Im already a member, but never shared my story about how Team Ico came into my life. While were waiting for a possible announcement at e3, this seems like the right place/time to do it.
In 2006 I was 17 years old. I was dyslexic, and had therefor always felt like I was stupid and unintelligent, which consequently had made me shy. But in the beginning of this year a classmate fell in love with me. She was very beautiful and extremely clever, so I had no idea what she wanted with me. We started to date, and for the first time in my life I was in love. My shyness started to fade away, and not only did she accept my dyslexia, she was actually trying to help me overcome it. Being in love I felt really motivated, and for the first time ever the letters on the paper was starting to make a little sense.
Six months later she broke up, and I was completely and utterly heartbroken. As this was my first time ever to feel this way, I could not see how I was going to survive. I lost my motivation regarding my reading. I had really made progress the last couple of months, but it didnt save my relationship. So what did it really matter?
In this state of loneliness and with a broken heart, I went out and bought some games. One of them was coincidentally Shadow of Colossus. I didnt knew it, but though the cover was cool. Now, I had been playing games for many, many years, and the reason I was playing games was because I liked the challenges and the puzzles. But Shadow of Colossus was so much more. Feeling heartbroken, alienated and cut of (because dyslexia will create these feelings), I was truly immersed in a game a journey for the first time in my life. The repeating, wordless process of Wanders fight, fighting in cycles, back and forth, back and forth, was me overcoming all the negative feelings. Finding the weakness of every colossus, and then defeating it. The loneliness and the atmosphere. The repeating fights was almost like being hypnotized, and the emotional journey therefor became very spiritual.
This might be some big words, but when I had just completed the game, I came out as a stronger and more confident person. More motivated to overcome my weakness. Thanks to some great teachers and a lot of willpower Im no longer dyslexic, and when Im thinking back to where everything started to change, I always think about the spring and summer with my first girlfriend, first break-up and my first immersion in a game.
TLDR: Shadow of Colossus has a special, somewhat cliché, place in my heart, as I became a better person after playing it.