What's your opinion on otome games that feature routes based on real people?

[lst]

Are love interests based on real people something you find interesting, or does it not make much difference to you?
Personally, I'm somewhat interested in history, so I'm a little curious to see how fictional portrayals of prominent people are adapted.

 

[nemaiaish]

ah you remind me of tokisada in olympia soiree my sweet boi...

 

[ninnikuryona]

for me, it depends on the,, "type" of real person? if its someone from history, like a general or an emperor or whatever, i think its cool. they lived and died a very long time ago, so i feel like theres no issue with taking some inspirations from them. in fact, i think romancing some powerful cold man is kinda hot!

however, if a character is based on a person that is currently alive at this very moment, like dear girl stories (https://vndb.org/v4700 im sorry i cant figure out formatting on mobile to save my life) or this one https://vndb.org/v42160, i feel.. iffy? even if it was with the person's consent, and even if the character was only inspired by the said person, i would still feel wrong to pursue a living human being.. in a game at least w

a somewhat related long rambling, be warned: theres this game, which is not otome but a lolige, which was made on a german imageboard and acts like a social commentary? an edgy parody? both? and it used a LOT of reallife people as inspirations.. including children, or fictional characters played by children. and it only came out a little more than ten years ago, and even though it positions itself as something edgy but totally fictional, i still feel wrong about reading something like this haha. but thats just me!

 

[ishibashi]

When I first played Hakuouki, I kept going "bro this is so unrealistic, bro this guy had a historically recorded wife and we know her name and how they met, bro why are you erasing them from history, bro, bro".

And then vampires happened and I learned to forget about historical accuracy and just enjoy the game.

I think for me this only works for people who lived before the 20th century though. Even historical works set in the 20th century had to be fictional people for me. Let alone anyone born in the last 50 years.

 

[MelancholicHues]

I guess it depends on the status of the real person? If it's like an artistic re-telling like Hakuoki where the characters are based on the historical real people, let's go with the flow and enjoy that route~

However if the character is based off a (currently) living person... uhhh I'll probably have to turn off my logic switch to enjoy that

 

[6161xx]

At first, it felt a bit strange, but later I accepted it well. For example, some game characters are based on Historical figures of ancient China, like Cao Cao, Zhou Yu, Liu Bei, and so on. Now I can completely separate the characters in the game from those in the textbooks. I also find the storylines in the game, which are adapted according to the real personalities and experiences of historical figures, quite interesting.

 

[Shikuromi]

I don't really mind for historical people, I actually find it really cool and end up going in a rabbit hole of researching of who they are (VNs tend to change their name a bit unless its based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms).

As for routes based on or use real people like in Darling (Koyasu T) or Dear Girl (Ono D & Kamiya H), I just treat it as a funny parody and have fun. In Dear Girl, the routes felt more like hanging out with the duo and messing around, rather than pursuing them seriously. I don't know what Koyasu smoked to produce and star in Darling using irl scenes of himself, but I was laughed so hard when I saw this cute image of him holding a Piglet plushie from Winnie the Pooh.

Spoiler

 

[AkaTe]

It doesn't necessarily have to be real people; I always find real events quite cool when they're woven into stories. Although, of course, I'm not opposed to games like Hakuoki that also use real people.

 

[junjonn]

historical characters are usually among my favourites, it gets even better if the writers find a way to adapt the real life events they took part in into the story as inspiration. maybe it's not even specific to otomes now that i think about it since i've seen that in doujin and manga. it's a trope that i enjoy even more since it makes me look into the inspiration for the character and i get to learn something new too!

 

[chardobre]

I think it's a cool way to get you interested in the real history, or least educate you on a surface level. Though preferably it's ancient history and not too modern. Though it's a shame to see certain eras kinda beaten into the ground as far as making otome games out of them, cause I feel there's only so much you can do at that point yknow?

 

[iris426]

Don't love it, personally, even with historical characters. It can be done well in games that are more comedy than romance, though

 

[Mutamento]

I can accept historical figures as character models, but I find it a bit too strange to use living or recently deceased people as character models.

 

[Marrychan]

I think it's somewhat normal to take historical figures and adapt them, they even do it with characters from books (like Alice, etc.). But when it's a specific person, am I not a type of consumer? I like it when it's more like Hakuouki, Furue, Yurayura to, but beyond that it depends a lot.

 

[vicc.mae]

the only I knew didn't offend me, I pretty remember liking. it had historical figures, if someone remember or knows which one I'm talking about please tell, it seemed interesting but I never had the chance to play

 

[koko36]

Honestly, I'm kind of mixed on them. On one hand, it can be really interesting when the writing leans into the historical context ° and treats the characters with care it can make the romance feel richer and more grounded. On the other hand, when routes are very clearly based on real people, it sometimes pulls me out of the experience or feels a bit awkward, especially if the game gets too romanticized or ignores the darker parts of history. I usually enjoy them most when the characters are loosely inspired rather than direct portrayals, so it still feels like fiction and not like I'm romancing an actual person ~

 

[BluestMind]

Are there any routes like that? Please recommend some Love Interest games based on real people; they sound interesting.

 

[orionsbestie]

I thought it was a little weird at first (I played Ikemen Vampire's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Isaac Newton lmaoooo loved those two). But I kinda got... used? To it? Hakuoki and Birushana helped. It also helps that they're historical ppl who aren't all that familiar to me, it feels less jarring.

 

[mikoto]

I can accept works that are artistically adapted from historical figures, but I personally don't like gender‑swapping elements. Also, if the original historical figure had a wife, it's better not to include her in the script. This reminds me of Bakumatsu Renka: in the Kondō Isami route, his original wife appeared, which made that route highly controversial.

 

[purplebeetle]

Are there any routes like that? Please recommend some Love Interest games based on real people; they sound interesting.

There's this otome game called 薔薇に隠されしヴェリテ where you can date prominent figures of the French Revolution, for example.

 

[purplebeetle]

historical characters are usually among my favourites, it gets even better if the writers find a way to adapt the real life events they took part in into the story as inspiration. maybe it's not even specific to otomes now that i think about it since i've seen that in doujin and manga. it's a trope that i enjoy even more since it makes me look into the inspiration for the character and i get to learn something new too!

I really wish for a properly researched otome game where all the LIs are Roman Emperors... Someday...

 

[haru0117]

It doesn't really bother me.

While modern games often feature historical figures, I don't personally know their personalities, so

 

[otofr3ak]

I find it a little odd, but a part of being a human that enjoys reading and pretty colors is the ability to suspend your disbelief for just a moment. ( 。·-·。｀) the only time I'd never play it is if the person is still alive. I guess if they're consenting to the making of the game it's all fine, but it's too much of a turn-off for me. I come to this genre for the lack-of-realness, I don't want to feel odd about that stuff the whole time I'm reading.

 

[Xyer]

LIs based on historical people are interesting not because of who they were, but how the writer/team behind the game portrays them. It gives a bit of an insight on how they see or wish the one(s) they wrote about were seen by others... or just take a peak at how some cultures see certain people or archetypes.

I enjoy learning about history and frequently read history books about different times and cultures, and when important people and/or events appear in a otomege I'm currently playing, I have some fun at comparing how different they are in the game vs their real-life counterparts.

One example of that is the 遙かなる時空の中で (Harukanaru toki no naka de) series, where dating actual historical figures is one of its main selling point and imho it's quite enjoyable.

I personally do not like though when the LIs in a game are currently alive or way too close to our time. It feels a tad too uncanny for me.

Since 薔薇に隠されしヴェリテ was mentioned in the thread, if anyone played it, could they tell me their opinion on it? I'm particularly interested at how the writers managed to portray Louis XVI.

 

[Murakuro]

I enjoy it. It helps me learn a bit more about history that we won't go over in our school. Since there is always some facts in there no matter how outlandish the story is.

 

[pepology]

Totally, I love finding characters based on real people. I really like how they adapt their versions while still staying close to the historical elements. It makes me more interested in history and helps me discover new tidbits of information