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The Many Colours of Okami

Posted by Zonk on from the wolf-god-plus-drawing-equals-awesome dept.

1up spent all last week looking at the upcoming PS2 title Okami. A truly original story, the game tells the tale of a Japanese wolf god. A distinctive art style and inventive 'drawing' gameplay has made it a highly anticipated release for this fall. Some of the features include a hands-on with the English version, a look at what went into the localization to make the game understandable for Americans, and a great look at the art and music in the game.

5 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. Localization!? by Aladrin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Noooo... Why do they insist on ripping out the heart of Japanese games? Mushikai isn't pronounceable? They must think we're complete morons! "Hmm, 3 syllables... They'll never make it."

    Oh, and the article is VERY clear that Amaterasu is genderless... Then calls it a 'god'... And the original Amaterasu is female. Let's get more confusing next time, guys. We're haven't quite baffled everyone.

    --
    "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
    1. Re:Localization!? by hansamurai · · Score: 2, Interesting
      FTA:

      1UP: I think gamers can live with that. You'll still get the really anal hardcore type who gets upset about everything.

      DC: [Laughs] There's no pleasing everyone. We tried to go for the broadest audience possible.

      --
      Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
    2. Re:Localization!? by BJH · · Score: 2, Informative

      You missed the important part of that:

      Although usually known and depicted as female

      In modern Japanese culture, Amaterasu is shown as female, just as Susano is always male.
      The Japanese people playing the game in Japan aren't that much more likely to be familiar with the precise historical interpretation of background material like this, so it makes little sense to go on about fiddly little points of dispute between specialists in the field.

    3. Re:Localization!? by Qzukk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why do they insist on ripping out the heart of Japanese games?

      I don't like excessive localization as much as the next overly obsessed geek, but at least they had input from the original staff, and it sounds like their own staff was overly obsessed on their own.

      That said, if you have to localize the hell out of a game, you should at least localize it awesome . Even if the game ends up having nothing to do with the original, I'd accept it on its own rights if what you have still makes a great game.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  2. Re:Zelda Wind Waker? by ZakuSage · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well for one, at 2000's SpaceWorld event, Nintendo showed a GameCube tech demo of a realistic Link and Gannondorf fighting, stiring up their fanbase into believing that was what the GCN Zelda would look like. The first screens and videos emerged with it being cel shaded, and they felt left down. Additionally, the style of cel shading in Wind Waker (while it doesn't bother me personally) was more like a Saturday morning cartoon, rather then the Anime style cel shading featured in oh say Dark Cloud 2, Dragon Quest 8, and now Okami.