Okami -- Final Opinion.

I have completed Okami with a final play time of seventy-five hours and forty-eight minutes. I died zero times. I earned $6,172,544. I collected 551 demon fangs. I earned 6,344 in praise. I found all the stray beads. All of those are considered to be S-rank levels. Earning S-ranks for everything unlocked a plethora of bonus content. Nine different character models for use in the new game plus. There is an amazing amount of art, some 374 images in total ranging from character, monster, and environmental concept art to high resolution bestiary art. There is something called the video treasure chest. It contains ten movies that range from the Clover Studio Founding Presentation to every trade show trailer, to the Famitsu Capcom Vol. 2 Promo and Dengeki PS2 Vol. 388 Promo from magazines. The real interesting ones are the Internal Company Presentation A and B videos. They show Okami in its original realistic art style instead of the highly stylized cel-shaded final art style. There is also a full soundtrack jukebox unlocked. Every single track used in the game is made available with fully translated titles. I truly enjoyed Okami. Just about everything absolutely worked for me. The graphics are easily the best thing the PlayStation 2 has ever produced.  The sound and music are wonderful. They fit perfectly with the visuals and action. A truly great score. The combat is a fast and fun and varied experience. I like the depth of combat going well beyond the hack and slash. The boss battles are all epic and amazing in nature. Truly some of the best boss battles I've ever experienced. The celestial brush mechanic is a resounding success for me. It rarely ever failed. I never had to struggle with it. Its in-game application is just impressive.  There are thirteen main techniques and a couple of them have multiple variances. That amounts to a great level of depth of use when applied to both the combat and puzzle aspects of the game. The story of the game is another area where the game worked perfectly for me.  It's essentially a retelling of the Japanese legend. I say the Japanese legend as this is like the mother of all Japanese legends. Everything that makes them tick is in here. I was amazed to see how many Japanese games have borrowed from this. Taking little bits from here and there and running with them. There is a very slight breaking the fourth wall aspect to the entries in the journals that I like. They'll explain that a character in the game is traditionally drawn this or that way and explaining ever so slightly the myth origin. The characters actually have character. The story itself is surprisingly filled with a goofy humor that works. In between the bits of great drama, the game keeps laughing. It's a strange mix that somehow comes out right. The game pokes fun at itself. Another good thing about the story is that it's just not Zelda. The story is insanely deep compared to the typical story of the Zelda games. Not that that's a bad thing for Zelda, but the story has always been that series' weakest aspect. Okami is easily my Game of the Year front-runner as of right now. I truly enjoyed it. The game won't be getting a perfect ten because there are a couple very minor complaints. Chief among those are the game holds your hand for a little longer than it should in the early going of the game. Secondly the game uses a noise whenever a character speaks. You know the deal, to give the text a voice, even though it's just gibberish. That's slightly annoying. I'm giving Okami an 9.5. Awesome game. The upcoming Zelda game is going to have to be something truly special to take the Game of the Year title away from Okami.