43 thoughts on “Segmented Games and how much you REALLY pay.”

1. Pingback: The Big 4. « かわいいじゃなきゃダメなの！

2. yea I can’t deal with that kind of stuff though so I avoid them. Also I really really don’t like KOEI games (with their barely there not fully voiced stuff)

   dummy mic see this post: https://breadmasterlee.com/2012/05/10/the-otome-game-dummy-head-mic-trend/

3. What is dummy head mic? I don’t understand young people slang. 🙂

   I was thinking along the lines of Harukanaru and Kiniro no Korda, with RPG elements. These two franchises seem very popular in Japan. Have you heard of or tried any of them?

4. well if you like dummy head mic stuff, either Kanno Mukashi Banashi portable or Diabolik Lovers (if you can deal with the abuse). I think replaying some of the scenes in those games is really nice lol.

   Otherwise I’m not sure what to tell you? My backlog is so huge the only game I’ve replayed was the port for Bloody Call. I think any otome game thats mostly made up of fun mini games has a higher replay value than text only stuff? So for example Hakuoki Yuugiroku. Otherwise replay value is like “when I’ve forgotten wtf this game is about I’ll replay it” lol.

   It’s pretty much like buying an interactive book and going back and re-reading your favorite scenes once in a while.

5. Nowadays I just stick to tokimeki memorial, sure there’s only like three games out but at least the replay value is high and it’s not nearly as expensive as the ones with just dialogue. Can you recommend me some games with high replay values? Ones with scoring systems like TMGS? Since I don’t have friends who can lend me a copy 😀

6. I haven’t been following the BL game industry so I’m not sure but the otome games are definitely at ripoff pricing. Thankfully CD Japan rewards make it decent enough that I’m able to use points to shave some of those prices down and I’m picky with what I actually buy. You are correct that other genres are better but hey I can’t help it, this is what I like 😆 And you are right about the cliches….its rare for an otome game to stand out but I try to do my research now and be picky with what I buy instead of just buying everything. Fortunately for whatever I don’t buy I have friends who lend me a copy 😛

7. Didn’t the BL game industry collapse a while ago because the cost of the games were going up but the quality wasn’t? I see a similar trend here and i think i can smell their desperation. But, correct me if I’m wrong, since this is all speculation.

   While I still do support the dating sim industry, I feel like buying any game from any other genre is a better bang for your buck. Not only are these games an expensive hobby, characters and stories are often cliched and recycled. Quite frankly, I’m not sure it’s worth it anymore.

   Btw I really enjoy these posts of yours, really gives me a better insight into the industry.

8. Pingback: Round the Sphere | Anime Diet

9. Well there are a few male Figma characters, but those usually come from the male targeted animes anyways and don’t pose erotically out of the box X3

10. well theres a few male nendroids but im not a nendroid fan xD

11. “I find it unfair how female game players only ever get drama CDs and some art booklets yet all the eroge /galge players get wall scrolls, body pillows, posters etc.”

    …and figures (THE FIGURES >_<), and anime, and MORE video games. Though I did see some Hakuoki and UtaPri body pillows.

12. Draining our parents money is the way to go, huh? =.= Nah.

13. Little Butts, sounds like a paedobear’s fantasy dream. 😛 “Oniichan, you may have my little butts”.

    MOVING ALONG… (before it degenerates further)

14. its not worth it anyway I don’t know where they get that otome gamers are rich when a lot of these games are aimed towards girls in their teens with no real income

15. Jesus, I can’t even afford that. =.= I was interested in a couple of those games, but now I obviously don’t have the money for it unless my part time job decides to give me a raise in my pay all of a sudden or something. =.= Sigh, this is just really sad.

16. i saw little butts, the voice of the main guy (horie yui) is awful. its like im hearing a trap the show confuses the fuck out of me and most jokes fly over my head. i have a feeling its not translating into anime medium too well

17. Tehihihi~

    Speaking of crappy games, there is a whole fantashit defence of certain non-named shows which people said it was *the best of the season* but episode 14 ending bombed bigger than SnS. It is so amusing to see the defenders rally and refuse to say anything bad.

    IMHO, yes, admit it if it’s bad, don’t keep on trying to overlook the bad bits. Yes, Shana’s ending wasn’t the best, but look at it this way, the OTHER end involved Alastor.

    PS, it seems JC Staff is being redeemed by Little Busters. 😛

18. yea soon as it was announced they said it would be 3 games and I was like 🙄
    and yea they don’t give a fack about us it’s true lol so I don’t always feel bad if I can’t buy every single game >_>

19. if only 😛

20. eroge are pretty expensive too but i feel like the goodies they come with make them more worth the purchase. we just get frisbees. ( 　ﾟ,_ゝﾟ)
    i’m hoping when I go to Japan next year I can raid a bookoff and find otome games for like $30 or less!

21. Yeah, Japan thinks that fangirls are rich! LOL *facepalm*

    Overall otoge’s are pretty expensive!!! I mean if I want to buy normal game it only costs about 50$. When you wait a bit you can get the game for half or even 1/3 of the original price…

    ONE otoge in comparison costs around 60$ to 80$!!! And sadly older games are usually not sold cheaper… Sometimes when I pick up my game parcels at the customs, the officers there ask me, why the games are so expensive and lessen the VAT I have to pay. 😀 😀

    Seriously, STOP IT JAPAN! Please don’t let us bleed too much!

22. What are you doing with all that money down the loo??!?! Give it to me instead!!! >_>

23. I actually didn’t know that Hana Awase falls under this category O_o. Sadly, I guess it all comes down to demand and supply of otome games, and the segmented target market of otoge companies. Foreign (average-income-earning) customers are barely considered. After all, the profit they acquire (or don’t) from foreign customers probably doesn’t affect the overall company income. In a way, this sort of game segmentation is a really good marketing strategy from a business perspective, albeit very risky for new companies to do.

24. Yeah I think mobile apps would be a less risky way to approach the whole segmented games – which was what a few games did (Yamakare) and they fared quite okay I think. So ugh, I guess they want to be the next S*S? /shrugs. I’m glad that I’m not particularly interested in any of the segmented releases.

25. starry sky was OKAY though. even if it was only 1 game with 3 guys, I still thought it was decent. yea it still sucks but the price was only like 3500 yen or something for 3 guys which isn’t as terrible as like 2700 yen for 1.

26. well their most recent games are only about 6 guys but they give you so many CGs its the best deal anyway

27. I’ve always hated the concept of segmented games. When I first heard about Starry Sky it actually sounded very uninteresting because of it. I mean, why would I pay full price for half (or even less) of a game? I really wonder why people don’t massively boycott this shit.

28. See this is why I love Quinrose games. You get like not much less than a dozen guys in ONE game. XD

29. lol since im not into anime as much i don’t spend any money on it XD;;; but 287 is absurd yes

30. yea i get what you mean. i still think its a stupid approach to things
    if they’re really worried about making money and want to segment things then they should start with cell phone apps that only cost $2-3 each this way people can get familiarized with their products without burning a hole in their wallets

31. 22554 yen = $287 USD….Please kill me now!, It can be pocket money from my parents for 5 months. Are they thinking that all of our money is just for otome game?
    I have to keep my money for anime dvd and UVERworld cd LOL

32. I guess one positive thing to note is that these are not releases from any of the already “established” otoge companies? And usually the established ones focus on the game, before doing drama CDs if any. The ones listed in the post appeared as if they decided to do drama CDs and then decided to come up with the otoge at the same time too – if that makes any sense.

33. i am slightly too but the segmentation kinda killed my excitement lol

34. lol i know right? what a ripoff lol. oh well the whole idea of 17year old heroin with 46 year old GGE is gross enough to me that i wouldnt blow a penny on it to begin with

35. no they really aren’t….and i’m not going to support them for it. i think some art books are okay but they usually ONLY come with limited editions….meanwhile preorder tokutens are always drama CDs

36. yea that’s whats sad. they blow money not just on games but on shitty merchandise (*cough utapri ramune couch) so the makers think if they slap a recycled pic of a guy on a product everyone will buy it (and they do.) Starry Sky & TYB weren’t THAT bad since like you said they had 3 guys, the length was fairly decent for the price. Shinobazu and Double Score are just absurd for how much you get Also unlike shinobazu starry sky games were for the most part self contained as far as plot goes.

37. fortunately they are SLOWLY starting to realize but i wonder how long before there’s enough publishers to stop ripping us off lol

38. I agree with you…
    Otome games are really expensive and it’s really unfair. My friend and I always talk about how anime companies release much more ecchi animes than BL or shoujo ones.
    They should realize that women watch animes and play games too, not just men.
    I get pissed off!!! ><

39. Unfortunately, as long as otome gamers in Japan(tm) keep lapping this shit up, it’s not going to stop. I imagine that the guys in otome game marketing can’t believe how lucky they are—imagine the furore if A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones’ editors decide they’re going to package the books based on viewpoints, with one novella containing one or two characters! They don’t even do this shit for EROGE, for god’s sake.

    And honestly, I don’t think otome gamers are going to stop, judging from the trends. :p It started with Starry Sky and people thought it was a novel idea, and they were okay with TYB, so why not?

    P.S. Unless the game comes with an unholy amount of choices and endings, I do feel that games with 1-2 characters are less worth your money, bang-for-buck-wise, than a decent shoujo romance novel. (There are quite a few with Quinrose-y heroines.) I mean, part of the fun is the variety in choosing the romance, so where’s the variety if you only have 2 characters….? You’d need 3 at minimum to get that!

40. Thank you for taking the time to write up a post like this! I’ve been wondering if these types of games were worth the investment and, generally speaking, they are not, 😛 And I cannot agree with you enough about the merchandise aspect of otome gaming. As much as I loooove the artbooks and the drama CDs, there is a lack of overall goodies for the market in itself. Of course, it depends on the game or CD series but between budgeting money to buy a game and budgeting some more for connected goods for those same series, I want to make sure that the product is worth the payout. Thanks again, 🙂

41. WTF 22554 yen = $287 USD??? Gosh with that price I can get 1 PS Vita. I don’t think I want to waste my money with this kind of game.

42. I’m slightly interested in Soloman’s Ring since the art is really pretty. ;3;

43. Pingback: Segmented Games and how much you REALLY pay (by Hinano) « Visual Novel Aer

Comments are closed.