alias_sqbr

Masterlist

Time for ALL THE OTHER BOYS, who I played simultaneously since none of them have much content.

Lucas Route: Annoying at first but then sweet and funny. Delightfully open about being into dudes.
Adrian and Kam Routes: Dull and underwritten but mildly cute in parts.

Content note: Very vague implication of bad/abusive parenting.
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I wrote a fic!

Internal Controls and Cost Analysis (3086 words) by sqbr
Fandom: XOXO Droplets (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jeremy King/Main Character | JB (XOXO Droplets)
Characters: Jeremy King
Summary: Post-canon fluff about being miserable and hating everything.

This is theoretically the first chapter in a longer Pran/Jeremy/JB fic, but I don't know if I'll end up writing the rest of it, and I think it works ok as a little stand alone character piece.

Normally I don't post WIPs unless I'm sure they're as done as they're going to be, but I wanted to talk about something new I did in this one: using a work skin! I followed this tutorial on replicating iOS style messages, if you're not interested in reading the fic just scroll down until you hit blocks of colour to see how it looks.

It was pretty straightforward html, so now that I have Tasted The Joy Of CSS I may experiment with some of the other fun looking styles they have tutorials for.

Or maybe I'll redo all my fanart as CSS, at least that way it would be guaranteed not to go down...

Masterlist

This was low key but cute! MC was basically dating a brattier, douchier version of herself, and she adores herself, so that worked out pretty well. He's mostly willing to admit he enjoys MC's company?? What kind of dating sim path is this??

I did Cala's side conversations but have nothing much to say about it. She was mildly interesting.

Content note for the path but not this post: he says "bitch" a lot, which is a word I don't like very much, but it's mostly not very gendered.
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Masterlist

Time for the extra-tsun tsundere, Pran!

This was cute. He never stops being a belligerent asshole, but they seemed happy, and he isn't a sociopath, so he's the nicest dude so far!

I also did the friendship paths for Lynn, Alicia, and Trent, which were all very cute.

I'm enjoying this game a lot more than I expected to! I especially love the complex relationships between all the characters. That's one thing English Language dating sims are not generally very good at. I'm even vaguely pondering fic, and I never do that for mundane canons. They're just regular teenagers! None of them are vampires or elves or anything.

Content notes: Abusive family, what could read as mild consent issues, vague hints at disordered eating
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So! Here's the complete guide to the game as written by the developer. It has all the relevant information but I found it very overwhelming. This guide is simpler, but has very specific goals: romance one of the main love interests and see all of his content, and also see all the content for two side characters. It works for the free or paid version, but has mainly been used for the paid one.

There's also several more minor love interests in the paid version, and a friendship ending, which I have a reasonably efficient method for at the end.

There's no major plot spoilers, but some unavoidable "things that can happen" spoilers.
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So I have like 3 otome games waiting for me to finish them, and I thought maybe I was just going off the genre. But then I thought maybe I just need a game with no tragedy or consent issues, and looks like I was right! Because this has been a lot of fun.

(I absolutely intend to finish the other games eventually, I just needed a break)

So! XOXO Droplets is a humourous game about dating The Douchiest Guys In School. The premise put me off for a long time, since I wasn't sure if it would take the romances seriously, and it isn't as feels heavy as my favourite otome games. But under the humour are some genuine characters and sincere feelings, I spend a lot of time thinking "Haha, aww, you assholes really do deserve each other <3". Also, unlike most "humourous" VNs, it's actually funny.

Here's the itchio page, the trailer gives a run down of all the dudes, I'll also describe them under the cut. I started with the free/demo version then switched to the paid one, and kind of wish I'd done it earlier, since I missed some early content for my chosen boy ;_;

I just finished the path for Shiloh, a boyishly charming manipulator, and it was great. The MC pegs him as a liar right off the bat, which creates a fascinating dynamic: he swoons and blushes about how amazing she is and she wallows in the attention then laughs at what a skeeze he is, and they both know it's mostly an act but they're also both having fun. He's one of the free love interests, but definitely not everyone's cup of tea.

Under the cut is just a bunch more rambling about the game. It's hard to spoil: so far there's little plot, and the characters are basically who they appear to be on the surface. They're just not only that. EDIT: I've now finished the full game, and mostly still agree with this review, but have added a few extra remarks.
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