Ico / Shadow of the Colossus

The 3-5 minutes are especially long if you are watching someone else play.

not sure how this is relevant tbh, most games are pretty boring if you're not the one doing the playing.

i'll concede that SotC might have been better with elegant puzzles in the terrain, a la Tomb Raider, rather than the long horseback rides. but that would have been a different game. the horseback rides gave the game a kind of simple, innocent purity that i appreciated. the pleasure simply of going. but then again i'm a guy who actually likes cutscenes, so...

^^ hate cutscenes but agree with this

"the horseback rides gave the game a kind of simple, innocent purity that i appreciated. the pleasure simply of going."
I have no problem with aimless wandering as a choice, and in fact I play many games in this fashion (mario series, tetris, some racing games [perversely trying to evade the invisible barriers that prevent you from going backwards]) I have no problem with cutscenes either so long as you can skip them. Have you ever played that caligraphy ps2 game? LONGEST UNSKIPPABLE INTRO EVER.

"not sure how this is relevant tbh, most games are pretty boring if you're not the one doing the playing."
It's especially relevant when you're not the one doing the playing!

go read a book!

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1J4ZPKVXGB3X2/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

omg

the camera angle makes me feel as though he has suspended me from his ceiling and is slowly torturing me by telling me his reviews of videogames he's played

Put a shirt on for crissakes.

comments are hilaire

He's got a pretty sweet video review of God of War 2 up as well.

WATCHING MOVIES- SINCE I WAS A CHILD I HAVE ALWAYS ENJOYED A GOOD MOVIE AND WHAT IS FUNNY THAT I ALWAYS HAD SUCH A LIKEING FOR FILMS AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE WHILE MY FRIENDS WAS OUT PLAYING I WAS HUDDLED IN FRONT OF THE TV WATCHING OLD B/W FILMS OF THE 30'S UP TO THE SIXTY'S , I JUST COULD NOT GET ENOUGH, CLASSIC-DISNEY-HORROR-
SCI-FI , I WOULD WATCH ANYTHING EVEN THE CHEESEY STUFF, UNTILL I FOUND MY CALLING IN THE VIDEO BUSINESS I WOULD USE MY SKILLS OF WHAT PEOPLE SUCH AS MYSELF WOULD FIND ENTERTAINING I DID WELL AT THIS FOR 7 YEARS A BUILT VIDEO STORES AND WATCHED THE ONE'S THAT HAD NO PASSION CLOSED, WHEN I CAME UP WITH RENTING NINTENDO 1 YEAR BEFORE IT HIT, I KNEW THAT I SHOULD BE WORKING FOR MYSELF MAKING BETTER THINGS HAPPEN FOR MYSELF, I HAVE HAD SOME SET BACKS BUT IM ON THE RIGHT PATH TO GET BACK TO WERE I WAS, THIS AMAZON IS FOREVER.

That guy should have people with bloodied limbs trying to escape from his basement in the background. Would definitely be better than SAW. Would rent.

this amazon is forever

Boy, that kid got debrowned in a hurry. Still, looks like I'm getting a PS3.

http://penny-arcade.com/images/2009/20090608.jpg

HILARIOUS!

talking to my pal travis.

Travis: i hope it's something like it has to leave to become a guardian and fulfill its noble bullshit destiny or something
Travis: so it's still depressing but at least it's not horrible
Will: it's called the last guardian, dude
Travis: i know
Travis: that's what i mean
Will: do you know what happened at the end of the last mohican?

he got a haircut?

from the neck up, yes.

So over the holidays I picked up something called a "Playstation 2" and spent the last month playing through Shadow of the Colossus. Just completed it.

So this game was pretty goddamn amazing. From the outset, I was drawn into its calm, foreboding world. Felt like I was undertaking Herculean labors - both sentimentally in theme and in frustration - but the whole experience was really inspiring. Easily one of the greatest of its generation. Definitely up there with Killer7 as a groundbreaking, emotional experience in the medium. Lots of love.

Ico is also v. v. good.

wtf? today i heard on this news thing that 15% of japans students are addicted to the internet/games. and i see this shitty looking game and im very confused how this is possible. no action just for wimpy men who have no.. how should i put this.. balls so to speak. games are supposed to be exhiliraing. like sex. now take the new alien vs predator. great graphics hopefully frightening and blood/gore. that is a game. not some child running around with this wierd ass homosexual bird thingy throwing stones at samurais in stone armor? seriously. what the fuck.

^^^
to be read out loud in a booming Austrian accent.

these are both coming to PS3 early 2011, apparently

in the BEAK

new castlevania game apparently has a few good SoTC ripoff bosses. i've only made it to the first one and i dig it. def hits the colossus buttons.

rest of the game is god of war ripoff for which ymmv.

Lost In Shadow is a puzzle platformer with an aesthetic thats heavily influenced by Ico/SotC. Really digging so far (out in EU already as A Shadows Tale)
preview here http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-lost-in-shadow/17-3378/

nice. kind of amazing that it's taken like 5 years for people to start biting that shit. or maybe the market can only bear a very light load of enormo-boss games.

So like... this is out, right? The HD refix?

I think I'm going to get this today

ps3 only, right? i would be so excited to play SotC again if it was being re-released for 360. never got a chance to play ico.

Now that is sad, why cause it's intertsing

yep, it's out last week. Best Buy actually had it for $25 - it's sold out online but the price might still be good in stores though. I hear it's kinda buggy though :(

:o

in what way?

most of the complaints I've seen have been from people trying to catch those lizards - apparently they can just suddenly disappear sometimes. there are also lots of folks bitching about the horse controls being all fucked up but I suspect that they may just be idiots.

yeah, that may be post-Red Dead standards raising...

(i don't remember the lizards!)

i thought the horse controls were pretty fucked up in the original but i haven't played the remake.

pretty sure i didn't catch any lizards.

i caught some lizards. just because i read a guide that said to look out for lizards. it was hard!

Started playing the HD versions. Played through the first colossus just to see how it looked, and then skipped to Ico which I'd only played a bit of. It's remarkable how much better these games look than many current gen games. Art design really matters.

Fuck, SotC looks incredible in 3D.

!!

just bought this; may not play anytime soon but just wanted to know i could

haha that is exactly my approach - I have arkhams asylum and city plus uncharted 3 to do first

I bever had a PS2, so was super excited to get a chance to play these.Bought it, tried both games, sold it. I would love to watch someone play it who didn't find the controls and/or camera absolutely shit. Loved the design of both, but I sure as hell didn't enjoy my time with either.

Bever? I never.

dunno about ico but i found the controls/camera of shadow amongst the best of any game i ever played?

In the colossus fights I din't have a problem, but between the horse controls and that camera wanting to be all cinematic and hanging off the side of the horse's rear-end I got way, way tired of it. Called it a day after colossus #2.