• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection |OT| Ueda *bow*

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Rawr at Ico:

I tried to get the mace in the optional basketball game but the ball go stuck in the rim/edge of the "hoop". Now I have to do the entire thing again.
 

one85x

Member
ULTROS! said:
Rawr at Ico:

I tried to get the mace in the optional basketball game but the ball go stuck in the rim/edge of the "hoop". Now I have to do the entire thing again.
Same thing happened to me. You can actually just climb onto the rim, pick it up, and drop into the hoop with it.
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
hey_it's_that_dog said:
perhaps I'm just not wily enough, but such opportunities were greatly outnumbered by situations where you had to just fight them.
You don't avoid every single fight with gates, but majority of them are visibly by-passable (60:40 or so) and a few more, on subsequent playthroughs when you know what to do.

Of course - we all grew up on games where you're either forced to fight until the door to next area-unlocks, or killing all enemies is the main objective etc. so I doubt many people even look for escape paths, let alone plan them ahead of time.

Not that I found combat particularly annoying to begin with - if you take care of spiders before they grow - most fights end up very quickly.


Anyway, just wanted to say that ICO is really stunning in HD, I do find it the better looking of the two games as well - but beyond that, it actually objectively looks better then a fair few Current-gen games. I actually find it hard to think of modern-rendering tech enhancements that would significantly improve the visuals, it's already damn close to an interactive painting - the most that would work would be details where hw-limits show (like some far vista details, blurry or repeated texture detail in places), but it's hard to argue that stuffing this with more accurate shader-math would even enhance the visual - most likely the contrary.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Finally played these over the weekend.

Ico looks and sound practically flawless. Only complaint is they didn't update the textures in the big chandelier room. Due to the size of that room, the textures there are approx 2-3x worse than anywhere else in the game. They may have increased repetition on some of the textures to combat the problem somewhat though.

For SotC, I was dead certain that 720p mode was the way to go. After playing in 720p and in 1080p for about an hour, I've flipped my mind on this. 1080p mode does a lot to eliminate texture shimmer almost completely. Almost all texture shimmer in the game comes from the floors and other horizontally placed textures, and while it's million times better than it was on PS2, I can still see it a bit in 720p mode. On the other hand, I was surprised that the vertical edges aliasing was rarely noticeable in 1080p mode, and when it was, it was visible in 720p mode as well in that same place in the game. I guess on the edges where AA doesn't work you can see it, but since it works 99% of the time, it cleans everything up nicely in both modes. I was left preferring the 1080p mode, and I'll stick with it unless the framerate starts tanking at some point in the game.

So far framerate held pretty much rock solid. In about 30 minutes of play in 1080p mode, I've seen literally one instance of a single frame skip, right after your character says "It does not matter" and the camera pans to the outside. Same place doesn't have a frame skip in 720p mode. i've seen Eurogamer video that shows framerate dipping to 28FPS during camera shake after you stab the 2nd boss, but I don't think I'll be able to notice that. If that's the extent of the problem, I think 1080p mode is the way to go for sure.

Fafalada said:
but beyond that, it actually objectively looks better then a fair few Current-gen games. I actually find it hard to think of modern-rendering tech enhancements that would significantly improve the visuals, it's already damn close to an interactive painting - the most that would work would be details where hw-limits show (like some far vista details, blurry or repeated texture detail in places), but it's hard to argue that stuffing this with more accurate shader-math would even enhance the visual - most likely the contrary.
I played Ico last night, then started BF3 demo for the first time, and was left wondering how on earth I find this demo so ugly, playing it right after an uprezzed version of a 10 year old game. I thought if I posted my thoughts on GAF people would eat me alive for trolling, but I see that a lot of people think BF3 beta looks kind of ugly on consoles.
 

ScOULaris

Member
@Lord Error: I agree. After switching back and forth between display modes, I've decided the 1080p Full Pixel is the best way to go. The framerate differences are rare and negligible, and I didn't notice a difference in aliasing/edge crawling between the two.

720p's most unforgivable trait, however, is that it makes the GUI and subtitles HUGE. I don't want 1/4 of the screen taken up by text during a cutscene.
 
Interesting stuff.

So in terms of image quality you'd definitely pick 1080p, despite the horizontally-stretched pixels? And 720p has massive subs? What about the HUD? Is that bigger too?
 

ScOULaris

Member
Yeah, I'd say that overall image quality is better in 1080p with Full Pixel Mode turned on and your TV set to Unscaled. It looks slightly sharper than the 720p being scaled by your TV, and like Lord Error said, I noticed vertical aliasing in the same sections in both modes.

The only advantage that 720p has is that it's LOCKED at 30fps while 1080p might skip a frame or two every once in a while. It's hardly noticeable, though, and the huge subtitles and GUI elements in 720p bother me.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
ScOULaris said:
720p's most unforgivable trait, however, is that it makes the GUI and subtitles HUGE. I don't want 1/4 of the screen taken up by text during a cutscene.
Yeah, this is so very true. Text in 720p is positively huge. GUI too.

Pazuzu9 said:
So in terms of image quality you'd definitely pick 1080p, despite the horizontally-stretched pixels?
I really didn't think pixels looked odd or anything while playing the 1080p mode, and as you can imagine, I was paying close attention to how the game looks. Aliasing on vertical edges is rarely noticeable here and there, and when it is, I can notice it in both modes. On the other hand, texture shimmer is practically eliminated in the 1080p mode, while I can still see it in 720p mode. This was so noticeable to me that I can't believe digitalfoundry didn't make a case for 1080p mode because of this. From their writeup, you'd think 720p mode is for sure the way to go, but I don't really think that's the case anymore, unless there's some bad framerate issues later on.
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
Lord Error said:
I played Ico last night, then started BF3 demo for the first time, and was left wondering how on earth I find this demo so ugly, playing it right after an uprezzed version of a 10 year old game.
Funny thing - the same thing happened to me with BF3 (after playing ICO too) - I don't know what they were thinking with this beta - at least the PS3 version is a mess.
 
Lord Error said:
I really didn't think pixels looked odd or anything while playing the 1080p mode, and as you can imagine, I was paying close attention to how the game looks. Aliasing on vertical edges is rarely noticeable here and there, and when it is I can notice it in both modes. On the other hand, texture shimmer is practically eliminated in the 1080p mode, while I can still see it in 720p mode. This was so noticeable to me that I can't believe digitalfoundry didn't make a case for 1080p mode because of this. From their writeup, you'd think 720p mode is for sure the way to go, but I don't really think that's the case anymore, unless there's some bad framerate issues later on.
Yeah, sounds like they've made a strange call, but so much was made of the improved framerate that I guess it's the priority in this case. You have an eye for these things though... so keep us posted on how the framerate goes until the end. :)
 

ScOULaris

Member
MoonsaultSlayer said:
Any chance you have the main art for both titles? Ico and Nico would look nice side by side on my wall.
I would kill to have the entire panoramic shot from the HD Colletion menu screen printed out and put in a huge frame.
 

Gvaz

Banned
SOTC plays fine in 1080p but on my 1080p lcd monitor with the full pixel thing gives black bars on top and bottom (iirc) and it looks blurry as shit, I hate it. Maybe if I had a 720p monitor but I don't have the money for a real tv.
 
Gvaz said:
SOTC plays fine in 1080p but on my 1080p lcd monitor with the full pixel thing gives black bars on top and bottom (iirc) and it looks blurry as shit, I hate it. Maybe if I had a 720p monitor but I don't have the money for a real tv.
I thought Full Pixel mode was to eliminate the black bars?
 

ScOULaris

Member
So has anyone gotten the
Queen Sword
in this version yet? I'm going to be attempting Hard Time Attack today, but I am dreading 3 and 15 because of Wander's gimped grip.
 

zychi

Banned
Drove to 4 stores, two best buys, no one had the $25 version, Walmart and Target wont pricematch because its not in the paper.

What happened to stores price matching other stores off their websites? Best buy won't have them in until late thursday if ever. Bummer. Too bad amazon didnt price match it, even temporarily.
 
Finished ICO over the weekend after starting it on Tuesday. I don't have much time to play on weekdays due to work and friends wanting me to join them in Gears 3.
Definitely one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Didn't tear up or anything but man, so emotionally draining.
Fighting the Queen, I was literally on the edge of my seat, focusing hard as hell. The whole design of that last battle was so simple (not difficulty-wise) it's genius.
I think Ueda/the ICO team deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. Doesn't make sense, I know, but damn. Give these guys something big.

I started SotC right after I finished ICO and I'm on the 9th colossus now I think. I feel so terrible stabbing these helpless giants. (
Except for the dude with the sword, fuck that guy. Felt like such an idiot when I couldn't figure out how to climb up his arm.. The whole time being told "HIS ARMOR LOOKS BRITTLE." I actually spammed arrows at him for a good 10 minutes like a dummy.
) Can't wait to get back into it though. I'll probably finish by this weekend. Really excited to see if I can make any connections between the two games. I have some theories, but I'll save my questions/confusion for after I'm done with the whole thing.
 
started playing this today, although I have my PS2 copies (and 2 extra PS2 PAL limited edition, factory sealed copies) and guys, ICO is the best game ever made, I envy those experiencing it for the first time... 10 years ago when I first played it I was actually emotionally touched while playing the game, SoTC is a different beast but still ICO has this something I don't know how to explain that makes it unique, and it started as a PSX game... I believe Last Guardian will be a PS4 game.
 

rhino4evr

Member
zychi said:
Drove to 4 stores, two best buys, no one had the $25 version, Walmart and Target wont pricematch because its not in the paper.

What happened to stores price matching other stores off their websites? Best buy won't have them in until late thursday if ever. Bummer. Too bad amazon didnt price match it, even temporarily.
There was one best buy store in my area that claimed to have it online, but when I showed up it was gone..so I just bit the bullet and bought it from Gamestop...grumble grumble
 
Taking down the 5th colossi in 3d was amazing. This is turning out to be one of my favorite games of all time. Just watching a guy climbing these huge creatures to save a girl, with epic music playing gave me chills watching this all go down on my tv last night.
 

Haint

Member
So how does the 3D in this compare to GoW: Origins for those that have played both? I personally consider Origins the best 3D media available right now.
 
Outtrigger888 said:
Taking down the 5th colossi in 3d was amazing. This is turning out to be one of my favorite games of all time. Just watching a guy climbing these huge creatures to save a girl, with epic music playing gave me chills watching this all go down on my tv last night.

Definitely. SotC's music is beautiful.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
AllenShrz said:
Where are you supposed to get the video from the Last Guardian? from the code? It doesn't work for me :(
I don't think the code works yet for EU.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
SotC controls soooooo much better/smoother now that the framerate is rock solid. Actually, I wonder if they run the underlying physics engine at an even higher rate for this remake, because the controls are just unbelievably smoother than the PS2 version was, and even better than what I remember playing it on the emulator.

I used to think team Ico made step back in control smoothness in SotC coming from Ico, and on PS2 it was definitely the case. Ico controlled smoothly and crisply, which SotC felt a lot jankier in comparison. And now they have a very similar feel to controls, and both feel really good.
 

AllenShrz

Member
Dyni Crippler said:
Playing trough SOTC right now and I have to say that it's as good as I remembered.
I'll have to try Ico later.


It is! It even hit me hard again when
Agro fell, your only companion throughout your adventure :(
 

forrest

formerly nacire
720 still looks "crisper' to my eyes, but yes the subtitles are definitely bigger. The health bars and grip meter however are unchanged. Even all of the logos and the circles of small plus signs are sharper when booting the game up in 720p. Don't know, maybe its just me, maybe its my tv.

Game is stellar either way, so you can't go wrong.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
nacire said:
720 still looks "crisper' to my eyes, but yes the subtitles are definitely bigger. The health bars and grip meter however are unchanged. Even all of the logos and the circles of small plus signs are sharper when booting the game up in 720p. Don't know, maybe its just me, maybe its my tv
Text is better in 720 in terms of crispness (not so much in subtitles, but on smaller text - you can see this on the XMB text ticker) but textures in motion look better in 1080p mode IMO. It's basically no shimmering vs. some visible shimmering. This kind of motion aliasing on textures is the biggest visual offender to my eyes.
 

Quaz51

Member
Reallink said:
So how does the 3D in this compare to GoW: Origins for those that have played both? I personally consider Origins the best 3D media available right now.

the 3D range is dynamic, sometime flat, sometime good, never the max range of GoW (but GoW is singular)
 

forrest

formerly nacire
Lord Error said:
Text is better in 720 in terms of crispness (not so much in subtitles, but on smaller text - you can see this on the XMB text ticker) but textures in motion look better in 1080p mode IMO. It's basically no shimmering vs. some visible shimmering. This kind of motion aliasing on textures is the biggest visual offender to my eyes.

See, I'm feeling the edge shimmer on vertical objects is increased quite a bit at 1080. Columns right at the beginning, Wander's legs and sword, etc. all seem to swim a bit more noticeably.
 
nacire said:
See, I'm feeling the edge shimmer on vertical objects is increased quite a bit at 1080. Columns right at the beginning, Wander's legs and sword, etc. all seem to swim a bit more noticeably.
The plot thickens. Your move, Lord Error. :)
 
This isn't a criticism because SOTC is one of my favourite games of all time, but does anyone else wonder if it would be better if they composed different music themes for each Colossus? Bit like the bosses in Demon's Souls? There's nothing wrong with the existing soundtrack, but a lot of themes get reused two or three times.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Itchy//Tasty said:
This isn't a criticism because SOTC is one of my favourite games of all time, but does anyone else wonder if it would be better if they composed different music themes for each Colossus? Bit like the bosses in Demon's Souls? There's nothing wrong with the existing soundtrack, but a lot of themes get reused two or three times.
There's absolutely no denying in that. My posts in this thread says that I'm more than a fan of this game but even I gotta agree on that.
 

ScOULaris

Member
Itchy//Tasty said:
This isn't a criticism because SOTC is one of my favourite games of all time, but does anyone else wonder if it would be better if they composed different music themes for each Colossus? Bit like the bosses in Demon's Souls? There's nothing wrong with the existing soundtrack, but a lot of themes get reused two or three times.
Um, what? There are 13 different battle tracks on the soundtrack. Most of the colossi have their own music, even if they are all composed around a similar theme/sound.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
ScOULaris said:
Um, what? There are 13 different battle tracks on the soundtrack. Most of the colossi have their own music, even if they are all composed around a similar theme/sound.
You notice the repetition. Especially when you reach 'phase 2' for each colossi.
 
Reallink said:
So how does the 3D in this compare to GoW: Origins for those that have played both? I personally consider Origins the best 3D media available right now.

I just tried the origins demo in 3d and was really impressed. SotC isnt as good, but close. GoW has preset camera angles so that probaly helps when it comes to 3d
 
ScOULaris said:
Um, what? There are 13 different battle tracks on the soundtrack. Most of the colossi have their own music, even if they are all composed around a similar theme/sound.

Opened Way and Revived Power play for a few of the colossi each when you're climbing them, I can't recall off the top of my head but Opened Way is definitely #1 and #3, and Revived Power is definitely #2 and #6. Also, #5 and #13 have the same themes.

And so on. Like I said, it's not a problem because I love all those themes, but doing a Demon's Souls and giving each Colossi their own themes would be awesome for a future remake.

Not that I don't adore this collection with every fibre of my being. :)
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Yep, did some research. There are only 4 (max 5) songs for phase 2-battles. It's definitely noticeable (considering there are 15 colossi with two phase-songs).

Track 8: The Opened Way ~Battle With the Colossus~
Track 13: Revived Power ~Battle With the Colossus~
Track 21: Counterattack ~Battle With the Colossus~
Track 25: A Despair-filled Farewell ~Battle With the Colossus~
 
Top Bottom