I was not familiar with Japanese mythology, history or music when I first played this game back in 2003. It was so different and striking that it felt, to a sheltered American kid, like it had come from another planet. Playing it again years later (so happy this and its sequel were finally made backwards compatible) renews my appreciation and the striking stylistic elements are still just as powerful. There's a tendency among gamers, I feel, to look at old FromSoft games and see the factors or elements that would eventually coalesce into Souls under Miyazaki's hand, and there's some of that here too but the game absolutely stands out on its own as one of the most unique and interesting action games of its time. The slight repetition in level design in the second half is the only thing that really brings it down. You'll be killing a lot of raven demons here, but boy will it look cool, sound cool and play cool. Really need to beat the sequel once Elden Ring is out and done.