Catherine (English) Reviews Thread

I wouldn't consider myself a big fan of Japanese games, I don't like JRPGs, never played a Shin Megami Tensei (sp?) game before, but this game looks awesome. I have wanted to play it since I saw the first trailer over a year ago with the sheep. I checked out the demo months ago when it was up on the Japanese marketplace, and I intend to get it, despite what any reviews say.
 
DoctorWho said:
Multiple endings are fine but when one is a whole lot better than the rest, that pisses me off.
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There are multiple true, good, and bad endings.

So it's a combination of what you want and what you don't want.
 
Thoraxes said:
It's weird seeing games get lower scores for being too hard.
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The whole score thing is weird anyways. I do like to know if a game is hard though. I will probably pass on this and the new Demon Souls as I don't have the patience for hard games anymore. Some people like hard games though so I don't see why they would lower a score because of it.
 
Anyone else really only interested in this game for the puzzle aspect? Played the demo, and enjoyed the actual gameplay, but couldn't really care less about the story.
 
The person who reviewed Catherine in Game Informer popped up in the Game Informer Dishonored thread :lol.
 
toythatkills said:
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
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Great read, your review really goes into the details of the gameplay and that's exactly what I wanted to know. This and the demo convinced me that the puzzle gameplay is too unpolished for me to enjoy.

Easy mode making the puzzle portions pointless instead of easier is an unfortunate move.
 
Story, cinematics, graphics, and all the interface gameplay elements like the cell phoning, karma system, mini games etc look wonderful, but is this all covering up an HD M-rated version of Qbert?
 
NecrumSlavery said:
Story, cinematics, graphics, and all the interface gameplay elements like the cell phoning, karma system, mini games etc look wonderful, but is this all covering up an HD M-rated version of Qbert?
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If Q-Bert had hellish beasts pursuing you, ice/spike/detonator/moving/random blocks, sheep with battle axes, and nightmarish tower puzzles, yes.
 
NecrumSlavery said:
Story, cinematics, graphics, and all the interface gameplay elements like the cell phoning, karma system, mini games etc look wonderful, but is this all covering up an HD M-rated version of Qbert?
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The only similarity to Qbert's mechanics is how Vincent can only move one block unit at a time. No hanging out halfway between blocks, no changing Vincent's speed
Unless you get drunk before every nightmare or buy energy drink boosts between levels to superjump
 
NecrumSlavery said:
Story, cinematics, graphics, and all the interface gameplay elements like the cell phoning, karma system, mini games etc look wonderful, but is this all covering up an HD M-rated version of Qbert?
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I've been saying the same thing about FPS games and Duck Hunt for years, but noone ever listens.
 
Takuya said:
Unfortunately yes, no idea why it was omitted.
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Space issues (this IS a 360 game too!), re-syncing lips (further exasperating space issues), potential license fees (I'm not sure how big a deal this is), an English dub making more sense for the setting, and easier to sell than a sub-only release. Maybe when the 360 gets left behind and Microsoft adopts blu-ray or a blu-ray derivative for their next system, then single voice tracks will largely become a thing of the past. Unless they're seriously dumb enough to keep using DVD, but I doubt that.
 
The initial trailer got me excited. I kinda lost interest after I found out about the puzzle elements. However, playing the demo has brought me back into the fold. The story, along with other gameplay elements have me excited for this title again.

Still debating if it will be day one or not. But, this game looks refreshing. I'd get it just to support the devs.
 
Phoenix_Apollo 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.



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.
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I'd argue for us Atlus Faithful, that's a good thing, as we're used to trench warfare of awesome long dungeons and evil bosses to get to awesome video game story (or vice versa).
 
toythatkills said:
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
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OK, I'm confused. You mentioned that Atlus patched the game to allow for an easier puzzle experience, which included the ability to jump three blocks at a time while playing on Easy. I played the US XBL demo yesterday, which happened to be locked on Easy, and I did not gain the ability to triple jump at any point. There were essentially unlimited continues, though. Did I miss something? Will the US version have a different difficulty set than the JPN version?
 
The demo doesn't have the patch benefit. The US version has been prepatched to include the patch released after the original JP release.
 
cj_iwakura said:
The demo doesn't have the patch benefit. The US version has been prepatched to include the patch released after the original JP release.
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Well that sucks. The difficulty of the demo was just right for me.
 
Have to say that the cinematography in this game is fantastic. I think it's the first game to truely have that "anime" feel in the cutscenes. One question, how much control do you have during the day time segments? Is it basically a chain of cutscenes with choices or do you walk around and talk to whoever you want like say, Phoenix Wright's investigation parts?
 
Yeah I could see how the demo, while seeming somewhat easy, was the precursor to something much much harder. I think I'm going to wait on this as I dunno if I want to spend 60 bucks on it.
 
Luminate said:
Have to say that the cinematography in this game is fantastic. I think it's the first game to truely have that "anime" feel in the cutscenes. One question, how much control do you have during the day time segments? Is it basically a chain of cutscenes with choices or do you walk around and talk to whoever you want like say, Phoenix Wright's investigation parts?
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During the bar sequences, you get pretty much free reign to talk to whoever, BUT some people will leave as time goes on, so you better use your time wisely.

There's cutscenes before and after the bar segments.
 
Volcynika said:
The game comes to North America July 26th. It is not announced for any European region (and I highly doubt it will be, but hey, maybe someone will step up to the plate). NA review copies have been sent to outlets for review.
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I'm in EU so no demo or game for me... Sounds really interesting though...

Any idea if this is one of those rare region free games? </potentiallystupidquestion>
 
Gemüsestäbchen said:
I'm in EU so no demo or game for me... Sounds really interesting though...

Any idea if this is one of those rare region free games? </potentiallystupidquestion>
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PS3 is region free and you can get the demo from the US PSN store. If you're 360 only then you're out of luck.
 
legbone said:
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.
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I don't get why people do this. An opinion is an opinion. If I was reviewing Super Mario Galaxy and gave it an 8.75, I would obviously not mean that it's a 7.75 game and wouldn't expect anyone to think it was a 7.75 game either.


Not that SMG is an 8.75 game, it's just an example.
 
Wasn't a fan of the puzzle gameplay at all in the demo. Similar gameplay with crazy difficulty sounds incredibly unfun to me.

That said, the story speaks to me, and the persona 4 team would have to make a few stinkers in a row for me not to buy whatever they make day 1 so I'm excited.
 
AniHawk said:
persona 4 was pretty good (aside from johnny yong bosch von rosenburg). i wouldn't be worried.
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Maybe this is an opinion thing, but I liked Adachi's voice quite a lot. Also -- IZANAGI!
 
I was curious about the game (who couldn't be) after watching some videos, but I really enjoyed the gameplay upon trying the demo.

I won't be able to pick it up at release but I'll definitely get it at some point.

Bummer about the lack of Japanese audio. You would think considering its nature it would be included as an option.
 
OSHAN said:
I was curious about the game (who couldn't be) after watching some videos, but I really enjoyed the gameplay upon trying the demo.

I won't be able to pick it up at release but I'll definitely get it at some point.

Bummer about the lack of Japanese audio. You would think considering its nature it would be included as an option.
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Well since the story takes place in Chicago and unnamed American metropolitan city, I would assume the characters would be more than likely speaking American English.
 
_dementia said:
Well since the story takes place in Chicago
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Does it, now?

I would assume the characters would be more than likely speaking American English.
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Based on the (movie star) names of the characters, you'd expect them to, anyway, yeah. But the setting itself actually is an odd mix... with quite a bit of Japan in it.

Anyway, it's still too bad the Japanese audio won't be included, as the Japanese cast was really nice, and it sucks how it still isn't "the rule" that the original version be included in video games.
 
_dementia said:
Well since the story takes place in Chicago, I would assume the characters would be more than likely speaking American English.
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The notion that the game is set in Chicago, which I believe originated in our own forums, is not accurate. It is never specified which city the game takes place in.

It is intended to be an undefined American city.
 
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