Zero Punctuation: Catherine

[Crazy_Bird]

Which anime was Yahtzee talking about?

 

[Atomic Skull]

He must not have played the game though to the end because explaining things to Catherine would have done no good. She's not just a crazy *****, she's a demon, and the daughter of the ruler of the netherworld.

Catherine's ending here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6u3Y7GuXxs

Yeah, it's batshit crazy even for a japanese game.

 

[Atomic Skull]

And besides, what's the future with Catherine, anyways? Keep in mind, I've only played the demo and watched the Susan Arendt review, and this one.

Vince becomes a lord of the netherworld, Nergal (Catherine's dad) is your father-in-law, Catherine is your queen (in her true form she has horns, and glowing red eyes and zebra striped skin and generally looks like something painted on the side of a metal band's tour bus) and a harem of succubus concubines.

So like, Best. Ending. Evar.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Did I hear a gigglesnort in there?

 

[GonzoGamer]

OMFG - I Have that exact Incredible Hulk sliding tile puzzle. I've had that since the 70s.

Atlus does some interesting stuff sometimes. I just moved this to the top of my rental list.

 

[Extragorey]

I didn't expect Yahtzee to like it even in the slightest, but seriously, people.

Don't.
Let.
Internet.
Personalities.
Shape.
Your.
Own.
Opinions.

Sweet Lord, does it piss me off when someone takes everything that Yahtzee says so literally that they simply don't buy any game that HE deems to be sub-par. Think for yourselves you goddamn sheep!

Wait...

So does that mean you LIKED this game! Get him, everyone!

But seriously, I totally agree. You should read a wide range of reviews, consider the developer's own descriptions, watch trailers/gameplay videos and then come to your own conclusion about whether or not you'd enjoy the game.

 

[feauxx]

women are all dykes

i like the way you're thinking yahtzee ^^

if only it was true..

 

[DexterNorgam]

This is a good game.

Anyone who is letting the "mature content" turn them off is missing out on a pretty unique puzzle experience with surprising depth and challenge. And its a shame because the mature content is pretty tame. I wonder how many escapists are going to miss out on a pretty good game simply so that they can feel like they are superior to the other players who are obviously only playing the game because of "boobs!! hur hur"...

 

[funguy2121]

When I heard "All women are dykes," I knew you couldn't resist.

(also the name of my favorite movie)

 

[GrimHeaper]

Good, now we don't have to hear "REVIEW IT!" every week. I get the sense Yahtzee watches enough anime to get the idea, but still hate the tropes. Vincent was ineffectual. I bet you this could have been solved in five seconds with a flat "I had feelings for someone else." The game skirted this issue in a supremely ****** up way, extending the drama. I'll give Atlus this though: they know their audience. Stupid, insecure teenage or middle aged men who like seeing implied nudity...and butt monsters.

bolded isn't easy.

 

[jawakiller]

That was fucking hilarious. And I agree totally with his comment regarding the bitchy ones.

 

[Biodeamon]

Ah, Atlus...you got to love them for their frustratingly hard japanese games.

At least your not fighting demons in first person with the power of technology for ounce though.

 

[Macgyvercas]

"Whiny and ineffectual...jerking off over unconscious women..."

Huh. Sounds like the opening scene from End of Evangelion

 

[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.

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.

Interesting. I just don't feel like being punished for failing is really that bad of a thing. Also, I don't really know that end game mechanics have anything to do with save points.

But maybe I was just being too blunt with my metaphor (since both Tetris and Catherine do some block manipulation), I'm just saying in general, puzzle games shouldn't have autosaves because that's a big part of the challenge, meaning failure and layout make up the entirety of the challenge. So to say that the game punishes the player for failing is like saying the challenge is not pandering to the player. I think that's a good thing.

And Catherine actually isn't annoying since the solutions should only take less than 5 minutes per level, but the challenge is for the player to find their solutions, which is pretty much the essence of every puzzle. So if you keep failing, you're actually learning the different nuances of each level until it becomes almost intuitive, which makes the player better, thus progressing the game. I like this type of progression where the player actually becomes better at the mechanic rather than a numeric attribute to automatically make the character better. But the "grind" of this type of progression is the balance of success and failures.

Although, this is a pretty interesting topic altogether, and I probably don't know what the f*** I'm talking about.

 

[Hyakunin Isshu]

I didn't see the video, so can someone tell me if he:

1. he takes a cheap shot at anime/japan.
2. he takes a cheap shot at JRPGs
3. he takes a cheap shot at nerds and fanboys
4. he takes a cheap shot at FFXIII
5. he makes a off-topic reference that has nothing to do with the review
6. he makes a small reference about a unusual bit of food (naan bread, French Fancy)
7. He says something in the game looks like a dick

I really would like to know what he said about the game, but I can't stand those cheap shots he always makes.

 

[Aisaku]

For Yahtzee to pick Catherine to review was a bit... fanservicey

I guess it's apropos? XD

 

[General Vagueness]

it might be partly because I watched it so late, but this was the funniest ZP in a while

 

[Aisaku]

I didn't see the video, so can someone tell me if he:

1. he takes a cheap shot at anime/japan.
2. he takes a cheap shot at JRPGs
3. he takes a cheap shot at nerds and fanboys
4. he takes a cheap shot at FFXIII
5. he makes a off-topic reference that has nothing to do with the review
6. he makes a small reference about a unusual bit of food (naan bread, French Fancy)
7. He says something in the game looks like a dick

I really would like to know what he said about the game, but I can't stand those cheap shots he always makes.

Well once you take away the Yahtzee-ness of the video, he basically said: The game represents the basic conflict between men and women in a mind warping, misogynistic fashion, the usual in fringe japanese games. Gameplay can be frustrating and yet it's very compelling, driving you to keep going for one more level. The story segments are a bit blah, you're being railroaded in two opposite directions and the only real input you have is in how much of the story you want to experience or not before the next level.

 

[DoomBlackDragon]

Lol Women are dykes. Lol that is a badly worded metaphor. Lol glad not all women are lesbians or the human races would be doomed.