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Post by Sarge on May 6, 2022 18:18:38 GMT -5
I've got that one on my list, too - might be a good one for this month, especially since it's not a long game.
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Post by Ex on May 6, 2022 19:18:21 GMT -5
I am surprised both Xeogred and Sarge haven't played through Ico before. I finished the game back in 2007, right after I bought my first PS2. IIRC it was actually the first game I beat on my PS2. I definitely loved both Ico and SotC... yet I struggled with The Last Guardian and lost interest in it. I'm about 95% sure I read in an interview that Ico was THE game that convinced Miyazaki to quit his previous career and get into game development.
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Post by Sarge on May 6, 2022 21:15:54 GMT -5
I've got about an hour and a half in it from back in the day. Maybe more. Not sure. But I didn't finish it, and I would start over for sure.
I agree that The Last Guardian just didn't have quite the same pull. I fell off of it myself.
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Post by Xeogred on May 6, 2022 21:46:54 GMT -5
I also own The Last Guardian, but yeah I heard enough iffy reactions to it that I've postponed hitting it up longer down the road. And I certainly needed to play Ico first.
Ex: Yeah this really is a funny blind spot in my PS2/2001 gaming career. I bet that's true with Miyazaki. Maybe I just heard or saw somewhere that he loves Shadow of the Colossus, but it's easy to assume it was both these games that won him over and influenced his style.
I'm playing the PS3 HD remaster and I'm honestly having to remind myself that this is a PS2 game underneath, haha. I remember these two being a real tech showcase back in their day.
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Post by Ex on May 6, 2022 22:02:16 GMT -5
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Post by Xeogred on May 6, 2022 22:34:04 GMT -5
But this part of the article is depressing...
Seriously got a little sad when I booted up Ico today and saw that logo. From Ico to Bloodborne, RIP to when Sony was more of a Japanese company...
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Post by Xeogred on May 8, 2022 17:16:43 GMT -5
I finished up Ico today. With some real life stuff going on and feeling some of the blues this weekend, it felt too perfectly apt to binge through this. Probably magnified the hard hitting ending even further.
Ico was ahead of its time for 2001. This feels far more like a PS3 era game in ways. The influence this game has had on the medium to gamers and designers themselves is undoubtedly massive, yet I can see how Ico wasn't a financial hit at the time or anything. Even now it feels like a strange unique anomaly and probably didn't gel too well with many gamers. But ask anyone who's beaten Ico and they generally have nothing but high praise for it and so do I now.
It's not completely perfect. Even had I played it back in the day, some of the issues would have been equally potent now and then. The combat is incredibly one note. But I didn't mind it being a little filler in between the exploration and puzzles. And while as beautiful as this tale is told in a still somewhat young artistic medium, it's still numbers and code underneath. The jumping and controls can be finicky at times and Yorda's AI isn't always going to cooperate with what you want. Ladders seemed to be one of her biggest weaknesses. But the highs of the game are so excellent, you can let some of these faults go and I found it still super impressive all around.
With so little dialogue and some even a unique new language you can't even translate (I don't think), the environmental storytelling still tells so much and lets your imagination run wild. So it's very much in that old school Metroid kind of mold, or like a lot of FromSoftware's stuff from King's Field to the Souls series. The scope and architecture of this giant castle is oppressive, yet oozes with mystery and beauty. I even loved how it's so decayed there's a lot of green overgrowth in spots. The castle is a character itself and one of the coolest environments I've been to. I almost want to say I like this more than Shadow of Colossus. That was Ueda's bigger hit and seems to share a similar mythos, but Ico being so isolated and hyper focused on this one big area feels more cohesive in a good way. The final stretch was amazing. Right when freedom is reachable, something happens and there's no way these two would leave one another behind.
Ico holds up and is a still a truly fascinating and original rich gaming experience. It's not that hard for me to see how this kind of game could alter someones entire perception of the whole medium, like Hidetaka Miyazaki. There's definitely a little special magic to this one and I'm glad to have finally played it.
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Post by paulofthewest on May 8, 2022 19:12:17 GMT -5
Ex just do the expert sphere grid, make then all thieves, and blow through that game. I actually found the beginning of FFX slightly annoying and the whole sin thing was stupid until the end when it finally tied together nicely. Spoiler alert: No the two stupid main characters don't die. Ya, it was a downer for me as well.
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Post by Ex on May 8, 2022 20:49:51 GMT -5
XeogredNice job finishing Ico, I consider it a must-play for true gamers. I bet you agree now. If you wait through the credits there's an extra ending scene that's nice. Also there is a secret ending that's a bit more uplifting, but you can only get it on a replay. Also the original PS2 USA version is a bit more difficult than the later Japanese and European releases of the game. I'm not sure if I like Ico or SotC more, they are about even for me. I know I like TLG quite a bit less than either. I actually found the beginning of FFX slightly annoying and the whole sin thing was stupid until the end when it finally tied together nicely. From what I could gather of FFX's plot; You are a time traveling underwater soccer jock who must save the world from your alcoholic dad who has become sea Godzilla. I'm used to FF games having bleh whatever plots anyway, but FFX truly strives to be awful in that regard.
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Post by Xeogred on May 8, 2022 22:20:01 GMT -5
The board ate my reply...
I did see the post credits scene. After beating it, I did briefly look around online to see if anyone had clues on the foreign language here and Yorda's lines. Seems like it's been two decades of debates across the ending(s) and Ueda interviews haha. I'm not totally surprised.
I'll concede that FFX's main plot is probably the worst thing about it. It's everything else around it that I really enjoy now, the combat system, the goofy characters, Sphere Grid, awesome tropical/temple environments, insane OST, etc. I do like the interesting takes on the after life and such, but the Lost Odyssey probably dug into those themes better.
Ex has another game in his initial post that was a big one I plan to hit up sometime this year, so that might make it obvious to some. But I'm not sure about this month while I'm in the midst of Digital Devil Saga 2. Hmmm... I'll need to dig up some 2001 options now.
But yeah, wow I think Ico is one that'll stick with me.
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