Shadow of the Colossus was released in 2005, 14 years ago

Is Last Guardian worth playing? I wasn't really hype for it and kinda forgot it exists but I want to play it.

where does it explain why he would become a baby?

Your girlfriend, a girl of nobility, is afflicted with some sort of curse or disease of sorts that has left her comatose and dying. You, a literally who, take her to a sacred region in the kingdom where no mortals are allowed by the kingdom's laws and religions to venture, but you venture there out of desperation to save your love. A voice tells you that these sacred Collosi, beings containing immense spiritual forces, can be slain to collect all their combined essence to save your love. The monkey's paw, of course, is that the voice telling you this is most likely an evil deity, manipulating your desires to accomplish its goal: setting itself free and slaying the Collosi guardians that guard the land and segment the deity's powers. After slaying all the Collisi, your body is possessed by the deity and you're pulled pressumably to another plane after going berserk, where you trade your life for hers. She awakens, complete unaware of the events that transpired, and leaves on your horse to wander out into the barren wastelands, most likely to die.

What do you mean it's Warden? It's obviously that boy from Ico.

The bridge collapses and she literally goes to the top of the tower at the end.

That's what I thought after I finished typing, I figured my memory was failing me. That's even more mildly fucked up, considering the fruit in that garden slowly kill you and she's basically completely marooned.

Kill colossus to save girl. It's very straightforward. The minor details of what she has and how it all works are noy important. All that matters is Wanderer is doing everything he can and breaking all laws to save her.

The shitty ps2 video output and low fps will add to the atmosphere, also the controls and physics are optimized to the fps. The ps3 one has sharper graphics, updated textures and higher fps, which kinda fucks with the physics and controls making it harder, I git gud and actually prefer it that way.

Is the in between of Ico and SotC, play exactly like them, so yeah it's good. It actually has the art direction that the Bluepoint should've used

Attached: WanderCorrupt-final.jpg (1060x1576, 143K)

I'm amazed as to how much all hell broke lose while on your way to the final colossus and after that.

You can't really go wrong with either. As you said, just don't play the PS4 version, because it's totally soulless and inferior

I'll repeat a theory I posted in another thread that in turn was based on another theory that became popular when the Last Big Secret stuff started to become more larger and more despite.
The game is about a bunch of religious tribals (presumably some Christian or Jewish tribe) having sealed off a Paganic Demon (Dormin) within the Forbidden Lands. The object of Wander's desperation, Mono is a girl who dies of unknown circumstances (the game never actually reveals it, some theorise sacrifice but the lack of any wounds might indicate an illness or natural causes),.
Now, Mono's significance to Wander is never actually explained, it's implied she holds a major significance to him, she isn't just a random girl, however it's never said if Mono is Wander's sister, or if she's a childhood friend, or Wander's GF.
In any case, Wander hears rumours that the Forbidden Land gives power to resurrect the dead, thus he steals the Ancient Sword used to seal Dormin, grabs Mono's dead body and his faithful horse Epona and ventures into the Forbidden Lands
Now this is when things get interesting. Notice the Tower that Dormin is trapped in, then notice that Dormin's name is an anagram for "Nimrod". If you know anything about Christianity or the Bible, Nimrod was a Babylonian King who persecuted the followers of God and built the Tower of Babel. Guess where Dormin is trapped in? Inside a large tower. Then there's the fact that all of the Colossus are referred to as "idols" almost referring to the Pagan idolatry that is against the Abrahamic texts. Wander to save the game even prays in a very similar fashion to an Abrahamic Prayer (kneeling with his hands clasped together)
So yeah the game is essentially about a Faustian deal between Wander and Dorrmin and Dormin promising he can bring back Mono (but that might come with a cost).
(cont.)

Attached: Dormin concept art.jpg (512x288, 30K)

(cont.)
But the symbolism goes further, such as some of the Colossi representing Tarot cards (not all only some) with the Final Boss in particular representing The Wizard"
There's also the fact that Dormin's concept art (which I posted in this post: )
depicts Dormin's true form as being this savage looking goat-like demon figure. Then there's a Beta model of Dormin (pic related) that gives him a more "kingly" look akin to King Nimrod whilst still keeping the demonic look to him.
But you can find more of this symbolism by researching yourself, so I'll try not to get side-tracked.
Back to the story, Wander succeeds in killing all Colossi, but each of the idols release demons and parts of Wander that merge into Wander, eventually as he beats the final Colossi he basically slowly becomes Dormin. Lord Emon (the Shaman of the pseudo-Abrahamic tribe) walks in and basically you get that whole final battle. Then Lord Emon sticks the sword into a pool, causing Wander to get absorbed into it. Why a pool? Why does a pool cleanse him? Simple. Baptism. Wander is essentially getting baptised in a way with this method. Or rather we can assume that anyways. Once Wander is thrown off into the pool, Mono reawakens. Goes to Wander and finds him with horns, she then goes up with Epona to the Secret Gardens, where it's presumed she spends her time with him there.
Wander's horns as a baby represent the Original Sin being present in all humans, his worse sins got cleansed off, but he's not fully pure.
The Secret Garden could possibly represent Eden, with the whole symbolism of Wander and Mono (Adam and Eve) being stuck in the Garden alongside a bunch of animals, I feel this was the intended imagery that was supposed to be given here.
(cont.)

Attached: Beta Dormin.jpg (634x568, 35K)

(cont.)
However that doesn't entail things end happily, there's also another theory that due to the deal with the devil that took place, Mono is cursed to eventually become the Dark Queen from Ico (mostly because of how the corrupted Dark Queen looks similar to the corruption that Wander receives when he is corrupted by Dormin and the whole connection with horned children)
However given the lack of a Wander figure in ice and the ambiguity between the two continuities we may never know the truth. There's also the cut content of SoTC like the creepier aspects of the Secret Gardens with a weird headless crucified/t-posed Mono model appearing for some bizarre reason, or the cut Colossi including one representing the "devil" tarot., etc.
So yeah, that's the story of Shadow of the Colossus along with some fan-theory and analysis on what the significance of that story was, you understand it now? Any questions? (I can't answer anything on Ico because my grasp on those games is quite low)

Attached: Secret Gardens headless mono.jpg (1280x720, 104K)

>epona
Nigger if you typed up this shit up then you'd know the horse's name is Aggro.

Oh and I forgot to mention
Wander turns into a baby because it is the purest form of a human in a way, plus the whole baptism stuff if the theory is correct.

Sorry, it's 3:39 AM and I was also lurking on Twilight Princess + Majora's Mask forum theories as well. But yeah, it's Agro, my bad. Just a mental mixup of mine.

Attached: SoTC + Ico.jpg (1920x1080, 133K)

>The game is about a bunch of religious tribals (presumably some Christian or Jewish tribe) having sealed off a Paganic Demon (Dormin) within the Forbidden Lands.
>Epona
End yourself

Attached: 300px-Wander.jpg (300x279, 28K)

>Epona
See:
Also what's wrong with the Religious tribals bit?
That's indeed the backstory of the game. If Lord Emon isn't the leader of a religious tribe than I don't know what the fuck he is then. Dormin has all of the signs of being a Paganic demon and I only pointed out the idea of the tribe being Abrahamic as a possibility, not definitive although it's clear the devs had some hand in implementing that. It's no coincidence that Dormin is an anagram for Nimrod AND that the shrine you find him in looks like the Tower of Babel, or hell the fact that it even is a Tower.

Attached: SoTC Wander Corruption.jpg (1280x907, 255K)

Elaborate

It's supposed to be a pre-Babylonian telltale that Abraham people stole

Literly better than any garbage Zelda game

the entire game teaches you to hold on and never let go
at the end of the game, you figure out that it doesn't matter how long you hold on for, you'll never get her back, and it forces you to let go

This dude just shows up in the holy land and starts killing sacred beasts
What a chad

And that discredits my theory how?
Abrahamic tribes were active during King Nimrod's reign and were persecuted
Abrahamic tribes would be the ones that would have a need to get revenge on Nimrod for what he did to them.
Therefore they'd be the ones that would go after Nimrod and "seal him" in his own Kingdom technically speaking. Even if this isn't 100% accurate to our Earth, it would still need to be a theoretically pseudo-abrahamic religion that were persecuted by Nimrod/Dormin.
Also there's no historical evidence of Nimrod, he only appears in Abrahamic texts, most Historians say that Nimrod is just a metaphor for Sargon of Akkad, but there's no definitive answer, so the Abrahamic symbolism would have to be intentional if they specifically chose Nimrod and anagram'd him to make Dormin here.

Attached: Nimrod.jpg (536x685, 46K)

But if the Forbidden lands is supposed to be Babylon then wouldn't that make it post-Babylon? It's clearly in ruins.

It's a Japanese thing, as if they tried to reconstruct a tale that inspired the the ones of Abrahammic people, so actually Nimrod would be the anagram and the tower inspired by the shrine.
>Sargon of Akkad
Now you're getting there. I just get triggered at the mention of Abrahamic and Pagan

Sumero-Akkadian period actually, but I would say it doesn't even take place anywhere near Mesopotamia.

>man wants to resurrect dead woman
>learns there is a power in forbidden lands capable of doing it
>ancient dark god's voice tells man to kill colossi and that doing so will resurrect her
>he goes and murders these beasts in the name of resurrecting the woman
>gets tainted further and further with each kill from darkness seeping out of corpses
>becomes so tainted he transforms into the dark god in the end
>clergy kills him and curses his soul and those of the children from his country to bear the mark of his misdeeds
>woman is resurrected as the dark god promised
>man is reborn with said mark: the horns on his head
>Ico happens some time later

>Then Lord Emon sticks the sword into a pool, causing Wander to get absorbed into it.

I still haven't finished Last Guardian but do you know if anyone has made any tangible connections about that strange freezing cold tomb with the circular pool where the kid finds the mirror in the beginning? Doesn't he also get covered in black marks?

This, but unironically.

When they redesigned everything, they took the subtle atmosphere of the game out of it entirely in favor of bright, flashy new graphics.

>The monkey's paw, of course, is that the voice telling you this is most likely an evil deity, manipulating your desires to accomplish its goal: setting itself free and slaying the Collosi guardians that guard the land and segment the deity's powers.
Dormin literally did nothing wrong

>>I still don't understand the story

It's a simple tale. Specifics are left out and they imply what happened rather than tell you.

>woman dies
>guy goes and grabs her and some sword
>goes on a quest to save her by making a pact with a demon
>High Priest gets word of this and tracks him down to stop him
>wander makes a pact with a demon
>High priest tries to put a stop to it (the high priest is actually the good guy btw if you haven't noticed. Wander would have caused huge devestation if the demon got out and it was imprisoned for a reason)

The speicifics are not mentioned. Is Wander just someone who admired her from afar, or were they lovers? Is it actually her sister? What led to her death? These are all parts we can just imagine. And that's fine. It has a real mythic feel to it.

>If you were looking for deeper lore thing about origins of colossi and world, well I got bad news for you.

Doormin is a demon, that was defeated, but they couldn't kill it so they split up his soul into colossi. They then forbade anyone from going to his place, which is surrounded by mountains and only has one real entrance.

>You, a literally who, take her to a sacred region in the kingdom where no mortals are allowed by the kingdom's laws and religions to venture, but you venture there out of desperation to save your love.

Before that, Wander breaks in and steals a magic sword so he can accomplish all this.

>the high priest is actually the good guy btw if you haven't noticed
There is so little story going on in SOTC that I don't think you can say this straightout.
I thought that he was just a religious zealous asshole that was part of the new faith that overthrew the old one Dormin was part of.

Clearly you have some sort of developmental disorder, because even a child should be able to grasp the narrative of SotC

Bros please give me a subtle clue of how to beat this piece of shit. There's literally nothing on the environment for me to climb.

Attached: download (1).jpg (321x157, 6K)

>There is so little story going on in SOTC that I don't think you can say this straightout.

Dormin is a scary powerful enough demon that they had some elaborate bullshit to seal him up. He is most likely the keeper of the sacred sword that Wander stole.

What Wander is doing is NOT a good thing. It's a very bad thing. He might have even been starting a potential apocalypse. All over some stupid girl. We see the story from Wander's perspective, so we see how desperate he was. But from the outside perspective he could be the bad guy. Picture some Hollywood film where the villain is a guy going to unseal some demon to revive his waifu, and he ends up nearly destroying the world.

Demon magic is NOT something you fuck around with. High Priest is the only guy with some sanity in the game.

>Your girlfriend
Literally no part in the game is said to be his girlfriend, stupid shitpoister.

git gud

Attached: SOTC Birds.webm (1090x600, 2.67M)

>higher fps, which kinda fucks with the physics and controls making it harder

where the fuck did this meme come from

the truth is that the ps3 version is the pal version, the latest version of the game released, which upped the difficulty because the previous versions werent difficult whatsoever. its still not hard by any means its just now you want play the game nonchalantly.

>bright, flashy new graphics
>bright
>flashy
SotC purists are the literal definition of "new game bad old game good"

Christ almighty
SotC PS4 is about as perfect of a remake as you can possible ask for

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Attached: 1564028750946.jpg (3792x2432, 1.24M)

PS2 > PCSX2 > PS3 > PS4 in soul
PCSX2 > PS4 pro in gameplay since both have high fps
PCSX2 > PS3 > PS4 if you don't have a pro.

Attached: L92yGkJ.png (1592x516, 887K)

The PS4 version literally redoes the look of everything and gives the world a different feel when the original design was entirely intentional

>bitching about the use of the words when they are clearly used in an analogous form akin to saying "brand spankin-new"
>assuming you have an argument to stand on when you clearly don't even understand the purpose of the visuals in the original version to begin with
Okay.png

Why is PCSX2 better than on PS3?

Absolute autism

I love the original SotC but the amount of vitriol it gets from fags like you is just unbelievable
You act like it's an unplayable mess to be avoided at all costs, when it's actually one of the best, most faithful video game remakes literally ever

>Demon
I hate this interpretation

I don't get it either, I just parrot it as a inb4, if you can't play the ps3 one just fine you're a faggot

>remake
I hate this too. Thanks to the lazyass devs and shiteater consumers, what should be considerate ports are called remasters, and what should be remasters are called remakes

Higher FPS and resolution. Only the PS2 version renders the game correctly though, though PCSX2 is close enough and I don't think anyone can handle it in software mode but maybe. It renders fine there.

The transparency effects are just so fucking good in the PS2 version.

Attached: volumetric fog lol.jpg (2465x1081, 404K)

Post pics of your original game then, faggot licker.

>I thought that he was just a religious zealous asshole that was part of the new faith that overthrew the old one Dormin was part of.
I kind of had that impression at first too, but when you really look at Dormin's big pitch black horned and hooved form it seems clear he isn't really a "good" entity.

Because it's awful, you faggot. The game is like 5 hours long and they manage to ruin the animations, ruin the art design, make it buggier, and ruins all the music and sound effects. Why would you defend this?

>Dormin's voice is more generic evil and feminine instead of how it was originalls - mysterious and what not
youtu.be/_zCCmeL1lRY?t=591
youtu.be/lxCT2s--ulg?t=575
>Many environmental noises like wind, air pressure in tight spaces, and echoes missing or severely toned down
Watch the entire ending cutscene for many examples of this, but you'll notice if during gameplay too if you pay attention. Not to mention the sword's sound here
youtu.be/UjVygpnbJsE?t=758
youtu.be/lxCT2s--ulg?t=3452
>More examples from the end being fucked from bad sound/music.
youtu.be/ukjtnuFmD_w?t=302
youtu.be/9IFaTBN9wIo?t=8563
>Added Colossus finishing blow SFX that sounds terrible
>Every Colossus sounds worse, no exceptions
youtu.be/GeIC_MVXwYc?t=415
youtu.be/G-QqSfDUF7Q?t=209
>Removed the song that plays when Wander touches Mono's face
youtu.be/WAIB8rhSfaQ?t=573
youtu.be/1hZjQHMq6oc?t=1898
>Removed another song from the end of the game
youtu.be/ukjtnuFmD_w?t=589
youtu.be/9IFaTBN9wIo?t=8845
>Many songs were changed, example here
youtu.be/ukjtnuFmD_w?t=1512
youtu.be/9IFaTBN9wIo?t=9719
Sound mixing in general is just off, like the music and voices are too quiet so there's less impact and the entire game seems to be missing the echo of the original which was also present in Ueda's other games. The remake just sounds sterile.

Attached: stomp.webm (978x302, 2.48M)

He has to change the landscape a little for you.

New game is definitely bad in this case because SotC was such a perfectly married technical & design achievement that any sort of remake does it a disservice.

It's like eating pizza-flavoured chips.

I've had pizza-flavored chips and enjoyed them
It's not pizza, but that doesn't mean it's bad

Learn to enjoy things a little more
SotC PS4 isn't the exact same, no, but it's still a great game

it's pretty simple. pretty shit game
>kid wants to resurrect woman
>makes a pact with spooky ghost
>ghost asks him to kill 16 colossi
>he does
>surprise, ghost tricked you
>the colossi contained fragments of his being
>you are now the ghost's new host
>but the lads from the woman's kingdom are already here to take her back from this forbidden place
>you're now fighting them possessed by the demon as they send you back to not-hell
that's basically it

I LOVE SotC. It's in my top 3 games of all time. I'm even a 33 year old boomer with lots of games under his belt. I want to like the remake, I really do. But the game is too barebones. It's literally ride on an open, empty map and kill the bosses in the specified order. It shouldn't be too hard to fuck up. Unlike most of the anons here, I will actually commend them for the visuals, the game looks good. But I can't forgive the half-assed animations and music cues being off. The game is too simple and those things really go a long way in selling the heart and care put in by the devs back then. Sorry, but even though I own the PS2 original, the PS3 port, and the PS4 remake, I've never played past the 5th colossi. I probably never will.

Attached: Wander_and_the_Colossus_Roar_of_the_Earth_Bande_Originale.jpg (1000x1000, 1.3M)

>I've never played past the 5th colossi. I probably never will.

Wait you mean the remake or the game on general?

On the remake. I unlocked all the special items in the other PS2 and PS3 versions.

-Love of your life is dead
-Priests tell you to just suck it up and move on with your life
-Piss on their altar and take her body to the Forbidden Land, rumored to possess powers to return the dead to life
-Mysterious androgynous voice tells you you have to slay a bunch of giant guardian creatures to unlock the power of life
-You do so, though every time you kill one a tiny bit of your own lifeforce is forcibly ripped from you
-At the end it was revealed that, while the girl was returned to life, the mysterious voice was actually a demon who had been imprisoned in the bodies of the guardians and you set him free. He promptly takes over your body
-Priests show up and banish the demon spirit and seal the Forbidden Land, trapping the girl inside with the reborn MC, stripped of all evil and returned to the form of an infant, though with the slight taint remaining via two small horns growing from his head.

Pretty sure the horned baby at the end who might or might not be Wanda is canonically the ancestor of Ico.

i don't recall it ever saying she was of noble origins. they just say she was cursed in some way

I'm not sure where your tarot themes fit in, I'm a tarot junkie so i'd be very happy if you could make that a bit more clear but i can't say I see that in this game.

It's nice that there are still people willing to go to the trouble of trying to tell the truth here. This game had so much care and love put into it.

it really did

Attached: head animation.webm (802x314, 2.14M)

Just to offer something to your theory, i recall reading during the reign of King Josiah in Judah they had dozens of tiny shrines scattered throughout the country that people worshiped at and he had them abolished and moved religious worship to the main temple.
all those shrines could somehow be a reference to that period.

Here, allow me to explain.

YOU'RE SOME KIND OF EMO DANCER
SEARCHING FOR A NECROMANCER
SOMEONE TO REVIVE THIS WOMAN NAMED MONO
(Dude, move on, bro!)
SUDDENLY JIM CARREY'S MASK
ASSIGNS YOU TO A MONSTROUS TASK:
DESTROY THE COLOSSI
SIXTEEN GIANT BOSS GUYS

Don't get stomped, climb up a thigh,
Grab butt fur, shoot in the eye,
Hang on tight, cling to the beard,
Stab until they disappear!
Spinal tap, blade to the dong,
This guy wears rocks for a thong!
Sword to the brain,
Sword to the brain,
SWORD TO THE BRAIN,
SWORD TO THE BRAIN!

Something is happening, slowly you're darkening
Keep coming back and continue embark-ening

TRAVELING CAN BE SLEEPY, YES, BUT
LOOK, YOUR SWORD HAS GPS, SO
GO TO WHERE THE BEAM OF GOOGLE MAP LEADS YOU
BABY NEEDS YOU!
GALLOP THROUGH A SCENIC PASTURE
TIL YOU SPOT AN UGLY BASTARD
PRESENT YOUR I.D.
WITH AN ARROW TO THE KNEE!

Don't look down, jump on a wing,
Kill with fire, cling cling cling,
Hold your breath, run up a blade,
Blood comes out, you're getting sprayed,
Find weak spots, then you take aim,
It's not your dad's puzzle game!
Sword to the brain,
Sword to the brain,
SWORD TO THE BRAIN,
SWORD TO THE BRAIN!

Don't just tame them!
Kill them, maim them!
Stake your claim, then
STAND ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS!
WHAT A GAME!

I love how you have a folder filled with these pictures and these pre-made responses saved to Notepad solely so you can run screaming into every single SOTC thread and, no matter what the subject is or if nobody has said a single word about remakes or remasters, start shitposting and making the thread all about you and your ACfag-tier level of autism. The original game still exists, go play it instead of crusading over nonsense on Yea Forums.

She's T-posing. This is probably an unfinished model. Or perhaps they only deleted a part of her, and forget to scrap the rest.

I would normally agree but Shadow of the Colossus is one game that deserves a dedicated defense force, and they're not wrong here. You can watch the clips they provide and see yourself how the original experience was lost a bit.

>but Shadow of the Colossus is one game that deserves a dedicated defense force
No, it really doesn't, especially when the "defense force" is as autistic as you are, screeching your ass off over a few different pixels or whining about being able to actually see shit means everything ever is ruined.

I always felt like the Wanderer never really knew the girl.

yeah same. A Dante and Beatrice situation

Shit I never noticed that, amazing.

>I would normally agree but Shadow of the Colossus is one game that deserves a dedicated defense force
AUTISM

>youtu.be/lxCT2s--ulg?t=575
>That fucking demon voice
Shadow of the Colossus is such a good game

Half of the ending is wanderer's dying dream; what "actually" happens there is unknown, moreover, the question doesn't even make sense since the game is pure fiction to begin with.

The story is incredibly straightforward though

So simple and so good

As someone who played the original over 20 goddamn times, I don’t see the point in hating the remake. The original is still there and still good. The remake loses a few things like certain lighting and particle effects, but if the choice is “PS4 or never play the game at all” I’d say PS4 version easily. It’s so fascinating to see how much they recreated. Yeah it’s not perfect, but it’s still great.

The exact moment at which wanderer's wishful thinking fully supplants ingame reality is also unknown, that is the exact moment the ending starts going off rails, is also unknown and unknowable in principle sincs the entire game is laid down from wanderer's perspective which fact is crucial at conveying the ultimate point of the game elaborated above.

The Colossi fights, among other things, due to their exaggerated nature subtly frame wanderer as unreliable narrator.

You know, it's a pretty common knowledge, I think, that Ueda was Amiga boy, played Another World there, took a shine to it, which can be seen in Ico, yadda-yadda. But much more important is that on said Amiga there was another game he not only could play, but, judging from his own games, very much DID play and DID take even a bigger shine to.

And the game I mean is.

Guess it.

Dreamweb.

bump

The fruit just exorcises the evil powers of the land. The Wanderer's stats can't go any lower than they begin at.

Dude, that Mono is just an incomplete model for the ending cutscene. The game was a work in progress since that comes from an incomplete demo disc that has Colossi locations in the wrong spots and even holdover info from when different Colossi were still planned to be in the game.

Dormin has his shadows imitate The Wanderer's movements in front of Emon and his guards to make them think that The Wanderer is possessed. The shadows do nothing to protect The Wanderer, and later Dormin slams his hand into the floor, shattering it before advancing toward Emon and co. Dormin is totally the nefarious one, and he's made of the same energy as the evil Queen in Ico and the souls she has enslaved. To "control beings of light" probably means to enslave the living, and Dormin is a chimera or twisted alliance of souls oppressing the living world or otherwise enslaving other souls to be magical steroids for their own.

Jesus fucking Christ

The painstakingly nuanced animations, the lighting, the music, the entire atmosphere and the fucking art direction are all extremely important elements of this game. Even regardless of that, I don;t know how you could recommend a version of the game that breaks the mechanics making it harder to play. The graphics are the least important part of the game.

>shitty ps2 video output
American detected. Never seen a component cable or even an RGB SCART cable.

>this is your mind on christinsanity

Since Shadow of the Colossus is one of the best examples of Minimalism in video games, I have to go against my default craving for more content and say that any expansion or explanation beyond what is given in the game I think would only detract from it's quality. The beauty and artistry of the game is in it's simplicity which makes what is there more powerful and those themes present more universal.

>American detected
Fuck I wish I had a free card to be retarded. It's shit compared to the other consoles and their best cable solutions. PS2HDMI can't come soon enough so I can get the native digital signal and convert to analog again

>minimalist=simplicity!

retard

A lot of things are left deliberately ambiguous, which is what makes the game so memorable.

>The wanderer(Wanda)
A young man/older teen who travelled to a forbidden land with a magic sword to try to bring a girl/woman back to life. There are obvious signs he has never used a swords, but is really good at horseback and archery.

>The girl
Vaguely referred to as a sacrifice, her body is unharmed and unblemished. Might be dead, might be cursed. The wanderer and the sacrifices connection is unknown.

>Dormin
Ancient god sealed by humans who betrayed him or ancient evil sealed by humans who trick him. He keeps his promise to the wanderer, but under plays what killing the colossi will do to the wanderer. Honestly didn’t seem interested in possessing the wanderer until the priest showed up, and stated he would return his body.

>Colossi
Sentient fragments of Dormin’s soul or golems meant to protect the seals.

>The priest
Zealot of a new religion or guardian of an ancient evil.

There are so many questions left unanswered. Who built the tower and bridge? Who sealed Dormin? Why did the pit seems able to purge Dormin from the world? Did the pit even kill Dormin or fuse him into a human? How does Ico fit in?

Are you saying there is something wrong with arguing that an aspect of a minimalist video game could be it's simplistic presentation?

Thanks for the support bro. The remake defense force: population 1 is quite pathetic and it encourages me when others realize this.

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I guess something like that can be easily lost to the layman, which is why it's extremely easy for people to be wowed at first sight by something just on the basis of it ''having details'', but it's no lie that art and asset production for games in recent years has been dramatically systemized, especially from western developers. It's a deep rabbit hole of sameyness and it's being actively promoted throughout the industry, and taught to thousands naive randos who think having an Artstation portfolio and using buzzwords to explain their generic creations makes you into a quality artist.

And yes, ''just fucking rocks'' are also a fraction of that problem. These types of typical modern games mostly use very similar visual solutions, techniques, generic ''tried'' design and rely solely on following a few tutorials to get the job done, they can operate only at the most basic techie level and lack an eye and understanding for visual consistency, deliberate aesthetic choices, composition, animation, tone etc.

This SotC remake is a perfect case study for all that, especially when comparing it to the original ( or TLG for that matter).
People easily jump on the ''it's just the hardware'' excuse for things that are conscious deliberate changes done all across the board, and deliberate changes can be objectively observed and compared.
Do you think people would remember the original SotC nearly as much if it didn't stand out so much visually in the first place?
If it looked like a generic PS2 game, people simply wouldn't know any better, but we all know it didn't look like that, did it now?
It deserved it's status as a unique title and vision, and to simply brush all the effort put into it as ''technical limitation'' 10 years later just shows how ill-informed and easily swayed the gaming community is, so do not be surprised why games are not taken seriously as an art form. This remake will age extremely poorly with its visual aesthetic.

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FuckI made a lot of spelling errors. Time for bed.

SOTC's minimalism made me appreciate all of it even the lizard hunting which I enjoyed quite a lot. Or learning to grab the hawk. Stuff like that was way more fun than 100 collectables.

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Shallow but deep...

damn

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16 bosses is a lot.

I agree, very much so

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So what's team Ico doing these days ?

Hopefully a new game before 2025 ?

a lot of climbing and stabby stab. Being honest I dropped the game after the 4th. Not an art fag looking for pretense in everything and sipping on my martinis. I prefer video games.

I felt like some of the colossi wanted to die or didn't really try to fight it much, I think this is a common sentiment.
If so, was that the case because they wanted to be reunited? But if that was a thing why did some of the other colossi fight it back so hard?

to me, there's a certain haziness, in both the original versions, that added to the misty atmosphere in general. i felt that the PS3 remastered ver. took that out and even defined the characters too much. i just liked the overall haziness even though the PS3 remaster is a good remaster

They're making a SOTC story clone by the looks of it. Dunno about the gameplay.

There is a measurable amount of haze in the PS2 version and the PS3 drops it. Even when you emulate it in hardware mode it's not there. It's only in certain areas though as far as I can tell. It took me years to even notice it.

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You know, it is possible to not like something without feeling the need to tear it down or tear down those who enjoy it. If you don't like the color "green", you can feel that way without thinking green is stupid and those who like it are stupid too. Just saying.

>Being honest I dropped the game after the 4th.
boards.fireden.net/v/search/image/YwsYiCvy8So-aeGsLsfGBA/
You're a fucking loser.

Hey you should work for IGN.

why was the ps3 version so hard compared to the original? I haven't touched it in ages but the last time I played I noticed myself getting tossed around by the slightest breeze when clinging to a colossus.

I still have my ps2 copy, popped that shit in and didn't have that happen. Haven't bought the ps4 versions because the ps3 port is visually all I ever wanted out of an hd port.

just curious if anyone else had this problem

The higher frames fuck up the climbing.

Seems to me the Colossi act according to their shape. The one looking like a boar try to trample everything, the ones looking like warriors try to clobber you, and Phalanx probably doesn't try to directly attack you because that's not how whatever it is usually acts

i don't know anything about technology, but apparantly the increased framerate caused you to lose balance way more often

I wish they didnt cut the other 8 colossi.

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Your the villain for killing the good Colossus who are the balance of the world.

i remember buying the remastered version day 1, and i noticed it instantly

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That's a sensible interpretation. I can go with that.

you have to stand on the stone tiles you can get onto, then you have to dodge when he steps on it. The side of the tile against the wall is raised as long as his foot is on it and you can climb higher along the walls of the arena.

holy shit really? damn.

Believe the previous two anons or Here is an eleven year old thread. neoseeker.com/forums/5696/t1263189-differences-between-pal-usa-version/

Wow those look amazing, how far did they get in the process of them and why did they cut them?

this game used to mesmerize me as a kid so much and made my imagination run wild
bought it and played without any guide up untill the 15th boss, and then my disc got scratched up or something and i never was able to get to the final boss. i kept wondering and sometimes even had dreams about what the final boss would be like

There's nothing wrong with the ps2 analog video output as long as you use rgb or component and a CRT

I think it's a little bit worse on PS3. I should see if RPCS3 can play it yet to take some comparison pics.

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Why has no other game like SotC been made?
It's so simple. Make a world, add a bunch of gigantic bosses, and give the player various ways to hunt them.

If I was a game dev, this reaction would be the most satisfying thing for me, exactly what I would want. Minus the scratch and all

SOTC was good because of the SSS class art and animations mainly. No other studio can compete so I doubt anyone would fund it.

There was that one SOTC clone but it was just bad looking.

What country is the studio based in?

>Evil God gets its soul horcruxed into Colossi
>Promises you to revive your dead gf if you go kill them Colossi
>You become the new vessel for the dark god
>Then you get hit by the reset waters and turn into a baby dark god
>gf and horse are OK and take care of the antichrist

Japan dude wtf

Because on paper it sounds stupid and nobody wanted to do it. A boss rush game without the rush part sounds absolutely horrible. SotC manages to get away with it because it was a beautifully designed game with an engaging and simple story. It’s actually genius how the minimalistic story reinforces and relies on the empty landscape. It forces the player to really engage with their feelings with killing the Colossi and making the world even a little more empty. How the music swells heroically during the fight, then turns tragic during the death. How the concept of killing the boss is so engrained a player and is so casually makes you feel “maybe I shouldn’t be doing this” the entire time. I may sound a little navel gazing here, but I stand by what I wrote.

And now that SotC exists anyone who does it will be ripping them off.

They got cut due to time and being too difficult but some of their fighting areas are still leftover.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=N-8009dxKkE

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reminder that wander very likely did NOT know who mono was; he found her like that somewhere.

oh yeah... that was a dumb question lol

I wonder if her touched her boob when she was sleeping. You know he got a boner on while carrying her on the horse.

That's such a ridiculous idea. Were you paying attention at all?

>riding for days
>risking your life constantly doing the most insane shit
>that scene where he touches her face
>the dialogue from the elder
He CLEARLY knew her.

>plays videogame to kill bosses
>thinks they shouldn't be doing it
then why play, go outside and ride a bike?

Some were cut for lack of times, some were too similar to other existing colossi, the phoenix one was cut because they couldn't get it to work right (I think they couldn't figure out how to make a satisfying battle), and the spider one was cut because you initially killed it by making a specific move not done anywhere else in-game and devs didn't like that.

If the Christian interpretation guy is still here, he may find it interesting to remember that Moses is said to have grown horns after meeting with God. Though it's sometimes translated as he having a glow afterwards, but I think most scholars agree it's horns

Praey of the gods is in EA and it's basically the same concept except in a snowy environment.

I don't know why it needs to be in EA or why you would buy it in that state but it'll come out one way or the other.

They should have kept swinging your sword on horseback. Its still leftover in the psm demo.

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I'll explain it to you in chronological order:
>Girl dies
>Wander (a warrior) wants to bring her back to life
>Steals a sacred sword and goes to the forbidden land to speak with Dormin to strike a deal to bring her back to life
>At the same time a shaman elder from the society that Wander hails from begin tracking him to the forbidden land
>Wander makes deal with Dormin to slay collosi in exchange for Dormin bringing the girl back to life
>Wander confirms that he doesn't care if he dies (he's a warrior after all, comes with the job)
>Slays the monsters and is slowly corrupted by the black tendrils of Dormin that each colossi contains within
>Eventually kills them all
>Shaman and co. arrive at the same time
>Wander is executed for stealing the sword and performing the forbidden deal with Dormin
>Dormin uses Wander's body as a sacrifice as he was killed in Dormin's temple at his altar
>Dormin rampages but is defeated when shaman uses the sword and a spell to Banish Dormin once more
>Wander is sucked into the spell but reverts back into a baby
>Girl comes back to life because Dormin kept his end of the bargain
>Girl finds Agro the horse and Wander as a baby and takes them both up top of the temple to live
Its a pretty straightforward story

she didn't recognize horned-baby wander when she should have if she were his lover. maybe HE knew her because she might have been a princess. she did not know him.

Why did he turn into a babby tho? He cant even screw his zombie gf now because shes basically his mom.

How do you know she did not know him ? I wouldn't recognize anyone if they were babies.

Holy shit the spider one look spookino.

I didn't say they were lovers or that she knew him and putting aside this revelation of your illiteracy you're still a dumbass for not thinking this though.
>she just woke up from a very long sleep, might be in a dreamy state
>she might not even have her memory
>she might not know who the fuck this baby is, it's a FUCKING BABY

If they were gonna do it they wanted to do it right, I can respect that. Not just trying to add as much as possible. Still though disappointing tho lol.
the strengths of ambiguity and leaving it up to the viewer to decide aside, that first segment with the multiple riders would have made an interesting opening scene. Kind of showing who Wander is and how he can do what he does. It was real well done, that's for sure.

>girl dies somehow
>wander (mc) takes her body and the sword to forbidden land to try revive her with dark spiritual being sealed there
>people give chase to him to stop this
>wander kills colossi and frees spirit but the people seal it again and he's turned into a horned child when it stops possessing him
>but the spirit revived her like they agreed anyway

Any more than that is pure speculation. Generally, however, it is mostly agreed that:
>The people who chased were some kind of religious group due to their garb and knowledge of the land/the sealing ritual.
>Wander probably stole the sword since it seems to be magical, the religious group clearly know how to use it, and his swinging of it makes him look inexperienced compared to his bowmanship
>Last thing people generally extrapolate is that Wander goes on to start the lineage of cursed boys with horns in Ico

>>Last thing people generally extrapolate is that Wander goes on to start the lineage of cursed boys with horns in Ico
Ico also known as SS

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The idea might be simple but the execution must be perfect for it to work. Also technically, Sotc was ahead of its time, ps2 could barely run it. The animations, music, overall design must be all carefully planned. It's no joke people say this game is art, because this game can not be produced by an assembly line of people.

There is no story.

But could an infinite amount of monkeys produce it given an infinite amount of time?

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I can still smell that crisp, cold fall air, and the smell of smoke from fireplaces.
Walking home from school, to find out upon arrival at home that my relatives sent me an early Christmas gift.
We Love Katamari, Call of Duty: Big Red One, and Shadow of the Colossus.

As clear as day, I can still remember getting all comfy on my bed with a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup my grandfather made and some pumpkin tea, and starting up SotC for the first time.

Man what a great coincidence that this thread is up since I just finished the game for the first time, I played the PS3 version.

What an absolute masterpiece, I can't believe I hadn't played this game yet, I thought it was one of those games that were praised because they were technically good at the time... I couldn't be more wrong. The game is not only graphically impressive, but the art-style and atmosphere is just so fucking good. The sense of scale is so well fucking made. Oh my god. I finished the game in 2 days. Granted, the game is not long, it took me 11 hours, but even games of that length usually take me months to finish, I think I hadn't finished a game back to back since Ocarina of Time. In fact, I'm always happy when I finish a game, I like seeing the credits roll, but this time around I actually wanted it to go on and I was sad when it ended. This game made me remember how much I love video-games bros, what an experience, what an adventure. I loved every second of it, and its without a doubt one of my favorite games.

Sorry for the blogpost bros, I had to let it out.

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>Gets asspained because the word girlfriend is used loosely

That's a yikes from me.

It was only my assumption, considering such an effort was sent to stop him and something something save the princess as a simple boy schtick I saw it as when I was a kid.

based and colossus-pilled

might I suggest Pathologic 2 next?

Pussy whipped cuck murders to get a women that won't love him because women can't love they are opportunists

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I am happy for you.

Don't forget about Ico.

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Well the giant monster acts like a total retard and is difficult to control, just like real pets so yea it's good.

I just started Ico but thank you fo the recommendation, will look into it.

Jesus I can't get over how good the soundtrack was
youtube.com/watch?v=dVNcmGjNW6c

I've never played Ico or any of their other games. I should get on that as well

How about RPCS3?

Last I heard it crashes and following the trends set in other PS2 games it will run like shit.

> as if they tried to reconstruct a tale that inspired the the ones of Abrahammic people
That's what I meant. I didn't precisely mean that they were specifically Abrahamic, I just said they were close to being like an Abrahamic tribe (hence why I said pseudo-Abrahamic in a few of the posts). But yeah I see your point. But my main point is that SoTC is using Abrahamic and Babylonian mythology as a starting point/inspiration for SoTC's lore and am pointing out all the connections here. But yeah, I see your point.
I haven't finished Last Guardian either, so I can't say either.
Yeah after doing some more research on Tarots, I think that was a a bit of a stretch from my part, seeing as the only connections I could find was Malus and the cut Devil Colossi. I'll rephrase and say that Malus could represent Simon Magus, but I can't be too sure of that yet either.
Good eye, I never noticed that actually. That could be something to add on as well.
It could be, I just find the headlessness to be the weird part, that and the beta Gardens look different from the final one.
No problemo.
I am not even Christian dude. Read the whole theory and the responses that followed
I believe Avus, the Boar (Sirius), the Worm (Dionin) and the Devil (Pholux) were the closest ones to be finished. The Worm's assets can still be found in the game code (like his idol and a texture from him but not the whole thing). Pholux's area can be found alongside the beta dam (with a bunch of weird brick structures), Sirius' arena and one of it's textures can also be found and lastly Avus can be seen briefly in a beta trailer and was long speculated to be the 17th Colossi youtube.com/watch?v=GoTzk_Bk8R8
And the full trailer with audio can be found in the NICO dvd:
youtube.com/watch?v=241oWlzt18o
Monkey got cut pretty early on and Aberth was too difficult to fight and had to be cut

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Yeah I just started Ico. Played it just a little bit because a ran out of stamina, I've been playing SotC the entire day. I will get to it tomorrow but the first impression was very good though it will be really hard for it to be as good as SotC.

SotC has it all: amazing presentation. amazing soundtrack, amazing gameplay (and very original as well), amazing story with barely any exposition and told mostly through gameplay (taking advantage of the medium). The game is as close to perfect as a videogame can be.

I like Ico more.

I'm really sad they didn't make a PS4 ICO. It definitely deserves it. A darling of a video game that deserves a spot next to SotC and TLG.

My heart couldn't take them ruining Ico

Maybe so, but I just want more people to experience Ico. Everyone's played SotC.

Why would you even want that? The PS3 versions are the definitive versions of these games. even Ignoring the fact that SotC remake looks objectively worse than the original, the game is just a soulless cash-grab made to pander a new audience with flashy graphics, without the need of investing too much, as opposed to the artistic vision made videogame that is the original. I simply cannot fucking comprehend why some people want remakes of these games, do they really look that bad to you? really?

>Why would you even want that?
>I just want more people to experience Ico. Everyone's played SotC.
I didn't buy the PS3 SotC or ICO remasters, I didn't buy the PS4 remake. I'm just happy they exist to introduce younger people to these wonderful experiences. Video games are the only medium where there is always going to be a disconnect between the old classics and modern classics because it's hard to sell someone on playing a classic if they need THIS specific system.

faggot.

;)

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Ico's port lacks the post processing meaning you don't see fog(present in the vast majority of the game), rain, lightning, or the screenspace god rays properly(or at all). And a lot of the areas lose their color because the bloom is gone. The bloom was used to shade a lot of the game. Then they "updated" textures by repeating them in some instances, making a bunch of areas look like some amateur "HD" modders got their hands on the game. Some effects like smoke were removed too, and the cool water splash effect was replaced with a very generic one. It was also only 30fps when they could have easily made it 60, because the engine was built for 60fps just like SOTC.

SOTC has one of the songs at the end of the game removed, there's no more distance blur, the bloom was toned down drastically, the color grading was adjusted or outright removed, and the grip and balance problems make gameplay significantly harder especially on hard and time attack modes. It's understandable why this game was kept at 30fps because even for the PS3 it would be hard to run, but the game can technically run at 60fps too.

You should emulate these games. You get the original vision and you can play both of them at 60fps if your CPU is up to the task.

You only get 60fps with Ico if you download a special build of it with leaked debug versions of binaries substituted for retail ones. It is in that debug menu where you can actually move the fps-cap from 30 to 60.

what a load of bullshit this post is.

You sound like you _MIGHT_ enjoy a certain rather infamous game called "Ruins of Myth Drannor".

Story is simple. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl dies mysteriously. Village they are from talk of a land where a dark god is sealed. That can grant anyones wish. Boy takes girl to this forbiden land. Talks to the dark god. He tells him about the wish. Boy asks for her to be saved. Dark god agrees, requires the Colossus that house his power be defeated. The power would need to be stored into the boys body. People from the village find out about this, and head tot he forbidden land. He kills all the colossus. Becomes the host body of the dark god. The dark god grants him his wish. But takes his body. The villagers apears, attacking the dark god now brought back. It lashes out. It gets sealed again. Girl wakes up, not dead anymore. FInds a baby with horns. Embraces it and walks away. There is probably some stuff i misssed. Its also pretty mucht he prequal to the Ico game. Not sure where it fits with The Last Guardian.

I wish someone made full HD desktop pictures for all of these artworks (not just the ICO one)

Literal autism

>Boy falls in love with girl
source?

It always fucks me up when the bridge breaks before the last colossus and the horse falls into the abyss
Even when I know it's coming and I know he lives somehow

Does everyone here really hate the PS4 version?
I'm exactly like this guy but with the remake. I've never played the original PS2 game or the PS3 remaster, so I don't have anything to compare it to, and from what I've seen yeah, the PS4 version seems like it has a different feel to it, but holy shit did I love this game. It instantly became one of my favorite games ever.

It feels weird to see so many people shit on the PS4 version, when I feel like what I experienced with it is basically the same as what you guys felt when playing the original.