#31
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Ok.... so I haven't played Catherine for a couple of days and I've allowed myself to recover from my gaming marathon.
As it stands, I still really love this game. As a puzzle game it does EVERYTHING right. It has been developed with a few very simple, very understandable rules in mind, that result in infinitely more applications. It's a product that is greater than the sum of it's parts. Looking back on my experience, I can understand why it is so difficult. Go play Tetris on a higher speed and it will KICK YOUR ASS. When the game gives you space and lets you think, the solutions are plain as day but the moment you lose the leisure of time, how much you understand of the basic mechanics comes to light. I figured out that the reason Babel was kicking my ass so hard was because I was abusing the same solutions over and over and that simply didn't work in an ever-changing environment. Somehow I get the feeling my parents would be better at Catherine than I am because Catherine is pretty much the newest incarnation of the most beloved puzzle game known to man (seriously my mom is a Tetris expert, I don't know how she does it....). As for the STORY.... my opinion has become much less positive. Honestly, it just doesn't make any sense. OH, don't get me wrong, I love the aesthetic of the game and I do *mostly* enjoy the characters, but here's what really bothers me: Your choices only affect the ending, almost NONE of the dialogue changes as a result aside from immediate one sentence responses. These are not CHOICES, they are calculations. You are CALCULATING which answer to say so that you achieve reaching the position on the "mystery meter" you want. On my first playthrough, I began answering honestly but as the game progressed I noticed I was leaning slightly towards the right. I figured I might as well max it out since games NEVER let you get the best ends with only half-assed attempts, only later did I realize that my initial inclination to remain as neutral as possible would have given me a unique ending (shitty though it may have been). The main reason for my neutrality was actual the combination of being a mostly Chaotic Good kinda guy.... and wanting some hot sexting action. The "mystery meter" could only have been made better IF IT DID NOT EXIST. You want an honest answer? DON'T QUANTIFY IT. Oh, you can give our answers a value in the code, but don't let us see it. At all. One thing about the narrative I liked was how the characters were given very subtle development through internal dialogue made manifest in the nightmare, however, I never quite understood the connection between the nightmare and their internal dilemmas and NO, claiming to be "masterful creators" and outright TELLING us what the nightmare symbolizes doesn't fucking count. For the next part, do not read if you have not seen the True Lover Ending. Last edited by TitanAura; 08-17-2011 at 02:53 PM. |
#32
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My brother has that game, I played it.
It has a pretty interesting concept, I quite like the gameplay itself.
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