Kenji Eno

He did Panic Restaurant too. He was an artist who really created his vision with Enemy Zero and D, then "sold out" a bit on D2 but it might be held up as a good lesson that compromise is good when it comes to video games.

>>3871498
He's a classic case of the artist being more interesting than any of his work.

I'll admit D2 is playable, but it's far from great.

>>3871909
>He's a classic case of the artist being more interesting than any of his work.
this describes the story around him pretty well.

I think his ideas are novel but they don't really blend well with video games, at least with what he produced.

>>3871498
>His life's work can be seen as early attempts to shift gaming's focus towards story and narrative.

So he spent his life turning videogames into movies where you can press F to pay respect every few minutes?

Good fucking job.

>>3871965
You can reasonably apply that critique to D and Enemy Zero since both titles just have you pointing and clicking through FMVs stitched together, but D2 is special. While linear, D2 has a fully explorable world that you interact with to solve puzzles, gather items, fight enemies/bosses and uncover secrets. Much more than I can say for the previous titles which just have you following prompts and occasionally solving a puzzle.

He also made a few puzzle games on 3DO starring a character named Flopon, along with a few minigame collections.

I really liked D2, D was pretty boring though. After playing Lunacy on Saturn I feel like that made me just have high expectations of D considering how much I loved Lunacy. Enemy Zero does have game segments too where you fight the invisible enemies but desu they're pretty annoying/ not fun

>>3871498
He's already a legend for those who know what he was like. I'm not just talking about his games, because D was an interesting experiment and nothing more (I'd say D2 was the best game he did and the one good game not based on novelty value), I'm talking about his attitude as a game maker. It's widely known that he thought vampirism as seen in Dracula was a bit boring and he wanted something more striking than just drinking blood: cannibalism.

"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."

Now, personally I admire not only his balls to commit to what he wanted to deliver, but his attitude as a whole because I feel it encapsulates what made (and still makes) retro games great. Back then games were a niche, emerging market that was still heavily influenced by the otaku subculture. It was a business marred by yakuza deals and shady practices that delivered products to kids and social outcasts. A lot of game makers during this time were characters on their own, and their games reflect a passion and a transgressive quality that's all but lost in today's sanitized million-dollar, no-limitations proper business that's lost its soul.

So TL;DR Kenji Eno was a badass and a legend to everyone who reads just a tiny bit about his work.

>>3871498
His games sucked and people only praise him because he's Japanese.

>>3871909
>He's a classic case of the artist being more interesting than any of his work.
This. I still loved D2 for what it was, there's no other game that feels like it.

>>3874275
>His games sucked and people only praise him because he's Japanese.
Hi NESFag

>>3871498
>a story featuring the protagonist Laura
>protagonist
>Laura

kek

>>3876642
Eidos doesn't have a monopoly on that name, and by the way, digital actress Laura premiered one year prior to Tomb Raider's Lara Croft.

>>3874275
I think he also has acquired a cult following because of the nature of the games. Keep in mind D is notable in featuring a female protagonist whose face you can see.

>>3878134
>Keep in mind D is notable in featuring a female protagonist whose face you can see.

>>3878159
Laura was also a female protagonist who wasn't painfully weeb like so many before her.

>>3878159
>>3878192

Pretty sure Kimberly is the protagonist and Laura is just there to move the gameplay along.

>>3878586
D, not D2.