You're that persuaded by a single post/thread?

well... I still need this game...

Well I just finished the game, and it's now in my top 20 games of all time.

I can understand that you're frustrated with the controls. Okami has a pretty steep learning curve, especially for a Wii game. Still, give it some time as you battle and use the celestial brush and all of a sudden it clicks. Fighting isn't about waggling as fast as you can (like I was doing early on...), it's more rhythm based than anything. And as for painting, it's one of those things you just have to familiarize yourself with. It took me a while to finally get thunderbolt down... but once I got it, I got it.

And as for the "boring" maps, I could run around Nippon all day long. It's just so beautiful and serene. Ah well, whatever floats your boat.

Now I just have 3 stray beads to collect. 2 from the spider hole devil gates, and one from blockhead grande. The latter will be the end of me.

steven, the game is very Zeldaisc, after a while you get loads of options and the brush stroaks don't become intuitive but they are easy... You will see the tricks for 100% success.

I think you should play it again, game is simply awesome; it is a bit annoying and easy in the beginning but further in the game ,things change. Brush is just a matter of practice, try a bit harder and you'll love Okami if not then force yourself to love it...

I just want to add, that Okami is nowhere near the polish of any Zelda game... except the CDi ones.

The story and later puzzles may be better but I will never find out, there has been absolutely no challenge or exploration and very little action in the first 2 hours.

I also feel the there is too much foreshadowing, let me not know.  I didn't need to know the wolf was the Sun God in the first 45 minutes.  They didn't need to tell me straight out that this chick likes this guy

Good tip for story telling: show don't tell.

Good tip for story in a game: Show don't tell, let me play it don't say it.

At least let me see and play through clues before you tell me.

Yeah, Savior, don't just take my opinion, a lot of people love this game. I am not known on the boards to have the best taste, but I felt I needed to express my opinion - I think in this case it is a fair assessment.

Taste differs, ofcourse, but 2 hours isn't much... at all.

Okami is a 50 hour game, so you probbly haven't even really begun playing it yet. I know lots of games where the game only gets fun after the introduction, which sometimes take a couple of hours.

Give it a try.

They should have some element of fun with in the first 2 hours.  The only things I liked? The art style and graphics, the general story, and the jokes about the boobs.  But if a game isn't fun then why should I sit through it waiting for it to get fun?

It's a very poor design choice.

Look at TP.  Everyone complains that you don't get out into the open early enough... but that's only because you are immediately doing fun things and they get you to want to see more. 

From hang gliding from a chicken to the early battles and puzzles (though easy for an old timer like me) you are having fun and getting involved.

To me Okami is just walking to the next annoying battle and bits of (good) story told through characters that I can't like.

I must add, I still think anyone who owns a PS2 or Wii should try it, there are elements of brilliance, but I think there are some major flaws and it's definitely not for me.

You've all convinced me to try to finish it, so I can discuss it more fully.  I respect your opinions.

I think my sarcasm meter is broken.....

*smacks against hand* Yup, its broken.

Most of the adventure games I played either start off slow, or give a little action, then have a few hours of slowdown time.

Twilight Princess started off slow. Baten Kaitos and Tales of Symphonia started off slow. You have to give some things time.

2 hours isn't enough.

Okami is a great game. The bruch kicked my ass the first couple of hours (there is a huge learning curve), but after that it worked fine. Stick to it and youll find an amazing game. But judgeing a game when youve played less than 10 hours is stupid. Dont try to review anything if you havent beat it.