Top List/Review: Visual Novels/Otome Games

So, for y’all not familiar with the term, a visual novel is a novel, and mostly an interactive game as well, that narrates with an aid of visual art and even music. As a game, unlike the usual paperback novels, VNs can employ player choice options and can have multiple plot paths and endings.

On the other hand, an otome game, or otoge, is a visual novel but heavily based on romance. Basically, it’s like a dating sim app (i.e. dating simulation application). You act as the MC, or main character, and depending on the game, you need to romance guys or girls in order to get a good end. It’s not the same as an eroge, btw (at least, not exactly). Eroge is an abbreviation for erotic games. They are games with graphic sex scenes or innuendos. And again, it’s different from VN in a sense that, imo, VNs refer to broader/all genres, even those non-romance types. However, most VNs are the romance/dating sim kinda thing, so most people equate VNs to otome games.

From what I’ve known, otoges originate from Japan.* So most otoges, especially some famous good ones — Hakuouki, Code:Re, Amnesia — really come from there. Although, as of late, since they are basically out of my pocket’s league (daaamn Rejeet), I’ve been hooked with various local ones and found rare gems that are… well, really rare sparkling gems. XDD And since I’m generous, I’ll briefly narrate about 8 right now (and then more-than-my-usual mention some others). :>>>

* Please correct me if I’m wrong on this one.

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For a quick list, here are my top 8:

01. Nameless (Paid, PC, Originally Korean, Translated)
02. Second Reproduction (Free, PC, Originally Japanese, Translated, Eroge(?))
03. Yo-Jin-Bo (Paid/Free, PC/PS2, Originally Japanese, Translated)
04. Halloween Otome (Free, PC, English)
05. Dandelion (Paid, PC, Originally Korean, Translated)
06. Aloners (Free, PC, English)
07. Nicole (Paid, PC, English)
08. A Troll’s Fairytale (Free, PC, English)

Yes, yes, they aren’t exactly the “various local ones and rare gems” I mentioned and, in fact, kinda mainstream buut… well, what can I say?! These are my top favourites. Though Imma mention more in my post remarks — still really good ones worth mentioning, of course.

WARNING: Beyond this point may contain mild to major spoilers and spontaneous rants. Continue at your own risk, or immediately proceed to my post remarks down below.

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• Nameless: The One Thing You Must Recall by Cheritz

To be honest, Nameless just won first place for me by a very narrow margin; nonetheless, it easily takes at least the first three spots on this list hands down. It has a good storyline, great visuals and voice, and unlike Cheritz’ first work Dandelion, isn’t really that hard to clear but still challenging enough.

Nameless takes in a lot of drama and mystery, blended with good narrating and great character development, I have to say the pricing was worth it. About a day worth of content, plus all these good technicalities… what more can I ask for? o(≧∇≦o)o(≧∇≦o)

Anywaaaay, to start off, Nameless is about a girl named Eri who loves to collect ball-jointed dolls. Then, one day, the five she collected so far mysteriously turned humans. The dolls are self-conscious that they weren’t originally one, and even remembered the moments MC took care of them while they were still inside the shelves; so them becoming human is just as much as a mystery to them as they are to you.

The game is progressive in Nameless and the paths really connected. That is, in order to fully solve the mystery of the game, you need to play each romance-able character path. Solving the mystery, in this case, also meant unlocking another hidden path — and even along the way, hidden scenes on each ‘another path’ you play; hence, the ‘progressive’ part. In a way, it’s like a stack.

And that is what I really find amazing about it. I mean, I found no bugs and the narration wasn’t messy. You start it off like the usual otoges out there; but later, when you go to another character path, it’s parallel to the earlier paths you played, yes, but with more and more hidden scenes or voiceovers (which is related to the hidden path and entire mystery of the game) getting unlocked. Even when you reset your progress and try another path combination, the placement of those hidden scenes get changed as well to suit the progress of the mystery which, as I’ve said, I found amazing.

In the end, once you’ve pieced it together and realise a lot of things here and there, it’ll give you some kind of melancholic vibe… followed by a  “FVCK! WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER ENDINGS?! THE OTHER FVCKING PATHS I WORKED HARD FOR?!” kinda outburst a few moments later. ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭ ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭ lol Oopps! Was that a major spoiler? :>> Huwell, I’m not sure you get it anyway so… Tee-heee. 😛

Nonetheless, you’ll surely be reeling with emotions with Nameless here — well, at least in my case, I was reeling with emotions I couldn’t immediately get over from. Pluuuuus, daaamn, its main theme, Secrets by Flame Heart, seriously ain’t gonna help you and yo flaming heart (badumptsss) at all! ʕ ಡ ﹏ ಡ ʔ Not to mention this game has a looot of disturbing/bad endings.. though it’s not really to the point of repugnance.

Overall, I, perhaps along with a lot more others, can definitely say Nameless was one of the best otoges.  ( ƅ° ∇°)ƅ ( ƅ° ∇°)ƅ ( ƅ° ∇°)ƅ Yes, yes, the things I said were kinda contradicting, right? Has a lot of bad ends, what is that foreshadowing of the endings being erased, etc etc… and still, it’s one of the best?! Well, yeah. o(≧∇≦o) To clarify, it’s not that the endings you get are erased. It’s just that, in the true final-est end, you cannot sort of really have a choice on who you wanna spend the rest of your life with? SO YEAAAH, THERE, THAT. That’s the only thing I’m against with in this game. The rest? HO-HO, even my toes are giving the ‘thumbs up.’

And my favourite, hmm… Who is my favourite? lol I guess it’s everyone? HAHAHAHA Naah, though not as much for Red and Yeonho. I meaan, well, they’re still great but… those two’s personalities are just something that I’m not really fond with? I don’t like the overly enthusiastic characters or the shy, too good boy type. Among the three, I was thinking of going for Lance, the tsundere type (Ho-Ho, I’m a sucker for tsunderes o(≧∇≦o)) buuut… this time, my final judgment issss: Imma go with sadistic Tei. FUFUFUFU

IN MY DEFENCEE, personality-wise, Imma choose Lance; then again, factoring everything in the game — esp. the CGs, and events — Tei won me over. Idk, I REALLY FIND THAT MONOLOGUE EVENT OF HIS OVERLY SWEET. AND I LIKE IT. XDDD Pluus, he isn’t even that sadistic… though he’s the one with the most number of bad ends. lol XDD

PS. Thoughhh, daaamn, reaaallyy… WHY IS CHERITZ SOOO BIASED WITH TEI AND RED? Just because Red is the main guy and Tei is the second, CG! CG FOR LANCE! The CGs for Lance are… the least I really liked. There were a lot of scenes on his route THAT REALLY DESERVE THE CG BUT DIDN’T GET ONE. Or has a CG anyway but IT DIDN’T CLEARLY DEPICT THAT SCENE! ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭I feel sorry for Lance. T^T

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• Queen of Darkness 2: The Second Reproduction by Heterodoxy

Anywaay, moving on. Next up on the list is Second Reproduction, which trailed after Nameless by about 0.0000000000000 … 1%.

This game is amazing, that’s the only thing I can say! Knights, princesses, demons! OMG, just my kinda thing. Plus, some scenes are voiced (and the voices are haawt af)! Not to mention, IT’S FREE! So, tbh, by this point, I’m not even sure why I still insist on Nameless being the first rather than this. Yes, Second Reproduction really is thiiss good, to be able to be at par with paid games (at least, in my opinion).

Second Repro has a lot of content, and a plot that isn’t necessarily centred on romance, but has no escape on romance (I meant all routes have romance). wew Player interaction-wise though, hmm… not really. Just so-so, I guess. It’s more on storytelling than the actual choices.

This game has two parts. The first part has a shitty ending that you can’t escape and doesn’t offer much choice options (just one choice option and this determines whose guy path you’re gonna go with). The second part is the ‘repeat’ part, where the events from first part gets replayed and you get to choose paths to avoid that bad end and go happily with yo fave guy — there are three, in this case. Sooo… in other words, while you thought there’s nothing much going on in the first part, in fact there are a lot — you have to pay attention to details!

Anywaaay, wew, I’m saying all this but I haven’t even mentioned what this really is about — like summary or something. lol XDD Sorry about that.

Soooo… Second Repro, right. It’s about a princess named Christina Ranzaad, who is more like a knight than a princess. In their world, demons and humans coexist; however, like the usual story goes, humans don’t really get along well with demons. Humans consider demons as… demons (lol) that mercilessly kill humans. Aand, Christina being the warrior princess, was tasked to infiltrate the demon kingdom and kill the demon king Gardis. She’s accompanied by her mega friend-zoned co-knight, Lezette.

And, well, the moment you go there, it turns out that the demons aren’t bad creatures at all! In fact, they’re one of the most peaceful creatures out there. Yo mother, the bewitchingly beautiful Queen, is the one twisting the people’s minds into thinking that it was the demons who attacked first — in order to give reason to other human kingdoms to team up to completely annihilate the demon world.

You’ve discovered that along the way and gain conflicting feelings of your judgment and doctrines. In the end, however, you allied yourself with the demons. Then, it’s just a matter of how many kingdoms you’ve convinced to ally with you that the flow of the game changes — whether or not you get the good end or the bad one.

Overall, like I said, the game was awesome! The graphics and music, daaamn the voices were damn greaat, were superb. It has a lot of really good CGs. And the storyy… hands down. I love the characters, especially Christina, ’cause unlike the usual otoges where MCs doesn’t really have a definite personality and doesn’t have a backbone — Christina has both.

You really can’t help but love Second Repro, its world and the characters — most especially Gardis. OMG GARDIS PLS! Just look at these photos:

When you’re about to kill yourself and he goes rescuing in Part 1.

Somewhere in Part 2.

The bonus Valentine scene.

So, yeaah, if you still haven’t it figured out yet — Gardis is my most fave male character here, and second overall next to Christina. To y’all readers out there, YOU HAVE TO DL THIS! You won’t regret it, promise. It’s free anyway. This one runs perfectly on Windows, even Win10, but if you’re a Mac user, you can always download WineBottler or install a Virtual Machine like Virtual Box or even dual boot with Bootcamp. Yes, I am saying there are a looot of ways. lol

PS. Alsoo, with regards to that ‘eroge’ tag I put up on the quick list, I don’t think this is really that eroge. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Yes, there were sex scenes but it wasn’t heavily focused on. Orzz.. idk really. I don’t have any legit eroge game to compare this with sooo idk what’s hardcore eroge. It’s more like innocent eroge? I don’t get the eroge vibe from it. (They were covered, for goodness’ sake!)

Download Link: Click Me!

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• Yo-Jin-Bo by Two-Five

NINJAS! SAMURAIS! OMG! You juust gotta love classic Japan-based stories. Welll, yeaaah, in addition to tsundere types, one thing I’m a sucker for are classics — stories of princesses/princes, samurais, ninjas, the shinsegumi, the likes, especially if it’s coupled with travel-fantasy, power-power thaang or demons! o(≧∇≦o)

Yo-Jin-Bo referred to the three main(?) romance-able guys in the game; but it is actually a word play too… since Yōjinbō literally meant ‘bodyguards’ in Japanese.

Anywaay, this one’s about a girl who mysteriously got spirited away to some classic Japan world, and entered the body of a Princess. Well, specifically, she found a lovely pendant while on a historical excavation, kept it, and that night was visited by the princess who owned the necklace and was asked for her help.

Eventually, according to the princess, because of the power struggle and all, some guy wanted her dead so he can take over their clan. Fortunately, MC already know all that because, well, she kinda ‘dreamt’ about what’s going to happen before she got whisked away (not sure if it was because the Princess let her dream about it, or if it was just a coincidence she dreamt about it). Anywaaay, it’s up to her to change ze past.

Being ‘reincarnated’ as the princess, she get to meet those handsome, strong guys, who will later turn out to be the hired bodyguards who’d set off to rescue her. The goal is to return safely to their estate after being ‘invited’ and drugged to sleep by the evil guy. And, of course, depending on your choices and how strong your relationship is with your intended guy, fight off the evil one and either safely return and end up heartbroken, or be with yo’ man forever and ever.

Basically, Yo-Jin-Bo has six romanceable guys (though afaik, that bad evil guy and his hawt af ninja ‘right-hand man’ is romanceable in PSP), with each having a distinct well-established personality. Overall, you can’t help but love the characters, the universe, the development, everything!

It’s well-executed; and with the varying personalities, you get to choose your type of man. (´∀｀•) Also, it doesn’t lack in the CG department, so we’re all good. It’s even voiced! JAPANESE VOICED! WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS! What more can you ask?! XDD

Anywaaay, with Yo-Jin-Bo, the one I like best is prolly the least expected guy. I mean, he was drawn horribly (and by horribly, I mean he’s not the handsomest guy here) but! But! You dare not underestimate this guy. He is the perfect example of a tsundere! (/∇＼*)｡o○♡ That I really can’t help but just love.

And that guy is…. dun, dun, dun. TATSUNAMI ITTOSAI!

He’s like this psychopathic, battle-whore guy with glasses. He doesn’t have the coolness like Bo (and trust me, at first, I really thought I’d like Bo but when I get to play all routes… err), the funny bone like Mon-Mon, the mature vibe from Muneshige, definitely not the shota type like Yo, or hero-esque one like Jin BUT! But, for me, he is PERFECT.

He has the saddest, borderline traumatic backstory, (that made him a psychopath) and that’s where heroine comes in and changed his life — more like just made him realise the goodness in him buried deep down, taps and pulls it out. Really, I feel like MC brings out the best of Ittosai, and Ittosai brings out the best, the feistiness of MC. For me, they complement really well.

Also, did I forget to mention, he’s a complete tsun? And could get really funny at times without meaning to. (/∇＼*)｡o○♡ That, and the fact that he’s really strong, if not the strongest (not sure between him and Muneshige).

Idk if this is really supposed to be free buutt… Download Link: Click Me!

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• Halloween Otome by Synokoria

Halloween otome is another free otome game, this time made by Synokoria. Just search their/her/his tumblr account and download from there. Trust me, you won’t regret it! It’s just a short otome game, prolly around 1-2 hours per path or so. Still, it was fun. The visuals were amazing and the plot, though simple, was executed splendidly. Pluuuus, I really really enjoyed the in-game minigames! It was a first for me, having a minigame in an otome game and have varying outcomes based on its results too!

Halloween otome does not necessarily centre on romance. You can have alone ends and friendship ends too! But if you wanna romance, there are three guys to choose from — competitive (tsundere) Mr. Bandages, the dashing Count and the shy Mr. Wolf.

Soooo… the game goes like this: You play as Emma (you can change player name) who won a radio contest. The prize is… you get to attend the yearly halloween party that’s supposedly only exclusive to famous actors/actresses, singers or models! And another gooood thing: the difference about this year’s party is that, rather than just a simple party, you get to stay for a few days on Valdemar’s mansion and participate on a team game! You need to wear masks though and go by a some sort of pseudonym. Your identity must never get exposed. Although there are no penalties if it does get exposed, still, t’was just for fun.

Anywaaays, if you’re thinking what I’m thinking now, you might’ve guessed right already — in this teamed event, you get to have these three gorgeous male characters as partymates; as such, get the option to go down any of their routes. By the end of the event, it really is up to you if you’ll be able to bring home some stunning celebrity for a boyfriend or simply as a friend.

Overall, the game was great! I have no complaints. The characters were loveable in their own way, especially the Count! OMG OMG! Yes, I love the Count — he is haaawt, in addition to being adorkably cute (idk, I find him cute… but most people I know said Mr. Wolf was cuter, maybe because of his bashful nature?). Even Mr. Bandages tooo! THAT REALLY REALLY CUTE TSUNDERE MR. BANDAGES. HAHAHA Actuallly, even as of now, I’m still deciding whether to go for Mr. Bandages or the Count — Mr. Bandages and his tsun tsun type and the Count with his all-rounder great personality.

But, hmmm… if we factor the CGs and everything else here though, welll… I guess Imma go with the Count. Huwell, after all, he’s kinda like the main lead? So, when you think of it, he has a clear advantage against the other male characters. Still, it was reasonable… because even though he got the most CGs, he deserves it — how the developers made him a likeable main male lead was a success, no doubt.

Of course, there’s also a twist to this game — albeit it was kinda obvious, a twist is still a twist. XDD I don’t wanna reveal it here sooo you gotta find it out for yourself; though really, it should be sooo glaringly obvious now. Knowing or not knowing it earlier on though does not impede with the playthrough. Halloween otome is just too good to be affected by something like that.

Overall, Halloween Otome is a must-download otome game as well! The endings do not disappoint, trust me.

Download Link: Click Me!

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• Dandelion: Wishes Brought to You by Cheritz

The first otome game developed by Cheritz and it was wonderful! Just helllllaaa difficult thouugh. Well, for me at least, especially when you’re just starting. It’s a stat-raising gaaamee. Basically, there are a lot of areas in your life you need to develop or improve on — e.g. beauty, intelligence, etc etc — whereee you only get the guuy, or trigger some events, depending on whether or not you’ve cleared the necessary stat point/s to trigger it or get him.

Soooo, yeaah, it was really challenging — not only do you have to raise enough affection points to notice youu, you have to schedule your time wisely to better yourself in one or a few aspects. That is, even if he noticed youu or liked you, he won’t approach you unless you’re smart/charismatic/pretty — or any other bs you must have or do to just make him notice you.

That saaid, Dandelion is a pretttty looong game (I still haven’t even finished some routes yet) and definitely has a lot of content — by a lot of content, I meant the diversity of each guy’s story and/ the entire story in general. Though at the same time, in a way, I don’t get to feel it at the start ’cause I was focused on/distracted by its stat-raising element.

Thaat said, why do I still consider this game ‘wonderful’ even to the point of placing this as fifth on my list? Simple: once you get the hang of it, you have fun. lol XDD Besiidees, the thing I really like about this, aside from the art and music, is the story, the diversity of the characters… and Black Cat!

Ahem, ahemm, well… as you can see: the art clearly does not disappoint! lol

Going back, Dandelion is about a girl who was suddenly sent with cute adorkable animals on a basket — two cats and three bunnies. MC wanted to return them to wherever the hell they came from; but upon contacting animal service, turned out that they were not from any missing pet lists. In the end, MC had no choice but to take care of them herself.

Well, it ain’t that bad actually if you ask me. They are cute as animals and effin’ haaawt as humans. So, if it was me… I. WOULD. NOT. COMPLAIN. XDD

Anywaay, few days later, those animals revealed themselves to you to be… dun dun dun, humans! Humans with a hellaaa lot of personalities — I mean they are so different from each other. And depending on your choice, on which route you wished to take, you get to know more about their stories and how they end up that way.

In the eeend, you get to fight/negotiate with some magician (the same magician, btw, as there in Nameless) and depending on how much of your target guy’s affection you’ve raised and/or how much you yourself have improved — whether your beauty, charisma, etc. etc — you get to have the good, bad, or slightly in-between ending. XDD :>

Dandelion is a really well thought-out game. I love the universe… I love the art. Pluuuus, did I forget to mention that it’s fully-voiced?!! Even the MC has voice! And I liked it. It’s just… huhuhuhuhu, some of the even-good endings just make my heart ache.

One example is even in my most favourite amongst the guys here — black cat!

I don’t even know where to begin with him. XDD

Hmm… well, let’s see. To start off, Ji-Soo, for me, is the most adorkable character here in Dandelion-verse. He’s a complete tsun and really, really hard to get (or maybe it’s just because his route was the first that I pursued and was thus, still not used to its hellish stat-raising element?).

Anyway, once you get to know him though, that’s where you get to experience first-hand his adorable tsun-ness. He’s aloof and hard-to-understand at first; but once he’s warmed up to you, he is damn cute but damn possessive (a bit? ‘<,’). lol

But… but! His happy ending though… huhuhuhuhu It really gets on you. IT’S SOOO BITTERSWEEET. It’s like chocolate ice cream sundae with bitter gourd sprinkles. huhuhuhu YOU DEFINITELY HAVE TO PLAY HIS ROUTE THOUGH once you get a hold of this game. It is a must! Really, really try to get his good ending THE FIRST TIME you play him though; ’cause otherwise, idk, you have to… err, prepare. 😐 wew HAHAHAHAHAHA That aside though, really… I just love Ji-Soo. huhuhuhu ❤

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• Aloners by Sonnet009

To be honest, I really do not know where to start narrating about this game. It’s been sooo long since I’ve played this. Err.. I mean, yeah, it’s alsoo been such a loong time since I’ve played the others on this list; however, unlike those others whose plot really got ingrained in me (since you knoow, you have to play them a loot of times to get ALL endings.. the plot would definitely stick), Aloners only has two endings — good and bad (or was it good and normal?). Pluuus, there’s only one male character out there that you get to romance soo.. not much diversity.

Still though, Aloners is something that one should never ever underestimate. After all, it wouldn’t have crawled its way up to my top 8 if it wasn’t that good. From what I’ve remembered, it has a very interesting plot — mystery and a bit of action. It’s set on a dystopian universe far off into the future. That said, true to the developer’s word, Aloners is also more of a story of survival than romance. I remembered being invested on the story, and verryy verrryy much so, that I knew I had to get to the end of it no matter what.

Anywaay, to the plot! I don’t know if I can say much but… in Aloners, you get to play as a girl who had just woken up on a man’s hut — with no clothes and a hazy memory of what happened then. Of course, given the messy universe where people aren’t really people anymore, the guy had to be wary of you and had countless times even threatened to kill you!

The first thing that greeted you the moment you wake up. HAHAHAHA

Eventually, however, the moment he realised you were human, he began to soften around you and help you get accustomed to the current state of things. And you being you, amnesiac and unaware of everything at first, tried your best to remember the rest of the story buried in your head. The two of you being alone in this desolated Earth has no choice but to cooperate with each other after all.

It’s nothing to worry though since the guy is one hella quirky guy! He’s funny and definitely cares for you. I remembered while I was playing this, I fell for him and his personality! The dialogues were witty and fun… and tbh, is the major reason why this game shoots up as my sixth despite being relatively simpler than some of the otome games I’ve played.

Anyhoooow, back to the story, as you progress through the game, you get to explore new extra areas and piece in the missing puzzle together. Afaik there’s a loot of things going on in this game — mystery and all. After all, you get to solve not only the missing memories of your life, but also of how you yourself is connected to the present dystopian setting of this universe… and of course, the hidden secrets male character is hiding from you. So it’s quite fun. XDDD

Well, this time, I really don’t have much of a choice as to “who my favourite guy character” here is, considering there is only one. Buuut, even then, the characters really are superb — the main guy and even you, as the MC (’cause tbh, MC here has a distinct, NOT-damsel-in-distress kinda personality which is highly welcomed for me). So I have no complaints! XDDD The story and universe are interesting too! All in all, this is a must-have, must-play game! It’s free anyway, so there’s nothing to lose. ( ƅ° ∇°)ƅ ( ƅ° ∇°)ƅ ( ƅ° ∇°)ƅ

Download Link: Click Me!

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• Nicole by Winter Wolves

Nicole is one of the first few otome games I played, before I got totally hooked to this game genre. It’s a romance-mystery game, of which you have to solve the mystery of three girls’ disappearance and romance any of the four romance-able characters. It’s a stat-raising game, wherein in order to attract the guy you want and trigger his events, you gotta raise the specific personality for him. You gotta work and buy him the appropriate gifts. And not only that! Since this is a mystery game, you also need to collect enough clues and raise the mystery bar to trigger events related to the disappearance!

Anyway, you guys are prolly wondering now: why must I solve the mystery anyway? Well, you really have the option not to you know. XDD Even though you’re already a target of the bad guy, you can just choose to ignore all of it and be safe. HOWEVER! However, in order to unlock the guys’ final ends, you have  to… ’cause y’know, you get to have the scene where he fights off the bad guy, etc etc, and you fully affirm your love for each other. (lol)

Sooo… yeaah, Nicole is named Nicole ’cause that’s the name of the heroine in the game. XDD It’s a fairly easy game RELATIVE TO Dandelion of course. However, the game could be a bit taxing since, well, it’s still a stat-based game (I really hate stat-based games ), and the unlockable scenes are quite limited. Moreover, the gallery/extras just contained the endings! If you wish to replay some of them events, you gotta save. T^T

Anywaaaay, Nicole is still a pretty interesting game, and the characters are well-established!  I love them! Err, well, prolly not all of them.

Among the male leads, who I like best is Ted Stahr! ‘Cause he’s an EFFING FULL-BLOODED TSUNDERE! HAHAHAHAHA

And he’s just sooo cute! He’s a son of a police officer (who’s also said to be veryyy good-loooking and even has lotsa fans lol XDDD), and you get to meet him while looking for a part-time job. He owns a convenience store left to him by his mother who passed away years ago.

Anywaay, he’s a bit sensitive to his accent (or was he? not so sure) aaand is quite the perfectionist, and a complete work idiot. There were a lot of times you get scolded for slacking off during your work shift. X’DD

But after that! After that, fufufufu, once you get into his route, there! There you’ll see what a complete tsun he is. He gets easily flustered by whatever compliments you give, and really is just a loveable dork. XDDD

I was quite torn between him and Jeff (if to compare based off on how ridiculously adorkably cute they are with their words and actions); but then again, he won to me just because! HAHAHAHA Idk, I still find Jeff a bit twisted (even though his route definitely made up for it, still! Щ(ºДºщ) Щ(ºДºщ)), whereas Ted somewhat gave off the ideal kinda boyfriend thing. Overall, he’s a cute tsun. (*´ω｀*)

Yes, yes, of course, you can have the option not to romance! And you get the alone safe end or alone drugged end (fufufu, lol). Still, still! Why would you even think of choosing not to romance in a romance-based game?! That’s taboo in an otome game (unless, of course, if you’re doing it to complete CGs)! HAHAHAHA But you don’t even get to unlock anything by ending alone! :T So really, I’m telling you now that you don’t have to bother. XDD Definitely, you just have to romance them. ESPECIALLY TED! HAHAHAHAHA

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• A Troll’s Fairytale by S-Morishita

And now, we’re down to the last of this top8 list (but definitely not the least): A Troll’s Fairytale.

It’s a free game made by S-Morishita, about a troll wishing for a fairytale romance. Hey, even a troll can also dream about fairy-tale endings, you know. Troll. Fairy-tale. Geddit?? XDD Ohwell.

Anywaay, as I’ve said, it’s about a violent troll named Acacia, who loves baking, but is ‘getting old’ so her mum wants her to find a husband already. Then, in-came two guys you can romance — one is the fairy guy named Edavine, and the other a Prince named Damine. Hmmm… I kinda forgot, was he the Prince of Fairies, or the Prince of Trolls? And by Trolls, I meant species Trolls and not trolls Trolls, okay?! But, anyway, you prolly get it. Just trying to be funny. T^T

Baack to the story, ATFT is kinda short, with only two guys to romance and a rather simple plot. But the fantasy setting, and how it was executed was still brilliant though! And could get your heart to go all badump badump. (*´▽｀*)

Acacia, for one, is an amazing heroine with a personality — a violent, funny, adorkable troll that (trolls and) complements the guys’ equally adorkable personalities really well. As mentioned, despite being a troll, she dreams of a fairytale love, which leads her to get being teased at by the guys and triggers her inner violent nature. But by violent, I don’t mean the bloody violent — just, you know, involves punching the guys or slapping them with the frying pan like Rapunzel. I think she’s the Rapunzel troll version.

Bottom line, you can’t help but love this girl. She’s funny, and her personality’s really well-established. For this, kudos to the developer.

Also, alsoo, alsooo~ it isn’t just Acacia. You can’t help but love the fairytale world, and despite its simplicity, the story, and them guys too! One is a brick-wall kinda guy, but turns out to be a tsun with an inner sappiness; the other one is a playboy prince THAT DEFINITELY NEEDS A LOT MORE CGs! lol

I don’t have a problem with the plot, and the story development; but I do wish to complain about the ending! Although it’s understandable since this is prolly done within a short amount of time (as most games entering NaNoRenO*), but! huhuhuhuhu I hope developer-san will get back to this to develop it further.

The cutesy-ness is there, the story is there, the well-established character is there~ I just hope [Damine’s] ending gets more developed (orzz.. actually, the near-end part of his route in general). I remembered feeling some sort of hole while playing it, like there’s something missing — especially his ending.

ALSOOOO, MOAR CGSSSS PLEASEE! HAHAHA I’m so sorrry developer-san, for being such a demanding player. But, yeah, definitely definitely more CGs. Or at least a more strategic one, since I feel like the CG should be here but a different one shows up. T^T Again, esp. at Damine’s route! Well, I prolly get it since he’s not the main guy after all. Still! Where’s the justice and fairness in this?! 😥 huhuhuhu T^T XD

Nonetheless, to all people reading this, ATFT is a great game to play. It’s free. It’s short. The plot is simple, but it’s still cute. Still definitely worth the time for playing~. :>

Oh, and yeah, before I forget, my fave guy here is Edavine. Yeaah, it prolly could’ve been Damine but! Apart from feeling that hole in his route, CGs~ T^T Give me CGs. In the end, he doesn’t click just as much.

Regardless though, Edavine is really cutesy, I give him that. HE ACTS AS THIS ALOOF BRICK WALL GUY BUT TURNS OUT HE REALLY ISN’T! HAHAHAHA And I particularly liked that idea of him writing letters to MC. I mean, huhuhuhuhu, it’s cute! I’ve always loved writing (and I even write letters to my crushes, though I don’t send them), so seeing him doing it here triggered my romantic side. :’>>> ❤ ❤

Download Link: Click Me

*NaNoRenO is like visual-novel version of NaNoWriMo, a month-long event where developers give their all in making VNs from scratch within a limited time.

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Post Comments

Sooo, anyway, that’s it.

This one’s originally supposed to be a Top 10 list, with OZMAFIA!! and Girlish Love Revo coming in at 9th and 10th. Then again, I’m so lazy to write about them. Aside from this post being already soooo late as it is (this one was first written early Feb last year, or was it Dec of last last year (…?) and is supposed to be my first post, but y’know this and that happened sooo… yeah), those two that got ‘dropped’ didn’t give me as much inspiration anymore right now.

Still, they are games worth playing though~ Otherwise, I wouldn’t have mentioned them here in my post-note. I’m just too lazy to write about them. If you wish to know more, please search for them over the net. They’re both famous works too, so I’m sure there are a lot of other reviews out there already.

Anywaay, other games worth mentioning (that are already out and ready to play) includes A2 ~A Due~ by Variable X (I love the music omg omg!), Backstage Pass by sakevisual, Locked Heart by Dice, Long Live the Queen by Hanako Games and Spiky Caterpillar, Nachtigal by Cyanide Tea, Rock Robin by happyb (not sure, but is it still in its beta stages? still very good though despite being so, with a lot of routes and choices!), Princess Battles by Nekomura Games, The Flower Shop: Winter in Fairbrook and Roommates both from Winter Wolves, and Queen at Arms by Aqualuft Games.

And upcoming really really promising ones include Prank Masters by Lockvia Studios (great art, interesting plot), Seven Kingdoms by Azalyne Studios (omg I just loovee plots like this, really interesting and offers lots of possible endings!), The Pirate Mermaid by Variable X (though it’s been ages since I’ve last heard of this), Spirit Parade by Lettuce Waltz (not sure if full version is already released, but has cute art and promising plot), Dragon Essence by Zeiva Inc, Mystic Destinies: Serendipity of Aeons by Star Maiden Games, Queen’s Crown by Agashi, Errant Heart by Pseudome (this one has a really interesting, mystery-type plot), and Love is a Game by Audilis (HANDS DOWN).

And, you know, just for trolls: try The Boy I Like by 1010. HAHAHAHA

Anywaay, there are prolly a lot I missed. Other than the fact that it’s been almost a year since I last played and got updated, there were a lot of stuffs that got lost from my otome library when one time my driver crashed, and some folders got damaged. So, yeah, can’t recall them. T^T Anywaay, so far, those are all that I’ve remembered.

If you think I missed something, don’t be afraid to comment it down below and let’s discuss some moar and moar otoges! I could need a bit of a refresher from those good o’le days.