Nintendo Wii Fanboy

I agree with Mr. Kamiya. From a visual standpoint, it didn't delight as much as Wind Waker did, and from a graphical standpoint, it didn't look nearly as good as other Gamecube titles (RE4) even with the component cables on the Wii. It was a great game, but not a visual achievement.

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It's interesting hearing him comment on Zelda, with Okami being essentially a similar title. As Wolfe said, above, I expect that Wind Waker would have been more his style, with its stylised art direction.

Myself, I think that Zelda is a fine looking piece of work. The whole ensemble really works together, graphics, art and game play. That said, I have been amazed at how much more grunt they seem to be getting out of the PS2 at the end of its life. I saw some "God of War 2" footage the other day, and was blown away.

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I agree with him on the visuals. Twilight princess did not stand out visually at all. But in it's defense it was meant to be a Gamecube game and not a Wii game. Of course, none of that makes it any less awesome.

Now Wind Waker, that was a beautiful Zelda game.

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I'm with Kamiya on this one as well. The game was pretty good on the graphical fidelity (but as another reader mentioned not as good as RE4 and GoW2), but the art style wasn't there for me. It wasn't bland but it wasn't spectacular. In his defense he did say he was disappointed, and honestly I was a bit too. We just had high expectations I guess. The Hyrule Castle town was okay and was actually pretty good at emulating a bustling plaza but I dunno, it was missing a certain oomph.

And personally, riding Epona during the day didn't do much for me. Now when a certain someone seriously injured was riding on your back through the rain... THAT was visually compelling.

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I don't want to start another collective "ripping-each-other-a-new-one"-orgy about this topic like over at Joystiq but I love what they did with TP. I haven't played Okami (never owned any Playstation) but the visuals are truly stunning. As for TP I think they tried to play it safe this time. There were quite a lot of people complaining about Wind Waker's style and this time they possibly tried to keep it as average as possible (still one of the best looking and atmospheric Action-Adventures I know). And one has to remember: This is a gamecube game enhanced with only a few features.

If they had slapped Hyrule with a crazy artistic feel like Okami people would have complained, they did a "normal" feel and people still complain. At least in Europe 75% of the people who bought a Wii own Zelda:TP, how are the figures for Mr. Kamiya's piece? I think Z:TP was an incredible game that made a brilliant Zelda experience and I now have to catch up on Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker to see what the whole Gameplay VS. Visuals fuzz is about.

To say a closing word to Mr. Kamiya's impression (my little Kung-Fu-Movie philosophers knowledge): ... If your are arrogant, once you think you have surpassed your master you will look at him as a pitiful old man -only to fall under his next strike.

His statements will definitely not stay unheard in the realms of the Zelda-dev crew and I am already amped up about the next Link we are going to see. There is a full motion controlled, art inspired, even more epic Zelda coming this way on horseback with the Mastersword drawn I'd say.

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Meist3r, never did Kamiya say that Okami was better or that it surpassed TP. He just was disappointed is all in the visual style and presentation. He wanted to see something astounding, 'regal' as he put it and he just didn't feel that.

The guy is obviously a huge fan of Zelda, otherwise he wouldn't have made Okami in the first place (a game that emulates the feel of Zelda very very well). He's just sharing his opinion as a gamer, something that we should all be able to respect.

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I think TP suffered most from the delays, not the delays themselves, mind, but the fact that it was pushed back so that it was on the cusp of GC and Wii, 2 generations

Such comments would not have surfaced if the game had been released for GC alone in 2005, or built ground-up for Wii and released later this year

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I really liked the visuals in TP more than Wind Waker. Wind Waker was interesting visually, but I didn't find the depth that others found - in fact I saw it more as a way to save on load time.

TP on the other hand, may not have been the most graphically capable game ever, but it's certainly the prettiest Zelda game ever made. That game is all about art direction over graphical horsepower.

It's sad that the Okami guy wasn't impressed with TP. Okami is exactly the kind of game that could do very well on the Wii, what with the brush strokes and all that.

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There's two aspects to this: artistic direction and graphical quality:

1. Art Direction: It looked just like a million other games I've played, there was nothing special about it, not like Wind Waker or Okami.

2. Graphical Quality: It was about on par with most stuff these days. The graphical quality certainly blew Ocarina out of the water, but that's not saying much considering Ocarina was an N64 title.

To be honest, even the gameplay was fairly standard-fare as far as 3D Zelda's go. I enjoyed Twilight Princess just because it was a new Zelda game, not because of it being mind-blowing or anything (it wasn't - it was just a standard *good* zelda game).

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His game was beautiful, but Twilight Princess was pretty sweet. I would disagree with him completely. I love the graphics even though they were GC. Just wait half a decade and then he will be impressed.

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His game was beautiful, but Twilight Princess was pretty sweet. I would disagree with him completely. I love the graphics even though they were GC. Just wait half a decade and then he will be impressed.

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I won't repeat what has allready been said by others, so i'll just add that the overworld was more disapointing then the dungeons. The Temple of time was as brilliant as anything in Okami. However Nintendo does seem to lack ambition when it comes to over-clocking hardware. As much as X-box games bore me, i'm allways impressed with the visuals (original + 360).

Ryan

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Ryan P.: Do you have any idea what it means to "overclock" a piece of hardware?

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TP wasn't that great y'know...

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@Silver R. Wolfe: When Mr. Kamiya says he aspired to be as good (or better) as Zelda and then is disappointed with the latest incarnation, for me that means he thinks the style of Okami is superior to what Zelda:TP did. He could have said: "It was alright but I thought it would be better" but it sounds like "Look what we did to Okami, why doesn't Zelda do the same? We did it because we love Zelda and now their game looks worse than ours". At least that's how it sounds like to me. Nevermind I will wait for both Okami for Wii AND the next Zelda.

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Well, since this has turned into an informal poll, I guess I'll chip in. I saw an article just before TP was announced (can't find it now, but you might if you look around) where they ran some analysis of all the TP screenshots they could find and showed the top 4 or 5 (or 10 or something) most common colors, and they were all some shade of olive or grey or brown. Now, "dark" is an acceptable visual motif, but to my eye they didn't really do a lot with it. The game looked good enough, and was fantastically fun, but I was never "wowed" visually.


Okami is another matter entirely. I bought the game the day I first saw the trailer. When I brought it home, I sat through the teaser cinematic two or three times just gaping at the art style and how... well, lifelike isn't a good word for cell-shaded cartoon-like art, so let's call it... organic? natural? authentic? Anyway, I've seen a bit of real Sumi-e caligraphy, and I just couldn't believe how they basically made photo-perfect Sumi-e dance on the screen. I *never* buy games just for the graphics, but I almost felt like Okami being a fantastic game was just a bonus tacked onto the fact that it was gorgeous. I actually found myself stopping every couple of minutes just to watch Amaterasu's idle animations or the way the wind plays with the trees.

If I had to choose between Zelda and Okami, I'd have a hard time, since I've been a lifelong Zelda fanboy (the Zelda 1 overworld theme has been my ringtone since I first got cell service 3 years ago), but TP still feels like OOT with an expanded story and better aiming controls. Okami was genuinely fresh and new and had a Zelda feel while adding a vibrant artistic appeal that I dare say may even surpass Wind Waker. I guess I'd have to say that like my kids, I love them both, but for different reasons.

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Okami - is beautiful and visually refreshing as far as videogames go. It also had a good story line to boot. But Mr. Kamiya not being impressed with TP is beyond my imagination. Granted visually Zelda: TP looks a little dated, but in the twilight realm or in wolf form the game is Beautiful. On the back of Epona's Horse the game is beautiful from dusk til dawn. Okami does look better, but not leaps and bounds like everyone here may think.
Now where Twilight Princess far outpaces Okami is in its intricate puzzles and its sheer 'Cool' factor with some items. The dominion Rod I play around with alot just to bash enemies with my uber statue. the double clawshot made for one of the best - albeit a little easy - boss fights of all times. The 'spinner' was equally 'fun' and provided a refreshing boss moment like none other. The uses of these items and their applications in the world is far greater than Okami's magic brush. something which Yamika clearly needs to look at more in depth. There wasn't one time period that I got an item and I was thinking this item kinda sucks because the level design was is perfectly made as you acquire new items.
Shit you can even ride the damn Boar, which is probably one of the most awkward yet fun experiences i found in a videogame for a long time.

Moral of the story. If Yamika wants to be wowed visually i think he should create a game for the Wii. If he wants to experience arguably some of the greatest gameplay of all time leave that up to Eiji Aunoma(zelda), Shigeru Miyamoto(anything nintendo) and Masahiro Sakurai(Smash Bros. Brawl.)

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