Hello everyone, and a Ho! Ho! Ho! It may be Christmas but I haven't had much to write about that's Christmas in spirit, but gaming news is still dripping out, what with the Death Stranding trailer, COD WW2's first DLC map pack reveal and this; Catherine remake for the PS4 and Vita.
Now, I enjoyed the original game. I like the Atlus games, they're stylish and the blend of mythology and modern culture appeals to me. Catherine as far as story goes, is kinda weak. It has it's twists and turns and is well paced as an enigma that unravels, but ultimately the characters are paper thin and the dialogue is ham fisted.
"No awards to anyone who guessed, Rin is transgendered"
Fortunately, the gameplay was solid. You don't see many puzzle games designed like Catherine, layering story elements over does make for an engaging game. Though my poor wife did get tired of hearing the TV yell "edge, edge, edge, edge" over and over again.
It's compulsive gaming and it's so fun and addictive. The only downside is that difficulty wise, the game can be a little steep. The difficulty does ramp up pretty extreme, especially if you want to see the true ending which sadly was out of my grasp.
Any who, the game has had a new trailer reveal for it's remake that includes an additional love interest story line, new gameplay features and tower levels. However it's the new love interest Rin that is causing quite a stir.
No awards to anyone who guessed, Rin is transgendered and it's Vincent's look of horror that has upset people. This isn't the first time Catherine upset people with it's depiction of a Transgendered character. The character Erica was a Male to Female Transgender and she was at points ridiculed by the other male characters. Such as Vincent telling her she couldn't join the Women's Wrestling, because they wouldn't allow her in.
Her love interest Toby; who has a huge crush on her, regrets having a sex with Erica when he discovers she is Transgendered. Many people also took offense to Erica experiencing the nightmares the Male characters experienced. This latter reason is a tad more ambiguous and perhaps a very sensitive subject, far too much so for a game about climbing a tower whilst being chased by some demented nightmare creature.
Vincent himself is an absolute dick.
The game stipulates that Men experience the shared nightmare because they are denying their women the chance to have children. (Due to unfaithfulness or reluctance to commit). Erica enters the shared nightmare when she begins having sex with Toby, due to her being a Male to Female Transgender, she cannot become pregnant and give Toby children. Hence she experiences the Nightmare. Whilst logical to the game's story, you can't deny it's a delicate and sensitive subject. Especially as the game does not suggest she is unfaithful or non-committal. The point of the Nightmare was to punish men, so Erica is therefore punished with them. To my knowledge, Catherine is the first game (at least main stream) that has featured a Transgendered character, but that in itself is no good thing. The Catherine game portrays men very poorly as well, Vincent himself is an absolute dick. He's a complete misogynist and seems to get let off because he is so gormless and laid back. The female characters don't fare better, they're either flirtatious sex symbols or reserved prudes.
This game is not giving it's characters depth.
Vicent is definitely the wrong character to have interact with a Transgendered character, because he is so juvenile, the character's over the top reactions were always going to cause offense but we also know that by the end of the game he will get over his reservations and end up loving Rin for the person she is and not fear her for whom she once was. So, will the ends justify the means? Is the LGBT community overreacting?
As a Man, I'm of no experience to comment on how a Transgendered person is going to feel about this representation. Personally, I don't think Catherine is a serious enough game to take umbrage with, it's portrayal of it's cast is paper thin personalities. Y'know it's not really making a statement but it is making a mockery of it's Transgendered characters. It's like they're only included to be the butt of some of it's jokes which is inherently wrong.
Hopefully we'll see some constructive examples of LGBT characters in videogames in the coming future, but for now it looks like there's some growing up to do.
Have a great weekend everybody and a merry Christmas.
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