Harem vs True Love

[HornyMonsterGirlEnjoyer]

Hello F95zone Users! HornyMonsterGirlEnjoyer is back with a new question. BECAUSE I REFUSE TO STAY IN MY OWN DAMN LANE.

So basically do you enjoy Harems or True love more?

Personally I enjoy harem games, but I'm not opposed to games where you try to find Twu Wuv or whatever.

How do you feel?
(As always you can add examples if you want, but that's not required)

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

True love, 100%... which is probably obvious to whoever played my game

 

[HornyMonsterGirlEnjoyer]

True love, 100%... which is probably obvious to whoever played my game

As someone who has played your game... yeah it is pretty damn obvious(loved your game btw)

 

[JoeTheMC84]

While I think you can just have both, But I get what you're asking I think.

I usually prefer harem games, largely because most games have several girls and so I hate to miss out, but also because I think it makes the story more dynamic and adds more possibilities. But some of my favorite games are actually solo romance games. A game that only has one love interest and the whole story is about developing and seeing that relationship. Reconnect, for example, is probably one of my favorite AVNs out there. A Date with Emily is another good romance solo-girl game. I hate games that are neither. Games that play as a harem for the whole story until suddenly because "end of game," it makes you pick between the girls, I hate that more than almost anything.

If I have to pick though... I'd say that harems are my preference.

 

[HornyMonsterGirlEnjoyer]

Games that play as a harem for the whole story until suddenly because "end of game," it makes you pick between the girls, I hate that more than almost anything.

Oh I totally agree. It feels like a rug pull. If you can have a harem story you can make a harem ending.

 

[tanstaafl]

So basically do you enjoy Harems or True love more?

Both about equally, but neither are top in what I look for. If I wanted a single LI romance where I'm loyal and spend quality time with my LI I'd leave my office and chill with my wife. Harem also gets cloying too, since it's rare to find a harem game that doesn't turn into "Cult of MC" eventually, like Grandma's House. Those annoy the shit out of me.

 

[_user]

My main problem with the "True Love" genre where you pick a single love interest is that you get 1 scene with your LI every 2 years.

I don't actually like the concept of harem games, it's the alternative of having to replay linear VNs that i hate more. Games centered on a single character like Haley's Story manage the "true love" bit without all the FOMO.

 

[Letstryitout]

True luv stuff is more personal; but harem fun is longer lasting. Harem game rarely evokes the higher romantic emotions as a good mono-relationship game. But the problem with those "love story" games is that they need to be shorter or need to move to more adventurous stuff, but then it doesn't stay as powerful romance-wise. IDK how much I can beat it for the same couple before that mono relationship becomes Mono-Tonous for me. A harem, on the other hand, can be much longer and longer lived than pure romance stuff; you can make Harem's situations and personalities different as much as you want to make the fun longer.

 

[Saerwen]

True love because I never saw male harem in FMC games.

 

[JoeTheMC84]

True love because I never saw male harem in FMC games.

That's probably because most FMC games are still made to cater to the male audience, just a different set of them than the usual harem games are made to appeal towards. Harems are mostly made to appeal to the male power fantasy, while most FMC games are made to appeal to men who just want to see a girl getting sexualized as much and in as many different ways as possible. That said, there are some FMC games that have lesbian harems though. I know of a few personally and I'm sure there are other out there too. I don't know of any actual games where a FMC queen bee style has a harem of guys though. They probably exist, I just haven't heard of them.

 

[Saerwen]

That's probably because most FMC games are still made to cater to the male audience, just a different set of them than the usual harem games are made to appeal towards. Harems are mostly made to appeal to the male power fantasy, while most FMC games are made to appeal to men who just want to see a girl getting sexualized as much and in as many different ways as possible. That said, there are some FMC games that have lesbian harems though. I know of a few personally and I'm sure there are other out there too. I don't know of any actual games where a FMC queen bee style has a harem of guys though. They probably exist, I just haven't heard of them.

I think I saw at least one FMC game with focus on male harem, because in otome games it's usually only mentioned in endings.

 

[Danv]

harem is true love, incest is wincest, so - true love incest harem

 

[MissCougar]

I like true love, or whatever the equivalent is to "one person and another person finding a connection" even if it is like NTR on my phone or something. As long as it doesn't break into an orgy or a harem it seems ok.

I kind of think the harem situation is like a futa. You have to have the best of all worlds and anything you want you can get. I like there to be rails and you don't just wave a magic wand and get everything.

However I think it's valuable to also indicate this is my female perspective, and I think it's probably inherently grown into our dna that men want to sew their oats across all the fertile lands. As for me being one of the "fertile lands" I don't get to do sewing or massive breeding. It's basically once and then you are "sewn" for a while. It's not something you can go on a fuck rampage through the world on and spread all your kids everywhere.

So I think the concept of a harem appeals to the male lust for breeding everywhere and getting all the women while lesser men look on at that massive chad with the stockpile of girls under his roof. It's a power trip.

 

[chainedpanda]

This is very close to encroaching on a philosophical debate lol. However, I'll just assume that you're asking rather or not I prefer a single love interest vs multiple of them (even tho I believe you can easily have a romantic harem game. Look at Cozy Cafe as an example.)

I do prefer harem games. They generally have two main aspects, the characters (harem) and the scenario (story, setting etc.). In a harem game, these two aspects compliment one another and the developer can use one to elevate the other. Plus, if the player doesn't care about the scenario, the characters can make up for it. If the player doesn't like a character, then there's always another that they might like. Ofc, there's always the chance that the player may dislike one of the two aspects and thus ignore the other one (I've been guilty of that too), but the fact of the matter is that the choice is there.

For a single LI, the developers primary focus must be on that LI. The scenario only exists to elevate the character, but the reverse isn't as important. If the player doesn't like that LI, the game is dead to them. There is no fallback. There are no other characters to enjoy, and since the scenario only exists for that character, it becomes meaningless. The amount of people who would stick to a single LI game for the scenario despite not liking the LI is the extreme minority.

 

[HornyMonsterGirlEnjoyer]

However, I'll just assume that you're asking rather or not I prefer a single love interest vs multiple of them

I agree with your post for the most part, but I actually am talking about harems not multiple LIs. One of the things I enjoy about harems is how the MC or POV character tells the members of the harem they are in a y'know HAREM. I like seeing some LIs being instantly on board while others wrestle with it. Or even some LIs straight up reject the idea. I think a game that has all of this is Lewd Town Adventures(At least the "good path" I haven't payed through the entire "evil path" yet. Hell I might not ever play through all of the evil path) and honestly I play both harem and "true love" games.

My preference is just harem. (I could probably recommend some other harem games, but that's not the point of this thread.)

 

[balitz Method]

I like games where you're free to pursue the character(s) that interest you, but harem games tend to bore me just because they so rarely treat it as a 'real' situation. It's -just- a convenient wish fulfillment scenario with no conflict and everyone content to share with absolute devotion.

 

[chainedpanda]

I agree with your post for the most part, but I actually am talking about harems not multiple LIs. One of the things I enjoy about harems is how the MC or POV character tells the members of the harem they are in a y'know HAREM. I like seeing some LIs being instantly on board while others wrestle with it. Or even some LIs straight up reject the idea. I think a game that has all of this is Lewd Town Adventures(At least the "good path" I haven't payed through the entire "evil path" yet. Hell I might not ever play through all of the evil path) and honestly I play both harem and "true love" games.

My preference is just harem. (I could probably recommend some other harem games, but that's not the point of this thread.)

IMO, a harem is just a harem regardless of how it's formed. As long as there are multiple LI's who all know about the relationship, then it's a harem. Doesn't really matter if it's consensual, out of love, submission or whatever else.

But, if you were to ask me which I'd prefer, then it would be romance rather than submission. I do enjoy some submission, but ultimately the love aspect is my favorite part. It's the reason why Cozy Cafe is my current favorite game. It blends the romance with some submission elements.

 

[Tadpol]

I like games where you're free to pursue the character(s) that interest you, but harem games tend to bore me just because they so rarely treat it as a 'real' situation. It's -just- a convenient wish fulfillment scenario with no conflict and everyone content to share with absolute devotion.

I also get this impression almost every time with harem. The romance aspect is often poorly done or absent, it feels more like a pretext than anything else.

Ideally, for me, it should tend more towards polyamory rather than the traditional harem (in the historical sense of the word). That way, you can have the advantages of both.

 

[Ying Ko]

Harem games with three ladies have the strengths of both harem and solo. More content with the LI or LI's individual players are interested in and the small number of LI's means ease of implementation of solo and combination routes.

 

[x360x]

Harem games with three ladies have the strengths of both harem and solo. More content with the LI or LI's individual players are interested in and the small number of LI's means ease of implementation of solo and combination routes.

I agree, a mix of the two is the sweetspot imo. Solo romance requires good writing and interesting character building, which are rare. With a mini-harem, like 3 or 4 (or even just 2 really) characters that fit different archetypes, you can at least find an archetype you like, like tsundere for example. And that makes up for some of the usually bad writing and characters lacking depth that happens for both genres.