Otome Chat Connection -- No Spoiler Review
Otome Chat Connection
System: Mobile
Price: Freemium (Free to play with in-app purchase available, but not required)
Voice Acting: Yes (Japanese)
ESRB Rating: E (Any Age)
Overall Rating: Stole 6.5/10 ♥s
Pre-Game Perception: A texting game with multiple boys from school, where you get to be popular and date them all, or something. Probably a fun time-waster with first time romances.
Morning-After Reflection: A cute game with no log-in requirements, play when you want. It’s short, but chill, and the VN portions are voiced by the LI.
Story: “A childhood friend, a high school student, a businessman...
All kinds of gorgeous men are sending you messages.
Chat with them to develop relationships with them.
Who knows, they might even ask you out on a date...?
With Date Stories featuring full voice acting and illustrations.
Let's enjoy hearing the voice of your favorite character.
This is the perfect game for players who would like to develop their relationships with many gorgeous guys!”
Interest Rating: 7/10 I picked it up because it looked like a cute game that might be able to fill that Mystic Messenger sized hole in my heart. The rating gave me pause, because how daring can an E-rated game really get?
MC: From my experience (as limited as it is) there are few phone games that give you an established character; I didn’t have hope that one created to give you the feel that you’re chatting with cute boys isn’t high on the list of games offering an established character. So we get a blank MC with little to no personality in order to allow for self-insertion. That’s not bad, it does make it easier to feel like you’re actually chatting with the dudes when you don’t have to worry about what Miss MC has done for the last twenty-years of her life. Most of the information we get about MC is collected throughout the stories and compiled at the end in my head so I can give you a decent idea of who she is, or isn’t I guess.
MC (you choose the name) is Japanese (maybe), or at least she grew up in Japan. She is approximately 5’2”, with brown hair, and no other features we’re given since the only time she shows up is from the back so we can see her getting close to the guys. She doesn’t have a sprite, and only (barely) shows up partially in CGs. Besides text choices, MC has no lines. During the VN portion she is completely silent and the LIs speak for MC by repeating things back to her that she supposedly said or did but we are not given her speech. She is 20-years old, a university student, and an intern. She is said to have friends, and an active social life. She lives on her own, but has a living mother that gets mentioned in one route. Other than those bits, she’s whatever you make of her.
Likability Rating: Ryo. MC is a little too generic for my liking, but in the end she’s what you make of her. I just felt like the chats were too scripted and plain so MC kind of fades into the background of the story because there’s not enough substance to her, and nothing to really attribute to her for a personality. She’s not bad, great for self-inserters, but not someone I’m going to remember in a few days.
Plot: Talk to guys. Go on dates. Win the game! No, really, that’s pretty much it. And it’s kinda… nice. No big plots. Each LI is self-contained in their own story, though some get mentioned by other characters because some of them know MC through other characters, but for the most part, they’re all different stories that could all be happening simultaneously, or on the same day in alternate timelines if you wanted. That’s kind of the beauty of Otome Chat Connection, it’s all on your time with your decisions and your personality for MC - though I will say that there are clearly right and wrong answers, so you can’t just say whatever and still get the best ending.
It’s super easy to play for free, and easy to replay routes, but once you get the date (and the epilogue) you don’t need to replay any of the routes because you can replay the VNs whenever you want. However, you can replay the main chatting portion and never lose out on the date and epilogue even if you are sweeping up bad ends. There’s no reason to get the bad ends, as they give you nothing but a premature ending to the chat, but if you’re up for it, go for it!
Replayability Rating: ★★★☆☆ Each route is different, and routes are easy to replay without commitment or money, but you’re not playing Otome Chat Connection for the story. If you’re coming back again and again, it’s because it’s a stress-free game.
Love Interests: Want a dozen different dudes sending you messages on “Lime”? If you’re not sure what that is, that’s the big messenger chat app in Japan... just not since it’s called Line and not Lime. But here we have Lime, and a dozen delicious dateables who you can connect with. I was surprised with the variety of LI choices, you have everything from a cousin to a businessman who is 15 years older than you. ...Maybe I shouldn’t name the easy triggers to convince people that there’s variety in the game… You have everything from a high schooler to a young teacher who you happened to grow up near, and he’s only 8 years older! Totally within dateable range! I mean, so is the 35 year old if you ask me, because I like a man in a suit and I don’t care about their age. And if you like the tsunderes, there are tsunderes! And if you like genki boys, there’s a genki boy! And if you like yanderes, there’s a yandere!
For real real, the differences in all twelve guys was pretty neat for me, since it reflects real life really well, imo. Some dudes you knew before going to university, some you met in classes, some you work with, and others you just happened to meet by chance. I really like that everyone has their own story, so it isn’t all just “we’re all in school together!” Because then dudes start feeling too same-y when everyone has the same reason for knowing MC. There is no route order, but in order to unlock other characters you have to score 80% or above in previous characters’ routes. So there is a semi-forced order, for seemingly no reason.
But, let me get the trigger warnings out of the way before we dive into this sausage-fest. Trigger Warnings: There is one character that very clearly shows his instability early in the chat, the route implies stalking, kidnapping, gaslighting, possible violence and other unsavory things that may unsettle some. I thought it was very mild, but triggers are triggers, and I will mention it in their profile when we get to the character. There is a character that is 15 years older than the MC. However, MC is an adult and makes the decision to pursue the older man, but it could be triggering to people not fond of age gaps. There is a character that is related to MC - cousins is all that is mentioned - but they make it clear they are related (possibly by blood). If this is triggering to you, please avoid the route, as he does refer to MC as Big Sister in the affectionate way that the culture does in Japan. Nothing adult happens in any of the routes, and most instances are simply implied. It’s very easy to nope out of any route if it becomes uncomfortable, so no worries on locking yourself to a character you’re not going to enjoy.
Now that all that dark and dreary is out of the way, let me tell you about your childhood friend, Natsuki Hashino. I don’t know how long you’ve been friends, but it seems to have been for a long while because you also know his older brother very well (the teacher LI). Natsuki is going to culinary school, while you’re at a different university doing… something. They never really tell you what it is you’re studying… Anyways! Natsuki is one I didn’t mesh with because apparently I’m way too direct for the delicate touch that these relationships require. I guess that in the end he is a sweetheart, but it took some coaxing to get to the point, and I don’t like dancing around an issue. I wasn’t ready to play a relationship that personal as my first route when I was still learning the game, but Natsuki is cute. They’re all cute.
Riku Kohinata was practically the opposite of Natsuki, so I was facing a bit of whiplash trying to do both of these chats at the same time. Riku is the genki character, bright and friendly, and apparently junior to MC. Again, I failed miserably trying to get the good ending with Riku as I did with Natsuki, but for the completely opposite reason. If you want someone you can give the cold shoulder to, tease, and lord over, Riku is your man. I tried being less direct with Riku and found out that the more I empathized with him, the less he actually wanted to talk to me. :cries in kindness: Be mean to this one, he likes it.
Finally! A boy after my own heart. Yu Sawatari was easy-mode for me. Dude likes cats. Dude likes cupcakes. Dude just wants to share the things he loves with you--OMG he’s autistic. No wonder I f*cking got him. JFC. Ahem. He’s a sweetheart and chill and apparently a senior to MC, so just be friendly. Or not. I do kinda wonder what would happen if you point out all his flaws. He’d probably end up a huddled mass on the floor, sobbing about how much of a f*ck up he is, wondering why he fails at everything he ever tries to do and why-- That’s enough of that! Just be nice to the nice boy, ‘kay? Share in his passion and you’ll snag Yu.
The older brother has arrived! If you managed to get a date with Natsuki when you did his route, Akihito Hashino’s route becomes available. He’s eight-years older than MC and apparently a teacher. You two don’t seem to be close anymore, probably because he’s been off at school and then… school... you know, teaching this time! Your chat is happenstance, but it could lead to more if you pick wisely. He seems really genuine and I really dug his onii-san attitude, to be honest. When it comes to the more controversial relationships - like an 8 year age gap - MC seems to make the move into something more than friends. I really like that about this game, because although I am totally into older LIs pursuing younger MCs as well, it gives the power to the player in the relationship and I think that’s cool. Give the player the choice to make this into a relationship, or let them keep these people at a friendly distance, there is no script! Unless you want the good ending. Then you have to try to date all the boys. Because the ending is a date. Anyways, Akihito can take me out any time, whether he sees MC as a woman or still the friend of his younger brother, I don’t care.
If you got 80% or higher on Riku (the genki blond), you have unlocked Kazuaki Sasayama. No surprise that the younger LI unlocks an even younger LI. Kazuaki is apparently your younger brother’s friend, though I didn’t even know MC had a younger brother because he is literally never mentioned. Ever. But here you have Kazuaki who is four years younger than MC, and still in high school. Although this is way less hilarious creepy than Shigure from 2001 Fruits Basket singing about high school girls, that is literally the theme to this chat for me because I’m a deviant just like Shigure. Kazuaki comes into your Lime… yeah, no, that’s still weird to say. Kazuaki slides into your DMs asking for advice, and this young and adorable child man seems to have MCs full attention. It’s no surprise that this is an easy win if you treat him like you would a normal person whom you know and care about. Plus, you’re obviously his confidante, how cool is that? He’s already yours. Just let him know it.
If chill-boy-kitty-man (Yu) was easy as cupcakes for you to snag, you’ve unlocked Takuma Tsumori, a hairdresser in training. He’s just fabulous. #SorryNotSorry. But really, he’s sweet and caring and just wants what’s best for your scalp. Don’t let anyone else touch your head, that’s his special privilege alone. If happy meganes are your thing, this dude is just adorable. So what if he’s actually a year older than MC? She certainly doesn’t treat him like he’s the older one. This conversation was fun and the date was cute. Just be real with the dude and you’ll find that you two will connect in a way that he doesn’t with his other clients, if you know what I mean. :nudge nudge wink wink: All innuendo aside, he’s a cutie. They’re all cute. So much cute.
I honestly don’t remember when Tomoyuki Terada was unlocked, because by this time I had figured out the best way to roll through the game. So he just popped up one day! This 35-year old serious businessman is all about interpreting what you say to be attempts at climbing the corporate ladder. :gagging sounds: He’s really not all bad and you’ll find out he isn’t about the patriarchy, to be honest I did like him, but it took me a moment to not want to go off about how utterly narrow-minded those comments were. Then I thought about it, and I realized it was less Tomoyuki thinking MC was a floozy and more Tomoyuki thinking he’s not worth anyone’s time. Obviously MC wasn’t interested in him. Obviously this was a ploy. But if you keep at the polite pushing to convince Tomoyuki that you’re actually interested in him, and can be mature and understanding, those walls crumble rather quickly. Mature romances are cool too. I’ll take emotionally vulnerable men who just need some acceptance in life.
Imuzi Suga is one shady f*ckboi. Beware. It doesn’t take long to realize something just isn’t right with this one when your second three choices are “Did we exchange info?” “How’d you get my number?” and something else equally concerning if you’re the concerned type. It was also very clear something wasn’t right when my first answer raised the affection gauge by 25% rather than 4% like in everyone else's route. If you want to see some crazy reactions, Imuzi is your guy. This guy is both easy to please, and also hard to play if you’re going the full self-insert mode. You need to eschew any suspicion about all the suspicious shit Izumi says, and just play along like you’re so happy that he has shown an interest in you! I wanted to see where this went, so I played along, but damn if it wasn’t hard for me to keep my inner monologue from jumping out of my mouth at every creeptastic thing that was mentioned. What a guy! He’s just… perfectly unsettling. 10/10 would ignore every red flag again.
I’m pretty sure you have to score dates with everyone mentioned so far before you can open up the next four, but don’t quote me on that. When you do get to these boys, Tamaki Naruse is one of the first you can pick from. Uhg. Okay, I’m all for the yanderes. I’m all for the problematic tropes and LIs and unrealistic relationships that can bloom from something messy, but I’m very picky about my tsunderes. Oresamas are cool with me, but oresama tsunderes are just… they kill me a little inside because oftentimes you’re just subservient and accepting of the teasing. If there are notable clap backs, I’m good, but usually there aren’t. Tamaki did not reach the level I accept from this combo, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t right for others out there. Demanding, demeaning, and probably the closest to a delinquent in this game despite other characters claiming they’re no good delinquents. But he’s not violent or vicious, it’s all in good fun. I just don’t find it fun. Not my thing, but you enjoy yourself if it’s yours!
Soichiro Tsuda is equally frustrating, but for an entirely different reason. At nearly 6’, he’s a big and stern-looking guy. Apparently he is used to being judged for his appearance because he seems to think there’s something wrong with MC being seen talking to him. Gah, don’t do that to yourself, sweetie. Big men that are softies are awesome! Soichiro is a teddy bear that just needs some help realizing that MC doesn’t judge a book by its cover. But the first dozen responses are one word. It was so painful to try to keep things moving when he wasn’t doing any of the work. Break that hard shell and get to that gooey center. I like him when he talks more.
You want a softboi? Rui Saeki might be your man, if you don’t mind the taboo line the devs have walked with Rui being MC’s cousin. Both MC and Rui seem to understand that being open about whatever relationship they intend to have is not something that they can do (or the translators decided this was the case, I’m not sure!) But everything about them possibly being a couple is all implied. Rui asks if MC understands what he’s trying to say, and MC says she does, and that she knows he cares about her. That’s as explicit as it is, extraordinarily vague. So, you can just imagine that they are “good friends” that happen to be cousins if that soothes your moral quandaries. Or you can be completely depraved and call it what it is, these cousins are gonna do it. I like the closeness that they have, and I don’t care what their relationship is. Their interactions are cute, and I like that. Let them be cute.
Kyohei Haruna is some random stranger that you only sort of know because he returned an item of yours that he found at the university. He’s also apparently friends with Ruki, because who isn’t? Remember? The genki-blond that is compared to a puppy. The one that whines senpaaiii during your date. Why do I love it when they whine? Kyohei won’t be calling you senpai, despite him being younger than MC just like Ruki. He likes to act like he’s older, so he tends to use less formal speech with people like the MC, something that is difficult to translate into English. His chat was kinda boring, to be honest. You spend a lot of time not talking about anything relating to each other, and then the date is barely even a date. I wish this guy got a little more time because I know absolutely nothing about him besides he doesn’t know anything about dogs. But I guess it works. I’m happy I didn’t save him for last, because I would have been disappointed with this being the wrap up for Otome Chat Connection.
Boy Crazy Rating: 88%. The game is entirely too short to really get attached to the boys in this bunch, but I liked most of them. I’d really like to see more from them, but I don’t think that’s happening, so I’ll collect these husbandos into my harem and build my own stories about all the delicious dudes doing the deed.
Romance: Despite the game’s end goal being to get a date with a guy, there isn’t enough content to really ramp up the romance. You get one chat with a guy and then you meet up for a date. Yeah, they’re sweet things, but it’s your first date with the guy, so that means it isn’t super romantic. Some are more so than others, but none of them really give me the doki dokis. I was left thinking “that’s cute” a lot, but not “Oh wow, my goddamned heart!” Which is what I’d rather have since I seem to have a heart of stone most of the time and if it isn’t moved it doesn’t get a high rating from me.
Heart Palpitation Rating: C-. The overall game is too short to really get any sort of romance going. Since it is very slice-of-life, everyday conversation with a cute little scene of a date, it’s not bad, but it certainly isn’t dripping with romance.
Spice: :brings attention to the E-rating: I don’t think I need to go into much detail here about all the detail that isn’t put into the game when it comes to the spiciness of the stories. Handholding is the lewdest thing you’re going to see in this game. No kissing. No implied physical affection. It’s a very cute game, but it certainly does nothing to heat me up.
Cold Shower Rating: Fail. Rated E for everyone. There aren't even chaste kisses. Bundle up, or get you a hot shower to thaw that heart of yours. This game brings no heat.
Angst: Otome Chat Connection is so chill, man. There are no big plots. No life or death situations. The angst level is literally only as high as wondering if you said the right thing or not, which for some of us with social anxiety that can be super stressful, but it being a game and not real life, there’s always the chance to redo. Talk to guys, enjoy the convo, get a date, win. Least angst game I think I’ve ever played.
Drama Llama Rating: 1/10. The drama llama hasn’t learned to type on a phone, something about no thumbs. Get your chill on in this drama-free game.
Voice Acting: I considered putting partial voice acting as the quick info, but technically the characters do speak when they’re able to. The voice acting portions are very small and short, like the game overall. I don’t really have much to say about it. I wasn’t moved by any of the voice acting, but it wasn’t bad at all, it was just very little and because of that I didn’t get a real feel for most of the characters.
Expression Rating: Ka. It wasn’t bad, but there is really only one character I’ll remember out of 12, so I can’t say it was all that good either. I’m sure they did a decent job.
Art: When you have tiny little games like this it gets difficult to rate some of these sections. Art is like that. Since the game is largely in a phone app, there are no real backgrounds to consider, but I guess the chat backgrounds do count? They were different for each character, which I thought was neat, but they weren’t crazy interesting or intricate because they’re still a chatroom background. Each LI has a sprite that shows up in the VN portion, and although they were all dressed differently, and styled individually, I felt most had the same face shape and if you switched up the hair I wouldn’t be able to tell one guy from the next. The backgrounds for the VN portion were generic and mid-grade for effort - that’s expected for being a free to play game. There’s nothing to really praise about the art, but there’s nothing to really complain about either.
Still Picture Rating: ★★★☆☆ Many same. Such expected. Very middling.
CGs: Each LI gets one unique CG for their date portion, with several adjustments in that CG so you get roughly 5 stills per character. If you manage to score high enough to get the epilogues, you get an additional CG of each LI, which is a lot for a free to play game that requires no grinding, imo. That’s 24 unique CGs for no money at all, and only minimal effort to obtain. They’re not highly detailed or extraordinary CGs, but they’re nice and they’re free. I liked that each one was very personal to the character, so it wasn’t just a switch out of boy-toys. I snapped a few screenshots to look at fondly later, so some of them were certainly cute enough for me to enjoy outside of the game.
Look at this Photograph Rating: 85%. Easy to collect, easy to browse, and a good quantity for the lack of effort and money the game requires. Nothing steamy, but some cute moments that I rather enjoyed.
UI/Mechanics: Otome Chat Connection is a chat app game where you text various boys on Lime. The Mechanics are rather simple: open chat, respond with one of three choices, earn or lose affection, wait for the next opportunity to respond, repeat. If you get high enough for the date (80%+) then it auto rolls into the date portion after the chat is complete. The game gives some direction in windows that you have to close, so no accidentally clicking and missing info. It’s very basic in the mechanics, and there are reminders throughout the game on how to use items, earn epilogues, and where to go to talk to guys or get to the CGs.
The UI is set up nicely, if a little plain, but I like that it isn’t complicated. There isn’t a main menu option, instead you navigate through buttons at the bottom of the screen to where you want to go, and with no load times you can easily switch between pages if you went to the wrong place. Basically, you can’t get lost, there are too few options to get lost. I liked the corkboard with the pictures and chibis on it. It was very cute.
If I had one complaint (and I do) it would be that in order to get the epilogues you have to answer nearly all of the questions correctly with the “excellent” rating. There are 25 responses per character, giving you 4%, 2%, or losing 2% of affection if you answer with a “bad” response. You need 95% to get that LI’s epilogue. Easy math says that means you can’t answer any text with a bad response (you’d lose 6% in total for that), or you could only get two “good” responses instead of “excellent”s (giving you 96%). That’s not many mistakes to make. Since the game is easy to replay and as long as you don’t mind watching ads you can zip through a chat rather quickly, it’s not terrible, but it is still a rather high threshold imo.
I guess that’s another thing, if ads bother you, this game is not for you. There are pop ups everywhere! Quick ad here, quick ad there, play this ad for hearts, play that ad for hints or redos; there are a lot of ads. I didn’t mind, because watching ads to stay free to play is something I’ve grown used to, but if advertisements bother you then you won’t make it here. You might be able to turn off ads with money? I don’t recall.
What’s this button do? Rating: B+. Easy navigation. Short tutorial or guides throughout the game. Cute layout. Lots of ads. Uncomplicated.
Errors: None! I tend to give translated games more leeway because English isn’t an easy language to translate into, but Otome Chat Connection didn’t need that extra room at all. I also tend to forgive spelling errors in a chat/text format because normal people make mistakes, but Otome Chat Connection didn’t need that either. They could have actually had more errors in the chats because it was all very well translated with no confusion for me on what the text was supposed to mean. And, let’s be honest here, I don’t get a lot of stuff, so usually I’m trying to decipher real life texts and figure out what tone they’re sent in. Can a game be translated too well? Naw! It’s done really well. Keep in mind that Otome Chat Connection is also a short game, so a lack of errors is easy to accomplish in something this small.
Here there be Bugs Rating: Pass. Not a bug in sight. Enjoy your experience issue-free, because it’s rare we get that opportunity.
Background Music: There are really only two tracks that I could distinguish, so it’s rather plain and repetitive. The music was upbeat and happy sounding, but I’m glad I only had to hear it during the VN portions. Also, I suggest playing with sound off due to the number of ads you might watch, I know I don’t care to listen to the same dozen ads over and over again. I just played my own music and turned my phone’s media volume up when the date happened.
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