Catherine

The trailer for the upcoming Atlus game, Catherine, came out the other day, and I am pretty obsessed with it. It looks to be a horror/adventure game made by the Persona team, and it also looks like a Murakami novel in video game form.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsRmI49mY5A

Translation for the trailer under the spoiler if people are curious. Not my work, I stole it from Siliconera.

Vincent (Yamadera Kouichi): say, Catherine. Have you ever dreamed you were… dying? Well, actually… dreamed you were getting killed.
Catherine (Miyuki Sawashiro): Not getting killed, I don’t think so. I dreamed I was killing, though.
[The first HD game from the Persona team]
[Animation: Studio 4�C]
[Character Design: Soejima Shigenori (Persona 3, Persona 4)]
[Sound Composer: Meguro Shouji (Persona 3, Persona 4)]
[Director: Hashino Katsura (Persona 3, Persona 4, SMT III Nocturne)]
Newscaster: A young man living alone was found dead in his apartment, in a way you
[Mysterious rumors, mysterious death]
Vincent: I keep getting chased by something…
Vincent: It’s fucking scary.
Some guy: Nah, that thing that you die when you see nightmares, that’s just an urban legend man.
Barman (Koyasu Takehito): There’s still tomorrow, but we might be dead then.
[Mysterious woman]
Catherine: You’ve grown quite fond of me, didn’t you? It’s alright… you can do whatever you want to me.
Vincent: What the hell… is this??
[NIGHTMARES, WAKING UP]
[DEATH, ESCAPE]
[And now, they begin… a nightmare on every night…]
(they used the kanji for "dance" instead of the kanji for "every", so it’s like they’re dancing every night or smth)

(Woman): I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!

From what I’ve heard, the chances of a NA release for it look pretty good so far. Here’s hoping.

Here’s to hoping it gets a EU release as well. The Persona team are extremely talented people. I have high hopes for this game.

Here’s to hoping it gets a EU release as well. The Persona team are extremely talented people. I have high hopes for this game.

While I admit while this does sound interesting, and the Persona team is indeed talented, I’m not holding my breath on this. Haven’t seen a ‘dark style’ RPG since Shadow Hearts on the PS2 (not going to consider Koudelka, it’s prequel)

Here’s a translated version of an article on the game I found on Atlus’ forums:

Game Jouhou has posted a bunch of additional details on Catherine, Atlus’s new PS3 and Xbox 360 action adventure game.

As detailed below, Catherine is the first HD game from Atlus. It’s being made with key members of the Persona staff. Included in the staff list are Katsura Hashino as producer and director, Shigenori Soejima as character designer, and Shouji Meguro as sound composer.

While the game’s name is Catherine, the main character is actually a 32-year-old salaryman named Vincent (voiced by Koichi Yamadera). Catherine (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro) is a stylish 22-year-old girl who apparently has the charms of a young girl.

The game begins when Vincent, a vegetarian who has no ambition in work or love (I’m not sure if he’s literally a "vegetarian," or if the term "vegetarian" is some sort of metaphor for his personality) runs into the mysterious Catherine one day. At night, he has nightmares.

The nightmares serve as an action component for the game. Set in a world with an unending stairway, Vincent has to make it to the top of the stairs, or he will not be able to awaken.

Based off Game Jouhou’s summary, it’s a bit unclear how the game will progress. However, it does seem that even during the nightmare action parts, you’ll end up working through the story and encountering events.

During a staff interview, Hashino said that as their first HD game, rather than trying out a true RPG, the team was excited about trying out something new. It looks like Catherine will be just that, as Hashino said it will be more adult oriented than past titles from the team. It’s not all style, though. Hashino promised a deep play experience with plenty of gameplay for players to sink their teeth into.

Soejima said that there are some shockingly adult scenes in the game. When you play these scenes, they’ll be even more stimulating, although in a difference sense.

Meguro confirmed the adult leanings of the title, saying that the keywords for the game’s music are "classic," "adult oriented" and "erotic." He also promised 5.1ch sound.

Meguro also made a comment that has Persona fans excited. He said that due to Catherine, he believes for the time being the staff won’t be asked about their next title. However, at some point next year, perhaps he’ll be able to respond "Regarding the RPG, Hashino and I are…"

Here’s a translated version of an article on the game I found on Atlus’ forums:

Game Jouhou has posted a bunch of additional details on Catherine, Atlus’s new PS3 and Xbox 360 action adventure game.

As detailed below, Catherine is the first HD game from Atlus. It’s being made with key members of the Persona staff. Included in the staff list are Katsura Hashino as producer and director, Shigenori Soejima as character designer, and Shouji Meguro as sound composer.

While the game’s name is Catherine, the main character is actually a 32-year-old salaryman named Vincent (voiced by Koichi Yamadera). Catherine (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro) is a stylish 22-year-old girl who apparently has the charms of a young girl.

The game begins when Vincent, a vegetarian who has no ambition in work or love (I’m not sure if he’s literally a "vegetarian," or if the term "vegetarian" is some sort of metaphor for his personality) runs into the mysterious Catherine one day. At night, he has nightmares.

The nightmares serve as an action component for the game. Set in a world with an unending stairway, Vincent has to make it to the top of the stairs, or he will not be able to awaken.

Based off Game Jouhou’s summary, it’s a bit unclear how the game will progress. However, it does seem that even during the nightmare action parts, you’ll end up working through the story and encountering events.

During a staff interview, Hashino said that as their first HD game, rather than trying out a true RPG, the team was excited about trying out something new. It looks like Catherine will be just that, as Hashino said it will be more adult oriented than past titles from the team. It’s not all style, though. Hashino promised a deep play experience with plenty of gameplay for players to sink their teeth into.

Soejima said that there are some shockingly adult scenes in the game. When you play these scenes, they’ll be even more stimulating, although in a difference sense.

Meguro confirmed the adult leanings of the title, saying that the keywords for the game’s music are "classic," "adult oriented" and "erotic." He also promised 5.1ch sound.

Meguro also made a comment that has Persona fans excited. He said that due to Catherine, he believes for the time being the staff won’t be asked about their next title. However, at some point next year, perhaps he’ll be able to respond "Regarding the RPG, Hashino and I are…"

also, Vincent is voiced by SPIKE SPIEGEL, how awesome is that? If they dub the game, maybe they can get Steven Blum. 😉

Lame trailer. The soundtrack doesn’t fit the atmosphere.

As for the game, it got me interested… for now.

I thought the trailer was incredible

I’ll buy it if it’s actually a creepy psycho-thriller themed action/adventure and not just a porn game.

ill buy it if it even gets here.

I’ll buy it if it’s actually a creepy psycho-thriller themed action/adventure and not just a porn game.

It’s rated 15+ in Japan, it’s not a porn game.

I’ve never played a Persona game, but I’ve heard a lot of people ranting about them – this trailer looks fantastic though. I love it when companies use high-end hardware to do something other than photo-realism (see: Valkyria Chronicles) and Catherine’s anime-realism looks incredible. Semi related q: is Persona on the PSP worth playing?

It’s fine if you’re into first persona dungeon crawlers. It’s nothing like Persona 3/4 though, being more in line with the main Shin Megami Tensei series, so if you’re looking for something more along those lines you’d be better off getting Persona 3 Portable whenever it comes out in Australia.

There’s people playing on non-hacked PSPs?

I haven’t played P1 nor P3, but Skanker tells me P1 is pretty lacking compared to P2 and P3 is pretty lacking compared to P4. He didn’t seem much interested in 3 for a while, but he tells me it eventually becomes less lame.

Your best bet would be downloading P4 and playing it on PCSX2. I’ve never seen any of the Persona games in stores.

Persona 4 was available in EB Games briefly for $50, which is where I got my copy. This was early last year though, don’t like your chances now.

I would also never pay $50 for a PS2 game.

Hell, i’d think twice about paying that for a PS3 game.

It isn’t really that bad. It’s less than it would have cost to import a copy from the US, when you factor in shipping costs and exchange rate.

Free torrent download is free.

I prefer to have a official copy (Disc, Manual and Case) over a ‘virtual copy’.

Free torrent download is free.

I prefer not paying a huge amount of money for something that really isn’t worth it. I simply do not buy any games in retail stores anymore because the prices are awful. For most games, the most I’m willing to pay is $40 and Steam is (or was, more on that next sentence) the only way I can go about getting my games that cheap. I say was because publishers are turds and have decided to slap the Australian tax on their games on Steam, too. Fortunately, the incredible sales Steam often has usually gets those games down to a reasonable price anyway.

$50 is far, far too much for a several year old game on the PS2.

I’m with chewey – I buy most of my games on Steam lately. If they try to pull a fast one by pumping up the Australian price, I paypal one of my mates in the US and get him to buy it at their price and gift it to me.

For X360/PS3 games, I’ll only buy a new game at retail if it’s one i’m really really looking forward to – like Fallout: New Vegas. Everything else i’ll either wait a few months for the inevitable price drop (seriously – games go from $120 to $50 here in the space of 4 or 5 months) or i’ll buy it second hand from the PALGN forums, which offer fantastic prices on stuff – new release games are usually around $50-$60 posted, and anything older than 6 months or so you can pick up for less than $20.

It must suck being a gamer in Australia.

It must suck being a gamer in Australia.

More annoying than suckful, really – games are too expensive on store shelves, and sometimes come out a few months late, but we always have the option of importing at the US price. Games usually come down in price quickly here compared to the US as well.

The only really bad thing is online multiplayer, because more and more companies are requiring you to go through their servers (see: Starcraft II), and those servers are invariably placed everywhere in the world BUT Australia. Without a proxy, our average connection to World of Warcraft is about 300-400 ms ping; with a proxy we can get that down to 200 ms. Compare that to top tier gamers in the US who get upset if they don’t have sub-100 ms ping, and it’s worrisome.

That said, I don’t have the reflexes needed to be pro in twitch games (Magic: The Gathering is where i’m hoping to go pro), so it doesn’t bother me.

New screenshot! Makes me even more excited to see gameplay footage.

———- Post added at 09:19 AM ———- Previous post was at 09:19 AM ———-

New screenshot! Makes me even more excited to see gameplay footage.

More annoying than suckful, really – games are too expensive on store shelves, and sometimes come out a few months late, but we always have the option of importing at the US price. Games usually come down in price quickly here compared to the US as well.

The only really bad thing is online multiplayer, because more and more companies are requiring you to go through their servers (see: Starcraft II), and those servers are invariably placed everywhere in the world BUT Australia. Without a proxy, our average connection to World of Warcraft is about 300-400 ms ping; with a proxy we can get that down to 200 ms. Compare that to top tier gamers in the US who get upset if they don’t have sub-100 ms ping, and it’s worrisome.

That said, I don’t have the reflexes needed to be pro in twitch games (Magic: The Gathering is where i’m hoping to go pro), so it doesn’t bother me.

I don’t play online all that much, so I guess it wouldn’t bother me. Hell, I don’t even play Starcraft 2 online all that much. 3-4 matches a day, tops. Of course that probably has something to do with the fact that most players don’t know any strategy besides cheese and rush, but oh well. Come to think of it the only games I played online a lot are Counter-Strike, Starcraft, Half-Life and Warcraft 3. Singleplayer is what matters most to me.

Not really watching the game, I think I just want to be surprised in the end but I really am looking forward to it.

So Vincent will be voiced by Vincent?

More new Catherine info! (http://www.siliconera.com/2010/09/10/you-determine-vincents-fate-in-catherine/)

I’m really hoping to get a look at the gameplay soon. The game’s out in Japan this winter so I’m sure it won’t be that long of a wait. So excited about this game. ; ;

New trailer! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0tyx_Jj2rA&feature=player_embedded)

Is it just me or does this new one make even less sense, and is even more creepy? o.O

One of the monsters in the trailer looks like Katherine wearing a veil, and when Vincent’s in the bathroom the painting behind him is of him crucified. Kudos to people on Atlus’ forums for catching that.

Yeah there is a screen somewhere and on the background you can see (Persona 4’s) Teddie.

I think this game may have a ton of easter eggs like that.

It looks, so far, so good.

This poster would be worth hanging on wall if not for Vincent’s head.

Well now, I finally get to see the game’s trailers. I kept seeing it on the MegaTen wiki, but they never had a page for the game. And noe after seeing the trailers for it, I can definitely say I’m completely interested, yet at the same time, completely baffled as to what is going on 95% of the time.

They just released what seems to be the Opening Movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WonR0530Vag&feature=player_embedded) or something.

I can’t seem to understand anything that’s going on. Anyone here have any ideas? It’s mostly just the names of the designers.

"Music by Shoji Meguro"

I’m set. Just kidding, that and the game does look interesting.

That is enough of a selling point 😉

yo yo yo yo yo yo…yo yo…yo yo…yo yo yo.

Just read that the release date for this got officially announced as February 17 for Japan. When do you guys think this will get overseas?

With stuff Atlus has planned to bring over from the get go, the time between Japan and NA release hasn’t been too bad. Summer or early Fall would be terrific. I have a bunch of games coming out in the spring, and it’d be great to have this to look forward to after I finish them.

Maybe for the US… But I live in Europe. Which means I get to wait double that. Demon’s Souls came out in June here x_x But all things considered it was the only one that came so late. The Personas only took 3-4 extra months. Ah, whatever I’m sure I’ll get it eventually.

You could always import it if they decide to be a pain in the butt with releasing it over there!

I guess I could. PS3 isn’t region locked right?

Third Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHZbh2V6k_A&feature=player_embedded)

Seems to tell us a lot more than the previous ones, but it’s all in Japanese. And the release date is February 17th for Japan.

You guessed it. This is the Japanese box art. If they ever want to bring this game overseas, they’re sadly going to change it. It looks amazing right now, though.

I doubt it, Atlus might just release it like that.

At least, we can hope.
😀

if not, i can just go to the many sites that offer worldwide covers, or even custom ones and put it instead.
thats what i did for heavenly guardian/legend of sayuki.
instead of seeing some cartoony enemies in the cover, ill see the original artwork of sayuki

New trailer with gameplay stuff!

YouTube – (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA_Y-KL-QgI)

Climbing looks faster then I’d imagined based on pictures. Should be pretty intense. ^^

5th Trailer! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxb_34wpsX0)

5th Trailer! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxb_34wpsX0)

It just gets better and better. I wonder will the art book advertised at the end of that trailer get a release outside of Japan?

I’m pretty sure this is the first trailer where marriage has come up. I believe Katherine and Vincent planned to get married until Vincent cheated on her with Catherine. Or something like that. Damn it, I wish I knew Japanese better.

Edit: Just found it at Gametrailers with subtitles. Uploader says we should take the translation with a grain of salt, as his Japanese isn’t all that good. Found here (http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/movie/354162). It’s the only translation available right now, so it’ll have to do. Gotta say everything makes a lot more sense now. The same guy also uploaded the 4th trailer translated which can be found here (http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/catherine-4th-trailer-subtitled/354031?playlist=featured).

hahahaha i like this plot

=O

OK, my mind is sort of blown… Catherine has multiplayer (http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/83750/catherine-modes-detailed-multiplayer-revealed/).

Normally, I’d either be pissed or oblivious, but damn, colour me interested on this one.

Colosseum is a competitive mode where two players simultaneously challenge the game’s action stages. As you climb up the tower, you need to think about both speed and methods of hindering your opponent. The person who first wins two rounds of play wins the match. This mode is unlocked once you’ve cleared Golden Theatre mode. The other area, however, is the Confession Room: an area you enter when you reach the top of a stage. Here, you’ll be asked multiple choice questions and your response will determine how you advance. If you’re connected online, you can access graphs showing how other people responded to the questions and apparently also divide the responses by gender.

What the hell, I’ll try it. I live for this kind of stuff.

I heard this bombed in Japan. 🙁 Any truth to that?

Nope, because it’s not out yet. It’s going to be out on the 17th in Feburary.

Catherine Demo is out on the Japanese PSN! Playing it now. ^__^ IT IS AWESOME.

Catherine Demo is out on the Japanese PSN! Playing it now. ^__^ IT IS AWESOME.

Can you upload an LP or something? I need to see this!!!

Edit: Never mind, I just found like 10 different uploads on Youtube. Looks great.

Edit 2: Just realised how ridiculously easy it is to make a jp PSN account. I played the demo, and it’s glorious.

AND, it’s out in Japan today. Tried to make sense of a google translated version of the Famitsu review. Didn’t make much sense. It got a 35/40 which is great. And some bits of the review were pointed out in this article. Apparently the story and characters were really good, and so were the visuals. Some took issue with the tower climbing, but nothing too major.

Japan Review Check: Catherine, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (http://www.1up.com/news/japan-review-check-catherine-marvel)

I’m still skeptical about the fact that there’s no word on a release date for the west. What do you think is going on? Are they doing it and just aren’t telling us or do they not intend to bring it out of Japan at all? I think they’re gonna announce it sooner or later. They wouldn’t have developed the game for the 360 if they had no intention of bringing it to the West. At least, imo.

Oh and there’s a sixth trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsnMEm5cLOM) which shows a woman with an awesome afro. Check it out.

And here’s a sort of seventh trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw5k-d1pfBw&feature=feedu) for the game. It’s not exactly new, this plays at the end of the demo, but still amusing to watch nonetheless. When are they gonna announce they’re bringing it yet 🙁

So I heard Catherine is going into the Gamestop system for reserves tomorrow…………. GameStop lists Catherine for July 26 release- Destructoid (http://www.destructoid.com/gamestop-lists-catherine-for-july-26-release-195273.phtml)

You can see it on Gamestop via Google cache: Catherine for Playstation 3 | GameStop (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZQU2hfmlJc4J:www.gamestop.com/ps3/games/catherine/90445+http://www.gamestop.com/ps3/games/catherine/90445&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com)

Between this and Disgaea 4, this summer is going to be awesome for games! Hoping Atlus puts out a version with some neat extras.

I just hope they bring over the 360 version too or my bf will be very pouty 🙁

im getting the version that arrives here.
im not picky.

Wait, wasn’t it posted on twitter or something that Catherine wasn’t seeing and overseas release?

They know how to tease their fans :p Check this out:

Every member on the Atlus USA forums received this on Saturday, shortly after Catherine was listed on Gamestop for release on July 26th. All that’s left is an official confirmation, as far as I’m concerned.

Edit: They beat me to it 😀

I love the artwork… can’t recall who that’s by, but I have seen his stuff before.

fuck, i need to make a hardcore desicion..
a meganekko or scantly-dressed teen?

360 cover is my favorite. Just really like Katherine’s design.

I’ll be getting it for the PS3, though. It’s already up on Amazon. So cool we’re apparently getting the Japanese covers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4d_kfIx3OI

fuck, i need to make a hardcore desicion..
a meganekko or scantly-dressed teen?

go for the scantily-clad teen.

Troy Baker’s apparently going be voicing Vincent. Pretty solid choice, I think.

Nice, I was kinda hoping it would be him. Where did you hear about it?

Oh, sorry, should’ve posted the link last night.

Troy Baker Teases His Role In Catherine // Siliconera (http://www.siliconera.com/2011/03/02/troy-baker-teases-his-role-in-catherine/)

i wish they keep dual audio.

one can only hope, WILL.

As I’ve said to you Smarty.

It’s a relief that Atlus didn’t fucked it up with the localization. They’re quite known of releasing awesome games Japan Only. xD

Catherine will be another weird title for gamers.

Laura Bailey will be voicing Catherine, and Michelle Ruff will be voicing Katherine.

Man, Laura Bailey is in everything.

source is Siliconera~

———- Post added at 03:33 AM ———- Previous post was at 03:29 AM ———-

Just realized this means Snow and Serah will be reunited~

Frankly, I’m a bit worried about Laura Bailey. I’m not sure she can pull it off. She’s a good actress but somehow I feel she’s not right for the role. Especially if she sounds anything like Rise, Serah or Isara.