Shadow of the Colossus

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 3:35 pm

Anybody here pick it up?

I've beaten it. It's... pretty damn amazing. Better than Ico, in my opinion (though this is definitely going to be debated a lot).

dok_industrial · Post by **dok_industrial** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 3:46 pm

how ironic...i was just thinking about starting a topic on this myself.

anyway, yeah. i just finished it too...absolutely amazing game, from top to bottom, beginning to end. can't recommend it enough.

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:47 pm

Just beat the eighth colossus this morning.

You know, when I first popped it in, I was disappointed. The graphics, while pretty, are choppy as hell. The controls didn't feel right. I dunno, I guess I had just been playing too much Ninja Gaiden Black recently.

And then, that first big bastard lumbered by.

I've been hooked ever since, to the exclusion of every other game I have. This game is absolutely stunning, and possibly the best non-shmup I've played all year. Fantastic...

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:59 pm

I think it's better than any shmup (or game) this year, simply due to its aspirations. Like Ico, this is something that only comes around once in a long while, and has something to offer beyond its gameplay.

As for the controls, some people complain about them. Personally, I think they perfectly capture the feel of hanging on to a giant thrashing about for dear life. If it controlled "better" this might be lost.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:11 am

Just finished it, absolutely love it!

Something like Clash of the Titans meets Princess Mononoke directed by...uhhh, one them experimental french directors where nothin' happens in their movies for 2 hours (I'm really blanking out here...)

Anyway, yeah, great fun!

(somehow didn't see this thread before and created a duplicate...wtf!!??)

Messing around with time-attack now and special items.

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:30 am

Okay, I beat the ninth and tenth colossi, but had to quit during the eleventh as real life was calling...(I just hate when that happens

).

I may have been a tad restrained in my praise earlier.

Game of the Year? I think it might be.

Oh, and as far as cinematic references go, it feels almost like Tarkovsky to me, in terms of the stark feel and overall atmosphere.

Samudra · Post by **Samudra** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:59 pm

dok_industrial wrote:how ironic...i was just thinking about starting a topic on this myself.

Actually that is merely a coincidence.

It would be ironic if something like the following would have happened:

sethsez and you are personal friends, living near each other, and have played the game together. He didn't like it, but you do; and you tell him you are going to start a thread on shmups telling about your like and his dislike.
Now a few hours later you go to shmups to start the thread and to your suprise you find a thread started by sethsez on how he likes the game; as in the few hours time he learned to appreciate it.

That would be ironic.

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:44 pm

What sort of time are you guys clocking-in to finish it?

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:40 pm

It took me about 8 hours all told. A perfect length for a game, imo. And now I'm going through hard mode which is even more enjoyable (but would just be annoying the first time through).

Oh, and just FYI for anyone who's interested: if you want to replay a fight, just go to the dead colossus's body and pray. You'll go through the fight again.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:52 pm

Took me 12. Guess I'm stupid that way.

Haven't moved on to hard yet. Mostly working on time-attack to unlock all the extra goodies.

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:52 am

I'm currently on the lightning cloud? spitting type thing after the sea serpent.

I don't mind pixellation, but it is mighty hard for me to overlook bad, early Tomb Raider-esque play control and poor framerates.

I otherwise really dig the game. It would have been so much more exciting with better play control, and so much more beautiful at 60 FPS than it is now, at what appears to be around 35 or so. I honestly think it's too much for the PS2 to satisfactorily handle, much like GTA:SA was.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:05 am

MadSteelDarkness wrote:Just beat the eighth colossus this morning.

You know, when I first popped it in, I was disappointed. The graphics, while pretty, are choppy as hell. The controls didn't feel right. I dunno, I guess I had just been playing too much Ninja Gaiden Black recently.

And then, that first big bastard lumbered by.

I've been hooked ever since, to the exclusion of every other game I have. This game is absolutely stunning, and possibly the best non-shmup I've played all year. Fantastic...

How's the replay value on this game? This is an important factor to me, and it worries me with games like ICO and this one.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:00 am

dave4shmups wrote:How's the replay value on this game? This is an important factor to me, and it worries me with games like ICO and this one.

Well, how do you define "replay value"?

There's a few unlockable things and a time attack mode, but the replay value here is entirely old-school: you replay it because it's fun, and you want to experience it again. If you absolutely need the game to provide motivation for replaying (in the form of extra modes or a reward or such) then I recommend just renting both this and Ico.

But you should play them. In my opinion, every gamer should. They're two titles that really try to push gaming foward in very meaningful ways.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:51 am

sethsez wrote:
But you should play them. In my opinion, every gamer should. They're two titles that really try to push gaming foward in very meaningful ways.

Very well said. I love both this and ICO, but they aren't games that can be played for hundreds of hours (honestly, to have gotten 12 hours out of it makes the game seem like a good investment.)

...actually, the story alone made the game feel like a good investment.

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:48 pm

Logs out, drives into town in search of game!

Dammit you guys have forced me to play ico and shadow of the colossus!
Sounds good.

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:39 pm

Sony seems to be running a rather cryptic ad campaign for this game. (Apologies if everyone's already seen this.)

http://arkadysimkin.pl/infocus_eng.html
(bandwidth is crappy)

I found the link on an alien and ufo discussion forum where people were thinking it was real until someone pointed out that it was one of these 'viral' ads for the new game. Some of them still think its real though.

Post by **Ghegs** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:55 pm

The last colossii just fell before me.

That was pretty much my face during the last one and the ending. Wow.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:57 pm

Just bought the localized version for my sister. I got orginal voice (i.e. Japanese), Option to use English/Chinese/Japanese subtitle. Game Manual in Chinese. An extra instruction sheet written in English. It is NTSC-J, and works on Japanese PS2.

Anyone only got a Japanese PS2 and want to play this game in English, can PM me. I will go and see if I can still got a copy for you. For your reference my copy cost me US$49.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:56 pm

There's a few unlockable things and a time attack mode, but the replay value here is entirely old-school: you replay it because it's fun, and you want to experience it again.

The way it should be. This sounds absolutely phenomenal. For some reason I decided to wait for the PAL version, so I'm really hoping it has a 60hz option!

UnscathedFlyingObject · Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:12 pm

I'm waiting for a price drop!

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 10:55 pm

My roommate got it and it looks really badass, we'll see how fun it is though.

Funnily enough I didn't enjoy Ico at all.

edit: I was also wondering if it was 30 fps...looked like it had that 'choppiness' like some Saturn games (Sega Rally, Manx TT). seems to have a few other minor graphics problems. Hopefully it'll get a PC or Xbox port.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 10:56 pm

SAM wrote:Just bought the localized version for my sister. I got orginal voice (i.e. Japanese), Option to use English/Chinese/Japanese subtitle. Game Manual in Chinese. An extra instruction sheet written in English. It is NTSC-J, and works on Japanese PS2.

Anyone only got a Japanese PS2 and want to play this game in English, can PM me. I will go and see if I can still got a copy for you. For your reference my copy cost me US$49.

The voice isn't Japanese. This game, like Ico, has a made-up language. The American version doesn't have any english voice acting either, it's all subtitled.

And Ghegs... yes. Hell of a finale, ain't it?

Neon wrote:Funnily enough I didn't enjoy Ico at all.

Ico's gameplay was kind of dull, really. They both have atmosphere, but SotC actually has the gameplay to back it up.

MovingTarget · Post by **MovingTarget** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:22 pm

IS the Pal version out yet? If not the japan version... does it have any important dialogue or info not in english? As I might have to buy it!

edit: oops!

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:12 am

Neon wrote:Hopefully it'll get a PC or Xbox port.

Not gonna happen, it's made by Sony.

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 1:39 am

I put the game on hold for a couple of days so I could really savor that last colossus, then picked it up again today and beat it.

I'm going to second Ghegs' reaction.

This game is unbelievably good. Can't wait to replay it later.

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 7:24 am

MovingTarget wrote:IS the Pal version out yet? If not the japan version... does it have any important dialogue or info not in english? As I might have to buy it!

edit: oops!

PAL version out February or March next year.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:44 am

NTSC-J wrote:
Neon wrote:Hopefully it'll get a PC or Xbox port.
Not gonna happen, it's made by Sony.

Xbox is definatly out of the question and it's not likely Shadow of Colossus will come to the PC, but do keep in mind that Sony does make the occansional PC product.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:05 pm

It would have been a great PS3 launch title (they could still do something like that if they bundled it with ico). Still, the framerate issues don't hamper the game at all, and while a bit annoying at times, nitpicking here does miss the point of what 'team ico' has accomplished with Shadow. Overall I'd say the game was a complete triumph.

MovingTarget · Post by **MovingTarget** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:35 pm

Much thanks to SAM I finally have this game, it looks stunning. Cant play it till saturday though as its gonna be a birthday present from my gf. Had a wee play though and the horse looks/plays fantastic, the light on the sword trick is pretty damn cool too. The epic and mysteriou settings are makin me cream my pants!

Also if anyone is interested theres a thread at gamefaqs that lists most of the fancy tricks and controls such as hanging on the horse side saddle, catching doves, diving, backflips etc...

About the replayability of the game, I'm assuming it'll be similar to pd saga. The experience is so unique and fun its easy to replay the game again and again, rather than just the standard unlocking or maxing out stats that most games(generally rpgs) provide.

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:44 pm

judesalmon wrote:
MovingTarget wrote:IS the Pal version out yet? If not the japan version... does it have any important dialogue or info not in english? As I might have to buy it!

edit: oops!
PAL version out February or March next year.

Ico is getting a re-release when this comes out over here