With TRICO it's all about the animations and making the animal feel and act in a realistic way. Watch all the footage and you'll start to see how well animated it is. Because it feels like a real creature, we relate in an emotional way (more so if you've ever owned a pet). This was the ambition of the game and it looks like they've pulled it off. The creature doesn't always do what you want either. Sometimes it will just refuse but over time, as the trust builds, those refusals become less.

I'm not going to say I'm worried about that but it's going to be interesting to see how they ballance it between engagement and possible frustration.

If it's like a cat it will take 100 hours just to get out of the first location ...

There is no such thing.

Cats are like women, you can be stroking them one minute and they purr, claw the air and narrow their eyes in glee and then the next minute, hook onto the hand that feeds them and leave deep scars. Men are like dogs, loyal to a fault but bite visciously if you constantly tread on their tale ...

But I'm not bitter.

This has been confirmed for 2016 by the way:

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/05/fumito-ueda-says-the-last-guardian-is-coming-this-year/

And just because those pics from IGN are not of a very good quality, here are some from Gamersyde:

I'm flattered but he only likes it gentle.

Who am I kidding. Here. Touch it.

Someone who read EDGE on GAF:

Just read the article from EDGE a few minutes back. Turns out GenDesign did employ a physics engine on both the environment and Trico save for some instances where hand-made animation take over such as its eyes turn red and his feathers stand-up when agitated.

All in all, the article ends up noting the same vibe one gets in a fresh experience of ICO & SOTC which is a very very good thing. They remark on how much they focus too much on the aesthetic than look at the bigger picture GenDesign employs in their games. Every page gave me a smile considering the number of hype and preview articles that came behind it. They were baffled, confused and unable to pinpoint a reference point from other games other than Team Ico's because what they were experience was that UNIQUE!

Ha ha ha. 

Ouch. xD

Ico and Sotc were like when you go on vacation to an exotic location, find a modest looking seaside restaurant that ends up servig you the best pancakes you ever had
Then you come back from vacation, look around for similar pancakes and nobody is able to replicate it, it's always missing something
Looking forward for more pancakes from Chef Ueda-san