A few notes on Shadow of the Colossus
Note: There are no plot spoilers here, (in fact, I'm not entirely sure I understand the finer points of the plot myself), but there are gameplay spoilers. Nothing like a walkthru, but some stuff has to be explained to tell my tale.
Good evening all. I just finished playing Shadow of the Colossus the first time through today. It took me about 14 hours, which isn't bad. I guess it's a little short as most video games go, but it was awesome for the most part. So, here're a few random thoughts:
First things first, something about the final colossus. It's a very large looking fellow who you first see from a very far distance away, perched upon a great pedestal of a monument, and wearing another monument as some crazy robe/armor/skirt thing. This isn't unusual for the colossus to have pretty much be a castle unto itself, indeed, but this Colossus was a bit different from the others. He first shoots lightening orbs from his hand at you until you get too close, then you climb him, like any other colossus. But he doesn't play like the other colossi, but I guess that's to be expected from the final one. Here's the thing, though. I had been fighting to climb him for a while at this point, mind you. I'd been scaling him and falling off many times, often landing all the way back at his feet. So, one time I decided to be spiteful. I was standing between his legs, under his skirt thing (creepy, I know, but you had to go that way to start climbing him. So, I draw my bow, point it straight up into the darkness, and fire an arrow at full strength into his unforseen naughty bits. Moments later, a couple orbs of lightening plumeted down upon me, nearly killing me. Now, he hadn't shot any lightening for a while, and there's no way his hand could have pointed at me with the skirt in the way. The only thing I can figure: the colossus crapped upon me. That vile creature let loose electric feces all over me. Holy... well, you know.
At any rate, the lesson we all learn is that the horse is the real hero, or at least one of the best parts of the game. Seriously, the horse. Not entirely integral, and rarely necessary, but often helpful. One of the things I liked about the horse was that, unlike every game I've played previously, you do not control the horse directly. It utilizes its AI whether you're on it or not. So, when you're on it, you have to kick it to make it go and pull the reigns to navigate and stop. This feature comes in especially handy in that it will navigate on its own sometimes (although sometimes it disagrees with your navigating, but that's not so much bad for gameplay and to me it just seemed to add to the intelligence of the horse, and give me an excuse to yell at it). Therefore, if you want to fire a bow while on your horse, it will follow a more intelligent path then straight intoa wall. It will even flee from signs of danger--which really only includes colossi. Also, despite all the realism of the horse, it's nearly invincible. You never have to worry about accidentally hitting it with an arrow or your sword, and you never have to worry about it getting killed in battle. Learn to use your horse--it will be a value asset.
So, there are more things I need to do in the game. There's hard mode, time attack mode, and then (once I beat hard mode) hard time attack mode. Each unlocks things. I'm essentially going to have to beat the colossi at least three more times a piece, but I don't mind. It'll just take a while to unlock everything. Oh, and then there are a couple, smaller secrets to explore.
Ultimately, I highly recommend the game to everyone. The novel gameplay of only having colossi--no dungeons, no other enemies, no crazy items (although you can lock some after the first time you beat it, apparently). Just flat out colossus killin' goodness and one hell of a horse.
Good evening all. I just finished playing Shadow of the Colossus the first time through today. It took me about 14 hours, which isn't bad. I guess it's a little short as most video games go, but it was awesome for the most part. So, here're a few random thoughts:
First things first, something about the final colossus. It's a very large looking fellow who you first see from a very far distance away, perched upon a great pedestal of a monument, and wearing another monument as some crazy robe/armor/skirt thing. This isn't unusual for the colossus to have pretty much be a castle unto itself, indeed, but this Colossus was a bit different from the others. He first shoots lightening orbs from his hand at you until you get too close, then you climb him, like any other colossus. But he doesn't play like the other colossi, but I guess that's to be expected from the final one. Here's the thing, though. I had been fighting to climb him for a while at this point, mind you. I'd been scaling him and falling off many times, often landing all the way back at his feet. So, one time I decided to be spiteful. I was standing between his legs, under his skirt thing (creepy, I know, but you had to go that way to start climbing him. So, I draw my bow, point it straight up into the darkness, and fire an arrow at full strength into his unforseen naughty bits. Moments later, a couple orbs of lightening plumeted down upon me, nearly killing me. Now, he hadn't shot any lightening for a while, and there's no way his hand could have pointed at me with the skirt in the way. The only thing I can figure: the colossus crapped upon me. That vile creature let loose electric feces all over me. Holy... well, you know.
At any rate, the lesson we all learn is that the horse is the real hero, or at least one of the best parts of the game. Seriously, the horse. Not entirely integral, and rarely necessary, but often helpful. One of the things I liked about the horse was that, unlike every game I've played previously, you do not control the horse directly. It utilizes its AI whether you're on it or not. So, when you're on it, you have to kick it to make it go and pull the reigns to navigate and stop. This feature comes in especially handy in that it will navigate on its own sometimes (although sometimes it disagrees with your navigating, but that's not so much bad for gameplay and to me it just seemed to add to the intelligence of the horse, and give me an excuse to yell at it). Therefore, if you want to fire a bow while on your horse, it will follow a more intelligent path then straight intoa wall. It will even flee from signs of danger--which really only includes colossi. Also, despite all the realism of the horse, it's nearly invincible. You never have to worry about accidentally hitting it with an arrow or your sword, and you never have to worry about it getting killed in battle. Learn to use your horse--it will be a value asset.
So, there are more things I need to do in the game. There's hard mode, time attack mode, and then (once I beat hard mode) hard time attack mode. Each unlocks things. I'm essentially going to have to beat the colossi at least three more times a piece, but I don't mind. It'll just take a while to unlock everything. Oh, and then there are a couple, smaller secrets to explore.
Ultimately, I highly recommend the game to everyone. The novel gameplay of only having colossi--no dungeons, no other enemies, no crazy items (although you can lock some after the first time you beat it, apparently). Just flat out colossus killin' goodness and one hell of a horse.