I have yet to play The Last Guardian, but it's been out for a few days now, and I have to assume some of you on here had finished it, or are going through it now. What I am curious about, and please without spoilers, what would you say is the best, the second best, and third best, or worst if you will? If that doesn't necessarily apply, are they equal in greatness to you, none of them are good at all to you, or have you simply not played them so you can't say? Since I can't say what my thoughts are on The Last Guardian right now other than from what I've heard and seen so far, I won't make that judgement right now, and simply say that I loved Shadow of the Colossus, and loved the art and minimal sound design of Ico.

The atmosphere was decent in Ico, but I wasn't into the game really. I didn't think, even by today's standards, that it felt archaic. I think these games simply have a style and feel, so not for the reason of it being archaic, but for another: the game was somewhat frustrating in a few spots (just figuring out where to go at times), and the relationship between the boy and girl as well as the setting was not interesting enough to me to make up for that. The game many times would make me want to fall asleep, and that's one of the worst things I can say about a game.

I didn't hate the game however, simply because of the few things it does great (few in my opinion). Shadow of the Colossus was, and still is fantastic to me; the only thing that annoyed me was the final boss. That said, I've only finished it once, and tried multiple times to get through it again, but only got five or so Colossi in before I lost motivation to keep going. So, I'd definitely say Colossus is the best to me, and Ico is second. If The Last Guardian is as I've heard, and as it looks like, where it's a mixture of both the former games, I'd probably put it as Colossus as best, The Last Guardian as second best, and Ico the third best. That said, if they get across that Trico is a believable animal, and it makes me care for it, then that may put it over the edge.

SOTC > TLG > Ico

Easily.

It should also be worth nothing I love all 3, but SOTC is a special kind of masterpiece. By the way what are you waiting for, GO BUY THE LAST GUARDIAN! Trico is the best creature in a video game. Amazing AI.

Yes it's clearly shadow > guardian > Ico

TLG is definitely a solid entry and more enjoyable than Ico in every way (to me at least). It does so much right, but the concept and execution of SOTC is something we will probably never see the like of again.

SOTC>TLG>ICO

SOTC>Ico>TLG for me. The relative simplicity of Ico makes for a much more enjoyable experience than the cumbersome nature of TLG's controls. I also prefer the story as it's fairly straightforward but presented in an intriguing fashion whereas TLG felt rather sappy and I feel like the emotional bond they attempt to create within it is such a fallacy. To some extent I also prefer the milieu in Ico to TLG. I feel like the added fidelity takes something from the aesthetic as often as it gives something to it. Trico being an absolute delight doesn't quite make up for these things in comparison to Ico.

Shadow stands on it's own as a crowning achievement of the PS2 and I really don't think too many games manage to be as equally tight and peaceful under one roof.

@frostyryan: I'm going to get it without a doubt. I might get it today too. Thing is that I'm just hoping my brother gets it for me along with Dead Rising 4 (as a Christmas gift), but he might just get me Dead Rising 4, so it leaves me to buy The Last Guardian. I'm getting, and got a new set up (new home theater system, entertainment center, speakers stands), and I still have to buy a new seat, so the other reason is money, alongside me wanting to finish both Dishonored 2 and Watch Dogs 2, which I did. I kind of want to wait to get through The Last Guardian and Dead Rising 4 though, once I get my new set up.

Nope, went out, but didn't get this game or Dead Rising 4. Didn't get a new chair either... Maybe tomorrow (at least the chair/seat). I can't wait to experience these two games though with the new setup.

I think think TLG is better than SOtC by a bit, but I know I'm in the minority.

@rongalaxy: I think if I actually went back and played shadow now I would agree with you. I'm basing my ranking of that game on the one perfect playthrough I had on ps2.

SOTC is tops and a personal top ten, if not top five game all time for me. The other two don't even rank. Even within their respective "trilogy" it's basically SOTC and then...nothing.

Well, finally got it, and got my new setup going, which makes me really happy. I didn't get Dead Rising 4 personally (which I am slightly more interested in playing); my brother bought it for me on Amazon as a Christmas gift.

Hope that you enjoy it NTM. As really glad it made you happy!

Finished the game. I liked it, but yeah, it was as I suspected. Not as great as Shadow, better than Ico. That said, though it was a little more simplistic, I kind of liked the story a little more with The Last Guardian than Shadow. Also, the issues people brought up, were both non-issues, or negligible to me. Trico did everything I wanted throughout, and even helped when I didn't know what to do, or when I thought I knew where to go, he would actually put me on the right track. The camera could at times get a bit close, but it never interfered with progress, and same goes for the often inconsistent frame rate. The reason that Shadow of the Colossus still remains at the top is because it meshes a great atmosphere and soundtrack (both of which I think is the best of the three) with humongous bosses, and retains an interesting story. Difference is that The Last Guardian was the only one out of the three that didn't frustrate me at any moment. I think it's really cool that it featured a setting/story that had you go from the bottom of an environment, and up and out. I've always enjoyed that kind of thing, because once you're out, it makes you look back at all the things you had to do, and places you had to go to get at the final destination.

Put me firmly in the camp that thinks ICO is the best, although all are great in my opinion.

ICO > SOTC > TLG

Loved Ico. Never got into SOTC: the long boring trek between bosses and the slow grind of figuring them out and reclimbing wore me out. And TLG was painful to playthrough. Worst game I played this year.