Defining Okami’s Individualism Part #2

February 9th, 2010

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In the last exciting episode I began discussing some of the structural aspects which differentiate Okami from other games. This time I will continue the discussion, including the points which you probably expected would headline the previous article.

Lack of Road blocks

Zelda: Twilight Princess really threw me with its momentum. I started the game back on release in 2006, got stuck with the initial fishing mini-game (I’m still somewhat clueless, even though I’ve caught many a fish since) and settled for Red Steel instead. I returned in early 2007 and found myself regrettably stuck in the first dungeon. I left Twilight Princess until about 2008, where I’d made some leeway, pushing through another 6 hours of gameplay before being unable to defrost Zora’s domain. I scoured the land high and low and was still stuck, so I waited another year, 2009 by this stage, and after finally consulting a guide, the random, esoteric solution became clear. From there on out I kept working until Twilight Princess was beat. Often, during the final slog, I’d still find myself stuck again and again, thankfully the occasional dependence on a trusty guide helped me through.

Although Twilight Princess is supremely designed, these bumps in the road were large enough to keep me away for long amounts of time.

Okami is rarely like this. The path ahead is always clear. A large part of it is due to the reduction of challenge and open-endedness. Okami‘s segregated overworld narrows the opportunity to diverge down the wrong path. The dungeons too appear open-ended, but in truth are entirely linear. Okami also features fewer puzzles and rarely any that extend beyond a single room.

There’s a reason why the player feels as though they’re constantly making the right choice, it’s because Okami offers only one, while presenting the illusion of many. Hence my natural tendency to compare Okami to Zelda, when in fact Zelda achieves what Okami only alludes. As such, Okami is a very accessible adventure, yet at the same time makes the player feel satisfied.

Celestial Brush and the Environment

The beauty of the celestial brush is two fold. Firstly, the celestial brush ties the player’s actions to the environment in a meaningful manner which evokes positive feelings from the kinship displayed. Secondly, it streamlines the ability/inventory systems of games such as Zelda, by channeling all abilities through the single use of the celestial brush.

Through the celestial brush the player co-authors not just the avatar, but the environment too, which is pretty revolutionary. The player’s interaction with the game world is presented tangibly through the transformation of their surrounding environment into a much more appealing one, and therefore feels meaningful. Furthermore, the onus of this system rest on a singularly more favourable kind of player input, drawing, rather than being spread across an inventory of equipment.

Graphical Style

Being the visual embodiment of Okami‘s innovations, it’s understandable why people discuss thick-outlines and thatched patterns before they mention the gameplay itself, however, as my ordering supposes, I consider the other points, that of structural and mechanical divergences, to be considerably more important.

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From my judgment, game enthusiasts seem rightly sceptical of cel-shading. You can’t really blame them considering the Cel Damages which abuse what the style connotes by using it without artistic purpose. When cel-shading is used purposefully though, be it stylistically, such as in Jet Set Radio or for facial expression and character establishment as in Zelda: Wind Waker, we’re usually quite content, if not thrilled. Okami‘s cel-shaded environment, alongside the thatching and line work are such an integral part of Okami‘s cultural authenticity and so deeply attached to the context, that we can’t help but adore it. Okami is probably the truest use of the technique yet.

The visual direction furthermore intertwines itself with the celestial brush mechanic, by highlighting the status of the environment, pinpointing the trouble spots needing subsequent strokes and then rewarding the player with an accentuated beauty.

Punchy Dialogue

Not much to add to the headline, Okami is densely packed with well written dialogue, in contrast to the majority of games which are poorly written. Unlike the Paper Mario/Mario and Luigi series, the dialogue itself isn’t ultra stylised (and sometimes difficult to read), rather every sentence has a minor word, expression or style which adds flavour to the text as a whole.

Level of Polish

What I think surprises many people about Okami is that it genuinely doesn’t ever let up. Every form of gameplay that Okami has you participate in is untechnical and enjoyable with a high degree of polish. Every character is distinct and memorable, each with multiple layers in which to interest you. Some characters I liked for their perky dialogue, some for their character designs and others for their ultra cute, garbled voice. There isn’t a single part of the game which is incomplete or requires additional iteration. Okami is a champion against the “we’ll fix it in the sequel” attitude which is permeating throughout the industry.

Conclusion

Okami‘s RPG/adventure gameplay has been claimed to be “Zelda-inspired”, and loosely speaking, one can claim that the two games have a similar sense about that. However, as evidenced over our eight points of argument, the fundamental differences, most crucially that of the overworld and ability/skills systems, differentiate Okami vastly from Zelda and in fact many other RPGs for that matter.

Next time we shall explore how these differences affect the player’s experience over these 40hr-long epics. If you’ve completed both of these games, I think that the analysis shall prove worthwhile.

Additional Reading

Three Artists in Okami – Versus CluClu Land

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Defining Okami’s Individualism Part #1

February 8th, 2010

okami-ameratsu-wolf-fire[Okami’s massive 40+ hour play time is the sole reason for the lack of game-related posts on here in recent weeks. I always begin writing after I’ve finished a game and Okami‘s enduring length over the past several months has forced me to continually postpone my writing. However, I think it’s been well worth it as I have a slew of analysis lined up.]

If you’re unfamiliar with Okami, or just need a refresher, then the video below should prepare you for the analysis (further below) as well as the other articles which’ll follow in the coming days. For interest’s sake, I played the PS2 version.

Personally speaking, many of my favourite games are titles which take an established formula, particularly formula of a traditional vintage, and restructure it to create an experience which feels both reminiscent and refreshing. An obvious and very literal example of such a game is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. GTA:CW readapts the overhead 2D gameplay from GTA and GTA2 to the DS platform as well as fitting the formula with the modern design amenities which have developed out of the 3D titles. A less explicit example is Metroid Prime, which forwent the platforming genre whilst keeping exploration, the series’ most defining element, at the root of the experience. It takes an astute team of developers to understand what made the essence of the original subject matter (series, genre, approach) so special and then reinterpret this essence into a new format.

Okami, as you’ve probably guessed, is this type of game. Okami takes the established Zelda framework and tailors it in a way which feels new and exciting. To simply label Okami as a Zelda-styled adventure is probably a bit discrediting, as its divergences are what contribute to the game’s excellence. Let’s take a look at the way Okami separates itself, not just from Zelda, but from the established norm, as it’s here where Okami flourishes.

Movement

Being a wolf, Amaterasu moves faster than humans and therefore faster than most other video game characters (particularly in the RPG genre). Amaterasu’s speed is somewhere between the average speed of a car and a human walk, which is a little unusual for video games by virtue of the fact that either of those two ends tend to act as the avatar, rather than a middle point.

One could argue that Amaterasu has a strong likeness in movement to Epona, Link’s horse from the Zelda series. However, Epona functionally plays the same role as a vehicle. She is peripheral, whereas, Amaterasu alone achieves both the function of Link (slower, more refined movement) and Epona (a fast sprint for quicker travel). So, just from the standpoint of movement, Amaterasu is a very unique character.

Division and Dynamic of the Overworld

Okami‘s overworld, the land of Nippon, is broken apart into a series of smaller hub areas, rather than being contained within a single overworld. As we’ve learnt from the past 13 years of Zelda titles, a single, sparsely populated overworld, be it a field or an ocean, only increases the time of low player participation*. The segregation of Nippon into a series of smaller hubs therefore creates a different dynamic for these isolated areas. Firstly, on a technical level, more data can be rendered into a smaller area, allowing the developers to fill each hub more densely with interesting stuff like environment, characters and activities. Secondly, on a spatial level, the more confined space cuts the travel time between towns and other areas of interest, this is accommodated by Amaterasu’s fast-paced sprint. As a result, time spent in the overworld is not downtime, but rather a time for the player to engage in the abundance of choice that the Okami offers them.

More Killer Less Filler

The amount of time and obligation required to attend to these aforementioned activities (those tangental to the main quest), offer the player different degrees of engagement. Players can spend a few minutes fixing up the environment with their celestial brush or spend much longer hunting down collectables or partaking in mini-games.

The great thing about Okami is that everywhere (not just in the “overworld”) is full of these microcosms of activity. This is predominately served by the celestial brush which can heal various parts of the environment, but also the incredible number of collectables such a ornaments, stray beads, fish, dojo scrolls…the list is rather extensive, and as discussed in The New Gamer, it can sometimes feel like you’re gorging on excess.

What this means is that every inch of land in Okami is dense with gameplay, unlike in the majority of other games where the landscape is not a harvester for gameplay, instead often playing a meaningless, passive role, ie. Uncharted.

*Before you mention it, I am aware that Zelda:Twilight Princess‘ main overworld is split into several small hubs, however this appears to be so for technical reasoning, rather than functional. The overworlds between the two games are very different.

Additional Readings

Leap of Faith – 1UP Okami Cover Story

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Capcom gets Narcy over Okami Flak

October 26th, 2007

When Capcom announced that they were bringing an Okami game to the Wii last week, I was really excited. Finally the rumours were true, goodie. Although my excitement quickly waned once I got past the news headline to discover that it was a direct port of last years PS2 game. I was even more disappointed after discovering that there was going to be no extra content, nothing. Just Wii controls and thats it.

Its not just me that is angry, plenty of people are angry. Enough people to warrant this post from Christian Svensson(Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Research) on the Capcom America forum:

“A few points here… I get the issues, I really do, but people seem to be missing a few things. We selected Ready at Dawn to do the port. These guys are all ex-Naughty Dog and ex-Blizzard, and they have already shipped their own titles that have ridiculously high review scores and sales (and have more on the way). Their attention to detail and technical prowess is among the best of any team I’ve ever worked with.

If we wanted a cheap and dirty port, I could have turned around and picked any one of 50 houses and gotten it done for less and perhaps more quickly. Clearly, that wasn’t the approach we sought for a variety of reasons (for the fans, for the reputation of our company, for the potential of the product, etc. okami artwork

Lastly, if this were a quick cash in, let’s face it, there’s TONS of other products that had higher sales on other platforms we could have chosen to port, quickly and cheaply. Okami, as great as it was, wasn’t a huge seller on PS2 such that its quick and dirty port would be assured “sales success” on a new platform. We picked a huge game (read: expensive, especially on testing costs), with a ton of moving parts.

So, on the contrary, we have a lot to prove with this game and I know we, and RAD are up to the task. I apologize if I bristle at the accusation that this is a cheap port, but I do.

Given that the only port we’ve done to date was RE4, which has a 90+ gamerankings score and provided AMAZING value for the platform, has this really been Capcom’s modus operendi such that this allegation should be leveled at us? Zack & Wiki is getting better reviews than just about anything you’ll see this year on Wii, except possibly Galaxy. Shovelware is not what we do.

As I’ve said in prior interviews, we’re getting the game up and running first. The game is enormous. If after we have everything working correctly, cleanly and as desired so as not to “break” the amazing experience that is Okami, we will worry about potential enhancements. As we are NOT at that point in the process yet, we are loathe to even mention any potential changes or enhancements for fear of disappointing the fans/media.

So for now, if you MUST assume the worst, assume that you will have an amazing 40-60 hour adventure that is one of gaming’s most impressive pieces of art to play in fantastic new ways. If you want to hope for the best, well, perhaps we’ll have more to say in a few months, but for now we’re going to have to ask for your patience.”

This whole topic is rather interesting because I think both sides are justified. This is a port of the original game, there should be some sort of benefit for people that have played it already. Resident Evil 4 players got a number of improvements over the Gamecube version:

Adas missions are enough to warrant another purchase of this title(they are extremely interesting). Don’t know what I’m talking about? Watch these if you have completed RE4 already: Part 1 – Part 2

Capcom also should not get so defensive when gamers expect more from them. They are one of best developers in the world(second only to Nintendo IMO), so a port like this really isn’t their style.

On the flipside, it really shouldn’t matter if there is little in the way of additional content as this game is already ace. Bringing it to the Wii only ensures that the title gets the attention that it deserved(like RE4). Capcom chose an excellent studio to work on the game, which was a wise choice as this one isn’t going to be so easy to port across. My final point is that Wii owners should feel content with what Capcom are doing for the Wii: Resident Evil 4, Umbrella Chronicles(new trailer here, it keeps looking better), Zack and Wiki, Monster Hunter and now Okami. Over half a year ago I was concerned about Capcoms commitment to the Wii but now I am completely satisfied. Its a pity that other gamers haven’t recognised this yet. 🙁

To conclude I think that the most interesting part of this kufuffle is this quote:

“Zack & Wiki is getting better reviews than just about anything you’ll see this year on Wii, except possibly Galaxy.”

Its not like Capcom to boast about themselves in such a way. So this is very interesting indeed.

So what do you think about this whole drama? Be sure to hit us up via the comment box.

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