Okami or Zelda?

[AllieHaxorNova]

Hey guys! Starw Hat Ammy here. And this question has been bugging me for a long while. What game is better, Okami or Zelda? I think Okami is better. But I love them both in the end. So tell me what do you think?

 

[Nicole]

Ooh, rough question. As a series, I'd have to go with Zelda, seeing as the franchise has released over 13 really good games over the years. Okami, fairly newer, has two games out. However, if you're comparing Okami to any one Zelda game, I'd go with Okami. I was so fascinated with Okami upon my first playthrough. The story, the theme, the art. It was all so much fun! Okami brought to the table a lot of exploration, much like Zelda in that respect. However, I have to say, Okami's story could blow any Zelda game's plot out of the water, easily. As far as gameplay, I'd have to pick Zelda over Okami. The battles in Okami were sort of weird. You'd be trapped in a demon forcefield, with little room to move most often. Let's not forget trying to use the Celestial Brush on the Wii. Musically, I love them both. Zelda always has fantastic pieces, and so does Okami. Two songs that really stick out to me are Midna's Lament for Zelda, and the Kamiki Village theme for Okami. They were both great pieces. Also, as far as humor... Issun's innuendos. I'll just leave it at that.

I'll make a graph if you don't want to read through that text.

Franchise: Zelda
Story: Okami
Gameplay: Zelda
Music: Even
Graphics: Okami
Replay value: Okami

I feel Okami was just on a deeper level than Zelda. The character development certainly added to the plot. Much like Majora's Mask, in Okami, you actually felt the characters. Only difference is that I feel Okami "did it better." Overall, I love Okami too much. I've played all the main Zelda games but Link's Awakening before I played Okami, but I still stick with it.

Overall: Okami

 

[AllieHaxorNova]

Ooh, rough question. As a series, I'd have to go with Zelda, seeing as the franchise has released over 13 really good games over the years. Okami, fairly newer, has two games out. However, if you're comparing Okami to any one Zelda game, I'd go with Okami. I was so fascinated with Okami upon my first playthrough. The story, the theme, the art. It was all so much fun! Okami brought to the table a lot of exploration, much like Zelda in that respect. However, I have to say, Okami's story could blow any Zelda game's plot out of the water, easily. As far as gameplay, I'd have to pick Zelda over Okami. The battles in Okami were sort of weird. You'd be trapped in a demon forcefield, with little room to move most often. Let's not forget trying to use the Celestial Brush on the Wii. Musically, I love them both. Zelda always has fantastic pieces, and so does Okami. Two songs that really stick out to me are Midna's Lament for Zelda, and the Kamiki Village theme for Okami. They were both great pieces. Also, as far as humor... Issun's innuendos. I'll just leave it at that.

I'll make a graph if you don't want to read through that text.

Franchise: Zelda
Story: Okami
Gameplay: Zelda
Music: Even
Graphics: Okami
Replay value: Okami

I feel Okami was just on a deeper level than Zelda. The character development certainly added to the plot. Much like Majora's Mask, in Okami, you actually felt the characters. Only difference is that I feel Okami "did it better." Overall, I love Okami too much. I've played all the main Zelda games but Link's Awakening before I played Okami, but I still stick with it.

Overall: Okami

Yeah that's what I think too. So for me my overall would have to be Okami

 

[tecknokid900]

I love Zelda. Pretty much that. But I've played ad beaten Okami(for the Wii) over Ten times, and it still hardly gets old. I love the art, the story, the Crude Humor, and the fact that it is the next best thing to a Zelda Game! I didn't like the fact that when you fought enemies you had to just stay where you were though.

 

[AllieHaxorNova]

I didn't like the fact that when you fought enemies you had to just stay where you were though.

You don't always stay in place you could move around but the space was small....

 

[Kirino]

Okami just by a little bit. It was such an amazing game. I give it a 10 out of 10. That's how much I like it. I really got into the game, and that doesn't happen much to me. Going into each catagory...

Story: Okami by far. It had such an amazing story. I got so interested in it, and it had so many different twists and turns, and I was always suprised, and wondering what would happen next, like a good book. Especially the characters. They were so deep, and they were all amazing. Especially Waka and Issun.

Gameplay: Equal pretty much. Though maybe Zelda slightly more because it was harder, and you acually had to think to solve the puzzles.

Music: Okami. Usually I pay no attention to the music, but in Okami I acually listened to it in my free time. Usually I can play a game with the volume down, no problem, but with Okami I just can't stand keeping the volume down. I especially like Enter Waka, and Orochi's theme when you fight him.

Graphics: Okami by a little bit. The graphics really stood out to me and looked beautiful.

 

[AllieHaxorNova]

Okami just by a little bit. It was such an amazing game. I give it a 10 out of 10. That's how much I like it. I really got into the game, and that doesn't happen much to me. Going into each catagory...

Story: Okami by far. It had such an amazing story. I got so interested in it, and it had so many different twists and turns, and I was always suprised, and wondering what would happen next, like a good book. Especially the characters. They were so deep, and they were all amazing. Especially Waka and Issun.

Gameplay: Equal pretty much. Though maybe Zelda slightly more because it was harder, and you acually had to think to solve the puzzles.

Music: Okami. Usually I pay no attention to the music, but in Okami I acually listened to it in my free time. Usually I can play a game with the volume down, no problem, but with Okami I just can't stand keeping the volume down. I especially like Enter Waka, and Orochi's theme when you fight him.

Graphics: Okami by a little bit. The graphics really stood out to me and looked beautiful.

Hmm yeah they Music and Graphis made me feel relaxed yet amazed.

 

[blackice_cc]

Definitely Zelda. No doubt about it. Okami was a good game, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as pretty much any Zelda game I've played.

Graphics wise, I'm not really sure which is better. They have completely different styles: while Okami is beautiful, and does capture the atmosphere perfectly, I prefer Zelda's variety of different, but very effective, graphical styles. Probably I'm just biased, but there you are.

Story wise, Okami had a much more detailed presentation than most Zelda games. Even so, I just didn't care about it all that much, whereas the more in-depth stories in the Zelda series always had me wanting to find out more history, or wondering just exactly what is going to happen in the end (beyond Ganon dying, which is pretty much a staple ).

Gameplay wise, Zelda wins outright. It's got awesome puzzles, fun combat (and great boss battles), really cool items, awesome dungeons, fun and rewarding sidequests, and so on. Okami has the "items" in the form of the brush techniques, and some of them were definitely really cool. However, everywhere else it was kind of lacking in my opinion: most of the puzzles were just not as good, the combat was pretty tiresome (even the boss battles felt sort of tedious to me), the dungeons, while interesting, weren't all that great, and the sidequests, while numerous, weren't very fun or rewarding.

Music wise, they're actually pretty close. They both have pretty epic soundtracks, and the music always fits the mood for both of them. Probably I'm biased once again, just because I've played it a lot more and have lots of nostalgia for the tunes in it, but I really do like Zelda music more.

Replay value wise, Zelda wins once again. I can usually replay a new Zelda game once right away, even if I've just beaten it, and then every year or so I feel like replaying several of them, and they're still fun. However, with Okami, I have no urge to play it again at all, even though there are a lot of things I haven't done yet. I just wouldn't be able to stand going through all of the parts I didn't like, only to have a little bit of fun playing the parts I did like over again.

So Zelda wins in every category, for me. Okami was good: I mean, it practically borrowed most of it's gameplay elements from Zelda, and Zelda is awesome. However, it just didn't get any of them right quite like the Zelda series does. I suppose that might be because Zelda has had a whole series for Nintendo to get things right, whereas Okami has only two games in it, both pretty recent. Maybe if they keep going, and fix some things up, I'll really start enjoying them more.

 

[AllieHaxorNova]

Definitely Zelda. No doubt about it. Okami was a good game, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as pretty much any Zelda game I've played.

Graphics wise, I'm not really sure which is better. They have completely different styles: while Okami is beautiful, and does capture the atmosphere perfectly, I prefer Zelda's variety of different, but very effective, graphical styles. Probably I'm just biased, but there you are.

Story wise, Okami had a much more detailed presentation than most Zelda games. Even so, I just didn't care about it all that much, whereas the more in-depth stories in the Zelda series always had me wanting to find out more history, or wondering just exactly what is going to happen in the end (beyond Ganon dying, which is pretty much a staple ).

Gameplay wise, Zelda wins outright. It's got awesome puzzles, fun combat (and great boss battles), really cool items, awesome dungeons, fun and rewarding sidequests, and so on. Okami has the "items" in the form of the brush techniques, and some of them were definitely really cool. However, everywhere else it was kind of lacking in my opinion: most of the puzzles were just not as good, the combat was pretty tiresome (even the boss battles felt sort of tedious to me), the dungeons, while interesting, weren't all that great, and the sidequests, while numerous, weren't very fun or rewarding.

Music wise, they're actually pretty close. They both have pretty epic soundtracks, and the music always fits the mood for both of them. Probably I'm biased once again, just because I've played it a lot more and have lots of nostalgia for the tunes in it, but I really do like Zelda music more.

Replay value wise, Zelda wins once again. I can usually replay a new Zelda game once right away, even if I've just beaten it, and then every year or so I feel like replaying several of them, and they're still fun. However, with Okami, I have no urge to play it again at all, even though there are a lot of things I haven't done yet. I just wouldn't be able to stand going through all of the parts I didn't like, only to have a little bit of fun playing the parts I did like over again.

So Zelda wins in every category, for me. Okami was good: I mean, it practically borrowed most of it's gameplay elements from Zelda, and Zelda is awesome. However, it just didn't get any of them right quite like the Zelda series does. I suppose that might be because Zelda has had a whole series for Nintendo to get things right, whereas Okami has only two games in it, both pretty recent. Maybe if they keep going, and fix some things up, I'll really start enjoying them more.

Well that's some good reasons too. I agree too I guess

 

[Nicole]

Blackice, I pretty much disagree with every point in your whole post. However, only a few will I touch on.

Graphics wise, I'm not really sure which is better. They have completely different styles: while Okami is beautiful, and does capture the atmosphere perfectly, I prefer Zelda's variety of different, but very effective, graphical styles. Probably I'm just biased, but there you are.

Well, considering Zelda has over 11 games more than Okami, I'd expect Zelda's graphical style to have some sort of variety to it, no? Otherwise, everyone would get bored. The reason I firmly believe Okami's graphics were better is because they were so beautiful. They captured Japanese culture, and the whole overall atmosphere of the game.

Story wise, Okami had a much more detailed presentation than most Zelda games. Even so, I just didn't care about it all that much, whereas the more in-depth stories in the Zelda series always had me wanting to find out more history, or wondering just exactly what is going to happen in the end (beyond Ganon dying, which is pretty much a staple ).

That is what I have a huge bug with. I don't know how you can say Zelda had a more in-depth plot than Okami, even in Majora's Mask or Twilight Princess. Excuse my spoilers, but Okami just had more plot twists than the whole Zelda series combined. I mean, just from the beginning, you thought your biggest threat was Orochi. Wrong. Now you have to face Ninetails, and the monsters on Oni Island. Now you're done. Wait, wrong again. Now, you find out about Yami, the Dark Lord. [/end spoilers] Honestly, Zelda had some good plot twists, but in my opinion, none were as dramatic as Okami's. Once again, I don't see how Zelda's storyline even comes close to Okami's.

Replay value wise, Zelda wins once again. I can usually replay a new Zelda game once right away, even if I've just beaten it, and then every year or so I feel like replaying several of them, and they're still fun. However, with Okami, I have no urge to play it again at all, even though there are a lot of things I haven't done yet. I just wouldn't be able to stand going through all of the parts I didn't like, only to have a little bit of fun playing the parts I did like over again.

Well, that must depend on how much you enjoyed the game. I loved almost every part in Okami, so I love the idea of going back through them. Plus, Okami has those little items you get after you achieve something toward the end of the game, which makes it worth replaying. The only Zelda games the reward you for replaying the game are LoZ and TWW (I think). Games like OoT, you can still play them over, but you don't get anything out of it. Which is fine, of you really liked the game.

Gameplay-wise, I'd have to agree with you. Okami was very easy. Easier, I thought, than even Twilight Princess. The enemy fights were also very annoying. I did deeply dislike the forcefield you were required to fight in. It was bothersome and time-consuming as well. The puzzles in Zelda are also much better. Playing Zelda before Okami, I saw every puzzle in Okami coming from a mile away. They were too easy.

(Get ready for my biased opinion.) One thing you didn't touch on, though: Okami trumps Zelda in humor. Easily. Issun had to be the funniest little bug in any video game, ever. You might not like the crude humor like I do, but I thought it was hysterical. Just my opinion, though. Even though I played 12 Zelda games before I even heard of Okami, let alone tried it, I still feel Okami is better compared to any one Zelda game.

 

[AllieHaxorNova]

Blackice, I pretty much disagree with every point in your whole post. However, only a few will I touch on.



Well, considering Zelda has over 11 games more than Okami, I'd expect Zelda's graphical style to have some sort of variety to it, no? Otherwise, everyone would get bored. The reason I firmly believe Okami's graphics were better is because they were so beautiful. They captured Japanese culture, and the whole overall atmosphere of the game.

I'm gonna have to say that you have a good point. The graphics are a lot better in Okami then in Zelda. I mean I have played mostly every Zelda out there, and most of the graphics are the same as the game before it. So yeah. One more thing that makes Okami better is its music. It's clam and peaceful but at sometimes it has a different type for monster or boss battles. And when you talk to people they sound weird :bleh:^^

 

[spiderbrush]

Personally, from the Zelda games I've beaten (which, so far, are only Wind Waker and Twilight Princess), I'd have to go with Okami. I like a number of things better--the story, the graphics, the music... I still tear up a bit during the final scenes of Okami, whereas I can't remember tearing up at all at Twilight Princess's or Wind Waker's story (that's not to say their stories are bad, they're not). I also love how Okami's graphics represent a Japanese painting.

However, at least with combat and dungeons, I think I like the gameplay in TP/WW more--especially Twilight Princess. I like how you can completely ignore the battles all together in Okami by avoiding the scrolls, but I can't say I like the small areas a whole lot. And Issun giving away the solutions can get annoying, and the dungeons, I think, aren't as in-depth as TP or WW's. However, I still really love running around the areas in Okami at full speed, with the flowers trailing behind me, and I love the Celestial Brush.

So, yeah, I have to go with Okami, but the Zelda games are still great.

 

[AllieHaxorNova]

Personally, from the Zelda games I've beaten (which, so far, are only Wind Waker and Twilight Princess), I'd have to go with Okami. I like a number of things better--the story, the graphics, the music... I still tear up a bit during the final scenes of Okami, whereas I can't remember tearing up at all at Twilight Princess's or Wind Waker's story (that's not to say their stories are bad, they're not). I also love how Okami's graphics represent a Japanese painting.

However, at least with combat and dungeons, I think I like the gameplay in TP/WW more--especially Twilight Princess. I like how you can completely ignore the battles all together in Okami by avoiding the scrolls, but I can't say I like the small areas a whole lot. And Issun giving away the solutions can get annoying, and the dungeons, I think, aren't as in-depth as TP or WW's. However, I still really love running around the areas in Okami at full speed, with the flowers trailing behind me, and I love the Celestial Brush.

So, yeah, I have to go with Okami, but the Zelda games are still great.

Another good point. I agree. both are good games. Thing is Okami has a better story is all.

 

[blackice_cc]

Blackice, I pretty much disagree with every point in your whole post. However, only a few will I touch on.

Ah, good. I love a healthy debate every now and then =P. You do make some good points. However...

That is what I have a huge bug with. I don't know how you can say Zelda had a more in-depth plot than Okami, even in Majora's Mask or Twilight Princess. Excuse my spoilers, but Okami just had more plot twists than the whole Zelda series combined. I mean, just from the beginning, you thought your biggest threat was Orochi. Wrong. Now you have to face Ninetails, and the monsters on Oni Island. Now you're done. Wait, wrong again. Now, you find out about Yami, the Dark Lord. [/end spoilers] Honestly, Zelda had some good plot twists, but in my opinion, none were as dramatic as Okami's. Once again, I don't see how Zelda's storyline even comes close to Okami's.

I guess I didn't word that very well. I agree that Okami has a more complex and detailed plot than any Zelda game. I meant that the Zelda games that do have somewhat detailed plots (not as much as Okami, as I said before) are more enjoyable to me story wise. Like I said, I just didn't care very much about the characters, or even the events, in Okami, whereas in Zelda I always wanted to see what the outcome would be. Besides, to me, good plots don't have to be extremely complex, or even have twists in them. For example, look at books: The Lord of the Rings has a much simpler plot than lots of current-day fantasy books, but that doesn't stop me from still enjoying The Lord of the Rings a lot more.

(Get ready for my biased opinion.) One thing you didn't touch on, though: Okami trumps Zelda in humor. Easily. Issun had to be the funniest little bug in any video game, ever. You might not like the crude humor like I do, but I thought it was hysterical. Just my opinion, though.

Issun definitely was pretty funny, and just plain awesome. For the most part, at least. Although some of his joking around didn't strike me as all that funny. And yes, Zelda doesn't have very much comedy, although when it does, it's usually good humor (in my opinion, of course). But cool as Issun was, I like Ezlo from MC better, and Midna at least as much.

I played and beat every Zelda game before I finally decided to get Okami, although I'd heard it was really good much earlier. And after playing it, I can safely say that it did many things right: just, as I said before, never as good as the Zelda series has.

 

[AllieHaxorNova]

You made lots of good points there...