I mean, I agree that Toby shouldn't date Erica. Not for the reason that Catherine (2011 video game) puts forward, but because you don't want to introduce that sort of relationship drama to your favorite hangout spot. You can't ruin the hangout spot.
as a straight man, i have not played any of these games, and am currently playing Sonic X Shadow Generations. I consider myself the winner in this scenario
Every time I look back at Catherine, I'm sad it makes me like it less. I think when it was new, I was going, ooh, I like this kind of story! Multiple characters with basically the same name? Sweet! Vincent's kind of a loser instead of a paragon hero? How novel! I think sheltered teenager blueberries deserved better stuff to get excited about, even if his standards were low.
Both Catherine and No More Heros were games my ex bf played (this was when they came out, so over 10 years ago), who is kind of the epitome of toxic masculinity. He unironically ate those games up with no shame or realization that there was critique happening. Just taking on the same mentality as the characters. Needless to say our relationship was Not Good and I haven’t spoken to him since 2014.
this is sooooo vindicating after thinking for years that catherine was sort of weird and uncomfortable without having any articulate reasons why-great video
We've already talked about it, but I still love both Catherines. It's good to hear your perspective in full. It hit me at exactly that time where the insecure sexuality of strait men was my experience in college. It was interesting to answer the questions and talk about those questions with my almost entirely strait male friend group, and learn that our values were different. Its handling of its other characters is bad/haphazard, at best described as failing at good intentions. As an exploration of insecurity and shame, it was a moment of real growth past that part of my life. Namely by seeing how pathetic and ignorant the men in the game are. P.s. the editing and signposting in this video is awesome
vivian i love you and say this with only your best interests at heart: I am so worried about absolute disaster from those glass pieces exploding every time you cut to your drink and you take a hammer to a metal pick on ice in a porcelein bowl on an elevated glass cutting board with a knife laying on it, surrounded by fire (otherwise, i enjoyed the video a lot!)
I swear that it felt safer while I was doing it than when I looked back on the footage, but fair point lol. Everything's fine though, the worst of what happened is that I ended up getting some wax on my comforter and I spilled a can of coke over some electronics (they survived miraculously)
So idk if it's just me or a rewatch is needed but this vid didn't feel as complete as your other ones. Maybe that'll be fixed on a rewatch but I'd love if you were more confident and a little straightforward in future videos though judging by some of the god awful comments I see in ur more popular videos I see how unwell that'd go over a capital G gamer audience. The video does hit though on a personal level which I'll get through later . As an analysis of straight white gamers and as a game it's great. I like how you talk about the ending being so contradictory to what Bopper's segment talked about as the game being a parody of masculinity. I'm a straight male person .I live in a small country in a small town where gay is an insult and any sort of introspection of this level by any of my male friends would be out of the question. I mean they watch Andrew Tate vids for crying out loud It just reminds me of this self immolating nature of straight white masculinity as you described it, depressing cycle I've observed. a family member doesn't want to send his child to a school because it's too 'woke' and idk I'm a closeted atheist and still have to go to my Muslim mosques which is another can of worms. This video hit a little too close due to my situation because this masculinity as you describe it, it has no future. It is sad and depressing and alienating and due to my circumstances makes me feel afraid to be myself. I wish there was some way to change this but in this society we live in, I highly doubt there is. I don't want to leave my comment on a dire note. So while I do think your delivery could be improved, this video still hits. Or maybe I'm just a sensitive person. Either way great job, I can't believe I'm introspecting after a video essay so damn you still got that writing depth. See you next vid where i hope I'll have something to add
It's so frustrating, because so many of the people who perpetuate patriarchy would also benefit so much from not having to live beneath its shadow. How many lonely men would benefit from being able to be truly open and honest with their friends? How many men would have their mental illness lessened from not feeling pressured to bottle up their emotions and maintain an air of control and stoicism? How many men would regain a sense of community if there weren't this constant race to beat others up the corporate ladder? I want to have open and honest talks about these things, about male loneliness and mental health and pressure to conform to societal standards of masculinity without them blaming women, gays, or the woke for it. I don't want to be enemies with straight men.
I convinced myself that you would mention LISA: the painful when you were building up to no more heros and now im sad i don't get to hear your thoughts on it.
@VivianAladren awesome!!!! Even if you don't decide to make a video on the games id love to hear your thoughts on it. Hearing other queer peoples opinions on LISA is always so nice
I instinctively clicked away to a different tab when the spoiler warning screen came up but then remembered I don't care and I'm never playing this game. This was a great video and thankfully I think enough Catherine for one lifetime.
I think Catherine is funny as a kind of failure of critique or commentary or anything. It's like if Monogatari was as stupid as it looks, or as stupid as it is. If nothing else can be said, it is. Here too. Catherine is here too.
Im a long time catherine fan, like, I LOVE this game. (only the classic version tho, Rin is such a weird character and I dont feel like she was a good addition in the game) buttt I will say, your video made me question a lot of the things I like about catherine, Its stil a very personal game for me so I would never say I hate it... but to be fair, all of the reasons you have to hate it are really understandable, thank you for opening my eyes at some of the things you pointed out (incluing the things about the Rin endings, wich again I HATE)
tbh I have never played catherine, and I don't think it'll really appeal to me, but I for one am thankful for the game if only for the number of video essays by queer ytbers it has spawned
I tried to go into this video with an open mind. Truly understand why. There were multiple points where I thought about dropping out, but I kept going because I wanted to get the full sense of your point. However... I don't see it. I'm sorry, I really don't. The Day 2 segment feels like I'm riding a poorly made roller-coaster with how much whiplash I'm getting. The base game's transphobia being changed somehow doesn't gain even a neutral outlook of "It's good they fixed it" but instead you somehow find a way to criticize the game for backing down on the transphobia of the 4 main characters who are told repeatedly by the narrative they need to change, because it's "Toothless" I guess? And that's setting aside the fact that Qatherine, Rin, Hamster Alien Fleshcoat, etc. repeatedly identifies themselves as male is referred to as a trans woman, in a game that already had a trans woman and wouldn't have been toothless to not add another one. Denial of trans women existing seems like the *more* puritanical version, not "they exist but they're just 'freaky'." To dedicate a paragraph to this for my own sanity, it always feels so demoralizing when in Queer spaces, any form of Gender Non-Conformity that isn't related to being Trans is treated as a "Missed opportunity." I've seen it countless times with many different fictional characters, some where it's clear that the writers were told to back down, some where it's literally just a feminine boy existing, but it seems that even the generalized Queer spaces are trying to get rid of feminine guys that whenever one comes along in fiction, that they have to change it. Representation matters, and when instances of feminine men in media are treated as "missed opportunities" it feels like the queer space is somehow disappointed when a guy is feminine but not trans. Like it "Isn't enough." And this video sure does a good job of hammering that in, somehow taking a bi character who within the story comes to terms with this, even called bi by you at one point in the video, and calling them straight over and over again, as well as taking a character who's a man and outwardly identifies themselves as such, and calling them a woman over and over again. It doesn't even just extend to fictional characters, there are numerous times of people being called "Egg" for posturing even the slightest amount of exiting the assigned gender binary. It's weird seeing one side enforce "Gender is a binary, and also you can't change yours" and "Gender is a binary, but you can transition" It's just a return to the rigid structure of option 1 or 2 with the added option of getting to change the side you were on, rather than the fluidity that gender has shown itself to be time and time again. Qatherine can't act "like a woman" and still go by He/Him! And I get that to a certain extent, this stems from frustration of the lack of trans characters in media necessitating headcanon, but added representation shouldn't come from saying someone else's isn't "Not enough." It's just harmful. (Just to clarify: The above paragraph is not talking about Bridget from Guilty Gear, or any actually trans characters. I have no qualms with her being trans, nor is this paragraph an extension of the story of the character. She is not who we're talking about here.) And also just that, as was later clarified in an interview, Erica not presenting as a woman in the Catherine ending where she goes back in time is not because she just isn't trans, but because in that timeline she hadn't transitioned yet. And then there's just the fact that between day 3 and the Interlude, the video devolves in its quality. I can't name a single point that came out of Day 4 because it just devolves into the OP giving half-baked take after half-baked take about a game that should be easy to criticize, but just ends up coming across as the drunken ramblings of a college student who can't get an F on their assignment. It spends more time trying to sneak in as many references to Vincent, or sometimes even, the people who enjoy the game, as "Man-children" over and over, than it does actually trying to make a point. Perhaps most of the actual criticism I can find comes from Day 3, which digs into the premise and mechanics of the game, which I guess you could consider flawed since, yeah, the ability to act like a mature adult and have a conversation would fix the conflict. Vincent doesn't start the game as a motivated character. If only there were, like, some way that the game criticizes Vincent the character for this and he improves upon. Oh well. The point you give about how the story meanders in the mid section and feels like there was more puzzle than visual novel so they had to extend the melodrama is extremely relevant, I agree wholeheartedly with you there, but it's just about the only thing I could find to agree with. You seem like a chill guy, but this video overall was 1 minute of good points and 5 minutes of bad points, surrounded by 40 minutes of filler rambling and an attempt at making a critical look that ends up defeating itself and then going back to "Well the game wasn't for me anyways, so..." And that's not a criticism of the game not being for you. If it isn't, then it isn't, but every single objective flaw is mixed in with personal tastes, and presented as the same thing, with only a capstone at the end saying "Even if the points I made were wrong, I still wouldn't like it" after 40 minutes of trying to convince us. The execution is just poorly done, and I felt just as much elongating from this as I did the later days of Catherine itself.
I still to this day vehemently believe video essays are the worst thing to happen to RUclips. So many opinion pieces now are 10 minutes very desperately stretched into 40 minutes or more.
As a trans woman I couldn’t agree more with this comment critique of this video essay on Catherine. I’ve seen many of this same RUclipsrs videos about many game titles and one of the most common traits I see are what you talked about of the blending of actual critique of the game with more abstract personal interpretations that eventually devolve into mere in consist ramblings that make me genuinely make me question how do we even get to this point. Another thing I notice is how much video wastes the viewers time by example them literally drinking a beverage (for almost 15 seconds) and while they may use it as an “artistic example” but what it comes of to me as a waste of time to reach the 40 mintute standard and this has not been the only time this youtuber does this, the Pokémon and Persona 3 videos also have similar issues of dragging the video lengths to an absurdist degree of padding that it makes me question if the video should even be this long. And I think the last point I want to add into the conversation is well I don’t claim to be any medically psychologist but the noticeable lack of mental stability really hurts the overall structure of the videos overall foundation, there have been numerous amount of times this youtuber can’t come across her ideas or stumbling so frequently that makes me worried about there mental health rather then the topic presented into this video and by the end of these videos like this one leave a bitter and less coherent message that to me fails to indicate there position of opinion or facts in media analysis. And I genuinely worry that with this kid of person in there position working within a court system that is not capable of having clear and concise deductions on entertainment media like movies video games or even books within video formats that are designed to be for fun makes me not wanting to trust that person and there results will not be within her clients verdict (the fact they compared a fictional comedy law game that you use to interrogate a parrot to one of the most tragic depictions of failing innocent people despite having all the tools nessacery in To Kill A Mockingbird is pretty self explanatory and how in there persona 3 video they believed at one point that the game will give them all the answers is quite problematic when we take into account for the majority of videos on this channel.) as a person who does not identify or understand the Cis experience watching this video clearly thrashing out on something she doesn’t directly understand without acutely talking to more Cis people and ends the video the way they did leaves a bad president for queer RUclips makers to take note as I do see a lot of views on these videos and comments that don’t go outside the subscriber echo chamber of intense validation outside this one video. I do not wish any harm to this individual; I just simply want this RUclipsr to gain a better traction and to genuinely improve as making videos takes a-lot of time and effort as I can point to there persona 4 video for the most part does actually have the most cohesive discussion of anything on there channel but sadly absolutely crashes at the near end with the same problems as mentioned before. Thank you again for having a well crafted comment so we can have this discourse and hopefully have this RUclipsr grow and be at a better place mentally speaking
i picked this game up a few times but never got far. this video had the truly bizarre effect of both upsetting me because I didn't really know the extent of the game's transphobia (I appreciated the content warning) and also low key wanting to try it again because it thought it looked cool. gross.
As much I respect trigger warnings, I highly doubt that most people get triggered by insects, suggestive anime women, straight men nonsense and senseless alcohol consumption.
interesting idea on the game being straight. i wonder how it would apply to media that isn't from japan (and korea ig). like what is the straightest game from the us?
I think that I like Glasses Cathrine’s true ending in Full Body. I hate that she lost her glasses, but she moved on from Vincent. She became better without him. Everything else seems like a mess.
One critique I have is your script is really good but you say it lightning-fast, so I have a hard time following without rewinding over and over again. Visual learner skill issue I guess. I know it wasn't you or Bopper's intention but every once in a while when y'all say 'Why are straight men like this???' I feel like I need to say 'wait no most of us aren't like this I promise'. But I get what you're trying to say, and I definitely agree. I'm definitely sick of insecure men trying to project their 12th century views onto my sexuality. I can be straight and male without needing to conform to 'alpha male groupthink', thank ya very much. The mixed drink interludes were a fun addition.
tbh i just played the game with the understanding in mind that all these characters suck LOL me watching my cishet men posture at eachother for *checks steam hours* 23 hours and going "yeah cishet moment" then again i played catherine classic. I didn't have to deal with the catherine full body stuff cause i dont got it. half of me playing was rage quitting the puzzles LOL. I don't have a skill issue! i dont! i dont! i DONT! i had to look up a million walkthroughs :/ can i remember any of the characters? hardly. they were all annoying and insufferable. What did i like about the game? idk i didnt even get to see the ending after raging for 1 million years because the game crapped out and wouldnt play the CUTSCENE LMFAO. u got me questioning what i *liked* about this game. not the characters, they were goofy and shitty. the puzzles made me rage but sometimes when i was able to figure it out i felt smart :3 but im also the type of dog to who struggles with every BOTW and ToTK shrines soooo.... awk wart...
I really could have done more to elevate the drink, gotten fancier cola, bought a nicer rum, but like, I dunno, it's an extremely reliable drink, and I already blew past my budget
@@Andrew-zd7fr I'm "blessed" to be a heavyweight at least, but yeah like... maybe the next time I do something on a game with a lot of alcohol stuff I'll treat myself kinder
Your unholy tryptich is truly insipiring and your thoughts on this game and also like society are really smart and interesting. But more importantly travis touchdown has a kittycat? he has a widdle kitty??? why does bopper never say this stuff when he wants people to play video games. ummmm I hope your liver's ok also Also look I'm sorry but this thing where they're all called catherine is just really dumb. like. I get that it's like A Thing but it really makes the game hard to talk about and that will always be my primary criticism
I legitimately didn't know how to talk about his cat (named after his sister) in the video, because it's the single most humanizing element of his life. I love that cat
Look at these losers who got tricked into working 8 hours a day instead of living with their parents. (this a joke i swear) I don't actually care about Catherine, so I won't talk about it. I just wonder where we put our straight men on the Hozier-Heffner line. How much do we value teary-eyed yearning vs raw animal lust? What do we think about guys who find genuine satisfaction in spending their weekends having cocaine orgies in swimming pool grottos? What about the men who envy them for that because they themselves can't live like that for whatever reason? And what about the men who are truly just vanilla? Do we mock the man who's not that into the whole goth thing because it doesn't activate his neurons even though he has other, plainer avenues for pleasure? I think too many people are in their own heads about cocquette-pilled waif-cels that they look at Bubba who likes beer and jugs and think he must be suffering. But he ain't, because Bubba's got all the beer and jugs a guy could ask for. At the end of the day I don't begrudge straight men for feeling disappointed that life won't hand them stuff on a silver platter anymore (let's face it, people rail so hard against lazy man children because they wish they lived such luxury) but also, dude, you probably have a concrete idea of what makes you happy. Get over yourself and do it. And that's why I'm going to go fail to match with femboys on dating apps and not play Carherine. Great video as always Viv! 👍
Boycotts are only useful for virtue signalling. You can't hurt a Megacorp as regular person. They already got protections in place to prevent boycotts from working.
I mean, I agree that Toby shouldn't date Erica. Not for the reason that Catherine (2011 video game) puts forward, but because you don't want to introduce that sort of relationship drama to your favorite hangout spot. You can't ruin the hangout spot.
The game would threaten to be decent and almost even good if that was the reason. That makes so much more sense
as a straight man, i have not played any of these games, and am currently playing Sonic X Shadow Generations. I consider myself the winner in this scenario
god I should've played sonic x shadow last month instead
Every time I look back at Catherine, I'm sad it makes me like it less. I think when it was new, I was going, ooh, I like this kind of story! Multiple characters with basically the same name? Sweet! Vincent's kind of a loser instead of a paragon hero? How novel! I think sheltered teenager blueberries deserved better stuff to get excited about, even if his standards were low.
Both Catherine and No More Heros were games my ex bf played (this was when they came out, so over 10 years ago), who is kind of the epitome of toxic masculinity. He unironically ate those games up with no shame or realization that there was critique happening. Just taking on the same mentality as the characters. Needless to say our relationship was Not Good and I haven’t spoken to him since 2014.
Finally, The American Psycho/Fight Club for media illiterate gamers.
this is sooooo vindicating after thinking for years that catherine was sort of weird and uncomfortable without having any articulate reasons why-great video
Catherine is one of those things that trys to be so many things that those things cancle each other out and fail to mean anything
We've already talked about it, but I still love both Catherines. It's good to hear your perspective in full. It hit me at exactly that time where the insecure sexuality of strait men was my experience in college. It was interesting to answer the questions and talk about those questions with my almost entirely strait male friend group, and learn that our values were different. Its handling of its other characters is bad/haphazard, at best described as failing at good intentions.
As an exploration of insecurity and shame, it was a moment of real growth past that part of my life. Namely by seeing how pathetic and ignorant the men in the game are.
P.s. the editing and signposting in this video is awesome
fascinated by the idea that the game is being too slippery about masculinity to say anything substantial about it
vivian i love you and say this with only your best interests at heart: I am so worried about absolute disaster from those glass pieces exploding every time you cut to your drink and you take a hammer to a metal pick on ice in a porcelein bowl on an elevated glass cutting board with a knife laying on it, surrounded by fire
(otherwise, i enjoyed the video a lot!)
I swear that it felt safer while I was doing it than when I looked back on the footage, but fair point lol. Everything's fine though, the worst of what happened is that I ended up getting some wax on my comforter and I spilled a can of coke over some electronics (they survived miraculously)
So idk if it's just me or a rewatch is needed but this vid didn't feel as complete as your other ones. Maybe that'll be fixed on a rewatch but I'd love if you were more confident and a little straightforward in future videos though judging by some of the god awful comments I see in ur more popular videos I see how unwell that'd go over a capital G gamer audience. The video does hit though on a personal level which I'll get through later
. As an analysis of straight white gamers and as a game it's great. I like how you talk about the ending being so contradictory to what Bopper's segment talked about as the game being a parody of masculinity.
I'm a straight male person .I live in a small country in a small town where gay is an insult and any sort of introspection of this level by any of my male friends would be out of the question. I mean they watch Andrew Tate vids for crying out loud
It just reminds me of this self immolating nature of straight white masculinity as you described it, depressing cycle I've observed. a family member doesn't want to send his child to a school because it's too 'woke' and idk I'm a closeted atheist and still have to go to my Muslim mosques which is another can of worms.
This video hit a little too close due to my situation because this masculinity as you describe it, it has no future. It is sad and depressing and alienating and due to my circumstances makes me feel afraid to be myself. I wish there was some way to change this but in this society we live in, I highly doubt there is.
I don't want to leave my comment on a dire note. So while I do think your delivery could be improved, this video still hits. Or maybe I'm just a sensitive person. Either way great job, I can't believe I'm introspecting after a video essay so damn you still got that writing depth. See you next vid where i hope I'll have something to add
It's so frustrating, because so many of the people who perpetuate patriarchy would also benefit so much from not having to live beneath its shadow. How many lonely men would benefit from being able to be truly open and honest with their friends? How many men would have their mental illness lessened from not feeling pressured to bottle up their emotions and maintain an air of control and stoicism? How many men would regain a sense of community if there weren't this constant race to beat others up the corporate ladder? I want to have open and honest talks about these things, about male loneliness and mental health and pressure to conform to societal standards of masculinity without them blaming women, gays, or the woke for it. I don't want to be enemies with straight men.
I convinced myself that you would mention LISA: the painful when you were building up to no more heros and now im sad i don't get to hear your thoughts on it.
that's a really good suggestion actually, but if I was gonna write about Lisa I'd give it its own vid, I think
@VivianAladren awesome!!!! Even if you don't decide to make a video on the games id love to hear your thoughts on it. Hearing other queer peoples opinions on LISA is always so nice
never thought I would hear some shit like what you said at 9:00 ish in a video essay lmaoo you're real as hell
I instinctively clicked away to a different tab when the spoiler warning screen came up but then remembered I don't care and I'm never playing this game. This was a great video and thankfully I think enough Catherine for one lifetime.
5:52 As someone who also played this game because Patricia Taxxon recommended it, you are absolutely not alone in your struggle
Unrelated, I think the Amicus plush should become the equivalent of a classroom pet for this channel
@@Chouette_2 you're so right for both of these statements tbh
This is definitely a hot take, lemme come back to u after I'm done with the vid
I think Catherine is funny as a kind of failure of critique or commentary or anything. It's like if Monogatari was as stupid as it looks, or as stupid as it is. If nothing else can be said, it is. Here too. Catherine is here too.
Okay but real talk, those cocktail scenes are kinda a vibe
hah, women am i rigth?
me seeing this title: GIRL, ME NEITHER!
Im a long time catherine fan, like, I LOVE this game. (only the classic version tho, Rin is such a weird character and I dont feel like she was a good addition in the game)
buttt I will say, your video made me question a lot of the things I like about catherine, Its stil a very personal game for me so I would never say I hate it... but to be fair, all of the reasons you have to hate it are really understandable, thank you for opening my eyes at some of the things you pointed out (incluing the things about the Rin endings, wich again I HATE)
This is so real omg. Instant subbed
Talking about men? Hey, that's me! :0
Addition, Bopper's dive into the mind of a straight man is Masterful and I want to send this to my straight friends
Been waiting on this one!
aaaaaaaah video essay on catherine and genderrrrr the YT algo cooked with this recccc~
3:23 did donors also pay for that hand reveal 😏
tbh I have never played catherine, and I don't think it'll really appeal to me, but I for one am thankful for the game if only for the number of video essays by queer ytbers it has spawned
I tried to go into this video with an open mind. Truly understand why. There were multiple points where I thought about dropping out, but I kept going because I wanted to get the full sense of your point. However... I don't see it. I'm sorry, I really don't. The Day 2 segment feels like I'm riding a poorly made roller-coaster with how much whiplash I'm getting. The base game's transphobia being changed somehow doesn't gain even a neutral outlook of "It's good they fixed it" but instead you somehow find a way to criticize the game for backing down on the transphobia of the 4 main characters who are told repeatedly by the narrative they need to change, because it's "Toothless" I guess? And that's setting aside the fact that Qatherine, Rin, Hamster Alien Fleshcoat, etc. repeatedly identifies themselves as male is referred to as a trans woman, in a game that already had a trans woman and wouldn't have been toothless to not add another one. Denial of trans women existing seems like the *more* puritanical version, not "they exist but they're just 'freaky'."
To dedicate a paragraph to this for my own sanity, it always feels so demoralizing when in Queer spaces, any form of Gender Non-Conformity that isn't related to being Trans is treated as a "Missed opportunity." I've seen it countless times with many different fictional characters, some where it's clear that the writers were told to back down, some where it's literally just a feminine boy existing, but it seems that even the generalized Queer spaces are trying to get rid of feminine guys that whenever one comes along in fiction, that they have to change it. Representation matters, and when instances of feminine men in media are treated as "missed opportunities" it feels like the queer space is somehow disappointed when a guy is feminine but not trans. Like it "Isn't enough." And this video sure does a good job of hammering that in, somehow taking a bi character who within the story comes to terms with this, even called bi by you at one point in the video, and calling them straight over and over again, as well as taking a character who's a man and outwardly identifies themselves as such, and calling them a woman over and over again. It doesn't even just extend to fictional characters, there are numerous times of people being called "Egg" for posturing even the slightest amount of exiting the assigned gender binary. It's weird seeing one side enforce "Gender is a binary, and also you can't change yours" and "Gender is a binary, but you can transition" It's just a return to the rigid structure of option 1 or 2 with the added option of getting to change the side you were on, rather than the fluidity that gender has shown itself to be time and time again. Qatherine can't act "like a woman" and still go by He/Him! And I get that to a certain extent, this stems from frustration of the lack of trans characters in media necessitating headcanon, but added representation shouldn't come from saying someone else's isn't "Not enough." It's just harmful.
(Just to clarify: The above paragraph is not talking about Bridget from Guilty Gear, or any actually trans characters. I have no qualms with her being trans, nor is this paragraph an extension of the story of the character. She is not who we're talking about here.) And also just that, as was later clarified in an interview, Erica not presenting as a woman in the Catherine ending where she goes back in time is not because she just isn't trans, but because in that timeline she hadn't transitioned yet.
And then there's just the fact that between day 3 and the Interlude, the video devolves in its quality. I can't name a single point that came out of Day 4 because it just devolves into the OP giving half-baked take after half-baked take about a game that should be easy to criticize, but just ends up coming across as the drunken ramblings of a college student who can't get an F on their assignment. It spends more time trying to sneak in as many references to Vincent, or sometimes even, the people who enjoy the game, as "Man-children" over and over, than it does actually trying to make a point.
Perhaps most of the actual criticism I can find comes from Day 3, which digs into the premise and mechanics of the game, which I guess you could consider flawed since, yeah, the ability to act like a mature adult and have a conversation would fix the conflict. Vincent doesn't start the game as a motivated character. If only there were, like, some way that the game criticizes Vincent the character for this and he improves upon. Oh well. The point you give about how the story meanders in the mid section and feels like there was more puzzle than visual novel so they had to extend the melodrama is extremely relevant, I agree wholeheartedly with you there, but it's just about the only thing I could find to agree with.
You seem like a chill guy, but this video overall was 1 minute of good points and 5 minutes of bad points, surrounded by 40 minutes of filler rambling and an attempt at making a critical look that ends up defeating itself and then going back to "Well the game wasn't for me anyways, so..." And that's not a criticism of the game not being for you. If it isn't, then it isn't, but every single objective flaw is mixed in with personal tastes, and presented as the same thing, with only a capstone at the end saying "Even if the points I made were wrong, I still wouldn't like it" after 40 minutes of trying to convince us. The execution is just poorly done, and I felt just as much elongating from this as I did the later days of Catherine itself.
I still to this day vehemently believe video essays are the worst thing to happen to RUclips. So many opinion pieces now are 10 minutes very desperately stretched into 40 minutes or more.
As a trans woman I couldn’t agree more with this comment critique of this video essay on Catherine. I’ve seen many of this same RUclipsrs videos about many game titles and one of the most common traits I see are what you talked about of the blending of actual critique of the game with more abstract personal interpretations that eventually devolve into mere in consist ramblings that make me genuinely make me question how do we even get to this point.
Another thing I notice is how much video wastes the viewers time by example them literally drinking a beverage (for almost 15 seconds) and while they may use it as an “artistic example” but what it comes of to me as a waste of time to reach the 40 mintute standard and this has not been the only time this youtuber does this, the Pokémon and Persona 3 videos also have similar issues of dragging the video lengths to an absurdist degree of padding that it makes me question if the video should even be this long.
And I think the last point I want to add into the conversation is well I don’t claim to be any medically psychologist but the noticeable lack of mental stability really hurts the overall structure of the videos overall foundation, there have been numerous amount of times this youtuber can’t come across her ideas or stumbling so frequently that makes me worried about there mental health rather then the topic presented into this video and by the end of these videos like this one leave a bitter and less coherent message that to me fails to indicate there position of opinion or facts in media analysis. And I genuinely worry that with this kid of person in there position working within a court system that is not capable of having clear and concise deductions on entertainment media like movies video games or even books within video formats that are designed to be for fun makes me not wanting to trust that person and there results will not be within her clients verdict (the fact they compared a fictional comedy law game that you use to interrogate a parrot to one of the most tragic depictions of failing innocent people despite having all the tools nessacery in To Kill A Mockingbird is pretty self explanatory and how in there persona 3 video they believed at one point that the game will give them all the answers is quite problematic when we take into account for the majority of videos on this channel.) as a person who does not identify or understand the Cis experience watching this video clearly thrashing out on something she doesn’t directly understand without acutely talking to more Cis people and ends the video the way they did leaves a bad president for queer RUclips makers to take note as I do see a lot of views on these videos and comments that don’t go outside the subscriber echo chamber of intense validation outside this one video.
I do not wish any harm to this individual; I just simply want this RUclipsr to gain a better traction and to genuinely improve as making videos takes a-lot of time and effort as I can point to there persona 4 video for the most part does actually have the most cohesive discussion of anything on there channel but sadly absolutely crashes at the near end with the same problems as mentioned before. Thank you again for having a well crafted comment so we can have this discourse and hopefully have this RUclipsr grow and be at a better place mentally speaking
i picked this game up a few times but never got far.
this video had the truly bizarre effect of both upsetting me because I didn't really know the extent of the game's transphobia (I appreciated the content warning) and also low key wanting to try it again because it thought it looked cool. gross.
Not sure I personally prescribe to these ideas of male straightness as stated
As much I respect trigger warnings, I highly doubt that most people get triggered by insects, suggestive anime women, straight men nonsense and senseless alcohol consumption.
interesting idea on the game being straight. i wonder how it would apply to media that isn't from japan (and korea ig). like what is the straightest game from the us?
I think that I like Glasses Cathrine’s true ending in Full Body. I hate that she lost her glasses, but she moved on from Vincent. She became better without him.
Everything else seems like a mess.
Wow the Catherine ending sounds even more disgusting than I would have thought.
Wait Catherine has pronouns? FOOOOKIN PRONOUNS!!!?
One critique I have is your script is really good but you say it lightning-fast, so I have a hard time following without rewinding over and over again. Visual learner skill issue I guess.
I know it wasn't you or Bopper's intention but every once in a while when y'all say 'Why are straight men like this???' I feel like I need to say 'wait no most of us aren't like this I promise'. But I get what you're trying to say, and I definitely agree. I'm definitely sick of insecure men trying to project their 12th century views onto my sexuality. I can be straight and male without needing to conform to 'alpha male groupthink', thank ya very much.
The mixed drink interludes were a fun addition.
tbh i just played the game with the understanding in mind that all these characters suck LOL
me watching my cishet men posture at eachother for *checks steam hours* 23 hours and going "yeah cishet moment" then again i played catherine classic. I didn't have to deal with the catherine full body stuff cause i dont got it. half of me playing was rage quitting the puzzles LOL. I don't have a skill issue! i dont! i dont! i DONT! i had to look up a million walkthroughs :/ can i remember any of the characters? hardly. they were all annoying and insufferable. What did i like about the game? idk i didnt even get to see the ending after raging for 1 million years because the game crapped out and wouldnt play the CUTSCENE LMFAO. u got me questioning what i *liked* about this game. not the characters, they were goofy and shitty. the puzzles made me rage but sometimes when i was able to figure it out i felt smart :3 but im also the type of dog to who struggles with every BOTW and ToTK shrines soooo.... awk wart...
Catherine: The game I want to put down, but I can't because it's So. Freakin. Hard!
Another banger
Ah yes, our protagonist: Vincel
Mmm rum and coke glad at least one positive thing came out of this. Two if you consider you don’t have to talk about it again
I really could have done more to elevate the drink, gotten fancier cola, bought a nicer rum, but like, I dunno, it's an extremely reliable drink, and I already blew past my budget
Not sure if Catherine (2011 video game) deserves the time of day for a fancy rum . It sounds like hangover fuel
@@Andrew-zd7fr I'm "blessed" to be a heavyweight at least, but yeah like... maybe the next time I do something on a game with a lot of alcohol stuff I'll treat myself kinder
Your unholy tryptich is truly insipiring and your thoughts on this game and also like society are really smart and interesting. But more importantly travis touchdown has a kittycat? he has a widdle kitty??? why does bopper never say this stuff when he wants people to play video games. ummmm I hope your liver's ok also
Also look I'm sorry but this thing where they're all called catherine is just really dumb. like. I get that it's like A Thing but it really makes the game hard to talk about and that will always be my primary criticism
I legitimately didn't know how to talk about his cat (named after his sister) in the video, because it's the single most humanizing element of his life. I love that cat
Rip this game I guess. Glad I never played it.
ahhhhh shit, HERE IT IS! 👀
yeah, you definitely didn't get it 🤷🏿♂
edit: and i'm gonna not write another long-ass comment about it this time
You played the arguably worst version of Catherine.
Look at these losers who got tricked into working 8 hours a day instead of living with their parents. (this a joke i swear)
I don't actually care about Catherine, so I won't talk about it. I just wonder where we put our straight men on the Hozier-Heffner line. How much do we value teary-eyed yearning vs raw animal lust? What do we think about guys who find genuine satisfaction in spending their weekends having cocaine orgies in swimming pool grottos? What about the men who envy them for that because they themselves can't live like that for whatever reason? And what about the men who are truly just vanilla? Do we mock the man who's not that into the whole goth thing because it doesn't activate his neurons even though he has other, plainer avenues for pleasure? I think too many people are in their own heads about cocquette-pilled waif-cels that they look at Bubba who likes beer and jugs and think he must be suffering. But he ain't, because Bubba's got all the beer and jugs a guy could ask for. At the end of the day I don't begrudge straight men for feeling disappointed that life won't hand them stuff on a silver platter anymore (let's face it, people rail so hard against lazy man children because they wish they lived such luxury) but also, dude, you probably have a concrete idea of what makes you happy. Get over yourself and do it. And that's why I'm going to go fail to match with femboys on dating apps and not play Carherine. Great video as always Viv! 👍
Dont drink coke-a-cola pleaseee, love the video though thankyouu
I should explain, it's on the boycot list
Boycotts are only useful for virtue signalling. You can't hurt a Megacorp as regular person. They already got protections in place to prevent boycotts from working.