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TakaOkami's Okami (PS2)
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| [April 26, 2009 01:48:58 AM]
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Overview:
Okami is an adventure game based on Japanese mythology, with artistic license taken for story reasons. Shinto gods are often referenced and shown, as well as Japanese historical figures and artistic styles. This game was made by Capcom's Clover studios. Clover put out three series of games (Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and God Hand) before Capcom decided to close the studios.
Story:
The player Takes on the role of Amaterasu, the sun goddess. 100 years prior, Amaterasu took on the form of a white wolf which people named "Shiranui". She then killed a the 8-headed serpent Orochi with the help of Nagi, a swordsman in the village that Orochi had decreed must sacrifice a maiden every year to sate his hunger. The battle caused Amaterasu to become mortally wounded and she expired in Kimiki village after the battle.
The villagers erected a statue to Shiranui in honor of her deeds. 100 years later, darkness once again comes to the land, causing the wood sprite Sakuya to resurrect Amaterasu. Amaterasu emerges, weakened from her 100-year absence, to once again save the land of Nippon from the darkness that pervades it.
Gameplay:
Okami is both innovative and more of the same. It is extremely similar to the Legend of Zelda and other adventure games of its type with its standard combat system and exploration modes. Amaterasu attacks in a 3-d world, chats with people, and interacts with objects. However, it is unique in its implementation of Amaterasu's divine abilities (she is a god, after all). When the player presses the L1 button, the screen changes to the color and texture of parchment. The objects in the world are like brush strokes on the paper. A brush appears and the player draws on the parchment. Depending on what the player draws, the world is altered. For instance, a circle can cause the sun to rise or cause a tree to bloom. A straight line across an enemy will cut the enemy in half. A circle with a line partially crossing it will create a bomb that will very quickly explode. Depending on what you draw, a certain number of "ink pots" will be consumed. When you run out of ink pots, you are unable to do any drawing until they regenerate.
These techniques are not all accessible from the beginning of the game. The game is paced by when the player can obtain these techniques. Amaterasu has to find the 13 "brush gods" throughout the world to obtain her brush techniques again. These spirits are actually aspects of Amaterasu herself, left alone for a century.
One of the big draws of adventure games has been obtaining the keys that block the doors in the dungeon to proceed onward. Okami, while still having a few of these, gets around a lot of it with the brush techniques. Instead of a locked door preventing further entry, a puzzle that requires a certain divine power to proceed is placed.
Amaterasu becomes stronger in two major ways. The first is, of course, getting new brush techniques. The second is collecting "praise". Praise is obtained by performing acts that help to restore the populace's belief in their gods. This can be as simple as helping someone to catch a fish or feeding local animals. This praise can be used to buy more units of health, more ink pots, a larger wallet, or larger astral pouch.
A life system isn't really used in Okami. Amaterasu carries an astral pouch, which is a container for food that you find in the game. If you run out of health in battle or otherwise, the astral pouch revives you, assuming it is full. If the astral pouch is not there to save you, you respawn at your last save.
Conclusion:
This is a wonderful game that everyone should play. The art style is very Japanese, the story is well-based in mythology, and the gameplay is extremely unique. A fun activity I found is to study a bit of Shinto mythology, or at least Japanese history, then seeing where the the designers got their inspiration from. Numerous parallels are apparent if you know the subject material. Even without knowing this, the game is solid and enjoyable.
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TakaOkami's Okami (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Tuesday 10 March, 2009
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