Waiting, Waiting, Waiting is where I tell you what stuff I’m waiting for and why. I’ll try to make interesting comments - but objectivity will be nowhere near this article.
I would like to turn this (as well as actually wlogging) into a semi-regular occurrence, because I am always expecting something that is coming out to be good and steal away copious amounts of my time. Currently, Etrian Odyssey has stolen my heart with its map-making while you play and its addictive levelling. Unfortately, I’m behind the times and only started playing Etrian Odyssey 2:Heroes of Lagaard a couple of days ago mostly because I didn’t want to shell out the cash for EO3 when I wasn’t even sure I‘d like it. Now I am sure.
Next time I plan on having the video embedded, but in my half-baked search I couldn't find a download.
Catherine at it’s heart is an… erm, Adventure game that probably has puzzle solving elements. We do know there are enemies. And that horrible description is one of the reasons I am so excited for this game. When it was just 2 screenshots and a description of genre I was absorbed.
Look at that, just look. It’s gorgeous. Another great thing was this was only announced a few months ago and it will be coming out soon, since they’ve been working on it for a while now. What is really great, what I am truly excited about is the game was not revealed with a “gameplay genre” at all, it was just an Erotic Thriller. People started guessing, the most popular being an RPG (since this is Atlus after all), but it turns out they are taking the route of an Adventure game.
This is something that has been a longtime coming in my opinion, Catherine isn’t the first step but it is another step in the right direction as we head towards more sophistication in Games as a story-telling medium. Now, games need gameplay I get that, but guess what? Genre games will never die because of games needing to be games. We will always have plat formers, shooters and racers, RPGs, RTS and other acronyms. Especially with the proliferation of XBLA and other Indie-Gaming Platforms the old style Sh’mups, Puzzle and adventure games will live on.
What Catherine shows though is some maturity in story-telling aspects and focus. It is first and foremost not an adventure game, but an Erotic Thriller. I love this, clearly this is going to be a narrative driven game and it identifies itself by the themes in the plot. I hope this becomes a trend and so we can have a greater diversity in stories (I.E. not just stopping evil corporation, syndicate, empire, mercenary corp.) allowing for maybe Romantic Comedy as the focus or maybe an RTS that is actually a Military drama (we are moving there though). Plus, why can't videogames have plots-lines that involve sex in any kind of mature manner? It's a taboo that is slowly being dissolved, but still bugs me.
Gameplay wise it’s hard to judge as we’ve only seen obscure images from the trailers, but even still it looks like exactly what I want. It is a game that will use its horror, atmosphere and tension built up in the levels and combine it with the sexualization you see going bonkers in the trailer. Or atleast I can hope.
I’m not worried though. I feel very safe in my assumptions because after all this is Atlus making this game, the creators of Shin Megami Tensei. Specifically the Persona team is the one working on it. The SMT creed leads me to believe in their ability to make awesome atmosphere since Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga 2 are two of the handful (maybe 10) games to ever genuinely creep me out with setting alone. Those settings and the pitfalls of using them in an RPG might make for a good post sometime later on.
But, honestly that is another thing I’ve liked about the game so far. It’s made this nightmare look truly nightmarish, not only do the environments look horrific, but it seems like half of them make no sense. Hell, Vincent is part sheep when he is in his nightmares, that is particularly dream-like in it’s nonsense and knowing Atlus, it’s going to mean something (and you can make a few educated guesses with the trailer). Finally, to convey the nightmarishness of this game look at a picture of this enemy.
But, honestly that is another thing I’ve liked about the game so far. It’s made this nightmare look truly nightmarish, not only do the environments look horrific, but it seems like half of them make no sense. Hell, Vincent is part sheep when he is in his nightmares, that is particularly dream-like in it’s nonsense and knowing Atlus, it’s going to mean something (and you can make a few educated guesses with the trailer). Finally, to convey the nightmarishness of this game look at a picture of this enemy.
What the hell is that?
Story wise all we have is that Vincent is a 30-something loser stuck in a dead end job who feels that he is going nowhere. The girl at the end of the trailer is his girlfriend Katherine (with a K) and currently they are having problems. So, Vincent has a fling with Catherine (with a C) which is an exciting break from the monotony of everyday life… especially because after that he has horrible life-threatening sheep-man nightmares.
Does that sound like the plot of your average video-game? No, not at all, a movie or a book maybe, but it looks like Atlus knows what they are doing. With that premise and The Persona Team I expect this to be handled very well. The Persona games might be about highschoolers, but they aren't just your average garbage, in fact they are some of the most mature games I've ever played. They are teenagers that act like teenagers with problems about teenagers that are all appropriate thematically and tackle real issues about identity, growing up, love and friendship, sexual orientation and even more mundane things. My favourite is Yosuke in Persona 4.
Yosuke and Jiraiya his Persona This is a boy who hates being out in the sticks because it's boring... and that's it. Well, actually it has more to do with his loneliness, he has no friends and he puts up this front and he blames it all on his new home in the country. Sounds like a problem one of my friends had. There is also some problems with a girl he liked that got killed, but that isn't important right now. From that, the trailers and the Director saying he wants to make a "mature" game I don't think we'll be seeing the normal Japanese Exploitation of teenage girls nor the objectification of women as prizes like in the first Mass Effect. A cold, indifferent, but still hilarious sex mini-game a la God of War? Maybe, I wouldn't object to it... atleast it would have more context than GoW.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, the music is being composed by the meistro Shouji Meguro a man whom I have a love-hate relationship with his work. Despite my hatred for the grating pop-rap sound of the music in Persona 3 I can acknowledge (some of) it as well made and accompanied by some fabulous pieces. However, other games he has composed for have ridiculously cool soundtracks. Below are links to my favourite battle theme and least favourite (although honestly it has grown on me).
Digital Devil Saga 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVFXMb7vibM
Persona 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9E3VR8Fnj0
Listen to that quality and diversity. And the trailer music again. You know this game will sound good.
So, yeah. That is what I think of Catherine and I'm expecting even more from the next HD-SMT game since Catherine is supposed to be a test for the Devs on HD consoles. If they get this one right the next Persona, Devil Summoner or Mainline MegaTen game will knock it out of the park... again!
No comments:
Post a Comment