Okami 2

[Eibborn]

For the longest time I thought you were supposed to circle that corruption on the ground. Turns out you were supposed to fill it in.
Unless I'm wrong.

[Reese Tora]

Some times... some times I'm trying to vine or loop some fire, and I end up making gusts of wing instead.

(Yeah, yeah, all the jokes about blaming accitental passage of wind on the dog, only this time it's actually the dog's fault.)

The problem is I tend to finish off the arc with a flourish to make sure I hit the target, and end up making a little loop that's interpreted as wind at the end of a long arc shape.

[thegayhare]

one of the things that can help with that is if you look at the colot of the smoke comming off the brush tip if your draging water, fire, or vines. When you pick a source the brush tip will be smoking a certain color green, yellow, orange  If when you get to your target it'll smoke that color again so you know you've got it right

[Fuyudenki]

heehee... "divine wind."  I wouldn't exactly call my wind "divine."

*ehm*

I usually draw my wind with a big loop or spiral.  My vines tend to be drawn all zig-zaggy, because I like to, and my fire and water tend to not be so zig-zaggy.

I finally beat the first major portion of the game and got my first glaive, woo!(haven't had a chance to use it, yet.)

I would like to mention, though, that if Clover was trying to make Amaterasu a gender-neutral character, they failed on an epic scale.  The only characters who ever refer to her in the masculine don't actually know her true nature, and even when she pees, she pees like a female wolf.(not dog.  Female dogs aren't consistent about raising their legs.  Wolves are, and the females raise their leg even higher than male wolves, because they don't have the right plumming to direct the stream without moving their pelvis.  Also, a male dog's stream wouldn't be a spray like Ammy's is.)

Or did I say all that already?

[Kryptic]

What was you're favorite zodiac god? I liked the Boars... that was funny. Monkeys were funny too, but not as cool. And the sheep...

And I like how they tied in abilities for what else the animal is known for - like the Rabbit and the moon (Apparently, the Japanese see not a Man in the Moon, but a rabbit making mochi. Hrm.

[thegayhare]

I like the Rabbit

I'm trying to get my sis to draw me as the moon good with a nice Rob and the hammer

My sister likes the Tiger

But I think the cat god and the rabbit god have the best entrances

[Reese Tora]

heehee... "divine wind."  I wouldn't exactly call my wind "divine."

*ehm*

I usually draw my wind with a big loop or spiral.  My vines tend to be drawn all zig-zaggy, because I like to, and my fire and water tend to not be so zig-zaggy.

I finally beat the first major portion of the game and got my first glaive, woo!(haven't had a chance to use it, yet.)

I would like to mention, though, that if Clover was trying to make Amaterasu a gender-neutral character, they failed on an epic scale.  The only characters who ever refer to her in the masculine don't actually know her true nature, and even when she pees, she pees like a female wolf.(not dog.  Female dogs aren't consistent about raising their legs.  Wolves are, and the females raise their leg even higher than male wolves, because they don't have the right plumming to direct the stream without moving their pelvis.  Also, a male dog's stream wouldn't be a spray like Ammy's is.)

Or did I say all that already?

Funny, that's the part of the game I finished this evening.

I start at the right color source, but I tend to release R1 without cehcking that I ahve everything correct.

BTW, there's one character that knows Ammy's true nature(or hints at knowing it), but continues to refer to her as his brother.

[Zina]

Amaterasu was a female god. However. I think for the purpose of the game, Amaterasu was supposed to be gender neutral with a female form.

[Fuyudenki]

Amaterasu was a female god. However. I think for the purpose of the game, Amaterasu was supposed to be gender neutral with a female form.

That's confirmed almost word-for-word in the manual, but they didn't do a very good job of making her seem masculine.  The wolf model itself even looks female, by the head and shoulders.

So far, the only real gender-bender I've seen is Issun talking about "how hot Sakuya looks," but I figure we can chalk that up to him not having a lot of social graces.

Also, the ghost at the cave sees her not as a wolf, but as a "beautiful maiden."

Oh.  My favorite zodiac animal?  Given I like most of the animals in general, on principal, I'd have to settle with my own: the rat.

[Zina]

Haha, I don't read manuals. Which ends up biting me in the ass later on.
Amaterasu did seem to be attracted to several females in the game. In fact, there were several instances in the game where she seemed masculine to me. I haven't played the game in months, though, so I don't really remember.

[Reese Tora]

All the brush gods refer to ammy as the great mother of us all.  I don't think the guy that wrote the manual was paying much attention.  All the cues I'm picking up are very feminine to me. (And me being a guy with a predilection for projecting my own sex onto and gender neutral or gender ambiguous characters.)

[Axis]

Sheep god wins in entrance.

I recently found out that by drawing a circle around people they get little hearts around them and pet you. 

I wish the beads hit harder.  I don't really like the glaives.

[Kryptic]

"Mon Cherie" is feminine too - and you would think Waka would know her pretty well.

Ammy -is- female, IMO. Clover just wanted to "appeal to all audiences" though, I would imagine.

*pictures young boys screaming "Ew, I don't want to play as a GIRL wolf. Ewww."* As if.

[TheDXM]

wish the beads hit harder.  I don't really like the glaives.

Remember to hammer on the attack button when the beads come into contact with the enemy, it will string together a combo and do plenty of damage (more than the reflectors, but less than a glaive, especially charged).

I found beads more useful as a secondary weapon though.

[Reese Tora]

secondary beads really depends on which one you use... I found the spread attack of the second set to be pretty worthless compared to the first one's attack, especially if you want to use long range on a single enemy.  The rapid fire from the third set was pretty good, and I havn't experimented witht he others.

Beads are interesting in that they're the only secondary weapon that I've found to vary significantly between versions enough to change how they're most effectively used.
(If bead shot was piercing and I was in a situation where I had a hoard of enemies, the spread shot might be useful to me.)

With glaives, I found that a single level of charge increases the damage quite a bit; the secret is to hold and charge, then release and press in one quick motion to begincharging the next attack.  Using the best glaive I had at the time vs true orrochi, I only needed to get each head drunk once to take it out with the glaive (as opposed to twice using the reflector)

Of course, having the five winds, spirit armageddon, and four shears abilities doesn't hurt.

My favorite configuration is two mirrors for a balanced attack and a good defence, though I often forget to use my secondary weapon at all, or use it on accident. (and I don't want to think about the times I've accidentally used Golden Fury instead of Fleetfoot)

[thegayhare]

Has any one collected all 100 stray beads?

I managed it about 2 months back it's realy rather hard those things are everywhere

[Reese Tora]

According to my list, I'm only missing one from Kamui,a nd two from gale shrine.

I am not looking forward to going back through the gale shrine, not at all.

Normally I am pretty thourogh when I explore places in games, especially when encounters are based on avoidable or non-respawning enemies, but Gale shrine would be the exception for me.

Atleast the bead log in the menu tells you where you should be searching for any missing beads. (oh, the time wasted looking for beads it turned out I needed a certain brush stroke or point in the game to aquire)

There's no hundreth space in the bead log, though.  I guess it's not available until you have the other 99?

(now, I admit I DO know what you get for collecting all 100... mwahaha )

[thegayhare]

the hundreth one you get for beating the game

Want a hint as too where the beads are most likely?

When you go back to the gale shrine in the anti chamber off where the water is Princess Fuse will be waiting where she is training the satomi wariors  they will challange you and if you beat them all you get a bead

the other is most likely in the elevator if you place the cherry bomb on it with out getting on the elevator you can go under it

[Reese Tora]

Wait, no... I misremembered the name, it's the shrine in Kamui that I mean; Gale shrine was a breeze.

heh, no, I spoke with princess fuse already and nearly got my butt beat by the satomi warriors, and dealt with the elevator.

with my aim, the hardest part was getting the bomb to appear at the right place.

Aside, I'm pretty sure where the Kamui bead I'm missing is, and not looking forward to the series of monster lair battles to get it.  Also am missing the last sun fragment, and I didn't keep notes as to where I found the other 14... considering how I went through that last shrine, that's probably somewhere in there as well.
(rest in piece, Toby... in pieces )
--edit--
(yes, I know Toby isn't in Wawku shrine, which is where those beads I havn't found should be located)

[TheDXM]

No, I don't have all the beads, mostly because I screwed up with the eight dot Blockhead =(

I couldn't do it alone so I got a friend to help me, but I FORGOT to grab the stuff he was guarding later and ended up beating the game. Gotta do it all over again.

On a funny side note, anyone else find it odd that Blockhead develops MORE weakpoints the MORE he trains?