Indeed. I love SoTC, it's one of my favourite games ever, but i don't think i could stomach playing through it the 7 or so times you need to for platinum
The multiple playthroughs weren't so bad as you could use the items from time attack for the repeat ones, meaning you get every weak point in one stab and so on and can finish the game in about 2-3 hours.
It's really only 5 full playthroughs (4 Normal, 1 Hard) and the 2 time attack runs that are needed and you only need to go for the fruit and lizards in the last normal playthrough. But yeah, that's still a lot of colossi to kill. You could space the playthroughs over multiple days/weeks, playing other stuff in-between maybe.
SOTC is definitely torturous, though. Between having to kinda glitch a couple of the lizards to reach them and the needle in the haystack that comprise the fruits in the secret garden, you will definitely hate yourself by the end of the day.
The multiple playthroughs weren't so bad as you could use the items from time attack for the repeat ones, meaning you get every weak point in one stab and so on and can finish the game in about 2-3 hours.
It's really only 5 full playthroughs (4 Normal, 1 Hard) and the 2 time attack runs that are needed and you only need to go for the fruit and lizards in the last normal playthrough. But yeah, that's still a lot of colossi to kill. You could space the playthroughs over multiple days/weeks, playing other stuff in-between maybe.
SOTC is definitely torturous, though. Between having to kinda glitch a couple of the lizards to reach them and the needle in the haystack that comprise the fruits in the secret garden, you will definitely hate yourself by the end of the day.
Which ones? I got all the lizards fairly easily once I found them. Can't think of any glitchy ones. There was the one in F6, but I was able to find the climbable path up to it and could just hit it with the sword then, rather than trying to shoot it down.
I had loads of problems doing this guys time attack. The thing that eventually worked for me was to lure him with whistles rather than arrows. He seems to cooperate more when he has passive blue eyes, rather than red rage eyes.
I actually found a way that got #4 to consistently go straight to his climbable pose:
Turn around and run to the top of the closest mound.
Pester him with arrows aimed at the small grassy spot on his neck until one hits and he takes notice of you. This should be before he gets close enough to attack you.
As soon as he takes notice, run for the top of the opposite mound (the furthest back).
Drop almost immediately down (he should be about in the central point when you do this) into the door below you.
Take either fork, then take the second exit to exit out the first mound and immediately go left while hugging the wall of the mound to make sure he can't see you but so that you can rotate the camera to see him.
He should either be right over the other mound by now or turning around to face it. Either way, wait for him to face the mound and then sprint towards him to climb his tail when he bends down after attacking the mound.
I was pulling this off consistently, allowing me to board him at the 1:30 mark in both NTA and HTA.
If you wait too long to enter the door, he'll walk too close to the mound and go into a dodgy 180 animation to take one step then turn back. If he's in the middle when you enter a door and he sees you do it, he'll head straight to the mound. The arrows on the first mound are to ensure he sees you enter the mound.
One playthrough, numerous loads and saves especially at the graveyard and sewer parts. My last checkpoint's time was 1:23 and I had to redo the last part twice because I missed the Castle Guide trophy by 2 minutes (but I got the Express Journey and the Ending+ trophies). I redid the last part and finally got the Castle Guide trophy.
One playthrough, numerous loads and saves especially at the graveyard and sewer parts. My last checkpoint's time was 1:23 and I had to redo the last part twice because I missed the Castle Guide trophy by 2 minutes (but I got the Express Journey and the Ending+ trophies). I redid the last part and finally got the Castle Guide trophy.
Which ones? I got all the lizards fairly easily once I found them. Can't think of any glitchy ones. There was the one in F6, but I was able to find the climbable path up to it and could just hit it with the sword then, rather than trying to shoot it down.
I dunno about F6, really; it's completely at odds with how you go about the rest of the game, even for the other lizards. There's a couple of other lizards (southeast region, IIRC) that can get caught on the smaller rocks and make it very difficult to retrieve their tail, but I can chalk that up to bad luck.
I dunno about F6, really; it's completely at odds with how you go about the rest of the game, even for the other lizards. There's a couple of other lizards (southeast region, IIRC) that can get caught on the smaller rocks and make it very difficult to retrieve their tail, but I can chalk that up to bad luck.
Yeah, I agree you have to be careful not to kill lizards in certain places. Definitely a bad luck type of thing. There was one that hides in a cubby hole that I thought I'd need to do the respawn thing to get, but thankfully I was able to roll into the hole and pick it up. Another, I had to jump off Aggro to reach. Both were when I wasn't really caring about the loaction I killed them in, and I was careful with the others.
ULTROS! said:
You can save in 80% of the benches (that's what I did). You just have to move quick.
Yeah, I saved at most of them too, following a list of times I'd seen on ps3trophies.org. Wasn't using that guide you linked, though (I used one that did it in 1:32 or something on the PS2 instead). Got to the final save point at about 1:25 after a LOT of repeats in many sections (especially sewer and both towers). I also had gotten the
shining sword
, but left it behind in the second tower. Luckily, I finished it on the first attempt where I made it back to the castle without dying (that took a few tries due to silly mistakes), although I don't know my final time due to it being an NG+ playthrough.
I didn't think I'd done well enough in the shadow fight to get the time, so I went for the
watermelon
ending, but was happy to see Castle Guide pop up too. I couldn't have done it without a Youtube guide, though. So many little tricks and clever places to leave Yorda behind. Saving is really worth it in many locations too. It's just too easy to have something random ruin a decent run, otherwise.
There are very few rooms in the whole game where you need to fight them. Most of the time, the best way to beat them is to run for the exit, or leave Yorda somewhere where they won't spawn.
I actually found a way that got #4 to consistently go straight to his climbable pose:
Turn around and run to the top of the closest mound.
Pester him with arrows aimed at the small grassy spot on his neck until one hits and he takes notice of you. This should be before he gets close enough to attack you.
As soon as he takes notice, run for the top of the opposite mound (the furthest back).
Drop almost immediately down (he should be about in the central point when you do this) into the door below you.
Take either fork, then take the second exit to exit out the first mound and immediately go left while hugging the wall of the mound to make sure he can't see you but so that you can rotate the camera to see him.
He should either be right over the other mound by now or turning around to face it. Either way, wait for him to face the mound and then sprint towards him to climb his tail when he bends down after attacking the mound.
I was pulling this off consistently, allowing me to board him at the 1:30 mark in both NTA and HTA.
If you wait too long to enter the door, he'll walk too close to the mound and go into a dodgy 180 animation to take one step then turn back. If he's in the middle when you enter a door and he sees you do it, he'll head straight to the mound. The arrows on the first mound are to ensure he sees you enter the mound.
I haven't exactly held back about how much I love SotC and I figured out why I love it so much. It reminds me of Studio Ghibli, especially Valley of the Wind. "To the Ancient Land" sounds like it could interchange with Nausicaä and vice versa, then there is the themes of rebirth and the giant robot (OK, I know there are no bots in SotC)...
I tried that and couldn't get any higher than the heel! I tried basically every technique people are talking abou and haven't gotten anything to work. Frustrating, especially since I took the first 3 down with no problems at all.
Besides that bit these games are masterpieces. I'm so happy I finally got the chance to play them. They put basically everything else ive played this gen to shame.
Plus, with the similarities between these games and The zelda series, Im finally hyped to play skyward sword!
Wow, Colossus is quite a frustrating game. And not only for good reasons. The controls aren't exactly perfect and timing jumps and crawling around on the colossi is harder than it should be. Then again, once the huge creatures are down there is a great feeling of accomplishment...and shame. What have they done to deserve to die?
I haven't exactly held back about how much I love SotC and I figured out why I love it so much. It reminds me of Studio Ghibli, especially Valley of the Wind. "To the Ancient Land" sounds like it could interchange with Nausicaä and vice versa, then there is the themes of rebirth and the giant robot (OK, I know there are no bots in SotC)...
EDIT: I didn't realise there were so many extra modes and reasons to replay the game. I am going right back in after Arkham City. Playing SotC is exciting me more than AC actually.
EDIT: I didn't realise there were so many extra modes and reasons to replay the game. I am going right back in after Arkham City. Playing SotC is exciting me more than AC actually.
Wish I could do it for the first time again. It has a really touching ending.
I finished SOTC last night, first time in several years. Playtime was 8 hours, 2 minutes. I did quite a lot of running around looking at the landscape. Such a beautiful game, and the ending made me want to play Ico again, which I'll start either tonight or sometime next week. As long as I can finish that before November 15th I'll be happy. Getting Halo and Assassin's Creed that day.
All in all, while I like SOTC more for the action and the gorgeous world, I still think Ico has more emotional impact. I think it was the right decision to play Shadow first. Also, not to mention,
Shadow of the Colossus is basically just an Ico prequel. I remember the first time I played SOTC and after killing the final colossus, you see Wander with horns, my mind was blown.
hamzik said:
Wow, Colossus is quite a frustrating game. And not only for good reasons. The controls aren't exactly perfect and timing jumps and crawling around on the colossi is harder than it should be. Then again, once the huge creatures are down there is a great feeling of accomplishment...and shame. What have they done to deserve to die?
Wow, Colossus is quite a frustrating game. And not only for good reasons. The controls aren't exactly perfect and timing jumps and crawling around on the colossi is harder than it should be. Then again, once the huge creatures are down there is a great feeling of accomplishment...and shame. What have they done to deserve to die?
Stay with it, it can definitely feel frustrating for the first couple of colossi when you're just getting used to the controls, but once get the hang of it, you'll start to really like it. That's not to say there aren't more frustrating moments, mind.
I finished Shadow last night and, yeah, loved the ending. I've already downloaded the soundtrack so I'll be giving that a listen soon.
PooBone said:
Wish I could do it for the first time again. It has a really touching ending.
I finished SOTC last night, first time in several years. Playtime was 8 hours, 2 minutes. I did quite a lot of running around looking at the landscape. Such a beautiful game, and the ending made me want to play Ico again, which I'll start either tonight or sometime next week. As long as I can finish that before November 15th I'll be happy. Getting Halo and Assassin's Creed that day.
All in all, while I like SOTC more for the action and the gorgeous world, I still think Ico has more emotional impact. I think it was the right decision to play Shadow first. Also, not to mention,
Shadow of the Colossus is basically just an Ico prequel. I remember the first time I played SOTC and after killing the final colossus, you see Wander with horns, my mind was blown.
I'll answer and maybe help you and others out. It only took me one try overall, but if I didn't do a section fast enough I reloaded my last save. You can save at almost every save point (and save more than once at the Waterfall) and still have time to spare, and then you'll never lose too much progress.
I had to do the West Gate about 10 times because Yorda kept getting carried off halfway thru and a couple of times right at the very end on the bridge as it was slowly materializing. I was fucking livid but I just kept trying till I got it right.
Himself said:
God damn Colossi #4 is driving me mad. It just won't do what I need it to do.
Is there any way to make the controls for Shadow of the Colossus not suck? I play inverted Y axis on all my games, but I like the standard X axis...
And I feel like the standard Japanese controls are inverted X axis with a regular Y axis. And even with inverted Y, the light pointing at the world is still messed up.
>_> I hate just having to adjust to horrible control schemes because a developer has failed to fix it. I'd gladly eat those words if I can fix it, but I don't think I can.
Finally beat #4! It took close to 2 hours to get on it ( over the course of 2 days) and about 2 minutes to finish it off. God damn it felt good to stab that fucking thing in the head over and over. #5 by contrast was an absolute pleasure to play.
Is there any way to make the controls for Shadow of the Colossus not suck? I play inverted Y axis on all my games, but I like the standard X axis...
And I feel like the standard Japanese controls are inverted X axis with a regular Y axis. And even with inverted Y, the light pointing at the world is still messed up.
>_> I hate just having to adjust to horrible control schemes because a developer has failed to fix it. I'd gladly eat those words if I can fix it, but I don't think I can.
I messed with the axis settings a bit till I got it. The controls can be frustrating at times (how many times does it take before I can successfully jump on the friggin horse?!), but I adapted by the third colossus. It's going to feel strange not having to hold r1 to grip stuff in uncharted.
Is it just me, or when Ico calls for Yorda, it sounds like he's saying Bonsoir? That's actually a french word, right? I'm not just making that up or anything, am I?
Is it just me, or when Ico calls for Yorda, it sounds like he's saying Bonsoir? That's actually a french word, right? I'm not just making that up or anything, am I?
I messed with the axis settings a bit till I got it. The controls can be frustrating at times (how many times does it take before I can successfully jump on the friggin horse?!), but I adapted by the third colossus. It's going to feel strange not having to hold r1 to grip stuff in uncharted.
Yeah, you can mount her with just triangle if you and her are standing still, but if either of you are moving, you need to hold R1 for Wander to actually take hold.
There is lots of trial and error in the game doing the speed run, but you need to be at the Graveyard at around 15 minutes. It's vital to skip the fight here as there are lots of shadows, but the good thing is there is a save point in the room so it's easy to try again. There is also the Sewer area (after Windmill) which you can skip, but this is really tricky to get right and to be honest you only have to kill a few shadows so I didn't bother trying to avoid them. You might save yourself 60 seconds so if you are doing well in other areas I wouldn't worry.
I got to the Main Gate final save with a time of 1hr 21mins. I think anything over 1h 27m and you'll struggle because on a VERY good run the time from there right to the end is 33 minutes. You can't skip the credits cutscene and that IS included counted as time too.
I also made a point of doing a slight backtrack at
Waterfall to save. This takes around 30-40 seconds BUT it means if you fuck up the waterwheel badly you don't have far to go.
When you go down the lift at Waterfall with Yorda, take her up the big steps and across the bridge to the save point there.
Two other areas which I found tricky at first were the East and West gates, but I loved those sections speed running and totally nailed them like in the videos. The West gate you have to be perfect and make no mistakes or you'l get a whimper from Yorda as new Shadows appear.
I just want to share my Yorda annoyances. The others were (slightly) cake but this one is incredibly stupid and I wasted over 2 minutes:
During the Eastern tower and after opening the last gate with Yorda, I proceed to the elevator going directly towards the entrance. Apparently even if I drag Yorda along, she won't step into the elevator. I went up and down more than 4 times until she finally stepped into the elevator.
Completed SotC last night, I had forgotten most of the ending (there are some advantages to have a rubbish memory! lol) - great stuff indeed. Both games are rightfully classed as games as forever in my mind...it's just a shame there are odd bit's of hair-pulling frustration in both games (but what game doesn't have these moments!?). I only needed youtube help a couple of times, usually I was just missing a small bit to help me proceed...I completed the last one without dying but man it took forever!
I will go back to these over time as they deserve my attention to get the plats. WRT SotC am I right in thinking the best thing to do now is the time attacks, then (with the same save) replay a couple of times (in normal) - collecting fruit and lizard tails before finally getting to *you know where* - then start a fresh game on hard, play through and do the hard time attacks? Thus completing the plat in the 'easiest' way?
I just want to share my Yorda annoyances. The others were (slightly) cake but this one is incredibly stupid and I wasted over 2 minutes:
During the Eastern tower and after opening the last gate with Yorda, I proceed to the elevator going directly towards the entrance. Apparently even if I drag Yorda along, she won't step into the elevator. I went up and down more than 4 times until she finally stepped into the elevator.
I just want to share my Yorda annoyances. The others were (slightly) cake but this one is incredibly stupid and I wasted over 2 minutes:
During the Eastern tower and after opening the last gate with Yorda, I proceed to the elevator going directly towards the entrance. Apparently even if I drag Yorda along, she won't step into the elevator. I went up and down more than 4 times until she finally stepped into the elevator.
There is lots of trial and error in the game doing the speed run, but you need to be at the Graveyard at around 15 minutes. It's vital to skip the fight here as there are lots of shadows, but the good thing is there is a save point in the room so it's easy to try again. There is also the Sewer area (after Windmill) which you can skip, but this is really tricky to get right and to be honest you only have to kill a few shadows so I didn't bother trying to avoid them. You might save yourself 60 seconds so if you are doing well in other areas I wouldn't worry.
I got to the Main Gate final save with a time of 1hr 21mins. I think anything over 1h 27m and you'll struggle because on a VERY good run the time from there right to the end is 33 minutes. You can't skip the credits cutscene and that IS included counted as time too.
I also made a point of doing a slight backtrack at
Waterfall to save. This takes around 30-40 seconds BUT it means if you fuck up the waterwheel badly you don't have far to go.
When you go down the lift at Waterfall with Yorda, take her up the big steps and across the bridge to the save point there.
Two other areas which I found tricky at first were the East and West gates, but I loved those sections speed running and totally nailed them like in the videos. The West gate you have to be perfect and make no mistakes or you'l get a whimper from Yorda as new Shadows appear.
It really is all about trial and error, you're right. My normal first playthrough of the game was way less stressful, let me tell you that much. And yeah, like I mention in my post above yours, I managed to get through the graveyard, after a lot of grief by Yorda not standing still, without engaging a single one of the shadows which got me all excited. Now i'm at the Sewer, but if you think I should just fight them, I'll just go for it. It's way less frustrating that way I think. I'll give it a go.
Thanks for all the pointers, I will keep on bugging you guys for more hints and tips as I go through this!!!!!
I just want to share my Yorda annoyances. The others were (slightly) cake but this one is incredibly stupid and I wasted over 2 minutes:
During the Eastern tower and after opening the last gate with Yorda, I proceed to the elevator going directly towards the entrance. Apparently even if I drag Yorda along, she won't step into the elevator. I went up and down more than 4 times until she finally stepped into the elevator.
It really is all about trial and error, you're right. My normal first playthrough of the game was way less stressful, let me tell you that much. And yeah, like I mention in my post above yours, I managed to get through the graveyard, after a lot of grief by Yorda not standing still, without engaging a single one of the shadows which got me all excited. Now i'm at the Sewer, but if you think I should just fight them, I'll just go for it. It's way less frustrating that way I think. I'll give it a go.
Thanks for all the pointers, I will keep on bugging you guys for more hints and tips as I go through this!!!!!
No worries! Yep for the sewer, just kill 'em unless you manage to do it. I tried so many times, and the closest I got was getting Yorda in the right position so she wouldn't get grabbed instantly, BUT once I got into the sewer she just wouldn't come when I called her and the gate shut again. I just killed the shadows and carried on so there really is only a few enemies.
Also, if you haven't, use the jump and attack move, it's great at taking out shadows. You can also make ICO do some very fast direction changes by flicking the analog stick in the direction you want and jumping, it works well (especially for the end room with loads of shadows). Another tip if you haven't already is to only attack when the shadows are on their feet, or you lose vital hits. So knock 'em to the ground, and don't swing again until they are just on their feet, then you can get another clean hit, hit, hit in.
