Catherine (English) Reviews Thread

That IGN review is so rubbish. It doesn't tell me what works, doesn't tell me what doesn't work, doesn't tell me what's good, doesn't tell me what's bad. Basically nothing you need from a review.

I could have written something as meaningful based solely on a press release and a trailer or two.
 
Gamebryo: Only the Persona Team does it right.

Really. I can't believe how good it came out despite being on that engine. Can't wait for the release!
 
Thoraxes said:
Gamebryo: Only the Persona Team does it right.

Really. I can't believe how good it came out despite being on that engine. Can't wait for the release!
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Divinity II looks great.
 
Always day 1 regardless of the reviews.

Still pleased that IGN scored it highly, purely because many people base there purchase decisions of scores from big sites.
 
Raitosaito said:
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?
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It seems we find a new person every Catherine thread that asks this. There is no Japanese VA in the North American version.

Maybe bold will prevent this from happening again!
 
cj_iwakura 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.
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Did people read the summary at all?

He didn't give the game a lower score because it was hard. He gave the game a lower score because it was hard AND he needed to play the 12-hour, "hard" puzzle game AGAIN to get a better ending. He didn't feel like the game rewarded the time and effort he put into it, on the contrary, the game just expected him to go through it again.

I loved the demo and will buy the game, but his complaints are 100% valid. People are just being pissy at reviewers because that's what gamers enjoy doing, for some reason. People that "don't care about reviews" should just, you know, not click in review threads or review links. But nope, let's annoy the people that care by crowding the review threads.
 
I hate games with "bad/good" endings. I don't want to play through an entire game with a FAQ by my side just so I can avoid getting the crappy ending. That killed Persona 4 for me.

Multiple endings are fine but when one is a whole lot better than the rest, that pisses me off.
 
Frankfurt said:
Did people read the summary at all?

He didn't give the game a lower score because it was hard. He gave the game a lower score because it was hard AND he needed to play the 12-hour, "hard" puzzle game AGAIN to get a better ending. He didn't feel like the game rewarded the time and effort he put into it, on the contrary, the game just expected him to go through it again.

I loved the demo and will buy the game, but his complaints are 100% valid. People are just being pissy at reviewers because that's what gamers enjoy doing, for some reason. People that "don't care about reviews" should just, you know, not click in review threads or review links. But nope, let's annoy the people that care by crowding the review threads.
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I don't completely agree with some of the complaints in a sense. Once you go through the game once, the sticking points in certain levels (there are a few) seem much more trivial and easy to get through once you get through them the first time.

I'm not sure how "this game expects me to complete it again to get a different ending" translates to "the game doesn't reward me for the time and effort I put into it." The choices you make are over the entire game, how else would it handle it? If you want the other endings....then make the effort. I realize reviewers don't have that luxury of time, but when you have something heavily effected by something done over the course of the game, the only thing they could do is "hey wanna see the other endings super easy?" Doesn't really make sense. Also, playing through the game again, you can get better records for levels, see new dialogue options, so it' s not like it is a completely stale and seen-that-done-that experience. And to be fair, (spoiler tagging, this DOES NOT HAVE ANY PLOT MENTION)
you can get multiple endings in one run by leaving a save at a certain point.

And just so you know, I've completed the Japanese version, so I've seen the game in its entirety (except for all the endings, was waiting for the North American version).


DoctorWho said:
I hate games with "bad/good" endings. I don't want to play through an entire game with a FAQ by my side just so I can avoid getting the crappy ending. That killed Persona 4 for me.

Multiple endings are fine but when one is a whole lot better than the rest, that pisses me off.
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I understand the want to not get a bad ending or whatever, but that's the nature of the game and more of a user issuer than a game issue. Granted if it only had one ending, the choices would be rendered meaningless and reviewers would dock it for having no new reason to play through the game again.
 
DoctorWho said:
I hate games with "bad/good" endings. I don't want to play through an entire game with a FAQ by my side just so I can avoid getting the crappy ending. That killed Persona 4 for me.

Multiple endings are fine but when one is a whole lot better than the rest, that pisses me off.
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I haven't played the full game yet, but it seems clear that you'd want to choose answers that would make Katherine happy in order to get a good ending.
 
Mister Wilhelm said:
I'd really like to buy this game just to support it, but the gameplay doesn't look like something I'd enjoy at all. Not a big puzzle guy.
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You don't like climbing around on boxes for hours?
 
kliklik said:
I was under the impression that you could skip puzzles that you had already gotten a top rating on, making it much faster to go through and get all the endings. Is this incorrect?
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That's correct. But unless you just love staring at "now loading" screens, you're still better off planning your runs relatively carefully...
Three runs (and strategically-placed save files you could reload afterwards) should be enough to see all endings, if you know what you're doing.


[Confirmation that there won't be Japanese audio?]
AtlusAram said:
Yes, it is confirmed.
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Meh...


cj_iwakura said:
That's not even counting the replay value from Rapunzel and Babel(aka hell).
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Babel...
"Hey, I just unlocked the first level. Might as well get it out of the way right now: how hard could the first level be?"
...
"OH WHAT THE F-"
 
Already had the game preordered, LOVED the demo, enjoyed the puzzles as much as the story (which I kinda wasnt expecting) and will be getting this Day 1. Can't wait.
 
This is going to be a game where I need to read all the reviews before deciding. I don't like the puzzle gameplay but I am really digging the story.
 
Phoenix_Apollo said:
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.
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And Phil Kollar at Game Informer just gave Shadows of the Damned 9.25/10, so it's not like they hate Japanese games. The reviewer of Catherine just happened to not think it was great.

Did he also review Catherine? I haven't got the new issue of GI yet.
 
cosmicblizzard said:
Hmmm, the ending thing interests me. Might just use a FAQ only to avoid a crappy ending, but other than that I welcome the difficulty.
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choose the right girl for you, you'll get the "right" ending I suppose :p (finished the prepatched game also, and it's was quite challenging enven on easy(thank god for the "undo move" feature))

P5 teasing at TGS, COME ON ATLUS!!

SolidSnakex said:
I haven't played the full game yet, but it seems clear that you'd want to choose answers that would make Katherine happy in order to get a good ending.
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not gonna say more, but try to make her unhappy and/or make Catherine happy and see the endings you can get for yourself ^^


anyways, talking about endings and puzzle difficulty isn't really making justice to this game, what I liked and will remenber about is the rest of the game, how it manages to cover(and well at that) a lot of the topics a 30year old guy has to deal with, friends love, work, commitment etc

that makes it really an unique game, a game worth playing, a smart game, the kind of stuff you don't get to play everyday.
 
Curufinwe said:
And Phil Kollar at Game Informer just gave Shadows of the Damned 9.25/10, so it's not like they hate Japanese games. The reviewer of Catherine just happened to not think it was great.

Did he also review Catherine? I haven't got the new issue of GI yet.
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Yea, Phil reviewed Catherine as well.
 
I have to say I was actually quite disappointed by the story, in the end... It felt like it had a lot of potential as it dealt with unusual themes for a video game, but
the eventual reveal regarding Catherine pretty much voids everything in that regard. It's one giant cop-out (and it's introduced quite awkwardly, too).
 
Was going to hold off on this, but I am week and just ordered the Love Is Over version. There wasn't much difference in price between the regular and CE so I thought I might as well have some shameful shit.
 
Will the localized version of Catherine be patched already (meaning it includes the patch that was released in Japan a month or so after)?
 
ULTROS! said:
Will the localized version of Catherine be patched already (meaning it includes the patch that was released in Japan a month or so after)?
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Yes.
 
kliklik 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.
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IMO, it depends on the source. A source that consistently grades a bit tougher, a 7 is something I would consider to be a good score. If they don't, then the 7 means less. It is difficult enough to say a 7 score means the same thing across one site due to different reviewers and their bias. I don't think a 7 means the same thing when you toss all sites into one pool to determine what a 'good' score means.
 
Mister Wilhelm said:
I'd really like to buy this game just to support it, but the gameplay doesn't look like something I'd enjoy at all. Not a big puzzle guy.
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Same here.
I was quite interested in to it as an adventure game/visual novel thing. Didn't like tacked on puzzle gameplay in it. Probably gonna youtube it :P
 
velvet_nitemare said:
Just played the Demo. Interesting. Not sure how much i'm liking the gameplay to be honest, but i still wanna experience it. Probably rent it.

As with all multiplatform games, PS3 or 360?

Also, this just left me fiending for SMT4 or Persona 5 on this engine.
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TheChillyAcademic said:
THIS THIS THIS THIS
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Gunloc said:
I love the graphic style of this game.

I'm totally on the "Make Persona 5 using this engine!" train.
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Never did I expect to see the day people were clamoring for more Gamebryo games.
 
I expected the other way around. IGN being incomprehensible and what not.
 
LiK said:
Surprised at the hate for GI's review score. I thought 7 meant good.
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7's all read terrible in Game Informer mags. I long figured out that they seem 'meh' to anything thats a 7 even though to me thats an above average score.

And from Edge thats like a gold medal.
 
ciaossu said:
I'm not really expecting great reviews, but hot damn if this game ends up being acclaimed.

I WANT PERSONA 5!!!
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this...
i want catherine and all but...
smt4? persona5? anything? pretty please!
 
_dementia said:
GI tends to skew higher, don't they?
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i think they do. as a rule i generally subtract one whole point from any gameinformer review. but then again i buy and love many poorly reviewed games so it doesn't matter to me. but still, to be on the safe side. subtract one whole point.
 
Volcynika said:
I don't completely agree with some of the complaints in a sense. Once you go through the game once, the sticking points in certain levels (there are a few) seem much more trivial and easy to get through once you get through them the first time.

I'm not sure how "this game expects me to complete it again to get a different ending" translates to "the game doesn't reward me for the time and effort I put into it." The choices you make are over the entire game, how else would it handle it? If you want the other endings....then make the effort. I realize reviewers don't have that luxury of time, but when you have something heavily effected by something done over the course of the game, the only thing they could do is "hey wanna see the other endings super easy?" Doesn't really make sense. Also, playing through the game again, you can get better records for levels, see new dialogue options, so it' s not like it is a completely stale and seen-that-done-that experience. And to be fair, (spoiler tagging, this DOES NOT HAVE ANY PLOT MENTION)
you can get multiple endings in one run by leaving a save at a certain point.

And just so you know, I've completed the Japanese version, so I've seen the game in its entirety (except for all the endings, was waiting for the North American version).

I understand the want to not get a bad ending or whatever, but that's the nature of the game and more of a user issuer than a game issue. Granted if it only had one ending, the choices would be rendered meaningless and reviewers would dock it for having no new reason to play through the game again.
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I only you knew how i love seeing this . i got stuck arguing yesterday if someone with the opposite attitude "( i made bad choices, why should i only get the normal ending this path ) i don't want to play again" as if it's the game fault not his .

CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES ON YOUR STORY PEOPLE .!!!

That how it always should be
 
FreeMufasa said:
Nice score from IGN. Was expecting a 6.5 to be honest.
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Yeah. IGN gave it a 9 and got a week exclusive on online reviews.

Not saying anything bad about the game (I have it pre-ordered and can't wait to pick it up) but I'm skeptical of what that score would be if there was no exclusive.

EDIT: Not sure where you got 6.5 from, but I do think the score would be lower.
 
Reviews mean nothing to me, but I guess this means more sheep will pick it up if it scores well.

July 26th is going to be so choice! Catherine & El Shaddai on the same day! So cool.
 
Yuterald said:
Reviews mean nothing to me, but I guess this means more sheep will pick it up if it scores well.

July 26th is going to be so choice! Catherine & El Shaddai on the same day! So cool.
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catherine-sheep.jpg
 
Can I post the review I wrote of Catherine? It's based on the Japanese version but it's still relevant enough. It goes into far more detail about the gameplay than the IGN review does, and sort of justifies the "it's too hard" complaints of the other review.

It's not that it's "too hard," it's that the action and the puzzle aspects are at war with each other and so that makes it harder than it should be. As if it's accidentally hard, in a way.

http://www.ntsc-uk.co.uk/content.php?67-Catherine-Review-Sony-PS3
 
I don't think it's too wise to discuss spoilers of the game in a thread for the NA reviews of it, when the game's not even out yet.
 
Fimbulvetr said:
You mean choices don't always end well for me?

Somebody call Bioware to fix this travesty!
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Well they didn't in Dragon Age II either, or rather they took the choices you made earlier and completely invalidated them.
 
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