80-551: Blue Stinger is a 1999 action-adventure game developed by Climax Graphics for the Dreamcast . It was published by Sega in Japan, and by Activision in Western territories as a console launch title. The story follows emergency rescuer Eliot Ballade after he is stranded on the monster-infested Dinosaur Island and allies with fellow survivors and the alien being Nephilim to find the source of
160-527: A Dreamcast title at Sega 's request. The reworked game's design and atmosphere drew additional inspiration from Resident Evil , Enemy Zero , and Alone in the Dark . Full production started following the prototype's approval by Sega in December 1997. Debugging lasted from late January to early March 1999. The staff was split between eighteen people at Climax Graphics in Japan, and ten working from North America on
240-619: A fantasy " setting. Tutankham , debuted by Konami in January 1982, was an action-adventure released for arcades . It combined maze, shoot 'em up, puzzle-solving and adventure elements, with a 1983 review by Computer and Video Games magazine calling it "the first game that effectively combined the elements of an adventure game with frenetic shoot 'em up gameplay." It inspired the similar Time Bandit (1983). Action Quest , released in May 1982, blended puzzle elements of adventure games into
320-446: A joystick -controlled, arcade-style action game, which surprised reviewers at the time. While noting some similarities to Adventure , IGN argues that The Legend of Zelda (1986) by Nintendo "helped to establish a new subgenre of action-adventure", becoming a success due to how it combined elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid, including exploration, adventure-style inventory puzzles , an action component,
400-566: A monetary system , and simplified RPG-style level building without the experience points . The Legend of Zelda series was the most prolific action-adventure game franchise through to the 2000s. Roe R. Adams also cited the arcade-style side-scrolling fantasy games Castlevania (1986), Trojan (1986) and Wizards & Warriors (1987) as early examples of action-adventure games. Games like Brain Breaker (1985), Xanadu (1985), Metroid (1986) and Vampire Killer (1986) combined
480-759: A subgenre of open world action-adventure video games in the third-person perspective . They are characterized by their likeness to the Grand Theft Auto series in either gameplay or overall design. In these types of open world games, players may find and use a variety of vehicles and weapons while roaming freely in an open world setting. Metroidvania is a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania ; such games are sometimes referred to as "search action", and are generally based on two-dimensional platformers. They emphasize both exploration and puzzle-solving with traditional platform gameplay. Survival horror games emphasize "inventory management" and making sure
560-451: A Dinosite meteor and launching from a shell which is pursued by more Nephilim meteors. The concept for Blue Stinger was created by Shinya Nishigaki, a developer who had worked at Enix and later Climax Entertainment . When creating the concept, Nishigaki was inspired by the movies of Steven Spielberg , Akira Kurosawa , John Carpenter and Joe Dante . A specific inspiration was Carpenter's movie The Thing . He considered Blue Stinger
640-545: A choice of what to say. The NPC gives a scripted response to the player, and the game offers the player several new ways to respond. Due to the action-adventure subgenre's broad and inclusive nature, it causes some players to have difficulty finishing a particular game. Companies have devised ways to give the player help, such as offering clues or allowing the player to skip puzzles to compensate for this lack of ability. Brett Weiss cites Atari 's Superman (1979) as an action-adventure game, with Retro Gamer crediting it as
720-474: A combination of complex story elements, which are often displayed for players using audio and video. The story is heavily reliant upon the player character's movement, which triggers story events and thus affects the flow of the game. Popular examples of action-adventure games include The Legend of Zelda , God of War , and Tomb Raider series. There is a good deal of controversy over what actually constitutes an action-adventure game. One definition of
800-588: A company founded by former Chunsoft staff dedicated to developing Dragon Quest titles. Heartbeat would handle main series production until going on sabbatical in 2002. From 1994, Enix acted as publisher for Horii's Itadaki Street series, taking over the series from ASCII. They also frequently acted as publisher for titles from Tamtam, and created the Dragon Quest Monsters spin-off series with developer Tose . Enix were initially pitched unsuccessfully by Wolf Team with Tales of Phantasia , which
880-448: A complex text parser and no free-moving character. While they share general gameplay dynamics, action-adventures vary widely in the design of their viewpoints, including bird's eye , side-scrolling, first-person, third-person , over-the-shoulder, or even a 3/4 isometric view . Many action-adventure games simulate a conversation through a conversation tree . When the player encounters a non-player character , they are allowed to select
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#1732898314256960-649: A critical and commercial success, selling over one million copies in Japan. The success of Dragon Quest spawned a franchise of the same name , which would become Enix's highest-grossing property. Horii, Sugiyama and Toriyama remained mainstays with the series. Chunsoft developed the next five Dragon Quest titles. While the Dragon Quest series proved successful, Enix continued publishing PC titles to maintain financial stability. The company also began selling merchandise themed after Dragon Quest in 1988 with character statues and toys, expanding to board and card games
1040-403: A feature for 1UP.com on Resident Evil "rip-offs", Bob Mackey felt the title was lacking elements to make it a true survival horror, and having too great a focus on combat and graphics. Gaming magazine and website Retro Gamer felt the title had become mislabelled as survival horror since its release, having enjoyable action gameplay and a strong narrative to engage players. Both highlighted
1120-403: A game prototype which could be published by Enix. Among the winners were Yuji Horii , then a writer for Weekly Shōnen Jump , with the sports game Love Match Tennis ; designer Koichi Nakamura with the puzzle game Door Door ; and self-trained programmer Kazuro Morita with the simulation video game Morita's Battlefield . During the next few years, Enix would publish titles for both
1200-517: A game with a mix of elements from an action game and an adventure game , especially crucial elements like puzzles inspired by older adventure games. Action-adventures require many of the same physical skills as action games, but may also offer a storyline, numerous characters, an inventory system, dialogue, and other features of adventure games. They are typically faster-paced than pure adventure games, because they include both physical and conceptual challenges. Action-adventure games normally include
1280-504: A given reason was the Xbox's poor commercial performance in Japan. Blue Stinger sold over 61,000 copies during its opening week in Japan with a sell-through rate of just under 56%. It went on to sell over 111,000 copies in total and become the console's 34th best-selling title in the region. While the game sold relatively poorly in Japan, it was commercially successful in North America. During
1360-765: A good job voicing Eliot. Blue Stinger was announced at the Tokyo Game Show in September 1998 as part of Sega's launch lineup for the Dreamcast in November of that year. It was ultimately delayed into the following year to further polish the title. Nishigaki described Sega as disappointed but understanding that the game missed the Japanese console launch. The game was published in Japan on March 25, 1999, by Sega. Two CDs were released on March 20 of that year through Columbia's music label;
1440-410: A large number of CGI cutscenes. Nishigaki speculated that Sega's support of the project was due to this 3D focus. The lighting was split between three sources; Nephilim, weapon bursts, and pre-set lightmaps . While the Dreamcast was reported to refresh at 60 frames per second, Blue Stinger was kept to 30 due to the number of creatures shown on screen. They also did not use some of the graphical elements
1520-517: A limited time, while Dogs moves slower and can only use one weapon, but can defend himself and uses his fists to fight enemies. Sixty-five million years ago, a meteorite crashes into Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs and paving the way for humans. In 2000, an earthquake sinks the Yucatán Peninsula aside from one island over the meteorite impact area. This island is dubbed "Dinosaur Island", and international biotech corporation Kimra establishes
1600-539: A mass departure of creatives and legal battles with Enix over manga copyright ownership. The issues were resolved in 2003 when Enix agreed to partially invest in Mag Garden. The manga division's troubles were lessened with the beginning of Fullmetal Alchemist , which proved highly popular. Enix also suffered from financial losses due to the delayed releases of Dragon Quest VII (2000) and Dragon Quest Monsters 2 (2001). Some notable titles begun or announced during
1680-493: A period of turbulence as several editors expressed dissatisfaction with Enix's focus on Dragon Quest media and the shōnen demographic, a growing lack of creative freedom, and rising tensions between authors and editors. Editor Yoshihiro Hosaka and a number of other Gangan associates founded Mag Garden in 2001, which became a market rival through the Monthly Comic Blade magazine. Mag Garden's foundation triggered
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#17328983142561760-502: A publishing company focused on advertising tabloids for real estate. On February 5, 1980, Eidansha Boshu created a wholly owned subsidiary Eidansya Fudousan for the purpose of specializing in real estate trading and brokerage, being renamed Eidansha Systems the following year. It was based in Shinjuku , Tokyo . During 1982 Eidansha Boshu made an unsuccessful attempt to become a nationwide chain. Fukushima decided to invest his capital into
1840-402: A research community on it. In 2018, Emergency Sea Evacuation and Rescue member Eliot Ballade is on vacation with his friend Tim off Dinosaur Island when a small meteorite crashes near it, generating a barrier that traps Tim in stasis. A light source emerges from the meteorite and takes the shape and name of Tim's good luck boat charm Nephilim, connecting with Eliot before monsters appear and attack
1920-506: A shopping mall. Some environments include passive hostile elements such as extreme temperatures, with their effects shown using a status bar. Enemies are encountered while exploring and can be fought using weapons, which are either found in the environment or bought from vending machines using money dropped from enemies. Larger enemies and bosses have dedicated health bars. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses; Eliot moves faster, can use multiple weapons, and can swim underwater for
2000-705: A side-scrolling platformer format with adventure exploration, creating the Metroidvania platform-adventure subgenre. Similarly, games like 005 (1981), Castle Wolfenstein and Metal Gear (1987) combined action-adventure exploration with stealth mechanics, laying the foundations for the stealth game subgenre, which would later be popularized in 1998 with the releases of Metal Gear Solid , Tenchu: Stealth Assassins , and Thief: The Dark Project . The cinematic platformer Prince of Persia (1989) featured action-adventure elements, inspiring games such as Another World (1991) and Flashback (1992). Alone in
2080-400: A single avatar as the protagonist . This type of game is often quite similar to role-playing video games . They are distinct from graphic adventures , which sometimes have free-moving central characters, but also a wider variety of commands and fewer or no action game elements and are distinct too from text adventures , characterized by many different commands introduced by the user via
2160-542: A soundtrack album, and a single featuring a promotional image song "Sting Me". A strategy guide, containing both in-game guides and a developer interview, was published by SoftBank Creative on April 27. The game was shown off at E3 1999, confirming that Activision would serve as the game's publisher outside Japan. The partnership came about when Sega approached Activision about Dreamcast support, and Activision expressed interest in Blue Stinger . For its Western release,
2240-457: A tribute to Western action movies. To develop the game, Nishigaki and several staff from Climax Entertainment's CGI division who had worked on Dark Savior (1996) formed Climax Graphics as an independent "brother company". Pre-production of Blue Stinger began in September 1996 following completion of Dark Savior . Originally in development for the Sega Saturn , Blue Stinger was rebooted as
2320-729: Is an action game that includes situational problem-solving. Adventure gamers may also be purists, rejecting any game that makes use of physical challenges or time pressure. Regardless, the action-adventure label is prominent in articles over the internet and media. The term "action-adventure" is usually substituted for a particular subgenre due to its wide scope. Although action-adventure games are diverse and difficult to classify, there are some distinct subgenres. Many games with gameplay similar to those in The Legend of Zelda series are called Zelda clones or Zelda -like games. Popular subgenres include: A Grand Theft Auto clone belongs to
2400-480: Is overrun by monsters. Players explore the game's 3D environments to progress the story by unlocking new parts of the island complex. The Japanese version uses fixed third-person camera perspectives similar to the early Resident Evil series, while the Western version uses a third-person camera fixed behind the player character and includes an optional first-person mode. In addition to the main mission, there are optional side missions which grant new weapons or items. If
2480-468: Is revealed to be the spirit of the second meteorite and an alien which opposes the Dinosite. The three humans allow Nephilim to reunite with her original body, allowing her to kill the original Dinosite while Eliot and Dogs destroy a cloned version which Kimra created during their experiments. Nephilim bids farewell to Eliot, while Tim is revealed to be alive. A post-credits scene shows Nephilim transforming into
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2560-544: The Final Fantasy franchise. Talks were temporarily halted when Square suffered financially due to the failure of the 2001 feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within . Following the commercial success of Final Fantasy X (2001) and Kingdom Hearts (2002), talks went ahead on the merger with Enix as Square's finances stabilized; Square's then-CEO Yoichi Wada described it as a merger of two companies "at their height". Despite this, some shareholders had doubts about
2640-739: The Uncharted franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Ark: Survival Evolved . Enix Enix Corporation was a Japanese multimedia publisher who handled and oversaw video games , manga , guidebooks, and merchandise. It was founded in 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima as Eidansha Boshu Service Center, initially as a tabloid publisher and later attempting to branch into real estate management. Beginning in 1982, Enix began publishing video games. Three notable early collaborators were designers Yuji Horii and Koichi Nakamura , and composer Koichi Sugiyama . Horii, Nakamura and Sugiyama would all work on
2720-813: The "first to utilize multiple screens as playing area". Mark J.P. Wolf credits Adventure (1980) for the Atari VCS as the earliest-known action-adventure game. The game involves exploring a 2D environment, finding and using items which each have prescribed abilities, and fighting dragons in real-time like in an action game . Muse Software 's Castle Wolfenstein (1981) was another early action-adventure game, merging exploration, combat, stealth, and maze game elements, drawing inspiration from arcade shoot 'em ups and maze games (such as maze-shooter Berzerk ) and war films (such as The Guns of Navarone ). According to Wizardry developer Roe R. Adams, early action-adventure games "were basically arcade games done in
2800-640: The 1986 role playing video game (RPG) Dragon Quest for the Family Computer ; one of the earliest successful RPGs for consoles, it spawned a franchise of the same name which remains Enix's best-known product. They would gain notoriety as a publisher for several studios and their properties including tri-Ace , Tose , Chunsoft and Quintet . It also founded the Gangan Comics imprint family, and created international subsidiaries or partnerships related to technology development, publishing and education. In
2880-519: The 2000s were PlayStation 2 titles in the Grandia series, the MMORPG Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion from Puraguru , and the action role-playing game Drakengard from Cavia . In 2001, citing the rising cost of game development, Enix expressed interest in merging with either Square or Namco . They ultimately began talks with Square, a market rival and developer of
2960-439: The Dark (1992) used 3D graphics , which would later be popularized by Resident Evil (1996) and Tomb Raider (1996). Resident Evil in particular created the survival horror subgenre, inspiring titles such as Silent Hill (1999) and Fatal Frame (2001). Action-adventure games have gone on to become more popular than the pure adventure games and pure platform games that inspired them. Recent examples include
3040-467: The Dreamcast's debut week in the UK, Blue Stinger was the eighth best-selling title out of the twelve launch titles. The game went on to sell 500,000 copies worldwide, which Sega counted as a success. The game received above-average reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings , earning a score of 70% based on 22 reviews. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 28 out of 40. When mentioned,
3120-498: The Famicom ( Nintendo Entertainment System ) Horii and Nakamura decided to develop a role-playing video game (RPG) for the platform. The RPG, titled Dragon Quest , began development in 1985. Horii and Nakamura acted as designers, composer Koichi Sugiyama created the score for the game, and Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama was brought on board for art design. While meeting with initially slow sales, Dragon Quest became
3200-492: The Japan Securities Dealers Association to offer shares for public purchase. Following Dragon Quest V (1992), Chunsoft left as main series developer, wanting to create their own titles. In the years following, Chunsoft continued collaborating with Enix on spin-off Dragon Quest titles including early entries in their Mystery Dungeon franchise. The next two entries were developed by Heartbeat ,
3280-501: The PC market and the fledgling Japanese console market. Using his royalties, Morita established the developer Random House and developed several PC and console titles including the Morita's Shogi series. In collaboration with Nakamura's new company Chunsoft , Horii notably created the adventure game The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983), then during discussions around a port of the game to
Blue Stinger - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-483: The Super Famicom. The game was developed by Quintet , a Japanese independent developer made up of former Nihon Falcom staff. Enix acted as publisher for all of Quintet's subsequent Super Famicom games in Japan. Enix had begun publishing guidebooks for the Dragon Quest series, between 1988 and 1991 the company decided to make print publication their second major business section alongside video game publishing. This
3440-449: The boat, seemingly killing Tim. Eliot escapes with Nephilim to Dinosaur Island, which has become overwhelmed by monsters born from mutated animals and humans. While exploring the island, Eliot is guided by Nephilim, receives information via radio from security team survivor Janine King; and teams up with Dogs Bower, the original discoverer of the island and Janine's estranged father. During their exploration, Eliot learns Kimra had discovered
3520-408: The camera was changed at Activision's insistence. Nishigaki disliked the new camera, derisively calling it the " gero system". A harder difficulty was included for players who cleared the game on hard difficulty, resulting in character costumes changing. Some elements that might either not be understood outside Japan or might have proven offensive were also adjusted for the Western release. The game
3600-440: The console was capable of such as bump mapping . During development the team did not know the full specifications of the Dreamcast, with Nishigaki saying they used half the console's graphical capacity. The music was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi , whom Nishigaki wanted to create a Hollywood-style score for the game. The opening and ending themes were recorded using a 60-piece orchestra conducted by Kouji Haishima. Nishigaki wanted
3680-436: The creature designs and 3D models, and noted storyboard artist Pete von Sholly to be camera supervisor. Sholly also handled the game's storyboards. The Japanese team worked almost 24 hours a day to complete the game, only taking a few days off during its two years in development. The game was classified as a cinematic action-adventure game, though Nishigaki wanted to be classed outside traditional game genres. He described one of
3760-566: The current character loses all health, the player reaches a game over and is sent back to the title screen to reload an earlier save. Gameplay revolves around Eliot or Dogs−whom the player can switch between once they are together−exploring different areas of the Dinosaur Island complex and finding key items to progress, such as key cards for unlocking doors. The game is made up of eight large environments, which range from outdoor areas such as harbors, to indoor locations such as laboratories and
3840-469: The early 2000s, due to rising game development costs, Enix entered discussions about merging with Square , a rival company known for the Final Fantasy franchise. The merger eventually went ahead in 2003 forming Square Enix , with Enix as the surviving corporate entity. Enix was founded under the name Eidansha Boshu Service Center on September 22, 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima. An architect-turned-business entrepreneur, Fukushima initially founded Eidansha as
3920-402: The early design and localization. Nishigaki produced the game and co-wrote the script. Other staff included Ayumu Kojima as director, Kazuaki Yokozawa as lead programmer, Ryosuke Murakami as art director, and Masaki Segawa as character designer and co-writer. The game designer was Atsushi Yamamoto. Through American connections from his university years, Nishigaki brought on Robert Short to create
4000-403: The emerging video game market; during this period on August 30, Eidansya Fudousan was renamed Enix Corporation. The name Enix was a play on both the mythological Phoenix , and the early computer ENIAC . Seeking game proposals, Fukushima organized a competition dubbed the "Enix Game Hobby Program Contest" in both computer and manga magazines, offering a prize of ¥ 1 million (US$ 10,000) for
4080-607: The following year. In October 1983, Enix co-founded Konishiroku Enix with Konishiroku Photo Company , later purchasing all shares in January 1989. A second subsidiary, Enix Products, was established in March 1988 for the sale of publications and character merchandise. Both subsidiaries along with the original Enix were merged into their parent company Eidansha Boshu in April 1989, which renamed itself Enix Corporation. In 1990, Enix published their first third-party console title ActRaiser for
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#17328983142564160-563: The game generally inferior to game titles that influenced it, with one recommending that players wait for Resident Evil – Code: Veronica if they wanted a similar but higher quality experience. Edge similarly compared the game negatively to the upcoming Code Veronica , finding its combination of animation issues and inconsistent audio as "unacceptable" in games of the time. The Game Informer reviewers were fairly negative about several aspects of its design, with one highlighting its emphasis on graphics over gameplay and characters, feeling it
4240-700: The game's themes as "wit" or "humor", wanting to set the game apart from the horror-focused titles dominating the Japanese 3D adventure market. The environments were designed to have as few repeated elements as possible, additionally designing the environment to appear lived-in and realistic. The original camera design was directly inspired by his love of movies. Character movements were animated using motion capture . The game engine could not handle two player characters on-screen, though early plans had Dogs tagging along as an AI-driven companion and providing comic relief through environmental interactions. The team also did not have time to make Janine playable. Nishigaki described
4320-406: The gameplay still follows a number of adventure game genre tropes (gathering items , exploration of and interaction with one's environment, often including an overworld connecting areas of importance, and puzzle-solving). While the controls are arcade-style (character movement, few action commands) there is an ultimate goal beyond a high score. In most action-adventure games, the player controls
4400-487: The last was Dragon Warrior Monsters , which was through a publishing deal with Eidos . The Dragon Quest series became one of the most popular video game series in Japan, spinning off into a multimedia franchise, and entering mainstream popular culture in the country. Several publications have cited the original game as a pioneer for the genre on home consoles, influencing the development of other popular series. Enix's Gangan Comics imprint, in addition to publishing
4480-508: The localization as adding to the game's appeal due to its inconsistent quality. In a 2015 retrospective on Nishigaki for Gamasutra , John Andersen noted the game's advanced graphics for the time, but that the camera changes and poor lip syncing had dated it. Action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, classical adventure games have situational problems for
4560-485: The merger between Square and Enix, but was dissolved in 2005 after the establishment of Square Enix China. Digital Entertainment Academy Co., Ltd. was established as a partially owned subsidiary in 1991. Originally called Toshima Ku Hokkaido University, the school was founded to teach game development . Enix America Corporation was the corporation's first American localization subsidiary based in Redmond, Washington . It
4640-466: The merger, notably Square's founder Masafumi Miyamoto , who would find himself holding significantly less shares and having a smaller controlling stake if the deal went ahead as initially planned. Miyamoto's issue was resolved by altering the exchange ratio to one Square share for 0.85 Enix shares, and the merger was greenlit. The merger resulted in Square Enix being formed on April 1, 2003, with Enix as
4720-411: The meteorite was the egg of a hostile alien codenamed "Dinosite", whose DNA can mutate other lifeforms. During one attack, Eliot swallows some of a mutant's vomit and starts to mutate, with Dogs being prepared to mercy kill him if the change is irreversible. Eliot is narrowly cured when the group finds a serum designed to reverse the mutation. Nephilim, who communicates telepathically with Eliot and Janine,
4800-493: The monsters. Gameplay has Eliot navigating Dinosaur Island, fighting monsters using various weapons found or purchased during the game, and finding items to progress to other areas. Producer and co-writer Shinya Nishigaki was inspired to make Blue Stinger as a tribute to Western action movies. Preproduction began in 1996 with a team of eighteen. Notable American staff included Robert Short as monster designer and Pete von Sholly as storyboard artist and camera consultant. The music
4880-489: The player has enough ammunition and recovery items to " survive " the horror setting. This is a thematic genre with diverse gameplay, so not all survival horror games share all the features. The Resident Evil franchise popularized this subgenre. Action-adventure games are faster-paced than pure adventure games, and include physical as well as conceptual challenges where the story is enacted rather than narrated. While motion-based, often reflexive, actions are required,
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#17328983142564960-473: The player to explore and solve to complete a storyline, involving little to no action . If there is action, it is generally confined to isolated instances. Classical action games, on the other hand, have gameplay based on real-time interactions that challenges the player's reflexes and eye-hand coordination . Action-adventure games combine these genres by engaging both eye-hand coordination and problem-solving skills. An action adventure game can be defined as
5040-412: The plot and characters were cited as either enjoyable, or underwhelming. While the gameplay was generally enjoyed, several outlets faulted the puzzle design as obtuse. The camera system in both the Japanese and Western releases met with criticism, though the Western version was seen as less problematic. The real-time and CGI graphics together with monster designs met with overall praise, though the animation
5120-505: The plot as Segawa's work, with Nishigaki mostly writing the character banter. Eliot was not written as a conventional lead, being fun-loving and flirtatious in contrast to Dogs' more traditional stoic attitude. Janine was described as central to the character drama. Commenting on the character and world design, Segawa described Nephilim as a fantastical being compared to the grounded tone of the other characters. The game featured both fully 3D graphics for its environments and character models, and
5200-450: The relationship to that between an editor and an artist. Armor Project survived as an associate of Square Enix, growing into a larger entity over the years. Enix Webstar Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. was a company formed between Enix and Mauritius Webstar Inc. in 2001 to develop online and mobile phone games in China and, later, other parts of Asia. The subsidiary was carried over after
5280-581: The rest of the game music using the Dreamcast's sound chip. Voice acting for all regions was in English, with the Japanese release using subtitles to emulate Hollywood movies. The two leads were voiced by Ryan Drummond and Deem Bristow. The voice recording was directed by Lani Minella , who also voiced Janine. All three at the time were voicing characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Nishigaki felt Drummond had done
5360-400: The score to emulate the music of John Williams . Blue Stinger was Sahashi's first video game job, treating it like a background movie score. In contrast to his earlier movie and television work, Sahashi had as much time as he wanted to create the score. The opening and ending themes were composed to match the finished movie scenes. Only the opening and ending themes used CD-quality music, with
5440-474: The short length alongside other problems with its audio and graphic display, but did not think it was a bad game and kept the reviewer's interest throughout. Anoop Gantayat, writing for IGN , found the game as a whole enjoyable but dedicated much criticism to the camera and voice acting for detracting from the atmosphere. Jeff Lundrigan of Next Generation highlighted its strong points as the action-based gameplay and graphics rather than its story and tone. In
5520-582: The surviving corporate entity and Square dissolving its departments and subsidiaries into the new company. Enix's last two published titles were Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart , both in 2003. Fantasy Earth and Drakengard were published after the merger. During reports on the merger with Square, Takashi Oya of Deutsche Securities described Enix as "[outsourcing] game development and [having] few in-house creators" compared to Square's focus on internal development. At
5600-430: The term "action-adventure" may be '"An action/adventure game is a game that has enough action in it not to be called an adventure game, but not enough action to be called an action game." In some cases an action game with puzzles will be classified as an action-adventure game, but if these puzzles are quite simple they might be classified as an action game. Others see action games as a pure genre, while an action-adventure
5680-427: The time of the merger, Enix had two development divisions; one managing the Dragon Quest series led by Yuu Miyake, and a supervisory division made up of producers. Speaking in 1997, Quintet staff described their company as a "subcontractor" for Enix, being involved in its projects even when not acting as a publisher. Horii notably created Armor Project as a company to oversee Dragon Quest for Enix, with him comparing
5760-498: The time, which were leaving behind cartridge-based Nintendo 64 for the disc-based PlayStation , Enix announced in 1997 that they would publish titles for both platforms. They later stated their intention to develop for the GameCube . In August 1999, Enix was listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange 's first section, which includes the largest companies on the exchange. Beginning in the early 2000s, Enix's manga publishing division went through
5840-520: Was a lacking launch title. GameFan was again negative about the title and called it a weak title in the console's launch line-up. GamePro was disappointed with its presentation issues, saying they turned Blue Stinger into "a flawed adventure game instead of the sure-fire launch hit that the Dreamcast needs." GameSpot ' s Peter Bartholow felt Blue Stinger was decent as a game, but lacked polish and depth, saying it would satisfy casual Dreamcast owners more than genre fans. GameSpy faulted
5920-442: Was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi . The game received mixed reviews from journalists; it was praised for its gameplay and presentation, but several outlets criticized its camera and voice acting. While it sold poorly in Japan, it was successful in North America, going on to sell 500,000 copies worldwide. Blue Stinger is an action-adventure game in which players take control of Eliot Ballade or Dogs Bower on Dinosaur Island after it
6000-509: Was organized after the release of Dragon Warrior by Nintendo of America in 1989. The subsidiary came into existence in 1990, but closed in November 1995 when the parent company decided to no longer release products in North America due to poor sales. One of the games they published, King Arthur & the Knights of Justice , was Enix's first and only North America exclusive game. Enix America, Inc., Enix's last American localization subsidiary,
6080-457: Was organized in 1999, and was based in Seattle , Washington . Paul Handelman, who was part of Enix America Corporation's staff, returned to lead Enix America, Inc. as president. The corporation was in existence until 2003, ceasing to exist after the merger with Square Co., Ltd. Several of Enix's localized games were published by other companies including Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment ;
6160-565: Was released in North America on September 9, 1999, and in Europe on October 14. It was a console launch title in both regions. An English strategy guide was published by BradyGames on September 14, 1999. A sequel was proposed by Sega, but Nishigaki had moved onto working on the survival horror game Illbleed . Plans to port expanded versions of Blue Stinger and Illbleed to the Xbox by Coolnet Entertainment were shelved following Nishigaki's death in 2004;
6240-474: Was seen as poor. The music met with general praise, but many faulted the voice acting for its poor quality. Several reviewers called the game a showcase for the Dreamcast's graphics that lacked compelling gameplay. Jason D'Aprile of Gamecenter found Blue Stinger entertaining but not groundbreaking in its genre, describing it as "fun, interesting, and solid on the whole" despite camera issues holding it back. The reviewers for Electronic Gaming Monthly found
6320-599: Was to ensure their income did not entirely depend on Dragon Quest . This eventually led to Enix launching the Gangan Comics imprint family, beginning with Monthly Shonen Gangan March 1991. Following its first publication with Monthly Shonen Gangan in March 1991, several other manga imprints with magazine and tankōbon editions were created for different genres including Monthly G-Fantasy and Monthly Shonen Gag-OU . The company also expanded their merchandise range to include other notable series including Mario and Pokémon . In February 1991, Enix registered with
6400-663: Was ultimately published by Namco in 1995. Enix later acted as publisher for Star Ocean (1996), developed by former Tales of Phantasia staff members who split from Wolf Team to form tri-Ace . In partnership with Enix, tri-Ace developed three further Star Ocean titles, and the Norse mythology -inspired RPG Valkyrie Profile (1999). Enix also notably helped publish two Western console titles; Riven (1998) and Tomb Raider III (1999). In August 1996, Enix moved from Shinjuku to offices in Shibuya . In contrast to other companies at
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