wasting time
Oct. 19th, 2003 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
egypturnashI'd been thinking on and off of getting a used copy of the PS2 monster-girl game Primal. It'd gotten mediocre reviews, enough that I decided I definitely didn't want to pay full price for the thing. I try to avoid paying full price for all but the most eagerly anticipated games.
I'd been eyeing the used copy of it in the game store in the mall. $30, not great, but not too bad... and some intuition was telling me if I didn't grab it soon, someone else would. So out I set. But I decided to first check out the other game store in the neighborhood, a tiny little place in a strip mall. I was glad I did - they had it in the used bin for $14. And they had an adaptor to plug a PS(2) controller into the Gamecube for ten bucks, so I can play GC stuff without experiencing severe hand pain after a couple of hours. This means I might actually have another go at getting through Ikaruga someday... But the game at hand is Primal.
My overall assessment is that for most people, it's good for filling time while while waiting for Crystal Dynamics to finish up Legacy of Soul Blood Kain Omen Reaver 3. It's gothy fantasy with some similar play mechanics - you kill people, you devour their life force to bring your own hit points back up, you get semi-intelligently written cutscenes that are loaded with angst. Voice acting's kinda stilted and slow; about average for a video game. If you hated the sagas of Raziel and Kain, you'll probably hate this, because it's clearly trying to appeal to the same audience.
The things that make this not just a Soul Reaver/Blood Omen ripoff are the two unique selling points: first, the devouring-slain-enemy-souls part is split up between you and your little gargoyle sidekick. You kill them, he eats their souls, then stores them until you get hurt and need a snack. The other thing is that you're a buxom, cranky babe. Who turns into a monster-girl. How could I not want this thing?
The funny thing is, I think you're supposed to want to only turn into a monster when you have to - the walkthrough I'm using when a puzzle gets too annoying certainly seems to suggest this. I guess a normal video-game target market guy is supposed to prefer looking at a fully human girl to a faster, better-fighting monster girl... but me, once I gained the ability to turn into a half-human, half-goat-cat-thing girl, I never bothered swapping back. She's so much cuter that way, with the horns and the little semi-snout and the green glowing eyes! And there's no actual gameplay reasons to switch back; the human shape is inferior in every way. Unless you're a xenophobe.
There's a centerfold in the manual. I was disappointed it's of Jen in human form, rather than one of the four monster shapes. Hmf.
Oh, and you can swap off to control the gargoyle sidekick, too; some puzzles require using him. But this game is about being a tough, no-nonsense monster girl who goes out and kicks lots of butt in her quest to rescue her boyfriend (frontman for a industrigoth band) from, um, Chaos and Order, it seems like.
Pissy girl, turns into monsters, kicks ass. Competently put together. Well worth $14, not sure if it's worth $30 or more. The first hour is kinda tedious, but it really starts to pick up once you turn into a goat-cat-thing and actually start being able to do combat.
(Also, I stopped at the SF bookstore and picked up Wintertide by Elizabeth Hand - a recommendation from Rainy-sis - and The Empress Of Earth by Melissa Scott. I'll finally find out what happened to Silence and her quest for lost Earth after allll these years!)
[ Next day PS: AAARGH I got through the second world, killed the annoying boss at the end of it, then the game wedged up when it went to play the cutscene that comes up after a little platforming! Feh! Save after defeating bosses! ]
I'd been eyeing the used copy of it in the game store in the mall. $30, not great, but not too bad... and some intuition was telling me if I didn't grab it soon, someone else would. So out I set. But I decided to first check out the other game store in the neighborhood, a tiny little place in a strip mall. I was glad I did - they had it in the used bin for $14. And they had an adaptor to plug a PS(2) controller into the Gamecube for ten bucks, so I can play GC stuff without experiencing severe hand pain after a couple of hours. This means I might actually have another go at getting through Ikaruga someday... But the game at hand is Primal.
My overall assessment is that for most people, it's good for filling time while while waiting for Crystal Dynamics to finish up Legacy of Soul Blood Kain Omen Reaver 3. It's gothy fantasy with some similar play mechanics - you kill people, you devour their life force to bring your own hit points back up, you get semi-intelligently written cutscenes that are loaded with angst. Voice acting's kinda stilted and slow; about average for a video game. If you hated the sagas of Raziel and Kain, you'll probably hate this, because it's clearly trying to appeal to the same audience.
The things that make this not just a Soul Reaver/Blood Omen ripoff are the two unique selling points: first, the devouring-slain-enemy-souls part is split up between you and your little gargoyle sidekick. You kill them, he eats their souls, then stores them until you get hurt and need a snack. The other thing is that you're a buxom, cranky babe. Who turns into a monster-girl. How could I not want this thing?
The funny thing is, I think you're supposed to want to only turn into a monster when you have to - the walkthrough I'm using when a puzzle gets too annoying certainly seems to suggest this. I guess a normal video-game target market guy is supposed to prefer looking at a fully human girl to a faster, better-fighting monster girl... but me, once I gained the ability to turn into a half-human, half-goat-cat-thing girl, I never bothered swapping back. She's so much cuter that way, with the horns and the little semi-snout and the green glowing eyes! And there's no actual gameplay reasons to switch back; the human shape is inferior in every way. Unless you're a xenophobe.
There's a centerfold in the manual. I was disappointed it's of Jen in human form, rather than one of the four monster shapes. Hmf.
Oh, and you can swap off to control the gargoyle sidekick, too; some puzzles require using him. But this game is about being a tough, no-nonsense monster girl who goes out and kicks lots of butt in her quest to rescue her boyfriend (frontman for a industrigoth band) from, um, Chaos and Order, it seems like.
Pissy girl, turns into monsters, kicks ass. Competently put together. Well worth $14, not sure if it's worth $30 or more. The first hour is kinda tedious, but it really starts to pick up once you turn into a goat-cat-thing and actually start being able to do combat.
(Also, I stopped at the SF bookstore and picked up Wintertide by Elizabeth Hand - a recommendation from Rainy-sis - and The Empress Of Earth by Melissa Scott. I'll finally find out what happened to Silence and her quest for lost Earth after allll these years!)
[ Next day PS: AAARGH I got through the second world, killed the annoying boss at the end of it, then the game wedged up when it went to play the cutscene that comes up after a little platforming! Feh! Save after defeating bosses! ]
no subject
Date: 2003-10-20 12:09 am (UTC)And that adapter is just too cool for words and I simply must get one. ^^
Hope you're having a good day!