The Graveyard

[Iambaytor]

Okay let me spell out the purpose of this thread. This isn't for underrated games (though many will appear) it's for characters that you'll (probably) never play as ever again because they're either A) Dead, B) Written Out, C) The Game Didn't Do well and no sequels are planned/have come up yet. Maybe you want to give a little sendoff to the characters you'll likely never see again (plus it's a good way to plug games)

 

So I'ma start this one off as this year the Interweb saw to killing off one of my favorite characters of all time.

 

 

 

Here Lies Zul'Jin

WarCraft 2:Tides of Darkness (1995) - World of WarCraft (2004)

 

My first real-time strategy game, and indeed one of the first games I truly got into was WarCraft 2: Tides of Darkness. Zul'Jin was the first hero unit you got in the game. There was nothing spectacular about him, he was the same unit with a little more damage and a different picture, you didn't even need him in the mission he was in.

 

But for some reason I thought he was the coolest fucking thing ever and after reading over his complete history I was pretty right. Apparently his in-game storyline he was captured, tortured for several years (that's why he lost the eye) and then to escape he severed his own arm and ran off to plot his revenge. As far as toughness goes that's pretty badass.

 

Zul'Jin as he appeared in the Tides of Darkness game manual

 

I traced that image above I don't even know how many times, it used to be one of my favorite to draw back when I was still in grade school. I was pretty damn disappointed when Zul'Jin wasn't included in WarCraft 3 but I got over it, there were really no place for the forest trolls because apparently they decided they need blue ones with spears... I don't get it either.

 

But he made his final appearance in World of WarCraft as the boss of the Zel'Aman area. I'm told he's a very hard boss at that, but this boss battle signifies his death and thus the end of a great character who always seemed like my own cause I was the only one who thought he was great.

 

Zul'Jin as he appears in World of WarCraft

 

Anyhow, this is my final salute to the coolest Troll Axethrower in the entire World of WarCraft and the character who got me started drawing comics in the first place, Zul'Jin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So anyway, this thread won't die for a while cause I got a fuckton of characters to pay tribute to. If you have any to add feel free, just give who they are their entire "run" (First game/Last Game) a picture of them as well as the cover of their first game if applicable. If everyone's confused I'll do another one.

[Iambaytor]

I'll do one more tonight just for the hell of it.

 

 

Here lies Corporal Adrian Shephard

 

Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999) - Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999)

 

He's not Gordon Freeman, he's not Barney Calhoun, but he still got better press than Gina Cross and Colette Green from Half-Life: Decay. Adrian Shephards story was an interesting play on Half-Life. Unlike Barney Calhoun's story Blue Shift, which was a few extra levels with less weapons, gameplay time, and monsters, Corporal Shephard's story truly expanded on Half-Life and what happened at Black Mesa.

 

Shephard was a US Marine sent in to clean up Black Mesa but his helicopter was shot down before he got his orders. So after getting your kickass gear which is only slightly less cool than Gordon's HEV suit (you get night vision goggles instead of a flashlight and a pipe wrench in lieu of a crowbar) but it's more than just small cosmetic differences, there are several new weapons in Opposing Force, the wrench works entirely different than the crowbar and can actually kill an alien in one blow if the button is held down for a second. Adrian starts out with a desert eagle rather than a 9 millimeter glock, and gets a sniper rifle, combat knife, and several weird alien weapons, also a portal gun which I believe was the precursor to Portal's portal gun. The game was just as long as the original Half-Life with the same dynamic gameplay and great storytelling of the original. We got an entirely new race of aliens known as Race X who were not affiliated with the Combine.

 

Shephard preparing to shoot things

 

Shephard's story had a similar ending, upon saving the world from the second big ugly fucking monster to terrorize the underground facility filled with zombies that ISN'T owned by Umbrella, the G-Man whisks him away to literally nowhere. You're back inside the helicopter that you started out in and a bright flash fills the screen as Black Mesa is nuked.

 

The G-Man says you know too much and you are a liability, but you've proven yourself to be too resourceful to die. The G-Man leaves and you're left sitting on the Helicopter till he needs you again, just like with Gordon and the train car.

 

Now my hopes were that Adrian would appear somewhere in Half-Life 2, when they were bringing out Episode 2 there was talk of another person from Gordon's past appearing, I was hoping it would be Shepard, instead we got Doctor FUCKING Magnusson, what the hell? Then there was all that stuff about how the acronym for the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device made the acronym A SHPD (A. Shephard) and there was talk that he might be the protagonist but alas not there either.

 

You never actually see Shephard's face at any point unlike Gordon's who you can see in multiplayer

 

So I've given up hope, I doubt we'll ever hear from Adrian Shephard again. Maybe they'll shock me and put him in Episode 3 or perhaps when they make a Half-Life 3 he'll make an appearance. Until then I guess I shall mourn him as he truly was a kickass character that deserves the fanbase he has and more.

[Stilly]

 

I really hope Shephard shows up again. I mean, he was put into stasis, and so far every character put into stasis has come back.

...admittedly, that's only been Gordon so far, but still.

 

Seeing as it was developed by Gearbox, I don't know how much of it is canon, even though it is presented as such. G-man

pretty much just regained control of the situation at the end of HL2E2

(or at least that was my interpretation of it), so he may need some extra firepower to keep things in check.

 

Or..or...I don't know, but he needs to come back.

[Iambaytor]

Strider's US box art. Not pictured:Anything you'll see in the game.

 

Here lies Strider Hiryuu

 

Strider (1989) - Namco x Capcom (2005)

 

Strider was one of the hardest god damned games ever made. Even on an emulator, quick saving every 5 seconds it beats me like a naughty puppy. But Strider is an awesome character no less, and I must admit I miss playing his games even if they were ridiculously difficult.

 

 

There were only 2 Strider games released in the US but he's made appearances in several Capcom fighting games as well as the Marvel vs. Capcom series and the Japanese RPG Namco x Capcom. That was where he was last seen, and cool as he is in fighting games I really wish they'd make a Strider 3.

[Silent Bob]

Cover art for Full Throttle (1995)

 

Throughout the course of this surprising and fantastically written adventure, the rough and tumble biker known only as Ben (his snicker-worthy last name was only revealed on the back of the CD case) got into brawls, jumped gorges, ran from the cops, won demolition derbies, got framed, navigated mine fields and destroyed public property, all to keep an evil industrialist from getting away with murder and shutting down production of motorcycles in order to make room for...(gasp) mini-vans.

 

"This view defines true beauty."

 

At the end of the game, Ben rides off victoriously into the sunset on his Corley motorcycle ("Can't beat a Corley!"), destined for a sequel that would never come. In 2002, Lucasarts announced the long overdue second installment - Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels - with a shift into the 3D beat-em-up genre, only to unceremoniously cancel the game a year later (presumably so that the programmers could get back to work on another Hoth level).

 

"When I think of Maureen, I think of two things: asphalt and trouble."

 

With the sad death of irreplaceable voice actor Roy Conrad from lung cancer (if you heard his voice, it wouldn't surprise you) in 2002, it's probably safe to say that Ben will never ride again. So raise a glass to Ben Whatsisname, the meanest sonofabitch to tame the open road.

 

[The NZA]

this is a fine, fine thread. baytor gave Strider a nod, as i did in my homage thread.

 

i gotta think about it, im sure i can muster up someone better than Alex Kidd.

[Silent Bob]

Yeah, good thread, Baytor. Someone needs to do one for Jade...or I will next time I have time.

 

[the division of joy]

I was gonna do guybrush threepwood, but rumours of MI5 makes me not want to...

[The NZA]

ooh, Jade's a good one. Im thinking about covering Wander from Shadow of the Colossus.

 

[Iambaytor]

Jade's on my list but by all means anyone who wants to take her is welcome, I also had Ben it turns out he did have a real last name: Ben Throttle but Lucasarts felt they were going to be sued by the Biker Mice From Mars people and changed it last minute. It really makes me sad to find out Ben's voice actor died, now even if they do make a sequel it'll just seem... empty.

[Silent Bob]

I was gonna do guybrush threepwood, but rumours of MI5 makes me not want to...

 

I considered him too, but he's made it into four games so far, and unlike Full Throttle and Sam & Max, he hasn't been in anything that Lucasarts has pulled the plug on yet, so there's still hope. My secret desire is that Lucasarts gives up the rights to Telltale Games. After the great work they've done with Sam & Max, I want them to take over all of the abandoned Lucasarts franchises now.

 

Except Full Throttle. I agree with baytor, there - a sequel without Roy Conrad isn't worth it.

[Iambaytor]

 

Sir Daniel Fortesque

 

MediEvil (1998) - MediEvil Ressurection (2005)

 

MediEvil has always been one of those games that I've felt was highly underrated. If Tim Burton made a video game I could only imagine it would look something like this. It is a truly brilliant game and its hero Daniel Fortesque, the first knight to die in the battle against the evil wizard Zarok and his undead armies, 100 years later he comes back to life as an undead solider looking to take revenge and save the day.

 

He got shot in the eye so there's the explanation for that, but I don't know what happened to his jaw.

 

All told there were 3 MediEvil games. The first one, MediEvil 2 released in 2000, and MediEvil Ressurection which was the remake of the original ported to PSP. The games received critical acclaim and is up for download on Playstation 3's virtual console and I fully reccomend everyone who has a PS3 to download it.

 

A picture of Daniel from the original Playstation 1 title

 

However I doubt we'll ever see another MediEvil game, they weren't terribly popular even though they've reached a cult status. So here's to Daniel's Un-Life, I'll miss him.

[Iambaytor]

 

Here lies Tomba

 

Tomba (1998) - Tomba 2: The Evil Swine Return (1999)

 

Made by the now defunct Whoopee Camp Productions Tomba was quite possibly the greatest and most intuitive side-scrolling platform game ever. With a great storyline, great graphics, and RPG-like elements it was one of my favorite games of all time.

 

Meet Tomba, everybody's favorite Pig Rapist

 

Daring to challenge side-scroller conventions put forth by games like Mario, Sonic, and Crash Bandicoot (in certain levels) it created a rich world in which you could interact with friendly towns-people, go on side quests, and switch between a myriad of weapons.

 

Tomba got one sequel for the Playstation, it didn't reach as much critical acclaim but it was still quite beloved by all. Copies of Tomba still sell on Ebay for upwards of $30-$50, Tomba 2 sells for around $20-$40

[The NZA]

oh shit, that's funny. Kertins was just having me look up Tomba! on half.com since we all had fun with the demo in the day (wasnt it free from pizza hut or something?), and yeah, its upwards of $40 for the original. Good platformer.

[soldier of fortune]

Great thread Baytor...

[Iambaytor]

 

Here lies Roger Wilco

 

Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter (1986) - Space Quest: The Spinal Frontier (1995)

 

A year before a guy and his friends entered a mad scientist's house to save his girlfriend, 4 years before a young cabin boy dared to become a pirate, 7 years before Sam and Max hit the road, and nine years before an outlaw biker got tied up in a murder plot, a space station janitor saved the universe from certain doom. Space Quest was a series by Sierra Interactive.

 

Roger Wilco was the first true adventure game character. A janitor on a space station hijacked by an evil empire, the only survivor because he was asleep in the broom closet when the rest of the crew was massacred. As Roger, the player guided Roger around with the arrow keys and typed commands for him to do. Roger saved the world, often by mistake, six times in a hilarious science fiction world that parodies the likes of Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, even the Energizer Bunny.

 

 

Space Quest had 5 sequels, all as great if not better than the original, in part 4 the series switched from the text adventure style to the point and click adventure style that made Lucasarts famous. Though it's more or less unheard of I have a theory that Futurama bit some of its ideas from these games, don't believe me?

 

Here's Roger Wilco from Space Quest 5: The Next Mutation released in 1993

 

Here's Zap Brannigan:

 

Also Roger had a pet facehugger type alien named Spike who shared certain similarities to Nibbler.

 

 

Space Quest VII: Return to Roman Numerals (because all the series' games had roman numeral numbers in the title except 6) has been proposed since 1996, the game is more or less dead in the water. So I salute the first great adventure game character who was around long before anyone had ever heard of Guybrush Threepwood, Larry Laffer, or Manny Calavera. You will be missed by all 6 of the people who remember your games.

[Silent Bob]

 

Rest in Peace - Three-eight, Oh-seven, Four-oh and Six-two

A long time ago - 2005

 

 

As far as I'm concerned, Star Wars Republic Commando is one of the few Star Wars games that has lived up to its namesake. Sure, there have been others - Knights of the Old Republic is great, Shadow of the Empire had its moments, and TIE Fighter is quite possibly the best Star Wars game ever made - but I think Republic Commando stands proud next to those giants. The premise is simple, and so brilliant you wonder why it took Lucasarts so long to try it: take the some of the epic battle scenes from the films (in this case, Episode II and III) and use them in a squad-based shooter.

 

 

You play the game as "38", the leader of a four-person squad of clone troopers. But these aren't normal clone troopers, they're elite commandos, Republic special forces, and as such they've been allowed to develop their own separate personalities to increase their aptitude for tactical thinking. So while everyone on your team probably looks the same under their helmets, they act completely differently (and for some reason, they have different voices too). This basically leads to the Star Wars Ninja Turtles. You have the wisecracking jokester of the squad (designated with yellow on his armor). You have the violence-loving hothead (designated with red, do you see the connection here?). You have the by-the-book soldier. And you have the cool-headed leader. It seems cliche, but the voice actors are so good and the script is never hokey or over the top so it works surprisingly well.

 

 

The game emphasized teamwork. Many of the large battles couldn't be won without strategic use of the whole squad, and luckily each character could easily hold his own in a firefight. Through the course of its short but exciting campaign, the squad blasts its way through missions on Genosha, an abandoned starship in deep space, and finally the Wookiee homeworld of Kashykk. After a long climactic battle, you are forced to evacuate in a dropship, leaving one of your squadmates behind to fend for himself while Yoda signals the start of a full ground assault on the planet and...the credits roll. That's it. Despite the cliffhanger ending and the very respectable sales of the game, Lucasarts has announced no plans for a sequel. Will fans of the most badass Star Wars characters to never hold a lightsaber ever find out what happens? Well, after three years of waiting and no more prequels to plug, I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

[Iambaytor]

 

Here Lies Tiny Tank

 

Tiny Tank (1999) - Tiny Tank (1999)

 

Tiny Tank was a game about a world that had been conquered by robots. The story is told through flashbacks to the shooting of a propaganda video where Tiny Tank, the adorable mascot for Sentrax's new robot army speaks about the benefits of having all wars from now on fought by robots.

 

In the game you play as Tiny, rebuilt by a satellite several years later to stop Mutank, the leader of the robot armies that have destroyed and enslaved humanity. Your job is to cut off the army's supply lines and destroy Mutank, thus saving humanity.

 

That's my theme song? Swanky wanky danky, what the F*ck is that?!

 

This game had a wonderful sense of black humor that never ceased to amuse me. The gameplay was great for its time, and was new and inventive. It combined typical 3-D platforming games like Super Mario 64 with driving games like Twisted Metal and 3rd person shooters like Tomb Raider.

 

It was inventive and fresh and I still hold my copy of the game with pride. It truly was a buried treasure amongst all the tripe released for the Playstation 1. Alas the series lasted for one game and Tiny was never heard from again. But the adorable yet profane little bastard lives on in my memories

[Iambaytor]

 

Here lies Clyde "Shadow" Arrowny

 

Final Fantasy III (1994) - Final Fantasy VI Advance (2007)

 

Final Fantasy 6 had probably the best ensemble cast of the whole series. Being the one game in the series that didn't have a distinct main character (you start the game with Terra Branford but much of the game happens without her) it featured well fleshed out and fun characters that you couldn't help but love.

 

While not the most powerful, the wandering ninja Shadow was easily the coolest and most interesting of the lot. He was a relatively weak fighter but he had the ability to throw unused weapons, items, and special throwing stars and do tons of damage. Also he had a dog named Interceptor who would pop up and take damage for him and then counterattack and do a good 1000 points in one hit.

 

Why is he blue? Nobody knows.

 

Shadows abilities were really only a small part of his charm. Early in the game you often had to pay to get him in your party and he would hold the liberty to leave at any time. His silent stature and never say die demeanor coupled with his taste for black clothing and creepy blue eyes serve to make him the ultimate badass. (He also has a penchant for dropping from the ceiling no matter where you happen to be)

 

Throughout the game while visiting INNs all around the world with Shadow in your party ever once in a while at random intervals he will have dreams of his past life. You find out he was a thief named Clyde who left his friend to die at the hands of the Imperial Soldiers and ended up in a small town where he started a family and when his wife was killed he ran off. If you read between the lines it more or less tells that Clyde/Shadow is the father of fellow party member Relm Arrowny.

 

 

Shadow's fate at the end of the game is not made clear. He may have quite his mercenary ways, he may have went into hiding, he may have jumped to his death. It never says.

 

Final Fantasy 3/6 has been remade twice, once for the Playstation as Final Fantasy Anthologies and recently for the Gameboy Advance as Final Fantasy 6 Advance. But while Square does seem gungho on making sequels to their games (X-2, all that Final Fantasy 7 nonsense, and now a proposed sequel to Final Fantasy 2/4) it is doubtful that we will ever see Shadow again save for maybe a cameo in a Kingdom Hearts game.

 

Goodbye Shadow, you are missed.

[bishopcruz]

 

Here lies Eusis "Rolf" Landale and Friends

Eusis is the man

 

Game Phantasy Star 2 (1989) - Phantasy Star Generation2 (2005)

 

The first Phantasy Star introduced us to the universe, three planets orbit the star Algo, one planet is very earth like and is the capital of the Algo system, Palma. One is a desert planet, Motavia, and one is a remote ice planet, Dezoris. In PS1 a group of warriors led by Alis using spells and swords takes out an evil king, and eventually a manifestation of pure evil, DarkForce. But that isn't Eusis' story. Hist takes place 1000. years later, when Magic has vanished, and the reconstruction has ended. (there was an orbital shift, long story)

 

Eusis was a special agent who worked for the Motavian government in the game Phantasy Star 2. The desert world of Motavia has been turned into more or less a utopia after terraforming. The great Mother Brain controls everything, and life is good, so why are there suddenly Biomonsters roaming the countryside? Travel from city to city has become impossible outside of teleportation, and Space Travel has been outlawed since the accident that took his parent's life 10 years ago. Still life is good, death has since been conquered through cloning, and people are happy, mostly.

 

But he still has the nightmares:

 

That's just the beginning. He also has a girl who he has looked after named Nei, she is half human, half bio-monster, and Eusis rescued her from an angry mob several months before the start of the game. She has aged rapidly, and even though she is only a couple of years old, she is fully mature.

 

After Rolf gets orders from his commander to go to the Motavian BioSystems lab in order to find out WHY there are Bio Monsters in the first place, Nei insists that she go with Rolf, to help protect him. The pair sets off to the Bio Systems lab.

 

 

Along the way they meet up with Rudger (Rudo) Stiener, and Anne (Amy, in a MAJOR translation fuckup) Saga. Rudger was a hunter who specialized in Guns but could not use Techniques (PS2's magic, but not really). Anne was a doctor. Eventually the group reached the BioSystems lab where they found out that energy was being siphoned from Motavia's climate control facility in order to create these monsters.

 

Rudger, don't fuck with him+NeiShot

On the way to Climatrol Eusis meets the rest of his friends: Huey (Hugh) Rean, Amia (Anna) Amirski, Kainz (Kain) Ji An, and Shirka (Shir) Levinia. Each of these part members could be extremely useful in the right situations, though some of them would likely never be used on a regular playthrough. Huey and Shirka were especially underrated. Huey could kill Biomonsters like no fucking tomorrow, and Shir not only stole some of the best shit in the game (including an item that let you save ANYWHERE) but she was pretty much faster than anything in the game (which would be damn useful).

 

Still it was hard to beat Amia's ass kicking factor, and Kain's mech-killing abilities.

 

If you don't have Anne in your party, you will die, A LOT!!!

Eventually inside of Climatrol you find out that Mother Brain, the benevolent supercomputer that rules everything perfectly, isn't so perfect after all. She created Neifirst, whom Nei is completely linked to, another mix of biomonster and human (this race would eventually be called Numan.)

 

Slashers make me horny

 

Neifirst KILLS Nei (in a scene that if you didn't at least mist up for, you have no soul) and you have to fight her with only 3 party members. You kick her Sorry ass, and she begins to flood the whole fucking planet. Rolf and crew take Nei's body topside, where they find out that apparently without Neifirst, Nei's cells can't be cloned anymore. She is ACTUALLY dead, in 1989 this was fucking MASSIVE.

 

Fuck you Sega!!!

Oh, yeah, and Eusis and crew are now fugitives, bust still have to save the citizens of Motavia from nonstop rain that will drown them all in weeks unless the dams are opened. Eusis and crew succeed in doing this, saving Motavia, but are eventually caught, and sentenced to death on a spaceship. They narrowly escape the prison sattelite crashing into Palma, the capital planet. The planet wasn't so lucky, it explodes.

 

Eventually the gang makes it to Dezoris, meets up with a still alive hero from the first game, fights some MOTHERFUCKING tough mosnters and gets their hands on the Nei Weapons the only things that can defeat what awats them on another gigantic satellite, named NOAH.

 

Where Eusis and crew fight Darkforce, Mother Brain and win... to live happily ever after.

 

If this were any other game.

 

But this is Phantasy Star Motherfucking II. A game so hardcore that...

 

Eusis' and his party beat Mother Brain, your friend on the planet says it isn't over, teleports the rest of your party to you. THEN you find out what has been controlling and corrupting Mother Brain. It was fucking HUMANS, who wanted to take over the Algo system because earth was no more. Eusis and company fight against impossible odds and go down like motherfucking Spartans.

 

The END!

 

So this goes out to the most hardcore party of characters to ever grace an RPG. Eusis, and friends.

[The NZA]

aw, man, im always fascinated by what bish gathered from the japanese version of the game, as far as names and extra plot points.

 

this was my first real RPG ever, and completely sold me on the genre as a kid - 8-bit games were especially impossible sometimes, but being the first genesis game id every played on my own, it not only looked/sounded pretty, it felt like a chess game - yes, the fucking mutant ants outside my hometown could kill me, but only if i didnt think my moves through, and, you know, stay close as fuck to town.

 

I literally recall spending weeks of my life hardcore grinding outside of this one town, Paseo or something? where every laser weapon or ceramic armor was 3-5k and enemies dropped $100 or so when i fought the toughest fucking ones, and i knew the curve of the game was kicking my ass so bad i dare not move on until i had the best of everything on my party. Hardcore really defines this game - id not played 1 yet, but this one made you weep until you had the visaphone (ability to save on-spot). Spent the last couple hours dungeon-crawling, cause the free and awesome but sometimes inaccurate strategy guide's map got you lost? Gained 5 levels, have a shit ton of meseta (gold) but down 2 party members and on your last leg, finally finding the exit? NO, FUCK YOU, CRITICAL ATTACKS FROM ALL AROUND, TRY AGAIN WHEN YOU BUY A NEW CONTROLLER THAT BREAKS LESS EASILY.

 

but you had to fucking know what happened to the espers, had to know if mota would make it, and you sure as fuck had to see that balls-out ending that nobody'd spoil for you even by '91 cause so few people i knew could get to it. great, great entry bish.

[the division of joy]

I considered him too, but he's made it into four games so far, and unlike Full Throttle and Sam & Max, he hasn't been in anything that Lucasarts has pulled the plug on yet, so there's still hope. My secret desire is that Lucasarts gives up the rights to Telltale Games. After the great work they've done with Sam & Max, I want them to take over all of the abandoned Lucasarts franchises now.

 

Lucasarts said that they were planning on revisting some of the old classics in 2015, and definitely doing a game to tell us what the actual secret of monkey island is.

 

This makes me happy

[Drifter]

I'm looking at the Republic Commando game and it makes me want to cry. I loved that game, cared about the characters, and for the life of me here was a game where your squad could take care of themselves and didn't just use you for cover, you could actually rely on them. Ask Bishop, I was still playing that game on his 360 long after he got it.

[Iambaytor]

 

Here Lies Ameratsu

 

Okami PS2 (2006) - Okami Wii (2007)

 

This game came out toward the height of the last console wars alongside Shadow of the Colossus to a lukewarm reception. It didn't really do a good job of promoting itself and one cannot tell how good a game it really was until they played it for themselves.

 

No less much of the fun and the charm of the story lay in the paws of the protagonist, a goddess reincarnated as a white wolf, the Goddess Ameratsu. The wolf had a personality all her own and if one was able to manage to ignore the annoying little sqwauking bug on your back long enough you could really see how interesting and expressive she was.

 

 

Clover Studios seemed to forsee Okami not doing well and packed on what seemed like an entire extra game on. This gave you a lot of time to spend with the character. But this still didn't help sooth the pain of watching Ammy walk along on the bottom of the screen as the credits rolled, finally stopping and fading to black.

 

So this one goes out to the dog that somehow manages to wield a gigantic fucking sword. Ameratsu you will be sorely missed.

[The NZA]

 

aw man, i can get misty over that one.

 

kids on kotaku were pushing that one when id slept on it, and it came up again during a time when i found myself bored of Zelda: Twilight Princess for reasons i coudlnt quite put my finger on. Okami felt like it took the zelda formula and made everything fresh again; i loved exploring new areas (running around just to see flowers grow, heh) and exploiting boss' weaknesses. Even the supporting cast was fun & entertaining - one of the major gripes people had was the noises isshun made and the unskippable dialogue before parts you'd have to redo a lot - like the adventure on the logs - but i never really held it against it. You'd win, you'd paint, you'd see life return to an area...you'd really felt like you accomplished something. I absolutely adored it.

 

and yeah, baytor's not wrong; i clocked in around 70 hours (!) total with side-quests and completion, which is impressive as hell for an action/adventure title. It didnt leave you wanting, which is fair since we knew there likely woudlnt be more. I was happy enough to see it made it to the Wii (shoulda gone to DS too!) but a lack of any marketing again kept the sales down, and now best i can hope for is Ammy cameoing as an assist in a capcom fighter one day. That, and the game's art book.

So yeah, i currently use an Okami theme on my PS3 and everytime i boot up, i get nostalgic. Just a beautiful game.

 

Great art here!