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Games that scratch an otome game itch (but aren’t otome)?

icterine

icterine

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上級乙女
Dec 21, 2015
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I have just finished Magical Princess (not an otome game) and had a lot of fun with it. The male characters ranged from "cute like a little brother" to "very cute", and my favourite was Hasis.

It got me thinking about other non-otome games that still scratch that "otome itch", though I know that means different things to different people. For me, it's mostly about character shipping and getting to see cute moments between characters.

I think a lot of people have played games where romance or relationship-building is a feature, like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Rune Factory, Story of Seasons / Harvest Moon, My Time at Sandrock, Baldur's Gate, etc.

Do you enjoy these kinds of games too? If so, what are your favourites, and what kind of "otome itch" do they scratch for you?
 
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I like Fire Emblem Three Houses, Rune Factory 4, My time at Sandrock, etc. :Dddd Always refreshing to see a cute moments between characters, because it's not the main focus, it's feel like the characters lives are not just about finding love.
 
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Volcano Princess is also very cute. There are a lot of options there, the art is too adorable it's hard to top for me.

As for farming sims, I love them too. Otome games involve a lot of reading, so I like that I can just shut my brain off and mindlessly do things in the game, walk around, fish, plant some crops yeah.

I don't mind that relationships in those games are a bit shallow, it's good for relaxing. Too relaxing actually, that I have problem completing farming sims lol. I notice I have a pattern of starting new farming sims, get obsessed with them for a while, then just stop playing and move onto something else :ROFLMAO:
 
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I second the comment about the portable Persona 3; Akihiko's route is cute, not to mention that I think playing as Kotone allows you to have a decent bond with the guys, where you understand them better. Even having played Reload, I think Atlus didn't manage to make the bonds with the guys as interesting as they did with Kotone in the PSP version. I also liked to play, and I think these are good games to "scratch" that itch for otome games and are my favorites ones are Fire Emblem 3 Houses and Awakening, Avalon Code, Star Ocean: Second Evolution, The Witch's Heart, and Baldur's Gate 3 (I haven't finished Act 3 of BG3 yet because I got lazy XD I liked Astarion, but I made the mistake of ascending him and I bitterly regret it. Also, I wish I could romance Gortash ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ). I think these games satisfy me because they have a lot of adventure and exploration. Sometimes I want to do more than just read and select options when I play an otome game!
 
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Another vote for p3p- I love watching relationships develop over time and that game was just so good at it! Like the others have mentioned I'm also a fan of BG3, Rune Factory, SoS and Fire Emblem- while some of them don't go as in depth as otome games do when it comes to relationship development, they're really good at scratching that itch esp when I'm the mood for something other than a VN.
And Avalon Code mention!! God that was one of my favorite games when I was younger- Anwar was my absolute fav back then! I used to be so obsessed over both him and Skye from HM DS Cute!
 
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Stardew Valley. Mostly with mods, I really can't stand the vanilla artstyle lol. There's some custom NPC mods and even NPC retexture mods that wouldn't be out of place out of an otome, my favorite mods like that are the Seven Deadly Sins expansion mod and the Romanceable Rasmodius mod.

Other farming/life sims I like are Rune Factory, Immortal Life, and Little Witch in the Woods.
I also like the Atelier series and Silent Hill f if those counts.
 
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I'm actually a really big fan of these types of games. They used to be what I used to scratch my itches before I knew pure otome games existed! Persona 3 portable, I loved! (RIP any chance of ever getting another FeMC in a Persona game though). I grew up playing Harvest Moon. I'm so hoping they remake Animal Parade or Tree of Tranquility whenever they remake another one, because those were my faves. Sometimes I pull out my old Wii just to play them.
 
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Mass Effect I've replayed that games so many time and always romance Garrus he is the only true husband for Shepard always having her back. P3P is another good one from the perspective of the female Mc and also getting a harm with all the guys lol. Rune factory 4 I have put hundreds of hours in it as it's my favorite of the series with Dylas my tsundere and Leon the tease, the farming and dungeons fighting. I do hope that the next Rune factory is better since the 5th one felt rushed, it was horrible optimized on the switch. I really want more games like Rune factory though there are so little of it.
 
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For sure the Princess Maker games! I've played them all, but I think Princess Maker 5 is the most 'otome-like' of the franchise. I'm guilty of playing it for the romance haha.There's just something really satisfying about seeing how your choices shape not only your daughter's future but also the people around her.

Another one is Tomadachi Life! I really like how the Miis have relationships of their own; they can be enemies, be friends, or fall in love. Especially with the recent release of the new game Tomadachi Life: Living the Dream, I can play matchmaker to my heart's content~
 
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I used to really enjoy playing the Summon Night series. I especially liked Nesty from the second game. I love all the opening animations, too.
Also, I really hope they'll release a remake of Atelier Lily!!
 
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i think many people have mentioned it before in different threads, but i really like playing interactive fiction/IF games and putting all my effort into romancing the love interests! i feel like it helps scratch the itch of pursuing a route and i always enjoy getting to see cute romantic scenes :P

wayhaven chronicles is often seen as a dating simulator, since your character gets to choose between four vampires to date and romance is a huge part of the story and writing.

a lot of them, while not focused on romance, have really unique characters that have their own storylines, like fallen hero and a kiss from death. i think an added benefit of IF text-based games is you have more creative freedom in deciding how your mc is!

i can be quite delusional so implied and very small romance mentions also can scratch the itch as long as i imagine enough of it... like how wadanohara and the great blue sea has a small minor romantic arc ongoing between the main character and someone else! if anyone has any recs for almost-romance games i'd love them :D
 
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I've noticed some people think the game "ENIGMA:" by Uzumeya Honpo is an otome game, even though it's not. Still, I'm planning to play it at some point.
 
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Baldur's Gate 3, Coral Island (with the recent update of more character interactions hehe), FE:3H and FE: Awakening, Persona 3, DA's Alistair and Inquisition's Cullen 🥺, Story of Season's Raeger, and Arcadia Fallen (liked the first game's romance better though).
 
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As several people have already mentioned, the Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Baldur's Gate series. The mobile game Hogwarts Mystery also has a romance option.
 
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Yes, I really like them! Only play games for the romance aspect, ahaha. Baldurs Gate 3 was a great game with a nice romance subplot, Mass Effect is a great game with some romance, Dragon Age also has romance. There are games in Warhammer universe like Rogue Trader with romance! :whistle:
 
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persona 3 portable is one, i wish they included kotone in reload :cry: another would be the harvest moon/story of season games! those are my fav farming games
 
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Because I enjoy mystery RPGs, I would recommend "The Forest Drizzling Rai" and "Ib". "The Forest Drizzling Rai" also has a manga version. However, these two works are a bit creepy. If you don't mind, I highly recommend them!!
 
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Princess Maker，Baldur's Gate3，Persona 5 Royal，Although it's not a female protagonist game, it becomes quite fun to play as you progress
I also bought Magical Princess, but haven't played it yet. It feels quite similar to Princess Maker
 
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I have otome-ish feeling from games with romance mechanics.

Some popular titles:
- Dragon Age and Mass Effect series
- Persona 3 Portable (other persona games romances are good too, it's sad they don't add female protagonists anymore)
- Divinity Original Sin 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 (Baldur's Gate 2 also, but options to romance is kind of lacking for female mc :c)
- Pathfinder (I played Pathfinder:WotR and really liked romance development)
- Fire Emblem series (Awakening, Fates, Three Houses. I really like to be matchmaker :D)

And some indie games:
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
- Volcano princess
- Potionomics
 
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