Catherine

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Catherine

Postby Henry Spencer » Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:59 am

After working on Shin Megami Tensei and Persona for so very long, at Gamescom they announced a new IP for development for 360/PS3. It's an "adult horror action/adventure" entitled "Catherine".

http://i34.tinypic.com/9k1awh.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/szd8ps.jpg
http://i36.tinypic.com/34fh4yg.jpg
http://i33.tinypic.com/2u3vayx.jpg


Release Date: Winter 2010
Producer/Director: Katsura Hashino (Persona 3, FES and 4)
Character Design: Shigenori Soejima (Persona 3, FES and 4)
Composer: Shoji Meguro (Persona series)

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..."


So Persona 5 will be after this comes out, then.
Last edited by Henry Spencer on Wed Aug 18, 2010 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP!

Postby Tuffty » Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:13 am

I'm loving the fact that it's multiplatform. Could bode well for P5.

As a premise it sounds really cool. Makes a change from having to rescue a princess. I read it's only confirmed for Japan at the moment, but they're bound to release it over here too. Taking the time to make it multiplatform, you'd think they would sell it here to make a further profit on it. And the success of P3 and P4 over here is bound to generate a nice level of demand.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP!

Postby Segata Sanshiro Jr. » Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:10 am

Actually there are a ton of cool RPG ideas out there, the whole princess thing is reserved for bigger names.

Kinda hoping you get to play as Cath as well.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP!

Postby Yama » Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:15 pm

Rediculously amped and love the ties to P3P.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby OL » Wed Aug 18, 2010 2:42 pm

Sounds awesome. I love that in contrast to the Megaten games (which usually feature teenagers as the protagonists), it has you playing as a 32 year old salaryman. And the fact that he's voice by Koichi Yamadera makes me hope they include a dual-language option when it comes to the west (and as awesome as Atlus USA is, I have absolutely no doubt at all that we'll be seeing this stateside).

I'm fucking psyched. I know almost nothing about the game yet, and I'm still excited.


Yama wrote:Rediculously amped and love the ties to P3P.


What ties?
Do you just mean the creative talent working on it, or something I missed?
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby Tuffty » Wed Aug 18, 2010 2:50 pm

OL wrote:What ties?
Do you just mean the creative talent working on it, or something I missed?


I just learned about this today but according to this source, there's an NPC found in the female protaganist's story of P3P that looks to be Vincent, the protaganist of this new game, who makes reference to suffering from nightmares.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby OL » Wed Aug 18, 2010 3:13 pm

:)
Huh, interesting.
I wonder if it's just a random in-company cameo, or if the two games are actually meant to be tied together in some important way.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby mue 26 » Wed Aug 18, 2010 8:07 pm

This sounds great, I loved P4 so an even more adult oriented game sounds interesting. This absoloutely has to be released in the west.

Though that last pic was a bit off putting :???:
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby Henry Spencer » Thu Aug 19, 2010 11:38 am

Trailer:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VteHd2AoGvw[/youtube]

Ugh. Doesn't look that good.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby ThyDarkAngel » Thu Aug 19, 2010 11:56 am

Looks very interesting. I am surely keeping my eyes on this one. The concept is already captivating me, even with such vague information (even the trailer gives very few hints about it's actual gameplay and how everything comes together).
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby OL » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:00 pm

Dude, how can you say "ugh" to that?
It looks awesome. Granted, no actual gameplay yet, but I love the mix of anime scenes and in-game cel-shaded stuff. The overall visual style of it is great. And it also looks fucking surreal and weird (which is something I love getting into).
What's the deal with all the goat people in it? The whole thing just looks so freaky and weird, there's no way I could not be looking forward to this. Even if this were just an anime, I'd be interested at this point.

Oh, and usually I'm against blatant nudity and sex in games since -- let's face it -- this really is a medium that children love, and having a bunch of that in something like GTA, for example, means that inevitably a bunch of kids are going to see it.
However in a game like this, I'm absolutely fine with it, since it's obviously not the kind of game that little kids would be interested in anyway, and it's by Atlus, so it ain't exactly going to be popular on the levels of a Halo or CoD. Plus, the sexuality actually seems to be an important element in the story. This really does look like a step into actual "adult" territory, and finally not in as infantile a way as most games have ever attempted.

This really looks great to me. I'd love to see some actual gameplay soon.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby ThyDarkAngel » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:08 pm

Indeed, this seems 'adult' not 'purely shock value'.
About time videogames break that barrier.

The design is pure Atlus, and, in a moment or two, the trailer made me think of ICO-- the horned version of the main character holding a pillow and going up those platforms... Maybe it was just the horns and the dreamy, weird atmosphere.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby Henry Spencer » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:23 pm

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.


I dunno. If I could tell what was being said I might find it more interesting as I'd know what the story is all about? I ain't slamming the game or anything, but I generally just do not like anime.
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby OL » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:33 pm

Oh, well if it's just a general aversion to anime, then it's understandable I guess.
Still, it seems like the atmosphere will be more along the lines of Persona anyway, even if the visual style is mostly anime. Can't remember if you've played the Persona games at all, though...
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Re: Atlus Announces New IP - Catherine

Postby Henry Spencer » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:46 pm

I haven't. I much prefer the art atyle in the older Shin Megami games, therefore, I'll play those and probably try out the Persona games after. That's only a matter of preference though. The only Atlus developed game I've actually played is Maken X on the DC many a long year ago. I do like some anime, only the old school type though or ones of a certain art type.

Anyhow, Andriasang gives their thoughts on the trailer:
The footage begins with main character Vincent asking someone if they've seen a dream where you die -- that is, a dream where you are killed. The person he's talking to responds, "No. But I have seen a dream where I kill someone." This seems to creep Vincent out.

After our first lamb goes splat, we hear a news report about a gruesome death of a young man. Famitsu had screens of this. The magazine said that there could be a relation with Vincent's dreams, as there's apparently a rumor that if you fall in your dream and don't wake up, you'll end up dying in real life.

Catherine, described in the trailer as a "Mysterious Woman," makes her appearance midway through the trailer and asks Vincent if he likes what he sees. During a bed scene, we hear her telling Vincent to do with her as he pleases.

And then the Japanese hip hop starts...

The chick at the end, incidentally, is the girl who, in Famitsu's screenshots, appears to walk in on Catherine and Vincent while the two are in bed together. She seems to be a bit upset...

It says "The first HD game from the Persona team." However, the "D" is a bit hard to see, so it almost looks like "The first H game from the Persona team." "H" can usually mean erotic or perverted. Of course, the text above the H actually specifies that it stands for "Hi-Vision."


http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/0 ... e_trailer/

So you play as a guy who is cheating on his partner and has nightmares about being a goat? Madness. :rotflmao:
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