Achievement Guide and Roadmap

[FeLizP]

Originally Posted by Echilion

Excellent guide! Been very helpful so far.

This is probably a silly question, but I can't find the answer. Does increasing the difficulty to hard mid-game affect achievements in any way?

It will definitely help you work towards the gold prized based achievements on Hard if you are intent on doing that when you switch to Hard mid-game. I took this straight from the FAQ:

There are 9 achievements linked to difficulties. 4 are from getting Gold trophies on all Nightmare Stages in Normal Difficulty or higher (and unlocks Babel stages), and 1 is for getting Gold trophies on all Nightmare Stages on Hard difficulty. The remaining 4 are from beating the Babel stages you unlocked from the first 4.

So if you are intent on getting all the achievements for Catherine you will still need to run through on Normal and gold all the stages(if you haven't already). This is assuming you are switching the difficult to Hard because you want to work towards "The Golden Child" ?

Other than that any other miscellaneous achievements in Golden Playhouse are not affected of course.

[Echilion]

Originally Posted by FeLizP

It will definitely help you work towards the gold prized based achievements on Hard if you are intent on doing that when you switch to Hard mid-game. I took this straight from the FAQ:

There are 9 achievements linked to difficulties. 4 are from getting Gold trophies on all Nightmare Stages in Normal Difficulty or higher (and unlocks Babel stages), and 1 is for getting Gold trophies on all Nightmare Stages on Hard difficulty. The remaining 4 are from beating the Babel stages you unlocked from the first 4.

So if you are intent on getting all the achievements for Catherine you will still need to run through on Normal and gold all the stages(if you haven't already). This is assuming you are switching the difficult to Hard because you want to work towards "The Golden Child" ?

Other than that any other miscellaneous achievements in Golden Playhouse are not affected of course.

Thanks for the response! Yea, I wanted to work towards Golden Child but since I just have stage 9 left to gold on Normal i guess ill finish it up. So when going for golden child, do you start a new game on hard, or just switch the difficulty from my "normal file" to hard and replay the stages?

[FeLizP]

Originally Posted by Echilion

Thanks for the response! Yea, I wanted to work towards Golden Child but since I just have stage 9 left to gold on Normal i guess ill finish it up. So when going for golden child, do you start a new game on hard, or just switch the difficulty from my "normal file" to hard and replay the stages?

Either one works. Staring up a New Game on Hard wouldn't be a bad idea if you still have Endings and miscellaneous(patron, text junkie, beer tips,etc.) achievements left over that you still haven't unlocked.

But if you have all those then yeah just simply load up a save from your Normal playthrough, switch the difficulty to hard from the pause menu, then bring up your phone to replay the stages. Just remember, you can only use your cell during Stray Sheep segments, so make sure you have a save file that was made while you were at the Stray Sheep because any saves made at the Landings will not allow you to use your cell phone.

See "The Golden Child" achievement description for more details. There's also a Catherine FAQ that may answer some of your questions located HERE.

[Haruya]

I was wondering about the Axis Mundi description:

"Every form of block in the game is present here, but Vortex Blocks are the main threat."

As far as I'm concerned, the only blocks available are Normal, Cracked and yeah, the Vortex/Black Hole Blocks. Just wanted to clarify that. All in all, great guide.

[FeLizP]

Originally Posted by Haruya

I was wondering about the Axis Mundi description:

"Every form of block in the game is present here, but Vortex Blocks are the main threat."

As far as I'm concerned, the only blocks available are Normal, Cracked and yeah, the Vortex/Black Hole Blocks. Just wanted to clarify that. All in all, great guide.

Well of course you will see this is if you completed it using the Pairs method which basically cuts the steps in half needed and the ridiculous block drops. However now that I look back at things, I believe the Japanese version contained all the block types but this was patched to be made easier when Catherine was ported to North America. Remember a lot of the achievement descriptions here were for the Japanese version, it's all I had before I actually got to play the NA version. I'll see if I can make a slight edit there for us yanks, haha.

To me, it seems that Axis Mundi takes the biggest nerf in difficulty out of the 4 Babel Stages when you play in Pairs, but maybe it's only because Axis is so much more difficult in Singles. It is also being rumored that having all gold prizes on Normal is when Babel Mode is easiest to complete as opposed to having all gold prizes on Hard, which causes the game to crank up the difficulty for Babel Stages but don't quote me on that.

Thanks for your comment!

EDIT: So basically I still got quoted(post below) yeah haha but anyways please disregard what I said about Babel being easier before getting gold prizes for all Hard Stages. Apparently Babel is not affected in anyway, difficulty remains the same. Plus, Axis Mundi is still allegedly "impossible" to beat in Singles until a patch is released, which is unlikely.

[Haruya]

Originally Posted by FeLizP

It is also being rumored that having all gold prizes on Normal is when Babel Mode is easiest to complete as opposed to having all gold prizes on Hard, which causes the game to crank up the difficulty for Babel Stages but don't quote me on that.

...Couldn't resist. Haha.

Anyway, now that you mention it, I never tried challenging Babel after getting Gold Prizes only on Normal mode. I'll try it out and let you know how it goes. Not expecting much, though. But, well... someone's gotta try.

[Haruya]

Originally Posted by Haruya

Anyway, now that you mention it, I never tried challenging Babel after getting Gold Prizes only on Normal mode. I'll try it out and let you know how it goes. Not expecting much, though. But, well... someone's gotta try.

So, uh... yeah. I kinda forgot to update this. lol

Anyway, I used a different GT, got all Gold Normal Prizes and tried Axis Mundi... and nothing. It's still the same, at least on the 360. Seems like there's no way for us to beat Axis on Single.

Oh, another thing that I found curious. My last achievement (well, the one before "Cheers to You!" that is) was "Legendary Prince" and I got it right after beating the Last Extra Stage. What I found strange was that I didn't get the "Cheers to You!" achievement right after unlocking it. I was online on XBL and all, so I kinda panicked (lol). Then, after thinking for a while, my younger brother asked me to let him check the songs on the Jukebox, so I just gave the controller to him. He started checking the songs, and by the time he got to the Rapunzel song and played it (the one you get for having the "Legendary Prince" Achievement), the Final achievement just... unlocked. Like, out of nowhere. So, yeah. I can pretty much say that you have to "fulfill" the achievement's description (condition?) in order for it to "work". I don't know if this has happened to anyone else?

[TheMajinLegend]

Way to go dude, Definitely helps me out a lot with your FAQ thread also-

Keep up the awesome guide work!

[FateorDestiny]

Hey man!

Just in case you didn't get my message on xbox I figured I'd let you know what I found out here. So I finished Legendary Prince and got my Cheers! achievement and my 1000 . I was signed in so I was online at the time I completed the game and I never even got a chance to leave the rapunzel title screen afterwards before it unlocked. There was a few seconds of delay between my legendary and cheers achievements popping but only a few seconds. Hope this helps! Goodluck to everyone still working on this game! Feliz you did a wonderful job organizing your guide once again!

~Divine Horror~

[BUZZIN420]

Great guide and nice work with the links. Thankyou for this

[purgatori]

I'm about to start..excellent guide. Thank u

[JoeyMasters]

I beat Rapunzel and got all the 4 beads but the codeat the Rapunzel title screen aint workin o_O. Is there anything else you gotta do

edit: nvm. I think the xbox d-pad was just ass

[Revolver]

This is disgusting, I've been trying to get a gold trophy on 9-5 for the past 2 days and I can't!
I've been trying to follow every single guide available but somehow I always end up getting screwed! I saw that some guy on YouTube said he got a silver trophy on that stage but got gold on all the other ones and somehow ended up getting a gold trophy for stage 9! I decided to go along with this and got the silver and then a gold on the last one but it still gave me a silver for the entire stage!

[FateorDestiny]

Originally Posted by Revolver

This is disgusting, I've been trying to get a gold trophy on 9-5 for the past 2 days and I can't!
I've been trying to follow every single guide available but somehow I always end up getting screwed! I saw that some guy on YouTube said he got a silver trophy on that stage but got gold on all the other ones and somehow ended up getting a gold trophy for stage 9! I decided to go along with this and got the silver and then a gold on the last one but it still gave me a silver for the entire stage!

Yeah you need gold on every stage to get the gold I know it's frustrating but 9-5 has a very set pattern all the way to the top. It's annoying when he kicks stuff but at least the bullets are super easy to dodge. Don't give up!

[CrownlessKing]

I don't think this game takes nearly as long as you talk about. I've beaten the game and gotten all the Gold Prizes in under 30 hours on Normal. For stuff like Rapunzel & Hard Mode, you can just follow a guide. So maybe 5 hours. So say 35 hours. Unless it takes you 10 hours to beat the Babel stages I can't say the timeframe is accurate.

[FeLizP]

Originally Posted by CrownlessKing

I don't think this game takes nearly as long as you talk about. I've beaten the game and gotten all the Gold Prizes in under 30 hours on Normal. For stuff like Rapunzel & Hard Mode, you can just follow a guide. So maybe 5 hours. So say 35 hours. Unless it takes you 10 hours to beat the Babel stages I can't say the timeframe is accurate.

And there you go, you just pretty much stated why I put the estimated time at 45-50 hours. Yes, anybody can replicate some Rapunzel and Stage video but what truly decides how long it can take to finish is Babel and maybe some later stages on Hard difficulty. Not everyone will 1000 Catherine as quickly as everyone else! Sure anybody can run through Golden Playhouse however gold prizing all the stages on Hard(especially the Stage 9 phases) will significantly vary for some people. You also have to consider the fact that this is a puzzle game and there are multiple ways players can approach these puzzles to solve them. There is not just one way to solve them which means most people will go by trial and error and spend hours trying to get something right like a Babel Stage for example.

Then there's Stage 9 on Hard which can take other people longer than others. It took a friend of mine nearly a week to gold prize Stage 9-5 because he became so frustrated with it he gave up at times and came to it later. It took him at least 15 hours but obviously this isn't the same for everyone. Plus the way and order you decide to unlock the achievements goes into that estimated time like for example you could always gold all the stages on Hard and skip doing it on Normal which cuts down the time for the 1000 but if you gold all the Normal/Hard stages separately that could take nearly 20 hours total if you factor in your first Golden Playhouse run(if you played on Normal that is). There's also the matter of the miscellaneous achievements like the block-related ones, beer tips, and Everyday Hero which is known to give most people issues causing them to spend more time running back through the game to get them, not to mention missing an ending because their Karma meter wasn't quite right. Overall, this is how I see it I give most things a range but it's roughly 40 hours or more to finish depending on how smooth everything goes.

Golden Playhouse(first run) = 10 Hours
Gold Prize all Stages on Normal/Hard= 10-15 Hours
Rapunzel= 3 Hours
Miscellaneous Tasks= 5 Hours
Babel= 10+ Hours
Endings= 2 Hours

That's why it's an "estimated" time. It's not like that is the definitive time it will take any gamer to get the 1000 just an average if you will. This is a difficult game that was even panned by Japanese players for being to hard so I'm sure most people will run into issues and annoyances during their path to the 1000 that will extend the (1000)time to an extra 5-10 hours. It's really not anything to take seriously and to be honest I think it's a fair estimation perhaps you're just a little more keen on puzzles than the average gamer. There is no true time frame for most games. You can look at any Achievement Guide on this site and there's never really a 100% accurate time to 1000/200 because some may finish a game in a more timely manner than others if they're lucky enough to not run into any issues like with the miscellaneous achievements and etc.

I apologize for the lengthy post but hopefully I got my point across as to why I have the estimated time to 1000 at 45-50hrs. If you strongly feel that I should slightly change it to something more accurate and you can support your reason, I will gladly change it.

[TheGamingFilly]

Originally Posted by FeLizP

Note: The rosaries are located in Stage 52, 56, 60, and 64 in both Normal and Extra mode - in Extra Mode you must first collect a Magic Lamp item to make the rosary appear. You must have all four when you finish stage 64 to get the 'True Ending' for both modes - which means you must complete stage 52 through 64 in succession if you wish to get these achievements before completing the main game. Collected rosaries WILL NOT save between sessions - you MUST complete stages 52, 56, 60, and 64 in one sitting to view the "True" ending and unlock the achievements.

I quit in the middle of playing (and saved) and then remembered this. But when I went back to play Stage 52, the Rosary isn't there. What do I do?

[FeLizP]

Originally Posted by TheGamingFilly

I quit in the middle of playing (and saved) and then remembered this. But when I went back to play Stage 52, the Rosary isn't there. What do I do?

Odd. Did you collect the magic lamp before looking for the rosary in Stage 52? There's a video playthrough of the puzzle(below) but apparently they didn't pick up any lamps. At 0:47 seconds he picks up a different item instead so perhaps that will trigger the rosary to appear? I don't recall having any issues with the roasries appearing but then again, I didn't save in between either. If you have Free Play you should be fine.

Catherine - Rapunzel Stage 52 - (11300 pts) - YouTube

Catherine - Rapunzel Stage 52 - (11300 pts) - YouTube

Also, sans Gospel left a very helpful tip months ago that you may find useful if you have FREE PLAY unlocked:

Originally Posted by sans Gospel

Just wanted to update to confirm Legendary Prince requires you collect all four rosaries and completing Extra Stage 64. Simply finishing gives you the bad ending and no achievement.

Edit: Just some additional info for the guide. The rosaries are located in Stage 52, 56, 60, and 64 in both Normal and Extra mode - in Extra Mode you must first collect a Magic Lamp item to make the Rosaries appear in these stages. You must have all four when you finish stage 64 to get the 'True Ending' for both modes - which means you must complete stage 52 through 64 in succession if you wish to get these achievements before completing the main game. After completing the main game, you unlock Free Play in Rapunzel - essentially infinite credits - which makes this much easier.

If you have completed Rapunzel, unlocking all the stages in stage select, and have unlocked Free Play, you do not have to complete stages 52 through 64 in succession again. You can select stage 52, collect the Rosary and complete. In stage 53, open the Menu with in the next stage, and then select retry. When asked if you wish to continue, select NO which will place you back at the title screen. From the title screen, select stage 56 and repeat. This allows you to skip the stages in between Rosary stages - you will retain your Rosaries so long as you do not exit Rapunzel. Note for emphasis: your Rosary completion WILL NOT save between sessions - you must complete stages 52, 56, 60, and 64 (with the Rosaries) in one sitting to view the "True" ending and unlock the achievements.

That's all the relevant information I can think of. Hope it helps your guide FeLizP.

Try that if you're still in trouble. You'll do okay.

[TheGamingFilly]

I'm saying I played Stage 52 already, then played a few more stages; then quit and saved in the middle. Then I thought "Oh crap, I need to play them in succession" and went back to Stage 52, and the rosary wasn't there. That's the problem. There isn't a magic lamp for this stage to my knowledge.

However, the indicator in the top left corner of how many rosaries you have did show one when I replayed Stage 52. Do you think that means the game saved it?

Originally Posted by FeLizP

If you have completed Rapunzel, unlocking all the stages in stage select, and have unlocked Free Play, you do not have to complete stages 52 through 64 in succession again. You can select stage 52, collect the Rosary and complete. In stage 53, open the Menu with in the next stage, and then select retry. When asked if you wish to continue, select NO which will place you back at the title screen. From the title screen, select stage 56 and repeat. This allows you to skip the stages in between Rosary stages - you will retain your Rosaries so long as you do not exit Rapunzel. Note for emphasis: your Rosary completion WILL NOT save between sessions - you must complete stages 52, 56, 60, and 64 (with the Rosaries) in one sitting to view the "True" ending and unlock the achievements.

Hmmm. I haven't beaten Rapunzel yet but I do have Free Play already. Do you just need Free Play, or do you have to have beaten Rapunzel too?

Edit: Alright, it appears I was worried for nothing. I quit out of the save file that I'd been playing Rapunzel in, but I guess perhaps because I didn't actually turn off the game, it saved? Or maybe it has to do with the fact that I have Free Play. Anyway, thanks for your response.

[Klister NL]

This roadmap needs to be added to the US and EU checklists....

[FeLizP]

Originally Posted by Klister NL

This roadmap needs to be added to the US and EU checklists....

What a nice comment to wake up to! Thanks!

I figured they would do that since the lists are all stackable anyway with their own respective 1000's. However, where this all really needs to be added is to the Main Site. I submitted this guide back in August 2011 and to this day(6 months ago), is still not posted on the main site.

Oh, but it's okay for Gears of War 3 to be written and posted immediately which came out a month after Catherine.

I seriously wish I could just post it myself. The moderators don't seem to care, even after sending personal messages to Pants Party they all just get ignored.

EDIT: After much pestering and complaining Catherine has finally made its way to the Main Site.
Thanks for your input!

[amacteur]

Good job for the guide/roadmap FeLizP (like the one for Trouble Witches)

[CoregBlue1]

couldn´t find this question in the FAQ so i´ll ask here.

do i have to help every patron in one playthrough? because i am at 9-1 currently and two of them died. so i got 3 of the 5 achievements for helping those guys.

[Haruya]

Originally Posted by CoregBlue1

couldn´t find this question in the FAQ so i´ll ask here.

do i have to help every patron in one playthrough? because i am at 9-1 currently and to of them died. so i got 3 of the 5 achievements for helping those guys.

No, you don't have to. You can take as many playthroughs as necessary. As soon as you get the 5th achievement, you'll also get the achievement for helping everyone.

[FeLizP]

Originally Posted by Haruya

No, you don't have to. You can take as many playthroughs as necessary. As soon as you get the 5th achievement, you'll also get the achievement for helping everyone.

Thanks for picking up my slack, Haruya, for getting to that question for me.

I appreciate the fact that Coreg acknowledged that this question was missing from the FAQ. It has now been added at [320] under Achievements.

[CoregBlue1]

thats a relief.

thanks for the quick answers guys.

[absurd]

It was not easy, but i found some videos for each difficult.

Catherine - Easy Walktrough

Catheriene - Normal Walktrough

Catherine - Hard Walktrough

[ashleypegler]

My only problem is the boss stages , even when following guides i find the bosses too random and completing the stage is more luck than anything , which is probs why im stuck on 9-5

[amacteur]

Originally Posted by ashleypegler

My only problem is the boss stages , even when following guides i find the bosses too random and completing the stage is more luck than anything , which is probs why im stuck on 9-5

I know what you're feeling... but keep trying and you'll get it, eventually. If you're stuck on 9-5, keep in mind that 9-6 is even more random than this one.

Try to do what the guy is doing in the video, the boss attacks are based on timing, so if you manage to use the same path, and do exactly the same moves, you may have a chance to be safe

[JF Soul Sector]

For someone that is average at puzzle games, do you think I even have a remote chance of getting 1000/1000 in this game? I mean where would you put the estimated difficulty if you used videos?