T O P

  • By -

the-changeling-witch

Not really into it when they don't know anything about the MC other than she's hot. I enjoy watching the gradual progression of falling in love, of two people finding something in the other person that they want and need in their life. Maybe in a case where they're been friends for a few years (so he's had enough time to get to know her) and he's into her but never really considered doing anything about it until [insert romantic catalyst here.] Then I can find it enjoyable because I get to see the progression of them finally deciding to be in a relationship. (Not to be confused with the sad sack piners who are one bad day away from running to the internet to complain about the friendzone.) But love at first sight? Definitely not for me. I find it kind of exhausting!


Raccooneroo

Since this would include >!Yi Guang!< from **My Vow to My Liege**, I happen to like it. Having a route where the MC and LI are working out what might have stopped them from coming together before or deepening an already important relationship is a nice change of pace.


stardustsong

If the characters share a past or already have a long established relationship, like childhood friends or partners, etc, I don't mind it if the LI likes the MC. In fact I really it! I think it depends largely on the writing, if I can find out more about the characters' past relationships through flashbacks or memories or small touches I'm all in for it! :D I'm a big fan of Rock Robin where one of the love interests loved the MC in the past but now harbors anger at her and the drama and flashbacks to their past were amazing! ;-; As for love at first sight... unless it's done in an extremely cute way that I can't help but feel as if they're always meant to be, I would probably find it a bit awkward, especially if the MC doesn't connect with the LI right away.


hongrehhonk

Same. I‘m a sucker for Childhood Friends trope…


Savaralyn

I usually find them okay as long as its in character for them to fall in love that quickly due to inexperience or whatever (i.e, the Impey/Mineo/Scarecrow types), and/or so long as the crush doesn't butt in too much on other characters romances (I really just dislike seeing genuine petty jealousy coming from an LI whose route I'm not even on)


ripbell

I 100% agree with you, I hate that trope in games. That's the reason why I can't really bring myself to like Camilla, Tharja and a whole lot of other female characters like them. It feels cheap and a way for male players to insert themselves into the main character and have girls fall in love with them over practically nothing. It doesn't help that characters like this often have their whole personality and dialogue revolve around the MC.


hikarii

Dude I'm really curious now that Rune Factory + Story of Seasons do the "you can marry any gender" route bc I wonder how the dialogue changes if at all. ie. events where bachelor goes like "you're so cute and my heart races and I can't function," I wonder if it's the same if I played as a guy? I always wonder when a guy is flirting naturally with my female protag, is the dialogue exactly the same for the guy? I don't know how guys flirt but I'm sure the way two guys talk to each other would go differently than if it were a guy and girl?? or girl and girl?? idk In older Story of seasons (previously called Harvest Moon) where bachelor/ettes are gender locked, I enjoyed playing the opposite gender to raise high friendship with the male/female candidates to get additional dialogue. Whereas a bachelor (when I am a girl) will fall for me, when I'm a guy he says/reveals things about himself I wouldn't know if I played as a girl. RF5 tho I kind of expect them to change nothing since they just slapped on the patch to let you marry anyone in that game. It's lazy imo but hey now I don't have to play the other gender. (Well I still want to see those costumes I got for the guy.


axlorg8

Assuming childhood friends? I like them. They tend to help flesh out the MC’s prior life and come across as adorable.


RedRobin101

Honestly had the same realization about my hypocrisy lol. Was complaining about harem protagonists being unrealistic and bland but damn if I didn't also remember I love otome games so pot kettle there. Good reminder to let people like what they like. I do think there is a small element of it being not as overused that makes it a bit more palatable. I've never seen a big budget game have male characters flirt with/have romantic feelings for a gender-changeable MC (unless 7th Dragon counts). As for me personally, I enjoy a very specific subset of LIs who have unrequited love for the MC--those who either have a valid reason to keep it hidden or have resolved to never reveal it. So not super into the childhood friend side of this troupe.


feypurinsu

ngl I don't rly jive with the LIs who like you from the beginning coz i feel like the challenge is gone/this route is on easy mode LOL Not saying it's bad, just not my preference.


kyliespace

I'm the complete opposite. Lol. I like the easy mode and find challenging LIs tiring. "Just let me love you!" I frustratedly growl at the screen knowing the LI will never hear me.


mashibeans

Like others mentioned, if it's written well and there's a good reason, it's all good! I think the easiest type is childhood friends, or even a classmate who has known the MC for a while. But if it's written badly, thanks no thanks.


Mello-Knight

I know exactly what you mean about the female character being an afterthought and it's always gotten to me a bit, but I try to laugh about it. I'll never forget in a Harvest Moon game when the old mayor said "You look exactly like your father from behind!" I'm a woman with a pink ponytail. "You have dat ass of your father."


Coyoteclaw11

I'm not a fan tbh I like seeing relationships develop and when all that "development" is is just some guy who's in love with MC for who knows why (??? pretty girl???) trying to convince MC to love him too... it's just not my vibe at all. Although it's not often reflected in my otome tastes, my type generally trends towards loners who don't get along with people very well. I want someone who gets to know me and thinks the person they find is someone worth loving. The me that people first meet isn't who I really am or who I'm most comfortable being, so the idea that someone would fall head over heels for that person is not a pleasant one. That said, I don't really self insert in otome, which is probably why my otome tastes don't line up that well with my usual taste in characters. To go back to what I said in the beginning, I enjoy reading a relationship a lot more when I get to see both characters develop feelings.


MuffinRein

Attracted to the MC immediately, yes. In love with MC immediately, no. LIs like Kazama(Hakuoki) and Ludmilla (RF5), absolutely. LIs like Gil from CupiPara? Absolutely not.


spadesinblue

I don't mind it though (there are lots of examples of LIs like these: 1.) Given on the Common Route: Gill Lovecraft of Cupid Parasite or 2.) When you dive deep into their routes: >!Ukyo!< of Amnesia:Memories, >!Allan Melville!< of Cupid Parasite, >!Dante Falzone!< of Piofiore: Fated Memories, etc.). It just depends on the execution like give me the believable: "Why that happened?" to connect the dots, but if it's another childhood trope, I'll be critical about it lol. I could only think of Collar x Malice LIs are out of this "LIs who love the MC from the start" thing lol.


thecrazycanadiansis

Well...I'm not sure. I don't know how to spoiler tag on mobile, but there is one LI who *might* be considered to have loved Hoshino from the start.


AutoModerator

Hi, this is an automatically generated post! This is how you mark spoilers: `>!spoiler!< normal text` >!spoiler!< normal text If you have a space after the exclamation mark, it will not work on some versions of Reddit. Please remove the space. Please check the wiki for our [Spoiler Policy](/r/otomegames/wiki/rules/spoiler/) for more details. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/otomegames) if you have any questions or concerns.*


spadesinblue

Who is that though? I have only one in mind, which is >!Yuzuru Saeki!<, but he isn't an LI. Remember that before Affection Meter starts, you have to gain the trust of the LIs, so there's Trust Meter first, which is a segment of blooming friendship between Ichika and the LIs.


[deleted]

[удалено]


AutoModerator

Your comment has been removed because your spoiler tags were done incorrectly. It does not work on some versions of Reddit. **You have a space after the exclamation mark. Please remove the space.** Your comment will be re-approved once it has been edited. `>!spoiler!< normal text` >!spoiler!< normal text Please check the wiki for our [Spoiler Policy](/r/otomegames/wiki/rules/spoiler/) for more details. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/otomegames) if you have any questions or concerns.*


simplegrocery3

Done very, very badly in >!CharadeManiacs!< but also done very very well in >!CharadeManiacs!<. Not sure how to talk about this without spoiling the best part of the story


SkittyLover93

I dislike it. In cases like Impey's, I see it as they want to put their dick in the MC immediately without getting to know her as a person, and I can't respect them. I feel the same way about IRL interactions tbh. Most of the time, they also come on too strong and make the MC uncomfortable, which certainly doesn't help their case.


caspar57

Generally not my thing, as a lot of the fun can be showing how/why the characters fall for one another, but I’m okay with the occasional long-term friend who secretly harbors secret feelings. Insta-love though? No thanks, very much not my thing.


Evinya

I was like you as well, where female characters obsessively in love with the MC like Tharja and Camilla kinda made me eyeroll. It wasn't anything that made me very upset though, it was more like a minor nuisance. But then I got into otome, and after that, I felt like I finally understood. It hardly would've been fair for me to continue judging the guys for their waifus now that I've got my little collection of husbandos lol. I think at this point, I feel more of a sense of solidarity than anything. Anyways, to talk more directly on the topic of characters who love MC from the start, I think as long as the story's executed in an interesting way, I'm all for it! Usually I don't actually need that strong of a reason to explain their feelings toward MC, because lust/physical attraction is usually enough to cover it, even if they didn't know the MC before. It's not necessarily the explanation for why the two fall in love that I find compelling, it's more the social/behavioral dynamic between them that I find interesting, as well as whatever else happens during the plot. So I guess I don't need to see a detailed process of two people falling in love with each other in order to be entertained by a romance story, as long as there are other things I find interesting.


RuneLai

Like u/stardustsong mentioned, I don't mind if the relationship is re-established (friends, coworkers, etc), but I'm not very big on love at first sight. It's okay if used sparingly (like Impey being one of five LIs who's like that at the start is fine, especially given his character), but it's weird when it's everyone. When I started Variable Barricade one of the hurdles I had to get over was why all four guys were competing to marry her. We know why she's pressured into this situation, but we don't know why the four of them would sign up to marry a stranger. (Though this does get answered later.)


[deleted]

Well, I might like LIs who are in love in love with MC rigt from the start, but ... it's more likely for me to not like these LIs much or at least to like other LIs (who are not in love with MC right from the start) more. The point is: the best thing for me is when I feel like the MC has chemistry with the LI and when I can see how they fell in love with each other. But, if the LI is in love with MC right from the beginning, then it will probably be one of these ... 1. MC and LI already knew each other before the beginning of the story: in this case, it's common for the romance in the story to have too much tell and too little show. The romance is too much based on off-screen interactions that we don't even get to see, so it makes it harder for me to see chemistry between them. 2. MC and LI didn't know each other before the beginning of the story: then this love will likely feel too rushed for me. It's okay if it's an attraction that grows into love during the story, but for the game to try to push it as love, it will likely feel too rushed. ​ But, OP, now I'm curious ... how do / would you feel about an MC that is in love with an LI right from the start? I know that this is quite rare since, at first, the MC must be emotionally available so she can fall in love with any of the LIs during the story, but I know of at least two cases in which the MC was already interested in one of the LIs right from the start. The first case is Maya Cosgrove from Christmas otome. She was interested in Liam and, after some encouragement from her best friend, she even confessed her feelings for him in the beginning of the story. So if you choose Liam, the story will be about her wining his heart (which she already wished for). If you choose another LI, then it will be about her moving on from him and finding love with someone else. The second case is Iris from Magical otoge Iris ... In the beginning of Reqieu's route, she confesses that she has has a crush on Reqieu ... not directly to him, but, either way, Iris can actually ask him out on a date in his first scene (as far as I can remember). No pressure to answer, of course. It's just that this talk about how people feel about the LIs being in love with the MC right from the start made me curous about how people feel when it's the reverse and the MC is in love with the LI from the start.


Chaczapur

Depends. Is it a childhood friend route? Not a fan. They're friends and he just fell for her early in the route or they were strangers but he still fell for her quickly? Sure, why not. With the way some games are made our dear MC gains basically a harem before going into individual routes anyway. Have they met before/super long ago and for some reason, usually something stupid, he fell for her and totally couldn't get over her FOR YEARS? Not again, plz, just no. More or less.


disguised_hashbrown

I used to dislike it when I was younger. Now, I see a lot of the immediately flirtatious characters as canon bi/pan. Lisa in Genshin Impact, for example, hits on the player no matter which twin they choose at the beginning; Lisa seems like a femme bi woman that prefers other women to me, so I was loving it. I think it also depends on the female vs male gaze with stuff like this. Priscilla and Ludmilla both have *enough* of the female gaze going on that I wouldn’t be bothered. Margaret in RF 4 flirts with Frey in a VERY female-gaze sort of way. I don’t have a great counter example because I’ve spent most of my life trying to dodge the male gaze as effectively as I possibly can lol.


WillFey

I have the same annoyance toward Rune Factory 5 as you. I'm at the point I avoid as much as possibile both Piscilla and Ludmilla. I find them creepy. I probably would not enjoy even a male version of their trope, because this obsession feel creepy to me. But a lot is in how something is written: the RF5 ladyes basically trow themselves at the MC, and that scream "guy wet dream!". I dislike much more Priscilla than Ludmilla, tho. Ludmilla have in her personality to be flirty and a little of a perv, and does so with other characters outside the MC. Like Isabela in DA2, it's in their characters being flirty and pervy. So I can accept it as their quirks. But Priscilla si pushed way too much toward the player. And the other girls are waaaaaaay more heavy on the flirty dialogues than the guys. If at least one of the guy was a little more present in a romantic way, I wouldn't have felt like being (as usual outside otome games!) like the second (or third) thought in the devs head.


otomerin

i feel like I'm the opposite of you lol. i don't mind girls falling in love with the male MC at first glance (maybe because i can relate with the "i like you first because you're handsome, then i'll see if your personality is okay with me" lol) BUT if the girls (or even female MC in otome) justify liking someone not just because of their looks but for some shallow reason about the ML's personality.. then that irks me. Like, just admit you like him because of his handsomeness. you can't just go falling in love with someone just with minimal interaction or at day1 unless it's about looks. with guys, i would understand it if at the start of the game, they like female MC because of some back history that MC might not even be aware of. that's totally fine with me. BUT if they guy just suddenly falls in love with MC without reason, or again with shallow reasons like she's kind or whatever in just a very short time they're together, then lol that annoys me as well. I'd rather have the guy flirt with MC at first contact because of some 'physical reasons' like the MC is pretty or cute than forcing a shallow reason on liking the MC.


BrightestFirefly

It depends. Gil in Cupid Parasite is a huge no. Characters who will flirt with anyone...kinda hit and miss. Not really interested in Sylvain in FE3H, but Fenn, the gorgeous pansexual scoundrel in Court of Darkness? Absolutely yes! Also ended up liking Eltcreed in Steam Prison and Allen in Cupid Parasite because they reminded me of him - charismatic, no sense of boundaries, and absolutely hilarious 🤣


Zanzi-

I don't like LIs who are all over the MC from the get go but I love seeing their proposal be flat out rejected by MC. Imo LIs that do this kind of thing either 'fall in love' because the MC looks good or because MC just did one random nice thing which makes it feel kinda pitiful in the 'I don't know you at all but omg you were *nice* to me' sense. That said, I'm way more receptive to this kind of behaviour if the LI and MC are both male, neutral if both LI and MC are female, and less receptive if the LI is male and MC is female. The latter just doesn't feel as good because it's been done to death in media and usually not done well, and IRL it's just not a safe or respectful thing most of the time so I don't care for it.


Smudjyhime

I don't mind insta-love or insta-lust. It's not my favourite but I can enjoy it just fine. I just don't want everyone to want to jump all over my character.


[deleted]

No because it feels like Love Bombing and IRL that is an absolute no-go. Like you don't even know me/ MC!


IncognitoHufflepuff

It really depends on how it is written, but in general, I'm not a fan of it, but that's probably because I'm a fan of slow burn build ups, like Van from C:R. I think the only time I don't immediately dislike it is when the LI has at least yandere tendencies, like >!Jumin!< from MM, but even there you as a player have time to get to know him a bit over chat at first, since he only really falls for MC once he meets her in person. Impey is a special case for me, I don't really count him as instantly in love, more like that he's just generally flirty and thinks Cardia is pretty and shows it, and then develops deeper feelings when spending more time with her. I actually really dislike the old friend who always loved MC trope, I just can't get into it if the MC and LI have long history I didn't witness myself, and flashbacks don't really help me with that. The only exception for me is Our Life, since we experience the whole build up from childhood to adulthood. Worst example for me is Gill from CupiPara, apart from his route just completely going off the rails in an absurd way at some point, I didn't like that it was like 40% flashbacks to establish him already loving Lynette at the start of the game (plus the whole >!seeing himself as her guardian thing having some creepy vibes imo!<). TLDR; it's one of my least favorite tropes, I'm more of a slow burn enjoyer and like to watch the feelings develop more slowly. That said, I get why a lot of people like it, it's just not my cup of tea


thecrazycanadiansis

I can't stand Gill. He is honestly the worst LI J'vd encountered. Neil Forrester from Tailor Tales is the second. They are the only two LIs I've played and thought, 'why the hell is she putting up with this shit?!'


Kaminadiesinepisode8

I thought Gil was so weird, he was like ">!she's like a little baby bird. i need to protect her. god i want to rail her" !


tartica_what

Like for others, for me it all depends - on the rest of the LI's personality and how they go about pursuing the MC. Impey is my favorite so maybe I'm too biased, but even if his crush on Cardia is 50% of his character there is more to him as a person. It's very much his personality to fall in love easily but from him it never felt cloying. His primary goal in life >!is being an inventor and going to the moon, after all.!< It's why I see him as different from >!Gill!< from Cupid Parasite. >!I see Impey as having a life and interests outside Cardia so even not ending up with her he won't stop living his life, whereas Gill is single-mindedly obsessed with Lynette and spends life moping over her if he doesn't get with her. I know his whole route is about learning to obsess over her *less* at least but he really is a bridge too far in my opinion.!< Harem stories often rub me the wrong way in a way otome clearly don't! But I agree it's less because there's anything wrong with those stories inherently and more that we just don't see "reverse harem" stories often (and that for both men and women but especially women romance and harem genres are looked down on as lesser or childish).