So, it's no secret that my girlfriend Lindsey is a huge nerd. She cosplays Persona and Phoenix Wright with me at conventions, watched me play through all of Persona 4 twice, and we sit together and play DS RPGs together on the couch before we go to bed. She even puts up with me running the twitter account @NarukamiYu, which documents the events of Persona 4 (Endurance Run timeline) as they occur throughout 2011. So when we heard that the Persona team was putting together a game about mature themes like love, marriage and betrayal, we were all for playing it together.

However, this is a game you should NOT play with your girlfriend if you don't want her yelling at you the entire fucking time. I'm not going to give any real spoilers aside from minor ones, themes and general mechanics of the game, but if you don't want to know anything about the game, you should probably stop reading (although I haven't finished the game either, I just finished Stage 6 at the time of this writing).

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.

Every time Vincent has the option to write a text message to Katherine (his committed girlfriend), I kind of wanted to blow her off and be like "I'm drinking with my friends, leave me alone!" But Lindsey was horrified every time I wanted to say it, and made me change all my responses to "Sorry, can we talk later?" I mean, honestly, Katherine is really controlling and overbearing, I kind of wanted Vincent to just break free (though he can't for...various reasons). And she didn't even want me responding to Catherine's texts. "You can't be nice to both of them!" "Are you TRYING to destroy your relationship?" "What kind of person are you?!" were things that I heard as I played through the game. I mean, I kind of wanted to play the game like I would respond in real life...I don't want to be mean and dismissive of a girl just because it's the "right thing to do," because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings...maybe I'm just naive, but I felt terrible ignoring Catherine's texts or telling her that I couldn't see her that night.

And then there were the questions that you get asked in between puzzle levels in the game. "Would you ever lie to your significant other if you knew there was no possibility of getting caught?" There was no way I could possibly even deliberate answering that honestly with Lindsey sitting right next to me. Then there was the worst question of all, which we came to last night: "Could you reveal the entire contents of your cell phone inbox to your significant other?" I was like well shit. Either way I answer this, it's ALL bad news. Now I mean, I'm not cheating on her, but I do talk to a good number of girls, including one of my ex-girlfriends, through text messages. There are a few topics that I talk about that I wouldn't exactly be comfortable showing Lindsey...but, if I said "no," then she would ask to see my phone, and if I said "yes" she would probably ask anyway. I picked yes, and of course, she asked me to show her my phone.

FORTUNATELY for me, my phone had been having trouble that weekend so I took it into the store to get it fixed, and they performed a hard reset which cleared all of my text messages. The only things there were texts to a mutual friend of ours asking when she could pick up my Pop'n Music controller, a text from a friend whose computer crashed saying "FUCK THIS COMPUTER," and a text to another friend asking him when he got off work Saturday.

Long story short, playing Catherine with your significant other will probably be a horrifying experience, and an eye opening one as you realize all women in relationships think like Katherine, and all men in committed relationships probably think like Vincent. Do you disagree? Would you play Catherine with your girlfriend? Leave a comment!

I play Catherine on a 50 inch Sony TV on the main floor of my house. People are constantly walking through and seeing it. Parents, my brother, extended family, friends of both sexes. I don't give a shit and they don't either, some have actually stopped and watched for a bit because they liked the tone and style of the game. It seems like your girlfriend doesn't understand that the game is fiction and even you playing it a certain way, like blowing off Katherine, is just the way you are playing. It doesn't reflect what kind of person you are. I hope she was displaying these feelings in a joking manner and not super serious.

*EDIT: If I still had a girlfriend and she was interested in the game I would play it in front of her or with her.

We've been having a lot of fun together with the game. Thing is she knows it's a video game and wants to play it to win. She conditioned herself quite nicely when she took the reigns from me for our first play through of P4 and applied her new found (well mostly accredited to the ER) knowledge to her own second play through . She's learned that things like emotion only hinder you.

Seriously watch Brad play STO before Ryan jumped in. Christ that was painful.

I really want to know what it's like playing the game for dudes that actually secretly cheated on their girlfriends in real life at some point. Some of those in game situations have gotta be stressful as hell.

Be afraid.

*EDIT: If I still had a girlfriend and she was interested in the game I would play it in front of her or with her.

Great read and wow that's scary. 
Really though, I think it depends on the girl. Like my friend's girlfriend is like yours and would probably act similarly. My girlfriend however is much more understanding of stuff like that and would more likely go with the guy oriented responses.

 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.

Lindsey is her name? If you give each letter a numerical value(a=1 etc), her name equals 88. 88/4=22. Since it's her first name, let's add 1. 22+1=23!!!!! 
 
You know what you have to do.

@mutha3 said:

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.

Alright, sure, maybe not ALL men are like that, but at the time I felt like that being a man and feeling like I related to the characters in the game gave my opinion a little more authority than her on the matter. =P

And I mean, normally we don't pry into each others' business, but I guess she was feeling kind of emotional at the time since we were playing a video game about a cheating man, after all...it's enough to make a girl want to look, I guess?

@Bwast said:

Lindsey is her name? If you give each letter a numerical value(a=1 etc), her name equals 88. 88/4=22. Since it's her first name, let's add 1. 22+1=23!!!!! You know what you have to do.

I know this is completely unintentional, but you basically computed my birthday...1988/4/23. Scary!!!

No offense to your lady, but, she was overreacting quite a bit.  And as for my most recent ex, as I'm between partners right now, I highly doubt she would have cared.  Hell, she was more masculine than I was a lot of the time.  And I agree, Katherine was overbearing, but, Catherine was also insane... I kind o' wanted to rebuff both until a specific point with Katherine where it kind o' because a "do the right thing" situation.  Vague, but trying to keep it spoiler-free.  Anyone who's played it knows what part I mean.

Hell of a social experiment. I guess it must be like playing DNF with your gf

You should have known it would have been like this before you even began. At least that outcome seemed extremely obvious to me.

Not haveing a girlfriend I don't have this problem. But it would depend on the type of game your playing. Any game where it's you VS her is most likely not a good idea.

Be afraid.

Here's hoping she also has an account here and stumbles on this thread.

i dont think i would mind because i doubt she would take it too serious...  shes not really into video games.  and if i had to show my girl my phone i would just distract her with the nyan cat app.  haha...  *sigh*...

My girlfriend and I have had a serious talk about personal space before. She used to always snatch my phone out of my hands when I got a text, and though it was never anything incriminating, it was a serious violation of my personal space. I was always on edge when I got a text or a phone call, because I knew she'd be asking me who I was talking to; I felt as if I had no space to myself when she was around. Ever since we sat down and discussed why this wasn't acceptable and how to make it better, I feel much more at ease. She'll watch me play Mass Effect and romance up aliens and stuff without being bothered by it, and I'll ask her to answer texts and phone calls for me if I'm not near the phone. If you feel scared to answer a question in a videogame because you're afraid your girlfriend's going to project that onto you, maybe you should talk about privacy and boundaries. Demanding to see your phone seems a bit over the line, whether or not you've got sensitive stuff on it.

You should ask to see her cellphone and all the text messages and numbers she have if she is going to act that way.

On a more positive note, if she's that pissed off, it only means she cares dude. I mean fuck, if i had a girl that would be willing to sit through and watch me play an entire game, well, that would be awesome.
In fact you know what, you need to go and apologize to her, than pressure her into marrying you. 

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".

She sounds like a keeper. Put a ring on it. ;)

I haven't gotten to play Catherine with my girlfriend yet but we plan to when the price drops. I guess i'm just one of those different kinds of guys where i'm really not afraid of being in a committed relationship, plus i wouldn't care if she read my cell phone inbox cause i mostly only text her anyways.

I'm not gonna say you guys need to work things though because every relationship is different ya know. Would you say the story is really engrossing? Cause that's really what i'm concerned about with that game.

and an eye opening one as you realize all women in relationships think like Katherine, and all men in committed relationships probably think like Vincent. 

@Thoseposers said:

I haven't gotten to play Catherine with my girlfriend yet but we plan to when the price drops. I guess i'm just one of those different kinds of guys where i'm really not afraid of being in a committed relationship, plus i wouldn't care if she read my cell phone inbox cause i mostly only text her anyways.

I'm not gonna say you guys need to work things though because every relationship is different ya know. Would you say the story is really engrossing? Cause that's really what i'm concerned about with that game.

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).

And yes, the story is pretty engrossing. It's the closest to a video game equivalent of a page turner I've played in quite some time. Lindsey and I stayed up until 4AM the last two days going through it. The puzzles are pretty tough and do hamper enjoyment of the game somewhat, since sometimes you just want to find out what's going to happen in the story and don't give a damn about block puzzles. Don't get me wrong, I love the puzzles and the challenge, but sometimes I just wish I could skip it and come back later to find out what happens in the main story.

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...

Well at least you learned something from this little experience and goes to show you that Catherine does go pretty deep with the whole relationship.

you really should have asked if you could see her phone

No offense (OK, maybe a little), but your girlfriend looks like a psycho. :)

So basically you shouldn't play this with your GF because you're a dick, yeah great work there dude, I wouldn't even choose those options without a GF watching over me.

Very interesting read!
 
@the_OFFICIAL_jAPanese_teaBAG said:

i dont think i would mind because i doubt she would take it too serious...  shes not really into video games.  and if i had to show my girl my phone i would just distract her with the nyan cat app.  haha...  *sigh*...

@NTM said:

No offense (OK, maybe a little), but your girlfriend looks like a psycho. :)

Haha, she was trying to be in character for a photoshoot (and the character happened to be an evil murderer). She's a very nice person normally: http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/38686_1558260398769_1303023978_1546532_4617122_n.jpg

@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...

So her being intuitive or not is contextual? In your statement, she's doing the exact same thing (asking who's calling) regardless, but if you were hiding something she then becomes intuitive?

Very interesting read!
 
@the_OFFICIAL_jAPanese_teaBAG said:

i dont think i would mind because i doubt she would take it too serious...  shes not really into video games.  and if i had to show my girl my phone i would just distract her with the nyan cat app.  haha...  *sigh*...

Wait... There's a nyan cat app?!

well that was fun to read lol

My girlfriend watched me play through day 5-the end game and she watched me play a vincent that ended up staying with Katherine. Immediately after I finished the game she said "I wonder what would happen if you were a dick to Katherine and went for Catherine!" and actually asked me to start over so she can see

I'm reading this blog post about playing a game with a girlfriend with my girlfriend. HOW BOUT THAT.

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Your girlfriend doesn't seem to understand video games OR people. 
 
Furthermore, I'd only get Catherine if I could guarantee my girlfriend would watch it with me. It would be fun to discuss things with her and see if we both choose a different woman or something. It would be fun.

man up son.

This blog is awesome. I love how delightfully nerdy your relationship is. I laughed at the title, its an aspect of the game that I never thought about. The the image of you nervously playing the game is funny. thanks for writing it.

Look at the cover art for the game. Now tell me, would this be a game to play with a girlfriend? Especially if it seems you guys have some problems in the first place?

Don't generalize it always ends badly. That said, seems like you might not in THE relationship yet as you keep potentially hurtful info from your partner. I understand there is also there's personal space though so you should talk to her about the people you talk to and explain to her they don't mean to you what she does. If they do then, again, maybe your not as committed to this relationship, just like Vincent.

@The_Nubster said:

My girlfriend and I have had a serious talk about personal space before. She used to always snatch my phone out of my hands when I got a text, and though it was never anything incriminating, it was a serious violation of my personal space. I was always on edge when I got a text or a phone call, because I knew she'd be asking me who I was talking to; I felt as if I had no space to myself when she was around. Ever since we sat down and discussed why this wasn't acceptable and how to make it better, I feel much more at ease. She'll watch me play Mass Effect and romance up aliens and stuff without being bothered by it, and I'll ask her to answer texts and phone calls for me if I'm not near the phone. If you feel scared to answer a question in a videogame because you're afraid your girlfriend's going to project that onto you, maybe you should talk about privacy and boundaries. Demanding to see your phone seems a bit over the line, whether or not you've got sensitive stuff on it.

I wouldn't play Catherine with my girlfriend because of all the Anime-style objectification going on. My gf is a hardcore feminist (I am a feminist too, although I'm a bit more patient) who doesn't stand for female characters being presented as anything less than complete human beings with agency and a self outside their sexuality. From what I heard from Jeff's review the characters 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.

And she didn't even want me responding to Catherine's texts. "You can't be nice to both of them!" "Are you TRYING to destroy your relationship?" "What kind of person are you?!" were things that I heard as I played through the game.

Great post, it's interesting what video games can reveal about people. It sounds like you and your girlfriend have some genuinely conflicting thoughts and opinions about relationships, but I think you're generalising too much about how women and men in committed relationships feel.

                   

@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...

So her being intuitive or not is contextual? In your statement, she's doing the exact same thing (asking who's calling) regardless, but if you were hiding something she then becomes intuitive?

                   

               

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...