Hello everyone, and welcome back to Hidden Gems, where we look at some of the most obscure games to see if they deserve more attention or if they should be forgotten about. Today, we will be looking at an very obscure game. Now, this game was so obscure, that it’s Wikipedia page is incredibly lacking. Like, wow, Beyond Good and Evil and Jet Set Radio Future were obscure, but at least they had useful Wikipedia pages (And yes, I know this shows how little my credibility is, but you gotta remember that you’re talking to a person who reviews obscure games. You just gotta take what information you can get). And is there a reason why it has such a bad Wikipedia page. Well, I sure hope not. So, let’s talk about the PS2 game, Primal.
~Story~
Primal takes place in a game that was clearly around when Blade and Underworld were a thing. It follows a woman named Jennifer, or Jen, who has already had her life planned out with her rockstar boyfriend, Lewis, and plans on living a normal life. However, that clearly doesn’t happen, as one night after a show, Lewis is kidnapped by a large monster who is said to be a servant of chaos. Jen is attacked and put in the hospital, where she is then woken up to see herself looking at herself in the hospital bed. As it turns out, Jen has entered the other world, with the help of a stone gargoyle named Scree, who is a servant to the Goddess of Order and plans on helping Jen restore order between her world and the four other worlds, as well as saving Lewis. It’s basically another damsel in distress story, only the gender roles are switched, so this clearly supports equality. It also has a much more gothic tone, with many different kinds of monsters to run into in many different worlds. So, let us start talking about those monsters and worlds.
Now, do forgive me if I am rather sloppy with this. There isn’t much info on this game, so I’m using the incredibly lacking Wikipedia page, the game’s manual, and the game itself. Anyway, as I said, there are four different worlds for you to explore in a linear order. Solum is a snowy forest with wildlife and many small towns. Aquis is a large ocean where the inhabitants all live in it. Aetha is a city world that is filled with evil and death. And finally, Volca, a large temple that resides in a volcano. Solum contains the Ferai, goat-human creatures that are incredibly fast and agile. Aquis contains the Undine, which are able to swim with ease. Aetha contains the Wraiths, which are able to move incredibly fast for the human eye to see. And finally, Volca contains the Djinn, which are just evil bastards. Each place you go to is suffering from one thing or a totally other one. Solum has a queen that is threatening to kill the next in line for royalty to stay in power. The water in Aquis is turning its inhabitants into bloodthirsty psychopaths, including its king. Aetha is just always a hellhole and has always been ruled by a crazed vampire demanding sacrifices. And Volca just has some asshole in control. Volca wasn’t really that fascinating. And since you’re the only one with the ability to get up off your ass, you gotta take care of all of these problems. Should be fun…. Right?
In this game, you play as the two characters, Jen and Scree. With these two, you are able to use their abilities incredible well. Jen is a fighter and is able to transform into the four different races. Her Ferai form allows her to run faster and jump higher. Her Undine form lets her swim in the water, but is useless on dryland. Her Wraith form lets her slow down time to solve puzzles. And finally, her Djinn form lets her attack harder. That may sound pathetic in comparison, but trust me, it’s necessary to get through this game, and I’ll get to why later. Jen is the only one who can fight. Scree can only fight in boss battles when he controls a bigger statue, so you can beat the crap out of the boss. Other than that, Scree is totally useless in fighting, but he can do other things. Enemies don’t want to attack him, so it lets you get past them easily. He is also able to climb up walls and can take control of any other statute to solve puzzles or, as previously mentioned, be used in boss fights. Oh, and he can carry torches. Yeah, Jen can’t carry torches. But thank god Scree can. What a special ability. However, there are times when you will need to use the two to solve puzzles together in order to get to the next place. For example, Scree will probably have to pull levers to move around some blocks for Jen to jump on, while she goes and opens some doors for Scree to get through. The puzzles were pretty well thought out. It’s like an adult’s Legend of Zelda. It’s not bad. Now, how about that juicy combat. Well, I’m glad you asked, because…. Wow…. WOW!
I don’t know how to describe this, but the combat is really bad. At first, it feels like its going to be something awesome, like Devil May Cry. But then you notice something. It’s just one button. You just press the R1 button to attack and the R2 button to block. Occasionally, you may be tempted to use a spin attack, or the other L1 button to use a different attack, but it doesn’t matter. L1 is just the same attack, but with a different animation, and the spin attack is only good for knocking down enemies. Later on, you can’t even knock them down, so it just becomes useless. Now, the enemies are pretty weak, so it’s not that bad… And then you get to world three, Aetha. This is where it shows the awful combat. Having to do a weak strike toward your enemies, while they all gang up on you and attack at once. I never died once in this game, until I got to this part. This is because if you just hang back for a little bit, you can automatically heal and get right back into the fight. It makes fights not that much of a challenge and just makes them time consuming and boring. Not that losing all your health matters anyway, as once Jen loses all her health, you have to use Scree to go to a portal and get her back. It’s impossible to die in this game… Oh, that’s not true, because there is one point where you will die… Many times.
In world four, Volca, Jen will be mind controlled by the ruler of this world, and you will have to play as Scree and fight her by turning into a statue, and it’s not one of the big badass statues like from the first boss fight. No, it’s this lanky, danky piece of shit statue. This thing is weak, and it can’t even block Jen’s first attack unless you attack first, which will leave you open for her to attack, so you will have to take a hit regardless. This fight… I hate this boss fight. It’s cheap, unfair, and just crap. Jen can always strike you if you aren’t careful, and if you are, you’ll still get hit because she has one big ass combo that can literally go on for the entire fight. I actually got stuck in one of her combos and had to deal with her beating me to death. Oh, and the worst part is that when you manage to parry her attack, she can block the parry… But you can’t block hers! When you parry her, she always blocks it and never takes damage. Also, what the hell? When I was playing her, I never had combos. I always took half damage when I blocked, but she doesn’t take any when she blocks. And when she parrys you, you can’t block it. You just gotta take it. This is total bullshit! The only way I was able to beat her is by just psyching her out and having her combo, leaving her open and then attacking, then backing up, then waiting until she did it again. I know, it’s cheating, but this is unfair, so just let me have this. Oh and you can’t automatically heal in this fight, and if you die, which you will for the first time in this game, you will be rewarded with a long and drawn out unskippable game over screen that rivals Symphony of the Night in how long it is. Just an extra bit of salt in those wounds.
~Ending~
~SPOILERS AHEAD~
Alright, so after that unfair garbage, you finally make it to the end of the game. Scree has managed to be placed back into his original body, Jen has gained all the elements, and now she can free Lewis. BUT WAIT! As it turns out, Jen was actually a daughter to two humans who had the ability to change form, and Scree was actually there to save her and bring her to the human world when she was a baby, and so was Lewis. But Lewis has been brainwashed in order to become evil, and now Jen and Lewis must fight using the abilities Jen had gained. Now, this could have been a cool final boss. Only problem is that if you want to beat the boss fast, just turn into Djinn in all the fights. Like I said, Jen’s Djinn form lets her attack harder, so if you just use that, you can defeat the boss easily. However, Lewis has three forms. The second one forces you to use the Undine form, but it’s not too hard anyway. Just avoid Lewis’s strong form, and you’ll have no trouble. After you beat his third form, you’ll take the role of Scree, who is fighting the villain Chronos. Now, you can’t automatically heal here either, so if you die, you will have to start the entire final fight over again. That includes fighting all of Lewis’s forms again. So, you’d better not die. But, it’s not that hard. I only know this because I got distracted and let myself die, so I can’t be too pissed. It was my own fault. After you defeat Chronos, you have to fight Lewis one more time and that’s it. You’ve beaten Primal. And thank god for that. The ending has Jen and Scree give a tearful goodbye as she and Lewis go back to their world, and after that, you see a brief title card for the game Ghosthunter. Maybe I’ll give that game a try some day. But thank god that Primal’s done, because that was painful.
Now, I really wanted to like Primal. It had a very interesting story that allowed me to play to the end, many unique gameplay mechanics and two great main characters that I was invested in. But the one thing that kills this game is the combat. And since combat is like 80% of the game, that just shows how much of the game is not fun to play. 20% of it is fun, but 80% of it is not fun. It’s painful, boring, and just tragic. This is the first but probably the most painful Hard Dig rating I have to give a game. The story and setting is all amazing, and some of the puzzles are even fun, but the combat… Oh god, the combat. Now I’m scared to play Ghosthunter. Maybe some other time. I need to play a game that doesn’t drain me. If you want a game with neat puzzles and a gothic style to it, I guess you should pick up Primal, but I don’t recommend it for any other reason. Sorry Primal… But your kinda dull. Goodbye
~Story~
Primal takes place in a game that was clearly around when Blade and Underworld were a thing. It follows a woman named Jennifer, or Jen, who has already had her life planned out with her rockstar boyfriend, Lewis, and plans on living a normal life. However, that clearly doesn’t happen, as one night after a show, Lewis is kidnapped by a large monster who is said to be a servant of chaos. Jen is attacked and put in the hospital, where she is then woken up to see herself looking at herself in the hospital bed. As it turns out, Jen has entered the other world, with the help of a stone gargoyle named Scree, who is a servant to the Goddess of Order and plans on helping Jen restore order between her world and the four other worlds, as well as saving Lewis. It’s basically another damsel in distress story, only the gender roles are switched, so this clearly supports equality. It also has a much more gothic tone, with many different kinds of monsters to run into in many different worlds. So, let us start talking about those monsters and worlds.
Now, do forgive me if I am rather sloppy with this. There isn’t much info on this game, so I’m using the incredibly lacking Wikipedia page, the game’s manual, and the game itself. Anyway, as I said, there are four different worlds for you to explore in a linear order. Solum is a snowy forest with wildlife and many small towns. Aquis is a large ocean where the inhabitants all live in it. Aetha is a city world that is filled with evil and death. And finally, Volca, a large temple that resides in a volcano. Solum contains the Ferai, goat-human creatures that are incredibly fast and agile. Aquis contains the Undine, which are able to swim with ease. Aetha contains the Wraiths, which are able to move incredibly fast for the human eye to see. And finally, Volca contains the Djinn, which are just evil bastards. Each place you go to is suffering from one thing or a totally other one. Solum has a queen that is threatening to kill the next in line for royalty to stay in power. The water in Aquis is turning its inhabitants into bloodthirsty psychopaths, including its king. Aetha is just always a hellhole and has always been ruled by a crazed vampire demanding sacrifices. And Volca just has some asshole in control. Volca wasn’t really that fascinating. And since you’re the only one with the ability to get up off your ass, you gotta take care of all of these problems. Should be fun…. Right?
In this game, you play as the two characters, Jen and Scree. With these two, you are able to use their abilities incredible well. Jen is a fighter and is able to transform into the four different races. Her Ferai form allows her to run faster and jump higher. Her Undine form lets her swim in the water, but is useless on dryland. Her Wraith form lets her slow down time to solve puzzles. And finally, her Djinn form lets her attack harder. That may sound pathetic in comparison, but trust me, it’s necessary to get through this game, and I’ll get to why later. Jen is the only one who can fight. Scree can only fight in boss battles when he controls a bigger statue, so you can beat the crap out of the boss. Other than that, Scree is totally useless in fighting, but he can do other things. Enemies don’t want to attack him, so it lets you get past them easily. He is also able to climb up walls and can take control of any other statute to solve puzzles or, as previously mentioned, be used in boss fights. Oh, and he can carry torches. Yeah, Jen can’t carry torches. But thank god Scree can. What a special ability. However, there are times when you will need to use the two to solve puzzles together in order to get to the next place. For example, Scree will probably have to pull levers to move around some blocks for Jen to jump on, while she goes and opens some doors for Scree to get through. The puzzles were pretty well thought out. It’s like an adult’s Legend of Zelda. It’s not bad. Now, how about that juicy combat. Well, I’m glad you asked, because…. Wow…. WOW!
I don’t know how to describe this, but the combat is really bad. At first, it feels like its going to be something awesome, like Devil May Cry. But then you notice something. It’s just one button. You just press the R1 button to attack and the R2 button to block. Occasionally, you may be tempted to use a spin attack, or the other L1 button to use a different attack, but it doesn’t matter. L1 is just the same attack, but with a different animation, and the spin attack is only good for knocking down enemies. Later on, you can’t even knock them down, so it just becomes useless. Now, the enemies are pretty weak, so it’s not that bad… And then you get to world three, Aetha. This is where it shows the awful combat. Having to do a weak strike toward your enemies, while they all gang up on you and attack at once. I never died once in this game, until I got to this part. This is because if you just hang back for a little bit, you can automatically heal and get right back into the fight. It makes fights not that much of a challenge and just makes them time consuming and boring. Not that losing all your health matters anyway, as once Jen loses all her health, you have to use Scree to go to a portal and get her back. It’s impossible to die in this game… Oh, that’s not true, because there is one point where you will die… Many times.
In world four, Volca, Jen will be mind controlled by the ruler of this world, and you will have to play as Scree and fight her by turning into a statue, and it’s not one of the big badass statues like from the first boss fight. No, it’s this lanky, danky piece of shit statue. This thing is weak, and it can’t even block Jen’s first attack unless you attack first, which will leave you open for her to attack, so you will have to take a hit regardless. This fight… I hate this boss fight. It’s cheap, unfair, and just crap. Jen can always strike you if you aren’t careful, and if you are, you’ll still get hit because she has one big ass combo that can literally go on for the entire fight. I actually got stuck in one of her combos and had to deal with her beating me to death. Oh, and the worst part is that when you manage to parry her attack, she can block the parry… But you can’t block hers! When you parry her, she always blocks it and never takes damage. Also, what the hell? When I was playing her, I never had combos. I always took half damage when I blocked, but she doesn’t take any when she blocks. And when she parrys you, you can’t block it. You just gotta take it. This is total bullshit! The only way I was able to beat her is by just psyching her out and having her combo, leaving her open and then attacking, then backing up, then waiting until she did it again. I know, it’s cheating, but this is unfair, so just let me have this. Oh and you can’t automatically heal in this fight, and if you die, which you will for the first time in this game, you will be rewarded with a long and drawn out unskippable game over screen that rivals Symphony of the Night in how long it is. Just an extra bit of salt in those wounds.
~Ending~
~SPOILERS AHEAD~
Alright, so after that unfair garbage, you finally make it to the end of the game. Scree has managed to be placed back into his original body, Jen has gained all the elements, and now she can free Lewis. BUT WAIT! As it turns out, Jen was actually a daughter to two humans who had the ability to change form, and Scree was actually there to save her and bring her to the human world when she was a baby, and so was Lewis. But Lewis has been brainwashed in order to become evil, and now Jen and Lewis must fight using the abilities Jen had gained. Now, this could have been a cool final boss. Only problem is that if you want to beat the boss fast, just turn into Djinn in all the fights. Like I said, Jen’s Djinn form lets her attack harder, so if you just use that, you can defeat the boss easily. However, Lewis has three forms. The second one forces you to use the Undine form, but it’s not too hard anyway. Just avoid Lewis’s strong form, and you’ll have no trouble. After you beat his third form, you’ll take the role of Scree, who is fighting the villain Chronos. Now, you can’t automatically heal here either, so if you die, you will have to start the entire final fight over again. That includes fighting all of Lewis’s forms again. So, you’d better not die. But, it’s not that hard. I only know this because I got distracted and let myself die, so I can’t be too pissed. It was my own fault. After you defeat Chronos, you have to fight Lewis one more time and that’s it. You’ve beaten Primal. And thank god for that. The ending has Jen and Scree give a tearful goodbye as she and Lewis go back to their world, and after that, you see a brief title card for the game Ghosthunter. Maybe I’ll give that game a try some day. But thank god that Primal’s done, because that was painful.
Now, I really wanted to like Primal. It had a very interesting story that allowed me to play to the end, many unique gameplay mechanics and two great main characters that I was invested in. But the one thing that kills this game is the combat. And since combat is like 80% of the game, that just shows how much of the game is not fun to play. 20% of it is fun, but 80% of it is not fun. It’s painful, boring, and just tragic. This is the first but probably the most painful Hard Dig rating I have to give a game. The story and setting is all amazing, and some of the puzzles are even fun, but the combat… Oh god, the combat. Now I’m scared to play Ghosthunter. Maybe some other time. I need to play a game that doesn’t drain me. If you want a game with neat puzzles and a gothic style to it, I guess you should pick up Primal, but I don’t recommend it for any other reason. Sorry Primal… But your kinda dull. Goodbye
#1:SULLIVAN:
As you already know.
I kinda stopped playing for a bit, Sullivan is why.
Not to mention. I was shocked the first time. I was starting to like Sullivan..
#2: CHEF ANTOINE:
I think we covered this one :)
#3: BACHMAYER:
Near the end of the 3rd game, Max Payne fights this guy.
It's hard to explain, why it's so hard, just have to see it yourself..
#4: BECKER:
Last boss of Max Payne 3.
And really holds the "last boss" feeling.
In a negative way..
#5: WESKER:
The main villain of Resident evil 5. And final boss..
#6: CEASER:
The final boss of Assasins Creed 3..
As you already know.
I kinda stopped playing for a bit, Sullivan is why.
Not to mention. I was shocked the first time. I was starting to like Sullivan..
#2: CHEF ANTOINE:
I think we covered this one :)
#3: BACHMAYER:
Near the end of the 3rd game, Max Payne fights this guy.
It's hard to explain, why it's so hard, just have to see it yourself..
#4: BECKER:
Last boss of Max Payne 3.
And really holds the "last boss" feeling.
In a negative way..
#5: WESKER:
The main villain of Resident evil 5. And final boss..
#6: CEASER:
The final boss of Assasins Creed 3..
What in the name of god. They are already ready remaking Grand Theft Auto 5.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love Grand Theft Auto 5. I think it is one of the funnest games I have played in 2013. But, seriously, it's only one year old, and already they are remaking it for Playstation 4 and XBox One. Seriously, you should at least give a game some time to age before you remake it. Look at Ocarina of Time, a game which people said is the greatest game ever, which was made back in 1999. The remake for the 3DS wasn't made until 2012, which is years later. Honestly, they are already remaking GTA 5. Sure, the graphics are better, but the thing is that the graphics were amazing to begin with. Why are you remaking this game so early, Rockstar. But, hey, that's only my opinion. What's Your Take
Now, don't get me wrong. I love Grand Theft Auto 5. I think it is one of the funnest games I have played in 2013. But, seriously, it's only one year old, and already they are remaking it for Playstation 4 and XBox One. Seriously, you should at least give a game some time to age before you remake it. Look at Ocarina of Time, a game which people said is the greatest game ever, which was made back in 1999. The remake for the 3DS wasn't made until 2012, which is years later. Honestly, they are already remaking GTA 5. Sure, the graphics are better, but the thing is that the graphics were amazing to begin with. Why are you remaking this game so early, Rockstar. But, hey, that's only my opinion. What's Your Take
*ding dong*
???: what is it?
Henry: hello Simon
Simon: Henry! you still wearing that tux?
Henry: every chance I get
Simon: heh... oh... you brought soldiers
Dex: why does everyone think i'm a soldier?
Marcus: no idea...
Henry: you seem calmer since the last time a saw you...
Simon: I take pills... anyway, why are you here?
Henry: we need you back
Simon: no way! i'm NOT going back to Klintsy!
Henry: we are close to taking down Harper and Dominic.
Simon: why don't fight your own war!
Henry: you are the only one that knows Harper and his tactics.
Simon: ok then, come inside so I can teach you
Henry: you and I both know that he still has some sanity left...
Simon: ... *sigh* lets go...
???: what is it?
Henry: hello Simon
Simon: Henry! you still wearing that tux?
Henry: every chance I get
Simon: heh... oh... you brought soldiers
Dex: why does everyone think i'm a soldier?
Marcus: no idea...
Henry: you seem calmer since the last time a saw you...
Simon: I take pills... anyway, why are you here?
Henry: we need you back
Simon: no way! i'm NOT going back to Klintsy!
Henry: we are close to taking down Harper and Dominic.
Simon: why don't fight your own war!
Henry: you are the only one that knows Harper and his tactics.
Simon: ok then, come inside so I can teach you
Henry: you and I both know that he still has some sanity left...
Simon: ... *sigh* lets go...
???: get in the car Dex
Dex: *gets in car* this is what the hell you do!
???: yep *starts driving*
Dex: I almost got killed 3 times!
*BANG BANG BANG BANG*
Both: holy shi*!
Dex: make that 4 times!
???: hold on!
*ERRRCH*
Dex: why the hell did you bring me along!?
???: you figured out!
Dex: that does not mean that you have to bring me with you!
???: in the movies people usually want to tag
along!
Dex: why would you think I would want to tag along on a dangerous mission!?
???: I thought it would be a quick diplomat thing!
Dex: there are 10 guys chasing after us in sport cars!
???: WELCOME TO MY WORLD!
Dex: *gets in car* this is what the hell you do!
???: yep *starts driving*
Dex: I almost got killed 3 times!
*BANG BANG BANG BANG*
Both: holy shi*!
Dex: make that 4 times!
???: hold on!
*ERRRCH*
Dex: why the hell did you bring me along!?
???: you figured out!
Dex: that does not mean that you have to bring me with you!
???: in the movies people usually want to tag
along!
Dex: why would you think I would want to tag along on a dangerous mission!?
???: I thought it would be a quick diplomat thing!
Dex: there are 10 guys chasing after us in sport cars!
???: WELCOME TO MY WORLD!