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For A Cartoon Lady, Catherine Is Pretty Hot

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The Persona team's next game is a... horror/love story? Animals with ties?

Famitsu has revealed the next game from Atlus--specifically the team responsible for the Persona games, which immediately makes it more interesting around these parts. It's Catherine, and it's some sort of action-adventure thing involving freaky, tie-wearing animals and a "mysterious woman" named... Catherine. It looks kind of hot, here's the first trailer:
  
 
If you're not into the whole "hey, this is in Japanese" thing, andriasang.com has dissected a bit of it, along with some of the other info to come out of Famitsu's coverage. The game's official site will launch next week, and the game is destined for release on PlayStation 3 and 360 this Winter... in Japan, anyway.     Jeff Gerstmann on Google+
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Catherine
496 Comments
Posted by scarace360

CANT WAIT!

Posted by DonutFever

So does anyone know how the fight are supposed to work in this? They talked about fighting giant hands with a sheep-murdering fork, but all he's wielding is a pillow. Is this gonna be like Shattered Memories?

Posted by Starklight

This trailer makes me think Catherine is a Succubus.

Posted by endaround
@DonutFever: We'll likely know more when the website opens, which could be any minute now.
Posted by Zaapp1

The return of Atlus J-Rap, huzzah!

Posted by DonutFever
@endaround: That made me check the site again, there's a date that says it opens tomorrow. 
Posted by Brodehouse
@ashogo said:
" @DeadMonkeys said:

" YO YO YO YO YO YO YO YO YO YO YO "

yo yo, countin' the sheep, 1-2-3 gettin soaked in my sheets. "
Came into this topic just to say this.  Luckily you got here before me.
Posted by Nettacki
@aurahack said:
" Not to be a jerk face, but Atlus did direct an action adventure game before... 
 
It was called Baroque and it is garbage. :< Consider me tentatively excited, simply by fact that I am head over heels for Persona. :/ "
Wha? no. Baroque was kinda cool.
Posted by johnrogan

Reminds of when I was infatuated with Mai when I was 12.

Posted by Hailinel
@Nettacki said:
" @aurahack said:
" Not to be a jerk face, but Atlus did direct an action adventure game before... 
 
It was called Baroque and it is garbage. :< Consider me tentatively excited, simply by fact that I am head over heels for Persona. :/ "
Wha? no. Baroque was kinda cool. "
Baroque wasn't even made by Atlus.  Atlus USA only published it in the U.S.
Posted by Catolf
@Hailinel said:
" @Nettacki said:
" @aurahack said:
" Not to be a jerk face, but Atlus did direct an action adventure game before... 
 
It was called Baroque and it is garbage. :< Consider me tentatively excited, simply by fact that I am head over heels for Persona. :/ "
Wha? no. Baroque was kinda cool. "
Baroque wasn't even made by Atlus.  Atlus USA only published it in the U.S. "
I believe everyone needs to brush up on their faq on what Atlus has Made and what they have published. because they publish a LOT of games, Check Odin Sphere for instance. Vanillaware Made it, Atlus published and localized it. You can't say Odin Sphere is a Atlus title, because it isn't...
 
The only think to my knowledge Atlus does outside of SMT is Trauma Team, and now Catherine.
Posted by Baggykins

gotta love that soundtrack xD

Posted by endaround
Posted by President_Barackbar

Atlus is like the David Lynch of the Japanese game market, and  even as someone who isn't into anime at all, they are absolutely fascinating to me.

Posted by VanTesla

Theory: Catherine is a young woman that possess supernatural powers that are like the powers Freddy Krueger    have. She either knows she has them or uses them without knowing she is the one killing people in their dreams. She enjoys playing with Vincent for reasons unknown yet.  
 
Is she a psycho path or a victim of her own power? 
 
Either way I would stay clear from her.
Posted by iWonder

The trailer is simultaneously one of the weirdest and most japanese things I've ever seen

Edited by Prolix

The production values are through the roof!  That's an amazing trailer.  But I can't tell whats interactive and whats show.   Got to hand it to the Japanese.  No one else treats electronic mediums with the respect that they do.
 
I wish American and European developers were competent enough to produce games on that level.  I prefer western themes, but love eastern design.    
 
Clearly they are still decades ahead of us.   Hope to see more of this and by more I mean Endurance run.  Jeff and intern Vinny that is.  Nothing else will do.

Posted by Gregomasta

Props to Atlus for dropping some of Bach's "Little Fugue" on us.

Posted by DonutFever
@Prolix: I'm not sure that they're decades ahead of us, but ya, they make good CG.
Posted by FluxWaveZ
@Gregomasta said:
" Props to Atlus for dropping some of Bach's "Little Fugue" on us. "
Holy crap, thanks!  I know some people mentioned that Bach music was used in the trailer, but I didn't know that it was that particular song.  I really like it.
Posted by Gregomasta
@FluxWaveZ: For sure man, that's quite possibly my favorite Bach piece.  I want to hear the entire piece in the game however, it'd go well with this game.
Posted by BigDre

I think I need Japanese hip-hop in my life.
Posted by dprabon
@Jeff: Perhaps a candidate for another Endurance Run?
Posted by zepp

I think I could play this game for the zombie-like sheep, alone.

Posted by Woodtsunami

Wha- U- I- Umm.... Sooooo........

Posted by mattysen

Idolmasters having sex and dancing sheep -- Holy fuck this looks AWESHOME!!! Reminds me slightly of Twin Peaks, being crazy in the land of dreams

Posted by Cathryn

Really hoping for an eventual US release for this game -- it looks really, really interesting.

Posted by d_breeze

oh man this game looks right up my alley plot and design wise, I'm not really into action-adverture games but this is one that looks interesting =D 
 
the dark and creepy theme and designs that I see in images beckon to me... o.0;;    

Posted by Cincaid

While I can't say much about the game itself (like no one can really), I'm really interested in it nontheless due to it being Atlus' first game on PS3 / X360, and the trailer is really something else. Yes, I'm a bit worried they take the whole "sex thing" a bit too far for their own good, as it's obvious that western censorship allows us to kill and murder however much we want, but having nudity and sex in a game is making baby jesus cry. I'm fairly disappointed that it's not a RPG alá Persona series, but I'm still glad Atlus is (finally) making the leap to the HD consoles with a promise that we'll most likely see more in the future.
 
Regarding the touchy subject of Endurance Run, which I know the staff and moderators absolutly hate when we as forumusers keep bringing up, is that I'm fairly sure we won't see Catherine featured in one. Or at least not in the near future. This is Atlus' maiden ship to the HD world, and I'm fairly sure they wouldn't be too happy if a website (IE GiantBomb) would broadcast their entire game in a playthrough, at least not close to its release. Maybe a year or so after its release like Persona 4? Who knows. And yes I know they did just that to Deadly Premonition, but DP was a low-budget game no one knew about which sold around 80.000 copies in the US, and I'm fairly sure (and hopeful) Atlus will recieve a bit more attention than that.
 
Hell, right now we don't even know if and when we'll see Catherine outside of Japan. One thing that makes me optimistic is that there's a fair amount of english text in the trailer (the part with the newsreport, etc), which could mean they've prepared for releasing it overseas from the get-go.
 
Long story short: I'm freaking excited over this title. :)

Posted by Subject2Change

Note: Japanese release, PLEASE ADDS IN SUBS so PS3 owners can import copies....that is all.

Posted by endaround
@CrazyChris: The P4 ER started in February, P4 was released in the beginning of December.
Posted by Nettacki
@Prolix said:
" The production values are through the roof!  That's an amazing trailer.  But I can't tell whats interactive and whats show.   Got to hand it to the Japanese.  No one else treats electronic mediums with the respect that they do.  I wish American and European developers were competent enough to produce games on that level.  I prefer western themes, but love eastern design.     Clearly they are still decades ahead of us.   Hope to see more of this and by more I mean Endurance run.  Jeff and intern Vinny that is.  Nothing else will do. "
Hideo Kojima once admitted that western game design has finally overcome eastern design in terms of  technology used (just look at Starcraft II and its cutscenes compared to Final Fantasy XIII and its cutscenes)
Posted by SpiralStairs

According to Kotaku, the game is rated 15+ over in Japan. I don't know how they rate stuff over there, but I guess this means there won't be any real nudity.
 
 
>_>

Edited by FluxWaveZ
@SpiralStairs said:

" According to Kotaku, the game is rated 15+ over in Japan. I don't know how they rate stuff over there, but I guess this means there won't be any real nudity.   >_> "

According to Kotaku, this is the next Persona game. 
 
But they're right to say Cero: C is basically 15+.  Full nudity is not possible for a retail console game in Japan.
Posted by Y2Ken

Very excited. Also, this should totally be an Endurance Run.

Posted by zomgenius

I'm looking forward to it, but I'm not quite sure if it'll be more of a rent or buy thing... Assuming it DOES come to the US eventually. Meh.

Posted by afrofools
@danpat177 said:
" NAKED LADYS CREEPY ANIMALS SEX yep thats Japan  "
Shit I need to move there ASAP!
Posted by Brodehouse
@Nettacki said:
" @Prolix said:
" The production values are through the roof!  That's an amazing trailer.  But I can't tell whats interactive and whats show.   Got to hand it to the Japanese.  No one else treats electronic mediums with the respect that they do.  I wish American and European developers were competent enough to produce games on that level.  I prefer western themes, but love eastern design.     Clearly they are still decades ahead of us.   Hope to see more of this and by more I mean Endurance run.  Jeff and intern Vinny that is.  Nothing else will do. "
Hideo Kojima once admitted that western game design has finally overcome eastern design in terms of  technology used (just look at Starcraft II and its cutscenes compared to Final Fantasy XIII and its cutscenes) "
I believe he was talking about art design, and despite my dislike of 80% of Japanese game culture, they still outstrip the west in terms of a focus on art design.
Posted by QuSpec

Nice, the same typ of musik as the Persona games :P

Posted by LiquidPrince

 Awesome!
Posted by harinosho
@SpiralStairs said:
" According to Kotaku, the game is rated 15+ over in Japan. I don't know how they rate stuff over there, but I guess this means there won't be any real nudity.   >_> "
it'll be 18+ when its over the japanese borders. 
Posted by SpiralStairs
@harinosho said:
" @SpiralStairs said:
" According to Kotaku, the game is rated 15+ over in Japan. I don't know how they rate stuff over there, but I guess this means there won't be any real nudity.   >_> "
it'll be 18+ when its over the japanese borders.  "
I doubt it. It'll have some sexual references obviously, but it's not a fucking hentai game.
Posted by Catolf
@LiquidPrince said:
"
 Awesome!
"
I want that poster!
 
@SpiralStairs said:
" @harinosho said:
" @SpiralStairs said:
" According to Kotaku, the game is rated 15+ over in Japan. I don't know how they rate stuff over there, but I guess this means there won't be any real nudity.   >_> "
it'll be 18+ when its over the japanese borders.  "
I doubt it. It'll have some sexual references obviously, but it's not a fucking hentai game. "

As stated it's not a hentai, it'll be rated M just like the other ATLUS titles, Persona 3, Persona 4, DDS, DDS-2, Raido, Nocturne ect ect..
Posted by LiquidPrince
@Catolf:  Me too!
Posted by Catolf
@LiquidPrince said:
" @Catolf:  Me too! "
I hope, if this game comes, pre order bonus is a wall scroll of this, that way it will last forever... and ever... XD
Posted by televisionomy

I think funky student let me sniff a bit to much.  

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