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The camera change you mention is a kind of brief cutscene that only plays in the JP/PAL versions. It's interesting that it's there, because it inadvertently makes the area seem more interactive than it is. I think it's goal is to actually show players how impossible it is to overcome the gate. There's a similarly short cutscene you can see if you climb up a pipe in the Cogwheel area that should lead Ico back up to the ground floor, but it breaks as part of the cutscene, sending Ico back into the water. I'll probably make a short video showing this off sometime. Also thank you for the kind words I really appreciate it.

@@Mystic_Ode I think I remember the pipe you mention, breaking somewhere in the final area, from my playthroughs as a child. Although I never stumbled upon it again. The attention to detail in Ico, among many other things, is why I think this game fully deserves to be called a work of art.

@@yashveersingh6633 My comment there was in anticipation of people who believe Shadow of the Colossus enforces a retroactive continuity (retcon) that *should always* change the understanding of ICO. That is what I disagree with. For example, people don’t try to ponder the myriad reasons why the horned children exist anymore, because everyone has played Shadow of the Colossus and then agrees the only reason must be: Wander began the lineage of horned children. I think people are allowed to have that theory, but it shouldn’t be the default. Because tying these games together was not always the plan. The Sigil wasn’t used on the Colossi until around the time that The Spider colossus was designed. And you try telling me how Dormin, Emon, and Mono are supposed to fit into the original NICO multiplayer concept. The connections we find now are merely the result of Ueda deciding years later that he could form loose ties to his first work in an interesting way. The ties he makes back to ICO in SotC are inevitably influenced by SotC’s themes and its narrative, it is an add-on. But now, due in part to Shadow’s popularity within the Team ICO fan community, few are willing to accept a discussion of ICO’s lore that does not involve Shadow of the Colossus. Within the community that’s been formed, the game is not allowed to stand on its own. Bring up The Queen and someone else will bring up Dormin. And that’s very frustrating to me. Because I do like Shadow of the Colossus, but imagine if every time you wanted to talk about the Colossi and their potential origins, people asked why you didn’t mention Trico and implied that you’re being weird for not examining Shadow of the Colossus alongside The Last Guardian. In this case, of course, I did bring up SotC in my video’s discussion. But that was partly because I felt a pressure to do so. After all, if I hadn’t brought it up, how much of the comments’ section would be dominated by people mentioning the connection? This is why I ended up including it with the emphasis on conversation (compare and contrast) rather than deliberate connection. I want ICO to be analyzed independently, to stand on its own merits. Have conversations with the other games, but not be defined by their lore. If it needs Shadow of the Colossus to be a complete story, then ICO has no identity of its own. (I apologize if this comment felt heated. Your message was very kindly formatted and I appreciate that. If it felt like I was lashing out at you at any point, that was never my intent, but I’ve scanned this over a few times and don’t know to word any of this differently. I feel very strongly about this topic.)

@@Mystic_Ode though you think differently about this game than others ( everyone likes to relate the two games because of the similarities and make theories) I understand you. However would you like to relate the two games if ico was considered the prequel( that's how I perceive the two games) because then you wouldn't need sotc to explain icos story.

@@yashveersingh6633 I suppose if the additions SotC made to the lore were chronological, I would be more at ease connecting them. But I think the distance of time and space was very intentional. It feels like two episodes in an anthology. To give you my best answer, I'd probably frame it like this: The Pattern has a mystical quality, somewhat tied to the nature of the world's magic. At some point, humans discovered this facet of the world and used it for different purposes. They learned that it is something of an anchor for reflected sunlight and that they could convert that sunlight into a source of Light Magic with the proper technology. After this discovery, it was widely adopted as a symbol to distinguish one as part of a culture, specifically a culture of workers, architects, and the like. But this natural symbol of their world also references horned figures in its structure, and this works well for ICO's narrative in the sense that the horned children are literally being used by The Queen for the Light Magic they produce after being placed in their capsules. We see it happen when Yorda is turned into a shadow, the dormant magic within these horned people is critical for the ritual. Now, it's clear enough that the Colossi are somewhat unnatural in their biology. You can see the strange motor-like mechanism along Valus' nose in this video, for example. And Dormin was sealed away by mortals, who created these Idols that are bound to the Colossi. Regardless of their fur and otherwise natural looking bodies, there is certainly a semblance of construction to these beasts, so I find it likely that the weak points were also by mortal design. If the colossi just naturally had these shining weaknesses that their creators didn't intend, you'd think they might've tried to cover it more, like the little Colossi do with their armor. And I doubt they were short of materials to cover those spots, considering how many colossi have armor in pretty much every spot except their weak points. So the pattern was likely being intentionally placed for the purpose Wander uses. They installed a means to destroy these creatures, making it not easy, but certainly not impossible, for the one who wields the Ancient Sword, that will reveal the weaknesses. I don't think the sigil serves a function beyond showing Wander where to strike. If it is meant to serve a secondary purpose as, for instance, a ward against Dark Magic, it really fails to protect Wander from the shadowy tendrils at all. And it also fails to protect Ico for that matter, as he can be turned to stone by The Queen's Dark Magic. Anyway, with this usage on the Colossi, perhaps the association changes. Maybe the cloaks don't serve as a sign of the working class community in this place and time. And the horned figure present in the pattern is seen differently by the surrounding culture. Perhaps because of the situation with Dormin, it becomes a reminder and a warning. "Do not forget what we accomplished in sealing this evil." It does seem like a feat worth remembering and fearing, enough for near everyone in a tribe to be wearing it in some form. These are just various thoughts and guesses, of course. I don't 100% back these statements.

@@Mystic_Ode After already writing a comment with my own weak theory on the 2 games connecting, and then reading this, I have to say, I really like your point here. Very refreshing to see Ico being treated like a standalone game. And I will try to view it more and more from this perspective going forward.

@@Lalatellevizion Ico is certainly capable of supernatural feats, particularly in athletic ability and general durability. I believe there is magic inside of him and the other horned children that were sacrificed. But unlike Yorda and the Queen, he has no means to utilize magic beyond his passive strength. That internal magic may still may be affecting these switches. But it seems just as likely, given their size, that they either require multiple people to stand on them, or at least expect that to be common.

@@Lalatellevizion It is interesting, actually. Because when you start the game, we can see the doors are left wide open, it’s just the bridge that’s retracted. And remains open by default when Ico and Yorda first try to escape. If the doors were really open all the time, both parts of the gate’s latch should be equally worn away by the elements. It makes me wonder if the gates stay closed most of the time, but open for a specific occasion. Maybe as a signal to bring in a sacrifice?

@@masterknuckles1888 Thanks so much! Also I will confirm there was a message, but it was just a little silly. Idk if it would be worth scrubbing the video for.

Okami, Journey, Flowers, and Ico just give me a sense of peace that few other games have they’re just so cozy!!

@@cmf1402 Thanks! I know it can help to see when they start playing, rather than just putting the credits in the video descriptions. But I also think it can distract from the subject too much in some cases, so it hasn't always been consistent between videos. (I especially don't label the game's OST music because, I figured it should be pretty self evident when I do and the OST album isn't especially long or hard to track down.)

@@yashveersingh6633 No. But I already mentioned this in a different video. There I showed how Yorda has some limited ability to hint in the North American version by approaching objects of interest and looking between Ico and the object, but she couldn’t point out anything until the later versions were published.

@@luankelsch4150 I would attribute it partly to a reliance on Physics Engines and partly to a lack of... how to put it(?)... technological whimsy. In the early 00's there was still so much optimistic wonder about the possibilities of the medium. It encouraged developers to find joy in replicating the most mundane facets of reality. At that time, realism in games meant something different than it does now. It didn't mean making visuals that fooled the eyes, it meant making a breathing world that fooled the brain. Everyone knows the characters and aliens of the original Half-Life are polygonal imitations, but the way they respond to their surroundings makes them real. (Did you know the Bullsquids were programmed to 'smell' meat beyond their sightline and seek it out for consumption. MarphitimusBlackimus has a video showing that feature off.) Commercialized Physics Engines have taken a huge workload off of many development teams, but in relying on them, I think devs can often fail to consider what elements of the physical world aren't covered by the engine. How would the temperature of the room effect the shape and properties of this balloon? What smells can the character pick up on, and should they know there's danger ahead before the player can see it? Should we make this door wobble in reaction to the door next to it being slammed shut? These small considerations are, unfortunately, rare to see.

Thanks. I'm glad to be a help with the information I provide on this channel. I didn't get to bring it up in the video, but we do know the story behind the US box art, too. There was an article about it published last year. Team ICO was too busy wrapping development of the NTSC-U copy to work on the game's packaging themselves, so Sony hired a third party, called Beeline, to make the cover and manual. It's a good read. I would link to it, but TH-cam doesn't like links in the comments, so to be sure you can find it, use the keywords: [The Story Behind Ico's "Terrible" North American Box Art Time Extension]

@@Mystic_Ode Don’t worry about it. There is already a whole video dedicated on all the consoles box art of yesteryears between Japan vs US vs Europe which is borderline atrocious and misleading. Thanks anyway.

I suppose my terminology may have lost some people, but the PAL region refers to a large swath of countries that used Phase Alternating Line encoding for their analog TV sets.* Many of those countries, like the UK, have English as their primary language, so English (alongside French, German, Italian, and Spanish) is in the subtitled language options. You can find a PAL copy of the game and not miss out on anything being said. (*NTSC is a different standard of analog television that both the US and Japan used. Games distinguished regions by the TV standards because it was important for the display. Display concerns are also why the PAL version will ask you whether you want to run the game at 50hz or 60hz, because some European countries in 2001 were locked into 50hz displays rather than 60hz.) Also, it's not really a mystery why they tweaked so many little details when you consider the North American version was pushed out much sooner than the devs wanted. I think it's easy to say that this is, essentially, a published late-stage beta build. Put simply, they didn't consider the game finished, but they had to push it out regardless.

@@Mystic_Ode Ah, I see, yeah I'm from the UK so I grew up with the PAL version anyway and when I saw this I assumed that the western release in US and EU was the same. So its actually the NTSC version that I've never seen before. I'll keep that in mind for emulating in the future though because I normally get the US version for ROMs on playstation games since its more compatible with modern monitors and 60FPS. I wonder why they rushed it? That's a shame. So it really is the inferior version not even an alternative one. That sucks.

@@johnbravemusic If I had to guess, I'd say someone high up at Sony of America respected ICO's graphical beauty, but only in so far as it would attract eyes and make money. According to records from IGN at the time, they seemed to initially want the game shipped out by July 2001, but then Team ICO got a single month's extension to August, which at some point was pushed back another month, for the final time. Three delays and you're out, I suppose. They were probably eager for a summer release because they wanted it to rank among 'The First Year' of American PS2 releases and summer was a great block to fit it into from a marketing perspective.

@@Mystic_Ode I see, perhaps it was a logistical scenario as well were on the American side for manufacturing they might have already invested into retail distribution, advertising, and making discs that they decided they couldn't deal with a delay. Cash flow problems or something. Guess we'll never know I've always been happy as a Euro gamer as generally our releases are better than the American ones back in the day but not always.

Amazing! Are you going to include PS3 and European PS2 versions?

@@mosilew207 PAL = European PS2 version. As I mentioned at the start, the only major version differences between JP and PAL are technical, they changed the presentation of the Save screen a bit, translated the subtitles into multiple European languages, allowed the game to run at 50 hz (which incidentally resulted in a unique high jump maneuver that speedrunners have abused), and… I think that’s about it? Again, there weren’t any environmental changes I was aware of so in a video where that’s the primary focus it felt out of place to bring up. The PS3 remaster is based on the PAL version with higher resolution (and a few remade) textures. I shared some texture changes between NTSC-U and later versions in this video, but mostly because they were rare and stood out when they happened. But since every texture in the game was altered for the PS3 remake, how can I hope to highlight each part? The only other difference between PS2 and PS3 is the short video that plays when you wait on the main menu. The one that plays “The Castle in the Mist” track. Bluepoint had to reshoot the entire thing, but apparently they didn’t have the means to make the debug camera move like it used to for certain shots. Nor could they remove Yorda from some rooms like the PS2 cinematic seemed to. I say they couldn’t do these things because they clearly tried to get it as close to the original as possible and I think they would’ve gone further if they had the ability to.

@@Mystic_Ode Does the Japanese version run natively in 50hz or 60hz?

@@johnbravemusic It should run at 60hz. Also, I guess I should've read this comment first. See my other reply for more info.

@@walterwhite8164 Personally, I think my love for this game has pushed my standards to a level that won't be met by any modern game company. Like, my ideal is that they would keep the core of the game exactly the same, but any remake that needs the extra marketing push is going to have bonus content. Shadow's remake for PS4 had bonus content that was really good at being tangential, off to the side, and completely optional. But how do you accomplish anything similar with ICO's linear adventure? I'm afraid the industry will pressure any development team to fundamentally change the game by adding new areas and puzzles that weren't accounted for in the original design. Maybe the changes will be exciting for newcomers and casual fans, but not for me. I would really prefer that people picking up the game today at least be given the option to experience the journey as it was originally laid out. I might be happiest if it was simply ported to the newer console generation.

@@Mystic_Ode I've been putting off responding to your comment since I saw it, since there's a lot i want to say, and it is worth thought out response. But I'm going to put it off one last time, since I'm extremely tired and was hit 3 times to the face with brass knuckles today (long story, kinda funny though). I'm going to give a worthwhile response to your comment either tomorrow or the day after. Until then have a good time mate. Looking forward to your next project. Lord bless you. 🙏🙏

​@@Mystic_Ode Hello, I'm sorry for taking so long to respond. ''Personally, I think my love for this game has pushed my standards to a level that won't be met by any modern game company. Like, my ideal is that they would keep the core of the game exactly the same, but any remake that needs the extra marketing push is going to have bonus content. Shadow's remake for PS4 had bonus content that was really good at being tangential, off to the side, and completely optional. But how do you accomplish anything similar with ICO's linear adventure?'' - I feel the same as you, I think that they could subtly expand some areas of the castle, it would need to be done in a way that keeps the original's atmosphere, but urges the player to explore every inch of the castle once again. Another thing they could add upon, even though it would need to be done in a very slight, maybe even unnoticeable in most cases until you pay close attention to it, is Ico and Yorda's bond. Your comprehensive video on Yorda's behavior in the game made me realize that there are many things I have not noticed over the years. Now again, this would need to be subtle things, like for example, what i see as a very sweet mechanic that I've learned about from your video, Yorda following Ico's position when he climbs very high places. Just two more examples that crossed my mind right now would be Yorda's curiosity (sightseeing, chasing birds), and Ico's idle behavior. To close this paragraph off, I can't emphasize enough that these changes would need to feel like they could have been in the original game all along. ''I'm afraid the industry will pressure any development team to fundamentally change the game by adding new areas and puzzles that weren't accounted for in the original design. Maybe the changes will be exciting for newcomers and casual fans, but not for me.'' - The pressure from today's industry would most certainly do harm to any potential remake of Ico. As for your view of adding new things for the purpose of pleasing the casuals and people who never played the original, I 100% agree with you. In the end, I still see how making even the smallest changes could take away from the irreplaceable feeling that one gets when playing Ico. ''I would really prefer that people picking up the game today at least be given the option to experience the journey as it was originally laid out. '' - I reckon that's what it is all about in the end, honestly I would just love to see new life (while still being as close to the original experience as possible) put into this beautiful amazing game again. But i would rather see it unchanged and in its full beauty, than even one bit of that beauty and serenity taken away. ''I might be happiest if it was simply ported to the newer console generation.'' - I am going to stay optimistic with my view of the future for Ico and assume that we are going to see that one day. Apologies for taking so long , truly. I've been writing this over the course of two evenings and I am very sleepy now, so forgive me if there are any inconsistencies. I am curious to hear what you think, i hope this comment crosses your eyes. Love the work you are doing, thank you for taking time out of your day to respond to comments under videos. May the Lord bless you! 🙏🙏🙏

@@walterwhite8164 Thank you for the thoughtful reply. I also really hope your injuries are healing alright. Adding more to the small things fans appreciate about this game would be a welcome addition. I could definitely see more complex, albeit minor, interactions and idle moments between Ico and Yorda. I don’t think anyone would be opposed to that since it doesn’t affect the core gameplay or the Castle’s architecture. Though speaking on that, after filming my latest video I can think of a few inaccessible places in the original Castle. Just a few tangential, closed off areas that could be made accessible in a remake. But then it falls on the new devs to fill that space with something believable, which is exceedingly difficult. I can’t say with confidence what could be behind each and every closed door, because it requires I understand, at the very least, the broad strokes of the Castle’s history. Which is a tall order for anyone who wasn’t on the original dev team. I agree with you that the remake might be inevitable. The demand certainly appears to be rising on various social media platforms. I like to keep a pulse on when this game gets any online attention, it’s practically my most common google search. And nearly every mention of the game in recent months has prompted a response of “Maybe we’ll get a remake soon.” or a sentiment along the lines of “Not giving this game a remake alongside SotC was Sony’s biggest mistake”. If someone at Sony is also keeping an eye on that, the wish might be granted. But it’s up to them if the product is really what the dedicated fan base will be satisfied with. We’ll just have to wait and see.

@@Mystic_Ode @Mystic_Ode Hello, I accidentally clicked off the popup window and lost a response that i was writing for a bit over 20 minutes. And I'm sorry if this response feels rushed. I agree with you, and also think, that minor additions to behavior of Ico and Yorda would be welcome. Both by fans and newcomers alike. On the point of new areas, I can see how new devs could miss the mark. This could also be worsened by current gaming trends. I'm glad that you are keeping an eye out on any potential attention Ico gets, let's hope that the game will get some much deserved attention. And hey, in the second worst scenario, (first one being no remake/port at all, in my opinion) if the remake misses the mark too far, we still have the original and ps3 versions. While still kind of on topic, I wonder if we will ever get access to some demo and or/dev builds in the future. I managed to click off again, I hope that I included everything I wanted to say in this summary. And thank you mate, I'm almost completely healed. Also I'm in the middle of your version comparison video, I'll share my thoughts when i finish it. Lord bless you and have a nice day! 🙏🙏

The story is amazing and not understanding fully is what keeps me interested in it.

@@liplepeoberty5815 I intentionally kept quiet about that because while I want to acknowledge the credit shouldn’t be placed on me, I did not want to send people to the social media page I found this info on. I’m not a big channel, but these videos aren’t going to be taken down anytime soon. Eventually enough people will see this that someone will decide to be a jerk and pester the developer for more info. Right now, this dev is very open to sharing info when they feel like doing so, putting pressure on them may change that. So if you really want to know, I’ll disclose that info privately over Discord, if I feel I can trust you. I of course, want to source all my info and verify what I say to people, I don’t want to make it seem like I’m making up my sources to validate my headcanons. But if I inadvertently opened the path to some kind of harassment, especially for someone I respect, I would feel terrible.

@@Mystic_Ode That’s remarkable reasoning. I’ve seen similar situation under Mikami Shinji or Ueda Fumito twitter accounts so it’s understandable. In terms of accountability of sources, I trust you, no problem. Regarding Discord channel, maybe I will be interested enough to join it. I’ll contact you if that day comes. For now, I’ll just subscribe to this ytb channel.

PS3 Yorda is exactly like NTSC-J and PAL in terms of her AI behavior. NTSC-U, yorda's ai is unfinished, and there's a lot she doesn't do in that version that you see featured in these vids.

@@SanchoPandaVTW Interesting. So in terms of gameplay, both the PAL version and the ps3 version are exactly the same? I've spent dozens of hours playing both and they always felt like they behaved a little bit differently. Now that I think about it, the ps3 version seemed snappier, most likely due to the better hardware or my mind was just playing tricks on me. Have a good one mate, I'm happy to see this community stick close together.

@@walterwhite8164 Yorda's AI is the same. The PAL is slower, because it's 25 fps instead of 30 fps. This is where you'd feel the difference. A tad slower, and of course super jump glitch because of it. But the PAL and the JP are the same in design. Both are "finished" while the US version was rushed.

@@SanchoPandaVTW Makes sense that frame rate is the reason. Thank you for the answer. :)

@@NomadColossus I double checked both the entrance and exit to Waterfall, but I think it's a case of mistaken memory, cause she didn't run ahead in either case.

@@NomadColossus It seems to me that, for whatever reason, they based her hint system timer on the number 10. They cut 10 in half to get the five minute timers and double it to get the 20 minute timers. Otherwise it’s just instant. So I assume when they felt that 10 minutes was too soon, their only option was to double it, rather than get a more nuanced 12 or 15 minute timer. And they wanted to give players enough time to really feel like they tried everything before Yorda gives her input. It’s also possible that, in playtesting, providing hints faster resulted in players waiting for her input rather than exploring for themselves?