D(NA)

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Overview

  • Full Name: D
  • Code: FZ-SM2353
  • Type: Interactive movie, Adventure
  • Developer: Warp
  • Publisher: Panasonic
  • Language: English
  • Release Date: April 1, 1995
  • Region: NA
  • Barcode: 037988830343
  • Local Title:
  • Rarity: 1
  • Notes:

Overview

D is a horror themed interactive movie and adventure game developed by Warp and directed by Kenji Eno.

The story follows Laura Harris as she goes to investigate a hospital after learning her father went on a mass murdering spree and barricaded himself inside. The hospital morphs into a castle upon her arrival, which she must explore to find her father. The player controls Laura through computer generated full motion video (FMV) sequences, and must complete the game within two hours without a save or pause function.

Development lasted about one year and was primarily done with Amiga 4000 computers to create the FMVs. It would be the first major release for the still-unknown Eno and Warp, and so Eno felt that if it were not successful he would quit from game development. He added scenes of violence and cannibalism to make the game more striking, however he believed the content would be too extreme for censors or publishers and feared the game would not be permitted for publishing. To ensure these scenes would not be censored, Eno submitted a "clean" version for late publisher approval, knowing they would require him to deliver the game to the manufacturer. On his way to the manufacturer, he switched the clean version with his master version containing the more disturbing content.

The game was a commercial and critical success in Japan, selling a million copies and receiving a special edition re-release. Critics in the West praised D's horror elements, story, graphics, and presentation. Reviewers of the 3DO version found it to be one of the best games on the platform.

Synopsis and Game Play

D is an interactive movie which features adventure game elements, a horror genre storyline, and heavy use of full motion video. The player takes on the role of Laura Harris, played by a "digital actress" named Laura that appears in games by Warp, although the stories are unrelated. The player directs Laura's movements as she explores the game's environment, solves puzzles, and unravels the story. The movements occur through FMV sequences as she walks to the desired location, from where the player is greeted with a static screen which may contain items they can interact with or other paths to direct Laura. The player is only given two real-time hours to complete the game and no save or pause function. Depending on the player's actions, there are different endings.

Taking place in 1997, the story begins when Laura Harris is contacted by Los Angeles police, receiving a disturbing message: her father, Dr. Richter Harris, has gone on a mass murdering spree and barricaded himself in the hospital. Laura rushes to the scene of the crime, desperate to find an explanation for the well-respected doctor's actions. Upon entering the hospital, she is so horrified at the murdered bodies lying about the halls that she covers her eyes. When she uncovers them again, she finds herself in an unknown medieval castle.[b] Unwilling to give up her search, Laura continues through the dark corridors of the castle. While attempting to find her father, she experiences a series of flashbacks of her mother being stabbed to death. Laura's father (taking the form of apparitions) warns her to leave, saying that staying too long means being stuck in the alternate reality forever. He warns that he will soon become an emotionless monster and will eventually try to kill her. Still shaken, Laura proceeds to find her father.

Ultimately, Laura finds her father residing at the peak tower of the castle. He reveals the sordid past of his family: Laura and her father are part of a bloodline of cannibalistic vampires, dating back to the infamous Dracula. Driven by her vampiric urges, Laura killed and ate her mother years ago, but it was erased from her memory by her father. As Dr. Harris demands Laura to leave one last time, he begins to transform into a vampire. If the player approaches Dr. Harris at this point, he will consume Laura's flesh and fully transform. However, if the player shoots Dr. Harris with a revolver that can be found earlier in the game, the bullet will kill him and stop his transformation. As Laura tearfully cradles her dying father in her arms, he confesses that he allowed the transformation to occur out of scientific curiosity and thanks her for stopping him. With his death, the realm created by his mind fades and is replaced by the normal surroundings of the hospital.

Development

Development of D lasted about one year and was directed by Warp president Kenji Eno. Eno was heavily inspired by Polarware's Transylvania adventure game series and he believes D would have never been created if it were not for playing those games. Eno and Warp were still relatively unknown in the industry, and D would be their first major title. With this in mind, Eno felt that he was gambling his development career on D, and if it were not successful he would stop developing games. There were three phases to D's development: the adventure game structure, the story creation, and finally violence was added. Since the adventure gameplay was largely finished before the story began to take fruition, flashbacks were added to detail the plot. The plot was largely based on that of Dracula, but Eno found it too boring, and so added violence and cannibalism to make the game more striking. The FMVs were created using Amiga 4000s.

Eno believed D's violent cannibalistic themes would be deemed taboo or too horrifying by others and was worried the game would not be permitted for publishing. With this in mind, Eno kept many of the violent sequences a secret, including from other members of Warp. When the game was finished, he submitted a "clean" version (i.e. without the violent and disturbing story content) for approval. He deliberately submitted the master late, knowing that part of the penalty would require him to hand-deliver it to the manufacturers in the United States. While on the plane ride to the US, he switched the "clean" discs with the finalized discs including the horrific content, thus completely bypassing all censorship.

D was a success in Japan. In total it sold one million copies there and the Saturn version reached the top of the sales charts in its first week. It was one of the few genuine hits for the 3DO in Japan, and drew a significant cult following of hardcore fans even before being ported to other systems.[8] A Japanese re-release for the 3DO titled D's Diner: Director's Cut contained additional content and a bonus soundtrack disc. The PlayStation release of D was set to be published by Acclaim and manufactured by Sony. Orders for around 100,000 units had already been made before Sony decided to give their other titles manufacturing priority. Sony told Eno they had only manufactured 40,000 units, which made Eno very upset, but ultimately, Sony had only manufactured 28,000 units. This shortage upset Eno so much that he later announced, at a Sony event, that he would release his next games for the Sega Saturn. Warp's later games, including Enemy Zero (1996) and D2 (1999), were released exclusively on Sega platforms.

Reception

The original 3DO release of D was well received. In their import review, GameFan staff stated they normally disliked interactive movie FMV games, but praised D for being innovative and creative, dubbing it "a masterpiece." In their review of the English release, they commended its horror elements and concluded it to be "the best FMV game likely ever to be made" and the best 3DO title at the time. GamePro staff gave the game high scores for its presentation and likewise commended its scare factor. They called it "a frightening work of art" but cautioned that it was not for everyone. Next Generation reviewed the 3DO version first as an import, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "This is without a doubt the most heavily atmospheric and creepy title to date for the 3DO - or for that matter, any home system." Their review of the domestic release said the graphics were astounding and enhanced the player's involvement in the creepy storyline. The reviewer criticized the English localization's dialogue and voice acting, and said the game suffers from low challenge and extremely short length, but still found the game enjoyable. GameFan staff named D their 1995 3DO Game of the Year and the Best 3DO Graphic Adventure/FMV Game. GamePro staff ranked it the third best 3DO game for their 1995 Editors' Choice Awards.

A Japanese re-release for the 3DO titled D's Diner: Director's Cut contained additional content and a bonus soundtrack disc.

Magazine Reviews

Name Date Region Rating Notes
GameFan Magazine Nov 95
92% The best FMV game ever made and the best FMV game likely ever to be made. Although it is short and easy, there are some good puzzles and plenty of cool locations. It's great to finally have the story in English, so everyone here can appreciate the best 3DO title yet. The video's a bit grainy, but not significantly worse than the Saturn version. A must-buy.
GamePro Dec 95
90% The only drawback of this game (and games like it) is that you'll be disappointed when you're done and this one is easier to finish than most. But there are multiple endings, so the replay value is slight (in games like Myst, replay is non-existent). D is a puzzle solver's fantasy, a frightening work of art. Just don't play it alone.
Computer and Video Games (CVG) Jun 95
85% Sumptuous graphics and eerie sound go together to make this game very realistic. Gameplay ranges form the logical to the aaargghh! Another plus is that the game is not as linear as it first seems. You can wander around to your heart's content. The only limitations are unsolved puzzles. Solve a puzzle though, and you are treated to a nicely animated sequence which maintains the 'film' atmosphere that surrounds the entire game. Good fun, but maybe a bit too easy.
3DO Magazine 1995
80% A young woman arrives in Los Angeles to find a hospital massacre somehow connected to her father. Cut to a spooky house complete with chained up skeleton and ghoulish traps. The challenge may not be enormous in this two CD adventure, but the letterboxed FMV features some of the most stylish pre-rendered graphics yet seem. The sense of atmosphere is brilliantly conveyed and the puzzling gameplay is highly involving.
Game Players Nov 95
80% The 100% rendered graphics are impressive and the animation, especially of Laura, is just short of incredible - I've never seen a 3-D modeled character who was so expressive. In other words, this is great stuff. I just wish there was more.
Power Unlimited Apr 96
77% Meeslepend horror-avontuur over een seriemoordende ziekenhuisarts dat door diens dochter Laura tot een goed einde moet worden gebracht. De beelden zijn prachtig, maar het hele verhaal is aan de trage kant.
Mega Fun Jan 96
75% Als interaktiver Movie überzeugt „D“ vor allem durch seine hervorragende, gerenderte Grafik und brillante Story. Bei der ruckelfreien Optik stört lediglich das teilweise zu langsame Scrolling. Bei der Musik gibt es hingegen keine Probleme: Wie in einem Thriller werden die Aktionen und digitalen Sequenzen von beunruhigender Musik und sehr realistischen Geräuschen unterstrichen. Dadurch wirkt 2D2 wie ein Horrorstreifen, und genau da liegt der Knackpunkt: Ihr habt nämlich keinerlei Möglichkeit. zwischendurch abzuspeichern. „Im Kino können Sie den Film ja auch nicht anhalten, um sich eine Tüte Popcorn zu holen“, steht es erklärend im Begleitheft. Dementsprechend wurden auch die Rätsel relativ einfach gehalten. Da Euch nur zwei Stunden Echtzeit gegeben werden, bleibt es somit Euch überlassen, ob Ihr ca. 130 Mark für ein eher kurzes Vergnügen ausgeben wollt zumal Ihr es spätestens nach dem zweiten Anlauf durchgespielt haben dürftet.
Video Games Jun 95
61% Die vorliegende japanische Version von D besticht durch stimmungsvolle Grafik und ebensolchen Sound. Ihr erlebt das Abenteuer nicht wie üblich nur aus der 3D-Perspektive, es mischen sich auch beeindruckende Animationssequenzen darunter, die Eure Heldin Laura aus einer anderen Sicht zeigen. Wichtige Dialoge werden kaum geführt (ausgenommen die Stelle, wo der Geist des Doktors darauf hinweist, daß die Abkürzung D für Dracula steht), so daß auch nichtjapanische Mitspieler ihre Chance bekommen. Leider entpuppt sich das eigentliche Spiel, trotz der zwei vollbepackten CDs, als ein ziemlich kurzer Horrortrip. Das Zeitlimit ist von vorneherein auf zwei Stunden gesetzt, und die Aufgaben sind spätestens beim zweiten Anlauf einfach zu bewältigen.
  • - Need review page

Other Versions

3DO was the original version, with versions later ported to the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and MS-DOS.

D was a success in Japan. In total it sold one million copies there and the Saturn version reached the top of the sales charts in its first week.

The PlayStation release of D was set to be published by Acclaim and manufactured by Sony. Orders for around 100,000 units had already been made before Sony decided to give their other titles manufacturing priority. Sony told Eno they had only manufactured 40,000 units, which made Eno very upset, but ultimately, Sony had only manufactured 28,000 units. This shortage upset Eno so much that he later announced, at a Sony event, that he would release his next games for the Sega Saturn. Warp's later games, including Enemy Zero (1996) and D2 (1999), were released exclusively on Sega platforms.

Credits

  • Directed by Kenji Eno
  • Written by Kenji Eno
  • Art Director Shosaburou Tateishi
  • Computer Graphic Animator Hideki Sudo
  • Visual Effects Supervisor Norihiro Yamamoto
  • Computer Graphic Designer Tomohiro Miyazaki
  • 3D Graphic Designer Yoshiaki Tonooka
  • Programmer Hirofumi Hayashida
  • Sales Manager Akira Okada
  • Sound Produced by Arcadia Studio
  • Sound Effects by Hiroki Matsunaga
  • Music Designers Kenichi Kimura, Kaio Tsuruta
  • Sound Editor Eitaro Suzuki
  • Original Theme Music by Kenji Eno
  • Warp Staffs Hideki Miura, Naoya Sato, Makoto Sakai
  • Special Thanks to Panasonic Team Bill Gardner, Jim Jennings, Mark Miyata, Eddy Mizukami, Ayako Shotoku
  • Presented by Warp Inc.

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