What's was your first otome game and how did you find it ?

[Watera]

My otome journey started in a pretty funny way, I was 10 when I 'borrowed' my sister's PSP to play, i found " Angelique ",I didn't understand a single word of Japanese, but I knew one thing: I had to make those guys love me more than the girl with purple hair did! I like how there's places to visit and i can go visit each guy's office and talk to him and he will help me back ( FYI this game has an anime )

but my first real experience was Hakuoki, after watching the anime, I found out it was based on a game and had to try it and honestly, it was a total game changer, Hakuoki still has a special place in my heart ! It always on my list to play it again (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

 

[otomegirly388]

Mine was "princess to be" by whomor. I was in my teens and "episode" was popular but I took one look at the art and said "no" but the concept of interactive games seemed interesting so I looked up other games on app store and found "princess to be". I only played one route (the prince's) and I liked it and explored more. All this made me even start watching anime and then I came across the word Otome.

 

[Marrychan]

I don't remember exactly what my first Otome game was, but I remember well how I got into this situation. I was in the phase of testing A LOT of PS2 games, so I'd see the cover and download them. That time I came across one with an extremely eye-catching cover, and here I am ever since. Partly because of that, my Japanese phonetics are almost perfect; I still can't read it, but from listening to the characters speak, I'm sure of what they're talking about since then.

 

[Fishish]

I used to play a lot of dating flash games and other free content back in the day on places like new grounds and devientart! Once I got more into things like anime and manga I started playing more games within that genre also so my first few visual novels were not Otome at all and instead things like 999 and ace attorney which were available at that time on the DS. I believe the first official Otome game I played was Long live the queen followed closely by Dandelion Wishes brought to you and Amnesia all around 2012 / 2013 ish (as well as a bunch of other early steam visual novel releases)! I think I originally found these games via YouTube since I used to watch a lot of long form content of games I couldn't buy with my very small teenage allowance (plus these were the days where buying basically anything online was UNTHINKABLE so I had to convince my parents to buy like physical steam cards from game stores to get any online credit )

If we are talking first game that made a definitive impact for me within the genre I would probably say diabolik lovers! I don't remember exactly when but I played the Japanese version of first game using a tumblr fan translation and I LOVED it! (Then I watched the anime and was immediately disappointed ) I've back read the game and think it's the cringiest thing ever but it'll always be special to me! I liked the worst fucken dude too, laito, the crusty ass fedora wearing asshole, my horrible taste has unfortunately stayed consistent

 

[TurtleLover]

My first one was Cinderella Phenomenon, I was just browsing steam when I was slightly younger and found it as a free indie game and decided that I might as well try it. At the time I loved playing it so much that I started seeking out more games in that genre, and now I'm a huge fan of the entire genre. It luckily also holds up well now, so I recommend playing it!

 

[AkaTe]

I think I stumbled across the genre by chance back then, through the gaming community. At the time, you had to hack PC otome games in a really complicated way to get them translated by various terrible translators :D Those were the days.

Because of that, my first otome games were the Starry☆Sky games. And I didn't think they were too bad for a beginner; the stories weren't overly complicated, and I seem to remember they were among the shorter titles.

 

[Shin_]

My first otome game was Amnesia, my friend recommended it and I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. After finishing it i started looking for more otome games to play.

 

[Calemy]

Mine was "Forbidden love" on android, when it had other translations such as spanish or french. It was actually called "amor prohibido" when i played it! characters used to have Japanese names and the only males to date were Keisuke and Shuuta. Later I forgot about the app and it dissapeared from the appstore, it's still alive but sadly is not the same feeling TTTT

 

[AkinaSR27]

I was and still is a fan of ADV games or Visual Novels, esp Ace Attorney series and started from there I began to look up the romance genre. Then I played CLANNAD after watching the anime which led me to Hakuouki on PSP! After that I started to look up more otome games which led me to Mystic Messenger and then the fan translated TokiMemo GS. Looking up more and was disappointed en translated ones aren't that much back then, so I started to study japanese and now I'm too deep on otome games

 

[blackflag]

My first game was starry sky spring, it was the first ever English visual novel I had read for girls. I didn't know there were otome games at the time but had read a few male oriented games.

Edit: I changed the threads title to be more reflective of discussion.

 

[Mutamento]

My first game was *Diabolik Lovers* on the PSP. To be honest, when I first started playing, I found some of the characters a bit strange, so I put it down after a while. A year or two later, when I thought of the game again, I was completely hooked. Although I don't think it was a great introductory game, luckily it was popular enough in my country to introduce me to the otome game genre.

 

[sylvenna]

My first game was Nightshade. I liked it well enough but what really got me hooked into Otomes for real was the second game I played, Butterfly Poison (Chou no Doku). I've replayed it like 5 times now. It's got everything I love: drama, angst, spice , and unhinged LIs.

 

[johnotome]

I started with code Realize, which I feel is rough because it was so good. I feel like it set standards too high for me :'(

 

[Pixiedust01]

I think my first otome game was one that have english translation, called Yo-Jin-Bo ~ The Bodyguards. It was so good, it had time travel, samurais, comedy and same handsome boys. :)

 

[uzzzzu12]

My first otome game was Amnesia. I just found it by chance while looking for cheap games on steam. It really got me hooked with its ost and orions cute design XD

 

[hana707]

My first otome game was when I was in middle school! I can't remember exactly which one but I always went to English Otome Games to see updates on otome games /visual novels that were indie games or JP ones. The one that sticks out to me the most is Starry Sky in Spring! I remember being so excited to play it because the OST was so nice, I loved the OP, the art was pretty, and I loved how the characters were all voiced. Honeybee was one of my favorite otome game companies and since then I've been a fan of Kazuaki's art.

 

[7Senses]

I believe it was Yo-Jin-Bo back when I was in middle school! I remember playing dating sims from Pacthesis back then, so I googled for "dating games for girls" and ended up on a website that listed Yo-Jin-Bo. I later learned that it was called a visual novel and that began my descent to otome games!

 

[mistysea]

My first otome game was Amnesia too- I came across someone who posted detailed playthroughs of it on their blog. It hadn't been released in english yet at that point, so the first otome game I played myself was Shall We Date: Niflheim. Tho I bought and played Amnesia the moment it got an english release on steam!

 

[duwumei0208]

My first game is tokimeki girls side 1, I read the introduction page from a game magzine from my brother.That is my first time to realise i even can date a boy in game since i only play action game with my brother before.it open my another door.

 

[ann10]

Collar x malice , my first Otome & switch game , I was looking for good detective mystery VNs but all of them were 18+ , back then I was still new in the VNs genre & only read famous galge either all ages or 18+ but censored , so I tended to stay away from adult VNs, while searching I found out about the existence of switch games , emulators & otome games . then went down the rabbit hole in the otome games world lol

 

[MelancholicHues]

Does this count as an otome game? When I was a Kid I used to lurk around flash game sites like Y8 and such, I vaguely remember this one game I was obsessed with, It was in a fantasy setting, the MC was a princess searching for a fiancee and then there was a time capsule/transporter where you answer a quiz thing to see your type of "prince". I remember I couldn't finish any routes because my little kid brain was hyperfixated on this emo guy, and with one phone call the whole ass router reset and It was lost into oblivion.

When I got older I got this small itch to play it again , Searched the web, It was titled: Other Age by Zelvia, and It's amazing to see that it's still up and running till now!

But ultimately the voltage franchise Pirates in Love hooked me and pulled me deeper into the otome rabbit hole hahaha!

 

[ecarlada]

my first otome was tokyo yamanote boys (by rejet) specifically - tokyo yamanote boys: dark cherry!
it had (and still has) no english patches so I was just purely rawdogging through the game using my skills of understanding japanese by hearing (i couldn't read in japanese back then) and it was such an experience which really formed my further interest in otome games

then I learned that tyb is three parts game - so it has three different parts with different bachelors and of course I played those too but dark cherry was my first and most interesting imo
the story is pretty nice and characters are sooooo different in tropes and designs and just so pretty (each one presents one of tokyo's streets or wards i think)

artist for game has a very distinct artstyle and cgs are soooo goood - maeda hirotaka (dance with devils)
and it was first game to present a very cute and new mechanic with cgs - when you touch somewhere on cg (ex character's hand) he says something related to it and to the vibe of the cg!

overall it was my first otome game and i still mourn the fact that it's so underrated and has no english fan translation or official patch :(

 

[Litth]

The first game I played was probably Amnesia; it was on sale at the time, so I bought it with Bustafellow for a very cheap price. Before playing the game, I had even watched its anime adaptation, and only after playing it did I fully understand the anime's content

 

[koko36]

Mine was Tokimeki Memorial on DS whan i was 16 , i just found it on a whim (the character design and system really caught me in~ ) i remember i still didn't knew what otome/reverse harem was at the time * me who only grew up with shonen lol

 

[shilo]

I quite like playing horror visual novel. If my classmate didn't recommended Diabolik Lovers & Hakuoki series to me back then, I probably would not have spiral down the otome game rabbit hole ( I've gotten my first experience of dummy head mic in dialover game since and that leads to another hole called "drama cds"