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[yggdrasil]

I was able to climb to the top during my 3rd playthrough, 8 colossi in. I had the lizard trophy by that time as well.

How many did you kill during your first playthrough? I killed the ones I found at save shrines, but did not hunt for them otherwise. I got the lizard trophy at the Broken Seal during my second playthrough.

 

[Danielsan]

It's crazy that I only just realized that each time you slay another colossus a additional dove appears near Mono. Also I did not know you could climb trees. I never really noticed because I didn't really search for the fruit back in the day.

 

[ScOULaris]

It's crazy that I only just realized that each time you slay another colossus a additional dove appears near Mono. Also I did not know you could climb trees. I never really noticed because I didn't really search for the fruit back in the day.

There are 15 of them before going to fight the last colossus. I love shooting an exploding arrow right into the middle of the flock. Dead doves everywhere.

What? They obviously have some connection to Dormin, so they've gotta die.

 

[patsu]

I just finished ICO. What a beautiful experience. It IS a masterpiece, such a timeless classic. HD made its scale pop even further. The castle (read level design) is fucking brilliant.

I finished it yesterday too. Thought the ending is pure poetry. I rate it very very close to Demon's Souls.

 

[GraveRobberX]

So I'm cruising through my friend's list

Stop at one friend

The Meta Data is really weird

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD (BCES-0115 UK)

Why is the Blu-Ray code for the PAL version showing up in the meta-data?

Seems really weird, others are playing it and just have ICO till HD underneath them but no parentheses code

 

[Philanthropist]

So I'm cruising through my friend's list

Stop at one friend

The Meta Data is really weird

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD (BCES-0115 UK)

Why is the Blu-Ray code for the PAL version showing up in the meta-data?

Seems really weird, others are playing it and just have ICO till HD underneath them but no parentheses code

It happens to me too. I guess it's a harmless mistake.

 

[Danielsan]

So I'm cruising through my friend's list

Stop at one friend

The Meta Data is really weird

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD (BCES-0115 UK)

Why is the Blu-Ray code for the PAL version showing up in the meta-data?

Seems really weird, others are playing it and just have ICO till HD underneath them but no parentheses code

Mine does that too (shows up in the xmb too). Extremely odd.

 

[ScOULaris]

I figured I'd compile a list of some of the subtle differences I've noticed between this version of SotC (PAL) and the original U.S. PS2 version. We all know about the major differences in Ico (extra ending, improved Yorda A.I., two-player mode, translated subtitles, film grain, piston room and water wheel), but SotC's differences are not as readily apparent.

• If your last save was at a Save Shrine and you let the title screen idle, it will show a hawk flying around the landscape near the Save Shrine. In the original U.S. version, the song used during this is the same as the attract mode showing Agro running around. In this version, a different song plays that was absent from the U.S. version completely.
  
• After beating the game for the first time, the originally deleted song from the OST "Swift Horse" plays while informing the player about Hard Mode and Time Attack.
  
• The last stab on every colossus occurs in slow-motion, whereas this effect was omitted from the U.S. PS2 release.
  
• Both in the original PAL version and this HD version, there are differences in Wander's grip/stability when standing on or grabbing onto colossi. The differences were already present in the PAL PS2 version, but they are even more noticeable here. It is still unknown whether this was a change implemented by BluePoint during the porting process or just a byproduct of the improved framerate affecting the physics calculations.
  
• Much like in the PAL PS2 version, there is a 1.8 second delay in Time Attack before you can move Wander. In the U.S. PS2 version, this delay didn't occur.
  
• In the U.S. version, there was a glitch where jumping diagonally used very little or no stamina at all. This allowed the player to reach the secret garden atop the temple without having to play through the same multiple times. The glitch was removed in the PAL version, which is reflected in the HD Collection. They also removed a resting spot during the climb to the top that was in the U.S. version, further increasing the challenge of making it up there.
  
• Last, but not least, we get
  Spoiler

  PAL the squirrel
  during the ending of this version.

If anyone notices other differences, let me know so I can add them to the list.

Just quoting this because I doubt anyone caught it before the shift to a new page.

 

[Paznos]

Finished ICO for the first time, I've had the original since it came out but for some reason never finished it, such a awesome game 4:07 Duh! so close now I'll start Dark Souls and come back to ICO later for the speedrun.

 

[jluedtke]

Finished SotC last night for the first time. I owned the original, but put it down after around the 7th colossi. Not sure why, but while I liked the game, something about it didn't "click" with me. Could have been the frustrating controls, could have been the grainy graphics, I don't know. This time, though, I zoomed through it in three play-sessions, totaling around 7 hours.

Graphically, this version is obviously much easier on the eyes. But I still found myself wresting with the controls; especially on the final colossus. That probably took me nearly two hours.

Spoiler

While holding onto his hand

, the camera kept spinning while

Spoiler

his arm was moving up and down and twisting

, making it very difficult to track where I was. Frustrating as hell.

It didn't sour my experience, though, as this is one of the best games I've played in ages. Very much looking forward to The Last Guardian.

 

[GraveRobberX]

It happens to me too. I guess it's a harmless mistake.

Mine does that too (shows up in the xmb too). Extremely odd.

Oh I'm not saying something fishy is going on here, just really weird to see it

I was like WTF?, now games will show the game region serial too?

Must be put in by mistake or glitch or even an oversight, no biggie, but it does catch you off guard like, why am I seeing that

 

[Nocturnowl]

Just quoting this because I doubt anyone caught it before the shift to a new page.

Indeed I did not catch it, nice info. I guess the extra wait for PAL regions can work out pretty well sometimes.

 

[imthemaid]

Can the subtitles be turned off?

 

[Gvaz]

Can the subtitles be turned off?

The subtitles are like when the elves in LOTR speak, you don't know what they're saying so they're coded in.

 

[maeda]

Did they fix camera and controls for this ports?

 

[imthemaid]

The subtitles are like when the elves in LOTR speak, you don't know what they're saying so they're coded in.

I think I'm losing my mind. I didn't remember there being subtitles in the original. I must have been confused because of the font change.

 

[Gvaz]

Yes, they were in the original at least for SOTC. I've only played a few minutes of ICO cause I rented that, and I only owned the ps2 version of SOTC

 

[imthemaid]

I can't believe they put trophies in Ico.

Can a game be art?
Ba-ding! "You have earned a trophy: Rescue Yorda."
No, not really.

Is there some way to stop this from happening?

 

[SentientStone]

I can't believe they put trophies in Ico.

Can a game be art?
Ba-ding! "You have earned a trophy: Rescue Yorda."
No, not really.

Is there some way to stop this from happening?

Currently, no.

 

[imthemaid]

thanks

 

[sdornan]

I can't believe they put trophies in Ico.

Can a game be art?
Ba-ding! "You have earned a trophy: Rescue Yorda."
No, not really.

Is there some way to stop this from happening?

Get the trophies once and you'll never see the notifications again.

 

[Lord Error]

Someone posted that as long as you start any game using someone else's save file, you won't be getting trophies. Pretty clever circumvention IMO. Just create a save file on another account, and copy it to your main one. The message that shows up instead is a notification that the trophy should be there but isn't, and apparently that notification can be suppressed too, by disabling notifications in settings.

 

[imthemaid]

Salvation

Trying this tomorrow. Thank you so much.

Seems to be working!

It's not working for me; there aren't any trophy notifications anymore, but also I can't save.

 

[malfcn]

Already kind of bored with Ico. Only played for a couple of hours. Will SOTC hold my interest more? The art and music is great, but almost want my $30 back.

 

[warpaint]

am really liking shadows think i'm on the 7 colossi and am not sure how to kill it

 

[SentientStone]

Already kind of bored with Ico. Only played for a couple of hours. Will SOTC hold my interest more? The art and music is great, but almost want my $30 back.

SOTC is much more action oriented and the music is even better so I think you will enjoy that much more. I actually find myself less willing to replay Ico right now compared to SOTC which I was very eager to replay and finished within a few days.

 

[goonergaz]

Already kind of bored with Ico. Only played for a couple of hours. Will SOTC hold my interest more? The art and music is great, but almost want my $30 back.

Yes! TBH I was going to play through Ico first then SotC but I've been playing between save seats on Ico then killing a colossi...I feel bad but I just love SotC too much.

 

[goonergaz]

I love these games to bits, they are (for me) games of forever...however...man, I wish they had tweeked the gameplay a little as both are showing signs of their age in this respect.

Ico - you can see the game was initially planned for PS1 - the 'fixed' camera angles give that much away. I know (from an art PoV) that sometimes the angles are fantastic, but also other times it can make jumping (and some fight sequences) a little awkward. I also find playing gives me a bit of neck ache as I seem to be holding my head in an odd position to try and compensate! The controls can be a little akward too, but I guess as you play it you adjust.

SotC - again, camera angles can sometimes be a pain but again a slight tweek to controls would have been nice as it's quite hard (sometimes) to do exactly what you want to do. Again I seem to be 'adjusting' to the way it plays.

I just think it's a shame - a missed opportunity, there will be those who think I must be satan to suggest such changes, but in reality they could have offered the option to maintain the original control methods.

Anyway, I feel all dirty now...I can't believe I just critisied 2 of my personal favourite games...I need a bath! lol

Gotta love these games, they are light-years ahead of themselves.

 

[Mush]

Oh Avion, why do I have to kill thee?

 

[ScOULaris]

Already kind of bored with Ico. Only played for a couple of hours. Will SOTC hold my interest more? The art and music is great, but almost want my $30 back.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Just started playing them. Jumped into ICO first. It initially hit me jusy how beautiful it still is. Really looks nice in HD. Now I'm playing it in 3D and I'm wowed by certain bits. I've just done the Crane scene and when you stand on top of it looking down on the box with Yorda... I feel like I'm getting vertigo. A real stand out moment.

I've already had to look for help though... stupidly. I knew what to do but Yorda wouldn't jump so I thought I was doing something wrong. Just needed to be right on the edge for her to jump. So annoyed!

 

[Zoibie]

Finished Ico - loved it! Controls felt a bit off in places but overall, a fantastic experience which I know I'll be replaying at least 2 or 3 times more.

Started Shadow and I'm not really feeling it. I've defeated the first 2 colossi and I don't mind the Agro controls but the jumping can be a real pain, like Wander jumping backwards when I want him to jump up. I'll keep going and hopefully get used to the controls but my first hour has been more frustrating than fun.

 

[Dan]

Finished ICO for the first time last night. The combat was really annoying, but it got better once I picked up a better weapon. I still would have probably preferred there been no combat rather than the clunky, repetitive mechanics that were present.

Looking forward to tackling SotC over the weekend.

 

[Yamibito]

Finished SOTC for the first time just now,

Spoiler

I cried

.

 

[ScOULaris]

Is anyone else annoyed by the edits made to the ending of Ico in the PAL version (and consequently this version)? The U.S. version is so much better with regard to music placement and sound mixing. It was much more haunting and left a stronger impression before. I guess all of the PAL extras make it the "definitive" version, but I wish it had the better of the two ending edits.

 

[Syn23]

Finished Ico - loved it! Controls felt a bit off in places but overall, a fantastic experience which I know I'll be replaying at least 2 or 3 times more.

Started Shadow and I'm not really feeling it. I've defeated the first 2 colossi and I don't mind the Agro controls but the jumping can be a real pain, like Wander jumping backwards when I want him to jump up. I'll keep going and hopefully get used to the controls but my first hour has been more frustrating than fun.

Same, exact, precise things happened to me.
Let me know if you manage to get yourself to love the game.

 

[Zoibie]

Ugh, this third colossi is really pissing me off.

Spoiler

After many failed attempts at trying to get on the sword thing, jump from it onto the colossi's body and climb up, it now flat out refuses to let me get back on. I've been running around for 10 minutes trying to get it to swing its sword at me... Not having a good time.

 

[flyover]

Ugh, this third colossi is really pissing me off.

Spoiler

After many failed attempts at trying to get on the sword thing, jump from it onto the colossi's body and climb up, it now flat out refuses to let me get back on. I've been running around for 10 minutes trying to get it to swing its sword at me... Not having a good time.

The game really ramps up the difficulty quickly with that colossus, doesn't it? I remember having the same problem when I first played. General strategy spoiler:

Spoiler

Make sure that you run far away from him, so he'll approach and swing the sword at you. If you fail to get on, do it again. If you're too close, he won't swing it.

Good luck.

 

[Jomjom]

Just got this yesterday. All the feelings that I had while playing the original Ico and SotC on PS2 suddenly rushed back as I booted up each game in succession. Kind of crazy, but I was getting a little jaded with gaming, but this did a lot to rejuvenate me. These two games are definitely in my top 5 and I find it hard to imagine that they will ever be pushed out.

Last Guardian needs to be released soon. I won't be able to stand it if another 50 vanilla FPS games release before this game releases.

 

[Deified Data]

Ugh, this third colossi is really pissing me off.

Spoiler

After many failed attempts at trying to get on the sword thing, jump from it onto the colossi's body and climb up, it now flat out refuses to let me get back on. I've been running around for 10 minutes trying to get it to swing its sword at me... Not having a good time.

This is one of my least favorite fights in the game. There's so much Gaius love, but I can't stand him, especially in

Spoiler

time-attack

.

 

[Zoibie]

Okay, I'm getting the hang of the grip and jump mechanics. After I figured out how to do the first part of the third colossi (and by figured out, I mean Youtubed), the rest was relatively easy. Going to try not to look up the solutions from here on out.

 

[Deified Data]

Okay, I'm getting the hang of the grip and jump mechanics. After I figured out how to do the first part of the third colossi (and by figured out, I mean Youtubed), the rest was relatively easy. Going to try not to look up the solutions from here on out.

Congrats if the 3rd colossus is the only one to stump you. Good luck.

 

[Dynedom]

Okay, I'm getting the hang of the grip and jump mechanics. After I figured out how to do the first part of the third colossi (and by figured out, I mean Youtubed), the rest was relatively easy. Going to try not to look up the solutions from here on out.

Yeah this is easily the most frustrating colossus thus far, especially with the Euro mechanics added on.

Still haven't gone through the rest. I also never understood the love for Gaius either. There are better and less "broken" Colossi in the game.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I'm more than 2/3rds of the way through SotC now. I've played it before a few times, done hard, done time trials.

But this is the first time I've really thought about my experience with the game and I'm realizing that even though I love the concept, the big creatures, the animation, the music, the narrative and the way it's delivered, the way it subverts video game tropes, and the ending, I don't actually find playing it to be much fun.

I more or less remember how to beat all the colossi, so gameplay is a matter of climbing them and then waiting (often way too long) to get the opportunity to stab them. The changes to how easily you get shaken are having a seriously detrimental effect on my enjoyment as well.

Then there are some colossi where it takes a while to mount them, then if you fall off, or if you are forced to fall off, you get to do it all over again. That's another thing that very easily annoys me. By the time I've beaten them, there is no sympathy, only relief, which sort of undermines the designer's intentions.

So like I said, I really like and respect the game intellectually, but the moment to moment gameplay isn't actually interesting or fun for me anymore.

Whenever people debated which was better, Ico or SotC, I thought it clearly must be SotC. But having played them back to back, I feel more positively towards Ico.

As an aside, I noticed many of the trophy names have the word "guardian" in them. I wonder if the creature in Last Guardian will end up with cool stone armor. Or just stabbed by some guy on his own quest. Lots of interesting ways they can tie it into the series.

 

[VindictiveGnome]

I had so much trouble with the 11th colossi when I beat SoTC so many years ago. No trouble this time around.

I'm more than 2/3rds of the way through SotC now. I've played it before a few times, done hard, done time trials.

But this is the first time I've really thought about my experience with the game and I'm realizing that even though I love the concept, the big creatures, the animation, the music, the narrative and the way it's delivered, the way it subverts video game tropes, and the ending, I don't actually find playing it to be much fun.

I more or less remember how to beat all the colossi, so gameplay is a matter of climbing them and then waiting (often way too long) to get the opportunity to stab them. The changes to how easily you get shaken are having a seriously detrimental effect on my enjoyment as well.

Then there are some colossi where it takes a while to mount them, then if you fall off, or if you are forced to fall off, you get to do it all over again. That's another thing that very easily annoys me. By the time I've beaten them, there is no sympathy, only relief, which sort of undermines the designer's intentions.

So like I said, I really like and respect the game intellectually, but the moment to moment gameplay isn't actually interesting or fun for me anymore.

I had beaten the game once a few years ago on the PS2. Now, I'm flying through the game because I remember most of the procedure involved in bringing down each colossi. It's still fun, but not nearly as fun as the first time my virgin eyes took it in.

 

[Zoibie]

Congrats if the 3rd colossus is the only one to stump you. Good luck.

Yeah, I've already broken that promise with the 4th colossus. I'm just not patient enough.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I had beaten the game once a few years ago on the PS2. Now, I'm flying through the game because I remember most of the procedure involved in bringing down each colossi. It's still fun, but not nearly as fun as the first time my virgin eyes took it in.

Yeah, I definitely had more fun the first time. I should have made it clear that I did enjoy playing the game at one time, at least.

 

[Ridley327]

Just quoting this because I doubt anyone caught it before the shift to a new page.

Point #4 is probably the worst addition to the game; it makes a few of those time attacks significantly harder than they were before (colossus 6 auuuuuuuuuugh), and I can only imagine how much worse 3 and 15 are on hard now.

 

[Callo Merlose]

I had beaten the game once a few years ago on the PS2. Now, I'm flying through the game because I remember most of the procedure involved in bringing down each colossi. It's still fun, but not nearly as fun as the first time my virgin eyes took it in.

Then you should try the Time Attack on Hard since they add new weakspots.

It's crazy that I only just realized that each time you slay another colossus a additional dove appears near Mono. Also I did not know you could climb trees. I never really noticed because I didn't really search for the fruit back in the day.

This is cool, I hadn't noticed that either.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

The changes to how easily you get shaken are having a seriously detrimental effect on my enjoyment as well.

Is it easier to maintain control of Wanter while climbing in the US PS2 version of the game, then?

This is actually my first time playing SotC, and while I'm adoring it (I've beat 8 so far), it does sometimes frustrate me in that I feel there are times when I have little or no control at all. I'll lose my grip without even having a chance to climb to somewhere more stable.