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[VGEsoterica]

I can see why people worried we’d never actually get The Last Guardian. It was delayed to eternity and was rumored to be marred with massive technical hurdles Team Ico was struggling to overcome.

In the end we got TLG, and while the technical hurdles may still be there, in the end we were given one of the most unique games and characters in this generation of gaming (well, in my opinion anyway lol)

If you have ever owned a dog, Trico will make sense to you. If you haven’t...go adopt a dog and come back in a year Haha. Ueda and Team Ico managed to perfectly capture the personality of a dog in Trico ; attachment, dependency, intelligence, a desire to help, and willfully ignoring or even the most basic commands if they aren’t “in the mood” to listen.

How much of that comes down to clever AI coding and how much of that comes down to flaws in AI coding they hid behind a “dog personality” I will always wonder about...but it just works.

Team Ico games have always been about cooperation. Yorda in Ico, Argo in Shadow of the Colossus, and Trico in TLG. You cannot “beat” the games without these characters. Ueda seems to love enforcing the concept of friendship and bonding with others. Almost as if giving us a life lesson of “its easier to go with others than to go it alone”....which really is how life is more often than not.

All in all an amazing experience. Yes the controls can fight you and yes you’ll die a lot due to no fault of your own, but if you look past all that TLG is one of the most amazing experiences this generation.

I’d love to hear what others think though! So long as it’s not Trico hate haha

fingers crossed we get another Ueda game on PS5 one day

 

[VGEsoterica]

More of my thoughts about “puppy bird”...the name my wife game Trico when she watched me play the game. Too bad they aren’t real animals the size of a house dog. I’d def get one

 

[JOEVIAL]

The Last Guardian is a very special game. The bond that you can develop with Trico is completely unique, and is something I don't think can be replicated again. Just like a real pet, Trico is Trico. She cannot be replaced. I truly felt like Trico was one of my pets through my playthrough of this game. Ahh man... The Last Guardian is a beautiful experience!

 

[VGEsoterica]

The Last Guardian is a very special game. The bond that you can develop with Trico is completely unique, and is something I don't think can be replicated again. Just like a real pet, Trico is Trico. She cannot be replaced. I truly felt like Trico was one of my pets through my playthrough of this game. Ahh man... The Last Guardian is a beautiful experience!

agreed. The box should really have a notice that says “best played if you have or have had a pet”. I saw so much of my corgi in Trico. Smart, wanting to help....totally intentionally ignoring basic commands when she doesn’t feel like listening.

TLG made me sad when it ended because I wanted to keep “living” in that world for a bit longer

 

[DelireMan7]

If you have ever owned a dog, Trico will make sense to you. If you haven’t...go adopt a dog and come back in a year Haha. Ueda and Team Ico managed to perfectly capture the personality of a dog in Trico ; attachment, dependency, intelligence, a desire to help, and willfully ignoring or even the most basic commands if they aren’t “in the mood” to listen.

How much of that comes down to clever AI coding and how much of that comes down to flaws in AI coding they hid behind a “dog personality” I will always wonder about...but it just works.

100% agreed on that. Trico has pretty much the behavior of a real dog. Many times I also wondered if it was on purpose he was not listening or just "mistake" in the programming... In the end it doesn't matter because it makes Trico alive. I often speak to him while playing to "call"/congratulate/whine about him.

I have a dog myself and she (should be "it" I guess but my french brain can't process that) can be as annoying as Trico....

I love the game, like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus before, and I hope we'll see other games from Ueda.

 

[VGEsoterica]

100% agreed on that. Trico has pretty much the behavior of a real dog. Many times I also wondered if it was on purpose he was not listening or just "mistake" in the programming... In the end it doesn't matter because it makes Trico alive. I often speak to him while playing to "call"/congratulate/whine about him.

I have a dog myself and she (should be "it" I guess but my french brain can't process that) can be as annoying as Trico....

I love the game, like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus before, and I hope we'll see other games from Ueda.

dogs are never an it even digital ones like Trico.

it’s a curious thought and I don’t know the answer to it...did they hide coding issues behind our preconceived notions about how dogs behave, or were the coders so good at their job they coded Trico to be hard to convince to do exactly what you wanted her to...just like a real dog?

either way it works. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given our dog (Pip, a corgi, 11 years old) a command and she’s looked at me, thought for a second, then decided she didn’t feel like listening. You can tell she processed the command then decided “nope not feeling it”...:Trico did the exact same things

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I must admit I was one of those "haters", I dismissed the game as lost in time that nobody cares about anymore. Anyway, many moons later I see it on sale for like $20 in a store and bought it. I was glued to my TV. The controls didnt bother me at all, it all made sense. I think if you have an action, just click once and sooner or later Trico will do it, but if you spam he just gets retarded. Playing the game with headphones...that wind chime as you go through empty structures...it was such a beautiful world. I liked the game so much that I send a private message to the guy I was dissing every time he was praising the game before I even tried it. Something about Uedas games, Id say the sound department is ace. It makes you really feel alone but you hear all of the world around you. Now I hope we dont wait 10 years for another game.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I must admit I was one of those "haters", I dismissed the game as lost in time that nobody cares about anymore. Anyway, many moons later I see it on sale for like $20 in a store and bought it. I was glued to my TV. The controls didnt bother me at all, it all made sense. I think if you have an action, just click once and sooner or later Trico will do it, but if you spam he just gets retarded. Playing the game with headphones...that wind chime as you go through empty structures...it was such a beautiful world. I liked the game so much that I send a private message to the guy I was dissing every time he was praising the game before I even tried it. Something about Uedas games, Id say the sound department is ace. It makes you really feel alone but you hear all of the world around you. Now I hope we dont wait 10 years for another game.

I totally get where you are coming from. In some ways Ueda’s games feel “antiquated”. But they offer something so different and unique that they all should be experienced for the art of them alone.

Ueda is someone who needs to be allowed to direct a CGI film or an animated feature at some point in his career.

 

[EverydayBeast]

The Last Guardian Trico is a BEAST, just a different breed of beast and there's a lot of companionship things going on what the OP is talking about, they tried to make Trico more of your friend than pet. I wish I could replay that game for the first time around it would be a lot of fun.

I was public enemy #1 because I said the controls weren't bad

 

[REE Machine]

Only negative I had were the floaty controls, anytime i needed Trico to something he did it. Great game!

 

[Danjin44]

The Last Guardian was soooooo good and the animation for Trico was one of the most realistic animal animation I have seen in gaming.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Need to replay it soon. The game that people dismissed because reviewers didn't praise it with 10s. Misunderstood game that deserves a second look.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

The normies would not have complained if Trico had an "obedience meter", but then it wouldn't be an Ueda game. The underlying mechanics could be perceived if you slowed down and played it like a person playing with an animal. Seaman and Eyepet come to mind.

 

[Danjin44]

To me if Trico did as soon as you asked him then it would suck all the fun out of this game. This game is about trying work with wild animal, not a human AI.

 

[VGEsoterica]

To me if Trico did as soon as you asked him then it would suck all the fun out of this game. This game is about trying work with wild animal, not a human AI.

agreed. His personality and lack of immediate willingness to assist gives him his charm just like a real animal

 

[sublimit]

Need to replay it soon. The game that people dismissed because reviewers didn't praise it with 10s. Misunderstood game that deserves a second look.

If there was a medal for "most misunderstood game of the generation" this game would have won it easily.

 

[VGEsoterica]

If there was a medal for "most misunderstood game of the generation" this game would have won it easily.

which is funny because what else would you expect from a Team ICO / Fumitu Ueda game? This is exactly what we had coming and everything should have known that

 

[Danjin44]

which is funny because what else would you expect from a Team ICO / Fumitu Ueda game? This is exactly what we had coming and everything should have known that

Most of the time gamers are their own worst enemy, because what they really wanted is another Shadow of the Colossus but that not what they got, so they end up hating the game.

 

[AV]

I couldn't work out if he was actually getting more obedient or if I was just getting better.

The fact that I couldn't tell proved to me that it did its job very well.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I couldn't work out if he was actually getting more obedient or if I was just getting better.

The fact that I couldn't tell proved to me that it did its job very well.

I think it was a mix of both? I feel like as the game goes on and you spend more time with Trico, she becomes more bonded to you and more willing to listen to commands

additionally any dog learning something new always gets confused when the concept is first introduced but over time the commands (well asks more like it haha) cement in their heads and they more quickly pay attention to what you said and perform the behavior you are expecting of them

 

[VGEsoterica]

If there was a medal for "most misunderstood game of the generation" this game would have won it easily.

quite possibly. It was hyped up for years then seemed to quietly launch into the ether. It came and went from the collective consciousness relatively fast.

SotC and ICO still get way more press and articles. Maybe TLG just needs more time to become more appreciated

 

[Joey.]

Hmm funny this thread was posted. Didn't see it.
I posted in the PS5 game predictions and was wondering what happened to Team Ico? Any news on them developing another game?

The Last Guardian was amazing IMO.

 

[MoreJRPG]

I was public enemy #1 because I said the controls weren't bad

Controls were awful, it took me 45 minutes to get the damn dog bird thing to dive down underwater.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I can see why people worried we’d never actually get The Last Guardian. It was delayed to eternity and was rumored to be marred with massive technical hurdles Team Ico was struggling to overcome.

In the end we got TLG, and while the technical hurdles may still be there, in the end we were given one of the most unique games and characters in this generation of gaming (well, in my opinion anyway lol)

If you have ever owned a dog, Trico will make sense to you. If you haven’t...go adopt a dog and come back in a year Haha. Ueda and Team Ico managed to perfectly capture the personality of a dog in Trico ; attachment, dependency, intelligence, a desire to help, and willfully ignoring or even the most basic commands if they aren’t “in the mood” to listen.

How much of that comes down to clever AI coding and how much of that comes down to flaws in AI coding they hid behind a “dog personality” I will always wonder about...but it just works.

Team Ico games have always been about cooperation. Yorda in Ico, Argo in Shadow of the Colossus, and Trico in TLG. You cannot “beat” the games without these characters. Ueda seems to love enforcing the concept of friendship and bonding with others. Almost as if giving us a life lesson of “its easier to go with others than to go it alone”....which really is how life is more often than not.

All in all an amazing experience. Yes the controls can fight you and yes you’ll die a lot due to no fault of your own, but if you look past all that TLG is one of the most amazing experiences this generation.

I’d love to hear what others think though! So long as it’s not Trico hate haha

fingers crossed we get another Ueda game on PS5 one day

I have the game... I still enjoy the gameplay.

I always say that Japan Studio is a Magic company with such emotionals games. God bless Team Ico and Japan Studio.

I wish someday this kind of games was the peak of the gaming industry and not games that are puke like Fortnite

 

[Keihart]

The normies would not have complained if Trico had an "obedience meter", but then it wouldn't be an Ueda game. The underlying mechanics could be perceived if you slowed down and played it like a person playing with an animal. Seaman and Eyepet come to mind.

This very much. There was no bar on display, but there was definitely one behind the scenes and paying attention to Trico and how he responded or emoted was the clue.
It's easier to call the game controls or the AI bad instead of learning how the game works of course.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

This very much. There was no bar on display, but there was definitely one behind the scenes and paying attention to Trico and how he responded or emoted was the clue.
It's easier to call the game controls or the AI bad instead of learning how the game works of course.

But the game didn't explicitly tell me in the tutorial so it must be the game's fault.

 

[VGEsoterica]

This very much. There was no bar on display, but there was definitely one behind the scenes and paying attention to Trico and how he responded or emoted was the clue.
It's easier to call the game controls or the AI bad instead of learning how the game works of course.

Yes. Whatever Trico is thinking, there is no visible explanation in any sort of HUD sense. Trico is the hud. You have to watch what she’s doing to better understand what was keeping her from doing what was asked.

a bar in the HUD would have killed that sense of discovery so I’m so glad it was never included.

 

[Ceadeus]

It was such a good, good good game!! So beautifully made and touching.

It should inspires young video game developer on what it is to create a vibrant and emotional world with lovable characters and story, without all the useless violence we are used to be feed on.

 

[Cravis]

I need to finish it. I’m in the conundrum of I don’t want to continue playing if he is going to die but I don’t want to look up and spoil the ending for myself. I don’t think I will be able to take him dying, even if it is a sacrificial death.

 

[chilleverest]

I made a post couple months ago regarding this game. My dog had recently died. I just couldnt play the game because everything trico did reminded me of him. I eventually finished it. Its an amazing game. Here is the post i made when i was still grieving.

LTTP: The Last Guardian ''I couldn't bring myself to play'' (Please read OP)

(Mild spoilers) Backstory; After waiting for years keeping myself in the dark, away from potential spoilers, i bought the much anticipated title ''The Last Guardian.'' I was lucky enough to play Ueda san's SOTC on the ps2 and i knew The Last Guarding would have some of his magic in it. I...

www.neogaf.com

 

[VGEsoterica]

I made a post couple months ago regarding this game. My dog had recently died. I just couldnt play the game because everything trico did reminded me of him. I eventually finished it. Its an amazing game. Here is the post i made when i was still grieving.

LTTP: The Last Guardian ''I couldn't bring myself to play'' (Please read OP)

(Mild spoilers) Backstory; After waiting for years keeping myself in the dark, away from potential spoilers, i bought the much anticipated title ''The Last Guardian.'' I was lucky enough to play Ueda san's SOTC on the ps2 and i knew The Last Guarding would have some of his magic in it. I...

www.neogaf.com

im sorry to hear about your dog :-/. We lost our cat this feb to cancer. It just sucks when they go. But we get to remember them so it’s not they no longer exist. They just aren’t here physically