(This post has been writing itself in my head for a day or so, so all it took was a few spare moments to type it up, hence it following so closely on the heels of the other one. Sorry for the spam - you know I tend to prefer to spread these posts out…)

Also? SPOILER ALERT, so the rest of this is in a cut.

When I still had my livejournal I had a mention in one of my last posts about videogames and why certain gaming companies do the things they do, namely rehash stuff. And in that post I vented a little bit because, having wanted to play Okami for the PS2 but never having the chance, I was getting a bit bitter because everyone was using Okami to bash Twilight Princess (and Nintendo’s tendency to essentially remake games) over its shiny blond head with an artfully rendered “reflector.” (Why they can’t just call it a mirror is beyond me.) The bitterness was caused mainly by the fact that everyone seemed to be comparing the two for the sole reason that they both feature wolves, and it was souring my view of Okami which made me mad because I was looking quite forward to playing it when it was rereleased for the Wii. Thankfully, Luny stepped in and helped explain it to me, telling me it was very much like the Zelda series in terms of gameplay, hence the comparisons, so I felt a bit better about it, shoved the thoughts from my mind, and just looked forward to being able to play it when it eventually came out.

I just finished fighting Ninetails on Monday night, and I’m looking forward to playing through the rest of it. I’m very much enjoying the game. The music, the visuals, the gameplay (only occasionally frustrating, but it’s understandable given the fact that one must draw images to progress and sometimes a circle that means to you “lilypad” might somehow translate to “gust of wind” to the game), the story, ad nauseum - it’s all very well done and it makes me happy to play. In that way, it is a very successful game and deserves all the kudos it’s gotten.

However, I don’t think that it vindicates all the accusations everyone else has said. It is, essentially, a Zelda game in a new setting, with a couple of Capcom references thrown in. “Well, the brush system is entirely new!” they say, and I would like to point out that it’s basically a new version of the ocarina from Ocarina of Time, or any other magic system, only easier to incorporate into battles. It’s not entirely new - it’s just a new way of looking at things, which is something Nintendo has been doing for ages. I don’t think someone should villify the Zelda series simply because they didn’t think to include a brush system at one point. After all, if Nintendo basically took their Zelda engine, and stuck it in a new setting, suddenly everyone would be accusing them of “taking Zelda and sticking it in a new setting.” I think it would be pretty cool, myself, but I can understand how from some standpoints it would be a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t decision. And Nintendo doesn’t need that right now… or at least didn’t back when Twilight Princess was in development. I think they’re comfortable enough now that they can start taking more risks in ways other than incorporating the Wii’s control elements. And they will need to, in order to keep their shiny new console fresh.

The creators of Okami have expressly stated that they were inspired by the Zelda series and did emulate it in multiple ways. They emulated it very well, and the way they enhanced the experience is well done and, like I said, allows one to enjoy the game.

That said, there is one aspect of Okami thus far that disheartens me. Given the setting (ooooooooooold Japan), it shouldn’t surprise me, but especially since the main character is female, one would think that the game would treat women a little better. “Yeah yeah,” they say, “this is a trend in most games since forever.” But just because the trend exists doesn’t mean we have to continue to follow it (aren’t people praising the game because of its originality?), and it doesn’t excuse the fact that every strong female character in the game, or at least a female in a position of power, isn’t victimized. Amaterasu isn’t clearly marked as essentially feminine - this has been stated as specific for the NA version of the game, for some odd reason. She’s a goddess but there’s not much about her that really defines her as either gender, and while the thought of a god-character that transcends gender is pretty cool… then it still fails as an empowering journey for a female, and fails to address the victimization of the other essentially female characters. That’s the part that really pisses me off. Even the women with spunk aren’t spared from this treatment. It’s not even that Issun is a bit of a perv, or that I wonder if they really had to animate every jiggling breast in the game (for “realism”? In a cell-shaded animated sumi-e painting?), but Sakuya? Requires saving, despite her divinity. Kushi? Requires saving. She rushes to meet Fate with Amaterasu helping her, but the two get separated and she’s again just another helpless female. Himiko? Totally killed. Rao? DEFINITELY killed. The track record thus far isn’t the best, and while there are still male characters who get stuck in a jam, other than Wada, I can’t really think of any of them that have had to go through the same fate as most of the women.

I know I tend to pull on my femme boots often when thinking about/discussing games, but before the fight with Ninetails I hadn’t thought about it much in regards to Okami. Afterward, though, as my brain processed everything that had happened recently within the game, I was left feeling a bit disappointed. It’s a bad mark on a very good game.

There’s a chance that there is a moment of blazing feminism toward the end of the game, but it’s a fairly small chance, from what I can see. Ah, well. I’ll find out when I get there, and if there is one of those shining moments, I’ll be sure to squee over it, too, and stand corrected.

Now that I’ve finally said this, though, I’ll get back to enjoying the game.

Since the government refused to deal with its shit and sent out little economic stimulus packages instead, I decided I would use my economic stimulation to help deal with another kind of waste material.

As much as one loves cats, there’s one activity required in good cat-keeping that just about everyone I know dislikes: scooping the litterbox. Not only is there scooping the litterbox, but there’s cleaning the litterbox, and not only is there scooping and cleaning the litterbox, there’s changing out the litter and dragging used litter out to the appropriate outside waste receptacle (because you don’t wanna leave that stuff inside).

I’ve tried a variety of potential solutions. Back when I was in GA, the Mews actually mailed me a LitterLocker, which basically functions like those special diaper trashcans. You deposit the dirt, twist the handle, the inside of the LitterLocker twists the plastic bag to help trap the air, and this is supposed to prevent you from having to go outside every day with the used litter, and make it easier to get rid of it overall. I wound up having serious problems with mine, not the least of which being the plastic bags tearing and the horrendous smell when it came time to get rid of the stuff and first opening the LitterLocker. It wasn’t working. I’m not sure, but maybe Cali just uses the bathroom more often than a normal kitty.

Then there was the corn litter I tried, to be more environmentally responsible et al. It’s possible it would still work, but I was disgusted with what happened during that time period (tapeworms), that I worry that not only would I associate the corn litter with that, but Cali would too, and refuse to use her litter properly. So that’s out.

So, emailing back and forth about this stuff with the Mews while I lived in GA, my Gmail picked out the trend and tossed up an ad about something called the CatGenie. That didn’t sound like any of the other automated catboxes I heard of (and I wasn’t willing to try any of them, especially since they didn’t really deal with the problems I had with litter), so I followed the link and read up on it. But, it was expensive, by that point I was getting ready to move, and springing a whole new appliance like that on a kitty when she’s already getting nervous for all the moving is almost guaranteed to cause health problems.

I left it alone until I heard about the stimulus, and decided that, hey, then I would have the money, so why not?

It arrived late Monday night, so yesterday after work, with the help of Sheraton, we put it together. I had unboxed everything Monday night anyway, mostly to free up space and get the boxes out of the way, but also to check on the washable granules (to guess if Cali would actually accept them as her new non-litter) and to let Cali sniff at everything during the day. She’s a pretty adaptable cat, but there’s no reason not to give her a chance to get to know the new machine before expecting to her conduct her business in it.

Sheraton and I waited some time after she had had her dinner, and once it was obvious she wasn’t going to use her old box anymore, we hefted the old box out, I did a little bit of quick clean-up on the floors around the old box’s site, we waited for that to dry, and then we set about setting the CatGenie up. Cali watched us a good portion of the time, and even came out to sniff at the bowl of the machine while we were going over the instructions. In a word: cute. Setup went smoothly overall, with the only setback being that we determined I needed to get a more flexible toilet connector. Still, while we had everything connected and ostensibly working, we decided to close the doors to the office to keep Cali out (it is recommended that, for the first week or so, not to run the Cat Genie while the cat is around or unless the cat is asleep, so that way they don’t get scared of everything it’s doing, and that they’ll eventually accept the sounds and understand that it just means they’re about to have a freshly cleaned box), and pressed the start button. It worked like a charm, we let Cali in, she immediately investigated it (though she didn’t use it just yet), and then I went out to get a new toilet connector as well as some food. Came back and as I saw to some personal business in the bathroom, Cali used her new box too. I “flushed” the Cat Genie one more time last night, to no problems.

Provided it doesn’t crap out on me after the warranty is out-of-date, then I think I just made a pretty good investment. It’ll take awhile to pay itself off again, regarding pet supplies et al, but this means I’ll no longer have to deal with traditional cat litter dust, or scooping the litter, or rushing out to put the litter into the outside trash when there’s six inches of snow outside. Or when it’s ninety degrees out, because few things smell so sweetly as used litter when it’s hot out.

Cali investigating the Cat Genie during the initial setup.
The Cat Genie officially ready for duty!
Cali investigating the Cat Genie again, only now it is fully complete with sidewalls and dome.

If you have kitties and are interested, lemme know. They have a pretty good referral program that saves everybody some money.