Happy birthday, coffeejedi! Remember the days when you were still a Coffee Padawan? Man, were you ever an eager student! And they said you were too old to begin your training! Crazy times, man, crazy times.

It's been a while since I've posted on the topic of the Score War, and that's because my role in its mission proper has drawn to an end. I spent last Saturday letting myself sit patiently at the 8.99 mark, mostly wondering which song to use to ring in the occasion. tunaman offered up his typically brilliant insight.

• Truly it is momentus. I say choose... Flirtin With Disaster. Because that's what you & I are doing in this Score War. -Woody, 4:36 PM 06/07/2008

And so we were. Sunday morning I got out of bed and unceremoniously booted the 360 up, beating my personal best on "Flirtin'" by around 14k points.


So for now, I'm taking a little break from Rock Band. I took a few trips to game retailers last week and have stocked myself up on games I've been meaning to play for months, as well as a sexy new DS Lite, which I've also been wanting to grab since, oh, its release. I have no idea how I lived with DS Phat for so long.

It's nice to have met the goal, and I'm still pretty surprised that it even managed to happen. One would do well to remember, though, that the Score War never ends; I'm positive that I'll still be occasionally pushing higher. I do, after all, have four songs left to get the gold on, and a number of others that could definitely have more optimized runs. But for now, I'm satisfied :)

I'm not at all far into the game, because I'm spending a lot of time in battles, mostly because I'm freaking out about how brilliant the mechanics are. The puck system system is a great way to get the player into the rhythm of how to control two screens at once. Totally not what this post is about, though.

I have, in the past, been accused of figuring things out way too early, so I wanted to go ahead and document this here while I was moving through the game. I realize a lot of you have finished the main story mode already, but this lj-cut is more for the convenience of people like tunaman who, like myself, have only recently managed to find the game, or are planning on getting it soon.

( Possible spoilers though I doubt it but I can't be blamed if you read this because you've totally been warned )

Personal thanks to ranger_d. It probably would've been a while before I thought to acquire the soundtrack were it not for his suggestion; now I can thump out "Long Dream" whenever I want ;)

( ETA, certainly spoilerific if not yet played )

Those of you following me on twitter today may have noticed that my updates were a little more apocalyptic than normal. If you don't follow, well, you missed out on a wild and crazy ride.

I actually didn't remember that today was marked for Blog Like It's the End of the World until I had read the posts by thunderclap8 and coffeejedi this morning. I was literally on my way out the door to catch a bus to the mall so that I could get a birthday gift for my mom. As I walked downstairs, I started wondering what I could write about when I got home, at which point I got a tweet on my phone. The obvious realization struck me at that moment, and I weighed the pros and cons on the way to the bus stop. Would a few people probably be confused? Probably. Would others be annoyed by the amount of tweets that would obviously be needed to convey a narrative all on their own? Maybe. But the prospect of it just seemed too inviting and ripe with possibility to pass up. I sent the first text as a I sat down on the bus, and quickly realized that if I wanted this to go anywhere, that I'd need to do some serious planning. I spent the majority of my day brainstorming and drafting, but more importantly cutting out all of the action (can't text when you're running for your life, right?) and figuring out the exact time tables for how this would happen.

I was surprised in both the best and worst of ways when there was no shortage of people genuinely concerned for my well-being in the opening stages of the mayhem. tunaman was amongst those who actually called me up, not because he worried that I was becoming a polytheist in the confines of a trash heap, but because he wanted to know what could possibly cause such a cataclysm to happen in a place with such humble stature as dear Boise, Idaho. The highlights of the conversation occurred when he mentioned similarities to War of the Worlds, as well as bringing up the story of a student arrested in Egypt some months ago; the latter directly informed my "BUS MOBBED" post, and the former was an immediate influence on the overall tone of the narrative. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want people to worry about me, not even for a second; I made absolutely sure to let people know what was going on as soon as it was clear that they didn't know. What I was reveling in was the element of that narrative power.

And the the unthinkable happened. After scrapping a subplot involving a dying cell phone battery, my phone actually rolled over and died with only three messages left to close the 12 hour story; they entail the last 13 minutes of the story. I can not say this without enough stress and disbelief: my phone crapped out 13 minutes away from finishing the job I needed it to do. On one level, I was very bummed that I wouldn't be able to finish the story as the 12 hour narrative I'd planned it as, but I still had an honest laugh about it because it really did seem appropriate, given the time/technologically sensitive nature of the story. I immediately plugged my phone in when I got home from work, and Chad's last response on twitter sealed the deal that I still had to finish things off. And here we are.

THANK YOU to everyone who responded in the thick of things and as events were unfolding, even if you had no idea what was going on at the time. It might not seem like too big of a deal, but I had a total blast doing this, and every response to it was encouraging. For those of you who missed it, here's the 14 hour long BLITEOTW submission as it was delivered today.

• Hopping on bus to head to mall, got news of a demonstration or rally going on and I've got time to be curious before work. -ThaJinx, 9:43 AM
• @ThaJinx Probably a bunch of idiots in costumes commemorating last year's events. -CoffeeJedi
• @coffeejedi Maybe. I figure I could at least mooch some free food if it's an organized thing. -ThaJinx, 9:51 AM


• Can see crowd from freeway, bus has been differed to another stop over the radio. Group looks pretty active from here. Lots of police. -ThaJinx, about 10:00 AM


• @coffeejedi Huh, I think you were right. So, uh, yeah, cruising past my stop again. Lots of cars, no cops in sight, looks like a mosh pit. -ThaJinx, 10:04 AM


• Dude, people scattered all over the place. AWESOME costumes. -ThaJinx, 10:08 AM


• BUS MOBBED -ThaJinx, 10:17 AM
  • @thajinx literally? -sugarcoated


• Tucked into dumpster praying to God, Allah, Buddha, Ganesh, and Apollo. Other suggestions appreciated. -ThaJinx, 11:10 AM
  • @thajinx tell me you're joking! -sugarcoated


• More willing to text now that mob seems to be shifting back towards mall. All I hear in here is moaning and occasional screams. -ThaJinx, 11:50 AM
  • @ThaJinx What is this mob demonstrating against or rallying for? -rpj
    • @rpj no idea, but it's definitely gone ugly. -ThaJinx, 12:04 PM
      • @ThaJinx Wow, that's scary: mob mentality for the loss as always. -rpj


• Pretty sure I can see a Marie Calendar's across the lot that isn't getting much attention. Making a break for it; smell becoming unbearable. -ThaJinx, 12:09 PM
  • @ThaJinx when in doubt, head for the pie. -HiddenPeanuts
  • @ThaJinx Good luck! -CoffeeJedi


• Doors were locked, others hiding inside heard me banging around and opened roof access. It's a damn bloody mess out there. -ThaJinx, 12:25 PM


• Nothing coming in on TV. Phones down. No idea how widespread this is. Can't get in touch with work or law, family not answering cell phones. -ThaJinx, 1:31 PM


• Gf apparently slept in, missed work. Says looters ransacking downtown. Apartment not admitting non-residents, locked down. 3rd floor's safe. -ThaJinx, 1:52 PM


• Can see crowd from freeway, bus has been differed to another stop over the radio. Group looks pretty active from here. Lots of police. -ThaJinx, 1:55 PM


• (disregard last post, checking status of sent messages to ensure delivery. Test.) -ThaJinx, 1:57 PM
  • @ThaJinx Holy crap, man. What the heck is going on there? -DiscipleN2K
    • @DiscipleN2k believe me when I say we have no idea. -ThaJinx, 2:39 PM


• Freeway visible from window. Loads of cars, none going anywhere. Anyone on surface streets being chased down and *torn apart*. WTF -ThaJinx, 2:40 PM


• Mob outside of mall growing larger by the hour, will probably have interest in us soon simply by proxy. Discussing possible evac strategies. -ThaJinx, 4:02 PM


• No cars, streets too dangers to move on foot. Storm drainage behind building has been noted. At this point sewers sound like best option. -ThaJinx, 5:17 PM


• Moving to storm drain through back door. Wish us luck. -ThaJinx, 5:30 PM


• Made it. 6-8 miles to home, pipe runs NEasterly. Should take 3-4 hours to get downtown. I hope. Moving. Others waiting it out. -ThaJinx, 5:38 PM


• Seeing what looks like packs of injured/mutilated rats attacking healthier looking rodents. Super creepy, and super gross. -ThaJinx, 6:16 PM
  • @ThaJinx Uh, are you at that deli you were talking about? -vpisteve


• Storm access to this pipe seems stopped for a stretch, not liking the prospect of pitch black. DS Lite makes great light source. -ThaJinx, 6:40 PM


• Drain access has resumed, but I'm not recognizing buildings on street. Supposed to be close. Nervous, hoping my guesses weren't too far off. -ThaJinx, 8:59 PM


• Paydirt. Can spy Empire Building through drain. 1.5 blocks from home. Have noticed other mobs, not to mall's degree. Now to find a manhole. -ThaJinx, 9:10 PM
  • @ThaJinx get inside and hunker down! Glad you made it this far. -HiddenPeanuts


• Manhole found. Bullhorn warning against tap/public water sources for fear of terrorist contamination. Finally going up, fingers crossed. -ThaJinx, 11:18 PM


• Made it into the Idanha. Resident code worked on fire exit. Other main entrances barricaded. Elevator off, hopefully stairs not blocked. -ThaJinx, 11:27 PM


• Let self into room, locked door, sacred gf to death. Water shut off, but we have bottled water in fridge. And beer. Thank. God. -ThaJinx, 11:31 PM

As part of a previously mentioned test protocol, we can no longer lie to you: by the time I hit the 8,915,000 mark, I could feel seeds of doubt beginning to sprout in my mind. Like the previous stalemate that tunaman and I had come to, I had begun to lose sight of the areas where I could improve, and was resorting to wringing spare points from any place they could be had. After working for a while on "Welcome Home" and boosting myself another 15,000 or so, I decided that it was time to go back in and re-evaluate songs that I had spent a long time ignoring simply because I had long since got the gold on them.

I had thought that I had a reasonable score on "Outside," but apparently there were a good 25,000 points I could reap from figuring out a good Overdrive path on it. Which I did. I've got the 32nd highest score on XBL. Go me. "Faith No More" also proved to have a large gap between the top score and my then-current standing; that song irritates the crap out of me, because there are so many places where it's easy to mis-finger or miss a note and lose your multiplier. Persistence won out; 23,000 more added. Finally, I set my sights on "Day Late, Dollar Short," which had about a 30,000 point spread between my score and the top score, and after two runs through I tacked on about 17,000 points. You'd be surprised how quickly these things can add up.


I have a very hard time believing that I've made it so far so quickly. There are any number of songs I could play to get the meager 1,368 points that I need to break 9 million. I've decided that I will certainly continue to push my score to whatever ceiling I can manage to get it to, but I have literally no way of estimating how high that ceiling may be; my skill set has dramatically improved since the birth of the Score War, and I'm positive that there are a number of songs that I'll randomly find that I can improve greatly on, as well as the last four songs that I can still stand to get gold stars on.

The question I have for you, though, is which should I buy: the Goat Head Guitar, or the Goat Head Bass?

A key goal dating back to the birth of the Score War has, amazingly, been achieved: I have positioned myself within the top 1000 Solo Guitar scores on XBox Live.

I got a stunning amount of work done in a very short time yesterday; when I woke up, I had 8 songs remaining to Gold Star, and by the time I went to work I had knocked half of them off the list.

Added to the ranks of the dead:

• "Brainpower," Freezepop - 71,441
• "Pleasure (Pleasure)," Bang Camaro - 128,328
• "I Get By," Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives - 129,132
• "Dead on Arrival," Fall Out Boy - 209,494

"I Get By" used to drive me crazy, but now that I understand the song I have a lot of love for it. Adversely, if I never hear "Dead on Arrival" again it will be too soon. "Brainpower" was, by far, the most difficult to get Gold Stars on, because it's absolutely mandatory that you land enough consecutive notes during the absolutely homicidal triplet section in Verse 2 to up your multiplier. I'd be willing to say that it will probably be in my list of the top 5 hardest songs to ace on Expert.

Once I'd nailed these songs down, I decided to see what the differences were between what I had on the last four songs and what was needed to Gold Star them. I added up the differences, and found that even if I did manage to polish off these last four, I would still be around 24,000 points away from the 9 million point goal. So instead of getting straight to work on the last songs, I started going back into the songs from the long forgotten opening set lists, and managed to dump another 40,000 points into my total. I'm currently sitting at 8.85 million. 150k seems like a fair chunk of points, but I've chalked up 375k in the past few days. I can taste this, it's so close.

I've been playing a lot of Rock Band lately, which I mainly attribute to having laid near total waste to The Orange Box in the time following my finals. Just in case you were wondering why so much has been happening in the Score War alluvasudden.

The Score War had modest beginnings. tunaman had checked the score boards at some point early in the year and found that if we could make it to the 8 million point mark, we'd easily be within the top 1000 career scores on XBox Live.

"9 million sounds like a chore, but 8 million is totally doable," he said. At the time, he was at roughly 7.6 million, myself at about 7.4. We figured "what the hell," and decided to shoot for it. In the time it took us to reach 8 million, though, the rest of the world advanced, and we had largely forgotten about pushing into the top thousand career scores. Things came to a lull. Until I called him out, anyway.

I called him up on Saturday to talk about it, letting him know I had managed to mostly catch up to him in his conquests of "Green Grass and High Tides," as well as to confide that I'd achieved what I felt was a pretty large personal milestone: by Saturday morning I had 5-Starred every career track in the Expert Guitar mode, with 12 tracks left to Gold Star. I mentioned how strange it felt that the start of the Score War was a whole 1 million points in the past, and that 9 million wasn't any further away now than 8 million was then.

"So let's go for 9 million," he says.

Breaking 9 million points would put us well within the top 1000 scores, and it's just feeling disgustingly close. Since that conversation, I've stacked myself to 8,748,976 points, and have chalked up Gold Stars on 5 more songs, including Freezepop's "Brainpower." 51 out of 58 songs with Gold Stars. I find it borderline ridiculous that I've gotten this far in this game; I figured I'd never top 4 stars on "Run to the Hills" or get much further than the 8.473 mill that Woody and I were at. Go figure. At least I'm getting the practice in now.

ETA: 52 out of 58. Bang Camaro's "Pleasure (Pleasure)" just went Gold.

"Highway Star," apparently, was only the beginning. It's a killin' machine, indeed. How could anyone have suspected that our underdog would tap into an ancient and unknown well of dark, sinister power not fit for use by the common man? The onslaught came quickly, unforeseen by the reigning king, cutting a bloody swath through the ranks and leaving only death in its wake.


I concede that the sight of the aftermath is nearly too much to take in at once. Does the sheer brutality of it dwindle all ability of the human mind to conceive of its mathematical scale? Your eyes do not deceive you; the meager gap has become a chasm, its depths uncharted by all but the forces of creation and madness themselves, and numbering no less than two hundred thousand points in its breadth.

From the twisted, smoldering wreckage, the fallen king rises to answer the call to battle. What hideous fate awaits him!?

So it's been a while since my Wii worked with wireless due to the school network "upgrades." Now that I'm situated, and after some screwing around with my somewhat reluctant router, the Wii is working online again. I have informations for you.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl code:
4596-9656-4073

Wii code:
5519-5015-7655-7697

I've added a few people to my Wii address book and my Smash Bros roster: if your name is below, you should totally add me back. Similarly, if you've added me and I don't know about it, you should totally tell me.

Wii Codes
avatrix
caspian_x
fiercesteyes
incyr
runawaysoldier
thebruce0


Super Smash Bros. Brawl
thunderclap8
tunaman
ubersaurus

And, as always, these codes can be found along with my Nintendo DS codes in my livejournal profile for future reference.

I've come to accept that when you balance our strengths and weaknesses, tunaman and I are pretty evenly matched in the Bass/Guitar fields of Rock Band, which makes for a much more relaxed atmosphere when it comes to choosing who plays which in the Band Quickplay mode. The last time I toppled the king from his throne, I made a big stir of it mostly out of jest, but it didn't stop him from coming back to even things up, as well as plant an additional 50-60,000 points on top of it just to be a dick.

The Score War has never really been about seeing who's better than who so much as each of us trying to push each other about as far as we possibly can. By the time Woody topped out after passing me by, we were essentially getting to the point where we were trying to wring whatever points we could out of songs that we had maybe missed a note or two on or could've done better on through Overdrive management. By the end of yesterday I had managed to scoot up to within about 4k points of the bugger, and was pretty sure that we'd probably stay at about that level until the end of time. Not so.

After some serious examination of "Highway Star," I added upwards of 20k points to my career score, putting me in the top 100 scores on XBL for the song and rocketing me above our favorite lady killer. Holy crap.

What This Post is Really About

Woody and I have been talking about PAX and the prospect of a Rock Band tournament. There's no schedule up on the page at all, so we really have no idea if they're even going to have one, but we've come to the agreement that if there is one, we should probably do it. This is the part where you, other people attending PAX, tell me if you're also interested, and to what degree. Inquiring minds want to know!

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick four/five of your userpics.
2. Make a post and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee.

michelf made me do it.

1. 2. 3.
4. 5.
1. This is a color photograph of a black and white action Randal inaction figure from the Clerks animated series. Randal's perpetual lack of direction and incessant smartaleckiness resonated a lot with me from the first viewing of the film, and his utter ineptitude makes him the perfect guiding character; through a sort of law of opposites, when he says something serious you know that he's right. But I picked him as an icon because he's funny and black and white rules.

2. Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite games of all time, and I felt that I was in need of a homemade sprite-based avatar at about the time I made this one. The situation of all of the main female characters (and one that may be female but says he isn't but I don't really know because his character concept art has breasts?) fighting over Crono seemed funny to me, and it gave me a chance to joke about my nickname with the poker circle I frequented back when I lived in Southern California.

3. This avatar is a direct reference to this episode of 8-bit Theater; I remembered the moment and thought it would be a great sprite-based avatar, but when I went back in to find it I realized that it wasn't really visually what I had in mind. I popped open the emulator, ripped the sprites I needed myself, and essentially remade the scene from scratch in Photoshop.

4. This is security camera footage featured in the music video for the We Are Scientists song "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt," which you can find here. Directed by Akiva Schaffer of the Lonely Island, the video features the band being chased by a guy in a bear suit. It's hilarious, and you should watch it.

5. I only added this avatar last week after some house cleaning with the livejournal account. It's a crop of Lester Knight Chaykin from the cover of Another World (Out of this World in the US); the entire image can be found here. Not only is it one of the best pieces of videogame cover art ever made, but the game itself was a huge step forward in cinematic game design. Definitely one of the most important games ever made, and the cover really captures the feel of the game's world in a way that few titles manage to today.

When I moved into the dorms nearly two years ago, I piled all of my movies and games into a single box so that I would know exactly where everything was at all times, as opposed to having everything scattered around across multiple locations. When I realized that there wasn't really any shelf space to speak of once I moved in, it was alright, because I could just pull things out of the box when I needed them and put them back when I was done. It was a good system for the time and the space, but it wasn't without its flaws.

A good while back, I had it in my mind that I wanted to have a go through The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on the original Game Boy. I was positive that I'd packed it, so I rummaged around in the box, pulling a lot out of it in order to dig deep, but to no avail. Unable to find it, I figured I'd check my parents house just in case. We had recently come off of a move at that point, and my spirits dimmed significantly when I couldn't find it in any of the stored boxes I had at their place. After another top to bottom search of my dorm, I gave the beloved little grey cartridge up for lost, sure that I'd find a copy again at some point. I wasn't without my disappointment, though; it was the first Game Boy game I'd ever purchased, and probably the first videogame I'd ever outright purchased with my own money. It was sort of a relic of my childhood, and it upset me more than losing, say, the remake of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Game Boy Advance might have.

Not that that's actually happened, or anything.

In any case, Elise and I nabbed a TV stand from a co-worker of hers on Monday, so I decided to go ahead and try to stuff as much as I could into the storage space beneath, which essentially amounted to all of the movies in the box. I figured it'd be good to get the rest of the box cleared out as well and went about propping various game cases on the windowsill as a temporary solution until we can grab a DVD rack or somesuch, and it wasn't until I had otherwise completely emptied the box that I caught sight of a tiny gold and grey treasure awaiting me at the very bottom, where it had been buried for two years.


So I only got one box unpacked yesterday. That I am finding this, here, now, brings a very good feeling to me; things are tight right now, but ultimately coming together, and while I'm certainly going to be a little stressed for the next several weeks, it's really only a superficial tension. Deep down I'm just so damned happy to be here.

Dear everyone on my friends list,

Thanks for ensuring that I will be getting absolutely nothing productive done for the next several weeks, as I will instead be spending the time catching up on 3+ seasons of Battlestar Galactica. No. Really. Thanks a lot.

I totally lost whatever momentum I had a few weeks ago in keeping up on livejournal and the internets in general due to the hilarious onslaught of final project work that needed to get done for school. The brunt of the busy work has been done, and I am down to the very last day for my painting class. I have been super busy working on a few pieces the past few days, and the portfolio is due tonight by midnight. It's a damn good thing I didn't register for classes on Friday!

• Artist Statement: Complete
• Indirect observation painting: Complete
• Direct self-portrait: Complete
• Photo painting project 1: Complete
• Photo painting project 2: Complete
• Monochromatic still life: Complete

FINALLY. Complete as of 4:00 PM. Images forthcoming, because Woody will stab me if I don't update tunajinx.

The Wailers, of Bob Marley fame, are playing just across the river. For free. Like, right now. So, I'm obviously not going to be home as of 10 seconds from now.

This week marks the release of Ōkami for the Nintendo Wii, and with that making for the possibility of new players coming into the fold, I can't help but feel that this is the perfect time to revisit the title and examine its successes and failures. Originally slated to be a 3D, photorealistic title, Ōkami was the fusion of numerous ideas on the part of the now defunct Clover Studios. The inclusion of the Celestial Brush concept, which allowed players to interact with the environment through the painting of symbols on the screen, eventually led to a massive graphical overhaul; photorealistic textures and representation were abandoned for the sumi-e brush style that the game is now known for. Originally released for the Playstation 2, the title has received a veritable cornucopia of accolades and awards, including an Innovation Award at the 2007 Game Developers Choice Awards and the 2007 BAFTA awards for Artistic Achievement and Original Score.

Players control the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu reincarnated into the form of a divine wolf, running her up and down the countryside in an effort to stop an until-recently-contained evil while restoring the natural beauty of the cursed landscape. Exploration of the overworld is very "Zelda if Link knew how to jump" in its mechanics, opting for platforming as its priority when prancing about the overworld, and switching over to an automated enemy targeting system while in combat. While the adventure style of this title absolutely seems based on the mechanical foundations of another, there's certainly no faulting the development team with its implementation; the system has proven time and time again to work well, and the added platforming element does a surprising amount to improve the gameplay that much more.

The weapon system is small enough to feel like most of what you acquire is necessary, while still offering up an arsenal large enough to feel like you can play around with it. There are three types of weapons that the player will find during their quest: Reflectors, Rosaries, and Glaives. There are four of each of them, which will give you about 12 weapons once you've found them all, and you can equip two of them at once, one as a primary weapon and one as a secondary; these positions will decide what sort of function they serve, and all of them have unique status changing effects depending on how you equip them. It's a fun system that really lets you feel like you can experiment with it without being needlessly complex. The bread and butter of the gameplay experience, though, comes with the Celestial Brush.

Your artistic repertoire starts off fairly limited, but over the course of the game you'll acquire 13 different brush techniques, almost all of which find a happy plurality of purpose between solving puzzles and combating enemies; the Cut technique, for example, can be used to chop down obstacles in your path, and can likewise be used offensively against the monsters you'll encounter. As you progress, you're going to have to learn how to think on your feet and use these techniques to your advantage to overcome some unexpected odds. One of my largest qualms with adventure titles like this is the introduction of tools and techniques that you may use once or twice before moving on and forgetting about it for the rest of the game, and I didn't find that to be the case with this title. There wasn't any single technique that truly outgrew its usefulness or was suddenly without purpose.

Visually, this game is unspeakably beautiful. The lengths to which the traditional Japanese sumi-e brush style is pushed is literally dumbfounding, and doubtlessly gave the developers the room to do some pretty incredible things with color and animation that they probably would not have been able to pull off anywhere near as successfully had they gone with the originally planned photorealistic atmosphere. The "inking" is very fluid and gives everything on the screen a very vivid and life-like quality, and you can even make out the texture of paper underneath the figures, just to drive the point home. This is one of the most beautiful games you will ever play. Seriously.

The original score, also inspired by classical Japanese works, goes that much further in cementing the feel of the world; most larger areas feature contextually layered pieces that grow more full and complex as time passes, the later additions sometimes completely changing the sounds of the base layers that you'll hear when you first wander into a space. I'm almost positive that this approach has been tried before, and I'm willing to bet that Super Mario Galaxy is the only game that's come even close to the mark that Ōkami set with integrating the concept. This soundtrack is awesome.

If there was ever a nationalistic game title, Ōkami stands head and shoulders above any contenders. Everything about this game is a celebratory gesture towards traditional Japanese culture. The story is set in classical Nippon (a native name for Japan), and is an assembly of several pieces of Shinto mythology and Japanese folklore; just about every character in the game is based on a mythological figure, and the weapon system itself is modeled after the Imperial Regalia of Japan (the mirror of Yata no kagami, the necklace of Yasakani no magatam, and the sword, Kusanagi, serving as the inspiration for the Reflectors, Rosaries, and Glaives, respectively). Even the game's pun of a title is a cultural indicator, the word Ōkami itself meaning "wolf," but the kanji used to spell it out meaning "great deity."

So, great, you've got all of this mythos and folklore and environment set up, time to make it tell a story. The plot starts off pretty focused and narrow, but after about four to five hours of progress the game proves to be deceptively large, in both story and physical build. In fact, Ōkami is one of the few adventure titles that actually manages to surprise in terms of its story's scale; it is a very full-bodied and satisfying series of events, and for the most part it is well written, balancing out the seriousness of some of the battles with convincingly hilarious situations and dialog. This story-heavy type of game, though, is not without its problems.

You're accompanied by a loud-mouthed sidekick named Issun that, on the surface, serves as Amaterasu's speaker. On a deeper level, he serves as the player's instructor, teaching them how to properly use the techniques they learn, reminding them of their goals, and giving them hints along the way. The problem with this is that a lot of the time Issun dishes up a nice sized serving of hints before you've had time to even realize there was a puzzle, effectively spoon-feeding the player without giving them the chance to figure things out on their own. Issun also spends a great deal of time telling you about events that you just watched happen and repeating information that you should already be well aware of, which can go a long way in riding the nerves of players who are used to this sort of adventure setting. It's hard to find Issun's balance point; like Navi of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, he serves a necessary mechanical purpose, and he certainly has his comedic moments, but his prattling on can go above and beyond the boundaries of irritating, and nobody likes having their intelligence insulted.

Also somewhat annoying is that the developing crew went ahead and lengthened the story by forcing you to fight the same boss fight no less than three times before completing the game, and while I'm completely in favor of a game that will waste as many hours as possible, that seems a bit superfluous; the first time through, the fight is a great learning experience, and the second time through is a little nifty because by then you've bulked up so much that you can take the boss down that much more efficiently. Three is pushing it, and while I feel like the game is a really good length without being overbearing or cumbersome, I don't think that this particular choice was necessary. There are better ways to increase content than duplication.

Ōkami seems a lot like Shadow of the Colossus to me in that it may very well be a game enjoyed on a case by case basis, strictly because it's a matter of entertainment value versus what a typical gamer is going to be willing to endure. I personally couldn't stop playing it from the first time I booted it up, and the numerous side-quests and New Game+ styled features ensure that I'll probably still be playing it for a while yet. I know people that have had a hard time progressing specifically because of Issun's role, regardless of how fun the combat tends to be, and I can understand that the varied stew of Japanese culture and mythos may not be up everyone's alley. I do, however, think that everyone should at least make an attempt to see and hear it, because it's a beautiful work.

I can't sleep. Rather than waste the time staring at a wall, I'm writing a review for Ōkami. It will be up in the morning, and there are no "maybes" about it.

I've thought for a very long time about just how to do this review, as I have a good number of feelings regarding this game; since it's been out for a year and some months, I think I've had enough time to let those feelings crystalize, so it's as good a time as any to talk about them. I haven't really seen any reviews that reflect these viewpoints entirely, so I'm probably standing in a minority here, but I'm okay with that. There, General Disclaimer's out of the way. Buckle up, because I feel like this is going to be a long one.

A lot of people would probably argue that this game's history began at Spaceworld 2000, when Nintendo ran a Gamecube tech demo that showed a naturalistic Link dueling with Ganondorf. The community was ablaze with talk about a realistic Zelda title, and a year later people proved to be more than just a little unhappy when Nintendo exhibited a demo for the cell-shaded The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Realistic, it was not.

In reality, planning on a realistic Zelda title wouldn't begin until after The Wind Waker was released in 2003, at which point developers gutted and modified the game's engine and built an entirely new game on top of it. Nintendo would keep mum until E3 2004, when they closed their preview day ceremonies by surprising literally everyone with a trailer for a very polished looking, naturalistically styled game starring everyone's favorite Hylian. Originally slated for a November 2005 release, the title was extensively delayed, first to add content, and later for compatibility with the control scheme for Nintendo's then-upcoming Wii launch; consequently, the Gamecube version served as an effective bookend to the console's life. After waiting around six years for a realistic Zelda title, players finally saw their prayers answered in The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess in November or December of 2006, depending on whether they bought the Wii or the Gamecube version. This particular review will be informed by the Wii version.

Being built on the foundations of The Wind Waker's engine, the gameplay is about you'd come to expect from Zelda titles; Link traverses Hyrule and its dungeons, collecting inventory items along the way that help you to progress through the game. Some additions to this inventory seem a little superfluous, but others are a welcome take on familiar tools (the clawshot immediately comes to mind). Enemies litter just about any area you can possibly rove, and battling takes place using an individual enemy targeting system. This is all extremely formulaic, never straying very far from its roots in Ocarina of Time, and that's fine; the system has worked exceedingly well in the past, and there's not a lot of incentive to break up a good thing when the point of your game is the construction of narrative and storyline. It's a simple matter of not fixing what isn't broken.

What has changed, as far as control is concerned, is the way items are implemented on the Wii. Gone are the days of mashing at the A button to attack your foes. Instead, Link's slashes are executed by swinging the Wii-mote, and his signature spin attack is pulled off by shaking the analog control nun-chuck. I'm not sure exactly how necessary it is to have motion control for something like this, but it does free up a button, and buttons are a serious matter of real estate in a game like this.

Items like the Boomerang and Arrows can be used through targeting enemies, but more often you'll be taking an over-the-shoulder third-person perspective with Link, using the Wii-mote to control what you're aiming at with a circle and crosshairs style target. In concept, this sounds like a pretty reasonable expectation of function. The reality, though, is that unless you're in a menu or aiming with those select items, there is absolutely no functionality tied in with where you're aiming on the screen. This means that when you nock an arrow, probably after having just hacked a bunch of Moblins to pieces, you're going to have to reorient yourself so that you're actually pointing at the screen. This sounds like nitpicking, but it really is an out-of-simulation experience that feels like it bogs down the gameplay, even if it's just a little bit. If that's my only complaint (and in terms of control it may very well be), then that speaks pretty well for the rest of the scheme, even with apprehensions about the necessity of the Wii motion control.

The concept of the double world, a plot device used since A Link to the Past, also receives a welcome modification in the form of the Twilight Realm, which seems to crop up and overwhelm portions of Hyrule Proper. This idea of a territorial otherworld, as opposed to jumping through a portal to jump to a parallel world, receives some very well deserved comparisons to Okami, especially when placed in conjunction with Link's transformation into a wolf when he enters these territories. On a plot level, thought, this mechanic seems to serve a slightly different master, not straying far from the double world device that's been a Zelda mainstay for years. And it looks pretty darn cool, too.

In fact, for a game made on a system that has a lot less to offer in terms of all-around capability, this game looks positively stunning. The developers do a lot with what they've been given, and physically the world seems very cohesive and extremely well realized. The style of art lends a very specific tone and atmosphere to the kingdom of Hyrule, whether it's out in the desert wastes or in the snow covered mountains. Speaking of which, the overworld is pretty darn big. Things feel pretty serious and adult all around, at least on a visual level, which is a feeling that is doubtlessly enhanced by the presence of the Twilight Realm within Hyrule; there are some wonderfully creepy things worth seeing throughout the course of this game.

That said, there is a terrific balance of seriousness with lighthearted humor and otherwise warm scenarios. Some moments can be laugh out loud funny, and certain character interactions do a pretty stellar job of touching the right parts of the heart. There is a lot of invoked emotion as plot is unfurled, some directly relating to the central conflict, others feeling fairly slice of life, and these again feel well balanced in a large world, which feels like a decent accomplishment. Midna, in particular, is one of the most compelling characters to ever enter the franchise, serving as an excellent foil for player and ensuring that they stay on their toes through even the most straight-forward situations.

So with all of that out of the way, we can get down to my real issues with this game, which are more related to the design of an interactive plot than than the design of play mechanics. I'd go so far as to say that my major gripes with this title are story related, but there are so many branching issues related to that central idea that it was absolutely necessary to cover the things that this game does right first; it's not enough to say that I have problems with the story, because everything else ties back into that in a game where story is central.

Playing through this game, I was struck, in a very positive way, by the implementation of the franchise's ever-richening symbology and musical motifs. The use of these symbols and themes has been a constant since A Link to the Past, but I'd be willing to say that no game before Twilight Princess has put them to use in such an atmospherically effective way. Each of the dungeons carry the thematic markers that tie them to prior titles in the series, but I feel that this is the first title that goes to the lengths that it does to make the very subtle but important distinction that this tie is more than just for thematic purposes.

Twilight Princess makes the change of these symbols from an indicator of theme into a distinct audio-visual language that says something very clear about the world you're wandering around in; they say something very important regarding the history of Hyrule, one that found a firm establishment in Ocarina of Time, and anybody that has spent a decent amount of time with the series since its rebirth on the Nintendo 64 would be able to recognize these markers. The point I'm trying to make here is that these symbols don't just cause the reaction that this dungeon is probably fire related, and that one is probably water related, but instead establish a direct narrative connection.

Now this on its own is not problem in any way. The Wind Waker acknowledged repeatedly in its own story its link to Ocarina of Time's narrative, taking place some many generations after Ganondorf's rise to power in the latter mentioned title. Do I dislike that Twilight Princess communicates this audio-visual history to link its own storyline to that of another title? Quite the opposite; I spent a great portion of the game literally geeking out because of these links, because I felt that they did a tremendous job to heighten my own experience of the game. My problem is that this is the only way someone can properly enjoy this game, and even then there are issues. My problem, I suppose, is an over reliance on what developers think players know on a narrative level as a base for storytelling.

This sounds insane, especially coming from someone who believes very strongly that too many films, books, and games spoon feed their audiences, but I feel that this is a different issue; Twilight Princess' Hyrule as a whole is greatly enriched by being linked with the heritage of Ocarina of Time, but it leads to some seriously lazy storytelling, which is the major sin of this game, a sin that The Wind Waker miraculously managed to avoid even in spite of incredibly slow portions of gameplay (I'm looking at you, Triforce Treasure Hunt). The relationship between both of the Ocarina of Time follow-ups is something that I think is very significant and important to explore, so I'm going to elaborate on that.

The Wind Waker took a lot of hard lines with its audience; people were expecting a photo-realistic game and got deformed anime cel-shading. Want to play an adult game? Congratulations, you're a child. Even one of the greatest moments in the entire franchise's history was somewhat beset (for the better, in my opinion) by not giving the audience what they wanted. The link to Ocarina of Time now firmly established as you descend into a war-wracked but ultimately quantum-frozen Hyrule, what are your expectations? More Hyrule. And that's too bad, because that is not this game. It was a truly brilliant move in a series of games that serve as the textbook definition of formulaic, because it forced the game to make sense of its own story, using Ocarina of Time as a reference point but still keeping it at arm's length.

Twilight Princess, on the other hand, spends a great deal of time alluding and giving the player feelings of shades of things in a way that unfortunately never seems to come to any cohesive realization. The mystery surrounding the villain Zant goes a long way towards working in his favor, and his complete neuroticism is delightfully bizarre and creepy when it's finally revealed, but so little is done to characterize him, and he never really ascends beyond the status of a one-dimensional character. Similarly, in the first portion of the game, a lot of time is spent building up tension regarding the possible consequences of re-uniting the Fused Shadows that Midna is forcing you to track down. All of this tension accumulates in probably one of the most haunting scenes of the entire game, and seems certain to go somewhere terrible from there. Too bad you never deal with that issue for the rest of the game. And I mean, like, ever.

The greatest of these sins, for myriad reasons, is the seat that Ganondorf takes as the main villain of the game. Link (that is, the player) doesn't even learn about who Ganondorf was until a fair ways into the game, and even then his involvement seems minimal. The game continues to focus on Zant up until near the very end, when it's revealed that Ganondorf is the one who has empowered Zant and enabled him to take control of the Twilight Realm. It's at this point that Ganondorf becomes the "main" villain, but you're so close to the end now that there's no time or reason to explore that relationship because you're already fighting him to finish the game. This, on the heels of a game that gave us the best insight of any of the Zelda games into Ganondorf's character, is really a step backwards, and there are no two ways about it.

What this says to me is that Ocarina of time is a crutch that Twilight Princess leans a good portion of its weight on without feeling a need to explain itself to its players. Where The Wind Waker's greatest strength was the implementation of history as a tool for characterization, Twilight Princess' greatest weakness is the implementation of history as a tool for narrative. Yes, obvious and painstaking detail has been paid to a particularly large and well realized world, but that world is not only propped up on a previous entity, but also relies in a big way on drawing its meaning from that same entity. And the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

I feel like this game is absolutely worth playing, but what Twilight Princess comes down to, for me, is a great assemblage of brilliant, intense, but altogether short and disconnected moments that simply do not gel together enough to form a truly cohesive story. I feel like Twilight Princess tries to be too many things at once, and in the rush to make itself as large as possible doesn't investigate the critical character relations that could've made the game much more narratively successful than it is. Don't get me wrong, what is there is great; Midna is one of the most fun and intriguing characters to be introduced into the series in quite a long while, but she's only one variable in an equation, and unfortunately she can't pick up the slack created by the voids created by the other characters.

A truly momentous occasion has unfolded before your very eyes!


Behold, see your king dethroned, his tyranny of satanic riffs drawn to an end! From the ashes of this demonic dictatorship may we rise and establish the new rocking grounds of freedom, justice, and ass-kickery!