So I picked up the Ico/Shadow of The Colossus HD Collection for the PS3 last night. I have been a fan of these games for years since they first came out on the PS2, but I have lost my copies of them over the years for, well, reasons.
Anyway, I wanted to share my love for Ico with my new girlfriend who is an admitted non-gamer. I am very passionate about this game, more so than Shadow, and I was anxious to share it with her. So far, she’s fairly interested, showing the most interest when I am fighting off the shadow souls that are trying to take Yorda away. She feels Yorda is “stupid” at times for not sticking close to me or being able to help herself, but I feel in time she’ll grow to appreciate the relationship Yorda has with Ico. I’m not expecting her to fall in love with this game as I did, but I do hope she sees it through and atleast enjoys it.
I loved the concept of shadow of the colossus but i felt really bad playing it. I’ve never had a game that made me feel “holy shit, i really do not want to be doing this”.
At first I didn’t quite get the feeling of regret because I was too caught up in the idea of scaling the colossi and taking them down, but as I played it more, I was more, “why am I doing this? These creatures did nothing to me. I’m A MONSTER!”
I played it late in the game (heh) of my life, well after PS3 debuted, and I was taken aback on how well the scale of everything was rendered for a game that old.
The colossi were HUGE, and you got a sense of height when you were climbing on the big ones.
I thought it was a good game too…cept for the ending, but that’s personal preference
Yeah, the scale issue was always a highlight. You really felt like you were dangling from these creatures, hanging on for life. It just worked so well.
Ico’s sense of scale was amazing as well. Inside the castle, you could see outside and around the room, down the halls, etc and everything was rendered like it was connected. As if it was all one giant castle. This was a major graphical feat for the time. So many other games just had environments that were displayed like a set piece in a movie. Just rendered one area at a time. The makers of Ico displayed it all. You saw where you were, where you had been if it was realistically in sight, as well as areas you will get to eventually. It was an awesome sight.
I love both of these games, probably ICO a bit more.
I remember following message boards for years to find out what the supposed remaining Easter egg in SotC was, but alas, I think the consensus is that there isn’t one.
Finished my play through showing* Ico* to my girlfriend. She liked it, thought it was “cute.” Not the reaction I was truly hoping for, but at least she saw it through. Part of me thinks she was just humoring me a bit.
Not sure if I want to show her Shadow of the Colossus though. It doesn’t really have a happy ending compared to the ending of Ico and if she was just Ok with Ico, I can only imagine she’ll be turned off by Shadow. Who knows, though. Her tastes in movies and shows has surprised me the more I am with her. She is Asian (born in Malaysia with Chinese and Malaysian heritage) and she is really into Anime, especially a lot of the teen oriented ones. She also is the one who introduced me to Hayao Miyazaki films. That’s why I thought Ico would be right up her alley considering the cute bond that Ico and Yorda have throughout the game. It reminded me of some of the characters in Miyazaki films.
I think when it gets right down to it, she just is not a gamer, so she may never have a true appreciation for these games like I have.
I honestly think ICO is one of the, if not the, worst games I have ever completed - and I only completed it as I was lied to about how good it was and had such a brilliant ending.
Simplistic puzzles, terrible camera, tacked-on combat … I could go on for a long time. But hey, it has slightly grainy visuals, you get to hold hands and there’s a clichéd ending, so it must be art.
What a weird coincidence. Just finished playing it for the second time. Still a great game.
Played the Shadow of Colossus demo, it didn’t really seem all that great to me.
