I’m a collector of sorts… Okay, I’m more of a hoarder… I tend to buy games faster than I can play them, so the vast majority of them wind up sitting in my backlog for months if not years collecting dust. I’m not exactly proud of this, but I suppose I can never truly complain that I don’t have any games to play… However, there are some games in my backlog that will most likely never see the light of day again, because I just can’t bring myself to play them again.
There are just some games I can’t finish. I’ve been playing otome games for a long time now, so I more or less know which games I’ll like and which ones I won’t. But, there are times when I come across a game that I just can’t seem to see through to the end. Weeks… Months… Years of failed attempts and forgotten save files… Every so often I’ll load up my old save files and try to give these neglected games another go, but all my attempts end the same way; with the games back in the box and safely tucked back into the ol’ backlog. I’m ashamed to admit that there are actually some really popular games on this list too….
Code Realize Guardians of Rebirth
Code Realize Guardians of Rebirth is the reason this list even exists. I have been trying to finish this game since it was released back in 2014 and I can’t for the life of me do it. Code Realize Guardians of Rebirth is one of those games that everyone raves about, but for some reason or another I just can’t seem to get past Impey’s route… I don’t know what it is about this game, but every time I start it up I fall asleep within 10 minutes. And, it’s not that the characters or story is bad, I just can’t get through this game, which is a shame because just about every otome fan I know loves this game!
I’m currently stuck on chapter 5 of Impey’s route and that’s after five years of trying…
Bad Apple Wars
I was super excited about this release, so like everyone else in the otome fandom I rushed out to snag a copy of the game on release day and… I want my money back…. I loathe this game. Bad Apple Wars was such a colossal disappointment, it was just so damn D-U-L-L, the love interests were pretty bland, the story was lackluster at best, and for some weird reason Aksys didn’t see fit to translate the audio only skin ship cut scenes.
The most interesting parts of the story were the side characters! I was way more invested in them than I ever was in Rinka or any of the main guys and believe me I tried… At the end of the day, if you’re looking for an high school romance with an afterlife setting, better give Re:Birthday Song a try instead.
Dandelion Wishes Brought To You
Before Mystic Messenger swooped in and became the obsession of the entire otome community, Cheritz had already released two PC otome games: Dandelion Wishes Brought To You and Nameless The One Thing You Must Recall. Now, I love Cheritz as much as the next fan, they are seriously one of the most fan-friendly companies out there, however, Dandelion is an absolute pain to get through and not for the reasons you’re probably thinking. Unlike some of the games on this list, I love the story and the characters, but the insane stats raising required to complete each route is the bane of my existence. Lots of repetition, random events, ferreting for RANDOMLY GENERATING items and constantly searching for the LIs, makes trying to complete a route an absolute chore!
Ozmafia!!
FIFTY HOURS OF GAMEPLAY!!!! This game has a grand total of 13 Love Interests, 10 routes, and over 20 endings, that’s enough content for about three otome games. Not to mention the three main guys Caramia, Kyrie, and Axel all have love triangle routes where the other two love interests can steal you away from your chosen love interest… BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!! On top of that, those routes each branch off so you can choose to either run off with the new guy or turn them down and that is independent from the actual by the book romance routes! Trust me it get’s repetitive… that’s like half the damn gameplay right there and then, there’s the BROTHEL ROUTE…
I managed to power through my boy Axel’s route, but the effort it took to do that really took it out of me and I have been struggling to pick this game back up again…
Period Cube
Last, but not least is this bad boy right here… Period Cube. It was all aboard the Period Cube hype train when this game was released and unlike some of the games on this list I made it pretty far in the game before I ran smack dab into the mother of all brick walls. This is not a perfect game, but the characters were fun and the premise had me hooked. I mean come on an otome game set in an MMORPG with actual RPG mechanics! What could be better than that?
So, it was around the time I started the fourth route (Radius’s route) when someone spoiled the game for me… Yeah, let that sink in for a minute. This person revealed that not only was the MC’s brother the “villain” of the game, but that he lusted after his sister so hard that he created a digital world and trapped thousands of people in it, just so he could f**k his sister… I haven’t touched the game since.
So Yeah…
This list is probably gonna ruin my street cred in the otome community, but I really just had to get this out… *shrugs noncommittally* Maybe one of these days I circle back and power through some of these game (highly unlikely), but like the great Justin Bieber once said…
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Oh my gosh I totally agree about Ozmafia! I played maybe 3 1/2(?) routes from that game and then never touched the rest of the game since I bought it maybe 2 years ago….there’s just so much to do!! I might end up trying to go through it again one day but just seems like a lot of navigating to get on a certain route and I’m not sure I’m ready for that hassle especially if I just want to enjoy the game. I’ve always heard about the mess that is Period Cube and I’m for sure glad that I didn’t end up picking it up after hearing THAT.
Someone who knows my pain!! I love the premise and the characters are really cool, but it takes entirely too long to play and I just don’t have the time for it…
Yeah, Period Cube broke my heart! I loooooooooove Astrum he is like the best guy in the game. But the whole Bro-Con mess put me off this hard. Same thing would have happened with 7’Scarlet, but they held off on that reveal until the very end of the game.
Im with you on code realize and ozmafia (although fuka is so delightfully dimwitted I need to continue) but I actually got through dandelion fairly easily. It took me years and 4 tries to get through Lamento but once I got into it…it ate me…
Don’t get me started on Lamento that game is ridiculously long! I’ve barely scratched the surface on it…
But, I’m glad I’m not the only one sleepin on Code Realize
It really is but it gets so damn sweet. The cat boy one… Mind you i stopped sleeping for a few days to finish it so my jugement may not be the best
LMAO sounds like me when I started playing Mystic Messenger
I feel like the only one who enjoyed Period Cube. I don’t think you shouldn’t condemn a game based on only 1 route.
Well that’s the great thing about having an opinion! 🙂
I feel you with Dandelion. haha I used to love stat-raising game (TMGS being one of my fave otoge) but Dandelion tested my patience. It was such a snooze-fest when I was playing it.
For C:R, maybe Impey’s route bores you? But I kinda relate with you too, not with the first game but with the 2nd game where it took all of my willpower just to finish that one. lol
Dandelion has such a great premise, but I can’t with the stats raising. The same thing happened with Backstage Pass, I “did everything right” and I still got the neutral ending… NOPE
You know I thought it was Impey, but then I played Collar x Malice and I loved Enomoto and they are practically the same character… so I dunno. I have the second game but it’s just collecting dust rn since the first one is stuck in limbo
Oh. If it’s hard to play the first, you’d probably have a harder time with the 2nd game. I know I did and I loved the 1st game lol.
Not so much hard as just downright frustrating with the stats. I’ve played a bit of Nameless, but I haven’t gotten very far with it yet…
Oh sorry >< I wasn't clear. That comment was for C:R ;;;;
I thought Nameless is a straight VN? So it's a stat-raising too?
LOL okay that makes way more sense now. I thought you meant Dandelion and Nameless… as far as I know (read: hope) Nameless is just a straight VN (but then again I’m not far enough in it to say for sure).
Oh wow, I feel the same for all of the games in this list (except for Ozmafia). Code: Realize and Period Cube has longgg common route that somehow it seems daunting and lengthy to play (and so much information to soak in) that when you get into a character’s route, the energy is seeped right out of you. That’s what I feel xD I only finish Ozmafia bcs I love the mafia theme overall, haha.
Exactly! The super long common routes burn you out for the rest of the game and with Code Realize, it doesn’t help that for the majority of the game she is all over Lupin…
I like the mafia theme with Ozmafia, but the Triangle routes burned me out big time! If I could avoid them that would be cool, but you have to play through them all to get the Grand end…
Spoilers can suck, but that reveal is so silly I reckon the person who spoiled the villain reveal saved you from wasting time more time on that game.
Yeah, which is why I go ghost when new games are released (unless I’m playing them lol) But, yeah the person that spoiled the game seriously saved me a lot of frustration down the line. I might go back for the non Bro routes later… but I still need some time
Dandelion is pretty easy to me compare to Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side lol
Tokimeki is on another level in the life sim department. Dandelion was on of the first big stats raiser games I played and i was a lot for me back then… maybe now is a good time to revisit the game
I played Tokimeki since I’m still a newbie. Maybe that’s why Dandelion so easy to me lol
LOL you started big, so Dandelion must have been a breeze for you
I braved through Period Cube by watching gameplay YT vids instead of playing it myself, and I must say that it bored me enough that I wanted to quit on my first route. I persevered because I had a commission involving the game and wanted a clear idea of the plot, but even after finishing the whole thing I still don’t have anything positive to say about it except the art.
I had been spoiled about certain routes in Ozmafia, and all that brothel shite turned me off so bad that I never touched the game 😂
Dandelion….was such a fucking chore, god. The humor and banter was good as expected of Cheritz, but my grinding skills have always sucked and several of the guys were not very likable. I finished a couple routes but after being disappointed by Jihae (he was so beautiful but he did something to tick me off…can’t remember what though) and then having my feels betrayed by Jiyeon, I ragequit 😅
No idea about bad apple wars and after seeing many friends with similar interests bash it I’m not interested, but Code:Realize is something I’d like to play.
Anyway, this was a fun post 👍
I liked Period Cube as a concept, it’s like Sword Art Online the Otome, but I dunno it just wasn’t cutting it for me (except for Astrum he is my bae). But, I totally agree, the art was BEAUTIFUL!!
Don’t get me started on that god awful Brothel ending! That was a complete shitshow!
Okay, so it wasn’t just me! Thank goodness! Dandelion was the absolute bane of my existence and I’ve played stats raiser games before. LOLOL probably for the best that you don’t remember what Jihae did… I still remember Jisoo becoming a secret yandere in his bad end and I am still not over it.
See, Bad apple Wars kinda broke my heart a little. I loved Re:Birthday Song, so I figured this would be right up my alley… it was not…
Code Realize is supposed to be really good, but, it always puts me to sleep no matter when I play it…. I kinda think it’s because of Impey, but I liked Enomoto in Collar x Malice and they are practically the same character…
I’m glad you enjoyed the post and thank you for leaving your thoughts 😀 !!