Okami creator 'disappointed' by Twilight Princess

by Jonti Davies { Mar 6th 2007 at 12:15PM }

Okami is deeply beautiful to our eyes, and it's a superb game. Twilight Princess, we feel, is a deeply brilliant game. But is Link's most recent adventure also beautiful? Okami's Director, Hideki Kamiya, was in Tokyo last week to pick up an Entertainment Award (for his work on Okami, natch) at the 10th Media Arts Festival, which is an event held annually by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. (And that must have felt good, after Capcom's no-show at the AIAS awards.)

Kamiya was asked how he felt about Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and he explained: "To be frank, I was disappointed when I saw [Twilight Princess'] visuals. I'm a Zelda freak -- it's no overstatement to say that I created Okami because of Zelda. I really wanted [Twilight Princess] to have that regal aura, because Zelda was what we were aspiring to. I wanted it to show me things that were surprising, but..."

So, which game do you find to be more beautiful?

[Thanks, pokemogu]

Tags: Clover, Hideki Kamiya, HidekiKamiya, Okami, Twilight Princess, TwilightPrincess, Zelda

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

White Rose Duelist @ Mar 6th 2007 12:18PM

Funny, I was disappointed with Okami. Maybe more than three difficult battles during the entire game would have helped. Or a less idiotic plot twist. I'll admit that it is one of the most beautiful games I've seen, but I found actually playing it to be a chore.

JodyAnthony @ Mar 6th 2007 12:25PM

okami and wind waker are tied in my mind as the most stunning looking games ever created.

NintendoFanbot @ Mar 6th 2007 12:30PM

The funny thing is that TP is following through on trying what Okami tried to do BEFORE switching to the style we know, for an art direction more based in reality.

Nintendo could've changed it but it would've taken MORE time and people would hate them no matter what then. I loved Wind Waker however.

Charles @ Mar 6th 2007 12:32PM

Well, Okami is still on my "to buy" list, so I can't really compare it to Twilight Princess yet, but from screen shots of Okami and what I've played of TP, I'd say Okami has a more interesting visual style.

Off topic, Dragon Quest VIII had an excellent visual style and I hope the DS will do the next installment justice. (Way off topic, I'd rather see DQ9 on the Wii, or the PS2 again.)

t3nguman @ Mar 6th 2007 12:33PM

Wind waker stunning? Serious?

32_Footsteps @ Mar 6th 2007 12:35PM

Well, Okami was much prettier. But Twilight Princess is much better. I'll take "good" over "pretty," thank you very much.

Matt @ Mar 6th 2007 12:36PM

I agree with JodyAnthony. Wind Waker is a pretty visually impressive game. Cartoonish graphics do not equal bad graphics.

Kevin @ Mar 6th 2007 12:41PM

Too many people bitched about Zelda's cell shaded graphics that Nintendo decided to appeal to the masses. Now that they did, and made a graphically updated version of OoT people still bitch about the graphics.

The funny thing is people bitched at Nintendo for making Wind Waker cell shaded but praised Okami for it's beautiful artistic style.

Where is the praise for Wind Wakers artistic style>

Jamie @ Mar 6th 2007 12:43PM

I think they're completely different styles, and anyone that says Twilight Princess isn't beautiful needs to get a component cable and a bigger TV cause my balls hit the floor when i first rode into Hyrule Field.

ZenGaijin @ Mar 6th 2007 12:45PM

I wish Okami didn't didn't make you choose to engage your enemies in battle if they just had the enemies free roam like in Zelda I think it would have been a much more enjoyable experience.

But Okami is easily one of my favorite games of all time. TP....not so much.

LttP is the best Zelda.

bootsielon @ Mar 6th 2007 12:45PM

I don't doubt Twilight Princess is a better game than Okami. But you have to admit that Twilight Princess disappointed, not because it was bad or anything, but because a lot of people felt it should have been THE Zelda game, THE game, THE best game ever. Unfortunately, since it had been in development such a long time, it carried a weight on its back heavier than any game could before; it was thought it would beat Ocarina of Time, and maybe it did, but it wasn't revolutionary as people thought it would be. I don't think any other game had as many expectations as Twilight.

I will agree with Okami creator, TP could have had more beauty, "more" of everything, and more of new. It was "near near perfect", but not near perfect.

Neal Eaton @ Mar 6th 2007 12:48PM

I love the gameplay in Twilight Princess, but I am slightly dissapointed in the graphics. Not to say they are bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they look like GameCube graphics. I was expecting a little more 'oomph' in the switch to Wii.

Wind Waker in my opinion is a beautiful game. The characters are expressive and really stylized. I really like the blur effect on the fortresses/towers off in the distance that clears up as you get closer to them. Nice use of realistic distance.

I play it every so often to marvel at its beauty, and it still looks just as good today as it did when it was a new release.

I still have to pick up Okami...it looks georgeous, too. Congrats to the devs for their award.

Veras Gunn @ Mar 6th 2007 12:48PM

I loved the art style in Wind Waker and, while one of the easiest zelda games I've played, enjoyed it thoroughly. Okami was different, but the art style was beautiful nonetheless and had a longer story and more going for it than Wind Waker in my opinion. Both were great games, which just set up Twilight for the big downfall.

Twilight was boring, repetitive, visually bland, and a bit cliched. I've played nearly all of the Nintendo Zelda games(the one one I haven't played is master quest, which is really more of a remix) and Twilight was just beyond disappointing.

I'm agreeing with Kamiya on this one.

Silver R. Wolfe @ Mar 6th 2007 12:53PM

I agree with Mr. Okami too. TP was a disappointment, as far as the graphics were concerned. Yes they were two completely different styles, but the TP graphics just didn't look that great, especially since we know what the Gamecube is capable of (RE4).

Yeah, with component cables on the Wii, it looks a little better, but still nothing too oohh or aahhh about.

VampireHunter Z @ Mar 6th 2007 12:53PM

The visuals of TP just doesn't immerse me into the world of Hyrule like Ocarina of Time did back in the day. Zelda is supposed to be cutting edge in everyway like the previous games. Even if the hardware isn't powerful they could have done more with the art.

Vidikron @ Mar 6th 2007 1:03PM

@12
[Wind Waker in my opinion is a beautiful game. The characters are expressive and really stylized. I really like the blur effect on the fortresses/towers off in the distance that clears up as you get closer to them. Nice use of realistic distance.]

That blur effect annoyed me to no end in WW. First off, it was too close. Objects that weren't all that far away were blurred. Also, your eye can focus on objects that are far way and see them in focus. So the blur effect was completely unnecessary to begin with.

SynikaL @ Mar 6th 2007 1:06PM

Eh. The graphics were just a single bullet point in a long list of disappointments regarding Twilight Princess for me.

-Kimosabae

MosquitoControl @ Mar 6th 2007 1:07PM

WW definitely looks better than TP.

Twilight Princess is muddy textures. Twilight Princess is a world of browns and greys. It's like stepping back into Quake 2.
Wind Waker is all bright colors. Much, much more vibrant.

boywundr @ Mar 6th 2007 1:08PM

You guys have GOT to be KIDDING me! Does anything make any of you frickin' happy?! Unreal.

Wind Waker comes out, you all whine that it's cartoony and you want your real life looking Link... then the real life Link you all want more than your warm milk and a banky comes out and you throw a tantrum that it has no style and its bland. I wish Nintendo would take all of you into a room, beat you senseless with the Master Swoard and tell you to go jump in Hyrule Lake and just be happy with what you whiney little brats get! BOTH games were great and if you think otherwise, your too busy whining to notice.

Nothing makes you whiny Nintenbrats happy. It makes me embarrassed to admit I like Nintendo games and consoles as much as I do because I don't want to associate myself with any of you ungrateful, unsatisfied people.

Stop criticizing a great series until you can come up with something far better and more deserving of the term "classic".

Whiners.

l0tus @ Mar 6th 2007 1:09PM

attention fanboys: it wasn't merely the cell-shading that people didn't like; it also had a little to do with the fact that every character in that game looked like they were about 5-years-old and ripped from some saturday morning cartoon. some of us like games for adults about adults...

JodyAnthony @ Mar 6th 2007 1:12PM

boywundr, people will always complain about things. believe me, I wish I could get people to stop it too, but thats impossible.

As for me, I thought TP was a beautiful game, and very well stylized (like all the Zelda games have been IMO) but I prefer the Wind Waker visual style. Of course when Wind Waker was first displayed, I was the only person I knew that thought it was the greatest looking game ever.

JodyAnthony @ Mar 6th 2007 1:13PM

"some of us like games for adults about adults..."

and some of us like games for anyone about anyone.

saboola @ Mar 6th 2007 1:14PM

As crazy as it sounds, I prefer Wind Waker over Twilight Princess. I love TP, but there was just something about getting on your boat in Wind Waker and exploring the world that way. When it was nighttime and you could sail into the middle of the ocean, and drop the sails and it really seemed peaceful. Wind Waker was a work of art who got a bad rap because immature gamers equate cell-shading with cartoons.

Keif @ Mar 6th 2007 1:15PM

I0tus

and some people understand that fun is fun no matter what character you are playing as or what the game looks like.

if you cant have fun because of what the charcter looks like, then you are a lame excuse of a gamer

Scumdog @ Mar 6th 2007 1:16PM

Twilight Princess was boring? Amazing. You must be very hard to please. It took me 59 hours and I was engaged from the first moment until the last. There was never a time when there wasn't something to do and all of it was entertaining, to say the least.

Okami was pretty but shallow. It's charm wore off after about the first five hours. If the rumors are true and it is coming out for Wii I may give it another go but I have no desire to go back to it on my PS2. Much like FFXII.

Yeah, Twilight Princess wasn't gorgeous but it is a Gamecube game that'd been in developement for four years. It just goes to prove the gameplay trumps visuals any day of the week.

Finn @ Mar 6th 2007 1:19PM

Hmmm...I really wish Okami had 480p mode honestly because then it would be easier for me to judge honestly... so with that in mind I'd choose Zelda

480i games just don't look as good on HD's as on normal tvs

Judd @ Mar 6th 2007 1:25PM

I'm playing Twilight Princess right now and feel like I agree with bootsielon. The game hasn't really done anything wrong. The gameplay is definetely the deepest out of any Zelda, with things like the ball and chain and new sword techniques. The dungeons are longer and more numerous than any other Zelda games.

But I've felt like the magic in the other Zelda games isn't quite there. I remember when Wind Waker came out that everyone was criticizing its style and everyone wanted a game just like Ocarina of Time. Now Ocarina of Time is my favorite game of all time, so that can't in any way be a bad thing. But when OoT came out it was different and as much as people hated things like sailing WW was different. If I compared TP to OoT obviously TP does a lot more. But OoT came out 8 years earlier.

I think the moral of the story is don't listen to the fans. Because they will always want a repeat of what was popular before instead of something original.

Don't get me wrong Twilight Princess is probably the best game of 2006. It's just that things like the wolf weren't enough to make it feel different. On the other hand the futher I get into TP, the more it's starting to distinguish itselF. I am now in the City of the Sky and this is probably the best dungeon I've played since OoT.

Taffer @ Mar 6th 2007 1:30PM

Everyone complaining about the people saying they didn't care for the art direction/graphics of TP and pulling out WW as an example of "can never be happy", remember, these probably aren't the same people complaining. Joystiq readers are not a homogenous mass, as we can all tell during fanboy wars. And people are allowed to be dissappointed. Just because other people might not like something you do, it doesn't detract from it in any way.

wukong @ Mar 6th 2007 1:31PM

Twilight Princess did not disappoint me in any way. Graphically, it still looked good to me. Granted, I played it on the GC so it's probably easier to compare it. Okami is great with graphics but Twilight Princess is just beautiful, and didn't require me to take a break cause of minor headache.

Of course, the best cel-shading I've seen is still Wind Waker. Okami comes close but Wind Waker was awesome.

Zell @ Mar 6th 2007 1:33PM

#20 "some of us like games for adults about adults..."

Comments like that always make me chuckle.

Haven't played Okami, so I really can't comment on it. I've only seen video of it and it look great. I definitely wasn't disappointed with Twilight Princess though. I suppose I'm easily impressed but I loved the look of it and found the gameplay great. The final battle alone to me was epic, the final thrust of the Wii remote was very satisfying. I always felt that Hyrule looks the way it does in Twilight Princess because of the conditions. The place was being covered in darkness and light was being restored. Things died. That's just my take on it.

Absolutely adored Wind Waker. In fact, I went back to playing it (second quest) when I finished Twilight Princess and was reminded how gorgeous the game is. Completely underrated, in my book. Makes me look forward to The Phantom Hourglass even more.

I pray I never become as bitter as most gamers of late. When you expect too much, you'll always be disappointed. I still remember when Link to the Past came out and how impressed I was by the look and feel of the game. Hard to impress today's crowd, it seems.

Zell @ Mar 6th 2007 1:35PM

Oh, and "...don't get me wrong" also brings a smile to my face. That's a popular line here.

Ken @ Mar 6th 2007 1:36PM

No doubt that both games were beautiful. I enjoyed Twilight Princess more (as I was actually inclined to beat the game), but Okami was still a fun game.

Though I played about 2 hours of Okami till I got tired of it and quit. It just didn't feel right on the PS2 for some reason. I don't know.

Both great games, however, and I will eventually beat Okami.

Aex @ Mar 6th 2007 1:38PM

Personally I thought Wind Waker looked awesome. The downside to Wind Waker was the sailing. The rest of the game was fun. Had Twilight Princess released a year or two ago, then maybe I would be more impressed by it. I still need to go pick it up :/

Flit @ Mar 6th 2007 1:38PM

Okami: good looking.. some of the art needed to be cleaned up (what exactly am i looking at here?) but the gameplay is wearing on me (i'm a good 8 or so hours into okami, and i've stopped playing). The battles suck so far, but it was a zelda game in wolfs clothing, i could definately see the influence.

Zelda: I enjoy the visual style. Very dark, almost apocalyptic at times. Granted, if the next zelda doesn't depart from the "get x item, use x item to kill x boss, repeat over 8 dungeons and 2 different "worlds"", it will get on my nerves.

PS. Wind Waker had the best ending of any zelda game to date.

boywundr @ Mar 6th 2007 1:48PM

JodyAnthony, I agree... sorry to vent. I'll also stand along side you with the Wind Waker comment. I loved the game and loved the style, which is why I kept returning to replay it.

saboola, I TOTALLY AGREE! I loved the boat rides. I rarely used the warp to get around because it was just fun to sail, especially at night. What a great part of the game... thanks for reminding me.

Ryan @ Mar 6th 2007 1:50PM

It's easy for the Okami creator says he was disappointed by Zelda TP, especially since Capcom shut Clover. Jealous much? Maybe just a little. Obviously, these games have two different graphic styles. Okami reminds me of Wind Waker and Viewtiful Joe, while Twilight Princess reminds me of Ocarina of Time but with much better graphics. It's not fair to say one is better than the other. They're just different. As much as Okami was praised by consumers and the media, the game didn't sell very well. Twilight Princess, on the other hand, did and still continues to do so.

BlindsideDork @ Mar 6th 2007 1:52PM

So this guy was upset cause he wanted to make a Zelda game and cause it didn't follow what he thought it should look like (like his own game?) it is disappointing and a bad game?

Makes me not want to play Okami.

mr mobius @ Mar 6th 2007 1:52PM

Why compare okami to twilight princess? They are completely different styles of games graphically.

Okami and wind waker compare easier and I'd say that I'm not sure which is better though I'm probably slightly more impressed with wind waker.

Okami I only played a demo once of it on a ps2 and seemed okay, though slow, and that twinkling bell/creature that never shuts up when your walking got on my nerves extremely quickly.

Wind waker was brilliant except for some of the longer sailing near the end where you had got past the stage where the sailing for long distances was extremely impressive.

Twilight princess was a much better game graphically than OoT and thats a better comparison. Twilight princess in my opinion looked easy on the eye and was pleasant to play for 40+ hours (still need to finish it, at the twilight palace atm just after collected the complete mirror).

jdluvsya @ Mar 6th 2007 1:54PM

Okami is visually stunning.. yes. But a beautiful looking game isn't much if the gameplay is iffy.
Twilight Princess doesn't LOOK as beautiful as Okami, but the gameplay and the story more than makes up for that. Twilight Princess was originally a game just ofr release on the Gamecube, that's why it's graphics might seem a little.. stunted.

Still.. I'll take Twilight Princess over Okami any day if I'm looking for (in my opinion) the better game.

Crono @ Mar 6th 2007 1:55PM

Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. You can't think that OoT was the greatest Zelda game ever and then say that TP isn't the new best. You just can't. Everything that OoT did well, TP did better. Everything. And everything OoT sucked at TP did much better.

Wind Waker was the disappointment; the abberation. I'm not talking about visual style, I understand style. I'm talking about more than 5 easy dungeons. I'm talking about characters that make sense together. I'm talking about Princess Zelda, not pirate bitch-ho.

If you want to say WW had a more stunning visual style, fine, I'll give you that. But as a whole, Twilight Princess is the best zelda game EVER.

Unless you hate things in 3D, in which case LttP is still the best zelda ever.

benjamin @ Mar 6th 2007 1:59PM

I own both TP for the Wii as well as Okami (hell, I've got a PS3 and a 360 as well), so don't brand me as a hater.

With that being said, I found that Okami was significantly better than TP. Hell, I was bored with TP at certain points and just thoroughly frustrated in others. While I loved the Twilight Realm in TP, it was blurry and muddled, even using component cables. I used plain AV cables for my PS2 during Okami and never had a similar problem.

Sorry, Nintendo, but Okami's probably the best Zelda game I've played recently.

Crono @ Mar 6th 2007 2:06PM

@benjamin

hater... :)

mr mobius @ Mar 6th 2007 2:06PM

I find it not surprising at all that the Okami creator was a hige Zelda fan. Okami includes:

- a wolf travelling around dungeons fighting creatures which are not human (twilight princess had the wolf element hinted towards a few years back).

- cel shaded - wind waker did cel shading well on the gamecube before okami on ps2

- a small creature aids the wolf and rides the wolf during the game - midna anyone?

- dungeons full of puzzles, and various ways of using the magical device to help those puzzles (in this case the pen but zelda has had the ocarina, wind waker and other similar instruments before).

Abhinav @ Mar 6th 2007 2:07PM

Looking at art and graphics alone okami takes the cake but gameplay wise Zelda wins hands down. Windwaker was nice but did not pull it off nearly as well as okami could.

MosquitoControl @ Mar 6th 2007 2:10PM

l0tus - you've yet to graduate HS, eh?

And you are aware, I'd hope, that Link was supposed to be very young in the first Zelda, too, right?

Paul Gale @ Mar 6th 2007 2:12PM

I think that Okami was a beautiful game, but in its own way, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was also beautiful. The art direction for Zelda may not have been as drastic of a change that Wind Waker was, or Okami, but its art direction was superb. All of the little details made the game look so great. The fact that each house was uniquely drawn, that the sides of the ladders (something you never really look at) had designs on them, and more of such similar touches helped Twilight Princess really excell in the visual department...at least in my mind. Oh well, to each his own; or her own.
Paul Gale
1up.com

NintendoFanbot @ Mar 6th 2007 2:13PM

I agree with Crono.

TP is a sequel to Ocarina. As such:

1. It is a fanservice to everyone that thought highly of Ocarina. As such, it uses a similar artistic direction though more elaborated on. It uses the exposition of Ocarina to continue the story established by Ocarina.

2. They used this game as an opportunity to improve on things they wanted to accomplish in Ocarina, such as horseback combat.

TP is what the fans wanted in contrast to WW. This is one of the few cases where they listened extensively to the fans for game direction.

It's not amazing to some people and I can understand that as the same opinion can exist for any game in existence, but to act as if they didn't try or they lost their direction is pure wrong.

Ibere @ Mar 6th 2007 2:16PM

Why are you people discussing the gameplay of both games? THe guy who made Okami just said VISUALLY he found the game disappointing. He do not say it does not have a good gameplay or that is isn't fun.

I loved Okami (I'm playing it for 65 hours now) and I think the art style is just perfect. TP has good graphics, but the art direction is pretty uncreative.