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Catherine |OT| Sheep, Matrimony, Terror - Love Is Gone

Amir0x said:
I just thought when reading that, who would want to stay with her after a line like that? She's just telling you she'll be taking control of all the bank accounts from now on? Not even discussing it with you. That's the type of writing I expect in a game, though.

That's a psychopath.

i don't know - maybe you'd have to date a slacker like vincent for 5 years to better appreciate where she might be coming from? :) ...
 

Teknoman

Member
She might have a point if he's got jack in the ATM and just bought a new model cell and a new PC :p I'd still be a little ticked though...

Either way, cant wait to find out whats up with the ants or if its just some running joke. With Atlus you never know.
 

george_us

Member
Just got to 6-2 and now I hate this game again.

papersleeves said:
Of course you are saying that. But that's because you just did what is perhaps the most annoying boss fight in the entire game. It's all good from now on.
Not really. Every boss I've encountered has been an exercise in frustration.
 

Reveirg

Member
I just finished the game with the
True Catherine Ending
I loved it!

My girlfriend actually started playing this game and loves it too. Now, IRL, our new catchphrase we keep texting each other is... "Love is NOT over!". Does that make us total geeks? =D
 
Reveirg said:
My girlfriend actually started playing this game and loves it too. Now, IRL, our new catchphrase we keep texting each other is... "Love is NOT over!". Does that make us total geeks? =D
No, it makes you both adorable.
 

aceface

Member
UNCyrus said:
You couldn't be more wrong. A playthrough will take you anywhere from 10-15 hours if you don't do a lot of the side missions. Additionally there's a really cool cooperative and versus mode built in. This game will entertain me for at least 60-80 hours in order to 100% it all the way through.

What side missions are these, you mean Babel? I'm about to start night 7 and it's been nothing but levels, cutscenes, talking in the bar. Unless there's more stuff to do after night 7, I wish there would have been more.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
Just finished stage 7-1 on Normal. Loving the game. I was horrendously frustrated with stage 2 or 3 (whichever level introduced the
trap blocks
), but something clicked recently and I plowed through stages 5 and 6 with little trouble.

It feels great to see a cliff full of blocks, get an idea of what to do with it and then have that idea WORK.

I'm going with blue, and I'm starting to see some different dialogue along that angle. My girlfriend is going with the red path, and we're going to compare the differences between the two as we play.
 
Reveirg said:
I just finished the game with the
True Catherine Ending
I loved it!

My girlfriend actually started playing this game and loves it too. Now, IRL, our new catchphrase we keep texting each other is... "Love is NOT over!". Does that make us total geeks? =D

This is incredible.

You two are extremely awesome ;D
 
Night 7 done. I feel like a genius for figuring out 7-4. And once again, the boss wasn't that bad and easier than some of the other stages this night.

Can't wait to see how this all ends. I'm pretty clearly on the Katherine path, so I'll probably play again on easy to get the other endings.
 

Anony

Member
these puzzle makes me feel stupid and is frustrating :| (not that i really hate it, but i can see it getting there)
dunno if i should put it on easy
 

pelicansurf

Needs a Holiday on Gallifrey
Teknoman said:
She might have a point if he's got jack in the ATM and just bought a new model cell and a new PC :p I'd still be a little ticked though...

Either way, cant wait to find out whats up with the ants or if its just some running joke. With Atlus you never know.
Not very spoiler-y, but...
at some point in the game they mention that ants come from/are attracted to the witch
 

Duffyside

Banned
Finished. Man, I can't remember having such mixed emotions about a game. In the end I just don't think there was enough variety, enough content for this game to be $60. I like that it was made though because it was so different.

Liked the final stages the most (meaning they were about the only ones I more than tolerated). I liked that there wasn't some crazy
tough puzzle section where you're just stumped; how fast-paced it was.

OK, big-time spoiler question:
What they hell was going on with Jonny in the dream area? He said he betrayed his best friend, he "loved" her, said "please forgive me" when you approached him... then no pay-off? Maybe another ending?
 

benzy

Member
duffyside said:
OK, big-time spoiler question:
What they hell was going on with Jonny in the dream area? He said he betrayed his best friend, he "loved" her, said "please forgive me" when you approached him... then no pay-off? Maybe another ending?

You need to get the
freedom
ending, and it'll explain everything.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
duffyside said:
Finished. Man, I can't remember having such mixed emotions about a game. In the end I just don't think there was enough variety, enough content for this game to be $60. I like that it was made though because it was so different.

Liked the final stages the most (meaning they were about the only ones I more than tolerated). I liked that there wasn't some crazy
tough puzzle section where you're just stumped; how fast-paced it was.

OK, big-time spoiler question:
What they hell was going on with Jonny in the dream area? He said he betrayed his best friend, he "loved" her, said "please forgive me" when you approached him... then no pay-off? Maybe another ending?

Apparently

It's in another ending, he's actually in "love" with Katherine. I believe the nromal freedom ending mentioned that he started going out with Katherine.
 

Duffyside

Banned
benzy said:
You need to get the
freedom ending
, and it'll explain everything.
Is that different than the
true freedom
ending? Cuz that's the one I got.
Meter all the way to the right, in the blue.
 

Duffyside

Banned
ULTROS! said:
Apparently

It's in another ending, he's actually in "love" with Katherine. I believe the nromal freedom ending mentioned that he started going out with Katherine.
Wait, what? That's pretty stupid to hint at in the game no matter how you're playing, and then not even address it depending on your ending. I now hate
Katherine
with a passion
for being a cheating slut.
 

Psi

Member
duffyside said:
Is that different than the
true freedom
ending? Cuz that's the one I got.
Meter all the way to the right, in the blue.

You can't get the
True Freedom
ending unless
your karma meter is in the middle.
 

Duffyside

Banned
Psi said:
You can't get the
True Freedom
ending unless
your karma meter is in the middle.
Oops, you're right. Just checked my trophies. I got confused because I got the
True Freedom
trophy for beating the last stage, but I got the
True Lover
ending.
 

ProudClod

Non-existent Member
Just finished the seventh night. Have the game paused because my GF is sleeping, and she wants to watch the whole story with me. So excited for her to wake up :D
 
This is one of those games where it is feels impossible to give it an appropriate score given how unconventional it is. Also, Unconventional is how I would sum it up in a single word.

Overall it is a very solid game. The art style is quite good. The character designs are all distinct and avoid the usual failings present in many anime. I've grown quite used to fantastic character designs from Shin Megami Tensei games and it's good to see that tradition present here. The music is also solid, with It's a Golden Show being the stand out track. That horn at 1:13 is incredibly sexy. On the PS3 version, the controls are solid, as is the camera. The controls reversing when you are climbing on the back side of the tower is jarring and annoying, but you get use to it. Overall everything works quite well.

The biggest complaint I have about this game is the difficulty. It is insanely hard. It is crushingly hard to a fault, easily harder than Demon's Souls. I'd argue it's harder than Ninja Gaiden (NES) given how I'm certain I died dozens more times beating Catherine for the first time than I did beating Ninja Gaiden for the first time. And I played Catherine on Easy. Thankfully Catherine's check point system is reasonable, and the game basically throws infinite lives at you, but this game is in dire need of an "Even Easier" setting. Overall, the game is very addictive. When it was shipped to my house on the 27th I sat down and finished it in one sitting. It was about a 13 hour playthrough, so the game's length was solid as well.

There are other minor gripes as well. The animated cut scenes are insanely loud compared to the game play and the real time dialog cut scenes. Why this wasn't fixed I don't know, because it strikes me as an incredibly easy thing to do. Also, the bells that ring during the landing pads and near the end of the levels can fuck right off. They are a constant annoyance. Also, the audible "Edge" noise that plays when you connect a block to the edge of another is incredibly grinding.

The story and characters are at least engaging. The voice acting is also solid. I was a little hesitant about the English cast from the previews, but it came together quite well. As others have mentioned, Vincent's indecisiveness can be really grating at times. Some of the dialog is also a bit wonky. Some characters also change subjects without notification. Also "Woman's Wrath" is eye roll worthy. I'll probably take some of my more specific complaints into the spoiler thread. Still, I was always excited to finish the nightmare stages simply to see where the story will progress. Also, by the end of my game, Vincent developed into one of the biggest bad asses in gaming, and he didn't need a minigun or a six foot sword to do it.

The game is very addictive. When it was shipped to my house on the 27th I sat down and finished it in one sitting. It was about a 13 hour playthrough, so the game's length was solid as well.

This game is so unique, I have no idea who'd I recommend it to, and the game's difficulty chains it's appeal because I'm willing to wager that the overwhelming majority of players who've played this game will give up in frustration over some of the harder levels, particularly stages 6 and 7 given how the game's difficulty ramps up during these segments. My thoughts on this game are complex, and I'll probably need even more time than I've already had to figure out exactly what my overall thoughts are.
 

andymcc

Banned
Amir0x said:
She's just telling you she'll be taking control of all the bank accounts from now on? Not even discussing it with you. That's the type of writing I expect in a game, though.

That's a psychopath.

to be fair, i have met my fair share of people who have had their significant others make such ultimatums without much in the way of discussion.
 

GuardianE

Santa May Claus
Just started the game yesterday. I love it so far. Played until I got to the Day 6 Nightmare. You guys weren't kidding when you said the game was hard. It's really the "bosses" that are unforgiving. The difficulty seemed to spike with the
Child boss
and I haven't had too much trouble since then. Anyone else have the same experience?
 
Started playing this last night, finally. Stopped before I started Stage 4, but I'm loving it so far. Catherine > Katherine, but I knew that before I even bought it. And Orlando's voice bothers me because I just did a run-through of New Vegas and gah. I know it's similar to a character from that but I can't pinpoint it down.

I really like the mixture of the bar and then the nightmares, very Persona-esque vibe. I'm enjoying it.
 

RetroMG

Member
Picked this up last night, and I'm a little surprised at how much I'm enjoying it. I thought it would be a "play through once, then sell it," game, but now I'm thinking I'll have to hang on to it.

And Orlando's voice bothers me because I just did a run-through of New Vegas and gah. I know it's similar to a character from that but I can't pinpoint it down.

Vincent's voice drives me nuts because I can't hear him and not hear Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia.
 

Murkas

Member
Imported the deluxe edition and it arrived here in the UK today and been playing it a lot. On day 4 I believe.

Easily one of my favourite games this gen.
 

andymcc

Banned
GuardianE said:
Just started the game yesterday. I love it so far. Played until I got to the Day 6 Nightmare. You guys weren't kidding when you said the game was hard. It's really the "bosses" that are unforgiving. The difficulty seemed to spike with the
Child boss
and I haven't had too much trouble since then. Anyone else have the same experience?

i think that was the only part of the game that gave me significant issues. on my second play, i breezed right through it. (i played through the game twice on normal)
 
Well, this long weekend I sat down for some quality time with this game and finished it in three wonderful sessions over three days.

I have got to say this game is everything the Persona games were not. The gameplay sections actually felt fresh and fun, and the story segments were properly paced, devoid of pointless filler and had good production values thrown at them.

No longer were I dreading the nights where I have to explore a bland randomly generated dungeon using a by the books standard fare RPG gameplay ripped straight out of the previous century. As for the daytime segments I no longer had to follow up the ennui of dungeon crawling with having to navigate long meandering lines of dialoug often accompanied with puppet theater levels of animation and production values.

This is the right approach for Atlus games, not a 100 hour behemoth taking a huge bite out of your game time, taking its damn time digesting its vile morsel. No, just long enough for you to avoid feeling a sense of repetition, with incentive for repeat visits if you feel you are game for more after the credits roll.

I really love the fact that there are no unvoiced or puppet theater bad canned animation story segments in this game. It is like they decided that if a line was not worth animating properly and voicing then they didn't need to waste players time with it, kudos.

After the Persona Games I was ready to write off Atlus as a company whose stuff some people seem to enjoy, but whose design philosophy were entirely contrary to my sentiments. But now if Catherine is any indication of their future direction then I'll be keeping a close eye on them.

Also, the graphics in this game are amazing. The cell shaded characters which are Japanese in all the right ways which will not turn off a majourity of today's players really are an example for all to learn from. This is one way to do go for an anti-realistic approach to character design and do it in a way that is competent and works for a lot of people.

The voice acting was really exemplary as well, the VA's really brought the characters personalities to life rather than being a detracting performance so embarrassing that it is to be made fun of and eternally quote via youtube videos.

You know, this project overall is something for all to learn from, a game of this caliber and quality, made on what is really rather shoestring in comparison to what the industry views as a passable budget today, but does not show it by playing to its strength while designed to turn a profit after an insanely low unit sales.

Kudos all around Atlus, I see great things in their future.
 

ProudClod

Non-existent Member
ScionOfTheRisingSun said:
Well, this long weekend I sat down for some quality time with this game and finished it in three wonderful sessions over three days.

I have got to say this game is everything the Persona games were not. The gameplay sections actually felt fresh and fun, and the story segments were properly paced, devoid of pointless filler and had good production values thrown at them.

No longer were I dreading the nights where I have to explore a bland randomly generated dungeon using a by the books standard fare RPG gameplay ripped straight out of the previous century. As for the daytime segments I no longer had to follow up the ennui of dungeon crawling with having to navigate long meandering lines of dialoug often accompanied with puppet theater levels of animation and production values.

This is the right approach for Atlus games, not a 100 hour behemoth taking a huge bite out of your game time, taking its damn time digesting its vile morsel. No, just long enough for you to avoid feeling a sense of repetition, with incentive for repeat visits if you feel you are game for more after the credits roll.

I really love the fact that there are no unvoiced or puppet theater bad canned animation story segments in this game. It is like they decided that if a line was not worth animating properly and voicing then they didn't need to waste players time with it, kudos.

After the Persona Games I was ready to write off Atlus as a company whose stuff some people seem to enjoy, but whose design philosophy were entirely contrary to my sentiments. But now if Catherine is any indication of their future direction then I'll be keeping a close eye on them.

Also, the graphics in this game are amazing. The cell shaded characters which are Japanese in all the right ways which will not turn off a majourity of today's players really are an example for all to learn from. This is one way to do go for an anti-realistic approach to character design and do it in a way that is competent and works for a lot of people.

The voice acting was really exemplary as well, the VA's really brought the characters personalities to life rather than being a detracting performance so embarrassing that it is to be made fun of and eternally quote via youtube videos.

You know, this project overall is something for all to learn from, a game of this caliber and quality, made on what is really rather shoestring in comparison to what the industry views as a passable budget today, but does not show it by playing to its strength while designed to turn a profit after an insanely low unit sales.

Kudos all around Atlus, I see great things in their future.

This is definitely the exception, not the norm. You have to keep in mind that the next Atlus game releasing stateside is a heavy-handed 100 hour behemoth by the name of Innocent Sin. Atlus' bread and butter is the jRPG. Now, that doesn't mean you have to force these games down your throat, simply because Atlus developed them. This is one of those times we can very safely say: "These games were not for you." These games have a very strong following, and rightfully so, in my humble opinion. I enjoyed Nocturne, DS2, P3 and P4 for much of the same reasons I'm enoying Catherine. Challenging and incredibly satisfying gameplay, unique and engrossing stories and amazing soundtracks. I'm sure Atlus will release more funky games like Catherine in the future, but I sincerely doubt that they'll ever step away from the jRPG, especially how well Shin Megami Tensei/Megami Ibunroku sell.
 

creid

Member
I'm wondering if there's a trophy for doing something in the puzzle sections. It's not story-related, but I'll tag it anyway:

Any trophy for waiting until the last second to enter the door / grab the chain? I don't understand why they would let you wait to grab the chain, unless there was a trophy for something like "escape at the last second."
 
Yay! Finally had a chance to pick this up :)

What seems to be the consensus on which difficulty setting to choose? I would typically go with anything called "normal" but I am hearing this game is uber difficult........
 

Shawn128

Member
Incitemaybe said:
Yay! Finally had a chance to pick this up :)

What seems to be the consensus on which difficulty setting to choose? I would typically go with anything called "normal" but I am hearing this game is uber difficult........

I'm wondering this myself as I'm looking at the title screen hahaha
 

Seraphis Cain

bad gameplay lol
Yeah, I think 6-2 is about as far as I'm going to get. At least on Normal. Thing is, I really don't want to knock the difficulty down to Easy...
 
Incitemaybe said:
What seems to be the consensus on which difficulty setting to choose? I would typically go with anything called "normal" but I am hearing this game is uber difficult........
I'd recommend Easy for your first playthrough so that you can - as they advise you when the choose the difficulty - sit back and enjoy the story. But don't fret: Easy isn't a cakewalk or anything.
 

Andrefpvs

Member
Oh crap, oh crap, just got the game and forgot the Trophies default to Japanese if your XMB language is not English on your first boot-up!

Is there anything I can do to get them back to change to English? Maybe delete game data and reinstall? I still haven't synched my Trophies...

Help?

Edit: Searched the webs, apparently I'm screwed. Damn, the Trophy system sucks sometimes.
 
Got the game today and just got to the fourth stage I think, dear god that boss actually freaked me out, game is pretty hard now too. Loving it so far though
 
My friend and I took turns playing this all day today and we got up to 6-2 before we decided our asses had been kicked.

Really enjoying it.
 
Incitemaybe said:
Yay! Finally had a chance to pick this up :)

What seems to be the consensus on which difficulty setting to choose? I would typically go with anything called "normal" but I am hearing this game is uber difficult........

Definitely go easy. Even on easy the game is insanely difficult. I'd put it in the Ninja Gaiden NES territory, even on easy.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I also didn't find Normal to be hard, and I'm not really a puzzle guy. 6-3 is the only insane difficulty leap IMO, it's fairly smooth sailing beyond that.

iconoclast said:
Lol, 178 steps in Obelisk before getting random'd to death by moving blocks. Babel is more luck than skill. Awful shit.

I've noticed your gamertag super high up on these, good job. I just beat Altar earlier, tried the others and only got around 60 IIRC. I feel like I can do Menhir if I try hard enough, but Obelisk is just nuts. I had a mystery block turn into a bomb that completely messed me up.
 
think ive maxed out on this game. at 64 percent with daniel and sake to go. everything else seems out of reach. menhir kicks my ass. will probably unlock obelisk too but mundi probably not. sigh.
 

anddo0

Member
Seraphis Cain said:
Yeah, I think 6-2 is about as far as I'm going to get. At least on Normal. Thing is, I really don't want to knock the difficulty down to Easy...

Stuck at 6-2 as well. My will to play on Normal is fading.

edit: made it. I was kept getting stuck at the second to last checkpoint. The
spring blocks
were the key.

Done for the night. Too much frustration :/
 

Zafir

Member
Seraphis Cain said:
Yeah, I think 6-2 is about as far as I'm going to get. At least on Normal. Thing is, I really don't want to knock the difficulty down to Easy...
Haha, thats the one I've just got to. I think I'm going to take a bit of a break and try again. I'd also rather not turn it down to easy.
 
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