Induction
Assignment: Okami Game Review
(There were supposed to be pictures with this but sadly my laptop failed to complete this :( )
History of Okami and the Game Team
Okami was first released into the United Sates and Japan on
Play Station 2 format in 2006 by Capcom, later releasing the game in Europe a
year later. The producer Atsushi Inaba
created Okami to give the public a view of some Japanese culture, beliefs and
artwork. In doing so he hoped it would gain more of a public attention than
other games which were on the market, such as the Spyro The Dragon games. He’s
also famous for other games: Viewtiful
Joe and God Hand. Its director is Hideki Kamiya who’s also employed by Capcom
and the developer Clover Studios, who are also responsible for the release of
Okami. Kamiya designed both Resident Evil games and Devil May Cry. He continues
to work with Clover Studios who is now known as Platinum Games.
|
As you can see here, there was a massive difference
between the two formats in graphics. Even though the story is still
considered to be one of the best ‘grippers’ the wii/ Play Station 3 version
can and does steal the target audience’ attention.
|
This
was released in September 2010 in Japan and in March 2011
for
America and Europe on DS format.
|
The Japanese DS design for Okamiden, released on 30th
September 2010.
|
The game itself is believed to be aimed at people wanting to
know or follow the Japanese customs in life or admire cultural art rather than
a manga/ anime style. A lot of people who’s into fantasy, art of any kind,
nature enthusiasts or even ‘wolf’ admirers play this game also. Genres are
mainly fantasy, combat and problem solving. The rating (PEGI) is counted as a
12+ or ‘T’ (ESRB) for:
·
Blood and Gore
·
Crude Humour
·
Fantasy Violence
·
Suggestive Themes
·
Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
During this time a lot of Playstation
2 games were being released daily, increasing the difficulty to attract people
and tempt them into buying Okami. A lot of the games were sequels of previous
one, manga/anime, films or created based from the public’s wants in the target
audience age groups. Some of these are:
ü
Hack Series
Okami's
Gameplay
Another main character that’s involved
throughout the plot is a tiny person, who proclaims he’s an artist and has an
eye for women. Issun, as he’s called, rides with Okami dropping hints of where
to go and what to do, to the person playing the game. This allows the gamer to
explore different parts of Okami’s world, fighting against evil using a variety
of ways to combat. This can include weapons motivated by the Imperial Regalia
of Japan. These are:
During fighting stages, the gamer is on a
timer that asses how well the person has fought the enemies. This also follows
on how much Okami has been wounded, skills used during the battle and the
dependency on your Celestial Brush which will be mentioned later. At the end of
the fight with numerous and different foes, a screen will appear showing how
well you’ve done in the vision of a Sakura tree’s (Cherry tree) growth. A full
blossomed tree being exceptionally brilliant and a seedling being poor, going
on how well you’ve competed depends on how much money and ink replacements you
can achieve once the enemy’s dead. Sometimes the opponent drops valuable
objects during the skirmish; this can be later used upon a market person who
happily allows people to trade their precious relics and pottery for other
useful objects. This can be holy bones to keep Okami alive, mermaid coins to
transport the player from one place to another, bags of food to feed animals
gaining praise or Exorcism Slips that can harm the opposition tenfold.
The greatest gimmick in Okami is the
fact players can draw their ‘advantages’
to defeat the enemy further or use the special moves to progress further into
the game. Celestial techniques drawn by the Celestial brush Okami uses allows
people to do this.
Graphics and Music
When
designing the characters the biggest problem for Okami stood the fact he looked
like someone’s pet dressed in clothes, so the designs for the hero became
numerous. Other characters (female) like Sakuya became the problem of making
them too ‘naked’ as the game goes on through to the end.
Indented
for music to suit the same theme as the rest of the game, a Japanese style with
a naturist twist made the idea of making the soundtrack using authentic
Japanese ‘charms’ . Finally at the end of the game during credits, Ayaka
Hirahara sand one of the game’s best debuts : Reset which has won awards for
‘Best Score’ A soundtrack released amongst Japanese markets as a 5 disked set
which is now available to order online anywhere. Each piece of music relates to
the certain place or person it’s used for and at. Personal favourites are:
Issun is greatly mistaken to be a bug of
some sort when in fact he’s actually a creature called a Poncle. Poncle’s are tiny people used as Celestial
envoys and usually live in tree stumps. Issun follows Ammy around throughout
the whole of the game give little hints and tips of what to do and where to go.
He also is used for the comedy of the game giving wise cracks and having a soft
spot for beautiful women. He refers to a lot of characters through nick-names,
Ammy’s being furball.
At the start of the game, Waka seems to
be another antagonist in Okami usually appearing where trouble about to be
caused. However Waka is another person who slightly guides Ammy through is
quest through a lot of sarcastic comments that are very useful. He does also
like to tease Issun during combat battles. Waka is Tao Master and knows another
character (Queen Himiko ) from a group called the Moon Tribe who escaped from
Orochi’s abuse. It’s later known that Waka accompanied Shiranui to the
Celestial Plains and returns there with Ammy.
Sakuya is a wood sprite known to be the
mother spirit of Konohana and protector of Kamiki village. She’s the one who
summons Ammy after the revival of Orochi, she needs Ammy to revive and rescue
as many other sprites as she can in order for Sakuya to reach her full power.
Altogether there is 13 Gods (including
Amaterasu) that each grants Ammy a brush technique. Amaterasu already has the
brush technique ‘Sunrise’
These are 3 masters who grant techniques:
Water lily, Vine and Bloom
Master of Thunderstorm
Having heard this Sakuya, a wood sprite,
mother of Konohana and guardian of Kamiki Village, summons Amaterasu (known
from Shinto beliefs as a sun goddess) a reincarnation of Shiranui, asks for her
help in reviving the cursed lands and bringing forth other wood sprites so that
Sakuya’s power may grow for the greater good. Amaterasu befriends a Poncle
going by the name Issun. Issun proclaims he’s an artist and will help Ammy find
twelve other brush techniques in order for her power to grow. Soon enough Nippon
is restored to its natural surroundings.
During
the resurrection of Agata Forest, the pair meets a Tao Master called Waka, who
later hounds them into battles; Waka justifies this as testing their abilities.
First thoughts on Waka is that he’s an antagonist as he’s usually seen or
appears when something bad is about to happen, or makes sarcastic comments in
order to tease Issun when in fact they contain useful hints.
The
first Celestial Brush God Amaterasu meets is Yomigami, a master of
Rejuvenation. However in order to meet any of the Gods they appear as star
constellations, your job is to draw in the missing stars in order for them to
appear and grant Ammy their brush techniques. Towards the end of the first arc,
Ammy and Susano must rescue Susuano’s beloved Kushi, who’s Orochi’s sacrifice
or blood pact; recreating the events that started a hundred years ago. Luckily
the pair was able to defeat Orochi, on the other hand it released a blackened
spirit that carried on north across Nippon. After that Ammy and Issun voyaged
across the rest of Nippon, restoring cursed lands and helping many people who
needed their help.
Towards the end of the game Amaterasu
conquers on to find where these dark, haunting spirits are coming from only to
be brought to a wrecked ship that once travelled through stars. The vessel
resides in a frozen tundra wasteland known as Kamui where Waka reveals his past
of being in the Moon Tribe. He explains it’s a race that used the ‘Ark Of
Yamato’ (the ship) to escape from Orochi’s assult on the Celestial Plains and
tried to sail away. However unbeknown to everyone on the liner, sinister
spirits were imprisoned and destroyed all but Waka himself. This meant the boat
couldn’t carry on and instead crashed upon Nippon land.
Finally
Amaterasu and Issun stumble upon the final boss known to be the vilest, twisted
and evil being in the game called Yamu. The demon shreds Ammy of her Celestial
powers making her engage in combat at a disadvantage. Issun by then takes on
his job as a Celestial Envoy and persuades all those that the duo have
befriended, pray and think of Amaterasu allowing her to regain her brush
techniques and powers defeating Yami and any other evil spirits both in Nippon
and on the Ark. At alas Issun and Ammy depart ways unwillingly, where Amaterasu
and Waka depart to the Celestial Plains together on the Ark and Issun returns
as an envoy for the next person.
Unlike most Wii games you can’t connect
with anyone else across the internet or go into a multiplayer mode, reason
being it’s a solo game. There are not many special features apart from using
the Celestial Brush to draw killing off foes, or progressing further through
the plot. What makes it stand out is it’s graphics and a different concept of
gaming altogether by having some gruesome violence, yet containing cute or
loving clips of maybe feeding animals in order to game praise. This means Inaba
and Kamiya tried very hard to keep the target audience very open; in the hope
loads of people will play this game.
IGN.com
Electronic Gaming Monthly
GameInformer
EDGE Magazine
National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers
PlayStation Magazine
Game Developer's Choice Awards
Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA)
2007 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards
GameTrailers
|
Okami battling his nemesis, Orochi, who swears to bring
destruction, pain and misery to the Earth
|
ü Astro
Boy
ü Bleach
ü Dance
Dance Revolution Series
ü Final
Fantasy Series
ü FIFA
Series
ü Kingdom
Heart Series
ü Pokemon
ü Resident
Evil
ü South
Park
ü Spyro
The Dragon
ü Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles
ü Xiaolian
Showdown
ü Zombie
Hunters
Most of these games were produced and distributed by other
companies like Atari, Tamsoft, Konami, Bottlerocket, Comedy Central, Sega,
Square Einx , Matrix, Sierra and many more alike.
The gamer controls the main protagonist (Okami) through an
‘olden’ and whimsical version of Japan which is shown through various types of
watercoloured, woodcut and ink-illustrated art also known as ‘Sumi-e’ style and
other styles that were created by China during the Tang Dynasty, giving off an
authentic feel to the game making it more personal and realistic (in a way) to
the gamer.
|
Some of the games mentioned above, that were released
(or its previous sequels) in 2006
|
Ø
The Reflector
Ø
The Rosaries
Ø
The Glaive
|
Okami feeding a fox (animals are found in most places
during the game) a fox can be fed with a meat or fish bag. Other bags of
food are herbs and seeds.
|
However as the game goes on the player meets each one of the
Celestial Brush Gods who teach the gamer
a new technique to use during the game, on the other hand the brush can’t
continuously be used as the ink supply runs out and takes time to re-fill-
making sure the player doesn’t become dependent on the brush and instead learns
how to use combos in combat, giving more of a gaming pleasure to the player.
When characters are talking it’s easy enough to read and
takes the time for all people of different abilities to read as well, meaning
once you’ve finished one version of the person’s speech all you have to do is
click for the next. The font itself seems to be something like Serif with a
size of maybe 14-18 in the colour black; tips of what to do next are in
crimson.
However one downside to the gameplay is sometimes loading
can take incredibly long or during battles things can become incredibly
confusing, due to some of the foes maybe being a little ‘over-designed’ so it
naturally makes it harder for the gamer to see. Other than that it is an
unusual game that kind of ‘caters’ for a lot of people’s wants in a game
earning the public’s eye ever more. A
lot of people refer Okami to The Legend Of Zelda series, basically because
there’s little references to that game. Kamiya, the director, explains “I’m a
fan of the Zelda series and during the development of Okami I’ve gained an
enormous amount of inspiration from my favourite game series, whilst using
little bits during the design of this one”
|
The foe above is first found in the woods and has taken
over an old man and woman’s body turning them mad. Here Okami is using the
Rosaries to destroy the victim.
|
Okami’s graphics was
first planned out as realistic 3D. This however
couldn’t happen because of the Play Station 2’s limitations that
would make it harder for the developers if they were to
render the game later on in life. Another drawback was down to the fact the
protagonist, is very close to nature and helping the folk who are in danger to
bring peace to ‘Nippon’. Kamiya and Inaba thought of different Medias they
could desing the characters that would make them more in tune with their
personalities and the actual game itself. The biggest inspiration was the
Chinese/ Japanese watercolour art known as Sumi-e and a wood carving art called
Ukiyo-e style. Once the graphics had been decided this is where the idea of the
Celestial Brush became real. Inaba quoted:
‘I didn’t want people just watch the fight like almost every
other game. If we can use something that allows them to play a bigger role in
the actual game it could draw more attention’
|
To the right is the Sumi-e style of Okami and the rest
of the crew, on the left was the initial graphics design (realistic 3D) for
the game. Comparing between the two,
the Sumi-e style had a better resolution than the other due to limitations
of the Play Station 2
|
| design
now throughout the game. |
Identical to the game itself,
composers:
·
Masami Ueda
·
Hiroshi Yamaguchi
·
Hiroyuki Hamada
·
Rei Kondo
·
Akira Groves
1.
More Digging Here Bow Wow
2.
Kamiki Festival
3.
Reset
Okami’s Story and Characters
There are many people or creatures in the game that all play
an important role- some more than others. Most of the cast is based around
Shinto beliefs and legends like Orochi being the 8- headed serpent and Okami
being Amaterasu in wolf form protecting the people.
v
Okami
Okami or known as Amaterasu/ Ammy is based off a Shinto
belief of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. She has the power to give life and take it
away. Being the hero of the game, Okami comes across many foes and in order to
defeat them she/ he has to find 13 Celestial Gods who each grant the main
character a brush technique to use sometime during the game. A lot of people
think Okami is next generation of Shiranui who’s described as a mundane wolf
that defeated and sealed away Orochi one
hundred years ago before Okami/ Ammy ever appeared on the scene. Okami is
always followed by his friend Issun- a comedy breaker.
v
Issun
v
Waka
v
Sakuya
v
Celestial Brush Gods
1.
Yomigami
Master of Rejuvenation
2.
Tachigami
Master of Power Slash
3.
Hanagami
4.
Bakugami
Master of Cherry Bomb
5.
Nuregami
Master of Water Sprout
6.
Yumigami
Master of Crescent
7.
Kazegami
Master of Galestorm
8.
Moegami
Master of Inferno
9.
Kasugami
Master of Veil of Mist
10.
Kabegami
Master of Catwalk
11.
Gekigami
12.
Itegami
Master of Blizzard
Okami starts in a place, well a
world called Nippon, where flashbacks tell of a mundane ashen wolf and a
Swordsman fight for justice, against an evil eight-headed serpent called
Orochi. Neither Shiranui nor Nagi are able to defeat Orochi during their battle
in Kamiki Village and instead seal the beast away. This however is a hundred
years before the game actually takes place. Nagi’s descendant, Susano, doesn’t
believe in ‘old legends’ and tries to prove to fellow villagers of Kamiki
Village it’s all a lie, so he breaks the demon’s seal and Orochi is allowed to
release his destruction across Nippon, by taking away life from nature and
letting his minions roam and curse the land.
|
Kazegami’s star constellation
|
|
Amaterasu on the Ark Of Yamato in Kamui
|
|
Yami’s final stage when in combat with Ammy
|
Features In Okami
Awards
Okami won many awards over the years and is still classed as
one of the best games to have been brought out on both Play Station 2 and Wii.
IGN.com
ü
Game of the Year (2006)
ü
18th Best PlayStation 2 Game of All Time
ü
Editor's Choice Award
ü
Game of the Month (September 2006)
ü
Best Artistic Design (PS2 Awards 2006)
ü
Most Innovative Design (PS2 Awards 2006)
ü
Best Overall Story (PS2 Awards 2006)
Electronic Gaming Monthly
ü
Game of the Month
GameInformer
ü
Game of the Month (September 2006)
EDGE Magazine
ü
Game of the Year (2006)
National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers
ü
Game of the Year (2006)
ü
Best Animation in a Game Engine
ü
Art Direction in a Game Engine
ü
Outstanding Original Adventure Game
PlayStation Magazine
ü
Best Game of the Year 2006
Game Developer's Choice Awards
ü
Best Character Design
ü
Innovation Award (1 of 3 recipients)
Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA)
ü
Award for Excellence (Japan Game Awards 2007)
2007 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards
ü
Artistic Achievement
ü
Best Original Score
GameTrailers
ü
Best PS2 Game of 2006
Personal Opinion
I started playing Okami not long after I got the Wii console
for Christmas and I instantly fell in love with the whole thing. I personally
feel as though there are no flaws in the actual game but I do admit during
battles, it can get a little confusing due to a lot of detail and emphasis
placed on the foes so depending on whom you’re facing it can be hard to see
where you are. The plot itself has had me in tears due to it being very moving
and showing a lot of relationships throughout the game, plus the music fitted
very well with every aspect ok the game. I mentioned my personal favourites
above but even I like to use the audio for speed paints and my own animations.
Overall I would give this game 10/10!
Disclaimer
I do not own any of the images and found them on various
sites using Google Images. Below are websites I’ve used to find out information
as well as using experience from my gaming time on Okami (53+ hours)
By Eillisha Buccheri
