Why is Catherine, who plays frantically on the sidelines, a masterpiece?

Even if I can’t experience every work now, I think I should always be a spiritual fan of ALTUS. There is no other reason than that the real social perspective and psychological practice embedded in the game are really to my liking. If we say that the previous Megami Tensei and Persona were both trying to talk about certain social issues from a relatively macro perspective. Under the surface of arousing people's desire, the topics discussed in this "Catherine" are much more specific and sharp. That is love and affair, marriage and responsibility. Of course, it chose a very interesting starting point to talk about.

To briefly summarize the story, "Catherine" tells the story of Vincent, a programmer who has just entered middle age, and is recently being forced to marry his girlfriend K Catherine on the grounds of pregnancy. Although he knew very well that Catherine was her lifelong partner, Vincent was still afraid of the unknown marriage life. Forced to retreat, he had no choice but to drink away his sorrows at the bar he frequented after get off work. At midnight, Vincent, who was already drunk, found a beautiful blond girl sitting opposite him. He couldn't remember anything after that. That night Vincent had a strange dream, as if he had been climbing something, but he couldn't remember it specifically. Unexpectedly

. You cannot underestimate this design concept. Not to mention the sense of immersion and theme expression created for players under the complete design structure of Xiaoxiao.

To extend it further, in the game, both you and other people trapped here must climb up. Only one person can stand on each box. If you want to go up, you can only drag the other person down and fall into the endless abyss, or drive him to step on the mechanism and be killed by the mechanism. Or lead him to others and let them kill each other. Some of these others are weak and some are strong. Strong men carry weapons and will be killed if they get close. If you want to deal with them, you can only use props to sneak attack or avoid them. And all of these people, including Vincent controlled by the player, can only see their own faces. In their own eyes, others are just sheep of various shapes. Doesn’t it reflect the flavor of today’s society?

There may be some people who don’t admit this, thinking that this is just a side game, and there are not so many opinions. But the game never abandons the social perspective. Players will receive questions in the prayer room before starting each level. After you make a choice and then load the interface, you will immediately see how many players hold the same views as you. This in itself is a very obvious perspective of an individual facing society. Besides, ALTUS has done a lot of exploring social and psychological issues in its games, whether they are based on fantasy or urban ghost stories, right? Many plots of P5 are also adapted from real social events. So there is no need to doubt this part.

And from the perspective of characterization, although Vincent is a scumbag, he has fallen in the C Catherine line, and in the case of K Catherine line cheating, although he regards the other party as an insubstantial devil. The explanation was barely convincing, but in a sense, I still felt that I was being relied upon by him. But from a spectator's perspective, I can't say I dislike him completely.

First of all, his biggest mistake is naturally that as an adult, he did not think clearly about what he should consider at the age he should have. Although based on reality, as a programmer, his job does not seem to be very stable, which may prevent him from thinking too much about taking the initiative to think about the future. But this cannot be the reason. If it weren't for his own timidity. He won't be targeted by demons, and that won't happen in the first place.

But Vincent, who was involved in the crisis, showed super abilities. Not to mention those who initially hoped to climb the tower to the top, even if everyone was inspired by Vincent's actions in the middle, everyone used all their energy. But it still doesn't change the fact that the higher you go, the fewer people survive until there is no one left. Only Vincent persisted to the end and even defeated the final enemy. To be fair, he got his due. And he resisted at the risk of his life. In this process, there are countless tortures in dreams and every choice in reality.

They all confirmed his view of love, and they also convinced him who he loved. It also determines whether the person he loves will love him or not. The game depicts this two-way choice process from both the system level and the storyline level. For K or C, they both made their own choices based on their own will after seeing Vincent like this. Although I still feel that this guy is cheap. But fortunately, it is the result that the player achieved after all, and seeing his efforts, he just accepted it.

We can also see that the production team created the character of Vincent in this way. Not perfect at all. It can even be said that he is a tainted guy. Maybe that’s why the character seems real. It is also suitable for talking about themes such as marriage and love.

And what’s more subtle is that the different endings in the game are determined by various questions about the concept of love and the players’ responses to the text messages from K and C Catherine. Therefore, strictly speaking, there is no obvious direction for each ending, it is just a choice you make. Therefore, the official attitude is also very interesting. It is very close to the fact that if you choose an ordinary marriage, you must take responsibility. If you choose freedom then you have to follow through. And with an attitude caught in the middle, no matter who you prefer in your heart, you won't get it in the end. But as for the pros and cons between these endings. In the eyes of the production team, everyone is treated equally. It’s very worth pondering. It’s also a trick that won’t offend you even if you sleep.

In fact, so far, the connotation and some details of this work have not been covered in all aspects. But the biggest inspiration this work gave me is that for a small-scale work, perhaps more important than how much large and empty content you want to make is how to choose your own position and perspective. Once you The position and perspective are distinct enough to completely lead players into the theme. Then you've won more than half the battle.

Looking back at the overall overview of the work "Catherine". You will find that this is another concentrated expression of ALTUS applying its expertise in sociology and psychology to games. It doesn't matter whether you design the gameplay first and then add meaning to it. Or the meaning comes first and the gameplay follows later. In the end, it’s hard not to find the masterpiece-like quality contained in its final design that integrates gameplay and theme. Although the size and theme are destined to fail to gain widespread popularity among mainstream player groups. It can only become an unpopular masterpiece that is ridiculed by the public. But the connotation contained in it is worth learning by independent authors. If you haven't come across this game, I hope you won't sneer at it because of its superficial appearance. Don't just give up on pushing boxes just because it seems like it's not interesting. It's worth a try!