Are you okay with ROs pursuing someone else?

[VoltageIncEnthusiast]

I don't recall this happening in any JP otomes unless you count Harvest Moon, but I've definitely seen it in quite a bit of itch.io games/IF. Where do you stand on the subject? When it comes to games, I'm a jealous person or maybe the awkward sort who can't get fully into a character's route after seeing them find a relationship with someone else. I kind of feel like an intruder, in a sense.

I can relate to being jealous. It's not that I don't want the RO to be happy after the MC has found love; it's obviously unrealistic to assume that people don't have other people they might be interested in or have people who are interested in them, but the problem, imo, is execution. More often than not, I end up feeling like the MC is some third wheel or obstacle in a certain character's love story.

The way some writers write the RO exploring things with other characters makes it seem like the MC was just never good enough for them or that the MC was stopping them from finding true happiness/their true love, and I find it off-putting if, in my playthrough, I made the MC kind, respectable, etc.

I'm okay with RO finding love if it happens offscreen without me being introduced to who they end up with, but when they get together with an existing character, I feel kind of iffy about it. Again, it's probably just an execution problem; I just don't want an MC to feel like a rushed second choice or rebound option (unless that was the point of that route). I think my other problem with it is that sometimes it feels like the writer had much more fun writing the romance between certain ROs and characters compared to writing the romance between the RO and the MC, I end up thinking that the RO should have always been paired up with that character from the get-go instead (it's also why I don't vibe with certain poly routes in IF, it feels less like a poly relationship and more like MC third wheeling an already solid couple)

But if you guys have recs where this is done right them I'm all for trying it out

 

[Yumehara_raito]

Absolutely! Angelique and GS have similar mechanics, right? Actually, as long as the other female character is portrayed well, it's totally acceptable…

 

[O cha]

If it's an RPG or another genre with romance elements rather than an actual otome game, then I'm totally fine with it. Like Stardew Valley, for example.

In an otome game, though, I definitely want the LI to only have eyes for the MC. If they have feelings for someone else, they're an instant pass for me.

But if it isn't an otome game, romance between the MC and the RO isn't the main focus anyway, so I don't mind. Sometimes seeing ROs have feelings for other characters makes the world feel more alive, and it can actually help me feel more immersed.

 

[ruuuiii]

In vns, i definitely don't like it. For me the whole point is the romance you get to experience, so seeing it redirected at someone else is not ideal,, I'm not a big fan of lis with a past relationship or multiple heroines either, in my preference, i like all the attention focused on one person