Kenji Eno
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You are currently reading a thread in /vr/ - Retro Games
You are currently reading a thread in /vr/ - Retro Games
What does /vr/ think of Kenji Eno and his games?
For those unaware, Eno was a game designer best known for the D trilogy (D, Enemy Zero and D2), all titles featuring "Laura", the protagonist stylized as a "digital actress". Before dying, Eno purportedly had been working on designing a game for the blind.
Personally, Eno's great concepts, no matter how avant garde for their time, never translated into good gameplay. All his games are worth playing for the experience, but never had any replayability. He came close with D2, but the repetitive nature made playing it such a chore. It felt twice as long than justifiable, and the story's themes were difficult to grasp. It's a shame he died before reaching his peak, because with the right team, he could've been a legend.
Sayonara, Kenji. you may be gone, but your life's work will never be forgotten:
https://youtu.be/tJ-zrmf74Ug
https://youtu.be/wes_OdOVdw4
The better part about Eno is Eno himself. It's another case of an artist being more interesting than their works, which are only somehow enjoyable because they're really weird.
I've played D and Enemy Zero
I WANTED to enjoy them, but they just weren't very good games.
>>3284334
You should have started with D2 since it's by far the easiest to get into.
What I ultimately take away from this guy is that he was a real artist who wanted to realize his vision but it wasn't for everyone and sadly it wasn't even for me despite the fact that I was exactly the type of audience he was reaching out to - that is, until D2. That game was so fucking awesome that I even went back and took a second look at his earlier stuff (still minimal love) but at the same time I feel like D2 is kind of where he probably felt like he started selling out and embracing some of the emerging "survival horror" conventions. God rest his soul.
>>3284280
When I was a very small child my older brother rented this game out, I was a pretty sensitive kid and hated horror games. So I would watch him play games a lot, and often he would tell me a game wasn't horror so that he could get a rise out of me when something scary happened.
I remember so clearly how terrified I was at the father moaning "Lauuraaa, go backkk", that and the horrible squelching sounds that you heard during the cannibalism scenes.So this game, to me, is nostalgic for scaring the shit out of 8 year old me and I think will always be a reference point for horror games in my mind.
>>3284450
*Rented D, forgot to specify.
>>3284280
His games were awful, but really memorable and unique. He had some really interesting ideas, and seemed like a genuinely insightful designer too.
With a technically competent development team, I think Kenji Eno's creative force could've made something spectacular. It's a real tragedy.
>>3284280
I played the first disk of D2 to get a feel for the gameplay and pacing, and then Youtubed the rest.
Pretty much the best way to do it IMO.
>>3284280
Eno was one of those guys who used games as a medium for art and narrative rather than gameplay.
I agree with you that the games, while interesting, had really bad gameplay, that's possibly the only reason as to why Eno never really made it big, his games were barely games in the end, if he was still alive today he'd probably have much more success given the popularity and critical success of games focused on narrative.
At the end of the day, Eno would have been a much better director than a game designer, though unlike people like Kojima, he did know how to use games as a medium to tell a story, even though the gameplay was still bad.
>>3284280
>Eno purportedly had been working on designing a game for the blind.
But he already did that. Even had a dreamcast port.
>>3284280
His music was cool.
>>3284778
I loved how, back when people kept making compatibility list for Saturn emulators, they listed this game as "video is broken, only sound plays".
>>3285550
Holy fuck did that really happen?
>>3285550
>>3285558
https://web.archive.org/web/20060819034254/http://segasaturn.org/
Fucking lmao
>>3285592
Truly magical
Sunman is cool
I tried playing D2 years ago at a friends house who was trying to sell me on it. It has all the elements of things I tend to like but I just found it a chore to play and the first like 30 minutes is slowly walking and trying to hunt a rabbit with maybe the worst gun I've used in a video game as far as aiming goes.
I've seen parts of the game beyond that and it certainly seems cool but I'd probably have to force myself to play it.
As far as it being avant garde with mediocre to poor gameplay I don't think it has nearly the same charm as a Suda51 or SWERY game.
>>3284340
Yeah, it was obvious Eno felt pressured to produce a game which embraced at least some established conventions so as to keep players engaged while still interweaving his overall themes.
The ending is still a bit confusing, and the poem he incorporated from Arto Lindsay is even more mystifying.
>>3287626
And I don't know whether to feel good or bad for him for that. What do you think of Panic Restaurant?
>>3285596
That's why knowing the language and doing a bit of research on the games you're trying to emulate matters.
>>3287857
>Panic Restaurant
Never played it.
>>3288467
You should really check it out. If D2 is one bookend on "The Kenji Eno Experience" then Panic Restaurant would be the other. It's another game that he was forced into working his vision within current (2D platformer ITC) conventions on only in its case it was because he was still struggling to initially become recognized.
>>3288479
That is a fun game filled with absurdities involving food.. Didn't know Kenji Eno had anything to do with it
>>3288495
It was the first game he had essentially total control over. He also designed a super deformed Gundam platformer a couple years before that but it wasn't completely "his"
Hey guys!
I found out the D stands forDated
>>3290028
Haha, very cute.
>used to be a fan of a game that he composed music for
>SD Hero Soukessen for the Famicom
>decide to buy the cartridge, for good time's sake
>sat down and beat the game, after so many years
>the very next day, Eno died
>mfw
D-did I kill him?
>>3292921
Yes, you murderer. You also murdered Iwata and Gunpei Yokoi, you monster.
>>3292921
I know that feel. The same thing happened to me when I got into Illbleed.
>>3296612
Can you please start reading Twilight and 50 shades of grey? I think we can use your powers for good.
>>3284280
>>3284778
The audio game came out with herb seeds that you can plant
>>3297431
Instructions for the seeds
>>3297435
Greeting cards
>>3297437
Back side of greeting cards, getting some real comfy vibe from these
>>3297439
The game's manual, only in Braille
>>3297440
Before anyone asks, no I didn't have the game. I found it here: http://pixellationmagazine.blogspot.co.id/2012/08/whats-in-box-real-sound-kaze-no-regret.html
>>3297187
I'd try but I actually have to finish the thing. It also might not work if I get a boner.
>>3297435
>instructions
>not in braille
One job
He was before his time. If he lived today he'd be the darling of the indie darlings with his weird games. Like Suda 51 but for the numale lgbt pink hair demographic.
>>3297431
It's not like this was unprecedented. Didn't Short WARP come with a literal condom?
>>3299989
Yes games used to come with Feelies pretty standard. Now only super deluxe versions
>>3284280
He has interesting ideas, novel, and sometimes fucking insane ideas, but gameplay isn't his strong suite.
Like, I get he wants to challenge you, but there's challenge then there's plodding tedium.
D2 had way too much fucking plot.
Also didn't know he was dead.
>>3297685
Eh, I don't really think his aesthetic slots into that. What was REALLY cool about Eno was that he had great taste. He talked Michael Nyman, a renowned minimalist composer for the art house films of Peter Greenaway, into doing the soundtrack for D2. AND he got Arto Lindsay, an avant garde songwriter probably better known in the art and fashion world than in the music world, to do a song for it, which is actually incorporated into the narrative of the game!
Most indie developers seem to have experienced almost no high art, and almost no art outside of the video game medium itself. So 90% of indie games today are tragically self-referential and insular, making references only to other games and to "gamer" culture. Sometimes this works (Undertale references older games and gaming in a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek manner), but usually it doesn't. It's incredibly stale. Kenji was always pulling inspiration from outside of the game world. As a result, his games don't really "play" like other games, and they have problems other games don't, but he managed to actually redefine the confines of the medium.
What indie developer today is doing the same?
>>3304113
Oh really?
>>3284280
I prefer his dad, Brian.
