It is one of those experimental games that also didn't blew me away. I finished it but also not really loved it like others do except for the soundtrack. Around the same time I got Okami (also on PS4) and I recommend that one above SoTc. Honestly I wasn't a big fan of Ico either, it starts great but it becomes so tedious but I enjoyed the book.

This track is my favorite thing out of the game:

I actually just finished the PS4 remake two days ago, marking the third time I've played Shadow of the Colossus all the way, and if anything this just confirmed my opinion of the game as one of the best I've ever played. It's definitely not for everyone, but the things that you didn't seem to like about were exactly the things that made it special in my opinion.

It has a been a while since I've played Shadow of the Colossus. Some older games age extremely well and some do not, especially when you are talking about game play. My guess is that SotC is one of those games that doesn't age well. At the time it released, the appeal was that all of the monsters were just so friggin huge. But since then there have been games like Dark Souls that do the giant boss monster a whole lot better.

SotC is what I would call a groundbreaking game. It's important because it has influenced several great games that came after it. But when the later games do the same thing, but better, then that makes the earlier game not age as well.

I've dedcided to persevere a little and see if the controls bed in a little. 

I'd be interested to know though, did any of the people who love this game (of which there seem to be many) play the remaster as their first experience of SOTC?

I have a feeling that most, if not all fans, fell in love with the original which is having a big influence on their opinion of last year's version... 

Honestly... from my experience... I don’t think the game is super fun to play... it’s more about the experience... you probably could bypass all the boring stuff and watch a YouTube video explain the game and get the same level of enjoyment... without the hours of powering through the boredom...

I played SotC for the first time on PS3 and I too found it to be lacking. I actually preferred Ico because while it was less ambitious, I felt it was better able to execute its goals. I agree that the controls are not great and the whole shaking mechanic is just broken (literally in my case because I've read a lot of people say that the PS3 version was borked, which should have been fixed for the PS4 version). Overall, I found that the collosi mostly just get more tedious as time goes on, not really any more interesting and the story comes to a limp conclusion with what I found to be a tremendously disappointing finale. I disagree wholeheartedly with people who say that it is one of the best in video game history.

That said, I did beat the game and I don't really regret my time with it. While it never got much better, I think it was still interesting to play through just because of how huge the game is in video game culture. I am also the type of person who tries to beat every game I play, but if you don't feel compelled to play more, I would say that there isn't anything that will change your mind throughout the game.

That's what the game is. No bullshit to run through, just bosses. If that's not your thing, no worries, move onto something with more bullshit to deal with. I think the draw for me back on PS2, was the sheer scale of the bosses. The next game to truly scratch that itch was the tower knight boss in Demon's Souls. 

Just though I'd file a progress report - after my 2nd session I'm now 11 colossi down.

I've somewhat come around and am enjoying my time with it now that I've come to terms with what the game actually is.

It's quite an odd game - it has one formula and refuses to deviate even slightly (thus far anyway), right down to the repeating scene of the camera panning to the skylight in the temple to receive your next target.

I also think that the journeys to the colossi could do with some kind of challenge / puzzle element, as all they boil down to is following your sword's GPS until you arrive. The whole thing is just so unbelievably bare bones...

That said, I am quite enjoying the loop, as simple as it is.

It's definitely one of those games that is more than the sum of its parts - which is just as well, as apart from the art-style, it's parts are pretty average...

Even the boss battles themselves are actually quite basic, once you get passed the coolness of the design. There's normally a single gimmick that you need to figure out and that's all she wrote, which must have been a regression in boss battle complexity even back in the PS2 days... hell, even the PS1 / N64 days...

Anyway, I'll definitely finish it now, which is a big shift from where I was yesterday, so I'm definitely more positive about the game now - but a 91 in 2018 it most certainly ain't!

That is all the game is, for better or worse. Some people want a game that focuses on atmosphere and uses stretches of nothing to accentuate it. Some people want constant gameplay. Sounds like you're the latter, if you enjoy Spiderman. Might I recommend God of War or Horizon: Zero Dawn instead?