@SixtyXCelph said:

 
@Duncs

said:

                    @Noct said:

Someone else already jokingly mentioned this, but I just have to
outright ask... You were afraid of her seeing your phone because she might see something
incriminating... and then you posted a thread completely confirming that her
fears were totally warranted? I know you said you weren't cheating, but in my experience, if something you're doing has to be hidden from your signifigant other, or you have to lie about it... then it's probably not somethign you should be doing...



And to the people that are saying she’s a control freak or whatever... Umm,
clearly she HAS a reason to be suspicious!



I'm not too keen on how quickly my wife will ask me who'se calling me when my
phone rings, but the whole reason it bothers me is because I have nothing to
hide... if I DID have something to hide, it wouldn't make her a controlling
bitch, it would make her an intuitive girl who senses that something is off...



Don't get me wrong, I think it's a little nuts that she is equating your selections in the game to real life and trying to read something into it, but I don't think this buisness of her wanting to see your phone is strange at all... If I picked up my wife's phone and she freaked out or didn't want me to look at it, I would be more then a little concerned...

I've gotta disagree on this. His fear of her seeing something on his phone *might* indicate that he's doing something wrong, or it *might* indicate that she's the kind of girl who will blow up over something inconsequential. I'm not saying all women are like this at all, but I certainly know some who are. One of my best friends' girlfriend is incredibly OTT about this kind of thing even though he is doing literally nothing wrong. If he gets a text from a female friend of his *at all*, she flips out about it. Even if it's (as it always is) something entirely innocuous. He knows this, and so is justly terrified of her reading his messages, because of her reactions. It could be either way around, it's not certainly either the case that she's overbearing or he's cheating behind her back.   Also, totally agree with Piglet - she's looking at your phone either way, which means that looking at you phone is *not* based on intuition. That claim would only be valid if she only looked at your phone if/when you did something wrong. Her looking in all cases is her being suspicious/nosy regardless of any facts.

                   

               

 
Hah, ok, you both make fair points... Whether she knows or not though, he's admitting he's hiding something, so it doesn't seem crazy to me for her to be suspicious. You're totally right though, if she has no reason to be, I guess you could still put her in the crazy bin...

As far as whether or not she should be interested/concerned... I dunno man, obvioulsy you could get an innocent text that your signifigant other might take the wrong way, but in my opinion, when somebody is trying to keep something from their other, no matter how innocent, it means they are technically doing something "wrong". Whether they personally feel it is is irrelvant. If you know somehting you're doing or have done is going to anger/upset your girlfriend, then you probably shouldn't have done it, or at least shoud have had some concern about her feelings. 
 
For example, my wife has a big issue with strip clubs. I really don't personally think there is anything wrong with them, and honestly, I wouldn't go even if she didn't have any problem with them, but I definately won't go knowing that it would upset her. It doesn't matter whether or not it was "innocent" or whether I though tit was wrong, if you're doing somehting you KNOW you're other doesn't like or approve of, and then you have to hide it... that's sketchy to me.

Dude, that's the -1 circle of hell right there.

Holy cow, tons of responses. Thanks to everyone who enjoyed reading it. I admit that I was a little overarching and generalizing with my statements, and I apologize for offending anyone. I know that not all men are afraid of commitment and all women are commitment mongers, but it's how I felt at the time while playing with my girlfriend, that Vincent personified the average man and Katherine the average woman. Obviously, not all people are like that. (I also feel a pretty big connection to Vincent in general since I'm also a programmer who just changed jobs, is in a committed relationship and doesn't know what he wants in life.)

And honestly, my relationship is fine. I'm open about who I'm talking to when she asks, and I'm open about what I talk about, and she's fine with that. I get my alone time with my guy friends going drinking and partying, and I get my together time with her. It's just that I'd prefer her not to violate my personal space like my phone, even if she'd be slightly disapproving of who/what I talk to/about on there. I guess I've just been burned by previous relationships where I actually WAS with an overtly controlling girlfriend who got mad if I even spoke to a woman and just want to keep that stuff to myself now.

And I'm not saying that I don't think that my girlfriend is the one I want to settle down with eventually, but I mean, I'm 23 years old and live in San Francisco, so I don't particularly want to be tied down when there's tons of partying to be done and people to meet. My dad made that mistake with my mom, married straight out of college, and now he lives with his girlfriend in his mom's house. I want to live a little, and not have to worry about things like mortgage payments and eventual children during ostensibly the best years of my life. Plus, my girlfriend is still in college and is going to go to graduate school, so it's not like she's ready to settle down either. It's probably just her instincts kicking in and wanting to settle down with a good man.

Facinating read. I hadn't even thought how playing this game with a significant other could have consequences.

Talk about playing the game on the highest difficulty setting.
 
That was a fun read.

Watch Sex and the City with her, then comment about all the girly bullshit women get away with. You'll come to the same conclusion, you need a new partner.

Ah...you shoudn't really be talking to your exes when you yourself already have a girlfriend. That is just weird, man.

@GaspoweR said:

Ah...you shoudn't really be talking to your exes when you yourself already have a girlfriend. That is just weird, man.

I don't really see what's wrong with it. You may have spent months or years of your life with them, and they know you better than most of your friends. They can provide valuable insight and advice that you wouldn't get from anyone else, in my opinion.

I wouldn't play Catherine period.

bwahaha. I'm even more interested now in seeing how a female gamer reacts to this game. As a guy it was pretty easy to see where the male characters in the game were coming from, but I really wonder what a female playing this game would think about it.

@AURON570 said:

bwahaha. I'm even more interested now in seeing how a female gamer reacts to this game. As a guy it was pretty easy to see where the male characters in the game were coming from, but I really wonder what a female playing this game would think about it.

I actually have a LOT of female friends who played the game, and they told me they were basically the most dedicated boyfriends in the world. They also cursed in very un-lady-like manners when playing the puzzles...heh heh heh.

This is a hilarious (I don't mean to belittle the awkwardness of the situation for you personally) and excellent blog.  I wondered myself what it would be like to play this game if you had a significant other being in the room.  I was mainly thinking about if the sexual content in the context of cheating on Katherine would get weird but as you have found yourself all the other stuff about commitment is easily as touchy.
 
Edit:  Also, after now reading all the comments left here I kind of feel like this thread alone justifies the development of Catherine.  It's kind of refreshing to see all these issues and POVs raised here on a gaming site whereas there's not really another game that would provoke such thoughts and discussion.  Well done Atlus.

@RagingLion said:

This is a hilarious (I don't mean to belittle the awkwardness of the situation for you personally) and excellent blog. I wondered myself what it would be like to play this game if you had a significant other being in the room. I was mainly thinking about if the sexual content in the context of cheating on Katherine would get weird but as you have found yourself all the other stuff about commitment is easily as touchy.

Oh no, I agree it's hilarious. If it wasn't entertaining it wouldn't make for very good blog material, after all. If I was actually horrified with the situation, I don't think I'd make it public. Glad you liked it, though!

What I would give to be with a girl who would dress up as a phoenix wright character... you've got yourself a keeper there.

What I would give to be with a girl who would dress up as a phoenix wright character... you've got yourself a keeper there.

There's probably something else going on beneath the surface &
doesn't have anything to do with the video game.

I'd be more worried about a few of those... questionable boss characters.

Now I remember why I'm okay with being single. Cheers!

The moral of the story is not "don't play Catherine in front of your girlfriend", it's "don't get involved with a controlling and imbalanced woman".

If she's overreacting like that to the fact that you TALK to other girls, maybe she's a lot insecure about herself and her relationship with you.

And what the hell is "You can't be nice to both of them" supposed to mean? That when you're in a serious relationship, you just have to be a jerk with all the people of your opposite kind? That you have to be harsh and scare them away? I'd call that plain jealousy and lack of self-confidence.

Very interesting read! Now I'm sorta curious to try something like that myself, could be pretty fascinating I think.

@G3RHRT: The two Catherines are pretty shallow, but the waitress Erica is one of the best characters in a video game this year. Actually...she's probably just THE best, unless The Witcher 2 or Alice has characters I don't know about. The other side characters (mostly male, didn't spend much time with the two old ladies) are all strong as well. The two Catherines are just symbols, though, which is arguably the largest disappointment in the game. That, or the audio issues, or the lack of player agency for the first two-thirds of the game, or some of the block puzzles, depending on the person.

I still rather enjoyed it. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about "which Catherine will I pick" and more "which choice will I make on the landings?" That said, all you have to do is make it clear at the very beginning that you're making choices for Vincent and not for yourself; you're considering it a "what would this character do?" and not a "what would I do?", as the alternative could expose that maybe you and your partner don't really know each other very well at all. That's what I'm gathering from your OP, AzHP, that you haven't told her how you feel about breakups and commitments despite having been with her (presumably) for a while now. Maybe you should directly talk to her and say "look, there have been points in this game where I've lied because I was afraid of how you'd react. I really do want you to understand me and love me for who I am, so let's finish out this playthrough going for Katherine, and then we can play the game again and I'll respond more honestly."

People in this thread are reporting that your girlfriend is invading your privacy and that's not cool. If you're not interested in making a real connection to this girl, that's one thing. But I think the biggest moral Catherine puts on display is that an inability to communicate and actually make decisions without being terrified of the outcomes will ultimately lead to a more stressful life as a manchild, which is exactly where Vincent starts the game.

But what do I know? I'm just another sheep, doing my best to exchange techniques with anyone who will take the time to listen. It can be kind of hard to recognize other sheep here, but maybe you'll recognize my cowboy hat and grizzled face when I need some advice and we can exchange techniques again.

Reminds me of my ex. If we would watch a movie where a chick gets topless she would get mad if I didn't look away.

@tylerjacob said:

Reminds me of my ex. If we would watch a movie where a chick gets topless she would get mad if I didn't look away.

Haha, that's kind of funny because my girlfriend loves tits...we've watched some of the most fan service-y animes that exist, including Ikkitousen (google image it if you dare). Ironically, I think she likes it more than I do...

great f*cking blogpost. very honest and very very real.

 In the beginning of the game, Vincent and his friends talk about commitment and how scary it is, and Lindsey couldn't believe that there were men who thought like that. I bit my tongue and avoided telling her that actually, all men are like that, and they just don't say it to their girlfriend because they don't want her to explode.

It seems you and your girlfriend have the same problem in stereotyping men, my friend.   Also, demanding to see your phone's inbox?  .....uhhhhhhhhh   Maybe you need to have a talk with your girlfriend.

I know it might be just be me, but why would you be texting your Ex?

4 anybody says anything, yes I've had more then 1 GF before, but that just seems a little weird is all.

This post really makes me want to call over all the female friends i know over to see what they say about Catherine.

I'm also not suspired that your GF would want you to go for Katherine way.

if my girlfriend got angry at me for playing sly in a GAME i would tell her to go for a walk... if she was that insecure or/and had that little faith in me. that she would judge me for the things i do in a game. then she needs to grow up. 
  
thankfully for me, my girlfriend has a sick and twisted mind like me. we kill the hookers for our money back :P

This sounds like an incredibly stressful and harrowing experience, so I feel sort of bad at deriving so much joy from reading about it.

Yay! Trust and communication issues for everybody! 
 
I really want to try this game for myself now.

I don't check Twitter all that often but when I do I enjoy your P4 Tweets, and would like to take this opportunity to thank you "somewhat" personally for the work you put into it.

This topic was also incredibly funny to read, so thanks for that as well.

I have no further thoughts.

Don't generalize it always ends badly. 
 
 
are unfortunately shallow... and also Japan: I'd probably would be palming my face while my gf frowns as the camera constantly pans over Catherine's body.

I loved this blog post. Glad to see the game is sparking so much discussion. Forwarded to Aram.

I played the demo with my girlfriend. I can totally see what you mean.
 
I think a lot of people here who are saying how they wouldn't care or the magical girl they would date would be fine with it, obviously are single.
 
My girlfriend knows that I like my personal space, so she doesn't touch my phone or my crap without asking me. Not that there's anything to hide, but I just really hate people invading my privacy.

@mutha3 said:

@G3RHRT said:

Don't generalize it always ends badly.


are unfortunately shallow... and also Japan: I'd probably would be palming my face while my gf frowns as the camera constantly pans over Catherine's body.

Ha. Anyway,outside of its boxart, Catherine is pretty tasteful game. A lot more tasteful than most videogames that aren't about sex. Examples of games I find less tasteful: Mass Effect 1/2, Persona 3/4, Duke Nukem Forever etc etc.

I meant don't generalize about people, silly. It is well-known that anime often indulges in fan service of the sexual female kind.

But yeah, I rather not risk expose her to something offensive and have her bummed out cuz of a video game.

@RockmanBionics said:

I don't check Twitter all that often but when I do I enjoy your P4 Tweets, and would like to take this opportunity to thank you "somewhat" personally for the work you put into it.

This topic was also incredibly funny to read, so thanks for that as well.

I have no further thoughts.

Don't remember reading the tweet thing the first time. It reminds me of Jeff's idea of having timelines on the site that told you what was going on in video game universes. I still think it would be awesome.

@mutha3 said:

@G3RHRT said:

Don't generalize it always ends badly.


are unfortunately shallow... and also Japan: I'd probably would be palming my face while my gf frowns as the camera constantly pans over Catherine's body.

Ha. Anyway,outside of its boxart, Catherine is pretty tasteful game. A lot more tasteful than most videogames that aren't about sex. Examples of games I find less tasteful: Mass Effect 1/2, Persona 3/4, Duke Nukem Forever etc etc.

I meant don't generalize about people, silly. It is well-known that anime often indulges in fan service of the sexual female kind.

But yeah, I rather not risk expose her to something offensive and have her bummed out cuz of a video game.

 I think a lot of people here who are saying how they wouldn't care or the magical girl they would date would be fine with it, obviously are single. 

This is a great post! Catherine really is a game that challenges you aspects of a relationship. It sounds a bit like your girlfriend is Katherine lol

Forum topic of the month!

Had a blast reading this. XD

you actually let her go through your phone? Control your fucking woman dude.

I played the demo with my girlfriend. I can totally see what you mean.  I think a lot of people here who are saying how they wouldn't care or the magical girl they would date would be fine with it, obviously are single.  My girlfriend knows that I like my personal space, so she doesn't touch my phone or my crap without asking me. Not that there's anything to hide, but I just really hate people invading my privacy.

@RockmanBionics: Thanks so much! I'm glad you like it and that you found this blog post to be entertaining. Frankly I'm overwhelmed by the response and the discussion this has sparked.

And honestly, because everyone seems to think that I am in a horrible relationship with a controlling girlfriend and that I'm a terrible person, I'm going to repost this:

This blog post is really misrepresenting my girlfriend as a whole, she honestly lets me do whatever I want when I'm with my friends and doesn't mind when I come home piss drunk after blacking out in a hotel room full of women, or impulsively spend hundreds of dollars on anime figures or oversized arcade replica Japanese music game controllers. She trusts me wholly and I trust her. I guess her insecurities get the best of her when playing a game specifically about a man cheating on his committed relationship, and she feels like I'm projecting my feelings about our relationship into the choices I make in the game (not necessarily untrue, but I wouldn't act on my feelings).

I admit that I was a little overarching and generalizing with my statements, and I apologize for offending anyone. I know that not all men are afraid of commitment and all women are commitment mongers, but it's how I felt at the time while playing with my girlfriend, that Vincent personified the average man and Katherine the average woman. Obviously, not all people are like that. (I also feel a pretty big connection to Vincent in general since I'm also a programmer who just changed jobs, is in a committed relationship and doesn't know what he wants in life.)

And honestly, my relationship is fine. I'm open about who I'm talking to when she asks, and I'm open about what I talk about, and she's fine with that. I get my alone time with my guy friends going drinking and partying, and I get my together time with her. It's just that I'd prefer her not to violate my personal space like my phone, even if she'd be slightly disapproving of who/what I talk to/about on there. I guess I've just been burned by previous relationships where I actually WAS with an overtly controlling girlfriend who got mad if I even spoke to a woman and just want to keep that stuff to myself now.

And I'm not saying that I don't think that my girlfriend is the one I want to settle down with eventually, but I mean, I'm 23 years old and live in San Francisco, so I don't particularly want to be tied down when there's tons of partying to be done and people to meet. My dad made that mistake with my mom, married straight out of college, and now he lives with his girlfriend in his mom's house. I want to live a little, and not have to worry about things like mortgage payments and eventual children during ostensibly the best years of my life. Plus, my girlfriend is still in college and is going to go to graduate school, so it's not like she's ready to settle down either. It's probably just her instincts kicking in and wanting to settle down with a good man.

@mutha3 said:

@G3RHRT said:

@mutha3 said:

@G3RHRT said:

Don't generalize it always ends badly.


are unfortunately shallow... and also Japan: I'd probably would be palming my face while my gf frowns as the camera constantly pans over Catherine's body.

Ha. Anyway,outside of its boxart, Catherine is pretty tasteful game. A lot more tasteful than most videogames that aren't about sex. Examples of games I find less tasteful: Mass Effect 1/2, Persona 3/4, Duke Nukem Forever etc etc.

I meant don't generalize about people, silly. It is well-known that anime often indulges in fan service of the sexual female kind.

But yeah, I rather not risk expose her to something offensive and have her bummed out cuz of a video game.

But, you said Japan, silly, not anime. Generalizing a country is a pretty shitty thing to do. Do you think panty shots are abound in Japanese literature too? On top of that, videogames are hardly(read:almost never) guilt-free from stupid fan-service themselves. I find the games I mentioned to be more guilty of it than Catherine: Awkward pandering PG-13 sex scenes, swimsuit competitions, the worst lapdance ever etc. (for reference: there are no swimsuit competitions, awkward sex scenes or lapdances in Catherine.) I'm not trying to convince you to play Catherine with your girlfriend, I'm just disputing the notion that its creepy.

I had answered but for some reason it erased? I think it's because you edited.

Anyway, you've never heard the Bomb Squad say "because Japan" to refer to the relatively strange things that come from Japan's pop culture. I am not generalizing the Japanese people as a group of individuals and I don't have any malicious intent. If you're Japanese and are offended by "because Japan" then I apologize.

Now, "creepiness" is very subjective and she believes it is or at least it bothers her, so that's that. : )

@mutha3: It's cool, I'm pretty alert at racial/gender discrimination myself. I won't say "because Japan" anymore because now I can see how it could be offensive to a Japanese person.

So I was ahead of schedule at work and decided that in light of everyone saying that my girlfriend is a terribly controlling woman and that I am a dishonest man who doesn't deserve her, that I should write up something about why I love my girlfriend and how delightfully nerdy our relationship is. I don't know if anyone cares or will find it interesting, but here it is, just in case.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-topic/31/turning-my-girlfriend-into-a-weeaboo-a-true-story/509420/#1

I actually have played through the entire game with my girlfriend. I played on my own and when we were playing together I did the puzzle sections while she answered all the questions and chose who to talk to. It actually was a lot of fun. Course she was just as excited for the game as I was after I weaned her off her Final Fantasy dependency and introduced her to the world of Atlus and SMT. Ah, good times.

@LiquidElite said:

thankfully for me, my girlfriend has a sick and twisted mind like me. we kill the hookers for our money back :P

*laugh* I remember when my wife was working at a retail chain and had someone who got upset at her for not selling his 10 year old son a copy of GTA 3, and she dropped the "I like killing the hookers then running them over with my car so I can get my money back. Is that the game you want me to sell your 10 year old?" line on him. Worst part, his answer was yes... *sigh*