![]() ![]() Controlling Vincent is simple, though there are a few quirks with movement. The narrator also provides different facts about each type of drink once Vincent finishes it, so this is certainly the game to play if you want some alcohol related trivia.ĭuring the night, Vincent must contend with the mysterious nightmares that see him and others climbing up towers made of varying block types. Being a bar, the Stray Sheep also has a variety of alcoholic drinks, and the drunker Vincent gets, the faster he can move during the nightmares. There’s no time limit, so you can figure out how to play and improve before the next night starts. Vincent can play the arcade game Super Rapunzel, which in many ways acts as a tutorial for some of the harder puzzle sections you’ll run into. While conversing with various people and replying to texts makes up most of your time outside of the nightmares, there are a few distractions here and there. Most of these still only change the meter one way or the other, but it at least feels a little more involved compared to choices made elsewhere. You’ll also often receive texts from Katherine and Catherine, and instead of replying with one of two answers, you’ll instead compose a response by going through a few branches of text choices. This system doesn’t feel very impactful until near the end of the story, since most choices don’t change what actually happens during the first half of the game. This meter is used to determine the ending you can get, along with Vincent’s inner thoughts at certain points during the game. Chatting to different people will often lead to Vincent being asked questions, his answers changing the value of an ever-present meter. Here he can talk to his friends, the bar staff and various customers that come and go during his time there. During the evening, Vincent spends his time drinking at the Stray Sheep. Gameplay in Catherine is split into two main segments. Even with the poor storytelling though, the fantastic gameplay goes a long way in making Catherine a more enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, even the small number of new scenes in Full Body for the existing heroines do little to improve the overall story regardless of which route you follow. To make things worse Rin ends up appearing far more frequently than the other two, the lack of time being spent with the older love interests becoming even more apparent. Over the course of the entire game you don’t actually spend much time with either woman and, with the short amount of time the story takes place in, Vincent’s relationship with Katherine is not as fleshed out as his friendship with the other regulars of the Stray Sheep. You see, for all the good parts of Catherine’s story and its characters, the actual love triangle between Vincent and the similarly named heroines often feels rushed. Catherine does a good job of conveying the relationships Vincent already had before the game starts… except with one of the most important characters. Vincent’s inner turmoil is communicated through some well written (and expertly voice acted) dialogue, and the conversations between him and his friends in the Stray Sheep feel realistic. Compared to the younger heroes of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, Catherine’s story manages to cover some more adult oriented subjects and, for the most part, handles them well. He’s older, has a more mundane personality and opinions, and has trouble dealing with his feelings towards his current girlfriend and the new faces that have suddenly appeared in his life. ![]() Vincent is a very different protagonist compared to those usually featured in most modern Atlus games. This turns what was originally a love triangle into something more complicated, making Vincent’s predicament even more complicated. ![]() Full Body introduces the amnesiac Rin into the mix, who ends up working at Vincent’s favourite bar the Stray Sheep. The majority of the game was spent on Vincent coming to terms with what he’d done, while also contending with mysterious nightmares that forced him to climb up ever higher towers or face death. The original game told the story of Vincent, a young man who quickly finds himself in a dire situation after cheating on his long-time girlfriend Katherine with the flirtatious Catherine. Full Body brings this oddball game to a new generation, expanding on the excellent puzzle gameplay but improving little about the disappointing story. Mixing a serious story based on relationships and preparing for the future with fast paced block-pushing gameplay made for a unique experience, even if a couple of problems held the game back overall. Catherine was always a strange game, even when compared to some of Atlus’ weirder releases. ![]()
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