Listening to the most recent Bombcast reminded me of the fact that Patrick thinks that the boss stages in Catherine are the worst part of the game. I couldn't disagree more with that statement and I thought they were the best part. He complains about how it leaves you no time to think about your actions and that it's too frantic, but isn't that the entire point of its design? You're playing as Vincent, this dude in a nightmare, and you're being chased by gigantic, nightmarish creatures. It would make no sense if they would wait so that the player could think about his/her next moves; it would make the whole situation much less intense and dangerous.

I didn't enjoy the game at all outside cutscenes and the bar stuff... so no.

You can explain the situation in terms of how Vincent is feeling as a counter point, but the whole thing is so gamey and mechanical that I ust can't accept any kind of naturalistic explanation for for crazy those final stages are.

@AlisterCat said:

but the whole thing is so gamey and mechanical that I ust can't accept any kind of naturalistic explanation for for crazy those final stages are.

I'm not sure what you mean, but there's also the fact that I enjoyed the gameplay and had little trouble with the controls, so that made it easier for me to enjoy.

@FluxWaveZ: I meant you are trying to contextualise something that actively tries to rip itself from context and exposing how mechanical the gameplay is. That is perfectly fine, but it makes it hard to buy anything when you try and tie it in to how Vince is feeling or the story.

Yes, best part of the game for me and why I kept playing, though they definitely got a bit frustrating when I was shooting for golds. The final boss was especially awesome (and ridiculous).

hated the boss puzzles, the puzzles without the boss was fine, the rest was freaking awesome

Besides the boss of stage 5 ("The Bride") I enjoyed them... But this one gave me a headache and I was stuck there for an hour.

Not really, even on normal difficulty it felt like they were crazy fast to catch up with me.

I really enjoyed the story related stuff but completely hated all the puzzle stuff. I eventually gave up and stopped playing. I'm thinking about going back to the game and playing on easy or maybe even very easy just so I can get through it and experience the story.

I think I put the game on hold on the sixth night, at least up until that point I'd found the boss stages to be easier than most of the regular ones on normal. I got the feeling the puzzles themselves were more straight forward to compensate for the monster's abilities. So yes?

yeah, they get frustrating.. but that's the point. i always had enough retries for it not to matter much, but man, when you're one row down from the exit and you get snatched up, it can break a man. all part of the fun!

my favourite puzzle was the one that is just a sort of.. diagonal wall. when i first saw it my jaw dropped. it was the developers playing with their precedent in the best way.

I didn't really enjoy anything outside of the cutscenes and bar nights, that is to say, just about all of the puzzle gameplay. There were some moments where it was kinda satisfying, but overall I thought it was the weakest part of the game. Oh, and I didn't think the bosses were particularly terrible.

I loved the boss stages, yes they got infuriating at points and man i wanted to toss a controller but damn when you finished it it felt like an accomplishment. (even more so when that trophy popped for beating that boss)

I thought it was a really good puzzle game.

I liked the Design of the bosses themselves but was not fond of playing them. After the first few nights I got tired of the puzzles in general.

It was great! Really, by the time I cleared the second stage I'd gotten so into the gameplay that I almost wanted to skip out of the bar early to get to the nightmare stages. Doom's Bride in the Quadrangle was especially memorable- awesome to play through, and when you completed that stage you felt incredible about it.

Dude, I loved just about everything in Catherine. The bosses were rad, I played on the default difficulty and didn't really struggle until the very last night... Man, I think I'll finish up my 2nd play-through and get that 'true freedom' ending. I know I could just watch it on youtube but that game is hell of fun.

I did. Not too thrilled with the ending.

I throughly enjoyed them. There were some cheap deaths, and some trial and error, but I never got to the point of frustration. It helped that I played the stages first on easy.

I loved pretty much everything in Catherine.

I personally enjoyed the puzzles in Catherine far more than the story segments; the boss stages in particular did a fantastic job. There was always this feeling of apprehension and panic, and finding a solution on the very edge of death was a rewarding experience that few other games have even come close to giving me.

I still don't get why people thought the puzzles were hard. Especially in the English version. Also when does the Catherine talk start in the Bombcast?

The puzzles are the worst part of Catherine. <-----Period

I played it when it first came out and recently wanted to go back to see a few things, but in that time my PS3 had blown up. So without any save games I had to play the puzzles so I could see the cutscenes and bar parts, not that I could skip them anyway since you would have needed a gold playthrough on any given puzzle to skip it. I looked up cheats for the game and saw that you could unlock a very very easy mode by holding select or something. Man, I wish I had played the game the first time with it. They give you that power up that lets you skip 3 steps constantly making the puzzles last less then 60 seconds in most circumstances.

I didn't find the puzzles overly frustrating, just tedious and not fun.

No way. Especially the baby ones and the bride. I didn't really have the time issues like Patrick (although I was on Easy and he was on Normal), they were just annoying and frustrating. As Ryan said the sound design makes you feel like you're going crazy and the baby constantly shouting out 'Don't run away, Daddy' and all that nonsense just got on my nerves rather than made me consider that Vincent was running away from his responsibilities. With the Bride, I was having a hell of a time with the ice levels anyway and her boss stage was the stage (boss or no) that I got stuck on most.

The multiple boss stages on the final final night were annoying too. That section was dragged out enough without two incredibly annoying boss stages. Like Patrick said, just stock up on them super jumps. Either that or pull out the random block, see if it's a spring block, if it's not use the redo function until it is.

However, I thought that the puzzles and the bar stuff were better integrated than the Bombcast seem to think, although the bar stuff is still the best part of the game. I also didn't have a problem with the 'Japanese curve ball'. Perhaps that's cos it was spoiled for me (thanks, Bombcast :P) but it's loosely related to Shin Megami Tensei so I probably would've been more surprised if there wasn't something like that. Didn't stop me from going for Catherine either. Katherine was lame.

I wonder if there's a correlation between people who didn't like the block puzzles and people who didn't like Katherine, other than that they're terrible people.

What, he said that? (I don't remember that bombcast)

I completely disagree with him, that's exactly the reason why I love the boss stages and the Babel mode. You have to be on your toes, and comprehend the fundamental techniques. It is immensely satisfying.

I wish the game had online multiplayer. I don't know a single friend that has even heard of Catherine so local co-op only is useless to me.

@Make_Me_Mad: So Jeff? Though I loved the block puzzles but hated Katherine.

I'm so behind on bombcasts, almost at the last E3 one.

I agree with them. The bosses catch up to you so fast, you can barely make a good strategy to climb up. So, those stages are a lot of trial and error. The ones that I hated the most were (The Bride) and ( The possessed baby) For some strange reason, the last few bosses are pretty easy.

I never had strong feelings for the boss stages. Except for:

I'm in the camp of liking it okay at first, but eventually becoming bored with it halfway through.

I enjoyed all of Catherine. The puzzles, the story, the caracters, the bosses, etc. All of it.

No. Hated some of them almost as much as my ending.

I selected 'other' cause at times I loved the boss stages but then I often found myself nearly being driven crazy by how stressful and demanding they were. As others have mentioned there were a fair few cheap deaths - but it certainly was satisfying to finally get a boss stage beat.

...and yes that baby boss was terrifying :/

I enjoyed absolutely every aspect of Catherine. It is one of my "legendary" games no. That is to say it has entered the realm of my favorite games no matter the generation. That list is only about 10 games long so... That's something for me.

Never finished the game because of it. IIRC I was stuck on the boss stage after the "twist".

Actually, the Bombcast reminded me I should go back and finish that game. Same with Vanquish.

The only one that I severely disliked was the one that took blocks up in a wind and threw them at you. I felt like I got killed in way too many bullshit, cheap ass ways from that one.

Other than that, I didn't care about them either way.

The boss stages were my single favourite part of the game, but I feel like I was in a minority in actually loving the puzzles in that game. I guess my brain just works in a block-pushing kind of way.

One of my favourite games overall though, and up there for my 2011 GOTY (though FFXIII-2 came out that year too so...)

I really enjoyed the game. It had a steep learning curve but I stuck with it. The difference in the difficulty is that you get fewer continues and rewind opportunities. The Babel tower mode is randomly generated. Some times I think the Giant Bomb crew and the videos games press is adverse to challenge. They blitz through a game to have a review done and to make time for other games. The game gets frustrating if the player ignores the rules the game sets up. I am grateful that checkpoints are added between towers. As many times as I failed a stage, when I got the end. If felt very satisfying. I was encouraged to replay stages for the sexy gold trophy of Trisha.

@Bocam said:

@CaptainTightPants said:

What, he said that? (I don't remember that bombcast)

Also when does the Catherine talk start in the Bombcast?

Bombcast June 12th, 2012 @ 35:30:

Patrick Klepek (38:20): "The boss battles are by far the worst moments in that game."

@Addfwyn said:

but I feel like I was in a minority in actually loving the puzzles in that game.

I don't think so, especially going by this poll. It's just easier to notice those who dislike than those who like it.

I hate everything about Catherine other than the bar stuff and cut scenes so yes I hate the boss stages.

Yes, I enjoyed the boss stages. They were one of the best parts in Catherine, but even though I'm saying this, I thought the levels against Thomas Mutton/Dumuzid were pure torture. Now I know how she feels. -__-;

I loved everything about Catherine, so yeah, boss stages included. The tension of them chasing you and all that felt really good.