Ico / Shadow of the Colossus

I've done the first three. The freedom to approach your problem via trial and error and experimentation is fantastic. And it's beautiful. And the score is good. And it's been a long time since I've felt guilty-ish over actions in a game (last time might have letting one of those asshole knights die in Conquest of Camelot). Good stuff. Unfortunately I have a paper to write.

how you getting on? I've got 8 defeated from the weekend but I've not been relaxed enough to play it over the past couple of days and just found myself stressed out with all the aimless, listless riding...

that's just me after work though so I've been concentrating on other games

Big words, Adam! I'm v. interested in this game. If I traded my Xbox in for a PS2 today, it would be to play Katamari and this.

Did you read what Penny Arcade had to say about it today?

boring personal anecdote time: playing sotc for me is such a fkn chore right now cos it means I need to lug my PS2 downstairs to the only telly in the house with NTSC 60hz. compatibility... so roll on sunday so I can play it relaxed...

what was your final time?

My copy of Ico is in New Orleans (I am not) so I won't get to give it another shot until December. I'm going to play through SotC on the hard mode and do some of the time attacks. Actually, I'm going to go do that right now.

: /

farrr toooo looooong

I actually like Tim's rambling, sprawling non-reviews. If you just accept from the beginning that there will be plenty of tangents and a healthy dose of bullshit, they're generally amusing to read when you're bored at work. If you're into that sort of thing.

quoting myself from the PS2 thread:

the reason ico is good is because it is not afraid to be boring. if you don't appreciate the game it is because you have forgotten how to be bored properly.

Most of the same things could be said about SotC, except the fighting in that game is extremely satisfying, frightening, and generally much more engaging than whacking shadows with a stick 50 times. And that difference alone is enough to make it a much better game.

the second to last battle, of course, completely doesn't count. i mean omg

the opening of the gates/walking across the bridge sequence and subsequent cutscene is the most heart-on-string i've ever been while playing a videogame

was it only the japanese version that had the lightsaber?

The flying colossus (#5 I think) is a bitch though, I can't seem to get all up on him.

Holy shit, monster number 11 or so - the one in the lake - was so frustrating and lame it made me want to quit the game. For starters, it's a bullshit "hint" to say "get to higher ground" when you are on the back of a monster taller than everything except the giant bridges and mountains you can't reach. Beyond that, this is the first time the camera totally fucked me and trapped me under water, but since you can't drown (apparently) I had to quit the game and try again. And then once you figure out the monster mechanics, you once again have to do the same shit, again and again, over and over. I couldn't ask for a better looking game, but this thing plays like a demo.

Maybe it was the 12th colossus? Gah, I hope so.

i've probably already said this multiple times in this thread but ico/shadow of the colossus/last guardian are all cool, innovative concepts undone by terrible clunky controls and bland environments. such overrated games.

Dragon monster was more fun, but still ultimately kind of lame. I think I am almost done? might as well just finish it.

This game was from before 3rd person 3d games had good controls

i played the tony hawk ps2 games so i know that isn't true

Regardless, they made it all snazzy for PS4 - it looks gorgeous and there is clearly a ton of work put into it - so it's a mystery why so much of it kind of runs like shit or seems sort of underdeveloped.

That said, the second bull monster that involves knocking down towers, that was a bit more fun, too, so that's two in a row after a tedious fallow period. It's an aggressive boss, which is more engaging than giant things that just lumber/fly/walk around sort of aimlessly while you patiently (or impatiently) wait for it to lift up its foot and check to see if it stepped in colossus poop or whatever. It's not really puzzle solving if the solution is mostly patience.

I dunno, I wish there were more challenges or enemies or something between bosses. Now I see why so many people said Breath of the Wild sets the bar so high for open world games. Then again, this is really no more open world than Dark Souls, and that game was a blast, constantly interesting/challenging.

Ico has no flaws - I don't remember problems with Shadow of the Colossus, but I only played it the once.

OK, last couple of monsters, particularly the final colossus, were pretty cool, even if the combat (as such) remained pretty simple. The ending was very satisfying, too, though I felt sad for the horse. As well you're supposed to, but honestly I felt bad throughout, since you're forced to take him along and he's such a loyal steed who puts up with so much abuse.

*spoilers*

jeezus christ the end sequence

the sleeping lady finds the baby (where Wander fell into the pit of darkness) while the limping horse he killed off slowly climbs up the stairs? that's kinda fucked up

hahaha, you have discovered one of the great endings

it was a very nice surprise after what happened just before (regarding Wander's fate), which i unfortunately jokingly predicted before playing the game. i didn't think it would actually happen!

overall i had a blast playing it, though!

of the two notorious issues with the game that are frequently mentioned, i found the controls to be sluggish but functional, and the camera to be awful in certain sections (like swimming under a beast) but ok for the most part. maybe they were improved a bit for the remaster?

also, lol, i didn't realize until the very last shrine that i was supposed to shoot the lizard, and soon afterward also realized i could pick up the little glowing piles of dust. oops! up until then i was very impressed at the restraint in adding "collectibles" to the game

the glow piles were new to the remaster! there's an insane story behind it.

a story within the game behind it, or a developer story? either way i'm curious to hear it!

also i see that there were also piles of fruit i was supposed to be collecting?

and probably also hidden locations near each of the shrines. i ran across in the woods, a little cave hideout with some human stuff in there, and an -ACHIEVEMENT- popped up. that was the only one i found, so apparently i was very bad at exploring despite spending literally hours trying to hop up the sides of mountains that i didn't realize were impassable boundaries

I didn't learn about the lizard thing until well after I beat the game. I don't think it was common knowledge back then.

tread lightly with this i suppose
https://www.polygon.com/2018/2/11/17001204/shadow-of-the-colossus-sword-of-dormin-how-to