Hey, thanks for clicking on this video! This is a fair bit longer than any other video I’ve written before, but there was a lot about Ico that was worth saying. This video contains spoilers and covers the entire plot of the game, and so you may want to play Ico first and watch this video another time - but really I think the game will still hold up regardless of whether or not you know the story and ideas. Subscribe to the channel, leave a comment, all that stuff, and thank you for watching!
I found this video by looking up 'Ico Review' as I'm prone to do every 4 months or so, though I'd stopped expecting to see new results on this search ages ago. Thank you for being a welcome surprise and bringing more attention to this game. An hour and a half long discussion is absolutely what this game deserves.
Haha, well I'm glad I could finally add a new video to that search! It absolutely deserves it, I'm really hoping that this is a game that more people start to rediscover this year (given that it's Ico's 20th anniversary soon) because it is such an important classic!
@@Table53 I'm currently replaying it and a neat little detail I noticed about Yorda is that if you walk too close to a cliff edge and lose your balance, but catch yourself on the edge, Yorda will gasp. And in NG+, she gets English subtitles so you can understand her, along with a 2 Player mode that can be enabled in the options menu. I have a 2nd controller hooked up so I can control Yorda wherever I might need to, or just for fun :)
Yorda's reactions are a really neat part of the game! I love the moments where she tries to help you out and vaguely points at a box, chain etc. The translated dialogue for Yorda is also such a good "new game +" bonus!
Yeah you care enough to give her your own cute nickname, I for one called her Princess Dumb B@+ch! I LOVE this game but man she drives you crazy sometimes but at other times your just like awww she's adorable!
Lol There was one moment where I was about to purposely swing my sword at Yorda but then stopped myself because it felt wrong. I later on did then instantly felt guilty about it.
I will always feel honored and cherrish the fact that i still own my original copy of Ico from its opening release in 2001. And it still works to this day!
@@Table53 no, i live in america. But hey, less than 500k copies sold here and i still have one. That counts for something right? Also on the old school brick Ps2's Ico always ran like a champ. The only hangup ive ever encountered was the loading sequence after you fall from the bridge will hang up on a black screen forever, literally itll stay that way but soon after that my memory card port went out. After i carried it to a guitar shop to have a new one soldered in its never acted like thay again
I did a search for "Ico review" and found something better than I would have expected for TH-cam. Thank you for reminding me what an incredible experience it was to play this game so many years ago.
This was an amazing Video, I knew that the game exists but had no Idea about how much influence this game had. Definitely gonna check it out asap. Thank you for that!
completely unrelated to ico but at 1:05:03 the sentence that follows has such a beautiful percussive nature, each alliterative syllable rings out like the beat of a drum, pure sound poetry
Fumito Ueda is such a legend. ICO, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian are some of my absolute favorite videogame experiences ever. Of the thousands of games I've played in my lifetime I can't think of any that have impacted me like these games. Each game stuck with me long after I'd finished the game. I was an emotional wreck after finishing The Last Guardian & haven't been able to get myself to play it again since😄 I fully recognize the issues people have with each game and their criticisms but I can absolutely look past all of them and see the heart and soul that was poured into each game and appreciate these wonderful worlds that Mr. Ueda created. For as long as I'll live I'll cherish these incredible games and remember them fondly.
Absolutely! It's why I have no problem with 3 games in 15 years, or waiting even longer for game #4 - because I know that Ueda's games are always something polished and spectacular and I'll happily wait to get another incredible experience
Ueda is one of the true aurters in video games. Team Ico reminds me a lot of Team Andromeda in how they tell their stories without much dialogue (except for Saga in Andromeda’s case) and have an expert handle on art direction and maximizing atmosphere through engaging as many senses as possible, all have amazing soundtracks, art direction and create a connection with the world they take place in, despite never telling exactly what the world’s bigger story actually is.
1:10:35 Actually: the pillars you can hide behind can be moved around. So, you can move them rather close to the sword and making even the last dash to the sword trivial. Just a little detail I only noticed when replaying it recently. You can reach all the sword-positions in time if you time it perfectly, but this fact makes it a LOT easier.
Are you serious?? I've played this game half a dozen times and I never knew that! I thought you just had to be fast and well prepared to get the sword when it was far away.. thats what I've done every time haha
@@Table53 I noticed you could move the pillars right away. They look a bit like the ones near the main gate. Noticed I could move them on two axes, but couldn't find a puzzle to solve, then ended up triggering the boss battle. I figure this sort of thing is inevitable when a game doesn't figuratively hold the player's hand. Some players are going to miss stuff, do things sub-optimally, or get lost or stuck for a while sometimes. But it's worth it for the times when they discover stuff by chance, or because the game subtly prodded them to do something.
@@takatamiyagawa5688 honestly my mind is still blown that those pillars can be moved.. but I guess because there was juuust enough time to run to the sword without it I never had a reason to look closer!
Thank you so much. I cried watching this. It brought back a lot of emotions and memories playing ICO. I remember I loved this game so much, but it had been so, so long since I last played it. Having you narrate and give a bunch of context around ICO made me understand and remember a lot. I love ICO.
I hate not having anything constructive or interesting to say, but I want to send some appreciation your way because this is exceptional. I genuinely thought you had at least a couple hundred thousand subscribers before noticing the actual number. This deserves attention
Thanks for taking the time to write this comment, appreciate it! Most of my videos are about very niche indie titles which don't exactly pull in subscribers haha, but we'll see what happens in the future!
I always loved Ueda works, usually stating SotC was my favorite game of all time. But in the last years I started to appreciate ICO more and more. Seems strange to say, but I resonate with this game at such a level that just thinking of it help me cope with my depression. I'm thankful Ueda-san exists.
I think I would still say that Shadow of the Colossus is the better overall game (and definitely up there as one of my favourites of all time too), but I find Ico endlessly more fascinating because of the beauty in its restraint and design! Ueda is an absolute master, I can't wait for game 4!
@@Table53 yes, Shadow is objectively a better game, I was just saying that ICO has something truly special that I can't even describe. The word is "pure": it transcends the idea of videogame
I totally get it. I played Ico because The Last Guardian hit me so deeply, and not just because the ending is such a punch in the gut (it is!) Some works of art are very deep, and express things we go through in our hardest times. Ueda’s games seem to be like this.
@@Table53 It's in the first part of the game. The easiest way to get there would be to start a new game, but in the latest update I made it so you can return there after beating the three main levels.
I had watched a playthrough of the other game by Ueda, and a lot of people suggested learning about Ico. I'm glad I did, this game is really unique. I did not realize how influential it had been either. In some ways it's like an anti-videogame, it does the opposite of what most triple-A games would do in telling its story. Yet, that's what makes it so beloved, even all these years later. Anyway, great video! Thanks for sharing!
I'm happy to hear that people were giving Ico a shoutout! It's such an influential game that somehow has managed to fly under the radar a little. I'm glad you liked the video, and thank you for leaving a comment!
How does this wonderful video not have more views? Thanks so much for your excellent video on Ico. I love this game so much and its often in the 'shadow' of its younger brother. Such a great and detailed analysis, thank you for all your hard work.
I never played this game, but i've been curious about it so thanks for the great and immersive review. Wish you had more subscribers because you are putting a good work on your videos.
Watched from beginning to end, and what a treat it was! Thank you for the hard work and great analysis on one of my favorite games 🙏 One of my favorite moments comes at the end, after you defeat the Queen and Ico gets thrown against the walls and his horns are broken. Seeing his horns break, to me, symbolized that he had broken the "curse" of the horned child from his village and that now they will never have to sacrifice another child again. So which ever ending you want to believe is true, there is always that slight happiness that Ico has broken the curse that has apparently been going on for many many centuries.
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! Ico is genuinely such a wonderful game That's a very good point, even if Yorda hasn't escaped and the beach scene I just happy fantasy - you've definitely made a huge mark on the world by bringing down the whole castle! And Ico's horns breaking as the Queen dies is superb symbolism
I never saw a video made with so much love and effort like this one. We need a Review about Shadow of the collosus or this nico (that i never knew that this game existed). This was the first video of yours that i saw. You owed a fan after this.
Thank you for this video. I recently finished ICO and have been scouring the internet for videos like this. I just want to talk about it with somebody. This was everything I wanted. If you ever end up covering the rest of Ueda's games, I'll be more than happy to watch.
I'm glad you liked the video! I will definitely talk about Ueda's other games, I'm just not a very good TH-camr and so nothing ever happens to any sort of reasonable schedule haha.. but talking about SotC is something I will definitely do
I'm so happy that people are still find and playing Ico! I feel like the remake is so unlikely, if it doesn't happen for the game's 20th anniversary (Sept 2021) then I don't see when it ever would. But I guess we can hope haha? Thank you, glad you liked the video!
I only now remembered that I immediately and unconsciously chose to jump back towards Yorda on the bridge. The game really did do a great job of building that bond.
Such a great moment. I experimented to see what happens if you go the other way. You run into a totem door that you need Yorda to open, buy you can't because you abandoned her to the castle!
I was wondering a few minutes afterwards whether I had the choice of going the other way, perhaps climbing around some level geometry on the other side around the idol totems to survive. Saw some other videos showing that this is not the case, and a fall into the water is unavoidable. Still, just before this, the game lingers on a shot of the idol totems blocking the way on the other side, so perhaps you jump back not just out of care for Yorda, but because you know that, as usual, you can't proceed without her. I wonder how many players would jump back if the totems weren't there. Also, the game gives you barely enough time to actually make the jump, let alone judge whether it's too far or not. I was mashing triangle to get Ico up from the ledge, then had just enough time to run to the center, turn left and make the jump, which was looking very long at this point. Then I was mashing triangle and holding left on the stick hoping that would help Yorda pull Ico up, but it made no difference.
First, what a great tribute to an iconic (ico for short?)game. I originally purchased the game (as a non-gamer) from a Guardian Review in the Saturday Guardian The Guide, a small magazine within the paper. I still have all the original extras. I also purchased the other classic game of the time, REZ. Ico is the only game I have ever finished (not really that difficult); I had to finish it once separated from Yorda. I was convinced I should've not tried to save her; riddled with guilt, it was worth a try. Only to find out I had made the right decision and had a second chance to defeat the final boss. I was in tears when I realised that I had failed. Then finding her, a miracle! Or was it a cruel dream? Like the end of the movie Inception, I'll take the dream; just like our brief period of existence, all we take are our memories, and if there is that soft sanded beach when we all move on, I hope to meet up with Yorda. Thanks for such a great and respectful ending to your piece. I found the next game too difficult and never got that attachment. Twenty-two years later, I may have a go at the game Journey, as it looks like a game that has a purpose. As a designer, 'form over function', as a writer, Orwell's 'keep it simple', and as a non-gamer 'design by subtraction'. The artwork is truly sublime.
I absolutely adore Ico. I’ve even read the novelized story, but nothing beats the gaming experience. Thank you for this incredible in-depth video on my favorite video game.
beutiful video. Amazing analysis. I finished ICO in a blind playthrough today and immediatly looked for a review or retroespective and found yours. It was really conforting seeing someone that identified some of the things that made this game special for me as well. For the record I have played infinite amounts of games but never cried with one. Until today :)
This is amazing to hear! It's so good to know that Ico still resonates with people today, and that the things that made it special still stand out even after 20 years of developments in the video game world! Definitely a game I wish I could "Eternal Sunshine" from my memory and play for the first time again Thank you for your comment :)
@@MrNasacort Do you have a PS5? I think you can play a version on that system. Or maybe get a used PS4? I don't think they're that expensive and there are a ton of really great games that you can play on it.
Thank you so much for such deep observations on this truly special game! You helped me relive the moments that amazed me in 2001, and turns out they still are as emotional now as they were then. The bridge scene and the decision to jump, the handholding mechanic, the constant dread of leaving Yorda alone, the isolating atmosphere and sound design - all are things I thought about a lot later, when I noticed them in other games. Also the beach ending is such a stroke of genius, - I felt a slight glimmer of hope, I ran forward, then I saw a dark speck by the water far ahead, and thought "No, it couldn't be! I am kidding myself." But i still ran forward, and could not believe my eyes. That ending gave me such needed closure. Ueda is like a master musician who's instrument is human emotions. Also, the watermelons :) Funny story, I played this game together with my future wife, and a year later, when walking along the rocky seashore in the wild, we came upon a stone couch someone constructed out of boulders, very much like the one in the game! Needless to say, we sat down holding hands and decided to save that moment forever :)
I'm glad you liked the video! Ico is genuinely such a special game I'm just hoping I did it justice in this video! I loved the ending as well, it was still an incredible game up to the point where you defeat the queen - but I was so, so glad to be given that option of believing a happy ending afterwards as well. That is a such a cool story, sounds like a wonderful moment!
32:34 While the Nomad Colossus map is of course incredible and a giant blessing, I feel like so many people overlook the work by FunkyBoy to port the castle to Unity. Unfortunately, it's left unfinished with many areas left not properly textured, but the build he had released already is such an incredible showcase of the castle's interconnectedness and the sheer passion that went into building it. There is almost no area in the castle that is not in the game. Everywhere you go is a memory. Seeing how close everything really was just elevates the experience for me so much. But apart from that, lovely video! I love how you just refused to call Shadow of the Colossus by name up until the very end, haha. Whenever I'm asked about my "favorite game of all time" I always bring up Ico and it's always a struggle to properly describe why. It's both the most videogame of all time and the least videogame of all time. It's an experience that can ONLY be a videogame, yet it's a game that actively defies what makes a typical videogame.
Oh wow, thanks for letting me know about that! This video was a combination of what I already knew and experienced in the game with a fair bit of research and yet somehow I never saw this build! Quite possibly would have used it to directly show the interconnected nature of the map! It's a really cool project, just watched a video panning a camera around the castle (on the Nomad Colossus channel haha) Yeah I decided early on that this was going to be Ico and Ico only, I understand why it gets overshadowed (pun unavoidable) by the next game but i wanted it to be full focus here! Completely agree with your last sentence. Ico uses the attributes _of a video game_ so well to create an experience quite unlike the majority of video games
The first time I played ICO, I too instinctively made the leap of faith back to Yorda and the castle, but I ended up dying on the lonesome section. On replay, just out of curiosity, I decided to go the other way just to see what the path not taken was. Turns out, you CAN cross to the other side of the divide between land and the castle... but the way to freedom is blocked, ironically, by a totem gate. Without Yorda to open it for you, and since you don't have the sword either, you have no choice but to stand there at the door to freedom as the other side of the drawbridge continues to retract into the ground... until at long last it retracts under your feet and you plunge into the water below, but without the benefit of going on to the lonesome section. The irony is, abandoning Yorda only ends up reinforcing her necessity, and giving you a healthy bit of reinforcement by killing you outright.
I've done the same thing too! Not sure if I mentioned it in the video, but I also explored what happens if you run the other way and found the totem door. It's a really clever way of reminding players about Yorda's importance without directly having to tell them!
@@Table53 You didn't, but I don't think it's important enough to mention. The drawbridge is just long enough to make the mistake of abandonment memorable. It retracts slowly enough that you have enough time to test and see if there's a way to get past the totem gate to get to freedom, but there isn't, because the gate protrudes just far enough out that there's no way you can climb around it.
Its funny how the shadow kids covet Yorda and that ICO himself does too in the end. So he may have escaped the tomb and the castle but he didn't escape fate completely. That is poetic in itself.
I felt the opposite instead, rather than Ico being obsessed with Yorda like all the other kids I thought the shadow kids also had our good intentions towards them, only due to whatever those stone sarcophagi did to them they thought keeping Yorda inside the castle was the best way to help her. Like whenever they came trying to kidnap her they only wanted to keep her safe from me
Great video! Can't wait for your Shadow of the Colossus video, liked and subscribed! Also I've never played Ico before, but I'm going to now after watching your video, this game looks like an absolute treasure.
Ever since I played a demo on one of PlayStation underground’s demo discs I have been fascinated by this game it is one of the few games I continue to think about off and on through out the years, I really want a ps5 port one day 🤞
I just finished Ico yesterday for the first time ever. It was truly ahead of it's time. I think what really made your relationship feel special with Yorda had a lot to do with how the physics worked when holding hands. You leading her down steps, your grip breaking if you went too fast, forcing you to go more slowly and carefully if you wanted to keep your link. It gave a nice sense of closeness with how real the mechanic was depicted. I would like to compare Ico to Jak 2, in the sense that that game in particular is a linear open world, but in a great interconnected way. You would have different platforming sections in a futuristic neo-city and the surrounding barren outskirts. However this all clicks together when you scale one of the giant supporting beams to the giant palace that looms above the center of the city, basically the center of the game world. You would be able to see every part of the map, reminding you how much of a cog you were in the grand architecture. This reminded me of Ico because you could view parts of places you've been to, or will be. I love when games do this, having a callback to other parts of your world grounds everything excellently. I'm excited to see what Team Ico has in store for 2021 (looks like a new game)! Great and insightful video! It helped me understand the game better, with it still being fresh in my mind.
It absolutely was! The decision to have you hold Yordas hand instead of her just automatically following you is such a simple change but makes such an impact For me Jak 2 is much more like one of the other games I mentioned in this video as Jak was quite explicitly a game designed to be a GTA3 clone in the Jak universe! I don't fully remember the game as I haven't played it in a few years, but I think what you're getting at is that when you were in each sections of the game you could tell (or maybe even see) where that area fit into the overall world? Making it feel more "interconnected" than other open world games where the map is mostly a flat square, which is all connected, but in a less interesting way because you can only really see one place at a time? Yes! I'm really excited by the idea of another Ueda game (i think technically it will be a 'genDESIGN' game now), but I don't mind the wait as long as it ends up being another timeless classic. And thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
@@Table53 Yeah, the Jak sequels did indeed seem to be trying to copy off the success of the GTA formula somewhat, but they also had their own charm. The feeling is kind of like an "aha" moment. Jak 3 also has it's version of this, where you're flying above the entire map around a floating war factory. You also traverse sewer networks as platforming levels that take you to and from the city's various areas and ruins which helps with the interconnectedness. And every time you revisit the sewers to go to point A to B it deviates a little more, giving you a sense of it being a giant maze when in actuality it's only 3 separate platforming levels. Or the monk temple (which is a more comparable version to Ico's castle), that has you going to different parts of it's buried depths. Jak's core thing in the sequels was "level deviation". The only reason I compared these two games is that the one moment captured in Jak 2 is the very essence of Ico's awesome environmental design.
@@moegasmic Yeah the devs at Naughty Dog even came out and said that Jak 2 was based on GTA III! Sounds like they did a good job in making the city feel like a complete space. I'm definitely going to have to go back and revisit the Jak games, honestly I think the game I played the most in that series was Jak X (which I still think blows all Mario Kart titles out of the water haha)
Thank you for creating this wonderful video. I first played Ico as a little 6 year old back in 2001 and it made me fall in love with video games. 20 years later this still is truly the most magical game and one I will hold very dear to my heart
It is something genuinely special, though I'm not sure that as a 6 year old I would have remotely begun to appreciate it haha.. and based on the fact that I couldn't get out of the first cave in Tomb Raider 2 at that age I probably wouldn't have got far through it either! Thank you for the comment, it's always cool to see that other people still care about Ico!
@@Table53 I played Ico with my Dad, I always had fun playing games with him. But don't think I couldn't have done it all on my own either! Haha. I even collected the Ico photo magazine that came with PlayStation magazine with little cardboard character cutouts.
Ah that makes more sense! Still very cool that you got to experience it so young. That sounds amazing, I would never have thought that would be a thing. I'm going to have to google and see what they looked like
I haven't been able to find anything about it! Although reading about the demo I found out that originally you were allowed to drop Yorda to her death after catching her from a jump.. quite glad they got rid of that haha
What a great video to end the year (assuming this is your last upload of 2020). According to my own analytics like 15-20% watches the end of a 30 minute video, so I can only assume the numbers on an hour long video are even lower. But damn, they don't know what they're missing out on. Aside from this video, thank you for the content this year and I can't say anything else than that I am glad I stumbled upon your channel by accident. You are most definitely gonna make it big these next couple of years. Thanks for the hour long masterpiece to finish the year off with and I hope you have a merry christmas and a happy new year Table man :)
Thank you! Yeah it's almost certainly the last video of the year, and I think I'll start off 2021 with a top 10-esque sort of video (where I can write shorter pieces as a change from this ~20k word video haha). It's around the same for this, ~20% watching to the end - still feels pretty good for a video that is very long! Thank you, we'll see what next year holds, and Happy New Year to you too!
me and long long form stuff doesn't jive. but I'm here to vocalize my support and commend you on the tremendous undertaking involved in making this. good job man. it's a long journey. super proud you endeavoured to do this.
Thanks man! That's fair, almost an hour and a half is a long time for anyone to spend watching a video so I wasn't expecting everyone to watch it! Thanks for all the support, can't wait to see what you've got in store for your channel this year!
@@Table53 I’m serious man. I always thought of doing my own video like this on Ico, but you’ve said everything I would’ve wanted to better than I could’ve. Fantastic!🎉
I remember back when I didn't yet have the soundtrack for the game, I would replay the last save file just to hear "You Were There" play over the ending credits. I could tell the song was in English but it was really hard to make out all the lyrics. Eventually I would learn them all & what brilliant lyrics they are. Just like the game itself is brilliant. The 20th anniversary has come & gone with no remake. But now that SONY has acquired Bluepoint Games, hopefully a remake is on the way. Nice review/discussion. :)
Really great look into Ico, very appropriate video to watch for its Japanese 20th anniversary release yesterday, so thank you! I look forward to the eventual look at the game that shouldn’t be mentioned ;3
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yes the video on the game that cannot be mentioned is half written and will definitely be completed, I've just not had a proper PC for almost a year now and making a 1hr+ video on a laptop will be essentially impossible.. so that video will be priority #1 when I hopefully replace my PC fairly soon
I just wanted to comment to say this is one of the best deep dives into a game on this platform not done by Noah Caldwell Gervais or Matthewmatosis. Honestly, I think your video surpassed the latter for this game, especially as you look into the aesthetic choices made by Ueda (such as the camera) instead of focusing purely on the mechanical. Great job. I hope you are still working on that SOTC video and hope to see more. This is real quality work and would love to see this effort extended to other games. Subscribed and will be keeping an eye on your channel
Thank you! I'm a big fan of Matthewmatosis so that is absolutely enormous praise! The SotC video will definitely happen, unfortunately I've not even been able to play it recently (no sony console currently and internet too weak for PS Now) and I do want to be able to jump in and out of the game while finishing off the script! Thank you again, hope you enjoy that video when it's out!
I bought Ico for it’s initial release. I had loved Oddworld and someone suggested to give Ico a try. I immediately fell in love with this game. This, Shadow and even Last Guardian are all brilliant.
And as someone who has played this game basically once a year since it’s release, I completely agree with your statement about the PS3 remaster collection with SOTC is THE definitive way to play the game. Plus you get SOTC remastered as well. That double release is one of the highest value releases ever. For a long, long time that collection was the best way to play both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Shadow has since been remastered again (no surprise there, SOTC is one of the most incredible games ever made and younger players deserve to encounter it in their journey in gaming. Sony knows that SOTC is one of the most influential and beloved pieces of media in the past 30 years, not to mention being a case in point example of Video Games being Art. Ico is likewise a piece of art, and is just as good as Shadow, but far more niche in it’s appeal. Which is fine by me, because as long as it was made once upon a time and is still available to play in some form, I could care less than not nearly as many people have blessed themselves with playing the beautiful and richly rewarding experience of interactive art that is Ico.
This game was interesting, definitely ahead of its time. I like many Americans missed it on launch but played it after shadow of colossus blew me away. I didn’t like it more than shadow but still greatly enjoyed the plot
Love the video dude! I'm a big SotC/Ico fan, and the way you talk about all this makes it feel fresh somehow. no rush, but if you do get around to talking about Shadow, I bet you'd rock it!
I did actually play this when I was a kid. I lost Yorda but the game never ended and I was softlocked within the first two hours of gameplay. It's kind of weird, but I felt like that singular softlock defined the game for me, the loneliness that is a hallmark of the game, balanced by the presence of Yorda, had become horrifyingly oppressive. I remember I was playing with my dad, and he eventually got tired and left and I was left alone with ICo. To this day I still don't think I've ever felt more immersed by a videogame. It was a weird experience, but if I could be honest, it's not one I'd mind reliving.
@@Table53 so true. I enjoyed your video as well. Especially when you noticed the moment when Ico and Yorda crossing the bridge and suddenly they are split apart. At that moment I didn't really noticed in my mind it's very powerful moment, because I was reacting on reflexes - just tried to jump over to Yorda instantly ) Realisation came later. Very very special game it is
Thanks for the video! It's a fantastic way of celebrating the game's anniversary. I love Ico with my whole heart, in gact the whole trilogy is probably the dearest thing in video games for me, and even though I have spent countless hours in Ico, never failing to get something new out of the experience, there are some things, and very important ones, that your essay brought up to my attantion and that I have never thought of on a level that they clearly deserve. I think it's the first time that the importance of player agency in that Apex moment (c) is brought to my attention. Indeed, the fact that jumping to Yorda and towards the castle is your first and unfaltering instinct is saying so much about the relationship that the game has quietly built up to this point. I also love the fact that you aknowledge some of the more overused themes in the discourse surrounding these games, and conciously choose to be mostly ironic about them, while stating only what is needed and dedicating more time to your own thoughts instead. Overall, great style and delivery, and also, great choice of music (though that Requiem from one game that should not be named was probably too much of a spoiler, it kind of undermines the effort to give Ico's atmosphere it's own time to blossom away from the shadow (pun intended) of it's more famous relative. As for the preferred method of playing, PS Now service is kind of sketchy in my country, and I don't put much trust into anything that doesn't have a copy on my hard drive anyway. But when the time came, I had no problem at all finding a used PS3 for dirt cheap, I bought the thing pretty much exclusively to play the Team Ico collection and never regretted it since. So I guess it's a valid option, too. Again. thank you so much for the effort, original thought and creativity that you put into the video, it all shows immensely in the end result! I'll be looking forward to your further videos
Thank you for taking the time to leave this comment! Ueda’s works really are incredible games and I definitely want to cover all three of them (although by the time I’ve done that I’m hoping his fourth game will be near to completion!) That moment on the bridge is the main reason I fell in love with Ico, I’d simply never seen or felt anything that powerful in a game before that and certainly not _during_ gameplay! It’s probably that moment that made me think about the rest of the game more deeply and it transformed from something interesting to something genuinely special. Requiem is the piece over the video’s outro right? I think because I’m hinting at the game-that-shall-not-be-named it was probably okay to suggest it in the music there haha, plus it’s such a good bit of music! I really hope Sony improves its backwards compatibility in the future, I’m not at all sold on PS Plus yet (and I tried to play an action game on it and even with good internet the minor lag was a noticeable downside!), if the PS5 could play PS4+3+2 games I would have been trying to preorder one! Thank you again for leaving such a great comment! Hope to see you on the next Ueda video whenever I get that completed! :)
@@Table53 Yes, hopefully, the fourth one will see a less troubled production cycle. Well it's discoveries like this that make the whole TH-cam a worthy place to explore. My perception is more attuned to visuals and atmosphere, and even if a work of art triggers some interesting process in me, I may not notice because my brain just isn't used to noticing things like that, or describing them. So when I found a concise and detailed explanation of that moment in your video, the whole feeling rose from the depth where I never noticed it. Thank you for that perspective! Sony doesn't seem to prioritize the whole retro gaming side, they kind of did something for it during the 7th generation, but on the PS4 they mostly move further. Backwards compatibility doesn't sell copies, especially if they are planning to stop supporting the digital store for ps3, which is probably on the way. So let's hope for another remaster of Ico, as I am not entirely convinced it is even as well suited for a remake as the second game. But on that subject, I will wait for the proper video. Good luck with your projects, and thanks again for great conversation!
@@danilalikhachev341 Hopefully! Its been 4 years since the last guardian and you'd hope that 4-5 years would be enough to complete the project. But really I don't mind when it releases as long as it releases with a similar level of quality! Yeah it is a shame, there is such a strong back catalogue of Sony games that are currently very awkward or difficult to play. It definitely feels like the lack of backwards compatibility is an attempt to remonetise the games through PS Now or encourage people towards newer games. I'd love if it became a priority for them in the future!
I know it’s just for the catchy title, but I was really proud of the fact that I could click on this video because I ‘have’ played this again, actually the original title on the ps2, I have the cringy American box art and all. When I first played it , it gave me a wonder around the world of video games that I have gotten me hooked for years now, also one of my go to personal emotional drivers for the impact of art on people as an artist myself. Love hearing an in-depth on its themes and it’s importance in game history.
Owning a physical copy of Ico for the PS2 makes you a true video game connoisseur! Although I don't know if I'd be horrified or proud to own the American box art for Ico haha, I think I'd have to print off the European cover and slide it into the box... I'd never hold it against anyone if they hadn't played Ico, but it is something that I think fans of "video games" as a medium should really play, in the same way that movie buffs should probably watch Vertigo or 2001. It's just such an exceptionally powerful piece in so many interesting ways. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
I loved so much your video!! Thank you so much for taking the time to review it, I really appreciate it! Are you going to review SotC? I'd love to watch a video as long as this one or even longer made by you about it!!
Thank you! Sorry, I must have missed this comment before. Ico really deserved this video so I'm glad I found the time to actually talk about it - it absolutely is the plan to make a similar video about Shadow of the Colossus!
Great summary and analysis. I had mostly similar feelings about the game. Lately I’m playing many old games on original hardware. Some I’m replaying and some, ICO included, I’m playing for the first time. When replaying you already know the rules and have some kind of muscle memory, so it’s relatively easy to jump back to your memories and enjoy the game. But many games I’ve heard so much about and never played are really hard to keep my attention long enough to finish them and I find myself forcing to keep playing. ICO was something else. Because it’s focus never was flashy graphics, snappy combat or being a movie-like experience there is nothing to get old about it. Heck, there is also no HUD that would probably feel like an “old” design. They really removed most elements that in most other games in that time now feel dated. Instead they focused almost solely on conveying simple emotions in a very deep way and emotions are something that we always feel, no matter what. Also in defence of its combat I never felt that I had to wait for shadows to come to me to kill them. I think the game was trying to tell you that your focus shouldn’t be on killing them, but on protecting Yorda instead. I quickly realised that you can run from most fights which was so much more exciting. I even noticed that when you go up some ledge and give a hand to Yorda, shadows near her are much more forgiving, almost waiting for you to help her. After you run away they just disappear.
Yeah, other than some slightly clunky animations here and there (clipping through every chain you swing on haha) the game doesn't feel "old" or outdated in how it plays at all! I don't have the space for original hardware any more, and I genuinely don't know what happened to my PS2. So for me retro gaming is more emulation focused now
Mostly commenting for the algorithm, bc this video deserves the boost, but i love ueda games so much. Playing his games has introduced me to some of the most intuitive gameplay ive ever experienced, and some of the most genuine moments of connection and love (general, not necessarily romantic) ive ever felt in a game. Such immersive, well-thought-out worlds to get lost in and theorize about.
Thank you! Comments for the algorithm are always appreciated haha. I completely agree, Ueda's games are truly phenomenal. Journey is the only other game I can think of right now that has made as strong an emotional connection as Ico/Shadow/TLG have! (also Outer Wilds, which I remembered by the time I typed the full sentence..)
Just finished my first playthrough of Ico. Bought a used PS3, then bought and downloaded Ico from playstation store. Wanted to play this game before the hardware became too hard to find. Didn't know it was available to play on newer hardware than PS3. Had to wait until I finished it before watching your video. I wouldn't have wanted to have any of the story spoiled. Alternate interpretations of the ending have been bugging me for a few hours. My interpretation was basically the same as yours. In the absence of much else to suggest otherwise, I'll just believe what I see - Ico has washed up on some beach, perhaps a bit further west or east of the sunken castle, and Yorda found the strength to swim after him after the castle had sunk a bit more.
Not only did I play this game when it was released (first game I ever bought with my own money as a kid) I played it religiously for years because nothing compares to it
This being the first game you ever bought is really cool, the first game I bought with my own money was probably Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.. probably not something I'd be too bothered about replaying now haha
I feel like I haven't heard anyone talk about another iconic tune of the game for me, "Continue". The tune is so intrinsically tied to feelings of melancholy and despair for having failed, but promotes attitudes of restructure and repetition, fueling the motivation to try again with a slightly different strategy. Much like the dualistic nature of "Heal" being a sort of relaxing break from the experience, also a sort of fanfare victory theme for having beaten a difficult section and being allowed to save progress. "Continue" would make me feel compelled to reattempt if I listened to it long enough after a failure, but felt somewhat satisfying when giving up and turning off the system for a rest. Thanks for this video.
This video used to pop up on my initial screen from time to time and I kinda avoided it, because something told me I'd hear something bad about it and feel upset. But I don't think there's much to say about Ico in that regard. I'm glad to finally watch it and find such a deep and loving analysis for one of the most beautiful games ever made.
Lovely video, thanks!! I just finished ICO and found this to deep dive into. Your comment about the escape bridge moment NOT being a cutscene is a perceptive one. Rather than instinctually leaping towards Yorda, I actually had Ico run AWAY from Yorda and all the way to the building on the cliff edge. I figured that Yorda was going to be unable to escape at this time - she was clearly weakened by the castle magic - and I thought the game was telling me to run and then figure out a way to save Yorda later. My subsequent doom indicated that I had made the wrong choice, but what I found interesting was the guilt I felt as I legged it towards the exit, leaving Yorda to be dragged back into the castle. The game forges a powerful bond.
While replaying the game I ran the wrong way along the bridge to see what happens. And as if to emphasise that you made the wrong choice, at the end of the bridge is a totem door that you would need Yorda to open.. I really liked that detail
Every time I have to go ahead and leave Yorda alone for a moment, I take an extra second to see if she's safe; and while I'm gone, I'm busting my hind end to get back to her as quickly as possible. She's the first (and to this date, the only) NPC escort I actually care about. She's this really important character and I feel like she's in my personal care.
Great video! I love Ico as much as Shadow of the Colossus. Beautiful games from Fumito Ueda and his "Team Ico". I admit I'd love to see a remake for this game (by Bluepoint Games) for the PS5 as we got a remake for SotC (for PS4). I know it is unlikely to happen (especially since Ico is not as succesful as SotC in sales) but still, it could be fantastic. Now I did like The Last Guardian, but I did not love it. By the way, I can't wait to see the new game from Ueda and genDESIGN team. Saludos.
Yeah it's a shame that Ico will likely never get the Bluepoint treatment, because its a landmark video game but likely wouldn't be a commercial success as a remake either It's one of the reasons I want better backwards compatibility, because otherwise games like this can disappear far too easily! Agreed, anything Ueda makes I can be pretty certain is going to be special
The ending for ico really meant a lot to me. The two things I gained at the end ,firstly, was a greater understanding of the queen and how unconcerned about the danger of ico. She says she’s really old and that she needs a new body and is not scared of ico. Probably because she has turned many boys to stone and fought and ripped their horns off before. I think every statue with a boy with no horns is another kid she defeated. This is a infinite loop of pain to her children and ico. Also when at the end yorda sent me away. I ran on the beach for at least 10 minutes thinking about why yorda did what she did. I think the separation shows the characters independence and growth and how she learned she and to deal with the shadows on her body by herself as my character learned her magic. I thought if this is what she wants it’s ok we will be separated for now. And at that moment I thought that yorda would enjoy this beach with her fascination with seagulls and I found her and the game ended. Both characters learned and growed together causing some healthy independence and followed up with a happy reunion. It was so beautiful I loved it and the song on the bench would totally fit the beach like the two characters were meant to be on the beach together. I think this game shows that every person has to go through this to make a beautiful bond and the loop will continue and that’s ok I guess:)! Loved to see a video about ico made me really happy💙💙
I was genuinely just playing it a few hours ago for the first time in months (I don't own a playstation currently and just moved city somewhere with stable enough internet to run PS Now) Aaaand having turned my computer off to have lunch it will no longer turn back on. This sotc video is basically cursed :(
I recently found out about this game I thought the concept and premise was interesting. After watching the video I couldn’t help but notice the similarities it had with a 2021 game called Little Nightmares 2 which is one of my favorite games that I’ve had the pleasure of playing. Thank you for the in depth analysis of the unique game, I only wish I had the opportunity to experience it first hand. Great analysis! Also do you know what was the music you played during the intro.
Wow, great video. You cover every aspect of what makes this game great and even refute the afterlife theory! I really dislike the theories that "darken up" the games, Shadow has one as well about Mono becoming the Queen from Ico. So many people think that and say "they look exactly alike". We had two adult women over two games, what's the frame of reference there? Anyway, I wanted to mention how in your segment about jumping across the bridge to grab Yorda's hand you speak as if every player does this when they play Ico. Having watched many Twitch streamers play the game, I can unfortunately say that is not the case. I have seen people not only ignore Yorda and start running towards the other end of the bridge, but I've seen people do it several times in a row. I don't think this is because they don't care about Yorda, they just don't see what the game is, to us clear as day, trying to tell them. When I played Ico for the first time I got it. I wonder if maybe it's a thing where players now think differently than players then, or really just that players need to be keyed in to the logic of an Ueda game more when playing one. I think it makes sense, that all of Ueda's games work on a sort of logic that's different from other games, and I think my experience with The Last Guardian was helped greatly by having played Ico and Shadow previously. Puzzles that I saw many other people struggle with came easy to me because I knew what Ueda's game design was like. It might be that. Either way it's a shame people don't do the obvious thing. I'd also like to share this on my Team Ico tumblr blog, if you don't mind.
Thank you! Yeah I'm not really a fan of "dark theories" in general because they're typically quite samey and don't really add anything, and I've also never really felt much of a storyline connection between Ico and Shadow! Haha, well those people don't count! I actually reloaded a save to run along the bridge and see what happens the last time I was playing it.. it turns out that when you run to the other end of the bridge it throws an idol door in your face as if to go "What did you just do to Yorda?" Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! And yeah, I love it when people share these videos!
I just played the game for the first time recently and my first reaction on the bridge was to try to call Yorda like normal, thinking maybe I could encourage her to gather her strength for one last jump and I could catch her. The cutscene of the bridge extending does show the idols blocking the other side so I figured I needed her to get over to my side of the bridge to proceed. I think it would have worked a little better for me if the idols weren't highlighted in the cutscene, but I guess most people don't noticeit so it isn't a big deal.
If someone is working on a modern remaster of this game, they need to watch this video for an essential understanding of its themes and design for sure
Thank you, this is such a nice comment! I really hope there is a remake/remaster in the works (although hopefully they'd have actual notes from Ueda/Team Ico to work from haha!)
@@Table53 I agree, hopefully they'd consult Ueda. I'd love to see bluepoint do it, since they did an amazing job on SotC, but I'm sure other teams could do great as well. Your video was very well constructed and made me realize so many subtle things about the game that just makes me love it even more
Bluepoint remaking the game would be a dream, they've got a great track record of remaking classics so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed all the way up to the 20th anniversary! But it wasn't the most successful game so there may be no interest in redoing it :( Thank you! Ico is an absolutely fascinating game in terms of its innovation and details, it was a lot of fun to make this video about it
The whole concept of the hand holding was genius. Not only a great way to move two characters while only controlling one, but also just for the consistent imagery of Ico and Yorda together
Hey, thanks for clicking on this video! This is a fair bit longer than any other video I’ve written before, but there was a lot about Ico that was worth saying. This video contains spoilers and covers the entire plot of the game, and so you may want to play Ico first and watch this video another time - but really I think the game will still hold up regardless of whether or not you know the story and ideas. Subscribe to the channel, leave a comment, all that stuff, and thank you for watching!
I know that I am a year late but honestly I believe you should make a video about shadow of colossus as it would link well to Ico
I'm another year late but I thoroughly enjoy your analysis, will be looking forward to that SoTC video if you ever release it!
This was a wonderful video can't wait to see more from you
Immediately clicked like to the video because this game means alot
I feel genuine sorrow that this video didn’t take off and make gangbusters
I am so sorry this project didn’t get the attention it deserves
I found this video by looking up 'Ico Review' as I'm prone to do every 4 months or so, though I'd stopped expecting to see new results on this search ages ago. Thank you for being a welcome surprise and bringing more attention to this game. An hour and a half long discussion is absolutely what this game deserves.
Haha, well I'm glad I could finally add a new video to that search! It absolutely deserves it, I'm really hoping that this is a game that more people start to rediscover this year (given that it's Ico's 20th anniversary soon) because it is such an important classic!
I found it the same way! By searching ico review
"You start to care about Yorda."
*pushes a box down on her*
Hahaha, I did feel very guilty about it though! I was tempted to move thst clip but the timing of it was too funny
@@Table53 I'm currently replaying it and a neat little detail I noticed about Yorda is that if you walk too close to a cliff edge and lose your balance, but catch yourself on the edge, Yorda will gasp. And in NG+, she gets English subtitles so you can understand her, along with a 2 Player mode that can be enabled in the options menu. I have a 2nd controller hooked up so I can control Yorda wherever I might need to, or just for fun :)
Yorda's reactions are a really neat part of the game! I love the moments where she tries to help you out and vaguely points at a box, chain etc.
The translated dialogue for Yorda is also such a good "new game +" bonus!
Yeah you care enough to give her your own cute nickname, I for one called her Princess Dumb B@+ch! I LOVE this game but man she drives you crazy sometimes but at other times your just like awww she's adorable!
Lol There was one moment where I was about to purposely swing my sword at Yorda but then stopped myself because it felt wrong. I later on did then instantly felt guilty about it.
I will always feel honored and cherrish the fact that i still own my original copy of Ico from its opening release in 2001. And it still works to this day!
Even though I prefer the PS3 remaster I still think having a copy of the PS2 release is really cool!
It's a version with the good cover.. right?
@@Table53 no, i live in america. But hey, less than 500k copies sold here and i still have one. That counts for something right? Also on the old school brick Ps2's Ico always ran like a champ. The only hangup ive ever encountered was the loading sequence after you fall from the bridge will hang up on a black screen forever, literally itll stay that way but soon after that my memory card port went out. After i carried it to a guitar shop to have a new one soldered in its never acted like thay again
I'm sure you're one of a select few that still has their original copy!
I did a search for "Ico review" and found something better than I would have expected for TH-cam. Thank you for reminding me what an incredible experience it was to play this game so many years ago.
Thank you!
Yes, embrace the long video. Good job!
Well I might not go up to 8 hours haha, but thank you!
I like that observation of 'why did I do that' leap of faith jump
It's such a good moment, and so important that *you* actually got to do it rather than watching a cutscene!
This is the absolute best ICO retrospective currently on video platforms. Thank you for sharing the love for this small, shining gem!
Thank you! I had hoped to write something that could be _the_ definitive longform video on Ico, so I really appreciate hearing that!
I love when games make use of their medium and really hone in on what they want to accomplish.
100%, when a game nails that it almost always becomes something incredibly special!
Thank you for the amazing review! Even I haven't played the game I felt it through this review. The game is really heart touching.
Thank you! I'm glad the video works for people who haven't played the game as well!
This was an amazing Video, I knew that the game exists but had no Idea about how much influence this game had. Definitely gonna check it out asap.
Thank you for that!
Hey, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! That's really nice to hear!
completely unrelated to ico but at 1:05:03 the sentence that follows has such a beautiful percussive nature, each alliterative syllable rings out like the beat of a drum, pure sound poetry
Haha thank you, that's really nice to hear!
Fumito Ueda is such a legend. ICO, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian are some of my absolute favorite videogame experiences ever. Of the thousands of games I've played in my lifetime I can't think of any that have impacted me like these games. Each game stuck with me long after I'd finished the game. I was an emotional wreck after finishing The Last Guardian & haven't been able to get myself to play it again since😄 I fully recognize the issues people have with each game and their criticisms but I can absolutely look past all of them and see the heart and soul that was poured into each game and appreciate these wonderful worlds that Mr. Ueda created. For as long as I'll live I'll cherish these incredible games and remember them fondly.
Absolutely! It's why I have no problem with 3 games in 15 years, or waiting even longer for game #4 - because I know that Ueda's games are always something polished and spectacular and I'll happily wait to get another incredible experience
Ueda is one of the true aurters in video games. Team Ico reminds me a lot of Team Andromeda in how they tell their stories without much dialogue (except for Saga in Andromeda’s case) and have an expert handle on art direction and maximizing atmosphere through engaging as many senses as possible, all have amazing soundtracks, art direction and create a connection with the world they take place in, despite never telling exactly what the world’s bigger story actually is.
1:10:35
Actually: the pillars you can hide behind can be moved around. So, you can move them rather close to the sword and making even the last dash to the sword trivial.
Just a little detail I only noticed when replaying it recently. You can reach all the sword-positions in time if you time it perfectly, but this fact makes it a LOT easier.
Are you serious?? I've played this game half a dozen times and I never knew that! I thought you just had to be fast and well prepared to get the sword when it was far away.. thats what I've done every time haha
@@Table53 I noticed you could move the pillars right away. They look a bit like the ones near the main gate. Noticed I could move them on two axes, but couldn't find a puzzle to solve, then ended up triggering the boss battle.
I figure this sort of thing is inevitable when a game doesn't figuratively hold the player's hand. Some players are going to miss stuff, do things sub-optimally, or get lost or stuck for a while sometimes. But it's worth it for the times when they discover stuff by chance, or because the game subtly prodded them to do something.
@@takatamiyagawa5688 honestly my mind is still blown that those pillars can be moved.. but I guess because there was juuust enough time to run to the sword without it I never had a reason to look closer!
Thank you so much. I cried watching this. It brought back a lot of emotions and memories playing ICO. I remember I loved this game so much, but it had been so, so long since I last played it. Having you narrate and give a bunch of context around ICO made me understand and remember a lot. I love ICO.
I hate not having anything constructive or interesting to say, but I want to send some appreciation your way because this is exceptional. I genuinely thought you had at least a couple hundred thousand subscribers before noticing the actual number. This deserves attention
Thanks for taking the time to write this comment, appreciate it! Most of my videos are about very niche indie titles which don't exactly pull in subscribers haha, but we'll see what happens in the future!
I always loved Ueda works, usually stating SotC was my favorite game of all time. But in the last years I started to appreciate ICO more and more. Seems strange to say, but I resonate with this game at such a level that just thinking of it help me cope with my depression. I'm thankful Ueda-san exists.
I think I would still say that Shadow of the Colossus is the better overall game (and definitely up there as one of my favourites of all time too), but I find Ico endlessly more fascinating because of the beauty in its restraint and design!
Ueda is an absolute master, I can't wait for game 4!
@@Table53 yes, Shadow is objectively a better game, I was just saying that ICO has something truly special that I can't even describe. The word is "pure": it transcends the idea of videogame
Yes, pure is a perfect way to describe it!
I totally get it. I played Ico because The Last Guardian hit me so deeply, and not just because the ending is such a punch in the gut (it is!) Some works of art are very deep, and express things we go through in our hardest times. Ueda’s games seem to be like this.
I've been looking forward to this one. Great job by the way, makes me want to replay it.
Thank you! I still haven't found the Ico reference in The Long Gate haha
@@Table53 It's in the first part of the game. The easiest way to get there would be to start a new game, but in the latest update I made it so you can return there after beating the three main levels.
I had watched a playthrough of the other game by Ueda, and a lot of people suggested learning about Ico. I'm glad I did, this game is really unique. I did not realize how influential it had been either. In some ways it's like an anti-videogame, it does the opposite of what most triple-A games would do in telling its story. Yet, that's what makes it so beloved, even all these years later. Anyway, great video! Thanks for sharing!
I'm happy to hear that people were giving Ico a shoutout! It's such an influential game that somehow has managed to fly under the radar a little. I'm glad you liked the video, and thank you for leaving a comment!
How does this wonderful video not have more views? Thanks so much for your excellent video on Ico. I love this game so much and its often in the 'shadow' of its younger brother. Such a great and detailed analysis, thank you for all your hard work.
Well it's only been up a couple of months and its not exactly a trending topic haha! Thank you for leaving a comment, I'm glad you liked the video!
I never played this game, but i've been curious about it so thanks for the great and immersive review. Wish you had more subscribers because you are putting a good work on your videos.
Thank you! That's really nice to hear
Watched from beginning to end, and what a treat it was! Thank you for the hard work and great analysis on one of my favorite games 🙏
One of my favorite moments comes at the end, after you defeat the Queen and Ico gets thrown against the walls and his horns are broken. Seeing his horns break, to me, symbolized that he had broken the "curse" of the horned child from his village and that now they will never have to sacrifice another child again. So which ever ending you want to believe is true, there is always that slight happiness that Ico has broken the curse that has apparently been going on for many many centuries.
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! Ico is genuinely such a wonderful game
That's a very good point, even if Yorda hasn't escaped and the beach scene I just happy fantasy - you've definitely made a huge mark on the world by bringing down the whole castle! And Ico's horns breaking as the Queen dies is superb symbolism
I never saw a video made with so much love and effort like this one. We need a Review about Shadow of the collosus or this nico (that i never knew that this game existed). This was the first video of yours that i saw. You owed a fan after this.
Thank you, I'm glad you liked the video! There will definitely be a similar video on Shadow of the Colossus!
This was truly brilliant, and I sincerely hope you make your SotC video!
A beautifully crafted analysis! Congrats!
Thank you!
Thank you for this video. I recently finished ICO and have been scouring the internet for videos like this. I just want to talk about it with somebody. This was everything I wanted. If you ever end up covering the rest of Ueda's games, I'll be more than happy to watch.
I'm glad you liked the video! I will definitely talk about Ueda's other games, I'm just not a very good TH-camr and so nothing ever happens to any sort of reasonable schedule haha.. but talking about SotC is something I will definitely do
@@Table53 No rush. I'll be here :)
just played ICO for the first time and came to watch this video. Amazing vid my dude. I hope a remake is made someday as well, it really deserves it.
I'm so happy that people are still find and playing Ico! I feel like the remake is so unlikely, if it doesn't happen for the game's 20th anniversary (Sept 2021) then I don't see when it ever would. But I guess we can hope haha?
Thank you, glad you liked the video!
I only now remembered that I immediately and unconsciously chose to jump back towards Yorda on the bridge.
The game really did do a great job of building that bond.
Such a great moment. I experimented to see what happens if you go the other way. You run into a totem door that you need Yorda to open, buy you can't because you abandoned her to the castle!
I was wondering a few minutes afterwards whether I had the choice of going the other way, perhaps climbing around some level geometry on the other side around the idol totems to survive. Saw some other videos showing that this is not the case, and a fall into the water is unavoidable. Still, just before this, the game lingers on a shot of the idol totems blocking the way on the other side, so perhaps you jump back not just out of care for Yorda, but because you know that, as usual, you can't proceed without her. I wonder how many players would jump back if the totems weren't there.
Also, the game gives you barely enough time to actually make the jump, let alone judge whether it's too far or not. I was mashing triangle to get Ico up from the ledge, then had just enough time to run to the center, turn left and make the jump, which was looking very long at this point. Then I was mashing triangle and holding left on the stick hoping that would help Yorda pull Ico up, but it made no difference.
First, what a great tribute to an iconic (ico for short?)game. I originally purchased the game (as a non-gamer) from a Guardian Review in the Saturday Guardian The Guide, a small magazine within the paper. I still have all the original extras. I also purchased the other classic game of the time, REZ.
Ico is the only game I have ever finished (not really that difficult); I had to finish it once separated from Yorda. I was convinced I should've not tried to save her; riddled with guilt, it was worth a try. Only to find out I had made the right decision and had a second chance to defeat the final boss. I was in tears when I realised that I had failed. Then finding her, a miracle! Or was it a cruel dream? Like the end of the movie Inception, I'll take the dream; just like our brief period of existence, all we take are our memories, and if there is that soft sanded beach when we all move on, I hope to meet up with Yorda.
Thanks for such a great and respectful ending to your piece. I found the next game too difficult and never got that attachment. Twenty-two years later, I may have a go at the game Journey, as it looks like a game that has a purpose.
As a designer, 'form over function', as a writer, Orwell's 'keep it simple', and as a non-gamer 'design by subtraction'.
The artwork is truly sublime.
I absolutely adore Ico. I’ve even read the novelized story, but nothing beats the gaming experience. Thank you for this incredible in-depth video on my favorite video game.
I'm glad you liked it!
beutiful video. Amazing analysis. I finished ICO in a blind playthrough today and immediatly looked for a review or retroespective and found yours. It was really conforting seeing someone that identified some of the things that made this game special for me as well. For the record I have played infinite amounts of games but never cried with one. Until today :)
This is amazing to hear! It's so good to know that Ico still resonates with people today, and that the things that made it special still stand out even after 20 years of developments in the video game world!
Definitely a game I wish I could "Eternal Sunshine" from my memory and play for the first time again
Thank you for your comment :)
I guess you haven’t played The Last Guardian yet. 😄
@@Philosophicalpaperti Dont have a ps4 :'(
@@MrNasacort Do you have a PS5? I think you can play a version on that system. Or maybe get a used PS4? I don't think they're that expensive and there are a ton of really great games that you can play on it.
Thank you so much for such deep observations on this truly special game! You helped me relive the moments that amazed me in 2001, and turns out they still are as emotional now as they were then. The bridge scene and the decision to jump, the handholding mechanic, the constant dread of leaving Yorda alone, the isolating atmosphere and sound design - all are things I thought about a lot later, when I noticed them in other games.
Also the beach ending is such a stroke of genius, - I felt a slight glimmer of hope, I ran forward, then I saw a dark speck by the water far ahead, and thought "No, it couldn't be! I am kidding myself." But i still ran forward, and could not believe my eyes. That ending gave me such needed closure. Ueda is like a master musician who's instrument is human emotions. Also, the watermelons :)
Funny story, I played this game together with my future wife, and a year later, when walking along the rocky seashore in the wild, we came upon a stone couch someone constructed out of boulders, very much like the one in the game! Needless to say, we sat down holding hands and decided to save that moment forever :)
I'm glad you liked the video! Ico is genuinely such a special game I'm just hoping I did it justice in this video! I loved the ending as well, it was still an incredible game up to the point where you defeat the queen - but I was so, so glad to be given that option of believing a happy ending afterwards as well.
That is a such a cool story, sounds like a wonderful moment!
32:34 While the Nomad Colossus map is of course incredible and a giant blessing, I feel like so many people overlook the work by FunkyBoy to port the castle to Unity. Unfortunately, it's left unfinished with many areas left not properly textured, but the build he had released already is such an incredible showcase of the castle's interconnectedness and the sheer passion that went into building it. There is almost no area in the castle that is not in the game. Everywhere you go is a memory. Seeing how close everything really was just elevates the experience for me so much.
But apart from that, lovely video! I love how you just refused to call Shadow of the Colossus by name up until the very end, haha. Whenever I'm asked about my "favorite game of all time" I always bring up Ico and it's always a struggle to properly describe why. It's both the most videogame of all time and the least videogame of all time. It's an experience that can ONLY be a videogame, yet it's a game that actively defies what makes a typical videogame.
Oh wow, thanks for letting me know about that! This video was a combination of what I already knew and experienced in the game with a fair bit of research and yet somehow I never saw this build! Quite possibly would have used it to directly show the interconnected nature of the map! It's a really cool project, just watched a video panning a camera around the castle (on the Nomad Colossus channel haha)
Yeah I decided early on that this was going to be Ico and Ico only, I understand why it gets overshadowed (pun unavoidable) by the next game but i wanted it to be full focus here! Completely agree with your last sentence. Ico uses the attributes _of a video game_ so well to create an experience quite unlike the majority of video games
The first time I played ICO, I too instinctively made the leap of faith back to Yorda and the castle, but I ended up dying on the lonesome section. On replay, just out of curiosity, I decided to go the other way just to see what the path not taken was. Turns out, you CAN cross to the other side of the divide between land and the castle... but the way to freedom is blocked, ironically, by a totem gate. Without Yorda to open it for you, and since you don't have the sword either, you have no choice but to stand there at the door to freedom as the other side of the drawbridge continues to retract into the ground... until at long last it retracts under your feet and you plunge into the water below, but without the benefit of going on to the lonesome section.
The irony is, abandoning Yorda only ends up reinforcing her necessity, and giving you a healthy bit of reinforcement by killing you outright.
I've done the same thing too! Not sure if I mentioned it in the video, but I also explored what happens if you run the other way and found the totem door.
It's a really clever way of reminding players about Yorda's importance without directly having to tell them!
@@Table53 You didn't, but I don't think it's important enough to mention. The drawbridge is just long enough to make the mistake of abandonment memorable. It retracts slowly enough that you have enough time to test and see if there's a way to get past the totem gate to get to freedom, but there isn't, because the gate protrudes just far enough out that there's no way you can climb around it.
Its funny how the shadow kids covet Yorda and that ICO himself does too in the end. So he may have escaped the tomb and the castle but he didn't escape fate completely. That is poetic in itself.
That's very interesting, it's not something I'd ever actually thought about!
I felt the opposite instead, rather than Ico being obsessed with Yorda like all the other kids I thought the shadow kids also had our good intentions towards them, only due to whatever those stone sarcophagi did to them they thought keeping Yorda inside the castle was the best way to help her. Like whenever they came trying to kidnap her they only wanted to keep her safe from me
Fantastic video about my favorite game of all time! Definitely gonna be rewatching this whole video from time to time i love your analyses of it
I'm glad you liked it!
My most adored game in the world!!!! I cannot express what nostalgia this has in my life. The music alone....... great days and an OUTSTANDING GAME!
Completely agree, just an amazing game. The track Heal has to be one of my favourite pieces of video game soundtrack!
Great video! Can't wait for your Shadow of the Colossus video, liked and subscribed! Also I've never played Ico before, but I'm going to now after watching your video, this game looks like an absolute treasure.
I hope you enjoy Ico! And the SOTC video once I eventually get around to finishing it haha
I remember playing this on a demo disc and being so fascinated. I got it for my 13th birthday and was so captivated by this game.
Demo discs were so cool.. I'm sure half the games I played as a child were because I'd experience a bit on a cereal box demo disc
Superb video essay. The video is imbued with enough research and love to deserve more views. Leaving a comment so perhaps the algorithm can catch on.
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
Ever since I played a demo on one of PlayStation underground’s demo discs I have been fascinated by this game it is one of the few games I continue to think about off and on through out the years, I really want a ps5 port one day 🤞
one of my fav games
So good
I just finished Ico yesterday for the first time ever. It was truly ahead of it's time. I think what really made your relationship feel special with Yorda had a lot to do with how the physics worked when holding hands. You leading her down steps, your grip breaking if you went too fast, forcing you to go more slowly and carefully if you wanted to keep your link. It gave a nice sense of closeness with how real the mechanic was depicted.
I would like to compare Ico to Jak 2, in the sense that that game in particular is a linear open world, but in a great interconnected way. You would have different platforming sections in a futuristic neo-city and the surrounding barren outskirts. However this all clicks together when you scale one of the giant supporting beams to the giant palace that looms above the center of the city, basically the center of the game world. You would be able to see every part of the map, reminding you how much of a cog you were in the grand architecture. This reminded me of Ico because you could view parts of places you've been to, or will be. I love when games do this, having a callback to other parts of your world grounds everything excellently.
I'm excited to see what Team Ico has in store for 2021 (looks like a new game)! Great and insightful video! It helped me understand the game better, with it still being fresh in my mind.
It absolutely was! The decision to have you hold Yordas hand instead of her just automatically following you is such a simple change but makes such an impact
For me Jak 2 is much more like one of the other games I mentioned in this video as Jak was quite explicitly a game designed to be a GTA3 clone in the Jak universe! I don't fully remember the game as I haven't played it in a few years, but I think what you're getting at is that when you were in each sections of the game you could tell (or maybe even see) where that area fit into the overall world? Making it feel more "interconnected" than other open world games where the map is mostly a flat square, which is all connected, but in a less interesting way because you can only really see one place at a time?
Yes! I'm really excited by the idea of another Ueda game (i think technically it will be a 'genDESIGN' game now), but I don't mind the wait as long as it ends up being another timeless classic. And thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
@@Table53 Yeah, the Jak sequels did indeed seem to be trying to copy off the success of the GTA formula somewhat, but they also had their own charm.
The feeling is kind of like an "aha" moment. Jak 3 also has it's version of this, where you're flying above the entire map around a floating war factory.
You also traverse sewer networks as platforming levels that take you to and from the city's various areas and ruins which helps with the interconnectedness. And every time you revisit the sewers to go to point A to B it deviates a little more, giving you a sense of it being a giant maze when in actuality it's only 3 separate platforming levels. Or the monk temple (which is a more comparable version to Ico's castle), that has you going to different parts of it's buried depths. Jak's core thing in the sequels was "level deviation".
The only reason I compared these two games is that the one moment captured in Jak 2 is the very essence of Ico's awesome environmental design.
@@moegasmic Yeah the devs at Naughty Dog even came out and said that Jak 2 was based on GTA III!
Sounds like they did a good job in making the city feel like a complete space. I'm definitely going to have to go back and revisit the Jak games, honestly I think the game I played the most in that series was Jak X (which I still think blows all Mario Kart titles out of the water haha)
Thanks
Thank you for creating this wonderful video. I first played Ico as a little 6 year old back in 2001 and it made me fall in love with video games. 20 years later this still is truly the most magical game and one I will hold very dear to my heart
It is something genuinely special, though I'm not sure that as a 6 year old I would have remotely begun to appreciate it haha.. and based on the fact that I couldn't get out of the first cave in Tomb Raider 2 at that age I probably wouldn't have got far through it either!
Thank you for the comment, it's always cool to see that other people still care about Ico!
@@Table53 I played Ico with my Dad, I always had fun playing games with him. But don't think I couldn't have done it all on my own either! Haha. I even collected the Ico photo magazine that came with PlayStation magazine with little cardboard character cutouts.
Ah that makes more sense! Still very cool that you got to experience it so young.
That sounds amazing, I would never have thought that would be a thing. I'm going to have to google and see what they looked like
@@Table53 If I'm remembering right, the photo magazine came with the demo for free in PlayStation magazine
I haven't been able to find anything about it! Although reading about the demo I found out that originally you were allowed to drop Yorda to her death after catching her from a jump.. quite glad they got rid of that haha
What a great video to end the year (assuming this is your last upload of 2020). According to my own analytics like 15-20% watches the end of a 30 minute video, so I can only assume the numbers on an hour long video are even lower. But damn, they don't know what they're missing out on. Aside from this video, thank you for the content this year and I can't say anything else than that I am glad I stumbled upon your channel by accident. You are most definitely gonna make it big these next couple of years. Thanks for the hour long masterpiece to finish the year off with and I hope you have a merry christmas and a happy new year Table man :)
Thank you! Yeah it's almost certainly the last video of the year, and I think I'll start off 2021 with a top 10-esque sort of video (where I can write shorter pieces as a change from this ~20k word video haha). It's around the same for this, ~20% watching to the end - still feels pretty good for a video that is very long! Thank you, we'll see what next year holds, and Happy New Year to you too!
me and long long form stuff doesn't jive. but I'm here to vocalize my support and commend you on the tremendous undertaking involved in making this. good job man. it's a long journey. super proud you endeavoured to do this.
Thanks man! That's fair, almost an hour and a half is a long time for anyone to spend watching a video so I wasn't expecting everyone to watch it! Thanks for all the support, can't wait to see what you've got in store for your channel this year!
I have watched this video 6 times. I cant get enough of Ico, and this video is like my semi annual morphine shot
Haha, I have videos I watch like that too! (E.g B-Mask's Sly Cooper series) I'm honoured to have made one worthy of rewatching :)
@@Table53 I’m serious man. I always thought of doing my own video like this on Ico, but you’ve said everything I would’ve wanted to better than I could’ve. Fantastic!🎉
yeaavery
FANTASTIC video. In ALL caps. Thank you. subscribed!
I really hope the ALL CAPS is a reference to my MF DOOM reference - but thank you either way haha!
I remember back when I didn't yet have the soundtrack for the game, I would replay the last save file just to hear "You Were There" play over the ending credits. I could tell the song was in English but it was really hard to make out all the lyrics. Eventually I would learn them all & what brilliant lyrics they are. Just like the game itself is brilliant. The 20th anniversary has come & gone with no remake. But now that SONY has acquired Bluepoint Games, hopefully a remake is on the way. Nice review/discussion. :)
Haha that's dedication! Nowadays I get annoyed if I can't immediately find an entire OST on TH-cam 😅
Such a great video! I played this recently straight after The Last Guardian - I hadn't even noticed that the shadows at the end wouldn't attack you!
I'm glad that people are going back to Ico after The Last Guardian and Shadow! Very interested to see what Ueda's next game will be
Really great look into Ico, very appropriate video to watch for its Japanese 20th anniversary release yesterday, so thank you! I look forward to the eventual look at the game that shouldn’t be mentioned ;3
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yes the video on the game that cannot be mentioned is half written and will definitely be completed, I've just not had a proper PC for almost a year now and making a 1hr+ video on a laptop will be essentially impossible.. so that video will be priority #1 when I hopefully replace my PC fairly soon
I just wanted to comment to say this is one of the best deep dives into a game on this platform not done by Noah Caldwell Gervais or Matthewmatosis. Honestly, I think your video surpassed the latter for this game, especially as you look into the aesthetic choices made by Ueda (such as the camera) instead of focusing purely on the mechanical.
Great job. I hope you are still working on that SOTC video and hope to see more.
This is real quality work and would love to see this effort extended to other games.
Subscribed and will be keeping an eye on your channel
Thank you! I'm a big fan of Matthewmatosis so that is absolutely enormous praise!
The SotC video will definitely happen, unfortunately I've not even been able to play it recently (no sony console currently and internet too weak for PS Now) and I do want to be able to jump in and out of the game while finishing off the script!
Thank you again, hope you enjoy that video when it's out!
this video is a hidden gem that i have never known.
you got my sub as i await for more of these kinds of videos from you
Thank you! Unfortunately these sort of videos are having to wait until I replace my PC but there will definitely be more in the future!
I bought Ico for it’s initial release. I had loved Oddworld and someone suggested to give Ico a try. I immediately fell in love with this game. This, Shadow and even Last Guardian are all brilliant.
And as someone who has played this game basically once a year since it’s release, I completely agree with your statement about the PS3 remaster collection with SOTC is THE definitive way to play the game. Plus you get SOTC remastered as well. That double release is one of the highest value releases ever. For a long, long time that collection was the best way to play both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Shadow has since been remastered again (no surprise there, SOTC is one of the most incredible games ever made and younger players deserve to encounter it in their journey in gaming. Sony knows that SOTC is one of the most influential and beloved pieces of media in the past 30 years, not to mention being a case in point example of Video Games being Art. Ico is likewise a piece of art, and is just as good as Shadow, but far more niche in it’s appeal. Which is fine by me, because as long as it was made once upon a time and is still available to play in some form, I could care less than not nearly as many people have blessed themselves with playing the beautiful and richly rewarding experience of interactive art that is Ico.
Strangely enough I played Oddworld for the first time just a couple of weeks ago! It's an excellent game, a shame that I'd missed it for so long!
I did play this actually, and loved it, way before it was cool but I am happy it is finally getting the attention it deserves
This video deserves more than 700 views
Well it's only been up a few days so we'll see haha! But thank you!
Joseph Anderson level of quality!
That is a huge compliment, thank you!
Why would you insult Table like that?
@@Pan_Z you don't like Joe's videos as much as this?
@@filurenerik1643 Joe is too long-winded IMO. Matthewmatosis ftw.
@@liamcurran5612 idk I prefer Joe by a bit. He is long winded, but his vids are almost always nice to watch.
i played it upon release thank you very much. second favourite game of al time!
What game is first!
Metal gear solid 1. :)@@Table53
This game was interesting, definitely ahead of its time. I like many Americans missed it on launch but played it after shadow of colossus blew me away. I didn’t like it more than shadow but still greatly enjoyed the plot
To be fair very few games are as good as Shadow! But Ico is still special
Still waiting for the SotC video...
Love the video dude! I'm a big SotC/Ico fan, and the way you talk about all this makes it feel fresh somehow. no rush, but if you do get around to talking about Shadow, I bet you'd rock it!
I did actually play this when I was a kid.
I lost Yorda but the game never ended and I was softlocked within the first two hours of gameplay. It's kind of weird, but I felt like that singular softlock defined the game for me, the loneliness that is a hallmark of the game, balanced by the presence of Yorda, had become horrifyingly oppressive. I remember I was playing with my dad, and he eventually got tired and left and I was left alone with ICo. To this day I still don't think I've ever felt more immersed by a videogame.
It was a weird experience, but if I could be honest, it's not one I'd mind reliving.
Do you remember how you lost Yorda? That sounds like an interesting softlock and I wonder if it could be recreated.
Ico is an incredible game. Thanks for the video. I know it is going to be good.
Thank you! I hope it lives up to your expectations haha
Just finished it yesterday. Haven't been enjoying the videogame so much for a long long time.
I'm glad you liked it! It really is a special game
@@Table53 so true. I enjoyed your video as well. Especially when you noticed the moment when Ico and Yorda crossing the bridge and suddenly they are split apart. At that moment I didn't really noticed in my mind it's very powerful moment, because I was reacting on reflexes - just tried to jump over to Yorda instantly ) Realisation came later. Very very special game it is
Thanks for the video! It's a fantastic way of celebrating the game's anniversary. I love Ico with my whole heart, in gact the whole trilogy is probably the dearest thing in video games for me, and even though I have spent countless hours in Ico, never failing to get something new out of the experience, there are some things, and very important ones, that your essay brought up to my attantion and that I have never thought of on a level that they clearly deserve. I think it's the first time that the importance of player agency in that Apex moment (c) is brought to my attention. Indeed, the fact that jumping to Yorda and towards the castle is your first and unfaltering instinct is saying so much about the relationship that the game has quietly built up to this point. I also love the fact that you aknowledge some of the more overused themes in the discourse surrounding these games, and conciously choose to be mostly ironic about them, while stating only what is needed and dedicating more time to your own thoughts instead. Overall, great style and delivery, and also, great choice of music (though that Requiem from one game that should not be named was probably too much of a spoiler, it kind of undermines the effort to give Ico's atmosphere it's own time to blossom away from the shadow (pun intended) of it's more famous relative. As for the preferred method of playing, PS Now service is kind of sketchy in my country, and I don't put much trust into anything that doesn't have a copy on my hard drive anyway. But when the time came, I had no problem at all finding a used PS3 for dirt cheap, I bought the thing pretty much exclusively to play the Team Ico collection and never regretted it since. So I guess it's a valid option, too. Again. thank you so much for the effort, original thought and creativity that you put into the video, it all shows immensely in the end result! I'll be looking forward to your further videos
Thank you for taking the time to leave this comment! Ueda’s works really are incredible games and I definitely want to cover all three of them (although by the time I’ve done that I’m hoping his fourth game will be near to completion!)
That moment on the bridge is the main reason I fell in love with Ico, I’d simply never seen or felt anything that powerful in a game before that and certainly not _during_ gameplay! It’s probably that moment that made me think about the rest of the game more deeply and it transformed from something interesting to something genuinely special.
Requiem is the piece over the video’s outro right? I think because I’m hinting at the game-that-shall-not-be-named it was probably okay to suggest it in the music there haha, plus it’s such a good bit of music!
I really hope Sony improves its backwards compatibility in the future, I’m not at all sold on PS Plus yet (and I tried to play an action game on it and even with good internet the minor lag was a noticeable downside!), if the PS5 could play PS4+3+2 games I would have been trying to preorder one!
Thank you again for leaving such a great comment! Hope to see you on the next Ueda video whenever I get that completed! :)
@@Table53 Yes, hopefully, the fourth one will see a less troubled production cycle.
Well it's discoveries like this that make the whole TH-cam a worthy place to explore. My perception is more attuned to visuals and atmosphere, and even if a work of art triggers some interesting process in me, I may not notice because my brain just isn't used to noticing things like that, or describing them. So when I found a concise and detailed explanation of that moment in your video, the whole feeling rose from the depth where I never noticed it. Thank you for that perspective!
Sony doesn't seem to prioritize the whole retro gaming side, they kind of did something for it during the 7th generation, but on the PS4 they mostly move further. Backwards compatibility doesn't sell copies, especially if they are planning to stop supporting the digital store for ps3, which is probably on the way. So let's hope for another remaster of Ico, as I am not entirely convinced it is even as well suited for a remake as the second game. But on that subject, I will wait for the proper video. Good luck with your projects, and thanks again for great conversation!
@@danilalikhachev341 Hopefully! Its been 4 years since the last guardian and you'd hope that 4-5 years would be enough to complete the project. But really I don't mind when it releases as long as it releases with a similar level of quality!
Yeah it is a shame, there is such a strong back catalogue of Sony games that are currently very awkward or difficult to play. It definitely feels like the lack of backwards compatibility is an attempt to remonetise the games through PS Now or encourage people towards newer games. I'd love if it became a priority for them in the future!
That's huge! Thank you for this video!
Hope you enjoyed it!
I know it’s just for the catchy title, but I was really proud of the fact that I could click on this video because I ‘have’ played this again, actually the original title on the ps2, I have the cringy American box art and all. When I first played it , it gave me a wonder around the world of video games that I have gotten me hooked for years now, also one of my go to personal emotional drivers for the impact of art on people as an artist myself. Love hearing an in-depth on its themes and it’s importance in game history.
Owning a physical copy of Ico for the PS2 makes you a true video game connoisseur! Although I don't know if I'd be horrified or proud to own the American box art for Ico haha, I think I'd have to print off the European cover and slide it into the box... I'd never hold it against anyone if they hadn't played Ico, but it is something that I think fans of "video games" as a medium should really play, in the same way that movie buffs should probably watch Vertigo or 2001. It's just such an exceptionally powerful piece in so many interesting ways. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Man, this video was damn good
Thank you!
I loved so much your video!! Thank you so much for taking the time to review it, I really appreciate it!
Are you going to review SotC? I'd love to watch a video as long as this one or even longer made by you about it!!
Thank you! Sorry, I must have missed this comment before. Ico really deserved this video so I'm glad I found the time to actually talk about it - it absolutely is the plan to make a similar video about Shadow of the Colossus!
Lol. Those three words. I love you too
Great summary and analysis. I had mostly similar feelings about the game. Lately I’m playing many old games on original hardware. Some I’m replaying and some, ICO included, I’m playing for the first time. When replaying you already know the rules and have some kind of muscle memory, so it’s relatively easy to jump back to your memories and enjoy the game. But many games I’ve heard so much about and never played are really hard to keep my attention long enough to finish them and I find myself forcing to keep playing.
ICO was something else. Because it’s focus never was flashy graphics, snappy combat or being a movie-like experience there is nothing to get old about it. Heck, there is also no HUD that would probably feel like an “old” design. They really removed most elements that in most other games in that time now feel dated. Instead they focused almost solely on conveying simple emotions in a very deep way and emotions are something that we always feel, no matter what.
Also in defence of its combat I never felt that I had to wait for shadows to come to me to kill them. I think the game was trying to tell you that your focus shouldn’t be on killing them, but on protecting Yorda instead. I quickly realised that you can run from most fights which was so much more exciting. I even noticed that when you go up some ledge and give a hand to Yorda, shadows near her are much more forgiving, almost waiting for you to help her. After you run away they just disappear.
Yeah, other than some slightly clunky animations here and there (clipping through every chain you swing on haha) the game doesn't feel "old" or outdated in how it plays at all!
I don't have the space for original hardware any more, and I genuinely don't know what happened to my PS2. So for me retro gaming is more emulation focused now
Mostly commenting for the algorithm, bc this video deserves the boost, but i love ueda games so much. Playing his games has introduced me to some of the most intuitive gameplay ive ever experienced, and some of the most genuine moments of connection and love (general, not necessarily romantic) ive ever felt in a game. Such immersive, well-thought-out worlds to get lost in and theorize about.
Thank you! Comments for the algorithm are always appreciated haha. I completely agree, Ueda's games are truly phenomenal. Journey is the only other game I can think of right now that has made as strong an emotional connection as Ico/Shadow/TLG have! (also Outer Wilds, which I remembered by the time I typed the full sentence..)
beautiful retrospective thank you
Thank you!
loved this video so much, thank you for talking about this amazing game ❤️
It truly is amazing! I'm glad you liked the video!
Just finished my first playthrough of Ico. Bought a used PS3, then bought and downloaded Ico from playstation store. Wanted to play this game before the hardware became too hard to find. Didn't know it was available to play on newer hardware than PS3.
Had to wait until I finished it before watching your video. I wouldn't have wanted to have any of the story spoiled.
Alternate interpretations of the ending have been bugging me for a few hours. My interpretation was basically the same as yours. In the absence of much else to suggest otherwise, I'll just believe what I see - Ico has washed up on some beach, perhaps a bit further west or east of the sunken castle, and Yorda found the strength to swim after him after the castle had sunk a bit more.
the MF DOOM comparison is so accurate, this really inspired the next generation of game developers
Haha, my favourite line in the whole video
RIP MF DOOM.
Not only did I play this game when it was released (first game I ever bought with my own money as a kid)
I played it religiously for years because nothing compares to it
This being the first game you ever bought is really cool, the first game I bought with my own money was probably Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.. probably not something I'd be too bothered about replaying now haha
@@Table53 I could talk all day about Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Very rarely can poetry play so well in a gaming format
In the second playthrough, Yorda's speech is translated into to English.
Hey, hope you liked the video!
Yeah that is a really neat easter egg/reward to get for completing the game
I feel like I haven't heard anyone talk about another iconic tune of the game for me, "Continue".
The tune is so intrinsically tied to feelings of melancholy and despair for having failed, but promotes attitudes of restructure and repetition, fueling the motivation to try again with a slightly different strategy. Much like the dualistic nature of "Heal" being a sort of relaxing break from the experience, also a sort of fanfare victory theme for having beaten a difficult section and being allowed to save progress. "Continue" would make me feel compelled to reattempt if I listened to it long enough after a failure, but felt somewhat satisfying when giving up and turning off the system for a rest.
Thanks for this video.
I can't say I've ever thought about that one! I'll pay more attention to it on my next inevitable Ico playthrough :)
This video used to pop up on my initial screen from time to time and I kinda avoided it, because something told me I'd hear something bad about it and feel upset. But I don't think there's much to say about Ico in that regard. I'm glad to finally watch it and find such a deep and loving analysis for one of the most beautiful games ever made.
Well I'm glad you finally took the chance on it! Ico is something truly special, I could never speak badly of it!
How did this never pop up for me. Thank you for making this
Glad you liked it!
Lovely video, thanks!! I just finished ICO and found this to deep dive into. Your comment about the escape bridge moment NOT being a cutscene is a perceptive one. Rather than instinctually leaping towards Yorda, I actually had Ico run AWAY from Yorda and all the way to the building on the cliff edge. I figured that Yorda was going to be unable to escape at this time - she was clearly weakened by the castle magic - and I thought the game was telling me to run and then figure out a way to save Yorda later. My subsequent doom indicated that I had made the wrong choice, but what I found interesting was the guilt I felt as I legged it towards the exit, leaving Yorda to be dragged back into the castle. The game forges a powerful bond.
While replaying the game I ran the wrong way along the bridge to see what happens. And as if to emphasise that you made the wrong choice, at the end of the bridge is a totem door that you would need Yorda to open.. I really liked that detail
Excellent work
Thanks!
also, how do you not have more subs, this video is really good
Thank you! My guess is because I spend most of my videos talking about tiny indies that nobody is searching for haha 🙃
Every time I have to go ahead and leave Yorda alone for a moment, I take an extra second to see if she's safe; and while I'm gone, I'm busting my hind end to get back to her as quickly as possible. She's the first (and to this date, the only) NPC escort I actually care about. She's this really important character and I feel like she's in my personal care.
I bought a copy of Ico because of a review on Cartoon Network's Toonami...and I still have it now.
Legend says that all Ico sales stemmed from a review of Cartoon Networks Toonami
@@Table53 Wow...2001...,I feel nice and old now.
th-cam.com/video/f_3wGrrEPWI/w-d-xo.html
Great video!
I love Ico as much as Shadow of the Colossus. Beautiful games from Fumito Ueda and his "Team Ico".
I admit I'd love to see a remake for this game (by Bluepoint Games) for the PS5 as we got a remake for SotC (for PS4). I know it is unlikely to happen (especially since Ico is not as succesful as SotC in sales) but still, it could be fantastic. Now I did like The Last Guardian, but I did not love it.
By the way, I can't wait to see the new game from Ueda and genDESIGN team.
Saludos.
Yeah it's a shame that Ico will likely never get the Bluepoint treatment, because its a landmark video game but likely wouldn't be a commercial success as a remake either
It's one of the reasons I want better backwards compatibility, because otherwise games like this can disappear far too easily!
Agreed, anything Ueda makes I can be pretty certain is going to be special
The ending for ico really meant a lot to me. The two things I gained at the end ,firstly, was a greater understanding of the queen and how unconcerned about the danger of ico. She says she’s really old and that she needs a new body and is not scared of ico. Probably because she has turned many boys to stone and fought and ripped their horns off before. I think every statue with a boy with no horns is another kid she defeated. This is a infinite loop of pain to her children and ico. Also when at the end yorda sent me away. I ran on the beach for at least 10 minutes thinking about why yorda did what she did. I think the separation shows the characters independence and growth and how she learned she and to deal with the shadows on her body by herself as my character learned her magic. I thought if this is what she wants it’s ok we will be separated for now. And at that moment I thought that yorda would enjoy this beach with her fascination with seagulls and I found her and the game ended. Both characters learned and growed together causing some healthy independence and followed up with a happy reunion. It was so beautiful I loved it and the song on the bench would totally fit the beach like the two characters were meant to be on the beach together. I think this game shows that every person has to go through this to make a beautiful bond and the loop will continue and that’s ok I guess:)! Loved to see a video about ico made me really happy💙💙
Now im interested in playing this game after playing shadow of the colossus and the last guardian recently 😊❤
You should! It's a wonderful game!
EXCELLENT video
Thank you!
Fantastic video. Thank you 🙏
Glad you liked it!
Still waiting patiently for the sotc video. :)
I was genuinely just playing it a few hours ago for the first time in months (I don't own a playstation currently and just moved city somewhere with stable enough internet to run PS Now)
Aaaand having turned my computer off to have lunch it will no longer turn back on.
This sotc video is basically cursed :(
This comment popped up on my phone as I was googling potential technical issues haha
@@Table53 lol. The ico vid was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it....hence my patience.
This review was just like the game. A masterpiece.
Thank you!
I recently found out about this game I thought the concept and premise was interesting. After watching the video I couldn’t help but notice the similarities it had with a 2021 game called Little Nightmares 2 which is one of my favorite games that I’ve had the pleasure of playing. Thank you for the in depth analysis of the unique game, I only wish I had the opportunity to experience it first hand. Great analysis! Also do you know what was the music you played during the intro.
What an amazing gsme and fantastic video. Thank you.
Thank you!
Wow, great video. You cover every aspect of what makes this game great and even refute the afterlife theory! I really dislike the theories that "darken up" the games, Shadow has one as well about Mono becoming the Queen from Ico. So many people think that and say "they look exactly alike". We had two adult women over two games, what's the frame of reference there?
Anyway, I wanted to mention how in your segment about jumping across the bridge to grab Yorda's hand you speak as if every player does this when they play Ico. Having watched many Twitch streamers play the game, I can unfortunately say that is not the case. I have seen people not only ignore Yorda and start running towards the other end of the bridge, but I've seen people do it several times in a row. I don't think this is because they don't care about Yorda, they just don't see what the game is, to us clear as day, trying to tell them. When I played Ico for the first time I got it. I wonder if maybe it's a thing where players now think differently than players then, or really just that players need to be keyed in to the logic of an Ueda game more when playing one. I think it makes sense, that all of Ueda's games work on a sort of logic that's different from other games, and I think my experience with The Last Guardian was helped greatly by having played Ico and Shadow previously. Puzzles that I saw many other people struggle with came easy to me because I knew what Ueda's game design was like. It might be that. Either way it's a shame people don't do the obvious thing.
I'd also like to share this on my Team Ico tumblr blog, if you don't mind.
Thank you! Yeah I'm not really a fan of "dark theories" in general because they're typically quite samey and don't really add anything, and I've also never really felt much of a storyline connection between Ico and Shadow!
Haha, well those people don't count! I actually reloaded a save to run along the bridge and see what happens the last time I was playing it.. it turns out that when you run to the other end of the bridge it throws an idol door in your face as if to go "What did you just do to Yorda?"
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! And yeah, I love it when people share these videos!
I just played the game for the first time recently and my first reaction on the bridge was to try to call Yorda like normal, thinking maybe I could encourage her to gather her strength for one last jump and I could catch her. The cutscene of the bridge extending does show the idols blocking the other side so I figured I needed her to get over to my side of the bridge to proceed. I think it would have worked a little better for me if the idols weren't highlighted in the cutscene, but I guess most people don't noticeit so it isn't a big deal.
When I met Ico, I didn’t know that I already loved it.
I don't really know what you mean, but at the same time I sort of get it haha
If someone is working on a modern remaster of this game, they need to watch this video for an essential understanding of its themes and design for sure
Thank you, this is such a nice comment! I really hope there is a remake/remaster in the works (although hopefully they'd have actual notes from Ueda/Team Ico to work from haha!)
@@Table53 I agree, hopefully they'd consult Ueda. I'd love to see bluepoint do it, since they did an amazing job on SotC, but I'm sure other teams could do great as well. Your video was very well constructed and made me realize so many subtle things about the game that just makes me love it even more
Bluepoint remaking the game would be a dream, they've got a great track record of remaking classics so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed all the way up to the 20th anniversary! But it wasn't the most successful game so there may be no interest in redoing it :(
Thank you! Ico is an absolutely fascinating game in terms of its innovation and details, it was a lot of fun to make this video about it
I think it's so cute how Ico holds Yorda's hand as they try to escape.
The whole concept of the hand holding was genius. Not only a great way to move two characters while only controlling one, but also just for the consistent imagery of Ico and Yorda together