I have never been more disappointed, more displeased than trying to play this piece of shit game. I am furious at this moment. I was expecting something to the extent of Journey in just an enjoyable story and experience that will stick with me forever. But while playing the game all I got was terrible controls, no explanation on how to play the fucking game or any indication of what I'm supposed to do. My god is this game frustrating and very, very, very overrated. And it isn't just the combat, everything about the game is disappointing. The puzzels are stupid or just designed terribly. The only benefit I'll give the game is that her AI is actually pretty good for being 11 years old now. Other than that, fuck this game and I don't even know if I want to finish it because I don't feel that my experience will all the sudden change since it hasn't for the first 2 hours.

Sorry about my rant but God Damn was I expecting a better experience than what I am getting

I remember trying the demo when I was younger and hating it. SotC is pretty great though.

@Sackmanjones said:

I remember trying the demo when I was younger and hating it. SotC is pretty great though.

I agree, that was what I was originally going to play but it loaded Ico so I was whatever I'll just play it...boy I wish I wasn't right now

calm down,

go back to to it later after you have accepted that it wasn't what you thought.

@Sackmanjones said:

I remember trying the demo when I was younger and hating it. SotC is pretty great though.

I agree, that was what I was originally going to play but it loaded Ico so I was whatever I'll just play it...boy I wish I wasn't right now

SO I WAS LISTENING TO ROBERT JOHNSON AND OMG IT WAS SO SHITTY! THE PRODUCTION WAS HORRIBLE AND THERE WEREN"T EVEN ANY EFFECTS ON THE GUITARS. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE WAY BETTER LIKE THE WHITE STRIPES OR SOMETHING.

@Sackmanjones said:

@Nightriff

@Sackmanjones said:

I remember trying the demo when I was younger and hating it. SotC is pretty great though.

I agree, that was what I was originally going to play but it loaded Ico so I was whatever I'll just play it...boy I wish I wasn't right now

I don't know much about ico but I believe that and SotC are completely different games but in te same universe so don't let this experience sour you on that game. The hd version is really nicely done too

Oh I've played SotC and love the game, stopped around the 9th boss years ago and decided to finally beat it with the HD version but accidentally load Ico...

@stinky: I know I know, I'll beat it but the combat is just a complete turn off for me.

Its a very odd game. You have to go in with a very specific mindset.

Sorry you didn't like it. It's tough for an 11-year old game to live up to 11-year old hype, though.

Ico isn't a particularly great game, nor is Shadow of the Colossus. But they're unique games with a lot of flair and imagination, and most often than not, being unique grants these games some kind of special treatment status. Just like El Shaddai. I thought this game was horrible, yet shit tons of people loved it for its non-sensical art style.

one of my fave games. and i played it for the first time this year.

To be fair, Ico is an incredibly old game. This is kind of like playing RE2 and complaining about the camera. It's a known issue for an old game. Maybe you should just watch a Let's Play of it to get the story.

@Nightriff: Prepare for the fanboys

@Getz said:

SO I WAS LISTENING TO ROBERT JOHNSON AND OMG IT WAS SO SHITTY! THE PRODUCTION WAS HORRIBLE AND THERE WEREN"T EVEN ANY EFFECTS ON THE GUITARS. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE WAY BETTER LIKE THE WHITE STRIPES OR SOMETHING.

we should kill ico by poisoning his soup

i dont want to spoil anything, and yeah combat is tricky but you get the hang of it as you go.

the rough times make the reflecting back on your quest that much more enjoyable.

there was something awkward about the horse in Shadow of the Colossus but you loved him by the end.

I had forgotten how bad the combat was. I like the rest, but man, the combat nearly ruins it. That said, I remember this being a rare game that gets better and better as you go.

I played ICO for the first time last year which lead to me putting it in my top 3 games of last year (As I went for the ICO and Shadow of Collossus collection which did come out last year).

I hated the demo when it came out years and years ago (it either came with the PS2 when we got one or it came with playstation magazine not soon after), I truly belive it to be the worst demo I have ever played. And the game not only surpassed it but it transended it to be on my top 5 games of all time (after playing it for the first time 10 years after its original release).

I am sorry you didn't like it but if you haven't actually got very far (I don't want to spoil parts so maybe just say where you are right now and I can figure out where you are relative to it picking up) then I would greatly encourage you to continue. When I got it I originally stopped pretty early on (I stop playing games often jumping between different games at the same time) but I eventually returned to it a few weeks later and there is a moment in the game that it just clicks - it is a magnificant moment when you see a previous room you were in from a completely different angle; this is the moment you see how truly well designed the ICO castle and level design actually is. And if you ever check out the trophies you might see one that seems odd (one that makes you think it is impossible to actually play the game that fast) which made me look up a quick video of it and it is here you see how not only is the game incredibly well designed with its placement of rooms to allow the player the feeling of acomplishment an of seeing the proper progress they are making (while feeling like they are actually in a castle and not just a videogame dungeon) but it also shows you how mechanically it adds massively to the game allowing the player to actually interact with these cross overs and solve puzzles and areas in fantastic ways.

I truly do love this game, and I am really surprised I did as I bought this collection mostly for a good framerate version of Shadow of the Collossus; so I honestly really hope you eventually come back to it (not now but maybe in a couple weeks time come back to it and play the entire rest of it in a week or so (if you properly go for it you should be able to manage that, even if you struggle with the puzzles). My only advice since you hate the combat so much is to as often as possible just run past the enemies since most of them don't have to be killed at all and if you die it doesn't really matter since the game checkpoints extremely often and simply getting Yorda to the rooms gates will eliminate all the enemies anyway. (You could look up a couple speed run guides since they bring up the battles which can be basically skipped - it includes quite a lot of instances you actually wouldn't think are completely skippable).

I personally did not mind it and actually think it is one of the best parts of the game as its mechanical short-comings actually bring a resulting feeling so unique to any other game I have ever played but I can totally see how it may gripe people. Seriously though, take a breather, leave the game for a while and return later; the worst that could happen is you finish it and still hate it - in which case you have a personal and cedible arguement against people who loves this game and you will actually be listened to when you bring up things you don't like about it.

@SpunkyHePanda: I think the worst part of the combat is if you get hit it takes a few seconds to get back up which is the matter of life and death, that is the most frustrating part besides the controls not controlling the best and him missing the majority of the time.

SMH

I am what you would call an ICO "fanboy", but it's not for everyone. Yes, the controls are a bit janky compared to modern games, but you have to play it in the mindset of the PS2 era. It doesn't really wow you until the ending, at which point you look back on the entire experience in a different light.

Edit: Finished a Ico today. I don't take back anything from my original assessment. The first couple of hours were a huge pain but after that it was mostly smooth sailing. Overall, I enjoyed the experience. I regret that the developers didn't take the opportunity with the HD version to add a couple of tool tips or tighten up the controls.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I'm about an hour and a half into Ico and I don't think I can continue. My first attempt ended with no progress saved because the game never tells your how to do anything, including saving. Ico will only sit on the couch if you are lined up with it precisely on the left side! I read the manual and came back to the game today.

Just now I cleared the way forward and about a dozen monsters appeared out of their BS holes, put Yorda in a hole and dog piled me. I wish I had video of what happened because it almost seemed like a bug, or a scenario that I was meant to fail. There were way too many dudes and they only appeared when I was on the other side of the room, forced away from Yorda and elevated. The combat does suck, so I've been running away when I can. Does this mean the next encounter will have more enemies than usual? The fights go on for a really long time for a game that has such rudimentary combat.

I like to experiment in games to feel out how far I can jump, how long I can free-fall for before for going splat, etc. Because the checkpointing is so bad I've been forced to repeat sections over and over again. I really really want to like this game. Even after getting frustrated by the total lack of the even most basic explanation of controls and mechanics, and the terrible combat, and cheap deaths, and ranting on my favourite video game website ever I'm still convincing myself to get back to it. Why does Ico have to be so good and yet so shitty?

I'm playing the game now.

I'm finding so easy to get ICO to jump to his death.

I know exactly what to do to progress on the section I'm on. But I've killed ICO about 10 times now. Some of those weren't even my fault!

Reviewers of the time must have been well versed in PS2 control eccentricities.

It is overrated for the present day. But I am still compelled to complete it. So it mustn't be all bad

I think people often forget when they go back to old games, that they used to come with these Instruction Books

Yes, there was a time where games didn't have in game tutorials and actually came with pretty well designed books with all the relevant info. Not sure if the HD collection has those as a pdf, but if they do probably give it a look or check that link. I could never get ICO to run on my actual ps2, i ended finally getting it to run on an emulator a few years ago but didn't get that far into it. Shadow of the Colossus was incredible though.

I only played this for the first time about 2 years ago. While I really enjoyed it, some aspects of it were hard to stomach so long after its release. Most of my enjoyment was the scale of environments, much like Shadow of the Colossus.

I spy an angry @nightriff from years past.

@fredchuckdave: haha, I remember this rant. Pretty sure we went out to eat then came back and continued with little to no issue.

Been debating on playing Ico again...

@nightriff: I will if you will! I have it downloaded on my PS3 alongside Okami, Sands of Time, Suikoden II (which I have played most of in the past), and a few other supposed must plays; just too lazy to play the PS3 most of the time. Also X-COM Impossible Ironman run is taking forever and just got Persona 4 Arena from PS+.

Ah, yes, a thread from 2012 complaining about a game released in 2001. Why wouldn't I be awake in the middle of the night in 2016 reading this?

Whoever suggested Ico should have tool tips should be drug out in the street and shot.