Glanced at the trope page, and I just find the premise of this too bizarre. A Dating Sim? Meant to help RAISE birthrates? This seems like it could be incredibly awkward.
Spoony Bard
Looking at the main Loveplus article, it sounds like Konami once ran a "bus trip fundraiser" for "...students who have got their real life girl of their dreams thanks to Love Plus..." No sources are cited, so it's tough to get a context for what happened. But if you ask me, it sounds like a pretty mild public relations stunt, especially compared to most of the examples listed on No Such Thing as Bad Publicity.
There's a few crazy people in the Loveplus fandom. I don't know what circumstances would drive a person to publicly declare their Perverse Sexual Lust. But at the same time, there's at least a few crazy people in every fandom. I don't think I need to list any examples.
Anyway, it's just a game. We should really just relax.
This could just as easily go into the general Video Games forum section. After all, that's where the Hatoful Boyfriend thread is... and that game only includes a modest amount of simulation gameplay. If that's the best fit, then move this thread.
Why did I start this thread now? Because patch version 1.0
has just been released. Like the previous patches, this one will work with the original DS game. All the text is now translated, and nearly all the bugs have been eliminated. You should now be able to fully enjoy the game on your emulator or DS flash cart.
There are some fans talking about translating LovePlus+, but I haven't seen anything concrete. And Konami has not made any statements about officially localizing any version. (If you ask me, it's way too late for the DS versions. The 3DS is starting to gain some traction... Still, I don't know if the Konami staff believe that an English version would sell more than a few dozen copies. They had no success selling their western romance game Brooktown High a few years back. And there's still a lot of Fan Hater negativity, no thanks to the few crazy fans who took their interest in the game way too far.)
That said, what do you think of Love Plus? What are your thoughts on its writing, visuals, music, and gameplay?
My biggest complaint so far: the save system. It requires going back to the title screen, as well as several needless stylus presses.
My lesser concerns: the polygon characters and the 2D drawings look similar, and they're technically impressive for DS graphics... but I could probably do without the polygon graphics. Also, the first phase of the game seems like marking time — just increasing stats, with a modest amount of feedback. The gameplay is fairly simple until after the confession.
My biggest praise: it's a lot less stressful than Tokimeki Memorial. There's far fewer issues with stats decreasing. There are random factors, but they seem less frustrating. None of the NPCs will "bomb" the main character just because they're not getting enough attention. And in this game, the confession doesn't happen right as the game ends (after graduation day).
My lesser praise: Love Plus seems like a well-designed portable game. It's possible to start it up, play for five or ten minutes, and stop. Finally, since the harem in this game is only three girls, that means all three have decent amounts of personality and screen time. It seems like a Balanced Harem where any of the three could be a valid choice.