Catherine Q*bert-All

Hard difficulty Gold get! That was one of the more satisfying things I've ever accomplished. The achievement is currently good for more than 1,000 points at TA.

I've now seen 5 of the 8 endings, and so far I'm sticking with the "true freedom" as what I think should be the canonical ending. Some good stuff in the others, though. "Sorry, once that hole's been punched there's no going back!"

I wish more games used the layering of the save mechanics like this game does. For instance, once you accomplish certain things, they're saved for you regardless of what playthrough and save you're on. Once you top a Rapunzel stage you can select it on any play of any save you have (even prior ones). Once you beat a stage on hard, you can skip it in the future even if you load an old save from prior to your earning the gold (great for getting all the endings). Rapunzel is always on free play after you beat the game, even if you load your very first save from night one of the first run. It prevents unnecessary partial runs, and that's great.

I had relatively high hopes going into this game, but it has far exceeded even my lofty expectations. I don't mean to sound so much like a fanboy, but I seriously heart this game.

...I've been thinking about how to describe what it is I like about this game so much, but it's very difficult. It does sort of defy description. I do find that the Eurogamer review (9/10) does a pretty good job, but even he has a difficult time describing it:

[describing the game is] like someone telling you about a dream. Because that's what I'm doing.

See, all the other climbers are sheep. Vincent isn't a sheep, except yeah, he basically is a sheep. They're all sheep but also people, OK? A church bell tolls incessantly. There's not really a church, but there is a kid in a confession booth who asks you personal questions. The booth may or may not have rockets.

It's a hallucinatory aesthetic that may sound disjointed when described piece by piece - as any dream does - but coheres in a striking vision of gorgeous dementia. And it's not pure pastiche, either. The nightmare has a logic to it, even if it is an avant-garde logic that makes a game critic sound awfully dumb when he tries to put it into words.

I also think that it has the most gloriously wonderful difficulty curve I've seen in a long time, final bosses on hard notwithstanding (those undos can fix a lot of RNG hate). Again, I think this reviewer does well:

By the end of the first couple levels, you'll have the hang of it. And then the next level will seem impossible, forcing you to improvise new techniques. That's the cycle in Catherine. You will experience a number of triumphs where you feel like you're a stairway-building genius. They're the moments right before the game turns you into an idiot again....Yet Vincent is a quick, agile character (at least in the dream world), and when you do get in a block-pulling groove, the frustration melts away. A winning run gives you the sensation of a spider prancing along a web, putting each leg in just the right place with every step.

Anyway, tl;dr, I heartily recommend this game to anyone.

God damn this game.

Spoiler:

That first of the "freedom" questions in the 9th Night pissed me off. "Would you risk everything for your former lover...?" I was caught between answering in character (Of course!) or honest to myself (Maybe not everything...)

In the end I wanted to vote honestly. Which is funny, seeing that most people answered "Of course!". Do they really have former lovers they'd be willing to die for?

I dunno if you care or not, but

Spoiler:

that question has no impact on the ending you get. The next three questions will determine your ending; that one's just for "fun", I guess.

Well, I beat it, and I got the True Lover ending, I believe they called it.

Spoiler:

Finding out Erica used to be Eric was delightful, and of course explains that long absence that no one goes into detail over.

This was a delightful game. With stuff like this and Heavy Rain becoming a bit more prevalent, it feels like we might start to see more creative games doing more than just having the soldier or destined one save the world from generic evil threat. That's quite a relief.

ccesarano wrote:

Well, I beat it, and I got the True Lover ending, I believe they called it.

Spoiler:

Finding out Erica used to be Eric was delightful, and of course explains that long absence that no one goes into detail over.

Also gives you the best quote in the game,

Spoiler:

"Sorry, once that hole's been punched there's no going back!"

How do you turn on "very easy" mode? I'm almost done with this game if I can't catch a break on the puzzle part. If the game didn't have the timer situation I'd feel differently, but right now the game is sitting squarely in the "not fun" camp.

DSGamer wrote:

How do you turn on "very easy" mode? I'm almost done with this game if I can't catch a break on the puzzle part. If the game didn't have the timer situation I'd feel differently, but right now the game is sitting squarely in the "not fun" camp.

Hold the Back button for a few seconds on the difficulty select screen. You should hear a chime or something, then select easy difficulty.

Minarchist wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

How do you turn on "very easy" mode? I'm almost done with this game if I can't catch a break on the puzzle part. If the game didn't have the timer situation I'd feel differently, but right now the game is sitting squarely in the "not fun" camp.

Hold the Back button for a few seconds on the difficulty select screen. You should hear a chime or something, then select easy difficulty.

Can you switch mid game (meaning an existing save) or do I need to start over?

DSGamer wrote:
Minarchist wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

How do you turn on "very easy" mode? I'm almost done with this game if I can't catch a break on the puzzle part. If the game didn't have the timer situation I'd feel differently, but right now the game is sitting squarely in the "not fun" camp.

Hold the Back button for a few seconds on the difficulty select screen. You should hear a chime or something, then select easy difficulty.

Can you switch mid game (meaning an existing save) or do I need to start over?

Yes, I think you can do it from your phone or something at the Stray Sheep. Can't say for sure not having done it myself, but there is a way to do it.

2 more hours down and no Obelisk or Axis Mundi. For the love of all that is good and holy, these Babel stages are ridiculous. Completing this game remains a tantalizing 3 achievements away.

Why is no one else discussing this game? I want to talk spoilers, people. SPOILERSSSSS!!

And as of this post, I have 8 of the 12 posts on this page. Hellooooo in there...

You are some kind of crazy genius, Minarchist. I put it down about a week ago to go on vacation, and I'm literally afraid to pick it back up because even on Very Easy I find it frustratingly difficult.

I don't think it's just patience, either. I can doggedly sit through a ton of deaths, having been weaned on the Atari 2600 and NES. But Rapunzel is showing me that even without a time limit, I just can't Think With Blocks the same way I can naturally Think With Portals. If the time limit was totally gone I'd push through eventually, but I really do have to sit there and stare for a long time.

beeporama wrote:

You are some kind of crazy genius, Minarchist. I put it down about a week ago to go on vacation, and I'm literally afraid to pick it back up because even on Very Easy I find it frustratingly difficult.

I don't think it's just patience, either. I can doggedly sit through a ton of deaths, having been weaned on the Atari 2600 and NES. But Rapunzel is showing me that even without a time limit, I just can't Think With Blocks the same way I can naturally Think With Portals. If the time limit was totally gone I'd push through eventually, but I really do have to sit there and stare for a long time.

FTFY

It really, really helps having gone through a couple of times to get the techniques to sink in. The first time is just to listen to them, the second time is to get them more concretely. Really, it mostly comes down to Inazuma and its derivative, as well as an unnamed one that has to do with extending a pyramid by wrapping half of it around a second level (which makes no sense in text but is obvious when viewed). Spider and reverse spider are also tremendously useful, as well as timber. Without timber you aren't getting more than 20 levels up on Axis Mundi.

Yeah, I just tired of crazy butt creatures killing me over and over again. So I gave up early.

Huh. Y'know, I actually never got quite so stumped or frustrated Thinking With Blocks as I frequently had Thinking With Portals. I wonder if there's a divide between what kind of player is good at what sort of game?

Then again, I played on Easy. The second to last stage drops an item that turns every block into a normal right in front of a tall wall where half the blocks are immovable. I imagine such an item isn't placed in harder difficulties.

ccesarano wrote:

Huh. Y'know, I actually never got quite so stumped or frustrated Thinking With Blocks as I frequently had Thinking With Portals. I wonder if there's a divide between what kind of player is good at what sort of game?

Possibly. You also, by and large, could take your time with Portals. I would be much happier with Catherine if it weren't for the ticking clock. In Portal and Portal 2 you could generally take your time and figure out a given puzzle.

Zero Punctuation hit this game, for somewhat hilarious results.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

momgamer wrote:

Zero Punctuation hit this game, for somewhat hilarious results.

I did think that was pretty funny. I was surprised he didn't totally hate on the puzzle portion.

I do find he's only really good for comedic value these days, as you'd never buy a game if you listened to his rants as reviews. He even mentioned how people complained when he was too nice to a game (like Psychonauts or Portal) so all he does is snark now. Hilarious, but not necessarily informative.

Minarchist wrote:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I take it you got Axis Mundi?

That was how I read it.

Yeah. After a couple false starts over lunch, had an incredible run and actually managed to make it to the top. Aaaaalmost lost it about 12 steps from goal, but managed to find away up ahead of the falling rows.

So is that it, then? 100%?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

So is that it, then? 100%?

Yessir. I really wish I knew if there was going to be any DLC. I tend to hang on to Atlus games, as they usually quickly become collectibles, but it's tempting to turn this in to Goozex for 1000 points or resell it for basically cost.

I purchased a $250 PS3 and Catherine today. It's been over a year since I've had one, and there are plenty of non PC games that I can get my money's worth out of. I'm setting it up now and hope my account is still good. I bought a lot of stuff back in the day.

I'll post my thoughts once I get into the game.

Edit: Made it to 7-2 over this weekend. I'm really enjoying it. The game is definitely a bit brutal even though I'm only playing it on easy. How do normal and hard affect the difficulty exactly? Do the puzzles change?

I'm pretty excited to finish the story.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Edit: Made it to 7-2 over this weekend. I'm really enjoying it. The game is definitely a bit brutal even though I'm only playing it on easy. How do normal and hard affect the difficulty exactly? Do the puzzles change?

Normal is basically the same thing, except you get 2 lives per pillow instead of three. (You originally got no undos, but they patched that in after complaints from Japan). Hard is a completely different puzzle structure, pillows are only one continue, and you have no undos. That last part is the real killer, combined with some "heightened" behavior from bosses.

Minarchist wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Edit: Made it to 7-2 over this weekend. I'm really enjoying it. The game is definitely a bit brutal even though I'm only playing it on easy. How do normal and hard affect the difficulty exactly? Do the puzzles change?

Normal is basically the same thing, except you get 2 lives per pillow instead of three. (You originally got no undos, but they patched that in after complaints from Japan). Hard is a completely different puzzle structure, pillows are only one continue, and you have no undos. That last part is the real killer, combined with some "heightened" behavior from bosses.

Ahh, I guess since they patched it, I just could have played it on normal. I always have 80-100 lives. Oh well.

I doubt I will ever want to play it on hard.

I just finished after taking a break for a little while. The ending took a little longer than I expected. I enjoyed it quite a bit even though some of the puzzles are frustrating because of the timed factor. Sometimes I ended up feeling like I was relying on luck a little too much. I'm not sure if I'll go through and play it again. I suppose not since I have so much to play and my main interest was the story and how it all plays out.

I do have one question. There isn't a video or anything that plays after the credits is there? I let the credits run and did something else, but when I came back, it just went to the start screen. It doesn't seem like there needs to be anything, but I want to make sure.

I finally snagged this recently, and sweet merciful lambchops but this game is brutally challenging right from the get-go. Granted, I'm playing on Normal and I'm used to Team Persona games being tough, but geez...

That said, I'm loving it. It's going to be hell getting better at all this high-paced block-moving and puzzle-solving, but each time I succeed at a difficult spot, I get the same sense of accomplishment that I do from the Portal games, which makes me happy.