The sequel to the best game ever is about to come out.... and no one's noticed it.

[Heat149]

Ok, I'm gonna get this cleared up right now. No, its not technically the sequel, it's just made by the same developers, designer (Shin Megumi Tansei) and soundtrack artist(Shoji Meguro), who are working with the same company (atlus). I'm calling it a sequel because of all the similarities in the games and dev team. Ok, now for what I'm really trying to talk about.

The game I'm talking about it entitled "catherine", an rpg puzzler whose story brings back fond memories of my favorite rpg of all time, Persona 4, a game with crazy character development, and true RP elements. Persona 4 has easily sat in my #1 spot since I first played it at launch. Now, Catherine, (the reincarnation of christ through video game form), is taking us on a new mind bending murder mystery adventure.

As you can probably tell, I'm pretty pumped for this release, and I have been for a few months since I heard about this game, but here's whats keeping me puzzled. None of my friends who have played persona even know of this game. to be honest, I found it by fluke on amazon. Where's the website banner adds? Where's the youtube add campaign? Where's the bus stop posters? hell, has anyone even seen any adds for this game?

I'm wondering, have you heard of catherine? If so, where'd you hear about it?

 

[varulfic]

Dude, Catherine has been getting a ton of coverage on this site. There's even a news story on the bottom of this page, between one about Skyryn and WoW.

It looks pretty sweet from what I've heard. The reason there hasn't been that much ads or mainstream coverage is probably because of the adult content.

 

[Shio]

It's gotten a lot of coverage. You'd be hard pressed to not have heard of it at this point.

As an aside: it looks like nothing but shallow sex sells. I'll gladly be ignoring it.

 

[Drakos.Amatras]

It's Shin Megami Tensei.

I've heard of Catherine since its earliest coverages, through Siliconera. However, never did I run into any sort of hint that it's a sequel to Persona 4. P4 is an RPG about high-school kids; Catherine is apparently a 3D platformer about adult relationships. Persona is already an established sub-series of the SMT series, so if there's a sequel, there will, no doubt, be a huge "Persona" title on the box.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

It is not a sequel to the Persona games. Though, it has been hinted as taking place in the same world during the Persona 3 timeline. And I talk about it all the time. Persona 4 being my favorite game.
EDIT: Heard about it in the Fall of last year. Been waiting ever since.
The video:

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Catherine has been getting loads of coverage, especially here.

 

[silversnake4133]

Huh, I thought it was banned in a few countries for gratuitous content. Or maybe I'm thinking of a movie of the same name... I don't know, but I do know what you're talking about, and I did know that it was getting a sequel. You should probably do some more research into something before becoming offended, especially since it's as trivial as a game release. :/

 

[Zhukov]

Damn near everyone who posts on these forums has heard of Catherine.

 

[Drakos.Amatras]

It is not a sequel to the Persona games. Though, it has been hinted as taking place in the same world during the Persona 3 timeline.

Wasn't that just an early cameo? I mean, I've seen characters make cameos just for fun instead of being in the same universe. Like in Breath of Fire IV, which had a handful of cameos from BoF3, yet 4 has no connection with 3 (or 2 and 1 for that matter). Vincent even said it has nothing to do with P3P's story.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

It's received plenty of attention on multiple gaming sites just based on its quirkiness since late last year, I think. I can see how it's possible to have missed it, though.

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure EVERYONE's noticed it actually OP...
It's getting a ton of coverage, a lot of it on our very own Escapist.

It looks pretty good, I'm a huge Persona 3 fan (not played P4 yet, I was about to get it when I heard they might release a portable version so I plan on waiting for that) and I think Catherine looks like it'll be pretty awesome.

I don't think that anybody who's played an SMT game before would think it looks like it's just sex for the sake of it. That's the view quite a few people are taking but I find it hard to believe any of them could have played any MegaTen before, if they had, I think they'd realise Catherine is bound to be a lot more clever than they think.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

It is not a sequel to the Persona games. Though, it has been hinted as taking place in the same world during the Persona 3 timeline.

Wasn't that just an early cameo? I mean, I've seen characters make cameos just for fun instead of being in the same universe. Like in Breath of Fire IV, which had a handful of cameos from BoF3, yet 4 has no connection with 3 (or 2 and 1 for that matter). Vincent even said it has nothing to do with P3P's story.

Yeah, but it wouldn't be a stretch for them to be in the same universe. A character battling with psychological issues that physically manifest? A mystery involving a supernatural killer? It fits in.

 

[Kahunaburger]

As an aside: it looks like nothing but shallow sex sells. I'll gladly be ignoring it.

Well, at least the advertising and coverage does. But based on the people behind it, I'd honestly be very surprised if it was a game built around sex appeal as opposed to a game built around a complex psychological story in which sex makes an appearance. I don't really have a problem with sex being in a game, as long as it's done well. It almost never is, but Catherine might very well be an exception to that.

 

[Shio]

As an aside: it looks like nothing but shallow sex sells. I'll gladly be ignoring it.

Well, at least the advertising and coverage does. But based on the people behind it, I'd honestly be very surprised if it was a game built around sex appeal as opposed to a game built around a complex psychological story in which sex makes an appearance. I don't really have a problem with sex being in a game, as long as it's done well. It almost never is, but Catherine might very well be an exception to that.

Indeed. Sex is fine and has a place in art just like anything else in the world. When a video game uses near-naked images of teen aged girls posing proactively to arouse me into dropping my wallet on the counter, however, I say goodbye.

Content of Catherine aside, nothing says "we think so little of you basement dwelling gamers" like gratuitous sex as a money bait.

 

[The Madman]

That's the anime styles one based around sex, right? Because if so, even I've heard about that one and I've zero interest in those sorts of games. Hardly an unknown title I'd say!

 

[Frybird]

I'd be happy if people talk LESS about Catherine, given the constant coverage (than again, i also frequent sites like Kotaku, so it may be my own damn fault).

While having a game exploring sexuality and it's frustrations in long-term-relationships, as well as the temptations that follow, is a bold and interesting move, the game itself doesn't look that appealing to me.

From what i've seen in footage of the japanese Demo, the biggest part of the gameplay consists of a repetitive mix of climbing and pushing boxes around, wich looks weird and most of all disappointing.
I'd be more interested if the game would've focused more on adventure type gameplay with huge dialogue trees.

 

[Super Toast]

Ok, I'm gonna get this cleared up right now. No, its not technically the sequel, it's just made by the same developers, designer (Shin Megumi Tansei) and soundtrack artist(Shoji Meguro), who are working with the same company (atlus). I'm calling it a sequel because of all the similarities in the games and dev team. Ok, now for what I'm really trying to talk about.

The game I'm talking about it entitled "catherine", an rpg puzzler whose story brings back fond memories of my favorite rpg of all time, Persona 4, a game with crazy character development, and true RP elements. Persona 4 has easily sat in my #1 spot since I first played it at launch. Now, Catherine, (the reincarnation of christ through video game form), is taking us on a new mind bending murder mystery adventure.

As you can probably tell, I'm pretty pumped for this release, and I have been for a few months since I heard about this game, but here's whats keeping me puzzled. None of my friends who have played persona even know of this game. to be honest, I found it by fluke on amazon. Where's the website banner adds? Where's the youtube add campaign? Where's the bus stop posters? hell, has anyone even seen any adds for this game?

I'm wondering, have you heard of catherine? If so, where'd you hear about it?

Catherine has been getting so much coverage on this site that it's not even funny. So I don't have any idea why your saying that no-one's talking about it.

 

[GothmogII]

I have the sneaking suspicion Heat149 is an ad-bot, or at least someone being paid to advertise or gather research. All but two of his posts (counting a double post as one post a Jimquisition topic) are almost blatantly trying to sell a mentioned game/product/service in particular.

An endorsement for Bestbuy:

Spoiler

Just recently, a Best buy in my area closed down. I had just gotten paid the day the "going out of business" sale kicked off, so I figured I'd drop in and Check out the deals. None of the big ticket items had dropped much in price, so I headed into the gaming section. $120 and 14 games later, I've now got a shelf-full of RPG's, FPS's and Racing games just waiting to be played. I already had a few games from my collection that I hadn't beat, but now I'm just over-whelmed. It's not that I don't have the time or energy, I just have NO IDEA where to start.

Has anyone else found themselves in the same place I'm in now? Also, what do you think I should start with? (games are listed below)

Call of Juarez
Dark Sector
Demon's Souls
End War
Fallout: NV
The Fight
GranTurismo 5
Katamari Forever
Lost planet
MGS4
Need for speed: Pro street
Need for speed: Underground
Oblivion
Resistance 2

Spacechem:

Spoiler

SpaceChem. A puzzler that involves taking a chemical or molecule and processing it to mke another chemial or molecule. I know, it sounds like your grade 10 science class all over again, but it really is one of the most intruiging puzzlers out there for under 10$. Don't believe me, download the demo.

I do apologize to you Heat149 if this is not the case, but the language employed in many of your posts set a bell ringing in my head. I tend get this weird feeling when I think someone is trying to sell me something. I hope I'm mistaken, of course.

 

[Laser Priest]

It's gotten ass-tons of coverage, and frankly, it looks terrible.