Watched all the cutscenes on youtube. Got that whole awkward teen hot girl fantasy thing going on that is truly uncomfortable after any real maturation as a male. (Sidenote: Lollipop Chainsaw's cutscenes seem so fanserviced that I clicked out within the first minute.) I think it wouldn't be pathetic if perhaps the player was actually living out this fantasy instead of watching it. I mean real-life dialogue in the bedroom isn't Oscar academy stuff and maybe the little girl voice works as a turn on, but it's just a bit too much on-screen. I will probably do an article on this.

From wiki: "In North America, due to the game's somewhat risqué cover art, an edited version was used on a "small percentage" of launch copies at select retailers in consideration of more "sensitive" shoppers"

America and its sexuality issues.

The enemy designs are very freaky and I've always enjoyed Atlus' use of religious themes in games. [SPOILER:fdb61d9e0b]The whole pregnancy thing didn't make any sense to me. And the whole no one can see her but you, but nobody notices you are talking to yourself just does not work. it could have if they had a few extras in the story talk about how that crazy guy is talking to himself. I'd like to just roll with it since it was kind-of neat...-_-[/SPOILER:fdb61d9e0b].

i'll_bite_your_ear wrote:

The best thing about this game is the story and the storytelling. You will be entertained, baffled and curious for whats coming all the time.

Do you hate videogames?

From wikipedia:
"In addition to the Golden Playhouse mode, Babel Mode features four large stages playable with up to two players, while Vs Colosseum features two players simultaneously playing a stage in order to reach the top first"

Sounds cool. I've never played a real-time puzzle platformer so I am interested in trying it out to see if it's my kind of thing.

I don't get your complaint, Syd. In order for the game to be truly difficult Atlus would have to limit multiple solutions. I get that at a certain level this can be extremely frustrating, but is this not what hardcore puzzle-platforming people desire? How would you make hard mode harder? Just cutting down puzzle time?

Cause you enjoy watching the cutscenes the most than the parts where you play the videogame...

Hate is a strong word though.

It's not silly. It should be pretty self-evident why story is the least important part of the videogame medium for a player to enjoy and that praising it the highest is cause for great concern on the videogame or gamer in question. But it's not apparent for modern 2D-deprived gamers. So, I'll just have to sum it up really quick.

Books are the medium for reading great stories - Ranked by Human Dimension
Movies are the medium for watching moving pictures. - Ranked by Human Dimension
Videogames are the medium for controlling moving pictures. - Ranked by Game Rules. (How fun it is to play)

So for storiy quality it goes: Books>>>Movies>Videogames

And I figured people who have read Syd's article on Pac-Man Nihilism (sidenote:his best article if you ask me) would get this. That stories are disposable (read: very unimportant) in a videogame. Just think of some videogame story that you think is extremely important (even adventure genre) and realize that only hints (rules) that make sense to solve in the gameworld conveyed in the story (not the story by itself) are the important part. That cutscenes are designed as a slight break from playing a game so that you can relax before you get back in it. They are also designed to make sense of why your avatar is now in a new level.

When setting up a story/cutscene movie for players to watch is the strong-point of the game it simply means the game is bad. This is what some gamers wrote about on killer 7. "We don't enjoy playing the game. We enjoy playing it to get to the story/cutscenes". -- a crap complaint since the game is quite fun to play. And it doesn't matter if the game in question is Mario, Resident Evil, or Catherine. The storylines are all crap and unimportant. Cutscenes have become abused from what should be very quick breaks from play to full-on feature films. Just give us the game, man. Think of sports and how throwing in a mandatory story while playing it would be straight up retarded. Just think of cutscenes appropriate use as a type of half-time or bench break.

So how much of an effect does story/cutscene removal have on Catherine? The game gives you multiple answers to choose from but I've seen nothing to indicate they effect t've seen nothing to indicate they effect the block puzzle levels you play through. At least in Skies of Arcadia your answers affected your status in the world to unlock bounties to collect or result in you getting straight up murdered -- they had an impact on the game. This isn't like Hotel Dust [DS] where wrong answers to people are failed puzzles with consequences (upset character enough = Game Over). This was a problem with Atlus recent semi-recent jrpg effort in Persona 3 where answers don't give much pleasure due to lack of complexity and skill required from the character dialogue option selection choices (risk/reward - rules).

Fighter_McWarrior wrote:

Story and narrative can be important elements of games. Your assertion that they're "the least important" is simply your opinion, not an objective fact.

1) Name a way they are not the least important part of a videogame. (Name something less important to a videogame than story and narrative that videogames have).

2) Opinions are not equal. Some are better than others. Mine is the better argument thus far.

And if you wish to be Mr. Objective I'd appreciate it if we could reframe from attacking each other through repeated uses of "you's" and "your's" and stick to the points.

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not an objective fact.

What is an objective fact on importance of stories? There is no such thing. Importance implies judgment on what is worse or better; it is an opinion.

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If a player feels that the narrative was the most compelling reason to keep playing the game, that's entirely his prerogative.

Oooh feelings. This'll lead to great analysis of game rules.

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And more importantly, stating that the story is his favorite party of the game wasn't Ear's way of saying that the rest of the game was even bad, just that that one aspect was outstanding.

I've already written that the story is crap. That not only is that story crap but that videogame stories are crap. And that if you like a crap story the best from a game than the game is crappier due to it being second to crap.

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Implying that he somehow dislikes the rest of the game, or going a step further as you did and implying that he dislikes all other elements of all other games, isn't a very rational takeaway.

It is rational since it's based off statistical analysis of language used in crap games like Lollipop Chainsaw that focused on story and had crap "gameplay"; crap game.

AGAIN, conpared to what other aspect in the videogame are story and narrative more important??

NAME ONE

NAME ONE VIDEOGAME GENRE STORY AND NARRATIVE ARE NOT THE LEAST IMPORTANT ASPECT IN

you didn't name any aspects

Fighter_McWarrior wrote:

1. They can invest the players in the characters they're playing (The Last of Us) 2. They can help build a sense of atmosphere for players to immerse themselves in (Metroid Prime) 3. They can entertain as much as the gameplay itself (Pretty much every great RPG ever) 4. They can add a sense of humor to a game (Borderlands) 5. They can help guide player decisions and create a sense of roleplaying (Fallout) 6. They can lead the player to feel that something is "at stake" so that they care about the game's outcome (Spec Ops: The Line) 7. They can dynamically change a game's gameplay based on their outcome (Mass Effect) 8. They can create lend the feeling of an interaction world (Grand Theft Auto) 9. They can use gameplay as a means of exploring complex themes (Bioshock)

These are things story and narrative can accomplish. They are not aspects in the video game they are better than