Talk:Oni/Early Story

The material on the article page tells us almost everything we need to know about the last iteration of the story before Hardy LeBel came onboard. Hardy was hired as Design Lead, and revamped the story to produce the version we know today.

• An inside source told us that the main story document was written by Alex Mendoza, who was a temp. This is rather surprising, as he's barely even in the credits (you'll find his name at the very end). I suppose if they had used his story he would have gotten a much higher placement in the credits. In any case, the notion of his being a temp, not an employee of Bungie, explains the comment "BWest thinks the game is going to end with her stumbling out of the rubble." He comments on "Bungie West" as if they're a separate entity from himself.

• It's interesting to note that all the bold names in the story document which don't have asterisks were in fact used in Oni, except for "Shin". Dr. Hasegawa's first name isn't given in the final story, so I guess it's up to us whether to believe that it's still Shin or not, since the rest of his backstory changed in Hardy's rewrite.

• If you're wondering what is the deal with the Orbital Mind Control lasers, read THIS.

• Konoko's crazed mission of revenge, in my mind, explains the look on her face in the intro movie after she drops from above. That's not the Konoko we know; it seems that the sequence was animated before the story rewrite. Note that the "aic" folder on the first Oni press kit disc is dated June 30, 1999, and Hardy came onboard around July/August.

• Konoko's vital stats can be found in the Unit Viewer screenshot. Although we could argue their canonicity in terms of this being the pre-Hardy era, at least these were her stats at the time:
  • Age: 23
  • Height: 5'5"
  • Weight: 125 lbs.
  • Hair Color: Black / purple hilites
  • Eyes: Green
  • Proficiency: Firearms / Martial arts
  • Favorite color: Black
  • Favorite food: Shrimp and mango
  • Favorite quote: Eat lead, bitch!
  • Blood Type: A positive
  • Background: Konoko Hasegawa was born in the year 2009 to Shin and Yuko Takamatsu, the First Family of the Blah Crime Syndicate of Blah City. In order to save her from a life of crime, her father--

• Salient facts we can glean from the above:
  • Finally we find out Konoko's age. Most of us have guessed anywhere from 19 to 25, so this is not surprising. More interesting is that her birth year of 2009 means that Oni does indeed take place in 2032 (at least in this version of the story).
  • The height and weight are nice to know, also not too surprising.
  • Konoko's quote is... memorable, but not very much in keeping with her personality in Oni.
  • Blood type, eh? What is this, Japan? Incidentally, blood type A is supposed to be "reserved, patient and responsible", which are the exact opposite of the Konoko we all know and love.
  • Konoko Hasegawa was born to the Takamatsus? Perhaps Hasegawa is her fake name in this version of the story.

• The "Kage Syndicate"? Interesting. "Kage" here probably means "shadow".

• The ninja being called a bio-chemically enhanced kickboxer... pretty sure that's a copy-and-paste mistake that happened when they copied down the previous row (Tanker) in the table.