Zero Punctuation: Catherine

[notimeforlulz]

Poppa-san working all day to earn money for his wife and children, children-chan going to school to earn good grades, and momma-san sitting at home all day supporting poppa-san and children-chan in carrying out thier pointless, useless and unhappy lives with dinner and laundry; is supposedly a key tenet of japanese culture.

So... The game could possibly be about choosing to be Japanese or not.. Or course the western society of choice of "have fun, leave it to the creditors to pay" is shown in a bit of a negative irresponsible light...

 

[BrownGaijin]

It's like "Nightmare on Elm Street" meets "Q*bert".

One of the best explanations of the game that I have ever heard.

 

[ScrubberDucky]

Holy fucking christ, Yahtzee. You're supposed to reach a high then quickly go downhill from there. You hit your high and now you keep going up. I thought after the The Cartel review, you couldn't get much better.

 

[SensibleCrout]

Exceptionally entertaining.
Love the manga eyes .

 

[munkymp3]

You should watch Cowboy Bebop. Not much missing during a gunfight unless, of course, you're the bad guy which is basically a requirement in their training. To miss their opponent.

 

[itsausernamewhatofit]

Ok, I caught most of the anime references, but I really want to know what show he's talking about with the guy who missed his one shot.

I thought it was Trigun.

What? what made you think that?

Gun, mounds and mounds of exposition, stuff like that.

I challenge you to find an episode of Trigun where they don't shoot more than one bullet though.

 

[CaptainLudicrous]

Thanks to this review, I'm not going to get the game now. Dodged a bullet there.
Great final joke though.

 

[Cephei Mordred]

So, does Qatherine try to eat you with her butt or was Yahtzee taking the piss there?

 

[Soggy Toast]

So, does Qatherine try to eat you with her butt or was Yahtzee taking the piss there?

Nope. He's serious.....

 

[Serenity Fallen]

Am I the only one who saw the C/Katherines in this video and immediately thought of Jeanette/Therese from Vampire: Bloodlines?

That brought back some memories...

 

[Turbo_ski]

There are 8 endings to the story mode and 9th ending if you unlock and complete the trials.

of the 8 endings, 3 are True endings, 3 good endings, and 2 bad endings. The outcome of each ending changed the way I felt about Vincent and paints him less of a tool and more of a guy just trying to get his life in order. Once Vincent comes to terms with the events of the story he becomes are completely determined bad-ass by the end of the story, unless you get one of the 2 bad endings. 2 of the endings he doesn't end up with either C/Katherine and is happy just being single (keeping the freedom/order meter in the middle).

The 9th ending doesn't even involve Vincent at all.

Also there is a boss called Child with Chainsaw and it is awesome.

 

[Cephei Mordred]

Well, men should be badasses but for their own good, not because women want it.

 

[duchaked]

there's a morals choice aspect where you answer questions based on your own substantial experience with relationships *snickers*

LOL I was snickering halfway through that remark myself

 

[Strife2GFAQs]

For all the talk about the "butt monster," there's enough crazy *** bosses to go around

*Spoilers*









Two demon babies who scream "DADDY! WHERE ARE YOU" while chasing you with a chainsaw
Katherine in a wedding dress and a big ******* knife...and she's actually the toughest boss
Catherine in full ***** mode chasing both Vincent AND Katherine up...with no checkpoints (**** that level)
A suave demon bartender with a pistol and shot glasses (and KICKS OF DOOM)!

People whined about the special "hidden ending" to devalue everything Vincent did, but people kept forgetting the game was setup like a TV show. Besides, Trisha looks a million times better than both Katherine characters (at least in that scene).

 

[ThisNewGuy]

I agree completely about the story. Vincent is a complete tool. But I love the puzzle. I don't get the lack of autosave critique though. Do you really expect puzzle games to have autosaves in the middle of a puzzle? Can you imagine being able to autosave something like Tetris? I just don't think it's all that necessary.

 

[Kermi]

Well, I loved the game, but I accept that someone might not like it. Well off you for importing the game, though

You know who actually do seem to act like sheep though? A lot of ZP fans

This is true. Everyone alive knows it. Talk about any game on here, and the rampant opinion will be "BEST GAME EVAR!" if Yahtzee liked it and "WORST GAME EVAR!" if Yahtzee despised it. Tragic really.

Have you considered that people who agree with Yahtzee post en masse because they feel vindicated in their choice and the people who disagree post less because they're too timid to go against the flow?

No? No, you're right, you're only allowed to have your own opinion if it's always different from whatever Yahtzee thinks. You remember that the next time he says anything you agree with.

Angry much?

Not at all. I have no reason to be. What I am is derisive.

I never said anything like that.

Actually, I think you did. I believe you said it was "tragic" how people post agreeing with Yahtzee.

But more often than not, whenever discussion of games comes up, I see a great deal of people post Yahtzee's opinion like its the direct judgment of God.

I see very few people post as if Yahtzee's opinion served as a judgement. What I see id people with strong opinions feeling (as I stated already) vindicated because someone who makes popular videos agreed with them.

I agree with Yahtzee sometimes, doesn't mean I'm gonna hate the game because he does.

Who's saying you have to? Strawman.

I disagree sometimes, but it doesn't mean I love that particular game. A good example is Shadow of the Colossus. I agree with him that it is a good game. But I don't like it. Never really like puzzle games.

I also agree Shadow of the Colossus is a good game, and for much the same reason as you, never really got into it myself. I don't really see how this is relevant.

This thread contains people who dislike Catherine (or at least the concept of Catherine) agreeing with Yahtzee because his video supports any argument they might have (and does so in an amusing way, so they proceed with the making of the lulz).

This thread also contains people who consider this behaviour sheeplike, and "tragic".

Comprehende, amigo?

 

[Carrus Thrace]

I found the review quite funny and fairly accuracte but I do disagree with Yahtzee's comment about how "sticking in the middle gives you a shit ending" (True Freedom FTW).

As well...

I ended doing my entire playthrough of Catherine with my girlfriend, quite the harrowing experience lol, so I find his statement "based on your own substantial experience with relationships *snort*" a bit inaccurate. Catherine seems to have one of the broadest playerbases out there (in diversity rather than number, as opposed than one the most limited. I'm not sure if that's because of all the hype or that it's actually a good game but I enjoyed the game and I hope you guys can all agree that it's a bit of both.

Otherwise, great review!

P.S. I would recommend everyone giving it a try but rent it rather than buy it.

 

[Undeadpool]

I probably screwed up the HTML on this, so I apologize in advance, but off the top of my head I can think of both Mass Effects (the changes aren't massive, but at least characters acknowledge your decisions), Alpha Protocol (which actually does an AMAZING job in that department), Deus Ex, and both Witcher games. I'm not asking for completely different experiences, but the fact that Vincenet just continuously does the same stupid things regardless of what decisions you make is mind-blowingly poor form.
Edit: And actually both Dragon Age games have amazingly good consequences for your actions.

Well, obviously I mistook what you actually wanted. You don't want the story to go off in separate directions based on your choices. You want the freedom to act and have characters in the game react. All the games you mentioned still end up going in the same direction towards the end, narratively. They all have the same general endpoint and climax, just different motivations and ultimate outcomes.

The difference between most of those games and Catherine is that those games make *you* the protagonist, while Catherine doesn't lie about the fact that "Vincent" is the protagonist, and you're merely guiding him, not actually controlling him. Yahtzee has touched on this before in The World Ends With You (with a touch more exaggeration), and it is honestly a very Eastern thing. You're not part of the story, you're merely the witness to it and can subtly alter it on ultimately unimportant lines.

And no, that's not always a good thing, but honestly, if we needed every story we're told to have us as the stars, then movies, TV, books, etc. would have a much tougher job keeping us entertained. I can accept only being an accessory to the end if I feel fulfilled in the journey and outcome.

EDIT: But the reverse can be handled sloppily as well. Think of any game that puts you as the protagonist, then make a choice and find out that the game's leading you down a path you didn't want to go originally. There, the illusion of freedom is shattered, as is the immersion. Then you just have to ask yourself for you, which is more important: being mostly in control but tossed out on your ear when the game won't let you do specifically what you want, or allow yourself to be railroaded if it means things are more cohesive.

Yeah, the DS game Infinite Space really did what you talked about in your edit. It looked like it was giving you choices, but nothing you did made a difference. And frankly I don't need to be the "star" of the game, but having a game with a choice system that doesn't actually listen to your choices is just lazy.

 

[Zetsubou^-^]

i will give you that Vincent is a tool, although he seems a lot more confident and take charge in the dream world. i would have thought yahtzee would have liked it more with the good/evil being replaced by carefree/responsible, but maybe its too close to normal moral choice or maybe it didn't change the story enough? people have said it has several endings across the spectrum, but i haven't played it so i guess i can't confirm.

and come on yahtzee. I'd rather see someone ogling this game than staring at female spartans on halo reach. and don't tell me it doesn't happen because i know one.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

I agree completely about the story. Vincent is a complete tool. But I love the puzzle. I don't get the lack of autosave critique though. Do you really expect puzzle games to have autosaves in the middle of a puzzle? Can you imagine being able to autosave something like Tetris? I just don't think it's all that necessary.

I severely have to disagree here.

While Tetris and Catherine are both from the puzzle genre, it does not mean they should be treated exactly the same.

Catherine is a row of puzzles consecutively leading through a story. They serve to give gameplay as you pass them to continue the story.

Tetris on the other hand, has no story, no end. You're not trying to go anywhere, you're trying to rack a high score. Where ever you lose is your save spot, that becomes your place you have to surpass.

In Catherine, losing means you need to restart doing the level, wich can be annoying and frustrating and can make it take longer to accomplish your goal of seeing how the game ends.

Wich is even more annoying when you're a game reviewer and you need to finish the game on a schedule.