marcob: I get distinct "hasty-made mobile game" vibes from this wave of games.
They all look too similar, they have a very '90-ish, stereotypical early consumer anime plot that seem a kind of pretext to me (they're the same plots from early arcade games and actual j-porn, they mimic classic genres in a very hi-concept, meme-style way and/or they do the impossible to justify bedding scenes. I find they actuallywork best if they're outright comedic..)
But the two points that reall piss me off are a) hypocritical presentation: ok, "hypocritical" is a bit too harsh, implicit, half-censored? If you're proud to be ecchi, then say it out loud, and do not only leave "legalese banners" alone to hint at that, plus some underwear pics to imply more. It's some seller's middleground that is so bland and boring in its unlikely mix of correctness and attempted attractiveness...
What if the first Mortal Kombat presented itself as a 2D version of Soul Calibur, with only a small drop of blood in a corner?
and then
b) which is somewhat the other side of a): description that borders clickbaiting (buybaiting) or misleading: it does not only fail to state its raunchy nature (which could be a great plus, if it's not something they seem to be ashamed of,
suggesting it could be somewhat not well integrated with the rest or just using the rest as a mere front...am I too suspicious?
It's because I'm tired of seeing this pattern, like if someone who wanted something could enjoy something else if you're pretending you have what he wants instead. (S)he'll be unsatisfied, of course. And not even because there's some ban or moral taboo, just because the customer/viewer (I believe it was a trend born in ads, then tv, then youtube) looked for something and had expectations that were built upon and then disappointed.
Short: if I want sex scenes, clearly offer them (as clearly as it can be done on a non.-porn site) and then state that in description; if I'm in the mood, I'll give it a try and I'll watch it knowing what it is. Probably I'll like it (if it's not too absurd or distasteful, and it does not have to be a depiction of realism and lawful goodness, since it's both fantasy and fiction, come on: nobody tried to outlaw gangster movies for having cursing and robbing, nobody refused to sell horror flicks because of killings, since that's consistent with their theme, and not actually encouraging to do those things in real life!) If I'm not searching for that kind of content, I will not like it even if it were well filmed/programmed, because it was kinda pushed unto me. And if something its both soft-porn and something else (Leisure suit Larry, maybe?) there are ways to tell it too, and you should have balance.
Nothing is more disappointing than trying to make something look like a different product. It means you can't/ don't manage/are not confident to offer your art/style/product/plot and decide to go half-assed and/or ambiguous.
Compare: The Witcher (both R content and much more non-R content) ; Summertime Saga (R, comedic, some shortcomings, but it says it from the start); anime fanservice or manga games fanservice (e.g. Diebuster, Jojo, Fumoffu, SNK babes, etc. that promise sexy-but-not-porn and deliver just that)
No. These are indie games made in the RPG Maker platform. They don't even run on phones for the most part. Japan has different games for the phone. And no, the games are not pretending to be something else. There are serious attempts to combine both styles. Having played a lot of these, there is legitimate gameplay in them. Yep, you can die and it doesn't end well. The battles are pretty serious as well as the platforming and other mechanics. They just happen to have sex scenes. Japan certainly has a number of straight up fuck simulators. That's not what these are. Sexual things can happen, but they don't have to. And to be perfectly fair, there is probably a great deal of sex in many commercial JRPG's that developers never were allowed to show. Think about all the games where you have made camp with a party. People on very long journeys like that definitely get horny every once in a while and unless they're banging some monster, there is definitely sex happening in those camp scenes. The ero-JRPG's are just upfront about it. Maybe players just don't want to know that their characters are having sex? Weird, because people do it all the time. It's even weird to think they wouldn't have sex - feels awful puritanical to be honest. It's not reality, and in reality, people who are attracted to each other tend to get busy and in turn, create more people.