Dating Sim Girls

[clannadman]

What kind of girls are you attracted to in dating sims? What makes you want to follow their route and see more? Do you have characters that as some 4channers put it, you want to make your waifu or do you not really get attached to 2D characters?

[platonicheart]

Well, I think girls that are really energetic on the outside but has a secret problem on the inside. It just makes them more and more intereting and wanting the players to go deeper into her route.

[Sapphi]

I like distinct personalities that contrast from each other overall. It makes the game more fun to replay and try for different routes. That being said, my favorite types usually are kuudere. If, for example, I have a choice between a cheerfully friendly girl, a tsundere girl who talks to me (be it friendly or unfriendly) and a girl who barely talks, I will usually try for the last one. I think I like it because it's the most mysterious, since you don't really know what sort of personality she might have, so it's fun. And obviously, kuudere is really cute. ^0^

[Friendbot2000]

I don't know if this sounds pretentious or not, but my ideal romantic interests in games are ones I create. That is one of the reasons I got into game making. I felt like I didn't connect with a lot of the characters in games so I wanted to create my own and get a better connection. That is not saying I don't enjoy other peoples work. I just prefer my own characters to other peoples.

In dating sims I like to see women that are well rounded and not cookie cut from the standard Japanese Manga/Anime mold. I want them to have their own lives outside the game; a character that exists only for the player bores me. I also like characters that have realistic emotions because I never really liked the emotional interaction that seems to be common in a lot of Japanese games/creative culture. I guess what I am saying is that I want to feel like I am "dating" a real person, not a card board cut out.

[Morgan D]

The calm and intellectual girl is my preferred route, if in addition she behaves as cheerful is a lethal weapon for me. It is not necessary that she has lenses to see itself intellectual like the stereotype.

[LVUER]

I'll just give you my favorite anime/VN characters:
1. Rio from Do You Like Horny Bunnies 1. This is the very first "2D" character that I feel in love with >_< Ah, how boundaries of dimension could separate our love... ahem... A little bit tomboy, but also very cute.
2. Kagami Hiiragi from Lucky Star. She is a new type of tsundere. Very rational and strict, but actually very kind. She could feel lonely very easily. Just so you know, I'm madly in love with her, both to her looks and her personality. Ah, I wish I have a real life girl friend like her T^T

[Samu-kun]

2. Kagami Hiiragi from Lucky Star. She is a new type of tsundere. Very rational and strict, but actually very kind. She could feel lonely very easily. Just so you know, I'm madly in love with her, both to her looks and her personality. Ah, I wish I have a real life girl friend like her T^T

Ouah!

*entrenches himself into a fort and flies a Tsukasa Hiiragi banner over it*

[LVUER]

Oh, I thought you prefer Tsukasa over Kagami?

[Suikama]

Oh, I thought you prefer Tsukasa over Kagami?

I think that's what he meant.


On that note I too like Tsukasa better :V

[LVUER]

Yeah, I read it wrong. I was going to delete the post but I can't since you've already replied to it. Well, I don't think it's a matter. I mean he likes the little-sister, and I likes the big-sister ^_^ No need for competition.

[pondrthis]

To me, it's all about standing out among the other heroines. I will play every character's route, so it's simply a matter of order. I am more intrigued by girls' routes when she:

-Seems to have more consequences for not going down her path. Aoko (?) in Yume Miru Kusuri attempts suicide when you pick another girl.
-Has a better leitmotiv. In Clannad, Kotomi's theme ruled, to use an example from the OP's name. In Symphonic Rain, there was an even starker difference in character theme quality.
-Seems like her route would reveal more of the story. That means I can't wait, but I will force myself to play in the most appropriate order to avoid spoilers.
-Is rumored to have an awesome route. I saved Tsugumi for last in Ever 17 because everyone said her route was good (IMO it was the best).
-Is a good match for the main character. Douche protags deserve tsundere. Protectors go well with weak girls.

Other than that, it's just if I like the character and the direction of the drama. I guess I like...

-Yandere. Not because the violence is cute, but because girls soaked in blood is a disgusting turn on. I'm a bad, bad person.
-Silent, Nagato Yuki/Ichinose Kotomi-type girls. I hate Haruhi Suzumiya, but Yuki's a good example. What's that called, "kuudere"? Anyway, I like them because my girlfriend is overemotional and having a calm, rational girl is a fantasy of mine. (But only a fantasy... it wouldn't work in the long run.)
-Anyone who is NOT hyperactive/genki. Only little sister characters can be genki... I'll allow that because my own little sister whom I love dearly is manic as crap.
-(Im)mature older women when most of the potential interests are schoolgirls. This can work even when the ratio is at or slightly above 50% mature women.
-The single schoolgirl in a cast of older women. This only works when there is exactly one schoolgirl.

BTW clannadman... Kyou is my least favorite Clannad character (*runs and hides*)

[Greeny]

I like girls that just don't give a shit.
Also, I generally look at a girl's negative sides rather than their positive sides.
Perfection in imperfection.
If a girl has no visible signs of defects, or worse, a cliche tragic backstory, that's a definite turn-off.

[LVUER]

@pondrthis:
Aw man, you have to mention this game, now I'm sad again. Ayaaaaaaa.... ToT

[platonicheart]

The calm and intellectual girl is my preferred route, if in addition she behaves as cheerful is a lethal weapon for me. It is not necessary that she has lenses to see itself intellectual like the stereotype.

I agree with "It is not necessary that she has lenses to see itself intellectual like the stereotype" because some heroine faces doesn't suite them very much. Unlike when guys wear glasses, somehow their appearance impact goes down.

[pondrthis]

No! Male or female, all appearances are improved by glasses! Maybe not 2D, but this is an ironclad law of the universe for 3D!

(Disclaimer: I myself wear glasses, and it might be an Oedipal thing or something because my mother does too.)

But the big-boobed bespectacled wonder always bothered me for some reason. 2D tits and frames aren't a match IMO.