Month: May 2020

Crocheting While Otaku: Keepin’ It Casual

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Hey there Heroes, Travelers, and Wandering NPCs, it’s been awhile since I last wrote about crocheting, and I’m going to be honest with you guys, I didn’t have anything to share because I just wasn’t in the mood to make anything new. I had to fulfill a custom order a few weeks ago, but aside from that I haven’t picked up a skein of yarn or my crochet hook since. I love crocheting and I find that it’s one of my more therapeutic hobbies, but sometimes I just don’t feel like creating anything. Which can seem strange in a world where just about everyone is trying to find ways to market their hobbies to the masses, I mean, Blerdy Otome is  kind of built on that same concept—I started this site as a place where I could talk about otome games and it’s kind of snowballed from there…

Blerdy Girl Crafts

I know… including a link to my Etsy store in a post about keeping hobbies just hobbies… cliche af

Granted, I do sell my crochet creations over on Etsy, but I’ve always maintained the notion that crocheting would always be a casual hobby. I mean, if I make a few bucks every now and again cool, but I’m not trying to build a crochet empire over here. Because even though there is clearly a market for crochet items, the act of crocheting has always been a personal thing for me.

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Now Playing: Games I’m Currently Playing – April

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Hey Guys! Right now I’m going on 2 1/2 months at home and it has been an experience. I like not having to brave the DC metro to get to work, but I miss the face to face interactions I had with my coworkers and friends… Earlier this month my job told us to expect to be teleworking until July, so I still have a bit more time at home ahead of me. Though, one silverlining is that I’ve had a lot of extra time to power through my backlog! Yay…

I’m currently powering through the NaNoRenO 2020 submissions, but there are over 100 of them, so it’s a pretty big undertaking (and I most likely won’t get through them all). There are some really great games among this year’s submissions so I highly recommend checking a few out! When I’m not playing those I have an ever changing list of ongoing game playthroughs that I’ve been tackling….

Kitty Love Otome

Kitty Love Way to Look for Love

I’m back on the Kitty Love train. DIGIMERCE sent me a review copy of the game awhile ago and while I did play it and write a review about it… I wasn’t exactly forgiving about its many many MANY shortcomings. The first time I played it with a friend and we spent the majority of the time making fun of the characters and the grammatical errors… and while I didn’t really like the game at the time, I did enjoy the social aspect of playing an otome game with a friend.

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Melanin Friendly Games – ‘Mermaid Splash! Passion Festival’

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Hey there Heroes, Travelers, and Wandering NPCs, it’s Melanin Monday here on Blerdy Otome and that means I’m spotlighting another Melanin Friendly Game! For those of you just joining the party—every Monday I spotlight games that feature black and brown characters for anyone looking for titles with just a bit more representation. As a blerd and a gamer, I am always on the lookout for representation in my games. This is largely a personal project for me—there are almost no “diverse game” tags on major game sites—so, it can be pretty difficult find games with characters of color… unless you already know where to look.

Mermaid Splash 1

This week, I’m spotlighting the debut visual novel, Mermaid Splash! Passion Festival, from Sofdelux Studio—made up of NomnomNami, creator of Syrup and Ultimate Sweet and DarkChibiShadow, a comic creator who also makes visual novels on the side. Mermaid Splash! is a short yuri visual novel that follows CiCi, a mermaid who wants to participate in the upcoming Passion Festival. There’s only one hitch… she doesn’t really have anything that she’s passionate in—so it’s up to you to help her hone her skills and focus on a specific hobby for the festival. You have just one month tho help CiCi get her act together and maybe you’ll help her find love in the process!

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Confessions of an Otome Gamer – Using Guides and Walkthroughs

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Hey, Hey Heroes, Travelers, and Wandering NPCs! I’ve been running this site for the past five years, and it just occurred to me that I don’t really talk at length about my gaming process. Sure, I drop a passing phrase or two every now and again in my reviews, but I have yet to really sit down write about what type of gamer I am, and because I’ve been stuck at home for the past two and a half months (aside from going stir crazy) I’ve had a bit more time for self reflection… So, I thought it would be fun to write out a few of my gaming related thoughts and confessions. That way you guys get to know me a little better and I get to get some things off my chest.

Of course there’s always the chance that no one really cares and I’m just screaming into the void like everyone else on the internet. But, all this social distancing has got me in a talkative mood for once…so, let’s just see where this goes. I don’t know how often I’ll post these, but I’ll shoot for 1-2 per month, however it’ll mostly be whenever I have anything specific that I want to talk about. For my first confession—sometimes I use guide and walkthroughs to finish games. 

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NaNoRenO 2020 Review – ‘#influenced’

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There is such a huge variety of titles among the annual NaNoRenO submissions, that you never truly know what is going to pique your interest. I’m just blindly picking games at random, giving priority to games that I find aesthetically pleasing—it’s shallow, I know, but when there are over 100 games to get through can you blame me for picking game with pretty art first?

So, this is how I found myself playing Pilot_Star’s kinetic novel, #influenced, which I suppose is fitting given it’s focus on the superficial world of internet influencers. With it’s chic character designs and bright coloring, #infuenced is definitely one of the better looking titles in this year’s lineup—but beneath it’s cute appearance is slow burn horror story that doubles as a surprisingly clever social commentary.

#influenced 1

The game follows Dolly Pearson, an up-and-coming influencer on the social media site Instapix. But, despite visiting all the cutest cafes and taking flawless selfies, she’s frustrated with her meager 5K follower count. Everything changes when she befriends Instapix star Vanessa, who has just made the move from New York to her town. Seeing this as her chance to make it big, Dolly asks her for a few tips and Vanessa is happy to lend her new bestie a helping hand… just so long as Dolly is willing to do whatever it takes…

While I don’t plan on spoiling the game, I feel obligated to note that, #influenced warrants a trigger warning for graphic descriptions of self-harm and suicide. 

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