Post by pomegranian in Solipsism Reigns Otome/GxB Version comments

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Made an account just to be able to leave a comment - I feel like indie creators (esp for sort of niche games) don't always get many reviews/feedback, but I think you deserve all the positive feedback you can get! This felt like such a labor of love, and it is amazing that this was released as a free game. Thank you so much for contributing to the male yandere material out there in English, there's definitely a dearth of it, like you said! Came here after reading some recommendations from Reddit for male yandere otome games (gotta scratch that itch every so often) and was so pleased to see a new one in the list!

SPOILERS

Kuro's a great character, and I think it was nice to see the yandere actually be so affectionate (since I feel in most games, there's the "courting" period and maybe a small period where they're actual affectionate and then something snaps). I'm a real sucker for all those kisses, esp ones where the LI does it suddenly/forcefully (not really like non-con per se since the MC does also like him, hopefully you get what I mean) so I think Student ended up being my favorite for that reason. That being said, my favorite plots were the detective and hidden routes (the layers in that last one, oh my goodness!)

I enjoyed reading the comments here about the plot and some of the behind the scenes processes. Makes sense then why I thought Kuro looked kind of girly/shota (e.g. in the mage route, I was like, doesn't that look like female breastplate armor??). No problem, though, because I got so immersed in the story, it didn't really matter. :) The VAs were also great, it was cool to see how many were actually involved in the credits! I feel like all the evil laughs were nailed, and Topper was so fun to listen to (it just fit so well!). The only bit of voice acting that I found a bit jarring was Rabbit - she sounded like a guy to me (can't remember if the VA was a guy or a girl, and I apologize, don't mean any offense). Can't forget about our protag Kuro - sometimes English dub esp for stuff like yandere can sound so cringey but he did a great job, particularly when Kuro gets more emotional/sad. It helped contribute to the feeling of yeah, sometimes he goes crazy but deep down, it's really because he loves you so much and he has all this other angst that you discover in the hidden route.

Speaking of the hidden route, like some other folks mentioned, I found it a bit harder to relate to og!MC and Shiro. I know Shiro has a reason to dislike the MC and Kuro clones but since he was acting like a jerk, I found myself being like, give me Kuro back, haha. In the grand scheme of things, though, it all makes sense and I think there's something to be said for playing as the "clone" the whole time.

Once I realized Anathema was actually Player and not MC, it was interesting to re-interpret everything the Architect said in light of that. Although I'm still a bit confused by what he means at certain bad ends when he says "better you than me" since it's not actually Player dying? Also, Architect, what's your deal with being so upset with me picking the sorta happy ending as my favorite? Surely if you've been watching me so long, you know there's no way I'm going to be like, oh yes, being a lifeless doll is totally my favorite, haha. (Not at all meant to be a slight on your writing, I'm just joking as to the seemingly twisted nature of the Architect)

I also thought it was neat how in the early routes such as Student, you get some bad ends where Kuro is like, oh no, what have I done! But iirc, that doesn't really happen in the later routes, which makes sense since he learns more and more about the system and how it works.

Alright, I think I'm rambling at this point, gonna end with a couple male yandere recs. I know you said you enjoyed MM, not sure if you've also played their other games, Dandelion and Nameless (I'm a fan of Tei from the latter, he's a bit more of the manipulative type). Also, have you heard of the Boyfriend to Death series? (there's 1 and 2, probably runs a bit more yangire than yandere imo but may be up your alley!) There are still some other games I have to catch up on, so we'll see. Anyway, thanks again for making such a great game, looking forward to more of your work in the future!

Melancholy Marionette3 years ago

That's so sweet of you to make an account to leave such lovely feedback :3 I appreciate it more than I can put into words :D I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the game!

You're right that sometimes indie creators don't seem to get a whole lot of feedback, anything I receive always means a lot to me. I'm touched that you think I deserve all the positive feedback I can get :3 And I'm glad it felt like a labour of love, that's certainly one of the ways I would describe how I feel about it myself. You taught me a new word there with 'dearth'! I had to look that one up, haha, so that's something new I learned today :D Also, that's interesting to know that it's been recommended on Reddit. I do sometimes lurk there on r/otomegames, haha, but I had no idea it had been listed at any point, so that makes me happy to discover :3

SPOILERS

I'm super happy that you liked Kuro :3 I'm very protective of him and can't help but be saddened when people occasionally don't understand him because, deep down, he's such a sweetheart. I feel the same as you where you said you feel in most games there's the 'courting' period and then something snaps, haha. With SR, I really wanted the reader to know that this was genuinely a love story, despite all of the horror and despair x3 That was something that was very important to me to get across. Yeah, I know what you mean about the kisses, hehe :3 That's really interesting that you'd say the Student one was your favourite for that reason :o I don't recall anyone picking that as their favourite so far! I do kinda struggle with picking a favourite myself, especially when for me it would be kinda like picking a favourite child. haha. I do prefer some versions over others though.

That's cool that you also read through some of the other comments about the behind the scenes stuff :3 Yeah, I was very resource-limited, haha. That breastplate was actually one of two options... the other had giant sticking out bits for huge boobs, so that was a no go xD I would really love it if I could remake the entire game someday in the new engine that I'm using and hire an artist to redraw all the sprites in their own style. The VA's were so wonderful, I'm glad you enjoyed their performances :3 I'm so proud of them all + will be eternally grateful for the work they did on the project. Jacob had a lot of fun with Topper, and it certainly shows, haha. Rabbit was played by a guy, yeah. What happened was, I cast him to play the male version of the character in BxB version of the game that sadly won't be getting released. I had also cast someone for female Rabbit but, unfortunately, she never delivered her lines. I just decided to use his voice for the female version of Rabbit in the end since Rabbit's a magical creature anyhow. I can totally understand how that might be jarring though x3 And I know what you mean about how English voice acting can sometimes be a little cringe-worthy cos I've played my fair share of games like that, haha. Tim absolutely did Kuro justice though :3 He was so perfect for the role, and I agree that those emotional lines he delivered were very powerful. Some of them almost had me in tears! x3 He portrayed the character exactly as I intended, and I'm super happy to hear you think the same :D

I have to agree with you and the others who have mentioned it that OG MC + Shiro are less relatable than the clone x Kuro combo. It's not something I really thought about at the time of writing because I knew from the start how I wanted it to end, but I think it wound up becoming Kuro's story more so than Shiro's, even though they're linked. At least once things calmed down there, you could go wake up all the Kuro clones and be surrounded by Kuro's forever x3

As for the Architect's comments like you mentioned the: "Better you than me." Upon reaching certain bad ends. It's basically just him being a dick x3 And I guess, in a way, he's sort of presuming that the player is self-inserting (which I know isn't always the case, but that's how I tend to play, haha) so he's kinda just mocking the player for having caused the death of their character. And yeeeeah, the Architect is a pretty twisted dude as you say xD That's my favourite reaction of his when you choose that happy CG, kinda like a child throwing a tantrum, haha. As a side note though, that Dollmaker ending is one of my personal favourite 'bad ends' x3 I can't remember for sure, but I think I named that bad end after my dev name in the bad ends guide document, haha.

What you said regarding the Student route and Kuro's reactions to some of the bad end stuff, I'd love to claim that I did that on purpose, but it was unintentional, haha. I guess it came out that way because I wrote the routes in a particular order and then figured I would stack the route options in the same order that I wrote them, just allowing the player to pick whichever they wanted. I guess with what you said though, it would mean the order they're arranged in on the selection screen would be the recommended play order.

There's nothing wrong with rambling anyhow :D As you've no doubt noticed, I do rather a lot of it myself xD I really do appreciate you taking the time to leave your thoughts though, so thank you :3

As for the recommendations, they're always much appreciated! I have indeed played Dandelion and Nameless, and I have to agree with you, Tei is pretty darn awesome :P Actually, he's probably my favourite manipulative yandere character that I've read so far. I'd like to create a similar character myself at some point. He'd make a terrible being in reality, but he's wonderful as a fictional character, haha. I don't recall coming across that many characters like Tei, so if you know of any others, feel free to let me know! And yeah, I have dabbled in the BTD games :D They're certainly quite something! I did enjoy what I played of them, there was the odd scene that I found a little gross, but I mean, I had anticipated that anyways xD I played all of the routes in the first one, but I never actually finished the second. I got kinda stuck and I couldn't find any walkthroughs at the time, so being the lazy bugger that I am, I kinda just gave up >.< Is there any character in particular that you recommend I finish their route in BTD2? I've been told I would likely enjoy Black Wolves Saga, but haven't gotten around to checking it out yet, likewise with the yandere in Nightshade cos I've heard good things about him as well.

Anyways, thanks again for writing all of that up :3 I hope wherever you are in the world that you're managing to stay safe! Have a great week ^_^

pomegranian3 years ago (1 edit) (+1)

Ah, thanks so much for responding! I would absolutely love to see what your version of a Tei-like character would be like! I've also still been searching for more like him. I think he's the only character I kept wanting to jump ship for in the other routes (I know some people were annoyed how he showed up in the other routes, but I was always like, yes, please, I would totally switch LIs if not for needing to actually finish the game, haha).

For BTD2, it's been a while but I think I preferred Vincent and Cain (Lawrence is interesting in an eerie kind of way, and Ren is...more of a masochist iirc?). Cain's route also has an extra hidden character mini route who is kinda similar to him.

I haven't played Black Wolves Saga yet either. It's a little more involved since the English is a fan translation as far as I'm aware, and I've just been too lazy so far to go through the extra steps to set it all up. Nightshade's yandere is in my opinion a touch underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, he definitely has some possessiveness/obsessiveness come through, but I found his route...not extreme enough for me, haha. The voice actor is fantastic, though, and does such a great job with the emotional lines. Not sure if you want to be spoiled as to which character (SPOILER: his name is Kuroyuki, what a coincidence!)

Anyway, hope you're staying safe and well, too! I'll post again if I remember/find any others (although a lot of the recent games I've seen mentioned are only on PS Vita which I don't have unfortunately), always nice to find fellow male yandere fans!

Melancholy Marionette3 years ago

I think I would have to go back through Tei's route to refresh my mind on the character cos it's been a fair few years now since I played Nameless, but yeah, I think writing a similar character would be a lot of fun :D When I first played that, just going by sprite appearances, I thought Yuri was gonna be my favourite, but nope, Tei won, haha. He was a surprise too cos back then I purposely didn't look at character bios so that I could be surprised whenever I came across a yandere character. Nowadays, I tend to try and find out if a game at least has one in before deciding whether or not to play x3

I guess I should try and play more of BTD2 then! There must be plenty of guides out there by now :3 I noticed that Lawrence seems to get the most fan art, which intrigues me. I never got to see any of Ren back when I played, but I kinda imagined he'd be that way, haha.

Not feeling like bothering with the patch set up is one of the main reasons why I haven't managed to play through BWS as well! I'll get to it someday, I'm sure :3 It's probably the one that's been recommended to me more than anything else, so it would be a bit silly of me not to try it at some point. That's a shame about Kuroyuki though! I had heard that was the one cos when I was lurking on r/otomegames in the past, people didn't tag it with spoilers, haha. I'm not that fussed about things like that being revealed though so it's all good. I heard folk describe his route as very angsty more than anything. I know what you mean though, soft yandere routes are great and all, but I do prefer reading stuff that's more extreme x3 I used to look up rec lists online for male yandere characters in games, and a large majority of the ones I tried were pretty soft routes. I'll always be up for reading any kind of yandere route, but the best ones are the ones that make my jaw drop in shock xD At the same time, I'd love to see more villain routes too, even if they're not yandere. The first time I experienced something like that was when I played Hakuoki on my tablet years ago, and I was so stoked that you got that option (I played blind, and I got that as my first route x3)

Good to know about the voice actor for Kuroyuki anyhow! I was considering which game to play out of Nightshade and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk whenever I next decide to start an otome. I was leaning towards Nightshade, but now I might go with Ashen Hawk instead, haha.
I do have a PS Vita, thankfully :3 Managed to nab a used one years ago when I discovered the sheer amount of otome on there, though, it seems like that may be gravitating towards the Switch slowly, which I don't have >.< I mainly wanted one to check out the Diabolik Lovers series, but I still don't know how to feel about it. On paper, I should technically love it, but there are several things about it that irk me, one being how useless MC is xD

It is indeed always nice to find fellow male yandere fans :3 I feel like we sometimes get shoved in a dark little corner while everyone else fawns over the tsundere guys, haha. Have a lovely week!

pomegranian3 years ago(+1)

Oh yeah, I forgot about Psychedelica, have seen it mentioned and been meaning to play it but haven't gotten a chance to. I will say, though, if you're not just looking for a yandere fix, I do think Nightshade is quite a good game. The plot is actually good, all of the voice acting is fantastic, and the characters generally well-written (plus endearing side characters!) I enjoyed pretty much all the routes, either for the character or for the plot, often both. And while the yandere in Nightshade is not that extreme, they built a surprisingly good and sympathetic rationale for why he acts the way he does.

FYI, I've been playing through 7'scarlet and while the yandere is a bit more extreme and -almost- there, he doesn't quite make it for me. The bad end is bad in a different way sadly. Still gonna finish the rest of the game for the plot and completionist's sake. I've heard Monochrome Heaven has a yandere so I'll add that to my list at some point, too. Oh, and since you do have a Vita, I'll recommend Period Cube to you because it sounds like that has gotten some thumbs up's yandere-wise. Enjoy!

Melancholy Marionette3 years ago

I wasn't really all that enthralled by Black Butterfly, but I've heard I'm more likely to enjoy Ashen Hawk, haha. I just didn't really feel much for any of the characters in BB >.<

That's good that Nightshade is solid overall :3 I had heard quite a few people say they enjoyed every route, which seems to be a rare thing in otome, haha, so they must have done something right with it :D And I love it when yandere characters have a good reason behind why they are the way they are, so I'd probably love that route :3 It's been aaaaages since I played one where I genuinely enjoyed reading all the routes. I found finishing Collar x Malice quite painful cos I left the two characters I was least interested in until last, and their routes were even more boring than I anticipated >.<

I've not got 7'scarlet with it being a slightly newer title and my usual lack of disposable income, haha. Is it worth buying in a sale do you think? Not that I could even afford it then xD I'm not overly keen on the art either. "The bad end is bad in a different way sadly." That makes me curious, haha, but I guess I better not seek out spoilers in case I play it someday.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about Steam Prison, which I also don't have. I hadn't even heard of Monochrome Heaven, so that goes to show how far behind I am on keeping up with content >.<

I did quite enjoy Period Cube actually :3 It's been quite a while since I played it, and I can't remember whose route I enjoyed the most. If I'm remembering correctly, it wasn't who I thought would be my favourite (pretty sure it was a non-yandere)! MC was a bit annoying for me to self-insert with cos I've played plenty of MMOs xD

I think the Vita titles I own but haven't gotten around to playing yet are Code Realize + Norn9. The other stuff I haven't played yet in my backlog is on PC, which consists of Nightshade, Ashen Hawk, the new revamped Hakuoki games, BWS, Bad Medicine (though the English patch doesn't cover all routes and I was really bored with it anyway, haha), and a bunch of indie otome. I never did see past the base content of Mystic Messenger either! Just because the app became too large for my crappy phone to be able to download any updates >.< I had a founders pack for that with a physical box of stuff + lots of whatever the currency was for progression, and I don't have a clue what my account info I used would have been :(

Have an awesome weekend! :3

pomegranian3 years ago (4 edits)

I'm having a stretch of free time right now so I'm just cramming in so many otomes :x

Oh boy, if you weren't enthralled by Black Butterfly, then I feel like 7'scarlet is going to be a real slog. To be brutally honest, 7'scarlet feels like more of a mystery VN with romance shoehorned in and ends up not doing either of them super well. To be fair, the mystery aspect is kinda interesting and the last 2 routes start to kinda make up for things so could be worth getting on sale. I found the MC irritating since she was often so stupid and running headlong into clear danger. Anyway, suffice to say, playing Black Butterfly afterward was such a breath of fresh air to me in comparison. Aw, too bad you didn't really feel much for any of the BB characters, I enjoyed the two cinnamon roll characters. And I actually liked how they did the childhood friend/first love trope with Natsuki and acknowledged how (SPOILER if others are reading: even in the endings where he dies, that it's not that easy for the MC to just get over him since she did love him). Also, the yandere BB is definitely better than the one in 7'scarlet, no question. And I probably worded "The bad end is bad in a different way sadly" a little misleadingly, it's really not exciting so please don't read into that too much, haha.

I think this is some recency bias from the string of specific games I've just played but what is with these yanderes who are the flirty/super cheerful and/or younger types and then turn out to be yandere? Like, I feel like I vaguely remember maybe the first generation yanderes were all the overprotective onii-chan types so now they're overcompensating in the opposite direction or something? Although maybe I really just want some more lower register yandere voices in my ear xD like going back to something closer to your Kuro. The flirty/cheerful/younger types tend to be higher pitched so even when they go "dangerously low," it's just not quite the same.

Might see if I can cram in Ashen Hawk next although I hope it doesn't have too many more childhood friends/connected in childhood because I'm starting to get a little burnt out from that trope from playing 7'scarlet and BB back to back, haha (there is literally only one route in 7'scarlet where the LI has the normal reaction of...not remembering MC from a single interaction they had when they were like 4 /facepalm). Ah, I had heard good things about Collar x Malice but I don't have a Switch either orz. I'm pretty much confined to PC only right now but someday! Hadn't even heard of Steam Prison yet but it's available on PC (yay!) so I'll throw that in my list too. I also never got to do Ray's route in Mystic Messenger, alas, since I stopped after the base game pretty much too (needed too many hourglasses). Sounds like you have a pretty good collection in your backlog, I'll swing by for an update if I get through Ashen Hawk in case it helps you reorganize your priorities xD Happy weekend to you too!

Edit: Finished Ashen Hawk - I really enjoyed the MC (crossdressing as a guy and acts as a guy means we actually get scenes where the MC is not just a damsel in distress!) I'd say there was one ending that struck me as actually yandere. It's too bad there aren't really "bad endings" in Psychedelica because there would have been a lot of potential for that here. In short, Psychedelica again proves itself to be more of a tragic/philosophical sort of game (not a bad thing!) along the same vein as Black Butterfly. They do push a "true LI" a little harder than BB, though, which I tend to have mixed feelings about and I thought BB overall felt a bit more cohesive all said and done. I thought AH could have been great as just a standalone medieval setting game instead of feeling like they forced the Psychedelica aspect of it somewhat. Anyway, the MC in AH is definitely better, the setting feels fresh, the romance at times was a little eh for me, and the yandere itch was kinda scratched in just one ending but the game overall is enjoyable enough to overlook those other parts.

Melancholy Marionette3 years ago

I could really do with working on my backlog at some point, but any time I try and play stuff, my brain beats me up about it and tells me I should be doing work T_T

Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't get 7'scarlet then xD I mean, I didn't mind the overall story in Black Butterfly, and I was intrigued by the mystery elements, but I'm just not a fan of the childhood friends trope in general. Sooo, if the mystery elements in 7'scarlet are decent, I might like it :3 But then it sounds like it is very heavily about childhood friendship again after what you said further down in your message, haha. As for MC, oh dear, I'm kinda used to stupid ones at this point so I can generally handle most of em, as long as they're not as pathetic as the MC from Diabolik Lovers, haha.

What you said in your BB spoiler was something I did really like about the game :3 I hadn't seen that before in anything, and it was quite touching. I sorta started seeing her as someone I was guiding more than inserting into since she had those sorts of feelings, which may well be why I didn't care so much for most of the cast. Not that that's a bad thing cos I did think they're story was both sweet and heartbreaking. To the point that I almost didn't care about the rest of the content once I'd seen that x3

If 7'scarlet's yandere is inferior to BB's though, then, hmm >.< haha.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of those yandere types you mentioned where they're pretty flirty/cheerful + youthful types. I would take Tei over those any day xD I'm not so keen on the shota ones regardless of general personality really, but I'll still read em and enjoy some of em. I know what ya mean about how it seems like there might be some overcompemsating going on, haha. I'm generally happy with most types of voices, but you don't really seem to get deeper/lower voices in otome in general >.< I would like to see more diversity in that department. I can't remember the name of the drama CD, but there was this one I heard a long time ago (not yandere-related) where the seiyuu had one of the deepest, most spine-tingling voices I've ever heard in a Japanese drama CD before xD It was insane, and I've never really heard any voices of that type since in otome games or drama CDs. I'll have to try and find out what the dude's name was! I know what ya mean though :3 and I adore it when characters do go dangerously low, as you put it :D the bigger the difference when that happens, the better. I like it when it gets to the point that I actually have to freeze playing the game for a sec cos it's just caused me some minor brain death x3

I think I probably ruined CxM for myself really. I should have loved it since I love police stories, and I did really love 2 of the routes. I should have played the ones I figured I wouldn't be into first instead of saving them until last >.< It meant that I really enjoyed the game in the beginning when playing through the routes that interested me, and then the rest just fell flat.

Glad to hear that about the MC in AH :D That sounds like she'd be super fun to play as actually! Pushing a true LI harder than BB gives me mixed feelings too though cos I already felt it was pushed a tiny bit too hard in BB, haha, to the point that it booted me out of being able to self-insert x3 I'll take more of the tragic/philosophicalness though, haha. It's interesting that you say the yandere itch was only somewhat scratched in one ending though cos I'm sure people recommended it to me for yandere content >.< I think perhaps most people just prefer the softer yandere types so maybe they're easier to please than me, I Dunno xD Whereas your tastes seem to be more similar to mine, haha.

For a fun PC series, if you've not played em already, I highly recommend the Dot Kareshi games :3 There is some yandere content in there, but it's very soft. I just found all the routes a lot of fun to play through, some are just hilarious, others adorable, but they're all pretty short. It's been a while since I played em but I think they need English patches (which were easy to install and pretty decent.) Probably one of the most amusing series' I've ever played though!

Hope you have fun with whatever you go for next :D I don't know which to go with next still when I do start one eventually, haha.

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SPOILERS