If I were to summarize Okamiden in one word, it would be familiar. The
reason being because it's heavy with references to and reuses locations
from Okami, its predecessor. The entire game-world and its inhabitants
are all instantly recognizable (assuming you've played the first game),
and its gameplay unaltered. Okamiden therefore creates a very cozy
atmosphere for fans in this sequel; one that doesn't alienate newcomers,
at that.
With a shift to a new platform and a new protagonist, Okamiden seeks to
deliver a sequel that lives up to its revered namesake while making it
inviting to newcomers. In this pursuit Okamiden succeeds. The gameplay,
the visuals, the music -- everything makes the jump to the DS perfectly.
An enchanting story accompanied by endearing characters complete the
package nicely. Though it hits a few stumbles along the way, such as a
lack of variety in puzzles, Okamiden proves itself as a sequel worthy of
its revered namesake.
Okamiden picks up precisely nine months after its predecessor. Nippon
(read: Japan) is currently enjoying the peace brought on to it by the
efforts of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, star of the last game. At the
start of Okamiden, that peace is suddenly disrupted by the appearance of
a new foe on the block who wishes to purge Nippon into an age of
darkness and anarchy. Like last time, the land becomes engulfed in what
are referred to as "cursed zones": vast stretches of dark energy that
transform the land into a series of desolate, unpopulated wastelands.
In addition, demons have once again starting roaming the land, causing
unrest and worry amongst Nippon's inhabitants. So, basically: the world
is in a complete mess. Again.
Though it seems like another case for Amaterasu to handle, she's
mysteriously taken a background role this time around. In her place is
her son Chibiterasu; a young wolf imbued with the same powers as his
mother, albeit in a less grandiose fashion. His godly powers come in
the form of an ability known as the Celestial Brush, which allows him to
alter, manipulate, or restore pieces of the environment, among other
uses. It's activated by pressing either the L or R shoulder button, at
which point the game pauses as the action is moved to the bottom screen
so that you can work your magic. The stylus works especially well for
this feature and feels incredibly natural. Drawing up symbols, such as a
circle in the sky to bring out the sun, or a straight line to cut
rocks, foes, and more, is a swift, effortless task. It's a touch too
sensitive to your brush strokes, thus causing some irritation when
accuracy is called for. Errors in initiating brush strokes are hardly
prevalent, thankfully.
One curious modification to the Celestial Brush is the addition of a
time limit on usage and the removal of regenerative ink pots (what gauges how
much brush strokes you can use; each skill taking half a pot). Every
time you bring up the brush, you're given 30 seconds (15 if your in
battle) to paint your desired symbol and go. The game explains this as a
simple limitation of Chibiterasu's inexperience with the Brush, though
it feels somewhat contrived. Although the presence of the timer or the
lack of regenerative ink doesn't make any real impact, the latter can be
fixed if you choose to play on the game's easy mode titled "greenhorn
mode" at the start of the game.
Because he's still a cub, he isn't exactly ready to take on the world,
let alone the task of purging the evils plaguing the land, on his own.
Therefore, he needs some help -- namely someone who can accompany him.
This is where partners come into play. Along his travels, Chibiterasu
meets up with a number of people -- mostly kids -- who, in exchange for
helping them, accompany Chibiterasu on his journey, if only for a short
while. The aid these partners lend is small, usually sticking to actions
like stepping on switches to open conjure new paths and opening
otherwise inaccessible treasure boxes. They're a crux element of the
puzzle solving, as well -- perhaps too much of a crux element, seeing as
nearly all the puzzles involve cooperation with your partner. This
wouldn't be a problem, usually, except that the majority of those
puzzles are basic "send you partner to press this switch to open doors
or summon bridges," which, while serviceable, get tiresome quickly. The
Celestial Brush doesn't often come into play during puzzles, either,
unfortunately. Or rather, it doesn't see much use apart from using it to
guide your partner around.
With dungeons relying on such puzzles so heavily, their design suffers
greatly. Exploring their winding, ornate passageways is interesting
enough, sure, but without any healthy variety in puzzles they lose much
of their luster. That's not to say they're bad, of course -- they're
decent, lengthy excursions -- just not particularly well built, puzzle
wise. Combat encounters are therefore one of the stronger aspects of
dungeon crawling.
Though combat is as simplistic as can be -- running up and mashing away
on the Y button will win just about any battle -- there's a certain hook
in its simplicity. Foes hardly put up much of a fight, requiring little
strategy be employed to vanquish them. The fun isn't in them being
formidable foes, though: it's in discerning the fastest methods of
dispatch. At the end of each battle, your performance is graded in three
different factors: time spent, damage sustained, and partner help. The
better the grade, the greater the cash rewards are. In order to defeat
foes swiftly, you need to make swell use of your divine instrument's
(that is, your weapon) attacks, your brush techniques, and your partner.
Simple enough on the surface, yes, but not always so in practice.
Enemies have a tendency of attacking from off-screen (the view of battle
provided isn't very large, you see), and Chibiterasu's movement speed
for his dodge move is hardly optimal. Receiving damage is almost
imminent. Your partners' contributions to battle are also minimal, only
dealing small bits of damage when their attacks hit, making it difficult
to achieve a perfect performance. The immediate solution would be to
get more powerful weaponry, but obtaining it, incidentally, also
requires performing well enough in battle to produce what are known as
"monster leftovers."
Okamiden provides three forms of weaponry: a reflector, which is a
mirror that you can lash at foes with; a rosary, a string of beads that
acts as a whip; and a glaive, a large sword whose attacks can be charged
for extra efficiency. You only get one of each type, with the means of
strengthening them being taking them to a blacksmith to upgrade. The
means of payment for such upgrades are the aforementioned leftovers.
Upon defeating an enemy in battle, there's a small window of opportunity
where, if you execute the correct brush technique (say, conjuring up a
gust of wind), will yield remnants of some sort of the demons you've
felled. Bones, hides, livers -- all of them are obtained by performing
what's known as floral finishers on foes. Opportunities for performing
such finishers are always heralded by a death cry from your adversary as
they collapse onto the ground, giving you enough time to draw up the
necessary technique. Figuring out which technique to use on which foe is
an exercise in trial-and-error, since foes seldom make it clear which
technique needs to be used on them to draw out trinkets. It invigorates
combat nicely, however, keeping it engaging throughout.
What your partners contribute most with their presence is in the story
department. Your many companions are all likable well-developed
characters who meld with the existing cast nicely. They're own stories
prove entertaining and enlightening as they flesh out their back-stories
through strong character development. Your first companion, for
instance, a young swordsman named Kuni, begins as a timid sort who tries
to make himself appear as some valiant hero like his father. Over time,
he overcomes his timid nature and matures into a strong individual as
he finds himself thrust into a number of dangerous situations while
accompanying Chibiterasu. It's well-told, heartwarming stuff. Scenes
tend to lean on the verbose side due to the slow speed at which text
advances and the sheer volume of words participants have to exchange.
Exposition sometimes feels like it drags on as a result. Lighthearted
dialogue and humor keep it from being a bore to read, however.
Chibiterasu's journey takes him all across Nippon. Many of the locales
you visit are taken straight from Okamiden's predecessor, which makes
navigation a snap if you've been previously acquainted with them. Some
slight alterations give them a feeling of freshness, but the lay of the
land remains largely unchanged (except in a few cases where areas were
downsized considerably). Old haunts like the small, tranquil, cherry
blossom-laden settlement of Kamiki Village and its quirky community
still manage to delight, while new additions like the constantly
evolving Yakushi Village (which you help populate, actually) entertain
with their new groups of inhabitants to commune with. Everything's been
significantly downsized to better accommodate the lesser graphical
capabilities of the DS, which cuts down on the element of exploration
and discovery previously present. They still retain their beauty,
though.
As has always been the case with this series, the art style remains one
of the game's key hooks. The entire game is rendered in a style
reminiscent of a Japanese water-color painting. The effect gives
everyone and everything a very cartoon-ish look; buildings and
characters have thick black outlines around them; characters are given
exaggerated designs; and on top of all that the animations are amazingly
fluid. It's a beautiful aesthetic that's well represented on the DS.
In terms of actual gameplay, Okamiden is very Zelda-like. Exploration
and talking up the towns folk makeup a good portion of the action, with
the rest of the game taking on some light puzzle solving, combating
demons, and undergoing side-quests. Exploration is easily one of the
high points for the many discoveries lying in wait around Nippon.
Rewards are usually healing items or small trinkets that can be sold for
cash. The fun comes not in retrieving your rewards, however, but in
discovering them. Not because it's difficult, mind you, but because
revealing new paths is constantly gratifying and encourages further
excavations. Towns folk also provide some enjoyable banter and
occasional tidbits of insight into the story, making it worthwhile to
chat with them.
Side-quests also present some entertainment. Though lacking in variety
(the majority are fetch-quests, unfortunately), side-quests in Okamiden
serve as a decent distraction. Taking on retrieval requests is what you
do side-quest wise, primarily. Most of them involve vanquishing
monsters, while others simply ask you to search treasure boxes in the
vicinity for the requested belongings. They don't hold much staying
power, though. By the fifth time you've found someone's lost belongings,
you'll be longing for something other to do than searching around for
items and people to populate the aforesaid village under-construction
(the only on-going side-quest in the game). They certainly aren't poor
by any standard; just not varied enough.
Aurally speaking, Okamiden places plenty of importance on achieving an
authentic-ness in its setting, with myriad tracks of music composed
using traditional Japanese instruments. A good number of them are either
lifted directly from its predecessor or are simply slightly tweaked
variations, but they all sound just as good on the DS as they did in its
predecessor.
Ultimately, Okamiden is a swell title, both as a sequel and on its own
merits. It treads on very familiar territory, which will undoubtedly
provide warm feelings of comfort for those well acquainted with its
predecessor, but doesn't rely heavily enough on it to alienate
newcomers. The beauty of art style is still enchanting as ever, and it's
story is engrossing and its characters endearing. Okamiden likely won't
be fondly reminisced about like its predecessor, if only because it
doesn't have that same initial impact as its predecessor did, but it's
efforts will still at least be recognized for its excellence.
