[Nebty]

so ive never actually played persona, what makes it like an otome game?

Persona 3 and 4 are RPGs with pretty substantial dating-sim elements. However, both games only gave you the option to play as a guy and date women. The PSP rerelease of Persona 3 introduced an alternate female protagonist as well as the option to have romantic relationships with guys. The great thing about Persona is that the dating isn't strictly romantic. Most of the "dateable" characters (Social Links, as the game terms them) are more like platonic friends. They're all sorts of people, too. For example, there's a social link with an old, bitter, alcoholic monk, there's a social link with one of your female friends from the volleyball team, there's a social link with a young man who's dying from an incurable disease, and there's one with a little girl who's struggling with her parents' upcoming divorce. Basically, the dating elements are used to get to know these people better. Some of the S.links are romantic (and the ones that are are very well done), but there's a lot more to the character interaction than just the romantic stuff.

Not only that, but there's quite a beefy RPG behind all of the character interaction. Your Social Links are the means by which you power up your Personas, which are facets of your own personality that you summon in order to fight monsters. These Personas manifest as figures from myth and legend, and the main character can summon multiple Personas as well as fuse them to create more powerful ones (sort of like Pokemon).

Here are examples of some of my high-level personas.



This is Helel, the Morning Star. He's the ultimate Persona of the star arcana (basically every Social Link is given a tarot arcana, and Personas are also broken up by arcana). Helel is basically the angelic form of Lucifer (pretty Lucifer vs. less pretty Lucifer).



This is Odin, king of the Aesir in Norse mythology. He's the ultimate Persona of the Emperor arcana and he's one of my favourites. He's indispensable for taking down tanks and the Grim Reaper. Emperor is one of my fave S.links as well (Hidetoshi-kun <3).



This is less-pretty Lucifer (lookit dem sideburns) and the demonic form of Helel. I think he's the ultimate Persona of the Judgement arcana, but I could be wrong.



And lest you think that all of my Personas are half-naked dudes, here's Norn, another one of my favourites. The Norn were the Norse versions of the three fates. They spun the threads of a person's fate. Norn is the ultimate Persona of the Fortune arcana, which is (imo) the best S.link. The S.link is for Ryoji Mochizuki, who is a sweetheart, and my favourite romance in P3P.



This is Mara. He is a giant penis riding a chariot. 'Nuff said.



This is Attis, my go-to healer and a figure in one of my favourite greek myths. He's the ultimate Persona of the Hanged Man arcana.



This is Messiah, and he is the protagonist's ultimate Persona. I love his design. The hip-wings are rad.



Lastly, we have Thanatos. Thanatos will always be my most favourite Persona, for various spoilery story-related reasons. Thanatos was the greek anthropomorphic personification of peaceful death, often depicted as a handsome boy with black wings holding an upside-down torch.

Anyways, I guess I've gone a bit overboard with my Persona fangirling, but it's an incredible game and I highly recommend it. It's for PSP and it's about $10-$15 to download on the Playstation Network, so go buy it if you've got a PSP or a Vita. In answer to your question, it is an Otome game (if you choose to play as a female MC). Dating guys is one of the many things you can do in this game, which is part of why I love it so much.

[kokoro-cafe]

Okay lol so it's not strictly an otome game then, it's more like a RPG with dating sim elements incorporated into it. makes sense though, so I'm guessing 4 doesn't have the female protagonist option to date guys?

Do you know anything about but Persona 2? Does it have the female protagonist option?

[Nebty]

Okay lol so it's not strictly an otome game then, it's more like a RPG with dating sim elements incorporated into it.

Yeah, sort of. P3P is actually more like a dating sim than 3 or 4 because the non-dungeon crawling bits are done in VN-style while 3 and 4 had 3D models and an overworld. The main character is also a high school student, so you have to schedule her dates and activities in between class and extracurriculars, sort of like Magical Diary or Tokimemo but with more options.

so I'm guessing 4 doesn't have the female protagonist option to date guys?

Nope. I'm hoping Persona 5 has the option to play as a woman, though. It's still in development.

Do you know anything about but Persona 2? Does it have the female protagonist option?

Persona 1 and 2 are RPGs without any dating elements. The first two, Persona and Persona 2: Innocent Sin, feature male protagonists while the third, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, features a female protagonist. They're good RPGs, but there's no dating. They're a lot more like Shin Megami Tensei games (Persona was originally a spinoff from SMT).

[kokoro-cafe]

p3p? persona 3 portable?

[Nebty]

p3p? persona 3 portable?

Yup.

[kokoro-cafe]

what about p2p? I think I heard people calling it an otome game?

[Nebty]

what about p2p? I think I heard people calling it an otome game?

It really isn't. It's an RPG along the lines of something like Devil Survivor (except it's not an SRPG). There's an ensemble cast and the story is told at a different pace than P3, P3P, or P4. Plus, there's no calendar mechanic, Social Links, or going to school. The main characters of both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment are also pretty defined, as opposed to the silent protagonists of the later games. P2: IS and P2: EP are really great RPGs, they just aren't Otome games.

Also, you should know that the PSP version of Eternal Punishment hasn't been released in english yet, though Innocent Sin has.

[kokoro-cafe]

what about p2p? I think I heard people calling it an otome game?

It really isn't. It's an RPG along the lines of something like Devil Survivor (except it's not an SRPG). There's an ensemble cast and the story is told at a different pace than P3, P3P, or P4. Plus, there's no calendar mechanic, Social Links, or going to school. The main characters of both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment are also pretty defined, as opposed to the silent protagonists of the later games. P2: IS and P2: EP are really great RPGs, they just aren't Otome games.

Also, you should know that the PSP version of Eternal Punishment hasn't been released in english yet, though Innocent Sin has.

lol i didnt know that~ i know pretty much nothing about persona in general  

[Nebty]

lol i didnt know that~ i know pretty much nothing about persona in general  

Oh no, I wasn't saying that you should know it, but just mentioning it so that you didn't set your heart on playing it an get disappointed. ^^;

Anyways, I tend to like the Otome games where there's gameplay besides talking because in those games the heroine usually gets to kick some ass herself. I hate it when I'm forced to be the passive and helpless damsel, especially in a setting where everyone else is fighting stuff. Ninja Love, for example. If I'm supposed to be a Kunoichi princess, then why am I so useless? Animal-whisperer abilities don't count. Still, I give it points for actually addressing this in the game. Another example is Hakuouki. I loved the historical stuff, but I couldn't help but feel as if I was just along for the ride. Events were moved forward by others, and almost every single one of the fight scenes was the PC being useless and everyone else saving her.

[ichigokage]

lol i didnt know that~ i know pretty much nothing about persona in general  

Oh no, I wasn't saying that you should know it, but just mentioning it so that you didn't set your heart on playing it an get disappointed. ^^;

Anyways, I tend to like the Otome games where there's gameplay besides talking because in those games the heroine usually gets to kick some ass herself. I hate it when I'm forced to be the passive and helpless damsel, especially in a setting where everyone else is fighting stuff. Ninja Love, for example. If I'm supposed to be a Kunoichi princess, then why am I so useless? Animal-whisperer abilities don't count. Still, I give it points for actually addressing this in the game. Another example is Hakuouki. I loved the historical stuff, but I couldn't help but feel as if I was just along for the ride. Events were moved forward by others, and almost every single one of the fight scenes was the PC being useless and everyone else saving her.

That's why I love femShep!!! She is such a badass. Even better with mixing Paragon and Renegade. Female wardens and femHawke from the Dragon Age games rock too.

[Nebty]

That's why I love femShep!!! She is such a badass. Even better with mixing Paragon and Renegade. Female wardens and femHawke from the Dragon Age games rock too.

Exactly. That's also why I love the FeMC from P3P so much as well. She's a highschool student, but she's also really badass. I mean, you've got to be brave to be able to put a gun to your head to summon demons.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8rBalCZh_ao

[midorichii]

*sticks to free games* :'D I'm working on Ninja Love, Be my Princess, Bodyguard, Love Academy, and Pure Love on my phone. On my PC, I have Star Project, and I occasionally play My Candy Love if I'm bored out of my mind and need entertainment, and I'll be downloading Starry Sky soon.

[LittleYuki]

right now I'm finishing Keitai guardian... the stories are not but its too expensive for $7 per character. I love that I'm hearing my fave seiyuu speak in my ear though. I've also started on ShinsenRenki... its a new one and it costs $0.99 per character. Its a short read but its nice. two more characters to finish!

[Aiwethryne]

*hurrcough* Necroing. But I don't like making excessive discussions.

Really, my phone has trapped me. I simply do not have much time to play otome games outside my phone lately... The ones that I continue to play every day are Be My Princess for GREE, Ninja Love for GREE, Ninja Love+, My Sweet Prince+, Destiny Ninja, Office Lover, Contract Marriage, Forbidden Love, Angels and Demons... I spin all of the recent Koyonplete games, but I still have not gone further than that. Damn, I have too many games that I play at once. It makes me a bit glad that I slowed down in My Sweet Bodyguard and Celebrity Darling.

[OtomeBabe]

Back to my old time fave, Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew's series are the only not social game I constantly need a complete walkthrough in order to  solve the case or simply keep her alive. I know it's not an otoge but sometime my brain needs a little break from sweetness of otoge.