Let's play a game about cheating
Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:15 am
So I picked up Catherine a couple of days ago along with Asura's Wrath and have begun playing it.
I think the timing is pretty good because Mass Effect is out and like Mass Effect, Catherine has a red and blue morality bar. The ticker swings back and forth based on how you talk to people, how you respond to text messages, how you answer a question from a disembodied murderer in confessionals set along parts of a nightmarish staircase etc.
Apart from the whole murder nightmare aspect everything so far is pretty mundane. Vincent is a pretty convincing loser-type who doesn't realise how good he's got it who burns away his time at his favourite bar. In a medium fucking loaded with space marines and tier one operators and Jesus archetypes, it's kind of refreshing to play a perfectly ordinary guy who could actually be your drinking buddy. The actual climbing gameplay is a little frustrating and it's a little strange playing a puzzle game with such an in-depth plot, and while it feels a little tacked on it works for me. It can get pretty brutal though lol
The game is mostly about interacting with people, either other sheep in the nightmares or other patrons at the bar or people on the phone. The game asks you questions periodically which changes Vincent's 'alignment', but they're questions like 'what is paradise to you' and 'does life begin or end at marriage', and it can swing back and forth really easily (as opposed to taking hours and hours to get a noticeable change).
Also it looks amazing. I've always been found of how recent Atlus games look (SMT 3, Digital Devil Saga, Persona etc) and Catherine looks a lot like that ... just on modern hardware so it rules.
Also the english voice acting is pretty good even if it lacks the inherent Evangelion joke that the Japanese does. I'd have liked an option to play it in Japanese (like with Asura's Wrath), but it's remarkably well done.
I think the timing is pretty good because Mass Effect is out and like Mass Effect, Catherine has a red and blue morality bar. The ticker swings back and forth based on how you talk to people, how you respond to text messages, how you answer a question from a disembodied murderer in confessionals set along parts of a nightmarish staircase etc.
Apart from the whole murder nightmare aspect everything so far is pretty mundane. Vincent is a pretty convincing loser-type who doesn't realise how good he's got it who burns away his time at his favourite bar. In a medium fucking loaded with space marines and tier one operators and Jesus archetypes, it's kind of refreshing to play a perfectly ordinary guy who could actually be your drinking buddy. The actual climbing gameplay is a little frustrating and it's a little strange playing a puzzle game with such an in-depth plot, and while it feels a little tacked on it works for me. It can get pretty brutal though lol
The game is mostly about interacting with people, either other sheep in the nightmares or other patrons at the bar or people on the phone. The game asks you questions periodically which changes Vincent's 'alignment', but they're questions like 'what is paradise to you' and 'does life begin or end at marriage', and it can swing back and forth really easily (as opposed to taking hours and hours to get a noticeable change).
Also it looks amazing. I've always been found of how recent Atlus games look (SMT 3, Digital Devil Saga, Persona etc) and Catherine looks a lot like that ... just on modern hardware so it rules.
Also the english voice acting is pretty good even if it lacks the inherent Evangelion joke that the Japanese does. I'd have liked an option to play it in Japanese (like with Asura's Wrath), but it's remarkably well done.
