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LTT...wat? Shadow of the Colossus

Galactic Fork said:
The one I hated was the lizard in the stadium. Having to run back up and down the stairs always annoyed me. Plus the energy blasts....
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Oh I love that one, in Time Trial mode, you learn to just
whistle for him to climb up, jump/ stumble/fall to the bottom, shoot arrows upwards from the pit, and wait for him to land next to you :D
 
Well, it's one of those games that can be only appreciated by people that have an interest in artistic value so of course there are some who don't like it because they value more mundane things much higher.
 
Cosmozone said:
Well, it's one of those games that can be only appreciated by people that have an interest in artistic value so of course there are some who don't like it because they value more mundane things much higher.
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I can't tell if this is a serious post or a parody of people who say such things.

Either way, lol.
 
Graphics Horse said:
Oh I love that one, in Time Trial mode, you learn to just
whistle for him to climb up, jump/ stumble/fall to the bottom, shoot arrows upwards from the pit, and wait for him to land next to you :D
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Huh... I've done all the time trials, even that one, and I still never thought of that trick. Son of a bitch!
 
Graphics Horse said:
seriously though, what would you suggest happens if you don't kill the last colossi? The guys turn up and take you home?
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being that it's a random story pulled from someone's ass, i'd say there's an infinite number of possibilities. it's not like the game would really be all that much different, but at least you're not being forced into some linear story, doing something that's clearly wrong from the start, only to get preached at.

here's one:

realizing you were being played as a pawn, you jump on the first train out of no-man's land, end up at Hogwarts, and begin hunting down a giant f'n snake that's turning people to stone, and then you kill it, save the cheerleader, and in the process save multiple worlds from destruction and evil.

or if you want to restrict it to that imaginary world:

you can either surrender yourself to the priest and such, be put in prison, have a sequence showing you after you're released as you sit on a the beach eating watermelon, and then suddenly see yourself surrounded by the demon things which then take your life or transform you into a boy with horns or something.

could also find yourself leading the men on horses to one of the colossi, and then sacrificing yourself, and having them killed in the process, and never completing the spell.


hey, it's just a random story with no real meaning, feel free to make your own!
 
soco said:
stuff
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I'm confused, you were suggesting an alternative ending to the story should be an option, but now you're saying the story doesn't matter anyway.

I do like the idea about gameplay involving the priests trying to stop you take down the last one, I was kind of expecting that when I played it.
And the '17th colossus' was confusing and too sluggish to control
 
Graphics Horse said:
And the '17th colossus' was confusing and too sluggish to control
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I think that was deliberate.

You're supposed to feel helpless at these little creatures who were trying to kill you. It was a role reversal, to experience some sense of desperation similar to what the colossi suffered when you robbed them of their life.
 
Regulus Tera said:
I think that was deliberate.

You're supposed to feel helpless at these little creatures who were trying to kill you. It was a role reversal, to experience some sense of desperation similar to what the colossi suffered when you robbed them of their life.
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I get that, and I haven't experimented with it much, but I don't think it was done as well as it could be.
 
Graphics Horse said:
I'm confused, you were suggesting an alternative ending to the story should be an option, but now you're saying the story doesn't matter anyway.
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what's to be confused about? the story was rubbish and predictable from the start. the only thing that wasn't so predictable was how exactly it'd tie in with ICO's story.

an alternate ending would've at least added a tiny bit of depth. hell, just being able to kill all of the priests at the end so they can't escape and lock up the lands, and giving an alternate ending would've added to the game.
 
Graphics Horse said:
I get that, and I haven't experimented with it much, but I don't think it was done as well as it could be.
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If it had been done "as well as it could be" it would have messed up with the intention.

I like to equate that scene with the last battle of Crisis Core:
both games strive to achieve the same chord -one of despair and futility at the truthfully insurmountable challenge. The problem with Crisis Core is that it relies on never-ending re-spawning enemies, because by that point Zack already is a master godmodder, making your eventual defeat seem cheap. It's obvious that the feeling created by the game is artificial, whereas Shadow of the Colossus tries to make you feel deprivated of any means to defeat your opponents.

But you're free to disagree. I'm of the games can be art department, in case you haven't noticed. We are weird hippies.
 
Regulus Tera said:
I think that was deliberate.

You're supposed to feel helpless at these little creatures who were trying to kill you. It was a role reversal, to experience some sense of desperation similar to what the colossi suffered when you robbed them of their life.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but a few of the Colossi got to shoot energy blasts...
If I had energy blasts as the 17th colossi, I'd teach those little humans to go after my glowing blue spot.
 
Ranger X said:
You analogy with Resistance after that wasn't really good. You would have hated Resistance because first person controls are "tank-ish" and it's only "you move, you shoot". You would also find it freaking repetitive as it's only shooting and would be deceived that the only way to kill all the bosses is by shooting them.
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Its not about whether or not you find it to be an accurate comparison, I was giving an example as I saw fit.

Relax :D
 
hokahey said:
Last week I found myself ready to take on a new game to play. I was in the mood for something epic. Larger than life. Something that might take longer than a few hours to beat. Something compelling. As I often do when the mood strikes me I take the time to research some of the more well received games from the previous gen that I missed out on. After hearing all of the hype and reading all of the reviews I finally decided to dedicate smy time to Shadow of the Colossus.

We'll start with the positives:

The soundtrack is incredible.

The Colossi are a sight to see...at first.

From there it's all downhill. When I first turned the game on I thought something was wrong with my TV. It's beyond washed out. It's practically black and white. There is no color in this game.

The controls are awful. I can only guess that the developer was going for some sort of pseudo Prince of Persia mechanics, but the result is an almost unplayable mess. Once get you on the horse it's even worse. Let's not even talk about what happens if you get in water. The button commands are unresponsive at best.

Oh well, right? Certainly this game must have some redeeming value. Look how well received it was!

The colossi are certainly impressive at first. Wow, look at that giant thing? What? What do I do with it? I don't know, but apparently if I run around for 5 minutes the game decides to tell me.

Wow, another collosi. Now I know what to do. I jump on it and find a weak spot and stab it. Great!

What? Another one? Do the same thing? IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS GAME?

No. It's just me, this horse that controls like a tank and these goddamn giant things running around.

Over.

And over.

And over.

It's like someone had a cool idea for a boss and decided to repeat it over and over again.

No enemies! No items! No color! Just giant collosi!!!

I just don't get it. And I feel so deceived. What the hell is this game?

I hope this post is acceptable. I don't think I've done anything wrong here. I was just so disappointed that I had to share. I also thought someone could highlight the hidden genius here because I can't see it.
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all this... and you like shenmue? really?
 
Until the day Shadow of the Colossus does something very kind for you (such as saving your life, making you dinner, or promising a better future) I see no reason to get so frisky when someone disagrees with your opinion.
 
For me, it's definitely a flawed masterpiece. It gave me some awesome feelings that not many other games have, but it also filled with me with rage when the frame rate constantly dipped below 25, and yeah, the way Wander controlled felt clunky.

But I guess it's testament to the designers that I feel like playing it right now!
 
soco said:
being that it's a random story pulled from someone's ass, i'd say there's an infinite number of possibilities. it's not like the game would really be all that much different, but at least you're not being forced into some linear story, doing something that's clearly wrong from the start, only to get preached at.

here's one:

realizing you were being played as a pawn, you jump on the first train out of no-man's land, end up at Hogwarts, and begin hunting down a giant f'n snake that's turning people to stone, and then you kill it, save the cheerleader, and in the process save multiple worlds from destruction and evil.

or if you want to restrict it to that imaginary world:

you can either surrender yourself to the priest and such, be put in prison, have a sequence showing you after you're released as you sit on a the beach eating watermelon, and then suddenly see yourself surrounded by the demon things which then take your life or transform you into a boy with horns or something.

could also find yourself leading the men on horses to one of the colossi, and then sacrificing yourself, and having them killed in the process, and never completing the spell.


hey, it's just a random story with no real meaning, feel free to make your own!
Click to expand...
But if you don't kill all the collosi, your waifu doesn't come back to life. There's no point in choice for the sake of choice. In fact, the lack of choice is one of the most poignant aspects of SotC to me, and is integral to defining Wander as a character.
 
RadioHeadAche said:
Until the day Shadow of the Colossus does something very kind for you (such as saving your life, making you dinner, or promising a better future) I see no reason to get so frisky when someone disagrees with your opinion.
Click to expand...

SotC DID save my life!! ...Then it slept with my mom. I hate that game!
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
Despite the fact that SOTC is one of my 100 favorite games of all time I have no problem with people disliking it.
Cause really it's not for everyone.
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ICO and SOTC are both not for everyone, or even most people.
 
People who are complaining about the horse controls have obviously never been on a horse. SotC has the best horse mechanics I have ever seen. It felt very true to life. It was one of my favorite parts of the game.
 
GameGamer said:
Funny.
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How so?

It seems pretty obvious. I have owned and ridden horses hundreds of times and I had perfect control of Agro 5 minutes in. As someone else said you have to forget the Epona type 'control the horse'. Instead you are guiding the horse with the reins.
 
Cosmozone said:
Well, it's one of those games that can be only appreciated by people that have an interest in artistic value so of course there are some who don't like it because they value more mundane things much higher.
Click to expand...


I liked SotC...a lot, but fuckwadical, snack-hungry troglodytes like you make me not want to.

It's just a fucking game. Get over yourself.

It's not art. It's a videogame. And I don't say that to disparage it. Videogames are just separate from art.
 
Sapiens said:
I liked SotC...a lot, but fuckwadical, snack-hungry troglodytes like you make me not want to.

It's just a fucking game. Get over yourself.

It's not art. It's a videogame. And I don't say that to disparage it. Videogames are just separate from art.
Click to expand...
Actually it is art.

*nuclearexplosion.jpg*
 
well, I had similar feelings to my LTTP to Sotc thread a couple years back. I did enjoy it, but the concept wasn't fully explored, IMHO.

Once you get onto the "fur" part and figure that part out, that pretty much finished most bosses. I wanted some more variations of platforming on the boss themselves, like the final boss. Figuring out how to get on to each boss was fun, but once you are on... it was quite repetitive.
 
MvmntInGrn said:
Framerate issues? A few slowdowns but not bad at all. Now Blacksite Area 51 has a bad framerate.
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A few slowdowns? You definitely don't have an eye for framerates then. The game never holds 30. On average, the framerate probably stays in the higher teens...it feels slower than a 64 game. On bad occasions (so far in my playthrough, on the second boss), the framerate easily drops to single digits. It's pretty brutal. I'm awaiting a PS2 emulator update so I can run this game at 60fps, then it'll be amazing.
 
This has to be a joke post. The game was MADE with a continuous stream of bosses in mind. The fact that the OP disparages this game for that shows that a) He has no idea what the game is supposed to be about, or b) he's making fun of the SOTC love. I will side with the latter.
 
Sapiens said:
I liked SotC...a lot, but fuckwadical, snack-hungry troglodytes like you make me not want to.

It's just a fucking game. Get over yourself.

It's not art. It's a videogame. And I don't say that to disparage it. Videogames are just separate from art.
Click to expand...

I know you don't need to put "In my opinion" before every opinion that you write, but the way you said that it seems like you believe it is a matter of a fact and not personal interpretation.

I don't see how SOTC and Ico can be considered anything other than art, and I'm not saying that because of their aesthetic choices. They both had themes, and they both used the strengths of the medium to convey those themes.
 
Tutomos said:
Same reason why people don't get Picasso.
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I think SOTC is easier to understand than Picasso. It provides humans (and Agro) in a form which is easy to identify with. However, I usually find modern art to be cold and cryptic. Am I to believe that the artist found that the best way to convey their message was through ambiguous shapes and dots? And why is it that the value of their work is based on the artist, and not the work itself?

SOTC doesn't try to be cryptic, it uses clear imagery, such as the degradation of Wander's form, the music, and the even the controls (riding Agro forms a connection with him).
 
I remember really enjoying the game. That saying I don't see how it's the greatest ever, especially with it being ridiculously artistic or anything.
 
Ah... Thanks Hokahey for reminding me of this game. I have SOTC lying in the closet and yesterday I bought a brand new full HD TV, so thanks again. Gonna play this ASAP. One of the best atmosphere created in a video game evar. Yar.

Edit: wtf hokahey... This is one of the best games ever dude. I was just thinking about all of the colossi, and the most of 'em are truly epic. The 3rd, the 5th, the 8th, the 13th. My god, SOMEBODY GIVE ME A NEXT GEN SOTC, NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
 
lachesis said:
well, I had similar feelings to my LTTP to Sotc thread a couple years back. I did enjoy it, but the concept wasn't fully explored, IMHO.

Once you get onto the "fur" part and figure that part out, that pretty much finished most bosses. I wanted some more variations of platforming on the boss themselves, like the final boss. Figuring out how to get on to each boss was fun, but once you are on... it was quite repetitive.
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It's descriptions like this that bother me. I'll give you a perfect example. take the giant walking island colossus.
You have to get on to its back, direct it towards one of the platforms, time a jump onto the platform. lure it up onto the platform while not getting hit by energyblasts and then finally jump on its tuft of fur and stab it. You have to do this a couple times before you finish it.
That's a pretty elaborate battle very much different than any of the others. The stabbing is really just the ending to it. You guys focus on the finish. The build up is most important. The guy has a magic sword, of course it's going to end with hanging on for dear life while you try to stab.
 
The On Timers said:
I loved Shadow. Id say it was on par with Zelda OOT. (Dont kill me gaf:lol )
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Not a stretch really if you liked it. I think OOT hit more people the right way but if you enjoyed SOTC it wouldn't surprise me.
 
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