Team ICO - The Last Guardian - Out!

darleysam

Centipeed wrote: »

I always pronounced it "eye-koh", like LewieP. Pronouncing "ICO" as "ee-koh" in England is weird. That's an American pronunciation, so even if it is based on the Japanese, it doesn't feel right to say it that way here.

This is how I say it, because "ih-ko" as I've heard others say it, sounds silly. Sorry Japan.

Jam Warrior

Unco-ordinated wrote: »

Centipeed wrote: »

I always pronounced it "eye-koh", like LewieP. Pronouncing "ICO" as "ee-koh" in England is weird. That's an American pronunciation, so even if it is based on the Japanese, it doesn't feel right to say it that way here.

You better fly over to Japan and tell the Japanese that they're pronouncing their language incorrectly then.

Anyway, apparently ICO sold around 700k (and that was before the PAL reprinting) so why do people keep on saying it bombed? Seems like it did pretty well to me, especially since I doubt it had a large budget.

Because it deserves to be the number one selling game of all time. Anything less is just not good enough.

Curly_Brace

Man all this buisness about a secret hidden beach and a turtle makes me wanna pop Okami out of my PS2 and pop SotC back in. I'm currently doing a "hard mode" play through and it's not too hard... until you get to the poison as-shooting lizard in the coliseum. That jerk is hard on hard mode. All the more reason to waste time exploring!

Also, A new Team ICO game with a mutliplayer component (like we saw in the trailer for "Nico") just might sell me a PS3.

Centipeed

Igort wrote: »

Centipeed wrote: »

I always pronounced it "eye-koh", like LewieP. Pronouncing "ICO" as "ee-koh" in England is weird. That's an American pronunciation, so even if it is based on the Japanese, it doesn't feel right to say it that way here.

What? No, it's not. And yes, I am English.

You can hear Yorda say it as "ee-koh" in the game and everything. That's how the Japanese say it, man.

I'm saying that if the word "Ico" was invented, wasn't based on Japanese, and was put in front of an English person, they would tend to pronounce it "eye-koh". Any English people who don't pronounce it that way have problems with their brains. And if you put the same word in front of Americans, they'd tend to pronounce it "ee-koh".

Fawful

Is there anything actually in the secret garden or is it just there to look at?

Bionic Monkey

Fawful wrote: »

Is there anything actually in the secret garden or is it just there to look at?

There's fruit that actually decreases your grip. That's pretty much it.

peterdevore

Fawful wrote: »

Is there anything actually in the secret garden or is it just there to look at?

Secret garden AND endgame spoilers:

There is fruit in the garden much like on the trees outside the garden, only, if you eat it, it decreases your health (and stamina maybe, can't remember).

I wonder if you could finish the game with the lowest stats possible, and if you can get shot to death by the bowmen in the final scene.

D'oh beaten.

jothki

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Fawful wrote: »

Is there anything actually in the secret garden or is it just there to look at?

There's fruit that actually decreases your grip. That's pretty much it.

If I remember correctly, there's also a jump to a higher ledge that it looks like you might be able to make but you can't.

Ballman

Re: Exploring in SotC:

Funny thing is that there are lots of little off-the-beaten-path places to explore that typically just don't do anything. Sometimes you'll get lucky and find a white-tailed lizard or some fruit there, but most of the time, you just get the satisfaction of finding something that was deliberately put there for some bored player to find. On the sorta East-South-East edge of the map, there are some cliffs overlooking the sea. There's a particular spot where some moss has grown over the edge and you can climb down a significant distance. There isn't anything there but a small ledge to hang out on. Now I want to pop the game back in and try to find the other places like that that the devs hid...

peterdevore

jothki wrote: »

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Fawful wrote: »

Is there anything actually in the secret garden or is it just there to look at?

There's fruit that actually decreases your grip. That's pretty much it.

If I remember correctly, there's also a jump to a higher ledge that it looks like you might be able to make but you can't.

In the 'making of' video, or some other promotional video you can actually see a stack of boxes going up to that ledge, suggesting they planned the garden to be larger but ditched it.

TheSonicRetard

just imagine, if you pick up a PS3 for whatever team ico makes, you'll also get MGS4 without playing the "will it come to the 360" game!

EDIT: whoa shit, didn't see that this topic went on for another 5 pages.

Ballman

It might have already been linked, but I thought I'd share this link about SotC. When I read it, I thought it was fascinating. Hope someone enjoys it.

LewieP

I just got up to the 13th Colossus for the first time.







:shock:

Centipeed

LewieP wrote: »

I just got up to the 13th Colossus for the first time.

You know, I would never have finished SoTC if it hadn't been for the fact that I was playing with a friend. Once I failed miserably doing something, he would take over. It lends itself well to playing with a friend, I think. Especially since the game itself does all it can to make you feel so alone.

LewieP

Oh, it's not that it's too hard, I got it 2/3rds dead first time. It's just that it is fucking incredible.

minor incident

Centipeed wrote: »

LewieP wrote: »

I just got up to the 13th Colossus for the first time.

You know, I would never have finished SoTC if it hadn't been for the fact that I was playing with a friend. Once I failed miserably doing something, he would take over. It lends itself well to playing with a friend, I think. Especially since the game itself does all it can to make you feel so alone.

It also does a good job of making you feel like you've achieved the impossible, too. Of course, then it makes you feel like a jackass afterwards...

Bionic Monkey

LewieP wrote: »

I just got up to the 13th Colossus for the first time.







:shock:

I fucking love that colossus. That colossus made the game for me. I would kill a man for a nice resin statue of that colossus.

LewieP

I am just incredibly upset that I will never be able to play this game for the first time again.

minor incident

LewieP wrote: »

I am just incredibly upset that I will never be able to play this game for the first time again.

I feel the same way. There's nothing like rounding a corner and seeing that first colossus.

DeMoN

I know the chances are all but none, but I pray their next game comes out on ps2. I really really really don't want a ps3, but I fear their next game might push me over the edge, effectively raping ma wallet.

Unco-ordinated

DeMoN wrote: »

I know the chances are all but none, but I pray their next game comes out on ps2. I really really really don't want a ps3, but I fear their next game might push me over the edge, effectively raping ma wallet.

Never going to happen. Sony have completely left the PS2 (apart from a couple of PSP ports) and are shifting their resources to the PS3, which includes Team Ico. Besides, Team Ico posted an job advert in Famitsu about a year ago asking for programmers experienced with PS3 hardware.

Centipeed: So what? The proper pronunciation is 'ee-koh' and that's it.

Campion

Ooo, I just beat SoTC last night. I was really excited by the ending, and how the story was up for interpretation, so I went to GameFAQ's and read the theory analysis FAQ(which was alright), then I got to the meta theory part, which read like history/fanfiction and then I was sad.

LewieP

Shadow of the Colossus, PS2 - £8.99

chevluh

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Fawful wrote: »

Is there anything actually in the secret garden or is it just there to look at?

There's fruit that actually decreases your grip. That's pretty much it.

It's the bridge leading away from the temple that's got the interesting bit ;-)

Drunk_caterpillar

chevluh wrote: »

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Fawful wrote: »

Is there anything actually in the secret garden or is it just there to look at?

There's fruit that actually decreases your grip. That's pretty much it.

It's the bridge leading away from the temple that's got the interesting bit ;-)

You mean the one that takes half an hour to cross? That was a long fucking bridge. What was the interesting bit though?

gtrmp

Drunk_caterpillar wrote: »

chevluh wrote: »

It's the bridge leading away from the temple that's got the interesting bit ;-)

You mean the one that takes half an hour to cross? That was a long fucking bridge. What was the interesting bit though?

If he's talking about what I think he's talking about,

at the end of the bridge, you can see the castle from ICO off in the distance.

Drunk_caterpillar

gtrmp wrote: »

Drunk_caterpillar wrote: »

chevluh wrote: »

It's the bridge leading away from the temple that's got the interesting bit ;-)

You mean the one that takes half an hour to cross? That was a long fucking bridge. What was the interesting bit though?

If he's talking about what I think he's talking about,

at the end of the bridge, you can see the castle from ICO off in the distance.

Man, all I could see was a tunnel that had wind coming out of it. Where do I look?

chevluh

Drunk_caterpillar wrote: »

gtrmp wrote: »

Drunk_caterpillar wrote: »

chevluh wrote: »

It's the bridge leading away from the temple that's got the interesting bit ;-)

You mean the one that takes half an hour to cross? That was a long fucking bridge. What was the interesting bit though?

If he's talking about what I think he's talking about,

at the end of the bridge, you can see the castle from ICO off in the distance.

Man, all I could see was a tunnel that had wind coming out of it. Where do I look?

when you're going towards said tunnel, a bit before the end of the bridge, look left (west). It's a blurry bit of texture that totally looks out of place. The structure matches the plans of the castle, and the intent is obvious even though it's not too very well done (it's meant to be only partially visible from a certain angle, but for some reason if you go further you can see it's tacked-on texture nature very well) and intentionally blurry as hell.

here's a video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c831-4eF1FQ

TheMorningStar

So today I scored a mint copy of Ico from a Gamestop outside of town. They also had the twin snakes and the Ocarina remake for the gamecube.

Can't wait to finally finish Ico. I had it along time ago, but lost it in a move before ever finishing it. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that twin snakes has MGS1 and 2.

Renzo

Twin Snakes does not include MGS2. It's an MGS1 remake.

TheMorningStar

That's what I thought too, till I read the back.

...or does it mean fused, as in using MGS2's graphics? That's lame...oh well, I already own MGS2.

Renzo

TheMorningStar wrote: »

That's what I thought too, till I read the back.

...or does it mean fused, as in using MGS2's graphics? That's lame...oh well, I already own MGS2.

That back cover is really misleading. It's just MGS1 remade with MGS2's graphics, yes.

Drunk_caterpillar

So I've been going through SotC, trying to find every shrine I can for a few hours a night. I have to tell you that you are really missing out on this game if you don't go and explore the environments.

Ninja Snarl P

Barring anything else, one major factor made me despise the Twin Snakes remake: getting rid of the original voice acting of the original cyberninja. The replacement voice sounded awful, especially since the ninja was supposed to sound like he was in constant struggle and agony; the replacement voice just sounded digitized, which ruined the whole experience for me.

That being said, Team ICO has made a couple of incredible games and I think it's a real shame they're a part of Sony. Even if they were an independent company, I doubt they'd ever, ever develop for the 360, but I think they could do extremely well on the Wii (not because of waggle controls, but because of a larger userbase and a lower price for Wii games). The fact that Team ICO does incredible and stylish things with limited resources doesn't hurt either.

It's annoying we'll never see Team ICO stuff go multiplatform, but this is something I wouldn't hold against Sony just because Microsoft and Nintendo are just as bad with their own exclusive titles.

For all you PS3 owners, I really hope that Sony doesn't write off Team ICO for not being a multi-bajillion dollar earning series and you guys get some really sweet games for the PS3.

Behemoth

Ninja Snarl P wrote: »

Barring anything else, one major factor made me despise the Twin Snakes remake: getting rid of the original voice acting of the original cyberninja. The replacement voice sounded awful, especially since the ninja was supposed to sound like he was in constant struggle and agony; the replacement voice just sounded digitized, which ruined the whole experience for me.

That being said, Team ICO has made a couple of incredible games and I think it's a real shame they're a part of Sony. Even if they were an independent company, I doubt they'd ever, ever develop for the 360, but I think they could do extremely well on the Wii (not because of waggle controls, but because of a larger userbase and a lower price for Wii games). The fact that Team ICO does incredible and stylish things with limited resources doesn't hurt either.

It's annoying we'll never see Team ICO stuff go multiplatform, but this is something I wouldn't hold against Sony just because Microsoft and Nintendo are just as bad with their own exclusive titles.

For all you PS3 owners, I really hope that Sony doesn't write off Team ICO for not being a multi-bajillion dollar earning series and you guys get some really sweet games for the PS3.

Shadow of the Colossus actually sold pretty decently. It's a more exciting-looking game, and they actually decided to advertise it. So long as they don't get too artsy, it could really help the PS3 if they made some super-awesome looking game and advertised it heavily.

It's kinda surprising we haven't heard anything about what they're working on. ICO came out around launch for the PS2, didn't it?

Mr_Grinch

From quite a while back:

14 February 2007; A double-page advert from Famitsu is leaked to the internet. It says "Sony is hiring people to work on a new PlayStation 3 game with the team that created ICO and Shadow of the Colossus."


The various vacancies are for programmers and engineers experienced in physical simulations, shader programming, algorithms, networking technology and general game programming. There are also posts for animators, artists, level designers, scripters and assistant producers.

Network technology? Multiplayer or downloadable content? Maybe just sharing of best times? Or could it be a hint that one of the titles is due to be a PSN one.

More news on the two PS3 titles:

From a blog all about teamico, so take it as you will:

Yesterday in a heated IM discussion about which of the three console makers is going to have the strongest line-up this year, a friend of mine who works at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan blurted out that Sony's internal studios have up their sleeves more than 20 yet-to-be-revealed projects for PlayStation 3.

Intrigued by this I asked if he could give me some examples. Project Siren (makers of the Forbidden Siren franchise), Team Saru (creators of the Ape Escape series) and Team ICO are three of the studios who're getting ready to reveal their new projects this year. After some more pushing, he told me that all he knows about Team ICO is that the team is working on two games, both for PS3.

(http://teamicogamers.blogspot.com/)

::Edit::

More rumours, from the same blog:

There is something going on at NeoGAF. Apparentely someone from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe tipped one of their members on the content of the next game from Team ICO.

ICO 3, which - if the rumour is true - is still unnamed, is about a child that together with a huge behemoth resembling a griffin, journeys through ancient ruins. The game is said to uncover the mysterious relationship between Wander and Mono, and takes gameplay elements from both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus such as puzzle solving from the first, and climbing and exploration from the second.

Although it's very easy to dismiss this as a joke, NeoGAF administrators are known to not tolerate this kind of thing and threads of this nature are usually closed and their starters banned - something which did not happen this time.

If there's truth to this story we'll only know once Sony decides it's time to reveal Fumito Ueda's next creation.

Take that as you will ladies and gents.

Unco-ordinated

Ninja Snarl P wrote: »

Barring anything else, one major factor made me despise the Twin Snakes remake: getting rid of the original voice acting of the original cyberninja. The replacement voice sounded awful, especially since the ninja was supposed to sound like he was in constant struggle and agony; the replacement voice just sounded digitized, which ruined the whole experience for me.

That being said, Team ICO has made a couple of incredible games and I think it's a real shame they're a part of Sony. Even if they were an independent company, I doubt they'd ever, ever develop for the 360, but I think they could do extremely well on the Wii (not because of waggle controls, but because of a larger userbase and a lower price for Wii games). The fact that Team ICO does incredible and stylish things with limited resources doesn't hurt either.

It's annoying we'll never see Team ICO stuff go multiplatform, but this is something I wouldn't hold against Sony just because Microsoft and Nintendo are just as bad with their own exclusive titles.

For all you PS3 owners, I really hope that Sony doesn't write off Team ICO for not being a multi-bajillion dollar earning series and you guys get some really sweet games for the PS3.

Why would Sony write them off? ICO sold over 700k (and that was before the PAL re-release) and Shadow of the Colossus sold over a million. Is that meant to be bad? I doubt they have limited resources either, they're probably the second best funded studio in SCEI (behind Polyphony of course).

Oh and why would they do extremely well on the Wii just because its install base is larger than the PS3's and they've got cheaper games? Ico and SotC appeared on a system with an install base 10 times larger than the Wii's, at that cheap price and they didn't do 'extremely well', did they?

As for the rest, uh, who cares? It's about as effective as a Sony fanboy saying that Retro Studios should make games for the PS3. Whoop-de-doo, not going to happen so why bother?

Mr_Grinch: The third one sounds way too convenient to be real. "ICO 3" is a mixture of SotC and ICO's play styles that also uncovers the relationship between two SotC characters? Yeah right. The last part just doesn't sound like something Ueda would do, at all.

Jam Warrior

I'm pretty sure you'll never get direct sequels to any of these games. Each one is a self contained tale standing on it's own merits. The lack of further elaboration of the plot is also a key part of the style.

Mr_Grinch

Aye, I had my doubts too but I thought I'd post the rumour regardless! It fits in ever so slightly with the previous rumour that the game had something to do with diving between valleys.

xraydog

So I couldn't decide whether this needed its own thread or not...

First screenshot from "ICO 3."

http://teamicogamers.blogspot.com/2008/01/breaking-news-first-ever-screenshot-of.html




Doesn't really show anything but there you go.