So Ive run out of games I really want to play and have been looking at Catherine for quite some time. There are still some retailers up here in Canada having boxing week sales and sellingthis game for 20 bucks off or something like that. The blockpulling aspect of this game does not interest me at all, but I was wondering if the story alone could interest me enough to play through this game. So how is the story, without any spoilers is the story intersting enough, or at least strange enough, for me to spend 40 dollars and have an enjoyable time?

It's an Atlus game, so the answer is yes.

Also, I know there are a number of persona fans on the site, so I was hoping to hear from people who may not be die hard fans. People whos first experience with this company is this game.

It seems like it might just be a normal story for almost the entire thing but goes off the rails in the final act. The themes and ideas in the game are great. The story beats themselves? Quite a bit less so.

The story explores themes other games don't touch and does a pretty good job with it. Vincent is a good character but most of your time is spent on the puzzle sections. Which are very hit and miss depending on the person.

Honestly, I thought the story was a bit of a mess. It has some of the worst story interaction and morality meter mechanics I've ever seen in a game. 
 
That being said, it's still worth playing. I felt like the puzzles were great fun (especially the ice ones <3) and it's guaranteed to be unique; a nice pallet cleanser from all the shooters. 

It broaches some themes most games avoid like the plague, but with varying degrees of success. C/Katherine could have been developed better, but they're mostly caricatures defined by the utter extremes of the game's morality spectrum. And it does basically turn into a JRPG story at the end.

If you value uniqueness in your games, it's certainly worth a try, but that's not to say Catherine ever fully realizes its ambitions. I guess it depends on how important it is to you that they even tried.

I mean I like pretty much all the characters except for Catherine (Erica <3) but, and this really isn't too big a spoiler, if you can stand supernatural elements in a story about relationships than go ahead

but don't discount the block pulling stuff. I didn't think I'd like it, but it's honestly one of my favorite parts of that game.

OK, so it sounds like this game is different enough for me to stay interested, since the last game I played with a story I actually cared about was LA Noire and I'm guessing that is nothing like this game. So that settles it, I will be picking up this game tomorrow, might even try writing a review after playing for people like myself who have not played many Atlus games before. Thanks for the input guys!

Story can be pretty hit and miss. At least for me it was. I liked it overall though.

It has some really high moments when everything is clicking for me, but at the same time the l experienced some pretty low moments. I like that the game deals in subject matter that pretty much every no game touches on and pulls it off successfully surrounding itself with some good characters. I didn't like that a lot of the time the game has characters act in completely illogical ways to push the story forward and it made for some really frustrating moments where I was screaming at the TV.

At the end of the day, it is a pretty engaging story.

I liked it, being a fan of unique games, Catherine was great.

Speaking of, i need to go back and get the other endings

If you're not interested in the gameplay, don't bother.

I did not like Catherine. At all. The story is intriguing for the first little while, but once you figure out who's been up to the no-good, you'll definitely feel ripped off. Shit, even the main character feels the same way.

@Animasta said:

I mean I like pretty much all the characters except for Catherine (Erica <3) but, and this really isn't too big a spoiler, if you can stand supernatural elements in a story about relationships than go ahead

but don't discount the block pulling stuff. I didn't think I'd like it, but it's honestly one of my favorite parts of that game.

Pretty much this exactly. I'm not a huge fan of the way the story decided to wrap up some of the bigger issues, and I have an intense distaste for the main character, but all of the side characters, the other bar-goers and the dudes you meet in the Nightmare sections, every one of them is more interesting and developed than the entire casts of other games. That none of them were brought up for a Best New Character discussion is a shame.

Edit: Also, those nightmare stage block puzzles were awesome. I will fight anyone on this.

Haven't played it yet, but just a heads up that a major part of it got spoiled on the GOTY podcasts in case you're listening to those.

Boy do I regret that decision.

@david3cm said:

Boy do I regret that decision.

@FluxWaveZ said:

If you're not interested in the gameplay, don't bother.

It has a great, strong start, but there is a turning point where it get's bad.

@FluxWaveZ: I figured from the number of people saying that the game play was acceptable that I would find a quantum of enjoyment out of it, but those people are bad people. I do not find a frustrating, bad controlling block shoving game enjoyable at all, and a game that makes me actively angry is a game that I never want to play again. I should have heeded your warning sir or madam, and am now going to ratchet down the difficulty and suffer through this hate-crime of a game. I cannot believe people out there are surprised this wasn't on anyone's top ten lists.

@david3cm: The game isn't good, unless you really like block pulling puzzles.

The main story cut-scenes are good, but the actual game part of the story is just walking around a bar talking to the same people after every-night. This is followed by 3-4 block puzzle levels and then you get another cut-scene then its back to the bar, until you decide to leave and do more block puzzles.

@zombie2011: I am about 2 hours in and am well aware that this is a game that i no longer want to play and one I feel has so many flaws that completely overshadow the minuet number of good things it does. When the best part of your game is the drink trivia, you have done something, many things actually, horribly wrong.

@david3cm: Games are about the game part; the part where you actually play it. It would be utterly pointless for me to play an FPS if I hate and have no interest in FPS games. Same goes for Catherine. It's absurd that one who has no interest in the block puzzle aspect of the game would consider playing it.

Granted I haven't beat it (yet), the story is pretty good. You get a very eerie mixed vibe of horror, comedy, and... romance? Let me give you one hint though, when you do the puzzle parts, try your best not to care too much about that gameplay portion, it'll make it easier to get through for some odd reason and it'll just be less stressful.

@FluxWaveZ: I agree with you that a prerequisite for a good game is good gameplay, but when there are so few games with engaging stories and I find one that I am actually interested in, I am able to trudge through it to see where the game takes me. But, and this is the case with this game, when something plays this shitty, it is hard for me to give credit for the things that this game attempts to do.

I actually ended up really enjoying the puzzle part of the game more than the story, but thats just me. Seriously don't play this game if the gameplay part of the game looks boring to you. If it looks somewhat interesting play it on very easy, because the game gets damn difficult on normal.

I'm not the sort of neutral individual you're looking for, but I'll say this. I disliked the gameplay and had some problems with the story, but I loved it all the same and I think people should try this game just to see the things it tries to do.

The gameplay is not very fun, I end up just Youtubing the cutscenes the story build up is really good but, some people (like Jeff and Patrick) thought the game's "True" ending underminded the plot.