OKAGE: Shadow King
OKAGE: Shadow Kingby Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: PlayStation2
ESRB Rating: Teen
ASIN: B00005NYZ7
Check price @ amazon.com , amazon.ca , amazon.co.uk
Features:
• Adventure in an animated fantasy world
• The spirit of an evil king possesses the shadow of an young boy
• More than 80 hours of adventure and gameplay
• By turns whimsical and ominous
• Unique graphic look
Amazon.com Product Description: The spirit of an evil king has been unleashed, and it possesses the shadow of an young boy named Ari. Bearing the burden of the evil spirit on his slender shoulders, Ari must journey through an animated fantasy world that is by turns whimsical and ominous, and endeavor to free his shadow.
Okage: Shadow King is an absorbing role-playing fantasy with more than 80 hours of adventure and gameplay. It features richly imagined 3-D worlds, including five towns, six fields, and nine dungeons. There are six fully realized characters, with unique personalities, strengths, powers, and attacks, and 100 enemies to battle. Dramatic battle sequences allow allies and enemies to fight simultaneously and in real time. As your team explores the worlds of Okage, you will have access to more than 100 spells, attacks, and weapons, and more than 150 items to collect and use. You will engage in realistic conversations with nonplayer characters, decipher clues, and unravel the secrets hidden in every corner.
Customer Reviews:
Either love it or hate it--and most people hate it, October 20, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer
Okage is really a great game, its got an interesting plot that swerves off the "save the world" lane--not that I have anything against other RPGs, but Okage can make you me laugh. That's hard, I'm not the happy type. Some say the bosses are too hard, and they are, but if you have brains it becomes much easier.
The five-stars is my personal opinion, but Okage has many flaws. If the main character, default name Ari, dies, you get that big "GAME OVER." There aren't any random battles, but there might as well be. There are ghosts running around trying to kill you--best kill them first.
Okage's lovable and yet very "hateable" but I liked it.
Looks cool but not much fun to play, October 16, 2002
Reviewer: mrald4 from Dearborn, MI United States
I like RPGs. I like when games take chances with a different sytle of look or gameplay. I like abstract drawings. I had big hopes for this game. But it let me down in a lot of ways. It's the story of a boy who becomes obsessed with a Shadow King demon, and the demon "don't get no respect" from anyone he tries to scare. And then you have to do a lot of walking around looking for other wanna-be Shadow Kings, and listen to the battle of wits. Some of the other reviews tout the humor in this game, but I thought the "jokes" were very lame. The running gag is: "I'm a horrible bad guy, why don't you take me seriously?!" The fighting method was ok. I prefer to run from the battles if possible, since they just seemed like wasted time. As you walk in between towns, you become bombarded by enemies who want to fight. The monsters look great and have amusing fighting techniques. But I had a hard time caring. The text sequences were a pain, and you have to keep pressing the button to get through all of the stale text. I liked the way the game looked. But it really needed something else. Unlike a Snickers bar, this game did not really satisfy.
Funny and cute, but a few bumps along the way, September 22, 2002
Reviewer: smyrgl from Woodside, CA United States
Okage: Shadow King is a terrific game in that it breaks the usual "boy saves the world + girl from evil" formula we've been seeing for the past few years in console RPG's. It also boasts some of the most impressive visual styling (paying more than a little homage to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas) and funniest dialog in any RPG within memory. Still, there are a few problems.
The story is that you are an average boy who gets trapped into becoming the host of an evil being from the past in order to save your spoiled sister from the dreaded "Pig Latin Curse." Anyways, this evil being, who is named Stan, takes possession of your shadow and orders you out into the world with dreams of conquest. This may not seem like the setup for a comedic RPG, but Okage is very lighthearted and has more than it's share of funny moments. You meet some very colorful characters along the way and the way they react to Stan leads to some very interesting situations.
The problem with Okage lies with its battle system. It is very simple and battles themselves are not all that entertaining. It makes me wonder why the developer chose to make an RPG out of this game instead of an action/adventure. A dungeon crawler like Dark Cloud or Zelda seems more appropriate. Also, the load times are unacceptable given the graphical complexity of this game. Despite being very visually inventive, the polygon counts are low so there is no excuse for 10 second load times. This is especially noticeable in towns when you have to explore houses and even going from one room to another incurs a massive wait for loading!
If you're looking for something different Okage will provide you with a fun experience, but expect a little tedium to accompany it.
If Tim Burton made a videogame..., August 28, 2002
Reviewer: evilkevin from San Jose, CA USA
This is a great quirky RPG. The characters and environments at some points look as if they were taken straight out of the movie "A Nightmare Before Christmas." At one point in the game ther is even a "spiral" hill near the ocean just like the movie. It's fun, it has hilarious dialog, and your shadow is damn cool. During certain points in battle your shadow will ask you how "cool" you think he is, and you must answer a series of short questions. If you answer correctly, he wreaks havoc on all your enemies as a prize. Things like that will constantly suprise you throughout the game. This game is so original from the norm anime-RPG's, and the Tim Burton-esque overtone doesn't hurt either. I rented this a few months back and it's the only rented game that I have not deleted from my memory card so far. I plan on picking it up eventually to ultimately finish the game. I'd go as far to say it's as good if not better than the final fantasy series games... they tend to get too serious (to an alomst comical point) and kinda stale. This game is packed with fresh ideas not found in any other RPG, even to date.
Okage Shadow King, August 25, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania USA
Okage: Shadow King is the story of a 16 year old boy named Ari whos life is turned upside down by none other than his shadow. It all starts when his father finds an old bottle. Meanwhile, Ari's sister Annie is found lying unconsious on the ground near her home. Apparently, she was attacked by a ghost, and was cursed. Now, she can only speak pig latin! Ari's father decides to open the bottle he found, and out pops Stan, the Shadow Evil King. He offers to help Annie under one condition: Ari must become his slave for life. With no choice, Ari agrees. Now, Ari's shadow is possesed by this Evil King, and must journey on to help the King revive back to his normal state, and gain his power back. Along the way, you meet wonderful characters, strange new worlds, and fight bad guys. This amazing RPG is a game that every family should own. I would give this game 5 stars for the fact that it is unique, and the story line (which is the best story line I've ever seen...read...whatever).
Just Read the Review, June 13, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from Hell
To tell you the truth, this is one of those games with OK graphics (they really aren't trying very hard to amaze you, anyway), which actually don't bother me. Storyline's okay, gameplay and controls are good, but the game just isn't fun. It doesn't have any bad qualities really, it just fails horribly to entertain me. I don't like it, but I recomend it anyway.
A fun and quircky old-school RPG., May 18, 2002
Reviewer: vivi__thief from Seattle, WA USA
I myself, am a very hard core RPG player. I've played all sorts ranging from Final Fantasy all the way back to Chocobo's Dungeon. I felt I needed a break from serious RPG's, so I descided to give Okage here a try.
Okage is a very different game, that doesn't resemble any game made. If I could describe it, I'd say that its a great game overall. With a very complex battle system, hillarious scripts and charactors, and the most bizarre magic, this is an awsome game!! It also has EXCELLENT graphics and unbelievable enviornments!!
The battle system is somewhat real time fighting, and mixed with a wide variety of maic and special moves. I enjoyed fighting and gaining levels to gain new attacks.
The story is divided into seven chapters, each with a fake evil king to destroy. You are a young boy Ari, who gets possesed by your shadow, and your on a quest to help regain the Evil king Stan's(shadow) power and release him from your world. A lot of twists are in the game to, and its just one of those sit back and have fun types of games.
Okage is one of the greatest games for the PS2, and if RPG fans want a good RPG, I'd reccomend this one.
Email me if you have any questions
Alot of fun,alot of laughs, May 9, 2002
Reviewer: RepoMan from Alton,Illinois
First and foremost,if you are one of those die-hard,extremely serious,Final Fantasy obsessed,couldn't laugh even if my life depended on it RPG players,then don't play this game as it will confuse and destroy your narrow,closed-mind.But if you like to have fun when you play video games,appreciate something original and like to laugh;then check this one out!
Okage:Shadow King is truely a unique RPG set in a "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas" type enviroment.From the very start, the nature of this game is light-hearted and extremely humorous.
This RPG is the story of a young,insecure boy named Ari that no one seems to notice(downright ignore in certain parts!)Regardless of what you say or how you feel,people will pretty much just tell you what to do and how to be,all the while ignoring your responses(does any of this sound familiar to you in your life??)All of this changes for the quiet boy the day his zealous,nutty-professor type father shows him his cursed lamp that holds the "Evil King Stan"!Stan is a shadow monster who can only exist in the outside world by posessing a person's shadow.
However,the shadow must be from a person who could "easily get lost in someone else's shadow"!Naturally Ari is the perfect canidate as he is never noticed and has next to no self-confidence.Stan however is hardly a "monster",in fact everyone he tries to scare just finds him "cool",or even "cute" by the girls.Stan being the self-proclaimed terror that he is,won't rest until he and Ari(his "slave" as he calls you)find the cause for his loss of horrific,dark power.
The storyline for this game is just great,and I could really feel for Ari being so overshadowed.However this is all done in a humorous manner,and everyone,even the "villains" deliver some lines that are really funny(my personal favorite is from Ari's younger sister:"Mom gave me a book she reads to help me out with my first date tonight.What's it called?"Controling Men Made Easy!")The characters are very intresting esp. in their outer appearance.The whole game,even with the random enemies you fight, is created with a trippy,but very appealing artistic style.
The gameplay is very typical and very easy to get the hang of, but that's not to say that it's boring.Both kids and adults will have fun with Okage.The soundtrack was pretty good,sometimes a little goofy,but never annoying.My favorite track was when the game first opened up with the bagpipes at the title screen!
I think 90% of the people who would play this game would have fun with it and enjoy it alot,esp if you had fun with the Super Nes RPG "Earthbound".It's funny,quirky,kinda off-beat but strangely addicting and alot of fun.To me Okage is a great break from certain RPG video games that take themselves SOOOOOOO seriously(cough!Final Fantasy-cough!)This is a game that you can play while relaxing in your favorite recliner and munching on the junkfood of your choice!Enjoy it,laugh and have fun....isn't that what video games are supposed to be about??
Dan The RPG man., May 6, 2002
Reviewer: Dan Wornica from Raymond, NH United States
You shouldn't have to be patient and wait for a game to get better. The playstation2 to this point is the most awful RPG system I have ever played. I miss the playstation already.
No joke! This game ROCKS!!, May 5, 2002
Reviewer: Gab Reeves
I really love this game. If you're no familiar with the story here is a brief summary of the plot. You are a boy named Ari (you can change your name). Your sisters gets deathly ill, and your father is determined to save her life using a magic lamp he found to get a wish. Well, the lamp wasn't all it was dished out to be, and you have to sacrifice your shadow to a reincarnation of an evil king. Now that you are a slave to this evil king, you must travel around the world finding fake evil kings that stole the king's power. As you continue your journeys you meets various creative and colorful characters such as a hero, a professer, and a princess. Sound fun? In my opinion it is. If you are a RPG fan like myself, I think you will like it too. Yet not close to as serious as some of the more hardcore RPGs such as Final Fantasy or Chrono Cross, it demonstrates a truly great RPG. Even those who prefer more serious games will still love this one. It's the best comical RPG out there an it might be one of the best overall. 5 stars!
| PS2 Games |
| Action & Adventure |
| Fighting |
| Racing & Flying |
| Role Playing |
| Sports & Outdoors |
| Strategy |