Oni (Warning: will likely contain spoilers)

Oni is a game developed by Bungie that was released in 2001, and I am happy to say that I have had the pleasure of playing.

I won't lie to you, the game does have a number of flaws. Then again, when you have a game that was in Vaporware status, and it took around 3 years to complete and release it, you have to expect to see some flaws. One of the flaws would be a storyline that leaves much left unsaid. I like a storyline that leaves you trying to figure out what's going on and all, but when a storyline has loads of gaps in it, that indicates a problem.

One of things I do find impressive about the game is how Bungie worked hard to make the game Animesque. One of the results of their attempt to be Animesque is a dark storyline that has some depressing moments and a Bittersweet Ending (some would argue Downer Ending, which I hope we can discuss here). One thing some people need to know about Japanese anime and manga is that endings written by the Japanese are almost never Happy Endings. At best, they are Bittersweet Endings, and at worst, Downer Endings. This does not even touch on the Gainax Ending, which would be hard to categorize. With that said, I am impressed that Bungie decided to follow the Japanese way of thinking and come up with a storyline that most certainly does not have a Happy Ending.

edited 4th Aug '11 7:36:25 AM by TiggersAreGreat

Honestly, I think you are stereotyping. The "Japanese stories don't have happy endings" is just a cliche because the ( stereotypical ) western stories in the medium *do* have happy endings, which makes the fact that Japanese manga and anime often don't seem "edgy".

Oops, I guess I should have examined that stereotype more closely.

The game has a Green Aesop, which is not obvious at first but later it turns out that a lot of the conflict in the game comes down to a badly polluted environment, and how several individuals and groups decide to handle it. The ending has Konoko (or should I say Mai Hasegawa?) destroy the Atmospheric Processors, which had served as a stopgap measure against the polluted environment. This causes a lot of death and destruction. However, there are people still alive, and will likely be able to survive for a time, and everyone now has the fact that the environment is polluted shoved in their faces. Also, Konoko/Mai points out at the end that the Daodan Chrysalis may be the only chance to survive the new, deadly world. Anvilicious? Yes, but then again Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped. Really, a game like this makes me look at the environment around me and be happy that it is not nearly as bad as the evironment shown in Oni.

I hated Oni. Excellent gameplay, great character aesthetics, neat story, fresh features... But it has the Player Punch to end al player punches. And it happens twice. And the guy who does it can become a Karma Houdini.

Screw Oni! -Uncontrollable sobbing-

Karma Houdini? You do have an option to Shoot The Son Of A Bitch

edited 4th Aug '11 2:13:51 PM by stevebat

Doing so makes the last encounter harder.

Note that i said potential though. I aimed for the crotch.

I reviewed it for Game Pen way back when. Gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

And I always had to play in God mode in the last 3rd. Some of the deaths were just cheap.

Yeah, Terrance Griffin really wins the Jerkass award, right? Although I should point out that he does not appear in the ending cutscene, which would indicate that he probably got killed off (maybe). There is also the fact that he used Break the Cutie and Kill the Cutie on poor Shinatama. The game does make it clear that he has an I Did What I Had to Do attitude towards his actions. In fact, he could be called a Knight Templar. Konoko/Mai essentially calls him a Complete Monster if you shoot him. You know what, in another story, yes, he would be a Complete Monster. However, the game takes place in a Dystopia that certainly contains Black-and-Grey Morality and the game had demonstrated that the Daodan Chrysalis can be very dangerous if misused. That, and no one was sure as to what would happen once the Chrysalis replaced enough of the host body's cells. Also, the manual did say that Griffin served in the Technological Crimes Task Force Black Ops, which requires its members to let go of their consciences. So all things considered, I just do not think that Griffin is a Complete Monster.

The last three levels are definitely tough. Then again, when you get close to the end of the game, the levels should be a little tough.

I didn't like shooting the Chief. I enjoyed walking away and her giving "The Reason You Suck" Speech and a Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Speech.

The ending cutscene was basically the world being destroyed, no?

If I recall, Oni was an early victim of shoehorning a game for multi-platform release; PC, PS, and Xbox. Fun gameplay, great story and characters, but the environments were big empty squares connected by smaller empty rectangles.

One of the interesting things about the game was how just about every level was a building or a set of buildings that had interesting architecture. By interesting, I mean that the levels looked like they were designed by architects, or that the designers took a lot of pictures of various buildings and based the level designs off of them. This had the effect of making the levels strongly resemble places that you would see in real life. Unfortunately, those same levels ended looking drab and unappealing. The moral of the story is this: if you plan on designing a level, try to aim for art, not architecture!

They did hire architects to design the levels. The fact that they haven't done so again shows that they learned their lesson.

This. However, I think the problem was less level design and more filling the level with atmosphere. Regardless of real world designs, the levels were effectively interchangeable boxes and tubes with mooks and door opening terminals. The science lab(s?) didn't look much like a lab. The warehouse looked depressingly like any and all warehouse levels.

The rooftop and dream levels were the best.

edited 4th Aug '11 5:23:44 PM by Rotpar

It's frustrating, because I've wandered through a lot of places in real life that would be cool areas in a game. I'm sure you have, too.

I like how Oni is a 3D fighting and beat-them-up game and how there are a lot of potential ideas that could be developed for this type of game. Sadly, this type of game has not caught on with other companies as far as I can tell.

One thing I find challenging is trying to figure out which fighter tropes can be applied to a number of the characters in this game. The game has the Communications Trooper, Striker (starts with green, surpassed by blue, and surpassed by red), Ninja (green, blue, red), Fury (green, blue, red), Elite Striker (green, blue, red), Tanker (green, blue, red), Bomber (who are left out of the manual for some reason), Barabas, Mukade, Muro, Konoko/Mai, Griffin, Shinatama, Mercenary Sniper, TCTF Tactical Trooper, TCTF SWAT Trooper, Black Ops Tactical Trooper, Black Ops SWAT Trooper, normal TCTF cops (male and female), workmen, and robots.

I might have missed some in that listing. I mean, I have been able to figure out that the Ninja are definitely in the class of Fragile Speedster because they move very fast and can be taken down with a few good hits. I am pretty sure that the Mercenary Snipers are in the class of Glass Cannon because they use the powerful, slow-to-reload, 2-clip Mercury Bows, can be taken down with a few good hits, and have poor fighting skills if they lose that Mercury Bow. They even have a taunt that goes like this: "Wait till I reload!" I have never heard them say that, but there is supposedly a sound file containing this. The others are a little harder to figure out. What do you think?

Was I the only one who felt that the escape Konoko/Mai pulled off from the TCTF Science Prison qualified as a New Powers as the Plot Demands moment?

I grant you that the Daodan Chrysalis is supposed to protect Konoko/Mai from acid and that perhaps she needed to be aware that she could do it for that to work. Unfortunately, there are some nasty cases of Fridge Logic that pop up with the Daodan Chrysalis. For starters, how come she died when she fell into acid for at least the first half of the game, but she did not die from falling into acid in the Science Prison level? If the Daodan Chrysalis makes her effectively immune to being cut open, how come bullets, punches, and kicks were able to hurt her? For that matter, how come punches and kicks were able to hurt the enemies with Daodan Chrysalises she came across? If the Daodan Chrysalis did have the power to adapt to adverse stimuli, doesn't that mean that Konoko/Mai's health should automatically go back to full, like Wolverine's Healing Factor?

Remember that her chrysalis is still developing through out the game. Maybe it was the fact that her chrysalis only develops as necessary therefore she only survived a trip in the acid because she NEEDED to.

edited 7th Aug '11 9:41:41 AM by stevebat

Hmmm...now that's an interesting point. It might have been a good move on Bungie's part to keep a number of details unexplained after all. That way, they could just leave it up to interpretation.

With that said, Word of God has helped to explain some of the details. It confirmed that Mukade (Centipede) has (or had?) a Daodan Chrysalis. It would be safe to assume that Barabas has (or had?) one. It also explained that Konoko jumped out of a plane at the beginning of the last level. That explanation is rather helpful, because I am sure some people wondered if she leaped all the way to the mountain compound, like Superman did before he gained flying abilities.

Another thing I need to point out is that I am not sure that Barabas, Mukade, Muro, Shinatama and Dr. Hasegawa are dead. Mukade should be dead, after getting his neck crushed by Konoko/Mai. It hasn't stopped a number of people from thinking He's Just Hiding. The same could be said about Barabas, Muro, Shinatama and Dr. Hasegawa.

I pegged it as Gameplay and Story Segregation, myself.

Heh, never think I would see a topic on this game after all this years.

One of my favorite game back then even with all of its shortcoming and now that Bungie is done with Halo maybe they can come back and make something that is not rushed out of the door...

Well, I am trying to set up topics on a number of games in the hopes that someone will be happy to talk about the game, no matter how old or unpopular it may be.

I can also say that I played one of the Halo games, and I thought it was okay. It wasn't like love at first sight, or anything. Really, I think people focus too much on Halo, at the expense of the other interesting games that Bungie has made.

Do you think a sequel is possible for Oni? I mean, sure, the ending had the Apocalypse occur and a lot of people dead, but there are indications that there are survivors and that they just need to get the Daodan Chrysalis. It would be interesting to see what happened to the world order After the End. Also, it would be interesting to find out the fate of Mai/Konoko. The ending showed her as a Broken Bird. Would she be Driven to Suicide? Would she be the one to give people Daodan Chrysalises? Yes, what would happen to her After the End?

edited 8th Aug '11 5:12:00 AM by TiggersAreGreat

Oni is very, very, dead dead. Not when Bungie can make HALO 17: MASTER CHEF'S REVENGE RETURNS AGAIN THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL.

Now featuring two new weapons.

A pity. Because I'd argue this game desperately needs some love and a chance to be resurrected. Because has frustrating or ugly the game could be, booting it up for 15 minutes and clobbering some guys was always fun.

So I did a little digging and apparently Oni belong to Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar games now. So Yeah.. any hope for a revival?

That would be cool.