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| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - General Gaming - Ico |
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Rydain Ropa Blaze Phoenix Runs With the Dragon Within Level: 42  Posts: 183/738 EXP: 490056 For next: 31306 Since: 03-15-04 From: State College, PA Since last post: 6 days Last activity: 8 hours |
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A while ago, I picked this up used because I'd liked the part of the demo that I'd gotten to play in the store at some point. I forgot we had it until yesterday, when we had a bunch of people over for Axis and Allies (I'm not particularly interested in hours-long strategy board games  ) and I was looking for something to play.This is one of the most interesting games I've ever experienced. You're trying to escape from an enormous ruined castle with Yorda, a mysterious ghostly girl that you just met. To do so, you must find your way around various obstacles and traps in said castle, helping Yorda get from point A to point B as well. (You're able to climb ropes, shin up pipes, and otherwise access areas that she can't get to, so you'll often need to create a path for her.) I absolutely loved the castle's design and presentation. Though you proceed through the castle in a relatively linear fashion, it is one very large, contiguous structure. When you're outside, you can see other parts of it, even if you're looking some distance away. Inside, the camera does a pretty good job at conveying the vastness of the rooms. There isn't much music in this game - you explore to silence interrupted only by various environmental sound effects, which I liked because it made the experience seem more immersive and realistic. There is enough variety to the environments that the castle never gets boring. I particularly liked the windmill courtyard and the rickety wooden Water Tower area. All in all, the castle is a fantastic and well-crafted setting that imparts the melancholy feeling of traveling through the remnants of a fallen dynasty. As I mentioned above, the castle itself is full of obstacles (and ways forward), which are also well-designed, fitting seamlessly into its environment. For example, you might hang from crumbling masonry to inch your way across a gap, or you might find your way blocked because a ledge or ladder has broken. An especially rickety pillar invites you to destroy it to knock something down and create a way forward. The one aspect of the gameplay that sometimes gets on my nerves is the appearance of the shadow monsters that try to take Yorda away. If one of them completely pulls her into the floor, it's game over, and you have to restart from the last save point. For the most part, they're not too bad and add some variety to the gameplay, but there are parts in the game where they're cheap and annoying as hell. Early on, you deal with shadow monsters in reasonable quantities...and then suddenly you're presented with an entire roomful of them. I didn't know that Yorda will eliminate all the shadow monsters in a room when you get to an idol door (which she uses her magic powers to open), so I kept trying to strategically kill them all, failing miserably, and getting more and more cranky. And intelligent enemy AI is OK, but playing unfair is not. Sometimes one of them will knock you down, leaving you useless for several seconds, while a winged one grabs Yorda and very quickly spirits her away to a "sink point" (the point where they start sucking her into the floor) that's literally impossible for you to reach in time, assuming that you even know where it is so you can run there. And no, you can't just hit them and free her while they're flying because you don't have any ranged weapons. These hosers will come after Yorda if you leave her alone in a different area for too long. At one point, I accidentally fell into a canal and down a very long waterfall, and I was damned lucky that I got back up and to Yorda in time. I knew the exact path and went as fast as I could, but she was almost fully sunken into the floor by the time I got there. Oh, and did I mention that Yorda is a complete idiot when it comes to fighting or even avoiding the damned monsters? Another point of contention is that I wish I wouldn't have played this with a bunch of people around. When you're immersed in the castle environment, exploring and trying to find the way forward, random unsolicited suggestions to try this door or go left get Very. Old. Very. Fast. (So do snarky comments from the peanut gallery when you're swearing at the shadow monsters. I am SO going to get Josh back for joking about remixing me into a "Terrible Ms. Kinney" mp3. For those of you who didn't get that, it's a reference to "The Terrible Mr. Grimshaw", which is a "song" that some guy made after recording his roommate getting awfully pissed off at CounterStrike.) If you're confused and asking for help, that's one thing, but I just hate having the immersion interrupted by some random voice from behind. |
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Slash Dafter Kodondo Level: 38  Posts: 423/584 EXP: 338934 For next: 31513 Since: 04-04-04 From: E. Millinocket, ME Since last post: 9 hours Last activity: 9 hours |
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| Ico was OK IMO. Where can I find a copy of "Mr. Grimshaw"? |
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Rydain Ropa Blaze Phoenix Runs With the Dragon Within Level: 42 Posts: 185/738 EXP: 490056 For next: 31306 Since: 03-15-04 From: State College, PA Since last post: 6 days Last activity: 8 hours |
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| Here you go. |
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Slash Dafter Kodondo Level: 38 Posts: 426/584 EXP: 338934 For next: 31513 Since: 04-04-04 From: E. Millinocket, ME Since last post: 9 hours Last activity: 9 hours |
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Thank you very much! |
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Rydain Ropa Blaze Phoenix Runs With the Dragon Within Level: 42 Posts: 186/738 EXP: 490056 For next: 31306 Since: 03-15-04 From: State College, PA Since last post: 6 days Last activity: 8 hours |
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| No problem. *tries to steer conversation back on topic* I'm curious...what did you (or didn't you) like about Ico? It's always interesting to hear other people's opinions. |
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Kirbynite Vire Holy Cucco! Level: 55 Posts: 318/1366 EXP: 1233975 For next: 80214 Since: 03-15-04 From: On some floating island, Earth Since last post: 14 hours Last activity: 4 hours |
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| I haven't played much of it so far... I remember I was just playing random games that I had bought from some sale a few months back when Nakase was at my house.. I was really amazed at how beautiful the game looked. Nakase forgave the programmers on the horses in the intro because the horses were just overall bouncy I liked the controls a bit.. I was messing around lots.. It's hilarious to see the boy's body move around when you try to do some juking and jiving I haven't played much into the game... I think I stopped at the second save point. (Couches.. Where the heck did that come from?  ) But it was a fun experience.. It was kinda fun to beat up on them shadowy people with a two by four |
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Rydain Ropa Blaze Phoenix Runs With the Dragon Within Level: 42 Posts: 188/738 EXP: 490056 For next: 31306 Since: 03-15-04 From: State College, PA Since last post: 6 days Last activity: 8 hours |
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It's REALLY fun when you get the mace and can lay the smackdown on them in no time at all.  I didn't actually watch the intro because I wanted to get right into the gameplay and people were talking loudly anyway, and turning up the volume would have just added to the noise. I'll be sure to see it next time I play. |
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Hero Blue Octorok Level: 11  Posts: 21/37 EXP: 5496 For next: 489 Since: 03-16-04 From: Destiny Islands (or CA) Since last post: 163 days Last activity: 120 days |
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I love this game, I bought it the day before I left on a vacation last year and got one nights worth of gaming in. When I get back to my house from this vacation I am definitly finishing the game. But the main character is really a cool kid. |
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Sofie Level: 52 Posts: 540/1210 EXP: 1028812 For next: 55028 Since: 03-15-04 Since last post: 187 days Last activity: 279 days |
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| I've wanted to buy it since it got released, but because Sony barely promoted it, it's extremely hard to be found. I've yet to see it on sale, and if it's a short game, I rather buy it used <<; | |||
Abnormal Freak Blackwater tea Level: 31  Posts: 77/364 EXP: 169629 For next: 15734 Since: 03-15-04 Since last post: 2 days Last activity: 2 min. |
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| I heard about the game from my cousin maybe two years ago. It sounded very interesting, and about a year later I'd seen it at Wal-Mart for like $30 but didn't go for it. Finally I saw it at Best Buy about a month or two ago, selling new for $15, and I just couldn't resist. It's a very short game, but I enjoyed it, even if the battle system is really, really lame. (It gets even more repetitive than Eternal Darkness--at least in that game you had magic and a few limbs to choose from to slash or shoot.) When I played it, I couldn't help but think of the castle as one gigantic Zelda: Ocarina of Time dungeon. It's stunning, really. Apparently the game designer is an architect, which leads me to believe that the game was only made to show off the guy's designs and make a real pretty experience, and even if that is the case, it works. Agreed, I LOVE that part with the windmill. The puzzles are fairly nifty. I had a good deal of fun getting past certain sections. I guess there are a lot of secrets in the game that I had missed, as they really weren't apparent to me. Supposedly there are side quests and the likes, which I should read up about to see how to get to them. : It's still going for $30 at the Forest Lake, Minnesota Wal-Mart. Those peckers... |
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Rydain Ropa Blaze Phoenix Runs With the Dragon Within Level: 42 Posts: 192/738 EXP: 490056 For next: 31306 Since: 03-15-04 From: State College, PA Since last post: 6 days Last activity: 8 hours |
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| Ours cost around $15-20 used. I thought that was a fair price for the game. There's only one side quest that I know of. It's in the section of the game with the giant waterfall, and it gets you a spiffy mace. Luckily, I'd read about this before I got there, so I was able to find the weapon and open a can of whoop-ass on any subsequent shadow demons that I ran into. The mace cuts like the sword, so you don't even need to put it down for rope-cutting puzzles. Where'd you read about the game designer being an architect? I never heard that, but it makes sense to me. Other than its location (as the story guide on GameFAQs points out, it would be extraordinarily difficult to build such a structure on a bunch of islands), the castle is a believable structure. (For the record, I don't see the location as a problem at all - if anything, it makes whatever built it seem even more powerful, which is cool.) |
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Abnormal Freak Blackwater tea Level: 31 Posts: 78/364 EXP: 169629 For next: 15734 Since: 03-15-04 Since last post: 2 days Last activity: 2 min. |
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| My cousin had told me about the game designer being an architect. Where he heard about that, I don't know. | |||
drjayphd Beamos What's that spell? pimp! Level: 56  Posts: 437/1477 EXP: 1387410 For next: 10766 Since: 03-15-04 From: CT Since last post: 2 hours Last activity: 2 hours |
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| I haven't personally played it, but it's supposedly one of the best games of its year. Not to mention, according to one reviewer, the most emotional game he's ever played. I can see that, the way you've described it. | |||
Uncle Elmo Hammer Brother Partly Sweet, Helpful, good at advice and a half decent writer. Also modest. Level: 49 Posts: 488/1062 EXP: 845899 For next: 37984 Since: 03-15-04 From: Prestatyn, Uk Since last post: 23 hours Last activity: 2 hours |
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| Ico is videogaming as fine art. It's beautifully designed and it is very emotional, because you become very attacted to Yorda, and there's a very poignant scene right at the end.... Spoiler: and that was brilliant. the ending music is beautiful, and I have the pleasure of owning the far superior PAL version with subtitles whenever Yorda and her mother speak (so you know what trhey're saying), and also the Lightsaber, which really kicks arse against the Shadow monsters. A Sequel called "Nico" is being developed by the way. Where Yorda actually saves Ico (edited by Uncle Elmo on 07-08-04 09:04 AM) |
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Abnormal Freak Blackwater tea Level: 31 Posts: 79/364 EXP: 169629 For next: 15734 Since: 03-15-04 Since last post: 2 days Last activity: 2 min. |
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| The European version is supposed to be so far superior with additional stuff and cool alterations. I want that instead... |
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