Support NeoGAF

[cj_iwakura]

The Deluxe Bundle Includes a Theme, DLC Pack, and Avatars!
It's not easy escaping a virtual prison controlled by an intoxicating virtual idol named μ, but freedom can only be achieved by fighting hordes of Digiheads, battling evil music producers, and confronting the all-powerful μ. It's a hard task, so the least we could do is launch The Caligula Effect as a deluxe bundle that includes a ton of digital goodies! So what will you get when you pick up your PS Vita and venture into Mobius on May 2? Well, you'll get a theme featuring μ and various characters, 19 avatars, AND a swimsuit costume DLC pack for $39.99/€39.99/£29.99! Just check out the glam shot below!


The Caligula Effect features:

A human story set in a virtual world - Experience a dark story as the Go-Home Club does whatever it takes to escape the digital prison known as Mobius. The crew must defeat a group of evil music producers (known as the Ostinato Musicians) who have been working with μ, and come face-to-face with their own black secrets/desires. Written by Persona series veteran Tadashi Satomi (Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment), players will fight towards freedom as they examine the ugly psychological issues that plague the various characters in the game.

Multiple relationships to nurture - There are 500+ NPCs to recruit into the party to be used in combat. Each has a preassigned class (such as offense, support, etc...) and have a unique background story that'll slowly be uncovered by completing various quests. Oh, but there's only 4 characters in a party, so choose your teammates wisely!

A strategic battle system - The game features a unique battle system called "Imaginary Chain" that makes encounters an exercise in planning. Once enemies are encountered, players will seamlessly transition into battles where they can choose from 100+ skills to unleash on their enemies. While choosing skills, players can adjust timing and see a simulated preview of their attack before committing to it. Maximize damage by creating deadly attack chains between party members and don't let enemies catch their breath!

Music by celebrated producers - It's only fitting that a game about fighting musicians features original songs by celebrated Japanese producers such as OSTER project, 40mP, 164, cosMo@Bousou-P, and more!

The Caligula Effect will feature its original Japanese audio, and will be available in the Americas and Europe on May 2 as a PlayStation®Vita digital download title for $39.99/€39.99/£29.99. The game is rated T by the ESRB and for more information, please visit http://atlus.com/caligulaeffect

More screens too:

 

[Transistor]

Holy shit this looks good.

 

[Kuro]

Looks like persona

 

[Sophia]

I've typically liked FuRyu's games, and having Satomi Tadashi on board makes me interested in this one. The screenshots look pretty good too.

Looks like persona

That happens when your lead writer is basically the creator of the series.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

It looks great, cautiously optimistic about this one. Shame it's digital only, but I'll take that over nothing.

 

[asagami_]

I don't know what to say, but this is the most P3-clone ever what I have seen. Maybe it will be my first Vita game when I get one.

 

[Thoraxes]

Would've picked up at launch if there was a physical copy, but i'll be sure to check it out when it's like $8 on PSN during a sale.

 

[kunonabi]

So psyched for this as I'm a much bigger fan of the earlier Persona titles.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Those screenshots aren't actually new. They're the ones that were released last month.

I don't know what to say, but this is the most P3-clone ever what I have seen. Maybe it will be my first Vita game when I get one.

Heh, more than Mind Zero?

 

[ShaggsMagoo]

Persona writer gets me extremely close to being on board, but after Tokyo Mirage Sessions I don't know if I'm okay with their being no dub. The lack of a dub made it really hard for me to get into TMS (and why i'm also waiting till Yakuza gets cheaper).

 

[cj_iwakura]

Those screenshots aren't actually new. They're the ones that were released last month.

Oh well, no one posted them here.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Makes sense being an SMT/Persona clone considering the developers, but still very weird to see

 

[cj_iwakura]

Persona writer gets me extremely close to being on board, but after Tokyo Mirage Sessions I don't know if I'm okay with their being no dub. The lack of a dub made it really hard for me to get into TMS (and why i'm also waiting till Yakuza gets cheaper).

Very definition of a low-risk localization here. Honestly surprised it's even happening.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

It's too bad this game is, by all accounts, quite bad. FuRyu can't be trusted.

 

[cj_iwakura]

It's too bad this game is, by all accounts, quite bad. FuRyu can't be trusted.

The import OT sounded pretty positive... from, uh, the one guy who played it.

And I liked Unchained Blades, so I'm game.


I expect it to be flawed, but fun, not a hot mess.

 

[MSMrRound]

The frame drops in those trailers were pretty obvious...don't think I heard a lot of positive word of mouth regarding this particular title.

 

[cj_iwakura]

The frame drops in those trailers were pretty obvious...don't think I heard a lot of positive word of mouth regarding this particular title.

PKM is literally the only person here who posted about it.

Possibly on the entire internet.

Convos in this game take place similar to the "pseudo" conversations with the non-crucial students are done in Infinity Moment / Hollow Fragment where it is not an actual conversation but just flavor text that pops up then skips to the end of the conversation with a quick fade out. In instances where those types of interactions take place it will raise your friendship level with said student.

In this game it seems skills and passives are tied into the whole friendship level stuff with the various characters / students in the game. As there is a massive web type of tree for the students / characters in the game and tied to those are the skills / passives. Ill try to do a short video of it later just to quickly show what Im talking about.

Since I have not unlocked anything yet am unsure just how much work will be required, though will see. One thing for sure it seems they are using a bunch of the knowhow from their work with the SAO game and putting those mechanics to use differently here. Am glad to see that they are not slacking off with the effort of being creative though and it most def seems that for once FuRyu put $$$ into the development budget as so far this is a pretty solid title. And as everyone expected the music is fucking fantastic.

 

[antibolo]

A digital-only release is so disappointing considering how good the Japanese boxart is

The pedigree of the soundtrack alone is making me want this game though.

 

[cj_iwakura]

A digital-only release is so disappointing considering how good the Japanese boxart is

LRG will save us.

Okay, probably not.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

PKM is literally the only person here who posted about it.

Possibly on the entire internet.

On the other hand...

 

[Gaardus]

LRG will save us.

Okay, probably not.

Already confirmed as a no-go.

 

[cj_iwakura]

On the other hand...

He wasn't cool enough to post about it here. Still, he wasn't exactly detailing much. I'm still interested.

No one seems to be complaining about the story, that's what I'm interested in.

 

[MSMrRound]

PKM is literally the only person here who posted about it.

Possibly on the entire internet.

RyougaSaotome (some of you know him better as Elliot the game journalist->translator guy) also played through it and documented his Japanese playthrough on Twitter

"Part of why Caligula's so drab is because the world is occupied entirely by students, so 90% of models are the same." https://twitter.com/RyougaSaotome/status/746865328597008384

"After sleeping on Caligula, I have come to the conclusion of fuck Caligula."-his final impressions after finishing his playthrough for the first time and recollecting his thoughts on it. https://twitter.com/ryougasaotome/status/747166272132157440

 

[cj_iwakura]

RyougaSaotome (some of you know him better as Elliot the game journalist->translator guy) also played through it and documented his Japanese playthrough on Twitter

"Part of why Caligula's so drab is because the world is occupied entirely by students, so 90% of models are the same." https://twitter.com/RyougaSaotome/status/746865328597008384

"After sleeping on Caligula, I have come to the conclusion of fuck Caligula."-his final impressions after finishing his playthrough for the first time and recollecting his thoughts on it. https://twitter.com/ryougasaotome/status/747166272132157440

That's unfortunate. I'll draw my own conclusions, though. What did he think of the story?

 

[antibolo]

Sleeping and then fucking, oh my.

 

[RedBoot]

Heh, more than Mind Zero?

As one of the seven people who played Mind Zero, I'd say it was closer to Persona 1 or 2 than 3/4/5, while this game looks very modern Persona-ey.

Hopefully this is better than Mind Zero tho.

 

[cj_iwakura]

As one of the seven people who played Mind Zero, I'd say it was closer to Persona 1 or 2 than 3/4/5, while this game looks very modern Persona-ey.

Hopefully this is better than Mind Zero tho.

Different developers. Then again, I also liked Class of Heroes which was by the M/Z devs,soo...

 

[Schizoidberg]

Holy Kamoshida's shit. Looks like I finally have a reason to buy a Vita.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

That's unfortunate. I'll draw my own conclusions, though. What did he think of the story?

I dropped it after the first few dungeons, but up until that point it was just a whole lot of "oh no, we're being targeted by this guy. we gotta find info on this guy."

It was honestly very boring and sparse. Maybe that changes later on, but I wasn't about to stick around for it.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I dropped it after the first few dungeons, but up until that point it was just a whole lot of "oh no, we're being targeted by this guy. we gotta find info on this guy."

It was honestly very boring and sparse. Maybe that changes later on, but I wasn't about to stick around for it.

That doesn't tell me much. The characters? World? Atmosphere? This is Satomi Tadashi, the writer of the best JRPGs ever made. I have high expectations.

 

[i-Jest]

Week one for me. ALOT of us Vita owners in the Vita thread have looked forward to this release.

 

[jobrro]

2017 is insane. First I've heard of this but definitely interested.

 

[Dragonslayer_023]

Would've picked up at launch if there was a physical copy, but i'll be sure to check it out when it's like $8 on PSN during a sale.

I hope you never ask for a Vita localization ever, with that attitude.

 

[antibolo]

2017 is insane. First I've heard of this but definitely interested.

Still way too many Vita and 3DS games on Switch's inaugural year.

 

[OniBarubary]

I'll get it

 

[WickedLaharl]

The aesthetics are absolutely dreadful.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Holy shit this looks good.

The aesthetics are absolutely dreadful.

 

[kurahador]

Kinda wary about Furyu. They always have good ideas and made some nice looking games, but then the execution fell way too short for what they are going with.

 

[antibolo]

It's worth mentioning that the game's plot is very similar to the Miku song Sadistic Music Factory by cosMo@Bousou-P, who happens to be one of the composers for the game, of course.

 

[Grim Patron]

Im importing the OST for sure.

 

[Joqu]

The aesthetics are absolutely dreadful.

I'm gonna have to agree with this.

That writer though.... I guess I'll wait for story impressions

 

[duckroll]

Oh wow the real Persona 5 is here! Thinking of selling my faux Persona 5 now.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

That doesn't tell me much. The characters? World? Atmosphere? This is Satomi Tadashi, the writer of the best JRPGs ever made. I have high expectations.

There's nothing to tell. The characters were all just generic stereotypes for the time I played. Zero character development, but the story at this chunk is more focused on "someone is out to get us! Let's find out who!" It's literally that simple. The first handful of hours all take place within a school dungeon that just copies and pastes rooms and hallways seemingly endlessly. The atmosphere in this chunk of the game is also hard to describe when literally every environment is just the same hallway and square rooms, followed by the same human enemy types.

Satomi Tadashi likely only came up with a basic scenario and FuRyu is using the name to sell their game.

Like they often do.

If you have actual high expectations going into this, well. Sorry? Hopefully you find more to like here than I did, but this isn't even remotely close to Persona or Persona 2 in terms of the quality of gameplay OR narrative. They honestly shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Caligula.

 

[Graciaus]

I remember watching a guy on YouTube review the game and he basically shit all over it. I would try it but I don't expect much. All their games are pretty average.

 

[MSMrRound]

This is Satomi Tadashi, the writer of the best JRPGs ever made. I have high expectations.

The usual "Furyu borrows a big name to sell their mediocre game" trap.

It's still your own decision if you want to get it in the end, just don't say users on GAF didn't warn you to go in with tempered expectations.

 

[Tohsaka]

I'll be buying this day one, but might not get around to playing it for a bit since it comes out the day before Trails in the Sky the 3rd, which I've been looking forward to since I finished SC.

 

[OniBarubary]

Considering there is worth in playing even mediocre games, I've never had a problem buying and playing them. There is some worth or even some merit to playing 5 or 6/10 games, even 3 or 4s if you found something enjoyable.

I don't regret my time with a lot of games if I liked playing them in some manner or another.

 

[hongcha]

Looks like a decent game. I'm sure I'll pick it up some time but I have too much in my backlog for the next few months.

 

[Phu]

Kind of a bummer hearing about this game; Vita already has umpteen mediocre jrpgs. Especially right now, gaming as a whole is drowning in fantastic games, there's not really a reason for me to jump on this.

 

[Dark_castle]

The aesthetics are absolutely dreadful.

Yeah I agree. Why does everyone look like they are in a constant state of having massive torchlight shine on them?