What a journey. Still remains one of my favorite games of all time. Some of it hasn't aged well (Issun, in particular, I found to be a little more grating this time around) but the rest of the game makes up for it. Constantly creative, incredibly beautiful to look at, extremely fun to play, and has excellent pacing. The finale still absolutely hits. This is my favorite Zelda game, hands down.

Part of my problem is taking a giant year plus break in the middle of this game. That being said, I still had issues with the camera not doing what I wanted it to do, especially when trying to traverse via the vines or up walls and in dungeons in general. The combat was fine after I figured out how to do it again. It was good but do I think it is the best Zelda game? Not really, no. I don't really have a fond spot for Ocarina of Time either, which is what this get compared to. The best part of this game is being able to piss on your enemies and then drop a HUGE turd on them as well. I am a 6 year old.

Put some work in but worth it.

Good but I'm never playing it again. This gives even the worst 3D Zelda games a run for their money in terms of bloat and handholding. Wildly inconsistent in pacing and overall quality/enjoyment. In terms of the three separate ~acts, I found myself preferring them in the following order. Act 2 >>> 1 >>>>>> 3. The game kinda shits the bed in the later portions with the snowy setting being miserable to navigate due to the ice topped off with the least appealing side content.

While I think Okami has a lot of fat that could be trimmed, relies too heavily on buffoonish character archetypes, and has moments of atrocious dialogue, it's still very good. Everything from the open world to its dungeons, bosses, and substories are above par. The interaction of powers and the world, particularly in dungeons, is consistently good all the way to the final battle. In the end, it even manages to pull off its epic scope.