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Catherine
Game » consists of 14 releases. Released Feb 17, 2011
The first game developed by Atlus for the PS3/Xbox 360. Made by the Persona Team, The game is an "adult oriented" action-adventure/horror game with puzzle platforming stages.
Is Catherine set in Persona's world?
I wouldn't be terribly surprised either way, but I like the idea of the world of the Persona games constantly having weird shit going on all over the place. The students at Gekkoukan are trying to keep Death from descending during a hidden, extra hour of the day. Some kids in Inaba are hunting down a serial murderer via a television world that projects your subconscious, and a dude named Vincent has been having bad dreams lately that just might kill him if he slips up. Makes you wonder what kind of amazing things they could come up with for the rest of the world.
Edit: Man, just reading over that again, how awesome are the plots to these games?
might be set in the shin Megami Tensei world but no i don't think it is suppose to be set in the persona world
No. Him being in P3P was just a crossover or a shout out, not indicative of them being in the same universe. The fact that in Catherine Vincent never goes to Japan(Catherine is set in the United States) and talks with some high school kid should make that scene non-canon pretty clear. Also, Teddy dolls are in the background of a few scenes in Catherine as another shout out to the Persona series. That's about the extent of their interaction.
I believed they said that Catherine was not set in the Persona world. Vincent only made a cameo in P3P.
The major shift in gameplay tells me it's probably meant to be even outside the SMT series, which have all been RPG's of some type.
" No. Him being in P3P was just a crossover or a shout out, not indicative of them being in the same universe. The fact that in Catherine Vincent never goes to Japan(Catherine is set in the United States) and talks with some high school kid should make that scene non-canon pretty clear. Also, Teddy dolls are in the background of a few scenes in Catherine as another shout out to the Persona series. That's about the extent of their interaction. "Wait what? Catherine is set in the US? Judging from the QL that looks nothing like America, weird......
They've gone on record to say that the settings aren't connected with each other. Probably not.
@MattyFTM said:
" Vincent appeared in P3P, so probably. "
That's fake Vincent!
@Nux said:
" Most likely not, but they both take place in Japan. "
Catherine doesn't take place in Japan. They said this in a interview, and its pretty obvious anyway.
I would say no. I'm suprised if it is indicated as the US, from the QL and such to me it looks like a mash-up of east and west, and indeterminate place of western and Japanese type culture. Pizza and sushi. Vincent himself looks darn near asian, some others do, some don't. Anime helps with the mix.
And I could easily be projecting upon the game, but that to me would be a clever way of setting it.
" I would say no. I'm suprised if it is indicated as the US, from the QL and such to me it looks like a mash-up of east and west, and indeterminate place of western and Japanese type culture. Pizza and sushi. Vincent himself looks darn near asian, some others do, some don't. Anime helps with the mix. And I could easily be projection upon the game, but that to me would be a clever way of setting it. "...He does? he's tall, he's got a stubble and a 'fro.
The Catherine world so far looks pretty damn US to me. The only thing I've seen so far that screams Japan at me is Vincent's apartment and the sushi thing. Something tells me that's a lack of research at work.
If Catherine takes place in Japan... It would make one of the endings really weird.
@Ghostiet: There is a Persona universe. It goes Persona 1, then Innocent Sin, then another universe is made due to the events that happen in Innocent Sin. It's this universe that Eternal Punishment, 3 and 4 take place in.
" If Catherine takes place in Japan... It would make one of the endings really weird.Huh, that's interesting. Makes me want to finish Persona 1 and give that fan translation of Innocent Sin a try. Makes me curious if they've thought of an overarching story at this point with the recent Persona 3 and 4.
@Ghostiet: There is a Persona universe. It goes Persona 1, then Innocent Sin, then another universe is made due to the events that happen in Innocent Sin. It's this universe that Eternal Punishment, 3 and 4 take place in. "
Vincent's appearance in P3P is non-canon, due entirely to two main things: 1. the timing of Catherine's plot and 2. Vincent's motivations for going to Japan (or lack thereof). The first issue is the main sticking point, since the entirety of Catherine's storyline takes place on dates that are different than his appearances in P3P. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem if his P3P appearance didn't indicate he was already in the midst of dealing with his life's troubles, but P3P pegs his cameo at early March in that game, whereas Catherine takes place over a week-ish during April. Given that he only exists in P3P as a means of virally promoting Catherine to those who bought the game, it's safe to say he has no real connection to the Persona series or, as other people have pointed out, Shin Megami Tensei games in general. While Teddie does show up in a few easter eggs, that's more of the game being meta or anything. If you wanted to theorize about a weird connection between Catherine and Persona through that tangent, then Persona is just another video game in the world of Catherine that's happened to get merchandising, although I really, really doubt you're supposed to think that deeply about it.
As for the whole Japan thing, the game makes it pretty clear that he's not living in Japan. The apartment and sushi place are weird discrepancies, but perhaps Vincent just lives in a major Asian district where that sort of architecture and culture would be more "authentically prominent," if you will. That's really the only justification I can come up with other than the team having a minor slip up or just wanting to make the game world a little bit weird. Also, Vincent's existing commitments both to his job and his relationships keep him firmly rooted in where he lives for the duration of the game. As an IT guy, he has no reason in particular to just drop by to Japan, especially just to get drunk. Those who are also still unsure that the game takes place in America or at least a Western country should note that the entirety of the cast has Western given names and surnames. Unless Vincent happens to be living in some weird foreign expat community, it's a lot more likely that finding such a concentration of Western names is just due to the fact that they're outside Japan. The scenery in general in the game also confirms that the game doesn't take place in Japan. I haven't spent the longest amount of time living in Japan, but I know it well enough to tell you that most of the country doesn't look like Catherine's world at all. Even the sushi bar is pretty westernized based on the layout and pieces of the scenery; if you look hard enough, you'll find things like credit card logos hanging around that indicate the place would take those as payment, something which you definitely couldn't count on having happen in a cash-centric place like Japan.
@Driadon: There's no overarching narrative as far as I know, although 3 and 4 have always had at least tenuous connections to the previous games based on some of the imagery employed, as well as the presence of Igor. The fact that you save your game in 4 by largely talking to butterflies is thought to remind series veterans of Philemon, an extremely critical character in the earlier games who otherwise makes no appearances whatsoever during the PS2 generation. He would often take the form of a butterfly when talking to players and developing the plot. 3 also employs the butterfly imagery in a few scenes, but to a less obvious extent than 4. Ultimately, people tend to interpret the butterfly thing as Philemon still watching over the casts of 3 and 4, arguably still giving at least some of the characters their Personas, since that was also one of his functions in 1 and 2.
"It also nods to 1, telling you what happens when the characters grow up on the TV.No.
There's not even a Persona universe. P3 and P4 are linked, P3 gives a small nod to P2 and that's all.
"
Its a really, really tenuous connection based on little throwaway cameos like Vincent appearing in P3P(which was officialy debunked as non-canonical)." @Bocam said:
Huh, that's interesting. Makes me want to finish Persona 1 and give that fan translation of Innocent Sin a try. Makes me curious if they've thought of an overarching story at this point with the recent Persona 3 and 4. "" If Catherine takes place in Japan... It would make one of the endings really weird.
@Ghostiet: There is a Persona universe. It goes Persona 1, then Innocent Sin, then another universe is made due to the events that happen in Innocent Sin. It's this universe that Eternal Punishment, 3 and 4 take place in. "
You can safely assume that they don't spend a nanosecond thinking about making stuff make sense with previous games.
@DonutFever said:
" @Ghostiet said:"It also nods to 1, telling you what happens when the characters grow up on the TV. "No.
There's not even a Persona universe. P3 and P4 are linked, P3 gives a small nod to P2 and that's all.
"
It does with the characters of 2.
I actually thought near the end of Catherine that Vincent would walk into the bar/club where he was in P3P. Would have been a nice touch but alas it did not happen.
At this point, I don't think they are set in the same universe.
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