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I’m afraid I’ll have to pass on this one, as much as I like Okami. I still don’t feel ready to replay this. It can be a huge time sink depending on your play style, and I don’t think I can play this game without an exhaustive mindset. I have all of the stray beads and could just breeze on through but it just wouldn’t feel right to me.

That said, I do hope a lot of folks get to experience Okami for the first time because it’s gorgeous and exciting, if not long-winded and repetitive at times. I’m quite looking forward to the casts about this.

I may be playing Okamiden around the same time however, as someone has given me a copy of that recently. But it’ll be outside the onus of a game club setting.

Been searching high and low for this game in town the past few day, but the bargain-mongers must have already snapped them up.

Looking forward to this if I get the chance to start in time though, I remember back when it first came out the amount of front-cover press it got from various magazines, and for its time the artwork and graphics were eye-candy.

I had no problem with the Wii controls, they do grate on your wrist after a while, though. Otherwise the only thing ‘missing’ from the Wii version is one inconsequential scene in the credits. Using the wiimote for the celestial brush is very nice, although it does take a while to get used to the game’s testy shape detection.

Anyway, can’t wait to hear what everyone has to think about this game, because I am an immense fan of it. For those people who are playing it for the first time, get on it fast because each GPP covers a lot of work. It’s a 70+ hour game, less if you ignore the sidequests, but honestly the sidequests are the best part

P.S.: bark bark bark bark bark

Gonna drop some HOT TIPS and explanations for things I don’t remember the game going over.

Now for some HOT TIPS.

1. If you’ve been acquiring Praise, you’re probably wondering what to pour it in. Personally, this game is easy enough that health is never super big. I mean, you got an Astral Pouch and GodHood, so I’d recommend getting some more Ink Pots. Four, five, maybe six or seven, before you start really focusing on other things.

2. Bloom every tree (including the cursed ones that attack you), and feed all the animals in Hana Valley for a sweet item.

3. Fleetfoot is useless, do not buy it.

4. If you learn a skill from the dojo and successfully do it in front of Onigiri Sensei, he’ll tell you to do it again. You do not need to do this, you can just leave, but you have to done the skill at least once for him.

About how many hours of gameplay will this game take? I’d like to play, but I’ll be pretty busy over the timeframe for this game club and want to know if I’ll have a hope of finishing.

I beat Okami on my first run in about 35 hours, and my newgame+ run in another 35. That’d put 100% in a single run around 50-60, given that many of my hours were overlapping repeats of dungeons and such. But also, I wasn’t thorough at all on my first run — I never found any of the secret springs, for instance. So more careful audience members might find themselves hitting the forty-hour mark.

I myself have no idea how I’m going to track my time, much less how I’m going to successfully divide my attention between Okami and Skyward Sword… augh, dilemmas!

I’m clocking in at about 4-5 hours from the start to clearing Tsuta Ruins. I’m now 6 hours into the game since I explored the next part a bit.

Clocking in with Rune here. Finished the Tsuta Ruins and going out of my way to pick up Stray Beads and get into tussels and I’m about five hours in. Having a good ol’ time!

I WANT to play this, but I have so many games I need to push through from all the winter sales. It’s a great game though, and I hope everyone enjoys it.

I played this game a while ago upon the recommendation of the community and I found myself not as into it as I thought I would be. I might have set my expectations too high, but nothing in particular stood out to me and I never got that fulfilling feeling while playing. It was Chrono Trigger all over again. I can admire the art style and see that it’s well made, but it just wasn’t clicking for me, yet it’s Zelda with doggies so I should theoretically like it. I supposedly stopped halfway through, so I’ll give it another shot where I left off and see if it’s me or the dog.

bark

For Wii users, the loading screen minigame that Arlin and Gerritt speak of is not for us. The Wii loads faster so it became useless.

Atticus:

I’ve managed to get a few demon fangs off the mash the button screens but none off the timed paw print screen.

I never bothered to check – does getting demon fangs from loading screens actually add them to your inventory? Or is it just intended to be somewhat entertaining?
Finally picked up Brown Rage a few days ago, my life is complete.

edit: huh, I guess it does. Cool.

January is going to be a busy month for me (going on a trip an moving at the end of the month) so I’ve been playing ahead. I’m on the moon cave right now and will probably finish it up tonight. That said, I’ve really enjoyed the experience so far, it’s really a beautiful game. It’s art style has helped it age well.

I’m somewhat surprised to see comments here and else where that people couldn’t really get into Okami, I feel it takes a nice departure from the typical Zelda style game but adds the right elements back and removes the stuff that makes Zelda feel so redundant.

Also I thought the brush strokes mechanic would get annoying but I actually really enjoy it, especially whenever I get to bloom one of the trees. So purty…

True but I guess because I’m worried about finishing each point with time to spare, I mostly just skip random battles.

Guide use is entirely up to you, I know I’ve used guides off and on when I get stuck since I need to keep up with the schedule but it’s not a requirement that you play without one.

That said, I remember most forum threads being like the situation you recall, posting tips on what we’ve learned and asking questions. It’s nice, it somewhat replicates the feeling of it being new again.

I just finished the first game play point, and I have to say I love all the details in the art. When you bloom a Guardian Sapling, the scenes that show the area being purified really make it feel like they're exploding with life. It really adds to the experience. Issun and Susano are probably my favorite characters at this point. They’re always saying something ridiculous…

I feel like they’re thrown in there for plot. In terms of the Susano scenes, he can’t defeat all those imps, Ammy’s gotta help him out. Same with Mr. Orange. His dance awakens some leaves, but it’s Ammy who has take Bloom the buds. I can’t think if any point where Ammy uses the brush herself with no player guidance, making you feel as if you are the only truly changing this world.

On the other the Konohana blooming made me ragequit my first try.

Edit: Susano is p. much Falcon24. His first line? “I’m…the greatest.”

Since I have a PS2 save in Kusa village, I’ll start playing tomorrow.

Okami does 90% of the game mechanics right. I just beat Orochi and I loved that the entire dungeon before it was a test of every brush technique and every mechanic that the player had learned up to this point. Everything from the characters Nagi and Kushi to the music and the gameplay came together in that boss battle.

The last GPP did have some low points: Backtracking halfway across the world in search of dogs was… eh. It was a neat way to give you some foreshadowing for the moon festival, but it all felt kind of tedious to me. I also struggled with the camera controls in the ball rolling part of Moon Cave.

Those orbs were the bane of my existence

Issuuuuuun!!

I haven’t hated a game character so much since Navi. Actually, I don’t hate Issun. He’s a cute little guy. I just hate that video game designers no longer trust the player to figure anything out on their own. This trend seemed especially bad during the late 90’s through the mid 00’s, and is really best illustrated if you watch at least twenty seconds of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM&t=2m10s

There are so many beautiful things to discover in the world of Okami, and the game abjectly refuses to let you discover them without stopping everything for Issun to go, “HAY LOOK AT THIS BRIDGE YOU SHOULD TRY CROSSING IT!!” It’s not even just gameplay tutorial stuff. You, as Amaterasu, are bringing the world back to life in new ways, and the game’s visual style comes alive (literally) as the world blooms. And then Issun has to open his big fat mouth and explain that your actions are bringing the world to life, as if that wasn’t freaking obvious. I don’t know if he ever stops doing it, but I’m 6 hours in and he hasn’t yet.

Ugh.

Game developers still do this, no doubt, but I suppose if I’m choosing between the lesser of two evils (1. unskippable cut-scenes that interrupt the action for tutorial bullcrap or 2. intrusive tutorial windows that tell you to press buttons), I have to choose the way it’s done now.

It’s almost enough to ruin Okami for me though. So much “Telling, not showing,” driving me up a wall.

Personally I don’t like Issun for the first 3rd of the game. He’s really annoying and the things he says make me cringe. By late game he’s not so bad though.

So, apparently the game accounts for the player trying to be a jerk. I was at the festival where they were launching fireworks, and I tried to put the sun in the sky:

I’m a sword/bead guy myself. Get in close for few hacks and slashes, and rapid fire some bullets to pick off any HP left. A good balance, I would say.

Plus the swords in this game are awesome.

I use reflectors and beads. Just used to it, but I think I swapped out my beads for a sword when I got one on my last plays.