{"id":2069,"date":"2010-02-16T13:10:32","date_gmt":"2010-02-16T13:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielprimed.com\/?p=2069"},"modified":"2010-02-16T13:22:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T13:22:00","slug":"okami-side-commentaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/2010\/02\/okami-side-commentaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Okami Side Commentaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ameratsu-okami-wolf4\"<\/p>\n

Finally, I’ve said all that I need to say about Okami<\/em>, and then some. The final scrappy remarks can be found below:<\/p>\n

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Nonlinear Narrative<\/h3>\n

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The nonlinear storytelling framework famously used in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time<\/a><\/em>, is also used in Okami<\/em>, albeit, a little bit differently. The basic idea is that the main story is a narration, and at some point the narration ends and another dimension is added to the story through the ensuing events. In Okami<\/em>, after the credits roll, Issun, the travelling artist, is revealed to be the narrator. Because Issun narrates Okami<\/em>‘s story as well as painting it to scroll, his position after the events of the main storyline are subtly revealed: he takes the place of his father, passing down the story of Amaterasu and teaching the younger sprites of their purpose.<\/p>\n

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Hour-by-Hour Ratings<\/h3>\n

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After I finished Okami<\/em>, I looked up a guide to see what secrets were lying under the hood. This play guide by zukowskc at GameFAQs, featured a neat little chart<\/a> which I though would be worth discussing:<\/p>\n

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\"okami-progress-chart\"<\/p>\n

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This chart rates each individual hour of Okami<\/em>‘s play length out of ten, effectively mapping out the interest levels of the player over the time of play. I agree with most of the rankings, but more importantly, I love the way zukowskc’s chart outlines the stamina phenomena I described in my prior post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Backtracking<\/h3>\n

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It’s worth noting that throughout Okami <\/em>there is a decent amount of backtracking. Fortunately, obstacles requiring brush techniques acquired later in the game are scattered throughout the earlier hub areas, ensuring that backtracking isn’t a time hole, but instead an opportunity to re-approach old areas with new abilities. I discussed this previously in regards to Metroid Prime 3<\/em> as well.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Viewtiful Visuals<\/h3>\n

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Stylistically people claim that Okami<\/em> is unique, I disagree somewhat. In the same way Super Mario Galaxy<\/em> is an evolution of Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat<\/em> (and before that Pikmin 2<\/em>)<\/a>, Okami<\/em> is an evolution of artistic techniques established in Viewtiful Joe<\/em>. Many of the same tricks, such as the pre-rendering and cel-shading, are shared amongst both games.<\/p>\n

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Get me that OST<\/h3>\n

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It only took me a few hours into Okami <\/em>to decide that I adamantly wanted to buy the original soundtrack. I don’t make a habit of buying video game OSTs, except for my personal favourites and it’s right there where Okami<\/em> belongs. The music is a mix of Zelda and Final Fantasy Tactics<\/em> with a nature themeatic.<\/p>\n

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Back of the Manual<\/h3>\n

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There’s a really genuine explanation of Okami<\/em>‘s cultural origins at the back of the instruction manual which is a really clever, necessary addition on Capcom’s part.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally, I’ve said all that I need to say about Okami, and then some. The final scrappy remarks can be found below: Nonlinear Narrative The nonlinear storytelling framework famously used in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, is also used in Okami, albeit, a little bit differently. The basic idea is that the main […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[176],"class_list":["post-2069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-discussion","tag-okami"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2069"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2074,"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069\/revisions\/2074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}