>don't judge a game by its cover >has one of the most beautiful and artistic covers I've ever seen >used to mesmerize me in target when I was a kid, knew I'd play it someday
I first heard about ICO a year or so before the game was released, before i even knew it's name and with only a vague outline that the game was about holding hands. Eventually i found out it's name and heard of it's release date and a few screenshots in games magazines, it looked impressive but still pretty vague as to the gameplay. I bought ICO upon release and was swept up in it's visual story telling that was beautiful to behold though bitter sweet and often stressful and panic inducing. Needless to say i adored this game and still do all these years later. A modern fairy tale that pulls at the heart strings, even more so due to player involvement and the simple but highly effective game play mechanics. Love this game, always will.
Please play Ico and the Last Guardian, they're just as brilliant as Shadow, if not more so. Fumito Ueda is quite literally the Tarkovsky of video games.
still one of my all time fav games, i remember when i first played a demo of it, i was immediately hooked, this big empty castle, this girl trapped in a cage with magic powers, my child brain was just fascinated, the atmosphere in this game is so thick, love it to this day, i even named my dog after it back in the day :D
Hi, I wanted to offer 2 game series as suggestions for videos. First being the Descent series, a 6-d shooter with a cult following about a mercenary that is hired to fly to distant mining outposts and eliminate robots that are infected with computer viruses, rescue hostages, and wipe the facility by starting a self-destruction sequence by blasting the facility core. It's got a story to it and has seen recent resurgences of interest with new games made in its likeness like Overload. The second 'series' is the Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, and Planetary Annihilation games. I loosely call them a series because each ip is a spiritual successor to the prior series. Total Annihilation is a very early rts title with 3d elements, where you play as one of two playable factions who have fought each other for thousands of years. The war is a civil war over the transfer of consciousness from flesh to machine, so you get to choose either the Core which is all about transferring one's consciousness. or the Arm that fights to maintain flesh. Gameplay is simplified where you start with 1 powerful unit called the Commander, a special unit that can build units, collect resources, and has powerful weaponry at its disposal. The goal is to eliminate the enemy commander with your robotic fleet of infantry, vehicles, air, and sea units. Pelt your enemy bases with artilartillerylaunch a nuke and hope the enemy doesn't have nuke defendefensesoverload their defenses. Units that are destroyed leave behind salvageable wrecks your construction units can reclaim metal from, one of 2 primary resources, the other being energy. TA has a cult following. The Supreme Commander series is a spiritual successor to TA, playing somewhat similar to its it'sitsdecessor where you start with a commander but you're no longer fighting over a civil war over transferring consciousness. Instead, you have 3 factions, the UEF, the Cyberians, and the Illuminate. Each with theiritsstyle and unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Planetary Annihilation plays more like Total Annihilation, only you play on planets you can travel between, and it's shifted focus to a multiplayer aspect rather than having much of a story. Hope this info helps and gets your interest :)
Ico was not at all an elaborate game. The combat was simplistic, the game was only about three hours long, and it didnt have any gameplay mechanics like upgrading or an arsenal of weapons. But honestly, its charm and and value comes from its unique aesthetic and its emotional premise. The game looks beautiful when you play it, and that story is so emotional and yet so nice. Thats what makes Ico such a great game
I used to looovveee Ico when I was very little, too little to remember too much about it today but I do know that it totally entranced me. I've been wanting to play it again for a while but still don't know where or how to (I did not have a PS3), so I will live vicariously through this video! Thanks for choosing this game to discuss, great content as always.
Thank you for discussing my favorite Team ICO title. I think the one thing I would argue against is the idea that the combat is simplistic. I know you framed that positively in this review, but I've found too much detail and nuance in it to agree. For one, mashing your attack button is the least effective method to combat enemy shadows. It may knock shadows down on the third swing, but it locks you into a 3-hit combo animation. This means that you can’t change direction once the animation has started. As a result, you can't react to attacks incoming from the side or back. A more effective method of defeating shadows is actually to space out the timing of your stikes so it always does the 1st swipe animation. Timing it right will allow you to strike swiftly, and repeatedly, without sacrificing you capability to turn around and fend off other enemies from grabbing Yorda. Also, if you want to knock a shadow to the ground, and you have the distance to pull it off, a jump attack instantly knocks any opponent onto their back. Speaking of, you can recover from getting knocked down yourself much quicker if you spam the directional and face button inputs simultaneously. Additionally, the shadows can be manipulated via their own priority to capture. Leaving Yorda wide open and anticipating their eagerness to catch her means you can bait them into advantageous areas, such as corners, where you can wail on them. And the most underutilized and unknown combat mechanic is that if Ico stops running and either walks or stands still, he'll be able to block any attacks coming directly at his front. Shadows are aware of this, and back off instantly if they’re approaching your front and notice you preparing to block. If they can't feasibly get behind you, they'll keep cowering away. This opens you up to positioning and controlling your enemies with well timed jabs and blocks. But of course, none of it is necessary to succeed. 9 times out of 10 you can just bring Yorda to the Idol Doors and the enemies will be vaporized without further issue.
Before I played ICO, I always wondered what made it a cult classic here in America. I thought it was originally because it came out when the more straightforward games like GTA and Call of Duty were coming out around the same time... nope. It was literally because of the most generic fantasy looking box art ever. And that's a shame because the game is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played.
Unfortunately, it was only ever released physically for the PS2 and PS3 (as a remaster pack with Shadow of the Colossus) - I thought it had been available on one of the Playstation online services, but I can't seem to find it now. So unless a digital copy is released on PS4/PS5, Ico's only playable on older hardware. Hopefully in the future we get another remaster or maybe a triple pack of all three TeamIco titles!
>don't judge a game by its cover
>has one of the most beautiful and artistic covers I've ever seen
>used to mesmerize me in target when I was a kid, knew I'd play it someday
Look up the American box art. We got screwed over here.
I just bought a copy of this game disc only. Then i printed out the japanese cover art and put it in an old DVD case. Looks so beautiful now.
Perfect timing, I was just reminiscing about Ico the other day. It's still one of my favorite games ever made to this day.
I first heard about ICO a year or so before the game was released, before i even knew it's name and with only a vague outline that the game was about holding hands.
Eventually i found out it's name and heard of it's release date and a few screenshots in games magazines, it looked impressive but still pretty vague as to the gameplay.
I bought ICO upon release and was swept up in it's visual story telling that was beautiful to behold though bitter sweet and often stressful and panic inducing.
Needless to say i adored this game and still do all these years later.
A modern fairy tale that pulls at the heart strings, even more so due to player involvement and the simple but highly effective game play mechanics.
Love this game, always will.
Never played Ico, but I did play and love Shadow of the Colossus.
Please play Ico and the Last Guardian, they're just as brilliant as Shadow, if not more so. Fumito Ueda is quite literally the Tarkovsky of video games.
@@miguelbranquinho7235 Tarkovsky like "Stalker" and "Solaris" Tarkovsky or a different Tarkovsky?
@@theIJPmexican That's the one yeah.
@@miguelbranquinho7235Loved ICO and SOTC
still one of my all time fav games, i remember when i first played a demo of it, i was immediately hooked, this big empty castle, this girl trapped in a cage with magic powers, my child brain was just fascinated, the atmosphere in this game is so thick, love it to this day, i even named my dog after it back in the day :D
yeah demo from ps magazine was short and amazing only to windmill section , after playing I couldn't wait for an official release
Hi, I wanted to offer 2 game series as suggestions for videos. First being the Descent series, a 6-d shooter with a cult following about a mercenary that is hired to fly to distant mining outposts and eliminate robots that are infected with computer viruses, rescue hostages, and wipe the facility by starting a self-destruction sequence by blasting the facility core. It's got a story to it and has seen recent resurgences of interest with new games made in its likeness like Overload.
The second 'series' is the Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, and Planetary Annihilation games. I loosely call them a series because each ip is a spiritual successor to the prior series. Total Annihilation is a very early rts title with 3d elements, where you play as one of two playable factions who have fought each other for thousands of years. The war is a civil war over the transfer of consciousness from flesh to machine, so you get to choose either the Core which is all about transferring one's consciousness. or the Arm that fights to maintain flesh. Gameplay is simplified where you start with 1 powerful unit called the Commander, a special unit that can build units, collect resources, and has powerful weaponry at its disposal. The goal is to eliminate the enemy commander with your robotic fleet of infantry, vehicles, air, and sea units. Pelt your enemy bases with artilartillerylaunch a nuke and hope the enemy doesn't have nuke defendefensesoverload their defenses. Units that are destroyed leave behind salvageable wrecks your construction units can reclaim metal from, one of 2 primary resources, the other being energy. TA has a cult following. The Supreme Commander series is a spiritual successor to TA, playing somewhat similar to its it'sitsdecessor where you start with a commander but you're no longer fighting over a civil war over transferring consciousness. Instead, you have 3 factions, the UEF, the Cyberians, and the Illuminate. Each with theiritsstyle and unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Planetary Annihilation plays more like Total Annihilation, only you play on planets you can travel between, and it's shifted focus to a multiplayer aspect rather than having much of a story.
Hope this info helps and gets your interest :)
Ico was not at all an elaborate game. The combat was simplistic, the game was only about three hours long, and it didnt have any gameplay mechanics like upgrading or an arsenal of weapons. But honestly, its charm and and value comes from its unique aesthetic and its emotional premise. The game looks beautiful when you play it, and that story is so emotional and yet so nice. Thats what makes Ico such a great game
I used to looovveee Ico when I was very little, too little to remember too much about it today but I do know that it totally entranced me.
I've been wanting to play it again for a while but still don't know where or how to (I did not have a PS3), so I will live vicariously through this video! Thanks for choosing this game to discuss, great content as always.
You can emulate it on pc or even on android
Great channel, I was with you in the beginning 🎉
Hmmmm. Wasn’t familiar with this one. Thanks for the introduction - one of the things I love about this channel.
I wish you can play this game on modern consoles 😢
Yeeeeaaaahh Buuuuddyy here we go!
Ico is one of the best games ever , one my proudest platinums
Thank you for discussing my favorite Team ICO title. I think the one thing I would argue against is the idea that the combat is simplistic. I know you framed that positively in this review, but I've found too much detail and nuance in it to agree. For one, mashing your attack button is the least effective method to combat enemy shadows. It may knock shadows down on the third swing, but it locks you into a 3-hit combo animation. This means that you can’t change direction once the animation has started. As a result, you can't react to attacks incoming from the side or back.
A more effective method of defeating shadows is actually to space out the timing of your stikes so it always does the 1st swipe animation. Timing it right will allow you to strike swiftly, and repeatedly, without sacrificing you capability to turn around and fend off other enemies from grabbing Yorda. Also, if you want to knock a shadow to the ground, and you have the distance to pull it off, a jump attack instantly knocks any opponent onto their back.
Speaking of, you can recover from getting knocked down yourself much quicker if you spam the directional and face button inputs simultaneously.
Additionally, the shadows can be manipulated via their own priority to capture. Leaving Yorda wide open and anticipating their eagerness to catch her means you can bait them into advantageous areas, such as corners, where you can wail on them.
And the most underutilized and unknown combat mechanic is that if Ico stops running and either walks or stands still, he'll be able to block any attacks coming directly at his front. Shadows are aware of this, and back off instantly if they’re approaching your front and notice you preparing to block. If they can't feasibly get behind you, they'll keep cowering away.
This opens you up to positioning and controlling your enemies with well timed jabs and blocks. But of course, none of it is necessary to succeed. 9 times out of 10 you can just bring Yorda to the Idol Doors and the enemies will be vaporized without further issue.
10:33 Ah, yes. Another example or a visual effect ruined by UA-cam's video compression.
Before I played ICO, I always wondered what made it a cult classic here in America. I thought it was originally because it came out when the more straightforward games like GTA and Call of Duty were coming out around the same time... nope. It was literally because of the most generic fantasy looking box art ever. And that's a shame because the game is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played.
1:14 do you think only north america is the west? europe is the west too and had the final cover
it has cars
How can we play Ico nowadays ?
Unfortunately, it was only ever released physically for the PS2 and PS3 (as a remaster pack with Shadow of the Colossus) - I thought it had been available on one of the Playstation online services, but I can't seem to find it now. So unless a digital copy is released on PS4/PS5, Ico's only playable on older hardware.
Hopefully in the future we get another remaster or maybe a triple pack of all three TeamIco titles!
I played ICO on PS4 in lockown. I streamed it on PlayStation plus. I live in the UK btw, not sure if that changes anything.
It's 15 bucks for the remaster on ps3.
Oh man, if you did ICO, you HAVE to cover Shadow of the Colossus one of these days!