Shenmue Dojo

Posted: **Tue Aug 02, 2011 2:21 pm**

I think it's still original enough and fucked up enough that you'd probably still be interested, much like with 999. Trust me, so far it's not stuck so much on anime cliches and tropes. It's more grown up than that.

Posted: **Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:00 pm**

Atlus announced that Catherine sold 200,000 copies in the US in it's first week. Glad to see after the...less than favourable sales of Child of Eden and Shadows of the Damned, that Japanese craziness in games can still sell. Especially if there's a little thing called marketing associated with it.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 3:28 am**

This game is amazing.
16 hours in. I'm on the final boss now (or at least I think it's the final boss).
I can't believe people were bitching about the difficulty with this. I mean yeah, it's challenging, but nothing to whine about. I'd say it's just right, actually. It's a puzzle game, so I suppose it might be a type of challenge a lot of people aren't used to, but with any amount of common sense they should be able to get used to it pretty quick. I did, and I almost never play puzzle games.
Only complaints I have about it so far have more to do with the localization. Any scenes with Trisha seem to have slightly overlapping dialogue clips, as if they had to fit more dialogue into places where there just isn't enough room. Not a huge deal, but it's noticeable right at the start of the game. Also for some reason the traditionally-animated anime scenes have higher volume on the sound than the rest of the game. Really weird, and kind of irritating if you're trying to keep the volume down a bit. Also the characters say "fuck" way too much. I'm not some stickler about bad language or anything (fucking obviously), but it always bothers me in dubs when it doesn't quite sound natural. Like they put too much emphasis on it, in a way that people in normal conversation don't generally do. It's not as bad as the dub for the first Yakuza (the acting is actually pretty damn good here), but those "fucks" do pop up and stand out a little too much, like Atlus USA was trying way too hard to stick to the M-rating they were going to be getting anyway.

But otherwise the puzzles are oftentimes incredibly clever, and the story really is one of the most mature I've yet seen in a game (just like I was guessing it would be months ago). Like I said before, this is almost like the Killer 7 of this generation of consoles. Something utterly original, high on style, and borderline genius.
I love the Persona games, but I really wouldn't mind if the Persona team would engage in these kinds of projects more often. They're damn good at it.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 3:56 am**

OL wrote:But otherwise the puzzles are oftentimes incredibly clever, and the story really is one of the most mature I've yet seen in a game (just like I was guessing it would be months ago). Like I said before, this is almost like the Killer 7 of this generation of consoles. Something utterly original, high on style, and borderline genius.
I love the Persona games, but I really wouldn't mind if the Persona team would engage in these kinds of projects more often. They're damn good at it.

Someone walked into the store and said "Its just a prettied up Q*bert". After promptly slapping him, I assured him that it was similar to Q*bert, but then told him thats how things work. It took an idea and put a number of mechanical and aesthetic spins on everything to create a new and incredibly fun product. He then purchased the game and is now working on that plat.

Tuffty wrote:Atlus announced that Catherine sold 200,000 copies in the US in it's first week. Glad to see after the...less than favourable sales of Child of Eden and Shadows of the Damned, that Japanese craziness in games can still sell. Especially if there's a little thing called marketing associated with it.

200,000 copies? they're celebrating?! MADNESS! We need to Sell 6 Millions copies of something for it to be successful, GWARARARAHGAHHHRAH

Seriously tho thats not a large amount, but it is worth celebrating, even as it is they sold more copies then they expected and made a profit, which just goes to show you don't need something crazy to make money.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:16 am**

And thats just the first week sales, by the end of the year even hopefully they can be more towards the 500,000 mark. Atlus deserves a smash hit.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:43 pm**

The Persona games almost all do pretty well, far as I can tell. I'd think you could consider P3&4 both pretty good smash hits. Their fanbase is pretty concrete. And that success bleeds over into the other Megaten games. Hell, I'd even say whatever success Catherine has had is due mostly to people recognizing it as both being from Atlus, and looking like Persona.

Just beat Catherine by the way. Such a great experience, really unlike anything else out there. Everyone really ought to give it a go.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:48 pm**

Short game though, no? 20 hours at best? Any side puzzles or anything to partake in?

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:17 pm**

How the hell could anyone consider 20 hours "short"?
This isn't an RPG. It's an action-puzzle game. I'd actually call 20 hours (or even just the 17 it took me) pretty damn long, in that light. I was actually surprised when it pushed past the 12-hour mark.

But yeah, there are side things to do. The story apparently changes depending on decisions you make, and there is an arcade game in the bar called Rapunzel, plus a Tower of Babel thing to engage in, where you shoot for a high score. Not to mention the two-player challenges.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:18 pm**

Short but tough. is the game Arcade like? I'm getting more interested now. Originally was not interested as it looked like an anime version of Q*Bert.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:26 pm**

What do you mean by arcade-like? That can mean any number of things.

I'd say the presentation aspects and story make it pretty firmly a console game. And those really should be the main draw for most players. You liked Killer 7, right? How it was almost all story and style, with the gameplay being fun and challenging, but ultimately second to the presentation?
I think you'd like this a lot. Just like K7, it's more of an experience, rather than just a game.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:30 pm**

Cool. Oops I read the first post as 6 hours no 16.
I meant arcade like as in gameplay focused and with puzzles. Mind you I know little of the game. Just bits and pieces like a weird Q*Bert game. So I was not sure what to expect. But you said the magic word. To bad I may never play. pS3 such a pipe dream for me and by that time The game will be hard to find and upped in price.

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 3:12 pm**

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO0zMYuw3F0[/youtube]

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 3:18 pm**

That was like... the worst Mega64 I've ever seen. Usually they're funny, spot-on parodies, but that had practically nothing to do with the game at all...

Posted: **Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:43 pm**

Well my parents are heading to the US next month so if we aren't getting the game anytime soon I may have them pick it up.

Posted: **Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:56 am**

So does this guy just suck or is it like that for everyone?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7hA0a8gmho[/youtube]

Also for those in the UK its out 11/11/11

Shenmue Dojo

Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Re: Catherine