For anybody who thinks Persona just wasn't mature enough, now comes "Catherine". Their first venture into PS3/360. Persona Team Has a New Game in the Works : DualShockers [youtube]M457TlBmqVs[/youtube] I, for one, hope this comes overseas, although it will be more of a push to get past the censors. I loved the themes in Persona and would love to see the same team experimenting with a little more freedom.
Do want, incredibly so. I'm a mark for ATLUS ever since I played Persona 2 and the best thing about their general SMT series has been the willingness to hit on more modern and adult themes while keeping a really dark sense of humour in play - not to mention their love of psychological/occult mystery tales. If they're getting even more unrestrained, I'm there.
Oh the main character Vincent actually appeared as a cameo in Persona 3 Portable as a pre-emptive easter egg. His dialogue actually hints at what the story of the game revolves around, so beware of possible spoilers from the transcript posted at the link: http://www.giantbomb.com/shin-megam...27861/mysterious-npc-mild-spoilers/35-432668/ Vincent's possibly knocked up girlfriend is named Katherine, she's the one yelling at the end of the trailer Also: subbed trailer [youtube]PL19qtwYx2g[/youtube]
New trailer! And... uh... [youtube]VMwktt7RBrM[/youtube] ... edit: somebody at Destructoid did a translation:
New video! Demo to be released soon too. There's a lot of gameplay footage in this vid, and... I'm still confused. Looks like a blend of horror RPG and platform puzzle solving? [youtube]CA_Y-KL-QgI[/youtube]
It's like Persona 3 with sluts and Silent Hill monsters. I'm hoping it doesn't miss the bar. The animu-esque nature is a turn off though.
Why is it a turn off? Or do you just not like anime in general? I dunno, for me anime can be synonymous with a more adult bent in general so it fits, plus it gives it a distinctive visual look compared to other fare from this generation. Studio 4°C is a decent animation studio too, so it's not lame-o stuff. After seeing some of the gameplay footage I'm really not sure what to think - looks like a big departure in terms of gameplay from what Atlus is used to, which translates as a gamble to me. But I'm still really intrigued in terms of story and setting so I'm still watching this closely.
I dunno, I used to love some anime when I was younger but now when I try to re-watch it it's just terrible. Japanese mannerisms annoy me a little bit (I do feel bad for saying that, but they act fake - like, try to be cute all the time) and the moe stuff they are obsessed with at the moment is really apparent in most recent Japanese stuff. Persona 3&4 were quite fun, but I really didn't care about any of the characters because I found them to be too annoying (for reasons listed above). I hope that this is localized (if it ever gets here) in a non weaboo way that drops the -kuns, -sans, unnecessary Japanese etc. The gameplay looks a little messy, but that is probably intentional. It's a neat concept so I hope that it works.
The demo is now live in Japan on XBAUX Live and PSN. You too can download it if you have either connected to a Japanese network or some deal. If not, you can watch some reviewers at GiantBomb play through the demo: Quick Look: Catherine - Giant Bomb
Those guys are really annoying. "WOAH! WHAT! BRO DUDE! SEXY BRO JAPAN!" Didn't watch the whole thing, I want to keep from seeing too much before I play it. The platforming stages seem a little clunky, but I never did play the SMT series for it's earth-shattering gameplay innovations.
It'll be interesting if the gameplay can carry the game between what people seem to be really interested in - the story and RPG elements.
Looks like the same thing as Persona, I think. Except that instead of turn based dungeon crawling, it's platforming. Worked well in the past, should work fine with this. In fact, I caught myself wishing that Persona was more action oriented in the dungeon crawling parts a few times. Randomly generated dungeons? Seriously? Part of what made Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga so awesome where the brilliantly artistic level designs, and I'd hoped that they would continue with that.
