One thing I really wish more otome games would focus on is giving their characters more depth and meaningful development.
I want to see characters who genuinely grow throughout the story, rather than remaining exactly the same from beginning to end. Sometimes, a character's dialogue and behavior can start to feel repetitive, with similar scenes and conversations happening over and over again without much real progression.
I feel like this was especially common in some visual novels from the 2000s, both bishoujo games and otome games. Many of them had a very slice-of-life approach, with stories that could feel a little too slow or episodic at times. Of course, I think this has become less common in more recent games, but there are still some titles that fall into this pattern.
Personally, I love stories where we get to see the characters when they're still young, innocent, and inexperienced, and then gradually watch them gain wisdom and maturity through their experiences. I want their personalities, perspectives, and ways of thinking to evolve naturally as the story progresses.
This is especially important to me when it comes to the heroine. She doesn't have to be perfect or mature from the beginning. In fact, I think it's much more interesting when she starts out naive or inexperienced, as long as we can actually see her learn and grow from what happens to her.
I just want to feel like the characters have truly been through a journey by the time the story ends, rather than feeling like they're exactly the same people they were at the beginning.
