This is a fantastic game with a great if not predictable-at-times plot, with loveable and hateable characters and great graphics. I love the Wii version because there's something satisfying about knowing that your wrist movements--and it is all in the wrist, people, especially with the shields--are the ones that result in absolutely epical battles.
The world itself is beautiful, and there's plenty to do. The sidequests alone can take, literally, days of playing if you don't use a guide--which you shouldn't. (Where's the fun in having someone tell you all the discoveries the game has to offer?!) Firstly, regarding sidequests, I'll address the Stray Bead hunt. You may have encountered these because you ignored the sidequests, and you just so happened to return to, say, Ishaku's place and talk to him, thus earning yourself a Bead. Or maybe you got lucky and, like many of us have, encountered a Bead in a treasure chest. Though I'm not going to spoil the surprise, what you get for collecting all one hundred--the 100th of which can only be gotten by completing the game--is very, very worth it.
Again, regarding the sidequests, they're half the fun of the game! Even if, like my friend (I'm her apprentice regarding many games, all of which I will eventually cover here), sidequests aren't really your thing, particularly on your first run-through of a game, I encourage you to at least check them out for the fun of it--and the rewards aren't half bad most of the time, either. Take the brush upgrades, for example.
As for the graphics and landscape, I can't count the hours I spent just running around like a moron--yes, doing the sidequests--just enjoying the people and the landscape and exploring everything. I'm a packrat, meaning that most of the time, everything must be dug up--every hole, every chest, and if I can't get to a clover or chest, I MUST go to the Dojo and acquire the necessary skill to be able to dig up said item--; every clover, tree and patch of grass bloomed; every Devil and Demon Gate done; every Bandit Spider conquered; every chest opened; every pot, boulder--again, even if it takes a special Dojo skill to be able to do so--, and flower or patch of grass slashed or head-butted; every Demon Scroll wiped out; every nook and cranny investigated and appropriately looted. That packrattiness led to a good chunk of my vast explorations.
By the standards of the Peacock Alliance (a group of gamers that stick together and play similar games; our headmaster's last name is Peacock, hence the name; my friend was a member, and I am her apprentice, initiating me by default), you're a master at a game if you've completed three full run-throughs of said game (for me, that includes all sidequests done). You also must show considerable skill with the game, meaning you can't just flail through it in five months three times in a row and be a master. You must have the map and landscape basically memorized; you must exhibit, as I said before, considerable skill in fighting or whatever the game requires. The first game I Mastered was Okami, and the title was awarded to me after a test by my friend and teacher.
And so I say again, this is a fantastic game, if you couldn't tell by my ranting. You get to run around as a beautiful white wolf with red markings, a four-inch-tall green Poncle on her nose, and a paintbrush that can control the elements in order to aid you on your quest to--naturally--save your world from impending evil and disaster. You fight enemies, have to use strategies and quick thinking, and need a good sense of direction--but the map helps in case you're lacking in that last area. As I said in the beginning, don't forget that it's all in the wrist! Give Okami for Wii a try!
~Cara
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