Catherine (PS360)

[ffc]

I was looking forward to this because I liked the puzzle gameplay in the demo, however, I wonder if the non-puzzle parts end up being like a pigeon dating sim.  Any thoughts?

If you're not familiar with the title, here's a confusing picture of the puzzle gameplay to clear things up:

[Ingmar]

Are you saying there's something wrong with pigeon dating sims?

[ffc]

The price is cheap enough on Amazon where I guess I'm willing to find out if they're different.

[HaemishM]

I thought the demo was awesome, I just haven't wanted to pay $60 for it yet.

[Rendakor]

I bought it and liked it a bit, but the puzzles just get frustrating. Plus Japanese games with no Japanese audio tracks are a big turn off for me, so I never finished it.

[schild]

Catherine was amazing. The Puzzles were what in the hellllllllll. The dating parts were what in the hellllllllllllllll.

It was wonderful.

[Falconeer]

I ordered it a few days ago but they haven't delivered it yet. I'll let you know, but never before I'v been so turned off by one aspect of a game (the puzzle) and so excited about another (everything else), so I'm really curious to see how much I'll love/hate it.

I agree that a lack of Japanese audio is very bad by default. What the fuck, really? What's the point in stripping that out.

[jth]

I agree that a lack of Japanese audio is very bad by default. What the fuck, really? What's the point in stripping that out.

Money (licensing), I guess.

Also they might have the (hopefully) false impression that for some strange reason the majority of US consumers prefer dubs over subs in their games, like the anime publishers think they do with animes.

[Falconeer]

It just arrived, and I've been loving every second of it so far. Mind, I'm into crazy stuff and I think it's close to impossible for the Persona team to fail me. The atmosphere of the game is just pure blissful perfection.  I was really scared about the puzzles but so far it seems they are quite enjoyable and satisfying, even though I can see them getting really hard and frustrating. Hope that choosing the 'easy' setting will be enough to not make me want destroy monitors.

A pic from my playthrough, just to add to the overall crazyness. At some point you are asked a question, and if you are online (apparently) you get to see how other players answered.

(Not really a spoiler at all, but if you are obsessed about not seeing anything in advance...)

Also: "News flash: FUCK YOU!"

[Ingmar]

I agree that a lack of Japanese audio is very bad by default. What the fuck, really? What's the point in stripping that out.

Money (licensing), I guess.

Also they might have the (hopefully) false impression that for some strange reason the majority of US consumers prefer dubs over subs in their games, like the anime publishers think they do with animes.

Unfortunately I don't think that is a false impression.

[KallDrexx]

I hate watching subbed videos on a regular basis, mostly because I feel like it detracts from what's going on the screen.  Thus I don't watch much anime anymore cause most dubs are horrible.

[Fordel]

Most subs are just as bad as the dubs, where the sub is a literal translation with no consideration for context or meaning.

The character on screen will shout like 1-2 words and they'll write "You are a man of questionable lineage!" instead of say "You Bastard!"

[jth]

I hate watching subbed videos on a regular basis, mostly because I feel like it detracts from what's going on the screen.  Thus I don't watch much anime anymore cause most dubs are horrible.

Off topic:

I live in a country where all foreign TV programs and movies (except those for small children, and some Disney etc. movies in theaters since the studios force it) are subbed. If you watch subbed things all your life, you develop a kind of photographic memory equivalent for it, so that you need to glance each sub line only for a second or so and it "resolves" later... hard to explain, but practically it never detracts anything on screen and you don't even notice you're reading them unless you start consciously thinking that you're following the subs.

The sub instead of dub decision was made here back in the 50's, and later it has been praised both for positive effects on literacy/grammar and at the same time for helping people to learn foreign languages easier.

Another effect for this is that most of us consider dubbed things annoying or even repulsive, no matter which language they are dubbed in. The reason for this is that we've learned to consider speech (or voice acting) a major part of acting itself and the end result is pretty much ruined by dubbing and feels false, no matter how "good" the dub is. In animation this is a bit different since no real actors on screen are involved, but then it's more a loss of cultural and/or quality aspects, and probably in part a psychological reaction to just knowing something is dubbed.

[Ingmar]

Subtitled things are typically hugely unsuccessful in the US, alas.

[Falconeer]

I hate watching subbed videos on a regular basis, mostly because I feel like it detracts from what's going on the screen.  Thus I don't watch much anime anymore cause most dubs are horrible.

Off topic:

I live in a country where...

I just want to quote jth's post as it reflects exactly my feelings on the subject. 100%. It's a fantastic post.

I totally agree when you say that people get used to watch and read subtitles very easily, while there's no way you will be able to take back the original value of the acting, not just per se, but as an integral part of whatever you are watching. It's like changing (not merely translating) titles. Or doing almost shot-by-shot remakes but with local actors, rhythm and flavor.

Another effect for this is that most of us consider dubbed things annoying or even repulsive, no matter which language they are dubbed in. The reason for this is that we've learned to consider speech (or voice acting) a major part of acting itself and the end result is pretty much ruined by dubbing and feels false, no matter how "good" the dub is. In animation this is a bit different since no real actors on screen are involved, but then it's more a loss of cultural and/or quality aspects, and probably in part a psychological reaction to just knowing something is dubbed.

Again, bravo! Voice dub is repulsive, and even in animation it still takes away from the cultural aspects (which are so easily neglected in some big countries) of the product.

In some countries, like Finland (someone correct me if I'm wrong or if they changed this), they only voice dub kid movies, but everything that is meant 16+ is in the original language. No matter how used people can be at having things in their language, I still think it's very bad. Artistically and culturally.

On a final note, yes, reading translated books is quite bad too, but that can hardly be helped. So it's not really the same argument.

[lamaros]

Translated books are very different, not really comparable to dubbing or subtitles (I much prefer subtitles).

[ffc]

When I watch something with subs at home I need to be able to hear the voices or I can't "hear" the subs.  All I'm getting in my ears is gibberish but I'll still turn the volume up.

[UnSub]

Soon-to-be-deleted spam was absolute poetry:

I have an awesome family,I love to experience all hot weather , specially the winter and snow!

I've heard bad dubs and seen bad subs. I'll take the voice actor who doesn't care over the subtitler who has only a basic grasp of english.

[ffc]

SPIKE TRAPS REVERSE CONTROLS HOW CAN A HUMAN PLAY THESE PUZZLES THIS IS JUST THE THIRD LEVEL AHASDF;ASFKJ

[funcro]

Yeah.  The controls killed it for me.  Every time it really matters, Vincent decides that what I really want him to do is either shove a critical block into the abyss or climb around the backside of the puzzle.  And that's without the spike traps.

[schild]

Subtitled things are typically hugely unsuccessful in the US, alas.

Americans are terrible, illiterate retards.

[Merusk]

Subtitled things are typically hugely unsuccessful in the US, alas.

Americans are terrible, illiterate retards.

Damn.. Schild beat me to it.

I'll say it anyway.   "Like most things that require any moderate use of brainpower in the US."