AWOOOO

[lynxgriffin]

Tonight I finally finished Okami! I didn't get all the extra stuff (like all of the stray beads, the Bloody Gate, all of the praise, etc. etc.) but my running around netted me about 2000+ more praise, some completed sidequests and some more moves from the dojo.

The final series of boss battles weren't that bad. I used a bunch of exorcism slips on Ninetails, so that helped things go a lot faster. (Also finally figured out how to kill Blight faster than whatever I did last time.) The final boss battle was time-consuming, but honestly, I suffered worse injuries fighting the canine warriors. |D

I totally teared up at the end of the game, when all of Ammy's friends were praying for her because of all the good things she'd done for them, and it grants her the power to raise the sun again. Also, just the whole bit of Issun spreading his drawings out to all so that they can believe in her. So much BAWWWWW. (And I'm correct in thinking that Issun was the narrator all along?)

Overall, the game was so much fun to play, absolutely beautiful to watch and listen to, and the ending was satisfying. I think the gaming world needs more like Okami: not just for a different kind of play style, but also because it wasn't afraid to be a positive game, with no dark-gray-morality-grizzled-antihero sort of business. Your job is to save the world, and you do it by feeding animals and planting flowers AND kicking ass, and it's fun! It was just a great feel-good game that was also just challenging enough. I'd recommend it to all. :D


Slightly related, I have a question to my flist and others, although sadly I cannot create polls with this account so I just have to ask without a poll. Question is: who got you into gaming in the first place? (And when?) Was it family members, such as parents/siblings, or friends? Been discussing the gaming industry as a whole with dudes, so I'm curious. As for myself, I never had consoles growing up because my parents didn't like video games, so basically I got into it because of friends.

Drawing: Assignments and sketches

Writing: Nuttin'

Comments

[tegurunrampant.livejournal.com]

Okamiiiii--you see what I mean when I say it's one of the just all-around solidest games I've ever played.

And I told you in IM but I'll reiterate here to get the ball rolling: It was my parents and my parents' friends who got me into gaming with our wee little original NES and Zelda, Tetris, and Mario; I do not remember a pre-gaming time in my life.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

I do see! The production value was appropriately high in every aspect, and the story was also solid.

[purapea.livejournal.com]

My parents always had game consoles when I was growing up. My dad had a Nintendo handheld system which he had epic games on like Jurassic Park and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves as well as Tetris, and then we got a N64. I have a lot of fond memories playing Duck Hunt and Donkey Kong Country when I was like 6 or something. And even before that, my parents played a lot of Zelda and had like, a Zelda folder filled with hand drawn maps for every dungeon in the game. The first system I actually owned myself was when I was about 11, and I got hold of a bulky Nintendo handheld system and a copy of Pokemon Blue. And I've never looked back 8)

So I was brought up by nerds :D They still play video games now too. My mom is a mean Mario Kart Wii racer, and my Dad is working his way through Lego Star Wars right now.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Awww, I think the cutest thing is them making maps of Zelda dungeons. XD (I've only ever copied down maps for FFXII, because of CRAZY GUIDES.)

YAY NERD PARENTS

[wyna-hiros.livejournal.com]

My dad got us into it, although he originally bought the NES/Mario Bros for himself.

[deltashade.livejournal.com]

My parents had a couple friends with an NES. I think playing The Legend of Zelda (gold cartridge and everything) on their NES is my earliest memory. We picked up a Nintendo at a flea market and got a bunch of games, including Metroid, Megaman 2, 3, and 4, and the Jungle Book video game. I got my first Gameboy for Christmas a few years after it had come out. The first game I got for that was Link's Awakening. My aunt had a Super Nintendo, which was one of the only reasons I got excited about the Labor Day picnic when I was young. I got to play Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It all just kind of went from there.

Also, Princess and the Frog was awesome.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Wow, they were selling Nintendos at flea markets then? (I guess it would make sense...) I do remember playing the Lion King game on my cousin's handheld Sega thing when I visited some of my cousins. (That thing chewed through batteries sooooo fast).

YES, it is in fact awesome! XD

[tegurunrampant.livejournal.com]

fuck yeah gold Zelda cartridge represent.

[sillywhims.livejournal.com]

Exorcism slips are AWESOME. Best cheat in the game.
Glad you liked the game a bunch! :D

As for your poll, I think my cousins got me into gaming. They had the old SNES and we played DuckHunt and the Ren & Stimpy and Beavis & Butthead games (yeaah). Then N64 came out and I got that for Xmas with Banjo Kazooie (I have YET to beat that game because I am still holding my childhood fears of that game) and Wave Race 64, and I played it with my sister and friends.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I seriously should've used those things more often, they were so useful if I was scrapped for time. :O (I don't think I ever even used vengeance slips.)

LOL, I remember Wave Race 64, too. XD (And childhood fears?)

[deltashade.livejournal.com]

CHEESE AND CRACKERS FOR SNACKER

[wayya.livejournal.com]

It's all because of my brother, probably :) He bugged my mom until she gave in and bought us a Super Nintendo... I remember playing a lot of Mario games, like Mario Kart and Yoshi's Island. Oh, and Donkey Kong Country and A Link to the Past! RPGs have always been my favorite games. Then I got a Gameboy, and I mainly obsessively completed Pokemon Blue and Red.
Then nothing save for a couple PC games until I was able to buy my own PS2, in 2004. I used to borrow my friends' consoles but it was hard to complete a Final Fantasy in a week ^^;

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

I actually think one of my brothers used to own the original Gameboys, but they couldn't play it that often. XD We did have a few PC games tho, including some in German.

Guess it would be hard to finish an FF in a week unless you really marathonned!

[nalina.livejournal.com]

There were kids across the street when I was like ...8, who had Nintendo/Genisis, even a turbo grafix16 lol. So I played over there. Then they got a SNES... and we got a NES. Annnnd... then we moved to Colorado and my video game days kinda died, apart from occasionally playing Mario 3. Had few computer games (like a copy of Lion King for PC that I got in england XD), but wasn't until I came back here and went to a pre-animation course and met my ex did my video game playing really kick off again.

He introduced me to Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger/Cross and even Disgaea actually. |D Last game he got me was KH2 ;_; ...I'd just finished it bit before I got dumped (which was same day I was accepted into Paixao lulz) haha DX S'how I found Paixao... looking at a livejournal comm for fanfic. |D

Oh how things connect... /end story time with Jen

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

So wait, I guess that was back when computers could play games from any country? XD (If there was ever such a time?)

SIX DEGREES OF VIDEO GAMES

[fairytaledreams.livejournal.com]

I've actually been a gamer since I was like... 6 or so, when I begged my mom to pay for half of my SNES. Likely because of Mario World or Mario Kart, though I'd been playing my friend's NES for a while before that. Oh and our other mutual best friend had a Sega Genesis. Oh how I miss the original Sonic :(

Another friend I had when I moved the first time had N64, and that was the only time I could ever play it. Mario Kart~~~ I'm an addict lol. But somehow, despite never having the console myself, I was still better at it than she was 8Ta

I've apparently always been a nerd |D

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

I think the first one we ever actually got was an N64, and that was because a friend got it for my brother's birthday. (And man, I looooved playing Mario Kart when I went over to friends' houses!)

[sbcpanuru.livejournal.com]

My dad got me playing Centipede on our VIC-20 when I was three. It was all downhill from there.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that's way oldschool. XD

[swyrel.livejournal.com]

Hmm...the first game I ever remember being hardcore about was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I absolutely love that game! We had systems before that, but this game on the Super Nintendo is the first one I remember sitting down to play and staying there for hours.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Did your parents get it for you, or you play it from a friend?

[zel-lj.livejournal.com]

My parents, really my mother, bought a Nintendo 64 + Mario 64 for Christmas the year that it came out. I was 5, and that was the first system any of us had owned. We sort of just branched out from there. Later, of course, I went back and picked up some of the older systems that I had missed. Virtual Boy, Game Gear, NES and the like. I still play the Game Gear on occasion, to be honest.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

It is funny how people will still play the stuff on their really old systems; I think it was smart of the Wii to allow you to buy oldschool NES games and play those.

[andromeda-2.livejournal.com]

I think I got into gaming when I was like, six? Maybe seven? Two of the earliest I can remember were computer games, one was "Barbie's Fashion Shown", and the other was "Hide-and-Seek with the Moomintrolls". I remember playing a Bomberman game on the...Genesis, perhaps? You could ride on colorful kangaroos in it :D

I played a bunch of horse games on the computer(basically, games where you buy and take care of a horse, like grooming, riding, sometimes enter competitions, etc). I also played some fighting games, like the first Soul Edge(nowadays more known as the Soul Calibur series), and Rival Schools(man that game was fun \O/)with my older brothers.

The very first adventure game I played was The Legend of Zelda:Ocarina of Time, which I counted as the first "real" game I ever played(since it had a story and such - lol like the fighting games didn't XD). I was ten, I think, when I played it, and it's still my favorite Zelda game.

But to get back on topic, I think it was my older brothers who introduced me to gaming. I remember always being around them when they were playing games, so I think they pretty much influenced me into the gaming geek I am today :)

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

I mostly started with computer games as well since we couldn't get any consoles, although I don't think I played any of those. Kinda sad that I missed the original Zelda and Mario games, though!