TheChillyAcademic
Member
velvet_nitemare said:
THIS THIS THIS THIS
Catherine (English) Reviews Thread
- Thread starter LiK
- Start date
THIS THIS THIS THIS
cj_iwakura
Member
The difficulty should be a non-issue, really. Easy is there for those who want to sit back and enjoy the story, Normal is there for people who want to earn it, Hard is there for people who want to suffer.
cj_iwakura
Member
Hell, I paid $85 for it. Happily.
cj_iwakura
Member
Papercuts said:
With the patch(included in the US release), yes. Easy adds a 'spring board' feature that gives you a drink that lets you immediately climb three blocks. Effectively clears the stage for you.
Beyond that, I believe the floor falls faster/bosses chase quicker in Normal.
Hard is a whole different ball game. New patterns.
Megidolaon
Member
The IGN review makes it sound good. I already have it preordered but it's nice to have a good word in. I want this game to do well so there's no "operation rainfall" for Atlus.
And I tend to agree more with IGN than GI. X-Play are the only reviews that really annoy me. Too many lame jokes.
And I tend to agree more with IGN than GI. X-Play are the only reviews that really annoy me. Too many lame jokes.
GrandHarrier
Member
momolicious said:
Atlas and the Persona team can have my money. All of it.
iSurvivedTheOutage
Member
I have to say...I played the demo and I reeeeally reeeally like it. Something different and refreshing for my tastes. I love the cutscenes and also the fact that I can lie to my girlfriend in game!
lorddct said:So Sad. Well I hope the english va isn't too brutal then.
It actually sounds quite good from the videos I've seen.
Here's two...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUrTi17Ppq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EoPut6nlVw
XANDER CAGE
Member
Can't wait. Got my pizza box incoming.
Incendiary
Banned
Good to see this is getting good reviews. I preordered based on my love of puzzle games and my blind faith in the Atlus team to make compelling games. The thing I love the most about Persona 3 and 4 is the dichotomy between the social links and the actual battling. Since there's a similar dichotomy in this (it looks like it, at least) I think I'll be pleased with my purchase. Can't wait.
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
One question: I know the 360 is known to have blocky FMVs. Can anyone explain that to me?
Is it really that bad compared to the PS3 version or are the difference very minor?
And I'm surprised IGN gave it a high score while GI gave it a lower one. Looks like one of those "love it or hate it" type of games.
Is it really that bad compared to the PS3 version or are the difference very minor?
And I'm surprised IGN gave it a high score while GI gave it a lower one. Looks like one of those "love it or hate it" type of games.
Phoenix_Apollo
Member
I'm just going to throw out the fact that just because it's difficult doesn't make it good, or fun. Demon's Souls is a good example of a game that is difficult for a good reason, yes, but that doesn't mean that all games that are hard are like that. Even back in the 8-bit and 16-bit era there were games that were stupidly difficult for no other reason than to make you play more in addition to games that were just difficult for good reason. Nothing's changed here other than the fact that a lot of games are now easier.
Catherine does seem to be a pretty love it/hate it game and if you deny that, you're lying. This isn't some hardcore RPG that brings back memories of twenty years ago, this is a timed puzzle game, with a really good story. Some people are going to like one part, some are going to love all of it. Some people will hate all of it.
This has nothing to do with the perception that Western game reviewers inherently hate Japanese games. This has to do with whether a game is too stupidly difficult for it's own good, or if it's just right in difficulty. Obviously, there will be supporters on both sides.
Catherine does seem to be a pretty love it/hate it game and if you deny that, you're lying. This isn't some hardcore RPG that brings back memories of twenty years ago, this is a timed puzzle game, with a really good story. Some people are going to like one part, some are going to love all of it. Some people will hate all of it.
This has nothing to do with the perception that Western game reviewers inherently hate Japanese games. This has to do with whether a game is too stupidly difficult for it's own good, or if it's just right in difficulty. Obviously, there will be supporters on both sides.
Hours Left
Member
Though I think games nowadays have created certain expectations of lower difficulty levels.Phoenix_Apollo said:
Something that would be considered extremely challenging today by some people, may been viewed as only moderately difficult in previous "eras". Some people do need to realize that dying or failing a level used to be a lot more prevalent in earlier games, and we shouldn't be able to just breeze through everything all the time.
cj_iwakura
Member
kliklik said:
I believe this is true. I've written the FAQ(which I just completed finally!) with the intent of helping players get Gold scores on every stage, so that should help.
The catch? Supposedly the patched stages are different. I hope this isn't true; I never installed it. I wrote the FAQ from the original JP release.
Also, I thought the game was a blast.
Hard as hell, yes; but so rewarding, and it's great once you learn the basics that make the game a breeze.
Phoenix_Apollo said:
And here I was trying to bamboozle people into believing that a 7 is still a good score (on IGN and Gamespot, for example, a 7 is literally translated to and labeled as "good") and that, where there are differing opinions, it's most likely love vs. indifference from lack of appeal.
cj_iwakura
Member
kliklik said:
Apparently they downgraded it for a really silly reason; difficulty. Of course, it's GameInformer. I wouldn't look twice at their review scores.
Phoenix_Apollo
Member
Gunloc said:
I'm not going to argue that game certainly have gotten easier over the years and that people may have become soft because of that, but that can't be the excuse for every game that's considered more difficult than the norm. Going back to those earlier days, those hard levels were all the game really featured. There was hardly a story to care about, nor other things to do in the game that are more exciting. That's why Demon's Souls got great reviews; it was pretty much an HD take on old school hard games. It had a story, sure, but the gameplay was clearly the focus.
In Catherine, the story is just as much the focus as the gameplay, if not more so, which means there's more to the game than just really hard block puzzles. This can create the "ugh, these puzzle levels are cool and all, and I respect them for being difficult, but I'd much rather have more story than deal with them" mentality that games like Demon's Souls can't generate.
The difference is that in Catherine, sections of the game are being dangled in front of you like golden carrots and in Demon's Souls, you get the one singular thing about it, the hard gameplay.
EDIT: Kliklik, the difference is, GI's 7's mean that it's an average game. As in 70%; a C.
Hours Left
Member
But the difficulty of the puzzles and the allure of the story make beating the current level more satisfying. And if any genre of game should be hard, it should be puzzle games.Phoenix_Apollo said:
Obviously not everyone appreciates a good challenge, and there are difficulty levels now to appease them. But I just wish people would be a little more adventurous in letting themselves try something difficult, and just because you lose or have to practice to get better, it's not a sign of weakness or that the game sucks.
Appollowexx
Member
IGN's review is extremely enthusiastic, and has me pretty hyped. The demo was pretty enjoyable and I've heard a lot of good things from the import thread.
Think I'll wait a while though, that Steam sale has given me a ridiculous back catalogue, I'd feel ashamed if I started adding any more to it.
EDIT - 15hrs seems much longer than I expected from a game of this genre. I was thinking more like 7-9hrs max.
Think I'll wait a while though, that Steam sale has given me a ridiculous back catalogue, I'd feel ashamed if I started adding any more to it.
EDIT - 15hrs seems much longer than I expected from a game of this genre. I was thinking more like 7-9hrs max.
Phoenix_Apollo
Member
Gunloc said:
There is the possibility that the difficulty should make things more satisfying, but there's also the possibility you'll go "ugh, do I really have to put up with another one of these just so I can get some more story?" It's more of a personal taste issue here, and there is no right choice to make.
I suppose I'm defending them because I'm generally lenient when it comes to complaints about things, especially when it comes to difficulty. These people have deadlines and such after all. The only time I actually go "wait, what. No, that's just wrong. That's a stupid reason/complaint" is when the reviewer does something stupid on the level of Joystiq's review of Nier. Or the reviewer is self-professed to hating Japanese games. Neither one of which is the case here.
Kliklik said:
Unless you're using the method schools use to grade things where 7 is average, and everything 5 and below is just describing what level of bad the thing being reviewed is on. That's what GI uses.
cj_iwakura
Member
That's not even counting the replay value from Rapunzel and Babel(aka hell).
Phoenix_Apollo
Member
kliklik said:
Fair enough. Perhaps your impression that it's more of a "love it/indifferent to it" kind of game is more accurate and I was talking out of my ass (we'll have to see more review scores first, but I think you're right), but I could affix that tag to most games today. If that's the case, then I don't see why everyone's getting up in arms about it. It's not like it's gotten a 3 or something.
Phoenix_Apollo said:
Well that's exactly it. People tend to overreact to scores of 7 or 8 and get very defensive, putting down the review site or complaining about the reviewer's ignorance/stupidity, proclaiming they'll never trust/read another review from that site again, saying things like "add 2 and you'll get the REAL score", etc etc. (as if their evaluation of the game is any less of an opinion than someone else's evaluation).
I've even seen people get agitated over a 0.5 difference ("I could see an 8.0, ok, but 7.5 IGN? What the hell!!!")
The extreme defensiveness over a game isn't an indication that there is a large contingent of people out there who hate it (from which it needs to be defended). It's an indication that there's a group who really love it...often even before they've played it.
Raitosaito
Member
I saw some Catherine gameplay, and I think I'll dip my toes in out of curiosity.( the puzzles have crazy looking scenarios.) But does it even have VA in Japanese for the NA version?