Amen brotha!Snickerd00dle wrote:Alright, so I am in the midst of playing Ico right now and I just have to take a break, I picked up the game from where my save file left off, which was the trolly scene. very early on in the game, and I remember everything that had happened thus far. I continue to play and I am just confused half the time, enjoying myself one other quarter of the time, and fucking pissed off the last quarter. The puzzles are fairly straight forward, but due to the awful controls and camera angles, finding what one may have to jump to is near impossible. I just finished the windmill scene, and I figured I had to jump onto one of the blades to get to the top, but finding out what part of the blade had to be jumped onto required me to look up a youtube video because it was so difficult. Not to mention if you fall off said blade...you die!! Not to mention the fact that the AI or Yorda is lacking tremendously. Right before a huge fight, there was a save point and SHE WOULD NOT SIT DOWN, causing me to have to skip that save point to fight enemies. Getting this chick to do anything is fucking annoying. Not only that but the combat system should not exist, as we saw in SOTC, no puzzles and just fighting Colossus was fun, the puzzle was in the fight, trying to figure out how to bring down the monsters, I feel in this game, there should have been no fighting, and straight puzzles, it almost feels like an afterthought how choppy and annoying it is to try and hit an enemy. OTHER THAN THAT- exploring, doing puzzles, the scenery and sounds, are all very fun, and the story is intriguing. I have not beat it yet, but it seems like they might want to go back and just touch up this game and we might have a gem here.
I beat it just a few minutes ago. My initial impressions from a few pages ago are largely unchanged. The combat gets quicker as your weapons get better, but it is just as buggy and annoying (if shorter). There are some real hum-dingers for horrible platforming to look forward to, and plenty more "JESUS CHRIST Yorda!" moments to follow. But the game is pretty.
***SPOILER TALK***
Also, I know that it is a popular sentiment that this game has some kind of touching ending, emotional resonance, etc. Where? I am not a jaded heartless slob, but there is nothing here that even begins to "explore relationships" or "tug at the heart," etc. I know I've read folks on this very board say that the ending will leave you thinking/teary/ect. - WHY?!
***END SPOILER TALK***
I honesty am glad to have this game checked off the list. Didn't care a whole lot for either it or SOTN - I am now convinced these two games get the praise they do primarily because they have some nifty graphics, sounds, etc. - the actual experience of each is not especially fun.
I'm thinking of taking a break from the list for a while to play some other games that I suspect will be more fun. I am thinking Panzer Dragoon II and Orta might be next when I get back to the list, unless someone else (Snickerdoodle?) is planning on tacking one of those mutual games soon.
