Okami Amaterasu: The Sun Goddess featured in a videogame?

Folklore and mythology have long been rich forms of storytelling. Many movies, games, books, and other forms of art often have their base in a story that has deep cultural roots. Valkyrie Profile, God of War, and Okami are just a few that come to mind. Valkyrie Profile deals with Norse mythology, God of War with Greek, and Okami with Japanese. I think Okami is unique for the way it interprets the characters and the visual representation of the Japanese culture.

Originally made for the PlayStation 2, Okami is a platforming game where the player controls the character Amaterasu...fondly called Ami-chan throughout the game. Ami-chan is the reincarnation of Okami Amaterasu, brought back to save Japan from destruction by demons.

The battle system for the game is unique and beautifully executed. Players have the traditional normal weapon attacks, but the fun comes from calligraphy style symbols the player draws, calling on special abilities and attacks. This is particularly easy to use in the Wii version of the game. The motion controls are so intuitive for drawing the symbols, and the power of the attacks increases the bigger you draw the symbol on the screen. Bosses have to be defeated using a conglomeration of each style, with the player figuring out how to use the calligraphy attacks to inflict damage.

The visual style of the game is reminiscent of a watercolor or sumi-e style painting. Bright, vivid watercolor style colors give the game an artistic feel that transports you to feudal era Japan. I love the bright colors and stylization personally. If the execution had been blurry or less-detailed, there is no way possible this look could've worked. However, whenever an area is cleared of corruption, there is a gorgeous sequence showing the land being restored to its former glory that I NEVER get tired of. It's very inspiring to watch and refreshes you in preparation for the next series of lands in the game.

The soundtrack can be haunting and creepy at times. One level has the player exploring a partially-sunken ship at night, and the spirits on the ship block the player's view, making for a difficult and odd situation. The music accents the visuals in the best possible way, and you find yourself humming a track without even realizing it.

I really like the way the game incorporates Japanese customs and lore, making the game a rather educational experience rather than just mindless fun. It actually inspired me to learn more about Amaterasu and Japanese myths.

For Wii and PlayStation 2 owners who are also fans of platforming games, or just wonderful games in general, Okami is a must buy. I can recommend this game to anyone with no reservations, and this is the game that I can convince people to buy at work. Seriously. Don't ask me about Okami if you're not ready to spend money because you will walk out of the store ready to play it.

Dream career

I've actually come to a firm realization of what I want to do with my life. I'm a Public Relations major, hopefully graduating soon, so this may be a little late.

I would LOVE to work in the PR department of a major video game developer. It would have to be a developer I know and love, or can at least respect. I don't think I could work for Rockstar, because on the whole, I disapprove of their games. I know this would require me to move out to the West Coast, but if I make enough money to live, that would be okay with me.

My boss thinks I should work in the PR department of GameStop, and since I already "have a foot in the door" it would be fantastic. That's in Texas though. I like to see color and live grass, plants, and flowers where I live.

Regardless, that is my career aspiration. Let's hope one day I reach it.

Yes, I cry every time I beat FFX

This may be the only Final Fantasy game that made me cry. Final Fantasy X, the first title for the Playstation 2, is the story of the summoner Yuna, and a boy from Zanarkand named Tidus. FFX follows Tidus and Yuna as they travel through Spira on Yuna's pilgrimage to become a full-fledged summoner in order to defeat Sin.

The game begins with Tidus, in his home-town of Zanarkand. Sin arrives, destroying parts of the city and sending Tidus to a place and time he doesn't recognize. Whenever he asks someone about Zanarkand, or explains that he's trying to get back home to Zanarkand, they just think he is affected by his proximity to Sin and suffering from the toxins. Thus, he is disregarded.

Tidus eventually meets Yuna, and he becomes one of her guardians on her pilgrimage. Being the same age, the two bond, and become friends. Throughout the game, you see that the two are falling in love.

This was the first Final Fantasy I noticed on overt spiritual reference. The ultimate enemy, Sin, is a problem that has plagued Spira since the before the Machina War with Zanarkand. Summoners train and begin the pilgrimage to acquire the Final Aeon in order to defeat Sin. The problem is, Sin is never really defeated, only made to go away for several years. The catch is that the peace in between Sin appearances come at the cost of the Summoner's life.

Tidus knows this, and has made it his mission to help Yuna find a way to defeat Sin without having to die for it. At the conclusion of the game, there is a particularly poignant scene, accompanied by beautiful, sad, music, that never fails to make me tear up. I've gotten caught up in Tidus and Yuna as people, involved in their lives. To see them so sad, makes me sad. More than any other game so far, this is the one that I get wrapped up in the most. It is a wonderful game, and focused on the characters. Love it. Play it if you haven't. You won't be sorry.

Final Fantasy VI

For some people, it's Final Fantasy VII. I can understand why: it was the first Final Fantasy in the States to be on the Playstation, and had 3 discs to it. The story was revolutionary and intricate, with more layers to the characters than an onion. It is a fabulous game, with great music and characters. That's why it's my second favorite Final Fantasy of all time.

So what is better about VI than VII? For me, I love the characters more. The issues they have individually are so human; they each have a back story. My favorite characters are Terra (Tina in the Japanese), Celes, and Locke.

Terra is sort of the main character of the game, though everybody is equally important. When you begin the game, you see Terra in a sort of robotic armor/vehicle thing. For some reason, she can't remember who she is. The subsequent characters we meet help her, and we learn more about the world of Magitek, and the evil empire of Ghastra. The important thing to know about Terra is that she is half Esper.

The big baddie of the game is Kefka. Boy, is he loony. He wants to rule the world and use the power of Espers to do it. It's complicated I know. I think this screenshot says all we need to know about him. Consequently, he's about to throw poison in a river to completely dominate a rebellious city. The main plot of the story is that our characters need to beat him and keep him from destroying the world.

I'd really like to see Final Fantasy VI get the treatment that IV got for the DS. A complete makeover, ported onto a new system, but otherwise untouched. I still have my PSone port of the game, so I can still go back and revisit it fondly. Which I think I want to do right now.

Review of Favorites 1

With so many new-fangled fancy video game technologies out there today, I want to take a moment and remember some classics that I still absolutely love, pixelated sprite characters, 8 bit music, the whole works. To start, a Super Nintendo classic that was ported onto the DS...Chrono Trigger.

To me, this game is perhaps the greatest RPG (role-playing game) of ALL time. Not only is the save-the-world theme AMAZING and EXTREMELY well done, the characters are ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! You've got a knight-in-training-who-was-turned-into-a-frog-by-an-evil-magician, said evil magician being a playable character later in the game, you've got a princess who would rather help save the world than stand around being saved, a genius inventor, and a robot with feelings. Take THAT Haley Joel Osment! You SO weren't the first emo robot!

Basically, the main character Crono, travels through time with his band of merry misfits and participates in history changing events in each time period. An alien being called "Lavos," is the original cause of time being changed, since his very prescence opened the first time portal, called in the game "Gates." The time-changing is so much fun because once you are able to travel back and forth between times, you can see the changes that came about from your actions. The game is THAT well thought out.

The battle system is mostly your standard RPG turn-based battle, but with a more active element. Rather, you don't have a turn, and then your enemy has a turn. As your time bars fill up, you can attack. Same with the enemy. Characters can learn attacks with other characters (called Duel Techs and Triple Techs.) Triple Techs are some of the most powerful attacks in the game.

Once you've beaten the game once, you can go back through from the beginning with a feature called New Game +. Basically, this means you have all your items/equipment/techniques/stats that you had when you beat the game. This enables you to go through the game and beat it at different points to get different endings that correspond to when you beat it. Awesomeness, anyone?

Another plus is the soundtrack. The composer is Yasunori Mitsuda, but I've seen some information that makes me think Nobuo Uematsu was a contributing factor (of Final Fantasy Soundtrack fame for those who don't know.) Mitsuda created a masterpiece for this game, and every theme for every town and battle fits so well. The music creates some very poignant moments throughout the game as well.

In Preparation for the Movie Release

In preparation for the release of Watchmen Friday, I purchased the graphic novel and read it as quickly as I could. I'd never really read an actual comic graphic novel before, only graphic novels of anime series I had already watched. So this was a different experience for me. Overall, I liked it. The story was often confusing, introducing issues and then leaving them alone until several pages later, or having important details stuck into a tiny corner of a cel.

I really thought they dealt with political issues well. The characters all had to deal with the government, whether in a good or bad way, and it either shaped them or reflected who they already were. It definitely deals with the "superhero" issue in a way that I've never seen before.

That being said....Adrian Veidt is still a overglorified, whiny, I'm gonna save the world rich boy who gave up everything worship me for being so smart person. Still, I'm conflicted. He made a difficult decision based on rational facts. I'm not going to spoil the ending for those who haven't read it, but...maybe there really was no other way.