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Forums - Sony - When does ICO get interesting?

Septhy on 13 November 2010
CDiablo said:
nitekrawler1285 said:

Ico becomes interesting when you begin to identify with and empathize with the characters. 

Ico becomes interesting when you feel Ico's struggle as he climbs walls impossibly high.  When you grow frustrated with Yorda and want to leave her behind but need her so dearly.  When vertigo plants  fear in your heart for taking that next leap.  When you are afraid because monsters come to take away your ticket out of here and you are nearly powerless to stop them.  When you go outside and the warm sunlight shines through spring green leaves and you have a sense of hope that you may make it out this dark and dreary castle yet.

If you aren't connecting like that it wont be interesting because how well those emotions are conveyed is the best part of the game.  It's not about the simple puzzles or the shallow combat, it's about being there and having their struggle become your own. I thought the animation and art direction made it easy to do.  Apparently not the case for many.  

God bless Fumito Ueda and his sense of game design.  While it may not be for everyone it is most certainly for me.  This despite many people's detractions is still one of my favorite video games of all time.  At what it exceeds I feel few games come close and one of them is of course the prequel.


Well you can say that about any game with a shit plot. Mario becomes interesting when you feel Mario's struggle as he climbs walls and jumps impossibly high.  When you grow frustrated with Yoshi and want to leave him behind but need him so dearly.  When vertigo plants  fear in your heart for taking that next leap.  When you are afraid because monsters come to take away your ticket out of here and you are nearly powerless to stop them(by the way the monsters are useless and are easy as shit to beat).  When you go outside and the warm sunlight shines through spring green leaves and you have a sense of hope that you may make it out this dark and dreary castle/cave/whatever board you are in yet. You can make the arguement with games from the 8 bit era and pretend there is more depth to a game than there acutally is.

The characters arent built at all. You dont know anything about them. You never learn anything about them. Marios games would be shit if it werent for level and art design. Ico (while I stated has good art direction) has less challenge than a Mario game, much less gameplay diversity and even less of a plot. It feels like a half completed game. Games that have come out 4-5 years before ICO did what ICO did and did it much better.

Here is a video essay by "thegamelocker" on Ico, it will explain to you how characters are built in the game.

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l9Kh_BvR6I

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppw6j8MIcRU&feature=related



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ishiki on 13 November 2010

 

Neither is the second coming of god (or X time depending on your beliefs)

IMO... Ico itself  it was one of the better ps2 games when it was released which wasn't saying a whole lot if I remember. It was also a game that tried to go in a different direction than other games. Which is good if it entertains you.

And while the game was great. I don't particularly remember it more fondly than many other PS2 games that came later. The game relies on atmosphere. And the gameplay for me, was clunky, interesting at times and bland at others... kinda like silent hill 2... 3 etc imo. Only in my case I thought the atmosphere/story in Silent Hill 2 was a lot better and interesting (Yes I know different type of atmosphere but atmosphere is atmosphere)

Shadows of the Collosus is a much better game imo. Because the gameplay was great. the boss fights are awesome the atmosphere is great. However... there's a lot of roaming searching for the collossi on your horse... some people loved this. I loved it for a while, but then I found it bland after a few hours of playing it as theres nothing else to do. I just wanted to beat the bosses which is mostly what there is to do and that's what I did. But my opinion has to do with... some weird twitch I had bugging me... saying, make zelda like this. As in put the in between zelda stuff and then have SoTC type boss fights but thats another topic.

Also, the slowdown is aweful. Slowdown really bugs me much more than polygons even if the artstyle is good (as it is in SoTC). However I played it on PC emulator and it upped the resolution and framerate to perfect. So I still recommend it even if you didn't think ico was all that great Particularly if you have a powerful enough computer.



hikaruchan on 13 November 2010
Septhy said:
CDiablo said:
nitekrawler1285 said:

Ico becomes interesting when you begin to identify with and empathize with the characters. 

Ico becomes interesting when you feel Ico's struggle as he climbs walls impossibly high.  When you grow frustrated with Yorda and want to leave her behind but need her so dearly.  When vertigo plants  fear in your heart for taking that next leap.  When you are afraid because monsters come to take away your ticket out of here and you are nearly powerless to stop them.  When you go outside and the warm sunlight shines through spring green leaves and you have a sense of hope that you may make it out this dark and dreary castle yet.

If you aren't connecting like that it wont be interesting because how well those emotions are conveyed is the best part of the game.  It's not about the simple puzzles or the shallow combat, it's about being there and having their struggle become your own. I thought the animation and art direction made it easy to do.  Apparently not the case for many.  

God bless Fumito Ueda and his sense of game design.  While it may not be for everyone it is most certainly for me.  This despite many people's detractions is still one of my favorite video games of all time.  At what it exceeds I feel few games come close and one of them is of course the prequel.


Well you can say that about any game with a shit plot. Mario becomes interesting when you feel Mario's struggle as he climbs walls and jumps impossibly high.  When you grow frustrated with Yoshi and want to leave him behind but need him so dearly.  When vertigo plants  fear in your heart for taking that next leap.  When you are afraid because monsters come to take away your ticket out of here and you are nearly powerless to stop them(by the way the monsters are useless and are easy as shit to beat).  When you go outside and the warm sunlight shines through spring green leaves and you have a sense of hope that you may make it out this dark and dreary castle/cave/whatever board you are in yet. You can make the arguement with games from the 8 bit era and pretend there is more depth to a game than there acutally is.

The characters arent built at all. You dont know anything about them. You never learn anything about them. Marios games would be shit if it werent for level and art design. Ico (while I stated has good art direction) has less challenge than a Mario game, much less gameplay diversity and even less of a plot. It feels like a half completed game. Games that have come out 4-5 years before ICO did what ICO did and did it much better.

Here is a video essay by "thegamelocker" on Ico, it will explain to you how characters are built in the game.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

 

 



Japanese Pop Culture Otaku

zuvuyeay on 13 November 2010

well you could say that about lots of games like driving games or fps shooters

its a puzzle/platformer it was beautiful to me with atmosphere and a good ending,haven't played it in years but still remember the windmill and other sections



                                                                                                                                        Above & Beyond

   

Sorcery on 14 November 2010

It gets interesting after you stop treating it like a game and start enjoying the phenomenal fantasy world Fumito Ueda and his team created.

 

It's not a game in the traditional sense, it's an experience. No testosterone-infused moments of action, few rewarding gameplay mechanics, just a desolate castle with only one other person to survive your ordeal with.



Currently playing: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, NBA2k11, Metal Gear Solid, Picross 3d

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d21lewis on 14 November 2010
CDiablo said:
nitekrawler1285 said:

Ico becomes interesting when you begin to identify with and empathize with the characters. 

Ico becomes interesting when you feel Ico's struggle as he climbs walls impossibly high.  When you grow frustrated with Yorda and want to leave her behind but need her so dearly.  When vertigo plants  fear in your heart for taking that next leap.  When you are afraid because monsters come to take away your ticket out of here and you are nearly powerless to stop them.  When you go outside and the warm sunlight shines through spring green leaves and you have a sense of hope that you may make it out this dark and dreary castle yet.

If you aren't connecting like that it wont be interesting because how well those emotions are conveyed is the best part of the game.  It's not about the simple puzzles or the shallow combat, it's about being there and having their struggle become your own. I thought the animation and art direction made it easy to do.  Apparently not the case for many.  

God bless Fumito Ueda and his sense of game design.  While it may not be for everyone it is most certainly for me.  This despite many people's detractions is still one of my favorite video games of all time.  At what it exceeds I feel few games come close and one of them is of course the prequel.


Well you can say that about any game with a shit plot. Mario becomes interesting when you feel Mario's struggle as he climbs walls and jumps impossibly high.  When you grow frustrated with Yoshi and want to leave him behind but need him so dearly.  When vertigo plants  fear in your heart for taking that next leap.  When you are afraid because monsters come to take away your ticket out of here and you are nearly powerless to stop them(by the way the monsters are useless and are easy as shit to beat).  When you go outside and the warm sunlight shines through spring green leaves and you have a sense of hope that you may make it out this dark and dreary castle/cave/whatever board you are in yet. You can make the arguement with games from the 8 bit era and pretend there is more depth to a game than there acutally is.

The characters arent built at all. You dont know anything about them. You never learn anything about them. Marios games would be shit if it werent for level and art design. Ico (while I stated has good art direction) has less challenge than a Mario game, much less gameplay diversity and even less of a plot. It feels like a half completed game. Games that have come out 4-5 years before ICO did what ICO did and did it much better.

This post made me laugh out loud! 



outlawauron on 15 November 2010

Don't feel bad. I felt the same. I didn't enjoy what little time I had with Ico. Shadow of the Colossus is actually enjoyable though.



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