History Headscratchers / ShadowOfTheColossus

* Some of the colossi have hands. Yet, when Wander's climbing them, they insist on trying to shake him off, rather than just grabbing and squishing. This is most egregious with the fifteenth and sixteenth colossi, where Wander has to actually crawl around in their palms, completely squishable. Yet Wander never gets squished. The fifteenth is somewhat justified, since [[YouFailBiologyForever stabbing its triceps may have made it unable to close its hand]], but it still bugs me. The 16th Colossi is quite strange because as Wander delivers the killing blow its hand finally springs up onto its head in a motion symbolizing that it is in pain and yet it never does this during the fight itself as Wander was stabbing it.

* Some of the colossi have hands. Yet, when Wander's climbing them, they insist on trying to shake him off, rather than just grabbing and squishing. This is most egegrious with the fifteenth and sixteenth colossi, where Wander has to actually crawl around in their palms, completely squishable. Yet Wander never gets squished. The fifteenth is somewhat justified, since [[YouFailBiologyForever stabbing its triceps may have made it unable to close its hand]], but it still bugs me.

* I'm starting to think that people are simply trivializing and disregarding this game's flaws. Irritating final boss? "But it's a ''living castle''!" Lack of music? "But that makes what little music is there even MORE amazing!" Uncontrollable horse? "But it's just like riding a real horse!" Fuzzy graphics with too much bloom? "The game is ''supposed'' to look like that!" Total lack of anything to do except fight the Colossi in a specific order? "It makes the game more meaningful because you're not just mowing down a bunch of forgettable mooks!" I have had each and every one of these arguments and more given to me at least once when I stated why I did not enjoy this game, and the one used most often was perhaps the following two words: "It's amazing!" and nothing more. As if somehow "It's amazing!" tells me everything I need to know about this game. I can perhaps see someone else enjoying this game more than me, since I've never been much of an adventure game person, but to see someone say it's the best game ever (not their favorite or the best they've ever played, but simply ''the best game ever'') is something I cannot understand.

** One reason there's arguments on both sides for those flaws/virtues is that they were all very intentional, as opposed to flaws that are a result of oversight or laziness. Personally, I agree that the final boss was a letdown, feel that the well-done ambient audio made up for the lack of music (and when there was music, it ''kicked ass''), think that adding generic enemies would have just been [[FakeLongetivity tedious padding]], and that the visuals were quite gorgeous. Whether or not you like it is up to personal preference, but it's not objectively bad (like, say, ''Big Rigs'' or ''Sonic '06'').

**** And what I was saying is that the developers themselves prove your point incorrect. Again, for the bazillionth time, look at the bloody Time Attack mode. There's no artistic statement in that, it's there purely because the developers realized that there's not quite enough game in their art and so they slapped some on as an afterthought. No art, no story, no point, just a bunch of cool monsters that you can fight in any order you want in return for weapons and other cool items. I'm not asking for anything that isn't already in the game, I just wish it was integrated a little better, in a more seamless way.

*** Nobody said you shouldn't have fun with the game. What I was saying was the developers had an artistic goal with the game, and put that artistic goal in mind while creating it. You're supposed to be playing as a single-minded man, who cares only for getting Mono back to life, and is throwing himself in a deal with the devil to get it. Ergo, he's ding Dormin's dirty work, and following his instructions. Team ICO seems to make its games with artistic statements first and foremost, so that's why there's no sandbox mode: They didn't want to lessen the effect.

*** SarcasmMode Oh yes, [[SarcasmMode how dare I]] want to have ''fun'' in this ''game''! This is [[TrueArtIsAngsty serious business]]! Well having played through the story several times and grown bored with it, I don't really mind the idea of undermining it a bit. Frolic we can right from the start (and it is even encouraged by the bonuses fruit and lizard tails provide), and for playing with the creatures we have the Reminiscence and Time Attack modes, which become available as you progress through the game. So all the elements are actually already there, it's just that the developers haven't gone all the way, haven't made that final step and combined them to give us complete freedom and immersion, which I think we should be given if not right from the beginning, then at least once we beat the story mode. Instead, they require us to select the battle we want from what is essentially a menu.

*** Having played through the story several times and grown bored with it, I don't really mind the idea of undermining it a bit. Frolic we can right from the start (and it is even encouraged by the bonuses fruit and lizard tails provide), and for playing with the creatures we have the Reminiscence and Time Attack modes, which become available as you progress through the game. So all the elements are actually already there, it's just that the developers haven't gone all the way, haven't made that final step and combined them to give us complete freedom and immersion, which I think we should be given if not right from the beginning, then at least once we beat the story mode. Instead, they require us to select the battle we want from what is essentially a menu.

***** I don't think that's true, after the first one or two the difficulty seemed pretty constant to me (up until it spiked suddenly with the last one, but see above about that). The only progression I've noticed is that Dormin's hints get more and more useless the further in the game you are ("Thou cannot aim for its vitals as thou art now..." - "Gee, really? I didn't notice that, thanks a bunch for pointing that out, buddy. That helps me a great bloody deal."). But even if it was frue, so what? Dormin could still ''recommend'' which one you should go after next. Plus if the sandbox mode was unlocked after beating the game, it wouldn't be a problem at all, since you already know the colossi and their difficulty by that point. Again I point to the Time Attack mode, in which you can do them in any order you want to, so as I said before, the element of non-linear selection is already in the game, only in the form if what is essentially a disguised menu.

*** It serves a gameplay purpose. The simpler ones go first, and they get harder as you go.

*** Having played through the story several times and grown bored with it, I don't really mind the idea of undermining it a bit. Frolic we can right from the start, and for playing with the creatures we have the Reminiscence and Time Attack modes, which become available as you progress through the game. So all the elements are actually already there, it's just that the developers haven't gone all the way, haven't made that final step and combined them to give us complete freedom and immersion, which I think we should be given if not right from the beginning, then at least once we beat the story mode. Instead, they require us to select the battle we want from what is essentially a menu.

*** Having played through the story several times and grown bored with it, I don't really mind the idea of undermining it a bit. Frolic we can right from the start, and for playing with the creatures we have the Reminiscence and Time Attack modes, which become available as you progress through the game. So all the elements are actually already there, it's just that the developers haven't gone all the way, haven't made that final step and combined them to give us complete freedom and immersion, which I think we should be given once we beat the story mode. Instead, they require us to select the battle we want from what is essentially a menu.

* Some of the colossi have hands. Yet, when Wander's climbing them, they insist on trying to shake him off, rather than just grabbing and squishing. This is most egegrious with the fifteenth and sixteenth colossi, where Wander has to actually crawl around in their palms, completely squishable. Yet Wander never gets squished. The fifteenth is somewhat justified, since stabbing its triceps may have made it unable to close its hand, but it still bugs me.