descartes
08-11-2011, 01:50 PM
I'm making this thread both to give my opinion of the game, and more importantly, to educate about it a bit. While most of what they said in the review is not entirely wrong, there was a bit that wasn't entirely correct and was also said out of lack of experience with this type of game and this company that developed it. The developer, not the publisher. Shin Megami Tensei or SMT makes a wide range of games mostly centered around a fairly Japanese centric alternate universe. And the styles of games can be very varied. Strange Journey is a very classic dungeon crawler type rpg like you could have seen on the PC in the late 80's and early 90's. Devil Survivor, on the other hand, is a tactical rpg much like Tactics Ogre or Final Fantasy Tactics. However, they are most widely known, especially in the USA, for their Persona rpg games. Persona 3 and Persona 4 are widely regarded as two of the top Japanese role playing games ever, and for some people they are the top. In that vein it should be not much of a surprise that Catherine was primarily made as a relatively quick and inexpensive project that they could use to develop tools for creating a much larger game on the next generation systems. Rumor is rampant that it will be Persona 5. Tower climbing is common in the Persona games, only as a turn based rpg instead of a puzzle game. And relationship building is key in the games, but the Persona games are all set in High School. However, some of the other SMT games are set outside of that setting, such as Strange Journey and now Catherine. Both ideas, the puzzle tower and the relationship stuff, were built upon the foundation that the company has been and is looking for pushing forward. And even the very Japanese seeming strangeness is very common in their games.
Regarding Catherine as a game itself. I preordered the special edition and haven't regretted it. I enjoy the game quite a bit. But it is no where near as good as the Persona games and even many of their other games as well. Still, especially the adult relationship angle, the game is a refreshing change up. One of the major errors in your review is understandable to make for an American gamer. When you look at the meter with the black and white you naturally expect it is good and evil. And that is a very rare concept for a Japanese game and definitely not applicable here. Think of it more like open palm and closed fist from the Bioware game Jade Empire. Both are valid decisions, they just represent different views of living. There are actually 7 verified endings to the game and some decisions as you go along do change a few story elements before you even get to the ending. Sure, you always have to cheat on your girlfriend the first time. But from there it can vary quite a bit. And there is also a lot of side stuff to do if you go out of your way in the later game. But the larger point is that the black side isn't bad, it just is the side that leads more towards the decision to be with Catherine instead of Katherine and also the moral implications of that way of life. Many people would actually think that emotional cheating is worse than physical cheating, but that is one of those things that it is difficult to gauge in a game because of how value systems are so different between people and between cultures. But at least this game had the balls to try to. :)
Regarding Catherine as a game itself. I preordered the special edition and haven't regretted it. I enjoy the game quite a bit. But it is no where near as good as the Persona games and even many of their other games as well. Still, especially the adult relationship angle, the game is a refreshing change up. One of the major errors in your review is understandable to make for an American gamer. When you look at the meter with the black and white you naturally expect it is good and evil. And that is a very rare concept for a Japanese game and definitely not applicable here. Think of it more like open palm and closed fist from the Bioware game Jade Empire. Both are valid decisions, they just represent different views of living. There are actually 7 verified endings to the game and some decisions as you go along do change a few story elements before you even get to the ending. Sure, you always have to cheat on your girlfriend the first time. But from there it can vary quite a bit. And there is also a lot of side stuff to do if you go out of your way in the later game. But the larger point is that the black side isn't bad, it just is the side that leads more towards the decision to be with Catherine instead of Katherine and also the moral implications of that way of life. Many people would actually think that emotional cheating is worse than physical cheating, but that is one of those things that it is difficult to gauge in a game because of how value systems are so different between people and between cultures. But at least this game had the balls to try to. :)