Primal:Primal: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 00:11, 27 September 2023

Primal, also known as SAINTS: Divine Demons (セインツ聖なる魔物, Saints Seinaru Mamono) in Japan, is a fantasy action-adventure video game released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 system, and re-released digitally for the PlayStation 3 as part of the PS2 Classics program on February 28, 2012. Primal was later remastered, given PSN trophy support, and released on the Playstation 4 via PSN on 31 May 2016.

The battle to save the outside world starts within as Jennifer Tate, a young woman who faces the demons of alternate planes and discovers her own supernatural origin. In Oblivion, there are four distinct realms, each occupied by a demon race. Two are aligned with order and two with chaos. But the scales of balance are overthrown, and chaos is engulfing Oblivion.

Story

Jen Tate was attacked when leaving a nightclub with her boyfriend Lewis, singer in the club's industrial music band. The attack leaves Jen and Lewis unconscious in a hospital. A short, dark figure approaches Jen's bed and raises her spirit up out of her body. The figure reveals itself to be a small stone gargoyle named Scree. Scree explains that Jen's body is close to death and she must come with him to the Nexus.

Through the journey, Jen and her gargoyle companion Scree will fight through four elemental realms in order to restore balance between Order and Chaos. Along the way Jen gains the ability to transform into four demonic forms.

Characters

Allied with Order

Jen (Hudson Leick), the main playable character, who grew up in a string of foster homes. She works as a waitress so she can go to college. She has a short temper and a sharp tongue, but is compassionate as well. Throughout the game, she obtains the ability to transform herself into various demon forms, therefore making her an exceptional fighter and very skilful in all categories.
Scree (Andreas Katsulas), the secondary playable character. A diminutive gargoyle who guides Jen through her journey. Although he is unable to fight, he has the ability to project his spirit into other gargoyles in order to take control of them. He is often annoyed by Jen's light-hearted insults about his size and form; however, he hides a painful secret.
Arella (Niki Felstead), the embodiment of Order, Arella strives to uphold the balance, summoning Jen as her champion to battle against Abaddon, therefore making her the enemy of Abbadon
Jared (Sean Pertwee), prince of Solum.

Neutral

Chronos, part of a machine known as the Oracle. He helps maintain balance in Oblivion by equally dividing energy between Arella and Abaddon.

Allied with Chaos

Abaddon (Colin McFarlane), the embodiment of Chaos. An evil being, he is supported by the demons of Aetha and Volca realms.
Belahzur, Abaddon's right-hand man, General of the Chaos armies and Abdizur's arch-enemy.
Lewis (Eric Loren), Jen's boyfriend, who is the lead singer in an upcoming rock band. Lewis is kidnapped in the beginning of the game and is revealed to have been brainwashed into acting as Abaddon's champion.

Gameplay

The player control either Jennifer Tate, the snarky Goth girl, or Scree, the possessed gargoyle statue. Control can be instantaneously switched between Jen and Scree at any time, and when the player control a character, the other one is operated by AI, performing various functions depending upon the situation. During the game, the characters can interact with one another and perform actions such as asking questions or siphoning energy.

Jen's Elemental forms are healed by drawing elemental energy from Scree that only he can collect. Her human form is weakest, but regenerates naturally after a short time of not being hit.

Development

Primal was developed by SCEE Cambridge, the development team responsible for MediEvil and its sequel.

Soundtrack

Two Primal soundtracks were released commercially:

The Primal was composed by Paul Arnold and Andrew Barnabas, and performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. It was nominated for a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award.
The 16Volt Combat Soundtrack was provided by 16Volt, an American industrial music group.

Reception

The game received positive to mixed reviews, with IGN stating "Limited by an inconsequential combat system and basic wander-puzzles. What it does manage to do though is overwhelm us with high-quality production values, wow us with an excellent graphical presentation, and move us with one hell of a killer soundtrack". In the article "Overrated/Underrated" in their September 2004 issue, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine cited the game's protagonist as an underrated "hot chick" in comparison to Lara Croft, stating "She's smart. She's funny. She hangs out in biker bars. She's good in a fight. And she's got a really nice butt." In the same article, Scree was likewise cited as an underrated sidekick, stating "This is the way to make a memorable sidekick: Make him dignified, make him funny looking, and make him useful." Edge Magazine on the other hand, stated: "A rank combat system, quirky camera and a lack of inspiration at the game's exploration/puzzle core make playing the game hard work." It has an overall score of 73 on aggregate site Metacritic

Trivia

The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London had an exhibition of original artwork from the Primal project, as documented at the now defunct website www.primal-art.com.

Along with the European, American and Japanese versions, a European "Collector's Edition" was issued with the game's initial release.

External links

Official website (archived version).
Official US website (archived version).
Official Japanese website (archived version).

Navigation

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+'''''Primal''''', also known as {{nihongo|'''''SAINTS: Divine Demons'''''|セインツ 聖なる魔物|Saints Seinaru Mamono}} in Japan, is a fantasy action-adventure video game released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 system, and re-released digitally for the PlayStation 3 as part of the PS2 Classics program on February 28, 2012. ''Primal'' was later remastered, given PSN trophy support, and released on the Playstation 4 via PSN on 31 May 2016.
-''''Primal''''' is an Action Adventure fantasy video game released in 2003 for the Playstation 2.''
+The battle to save the outside world starts within as [[Primal:Jennifer Tate|Jennifer Tate]], a young woman who faces the demons of alternate planes and discovers her own supernatural origin. In Oblivion, there are four distinct realms, each occupied by a demon race. Two are aligned with order and two with chaos. But the scales of balance are overthrown, and chaos is engulfing Oblivion.
-The game has been re released on the Playstation 3 as part of the PS2 Classics program on Feb 28, 2012.
-The story focuses on Jen tate in search of her boyfriend.
-The battle to save the outside world starts within as Jen Tate, a young woman of our world, faces the demons of alternate planes and discovers her own supernatural origin. In Oblivion, there are four distinct realms, each occupied by a demon race. Two are aligned with order and two with chaos. But the scales of balance are overthrown, and chaos is engulfing Oblivion.
+==Story==
+Jen Tate was attacked when leaving a nightclub with her boyfriend [[Primal:Lewis|Lewis]], singer in the club's industrial music band. The attack leaves Jen and Lewis unconscious in a hospital. A short, dark figure approaches Jen's bed and raises her spirit up out of her body. The figure reveals itself to be a small stone gargoyle named [[Primal:Scree|Scree]]. Scree explains that Jen's body is close to death and she must come with him to the Nexus.
-==Description==
+Through the journey, Jen and her gargoyle companion Scree will fight through four elemental realms in order to restore balance between Order and Chaos. Along the way Jen gains the ability to transform into four demonic forms.
-"'''''Civilization is only skin deep'''''."
+===Characters===
-Jen and her gargoyle companion Scree battle through four elemental realms to restore balance between Order and Chaos. Along the way Jen gains the ability to transform into four demonic forms.
+====Allied with Order====
+* '''[[Primal:Jen|Jen]]''' ([[wikipedia:Hudson Leick|Hudson Leick]]), the main playable character, who grew up in a string of foster homes. She works as a waitress so she can go to college. She has a short temper and a sharp tongue, but is compassionate as well. Throughout the game, she obtains the ability to transform herself into various demon forms, therefore making her an exceptional fighter and very skilful in all categories.
+* '''[[Primal:Scree|Scree]]''' ([[wikipedia:Andreas Katsulas|Andreas Katsulas]]), the secondary playable character. A diminutive gargoyle who guides Jen through her journey. Although he is unable to fight, he has the ability to project his spirit into other gargoyles in order to take control of them. He is often annoyed by Jen's light-hearted insults about his size and form; however, he hides a painful secret.
+* '''[[Primal:Arella|Arella]]''' (Niki Felstead), the embodiment of Order, Arella strives to uphold the balance, summoning Jen as her champion to battle against Abaddon, therefore making her the enemy of ''Abbadon''
+* '''[[Primal:Jared|Jared]]''' (Sean Pertwee), prince of [[Primal:Solum|Solum]].
+====Neutral====
+* '''[[Primal:Chronos|Chronos]]''', part of a machine known as the Oracle. He helps maintain balance in Oblivion by equally dividing energy between Arella and Abaddon.
-Like it's Japanese counterpart Ico, the British game Primal is as much or more about experiencing the game's universe and interaction between characters as it is about gameplay. In stark contrast to Ico's minimalist approach, Primal spared no expense in its presentation production values.
+====Allied with Chaos====
+* '''[[Primal:Abaddon|Abaddon]]''' (Colin McFarlane), the embodiment of Chaos. An evil being, he is supported by the demons of Aetha and Volca realms.
+* '''[[Primal:Belahzur|Belahzur]]''', Abaddon's right-hand man, General of the Chaos armies and Abdizur's arch-enemy.
+* '''[[Primal:Lewis|Lewis]]''' (Eric Loren), Jen's boyfriend, who is the lead singer in an upcoming rock band. Lewis is kidnapped in the beginning of the game and is revealed to have been brainwashed into acting as Abaddon's champion.
-Incredible amounts of motion capture, BAFTA nominated soundtrack, machine band combat soundtrack, lavish object and character models, luxurious textures, top-quality voice acting, richly imagined worlds, cultures and races, realistic characters with sometimes extravagant amounts of dialog. Like Ico, extensive use is made of lighting effects, via torches, ignitable urns, wall torches, and changing environmental lighting. Colored environmental light changes the coloring of Jen and Scree as they move through it. Shadows change to reflect the nearest light source.
+==Gameplay==
+The player control either [[Primal:Jennifer Tate|Jennifer Tate]], the snarky Goth girl, or [[Primal:Scree|Scree]], the possessed gargoyle statue. Control can be instantaneously switched between Jen and Scree at any time, and when the player control a character, the other one is operated by AI, performing various functions depending upon the situation.
-Developed by SCEE Cambridge, the development team responsible for Medi Evil and its sequel, Primal (2003) is a PS 2 exclusive. A graphical tour de force in 2003. Even today, with the help of component cables, widescreen and 480p progressive scan mode on an LCD TV it can hold its own against more recent games. This is due to not following the current [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealIsBrown Real Is Brown and Blurry]] trend. Richly imagined, colored, and detailed environments and characters are everywhere. Marred only by its combat system.
+During the game, the characters can interact with one another and perform actions such as asking questions or siphoning energy.
-It is a single player, two character action/adventure game focusing on Jen Tate, a mortal girl attacked when leaving a nightclub with her boyfriend Lewis, singer in the club's industrial music band.
-The attack leaves Jen and Lewis unconscious in a hospital. A short, dark figure approaches Jen's bed and raises her spirit up out of her body. The figure reveals itself to be a small stone gargoyle named Scree. Scree explains that Jen's body is close to death and she must come with him to the Nexus.
-The player can control either Jen or Scree, an animated stone gargoyle, as they travel through four fantastic realms to restore the balance between Order, represented by Lady Arella, and Chaos, represented by Abaddon.
-Gameplay can be schizophrenic. Sometimes it's like a luxuriously animated old-school text adventure. Sometimes it's a fighting game with tricky combos.
-===Controllable Characters===
-* Jen, a snarky Goth girl.
-** Slim enough to enter spaces too narrow for Scree.
-** Jen obtains forms with different abilities in the various Realms. One of the forms is an almost unique aquatic form. This permits a full water level, as well as watery paths in later levels.
-** Jen will do most of the fighting, using only melee attacks, despite the fact that some enemies have ranged attacks. During combat Scree freezes into immobility. If Jen can get clear of combat Scree will loosen up enough to let Jen heal by drawing energy from him.
-* Scree, a possessed gargoyle statue. Powers include:
-** Able to walk up some dressed stone walls.
-** Carry a torch for light and incendiary purposes.
-** Collect lodestones.
-** Possess some statues, if he has sufficient lodestones.
-** Store elemental energy from fountains, energy stones, blobs of energy and enemy corpses.
 Jen's Elemental forms are healed by drawing elemental energy from Scree that only he can collect. Her human form is weakest, but regenerates naturally after a short time of not being hit.
-Rated '''M''' for Blood and Violence.
+== Development ==
+''Primal'' was developed by [[SCEE Cambridge]], the development team responsible for [[medievil:MediEvil|MediEvil]] and its sequel.
 ===Soundtrack===
+Two Primal soundtracks were released commercially:
+*The [[Primal:Primal (Original soundtrack score recording)|Primal]] was composed by [[Paul Arnold]] and [[Andrew Barnabas]], and performed by the [[wikipedia:City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra|City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra]]. It was nominated for a [[wikipedia:BAFTA|BAFTA]] (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award.
+*The [[Primal:16Volt Combat Soundtrack|16Volt Combat Soundtrack]] was provided by 16Volt, an American industrial music group.
-* Original orchestral soundtrack by Paul Arnold and Andrew Barnabas, performed by the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.
+== Reception ==
-** Nominated for a BAFTA award.
+The game received positive to mixed reviews, with IGN stating "Limited by an inconsequential combat system and basic wander-puzzles. What it does manage to do though is overwhelm us with high-quality production values, wow us with an excellent graphical presentation, and move us with one hell of a killer soundtrack". In the article "Overrated/Underrated" in their September 2004 issue, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine cited the game's protagonist as an underrated "hot chick" in comparison to Lara Croft, stating "She's smart. She's funny. She hangs out in biker bars. She's good in a fight. And she's got a really nice butt." In the same article, Scree was likewise cited as an underrated sidekick, stating "This is the way to make a memorable sidekick: Make him dignified, make him funny looking, and make him useful." Edge Magazine on the other hand, stated: "A rank combat system, quirky camera and a lack of inspiration at the game's exploration/puzzle core make playing the game hard work." It has an overall score of 73 on aggregate site Metacritic
-* Combat Soundtrack by 16Volt, an American industrial music group.
-** Both soundtracks were released commercially.
-===Notable Voice Actors===
-* Scree - voiced by Andreas Katsulas
-** played G'Kar in Babylon 5 and
-** the one-armed man in the Harrison Ford movie, The Fugitive
-* Jen - voiced by Hudson Leick,
-** who played Callisto as a recurring role in Xena Warrior Princess and Hercules The Legendary Journeys.
-* Jared - voiced by Sean Pertwee.
-** Son of Jon Pertwee of Doctor Who fame.
-** Sean also voiced the Aquis Engineer uncredited. (You can't mistake that voice.)
-[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362047/ Voiceovers] were also done, by different actors, for French, German, Italian and Spanish. Like Ico, Primal was attempting to reach the broadest possible language base. Unlike Ico, Primal did so by providing many different translations, instead of minimizing the amount of language used.
-===Other===
-* The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London had an exhibition of original artwork from the Primal project, as documented at the now defunct website www.primal-art.com
-* Along with European (PAL), USA(NTSC), and Japanese versions, a PAL "Collector's Edition" was issued with the game's initial release.
-== Development ==
-===Re Release===
-<span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px; ">The game will come to ps3 feb 28 2012 for north american users as part of ps2 classics.</span>
-== Gallery ==
-<center>
-=== Logo ===
-=== Covers ===
-</center>
-=== Trailers ===
+== Trivia ==
-<span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px; ">New official trailer for ps3:</span>
+* The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London had an exhibition of original artwork from the Primal project, as documented at the now defunct website [http://web.archive.org/web/20080705141720/http://www.primal-art.com/ www.primal-art.com].
-<span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px; ">[[Video:Primal- Coming To PS3 Feb 28, 2012!|thumb|300px|right]]</span>
+* Along with the European, American and Japanese versions, a European "Collector's Edition" was issued with the game's initial release.
-[[Category:Primal]]
+==External links==
-[[Category:Game]]
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/0/http://www.primalgame.com/ Official website] (archived version).
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/0/http://www.us.playstation.com/PS2/Games/Primal/OGS/ Official US website] (archived version).
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/0/https://www.jp.playstation.com/scej/title/saints/index1.html Official Japanese website] (archived version).
+==Navigation==
+{{Primal}}
+{{Projects}}
+[[Category:Games]]
+{{DISPLAYTITLE:Primal:''Primal''}}