History YMMV / ICO

* CompleteMonster: [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen The Queen]] has been emotionally abusing her own daughter, Yorda, for her entire life, imprisoning her in a small cage hanging from a ceiling (which was actually considered a form of torture in medieval times) as well as manipulating her into thinking that she'll die if she ever leaves the castle, effectively breaking her spirit. It's implied that this is the reason why Yorda is so passive during the game; it's not because she's weak, it's because she's broken. Then, there's the fact that she's been manipulating a village into sacrificing their children and that said sacrifice involves sealing those children inside of coffins until they die. And it's ''also'' implied that she controls their spirits after death as her shadow-monster servants.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC-1Bdk_Fkc "Well, basically the story is about a horny kid trying to escape from prison with a curvy white chick while beating up black guys with a stick."]]

** Finding the secret weapons. If you are not informed (or don't look at the trophies in the PS3 edition), you won't even ''suspect'' there are secret weapons! After all, weapons don't really have much importance to begin with and ''Ico'' isn't the kind of game where you would expect such Easter eggs.

* {{Padding}}: See FakeLongevity on the main page.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: "Castle in the Mist" and "Beginning" are incredibly beautiful pieces of music, both fitting for a game like ''Ico''.
** And the ending song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFX2bDATGU4&hd=1 You Were There]].

* GameBreaker: Well, as game-breaking as an item in ''Ico'' can be, but the lightsaber will clearly save you a lot of trouble, considering how tedious the shadows can be to fight with a normal weapon.

* GuideDangIt: Finding the secret weapons. If you are not informed (or don't look at the trophies in the PS3 edition), you won't even ''suspect'' there are secret weapons! After all, weapons don't really have much importance to begin with and ''Ico'' isn't exactly the kind of game where you would expect such Easter eggs.

* IronWoobie: Ico ''and'' Yorda.

* TearJerker: The ending sequence.

** The Queen's lips don't seem to match her words.

** And the ending song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFX2bDATGU4&hd=1 You Were There]]

* SacredCow
* SoCoolItsAwesome

* CompleteMonster: [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen The Queen]] has been emotionally abusing her own daughter for Yorda's entire life, imprisoning her in a small cage hanging from a ceiling (which was actually considered a form of torture in medieval times) as well as manipulating Yorda into thinking that she'll die if she ever leaves the castle, effectively breaking her spirit. It's implied that this is the reason why Yorda is so passive during the game; it's not because she's weak, it's because she's broken. Then, there's the fact that she's been manipulating a village into sacrificing their children and that said sacrifice involves sealing those children inside of coffins until they die. And it's ''also'' implied that she controls their spirits after death as her shadow-monster servants.

* CompleteMonster: [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen The Queen]] has been emotionally abusing her own daughter for Yorda's entire life, imprisoning her in a small cage hanging from a ceiling. (which was actually considered a form of torture in the medieaval ages). As well as manipulating Yorda into thinking that she'll die if she ever leaves the castle, effectively breaking her spirit. (it's implied that this is the reason Yorda is so passive during the game, it's not because she's weak, it's because she's broken. Then there's the fact that she's been manipulating a village into sacrificing their children. (said sacrifice involves sealing those children inside of coffins until they die). And it's implied that she controls their spirits as her servants

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Castle in the Mist and Beginning are incredibly beautiful pieces of music, both fitting for a game like Ico.

* GameBreaker: Well, as game-breaking as an item in ICO can be, but the lightsaber will clearly save you a lot of trouble, considering how tedious the shadows can be to fight with a normal weapon.
* GoddamnBats: All the shadows are this. They won't do any significant damage (except if they push you off a ledge…) but will get in your way, and you spend much time waving your stick in the air while trying to hit them.

* GuideDangIt: Finding the secret weapons. If you are not informed (or don't look at the trophies in the PS3 edition), you won't even ''suspect'' there are secret weapons! After all, weapons don't really have much importance to begin with and ICO isn't exactly the kind of game where you would expect such easter eggs.
** When you enter the East Arena for the first time, it will seem like you've hit a dead end. It turns out that the door to the next room is hidden in the shadows. It doesn't matter how high you turn up the brightness in-game or on your television screen. The corner of the room with the door is pitch-black.. You can be stuck for hours looking for hidden switches and whacking everything with your stick.

*** The ones in the pod room are different to those seen in the rest of the game. [[spoiler: They're child-sized and shaped, aren't interested in you, and only want to look at the petrified Yorda. But you have to kill them anyway.]]

* PlayerPunch: [[spoiler:Returning to the hall of pods where you started the game from after you're separated from Yorda -- only to find her surrounded by shadows of horned boys like yourself and turned to stone. Then killing all those shadows who mean you no harm at all.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: At first, the Queen seems to be a worried, if arrogant mother who just wants her daughter back. But once it's revealed that [[spoiler: She plans to kill Yorda and use her body to extend her own life...]]

* CompleteMonster: The Queen. She has been emotionally abusing ''her own [[TheWoobie daughter]]'' for Yorda's entire life, imprisoning her in a small cage hanging from a ceiling. (which was actually considered a form of '''''torture''''' in the medieaval ages). As well as manipulating [[TheWoobie Yorda]] into thinking that she'll die if she ever leaves the castle, effectively breaking her spirit. (it's implied that this is the reason [[TheWoobie Yorda]] is so passive during the game, it's not because she's weak, it's because she's [[BreakTheCutie broken]]. Then there's the fact that she's been manipulating a village into sacrificing their children. (said sacrifice involves ''[[AndIMustScream sealing those children inside of]]'' '''''[[AndIMustScream coffins]]''''' ''[[AndIMustScream until they die]])''. And it's implied that she controls their spirits as her servants.
** Near the end of the game, she goes so far as to ''[[spoiler: [[TakenForGranite turn her daughter to stone]]]]''
** And it's revealed that her motivation for doing that was to [[spoiler: extend her own lifespan by ''killing her daughter and [[GrandTheftMe possesing her body]]'']].

* CompleteMonster: The Queen. She has been emotionally abusing ''her own [[TheWoobie daughter]]'' for Yorda's entire life, imprisoning her in a small cage hanging from a ceiling. (which was actually considered a form of '''''torture''''' in the medieaval ages). Not to mention manipulating [[TheWoobie Yorda]] into thinking that she'll die if she ever leaves the castle, effectively breaking her spirit. (it's implied that this is the reason [[TheWoobie Yorda]] is so passive during the game, it's not because she's weak, it's because she's [[BreakTheCutie broken]]. Then there's the fact that she's been manipulating an entire village into sacrificing their children. (said sacrifice involves ''[[AndIMustScream sealing those children inside of]]'' '''''[[AndIMustScream coffins]]''''' ''[[AndIMustScream until they die]])''. And it's implied that she controls their spirits as her servants.

* GoddamnBats: All the shadows are this, basically. They won't do any significant damage (except if they push you off a ledge…) but will get in your way, and you spend much time waving your stick in the air while trying to hit them.

** When you enter the East Arena for the first time, it will seem like you've hit a dead end. It turns out that the door to the next room is hidden in the shadows. It doesn't matter how high you turn up the brightness in-game or on your television screen. The corner of the room with the door is quite literally pitch-black.. You can be stuck for hours looking for hidden switches and whacking everything with your stick.

* MoralEventHorizon: At first, the Queen seems to be a worried, if arrogant mother who just wants her daughter back. But once it's revealed that [[spoiler: She plans to kill Yorda and use her body to extend her own life]].

* TearJerker: The ending sequence.

** Ico's character design can inspire this. If you look closely at where his bandages meet his horns, it looks like they've been torn, as if the horns sprouted abruptly. He also seems to be wearing normal children's clothes. He must've been taken away suddenly, without giving him or his family any time to cope emotionally.

* FridgeHorror: There are numerous graves throughout the castle, seeming to have been built all at the same time. They're just curiosities until you remember that [[spoiler: they're all meant for the Queen. Just how long has she planned for her immortality and]] how long has she been alive?

* GameBreaker - Well, as game-breaking as an item in ICO can be, but the lightsaber will clearly save you a lot of trouble, considering how tedious the shadows can be to fight with a normal weapon.
* GoddamnBats - All the shadows are this, basically. They won't do any significant damage (except if they push you off a ledge…) but will get in your way, and you spend much time waving your stick in the air while trying to hit them.

* MoralEventHorizon: The Queen crosses this with the ritual at the end of the game. At first it could be argued that she was just a worried, if arrogant, mother who just wanted her daughter back. But once it's revealed that [[spoiler: she plans to kill Yorda and use her body to extend her own life]]. Any sympathy goes straight out the window.
* NightmareFuel: You spend the entire game wondering just what these smokemen are. [[spoiler:In your final encounter with them, they come flying out of the cells in the prison tower where the horned boys were left to die.]]
** Arguable. [[spoiler:the creatures in the coffin room are different from the baddies in the rest of the game. They're smaller (compared to anything but the spiders), and perhaps the real nightmare fuel here, ''they don't attack at all but you have to kill them anyway''.]]
** [[spoiler: Put some more thought to it and it gets worse. If you look very closely, the last few Shadows you have to "kill" look exactly like Ico, down to the cuffs on his wrists. Every time you kill one, a coffin lights up. Ico's coffin was lit up before he was put into it, and the lights went away when he was placed inside. Those last few Shadows are ''previously sacrificed horned boys'', all of which suffered the same fate that Ico was supposed to (described below). While you can interpret that, since the coffins light up again, this means that the Shadows no longer have any connection to the coffins or the castle, and that it could mean that Ico is essentially (although unknowingly) freeing them. The nightmare fuel here is this: horned boys are born once every few generations. This means that there have been several decades between each sacrifice, and Ico was the last one out of a total of 40. Do the math, and you find out that most of those Shadows are the souls of those horned children, trapped in the castle and forced under whatever bidding the Queen had for them for ''entire centuries''. [[{{AndIMustScream}} Think about what they were doing when the Queen didn't need them.]] And before Ico arrived, the Queen ''never'' needed them.]]
** Plus, Ico's intended fate at the beginning of the game. He's not only sealed in an urn but ''shackled''. Alone and trapped in the dark, with only luck saving him from either suffocation or dehydration, whichever came first.
*** Besides that, the walls of the tomb room are packed full of similar urns, indicating that Ico's intended fate isn't exactly unique...
* PlayerPunch: [[spoiler:Returning to the hall of sarcophagi where you started the game from after you're separated from Yorda -- only to find her surrounded by shadows of horned boys like yourself and turned to stone.]]
** And just after that, [[spoiler:killing all those shadows who mean you no harm at all…]]

* GuideDangIt:
** Finding the secret weapons. If you are not informed (or don't look at the trophies in the PS3 edition), you won't even ''suspect'' there are secret weapons! After all, weapons don't really have much importance to begin with and ICO isn't exactly the kind of game where you would expect such easter eggs.

* TearJerker: The ending sequence.
* WhatAnIdiot: There is no doubt at all, that Ico is [[GuileHero one resourceful little kid]]. But during the scene with the chandelier, he demonstrates intelligence that is [[SarcasmMode truly astounding]]

--> ''"Hey! While i'm standing precariously on this chandelier suspended over this'' '''''insanely''''' ''long drop, I'm just going to break the chain holding it up and send it plummeting down into the abyss...''

--> ''With me on it...''

--> ''[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG]]!!??"''

*** After he breaks the chain and the whole thing starts to wobble, I can just imagine him thinking:

-->''"You know, in hindsight. I probably should have thought this through"''

*** Then again, there is always the possibility that he didn't actually ''know'' that was going to happen when he broke the chain. This would actually serve to make the whole thing even ''worse''

--> ''"Hey! While i'm standing precariously on this chandelier suspended over this'' '''''rediculously''''' ''long drop, I'm just going to wack the chain holding me up with a stick as hard as I can, for no apparent reason at all...''

--> ''[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG]]??!!"''

*** I dunno. Maybe really, really small chains are against his religion or something, so when he was hitting it he was thinking:

--> '''''"Die heretic!! DIE!!!!!!!"'''''

** For that matter. ''Who in the (BEEP!) designed that (BEEP!)ing castle?!'' '''''Seriously!''''' ''What kind of retarded (BEEP!)ing moron designs a castle where you have to swing on a chain hanging precariously over a five hundred (BEEP!)ing metre drop,'' '''''just''''' ''so you can open the'' '''''FRONT (BEEP!)ING DOOR!!!!''''' Now I know that sometimes you have to scale sheer walls because the bridge you would normally use has crumbled away. But there are other times when you realise that the castle has actually been ''designed'' that way. ''''''WHAT THE HELL!!!!'''''
*** To be fair, if you could open the front door with a button it wouldn't be a jail, wouldn't it. I mean, you're not ''supposed'' to get out of there.
*** And the person who runs said prison seems to have no need to obey gravity, same for much of her servants. They can do as they please so making the doors near impossible to open seems logical.

** How the heck is this YMMV? Shes almost as worse as Dahlia.

** near the end of the game, she goes so far as to ''[[spoiler: [[TakenForGranite turn her daughter to stone]]]]''

* CompleteMonster: The Queen. She has been emotionally abusing ''her own [[TheWoobie daughter]]'' for Yorda's entire life, imprisoning her in a small cage hanging from a ceiling. (which was actually considered a form of '''''torture''''' in the medieaval ages). Not to mention manipulating [[TheWoobie Yorda]] into thinking that she'll die if she ever leaves the castle, effectively breaking her spirit. (it's implied that this is the reason [[TheWoobie Yorda]] is so passive during the game, it's not because she's weak, it's because she's [[BreakTheCutie broken]]. Then theirs the fact that she's been manipulating an entire village into sacrificing there children. (said sacrifice involves ''[[AndIMustScream sealing those children inside of]]'' '''''[[AndIMustScream coffins]]''''' ''[[AndIMustScream until they die]])''. And it's implies that she controls their spirits as her servants.