Shadow of the Colossus

[LaParka]

There's no 'real' language in it at all, so it's all subtitled - you will miss out on the cryptic clues you are given, plus the ending will baffle you... also given the improvements they made to Ico for the PAL release I would reckon you'd be better waiting for that.

Is there anywhere with screen caps with whats said. I've got the jap version and playing it is no problem. Just don't want to miss out on the ending.

[Darwock]

I might have exaggerated, you'll be able to follow the ending but personally I'd want to know exactly what is being said. I don't know of any screen caps, sorry.

[EvilBoris]

There's no 'real' language in it at all, so it's all subtitled - you will miss out on the cryptic clues you are given, plus the ending will baffle you... also given the improvements they made to Ico for the PAL release I would reckon you'd be better waiting for that.

I think its been said that nothing is going to be different for the PAL launch

[Darwock]

That's not what I read.. I read them saying that they added improvements for Ico so they may well do the same this time too.

[Akira]

Ok guys,you just have to see these speed runs on the time attack mode.

Just look how quick someone took down the final colossi.I'm not gonna spoil it,just check it out!

Concept,you're gonna love these

WARNING:Major spoilers for anyone who has'nt got past the first colossi.

Speedy!

Edit:OMFG at No.5

[Darwock]

How about someone posting the times by themselves so we can go off and try to figure out how to do it?

[Flabio]

The times are right there on the page, you have to download the videos to see how they did it.

[Akira]

How about someone posting the times by themselves so we can go off and try to figure out how to do it?

have another look.

[Darwock]

Ah right ok, I didn't click the link cos I thought it would give the game away.

[Akira]

Ahhh,i see.

[Light]

Discussion over the main aspects of the game seem to have dwindled to talk about time attack mode and the game's soundtrack, but since this thread has been updated, and I've recently gotten this game and completed it today, I thought I might share my thoughts on it.

To begin with... I really wasn't moved by Ico when I played it at end of the summer this year (as evidenced by the thread I had made in general gaming at the time). I hated the fact that there was so little combat, that the boy only had a stick to fight with, the flickering dark shadows that came from nowhere to steal Yorda away from me and the eerie music that accompanied these events and the (on the whole) rather dull environments (alright, the windmill bit was beautiful, but not totally awe inspiring). I decided to give Shadow of the Colosuss a chance however, simply because of how different it seemed, despite a similar art direction and style.

Spoilers, naturally follow:

->Open Spoiler<-

First the good. The battles with the collosi were so well crafted, that my jaw hit the floor several times over the course of the adventure. I wasn't expecting that we'd get a chance to fight with (or rather on) aerial bosses, but we were, and it was an absolutely magnificent feeling climbing onto the 13th colossus in particular (at least I think that's the 13th one... the desert flying thiny) and locating its vital spots whilst holding on for dear life. That would probably be my favorite boss of the entire game... absolutely stunning and the music that reverbrated to the action that was unfolding was truly epic in every sense of the word. I really enjoyed almost all of the musical pieces in the game, and that would definitely be one the main reasons for which I'd like to go back and experience once more the joy that this game has brought to me over the past couple of days. I don't think I'd buy the soundtrack, as I'd listen to it so many times I'd get tired of the score, so the impact of any future visits to this magical world would feel a bit diluted I would imagine. What is interesting, is that I never really was bored throughout the game... which is something that is fairly rare these days. I think it took me at least 3 hours before I figured out how to defeat the 10th collosus, but I never gave up because it was just so thrilling everytime I'd get on Agro and speed away from the beast and try various tactics to see what would finally work. Really amazed by that, and glad I didn't cave in to check for hints at gamefaqs or anything. Makes the experience all the more rewarding, especially, as someone had duly noted earlier on, because of the nature of this game.

And riding on Agro was superb and everytime I galloped on wide terrain with my sword raised and the powerful light emanating from the distance, I was reminded of that one Return of the King scene on Pelanor Fields with Gandalf, as Jimmie2K has mentioned already, which made the experience all the more satisfying.

A bit about the negative bits... there are one or two things that remind me of Ico... things that I can't say I particularly enjoyed. The black shadows for instance, just look plain weird... they look like they belong in an n64 game or something. They also remind me of some ancient cartoon that I used to hate, but I can't quite (and thankfully so!) remember where from... little points like that.

Control can be a bit unwieldly at times. Turning with Agro can be a bit difficult in confined spaces and there are some issues when scaling the colossi, but for the most part these things are quite minor. Slowdowns occured now and then and textures seemed to play tricks and I swear backgrounds disappeared for a couple seconds in some places... I started thinking that I was imagining things, but I wasn't, so clearly the hardware was being pushed to its limits by the developers, and sadly couldn't quite handle it at all times.

Now, with regard to the ending... I have mixed reactions really. I was pretty shocked to see what happened, and enraged at first, because to me it's just simply shocking... I mean, the story is about a boy who embarks on an epic quest to save his love, but in the end this love becomes a mother figure... it just... is a bit difficult to absorb. I wonder how the girl must have felt! But getting past that concept, I have to admit that the ending was beautiful though, and it almost had me in tears... particularly during the scene where the girl is holding the baby in the secret garden and Argo is standing next to them to the right, with the baby deer close as well, all surrounded by birds. Simply beautiful! And I was overjoyed to see that Agro managed to survive the fall (which I had hoped might have been possible when seeing him fall with the rest of the bridge like that). The developers went for a less obvious ending, but a more powerful one I'd say, and I think that makes the ending better than it would have been otherwise.

So how can I conclude? Well, even having completed the game, I'm still not sure whether or not I really like it as much as I would have hoped... I think I need some time (sleep definitely!) to digest what I've experienced over the past few days, but if there is one thing that I can definitiely say, it is that the game is undeniably a masterful work of art, a true work of genius.

[Number45]

...the game is undeniably a masterful work of art, a true work of genius.

That's the thing with this, I think. Both Edge and games? did a very good job of pointing out both the good (Art, concept, Colossi design etc...) and bad (Technical and control issues (Though you could argue the control was intentional, it certainly isn't a problem once you're familiar with it all, give or take a couple of occasions when it's probably actually the camera doing the damage)), the question is always going to be whether you can ignore the bad (A by-product of releasing on the PS2 I think... the game screams for a more robust platform!!) in the face of the good.

For my part, the game immersed me so much that I barely noticed any framerate issues and, as I said, the control soon felt right. Beaten only in awesomeness by God of War this year for me.

[iloveannie]

I'm attempting to scale the tower but haven't quite made it yet. Have sought out all the fruit and lizards (may have missed one or two). So far I've spent a further 5 hours just exploring (save before the last colossi). I don't want to mention the flaws that are evident due to the system as for me that upsets the balance when I'm experiencing something as deeply moving as this. This is art and emotion. It is spellbinding. How games have changed.

[Synthesthesia]

Maybe this is old news, I duno, but today when i was at game, i preordered shadow of the colossus, and he told me that it's being called Ico 2 when it comes out? Seems kind of stupid to me, as it's not the same game at all.

[Jusatsushi]

Maybe this is old news, I duno, but today when i was at game, i preordered shadow of the colossus, and he told me that it's being called Ico 2 when it comes out? Seems kind of stupid to me, as it's not the same game at all.

Haha! I think that sounds like the typical 'make something up to sound like you know what you are talking about' Game employee response.

No-one (apart from that guy) would be stupid enough to even consider that... surely