Even though I never played ICO I played through Shadow again. Still an amazing game and I just started ICO.

I bought the games, but I'm not going to have time to play them for awhile.  When I do play them, I'll start with Ico.
 
In the meantime I loaded up the trophies for both games.

@CandiBunni said:

When I purchase it, I'm going to play SoTC first. I already have it for the PS2, but I'd like to play the games in the order that they occur. SoTC takes place before ICO, so I'd like to play it that way. If there aren't too many spoiler videos/extras or anything, I might also watch those too.

I watched the videos and from what I remember there are no spoilers. They just talk about their decisions for core mechanics of the games, how they built the team, The Last Guardian etc. It's quite interesting hearing Ueda talk about ICO for the PS1 and how he didn't like the US boxart.

I played SotC first. I had been avoiding spoilers for that game for so long. I finished it this weekend after picking it up on Friday and enjoyed myself quite a lot. Ico, though, I understand and appreciate it, and as of now I've only played it for around 2 hours but it's fucking annoying when those shadow dudes grab Yorda and I miss the first hit to drop them (which has happened too many times already), they move at the exact speed as Ico, or they fly, so I can't catch up and it's game over. I like the rest of it though, the puzzles, the aesthetics, the hand-holding, just not the combat mechanics.

Also, good to know those videos don't have spoilers, I am gonna watch them right now.

I booted up SotC first myself. Then I ended up playing Ico to completion first after that. Even though I haven't played Shadow in years, I still remember exactly how to kill every single Colossus, and even which direction most of them are in, so it's not nearly as exciting as it used to be.

@SuperWristBands: Just making sure, you know you can pull Yorda out of the shadow pools before she gets fully sucked in to avoid a game over, right?

@SuperWristBands: What was your favourite Colossus to fight?

@EToaster said:

@SuperWristBands: Just making sure, you know you can pull Yorda out of the shadow pools before she gets fully sucked in to avoid a game over, right?

I thought I'd be able to but it didn't seem to work. I was mashing circle and R1 over top of her. It seemed weird that I had to wait so long to die. Guess I'll try it to pull her out of the pit next time. Do I just hold R1 next to her and pull a direction to get her out?

@RE_Player92 said:

@SuperWristBands: What was your favourite Colossus to fight?

My favourite was definitely the 13th fight. The one with the flying-sand-snake-like-thing. The ones that fly feel pretty epic to me, but combined with having to run along side it with your horse and jump onto its wing was amazing.

@SuperWristBands: Yes the flying Colossus fights are really epic. I also found the colossus fight in which you use the torch to lead him to the edge was really engaging, for once you actually got to strike fear in these fantastical beasts. It goes without question that the last fight was amazing too. The steps to get to the weak spot were so rewarding after figuring it out.

@RE_Player92 said:

@SuperWristBands: Yes the flying Colossus fights are really epic. I also found the colossus fight in which you use the torch to lead him to the edge was really engaging, for once you actually got to strike fear in these fantastical beasts. It goes without question that the last fight was amazing too. The steps to get to the weak spot were so rewarding after figuring it out.

Shadow for me, as it was the game I felt would have really benefited the most from the HD upgrade, especially considering the frame rate of the PS2 version. ICO looks great in HD too, but it's such an early-era PS2 game that it never felt like it was crying out for an update the way Shadow did. Also, I knew I could rocket through Shadow in a couple sittings and then take my time with ICO, which I've never finished. Some of those puzzles are stumpers...

@SuperWristBands said:

Do I just hold R1 next to her and pull a direction to get her out?

Yes. It's actually a good strategy to just run straight for the shadow pools as soon as the fight starts so you can just pull her out immediately if she ever gets caught. In fact, you kind of need to let the flyers catch her sometimes; otherwise they just dodge all your attacks.

@Kyle said:

@SuperWristBands said:

Do I just hold R1 next to her and pull a direction to get her out?

Yes. It's actually a good strategy to just run straight for the shadow pools as soon as the fight starts so you can just pull her out immediately if she ever gets caught. In fact, you kind of need to let the flyers catch her sometimes; otherwise they just dodge all your attacks.

Yeah, that part (first time I fought the flyin' dudes) was a pain. I tried it about 4 times. It seemed like they would get close if I wasn't facing them and then I'd smack 'em, but sometimes I'd miss, they'd get past and grab her. At least I know that I can pull her out. I'm sure that will make the battles less annoying.

@SuperWristBands: Yeah, once you know that, it's almost impossible to lose.

Started up Ico today. Never played much of it on PS2, but something about it I really like. Looking forward to SotC.

Finished Ico, now working on Shadow. Finessed both of them multiple times on PS2, but still loving it.

I did Ico first. I know that game like the back of my hand from playing it on the PS2, so some of the changes that I presume were in the PAL version are throwing me off. Does the enemy AI seem a little wonky to anyone else? They seem to dodge around more often. They always take Yorda to the most inconvenient shadow pool, too. Also, did the PS2 version even have holding the R1 button to hold hands as an option? I remember it being a toggle by default.

Anywho, as much as I'm opposed to the idea of trophies in both of these games, I'm working on getting the Platinum in Ico before I dive too hard into Shadow. I'm going through the co-op mode with my sister to get the shining sword and watermelon trophies. I'll knock out the zero death and under 2 hours ones when I'm feeling particularly masochistic.

I was excited to see what footage of The Last Guardian was in the videos... Then, I got disappointed 'cause they barely showed ten seconds of it, so I booted up Ico and got to the first save point, then booted up Shadow of the Colossus so that Agro could have the Ico "I" on her head.