Shadow of the Colossus

[charlesr]

I've just felled my first Colossus

As usual, I buy all these games on release and then never get around to playing them.

I was expecting some pretty horrendous framerate issues and yes they are in full effect, but it doesn't break the game for me - these giant things move around so slowly anyway. Maybe, my view will change later...

Otherwise very impressive what they've tried to pull off here.

I tried to beat it a few times and the first few, I would be climbing up its back and it would start to try and throw me off and after one stab of the head it would shake and I fell to the floor every time. No idea what happened on the last attempt, but it just knelt on the ground and let me run up the back and stab it in the head 4 times till it died. Weirdness. Perhaps it sensed my frustration after the first few efforts. If you die, you have to spend a minute waiting for it to notice you and it's frankly a bit painful to do more than a few times....

Looking forward to see what comes next

[amorenod]

Everytime someone bumps this thread, I want to play Shadow of the Colossus.

I will be in love with the 5th one forever

[Eight Rooks]

It was one of the games that confirmed I'm not and never will be a total videophile - it's just such a flat-out masterpiece regardless of any graphical hitches.

And Charles, you do know how the system works, right? Serious question. If you've got grip left the colossus cannot shake you off, plus each of them has a relatively simple "Hit weak point -> it lets you climb on it -> start climbing around" etc., etc. system going on.

Plus again, my fanboy levels go off the scale with either of Team ICO's two games so far; if you find any aspect of SOTC "painful", you obviously just don't get it. Seriously, I could just run around and stare at the bloody things walking/running/flapping about for ages.

[charlesr]

Hmm. Perhaps I'll read the manual. Have no idea what all the beeping noises or symbols mean....

[ezee ryder]

It was one of the games that confirmed I'm not and never will be a total videophile - it's just such a flat-out masterpiece regardless of any graphical hitches.

And Charles, you do know how the system works, right? Serious question. If you've got grip left the colossus cannot shake you off, plus each of them has a relatively simple "Hit weak point -> it lets you climb on it -> start climbing around" etc., etc. system going on.

Plus again, my fanboy levels go off the scale with either of Team ICO's two games so far; if you find any aspect of SOTC "painful", you obviously just don't get it. Seriously, I could just run around and stare at the bloody things walking/running/flapping about for ages.

Agree with you 100%, Shadow of the Colossus is my favourite PS2 game. Such a superb epic game, argh I wanna play it again now!

[charlesr]

Ok, so the big round pink blob is grip strength. But under what conditions does this vary? Do I have to be in the right place? Or does it deplete, like body strength?

[charlesr]

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?p=1489895#post1489895

[ezee ryder]

Ok, so the big round pink blob is grip strength. But under what conditions does this vary? Do I have to be in the right place? Or does it deplete, like body strength?

If I remember correctly the depletion of the grip gauge varies depending on how long you are holding onto the Colossus for and if it is shaking you around.

[MrMarbles]

The grip-strength blob increases in size after each Colossus, and you can kill white-tailed lizards and eat their tails in order to increase it too.

Also, in response to that link: YES. Def-in-itely.

[Chief H]

I recently played this again after a bout of cravings for it. Always top stuff.

Anyway, the pink blob is your grip strength, it decreases the longer you hang on with R1. You can see the speed of depletion from the rotating white dots around the edge of the circle - when you're gripping from a harder location (e.g. hanging from a vertical surface with only your arms, of if you are shaken around) it'll rotate and deplete faster.

The trick is to get to a spot where you can let go of R1 to get some strength back (think of it like rock climbing on a wall; you need to find a rest spot before pushing on) - handy tactic is to quickly release R1 then grab on again. This way you can stay fairly still whilst not losing much strength. Then use this tactic to test for and find spots where you can stand still without using R1, to regain strength before climbing on again (e.g. you can walk across most of their backs without using R1 unless they try to shake you off).

Use the same tactic when approaching weak spots. Find a place where you can stand and build the blob back up - you'll need the strength to hang on when you start pissing them off with your sword. Then it's a case of hang on, charge up the sword on the spot and don't let go of R1 whilst they try to get rid of you. If you run out of strength, get back up to your rest spot and wait a bit before going again

[charlesr]

Ah that makes sense. Great tips.

[saif]

Jumping stab = high speed death. Although whether you want to speed it up is another matter.
Great game

[Malc]

I would love to revisit this, but the latest 80gb PS3's still can't play PS2 games.

I thought a firmware update online was going to allow us to play PS2 games on any PS3?

[112]

I need to get back to this as i was about half way through last time before i was distracted and never went back.

I have the Jap version, if i am to return to this game, would it be worth picking up an english version? I mean am i missing out on much dialogue? Or would it be a waste of moo-lah jus for some bit of text?

Got to admit, i dont have a clue why the woman wont wake up......... or what the hell i am killing giants for

112

[ezee ryder]

You're not missing out on too much "dialogue" from the English version mate, infact it is more reading text than actually listening to dialogue. The text that does come up on screen usually just tells you where to go next and occasionally giving you a hint if you're struggling.

I actually started playing this again yesterday, it still is such a beautiful game. I downed three colossi yesterday evening, the game still has that amazing sense of scale......so good!