hagstrumpa Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 I am not quite sure what I expected when I started playing Ico. One thing I know is that I didn't expext it to be a platformer game. It is very beautiful and to some degree addictive, but the game is all about jumping, running, fighting and climbing (and pulling a few levers). You don't really have to use your brain. Some of you probably disagree. I would really like to know your views on this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marek Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 I think every room is a puzzle in itself. I played the game with some friends, passing along the controller whenever someone had a new thought as to how to progress through the level. Yes, it's got a lot of platform stuff going on, but why call that dissapointing? Unless you were expecting it to be a point-and-click adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homoludens Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 Originally posted by hagstrumpa I am not quite sure what I expected when I started playing Ico. One thing I know is that I didn't expext it to be a platformer game. So you didn't read the reviews, eh? It sounds to me like you were expecting things from it, such as, perhaps, a heavily dialogue based point & click adventure? Fact is, ICO is hard to categorize - platformer, adventure, puzzle game, strategy.... ...but the game is all about jumping, running, fighting and climbing (and pulling a few levers). You don't really have to use your brain. Wrong, wrong, wrong....and wrong. How far have you gotten, or have the jumping and running already made you quit? As Marek stated, every room is a puzzle waiting to happen, the entire fortress/castle is one massive puzzle. *Adventuring and puzzling is that you must explore and look at every angle of each room to spot something that might help you and Yorda get out of there - a few bombs, a crack in a pillar, a torch, a crate, a chandelier. As I stated in another forum, you must think of the puzzles in terms of their physicality in how they can be solved. This game is not just about pulling levers, which is why I presume you barely made progress into it. There have been puzzles where I'd be stumped, quit the game, and come back a day or two later and figure it out. It's deceptive, pulling levers is only one part of the equation. *At times you must leave Yorda briefly to figure things out; this is where the strategy comes in, because if you leave her long enough those shadow beasts will get her. Try to keep her as close behind you as possible while you're in the next room, so that in case she is abducted it will take you just a moment to get back and rescue her. *Jumping and running platform style is necessary conceptually. ICO is, after all, a young boy full of energy, so he must be quick and agile. If you think you're not good at it, practice here and there, swinging from chains, jumping to ledges, shimmying off walls, etc. You'll get better in no time. *It is possible to keep combat to a minimum. If you haven't noticed yet, Yorda's power to open those heavy doors can also kill all the shadow beasts within range. Sometimes they appear just as you're about to reach a door, so having Yorda open the door will neutralize any monster. You'll start out with a long stick at the start of the game, but you'll upgrade to a sword a bit later, which is more powerful. *Atmosphere. ICO must be played alone for the first time. This is an extremely intimate game (much like Silent Hill), and you'll get the full effect with the sound turned up and you laying back on the couch. It's great in that this is the kind of game you can just pick up and go with, no catching up on dialogue, no reading manuals, etc. It's also slower in pace, so you can do things like stand on the sea cliffs and be mesmerized by the misty horizon, or watch the dapples of sunlight and shadows playing under the trees. *The sequel to ICO is coming!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novel_T Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 What Trep said. Ico is one of the most original, fresh, (okay, I'm going to say it again) atmospheric games to come down the PS2 pike. As such it faithfully defies category, if you allow yourself to be absorbed by the experience instead of mulishly trying to fit it into a category or gaming standard. Wrapping your mind around that kind of preconception nearly ruins the somewhat pregnant expectation of which Ico is chock full. I had never heard of it before until I played the demo disc prior to its release, and I was immediately captivated by the pure feel of it; the massive scale of the castle, the hazy, sepia-like ambience -- and ultimately the relationship between Yorda and Ico, and her growing dependence on a boys emergent strength. I love how this game doesn't spoon feed you this pedestrian, anticlimactic story where the dialogue is a tutorial and the game is over before you've actually exercised your imagination. It quietly leaves much unsaid (and half of what is said is left for your imagination to translate), taking much from any good book on the art of writing that admonishes to show and not tell. Much of the beauty of the game is this truly interactive subtlety. These are things that have rarely, if ever, been developed in a game before that wasn't a pure adventure. It is, and probably will remain my all-time favorite PS2 game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagstrumpa Posted June 30, 2003 Author Share Posted June 30, 2003 Thank you! That was the kind of reaction I wanted. Sorry about this, but I just wanted to exaggerate to get some sort of reaction. What I wrote was , just as you said Homoludens, my thoughts when I just started the game. I didn't get the controls properly and I couldn't climb the chains or run around without falling down and dying all the time. After playing a while I really grew to love Ico. It's a wonderful game and it has changed my views on how a "proper game should be". I know that I always have been kind of traditional in my gaming habits, but I think that this is going to change now. I am not sure how far I have gotten into the game but I have lit one reflector. I hope there is much of the game left. Othervise I just have to look forward to the sequel. Sorry again, I couldn't help myself ...Sara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twifkak Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Originally posted by Homoludens no reading manuals Actually, I got stuck at least three times because I didn't read the manual -- that you can use R1 to pull Yorda out of the portal, the fact that you can swing, etc. *The sequel to ICO is coming!!! Not for a while still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twifkak Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Originally posted by Novel_T Ico pwnz me May I quote you? A friend asked me what's so special about pushing boxes *cringe* and I don't trust my ability to communicate it (at least, not without killing her in the process). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novel_T Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Originally posted by twifkak May I quote you? A friend asked me what's so special about pushing boxes *cringe* and I don't trust my ability to communicate it (at least, not without killing her in the process). By all means. Though I have no clue what "pwnz" means. Also, the link that Trep supplied above has some really cool review blips from multiple sites that pretty much summarize the Ico experience. edit: nevermind - I get it now...pwnz. heh How cool was it that, at the end of the game, when you're sure that Ico is going to drown in a pool of unrequited angst, he walks along the beach and comes across a decidely un-shadowed Yorda - I actually got teary!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twifkak Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Originally posted by Novel_T By all means. Okeydoke. Yeah, Trep's words & the reviews decently do so, but not in Snickers® "Fun Size" form. edit: nevermind - I get it now...pwnz. heh Yeah.. I don't condone the use of it -- I am just too late to be helped. How cool was it that, at the end of the game, when you're sure that Ico is going to drown in a pool of unrequited angst, he walks along the beach and comes across a decidely un-shadowed Yorda - I actually got teary!! Yeah... The way they did that, where, even when zoomed in, you see little more than a blip on the screen, ignites so much emotion. The whole experience (my favorite being the open, epic-scale portions, probably) is just wonderfully done. The developers focused their effort on everything that every other game ignores, and to a wonderful effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novel_T Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 We're (Adventure Gamers) hoping to post a review of ICO - so hopefully this will work out in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twifkak Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 Originally posted by Novel_T We're (Adventure Gamers) hoping to post a review of ICO - so hopefully this will work out in the near future. Do I smell the emergence of an Adventure Gamers+? *runs* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagstrumpa Posted July 26, 2003 Author Share Posted July 26, 2003 I've just translated my review of Ico into English - come over and have a look! ...and don't miss the last chance to participate in out "We-love-Raj-Contest" in wich you can win Full Throttle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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