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

Curufinwe

Member
flyover said:
Only if you're having trouble, or if you think touring around the land and hunting the lizards is fun. They don't add that much stamina. Beating the colossi gives you more.

Then again, since you're relatively early in the game -- and on your first playthrough -- the amount they do add will help you now more than it would later.

I love going around and finding them, but it does take a while.

I did have a lot of trouble on #5. Never came close to dying, but I fell off at least a dozen times which made it go really slow.
 
Just finished SOTC. Glorious but really not nearly the same impact as the first time I played it. That makes me wish I'd never played the slide show PS2 version.
 

Syn23

Member
I need a little help with colossus 11:
With the torch I've made him fall in the little pit that you reach from the first entrance on the left side of the canyon. Then I fell too and he started chasing me. Now I'm in the little lake and he is running around trying to hit me, but he can't since he can't enter water. What am I supposed to do?

EDIT:
I guess I made him fall on the wrong side. Probably a bug, since from there it's impossible to break his armour and he can't return where he was at the beginning. Now I reloaded and managed to make him fall on the right side, but I missed his back jumping down. I rage quitted. I suppose this game isn't for me. At all.
But I loved ICO. Weird.
 

goonergaz

Member
Syn23 said:
I need a little help with colossus 11:
With the torch I've made him fall in the little pit that you reach from the first entrance on the left side of the canyon. Then I fell too and he started chasing me. Now I'm in the little lake and he is running around trying to hit me, but he can't since he can't enter water. What am I supposed to do?

EDIT:
I guess I made him fall on the wrong side. Probably a bug, since from there it's impossible to break his armour and he can't return where he was at the beginning. Now I reloaded and managed to make him fall on the right side, but I missed his back jumping down. I rage quitted. I suppose this game isn't for me. At all.
But I loved ICO. Weird.

I ended up just making him fall back several times, it then gives you a window to attack him - once you fall off you can either use the 'ramp/slope' to try and gain some height advantage and get back on him or run back to the cave and start again
 

Syn23

Member
goonergaz said:
I ended up just making him fall back several times, it then gives you a window to attack him - once you fall off you can either use the 'ramp/slope' to try and gain some height advantage and get back on him or run back to the cave and start again
Just managed to do it. I think Ueda could have made that part a little different, and less frustrating.
 

Sinthetic

Member
Syn23 said:
Just managed to do it. I think Ueda could have made that part a little different, and less frustrating.

There are a couple of sections that could have been better playtested... Despite those parts, it's still a damn near perfect experience when the credits roll.
 
Anyone want to be awesome and let me use one of their custom cover arts for a contest? If I win the contest, ran through Sony's RLS- I'll give you an Ico or Shadow/Colossus T-shirt.
 

Hero

Member
Finally beat SotC.

I liked the game but I feel that it was definitely overhyped for me all these years since I never played it on the PS2. It was an enjoyable venture for sure but I felt like maybe it was a bit too minimalist as far as story and character development. A lot of the bosses were enjoyable but really by the end I was glad it was over. The whole "expose their weak point and stab it" got kind of redundant by the end of the game.

Still, it was really beautiful and the music was perfect throughout. I guess my expectations were just a little unreachable. Glad I played it.
 

Syn23

Member
I've just beaten #14 and I found it more enjoyable than #13. I guess I'm the only one in the world. :)
(I've read here that #13 was "everyone's favourite")
 

B-Genius

Unconfirmed Member
Syn23 said:
I've just beated #14 and I found it funnier than #13. I guess I'm the only one in the world. :)
(I've read here that #13 was "everyone's favourite")
As a teacher of English as a foreign language, I can't let this post slip by!

beat -> beaten
fun -> more fun / more enjoyable
funny -> funnier / more funny

Although you did use the British spelling of 'favourite', so you get a gold star.

On topic: is #14 the bull creature chasing you around those pillars? Pretty cool, but yeah I think you're in the minority ;)

Currently playing SOTC on a small CRT screen. It's really surreal, as the graphics look the same as on the PS2, but obviously the framerate is much improved. Not sure what to make of it, but just finished #5 and it's all still as gorgeous as ever.
 

Syn23

Member
Thanks for correcting me! I'm trying to improve but I'm not used in expressing complex concepts in english, and sometimes I end up making stupid mistakes.

The first one was obvious but, regarding the second: can't I define a colossus fun, and then another one more funny/funnier than the previous?

On topic: Yes, I know, as I've already stated I played ICO and loved it, started SoTC expecting an even better experience and then I immediatly found the attract/climb/ride/attack/repeat pattern a little shallow and unenjoyable. So I think I liked #14 cause it was a variation of the scheme.
 

B-Genius

Unconfirmed Member
The thing is, when you say "funnier", it comes across as "more funny", i.e. "amusing", "makes me laugh".

If #13 made you laugh, and #14 made you laugh even more, I will just shut up :)

If I may ask, what is your first language, btw?
 

Kato

Member
Ratrat said:
he really likes lemmings and virtua fighter, would like to remake out of this world and flashback. His games are not art. :p


:O

Grant the man his wish. Aquire the rights. Greenlight that shit yesterday.
 

Syn23

Member
B-Genius said:
The thing is, when you say "funnier", it comes across as "more funny", i.e. "amusing", "makes me laugh".

If #13 made you laugh, and #14 made you laugh even more, I will just shut up :)

If I may ask, what is your first language, btw?
Ok, now I finally get it. Sorry for bothering you.
My first language is Italian. Funny, enjoyable and amusing all can be translated into "divertente", and I couldn't understand the meaning difference at first.
 

Phatcorns

Member
Just beat ICO, first time since I first played it like 4 years ago. Wow, the ending is so amazing. I had forgotten how powerful it is.
 
Syn23 said:
Just managed to do it. I think Ueda could have made that part a little different, and less frustrating.

It's lot less frustrating like this:
make him fall of the cliff the regular way so his back breaks open. Jump down next to him and run back up the slope to the cave. If he's following you, make sharp turns behind the little rocks to get him stuck there and gain some time to make a run for the cave. You can do it in one go. Go back to one of the pillars with the firebowls on it and climb on top. He'll follow you there. He'll bash the pillar trying to knock you off. Squat to stay put. From here is very easy to jump on its back and stab till death. If you fall off, just climb up the pillar quickly, repeat. Easy as pie.
 

Syn23

Member
Supervlieg said:
It's lot less frustrating like this:
make him fall of the cliff the regular way so his back breaks open. Jump down next to him and run back up the slope to the cave. If he's following you, make sharp turns behind the little rocks to get him stuck there and gain some time to make a run for the cave. You can do it in one go. Go back to one of the pillars with the firebowls on it and climb on top. He'll follow you there. He'll bash the pillar trying to knock you off. Squat to stay put. From here is very easy to jump on its back and stab till death. If you fall off, just climb up the pillar quickly, repeat. Easy as pie.

Yes, I did it exactly that way in the end
after watching a Youtube walkthrough video :\ I'm not proud of myself, but my patience had ended.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Just finished SotC.

Incredibly epic. Definitely lived up to my hype levels.

I've been told there's a lot to read up on for the game? If true, where's the best place to do it?

Also (possible spoilers for both games)

I've been told ICO and SotC share some links. Would I be spoiling ICO if I read all the info for SotC? Should I complete ICO first?
 
M_Night said:
Just finished SotC.

Incredibly epic. Definitely lived up to my hype levels.

I've been told there's a lot to read up on for the game? If true, where's the best place to do it?

Also (possible spoilers for both games)

I've been told ICO and SotC share some links. Would I be spoiling ICO if I read all the info for SotC? Should I complete ICO first?
SotC itself doesn't spoil ICO, but yeah, I'd finish ICO first before reading up about the links between them. You'll definitely be noticing some shared visual thematic elements very early on. You'll have more fun putting the picture together yourself, anyway.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
badcrumble said:
SotC itself doesn't spoil ICO, but yeah, I'd finish ICO first before reading up about the links between them. You'll definitely be noticing some shared visual thematic elements very early on. You'll have more fun putting the picture together yourself, anyway.

Thanks.

On to ICO!
 

Sinthetic

Member
I know this sounds weird given all the love that Arkham City is getting, but I think the reason I felt nothing for it was because I played it after Colossus, I don't think anything could follow SotC and come off impressing me.
 

Himself

Member
Sinthetic said:
I know this sounds weird given all the love that Arkham City is getting, but I think the reason I felt nothing for it was because I played it after Colossus, I don't think anything could follow SotC and come off impressing me.

I'm on hiatus from any third-person adventure games till my buzz from SotC wears off.
 

Angry Fork

Member
THIS STUPID FUCKING WATER WHEEL IS THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD WHY THE FUCK DID THEY THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA.

i swear i've been here for 20 fucking minutes now trying to make this stupid jump i'm gonna fucking slit my wrists. this fucking bullshit.

ninja edit - nevermind just got it finally. worst gaming 'puzzle' design ever created, ever.
 
Finally got the platinum in ICO. The speedrun one was by the skin of my teeth too. 1:58:54. Very very close. :p

So I've already started Shadow and I'm on the 3rd Colossus now. Any pointers or tips you veterans have as to traversing the land to find those fuckers?

Any pointers in if there's something I should be doing strategy wise before I start fighting each one?
 
Angry Fork said:
THIS STUPID FUCKING WATER WHEEL IS THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD WHY THE FUCK DID THEY THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA.

i swear i've been here for 20 fucking minutes now trying to make this stupid jump i'm gonna fucking slit my wrists. this fucking bullshit.

ninja edit - nevermind just got it finally. worst gaming 'puzzle' design ever created, ever.

I personally found the Piston Jump way more frustrating than the water wheel.

You have no idea how frustrating those bits get when trying to do the Castle Guide trophy playthrough. :p
 

Syn23

Member
I've finally finished SotC, and as I've already stated many times here, unlike ICO, I didn't like it very much. I did not find gameplay mechanics very enjoyable, and also the story didn't make me feel involved as much as ICO. I've found this interesting thread and I would summarize my point of view with this guy's (maybe a bit too harsh) words:
Systems_id said:
Something about SOTC never connected with me the way ICO did. ICO had an innocence and a sense of near hopelessness that really made me feel for the characters. A dude killing giants because he's a selfish ass didn't quite do it.
Systems_id said:
The fact that he brought it all on himself is one of the biggest reasons I never felt anything. In ICO, the characters had no choice whatsoever in their situation. In Shadow, everything could have been avoided. Plus SOTC's world felt a bit too barren, almost like it was because it was a limitation of the PS2 rather than because it was an artistic choice.

Anyway, I still think it's a great game and I'd be interested in deepen the ending, is there any good read about it that you can recommend me?
 

Erasus

Member
I completed ICO is I am now on to SoTC. Its pretty amazing but some bosses are a bit badly designed sometimes. Had to use a walkthough on some :(

Plus I just got cornered on
the dog colossus in the lost city. Once you get into the rubble when he knockes down the roof its over. He can just spam his attack because as soon as I get up he just knocks me down right away again. That one and the bull boss with the fire was one of the most frustating one so far.

I love the atmosphere, the lanscape, graphics and all other encounters. They are so amazing to figure out and play out. One of the best games I have played.
 

Sinthetic

Member
I did get stumped a couple of times on SotC, but the game reminds me of life. It's beautiful, frustrating yet simple and occasionally, you need to get guidance from others. OK, something along those lines.
 
I'm playing SotC too now, I'm at the 7th colossus now and I think it's just an amazing game. Not quite the same as Ico, but when you get on the Colossi and the music starts playing, good god I get so pumped up! :p

5th Colossus was my favorite so far!!!
 

Curufinwe

Member
pslayer666 said:
I personally found the Piston Jump way more frustrating than the water wheel.

You have no idea how frustrating those bits get when trying to do the Castle Guide trophy playthrough. :p

On my Castle Guide run I did the Piston Jump on my second try and the Water Wheel on my first attempt. They're not that bad once you know what to do.

Piston Jump - Press jump as the piston is about to fire. Don't try and time pressing jump when it fires, press it beforehand.

Water Wheel - Once you get up on the wheel let go of the left stick for a split-second then press towards the ledge and press jump.
 
hey all bumping this thread because

GAIUS: HARD TIME ATTACK: 4:59:57

FUCK ALL OF YOU
I'M OUT
PEACE BITCHES

GET DAT PLAT
BLAM

Overall these games were decent. not the religious experience some people claimed they were prior to the game being released, thats for sure. But have i played worse games? Yeah, definitely.

I'd say the worst thing about these games were the janky controls. Anyone who disagrees is simply wrong. The controls are jank and the animations make this game nigh unplayable sometimes. I understand that you are a little kid versus a colossus, but damnit if they couldnt have made them that extra microsecond more responsive to make navigating colossi that much easier.

Controlling agro is a fucking hassle. I'll never ride a horse due to this game
kidding
also, yorda is a needy cunt. My girlfriend is whiny and obtuse enough as it is, i dont need it in my vidja games

POSITIVES: No other games exist like this and it's easy to see how they gained such popularity. When the big desert bird colossus did a spin-o-rama i literally went "OOOHHHH SHHHIIITTT" out loud. Knocking down the tower colossus and poking out the eye of the sandworm colossus were probably my favorite parts of the game. Ironically enough, the easier the colossus was the more i enjoyed it.

Anyways, may or may not trade this in. I think I would like to play it in 3d one day at the very least.
 

robox

Member
Curufinwe said:
On my Castle Guide run I did the Piston Jump on my second try and the Water Wheel on my first attempt. They're not that bad once you know what to do.

Piston Jump - Press jump as the piston is about to fire. Don't try and time pressing jump when it fires, press it beforehand.

Water Wheel - Once you get up on the wheel let go of the left stick for a split-second then press towards the ledge and press jump.

freakin' thank you. i came into this thread hoping somebody would be ranting about the piston jump. and sure enough, there was.
if i couldn't get it, i would've just about quit, and i didn't want that at all.
 

jett

D-Member
Playing hard more right now, Colossus 3. Fucking stupid piece of shit Wander keeps flinching from the slightest move from the Colossus, it's not hard, it's just fucking annoying, with the increased health it'll take forever to down these things.

Bluepoint, replace eurotard Wander with American Wander plz.
 

jett

D-Member
Replayed 3rd Colossus on the PS2, I can actually hit his weak points several times in a row! FANCY THAT! Despite being rusty with this game I killed him in 5:30(30 seconds over the time attack limit). I was literally messing with this fucker for 15 minutes on the PS3, despite the rock solid framerate.

Why, man. Why the fuck why. It's making me want to sell this shit.
 
Just beat SotC...16th colossus is nicely epic rather than frustrating with the solid framerate. Of course it didn't have the same impact as the first time I played it, but still glad I double-dipped. Now on to Ico while I wait for Skyrim.
 
jett said:
Replayed 3rd Colossus on the PS2, I can actually hit his weak points several times in a row! FANCY THAT! Despite being rusty with this game I killed him in 5:30(30 seconds over the time attack limit). I was literally messing with this fucker for 15 minutes on the PS3, despite the rock solid framerate.

Why, man. Why the fuck why. It's making me want to sell this shit.

To be fair, you can hit every one of 3's weak points several times in a row, but the timing and positioning is so strict that it does create a lot of consternation. If you do the sword jump and make it up to the top of his bracelet and immediately jump onto his waist you can get 4 full grunt stabs which does about half his health. I found his head the hardest, simply because it's hard to p-grab it. When you do though, you can really quickly rape him. If you do the shoulder trick again then you can jump right onto his arm weak point and the arm is way easy to finish with as it takes more damage than the other vitals do.

As the proud owner of a platinum trophy, i consider myself somewhat of an expert ;)
 
Well, I'm a stupid fuck. Previously, I had been talking some mad shit about how Ico is boring based on decade old memories, which are now memories I blame on misguided youth. I picked up the collection a few weeks ago based on my love for Shadow of the Colossus, and I thought I might as well play Ico since I paid for it. Upon completing Ico, I was horrified/pleased to find that I have never been so wrong about a video game in my entire life. While SotC is a game that alternates between periods of tranquility and intensity sixteen times, Ico instead builds gradually to one moment of intensity that has a much larger impact. When I take into consideration that the game was made in 2001, I'm even more impressed by that design; sometimes the simplest progressions are the best ones. In my eyes, the game has a singular flaw:
At the end of the game, you don't need to press R1 near Yorda at the beach.
 

Sinthetic

Member
Still can't get Colossus out of my head. I think I'm going to clear this huge wave of games and sit down with it again in January for extended play.
 

Aesthet1c

Member
Hero said:
Finally beat SotC.

I liked the game but I feel that it was definitely overhyped for me all these years since I never played it on the PS2. It was an enjoyable venture for sure but I felt like maybe it was a bit too minimalist as far as story and character development. A lot of the bosses were enjoyable but really by the end I was glad it was over. The whole "expose their weak point and stab it" got kind of redundant by the end of the game.

Still, it was really beautiful and the music was perfect throughout. I guess my expectations were just a little unreachable. Glad I played it.
This sums up my feelings almost exactly.

Also can we talk about that ending?

...because WTF?. I'll start by saying I didn't like it. When the tribe dudes showed up I thought they were bad and the main character was going to kill them and save the girl. Then they kill him and he turns into a big demon dude. So I thought that was my chance to kill them. Instead, they kill the demon and the main character, and run away on the bridge. When the bridge was collapsing I was kind of hoping it took all of them with it. It wasn't until they made it across the bridge that I realized they were good, and the main character was doing wrong this whole time. I didn't like that. I like to feel as if I accomplished some good, not spend the entire game bringing back this demon that could terrorize the planet. I guess the girl is saved, but she's kind of trapped in this temple. The bridge destroyed the only way out, so I don't really get why I should be happy for her. To top it all off, now there is a demon baby who very possibly contains the soul or parts of Dormin. Am I supposed to be happy for that? If I'm supposed to believe that he's this big evil entity, I don't understand why I should believe that a spawn of him is a good thing. I don't know, I'm sure I'm missing the bigger picture, but I felt kind of underwhelmed. Is there anyone that can elaborate? Or at least point me to a better explanation?
 

Ridley327

Member
Well, the problem is you were expecting a happy ending in a game that doesn't provide one. The game sure wasn't building to one, that's for sure.
 
Aesthet1c said:
This sums up my feelings almost exactly.

Also can we talk about that ending?

...because WTF?. I'll start by saying I didn't like it. When the tribe dudes showed up I thought they were bad and the main character was going to kill them and save the girl. Then they kill him and he turns into a big demon dude. So I thought that was my chance to kill them. Instead, they kill the demon and the main character, and run away on the bridge. When the bridge was collapsing I was kind of hoping it took all of them with it. It wasn't until they made it across the bridge that I realized they were good, and the main character was doing wrong this whole time. I didn't like that. I like to feel as if I accomplished some good, not spend the entire game bringing back this demon that could terrorize the planet. I guess the girl is saved, but she's kind of trapped in this temple. The bridge destroyed the only way out, so I don't really get why I should be happy for her. To top it all off, now there is a demon baby who very possibly contains the soul or parts of Dormin. Am I supposed to be happy for that? If I'm supposed to believe that he's this big evil entity, I don't understand why I should believe that a spawn of him is a good thing. I don't know, I'm sure I'm missing the bigger picture, but I felt kind of underwhelmed. Is there anyone that can elaborate? Or at least point me to a better explanation?

You never noticed that Wander's appearance was slowly changing after you killed a colossi? Each time he did that he was hit by those streams and would fall down in pain. By the end his appearance was nearly completely darkened because Dormin had taken over his body. He wasn't bad though, he was just selfish and was willing to do anything it took to bring Mono back. He didn't know that bringing her back would also resurrect Dormin.

As far as the baby goes, many believe that it's meant to be the first horned child. That would mean that SoTC is a prequel to ICO.

Yes the ending is sad, but people have come to expect that from Ueda. He's made two games and both have sad endings. That's why people are expecting TLG to have a sad ending. I don't see why that's a bad thing. There are plenty of games where the hero/heroine saves the day and everything is ok in the end.
 
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