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Okami gets Greatest Hits treatment: You now have NO excuse. [NSF56K]
Chance
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The Short Version:
Okami will be getting a Greatest Hits re-release.
BUY IT 'cause it's AWESOME.
$20(if it keeps in line with other GH titles)
Okami will be getting a Greatest Hits re-release.
BUY IT 'cause it's AWESOME.
$20(if it keeps in line with other GH titles)
Kindly, benevolet Kotaku points out that Okami has turned into a PS2 Greatest Hits game on us. Fortunately, it seems actual sales don't equal the Greatest Hits label, and the powers that be have given the public a third chance to appreciate one of the best games the PS2 ever saw. If 'Okami' is an unknown word to you, or if you're curious as to what the title's about, stick around and I'll explain. First off, here's some dates and numbers to get you all fired up...
Wikipedia wrote:Released on April 20, 2006, Ōkami sold 200,000 copies in North America in 2006. By March of 2007, the total sales of the PlayStation 2 version were near 270,000. By comparison, Ōkami sold 66,000 copies in Japan for 2006.
Released April 15, 2008, the Wii version of Ōkami sold approximately 280,000 copies in North America and Europe by July 30, essentially putting it on par with the PS2 version's sales in the same time frame.
For shame.
By those numbers, this game isn't very good at all, is it? But remember, if sales equaled quality Ico would have sold a helluva lot more than its (relatively paltry) 700,000 copies. Great games don't mean great sales, but goddamnit I want that to change! I want you people to get angry. I want you to get angry with your wallets, and I want you to throw those bulging leather pouches at the next fellow who offers you a copy of this game! Why? Why would I ask such a thing?
Because Okami is awesome and win with a chewy nougat center.
But don't take my word for it. Let's instead turn to the professionals and see what they thought of Okami. Ready for a shitload of quotes and a lot of 90s and 100's? And I do mean a shitload. As in whole bunches. If you don't feel like readin' all 20 of 'em, here's the gist: "Awesome!" Ripped from Metacritic and spoiler'd for size, here we go...
Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote:Okami developer Clover obviously put a lot of love into its creation and, as you travel the countryside, painting barren landscapes into bloom, that love radiates from the screen.
(92%)
IGN wrote:A game that any self-respecting PlayStation 2 owner should pick up simply because you've never played anything like it before.
(91%)
GameTrailers wrote:Cribbing the best of Zelda and mashing it with a killer aesthetic that’s both justified and gorgeous, yields a lengthy, legendary quest.
(91%)
Edge Magazine wrote:Okami doesn’t just successfully follow Zelda’s structural template and tone – a rare feat – it makes it its own, toeing that line with grace, ingenuity and a strongly individual style. That’s not only rare, it’s unique.
(90%)
GameSpot wrote:Okami's stunning good looks give it the appearance of a cross between a cartoon and a traditional Japanese ink-and-watercolor painting, and perhaps best of all, the game keeps going and going for much longer than most other games like it.
(90%)
1UP wrote:The entire production is treated with reverence and class, and this goes to show that you definitely do not always need the latest and greatest hardware for great gaming experiences. What you need is a dedicated development team, a distinct sense of style independent of processing power, and polished execution and interpretations of proven ideas.
(90%)
GamePro wrote:Okami shames them simply by being the genuine article: A stunningly gorgeous and unique masterpiece that effortlessly blends art and storytelling with puzzles and amusement. Miss this landmark effort at your peril.
(100%)
GameSpy wrote:It's one of the best-looking, most creative 3D action adventures in recent memory, and every PS2 owner out there owes it to themselves to snap up a copy to enjoy immediately. Truly magical stuff.
(100%)
Play Magazine wrote:The fighting is so nuanced and altogether joyous it never gets old for a second, and the bosses are simply stunning. Like I said, Zelda only better.
(100%)
Yahoo! Games wrote:The game manages to achieve near perfection on every level, from technical to story to gameplay, and presents the player with an enticing world that is impossible to ignore. Even after completing the adventure, you'll be drawn back if only to take in the world.
(100%)
The Onion (A.V. Club) wrote:The game's music is enchanting, combat is simple but a blast, and it all comes with a full cast of endearingly kooky characters.
(100%)
GameShark wrote:It's an epic quest of rejuvenation, elemental and ornate, in the context of an extended action/RPG/platformer. It’s built from artwork that upstages anything you've seen on a next-gen console. Not since Shadow of the Colossus has a game world been presented so lovingly and evocatively.
(100%)
PSX Extreme wrote:Simply one of the best games of the generation and I’d even wager to put it up with some of the best of all time.
(100%)
Game Revolution wrote:Okami’s single player campaign is one of the most ambitious we’ve ever seen, and with its score of collectible items, trees to save and animals to feed as well as characters you like and a story you’ll want to revisit, this is a game you could easily wind up playing twice or thrice.
(100%)
A true epic. It's a dog-eat-dog world in the games industry, and Okami buries the opposition like a load of old bones.
(100%)
Four Fat Chicks wrote:Okami has elements of many genres—platforming, adventure, RPG and action all apply. But there's more to it than that. There's something so ... joyous about it, in Amaterasu's happy barks, in her running, her jumping, her digging of holes. I found myself ignoring the game for stretches, just doing these things. I don't know if it's the way the controls handle, or the graphics, or what, but it's there. Okami is the video game version of Professor Dumbledore, managing somehow to be both gleeful and august.
(100%)
Eurogamer hates everything, right? Well, dig this:
Eurogamer wrote:Right from the start it conjures an atmosphere of being something special, but to keep that level of quality up consistently over 60 hours ensures that this will be a game that will be talked about for years to come...A work of art, you might say.
(100%)
Sydney Morning Herald wrote:The game is epic in scale and length, but its fascinating plot, characters and dialogue (impeccably translated from Japanese) ensures players will devour every second.
(100%)
AceGamez wrote:All in all, after playing this game I'm speechless. You've got to hand it to the good old PS2; just as the PS3 is coming out, the PS2 is producing some of the finest games ever seen.
(100%)
Pure Magazine UK wrote:A beautiful experience and a real must-have title. Possibly the last great game on PS2.
(100%)
I think the term for that is "uniform praise".
Don't like 'official' reviews? Want the perspective of a fellow gamer? Well, I like to think of myself as a gamer, and I have a rather passionate perspective on Okami. So here it is, in a handy-dandy compact format...
What's Okami got that's awesome and unique? Plenty.
-Wolf- You play as a white wolf. Oh, and you're the God of the Sun.
-Sidekick- Hey, Listen! I'm sorry Navi, but Issun is just better. He's awesome, we love him, and there has never been a bouncing, glowing bug so many young men were able to relate to so easily.
-Wood Blocks- The art direction and presentation are really incomparable to anything else. I'm not saying there aren't other games out there with exceptional art direction, but Okami is in a league of its own, visually. It gets all the big things right, and the little touches are simply boggling... Or perhaps there's another game where the touch of your feet causes flowers to bloom as you dash across the land...
-The Brush- No one's tried anything like this particular mechanic. There have been games where you can affect your surroundings, certainly, and sometimes it could have been easier served in classic Link style - say, throwing a Bomb where you need it instead of drawing it. But it just works so well. The slashes for combat, the blowing wind, the rain, the healing of trees, the ability to turn day into night!
the Celestial Brush!-Posivity- Video games can very often be regarded as a meditation on the subject matter. More often than not, you plunk yourself down and meditate on violence or evil or darkness for a few hours before flipping it off. Okami turns this tradition on its head. It is unabashedly optimistic, and it's amazingly refreshing to plunk myself down and 'meditate' on bringing life and happiness to the world.
What's Okami got that we expect - nay - require of our adventure games?
-Story- Epic. Huge. The creators of Okami took a bunch of old Japanese folk tales and myths and wound them into and around the story of Okami. The legend of Orochi and Susano-O is merely the base for a huge, sweeping story that takes you through...
-A Huge World- across fields, through forests and valleys, to the tops of windy towers, to the bottom of the ocean, to the icy crown of the world. You have a massive world to explore, and everything is gorgeous, or gorgeously dead and waiting for you to breathe beautiful life back into it with your divine powers.
-Characters- Games like this need people we want to help. I'm not about to list every endearing person you'll meet, but if you play through at least the first area and don't want or even need to make sure Mr. Orange succeeds in his Konohana Shuffle, I have to suggest you get off the internet and proceed immediately to a local hospital, for you are dead inside.
-Music- Never a component to be underestimated, Okami's soundtrack is as gorgeous as the visuals. At times elegant, intense, and even funny, the music never disappoints.
-Animation- From the grace of the white wolf haulin' ass across the countryside to little touches like a weary yawn before resting her head, it's clear someone spent a long, long time making sure Amaterasu moves with canine credibility. I also particularly like the haughty strut of the little boy playing Samurai. At its best, animation is an expression of character, and Okami is a showcase for it.
-Control- If a game doesn't control well, we don't like it. We can't forgive shitty controls, period. Fortunately, Okami (for PS2) controls perfectly. Not once did I ever have a complaint about camera or responsiveness. The platforming and combat and brushwork all come together perfectly, which may in fact be the reason for one of the complaints...
Let's be honest, it can't be perfect. Why's it suck?
-Easy- The puzzles you'll need a walkthrough for are few and far between, and for the most part combat is a walk in the park. Keep your gear and abilities up-to-date and you'll show the demons of Nippon who's a God and who's about to explode into a shower of flower petals! Give me your Fangs, scum! ...though I must admit, the last Wall-Man puzzle nailed me so hard I ended up actually drawing on my TV with magic marker so I could get the locations right. Yes the combat is usually quite easy - but it's always gorgeous and very stylish.
-Text- Can't read? Don't buy Okami. There's a lot to do, and a lot of people to tell you what (and why, and how, and when) to do. (And their own personal history, complete with credit report). But, if the first half-hour doesn't have you walking away in disgust at the walls of text, you'll find it never gets that bad again.
So, in closing...
Okami will be getting a Greatest Hits re-release.
BUY IT.
Okami will be getting a Greatest Hits re-release.
BUY IT.
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
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I am still yet to play it, I will have to get it at some point.
Is the Wii version the definitive version?
I just wish they'd do something like this for God Hand as well.
Depends on your perspective. The Wii version supports widescreen, 480p and of course uses waggle for the brush powers. No one's complained about widescreen and the resolution, but I've heard complaints that it's too hard in particular to draw straight lines and have them recognized. I've also read others suggest there's some sort of button on the Wiimote you can hold down to ensure a straight line, but this is all hearesay - I've only tried the PS2 version.
Edit: oh, also combat. I've seen people bitching that doing combos with waggle is next-to-impossible.
Personally, I'm very happy with my version, and think of it as the 'definitive' version the same way xWonderboyx thinks of the MSX as the definitive version of Metal Gear. It's the original - but I'll be the first to point out that a port of a great game is still a great game, no matter how much they mess it up (Orange Box PS3, I love you).
Edit:
Well, not everyone likes it. Some games just don't gel with people - I know very respectable folks on these forums who never dug Shadow of the Colossus.
I too would like to see a high-def version of God Hand. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Platinum Games has in store for us with Bayonetta. A girl with derringers for high-heels and magical hair attacks? Yes please.
I'd also like to know this. There was a lot of hype about the game coming to the console it was "destined for" or whatever at the time, so I'm curious if that version is much better.
Also, that first painting is awesome. In the second one, the shield looks like a frisbee. I guess that's awesome in its own way.
Edit: ninja'd
If only all gamer mothers were as wicked-cool as LewieP's Mum.
Like, I wanted to save and walk away after every MINI event. Eventually I didn't walk back.
The game completely lost it's legs after the Orochi fight.
One of the greatest games I have ever played, really, as in I have not put 40 hours into a game ever, but Okami came around and I was so memorized by the characters, the story, and the art that I went all the way through it.
This game was Zelda, except better than any Zelda I have played in a long time.
All the way to the end credits and that song, I just sat and watched, bummed that it was over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WXjvYQTRTM
I think this is also one of the first games I went through just about every side quest, not because I am obsessed with 100%ing things but because I just wanted to get as much out of this game as possible.
Oh.. and I LOVED the fact that they didnt use voice actors and instead used thar garbled stuff, to me that brought me more into the game, hearing the stylized voices really matched everything and did more for the game than cheap voice actors could ever do. My favorite was that dude with the bucket on his head and the flute, I had to listen to him every time I found him.
I KISS YOU!
Speaking of which, did anyone ever get that replacement boxart that Capcom offered back when the Wii version was released and people noticed that? I ordered one then, but so far nothing.
Thank you. I was startin' to feel like I'd taken a beating with the Crazy Stick after those last few posts.
Edit: Also, you're totally right about the ending credits. It reminded me of the credit sequence in Super Mario World where they take you back through all the worlds you encountered.
Yeah, it got impossible to find.
I absolutely adore that top painting your mom did for me, by the way.
As for the definitive version, I'd say no. I sold my PS2 version in anticipation of the Wii version, and I regret it to this day. The colors are gorgeous, and the 480p is nice, but the controls are just too damn picky. This Greatest Hits news is very nice, as I plan on buying the game yet again, just so I can get good controls again.
I ordered one and never got it either.
Yeah, I haven't gotten mine either.
Also I love the music to this game and I bought the soundtrack for it. It's so good. Especially the re-arranged battle music for
Everytime I play that I'm reminded that while the combat was mostly easy, that one fight, or sets thereof, for a bead certainly was not. I refused to use exorcism slips to just finish it and I was just relying on running around and dodging and all that jazz and using all my saved up inkstone and bones. It was awesome and the most intense part of the game. So much fun.
That said, I was sad I had to go to youtube to watch the credits. I don't know why they cut that. Good game, by the way.
Too bad this is still going for $70 here in AUS.
Disgaea and Odin Sphere is also getting the greatest hits treatment by the way. Too bad it's NA only though.
Whoa what?
Disgaea 1? Really?
http://kotaku.com/5035033/odin-sphere-disgaea-to-go-greatest-hits
Goddamnit though, they better bring it to AUS.
In any case, between this, Disgaea, and Odin Sphere all getting Greatest Hits treatment, it's a great time to be a PS2 owner.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
I knew it. They can use all the legal wording and lame excuses they want, I'm positive that they just removed it because Capcom doesn't want to acknowledge that they let Clover studios rot. They couldn't have just had the words "Original product brought to you by Clover Studios" or something equivalent to that in the opening credits? As it stands the Wii version was made by ghosts, which is almost appropriate considering the current status of the Clover name.
Which one?
Okami is the opposite of God Hand in all things except a general stamp of 'quality'.
Okami, a walk in the park.
God Hand, hard-as-fuck.
Okami, pretty as a picture.
God Hand, ugly as sin.
Okami, wonderful story.
God Hand, punch those guys. Now spank that girl.
It's actually pretty boggling, what those guys at Clover were able to pull off. No matter what genre they tackle, they looked at The Bar and said 'let's put it up there.' High hopes for Bayonetta.
I've never sampled this Disgaea thing (though I've heard good things), but as for that other game... where's that quote...
But it's worth noting, it's not for everyone. A lot of people complain that the gameplay stays generally the same throughout the adventure, despite the various playable characters having very different combat styles.
Heheh.
Bayonetta is more like DMC than God Hand really.
Mad World on the other hand.... *drools*
Also, while I'm at it, God Hand has the greatest ending credits song evar. Fuck Portal.
If you are a person who hasn't played a lot of zelda, though, you'll probably love this.
I agree.
Don't act like you don't like the Ballbuster.
They've said that they intend for Bayonetta to do for the action genre what DMC did back in '01. How will they do that? I can't wait to find out.
*
As for the Zelda comparison, I've loved the hell out of a ton of Zeldas - I'm somewhat alone in that my favorite is Link to the Past - but I'm fine without it in my library. I'm one of these folks who thinks Okami is just better. Outside of Link it's got everything I love about Zelda, but it improves on so much more (imo).
You missed a lot of great stuff.
Late-game boss spoiler:
It's a good amount, but to become officially part of the Greatest Hits lineup, it has to sell 400,000 copies (some other stipulations as well.... 6 months since release I think is one of them).
It's sad that Okami didn't get more notice from people. I was a manager at Gamestop when it released, and I can't tell you how many people refused to buy it after they asked for Zelda on PS2.
Literally, "do you have that new Zelda game for PS2?"
"No, Zelda only comes out for Nintendo systems. But, you should check this game out... it's extremely similar to Zelda, and it is a lot of fun. Definitely buy it."
"Hrm... no, I think I'll get Fitty Cent instead."
:x
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
You're the avenging angel of quality games.
Nice OP.
Personal prefrence and all that. I'm a person that collects every version of Zelda I can find (ie: the NES, GBA and VC versions of LoZ and AoL), and I absolutely adored Okami.
nope
I daren't. He deserves more attention than I do.
Also I can't believe no one got their replacement Wii covers. That's just shady.