After the swarms of news coming in last week, this week has been a lot calmer from the usual companies that send me news. So, this week I am more or less limited to two companies of interest, ATLUS and Natsume. Whilst I have done a fair bit of coverage on ATLUS, I haven’t done anything on Natsume before, so for those who do not know, Natsume is responsible for the North American distribution of games such as the Rune Factor and Harvest Moon series, as well as games such as more alternate games such as Afrika. Anyway, this is what is on the list for today:
3.1: ATLUS JAPAN – Persona 4: The Animation new trailer
3.2: ATLUS US – A pile of new stuff on Catherine
3.3: NATSUME – A new title announcement…..
3.4: ATLUS JAPAN – Devil Survivor 2 Trailer (NEW ADDITION!)
So, after the jump, these three items of interest!
!Warning – Lot’s of Catherine Content – Warning!
3.1: ATLUS JAPAN – Persona 4: The Animation new trailer
I am aware this is not a game directly, however being based on one of my favourite game series of all time, I think it deserves to be in this article. This focuses on the third midnight channel in the game, which involves Kanji and his channel of Bad Bad Bathhouse. They have showed some further animated scenes including how they have chosen to summon the Personas (The same way they did in the game with the face image) and Shadow Kanji. Honestly, the more I see this, the more excited I get for the series! The series is due to start in Japan in October, with no announcements of any English distribution at all.
3.2: ATLUS US – A pile of new stuff on Catherine
WARNING: Catherine is a game rated Mature and recommended for those 17-18 years or older. There may be themes in this trailer which are inappropriate for younger readers.
The main component of this article will be all the new assets on Catherine, with the game slowly creeping up on us with a due date of the 26th of July. Whilst not covered on this website, a month ago, ATLUS announced they were asking the public to answer a simple question….. “Do you want to get married?”. Marriage is one of the key themes of the game, as Vincent the main character is being hounded to settle down and marry his current partner Katherine, whilst wanting to live a carefree life, thus running into the whole issue with Catherine. Anyway, they finally released the “Are You Committed?” trailer which can be seen above.
Whilst the peoples comments are interesting and diversified, the thing that was most interesting to me was that they finally unveiled the first samples of the games English dubs. The dubs focus on the three main characters primarily, and I will have to say Michelle Ruff, one of my favorite female VA’s pulls off a brilliant job as Katherine, Troy Baker and the other male VA shown are also very good quality but I am reserved on Laura Bailey, but she still pulls off a decent job as Catherine.
For the record, the game has now been given an Mature 17+ rating in North America for the following reasons: Violence, Blood, Sexual Themes, Partial Nudity, Strong Language and Use of Alcohol… or essentially almost everything they have ratings for except perhaps pornography…..
ATLUS also released Character Bios for Vincent’s Mates and staff members, all of who you can meet at the Stray Sheep bar! The biographies are as follows:
Toby
Sex: Male
Age: 23
Occupation: Mechanic
A novice in the ways of love, constantly seeing life through rose-colored glasses.
Toby is a coworker of Jonny, and began coming to the Stray Sheep in order to make new friends. He may lack some maturity, but he is a kind-hearted young man looking to settle down with the first woman to capture his heart. He has a thing for older women, and is currently smitten with Erica, the waitress at the bar.
Sam’s Opinion: Sounds like the gag character of the group…. I am sure him and Erica will provide some humor.
Jonny
Sex: Male
Age: 32
Occupation: Used Car Restorer/Dealer
An idealistic man searching for his soulmate.
Jonny is old friends with Vincent, Orlando, and Erica. He too is a regular of the Stray Sheep, and he works at his father’s used car dealership, which he hopes to inherit. He maintains an outwardly subdued demeanor, but he has an optimistic view of the value of true love and holds fast to the idea of waiting for his “one true love” before getting married.
Sam’s Opinion: For those who are interested, Jonny I believe is the other guy speaking in the trailer. The most interesting of the four bar characters to me, and has a pretty decent voice actor.
.
.
Erica
Sex: Female
Age: 32
Occupation: Waitress
The bar’s ray of sunshine, bringing warm smiles and cold drinks to her customers.
Erica is the waitress at the Stray Sheep. A friendly sort, she often joins in the conversations of her customers. She, Vincent, Jonny, and Orlando all grew up together, and she always makes it a point to stop by their table and share the latest gossip. She’s aware of Toby’s crush on her, and she’s more than a little amused by his puppy love.
Sam’s Opinion: What can I say, wouldn’t be much of a bar setting if a waitress didn’t play a role in the storyline.
.
.
Orlando
Sex: Male
Age: 32
Occupation: Systems Engineer
A laid-back guy enjoying a carefree lifestyle.
Orlando is a regular at the Stray Sheep and is a longtime friend of both Vincent, Jonny, and Erica. Having been married and divorced, he has a rather cynical view of love and marriage. He lives for himself, going with the flow, and the way he comports himself corresponds with his easygoing nature. He has some sardonic advice for Vincent on the subject of women, possibly as a result of his own experiences with the fairer sex.
Sam’s Opinion: Why do I get the feeling he will be the leader of the drinking buddies...
.
.
There you have it, the four bar mate characters in this series. From the looks of it, these are the only other characters with the exception of Catherine, Vincent and Katherine. They seem like a well rounded group of characters that can provide some romantic advise to Vincent…. for me as the player to either take on board… or more likely ignore and play the antagonistic gamer! For ease of access, below are the character bios for the three main characters in the game:
Vincent
Sex: Male
Age: 32
Occupation: Systems Engineer
An indecisive bachelor who gets swept away by the actions of the two women in his life. Vincent is a lifelong bachelor trying to escape the pressures of adult life: his job, his love life, the prospect of marriage…
His seeming goal is drift aimlessly through life. While his girlfriend Katherine wants him to settle down and marry her, he still wants the freedom of the single life. After meeting the enigmatic beauty, Catherine, his life is dragged into a waking and sleeping nightmare.
Katherine
Sex: Female
Age: 32
Occupation: Office Manager
Vincent’s girlfriend, who wants something more. Katherine is a loyal and steadfast girlfriend. She works for a clothing company. She and Vincent were classmates in high school, but they only started dating after they met again at their 10-year reunion. She has begun to think more and more about their relationship, and wants him to fully commit to her. His indecisiveness is beginning to annoy her more and more as time goes by.
Catherine
Sex: Female
Age: 22
Occupation: ?
The seductive beauty who suddenly appears to Vincent. This startling seductress steps into Vincent’s life from out of nowhere and immediately throws his relationship with Katherine in jeopardy. Her coquettish charm grabs a hold of Vincent’s heart, even as her free spirit and potent sexuality grab a hold of… other parts of his mind and body. Without warning, everything in Vincent’s life becomes twisted around Catherine.
The final thing for Catherine in this article is another set of game screenshots mostly taken from the Stray Sheep and interactions with the characters.
3.3: NATSUME – A new title announcement…..
I realize I have never done a review of a Rune Factory game before, but with the other games in the series primarily being on the Nintendo DS console, I have never felt encouraged to play through them in their entirety. This however will change everything, withNatsume’s new title, Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny being announced for the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 consoles this year! Sadly they didn’t have any gameplay shots available to use, however I assume more will be released at the public showing at E3 next month at E3. Here is a small blurb they made in the press release about the game:
Aden and Sonja, two lifelong friends, live a tranquil life on Fenith Island until they’re struck by a mysterious curse: they awaken to find both of their souls are now trapped in the same body! On top of this unusual calamity, the Fenith they knew is gone, replaced by a strange island populated with unfamiliar faces. Only by exploring this new world will they be able to solve the mystery of this curse and save their beloved Island. During the course of their journey, Aden and Sonja will be aided by a colorful cast of characters, as well as take command of the towering golem Ymir. Using their newfound giant friend, they’ll cross vast seas, discover hidden islands and dungeons packed with riches, and battle fearsome monsters of the deep!
This game sounds promising, so I shall be adding it to my purchase list when it becomes available. There is no official release date for this game however it is slated for release in 2011. Whilst there is very little in terms of English assets available, you can see some preview movies from the Japanese website for the game HERE and some ingame screenshots HERE.
3.4: ATLUS JAPAN – Devil Survivor 2 Trailer (NEW ADDITION!)
I will save my opinions and information for another post, however here is the first trailer for Devil Survivor 2, a game that seems to have similar game mechanics as the first game, but seems to have more characters at your disposal and has you travelling all around Japan (??).
