Okami (PS2, 2006)
Graphics-9 Sound-8.5 Control-7.5/7* Challenge-6 Story-6.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-6.5/7** Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Drawing with the brush
**Some digging mini-game and blockhead challenges
+
Great art direction drawing inspiration from Japanese mythology and an older style of JP art
Partially non-random battle encounters (get teleported inside a battle arena surrounded by walls upon touching an enemy, can escape from it but you lose godhood* levels). You also face a few enemies outside of these encounters
Zelda-style gameplay and world layout with some added RPG elements (exp point leveling w/ manual skill allocation on level up (HP (can also be upgraded with found items), ink capacity, astral pouch charges, purse/wallet size) overworld and dungeons, villages w/ shops (some traders outside of them), some puzzles, manual jumping here, cracked bombable walls, buy new combat moves at the dojo near the beginning which are then taught by a trainer, various hidden items, puzzle element to bosses)
Some memorable characters (Issun - jokester/pervert, Waka, the wall enemy in the forest ruins, Susano in that he's a descendant of a hero that is actually a failure, Kaguya)
Some innovative gameplay (draw shapes on the screen with a brush pointer to use spells - can hit more than one target with one stroke, gameplay pauses while drawing but certain bosses can override this pause)
Some interesting spells and tools (spells: sunrise and crescent, create fires (also works like a smart bomb if you draw it bigger though it uses more ink), plant regeneration, create lily pad platforms on water and with wind (make hanging flags/pennants blow horizontally so you can temporarily walk on them), wind gusts that affect various objects and enemies including the lily pad platforms, swing towards certain mid-air platforms - this is kinda similar to the Bash ability used later on in Ori except here there's no time limit when holding the button to aim, slow down target; tools: thief's glove - steal from enemies via issun, peace bell - keep encounter scrolls away, counter dodge - do damage with the dodge move)
Well realized world restoration theme
Default item magnet for coins (but not for other items - can buy an item that upgrades it) and wall jump move
Quest and tutorial message logs
Can move around while checking the map for an area (semi-transparent). Can also zoom the main map out both to a regional one and to a map of the entire world (which is based on old Japan). The area map marks save points, warp points and eventually the cat statues for you
Day/night cycle (different NPC behaviors, can only encounter certain monsters at night and the scroll encounters will chase you at night, white glowing spots (optional buried items) are visible at night) - Can fastforward to morning with the sunrise spell and later on vice versa with the crescent spell
Pretty good dialogue overall
Astral pouch item saves you from death (Zelda 3 fairies)
Some mini-games (dig up the turnips without getting hit by an NPC - meh, fishing - decent once learned, well digging (2D side view) - pretty good and similar to Boulder Dash or Solomon's Key mixed with Lemmings though it can get frustrating if trying to explore for extra money as you can't simply make the NPC stop nor make them move upwards without a water "elevator" - also can't use inkfinity here, transport NPCs to their destinations by blowing lily pad platforms around under a time limit - decent except for the camera screwing up at times, thief on foot races - pretty good if a bit drawn out, runner on foot races - mostly too easy, make a large snowball by rolling it into lumps of snow - boring)
Pretty good environmental interaction (fixing broken buildings/statues, feeding wild animals, cutting up trees/statues/grass/boulders, ). Some larger scale environmental changes (restoring the water in the forest ruins, )
Enemy bestiary with some combat tips as well as an animal bestiary (friendly animals which can be fed for exp)
Find hidden clover spots and other items when backtracking through restored hostile areas or to previous rooms in some dungeons
Can block by equipping your first weapon as a sub weapon (also lets you do a counter finisher move against some other enemies)
Get better demon fang/special money rewards from enemies by using the right finishers and beating them quickly+without taking damage (the bestiary generally doesn't tell you which brush technique to use though)
Upgradeable weapons (attack power only) with gold dust items and upgradeable amount of bombs on screen at certain springs. These are at a limited supply which increases as you progress - some can be bought at certain shops and some are gained as rewards for the bounty hunts
Some scripted events during exploration (floor falling down in the forest ruins for example)
Some decent-good puzzles (spatial awareness, contraption puzzle and some timing puzzles in wawku shrine, can get underwater chests with slashes - the contents float up, disperse breath attacks with wind, cannon in third dungeon, some platforming puzzles with cat statues on oni island, etc.)
Blurs the line between hostile area and town at one point (also creates a decent sense of vulnerability here as you have to fight without your brush powers)
Some warps/teleports (visited mermaid springs - costs 1 coin per teleport until you get the fountain spell in the mid-game) - can be used about 8-10h into the game. Later on you can buy an artifact/tool which lets you teleport between visited save points as well
Various sequence breaking possibilities in new game+ (by switching skins/using karmic transformers in mid-air to jump infinitely - more with out of bounds glitches). Can also skip some forced encounters by avoiding the trigger points in the regular game, and skip the double jump move by wall jumping against created trees at some points.
Shows enemy and boss health bars
Some systemic elements (elemental effects like wind putting out fire and how it affects various objects like fans and flags as well as animals, enemies can accidentally hit each other)
Some memorable locations (being tiny in the imperial palace and treestump village, the third dungeon (moon cave, orochi's lair) is connected to an enemy town of sorts - nice change of pace, oni island coast and dungeon)
Can draw a shirt design in sei-an city and see the game respond to this by having kids in that town emulate the design in their drawings
Some decent humour (slapstick, silly)
Dynamic music transition when going up to waka's house in sei-an city (not elsewhere though)
Some NPCs also travel around the world a bit making it feel more alive (most stand in place or perform some repeated task in one spot however and those who travel also stand in place until talked to outside of cutscene appearances)
Fight alongside an NPC for two boss fights
Some good bosses (Waka, canine warriors, oni island boss/9-tailed fox, final boss besides some camera issues and cutscene interruptions - various forms and makes good use of nearly all spells) and some decent (last phase of orochi, imperial palace boss (blight the samurai ghost), foxes, Rao/dark lord 1, wolfguy/oki, the owls though the ice element source seems to have no use)
+/-
Linear overarching structure (after the second hostile area you can do a couple of side quests per area - sometimes 3+, mostly straightforward dungeon areas, some backtracking to previous areas with new abilities to progress including some towns)
Evenly placed save points (multiple slots, shows current area and time taken)
Many collectables (100 optional stray beads for an OP weapon)
Some forced encounters (can escape from some of them but not others, can't escape from gate encounters, can skip some of them by moving around the trigger point). Sometimes have to clear special "gate" encounters on the overworld to progress as clearing them changes the environment, making the game a bit more combat-focused than most Zeldas
Mostly lighthearted tone
Partial control config (camera axis inversion only) - not really needed though
Crazy Taxi-style arrows showing you where to go in some areas early on (can't be toggled off - optional map markers or manual ones would've been preferable). Generally the game uses map markers instead though
Some sexual elements (Issun is a horny little bug, Sakuya) and some scatological humour (two optional special attacks are literally peeing and shitting on the enemy)
Respawning pots
Can bite most NPCs as well as hit them with spells - nothing happens besides a short animation though. Can also carry the children of groups of animals for a bit but if you "kidnap" them they automatically respawn with their group. The trainer NPC can be tackled and at certain points he'll attack you once
Automatic jumping into and out of water at specific points
Very short time limit/stamina meter when surface swimming or moving in cursed zones - only lose a bit of HP and respawn where you jumped in from drowning though. In the late game you can buy an artifact that removes this limit and lets you swim upstreams (optional and not used for much)
Semi-silent protagonist (generally acts like a tame wolf and communicates like one but Issun can also hear what it's thinking somehow)
Various fetch quests
Weird how you can't just break the big boulder outside the first village yourself without doing things for Susano when you end up doing it anyway (the whole helping without giving yourself away thing is kinda funny but also doesn't really make sense). Also weird how you can't use bombs to remove leaf piles or disturb the elevator operator in the moon cave nor use the fuse of a lit bomb as a fire source to melt ice
Can't use brush cuts to propel objects like the crystal ball forwards - can use them to reflect some enemies' projectiles back at them
Kinda funny how you're encouraged to cut trees and statues apart everywhere when there's a restoration theme
Can dodge cancel an attack animation
Regenerating ink meter - can upgrade its speed with an item that costs fangs though the temporary infinite ink items are pretty cheap anyway
Unlockable skins and artwork (get S ranks in the different categories when completing the game: deaths, kills, money and fangs, praise/exp)
The map system spoils the sub area/room/floor layout when getting to a new one (the cursed zones act like a fog of war however and hidden paths aren't shown). Found dungeon maps show more detail+the outlines of unexplored rooms and let you switch between floors
Some OP attacks - smart bomb-style items and the fire sphere spell
Pretty short second and fourth (ship) dungeons
Some optional grinding for combat moves and items bought with horns (if you explore thoroughly you should find enough treasure to sell for required items)
Can't combine double jumping and wall jumping in one jump.
Various QTEs
Can extend your combos but they're pretty basic (you just mash the same button as fast as possible regardless of the weapon used)
Catwalk (ninja gaiden-style wall climb) is a cool ability but feels a bit limited in that you can only use it at cat statues
Some aspects are basically ripped from Zelda (toss money into springs to get upgrades, the spider enemies, the underground caves that are just a room with some items in it, sea monster dungeon, many breakable pots)
Some fun platforming gimmicks in the oni island dungeon
Some optional bosses (three giant spiders similar to the first main one) - these are all equally difficult though and they're all easy
Can't become small at will - only at two entrances to areas - so the hammer item that transforms you is used more like a key
The hardhead/upgraded tackle move seems pointless since it just lets you tackle what you can already cut at your current power slash level
The game is pretty forgiving about falling into pits - lose 1 HP and respawn where you last stood on solid ground (Zelda 3)
Can't dash during combat
No gameplay use for the custom brush technique design you get to create in Ponc'tan - it just shows up at the end of the staff roll
-
Kinda slow and long intro (unskippable unless playing a new game+ game) and mostly unskippable cutscenes which are also pretty frequent though generally not that long. Some of these cutscenes are also rather slow.
Various control/interface issues (cutscene dialogue can't be sped up and it's pretty frequent - various dialogue scenes using in-game graphics are considered cutscenes by the game (fixed in Wii and HD versions), some camera issues (kinda slow rotation which also slows down while moving (can press R3 for a quick turn however), sometimes can't rotate the view though it's kind of rare - can't do it indoors nor in cramped parts of some sub areas, some problems when close to walls), some automatic camera focusing on the current target (which is automatically picked) during combat, somewhat poor control over the running move (auto-activates after a few steps or after tackling but then you have to run for a while to trigger the fastest version of it and this charge time can't be upgraded), brush control is kinda stiff (probably better on Wii) and the hit detection is inconsistent, sometimes you'll cut something behind what you were aiming at when using that spell, minor cutscene when the game switches between day and nighttime - can skip it though, can't place your own map markers, very little text per logbook page, pretty slow surface swimming, sometimes sloppy hit boxes (moon cave entrance for example), the map doesn't mark the guardian statues or the leaf piles scattered across the game world, minor delay before you can dodge after landing from a jump, stop running when moving between sub areas, air dashing cancels your running momentum, if a sub area has a high and low part then the mini-map shows only the one you're currently on, sometimes too easy to ge semi-stick on walls and other objects when moving around, sometimes can't wall jump where it seems like you should be able to, no text on the mini-map - not even the current location name is shown, repeats some item explanations and tutorial messages, can't put out fire on yourself with wind, mermaid coins (teleportation) are wasted if you're in mid-air while using them, some issues with placing bombs and the fire spell on the z-plane (the bombs can end up on the other side of doors for example), inconsistent item grabbing mechanics while being ridden by Issun, the camera sometimes turns toward the door you just passed through so that holding up makes you go back again, weird how the game says "good job" every time you pull off a new move or combo during training even if you did it wrong, sometimes when you clearly draw a wind spell the game interprets it as a lily pad instead, inconsistent wall climbing controls at the cat tower - sometimes you let go right after latching on, in the 2D digging segments you can't push yourself into a space under a block if you move up against it in mid-air, running up the edge of a slope or stair makes you go into mid-air and lose some momentum, tying an element to a target or a vine flower to a target can be interpreted as a wind spell by the game, unskippable staff roll)
Starts out very easy and feels like a tutorial for ~1-2 hours (tutorial messages also pause the action since there's no proper VA). It actually takes about 6h+ to get to a proper dungeon (the forest ruins) if you do the sidequests up to that point.
Plenty of dead space and some backtracking (for example between the sunken ship and sei-an city (and the height where you lower the sea level around the ship) due to how the game leads you into the ship before you can enter its dungeon)
Some trial & error (part of the chase segment in the northern forest, have to pass through the small blue gate near the tree in the village after beating orochi or you can't progress (makes sakuya appear) - then have to talk to susano and kushi several times to be able to progress, oddly specific solution to the stone fruit puzzle near the water dragon - have to hit the arrow in mid-air with the yellow water next to the archer (no clue that you're on the right track when hitting the archer himself or his bow while he's firing), godhood level isn't explained in-game, can't examine the glowing water outside the dojo nor the green glow near the fortuneteller nor the blue glow near mrs. cutter's, can't see why you can't buy more than the first two moves at the dojo at first, the locations of the bounty hunt monsters - can't tell from looking at the encounter flags, some unexpected QTE-like segments during cutscenes where you help NPCs with brush spells, the fishing mechanics aren't explained beforehand, can't solve the mrs. cutter puzzle until after a certain point (after the second town?) and she's awake when you can solve it by dragging her into the moonlight, some boss and enemy patterns, dodging the owls' grab attacks and figuring out what the purple one's elemental weakness is)
Invisible walls here and there (and sometimes there are low walls at the edge of platforms where you have to jump to get past them - would've been better if you could just dash through these, later on in the imperial palace you'd want these to be there but then they are not)
Some tedious aspects (the game is too anal about hitting exactly right with the brush when taking out the blockhead/wall NPCs - gets rather annoying during the later encounters with it, Issun interrupts you a bit too much and sometimes he or tutorial messages tell you things that you've already discovered on your own, Issun also spoils various puzzles in the first 12 hours or so of the game and sometimes later on as well - the game should've let the player ask him when they got stuck instead, pretty frequent loading (usually not that long but each sub area/room is generally pretty small and the game even loads after each animal feeding), rolling acorns/balls up a slope in the forest - optional and not really worth the exp though, no save point in the forest until reaching the ruins, repeatedly pausing the game to use brush techniques/spells makes the game not flow as well as it could've - would've worked better with motion or touch controls (see the wii or HD ver. - on PC you can draw with the mouse) or with a button combination replacing the drawing action after you've done it once in an area (or possibly using a second controller to draw the shapes in real-time for an asymmetric co-op mode), get the crescent/nighttime spell pretty late, keep finding food for the astral pouch even if it's full - could've been replaced by ink/money/hp, climbing the cat tower - a bit too long and repetitive+the control issues)
Pretty cliché story at its core (a magical sword which seals an evil god away gets removed, find the x powers to be able to restore the world, etc.)
There should've been an option to make using the brush not activate a different music track each time
Amaterasu sometimes does moves during cutscenes that you can't do in-game
Some difficulty dips (mostly simplistic puzzles in the oni island dungeon, easy first main boss and pretty easy second boss, some of the enemies in the third dungeon are easier than the ones in the previous one, easy mini-games in sei-an city and they're just the digging and fishing games repeated again, water dragon dungeon, races 5-7 against the evil being scroll) and a few spikes (log ride segment, some fishing, third race and fourth race against the evil being scroll (sometimes jumping right after landing doesn't register in the third one with the spiked hedges), )
The make believe voices can get on your nerves and can't be turned off - voice volume added in later versions
No hard mode
Some fake dialogue choices (choosing to "pick a fight" with the canine warriors that challenge you - can feed them but nothing happens besides getting some praise)
Restored clovers give very little praise/exp each
Controlling the emperor would've been more interesting if you had to impersonate him in front of the guards via the dialogue
Pretty short draw distance (pop-up) on animals and some smaller objects - makes it fairly easy to miss certain groups
Various chests and animals are placed in mundane locations even after the early game
Exploring on Orca (big fish) is a bit dull in that there's no challenge involved - can't get caught by the dragon even if you try and there are no obstacles to jump over
The fountain spell (for teleporting for free) is kind of lame since coins are cheap
Some plot oddities and holes (kinda dumb how the story makes you give the fox rods away instead of following Rao back to sei-an city and how the dark lord can't kill you becaus the room is too small - can't use shortcuts or teleporters during this and the following segment either!)
Some story beats in the mid-late game are told through text only
The use of the lightning element is too simplistic - works like lighting torches with an existing fire source. Using blizzard/freezing also feels like a minor variation on previous spells besides a couple of parts where you create temporary platforms (it's also kinda weird that you can't stand on the flame platform spiders when you have fire protection already - would've made more sense if it was some kind of goo you'd fall through without freezing it)
The first part of the second Orochi battle (in the past) is nearly identical to the first
Boss gauntlet before the final boss - can at least choose the order to do them in as well as restore your HP and MP in-between each. This gauntlet also includes Orochi for a third time!
The last dungeon is just a small hub for the boss gauntlet
Can't combine different brush techniques for more complex tools used for puzzles (for one mini-boss you have to use two different elements and sometimes you follow one spell with another during a boss but that's not the same thing)
Notes:
-*Godhood absorbs the attacks of most enemies and you chain hits to build up levels (can do it over several encounters; one hit is absorbed per level, max level is 3 (but lowest is actually -1 at which point you take more damage per hit) and you lose one per hit taken in combat or if moving far enough to get knocked out in cursed zones)
-Some of the brush issues seem to have to do with emulation issues (PCSX2 1.6.0)
-Double jump skip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W_txOTfETg
-Wanted list monster locations: https://preview.redd.it/4zfkgh4jk1f01.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d923e83767ba735ac6d51ad03c150ce921f71c17
-Didn't do: green glow within red rock on other side of mountain in forest cave (path to upper part with sapling), cat statue near imperial palace in sei-an city, rest of thief quest, monsters outside sei-an and snow town
Level Design-7 Frustration-6.5/7** Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Drawing with the brush
**Some digging mini-game and blockhead challenges
+
Great art direction drawing inspiration from Japanese mythology and an older style of JP art
Partially non-random battle encounters (get teleported inside a battle arena surrounded by walls upon touching an enemy, can escape from it but you lose godhood* levels). You also face a few enemies outside of these encounters
Zelda-style gameplay and world layout with some added RPG elements (exp point leveling w/ manual skill allocation on level up (HP (can also be upgraded with found items), ink capacity, astral pouch charges, purse/wallet size) overworld and dungeons, villages w/ shops (some traders outside of them), some puzzles, manual jumping here, cracked bombable walls, buy new combat moves at the dojo near the beginning which are then taught by a trainer, various hidden items, puzzle element to bosses)
Some memorable characters (Issun - jokester/pervert, Waka, the wall enemy in the forest ruins, Susano in that he's a descendant of a hero that is actually a failure, Kaguya)
Some innovative gameplay (draw shapes on the screen with a brush pointer to use spells - can hit more than one target with one stroke, gameplay pauses while drawing but certain bosses can override this pause)
Some interesting spells and tools (spells: sunrise and crescent, create fires (also works like a smart bomb if you draw it bigger though it uses more ink), plant regeneration, create lily pad platforms on water and with wind (make hanging flags/pennants blow horizontally so you can temporarily walk on them), wind gusts that affect various objects and enemies including the lily pad platforms, swing towards certain mid-air platforms - this is kinda similar to the Bash ability used later on in Ori except here there's no time limit when holding the button to aim, slow down target; tools: thief's glove - steal from enemies via issun, peace bell - keep encounter scrolls away, counter dodge - do damage with the dodge move)
Well realized world restoration theme
Default item magnet for coins (but not for other items - can buy an item that upgrades it) and wall jump move
Quest and tutorial message logs
Can move around while checking the map for an area (semi-transparent). Can also zoom the main map out both to a regional one and to a map of the entire world (which is based on old Japan). The area map marks save points, warp points and eventually the cat statues for you
Day/night cycle (different NPC behaviors, can only encounter certain monsters at night and the scroll encounters will chase you at night, white glowing spots (optional buried items) are visible at night) - Can fastforward to morning with the sunrise spell and later on vice versa with the crescent spell
Pretty good dialogue overall
Astral pouch item saves you from death (Zelda 3 fairies)
Some mini-games (dig up the turnips without getting hit by an NPC - meh, fishing - decent once learned, well digging (2D side view) - pretty good and similar to Boulder Dash or Solomon's Key mixed with Lemmings though it can get frustrating if trying to explore for extra money as you can't simply make the NPC stop nor make them move upwards without a water "elevator" - also can't use inkfinity here, transport NPCs to their destinations by blowing lily pad platforms around under a time limit - decent except for the camera screwing up at times, thief on foot races - pretty good if a bit drawn out, runner on foot races - mostly too easy, make a large snowball by rolling it into lumps of snow - boring)
Pretty good environmental interaction (fixing broken buildings/statues, feeding wild animals, cutting up trees/statues/grass/boulders, ). Some larger scale environmental changes (restoring the water in the forest ruins, )
Enemy bestiary with some combat tips as well as an animal bestiary (friendly animals which can be fed for exp)
Find hidden clover spots and other items when backtracking through restored hostile areas or to previous rooms in some dungeons
Can block by equipping your first weapon as a sub weapon (also lets you do a counter finisher move against some other enemies)
Get better demon fang/special money rewards from enemies by using the right finishers and beating them quickly+without taking damage (the bestiary generally doesn't tell you which brush technique to use though)
Upgradeable weapons (attack power only) with gold dust items and upgradeable amount of bombs on screen at certain springs. These are at a limited supply which increases as you progress - some can be bought at certain shops and some are gained as rewards for the bounty hunts
Some scripted events during exploration (floor falling down in the forest ruins for example)
Some decent-good puzzles (spatial awareness, contraption puzzle and some timing puzzles in wawku shrine, can get underwater chests with slashes - the contents float up, disperse breath attacks with wind, cannon in third dungeon, some platforming puzzles with cat statues on oni island, etc.)
Blurs the line between hostile area and town at one point (also creates a decent sense of vulnerability here as you have to fight without your brush powers)
Some warps/teleports (visited mermaid springs - costs 1 coin per teleport until you get the fountain spell in the mid-game) - can be used about 8-10h into the game. Later on you can buy an artifact/tool which lets you teleport between visited save points as well
Various sequence breaking possibilities in new game+ (by switching skins/using karmic transformers in mid-air to jump infinitely - more with out of bounds glitches). Can also skip some forced encounters by avoiding the trigger points in the regular game, and skip the double jump move by wall jumping against created trees at some points.
Shows enemy and boss health bars
Some systemic elements (elemental effects like wind putting out fire and how it affects various objects like fans and flags as well as animals, enemies can accidentally hit each other)
Some memorable locations (being tiny in the imperial palace and treestump village, the third dungeon (moon cave, orochi's lair) is connected to an enemy town of sorts - nice change of pace, oni island coast and dungeon)
Can draw a shirt design in sei-an city and see the game respond to this by having kids in that town emulate the design in their drawings
Some decent humour (slapstick, silly)
Dynamic music transition when going up to waka's house in sei-an city (not elsewhere though)
Some NPCs also travel around the world a bit making it feel more alive (most stand in place or perform some repeated task in one spot however and those who travel also stand in place until talked to outside of cutscene appearances)
Fight alongside an NPC for two boss fights
Some good bosses (Waka, canine warriors, oni island boss/9-tailed fox, final boss besides some camera issues and cutscene interruptions - various forms and makes good use of nearly all spells) and some decent (last phase of orochi, imperial palace boss (blight the samurai ghost), foxes, Rao/dark lord 1, wolfguy/oki, the owls though the ice element source seems to have no use)
+/-
Linear overarching structure (after the second hostile area you can do a couple of side quests per area - sometimes 3+, mostly straightforward dungeon areas, some backtracking to previous areas with new abilities to progress including some towns)
Evenly placed save points (multiple slots, shows current area and time taken)
Many collectables (100 optional stray beads for an OP weapon)
Some forced encounters (can escape from some of them but not others, can't escape from gate encounters, can skip some of them by moving around the trigger point). Sometimes have to clear special "gate" encounters on the overworld to progress as clearing them changes the environment, making the game a bit more combat-focused than most Zeldas
Mostly lighthearted tone
Partial control config (camera axis inversion only) - not really needed though
Crazy Taxi-style arrows showing you where to go in some areas early on (can't be toggled off - optional map markers or manual ones would've been preferable). Generally the game uses map markers instead though
Some sexual elements (Issun is a horny little bug, Sakuya) and some scatological humour (two optional special attacks are literally peeing and shitting on the enemy)
Respawning pots
Can bite most NPCs as well as hit them with spells - nothing happens besides a short animation though. Can also carry the children of groups of animals for a bit but if you "kidnap" them they automatically respawn with their group. The trainer NPC can be tackled and at certain points he'll attack you once
Automatic jumping into and out of water at specific points
Very short time limit/stamina meter when surface swimming or moving in cursed zones - only lose a bit of HP and respawn where you jumped in from drowning though. In the late game you can buy an artifact that removes this limit and lets you swim upstreams (optional and not used for much)
Semi-silent protagonist (generally acts like a tame wolf and communicates like one but Issun can also hear what it's thinking somehow)
Various fetch quests
Weird how you can't just break the big boulder outside the first village yourself without doing things for Susano when you end up doing it anyway (the whole helping without giving yourself away thing is kinda funny but also doesn't really make sense). Also weird how you can't use bombs to remove leaf piles or disturb the elevator operator in the moon cave nor use the fuse of a lit bomb as a fire source to melt ice
Can't use brush cuts to propel objects like the crystal ball forwards - can use them to reflect some enemies' projectiles back at them
Kinda funny how you're encouraged to cut trees and statues apart everywhere when there's a restoration theme
Can dodge cancel an attack animation
Regenerating ink meter - can upgrade its speed with an item that costs fangs though the temporary infinite ink items are pretty cheap anyway
Unlockable skins and artwork (get S ranks in the different categories when completing the game: deaths, kills, money and fangs, praise/exp)
The map system spoils the sub area/room/floor layout when getting to a new one (the cursed zones act like a fog of war however and hidden paths aren't shown). Found dungeon maps show more detail+the outlines of unexplored rooms and let you switch between floors
Some OP attacks - smart bomb-style items and the fire sphere spell
Pretty short second and fourth (ship) dungeons
Some optional grinding for combat moves and items bought with horns (if you explore thoroughly you should find enough treasure to sell for required items)
Can't combine double jumping and wall jumping in one jump.
Various QTEs
Can extend your combos but they're pretty basic (you just mash the same button as fast as possible regardless of the weapon used)
Catwalk (ninja gaiden-style wall climb) is a cool ability but feels a bit limited in that you can only use it at cat statues
Some aspects are basically ripped from Zelda (toss money into springs to get upgrades, the spider enemies, the underground caves that are just a room with some items in it, sea monster dungeon, many breakable pots)
Some fun platforming gimmicks in the oni island dungeon
Some optional bosses (three giant spiders similar to the first main one) - these are all equally difficult though and they're all easy
Can't become small at will - only at two entrances to areas - so the hammer item that transforms you is used more like a key
The hardhead/upgraded tackle move seems pointless since it just lets you tackle what you can already cut at your current power slash level
The game is pretty forgiving about falling into pits - lose 1 HP and respawn where you last stood on solid ground (Zelda 3)
Can't dash during combat
No gameplay use for the custom brush technique design you get to create in Ponc'tan - it just shows up at the end of the staff roll
-
Kinda slow and long intro (unskippable unless playing a new game+ game) and mostly unskippable cutscenes which are also pretty frequent though generally not that long. Some of these cutscenes are also rather slow.
Various control/interface issues (cutscene dialogue can't be sped up and it's pretty frequent - various dialogue scenes using in-game graphics are considered cutscenes by the game (fixed in Wii and HD versions), some camera issues (kinda slow rotation which also slows down while moving (can press R3 for a quick turn however), sometimes can't rotate the view though it's kind of rare - can't do it indoors nor in cramped parts of some sub areas, some problems when close to walls), some automatic camera focusing on the current target (which is automatically picked) during combat, somewhat poor control over the running move (auto-activates after a few steps or after tackling but then you have to run for a while to trigger the fastest version of it and this charge time can't be upgraded), brush control is kinda stiff (probably better on Wii) and the hit detection is inconsistent, sometimes you'll cut something behind what you were aiming at when using that spell, minor cutscene when the game switches between day and nighttime - can skip it though, can't place your own map markers, very little text per logbook page, pretty slow surface swimming, sometimes sloppy hit boxes (moon cave entrance for example), the map doesn't mark the guardian statues or the leaf piles scattered across the game world, minor delay before you can dodge after landing from a jump, stop running when moving between sub areas, air dashing cancels your running momentum, if a sub area has a high and low part then the mini-map shows only the one you're currently on, sometimes too easy to ge semi-stick on walls and other objects when moving around, sometimes can't wall jump where it seems like you should be able to, no text on the mini-map - not even the current location name is shown, repeats some item explanations and tutorial messages, can't put out fire on yourself with wind, mermaid coins (teleportation) are wasted if you're in mid-air while using them, some issues with placing bombs and the fire spell on the z-plane (the bombs can end up on the other side of doors for example), inconsistent item grabbing mechanics while being ridden by Issun, the camera sometimes turns toward the door you just passed through so that holding up makes you go back again, weird how the game says "good job" every time you pull off a new move or combo during training even if you did it wrong, sometimes when you clearly draw a wind spell the game interprets it as a lily pad instead, inconsistent wall climbing controls at the cat tower - sometimes you let go right after latching on, in the 2D digging segments you can't push yourself into a space under a block if you move up against it in mid-air, running up the edge of a slope or stair makes you go into mid-air and lose some momentum, tying an element to a target or a vine flower to a target can be interpreted as a wind spell by the game, unskippable staff roll)
Starts out very easy and feels like a tutorial for ~1-2 hours (tutorial messages also pause the action since there's no proper VA). It actually takes about 6h+ to get to a proper dungeon (the forest ruins) if you do the sidequests up to that point.
Plenty of dead space and some backtracking (for example between the sunken ship and sei-an city (and the height where you lower the sea level around the ship) due to how the game leads you into the ship before you can enter its dungeon)
Some trial & error (part of the chase segment in the northern forest, have to pass through the small blue gate near the tree in the village after beating orochi or you can't progress (makes sakuya appear) - then have to talk to susano and kushi several times to be able to progress, oddly specific solution to the stone fruit puzzle near the water dragon - have to hit the arrow in mid-air with the yellow water next to the archer (no clue that you're on the right track when hitting the archer himself or his bow while he's firing), godhood level isn't explained in-game, can't examine the glowing water outside the dojo nor the green glow near the fortuneteller nor the blue glow near mrs. cutter's, can't see why you can't buy more than the first two moves at the dojo at first, the locations of the bounty hunt monsters - can't tell from looking at the encounter flags, some unexpected QTE-like segments during cutscenes where you help NPCs with brush spells, the fishing mechanics aren't explained beforehand, can't solve the mrs. cutter puzzle until after a certain point (after the second town?) and she's awake when you can solve it by dragging her into the moonlight, some boss and enemy patterns, dodging the owls' grab attacks and figuring out what the purple one's elemental weakness is)
Invisible walls here and there (and sometimes there are low walls at the edge of platforms where you have to jump to get past them - would've been better if you could just dash through these, later on in the imperial palace you'd want these to be there but then they are not)
Some tedious aspects (the game is too anal about hitting exactly right with the brush when taking out the blockhead/wall NPCs - gets rather annoying during the later encounters with it, Issun interrupts you a bit too much and sometimes he or tutorial messages tell you things that you've already discovered on your own, Issun also spoils various puzzles in the first 12 hours or so of the game and sometimes later on as well - the game should've let the player ask him when they got stuck instead, pretty frequent loading (usually not that long but each sub area/room is generally pretty small and the game even loads after each animal feeding), rolling acorns/balls up a slope in the forest - optional and not really worth the exp though, no save point in the forest until reaching the ruins, repeatedly pausing the game to use brush techniques/spells makes the game not flow as well as it could've - would've worked better with motion or touch controls (see the wii or HD ver. - on PC you can draw with the mouse) or with a button combination replacing the drawing action after you've done it once in an area (or possibly using a second controller to draw the shapes in real-time for an asymmetric co-op mode), get the crescent/nighttime spell pretty late, keep finding food for the astral pouch even if it's full - could've been replaced by ink/money/hp, climbing the cat tower - a bit too long and repetitive+the control issues)
Pretty cliché story at its core (a magical sword which seals an evil god away gets removed, find the x powers to be able to restore the world, etc.)
There should've been an option to make using the brush not activate a different music track each time
Amaterasu sometimes does moves during cutscenes that you can't do in-game
Some difficulty dips (mostly simplistic puzzles in the oni island dungeon, easy first main boss and pretty easy second boss, some of the enemies in the third dungeon are easier than the ones in the previous one, easy mini-games in sei-an city and they're just the digging and fishing games repeated again, water dragon dungeon, races 5-7 against the evil being scroll) and a few spikes (log ride segment, some fishing, third race and fourth race against the evil being scroll (sometimes jumping right after landing doesn't register in the third one with the spiked hedges), )
The make believe voices can get on your nerves and can't be turned off - voice volume added in later versions
No hard mode
Some fake dialogue choices (choosing to "pick a fight" with the canine warriors that challenge you - can feed them but nothing happens besides getting some praise)
Restored clovers give very little praise/exp each
Controlling the emperor would've been more interesting if you had to impersonate him in front of the guards via the dialogue
Pretty short draw distance (pop-up) on animals and some smaller objects - makes it fairly easy to miss certain groups
Various chests and animals are placed in mundane locations even after the early game
Exploring on Orca (big fish) is a bit dull in that there's no challenge involved - can't get caught by the dragon even if you try and there are no obstacles to jump over
The fountain spell (for teleporting for free) is kind of lame since coins are cheap
Some plot oddities and holes (kinda dumb how the story makes you give the fox rods away instead of following Rao back to sei-an city and how the dark lord can't kill you becaus the room is too small - can't use shortcuts or teleporters during this and the following segment either!)
Some story beats in the mid-late game are told through text only
The use of the lightning element is too simplistic - works like lighting torches with an existing fire source. Using blizzard/freezing also feels like a minor variation on previous spells besides a couple of parts where you create temporary platforms (it's also kinda weird that you can't stand on the flame platform spiders when you have fire protection already - would've made more sense if it was some kind of goo you'd fall through without freezing it)
The first part of the second Orochi battle (in the past) is nearly identical to the first
Boss gauntlet before the final boss - can at least choose the order to do them in as well as restore your HP and MP in-between each. This gauntlet also includes Orochi for a third time!
The last dungeon is just a small hub for the boss gauntlet
Can't combine different brush techniques for more complex tools used for puzzles (for one mini-boss you have to use two different elements and sometimes you follow one spell with another during a boss but that's not the same thing)
Notes:
-*Godhood absorbs the attacks of most enemies and you chain hits to build up levels (can do it over several encounters; one hit is absorbed per level, max level is 3 (but lowest is actually -1 at which point you take more damage per hit) and you lose one per hit taken in combat or if moving far enough to get knocked out in cursed zones)
-Some of the brush issues seem to have to do with emulation issues (PCSX2 1.6.0)
-Double jump skip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W_txOTfETg
-Wanted list monster locations: https://preview.redd.it/4zfkgh4jk1f01.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d923e83767ba735ac6d51ad03c150ce921f71c17
-Didn't do: green glow within red rock on other side of mountain in forest cave (path to upper part with sapling), cat statue near imperial palace in sei-an city, rest of thief quest, monsters outside sei-an and snow town
