Recommended Japanese Otome Games

[otomegirl24]

I think this topic might've been brought up at one time or another, but I decided to ask anyway. I decided to start learning some Japanese and try to find myself tutor or an online tutor since they don't offer classes at my school. What otome games would you guys recommend that are in Japanese that could be good for a beginner that's learning and want to improve their skills?

I've heard about Tokimeki Memorial Girl's side, but the game isn't exactly cheap. I've recently picked up Yo-Jin-Bo and it's good overall, and I've heard of Starry Sky, Love Revo, and Duel Love, but I'm not sure which one would be best. So yeah...suggestions?

[papillon]

If you're looking for cheap, you might want to consider DLsite, where you can legally purchase some Japanese downloadable games for reasonable prices and save the shipping mess. And many of them have free demos so you can test out how easy it is to run on your machine (some things work well, some require a lot of thumping Windows to make them run at all)

(picking a game at random) http://eng.dlsite.com/work/=/product_id/RE070918.html There's one with a demo.

Obviously DLsite is full of porn but not everything there is porn, anything with the light-blue 'General' button on it should be safe. Also 'Yaoi' on DLsite doesn't necessarily mean BxB, they sometimes seem to apply it as just a "for girls" tag. There is a specific BxB tag, but I also see titles that are CLEARLY BxB and don't have that tag on them. Tagging is a little hit and miss.

There are also a number of free dojin otome games you could try out, like 'Prince Panic'
http://abu.la.coocan.jp/leda/game/puripani/

I should say that I do NOT read Japanese in the slightest, I have played Japanese games but only with bad autotranslation tools, so I can't actually recommend things on the basis of them being good for learning. Just that there are plenty of games you can try out without spending a fortune.

[gekiganwing]

I went to the Visual Novel Database, searched for the tag 'otome game,' looked for games with Japanese text, and then ordered the results by members' rankings. Here's the current list, from a rank of 7.58 to 6.12. Many games at the bottom haven't been ranked. That said, only a modest number of the games in the list have translations.

You may also benefit from reading the lengthy "recommended otome games for beginners" thread on the My Neoromance forums.

[Aleema]

I had a Japanese otome game playing phase in January when I discovered AGTH. *_* And then my Atlas trial expired, so I no play no more.

Unfortunately, I found that I didn't like a LOT of otome games I played. A lot of the times, the main girl was cliche and timid, sexually assaulted/raped, looked like a twelve year old with impossibly big boobs and had the most annoying voice in the world. So expect me not to recommend a lot of games based on that alone. It becomes very, very insulting after a while.

However, there were several games that I didn't hate, but unfortunately, some of those are 18+ YES HENTAI. So I won't recommend those (but if you're interested: "Butlers" was my favorite). xD If you want my 18+ recommendations, I can give them.

What I can recommend: Tokimeki Girl's Side: Third Story. Yes, the third one! It has the best, most polished features out of all three of the TMGS games. Love triangles = awesome. It's also a very good game for beginner Japanese, I think. Since they're just high school people talking basic Japanese. Not sure which Starry Sky you've played (probably Spring), but all of the seasons were good. Garnet Cradle started off okay, but I never finished it. ;_; There are also, like, twenty Alice in wonderland games (with names like "Heart no kuni no Alice") but it gets REALLY weird real fast. If you like bunny ears on guys, though ...

Seriously, TMGS is expensive for a reason: It's awesome with hours upon hours of playtime. If you buy one otome game, please pick on in the Tokimeki series. (Again, I recommend the 3rd one, but the 2nd one is awesome, too.)

[namakemono-chan]

Well, I dunno if i can really help you out but i can read japanese well and played lots of otome games... just that, i don't really think they are cheap just as you want cause i haven't really cared much about the price when i want them.

you can try some doujin games if you like. this site has lots of japanese otome doujin games but i don't guarantee you that it was voiced(which if you are like me who loves voice actors, you have to bear it out):
http://otome.dojin.com/search/
While i don't mean to discourage you, when i was just starting to learn japanese as well, i played games that as much as possible, were voiced-over. While i can't read the jis at that time, i can understand it a bit since i can understand a lil japanese from watching lots of anime before.

er, this are some of commercial games i have played before:

-Hakuouki series
-Hiiro no Kakera series(except the 4th)
-Arcobaleno!
-Vitamin X, Y, Z and X to Z(its quite difficult if you can't read japanese since you have monthly tests about etcs. the Vitamin Y(DS) is full of mini-games so i think it can be played even w/o much japanese knowledge)
-Lucian Bee series
-Ren'ai banchou:Inochi Mijikashi Koi Seyo Otome
-Miyako
-Duel Love(Though you better play it in a secluded area since the massaging mini game is sorta.....)
-Love Revo
-Real Rode
-Nise no Chigiri
-Ouran high school host club
-Zettai meikyuu grimm
-DC Capo Girls symphony
-mizu no senritsu 2(haven't played the first)
-kiniro no corda series and harukanaru toki no naka de series
-heart, clover and joker no kuni no alice
-arabians lost
-fushigi yuugi kagami no miko and suzaku gaiden
-wand of fortune series
-death connection
-S.Y.K
-Kaeru Batake de tsukamaete
-storm lover
-uta no prince sama series

and some more... well, they are all text-based aka visual novel type. and i don't think they are cheap too. but hope you can find some time to play them, i don't really say they are all awesome since we have our own opinions and way of thinking.