is this game good for the story?

[Asylum]

i'm starting to like story rich games when i do sp games more and more (witcher 3, trails of the sky series etc etc) and was wondering if this game had a good story or if it was just boring/dull

[CharlesBaa_]

The story is amazing. I've played through this game 8+ times.

[art mifo]

It most certainly is neither boring nor dull. In fact, it is one of the most original romantic/mystery thrillers I've encountered in the last 10 years. Actually, this game was the reason why I started to look more into Japanese games, as the imaginative power behind much of their fiction is somewhat otherworldly.

If anything, you should be more concerned about the gameplay, since it's a puzzle game and quite challenging at that. It just might not engage you enough or seem tedious.

[tootstorm]

As someone who plays primarily for story, I was stoked to finally get around to Catherine a few years ago -- ended up forcing my way through the thing. The gameplay never really grew on me, and was frustrating at later points, but I was particularly let down by the story, which I felt was nothing more than terrible people discussing really dumb philosophy with one another, and an osbcene amount of misogyny behind the romance plot. It basically felt like everything wrong with storytelling in video games.

Revisiting my old comments on it from another site:

Wow, years of being at the top of my most anticipated games pile, and this is Catherine. I feel like I'm playing the wrong game, for all the accolades this game's story gets, particularly for its supposed maturity and depth. Forgive the incoming mouthful, but: What I just forced myself through simply felt like bland misogyny masquerading as deep **** as written by a gawky 9th grade boy imagining adult life after overdosing on bad Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk novels. Stupid characters making stupid decisions and saying stupid lines in a series of contrived conversations that felt completely unreal, around a moronic hero who has no redeeming traits and deserves no sympathy as he wavers between a Horrible Decision and a Nonsensical Decision during the aimlessness of his early-30s malaise. Catherine has an excuse in her unbelievability, but I can't fathom Katherine's character. Or Vincent's, for that matter -- nothing he did made any sense at all, and none of his reactions to any situation felt real. God, this game was stupid. The accolades it gets are stupid.

The puzzler gameplay -- the best part about it -- felt either fun, frustrating, or buggy (there was a weird delay to the PS3 controls, and shifting around the back-end of blocks was mindnumbingly wonky). It was never great to me, personally (tho I at least get that part's appeal), and it was simply a platform to tell a story. And that story was nothing but embarrassingly immature philosophizing on the nature of relationship. Screw this game.

[Redblaze27]

Originally posted by t. mike:

and an osbcene amount of misogyny behind the romance plot.

How is "dude's wronging women are forced to play a death game at night as punishment" misogynist?

The nature of that premise is like complaining about too many zombies in a zombie game.

[aguswings]

great but weird plot

weird & ♥♥♥♥♥♥ puzzle

save ur $ and watch story on youtube

[Hawke]

The story is focused solely on the social expectations of committed relationship. Not job, not friends, not saving the world (from the outdated and overrated expectations).
Pretty much as t. mike said:

Originally posted by t. mike:

Stupid characters making stupid decisions and saying stupid lines in a series of contrived conversations that felt completely unreal, around a moronic hero who has no redeeming traits and deserves no sympathy as he wavers between a Horrible Decision and a Nonsensical Decision during the aimlessness of his early-30s malaise. Catherine has an excuse in her unbelievability, but I can't fathom Katherine's character. Or Vincent's, for that matter -- nothing he did made any sense at all, and none of his reactions to any situation felt real. God, this game was stupid. The accolades it gets are stupid.

And you can't kill the antagonist, who caused the nightmares for ♥♥♥♥♥ and giggles.
The gameplay was fun, though. The boss "battles" (you have to run from the bosses, not to fight them) were really intense and engaging.

[Larsvegas]

anyone who is saying this game is doing some kind of misogyny is so wrong... so darn wrong.

1. Only because its a story where the guy cheats and is too much of a coward does not make it misogynist. It depends on the context and how it is delivered.
2. The guy is actively punished for his cheating. The worst penalty in the story for his sins is death.
3. You can decide if you go the "i did something wrong" route or "idc i just cheat more" route.
4. You can not escape Catherine within the context of the story, its kinda a logic flaw but you couldnt do the story otherwise. Not with the budget they had.

If you find this story remotely misogynist you have never watched anime.

EDIT: 3 out of the 4 protagonists friends don´t like what he did.

[Dwarven Runesmith]

Originally posted by Pillges:

anyone who is saying this game is doing some kind of misogyny is so wrong... so darn wrong.

1. Only because its a story where the guy cheats and is too much of a coward does not make it misogynist. It depends on the context and how it is delivered.
2. The guy is actively punished for his cheating. The worst penalty in the story for his sins is death.
3. You can decide if you go the "i did something wrong" route or "idc i just cheat more" route.
4. You can not escape Catherine within the context of the story, its kinda a logic flaw but you couldnt do the story otherwise. Not with the budget they had.

If you find this story remotely misogynist you have never watched anime.

EDIT: 3 out of the 4 protagonists friends don´t like what he did.

1. I do agree to that point, he is a coward, and it doesn't mean because of his acts and his story it is misogynist. I rather think that most of the men there have stupid opinions on woman. The confessions are where my most problem I have, the questions are so abstract that both can be order and freedom. Why is it order for watching baseball at home and not golf? Like those things just ruined the experience for me.

2. He is punished for cheating but then it also tells how that happened and it just very confusing point. Since if Catherin wasn't who she was, he probably wouldn’t even cheat in the first place. Entrapment, I would say. I would say that some of the elements are not always of cheating, some are just things people have done and have regrets over, some just don't deserve death but some consulting.

3. I find both routes stupid since main story always have a single narrative point that doesn't change until the last part of the game and internal monologue.

4. I can understand why you can't escape her within the context, but it doesn't mean my frustration with MC is lessened because of it.

The story is not misogynistic at all, but it has big flaws of its philosophy and ideologies, I wished it had better romance storytelling and better MC character. It would be great if every bar changes you see the main story line see how he acts differently. But that only happens at the end and if I don't like everything until the end, I don't want to experience the hell of seeing same thing many times over.