My biggest problem is that there is TOO MUCH dialogue, particularly from Issun. The game holds your hand a bit too much, in that respect, for me.

That being said, it's really my only complaint. Love the game. Played the PS2 version twice and the HD one a few years ago.

Awesome game! Why don t great games like Okami sell better? It would seem to me, "word of mouth" would count for more than it does with great games like Okami

I am a huge Okami fan and a huge LoZ fan. I think the issue is that you are comparing Okami to the faults of every 3D zelda game, which of course means you have a bigger list in the end. Anyway the only 3D Zelda that is better than Okami in my opinion is Majora's Mask.

Okami is awesometacular

I really need to give it another shot. I tried it some years back and really just couldn't get into it. Not sure why, it just didn't click with me. But I'm all about stuff that's like Zelda, so maybe it would be different now.

I'd be curious on hearing why you thought the final boss ruined everything. I'll agree that the dungeon felt pretty meh (but then again I don't think it was really meant to be much of a dungeon so whatever), but the final boss was great imo. Storywise it tied up all the loose ends and was most certainly not your stereotypical "super bad guy," and gameplay wise it required clever usage of all the skills presented in the game thus far. Plus the final stage theme is a masterpiece.

psss... so is Alundra

I'm sure it's only one contributing factor, but the game was marketed abysmally. The commercials and gameplay don't make the game look interesting or enjoyable to play at all, and even if someone did get talked into playing it despite that, the first hour or so would probably be enough to dissuade them. It almost was for me. If there's one thing I will definitely criticize the game for, it's taking WAY too long to take the training wheels off and let the player roam freely.

Well, I certainly spent the greatest amount of time saying what I thought Okami did better than Zelda (which will usually be places Zelda screwed up that Okami didn't), but that seems kind of the first place to start for a thread arguing why one game is better than others. I think apart from the things I mentioned, the games are pretty equivalent. Both Okami and Zelda have enjoyable combat that I think leans a little too far in the direction of easy, both have some really memorable soundtracks, and both games have some really well designed basic control schemes. I mentioned at the bottom that I wish Okami was more like Zelda in terms of puzzle difficulty. Outside of that, not a lot comes to mind in terms of differences I could discuss that I feel like would be interesting/helpful to discuss.

My concern is that a few of the faults you placed on Zelda were not faults of every game, you even said a few times "All except (insert specific Zelda game) had this problem." This is the downfall of comparing one unique entry to an entire series of games. Also I think your concern about LoZ being repetitive only has merit if somebody plays more than one Zelda game. A person's first Zelda game isn't so formulaic I would think, and does have that sense of advaneture you described of Okami. Having played Okamiden after playing Okami it fell into the same pattern (purge area of darkness -> solve problem -> explore clean environment.) Also Okami has the issue of recycling the same bosses not twicely, but thricely. Okami changed its formula throughout the game after different lengths of time, but so have Zelda games (OoT child vs. adult link, TP various different patterns throughout each stage of the game, etc, etc.)

Overall, Okami is a masterpiece, as are some Zelda games. So yeah, the differences are miniscule.

Yeah gonna have to say no to this. It is a good game but in no way is it better than 3D Zelda.