In this part, I explore more of the early-game Shinshu Field and complete the Konohana Shuffle in Kamiki Village.

0:32 - The Nameless Man's pottery contributes to a sidequest in Shinshu Field, but it'll be quite some time until we can fully complete it. It's one of those game-spanning distractions that you can check in on from time-to-time.

0:54 - If you're the kind of viewer that gets tired of "random" battles like this, then don't worry. I'll likely keep in all battles when first thoroughly exploring an area, but I'll also likely trim down or fast-forward through such when returning to a previously visited area for backtracking or transit or whatever. Additionally, I'll acquire the Peace Bell in Agata Forest soon, so that'll cut down on some battle frequency as well. Basically, my playthrough will involve entering a lot of battles to build up Yen and Demon Fangs for various items, but I'll try to avoid making things boring for you, the viewers.

4:21 - About that out-of-place transition: I had a little mishap there in the recording, so I smoothed it over with a fade transition to avoid breaking the mood too much.

5:24 - Another transition here because it took me way too long to figure out precisely how I was supposed to Bloom this diseased patch. It's never clear to me why it succeeds sometimes but fails other times, but I usually succeed faster than I did when originally recording this.

9:35 - The first mention of Waka. Keep this name in mind, because it'll become much more relevant later.

9:48 - Just letting you know that it's going to be some time before I finish off Mika's Monster Notebook. I'll be waiting until I get the Crescent Brush Technique since it's significantly easier to do this kind of monster-hunting once you have it. More details on that later...

10:30 - It's important to note that you can not escape from battles with "named" monsters like this. You generally shouldn't need to, but during those fights as well as special fights with bosses and mini-bosses, the barrier should noticeably change to reflect the fact that there are no fissures to break and pass through.

11:35 - Another one of my favorites music tracks in this game.

14:20 - [Stray Bead #6]

16:44 - If you need to prioritize the techniques you plan to buy from this Dojo, I recommend 4 Winds above all else. Everything else is optional, though feel free to get all that you can afford as they each have their uses here and there.

17:02 - A reference to Viewtiful Joe, another game by Clover Studio. Go play that if you haven't. It's also awesome and can provide a hearty challenge if you choose it.

18:00 - Since Okami is such a well-designed game (in my opinion, at least), it's all the more strange when its few flaws come up. The Dojo training is one of the game's most inexplicable flaws, as the majority of the tutorials on new moves go on WAY longer than necessary. Other tutorials with Brush Techniques and stuff usually only require one or two explicit but short tests (and that's all that's necessary), so why does Dojo training drag on for so long?!

27:29 - You'll need an upgrade from later in the game in order to dig through stone like this.

28:52 - Another lovely little touch is that, whenever you Bloom all dead trees in an area, (usually) you'll know because you'll get a bigger Praise boost than normal. Simple things like that go a long way towards making the player feel like the game isn't wasting their time.

39:11 - Mmmhmm, "gingerly sip".

41:34 - That choice of words...

46:04 - You could technically go out to the second island there for more treasure now, but I forgot precisely how to get on that island during this recording, so I just decided to come back later.

54:07 - [Stray Bead #5]

55:17 - I'll be honest: At this point I had completely forgotten what these water spouts were for. As I was reminded later, you need to come back once you have the Waterspout Brush Technique.

59:10 - [Stray Bead #8, I think]

1:00:24 - [Stray Bead #7, I think. Also, this is the last Stray Bead you can get in Shinshu Field for now if you've been following my collection of them.]

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