What do you think about mini-games in otome?

LapisWhale · May 2, 2026

Like the card battles, rhythm games, stat-raising, etc.
Reading non-stop can get a bit boring, especially with long games, so having mini-games definitely makes it less of a chore =)) Usually, they aren't that hard anyway. On the other hand, sometimes I just want to be able to skip them all because I'm hooked on the story =)) But overall, I prefer having them because I can't read for a long time, especially when the story gets a bit dull.

kotohabaki · May 2, 2026

I rarely experience mini-games in otomes... Mostly it's just the chocolate game or the pillow fight game from like... TMGS.

They can really add to the story if applied well. But otherwise I don't really need the extra bells and whistles because it will simply bloat the program.

It's a visual novel, after all, so I don't expect much outside of reading as the main focus. :0

majimakun · May 2, 2026

I am more used to otome games without mini-games. Maybe that is why I sometimes find them unnecessary.

xinyll09 · May 2, 2026

I'm not used to it unless it's a gacha otome like love and deepspace

hayama93 · May 2, 2026

I really don't like it ^^". I prefer to get focused on the story but if an otome game has mini games, I will still play it =)

luvsubaru · May 2, 2026

i don't mind it but i'm terrible at the rhythm ones

dzccc · May 2, 2026

以下內容使用翻譯

目前我玩過最好的小遊戲應該是《Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku: Modern Nostalgie》裡面的地圖收集跟隨任務系統

以下內容為翻譯：

目前為止我玩過的最好的小遊戲可能是《花樣年華，我一族：現代懷舊》——地圖收集和任務系統都很棒。

chizee · May 2, 2026

For example, the rhythm game minigame in Jack Jeanne feels amazing in the first playthrough, but having to play it again in every subsequent run is painful. It would be great if they could add a skip button after completing the first playthrough.

satory · May 2, 2026

I want more vns with rpg or simulation mechanics, if it's not an online game. Online games are often just tedious and repetitive grind and little fun

ninnikuryona · May 2, 2026

woah, i thought my opinion was an unpopular one but turns out its not!
im not a fan of any type of gameplay in otome, or any genre of vn for that matter, because theyre either so small and insignificant the game wouldnt lose anything from removing them, or theyre so present that they can genuinely hinder your progress (looking at you rance series (not otome))
so im happy that most otome are indeed focused on just reading, without any gameplay elements. im not against them per se, but if theres a choice between having them and not having them, id rather not have them w. and i do hope that if they do add them, they prioritize the "mini" part of mini games ww
maybe im just getting too old for actual gameplay which is why i mostly switched to vns........ who knows!

Nihilistic · May 2, 2026

I genuinely really enjoyed them if they are programmed well! I enjoyed the jack Jeanne dance ones apart from the hardest difficulty as I ain't that good. I've rarely seen many mini games in Otome games but I'm open to seeing more!

koten · May 2, 2026

I do like having gameplay when it makes sense but a lot of the mini games in otomes I've played aren't very fleshed out or that fun. I did like the pillow fight minigame in TMGS but on the other side I found the chocolate minigame tedious especially on repeat playthroughs.

loveee · May 2, 2026

I usually enjoy mini-games as long as they're not too difficult! But in Hana Awase, the mini-games were pretty hard, which made progressing through the story a bit frustrating

Aside from that game, though, I really love mini-games overall!

Yashalun · May 2, 2026

I like them and find them interesting, but when they are long and repetitive, I am overwhelmed and forced to replay them to play another route (even if I have already done it). They become somewhat boring or annoying, making me wish there was a skip button.

goead · May 2, 2026

Sometimes the little mini-games are pretty fun and help break things up a bit, but if it's the kind where you just grind stats over and over, it honestly makes me even more bored. I actually really like rpgs and puzzle games, but there just aren't many otome games like that.

Yashalun · May 2, 2026

loveee said:
I usually enjoy mini-games as long as they're not too difficult! But in Hana Awase, the mini-games were pretty hard, which made progressing through the story a bit frustrating Aside from that game, though, I really love mini-games overall!

In Hana Awase, it's true that the levels are somewhat complicated. At first, I didn't know what to do XD. All I did was save and try different buttons and methods until I finally understood a bit how it worked.
It was complicated (especially in the tournament), not to mention when you had to face the routes and they had very high stats; it was torture because if I didn't defeat them, I couldn't advance to the next level to defeat the other one and get a CG.
Not to mention when you had to play each route and level up again without a skip button.
In my case, my laptop died, so I had to buy a PC, having lost all the progress of one route (because I only needed the Jealousy routes in addition to the tournament CGs). So, in frustration, I used Cheat Engine and modified it to increase the protagonist's stats and level up quickly in the tournament.

fr4pp3cinn · May 2, 2026

I like minigames in dating sim games, but in visual novel not so much. I enjoy stuff like TMGS and the Prince of Tennis DS games. Overall I'm mostly familiar with minigames in DS titles (like Duel Love lmao)

In visual novels, I think a good balance is either being able to skip minigames in new playthroughs or something like Amnesia's rock paper scissors minigame (an extra that gives a new CG). Typing minigames are mostly fine too.

Suitanartist · May 2, 2026

I do not usually play otomes with mini-games, but I can enjoy them if it is like Jack Jeanne, that has rhythm games in certain/few parts of the story and can be somehow skippable whenever you want if you do not feel like doing it. But in cases like Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, when it is almost a must to play in order to get all the extra stuff or even a must to get points that allows you to continue the main story... it's a no-no OTL

selinee · May 2, 2026

I like mini-games but not stat raising. If mini-games are added, I prefer them to be skippable in subsequent playthroughs. I think stat-raising doesn't count as mini-games though. They're pretty much the entire game system and not "mini", I'd call them a gameplay genre on their own.

It might sound contradictory but I'm fine with RPGs or battles. I don't mind the grind. My biggest gripe with the stat-raising system is it just exists for the sake of it. The schedule becomes awfully repetitive, some games add an element of luck into it too, so you might succeed or fail a certain day for absolutely no reason other than bad luck. Or they do the thing where RNG decides how much the stat increases.
It becomes annoying fast.

Compared to RPGs, as we level up and make progress in the game, we get: better items, more skills to unlock, different enemies, higher defense stat and we also hit harder etc. Basically if we level up and gear up in RPGs, we can experience changes in gameplay. It is also possible to mix and match skills and items we have, build our character in different ways.

On the other hand in stat-raising games, whether you have 10 smartness or 100 smartness changes nothing. It does not influence the game in any meaningful way, They only act as a "numbers check" to see if we meet a certain requirement. Usually there's very little wiggle room too, so we have to plan very tightly, the schedule gives an illusion of choice like "you can pick your activities" but actually we don't get any freedom. It's either spam the same activity 100 times or get a bad end.

Leviathan_01 · May 3, 2026

I like it. I think it's a nice change of scenery when you've been reading for a long time, so it's good to have something to do within the game besides reading (even though most minigames in otome games are quite easy)

Leviathan_01 · May 3, 2026

fr4pp3cinn said:
I like minigames in dating sim games, but in visual novel not so much. I enjoy stuff like TMGS and the Prince of Tennis DS games. Overall I'm mostly familiar with minigames in DS titles (like Duel Love lmao)

In visual novels, I think a good balance is either being able to skip minigames in new playthroughs or something like Amnesia's rock paper scissors minigame (an extra that gives a new CG). Typing minigames are mostly fine too.

Whenever I see this game mentioned somewhere, I immediately think of Tomoko from Watamote playing it and the line the character says lol

fr4pp3cinn · May 3, 2026

Leviathan_01 said:
Whenever I see this game mentioned somewhere, I immediately think of Tomoko from Watamote playing it and the line the character says lol

Funny that you mention it, I've actually played that exact scene in front of some friends once in my teens lmao same character and all (we were reading Watamote and I said I recognized the minigame, opened my DS emulator and loaded my save... he called me a perv and I was compared to Tomoko for a while after that lol)

Cove · May 3, 2026

I know a lot of mobile otomes have a lot of mini games, yet as a console/PC player I rarely do see those, I wish they would bring back some aspect like that, I know waaaay back in the day a lot of console otomes used to be stat based. I wouldn't mind having a game like that again!

But to answer how I feel about the mini games, its honestly a hit or miss for me. I'm so used to the card game stuff so it's become mundane to me.

YummyYum · May 3, 2026

I don't mind mini-games, as long as they aren't extremely difficult and you don't get locked out of good ends if you suck at them. Sometimes it's a breath of fresh air. I loved that aspect of Jack Jeanne, because it was fun, and had easy modes if you needed them. Though I will say for the most part, I'm not too much of a fan for stat raisers, not because of the game part, but more because I feel there's not enough interaction with thee LIs for me. It's like- do homework to raise intelligence for a week, get a short 200 word scene with LI, do it all again. I suppose if there's more interactions it wouldn't get so monotonous for me, but that's part of why I haven't finished many routes in the Tokimeki series.

sdmjssvkfd · May 3, 2026

i typically like minigames, i think they can provide a nice change of pace from the format if they minigame is fun and not overused. as someone else mentioned, i'm not a big fan of stat raisers either so that tends to be my exception, as then it feels more like just playing minigames constantly.

What do you think about mini-games in otome?

Member

New member

Member

New member

New member

Member

New member

New member

Member

Trusted Member

Active member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Active member

New member

Member

Trusted Member

Trusted Member

Active member

Member

Active member

New member