Okami takes you on an epic journey, where you are a heroine known as Amaterasu, Goddess of light and Mother to us all. Along with Issun , your perky wise cracking brush wielding warrior who provides interpretation and comic relief. However to the rest of the world you appear to be nothing more than a shining white wolf and they are completely unaware of your divine ability and are in fact quite shocked when "miracles" happen around them.
On your adventure you free the furry guardians of Nippon who bestow upon you the legendary symbols that you can then use to defeat the various monsters that plague the land, discover hidden treasure, or to master puzzles. While at the same time you are cleansing the land of the cursed mark in a good old fashioned battle of good vs. evil.
The collection aspects of the game were great; collecting stray beads, blooming hidden clovers, and feeding the hungry animals of Nippon. Also I never felt that nagging urge that the world was too small, they did a very fantastic job at making it seem like you could explore everything should you really want to. There are a few mini games that your able to play and some special side quests that they tempt you with, easily distracting me from the main task.
Putting it simply, Okami is a gorgeous game. The artistic quality of the game made me fall in love instantly. I've always been a fan of the Japanese wood block or brush painting work. The character art work is nothing short of amazing, every character, every animal, every tree, every house, every enemy has a simple and beautiful technique applied to them.
The music, while I adore is so serene that its almost hard to stay awake, even during combat or joyful moments. I don't wish to trivialize the score in the slightest, I'm actually hunting for the sound track for the game because I loved the music so much. I just didn't ever feel, stressed during situations where I felt that the tension should have been higher.
If I had any complaints about the game it would be the following:
There is too much of a good thing, I can remember getting about 25 hours into the game feeling that it should be over by now… and it wasn't. I enjoyed the story that they offered but honestly there were some moments that felt like unnecessary fluff pieces.
Combat –can- be horribly simplistic, just spam square and done (though you can take the high road and use your celestial brush to add some spice to combat). Also there is no real sense of danger, never once did I die during the game, my astral pouch (which is I guess like a free resurrection, I'm not totally sure since I never needed it) was always 100%, further more… I had two.
Lastly, there seems to be a lot of talking happening but the characters are often not actually saying anything. If it was poetic or even entertaining that would be fantastic, but its not. Also the gibbering noise that they make in place of actual speaking I found to be slightly annoying.