I’m moved by shoujo manga style romances between male characters we can relate to. For instance a lot of games (and I don’t mean to hate on them because they’re still good) released in English tend to be very superficial and there isn’t enough of having fun with your friends and slice of life elements. From the very beginning, attainable female protagonists are clear cut and set, all of them love you. It’s like everything was decided from the very start. I don’t like that, I want uncertainty and better male friends you can hang out with. Hot Gimmick had one of the best romance scenes ever. It had this sub-plot between 2 characters that was done on the side and I thought that sub-plot was a lot more interesting than the main arc. There was this great scene where the guy tries to apologize to the girl because of something that happened earlier that made her sad and then she gets so moved by it she kisses him. But before that happened she was eating the valentines day chocolates she was gonna give him, and so the kiss tasted like chocolate and shes like “Theres your valentine’s day gift”.
I started playing Tsuyokiss recently and I thought the characters in it were rather powerful in terms of believability and affecting me. I started to profoundly feel a bit of concern for them and even the male friends are witty and not 100% cannon fodder that end up being alone at the end. Theres so many different sub characters that just add life to the game world unlike a lot of games where all you get is a pervert friend who serves as a punching bag/comic relief and the rest of it is your love interests who are pretty much your personal harem. The interactions in Tsuyokiss seemed much more realistic and natural, not to mention they flowed better. So ultimately what really moves me are believable characters and a living world of many supporting characters where things don’t immediately jump into choosing which girl you want and working to getting her to like you. That was one thing I REALLY hated about the Trabulance games, 5 hot girls move into your house and you pretty much go out at night to visit one of them to have sex with. All the romantic tension is gone pretty much, it’ becomes a harem fantasy.
Other than that, the other thing that really moves me is Tsundere girls and vampire girls, generally any kind of girl that is on a higher level than the main character. Thats why I like Tsuyokiss and “They are my noble masters”.