Otome games considered “kusoge” that I actually enjoyed

There are a few games widely known in the otome game community as “kusoge”: I guess you perfectly understand what it means, but if you’re new to this world, let’s just say they are awful.

But is it true? Even if some games may have terrible flaws which ruin the gaming experience and make them objectively bad (a terrible writing, derpy Cgs, an annoying system), we all have different perspectives and our personal level of tolerance, which may be completely different from other friends.

I guess most of their people tend to stay aways from games with terrible reviews, in fear of wasting their money and time; but there are also people like me, who prefer to judge after playing personally. Sometimes I’m lucky, sometimes I regret all my decisions.

Let’s take a look together at famous kusoge and my personal experience.

• Reine des Fleurs

It’s been hated since its release and it’s still considered a waste of money and beautiful art.

Everyone hated the “ravir” system, the heroine and the plot, which was full of holes.

Apparently, I’m the only one who enjoyed it, despite obvious flaws.

The system didn’t annoy me: of course, it was kinda annoying and probably useless, but overall I can’t say it’s the worse I’ve been through. Let’s face it, there are many old games with terrible systems, this can’t even compare to Brothers Conflict or Wand of Fortune.

The heroine was selfish: yes, so what? An heroine who prefers to save her life, instead of sacrificing herself for others? Honestly, I’m tired of heroines with a pure heart and a perfect personality. She wants to live, who doesn’t? Her egoism was realistic and I can’t blame her for it.

Plot holes: well, it’s true. I can’t say it was written with a perfect logic, some routes overall lack consistency. But it didn’t ruin the game for me, the pacing wasn’t bad and I could still enjoy the routes a lot.

40 Bad Endings: if you aren’t obsessed with full completion, this problem doesn’t exist. At all.

I always try to reach the platinum trophy and I’m happy when I can, but if collecting trophies ruins my experience and makes me angry, I just give up. Who cares? I don’t.

• Vamwolf Cross

Derpy Cgs and sprites, stupid dialogues and plot holes, who can deny that?

I admit the art was weird at first, a guy had a really huge neck problem, but after a couple hours I dind’t even notice that anymore, it was mostly fine.

The stupid dialogues like: “do you like tomato? So you’re a vamwolf!!” were more funny than annoying, I realized this game wasn’t meant to be taken seriously to be enjoyed.

I don’t think the writers did this on purpose, but whatever, I pretended they were just trolling.

I started this game ready to hunt vamwolves, but I mostly ended up on dates with those guys; at first it was disappointing, but when I realized it was all a troll fest, I enjoyed it for what it was.

• Rear Pheles Red of Another

People complain a lot about the mini game, since it’s full of bugs and too difficult to complete in hard mode.

Well, it was, there’s no denying it. But you don’t need to complete it in hard mode to unlock good endings, the easy mode is enough… so why bothering? Sometimes I wonder why people are so obsessed with collecting trophies and forget that a game is meant to be enjoyed. If you only play for fun, running away from the wolf is not bad at all! At least, for me it wasn’t.

• Walpurgis no Uta

It was basically ignored by everyone.

Since it’s not from Otomate, people assume the quality is low? I don’t know.

I can’t say it’s an hidden gem you should try, but I can’t call it a kusoge either: the guys are nice, the plot is not original but still entertaining, the art is not amazing, but still decent and with a huge amount of CGs, considering the length.

• Possession Magenta

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The common route is extremely long, which means individual routes are short and after the first run you feel like there’s a lot of copy pasta. Well, I can’t deny this.

But I loved this group of friends, their interactions and even the pacing of the game: since you date one different guy each chapter, as you progress in the common route, this makes you feel like you have an harem of ikemen who love you for no reason.

It feels weird, but it’s still a nice feeling.

Am I that easy to please? I probably am, but still, I enjoyed those games way more than some “popular” ones, considered flawless by the otome game community.

I’m not saying they are masterpieces, I wouldn’t recommend them at full price; but I’m sure you can find a very cheap copy somewhere, as I did. Ebay has is all for you.

Make wise choices and learn to think with your own mind, don’t let other people judge games for you: decide your own standards, always.