Otome on a Budget

Where I make inane comments about the (mostly free) otome games I'm playing and occasionally draw pictures (of varying levels of effort).

[urbangenic]

haha I played mystic messenger…. I’m not one for otome games but this one is quite clever with the format and storytelling. as expected, I go for jaehee, perhaps I sympathize with her being overworked and perfectionist… i want to make a warm soup for her….

[aikokougami]

So... choosing between Inuchiyo and Hideyoshi, I decide to go for the former first since I -know- Inuchiyo is in love with the MC and didn't want to go through the heart break of watching him suffer. ...and then Hideyoshi goes and ruins -that-.

[shallwedate-adventures]

I’m crying, oh my goodness

[aikokougami]

Ive been hit and miss with the few Shall We Date games Ive tried and without having looked into it much, I wasn't too keen on this game. The concept seemed weird.

I eventually gave in one late night after Id run out of story tickets on all -mumble- other games I play.

And I must say Ive been pleasantly surprised! They followed the recent trend Ive seen in Love Tangle and Blood in Roses to actually give the MC a brain.

Im actually really enjoying it so far and I like the puzzles. The app does crash rather often though.

[aikokougami]

After End Yoosung!

[reveriesky]

Please accept my 2 am offering

Referenced from this, audio from here! 

[aikokougami]

[zenosu]

“what’s donut? is it sweet like you?”

do not save/repost

http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=58943439

[cheritzteam]

[09/13/2016] Cheritz Team Diary

Hello, this is Cheritz!

It as been long since we came up with another Cheritz team diary. Since it is Korean Thaksgiving, we brought some live news from our dev team.

[NEWS 1]  2.5 months after release, 1 million users.

We are just about to reach 1 million mobile users.(We expect to reach that goal during the Korean Thanksgiving.)

Before we released Mystic Messenger, we never expected to receive so much love and interest from users all around the world.

Thank you for playing Mystic Messenger. 

Although along the way we had to go through a lot of major obstacles and we did not meet the expectations of some of our users, we know that our priority lies in providing a stable game service and making enjoyable game content. 

We want you guys to be happy while playing Mystic Messenger!

Each and everyone of you helped us reach 1 million users. (Because we still carry out our lives like normal, it is hard to believe) We are extremely grateful to everyone. Thank you very much!

[NEWS 2] VIP Package Restock

The English version of the VIP package has ran out of stock in less than 8 days!

The third batch is in the process of restocking and the packages will be available in October.

We have informed the previous RFA VIPs about the change regarding the box design between the batches. 

*If you have previously bought the package of the first batch and did not receive an email about the box design, you can request a copy of the email by contacting us at [email protected].

Thank you for purchasing the RFA VIP package! We hope you enjoy it!

[NEWS 3] Mystic Messenger Line sticker will be available soon!

The in-game emoticons will be released on Line! We are currently working on it. Please stay tuned.

[NEWS 4] Mystic Messenger New Character Goods

Some of our staff have been busy working on the new goods for Mystic Messenger. It will take a while until we can reveal them. Keep your eyes peeled during autumn and winter!

[NEWS 5]  Mystic Messenger Content Update

A while back, many of you have shared our recruitment tweets for us.Thanks to you we finally have a new programmer and the customer support members we needed! 

We received a lot of suggestions regarding the updates on Mystic Messenger. We expect to make a content update this autumn or winter.

Here are some of the most requested suggestions we’ve received. Please check them out!

Top 5 suggestion on Mystic Messenger

1. Make a new route for Unknown or V

2. Make more hourglass rewards like a daily reward or from advertisements.

3. It will be fun if users could write a message to the characters.

4. More contents for the after endings of each character.

5. Translate Mystic Messenger to different languages.(Spanish/Japanese/French…)

We want to thank everyone who sent us suggestions♡ ♡ ♡

[NEWS 6] Happy Chuseok!(Korean Thanksgiving)

Thank you for supporting Mystic Messenger. 

  Our wish during this Thanksgiving is to give more happiness and surprises to you guys in the near future.

We wish you Happy Korean Thanksgiving.

*Customer support can be delayed during the Korean Thanksgiving. Thank you for your understanding.

[otome-obsessed]

Merch and Line Stickers are good.

[aikokougami]

So I've been playing Rental Boyfriends by Okko since launch and I'm currently on Chapter 8 of Takeomi's route. While I'm enjoying -almost- everything about the game, the MC is currently irritating me to the point where I'm not actually I can continue reading. She makes me so bloody angry. Which sucks, cause everything is pretty good. :/ Anyone else playing this game? Is she any better in Aito's Route?

[sofanfictional]

RE:LOLOL

STARSHINEY is a well-known LOLOL player. They make insane plays that can save even the worst of games and have been in the “Top Ten” of the world ever since it’s release. Why do you know this?

… because you are STARSHINEY.

<< prev || part one || next >>

Sometimes, you wish you’d never downloaded this stupid app. Or that you’d never opened that stupid door, to a stupid apartment, because of some stupid words from a stupid stranger. Maybe it’s not obvious enough, but this entire situation? Is so damn stupid.

You tap your fingers on the wooden surface of the desk, mindlessly comparing the sound to the louder knock that had come from banging your head against it this morning. You were getting a bit… restless, or fidgety, to say the least. But it wasn’t your fault! V and Seven were the ones who had said you couldn’t touch the computer. Which sucked. Majorly. You miss playing games. You prefer the feel of a keyboard under your fingers than just the smooth screen of your phone.

Perhaps you should’ve invested in a gaming laptop, then you could at least do something while sitting around in this apartment. But no – no, you had to build a nice PC. Which you couldn’t take with you into here because it was too heavy and too fancy.

At least you have your headphones with you. Sometimes, you put them on and sit there in isolated silence, remembering late nights and a glowing screen. Your fingers would twitch into position from pure muscle memory, you’d go for that kill, and then you’d wake up because your hand fell through a mouse that wasn’t there.

They call it an addiction to LOLOL. You prefer “passion for a hobby”. Sounds less crazy.

Your only relief from your unwanted gaming hiatus is the blonde boy in the chatroom who texts you frequently about the game, ever since he found out you play too. It’s kind of funny actually.

He loves to talk about his gaming idol, how talented they are and how amazing their plays are. You had been flustered the first time he brought it up because, well, the awesome “STARSHINEY” he keeps talking on and on about was you. You had always wondered what people thought about you, and honestly, it was kind of flattering. So you never really… told him…

DING! Speak of the devil, and it shall appear. Not that Yoo… Yoosang? Yoosmug? Not that he is a devil, or anything; in fact he seems rather sweet. Kind of like a puppy. You wonder what he’s like when he’s gaming, if he ever gets salty at a bad game like you do.

>> Bad news!! Really, really bad news!! Q = Q ;;

You blink at your screen. Oh, it’s Yoosung. That was his name. He’s always so excited when he comes into the chatroom and makes his life out to be rather dramatic. It’s kind of amusing. And cute.

did you find out you’re pregnant?! o – o;

>> E-eh?!

He sends a flustered sticker, and as you look at the cute animated sticker, you pout.  You want one of those too. It’s not like Seven doesn’t know your face already, but it’s kind of funny keeping it a secret. You push the thoughts aside and instead focus on how cute Yoosung is – you can practically hear the squeak of his voice. Since when did you think he was cute? … not that he isn’t.

>> No! Nobody’s pregnant. Besides, I haven’t even had…

>> Nevermind!!! I’m higher rank on world chart…

You stare, confused, as your laughter from earlier finally dies down.

congratulations??  how is that bad news?

You remember always being excited whenever you saw your username jump up a spot. It was kind of satisfying to see that you were better than others. Ah… You want to play LOLOL so badly…

>> Because STARSHINEY hasn’t logged on in a while… They lost their spot…

You nearly drop your phone. No, no, that wouldn’t be bad enough. You nearly fling it across the damn apartment with anger. Your spot! You had worked so hard to get to the top ten ranking of the world, and now it was gone?! You clench your teeth and poise your thumbs, ready to write out an angry lashing rant about how unfair it was, but a loud PING! stops you from immediate action.

>> … I’m worried…

A sigh escapes your lips and you nestle further into the comfy office chair. Oddly enough, you’re not surprised that Yoosung would be worried. That’s just his style.

don’t be… im sure she’ll be back soon!! 

You don’t really know why, but you worry that if he finds out it’s you… that he’ll change. You don’t want that. You like being some nobody, you like people wanting to know about you beyond your gaming skills. You like the way he talks with you.

>> She??

Whoops. You hold back a cringe, even though nobody’s in the apartment with you.

typo typo!! my fingers slipped~ 

Just writing it makes your heart sink. Sure, you didn’t really want anybody to connect the dots between you and STARSHINEY, but it still sucks that everybody assumes you’re a boy. Sometimes, you want to shout to the world and shove it in everybody’s faces that you’re a hella cool girl. A hella cool gamer girl… Never mind. You take it back. You don’t want to be called that anymore.

He sends another sticker, this time of him in a gloomy corner. A smile plays at your lips.

>> What do I doooooo? I don’t want to rank like this!!

You snort. The empty apartment bounces your snort back at you. You feel kind of lonely in this pretty little flat. Surely your skills are getting rusty too - maybe you should go home this weekend? Ignore RFA for a while and just go back to a sense of normality….

if you get high enough rank maybe STARSHINEY will notice you?

You’ve already noticed Yoosung. How can you not? … well, okay. You don’t know his LOLOL username, but you’re sure you’ll find out soon enough.

>> … OMG!! Do you think if we invite STARSHINEY he’ll come to the party?

Thank god you weren’t drinking anything, or you would have spit it out. Or choked on it, maybe even to death. You stare incredulously at the screen for a moment before, in evil Seven fashion, a grin splits across your face. Honestly, Yoosung made it too easy to mess with him…

huh. maybe! tell them to email me.

It feels weird to think about emailing yourself, and inviting yourself to a party… that you’re throwing… but a brief picture of a starry-eyed Yoosung smiling brightly at you appears and you have no time to regret. So be it. You’re being invited to your own damn party.

[aikokougami]

Ahh! Thank you so much for this, I'm loving it so far!

[arotxt]

707: ms vanderwood is my maid

707: has a maid outfit for himself 

[aikokougami]

Yay! Vanderwood!

[arucelli]

You asked, I delivered c: 

[aikokougami]

That moment when you upload a picture and realise you’d forgotten to colour an entire body part. :/

[rosuuri]

Lovely Zen~

707 and Zen postcards on Tictail http://rosuuri.tictail.com/products/art-prints

[tiroma-art]

Lights

[aikokougami]

Ended up binge watching Bleach again for some reason tonight. I can confidently report that the damn Ulquiorra scene was just as heart breaking the second time around.

This picture helped though. To quote Jaehee, it cleanses my soul (especially that hair detail).

[aikokougami]

Dandelion Review

So first disclaimer, I only did Jihae, Jisoo and Jiwoo’s route. After three routes I honestly couldn’t make myself redo the stat grind again.

First impressions were pretty positive. The whole rabbit / cat boy thing isn’t really my jam, but I don’t have an aversion to it. Intro song was awesome and catchy (and still is).

And if you haven’t watched Dodger and Cry play this game, do yourself a favour. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. Here’s a link to highlights, but watch the full playthrough if you have time (I want to do unspeakable things to Cry’s Jisoo voice, as creepy as that may be).

Ratings

Interface (on a scale from “I hate life” to “Woosh!”): 4/10

Nothing big wrong with the interface, there’s a few things that aren’t super intuitive though. I think it took me an entire route to figure out how the hell to load / save, the fact there’s a journal / inventory and that I can go to the shop.

But perhaps I’m just slow, that’s also a possibility.

The big negative however is the stat grinding. Especially after the first play through, it just seems like such a -chore- to stat grind for 366 bloody days, -every- time.

Art (on a scale from “Potato” to “Holy shit sticks!”): 9/10

The art was great actually, I don’t really remember looking at a CG and going “hrm... needs work”.

Hot Boys (on a scale from “meh” to “Take me now…”): 9/10

The boys were indeed hot. Jiyeon was a little grating, I know he turns out to be a twisted motherfucker but i never did his route, so I’m stuck on “grating”.

MC (on a scale from “Wet rag” to “Sassy motherfucker”): 6/10

I didn’t enjoy the MC in this game. She was dense as a brick and had such low self esteem that it just got tiring listen to her put herself down the whole time. Not the worst MC, but don’t expect any intelligence.

Story (on a scale from “wat” to “My life is forever changed…”): 6/10

The actual route story isn’t bad, nothing earth shaking but it’s sweet and the guys are all appealing in their own way (bar Jiyeon).

What killed its score are the endings. Seriously, I get the whole “we’re being arty and can’t give you a proper happy ending” but I’m playing these games for warm, fluffy happy endings and sexy boys (and the unrequited dream of a bit of smut), which this game didn’t deliver on.

I didn’t feel like I could play this game without a walkthrough, maybe it was the stat grinding that caused that though.

Smut (on a scale from “Kindergarten play” to “…this is just porn”): 3/10

No smut, though... Jisoo’s reveal was damn hot.

Overall: 8/10

It was a good game! The endings were disappointing but it left you with enough hope that you could pretend they were sweet.

I’d say if they just took out the stat grind it’d be a much better game, but it might be too short then? Not sure.

Spoiler-filled stream of consciousness below.

Right! So of the three I did, Jihae was a gentleman, but he honestly didn’t stand out much. I mean he was sweet but... I guess I’m addicted to at least some tsun? (It’s a disease, don’t judge me.)

Jisoo... I managed to take my judgy hat off and ended up enjoying his route but he’s suuuper possessive. Normally I’m okay with possessive, if the MC has a spine and can stand up for herself, but in this case, the MC is spineless as all hell. So it made his possessiveness look worse than it did. Still, as long as you go in mentally read to overlook that, he’s a sweetheart.

Jiwoo! Ahh.. Jiwoo. I love Jiwoo! He was such a little tit in the beginning and then he just turns into the biggest pile of mush. If I didn’t have to stat grind, I’d go play his route again. It was hard aiming for the other guys after doing Jiwoo’s route. ^^;

I also felt that unless you were on their route, you didn’t get to know the guys at all. They almost may as well not be in the game if you’re not on their route, which was a bit sad.

The MC... I wish we could just get a nice bad ass MC who doesn’t take shit. And who has an IQ higher than 60. She was supposedly studying business but I honestly have no idea how she even got into university.

The wizard... was actually intriguing. While I didn’t play the Secret End (due to not doing Jiyeon and Jieun’s routes (on that note, the guys’ names are too damn similar), I did watch a play through of it. And I actually felt bad for the dude and was happy that he ended up with MC, though again, a bit more closure would’ve been nice. A bit of an After End, not just “they meet, the end.”

So yes, I do recommend this game, but be warned, the stat grinding is a snore fest. The pay-off is decent though.

[aikokougami]

This is not MM, hell it’s not even otome and the landscape format doesn’t really work on Tumblr (click for bigger picture? Maybe? Does Tumblr work that way?) but it was a fun draw nonetheless.

My line up of favourite anime boys this season (so far)! If you don’t recognise any of them, go watch it! Soooo good!