I've been playing Okami lately.

wow, this game is actually quite amazing!

the intro is nothing special, in fact, it's just extremely long and tedious, but it does set up the tone and basis of the game.
you get a long drawn out story about a white wolf and a hero joining forces to kill a great serpent and then the wolf falls asleep and is enshrined.
fast forward and some nimrod has taken the sword that sealed the beast away, thus releasing it to cause havoc.

in comes amaterasu, newly awoken by the local spirit, and she's about as interested in the excessive jargon as we are, she yawns, falls asleep halfway through the lecture, and I'm left scratching my head and wondering "wait, are we playing as female wolf dante?"

in case you haven't noticed from the glaringly obvious name in the front of the video, this is hideki kamiya's baby, yep, that's right, the curmudgeonly maker of devil may cry, whose no nonsense attitude keeps people from posting to his twitter with questions about bayonetta for pc he's sick and tired of hearing, the guy who is basically the soul of combat focused videogames, made this title.

but you know him as "that guy who made devil may cry" so we'll just go with that.

Now onto the gameplay:

as a japanese mythology enthusiast, this is actually nice.

you go through the first level and grow accustomed to the movement, which is slow until a few moments later, then you speed up, but there's a nice surprise, if you keep the momentum going long enough, you go to a third speed which...uh...is pointless.

amaterasu's "run" mechanic is basically just an improved "speed" mechanic from dmc4, but what really sticks out here are the few moments of combat as the game slowly sinks you into the brush mechanic, which is a little difficult, but not too much.

the combat is simple yet satisfying.

After unleashing the power of the sun, amaterasu and issun go to kamiki village where the story unfolds and you're introduced to the last mechanic: interaction.

god forbid I have to be social or anything, or so I think to myself jokingly, but in kamiki village the characters are distinct and enjoyable. it's clear a lot of heart went into this.
of special note, susano'o, who's named for the storm god, and is basically just a lazy wannabe hero, has a counterpart in his sweetheart kushi, the local sake brewer.
for those of you who know anything about the real susano'o, this woman is a reference and parallel to kushinadahime, who is a maiden susano'o turns into a comb after marrying her, to keep her safe.

thanks for that susano'o.

after quietly tricking susano'o into believing he's a master swordsman in a comical cutscene where we intervene with the brush to make it seem like every strike he delivers holds more power than it actually does, the way is opened for us.
I doubt amaterasu has seen the last of that washup, but I suspect given his importance in the original myth, he's gonna be making a lot more cameos in the future.
that's all I have for now, I'll upload it as I keep playing, I'm using a psx2 emulator, and I am just loving this game!