I want to like Okamiden but...

[Dragonbums]

I just can't really get into it.

I have the port Okami on the Wii. (complete with the infamous IGN watermark case and all.)

And I recently got Okamiden pre owned on the DS.

The game is cute, it's got a lot of it's humor in tact, and they really did their best with working with the limitations of the DS system.
By all means it's a good game.

However....something is just missing in it.
I guess, the lack of expansiveness of the first game, and the lack of complex controls is really getting to me.

I just can't love this game as much as I want to. As much as I loved the first game.

I'm honestly thinking about returning the game to Gamestop, and using that money towards getting the art book instead.

So what do you fellow Okami fans think?

Did you think I'm just being picky?
Or is there really something less about the successor of Okami? (Aside from obvious Nintendo DS limitations.)

 

[Launcelot111]

I wasn't a huge fan either. Combat was just so simplistic that it became a chore, and everything else was reduced from the original just enough that they couldn't really compensate for me. I was very impressed with how good it looked and it was very adorable, but I just didn't enjoy playing it.

 

[Roxas1359]

I have to agree, it's not really as great as the original Okami was. I mean don't get me wrong, the game was okay but it had some big shoes to fill when it came to being a sequel.

For me I missed Issun a lot more since he was really as prominent in the game when compared to the original. The combat kinda felt weird to me in all honesty, so over time I just got really bored with it.
The art though was really good, but the music sorta lacked that same "amazing" feeling that I think was more of a hardware limitation.

Overall, it's an okay game but unfortunately inferior to it's predecessor.

Although one thing still remains, Chibiteratsu is still the most adorable video game character ever! X3

Spoiler: Eat your heart out Toon Link

 

[shrekfan246]

I'm pretty sure most people who were fans of the original game weren't too fond of the DS follow-up.

I mean, the DS was basically a portable dual-core Nintendo 64, and those game cards could hold a bit of data but nowhere near even the CDs of the OG Playstation. They had to cut it back and cut it back hard to make it work on that handheld, and it's not as if it doesn't show.

 

[PFCboom]

The dungeons feel really, really cramped. It's nothing but corridors with black space between them, and lots of redundant door puzzles. Combat, from what I could tell, was a lot of jumping around to avoid attacks. There were only a few openings to strike back, then it's right back to jumping like a moron. The Celestial Brush is just the same, but the stylus just doesn't have the grandeur that the Wiimote had.
I'm sure having all kid characters was supposed to be cute, and complement how Okamiden is essentially a smaller game on a small (read: portable) console, but for some reason, the charm that I'm sure was supposed to come with having such a cute posse just didn't resonate with me.

I'm in the same boat as you. Okami is one of my most favoritest games of all time, and for good reason. I really, really wanted to like Okamiden more than I do, but it simply doesn't capture the qualities of Okami. True, most of it comes from the limitations of the DS - no open fields and running, no enormous caverns or forests, blah blah - but that's the way it goes.
Imagine trying to squeeze a game like Shadow of the Colossus onto a DS, or Civilization, or Skyrim. Some games only really only work on a TV. Okami is one of them.

 

[Dragonbums]

I have to agree, it's not really as great as the original Okami was. I mean don't get me wrong, the game was okay but it had some big shoes to fill when it came to being a sequel.

For me I missed Issun a lot more since he was really as prominent in the game when compared to the original. The combat kinda felt weird to me in all honesty, so over time I just got really bored with it.
The art though was really good, but the music sorta lacked that same "amazing" feeling that I think was more of a hardware limitation.

Overall, it's an okay game but unfortunately inferior to it's predecessor.

Although one thing still remains, Chibiteratsu is still the most adorable video game character ever! X3

Spoiler: Eat your heart out Toon Link

Nothing can compare to chibiterasu. Nothing. It's too cute for it's own good.

I really did like Issun, but I also am growing to the partner I currently have right now.

As for the soundtracks, a lot of it is just condensed or slightly bit crunched versions of it's mother game. Which is understandable. Being a low budget game and all.
I think in the end they should of put it on the Wii or the PS2. The DS...just wasn't working for it. At all.
Perhaps they should of taken some pointers from Nintendo.

The Zelda games on the DS feel just as expansive as their console games. This one...felt hollow, and I don't like saying that about an Okami game.

I know how much they really wanted to make that game.

 

[Dragonbums]

I wasn't a huge fan either. Combat was just so simplistic that it became a chore, and everything else was reduced from the original just enough that they couldn't really compensate for me. I was very impressed with how good it looked and it was very adorable, but I just didn't enjoy playing it.

Yeah...that's exactly what I'm feeling.

I think this game might just have to be returned.
At least I can get the art book.
I hope Capcom let's Platinum games do a proper sequel to Okami. Either following Ameterasu or Chibiterasu. That is...if Kamiya even cares anymore.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I wasn't a huge fan either. Combat was just so simplistic that it became a chore, and everything else was reduced from the original just enough that they couldn't really compensate for me. I was very impressed with how good it looked and it was very adorable, but I just didn't enjoy playing it.

Yeah...that's exactly what I'm feeling.

I think this game might just have to be returned.
At least I can get the art book.
I hope Capcom let's Platinum games do a proper sequel to Okami. Either following Ameterasu or Chibiterasu. That is...if Kamiya even cares anymore.

I'm afraid that ship has sailed. Capcom shut off Clover because Okami/God Hand performed poorly, and thus withholds the IP on those games. So Clover moves on as Platinum, fair enough. But the way I see it, for Capcom to call them back and bestow them with their IP would be like a huge acknowledgement of their bad judgment in tearing them apart in the first place. Calling back the employees you fired and task them with the sequel for the reason which you fired them? Fat chance.

 

[Miss G.]

I pretty much enjoyed the game, it was cute, sweet, and hit me right in the feels because I got so attached to Chibi and his friends. I knew about the limitations and other Capcom-related stuff beforehand and was just pleasantly surprised with what they were able to do despite all that. I would still like to see an HD full console remake, in the style of its predecessor.

Spoiler: Click for cuteness

 

[LittleBumble]

You are not alone, for all intents and purposes it is a pretty good game. But it did have the original to live up to and it didn't really fill those shoes well enough for my tastes. Again, not bad... But not what I might have wished for.

But Chibi is adorable and I did enjoy all of the partners in the game to some extent.

And if I may be a tad petty: The writers didn't seem to really study the story of the first game much. They seemed to mix some stuff up...

Spoiler

I mean: Aren't Shiranui and Amaterasu the same being? Not father and daughter. Also, Otohime transforming without the dragon orb at a time before the events of Okami... Kinda makes the fact that you had to kill her husband in the original come off as so... Un-necessary. D=

 

[Dragonbums]

I wasn't a huge fan either. Combat was just so simplistic that it became a chore, and everything else was reduced from the original just enough that they couldn't really compensate for me. I was very impressed with how good it looked and it was very adorable, but I just didn't enjoy playing it.

Yeah...that's exactly what I'm feeling.

I think this game might just have to be returned.
At least I can get the art book.
I hope Capcom let's Platinum games do a proper sequel to Okami. Either following Ameterasu or Chibiterasu. That is...if Kamiya even cares anymore.

I'm afraid that ship has sailed. Capcom shut off Clover because Okami/God Hand performed poorly, and thus withholds the IP on those games. So Clover moves on as Platinum, fair enough. But the way I see it, for Capcom to call them back and bestow them with their IP would be like a huge acknowledgement of their bad judgment in tearing them apart in the first place. Calling back the employees you fired and task them with the sequel for the reason which you fired them? Fat chance.

Makes sense. But boy do Capcom still like to tout it around as the best IP "they" ever created.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I tried liking Okamiden too, but it's just too restricted by the hardware.

Combat requires even less skill than it did in Okami, and the world just feels tiny and cramped in comparison.

They tried to make a PS2 sequel on a console that couldn't handle it, and it really shows.

 

[Dryk]

I agree, it's one of the reasons I haven't finished it yet. They should've made it on a system that could've handled it or at least waited for the 3DS. The first time you try to cross the field and find out its split into 4 chunks is the most heartbreaking... then you find that the cliffs are lined with invisible walls...

 

[gigastar]

Okamiden suffers two curses.

The first being that its a sequel on the DS.

The second being that it was not developed by Clover/Platinum.

 

[McMarbles]

It was the best Zelda game on the DS. But that's not really a great feat.

...y'know, actually... I'd call it second-best after Solatorobo.

 

[Story]

The general concenses is that most people who enjoyed Okami didn't exactly care for Okamiden. So I think you're fine feeling the way you do.

Okami is my favorite game, so I was expecting not to like Okamiden as much. Lo and behold that's exactly what happened.
One thing I will say about Okamiden is that it was more challenging than Okami, though that might have more to do with the limitations of the DS.

I bet an Okami game would look great on the 3DS though.