose left they went downhill.

Yeah, I really liked their music. I actually followed Rose after the break-up, since he was my favourite member, and years later he ended up in some half-assed vocal pop trio, that had like one good song and disappeared into the void T-T  

5 hours ago, God said:

it’s honestly such a shame.  no one is really willing to take risks anymore.  every once in a while, someone releases smth really cool and unique...did you hear key’s solo album?  😱 like that is exactly the kind of thing kpop needs rn.  give us variety again.  😔

I actually don't think I did! I'll check it out. I also thought that Teamin's Japanese solo was pretty interesting 

for some reason, it reminds me of Gackt :'D There's some real talent in SHINee, I gotta get back into that~

18 hours ago, God said:

tbh kpop girl groups are far more interesting than boy groups.  girl groups seem to get more concept ideas and have better music overall.  i honestly don’t understand why boy groups are more popular since they p much just recycle the same 4 concepts for p much every release.  most of them sound p similar to me, too.  

You know, you're right XD I tried to think of a truły fresh and original concept a boy group's had in the past few years and I can't. Unless you count Big Bang I suppose, but they just don't give a fuck anymore  And even they just dial up the bad boy concept to eleven and call it a day.

It then put me on a trip down memory lane to the good ol' DBSK beginnings when their concept was closer to VK than western pop lol I mean 

I feel like these days the whole industry is too focused on uniform mass appeal, ideally they want to succeed in Korea, Japan and in the West all at once and what comes out is a big pile of bland sameness. 

Which I feel is the polar opposite to the VK scene, it being so insular~ not that bland sameness is not and issue, but you certainly can't say it holds grand mass appeal and aspirations for expansion X'D

11 minutes ago, colorful人生 said:

 

I don't know what's going on but I'm both creeped out and reluctantly impressed.

I want this piece to play at my funeral. Bonus points for the universe if it rains. 

(note.#1: songs starts to pick up at 4:37)

(note.#2: change in pace at 6:10)

(note.#3: 9:21-13:08 if anything, listen to this part ❤️ )

(note.#4:  and again at 21:40-24:10) 

Uh, it's not a song, it's an EXPERIENCE.

KSHMR ❤️ 

20 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Also, I always thought it was interesting how Kazama, in some of the other routes, went full on Mr. Menacing Bad Guy. It crushes me a little on the inside when I see him act so insanely evil, lol.

In some?! He was an asshole in every other route but his own I feel like. In some reviews I've read prior to playing the game people were recommending you play Kazama the last, and that's what I did, and let me tell you I was not looking forward to his route before I started LOL I could seriously not imagine how I could feel for him anything other then the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face. Sincerest kudos to the writers for making his my favourite route srsly. 

On the topic of The Trinity of demons, what did you think of Shiranui? Because similarily to Kazama he was an asshole in most of the routes, but in some of them, I actually really liked him. Also, hell yeah guns & tattoos! 8D 

20 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

In the original, it was Hijikata, Saito, Okita, Heisuke, Harada, and Kazama. People like Nagakura and Sanan were important, supporting characters to the story, depending on whose route it was. There was no romance involved with them. I know the new versions has the three new guys, but there's even more than just the three of them? My head is spinning a little from all the available choices o_o;

WhooOoOo girl. There were only 6 in the original? There are 12 in the PC version (as I've mentioned somewhere before lol).  So aside from Sakamoto, Iba and uh that third one I didn't like.....Souma!, we've established Nagakura and Sanan, and I guess the last one is....Yamazaki? 

Bottom line is, you gotta play the Steam version XD 

I wonder why did they decide to extend the universe quite this much. I think people would have bought, and be happy with, the original anyway. Or maybe just the additional routes for the already existing characters. NOT THAT I AM COMPLAINING. 

3 minutes ago, secret_no_03 said:

He should team up with Atsushi (DÄLLE) since he goes by A Disorderly School, and they could form The Chaotic School System.

The School for Dead and Disorderly

god help me I like this x.x 

does he still pursue this project? OR ANYTHING AT ALL????

Just now, psychonnect_rozen said:

NEVER let this woman have children. I don't want them becoming complete retards like this woman.

Sorry to say she already has one.... 

On 7/21/2019 at 3:45 PM, Aferni said:

Today I learned that my co-worker believes that there is NO Middle-East, Mid-West and that Homosexuality is a form of population control by the government. I genuinely wonder how some people graduated High School cause are you serious? Lmao. I at first thought that she wasn't being sincere, it turns out she was and I am more scared than ever for the Human Race. This is even more Gold than when I ran into A lady who genuinely believed the Earth is flat, and she works on a Plane....everyday. I mean to be fair, you cant see the curve if you're not the Pilot but dude come on...flat? Lmao

I have a coworker who believes that yes, the world is flat, Russian government manipulates the weather and causes the droughts to control people (which, I'll give her that they actually did try to control the weather lol), 5G internet has mind control properties, vaccines are the devil, cancer and pretty much every other disease is caused by your unresolved emotional issues and that you should only drink ~living water~ (I'm not clear on that, but I know that you can turn your regular plebeian water into ~living water~ with the use of an $1500 ball of metal and it's going to fix your memory and idk your life, it's a whole movement funnily enough started by a Japanese dude). 

I deal with her by walking out of the room when she starts on any of these topics. I do have to work with her pretty closely on a daily basis....

15 minutes ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Hmm, I don't know if it's frowned upon. To me, I don't think it matters whether you use it or not. As long as you get enjoyment out of it, then that's all that matters ^^

❤️ 

15 minutes ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Ahhh, the bad endings ;__; Especially Okita's endings? Or any of the other bad ones? 😭 Some of those were super hard to sit through. So I don't blame you~ Bad endings in VN never make me feel comfortable or good ;w;

I meant the good  endings :'D Like, even though you've ended up with the guy of your choosing, why must the rest of them get killed off almost every time T-T I still cared about the gang even when focusing on one of them. Like, poor Yamazaki I think died in every single route. In one of the new guys' route, every single one of them dies AND ITS A GOOD ENDING?! who needs bad endings when you have good ones like that~ 

23 minutes ago, monkeybanana4 said:

the MC comes off even more boring and flat than she already is in the game ^^;

I actually don't remember at all what kind of personality she had. Probably none. Though maybe if I don't have any positive nor negative memories of the MC's personality, she was actually the perfect RP vessel? Either way, I think I'm more curious about the Amnesia anime than I was for Hakuoki. Maybe I'll check if out if I have some free time (ha!). 

32 minutes ago, monkeybanana4 said:

I guess since Hijikata is the 'main' guy, so he's bound to be popular.

He was not a bad character, I actually liked him just fine, I just feel that the relationship between him and MC was underdeveloped and kinda lukewarm. Maybe it's just me.... As for Saito, I get the appeal of the 'cool' guy, but Saito seemed almost robot-like >.> And I feel like he was married to those principles, not much space for romance

34 minutes ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Wow, you can romance Nagakura and Sanan in the new game? o_o Okay... Interesting X'D

Whaaa, ok, I think we need to stop and compare notes. Which ones were romanceable in the original release? 

LOL no problem ^^ I was afraid there for a second you ran away after I said I use walkthroughs all the time T-T 

10 minutes ago, violetchain said:

I've never really followed MUCC all that closely, but these Miya birthday merch designs are hilarious.

 

 

LOL it's so ugly I love it

On 5/4/2019 at 2:43 PM, monkeybanana4 said:

The left one would stab you five times with a straight face, the right would kick your bleeding corpse for a good measure, then they'd turn around and smile for the camera~ 

Fortunately, I'm not big on the music either lol

kinda interesting~

but is twitter messing with the quality or does the song just sound....like that? 

Welcome welcome! \^^/ 

sideeyeing Velvet Eden for naming an album "Double Twelve" then having one CD have 11 songs and the other one 13......

we didn't take a single photo during the anime convention lol 

but my bff insisted that I at least send her the photo of my outfit so here I am, after 13 hours on foot with no AC X'D

14 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

If I'm playing it for the first time, I usually play it blind to experience failing and seeing the bad ending, or getting the normal ending, haha. For games like Hakuouki where I've already played it multiple times... I cheat and use walkthroughs 😅 How about you?  

Welllll, I'm lame and I use walkthroughs from the get to. It just brings me so much anxiety that I could not make the right choice, that it's taking out of my enjoyment lol especially considering that it could cost you hours O-O I wondered if it's frowned upon among the genre enthusiasts, to just go along with a walkthrough. 

I also often speedrun through the bad endings .///. Hell, Hakuoki made me cry enough in the good  endings, that I don't think I'd have survived the bad ones >.> 

14 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Have you watched the Amnesia anime? 

I didn't know there was an anime?!?! Is it actually worth watching contrary to the Hakuoki one? XD 

14 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

I also really like Ikki's friend (I forgot his name). Even though he was the 'brainiac'/'intelligent' type, I found a part of him kind of sweet

Ken maybe? Ah, Kent! Yeah, he was the most harmless one among the selection, from what I remember X'D 

14 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

I forgot to ask, how did you feel about the guys in Hakuouki?  (Aside from Kazama, haha.)

Ohmy, it's easy to choose when there are 5, but 12????? excluding Kazama duh, Harada was my first choice (he's flirty but genuine and funny and tall and I think fighting with a spear is sexy lol I love him), then the two new guys, Iba and Sakamoto (not gonna spoil you here ^.~) and maaaaybe Okita. Other than that, I was very surprised to like Heisuke as much as I did, Nagakura was like a brother, I had 0 interest in romancing him lol, Sanan was a mistake. I don't really get the hype over Hijikata and Saito o-o if you do, please enlighten me. What about youuu?!

14 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Ah, I see~ I'm now tempted to get a mobile phone with an Android OS to see how it plays, lol.

HAHA, don't, save the remains of your free time while you can XDDD

Hmhmhm, sooooo~ I like the intro the most LOL I assume it's an intro I'm gonna have that shit on repeat for a while I can tell~

there's some hope for the title track but the other remaining two??? kinda lukewarm ._.

1 hour ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Yeah, I just had a look around on Steam since I was a curious. Wow, there are a ton from a billion makers o.o My brain was having a hard time computing just how many hours I would need to spend playing every game X'D

Yeeeeah, that's why I rely heavily on reviews, there's not enough hours in a day to plow through all of it, and as I get older I value my time more lol XD It's too bad that there's probably not much overlap between the titles you and I played, I'd love to compare notes some more! ._.

I have one burning question though. How do you play your average otome, do you check on walkthroughs or do you just choose the answers organically? 

2 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Erm, wow. Yeah, stories in otome games can be really bad, and sometimes the artwork, too. Wow, though. I should be shocked by those elements in Destiny's Princess. But playing a bunch of otome games has (sadly) made me realize how common those kind of odd/unsettling factors can be.

I feel like finding an otome with good art, good story and good voice acting (if applicable) is already borderline a miracle, expecting it to not have some weird and/or disturbing kinks is perhaps asking too much ^^;; Though generally, I find that the western-made VNs are much more... tame? At least that has been my experience so far. I feel like there's an entirely different cultural discussion to be had here and maybe that's better left for another time  

3 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Yeah, the story I thought was really interesting outside of the romance! I also kind of liked the premise that she had 'amnesia' and had to pretend to be dating some guy that she apparently loved in order to regain her memories. Haha, what an experience that would be, though  Yeah, not going to lie, Touma's route left me disturbed. I had no idea what to make of it other than that I would never date a guy like that in real life ^^; And the fact that it's a common element... Oh, otome games. I love you, but sometimes I question the elements in it ^^; Oh, and those girls in Ikki's route. That also left a weird taste in my mouth, too. Aw, yeah, I love Shin even if he's the 'poster boy' for the series XP Sometimes, I find it hard to choose a favorite when the guys are all cute dorks in their own way, lol.

 Yes! The amnesia part was what made the story exciting; you never knew who to trust or what to say, and that godling-or-whatever-he-was guy was not making things easier at times ^.~ Please, I don't think I'd have dated 75% of the otome guys in real life, which funnily enough makes it so interesting to experience those routes. Morbid curiousity, a guilty pleasure here and there and none of the consequences lol 

4 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

How do the Korean/Chinese/etc. ones compare to Japanese ones? I've always been curious if it's any different or how the quality is. Although, it sounds like it's similar based on your comments~

I honestly can't recall what was Ikki's route about.  I remember all of the rest and this one escapes me uhhh There was something about his eyes having hypnotic powers or sth? Wait, I remember! That fanclub he had and the heroine pretending she's nothing to him, and him treating them better than her? Omg that pissed me off so much >.< Maybe that why I decided to forget it lol

4 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

I'll definitely have to play it when I get the chance. 

Def let me know when you do! I'm super curious of your opinion ^^ 

4 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

How do the Korean/Chinese/etc. ones compare to Japanese ones? I've always been curious if it's any different or how the quality is. Although, it sounds like it's similar based on your comments~

I haven't had the chance to play a Chinese one yet, but Korean ones do feel different than Japanese. In subtle ways though, if you have both some Japanese and Korean culture knowledge, you will be able to tell, but otherwise, it's just another story in the same format. The meaningful difference is the medium, while in Japan PS Vita is the go-to platform for otome, in Korea it's just mobile phones, so there are a lot of Korean otome for Android. Basically Korea has their lightspeed internet and Japan has the nostalgia  The art style is subtly different also, like a difference between manga and manhwa.

Now western releases are a mixed bag or everything and anything, and you can never know what to expect X'D 

I like how you can tell from the quotes that it took me 4 hours to write this answer lol I had to actually work at work, who would've though ^.~ 

12 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Ahh, I'm so sorry  I didn't mean to put a damper on your desires to play more otome games >w< There are definitely some great ones other than Hakuouki (artwork and story-wise). But I don't think any of it can beat Hakuouki in terms of game time. Hakuoki, compared to most otome games, is a beast as you've already mentioned! Unfortunately, many other otome games are shorter.  But that doesn't make any of them horrible/atrocious. (And the ones I know of are on the PV Vita =s) Ah, Amnesia is pretty good, too. Not going to lie, but I like the artwork in that game, haha. How did you like it?  It's such a shame more otome games aren't available on Steam 😕 They really should put more on there especially since PC gaming is gaining more popularity. I haven't played any games made/released by Dogenzaka Lab, but Otomate is pretty good. There's another good maker, Rejet, but I don't think any of their games have been made available to the West =\

Naah, I'm not discouraged by any means, if you lack good content any trash will do for us despertate consumers  

The thing with Steam is, tbh there are heaps of visual novels on there. 90% of them are tiny, indie ones though, a lot of them are kickstarter projects, some are outright porn, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, hell weirdly enough Russian. I have like 40 VNs on my wishlist but I'm trying to pace myself and maybe finish the 20 I already own first???? I'm also an achivement completionist =.=/ I know some publishers make polls to gauge the interest of bringing certain titles to the Steam/western market but I honestly don't know enough about what's out there to participate. 

Dogenzaka is (at times a beautiful) trash pile. I played through their Destiny's Princess, got bored (and slightly uncomfortable) halfway through and made a speed run out of the rest. I mean, one of the guys was her brother, another her FATHER (there was some reincarnation/other dimension stuff included so they were not TECHNICALLY related IN SPIRIT but the dudes didn't know that????) and one was a really abusive asshole. Neither of these facts is unique in the genre, hell, what's-his-name in Nightshade was heroine's cousin and that one crazy dude that locked the heroine in a cage in Amnesia? whooboy~ The point is, it can be done.... I hesitate to say "tastefully" but in a way that you can swallow those facts. This was not  The story was nothing to write home about either.

Then there's The Men of Yoshiwara/Ohgiya, which has amazing character art:

I've attempted to play this game two times and uninstalled it after maybe half an hour each time =.=/ The premise is, all the love interests are basically (not entirely willing) high class courtesans and the heroine is this poor, shy, virgin waif that stumbles into the brothel and gets showered with (not entirely consensual) sexual advances every 5 seconds from 5 different guys. Could have been some quick, cheap fun, don't get me wrong! But if the lack of consent, forced nudity and coersion didn't put you off, the quality of the translation/port will. It's atrocious. And I had to play it in a window half my monitor size because otherwise I ran into multiple weird UI issues. AND IT'S NOT CHEAP EITHER. The prize is the same as both parts of Hakuoki on Steam. Thank fuck I got it on sale. 

Phew, onto a more pleasant topic. Amnesia! It was the first otome I played I think (aside from that Russian one). I really really liked it! I liked that the story was interesting outside of the romance lol and yes, the art was great ❤️ My 13-year-old emo ass would plaster those guys all over my wall LOL Toma's route though ^^;;; I did not expect it, I was kinda disturbed and didn't know what is up and what is down after I was done with it  I liked Shin the most, surprisingly ^^

On the topic of getting thrown into cages, I've been playing Mystic Messenger (it's a Korean mobile otome, REALLY GREAT) and apparently one of the routes has similar tones in the bad ending... so I guess it's A Thing™.

14 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Ooh, I see  I feel like I should play it soon to re-play the old routes and experience the new ones. 

 

Ah, yeah, it was (or still is maybe?) a huge thing for longtime devoted fans. I actually didn't know at first until I saw someone write all about it on their blog. Personally, I thought the art looked fine, and well, I thought the new characters looked really good X'D Yeah, both Takeda and Miki are drawn by the new artist. But I think they look great as well. When I first saw Miki's character (without knowing anything about him), I thought, wow... is he going to be dateable? XD Too bad he seems to be an antagonist in the story.

Oooh so you haven't played the reworked version? I'm not sure how you will feel from the perspective of someone who knew the original, but I think they're worth it! ^^  

Yeah, that was my reaction also! XD I mean, both Miki and Takeda are pretty tasty but yep, both antagonists. Not even really a spoiler since you can tell from the first time they open their mouths ^.~ 

15 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Ah, okay, I didn't know they stopped producing the PS Vita. They'll probably port it to PC or somewhere else sooner than later. I can't imagine that they wouldn't with the existence of the otome market  If not, I think you could emulate the PSP games, at the very least. There's a lot of good ones on there as well. 

~le gasp~ why didn't I think of emulators???!!  I need to get on that!

15 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

I don't speak it super fluently, but I can read it since I've studied Japanese before ^^ I don't think you would have a problem either since you mentioned majoring in Japanese language? For the most part, the language (unless you're playing a game like Hakuouki steeped in complicated history) usually isn't too difficult to read and/or understand.  

Aaah yes, but it was over 10 years ago and only for a couple of years, my knowledge is pretty basic and rusty ^^;; I do get your point though, I think with a bit of extra effort I could get through an otome. I could even undust my ancient denshi jisho, though tbh these days google translate has reached a pretty good level, even with japanese, so it might be obsolete at this point. 

Quote

I had no idea there were Chinese ones? Wow, I have been living under a rock o.o

Hell yeah there are!  The only one I could find on short notice is Lost in Secular Love, which is about romancing monks?  Actually I think, there are more Korean then Chinese otome. There's Nameless, Dandelion that are pretty big in scale, I think they're from the same developer as Mystic Messenger I've mentioned before. 

15 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Haha X'D Maybe it would have the player shake the Wii controller to say no LOL

My mind went into an entirely different, far dirtier direction lol halp

At this point I'm kinda worried someone will come along to kick us off this thread for barely clinging to the topic  

1 hour ago, Aferni said:

Lol

Yeah, sorry it wasn't really that bad but it made me cringe

1 hour ago, monkeybanana4 said:

No worries~ I was half-tired/sleepy writing my own post, so I apologize since I made some mistakes in my own explanations/sentences (as you will see later ><;)

 

I think, from all the different otome games I've played (which compared to some hardcore fans is barely much, lol), Hakuouki stands out as being one of the better series for the artwork and the quality put into the writing (for the most part), although characterization of the main character is a bit lacking. I guess that's why even though it has been created so long ago, Hakuouki still remains popular. Aside from the plain main character and the typical 'blood'/'vampire'/'demon' element/trope, I think the characterization of the guys were great and seeing how the game isn't afraid to deal with the complicated history of that time (with some liberties taken, obviously) fascinates me.  A part of me wishes, though, that they'd stop milking the series at this point ^^; I love the series, but I'd love it even more if Ideal Factory/Otomate could create another series with just as much quality and thought. I think they've put out some decent ones afterward, but somehow, I don't really see anything beating Hakuouki in terms of popularity. 

 

Haha, not sure if I'm not a veteran, I just love the series a little too much, lol. (I even own a wall scroll of Saito and Hijikata standing together ^^;) Ah, no. Souma, Iba, and Sakamoto were not a thing until the Steam/PC version. They were specifically added for this latest release. (In Japan, I think this version of the game was released on the PS Vita.) Originally, it was just the original Shinsengumi men and Kazama. Also, Kazama's route was lacking quite a bit in the original versions if I remember correctly. Yeah, the original artist, Kazuki Yone, got laid off or left the company. I'm not exactly sure what happened, although, it seems her and the company are on bad terms. I remember she had once made a finished sketch of Harada and showed it off on her social media, but she had to take it down due to Otomate/Ideal Factory getting on her butt about it. So yeah, there's some definite bad blood, but as to the exact reason why; I'm not sure ^^; (Fun fact: The company likes to hide the fact that she's not really drawing the series anymore even though it's not really a secret at this point.) So they had to get a replacement artist to replicate Yone's artwork for the later releases. (I've read that the artist's name is called Ikemeda Go or something along those lines on some random otome blog years ago, so I'm not sure if it's correct or not). I always thought it looked fine, but as you've seen, many people were unhappy with it. If you're curious, I think the replacement artist draws other Otomate/Ideal Factory games. (I'll have to get back to you on the name of those games because right now it's escaping my mind. Many apologies~ ^^;) Also, as a random note, there's lots of anime series/spin-offs for Hakuouki. But I wouldn't recommend watching it since the quality is not on par with the games. Well, unless you like to see your beautiful 2D characters move and talk in 'real time', lol.

 

Yes, I thought his voice actor, Tsuda, starred in many other otome games aside from Nightshade. (I was wrong. Blame my dysfunctional brain for trying to work during the wee hours of the night 8']) Other than Nightshade and Hakuouki, I don't think he's played as the main character in other otome games. He has been a side character for some, I think. Not sure about the mobile games he's taken part in, though. However, he has been in other videogames like Tales of Berseria and the recent game, Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice. He has also voiced a lot of characters in various anime shows. Here's a more thorough list of his career than I could ever provide, lol: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=39751. But yes~ I love his voice in the game ❤️ It's a part of what made me warm up to Kazama.

 

Ah, that's cool to have majored Japanese language/culture in college! I feel once you get into your first otome game, there's no going back ever x) Once you're in, you're in for life  

 

Hmm, I guess it depends how much you're (general usage of the term here) willing to spend on the games (in terms of time and money)? Cause, as you've mentioned, most are not released and/or translated in the West. And, as far as I know, most otome games in Japan still get released through the PS Vita or mobile/phone. If I'm not mistaken, some ports/versions of Uta no Prince-sama (and other lesser known otome games) are still stuck on the PSP, lol. Also, not all games are on the same level of quality like Hakuouki. Some otome games can be quite... um, the slough, to play through (depending on your tastes/opinion, though). So, I guess if you want to spend many hours on end playing imported otome games, then yes, I'd say it's worth getting a PS Vita. (Although, I think they've translated a few otome game for the PS Vita in the West.) If you want to casually play a few, then I think it might not be worth it since the PS Vita seems to be a dying handheld system. But that's just my humble opinion ^^; 

 

Ahem, yeah, I've seen the English translations for the otome games. Phew whee. It's, uh... something else very special, lol. It's one reason I try to avoid playing otome games in English, but it's a lot cheaper to buy the games once they're in the West @_@

 

Apparently, otome games on the Switch only exist in Japan, I think. (Oh, what was my brain thinking?? Maybe the beautiful pictures killed my brain cells ^^;) I agree. My brain. Can't comprehend this. (Here's the article talking about the picture hidden by the spoiler: Nightshade on the Switch in Japan)

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Also, sorry for the insanely long post. I have no life when it comes to otome games ^^;

Wow, ok, and I felt kinda bad for my long post XD ❤️ 

Well, to start of, that's very sad news that there might be no otome on par with Hakuoki atm. Now I kinda wish I didn't stumble upon it quite so early on in my otome journey, so maybe the B-rate games would have seemed like masterpieces without that comparison. I was hoping you would magically provide me with some hidden gems and my thirst could be finally sated, but alas I shall settle for everthing and anything available on Steam I suppose ^^;; I think the only other Otomate game that's on Steam is Amnesia: Memories, which I really liked also, but is much smaller in scale. Everything is smaller in scale comparing to Hakuoki geez, I think it took me over 100 hours to finish, which is like an AAA RPG game scale. 

Ah yes, the main character is kinda ridiculous if you look at her from certain angles. She's supposedly a badass demon with healing powers, has some sword training and enough of a brain to disguise herself as a dude and travel alone AND on foot to another city, and all of those facts get barely any screentime. I wish she would have stayed in some sword fight for more than 5 seconds. That's why Kazama's route was one of my favourites, at least she had some spine SOMETIMES. 

When I think about it, it must have taken some serious work to rewrite the entire story to fit 3 more characters and not make them seem like a slapped on afterthought. And each of them got a fairly original storyline too, which after dozens of hours with the same story from different angles, was a breath of fresh air. 

As for the new artist, I really don't understand the drama, but then again I'm not a longtime devoted fan or anything, so I'm not as invested I suppose. Before I even knew those 3 were drawn by a different person, I did notice that they're kinda more....shiny? XD As in, frankly, they're prettier (to be clear, not that they art is more pretty, just that they were drawn as prettier men?). I'd wager that Takeda and Miki were also drawn by the new artist? They pretty shiny too. And oh that lucious hair.

Yes I saw that an anime exists lol I was wondering how does it work, does it follow one route or something, do you know? Probably Hijikata if so.

Thank youuu for that handy link of this guy's work, it's quite lenghty lol and wow aside from the games and animes, there are some interesting roles : Castiel in "Supernatural" (Live action), Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) in "Fifty Shades of Grey", Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) in "Black Panther", Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi". Kinda want to hear those FOR SCIENCE.

HAHAHA so you're saying there's no escape from this money sink? Damn but are some of those so expensive. 

Yeah, they've stopped producing the PS Vita a while back from what I remember. So maybe I should just bank on all those otome porting to something different sooner or later, as the consoles will eventually die out. It's a moot point anyway, since I really couldn't afford that at the moment lol Thank you for your opinion though ^^  You're right, I'm probably not quite as obsessed yet as to get a dedicated console just for this one genre.

So, do you speak Japanese then, if you play those in Japanese? I've seen some people playing the Japanese or Chinese releases without knowing the language and it's mindboggling to me o-o how? 

Pleeease, your brain? I was confused about the Switch because in my drunken brain I was thinking of Wii and was wondering what kinds of moves would you have to make to play an otome game LOL

3 hours ago, monkeybanana4 said:

Also, sorry for the insanely long post. I have no life when it comes to otome games ^^;

Seems like we're just two peas in a pod there ^^;;;

6 hours ago, suji said:

How could I've forgotten Gara?! 90% of his insta is hats ❤️ 

8 hours ago, Gesu said:

don'tlookatthethighsdon'tlookatthethighsdon'tlookatthethighsjustthinkofthebiblegesu

I think THE POINT of this outfit/photo is to look at the thighs, let's not make the effort go to waste