The Ico Series (Shadow of the Colossus, Last Guardian)

Crescent-Moon Villager

Crescent-Moon Villager

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Is anyone here a fan of the Team Ico games? Shadow of the Colossus is easily my favorite non-Nintendo game. The Last Guardian was finally released recently and I personally think it's awesome (the whole reason I bought a PS4, though Bloodborne is great too). It fixed all the pacing issues that Ico had, constantly throwing new surprises at you and actually making the combat interesting (the combat in Ico was awful). People say that Trico "doesn't obey" but honestly I was so enthralled taking in the gorgeous environments and observing Trico's behavior that I was never in a hurry to get to the next area, so I didn't notice-- I wanted to savor the game as long as I could. The game appears to be very divisive in regards to people loving or hating it, which surprised me greatly because I don't know how on earth anyone could dislike it. I guess if you're someone who likes to rush to the next objective it wouldn't be for you.
 
I loved Shadow of the Colossus, it was an amazing game. The controls for the horse were a bit awkward (you just hold x and dont move the joy stick at all except to turn, holding it forward will cause your horse to move around suddenly making it impossible to ride him : p), but other than that the game was great : p I really enjoyed the overworld. While there wasnt anything to find that you could collect, it was still really fun to explore merely for the fact that it was really pretty. I really liked checking out the different regions and taking notice of how they were different than the others. And the boss fights were much more fun than I thought theyd be. I really really liked the game alot.

Ico, it was my most wanted game for such a long time, and when I finally got a copy of it, I played it for a while, but struggled to get into it. I enjoyed it at first, but I dunno, after a while it started to feel tedious. I couldnt keep myself motivated to keep playing it. Theres alot I like about the game, I like the idea about a game where a young boy escorts a girl out of a castle shes imprisoned in and all that, its a neat game. But actually playing the game, its fun at first but after a while I ended up getting tired of it. It kinda bummed me out too cuz I really wanted that game for a long time : /
 
MonaWare said:
The controls for the horse were a bit awkward (you just hold x and dont move the joy stick at all except to turn, holding it forward will cause your horse to move around suddenly making it impossible to ride him : p),
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You just tap X once in a while to "YAH!" him, and steer left and right like Zelda, it isn't rocket science :s

MonaWare said:
While there wasnt anything to find that you could collect
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Not true. You could collect salamanders, the ultimate pleasure.
 
Pffft its not like Zelda at all, you have to actually push forward for Epona to move her forward. With Agro you let go of the control stick otherwise he gets all weird and goes off randomly, is why I had problems with him at first : p

Epona > Agro btw : p

And haha youre right, you do collect salamanders : p I cant remember how many I caught, but I dont really even remember how it affects the game anyway : p
 
Never played Ico but from what I can tell it seems to have suffered from a lot of combat issues. The " next game " in this series did major improvements. Having you(Wanderer) roaming the land in search of those giants, each fight was incredible and it honestly was just fun going around and solving puzzles. Thought the story with it's minimalist language and more thought through action made me think of the older Zelda games mostly Oot where it had more action than a full story such as TP and other Zelda's have.
Thought it was so sad once you realize each of these giants were guardians incase Dormin showed up which he did and it just felt like the entire journey slaying each one was all for naught.
 
I totally predicted the Dormin thing actually : p

And yeah the game felt alot like a Zelda game, just without big, in depth dungeons : p And yeah Ico's combat did kinda kill the pace of the game. It could get frustrating too, I hated it when the flying shadows flew off with Yorda, there wasnt much you could do but try to beat them to the portals. I couldnt enjoy the combat in the game : p
 
I've only ever tried the demo to Ico and it left much to be desired it, yeah it felt a little sluggish. Especially when you escort your friend(ahhh I forgot her name) to various places. Sotc did an amazing job with changing up the battle mechanics to make it more fluid especially when you climb ontop of a colossus and start hammering them down. One of the best battles(well this game more often than not is just boss battles) must have been against the iconic Gaius(which is the 3rd battle) as well as Phalanx(the giant dragon-like giant).

Gaius mostly because he's one of the first actual huge building-like monster that actually comes towards you. His presence not menacing but he gives this awe that certain later giants have much like Phalanx. Really love Phalanx because it didn't look too inorganic and too robotic a nice blend which is a cool design plus riding in the sky while hanging for dear life made for an excellent challenge.
 
MonaWare said:
And haha youre right, you do collect salamanders : p I cant remember how many I caught, but I dont really even remember how it affects the game anyway : p
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The white-tailed ones increase your max stamina. If you get enough stamina you can even climb to the top of Dormin's shrine where you can access the secret garden and the big bridge that leads out of the land, which is pretty cool. If you try to leave there'll just be a gust of wind that blows you back though. Also you can shoot fruit out of trees and they increase your max health. I never really go out of my way to collect that stuff though cuz its not really necessary.

My favorite colossus battle is actually with the smallest one, Cenobia (the one that chases you through the ruins, not the one that's afraid of fire). He's so fast and you can't directly harm him, I remember being actually scared the first time I fought him as a kid because it actually draws out the primal fear of being chased by a large animal :b If you're on the ground with him you're pretty much screwed. The way you escape him by having him knock down the pillars is really cinematic too, there's actually a chase sequence in the Last Guardian that is really reminiscent of his battle which I though was great.
 
Crescent-Moon Villager said:
My favorite colossus battle is actually with the smallest one, Cenobia (the one that chases you through the ruins, not the one that's afraid of fire). He's so fast and you can't directly harm him, I remember being actually scared the first time I fought him as a kid because it actually draws out the primal fear of being chased by a large animal :b If you're on the ground with him you're pretty much screwed. The way you escape him by having him knock down the pillars is really cinematic too, there's actually a chase sequence in the Last Guardian that is really reminiscent of his battle which I though was great.
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Glad to hear that the last guardian is finally out. Sadly don't have a ps4 to play it but I've seen Rob stream it. It honestly reminds me more of a much more fixed and better version of Ico especially when you have to move or guide your pet dragon/dog thing? I guess haha but anyways it seemed very experimental especially when you need to use the mirror to get that animal friend of yours to blow up objects. How has that game been for you though?
 
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