Ico / Shadow of the Colossus

Fingers cramping up from holding down the grip trigger button all the time the ultimate boss iirc

Another monster or two down. I'm going to chalk this up to a great experience but probably a bad game. Equally repetitive and novel, thrilling and boring, which is weird but it's a mix that makes it worth playing even if playing it is not particularly interesting or challenging, imo. ("Challenging," that is, after you spend forever figuring out the thing you need to do to make the monster do the thing, which doesn't feel like solving a puzzle so much as a PIA you just have to do.)

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