Primal (video game): Difference between revisions
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A British counterpart to ''[[Ico]]'', ''Primal'' is as much or more about experiencing the game's universe and interaction between characters as it is about gameplay. Sometimes it's like a luxuriously animated old-school text adventure. In contrast to ''[[Ico]]'''s minimalist approach, ''Primal'' spared no expense in its presentation production values. 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.
Developed by SCEE Cambridge, the development team responsible for ''[[MediEvil (1998 video game)|Medievil]]'' and its sequel, ''[[Primal]]'' (2003) is a [[PlayStation 2]] exclusive. Even today, it can hold its own against more recent games. It is a single player, two character action/adventure game focusing on Jen, a mortal girl attacked when leaving a nightclub with her boyfriend Lewis, singer in the club's 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.
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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.
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* [[Action Girl]]: Jen
* [[Actor Allusion]] - Jen says 'Hold it, Xena!' to a Wraith Guard Captain Valeera before they fight. Hudson Leick, who voiced Jen, played Callisto in ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]''.
* [[Adventure Narrator Syndrome]]{{context}}
* [[After Boss Recovery]]
* [[Aliens Speaking English]]: Enough of the demon tongue is spoken for flavor, sometimes to Jen, but the majority of communication with the races of Oblivion is in English on both sides.
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* [[Battle Theme Music]] - by machine band 16Volt.
* [[Berserk Button]] - Don't call Scree "short."
* [[
* [[Blade on a Stick]]: The demons of Aquis are fond of these.
* [[Bling of War]]: Wraith guards in Aetha. Armor as [[Costume Porn]].
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* [[Courtly Love]]: listen to Scree the first time he describes ''Lady'' Arella. Since he's in her service and the only one of the party who can hold a flaming stick, he often [[Incredibly Lame Pun|carries a torch]] for her as well.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: {{spoiler|Scree is really Arella's champion, Abdizur, forced to use a stone gargoyle body he used to escape captivity in Volca. Foreshadowed when Scree possesses a statue of Abdizur to fight Belahzur in the Colosseum in Solum. Arella addresses Scree as Abdizur in the next visit to the Nexus.}}
* [[Cute Monster Girl]]: Averted. Though not ugly or overly monstrous, the demon farms are
* [[Deadly Decadent Court]]: The Wraith nobility.
* [[Deadly Dodging]]: {{spoiler|The final fight vs Ibliss in Volca. Jen must hide behind the largest lamps so the giant statue would destroy them trying to hit her.}}
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* [[Easter Egg]]
** Walk up to the fire in the Hunt Camp after talking with the Shaman in a cutscene for an optional cutscene.
** Have Jen chat several times with Scree immediately after a return to the Nexus.
** When Jen gains the Wraith form, the grave stone she smashes says "RIP Laura Cruft", a (misspelled) [[Shout-Out]] to [[Tomb Raider]]'s Lara Croft.
*** Which can be seen as either [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] or [[Harsher in Hindsight|not]], considering that the then upcoming ''Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness'' bombed.
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* [[Heroic BSOD]]: {{spoiler|Jen, after Aetha. Scree's pep talk is classic. "Now, my girl, stop that. Right, the best thing to do when things get as bad as this is to look at the facts. Agreed? Good. Fact number one- and top fact on the list- I'm still alive. Agreed? Good. Fact number two... you're still here to take care of me! Thank goodness for facts."}}
* [[Hide Your Children]]: Played straight with the Helot children.
* [[Horse of a Different Color]]: [[Star Wars|Tauntauns!]]
* [[In a Single Bound]]: Jen in Ferai form, can jump twice her height.
* [[Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence]]: Scree can blimb on much fewer walls than he should be able to.
* [[I Shall Taunt You]]: Jen has a taunt move in combat. It does notthing, but taunt.
* [[Jiggle Physics]]: Jen, a B-cup at best, has a slight wavy motion on her cleavage when she runs. More of a graphical distortion than actual physics model.
** One of the game trailers has a section where she runs toward the camera in a manner designed to show off this 'feature'. So subtle, by modern standards, it took multiple viewings to notice.
*** Even then the tip off was that the scene had no apparent point, leading to closer examination.
** When Jen transforms to/from a beast form, she rises into the air, tilts back, and the camera centers on her torso as she vibrates up and down.
*** If this happens in an enclosed area the camera may be forced into a rewarding jiggle close-up.
* [[Kill It with Fire]]:
* [[Living Statue]]: Scree not only is an animated statue, but possesses and animates other statues to progress in the game.
* [[Losing Your Head]]: The [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]] severed heads in the torture chamber.
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* [[Oh God, Did She Just Hear That?]]: When Jen sees Chronos for the first time in a Nexus cutscene she says, "Jeez... he's looking at me!" Scree replies "Perhaps he can ''hear'' you, too."
* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]: During the boss battle with {{spoiler|Adaro}}.
* [[
* [[One-Winged Angel]]
* [[Order Versus Chaos]]: The entire premise of [[Primal]]. Arella was the literal personification of order, and is explicitly named to be so. Her polar opposite is Abbadon.
* [[Our Gargoyles Rock]]: Scree
* [[Perky Goth]]: Jen
* [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=hzg8k0hyr0uf1b3g6aq6iulw PigTails]: aka twintails. Jen has them as a human and they carry over, in some form, in her demonic aspects as well. ▼
* [[Pimped-Out Dress]]: Jen wears one to the masked ball in Aetha.
* [[Power Tattoo]]: Jen has a circular design on her back that glows when she adopts various demonic forms.
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* [[Tarot Motifs]]
* [[Timed Mission]]: Shortly after you enter Aquis (the [[Waterworld]]) and get the "Undine" (fish-like creature) form, Queen Aino is raised out of the water. You have to turn two valves on the other end of the lake to get her back into the water. There's no visible clock, just her [[Hell Is That Noise|increasingly desperate cries of "Help me!" every 15 seconds or so]], and if you don't rescue her, she will eventually die... [[Game Over|and so will Jen]].
** If Jen runs out of health in human form, the rift gates will open, and you, as Scree, have to get to one to bring Jen back. Just like the Aino mission, there is no visible clock, but you still have to move it, or risk a Game Over.
* [[Transformation Sequence]]: Very often, and longer than needed.
▲* [
* [[Under the Sea]]: A full-blown underwater level.
* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Jen, the female main character, can shapeshift into unique monster-like forms.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Action Adventure]]
[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Primal]]
[[Category:Video Game]]
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