September Modern Community Playthrough - Ico

[bombatomba]

Done.  It's been almost a decade but its like slipping on an old pair of slippers. I tell you, this is a great game to come home and play after trapsing around Ann Arbor dodging carefree students.

...  It is a lot blurrier than I remember.  Not a dealbreaker (not even close) but this is the first time the retro glasses have happened to me on the PS2.  

wow that was fast, congrats!

Originally I was downstairs unsuccessfully trying to play games in the Capcom Collection when I remembered the playthrough.  More than anything I was curious about this weeks checkpoint, seeing that I pretty much forgot most of the game.  I had to force myself to stop.  Looking forward to next weeks goal, though.

[techwizard]

Done.  It's been almost a decade but its like slipping on an old pair of slippers. I tell you, this is a great game to come home and play after trapsing around Ann Arbor dodging carefree students.

...  It is a lot blurrier than I remember.  Not a dealbreaker (not even close) but this is the first time the retro glasses have happened to me on the PS2.  

wow that was fast, congrats!

Originally I was downstairs unsuccessfully trying to play games in the Capcom Collection when I remembered the playthrough.  More than anything I was curious about this weeks checkpoint, seeing that I pretty much forgot most of the game.  I had to force myself to stop.  Looking forward to next weeks goal, though.

oh you mean done the first checkpoint, i thought you got over enthusiastic and marathon'd the game

edit: played through the first week's checkpoint today. even though i started the game back in June, i decided to create a new file so i can make some better notes for the podcast. with knowing how to solve each puzzle i managed to finish the first checkpoint in about 40 minutes, so i hope it wasn't too early, but i seem to remember my first time playing it took me at least an hour and a half or 2 hours.

Yorda definitely walks off and gives you hints at certain times, while at other times she stands around doing nothing.

[bombatomba]

I puttered around for a while, not really doing much outside of enjoying the controls, and as I played I kept getting these stream of consciousness "quotes" rolling around in my head, which helped me to come up with this alternate title for ICO: "Sitting On A Stone Couch With An Alien Girl.  She's Kind of Freaking Me Out." 

[techwizard]

"Sitting On A Stone Couch With An Alien Girl.  She's Kind of Freaking Me Out." 

deep. i like it.

[GrayGhost81]

Made it to the first checkpoint. Jamie I think you picked a good spot, took me about an hour and a half with some assistance from walkthroughs.

Wow this game is a mixed bag for me. I really like the massive and interconnected environments. Nobody pulls off scope like Team Ico.

But then you have to actually play the game. Since I'm playing this game for work I'm basically giving myself like three or four minutes to solve each area, then I'm resorting to a playthrough video which is cued up on my ipad next to me at all times. I'm so bad at environmental puzzles, and the combat is way overdone. I get it, they don't want Yorda to leave. Now stop it and let me play the game.

I'm actually thinking the save points aren't that bad, though I do say "THANK GOD!" every time I see one of them shiny love seats!

[techwizard]

week 2 checkpoint is up!

how's everyone doing with this one? i like it but they definitely made a better game with SotC, for some of the reasons that GrayGhost mentioned.

[singlebanana]

Played tonight for almost 2 hours and saved in the Graveyard just beyond the first checkpoint. No walkthrough used so far, but I feel like I'm getting lucky.

Some thoughts about the game: (1) I'm a little disappointed that there is no type of tutorial at the beginning. You can tell that this game was released before SotC, since the controls, and especially the camera angles, are much rougher. However, it says a lot about the developer that they recognized these aspects and cleaned them up in their next effort.

(2) I really dig the puzzle element of this game including traversing terrain, ladders, chains, and the manipulation of the environment with boxes, bombs, etc. I especially like how the girl can only do certain movements that you can. I like how you can interact and get her to jump across cashims and drag her along;

(3) The battle element is intriguing, but gets annoying in spots. Seems your role is not always to dispatch, but sometimes just do enough to get away. Targeting not too bad, but could be better.

[techwizard]

the elements of the puzzles are definitely well thought out but some of the later puzzles can get really frustrating. one thing i find is once you've played the game you can really breeze through most of the puzzles as long as you remember what to do, there isn't a whole lot of "inherent difficulty" in combat or puzzles like SotC has.

[MaterialHandlerMike]

I finally started yesterday. I have played through this game just once, and that was over a decade ago. All the years I have spent since first playing this game, have not diminished my appreciation, for how beautiful this game looks.

I didn't make it very far, before putting the controller down, (had to feed my addiction down at Game Quest) but I immediately became familiar with what I am in for, as far as puzzle challenges go.

[Fleach]

I made it up to the "Trolley 2" save point (hopefully that's not too far behind the first week's goal). I'm only echoing what everyone else has been saying but this game is beautiful. The sense of wonder and confusion is conveyed so expertly in this game.

The puzzles haven't been too tough so far, and the only thing getting the better of me is the combat. Even if it takes longer, I like to defeat all or most of the big enemies before looking for the exit to the next area. I use Yorda as bait to lure the enemies then wail on them with my trusty stick. Yeah, I'm cruel.

[singlebanana]

I made it up to the "Trolley 2" save point (hopefully that's not too far behind the first week's goal). I'm only echoing what everyone else has been saying but this game is beautiful. The sense of wonder and confusion is conveyed so expertly in this game.

The puzzles haven't been too tough so far, and the only thing getting the better of me is the combat. Even if it takes longer, I like to defeat all or most of the big enemies before looking for the exit to the next area. I use Yorda as bait to lure the enemies then wail on them with my trusty stick. Yeah, I'm cruel.

Yes, you are pretty close to the 1st save point. From what I have gathered, in most areas, you can take out all of the enemies; however, in one area (which is coming up soon for you), I don't think you can take them all out by fighting, but must execute "another action" to exit the room and take them out. As I have never played this game before, I am not sure if this holds up throughout the game, or if you can typically eliminate all enemies by fighting. Maybe someone else can chime in.

Also, reminding you any of Lost in Shadow Floyd?

[Fleach]

Also, reminding you any of Lost in Shadow Floyd?

Yes, holy cow, I was getting jolts of Lost in Shadow during the outdoor segments so far. Obviously there can only be one Ico, and when the Lost in Shadows guys said, "let's make Ico but in the background" someone should have rushed in and snapped them out of that silly idea!

[techwizard]

i don't think i ever came across a room where you couldn't kill everything, those shadow portals on the floor do eventually disappear after killing enough of the creatures. i have used the trick that singlebanana mentioned, that is:

Spoiler (hover to show)

yorda's door opening power will kill everything in the area

and i think it can be used in any room you can manage to make it work in. i'm not sure that it's required though.

[singlebanana]

In the

Spoiler (hover to show)

room just before the gate

I tried to hang out near a portal and take out enemies for over 10 minutes and they just kept coming. I had to use the above mentioned technique to clear the room and advance. That's the only place this occurred and perhaps with a little more patience, I could have taken them all out.

[singlebanana]

Also, reminding you any of Lost in Shadow Floyd?

Yes, holy cow, I was getting jolts of Lost in Shadow during the outdoor segments so far. Obviously there can only be one Ico, and when the Lost in Shadows guys said, "let's make Ico but in the background" someone should have rushed in and snapped them out of that silly idea!

Yep, there are several nods to Ico in Lost in Shadow. Perhaps we should save that discussion for the podcast though.