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Okami
BaronVonSnakPak
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
100 Years have passed since the 8 headed demon, Orochi, was slain by a man, a sword, a wolf, and the celestial brush. On the eve of the festival to celebrate the demon's demise a familiar shadow has fallen across the land. The people have disregarded the gods. the soil and vegetation have rotted. the air hangs thick with ominous haze.
enter Amaterasu.
probably one of the coolest videogame heroes ever. a god, the mother of all gods, in fiery wolf/artist form.
okami is a 3rd person adventure game for the PS2 made by clover studios (viewtiful joe, god hand) and published by capcom. at first it feels like another zelda-esque adventure game. but soon enough, its own style of gameplay emerges and redefines the genre in the form of the celestial brush.
while holding R1 a scroll unwraps over the screen, the left analog stick controls the brush (which looks like amaterasu's tail), and square/triangle control the ink flow. throughout the course of the game you unlock more and more brush techniques used to bring back life and color to the world of Nippon. the brush can be used to bring dead trees back to life, create water fountains, bombs, fires, vines, and so much more. the celestial brush is not a gimmick, it is ESSENTIAL to progression and combat, its intuitive, and its just damned fun to use.
another unique aspect of okami is how you gain experience: by being a friendly god, helping out people, feeding animals, and bringing life back to the world will reward you with respect. the respect you earn can be used to upgrade your hp, how many jars of ink you can use, how much money you can carry, and how much food your astral pouch can hold. the astral pouch is essentially your extra lives. if you die in battle, the food in your astral pouch will bring you back to life.
the story is neck-deep in japanese folk lore, and at first it can be a bit bewildering. but after an hour or two, it really picks up. there is a sidekick, named issun, who tags along with "ammy" so he can learn the god's brush techniques, save hot babes, and generally just talk alot.
i had heard alot of good things about okami before i bought it, but every minute i spend playing it, it surprises me more and more with how amazing it is. im about 24 hours into it, and i honestly dont want it to end. every new area, enemy, puzzle, and technique is just so much fun and so unique that i hope this game finds its way to everyone with a ps2.
so, please, discuss. keep spoilers marked, aswell.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
BaronVonSnakPak on
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Australian Release: 14th February
Just in case anyone was wondering. I'm really looking forward to it.
How much is it new?
INSTAGRAM
Wonderfully unique, and doesn't need no fancy controllers to be innovative. Along with Katamari, MGS and Ueda's games, one of the best for the PS2.
and another piece of info: there is no voice-acting. aside from animal noises, and the weird gibberish they use for the people's voices. it can be offputting, but i find it adds to the game's charm.
edit: $40 american for a shiney new copy.
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
I might have to get it used than. Money is tight now that the Wii has arrived. I guess I don't have to feel too bad for buying used, now that Clover no longer exists.
INSTAGRAM
[spoiler:f8a30cf0c1]In Sei An city, im trying to get all the cherry blossoms....blossomed, so the little tree-head dude will do his dance to bring back the possessed trees. ive looked EVERYWHERE and im still missing 1 tree. yes, i looked inside tree-head's house, but i cant find the last fuckin tree.[/spoiler:f8a30cf0c1]
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
...yeah.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
NO
FUCK NO
[spoiler:42cbe0a9f3]i tried that about 5 times, and every time the ink knocked him over. DAMMIT[/spoiler:42cbe0a9f3]
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
yeah, the problem was that i was trying to make the circle too specific, so it wasnt registering.
on a different note, has anyone gotten all the stray beads? ive only got 21 so far...
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
why does it have to be a zelda to be your favorite? seems kinda silly to me. as much as i like zelda games, i find okami better in practically every way.
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
I finished it in something like 60 hours but I was very thourough. 35-45 hours would be more around the norm, at least if I remember how the last okami thread went anyway.
Edit: Also, this is my favorite game of this generation. If it weren't so easy, it would probably be my favorite of all time.
LoL: failboattootoot
I dunno theres a few problems. Like Okami being ungodly easy, I mean Wind Waker was easy too but damn you can like never ever die in Okami. And occasionally I find the heavy cell shading makes it hard to see a thing or two or looks very bad in some spots. Like the giant black shadow that covers you when you jump. Theres times when it looks zomgwtfamazing and others when its kind of in the way.
I also thought it was kind of odd being so corralled in during battles when theres no problem with big areas. But minor nit picks aside its a great game that could of been so much better if it weren't so easy.
I never asked for this!
My only problem with Okami is that the story line felt disconnected. Maybe thats not the right word but I felt throughout the game that you weren't connected to the world. Amaterasu really seems to have no motive to help the world. The difference between this and say Zelda is that Zelda has some sort of action that draws you.
TP early game spoiler
[spoiler:33e8aa7850]In TP for instance the kids are kidnapped and your the only that can go rescue them[/spoiler:33e8aa7850]
I guess in Okami you could say your doing it for that one goddess, but it jsut seemed that since Amaterasu was a god and has been asleep for a long time that he's not at all connected to the world that he's trying to save.
Also as random said the game is for the most part extremely easy.
Don't get me wrong with all this. It's a great game and I suggest people buy it, but since the vast majority of people are going to praise it I feel the need to present a different opinion.
i guess for me, i dont see it as a bad thing that okami isnt difficult. some games i play for the challenge, others for the experience, and this is definitely one of those experience games. it does seem like clover has a hard time finding a good balance though, i found viewtiful joe way too hard, and i heard god hand can be absurd.
edit: i dunno, khain. i feel extremely connected with the world every time i help someone, or feed an animal, or bring back an entire forest to life. it makes me feel like im doing something for that world, instead of fetch quests and random puzzles.
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
Actually, there is one other thing that pissed me off and that is the absolutely ridiculous number of times you see repeat bosses.
[spoiler:7806d4c267]All the bosses twice, orochi 3 times, and that stupid easy ass spider 6 times. Btw, the easiest way to kill that dumb spider is to power slash all her things at once.[/spoiler:7806d4c267]
LoL: failboattootoot
I mean, if the thing took 7 hours to beat and you could do it in your sleep, it's one thing. But this game has great style, pretty visuals, entertaining story, fun game play, and tries out an interesting new concept. I don't remember when people decided that games of this genre had to be incredible hard. It's like saying...well...
PSN/XBL: dragoniemx
In my opinion yes it is or at the very least you should be using healing items which I never found the need to. I think the last gate made me use one. Zelda at least I have to use the fairy every now and then. I don't think you should be dying left and right but I do think there should be some sort of challenge in fights which I really didn't find. I think this is a problem in all games of this genre though, and Okami has it as well.
Darlan: I kind of agree with OoT, but some of the older Zeldas are a lot more difficult.
Thief
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Anyway, does anyone know how well this actually sold in the U.S.? vgcharts.org doesn't have figures for it for some reason. I have a feeling it did horribly... there was no advertising support and the subject matter will likely frighten the Maddenites.
it took me just over 60 hours to complete, but i went for total completion. if you just follow the main story it could be low 30s. i fell in love with it, though, and had to beat it in every way that a game can be beat.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
This game is beautiful. The cell shading 95% of the time is, really, really nice. The music is wonderful at all times. The nonsense-sounds "voice acting" and the dialogue is the only real flaw in the game aestetics, and is really annoying at first. The cutsences are occasinally cheezy, but mostly worth watching. The characters are heavily stylized, but it fits well in the game world.
The game is, as others have said, really easy. I don't think that significantly detracts from it. If I want a hard game, I'll play Ninja Gaiden. Okami is very relaxing, and nice for unwinding after work, for example. My wife likes to just watch the game being played.
The main quest is not very complicated, and the quest log always keeps track of what you're supposed to be doing. Your narrator/buddy/sidekick is very hand-holdy and usually gives you pretty direct instructions on how to do things. Combat is pretty one-sided most of the time, and the bosses are all about figuring out the puzzle that lets you hurt them; again, these puzzles are generally not very hard. The final boss was the only one where I really burned through healing items, and I might not need to if I did it again.
However, despite all that, I found the game very engaging and rewarding to play. Doing the side quests and finding the hidden items adds pleny of hours to the game, if you're into that, or it can be skipped. Some of the stray bead locations are pretty crazy and difficult to get to. There are also bonus powers that can be found if you look hard enough.
The end credits are a rewarding experience, and I watched the whole sequence (mostly for the music, which is pretty excellent). There are a couple of cool bonus features that are unlocked when you beat the game.
Summary: If you are at all in tune with the Japanese aestetic, buy this game because you will like it. Don't expect challenging gameplay. Probably good for introducing young players to Zelda-style games.
[spoiler:d8c939e72f]Still took half an hour.[/spoiler:d8c939e72f]