In a way this was more of a experiment for Atlus to get some training on systems they were new to so it is understandable that this was a bit rush leaving for some things out. But the characters, to me at least, feel like they were made to be representing the trubling relationships and personalities of different loves and troubles people have. Also these are adults who have already developed.

I think @joshth meant characterization rather than character development.  As in, our own understanding and knowledge of the characters rather than the characters actually developing and growing.  And I agree completely, both Catherine and Katherine are two-dimensional and have the most basic of personalities.  I found them both unlikable, frankly, which probably wasn't helped by how flat they are as characters.  I understand they're meant to represent either end of the Freedom/Order spectrum, but, they're not fleshed out enough to have choosing either woman make any sense at all.  Catherine's insane and apparently murderous and Katherine's overbearing and... well, apparently also somewhat murderous... ANYWAY, the point being that there is not a lot of characterization for them.

Also, worth noting, I enjoy Catherine a lot.  Enough that I'm willing to pick it apart, haha.

They're major characters in the sense that they  spur along Vincent's development. But they aren't intented to have much more of a role in the story beyond that.  There's a reason there isn't a single scene in the game where you seem them "bonding" or some shit.
 
If you look at it from the perspective of "choosing" one of them , I think you are missing the point entirely.

@mutha3: I disagree completley.  The games endings are all about wheter you want to follow order and stay with Katherine, be chaotic and go with Catherine, or stray the middle and choose neither.  The game leads up to making that decision, thats what the entire game is about, thats what his moral delema is, and what you choose as a player affects who he chooses.

I've not played Catherine, but this is pretty much the gist of what I've heard about it. It's a shame, really, especially because of the team's previously seen talent with developing Persona 4's characters--and to a lesser extent, 3's--as you mentioned. There wasn't a single character I didn't love in Persona 4, be them a party member or a random social link or villain. Every character is developed, and nothing is as they initially appear. From the sound of this post, the game could've benefited from another stage in the game, before Vincent goes to the bar he can choose to go on a date with either of the characters, wherein the women are more developed and the player learns more about them, not unlike the Social Links in Persona 4.

Catherine and Katherine are not supposed to develop as characters, they come into the game fully developed. They are meant to be idealized representations of chaos and order.

                    @joshth said:

@mutha3: I disagree completley.  The games endings are all about wheter you want to follow order and stay with Katherine, be chaotic and go with Catherine, or stray the middle and choose neither.  The game leads up to making that decision, thats what the entire game is about, thats what his moral delema is, and what you choose as a player affects who he chooses.

                   

               

Only on a superficial level.  What the story really revolves around is Vincent dealing with the awkward manchild slump his life has been in.

                   

               

I honestly don't have a problem with the characters as presented.  I never needed to know more about Catherine other than "apparently she's really clingy, quite invasive, and kind of crazy and I totally called everything about her when I heard about the plot of the game."  I also never really needed to learn more about Katherine either.  Sure you only see Vincent and Katherine together a handful of times, but I'm not sure I ever needed more than that.  
 
The guys at the bar talk about the important stuff from the past a little bit, and this is a relationship that's already well developed.  I'm not sure I would have gotten anything more out of the story if I had known what Katherine was like just three years into the relationship instead of five years into the relationship, or anything like that.  I, personally anyway, thought they made it pretty clear that Vincent is a bit of a wishy-washy kind of guy and that Katherine is his better half.  While she may come off as overbearing or controlling or whatever to some people, that doesn't really matter.  Katherine represents a decision in Vincent's life.  Is going to go for someone that will, and does, in theory, make him a better, more complete person, or will he pick a path that allows him to continue living the life the way he's been living it.
 
The story is about Vincent's relationship with these characters at this point in time in his life.  You're not going to see them spending every waking moment with each other because that's not how their relationships function.  It's coming into characters lives at a point that matters for the story.  You see this in movies all the time too.  You see how characters are living their lives at a set point in time, and you don't always see how things were between those characters at any other point in their lives.  You might get impressions of how things used to be, but you don't necessarily see back to those times.  The further along you get the more subtle developments you might pick up on for the characters, but you're probably not going to see anything drastic like you might have seen in P4.
 
On the subject of P4 for that matter though, one could bring up the point that for all of the individual story and character development you might see going along a social link with any given character, none of it matters.  At the end o the game, Chie isn't going to treat the main character any differently if you max out her social link or not.  Kanji isn't going to behave any differently if you help him through his troubles or not, he's only going to behave in a set way throughout the game.  So I guess I'm not sure how this is THAT much different.  I'm not saying that their story telling techniques shouldn't advance and change as they make more games, but Catherine was more of an experiment for the team, and the game itself already has a ton of cut scenes in it.  I'm not sure adding even more just to get slightly more in depth ideas on the side characters would have made that big of difference other than to run the risk of making the cut scenes potentially overbearing  
 
That's my opinion anyway.  Or at least part of it.

                   On the subject of P4 for that matter though, one could bring up the point that for all of the individual story and character development you might see going along a social link with any given character, none of it matters.  At the end o the game, Chie isn't going to treat the main character any differently if you max out her social link or not.  Kanji isn't going to behave any differently if you help him through his troubles or not, he's only going to behave in a set way throughout the game.  So I guess I'm not sure how this is THAT much different.  I'm not saying that their story telling techniques shouldn't advance and change as they make more games, but Catherine was more of an experiment for the team, and the game itself already has a ton of cut scenes in it.  I'm not sure adding even more just to get slightly more in depth ideas on the side characters would have made that big of difference other than to run the risk of making the cut scenes potentially overbearing    That's my opinion anyway.  Or at least part of it.

                    
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
This was primarily my problem with P4 is that the social links didn't effect the plot, Though I would still say there's value in understanding characters better, in both games.

               

I think it's sad and telling when I get annoyed that people actually properly indented their sentences. Good post though, and don't take my comment to heart, keep it up it's just that there are so many people out there that don't care or are not educated enough to realize their mistake and its a breath of fresh air to even see it.

Good points. I think there's a whole untapped world of more complex social interactions, even if it's still just part of a larger RPG or other game. Some games are experimenting with this sort of thing, although I think they're often too damned timid. It's one of the ways to make memorable characters and not just lists of stats.

While I'm not dismissing the points the OP made, the women here are hardly the focal point of the game. The females are meant to be the supporting characters, mere plot points as someone put it. The developers wisely chose to maintain the focus on not only Vincent, but on the male perspective to relationships and the moral choices that follow them. The plot had a premise and mostly stuck to it, IMO.

Some additional interaction between the three main characters would have been a nice bonus for sheer entertainment value, but it wouldn't have served much purpose. When the K/Catherines finally face each other for the first time, that was really all that was required and it cut down any opportunity for the game to go off on some superfluous tangent.

I personally liked the plot and narrative as is.