Tyranny by Majority: The Marketplace & You

(Okami vs Wii Sports)

I’m going to share a little story with you of an experience I had not too long ago when a good friend of mine came to visit (Hi Chris if you’re watching *waves*).

But a little background first – it may come as a shock to many but I own a Nintendo Wii. It was the result of a compromise (read: manipulation) with my non-gaming roommates who’d advised that if I bought a Wii rather than one of those ‘other consoles’ (Playbox 3DS-what?) they would be interested in having a go. Excited about making a few converts of worship to the one true god, I ran out and bought a Wii along with a number of games I thought would be good. Anyway, long story short: they played a couple games of Wii Bowling then lost interest, I finished Zelda & Metroid in a matter of days and there now exists about ten inches of dust on that infernal little white box.

However, through means of which I cannot remember I found out that there was this really good game that has kinda existed in limbo for a bit because its makers went under that was going to be given a new lease of life on the Wii. Great I thought, so without further ado I went down to the local Game Traders (not in Robina) and bought a copy. This game was Okami.
Okami is amazing. I mean, game play and design wise it really is a lot like recent Zelda games in many aspects (world PvE, quests, boss fights, etc) but in many ways it is very very very different to anything else that’s out there on the market.

If I were to describe it using reviewer-speak, I’d say it was a cross between Zelda and Final Fantasy without the annoying random encounters.

The main thing that is spoken of about this game (and the one thing that stands out immediately) is the art style that the developers decided to go with. Rather than go with the ‘as realistic as possible’ approach that was all the rave, the designs instead went with a rather colourful and obscure art style that makes the entire look like you are playing inside one of those old woodcut, watercolour Japanese paintings – which considering the main storyline is based off Shinto myth works really really well. However, it goes a bit deeper than that… I don’t want to give away too much otherwise I’d spoil some of the experience for those who have never played this game, but let’s just say that about half-way through you start to realise that ‘things aren’t quite as they seem’…

All in all it was an experience I wanted to share. So when my friend came up to visit the opportunity arouse and I took it.

My friend loves his shooters. Unreal Tournament is his favourite game (I think). But he also enjoys the odd RPG and racing game. I should note that this wasn’t the first time I had shown him something completely different – I introduced him to the Heroes of Might & Magic series and he absolutely loved it – so I saw this as simply another act of spreading the joy so to speak.
It did not turn out well.

There is one thing about Okami that I should mention – it suffers from ‘JRPG Syndrome’. That is, it is extremely wordy. My friend and I had had a few beers first before I decided to show him this game so I’d forgotten to elaborate on this – the intro on it’s own is at least five minutes long and consists of nothing more than still images, warbled voices and acres upon acres of text. My friend did not approve. I watched as he sat there, controller in hand slowly becoming angrier and angrier. It was quite hilarious. By the time it got to actual game play he was telling me just how angry he was. Having not completely lost hope (and also because I was enjoying his suffering) I made him play for a few more minutes. No good – the weird art style, dialogue and gameplay made him visibly uncomfortable. In the end he threw down the controller and demanded we go back to playing Wii Sports. Not wanting to get my face smashed in, I relented.

This is a good example of why Okami failed along with all the other awarding examples that led it’s developers to a similar end. The key words here are: Target Audience - most people don’t want you’re completely ingenious example of games as art, they want entertainment often in a form in which they are familiar with and which they know will make them happy. Why else do you think Hollywood keeps churning out the same crap all time, it’s what the people want.
It is a shame, because Okami really is a very good game. But it has no appeal to the mass market because it includes all those ‘tedious’ niches such as over-developed storyline, excessive text and a world in which they simply cannot relate to. Wii Sports on the other hand is the complete opposite – grab a controller, grab a friend, pick a game and away you go. Wii Sports understands that the player isn’t there to think and be moved they’re there to play and have fun.

For the record – I really hate Wii Sports and all it stands for because it’s a shinnying example of what mass market influence can do to an art form (that and I’ve pretty much had an objection to any sport ‘videogame’ which parallels an activity that you can easily do by going outside and picking up a ball). Yet I understand it and that in a way it is genius: it might not have the looks, or really work too well, or require much skill, or be immersive and engaging but it is still FUN.

I’ll admit it even – after my friend and I got back to some Wii Golf I had an absolute ball… after which I had to play numerous hours of D&D inspired Neverwinter Nights just to get the bad taste out of my mouth.