Typical Otomes?

[Rozume]

Here's a question you don't see that often: What are some 'typical' otome games?

I ask because I want to make a game that deconstructs the genre sometime in the distant (re: distant) future. I'm really surprised that with the popularity of the genre, I haven't seen anyone try to tear it apart and make a game out of it.

Obviously, to make a proper deconstruction one needs to be intimately familiar with what they are deconstructing. So I ask again: What are some 'typical' otome games that follow the traditional format? What are some otome games that show the ins and outs of the genre, all of its cliches and tropes?

...I also would prefer if the games were in English so I can play and study them.

[ArachneJericho]

Hatoful Boyfriend is something I would consider a deconstruction of otome games. There's going to be an English version that runs on modern OS's soon! But you can find let's play threads of it and, ah, it's a VERY interesting experience regardless.

[MaiMai]

...I also would prefer if the games were in English so I can play and study them.

The only two otome games I can think of that are released in English are Hakuouki and Sweet Fuse and the fact that you can get them in the States is a testament to how atypical they are. (Oh yeah, and Hatoful of course. Hakuouki being a historical fantasy romance while Sweet Fuse is sort of an otome 999 and most of the characters are of adult age).

Have you ever been to Hinano's blog? She's an individual who has played an extensive amount of Japanese otome games and puts up comprehensive views for most of them. You start seeing patterns in the games themselves and thus you begin to see what's typical and not and while she has her biases, Hinano does make valid points about most of them. This is her blog:

http://breadmasterlee.com/game-review-list/

[Obscura]

Ristorante Amore was one of the first otomes I played here when I joined LSF. You might want to check it out if you haven't already. Hopefully it may answer a few of your questions.

*edit: It's not exactly an otome game, but I feel it could be of interest to you.

[Asceai]

Like the typical bishoujo game, the typical otome game doesn't exist. There are enough traits that are common enough that over time you build up a picture of what the typical otome game is, but no single game has all those traits and nothing else.

Anyway, for now my answer is any of tiramisuvilla's games. I don't follow the English translation scene but I doubt these are translated.

[Googaboga]

Do you have a smartphone/tablet? If so, the Solomare and Voltage otome games are probably a good place to start. I haven't really played many of those myself so I can't recommend a specific one. But from what I've heard they are pretty cliched/generic. I think the older ones were worse and they've gotten better over time but I'm not entirely sure about that.

[ketskari]

Have you checked out tvtropes.org yet? They have a section on romance games. Scroll down for otomes.

I don't know how accurate their entries are, but it should be a good overview of what is typical. I.e., character types/plots/gimmicks that show up often.

[hiko27]

I feel like this is too late of a reply so if so, sorry and just ignore.

The typical otome I would categorize are all Otomate games (Hakuouki, Sweet Fuse, Amnesia). They're the really fluffy, sweet games. Rejet (Diabolik Lovers) and Quinrose (Heart no Kuni no Alice) games, not so much though they're really really great.

Hakuouki and Sweet Fuse were localized by Aksys for the PSP, so you can go check those out. There's also Starry Sky, though the first game's the only one that's been translated. There's also TokiMemo for the DS, you can grab an emulator and get the game somewhere. There's also the Girls Be Gracious for the DS as well. I still haven't finished that game because I got distracted >.> There's also Love Revo! And then there's The Second Reproduction. There are probably more that I forgot. Voltage and Solmare have mobages, so you can check those out. Arithmetic and OKKO has some too. Though I suggest to stay away from Starstruck Love unless you want to romance some yandere brothers and an idol who's also (un)surprisingly yandere.

As mentioned above, you can go to Hinano's blog and look at her reviews. There's also Otome Jikan, they're pretty recent. I think they only started their stuff this year or last, can't remember. They also do reviews on non-Japanese otome, though not that much. Only seen their Area-X review. There's also Domshiki and Sandeian, here. There's also Sakimichan's review blog. She doesn't review much but you might want to look at hers either way. There's also Lijakaca's. If you want more review blogs, you can see if these have links to other blogs. On Tumblr, you can try going through the otome tag and look for reviews for the Japanese games.

If you want to research more into the genre though, you should try visiting otome game forums. One that I know of is the otome hearts forum. You can try posting your question there if you want. Try reading some manga based on otome games as well, or watch their anime series. Reading shoujo manga would probably help as well (so many cliche manga out there so take your pick). You could also listen to translated drama CDs.

[Rinima]

Not a game but related:
School Days (the anime)
it's terrible, but a good example I think.

[SinSisters]

Well, the main theme of otomes are always different... most authors are, in fact, creative when it comes to their games and there's something unique about all of them. Personally, the most common thing I see with otomes is a protagonist who is a sweet, good-girl type of thing (not complaining, just a statement).
There are loads of dating sims that can actually give you a quick idea of otomes, but if you want full out games, check out this TVTropes list and scroll down to Otome games.

-Nat

[Catalyst Edge Gaming]

Voltage gaming has pretty interesting visual novels(Baddest Bidder, Forged Wedding are a couple of their games), so does NTT Solmare(Shall we Date games, I don't know all of the names of their games off the top of my head, sorry), but they are for mobile devices only I believe.
I know apple's itunes has a lot of them on there if you have access to that and most of them are available for Android users too (again, if you have access to that.)

Hakouki is also good it's for psp, ps3 and 3DS versions if you can get to any of those. Those are just a few I can think up right now.