Shadow of the Colossus
 

So, has anyone else played this gem yet?

I played the demo last month and must say that there have been very few games in history that astonished me after just a few minutes like this one.

The game it absolutely amazing. It's so simple yet so astounding. I never thought that a game world could be so gigantic, seriously, everytime you see a new colossus, you'll be surprised how small you really are.

So what's your opinion, do you like it like I do?
(ps I will definitely buy the full game, just haven't had too much time of late, mainly because of Burnout: Revenge and Ace Combat 5 =^_^=)

Buy the full game, without question. Man, while the first collosus is great, when you get to your first aerial beast, it really sinks in that this is a pretty special game. And this is coming from someone who at first thought it was a pretty string of boss battles and nothing more.

Oh, fruits and lizards, fruits and lizards...

I got the US version from my Secret Santa and played through it fairly quickly. I made an entry on my thoughts on it, back when the journals were still up. (this one copied from my LJ)

Course I later found out there really IS a beach, but upon visiting it, it's definitely not meant to be the beach in ICO, if you will.

The recent European release of Shadow of the Colossus is wonderful and I bought myself a copy. The packaging is similar to the PAL ICO packaging, fancy cardboard case and postcards etc. The game offers 60Hz too, so there's no reason not to buy the European version (unless you already own the game, of course).

http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/2...33333336ws.jpg

Here's a photo of mine - when gff was down, I picked up my copy on the 17th. They've also rereleased ICO for PAL, however it is without the 4 art cards and cardboard box. From what I can understand it's exactly the same game as before.

As for Shadow of the Colossus, I haven't passed the 6th colossi. It took me awhile to find the 5th(which was amazing; first flying colossi) and the sixth just straight out killed me. I don't want to rush this game as I know it's maintaining a high reputation. When the time is right, I'll pick it up and thoroughly get stuck into it.

I beat the game and love it, it's so different and that's what makes it nice.

Crap, i just had to come in here.

I had it all nicely planned out. I'd play through Kingdom Hearts II slowly and systematically, until Zelda Twilight Princess came out. Don't have much money, so i gonna think ahead.

But then i come in here, and remember about Shadow of the Colossus. A bit of a wrench in my plans, but whatever.

I've been looking forward to this game for a looooong time, i just let it slip my mind. I guess i'll ask for it for my b-day. I'm in need of a good adventure game. From what i've heard, this game won't disapoint.

Btw I hear people complain about the frame rate issue with it, I didn't notice anything wrong with it.

I read a review of SotC on Gamefaqs about that. That was their main concern, but I'm not too sure whether it's the framerate or the camera. Though it isn't too much of a problem, I have noticed it. Noticed it in Fable, too, come to think of it.

When thinking about it, the camera moves slowly when you turn around, but there's a considerably large amount of detail to cope with. It isn't at all surprising if there is, but I'd rather have a slightly smaller framerate than a lesser detailed enviroment.

I tried to play this game again the other day. It wasn't as fun as the first weeks of play.
My advice is.. play it slowly haha
After you beat normal mode, normal time trial, hard mode, hard mode time trials, plus some more hard mode play throughs.. you'll probably get tired of it.
But, it really is a cool game.


addition

I bought this when it was released (And the re-released ICO too) and from what I've seen it looks amazing. I'm putting off playing it for now though until I finish Shin Megami Tensei:Lucifer's Call, which could be some time...

There's no question that from a technical point of view the game had framerate dropping pretty often. This really didn't affect the experience itself as once you climbed on to a colossus, you never, not even once, noticed any drops.

It also seems the framerate was adjusted slightly for the PAL version. The rate still drops in many places, but it wasn't as severe as in the US version, which wasn't severe to begin with.

If someone honestly tries to claim the game is somehow less because of the framerate issues, there is something wrong with them and/or they're looking way too hard.

Yea the camera was a little annoying for me, not a big problem for me tho.

Shadow of the Colossus is the best game with the word "Shadow" in it. It's awesome, and one of the few games I've actually bought, rather than just rented. Nice music, too (Swift Horse = several heart symbols). Wander also looks pretty awesome.

For best effect play to Styx's "Too Much Time On My Hands".

I bought this game a couple of days ago, but im gonna wait with it until i have finished dragon quest 8. I'll be back when i have started playing it.

I started playing it again to do the Time Attack and Hard Mode. I just love how cinematic some of the battles can be, especially that flying colossus in the desert, number 13? And it was so satisfying to figure out how to get onto each colossi, immensely satisfying despite the fact that I felt bad after defeating some, like the one that you had to scare with the fire :/

I even felt bad killing lizards just to get their tails...I tried to only shoot them with the bow in the tail so they'd still live. It reminds me so much of how I always walked when I lead Yorda around, but I didn't want her to trip and stuff. And I got into a habit of always petting Agro aftre every long run...weird how a game makes me do that stuff.

But it was a very fun game, made me want to go back and play Ico. And everything was just so...huge and beautiful. All the locations...it felt like any shot of the screen I wanted to take would make one of the coolest desktops or posters ever. I know people that complained about the traveling from one area to another took too long, but I enjoyed it (except when the light beam tricked me and got me lost...). I just wanna go exploring every ruin and cave.

Shadow of the colossus stands in my mind as one of the top 5 games I played last year.

Its worth it for the ending. Best. Ending. Ever. The game was incredibly fun, beautiful to look at, and challenging to boot. But that ending...holy crap.
Believe me when I say its the best ending to a video game since MGS3. (imo anyway.)

I thought they used it to their advantage. When looking across a wide plain from the edge of a cliff, the slowdown gives the camera angle a more cinematic, epic look.

Is it possible that the horse sometimes acts kinda stupid? But besides that and the sort of strange camera it seems to be an almost perfect game ^.^

It is, it's highly possible. Agro ran around frantically when I was fighting the second colossi(where you hat to shoot his feet, then climb on him) and it was really distracting. I was planning on leaving him a fair distance from the colossus and walking just so he doesn't do it again.

Links to AWESOME Time Attack videos

Check out the ones called "Run Down 3" and "Launch Tutorial"

http://media.putfile.com/Rundownnormal_1
http://media.putfile.com/Rundown_3
http://media.putfile.com/launch_tutorial
http://media.putfile.com/Rundownnormal_486
http://media.putfile.com/Rundownnormal_5
http://media.putfile.com/Rundownnormal_6
http://media.putfile.com/Rundownnormal_7
http://media.putfile.com/Rundownnormal_8
http://media.putfile.com/Rundown_9
http://media.putfile.com/Rundownnormal_10
http://media.putfile.com/Rundownnormal_11

From some Japanese players:

http://bgr44.cool.ne.jp/wanda/movie/movie.html

He panics whenever you aim the bow anywhere in the vicinity of him, so that's probably why. I think Agro is mostly fairly realistic.

A friend and I have spent the past few days trying to figure out whether the language in the game is a "real" constructed language, like Klingon or Elvish. We're now pretty sure that it's just gibberish, but it's definitely within a scala of vocal sounds, and it's very impressive in the sense that it's almost completely unlike Japanese.

He also tried to climb to the secret garden, but it seems like the bugs that this guys makes use of don't exist in his copy of the game (he lives in Japan so it's the Japanese version). ;/

Played through the game 3 times already...going to play through again in a little while I think too. Absolutely love the game. The story, atmosphere, music, and gameplay is just great.

And yea the language in that game is made up. I think I read in an interview its a mix of japanese and a european language....I forgot heh

I still need to get around to finishing this one. For once, it's because I just haven't had much time on my hands, not because I got bored. To be perfectly blunt, I was underwhelmed by ICO, so I was worried this game was going to be more artsy crap in the same vein. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. It's like the perfect blend of adventure and puzzle games.

One little quibble, though

I think that was the only one where I actually shot a colossus in the eye =/

Yeah, that was removed, but apparently it's still possible to reach the garden. I was told you need to complete the game a few times but I've yet to confirm it. Perhaps an accurate "NTSC to PAL changes" guide will surface soon enough.

Yeah, collecting whitetail lizards through 4 or 5 rounds of the entire game by loading the previously completed save of the game and finishing it on that. That way you can keep the stamina from the earlier playthroughs.

That should be enough to reach the garden.

Wow, he really sucks on 9, though.

What happened?

Oh and, here's links to commercials and advertising for Shadow of the Colossus here, they're quite interesting:

http://paleoshilling.nl/
http://divethedeepscuba.com.au/
http://arkadysimkin.pl/
http://www.familysayre.net/
http://giantology.typepad.com/gianto...i_giant_c.html
http://www.stop-polarneft.com/

When I fund out that the colossus used in the commercials were actually not real, I was severly disappointed.

What do you mean what happened, I shot it in the eye and it crashed into a wall like it was supposed to.

My point was that that was the only time in the game I actually had to shot a colossus in the eye, which was strange/amusing in relation with Monkey King's post.

Because I've shot a few of them in the eye a couple of times, and it hasn't done anything.

I'm probably doing something wrong.

Oh...those are bugs..? :/

Wait, which parts? 'cause I just climbed to the top using that video for reference yesterday. However, the only part I took straight out of the video was resting on the larger part of the ledge behind the ivy to regain my strength. The rest I just did on my own, the jumping and climbing. Didn't realize there were actual bugs being used in this version, heh. I only know that the demo temple climb had some stuff that isn't in the final version. Everything else I'm clueless about.

It's only my second playthrough, but I already had collected a lot of lizard tails from the first time. My stamina meter was just a little bit smaller than the one in the video and I just made it to the staircase as the stamina circle was completely depleted. Had just enough energy to pull up. I was between colossi 4 and 5 when I did this, I think.

And good lord that bridge is huge. 10 minutes to go from one end to the other, no exaggeration. It was cool, though. On the other end, the lighting from the sun gets really bright and makes this effect as if you're just standing on a stone bridge in endless light...from the backside, anyway.

Oh yeah, and that launch tutorial was awesome! I'm so gonna try that...I was getting annoyed with that colossus in the time attack because it was taking too long to get it a good enough distance away to actually hit the area in the middle.

It's really a fantastic game; one piece of game design work that I would call "art" in the high falutin' sense.

While the slow turning of the camera stuck out to some, if you notice, there's a full screen motion blur effect when the camera turns. I have a feeling that the wide, swinging camera pans were intended to be cinematic.

I loved this game.
I borrowed my friend's PS2 so I could play this game (among others) and "luckily" my television broke and I had to buy a new one, but the good thing about it is that it is a HDTV. So I got the HDAV cable for PS2 and oh my god, Shadow of the Colossus looks amazingly better in a HDTV.
The game became so much beautiful that I went for lizard and fruit hunting (which I wouldn't do because I couldn't keep the ps2 forver).

I enjoyed the ending so much and had an amazing time with the final boss. I'll probably play it again in some other ocasion.

I meant the diagonal jump not (or hardly) depleting his stamina, and the leaf rest thing. He wasn't able to get either of those to work. I'm not sure if he just fails at them or if they really don't work in his version.

Ohhhh. The leaf rest works for me since the ledge is bigger there right behind the plants, don't know about other versions. But yeah, the diagonal jump thing didn't work for me. It depleted my stamina faster, in fact... The only time the stamina depleted slower was when I shimmied on ledges sideways. I think GameFAQs named the vertical jump as one of the things from the demo only. Still the best way to get up the very first part before the ledge rest, though

Ok time for some cool things from Shadow of the Colossus world =)

Dead Tree:
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8...ee014fr.th.jpghttp://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4...ee020la.th.jpg
I know it's only Dead Three but it one and only in whole game and its BIG.

ICO Beach?
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/8...ch019ez.th.jpghttp://img51.imageshack.us/img51/192...ch022pi.th.jpg
We know that SotC happened centuries before ICO so it look's a bit different.

ICO Castle?
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2412/017jf.th.jpghttp://img216.imageshack.us/img216/1268/029xw.th.jpg
Same as above you can see it only from the bridge and it's quite not to well visible but its location is there it should be on map if we accept this beach as ICO beach.

I've visited the beach myself and I'm convinced it's not supposed to be the "ICO beach". I think it's just there to remind us of ICO, not necessarily say "This is where you end up in the other game".

Even if SotC took place in the same world centuries ago, how exactly do you think the beach would change? Water levels rise or lower? The beach in ICO is about the same lenght from the wall, so the water level is around the same, it's simply closed off, whereas the beach in SotC is shaped differently and much much wider, curving around the bend where ICO's beach had a closed off dead end where you woke up in the boat. This kind of thing doesn't change over centuries, the whole area would be gone if it did.


Secondly, that doesn't look like a castle at all, much less the ICO castle. If that is indeed the ICO castle, that should be the front (since the only piece of land around besides the castle island was in front of the main gate), in which case it's far too high, the ICO castle is much lower, much wider in structure and shape.

http://vincent.auroralsnare.com/ico/...co_castle2.jpg

Still, fascinating details, I especially like that tree and feel an urge to go find it myself. And how did you get a white Agro? =/

• ICO Beach:

You may be right... but still it's only place that you can get to the outside world and can be clue about what will happened in sequel of Shadow of the Colossus.

• ICO Castle:

Well it’s in the place near beach besides its structure... It can be town where Wanda is from. Maybe it's a little spoiler about sequel?

• White Argo:

If you will finish game on Hard Mode you get Hard Time Attack. After beating all Colossi in time and getting all the items you get white Argo (it’s Agro really but it was changed). When loading or starting a new game press Circle and for brown Argo press Square.

I'm assuming most of us have been to the secret garden, but have any crossed the long bridge that connects to the entrance to the shrine? It's one long ass trek across to the otherside, where the entrance/exit to the forbidden land is located. Heh, and once you get there you're prevented from leaving because there's a strong gust of wind blowing into the land.

Anyway, just a neat gimmick of the world that I wanted to mention. Even though it was kind of a waste of time.

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4972/012ea.th.jpghttp://img300.imageshack.us/img300/3417/027er.th.jpg

Yeah I noticed that. You can't get out cause it would be to easy and you fate would change.

It refers to ICO and we know that. From this point Unknown City is visible to.

Love this game..I hear a sequel on the PS3 is a possibility in fact. I've played through three times so far and may start my fourth pretty soon actually. I still have yet to get to the secret garden and on top of the temple, and I've still got 2 colossi left in Hard Time Attack. I cant beat the guy with the big sword and..well I forgot the other one.

How do you reckon it refers to ICO? =/ And what exactly does it refer to about it?

At most the connection between SotC and ICO would be that Wanda's sin and rebirth might be start of the superstition in ICO that horned people are the reason for all the misfortunes in the world. Beyond that, I really don't see any proof or plausible references.

To return to a previous point, it's doubtful the big structure is Wanda's town. We see him traveling a long, long way to arrive to the forbidden land, apparently traveling for days (further reinforced by Ueda's original description of a boy who rides and rides through fields and canyons for days carrying the girl, as well as the Emon's speech as they arrive to the forbidden land).

But then who knows. The structure would have to be pretty massive to be anywhere near his town and still be visible.

Well as for what EMON say... I think that ICO is what Wanda had to do to make atonement for what He has done. But it's only my opinion... besides if ICO is many centuries after SotC then it’s impossible. But somehow horned people are being born and somehow they got out from where they ware. So maybe ICO and SotC aren’t in such big time distance?

As for the town. It can be spoiler about another part of the great ICO and SotC sage? Maybe it will show connection of ICO and SotC. This building can be another temple holding clue to the shadows.

P.S

Yeah I saw those. Sounds like a detail they just overlooked in the US version, they probably assumed no one would bother bunnyhopping all the way to the pedestal.

Yeah think so to. Did you find the Dead Tree or want me to tell you where to look fot it?

I haven't returned to the game for a while now, I've been not playing anything for ages and just now was busy replaying Manhunt. I figure I'll look it up on my next playthrough.

Yup yup...took me around 10 minutes of nonstop running just to get from one end to the other, and Agro even followed on the ground, aww, I heart Agro. I wasted about another 10 minutes taking random pictures (like the one that some people thought could be the castle in Ico) and making Wander fall over and over as the wind pushed him back out of the entrance. I liked the lighting at the very end, how it got so bright you can't see anything but the bridge and cliff edge where the entrance is. But the lighting makes it so hard to take good pics of other sights while crossing the bridge sometimes. I only realized then that you could tilt the camera all the way down to "reset" the lighting before the sunlight washes everything out again.

I went to the above beach a few days ago, too. I also thought it could be the Ico beach before any kind of erosion of the land or growing of grass, anything like that, but I doubt it now. Still awesome just to see stuff like that in the game, I love exploring. I stuck Wander in the water and just let the waves knock him over repeatedly.

Ok here is the location of Beach and Dead Tree:
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/8...ploc0xi.th.jpg

Here is how Wanda changes throu game:
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/3...ress4le.th.jpg

Good find.

While I don't see much of a difference between the frames, that's still something I probably wouldn't of found elsewhere.

Changes are visible in Hairs color that is changing in to Violet and other body marks like weird violet places from his chest to the top (see them first on his neck). then it's getting on his face covering the cheeks. On the end his whole body is changing but his eyes are the best =D!

I just remember noticing midway that Wanda's hair looked darker than I remembered. I checked out the beginning again and realized his face and clothing were dirtier too, it was a fantastic detail. I love subtle stuff like that.

You should take those screens so that the light is on Wanda's face, not behind him. Now it's a bit unclear. If you get the sunlight on his face, the different haircolor and dirty face are clearly visible.

I was trying it but alter is the only place where you can get close up to his face and see it as close as it is here. If you know any other place where I can get better shoots tell me.

Well, I was thinking you run him forward to where the sunlight lands and turn him around, but I guess it'd be hard to get identical framing for all the pics.
The difference in skin tone and hair color would still be apparent, though.

I just got this game yesterday, and defeated 3 so far. The 4th one is giving me a hard time though..

Better late than never.

I'll see maybe with Sun Sword (Sword of Sun) in hand it will look better.

How about the "Ico beach?" Try swimming out along the wall all the way to the west until you can't go anymore. He should be able to stand up when he's near the wall. You don't exactly get full body shots or anything, you can probably get his chest and up, but I was able to take decent shots of Wander's face. However I only have my digital camera so the quality is not as good as it could be, but it's better than other shots I've taken of Wander before. And the shots are not identical either sinec I was moving the camera...

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9...der10ps.th.jpghttp://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5...der28br.th.jpghttp://img128.imageshack.us/img128/5...der31vn.th.jpghttp://img128.imageshack.us/img128/1...der40tr.th.jpg

You can see some of the areas where his face and neck are changing already, and his hair's getting a bit darker (this was somewhere around colossus #4 or #5, can't really remember...).

EDIT: I know it's really far out of the way from the altar...but...it's just one of a few places I can pinpoint on the map that allows me to swing the camera around and focus closely on Wander.

I'll see what I can do =) But you know going there after each fight and making shot is quite boring. But will try and see what I can do =).

Yeah, it's kind of really far ... I don't even think I'd wanna go back there after every single fight. But I think that because of the fact that there's a huge ass wall to your left as you stand in the water...you can pretty much use any huge ass wall that would sit on your left and allow you to move the camera in closer.

I want to ask you all if you have PAL version as well? I just got mine and I have to say I see some differences.

First of all game looks better but its normal for PAL games. I can see a place even far away that in NTSC wasn’t visible. Diagonal jumps take stamina so getting to Secret Garden is even harder. Jump stub tames a lot of stamina so you can use it not too often.

Any other differences?

I've got the NTSC version :(

I don't know any differences off hand other than your version rocks and mine rocks less.

The vertical/diagonal jumps take stamina in my version, yet I was still able to make it to the secret garden with a smaller gauge than the one in the Google Video (the right side of the gauge was only about halfway through the weapon icon). But I have no idea what version the one in the video is, maybe it was the demo version which would make sense.

EDIT:

Hey, I found a closer place to take decent pics of Wander. It's right south of the temple, the rock ridges on the way to the first colossus. There's a slight corner that you can use to swing the camera around and focus on him. I can't post the pics I took since my camera needs to recharge. I had to turn the game's brightness option down because the light in the back seemed to be washing out the details on his face in some angles.

Well PAL is harder. Stub Jump take a lot of stamina and it's very useful in Time Attack (saved me yesterday!) I still want to finish it for 100% only 3 Colossi left in HTA 3rd, 4th and 5th =). I think 3rd is the hardest of them!! It would be easier if I know how to Sword Launch... But I never can do it right...

I only got the sword launch correct one time. Well, I launched correctly...but I still completely missed the colossus >.<

Oh yeah, here are those pics from the rock ridge right in front of the temple, could be a good spot to get shots of Wander as he changes without the sunlight washing everything out. This is all after colossus number 9, btw, spot on his face is getting darker:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6...er911jx.th.jpg http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/2...er921bb.th.jpg http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/3...er933cz.th.jpg http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/8...er949fm.th.jpg

Phew!! I just got my hands on #5th and received Cloth of Desperation - Can be used as a parachute if you fall from a colossus. Now only #3rd and #4th left two biggest bastards in Hard Time Attack... after those two I will get Queen's Sword - The sword from ICO (wow!). Inflicts a mortal blow in one strike.

About the place for shots. I'll see in to it.

Unlock White Agro without beating Hard Time Attack:
Beat the 16 colossi in normal time attack mode to unlock Brown Agro, do not save however. Do something to kill your character and retry when asked. You'll be standing infront of the final colossus, however it did not save your time. Defeat the colossus again and White Agro will be unlocked.

I didn't enjoy this game much.

Puzzles are fine, but for some reason to me, when I got the horse-like colossus and the one with the L-shaped stone arm, I felt like the puzzle was getting somewhat ridiculous. I felt like the puzzles more so involved getting inside of the designers' heads as opposed to actually being logical. This is a fault with many adventure games, in my opinion.

I see what was trying to be done here, but I couldn't get into this game.

Especially since it doesn't work with HDLoader.

Well it work with HDLoader but you need to have special Chip to run it.

*proud owner of the PAL version*

I discovered some things;
1) turtles, what can you do with them? When you step on them or hit they retract their head.
2) southwest of the 9th colossi there's a lake with big fishes. Swim to them, hold R1 en press 'O' when a fish is near. Wanda then grabs his fin a they have a swim together :D

WoW... nothing new then =)

For me only one Colossus left in Hard Time Attack... its #3rd one... Today only 10 sec less and it would be over... ehh I want my Queens Sword =(. Anyone have it?

Having opened my PS2(s) several times and fucking countless things up, the last thing I ever want to attempt is permanently screwing over the motherboard with a silly pirate chip. Considering they don't make the chubby PS2s anymore and they're becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, I really don't want to take anymore chances screwing it up.

I just got done paying $72 bucks for repair parts.

Seriously, modchips would be bad news because I'm a klutz :(

So why don't you just work with Swap Magic? :(

Or you could pay somebody to get one professionally installed..

My guess is that it's not available where he lives. For instance, they no longer install modchips in my country at all, there isn't a single company that does them.

Why he won't use a PS2slim with swap magic if his current console breaks down, I don't know.

Probably because the slim ones have overheating problems/lack of fans/problems reading blue discs/modchips more expensive/etc. I'm not against the slim PS2's but I've heard(from 4chan, mostly) that the slimlines have countless amounts of problems.

I wish the PS2 had an option where you could save games to an internal harddrive after modding, like xbox. <3

Yeah that sux. It would be nive to save game on HDD. Anyway I still have #3rd to get my hands on in Hart Time Attack. For now I just stoped and got in Onimusha 4 =).

Haven't read the whole thread to avoid spoilers.

Is it worth buying the game now for the special features? I was planning to wait till it becomes cheap 'cos I have heaps of other games to play right now.

Any opinions?

Well there is no time to waste. It's already late to buy it. All versions are the same. Only thing is that PAL version is harder but better looking in 50 Hz. I don't know on what are you waiting.

I scratched my fucking limited edition disc while cleaning it, god damn. Now a quarter side of the disc has light scratches from "in to out" even though the manual TELLS YOU DO CLEAN IT THAT WAY.

Anyway, beat/defeated the 6th colossus. Found the seventh but my hands are freezing cold, so I'll leave it for another day.

Well well =) This fight is one good fun!! Besides it's easy on Time Attack if you know what to do =) If you have any problems with him just tell me.

Advice:

Okay, I've beaten 6 of them I think. Can anyone please tell my just why this game is frikking awesome?
Really, while I don't find the game emotional touching, everything from design (Be it graphical or audio) to the feeling works superbly. I just want to continue playing. Not because the story touches my stone heart (Although I must admit that Wander's quest is exciting) but because finding the 'point of entry' on the colossi and clinging to them in a desperat attempt to kill them is earthshaddering cool.

You just want to see another huge thing that want to crush you that's all =D It's like desperate fight for your life buy your the one that puts you life on it.

Awesome, that... helps.

Finally,i am damn happy now.
Shadow of the Colossus won GDC award of Best game of 2005 beating godofwar.

COOOOOL.

Shadow of the Colossus, for me, was the best game of 2005. It was an incredibly fresh take on the adventure genre of games. At first, I didn't think a game that consisted only of boss battles one after another could work, but boy was I wrong. The presentation and gameplay are wonderfully crafted and Kow Otani's musical score for the game is nothing short of sheer brilliance. I've already played through it 3 times and may make it a 4th soon. It sucks that the game doesn't get as much commerical attention as games like God of War and Resident Evil 4 have, because it definitely deserves it. I'd take SotC over either of them, personally.

just my luck.
i got the game and got to colossus 11, 6 hours straight and the next thing i know my controller's bin busted up and i cant play the game.
:aargh: :aargh: :edgartpg: :cussing: :( :mad: :alcoholic:

as far as ive played the game..........
ITS AWESOME MAN:edgarrock: :edgarrock: :edgarrock:

Any gameplay videos for this game? I want to see those big bosses...

If you have IGN Insider, you can watch video walkthroughs for all 16 bosses.

I don't have IGN Insider... :(

gamespot has plenty of gameplay videos :

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventur...sus/media.html

YES! i completed the game.

got my controller fixed yesterday and voila, i completed the game.
im going to post a review of the game in a new thread.

I soooooooooooooo wanted to ride White agro BUT damn i can't ,its too hard to beat all colossi again and also it will frustrate me.

If you want to check out videos, go to google videos page and type in the games name in search.
There is video for White agro too.

@gaming just go to youtube or google video and search shadow of colossus time attacks. There's one for every boss....I have no idea how he beat the last one like that good god.

Why is this game good?

I just beat the game today. It was a very enjoyable experience. Very bizzare ending I must say. Also the last colossus was pretty serious. I must have fallen off of him like 13 times.

I thought it was funny how after every collosi you defeat, it tentacle rapes you.

Perhaps you should read online reviews instead of busy Best Buying all the time? SOTC was a personally wonderful experience. It's rare for me to take time instead of rushing through just to the next objective like some games (GTA comes to mind). Also gettign Argo to gallop was enjoyable, although I didn't treat him too well. I chased after him a few times with my sword and shot at him just out of boredom. Clearly I'm not cut out to save the girl.

I want to try the time attacks now, but I'm wonder how exactly is "hard" hard? Do the bosses have more life or what?

Some just have an extra weakness spot hidden somewhere and/or a relocated weakness spot. The only thing that would be hard is to kill them within the short timeframes.

I bought this game the other day and I must say that the graphics are simply amazing. Alot of times, I just ride around an Agro and take in the view. Everything is so big and quiet that it just takes your breath away.

It's been taking me about a half an hour per boss, with some being pretty hard at first and took me much longer. Some I couldn't figure out until the game gave me some hints. I'm currently stuck on the tenth colossus, i think. (the sand dunes one.) I had played it for like two hours with no such luck and have had no clues yet. I like it now that they are trying to fight back a lot more.

Heh just played through for my fourth time I think...still an awesome game and I'm amazed at how many strategies are out there for killing the colossi that I had no idea about! Feel like there's a lot more to master heh...great game

Shadow of the Colossus was easily the most impressive game I've played this year both visually and graphically. The last colossus, and the song that plays while you fight it (Demise of the Ritual) was a truly inspiring finale.

Now, to await the next gem from the creators of this game and Ico..

Hard mode on this game was sooo much fun!

I recommend it to anyone who though their first runthrough was to rushed or to easy.

I don't get this game. I bought it and I can't justify beating it. Can someone assure me that it gets better or the story actually develops? I beat the first two and I'm like "Okay, only 14 more....yay?"

It is visually stunning, and I love the music.

I want to beat it since I bought it but every time I go to turn it on I'm repelled by the prospect.

Hmm...
 

I know how you feel. All the fun in the game comes from solving how to beat the colossi. But only sixteen? The prospect of beating it kinda sucks. But it is cool, and there are bonuses to obtain, and the story ends in a cool way (though most likely you'll see it coming). So, I dunno.:confused:

Unfortunatly the story really develops and concludes when you beat the last colossi. After each 4 colossi though you get a short cutscene, but they mostly involve the girl.

However, trust me on this, the ending will make you feel sad... This game isnt suppose to have a long and well developed story like RPGs anyway...

I also found Shadow of the Colossus much better than God of War, but when you talk about RE4 I have to disagree. Too bad SotC is really short, I think the game ends and it keeps you wanting so much more but at least I can say I enjoyed each single seconds of this game.

Short? It depends if you want to finish it once or get 100% of it. If so you need to get 15h for normal + 18h for hard + 4~5h for Time Attack on both levels. After this time for boosting stamina to get to the Secret Garden.

I have both saves from USA and EUR version of someone want.

No, it simply doesn't have an overly elaborated-on story. People get this idea that the story is somehow simple or less because they're not spoonfed cutscenes and hours of abysmal dialogue.

And considering how ridiculously few RPGs these days evidence any kind of sophistication in their storytelling, "well developed story" in RPGs is a bit of a hyperbole.

i read you can only go to the secret garden in the demo, can you go there with the full game ? how ?

can't find anything about it on gamefaqs :doh:

Behind the temple there is a series of vines that lead up to the secret garden. There are tonnes of videos on it if you search google video or youtube or whatever.

i have a question, is there an alternate ending ?......!.....!

No there is NO alternative ending and there NEVER ware any.
You can just google for it or use you Tube.

I loved SoTC. Sure it may have been somewhat short, but the graphics and the atmoshere that if conveyed was purely magical.

Plus the music rocked too.

Something for SotC fans =D

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/images/051112.gif

thats awesome, a commercial for the colossi.

http://www.kotobukiya.co.jp/kotobuki...o_wanda_ad.jpg
http://www.kotobukiya.co.jp/kotobuki...il.msp?id=4986

195mm in height and available this October. Yeah...I'll be getting one for sure. :)

Very cool! Heh, but a little pricey for me. I'm guessing this thing will be import only too. Be cool if they made one with Wander on Agro.

it's nice but they should have made it with fur, it's not the same without the fur! XD

and the little wander look fat XD

hey, them figures ROCK man, i will get one for sure.


probably the 195mm one..

Nice one =D Go to have them all (like pockemons). I hope there will be all 16 released =)

Considering your spending habits I would of expected you to snap this one up in an instant. :p

PlayAsia already have it up for preorder though for $95.
http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-1i22.html

Monkey King want. The teeny-tiny Wander is just awesome. Don't think I can swing $90 so easily, though. ;_____;

No way I would pay 90$ for 195mm plastic figure. 195cm sure yeah but not 195mm =D Shame that there is nothing more for me to discover in SotC =(

Haha, actually I usually avoid statues in general. Love a good action figure though. $95 is too much for something that collects dust, heh, and that's not even including shipping. Though, I might consider importing it if it pops up on YesAsia, seeing as how they offer free shipping.

Considering I have about 30 games which I play on and off it's been a long time since I've picked up a game and played it religiously until I finished it.

SOTC was simply great...I can't help having an odd feeling for the Colossi though...Kinda feel bad for them for some reason =/

I might consider getting this game now. It just became a greatest hit, and it's now $20. I've heard many good things about this game, so i'm looking forward to buying it.

That's kind of the point - thus the mournful music when you slay them. It's supposed to be rather nebulous whether or not you really should be killing these things. There's a good chance they aren't really bothering anyone, and are just stomping on you in self defense.

I really did feel bad after a few of them, because most of them are in some place where they could do no harm. I picked up the game recently and was having a blast until I got to the one(which I have not beaten yet) that is stuck at the bottom of an old arena. What harm could he do there? And while I was wondering this, I jumped onto him from the top floor...where he promptly killed me. First thought was something along the lines of, "Woohoo! You finally killed that pesky guy who was killing all of you."

I'm sorry to bump this thread but...

WHERE THE FUCK IS MY WHITE AGRO?

I've already beat hard time attack mode and the guides says to hold down Circle in the title screen but it doesn't work. The guides says hold down circle but then what?

Hold down circle and start a new game? resume one?

Could it be possible that I can't get it because I haven't beat time attack on normal mode?

*Kills black Agro*

Most likely. I just picked it up and played more today(9 down!). I felt sorry for that one stuck in the coliseum until he climbed up the wall and came after me. Little bastard.

Er I'm having alittle problem...just played through for my fourth time on hard and after loading up the file (now on the 5th time through) I decided I'd try to beat Colossus #4 on hard time attack(he was the only one I needed). Thing is, I have all 16 colossi beaten in time attack and I didn't get the Queen Sword.....even though my records are there do I have to rebeat each colossus in HTA all in one go-through (meaning during my 5th time through, rather than spreading them out among multiple play-throughs). Any ideas?

Little bit of an update for those interested in the SOTC statue. It seems Kotobukiya will be producing some smaller scale models aside from the already revealed larger scaled model:
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2...aled600fc8.jpg

I so want the "bird" one! it look awesome (and is one of my favorite fight!)

Damn, those look nice! That lion/bull colossus one looks nice, also the final colossus one looks pretty cool too. Alas, I don't collect statues, especially when these things are probably going for as much as the first one. Heh, and I'm lacking in funds, thanks to Marvel's Civil War series.

I wonder when they're gonna sculpt a colossus that required Wander to saddle up on Agro. Like the snake colossus or that dragon colossus.

The bird looks awesome! But I really hope they will make one of Colossus 13. That's my personal fave.

Damn those look very nice. I don't have many Kotobukiya merchandise, but they're generally pretty faithful to the source material. I still gotta remember about all the FF figures I want. So much $ ;___;...

Definitely.

Koto's Final Fantasy work has to be the best FF figures ever produced and hopefully if the price tag for these smaller scaled models from SOTC aren't too expensive then I'll probably snap up a couple of them.

Forget about it being cheap. Have a look. Almost 20 cm.

Those smaller scale SotC figures are up for pre-order at Play-Asia. They're between 50-90mm and 6 different ones + 1 secret figure. Retailing for about $7 each, and set to be released in January 2007. I think I might actually purchase a case, as the finished product looks great!

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2606/sotckotozc9.jpg

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-...y-70-1mkg.html

Also, the 195mm (8 2/3 inches) statue of Colossus I was listed in this month's (October) Previews for ordering with an SRP of $110 set to be shipped out in January. It's only limited to 500 pieces outside of Japan, so if you want one act fast and order it through your local comic shop (great way of avoiding the ridiculous shipping prices). Though, I didn't bother ordering one (not too fond of statues, or the high prices they come with), should I see it at my local comic shop come January at a decent price, then I might actually consider purchasing one. Heh, though it's unlikely they'll have it.


BTW apparently there's an artbook, I didn't even know about this. Has anyone purchased this? If so, what's it like? Lots of concept art? Or just more cg rendered images?

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4...artbookge6.jpg

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-...n-70-1g82.html

Those Kotobukiya one coin figures look great. It'd be nice if they did all 16.

Trying to beat HTA mode... Just have four of them left.
I'm having an impossible time with #4. I get on him by getting him to look down the hole and then running up and jumping up on one of the dangling pillars on his face going up to his head. It takes so much time to just get him into that position I don't know how to make anymore time for myself.

I got the book Hantei, and its got lots of concept art, along with stuff in the actual game and interviews and comments, think of it as SOTC's Ultimania. It also shows images of colossi that was rendered and tested, but were cut, they did about 30-40 of them and chose the best ones out of the bunch.

They also have a awesome scale art of all the colossi, showing which ones the biggest. (Its number 13)

Why they cut out the spider, dragon or Phoenix one is beyond me, those were SO COOL looking, and I want more flying ones dammit!

Here's some shots from inside the book:
http://www.citlink.net/~mcallister/sotcbookcover.jpg
http://www.citlink.net/~mcallister/sotcbook1.jpg
http://www.citlink.net/~mcallister/sotcbook3.jpg
http://www.citlink.net/~mcallister/sotcbook4.jpg

If you don't want to spend that much money then I'd suggest getting Brady Games' official guide as it's quite well done and has a nice concept art spread in the book. :)

Thanks for the info Kairi Li and thanks for the pics Simo! The book sounds and looks great! Even a look at the symbol they used for the Colossus' weak spot.

I'll give a the brady game's guide a thumb through, though right now I'm leaning more towards importing the artbook.

Holy crap. These pics seal the deal - I must get that book. The concept pics look awesome. Hopefully I can get it when I'm in Japan shortly.

I think the only reason I would want to get the Bradygames Guide is if it did have a comparison chart for the heights of all of the Colossus, which I doubt. I'll make a trip to that particular EB Games store come Monday and decide then.

It's more of a strategy guide than an artbook with alot of informative text, all in Japanese, so you may be disappointed.

Here's a sample of the Brady Games guide artwork:
http://www.vexidus.org/stuff/Sotc-Gu...foldout-03.jpg

I've got the artbook scaned. Want me to torrent it? (The artbook weighs 735 mb btw)

Id love to see it lol.

735mb? damn are there alot of pages or are they huge images o_0
If you can share then go ahead, it would be another good addition to the artbook thread ^_^

You said this was the Brady Games guide artwork? Correct me if I'm wrong but so that's actually for retail in the US market, since Brady is basically a US company? Just want to clarify.

Yes, Brady Games is a US company, yes the book might still be up for US retail, no that's not "Brady Games artwork". It's official artwork, in this picture featured in the Brady Games guide.

The Artbook: http://www.torrentspy.com/torrent/90...us_Artbook_cbr

Seeding this will take some time so please be patient with me. Thank you.

Which is good, since we get to see the original art and concept sketches (which is what I want, not "professional fan art"). So this would be the same thing almost as the FFXII LE guide with the Brady art book, which features the same artwork from SquareEnix.

Thanks for the torrent, Dave.

If anyone wants to Shadow of the Colossus Special DVD (I think it came with the JP version) I've uploaded it to MegaUpload. (split into 5 rar files)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P1PWWNU7
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A174HJKD
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R7ZJHKM0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0KEX4E7U
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JSTFM2TX

EDIT:
Files could be corrupted. not sure. Try if you want and tell me if extracting is successful.

EDiT:
Files be corrupted. On vacation. You can wait a month or so when I have time to upload again or find someone else who's willing to upload. Sorry.

What's on the Special DVD?

I think it shows the early stuff of shadow of the colosus and stuff. It has some really cool stuff on it I think :P Anyway Dave1988 where did you get that picture for your sig, it is fantastic.

I found it on 4chan.

So, I just beat this today. I only played a colossus at a time every now and then since I got it in August.

WHAT A SAD ENDING ;____;

Btw, anyone care to reseed the artbook torrent?

Speaking of..

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...artbook3-1.jpg

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...artbook2-1.jpg

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...artbook1-1.jpg

It's beautiful. After downloading the entire thing, I really liked what I saw, and went ahead and purchased it. It's a shame art books are so expensive otherwise I'd definitely start collecting them as a dedicated hobby.

The pages are in full color, and there's concept art and descriptions of all 16 colossi as well as developer interviews and the tattoo designs. I'm really happy I went ahead and made the purchase of this. I do hope there's more art books that take my interest like this one has in the future.

Off topic but oh well if you really like that art book I suggest purchasing the Okami Art Book. I have not bought it for myself but i've heard it is one of the best.

I've been all over trying to find this game and the only copy I can find is used from EBgames. Of course the manual and box look like they somehow found their way on to a god damn japanese bukkake set during filming. WTF is wrong with people? :argh:

Definitely they are corrupted. I downloaded all of them (four 488.282KB files and one 476.542KB file) and couldn't unrar. That was disapointing... can you re-upload them?

Striped phantom could you create a torrent with the Special DVD please?

And now let all of GamingForce go out and buy a PS3 -

http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=158027
(Yeah, didn't know where exactly to put this. It mentioned Shadow of The Colossus, so I figured a bump was alright...maybe even a new thread?)

This has been the one reason I've wanted a PS3 for a year now ever since I first heard it, but since there's still no name or anything of the title, I'll just happily hold off.

Yeah. I was very surprised by the quality of the games these guys have made. I remember seeing Ico on the $20 rack at Target way back when, and got a good look at the box art -
I honestly figured it was the reason it was $20. Without playing the game or hearing about it, how would you not think that this game is about a pissed off Indian with a 2x4.

Then I tried it out after hearing nothing but good things about it, and was blown away. I absolutely loved it. I then tried out Shadow of the Colossus, and loved it even more. Honestly though. How does a game with so much artistic detail also contain some of the shittiest box art ever created.

Anyways, this PS3 game has a lot to live up to. Lets hope they deliver like no other.

Well, that's America for you. Home to the most terrible boxarts in videogame land.

The Japanese and European cover looked like this:

http://staff.gamingforce.com/qwarky/1016523195Ico.jpg

I guess that's a bit better then the NA one, however it still sucks pretty bad. I found the comment that BB made about their artistics in the game compared to the box art to be quite the funny observation, ^^

Whoa, scan with conceptual ideas for the game on it?

That SotC artbook is beautiful indeed.

I'd be actually interested in purchasing that tome, given that I adored the game especially for its inspiring visuals.
Do you know of any good sites that have got that volume at a reasonable cost and can ship it to Europe?

Sweet! Knew they'd announce one sooner or later. I can't not wait to see the first screens. The visuals were incredible for ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, I can't even begin to imagine what we'll be treated to from their PS3 project.

For some reason that reminds me of Pitfall.

I was at katsucon sellin mah SotC stuff, I told everyone who bought one that a 2nd (or rather 3rd) was coming out for the ps3. Mostly I got groans when I said ps3 but overall a ton of excited fans. I was surprised how many SotC fans(and Okami fans) there were at an anime convention.
And speaking of katsucon, Dave1988, your avatar looks like one of the prints that was being sold there. I'm assuming you attended?

Nope. Found this on the net immp.

I tracked down a copy of the demo when I heard it was possible to
climb up to the temple garden because of a glitch. So I took comparison
shots of a couple spots in the demo and finished version.

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/7...monojb6.th.jpg
A headless Mono greets you at the entrance.
You can walk right thru her.

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/3...ple2qk2.th.jpg
The stack of blocks by the water fall it goes all the way up in the demo but
the blocks aren't programmed to let you climb them yet. The water wasn't
flowing either.

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/5...pleswm7.th.jpg
Shot of the temple above you can see missing textures in the demo.