Primal Walkthrough Part 42 - Bonus Featurettes

Just below the surface of everyday life lies the world of Primal.
Throughout recorded time, the balance between Order and Chaos has been maintained...
but all that is about to change.
We have two characters: Arella who like is a goddess representing Order,
and Abaddon is a character representing Chaos.
Abaddon has decided he wants all of the primal energies in this world for himself,
So he has broken some eternal laws that exist between the two of them
and has set into motion a plan where he has disrupted the balance of Order.
As far as we see it, it begins with a character called Jen,
who is at a nightclub with her boyfriend Lewis,
and Lewis is playing on stage in a band.
But we see this huge demon tracking Lewis,
and by the end of the sequence this demon has abducted Lewis and left Jen lying in a coma.
Initially she's just thinking: is she in a dream, is she dead, what's going on...
and Scree pulls her into the world of Primal;
which is full of demons and monsters, and she's basically looking for her boyfriend at that time.
Jen and Lewis are different from everday people, in a way that they don't even know;
they were both taken away as babies into this world of Oblivion,
and changed so that they have become half-demon.
They have no idea of these abilities that are lying latent,
and it's only when they're both drawn into the game
that we see she has the ability to shift into each of the different demon races.
The character that brings Jen into this world is called Scree; he appears to be this little gargoyle,
but he's actually a much bigger character than he seems,
and he's going to be leading Jen on this quest to restore the order
in these two kingdoms that have been corrupted.
We see the relationship between Jen and Scree develop through the game
so that they go from Jen thinking that Scree is this funny little guy...
...through to the end of the game where she really respects him
and has seen that he has this real strength
and there's a real respect that develops between the two characters.
We have a very detailed storyline, like a movie; there's a lot of different sub-plots interlacing,
the way we describe characters as well; each character has a back plot,
you learn about them; they have depth.
So you've got this big overall story that links Jen into this whole world
and then you've got the little individual stories for each of the different realms;
Jen has to go in and put things to rights because Chaos is taking over Order.
Solum is the first realm you encounter,
and it's a world locked in perpertual winter and perpetual night.
The world reflects their fall from grace: they were a much nobler, more refined civilisation
all of which has crumbled into ruins.
We have a race of characters who have a king who is, by their natural law, all-powerful.
He has to sacrifice himself at the height of his power and pass the throne to his heir.
But the son has been kidnapped; so the player is going to have to bring him back to his father
so that the king can sacrifice himself, and the natural law there can be restored.
Altogether there are four demon realms that you will explore in the world of Primal:
Solum, Aquis, Aetha and Volca.
These are the battlefields you will face.
To restore order to the world, learn each realm well - or else!
It's a fight for your survival in the world of Primal.
as you fend off kings and queens of the underworld,
to survive, you'll need not only to master a classic combat system,
but you must use your wits as well.
While exploring the realms of Primal, you can control both Jen and Scree,
and it is up to you to decide who is best for each challenge.
Jen and Scree have both got very different abilities -
Jen's abilities are all based around her demon forms; with each demon form, she gets a different weapon,
and all her abilities are focused towards combat.
Scree doesn't fight at all; his side of things is based around the exploration and puzzles,
he can climb walls, lift heavy objects... based around his strength.
The puzzles in the game require the player to think about who they should use - Jen or Scree.
Sometimes they'll need to use Scree because of abilities he has, sometimes Jen...
A puzzle that springs to mind is at the start of the first realm you play.
Jen hasn't got any weapons at that point, she can't fight, she's not got a knife yet,
and you come across a cave that's got lots of nasty beasts inside -
she's not going in there because she'll get eaten!
Scree, being made of stone, isn't particularly tasty looking to these creatures,
so he can go through there,
and because they're kind of wolf-like creatures they're actually scared of fire;
so he goes off, finds a torch, brings it into the cave
then he can keep all those animals at bay so Jen can go through unharmed.
So we've got more of that kind of puzzle.
Avoiding the enemy is not always possible.
In Primal, the combat system is reminiscent of classic fighting games.
The combat system is inspired by games like Soul Calibur and Tekken;
what we wanted to do was capture the essence of a proper fighting game,
so we have a full combat system that has all the moves you'd expect;
blocks, counter-attacks, combos...
so there's real power to the combat sequences we have.
She's got four basic attacks if you hit the button once;
but each attack has a little window of opportunity
so you can then do a combo attack.
We've got about twenty attacks for each demon form, so that's quite a lot of moves,
and the deeper down the combo list you get, the cooler, the more powerful the attacks get.
The other thing I think is very cool is when you're fighting a character
and you get them to a point where they're stunned, you have finishing moves you can then do,
so each of the demon forms has different finishing moves -
there are really cool ones in terms of doing some really over-the-top things!
Jen will need all those moves, because each enemy is uniquely cunning and powerful.
We try to make all of our enemies challenging in some way;
we have basic soldier types who come in and try to pummel you;
but then you've got sentries with big shields, so you've got to bide your time
and wait for their open moments before you come in and hit them;
on top of those kind of things, obviously we've got bosses as well.
In each of the different kingdoms we have lead characters;
normally, kings and queens, some of these are going to be allies, and some, adversaries.
In the Aquis kingdom, for example, the king has mutated
from the good Undine that he should have been, into this horrible mutant monster.
Mastering Jen's demon forms, and learning how to use Scree,
are keys to your success in Primal. Can you face your inner demons?
When creating richly developed charaters in a game like Primal,
the voice is just as important as the animation.
When it came to casting the actors for the voice-overs,
we wanted to use actors that were really going to get into the parts, and have fun with the characters;
The kind of people who were really going to bring that character to life.
[Scree] The poor Undine Adaro was attacking must have been dead for days!
[Jen] Well if he does that to him... just think what he'd be like with us.
With Jen, we needed someone that could give us a real warmth to her character,
but also be able to get into the demon side of Jen,
and really let go and sound fierce.
I think the reason that they wanted me is because I played a character called Callisto
on 'Xena: Princess Warrior' So I knew at that point when they liked that show
that this was going to be based on a strong woman, and that there was going to be fighting involved.
Scree was really the toughest character,
because we wanted a voice which didn't sound like Scree looked, if you see what I mean,
so it wasn't like a little guy's voice - or it wasn't a silly voice -
it was a voice that had nobility and depth to it.
And the only voice we could think of was inspired by a character in 'Babylon 5' called G'Kar,
and this character was played by an actor called Andreas Katsulas.
So when they conceived of this whole thing and the character of Scree,
in their minds they really heard G'Kar, somehow, in that role,
or, more precisely, me, I guess!
Although both of the actors had done TV and film, this was their first video game experience.
It's different working on a video game than a film, because you don't have to worry about the way you look,
it's not my body, it's not my likeness, it's just my voice,
and it's my interpretation of the character.
Then I get to act with Andreas, and that makes it brilliant,
so you are acting, not just speaking or reading lines.
I wouldn't want to do it without my fellow actor also working with me,
I don't think I'd be able to do it as well without this
ongoing relationship with Hudson, who's right there, and we really get into it together.
So it's like doing a mini play that no one will ever see.
there's nothing shown to us beforehand as to what the scene will be.
They gave me a breakdown on all the characters, on all the different worlds,
on all the different beings on all the different worlds.
So we're given that and then it's just up to our imaginations to go with it
and then everything that they draw and animate around that, we see later.
Now that they have a taste of what video games are all about,
will this turn them into die-hard gamers?
I've never really come into this century yet!
But this might motivate me in terms of my son, and my daughter as well,
I think they'll both be interested in going through this together,
and I wouldn't be surprised if they want me to play along with them!
I bought a Playstation 2.
And I played for twenty-four hours within a week.
My friends were like, "You have to brush your teeth,
you have to wash your hair, you have to take a shower", and I wouldnt -
it's like a drug! I don't know how people play games and go to sleep,
or get up and exercise, or go to work, or... It's not possible!
Primal carries you into a world that combines demon realms with the present day,
so the music had to reflect that.
Game director Chris Sorrell dug deep into his personal CD collection.
The music is by a band called 16volt.
It's a band that I had some CD's of and one night I was listening to them,
and thinking about the music that we wanted for the game,
and thinking, 'this works! This is the kind of stuff we want'.
Chris from Cambridge just wrote me an email - I guess he's been a fan of the band for a long time -
and just asked me if I'd be interested to put some music to this game 'Primal'.
Of course I was instantly interested, and it blossomed really quickly from there.
Once we knew we were going to work with 16volt to provide the combat music,
it gave us an answer to another question we had,
Over the past eleven years, 16volt have recorded three albums,
and toured countless miles from their home base in Los Angeles.
We basically like to call ourselves an electronic punk band.
We try to bring the rawness of punk rock and mix it mix it with electronics.
Maybe you can explain - why guitar players always gotta f*** with their stuff all day?!
Sound check!
Not only did 16volt contribute tunes from their albums,
but they also wrote songs specifically for the game.
It's a mix - we used some stuff off our last record - I think they used six songs off hte last record -
and, I think, three new songs that we have.
I think we're doing... 'Suffering you' is in there...
... 'Happy pill' is gonna be used...
...and they chopped up a lot of stuff and used it in little intros,
and things like that, which was really cool,
'cause when we saw it at E3, we were like, 'Oh yeah, that song is from'...
You know, 'That bit was from this song'... It was really cool.
The three new songs I think they used will end up coming out on a new record at some point,
and we actually just re-released a double CD with some remixes on it by Filter, Orgy,
Crazy Town... it's a pretty cool CD and it has some demo versions of stuff we've been working on.
The first time the band got to see the game with their music was at this year's E3 show.
Yeah, we all went down to E3 together and checked it out,
hung out with the designers... those guys are all really cool...
and got to play the game for a little while...
they actually came back to our place and brought the game
and played it pretty much for the rest of the night. It's a great game.
It was rad, man! It was, just to see it and see the songs interpreted in a different way.
'because when Eric comes up with a vocal line, or an idea, I get an idea in my head of what it's about,
but then to see it fit in the video game, it worked perfectly.
The trailer they were using... they were even incorporating some of Eric's lyrics
into the whole storyline of the game.
There's a part where he says, 'I'm in love with the devil'...
[And she's in love with me.]
So his lyrics not only work, but the music itself is hard and driving
and so it feeds the fight scenes.
Whenever she gets into a fight, there's the 16volt music.
16volt was excited to contribute music to Primal, as they are avid gamers themselves.
Yeah, I play all the time. I'm pretty into State Of Emergency,
Grand Theft Auto... things like that. Get it out on the video game
instead of on the street, you know!
Yeah, I play games all the time, we're all game freaks.
It's cool - it's really different ot be playing a game and hear your music,
and know that other people are going to hear it, it's like an honour to be a part of it.
What do you like best about the game?
The music!
Any music featured within Primal had to reflect the intensity and pace of the game.
The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra added their interpretation to the adventure.
The cutscenes - which we're recording with the orchestra at the moment -
there are two and a half hours worth of them,
and unlike seeing it as one two and a half hour film, it's more like five half hour films,
because you're associating a very different sound, instrumentation, themes...
everything, for each individual level, as well as trying to create a cohesive whole
so that each level does sound like it has some related components.
With the kind of originality so rarely glimpsed on a games console,
Primal is not only a feast for the senses, but also compulsive to play.
The battles faced, and worlds encountered, make this a dark, compelling, classic.