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Catherine |OT| Sheep, Matrimony, Terror - Love Is Gone
- Thread starter cj_iwakura
- Start date
cj_iwakura
Member
The earliest evidence is that everything in the bar is in English. There is no Japanese text whatsoever in the game locales.
cj_iwakura
Member
No, I have not.
meltingparappa
Member
I've seen the True Freedom ending and do not subscribe to the assertion that the game takes place anywhere but (near-future/bizarro) America.
But that is a discussion for that other thread...
But that is a discussion for that other thread...
Man I can't wait to play this game again. The reveal with a certain you-know-who after 8-1 was m-m-m-mindblowing!
Glad I kept a save after the seventh world... Love the cutscenes before and after 8-1. They made it well-worth the monstrous frustration of the seventh world.
Frustrating. Yet so addicting. "Just one more try!"
Glad I kept a save after the seventh world... Love the cutscenes before and after 8-1. They made it well-worth the monstrous frustration of the seventh world.
Frustrating. Yet so addicting. "Just one more try!"
Rhazer Fusion
Member
So what's harder? This or Demon's Souls? 
Augemitbutter
Member
getting to the top and noticing that you need a block to proceed is just bad.
Rhazer Fusion
Member
I actually beat Demon's Souls about 4 times and generally it wasn't too difficult for me once I got going. I had some difficulty beating the demo for Catherine though. That could be sign of things to come.
Rhazer Fusion said:So what's harder? This or Demon's Souls?
Demon's Souls isn't really hard if you're patient. I didn't find Catherine to be that hard on Normal either, though. Babel >>> anything in Demon's Souls, not really comparable games either way.
mileS said:
i didn't even know about it until after i beat the game and was checking on how to get some missed cheevos/trophies. i rarely read the manuals.
JWong said:
i don't recommend it for your first playthrough. i tried it during my 2nd playthrough and it makes the game stupid easy with an item they gave you.
Rhazer Fusion
Member
Yeah, that timer in he demo did make it harder because you had to think so fast. I'll probably try this game out sooner or later. I did like the demo. I just have such a heft backlog at the moment.
iconoclast
Member
This game is much harder to complete than Demon's Souls. They're not even in the same league.
*complete = Gold prizes on Hard & finishing Babel & Rapunzel
*complete = Gold prizes on Hard & finishing Babel & Rapunzel
I actually tried accessing Very Easy when I first started the game and wasn't able to trigger it. You just hover over Easy on the difficulty menu on the Title Screen and hold Select until you hear a chime, right? I tried this and never heard a chime. :-\
What item does Very Easy give you, anyway?
What item does Very Easy give you, anyway?
It randomly pops up during the nightmares. But they give you plenty during each puzzle.Neiteio said:
Just like any other difficulty, you can only change it in the Stray Sheep if you're above Easy. If you load up during a nightmare landing, you can't access it. Not sure if it works during a landing if you're on easy already.
retroBrand
Member
I found the demo to be too hard, but this very easy mode intrigues me. Thanks for passing that on.
Rhazer Fusion
Member
iconoclast said:
gatotsu911
Member
Just started this last night. So far, so good. Although, it is the first game in ages to frustrate me into restarting on Easy mode (after getting stuck on the second stage). Not even Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Vanquish managed that. So far Easy mode is too easy, though... I was glad to find out the difficulty can be adjusted in-game between levels, so I may give Normal another shot now that I've gained my bearings and gotten used to the basic mechanics and techniques of the game.
Worth mentioning is that I'm a little disappointed with the localization. On the voice acting side, Troy Baker is pretty good as Vincent, but just about everyone else's reads have that "anime dub acting" affectation (or lack thereof) wherein they sound conspicuously like they're reading lines off a script. It's not terrible, but given that I'd heard Atlus USA was re-animating the lip flaps to give the VAs more freedom with their dialogue, I was expecting better. Speaking of which, some of the lip-synching is jarringly bad, which given the above fact is especially difficult to forgive. Most of all, though, the localized script is pretty weak; it's full of flat, awkward, overly Japanese-sounding dialogue that feels like it was carried over far too literally, and with much too little tact, from the original. Given that this game is supposed to have a generally more mature and realistic tone than Persona, all of these shortcomings, while not massive, feel much more jarring than they would in a more over-the-top, shonen-y game (like Persona). I'll see if the quality of the script, voice acting, etc. gets better, worse or stays the same as I progress through the game. (I'm on the third stage now.)
Worth mentioning is that I'm a little disappointed with the localization. On the voice acting side, Troy Baker is pretty good as Vincent, but just about everyone else's reads have that "anime dub acting" affectation (or lack thereof) wherein they sound conspicuously like they're reading lines off a script. It's not terrible, but given that I'd heard Atlus USA was re-animating the lip flaps to give the VAs more freedom with their dialogue, I was expecting better. Speaking of which, some of the lip-synching is jarringly bad, which given the above fact is especially difficult to forgive. Most of all, though, the localized script is pretty weak; it's full of flat, awkward, overly Japanese-sounding dialogue that feels like it was carried over far too literally, and with much too little tact, from the original. Given that this game is supposed to have a generally more mature and realistic tone than Persona, all of these shortcomings, while not massive, feel much more jarring than they would in a more over-the-top, shonen-y game (like Persona). I'll see if the quality of the script, voice acting, etc. gets better, worse or stays the same as I progress through the game. (I'm on the third stage now.)
To the guy a couple posts above: Are we playing the same game? I can't bring myself to watch 99 percent of anime precisely because I can't stand the localizations, voice acting and lip synching, but Catherine is nothing like those, and instead feels like a note-perfect American drama. The scenes where Orlando and Vincent talk in the bathroom, in particular, come to mind as genuine brilliance in timing, delivery, intonation, nuance, etc. The quality is consistently great across the board... The only person who ever sounded flat was Johnny, but his low tone quickly becomes apparent as natural to who he is as a character, namely, a steely introvert. It's fantastic. I'm up through 8-1 right now, just saw some stunning revelations, and I have to say in all this time the only exchange that every sounded anime-esque was the brief "chest hair" fib (you know the part, and I spoil nothing by alluding). This game's translation is great.
gatotsu911
Member
I guess we'll have to disagree on that one. The localization is decent, but nothing special. If you want to see just how good an English localization of Japanese media can be, check out the dub for the anime movie Summer Wars.
StunandStab
Member
Ugh... Obelisk... cannot beat Obelisk. I got to 180 steps
I got The Golden Child trophy, though, but Babel is far harder than that
I got The Golden Child trophy, though, but Babel is far harder than that
cj_iwakura
Member
I'd say this game is about on par with Demon's Souls. Because when you learn what to do, it becomes cake. And fun.
Mortrialus
Banned
cj_iwakura said:
Catherine, even on easy, is drastically more difficult than Demon's Souls. I put it more in the range of NES Ninja Gaiden.
Augemitbutter
Member
i haven't done babel yet, but it's pretty easy to go through catherine with a guide on any setting. you can't cheat that way in DS, even if you're playing with a guide, you have to beat the game by yourself.
i agree catherine is though if you're playing without cheating. i don't usually play these kind of puzzle games with blocks, that's why "normal" is already a decent challenge for me. it's hard to compare these games anyway, because catherine doesn't have just one balanced difficulty level, it's spread out by options. genre is a different story.
i have to agree. katherine sounds very flat in some scenes and her facial expression doesn't match with what she's saying sometimes. one scene at the bar, with vince and kat felt strange because of that. they were both moaning awkwardly for the full duration, i was wondering what went wrong there. i didn't get the impression that they were talking to each other.
i agree catherine is though if you're playing without cheating. i don't usually play these kind of puzzle games with blocks, that's why "normal" is already a decent challenge for me. it's hard to compare these games anyway, because catherine doesn't have just one balanced difficulty level, it's spread out by options. genre is a different story.
gatotsu911 said:
i have to agree. katherine sounds very flat in some scenes and her facial expression doesn't match with what she's saying sometimes. one scene at the bar, with vince and kat felt strange because of that. they were both moaning awkwardly for the full duration, i was wondering what went wrong there. i didn't get the impression that they were talking to each other.
iconoclast
Member
I started up Hard earlier and went through stages 1 through 8, getting the gold medal on each level. It wasn't too tough actually, there were only a few areas that I got really stuck on. Thankfully there's very little randomness in the story, so you just have to stop and think for a while in order to solve something.
Gonna do the final stage later today and then start going through Rapunzel.
Gonna do the final stage later today and then start going through Rapunzel.
Urban Scholar
Member
Ok so I beat Catherine on normal this morning. The funny thing is I noticed it was 5:30 a.m when I did so ahaha.
spoiler:
I appreciate that playing the game has reminded me I'm still good at puzzles. It's been ages so I definitely surprised myself on occasion. I was really taken aback when I had those moments of clarity under the gun and solved those puzzles.
Probably going to use easy to get the opposite ending and play Rapunzel for all the songs.
Most importantly though Catherine has to be the most adult game I've had the pleasure of playing. These days it's had to feel like I'm being presented material that makes me think about my life and such be it subtly or overtly.
end game spoiler
spoiler:
obviously this was pure coincidence but still it was the time Vincent woke up from his most demanding trials
I appreciate that playing the game has reminded me I'm still good at puzzles. It's been ages so I definitely surprised myself on occasion. I was really taken aback when I had those moments of clarity under the gun and solved those puzzles.
Probably going to use easy to get the opposite ending and play Rapunzel for all the songs.
Most importantly though Catherine has to be the most adult game I've had the pleasure of playing. These days it's had to feel like I'm being presented material that makes me think about my life and such be it subtly or overtly.
end game spoiler
I don't know what Toby's tripping over but all the conversations make sense now. I just thought she was super loose back in the day or something. He still slept with a woman but his explanation of things being weird still seemed I don't know...a cop out.
f@#$ing blocks I climbed the s@#$ out of you!
f@#$ing blocks I climbed the s@#$ out of you!
iconoclast said:
Are the "Hard" stages different level-layouts? I'm having no problem going through Normal... got a Gold Statue on 3/4 of the first 4 days. Totally abusing the "undo" trick and stocking up on pillows ( intentionally restarting a level from the beginning after acquiring 2 pillows ) got something like 85 of them.
Going for the "Lawful" Endings first... my wife has taken to liking the story, has given me a glare or two in the confesional booths. Like I better answer "Beginning of your life" in regards to marriage.
iconoclast
Member
rayner said:
Yeah, the Hard stages are entirely (?) different, and they don't allow you to use undo. For some of the tougher stages, you basically have to memorize the path from start to finish in order to keep your combo. The gold requirements are a lot more strict as well - you basically need to combo the entire stage and collect every coin. There's still a little bit of breathing room for mistakes, but not much. If you mess up you have to retry from beginning (if you want the gold).
It sounds tough, but after you go through Normal and spend time in Babel, you'll probably be familiar enough with the different techniques to progress through it without too many roadblocks.
iconoclast said:
Yeah, and I've seen links to some really good videos to get a perfect on each stage... don't really want to do that, gonna try on my own. Back in the day I mastered Intelligent Cube and I love block puzzle games like this... and the story is really intriguing
Urban Scholar
Member
iconoclast said:
Question on Babel, I'll unlock ll the stages only if I gold harder difficulties?
cj_iwakura
Member
Urban Scholar said:
Yep. 3 gold for Altar, 5 for Menhir, 7 for Obelisk, all 9 for Axis Mundi.
Master Milk
Member
Second time trying to get the neutral endings, second time failing. -_-
Urban Scholar
Member
Oh man..... I'll go for it after my easy playthroughcj_iwakura said:
The demo did nothing for me the first time I played it, now I find it completely and utterly refreshing. This game will be a good remedy for the wall of monotony I just hit with shooters, which is far worse than the usual case of burnout. I'll be Gameflying this one for sure.
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