Catherine

[toblix]

Catherine is probably coming out soon. I thought it was an RPG, but apparently it's a block-stacking puzzle game that is so difficult they're working on a patch to make it easier. I really, really like the visual style and feel of what I've seen, but hearing of the difficulty makes me wary.

Anyone know if it's all block puzzles all the time? Seems a bit weird, no?

[Roderick]

I've been keeping an eye on Catherine for a couple of months now, and I still don't know what the hell it's about. I know it's: Japanese; weird; platformy/blockpuzzley?; also adult.

[Tanukitsune]

It's from the same people who made the Persona series, which is half RPG, half school sim/date sim, they always seems to make strange combinations that somehow work, I have high hopes for Catherine!

[a purple future]

I don't know what I was expecting this game to be, but it certainly wasn't that

[Noyb]

Is ludo-narrative dissonance the right phrase?

[CaptainFish]

I would much rather play a unique action puzzle game than another JRPG. I might just be burnt out on those long experiences, although there are a few JRPGs I love.

[Tanukitsune]

It still seems "Persona-like", half the game seems to be normal life interaction and the other half seems to be dealing with a strange force that is running amok that only you know about.

[Tanukitsune]

I'm totally freaking out now... guess who makes

?

I just saw this now and I caught me totally off guard!

Edited May 13, 2011 by Tanukitsune

[Lu]

I'm totally freaking out now... guess who makes a cameo in Persona 3 Portable?

I really have no idea. Wrong link?

[Tanukitsune]

Aw, damn! Sorry, I should have payed more attention, it's fixed now!

The cameo got me a little bit too excited.

[Sno]

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-ex-catherine/17-4137/

For the people who still have no idea what this game is, this should probably finally clear it up.

[syntheticgerbil]

I get the feeling I would love this game in spite of the pervert factor of it.

Thing is it's by the Persona people and I don't want to sink any time in playing those as well.

I'm wondering if Catherine will have the insane amount of required hours of play. The adventure game plus weird nightmare puzzles levels are great and the style here is very nice with great atmosphere. I want to find out what everyone thinks of this game.

[Roderick]

I'm wondering whether the puzzle bits (i.e. the majority of the game?) will be really fun, or something I would slog/rush through in order to see the story which might be actually really interesting.

I've never played Persona because most JRPG's are toxic to me, so a puzzle game could be good in this case.

[Tanukitsune]

What exactly do you find so toxic about JRPGs, Rodi? Most Persona games have a super easy mode where you won't have to grind. I'm pretty sure all the Persona games are more story than game anyway. Most JRPGs today suck, but Persona is worth it.

By way, I expect Catherina to have a ridiculous amount of story too, not in a Metal Gear way were there will be a five hour cutscenes, but maybe five hours of adventuring between puzzles?

[Roderick]

Let's not get into a JRPG discussion right now

I'm gonna keep an eye on Catherine.

[subbes]

I wanted to pick it up but haven't the time to play a long game, so I'll settle for someone playing it, recording all the cutscenes and popping them up on GiantBomb or YouTube or something.

[syntheticgerbil]

Oh I should probably note the only reason I'm bitching about Persona is because the director for 3 and 4 is the Catherine director as well, meaning by my designer following rules, I would need to eventually go back and play Persona 3 and 4, which I really don't want to spend hundreds of hours on.

I'm not against JRPG mechanics, but I usually hate the story and characters and they need to stay shorter. I prefer Zelda games, I suppose even though many would not consider them RPGs, which would be correct I think.\

Er... but yeah I guess Catherine is not even an RPG anyway, but an adventure game with puzzle levels thrown between adventuring parts? Seems like Insecticide in that manner almost exactly except in that game shooter/platformer levels were thrown between adventure areas. I really loved Insecticide (haven't played the unfinished PC one, just the DS one) so for whatever reason I think this is a mix I would like a long with the weird as hell story.

[Sno]

In addition to a lot of the typical issues people will raise concerning JRPG's, I don't like how JRPG's divide everything up into all these neatly little disparate component parts, western designs usually form a much more coherent whole.

There's really only a handful of JRPG's that i really like.

[Tanukitsune]

Although I can't find something you can pin down as "Team Persona", it looks like they made the Trauma Center games? I only played the DS one, but the moment I watched a video of the newer ones you can tell, it sounds like they use the same music composer and the art style is the same too?

So, I guess it's safe to assume that it might not have 40 hours of story, but maybe 4-6?

[Sno]

It's fairly well known that Catherine is the next effort from the internal Atlus team that created Persona 3 and Persona 4. (Honestly, a lot of the marketing push for Catherine has been centered around this fact.)

As for how long those games are, the Persona games are well known for being significant hundred hour investments of time, while the number i heard being tossed around for Catherine was twenty hours.

[Roderick]

I can't find a European release for this game anywhere. Any info on if and when?

[Sno]

Atlus doesn't have a European publishing branch, they usually have third parties publish for them outside of North America and Japan. I can't imagine Catherine will go unreleased in Europe, there's too much interest in the game, somebody will pick it up, i'm sure.

[Tanukitsune]

I wouldn't be so sure about that... Europe is missing a lot of Atlus' games, and some of them are download only through PSN.

Worst case scenario, I'd import the PS3 version.

By the way, we are talking about THIS Catherine, right?

(Bonus points to anybody who gets the reference)

[twmac]

Oh Christ, what is that gif/smiley thing?

I went into EB Games, a little inebriated, and bought Supreme Commander 2 for the X360 (it was ten dollars and looked forlorn) then asked about Dark Souls and pre-ordered it. On being prompted that I would need to spend 20 dollars on a card. I pre-ordered the deluxe edition of Catherine as well (the one with the heart boxers).

So, I guess I am signed up for this oddity.

[syntheticgerbil]

I went into EB Games, a little inebriated, and ... I pre-ordered... the one with the heart boxers.

Hahaha, that's the way to do it!