Shadow of the Colossus Ending Discussion (SPOILERS)

zewone

zewone

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*ICO ending spoilers as well*

I recently beat this amazing game and I wanted to ask what you all thought of the ending. In the ending we see Dormir and Wander become the horned baby. My assumption is that this is how the Cursed bloodline of the horned boys originated. I'm thinking that the baby at the end of the game is in fact Ico's distant relative.

Some have posted that they think Mono is the Queen from ICO, but I'm not too sure about that.

And the beach from the ending of ICO is in SotC as well. Leading me to believe that the area that SotC eventually becomes home to the cursed land/castle Ico is sent to.

*taken for the IGN boards*
In the far southwest of the SotC, you find the bluffs that overlook the ocean to the south. I first discovered this when I accidentally took the long way to get to Colossus VI (the bearded giant), passing through the caves that later contain Colossus X (the sand worm). Riding through the caves deposited me amongst some gorgeous rocky moors, so I didn't mind too much being sidetracked, but the big bonus came upon reaching the bluffs.

You'll find a small Save Temple, and nearby a path that leads down the cliffside. Ride Agro down the path, and you find yourself upon a beach... a beach which should be all too familiar to anyone who's seen the ending, espescially the "secret" ending, to ICO.

At the end of ICO, after all the action and the credits, you find the boy laying upon the sand of a beach. Nearby is a path up the cliffs which you can ascend, ending the game. OR, you can wander along the beach, and discover Yorda washed up with the tide, and the game ends at that point instead (supposedly, in the PAL version, if you find some hidden melons on the beach, then you get a final scene in which the two are sitting on the beach and eating a melon... playing the NTSC version, I ended up spending at least a half-hour scouring that beach for those melons without realizing that they weren't included for us filthy Americans).

happy

At any rate, the beach to the far southwest in SotC is, without a shadow of a doubt, that same beach from ICO's ending. Same cliffs, same path leading down (or up), same boulders, same shoreline, same damn beach. No question about that.

I need to beat ICO again to make the final connections, but from all of this I think I can determine a couple things... one, where in SoTC the castle was/will be located. And second, I think that this, espescially in conjunction with the other elements of SotC and the ending, makes the strongest and most definitive argument that the two games take place not just in the same world, but in the same area.
 
I've heard that beach theory too, but i also heard that it was arguable. I've also heard the theory that the rain clouds at the end foreshadow a great flooding and that the shrine of worship becomes the queen's castle in Ico (and also that Mono is the queen). Those theories seem to be stretching it quit a bit though, because in Ico there's that part where you're on a bridge running toward the outside world, and while it's pretty far away, it's nowhere near as far as the bridge in SotC. Plus it is pretty hard to imagine that much of the wasteland getting flooded so high, as there are already deep chasms in it.

I haven't seen the beach myself, but unless I see stills comparing the two, I'd say it's only a coincidence or an homage.

The horned baby legacy starting though, is the only reference that I find overt enough to believe.
 
i just beat the game... and wow, there is a lot of ways to take this ending... l

i think that the game is a prequel to ICO. Or at least very closely related. First you have those shadow men that come out of the ground, they are tied to that place somehow. Now at the end of the game you can see that Wander or wanda or whoever, has little horn nubs starting to come out, then hes the big black guy, and then a baby with horns. Now the bridge collapses, so the girl must be stuck there, right. And then it starts raining like crazy. Soooo.... I think I need to play ICO... again, but I'm with ya guys on the horn curse thing, and i think that the girl that is saved at the end of SOTC is tied to the witch in ICO... and this is far too complicated and I need a third game now.
 
Just beat it (wow).. I'd say there is meant to be *some* connection between Mono and Yorda or the Queen, as there is a conspicuous shot of her bare feet as she gets up off the altar.

Not sure how to piece it all together though.
 
[quote name='zewone']I would like to note that Time Attack is a bitch, but I have to unlock all the items.[/QUOTE]

what does it unlock?
 
I loved the ending. It was one of the only games that has ever made me sad. Literally. The entire game was emotional; fighting each colossi, learning that they were innocent the whole time, and were actually just guarding the seals of Dormin. I pretty much knew Wander would die, as at the beginning of the game Dormin tells him Mono can be resurrected, but there would be a significant price to pay. I loved the interactive ending. Controlling Dormin was enjoyable, even if it only lasted a few minutes. Actually controlling Wander as he tried running towards Mono really added to the ending.

As far as the who the horned baby is, I'm not exactly sure. It could be Wander reincarnated, which makes sense because at the end of the game, he does have horns, and has to atone for the sins he has committed. This could be his second chance, and the horns would just act as a reminder of what he has done. I also think that it could be the first in the race of the horned babies, and that this is the prequel to Ico. I think the scene with Mono/the deer at the end proves that life can can exist inside the temple.

I've watched the videos of Wander climbing up the temple and getting to the secret garden. He's able to get up there, but there's nothing actually up there. Just the room itself. You can apparently go across the entire bridge, which takes a very long time, but only end up coming to an invisible wall at the other side. Interesting nonetheless.

It's hard for me to put how much I enjoyed this game as well as the ending into words. I found that it was less of a game and more of an experience. I really loved this game. It has easily become one of my all time favorites, and I will be playing through again soon.

Here are some SotC Vids I found. The first is a strategy for Colossus #3 that I found interesting.

http://media.putfile.com/Rundown_3

Here are some awesome I Love Bees-esque promotional videos.

http://kontraband.com/show/show.asp...rating=nsfw_sfw

http://arkadysimkin.pl/Siberian_Ice_Giant.wmv

[quote name='iheartmetal']what does it unlock?[/QUOTE]

Here you can see what is unlocked and how.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/code/924364.html

I had 2 posts in this thread, but I decided to just condense them into one.
 
[quote name='iheartmetal']what does it unlock?[/QUOTE]
Normal Mode
Cloak of Deception
Cloak of Force
Flash Arrow/Brown Agro
Fruit Tree Map
Lizard Detection Stone
Mask of Power
Mask of Strength
Whistling Arrow

Hard Mode (you must beat the game in Hard mode to unlock this
Cloth of Desperation ("Parachute")
Fruit Tree Map
Harpoon of Thunder (Long range projectile weapon)
Lizard Detection Stone
Queen's Sword (From ICO)
Shaman's Cloak (Decreases damage taken)
Shaman's Mask (Decrease damage taken)
Sword of the Sun (Reflects light even when in the dark)

You earn an item for every 2 Colossi you defeat.
 
[quote name='Trakan']
I've watched the videos of Wander climbing up the temple and getting to the secret garden. He's able to get up there, but there's nothing actually up there. Just the room itself. [/QUOTE]
It has trees with the Forbidden Fruit in there. Each when you eat decreses your health bar & grip meter permantely, but only down to their original length.
 
well i guess ill be doing all the time attacks then... actually i think time attack mode will be great because you can just play the colossi, which is the meat of the game.

the more i think that this is a prequel, the more questions it brings up... the main one being... if wander is the beginning of cursed horned children, how the hell does he get back to the village, the bridge collapsed after all. the only explanation i can think of is their whole society was cursed, him being the first, so subsequent horned children could be born there... i dunno

also, i went to the beach as described in the first post... i think its a pretty big stretch, seems just like a beach to me. unless of course there are multiple beaches, and i only went to one, but i plan on doing lots of exploring in the future, as a lot of the fun is simply looking around at the amazing environment
 
[quote name='iheartmetal']the more i think that this is a prequel, the more questions it brings up... the main one being... if wander is the beginning of cursed horned children, how the hell does he get back to the village, the bridge collapsed after all. the only explanation i can think of is their whole society was cursed, him being the first, so subsequent horned children could be born there... i dunno[/QUOTE]

It's possible that if it is a prequel to Ico, that the cursed land they are on now turns out to be the same place ico takes place hundreds or thousands of years later, as hard as that is to believe.
 
[quote name='Trakan'] The entire game was emotional; fighting each colossi, learning that they were innocent the whole time, and were actually just guarding the seals of Dormin.

.[/QUOTE]


I didn't think the colossi were innocent. I thought that Dormin's power/self had been split 16 ways and put into each colossus to prevent them from ever coming together. Each time that wander killed a Colossus that part of Dormin would release and enter Wander's body.
After he killed the 16th one Dormin was whole again inside of him and was ressurected. Wander's price to pay being that his body would be used as a host to make Dormin into a single being again.

True though about the ending being pretty depressing overall. Excellent game though, one of the best of the year IMO.
 
[quote name='ManChowder']I didn't think the colossi were innocent. I thought that Dormin's power/self had been split 16 ways and put into each colossus to prevent them from ever coming together. Each time that wander killed a Colossus that part of Dormin would release and enter Wander's body.
After he killed the 16th one Dormin was whole again inside of him and was ressurected. Wander's price to pay being that his body would be used as a host to make Dormin into a single being again.

True though about the ending being pretty depressing overall. Excellent game though, one of the best of the year IMO.[/QUOTE]

Each Colossus was guarding one of the sixteen seals to prevent Dormin from being whole again. They were just doing their job, and we came and fucked their shit up.
 
A user on GameFAQ's summed up the ending perfectly:

Dormin (the ominous voice who was believed to be the spirit that could revive your love) was tricking you the whole time. When he sent you out to kill the colossi, he wasn't doing it so you could revive your love, he was telling you to do this so that Dormin himself could be resurrected.

The colossi are in fact incarnations of Dormin's soul. Long ago, his soul was sealed away and broken into 16 different parts...each part being a seemingly impossible-to-take-down colossus...left in a sealed away land. Dormin is a demon, and he was using you the whole time.

Upon completing the mission, you see that the Wanderer's figure was changing...by the end of it all, he looked like a Demon himself...this is because in order for Dormin to be resurrected, he needed someone elses body and soul, first. The Wanderer became both.

With his last breath, the Wanderer gazed upon his love one last time, before the Shaman and his knights slayed him, in an attempt to prevent Dormin's resurrection. It was too late, however, and Dormin's soul began to fuse with the Wanderer's, finally materializing into the black giant you played as.

When this happened, the Shaman, desperately trying to prevent the demon from spreading evil once more, left the temple, and cast a banishing spell on Dormin using the Ancient Sword that the Wanderer used - this sword, I'm guessing, was in fact Dormin's long ago. I believe this to be true because of a few things:

A- Dormin's surprise when he saw the Wanderer with the sword.
B- Dormin explaining how only with the Ancient Sword can the Colossi be defeated (can Dormin's soul be set free)

Which leads me back into the beginning:

The Wanderer stole this sword from whatever shrine it was locked away in and left to the ancient land, following the myth that an ancient spirit has the power of resurrection.

The Shaman, obviously the keeper of the sword and the tale, found out soon enough, and went after the Wanderer, making it just in time.

Back to the end:

After the banishing spell was cast, both Dormin and the Wanderer's soul was sucked into a vortex created by the sword...however...the Wanderer was reincarnated into a newborn, however, it had horns, showing us that Dormin's soul is still infused to some degree.

On the other end of the temple, we see that the woman indeed came back to life, probly because the myth was still true, but had a different primary initiative. A side-effect, if you will...in fact, it is possible that another share of Dormin was infused with the girl, which caused her resurrection, and further backs my theory of the girl being the queen from Ico...but don't worry about that.

The Shaman, on top of it all, destroyed the only road leading to this forgotten land, leaving agro, the woman, and the wanderer reborn alone.

All is not lost, though...

the three, together, travel to the top of the temple, and, while there, are greeted by a lone deer.

This deer, as well as other things, answer the statement the shaman made while looking back, "...if one is able to live in the cursed lands." With an absolute yes.

To tie all this in with Ico, all of it is theory, but my personal belief is that this land is the same land Ico is banished to...except now, a castle has been build on top of the temple, and much of the land has been buried in lakes. This also means that Shadow of the Colossus is a long-before prequel to Ico.

Here's why:

In Ico, the instruction manual tells the plot...
-In a village secluded from other lands, a legend has been passed down of the horned child. The people of the village believe that whenever a child bearing horns is born, a great curse befalls the village. As soon as something bad happens, be it crops, etc., the horned child is banished to a castle on the ends of the Earth, to be locked in a tomb for the rest of eternity.

I believe that the Wanderer's reincarnate is the first of this tale of horned boys...and that whenever a new horned child is born, it is because they have the long passed down blood and/or soul of the wanderer/dormin.

Ico just happens to be one of these children...and goes on his own journey through the castle, where the queen (whom I believe to be the Wanderer's love) resides (the soul of the love with the share of dormin inside her, which explains her existance).

Another point that further backs my theory is the fact that the Queen is knowingly taking in these horned children...I think this is because she believes them to be her love, and keeps them with her, using their souls to possibly bring her back to a normal state of life, through the girl in Ico...who I won't go into.
Click to expand...

I agree with pretty much everything he said. I believe SoTC is a prequel to ICO...I'm so glad that I beat ICO before I played SoTC-- it's THAT much more rewarding! It's so awesome how these two games interconnect with each other. Fumito Ueda is a genius...this game is a masterpiece. ICO and SoTC are already up there as some of my favorite games of all time.
 
Great ending, I'm gunna let it roll around in my brain for awhile before I post my thoughts, but let me just say this right now: I highly doubt the Queen from Ico is Mono. Mono, at the end, is good and raises the child...why would she become so evil as to exploit a young girl as a vessel later on?
 
[quote name='Blind the Thief']I highly doubt the Queen from Ico is Mono. Mono, at the end, is good and raises the child...why would she become so evil as to exploit a young girl as a vessel later on?[/QUOTE]

I don't think it's too far a stretch of the imagination. Whatever bond existed between Mono and the Wanderer was pretty strong, considering the lengths Wanderer went to in the hopes of (maybe) resurrecting her.

After Mono is restored, I imagine she somehow figures that Wanderer is the infant, and is responsibe for her being restored. She probably wants Wanderer restored as much as he wanted her restored. Maybe each horned child is another oppurtunity for Mono to restore Wanderer, and I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that, after generations of pursuing this, she could eventually become the Queen from ICO.

Absolutely none of this accounts for who or what Yorda is though. Maybe whatever force governs all of these characters has seen what Mono has become (the Queen), and Yorda is some sort of counterbalance to that evil. Maybe the Queen is aware that Yorda is her counterpart, and that's why she's imprisoned her; to ensure that she won't interfere with her attempts to restore Wanderer via the horned children.

Ok, that's alot of maybe's, so I'll shut up for now. But, just thought I'd throw my thoughts on it out there. Noone can answer these damn questions definitively anyways (save for the creators, and even then I doubt they'd be able to decide on one singular explanation of it all), but it is fun to hear everyone's thoughts on the whole concept.
 
I dont like killing the colossi anymore since I know what its leading up to :cry:

Why does that have to happen to the wanderer? I secretly wanted a happy ending :p
 
[quote name='Ledhed']I don't think it's too far a stretch of the imagination. Whatever bond existed between Mono and the Wanderer was pretty strong, considering the lengths Wanderer went to in the hopes of (maybe) resurrecting her.

After Mono is restored, I imagine she somehow figures that Wanderer is the infant, and is responsibe for her being restored. She probably wants Wanderer restored as much as he wanted her restored. Maybe each horned child is another oppurtunity for Mono to restore Wanderer, and I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that, after generations of pursuing this, she could eventually become the Queen from ICO.

Absolutely none of this accounts for who or what Yorda is though. Maybe whatever force governs all of these characters has seen what Mono has become (the Queen), and Yorda is some sort of counterbalance to that evil. Maybe the Queen is aware that Yorda is her counterpart, and that's why she's imprisoned her; to ensure that she won't interfere with her attempts to restore Wanderer via the horned children.

Ok, that's alot of maybe's, so I'll shut up for now. But, just thought I'd throw my thoughts on it out there. Noone can answer these damn questions definitively anyways (save for the creators, and even then I doubt they'd be able to decide on one singular explanation of it all), but it is fun to hear everyone's thoughts on the whole concept.[/QUOTE]

One of the best things about Ico, and especially now Shadow, is the light/dark dichotomy. Yorda came to embody this towards the end of Ico, as did Wanderer at the end of Shadow.

Looking back on all that we know now, the breaking of Ico's horns at the end has a much more powerful meaning. I love it. :)

As for the Queen/Yorda/Mono thing, I'm not entirely sure still. The more I think about it though, the more how I COULD see Mono being the Queen...in the very least, I'm sure there's a connection between the Queen and Dormin. I personally really like the idea of Ico and Yorda's ending up together acting as a sort of spiritual reunion of Mono and Wanderer's souls...after all, both Yorda and Ico were tainted by the darkness by the end, just as Mono and Wanderer were at the end of their adventure.

Sadly, as you said, it'll probably never be fully explained...but I kinda like it that way. The ending wouldn't have had nearly as much discussion if it was something that spelled everything out for you in a less artistic fashion. :)
 
[quote name='Ledhed']I don't think it's too far a stretch of the imagination. Whatever bond existed between Mono and the Wanderer was pretty strong, considering the lengths Wanderer went to in the hopes of (maybe) resurrecting her.

After Mono is restored, I imagine she somehow figures that Wanderer is the infant, and is responsibe for her being restored. She probably wants Wanderer restored as much as he wanted her restored. Maybe each horned child is another oppurtunity for Mono to restore Wanderer, and I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that, after generations of pursuing this, she could eventually become the Queen from ICO.

Absolutely none of this accounts for who or what Yorda is though. Maybe whatever force governs all of these characters has seen what Mono has become (the Queen), and Yorda is some sort of counterbalance to that evil. Maybe the Queen is aware that Yorda is her counterpart, and that's why she's imprisoned her; to ensure that she won't interfere with her attempts to restore Wanderer via the horned children.

Ok, that's alot of maybe's, so I'll shut up for now. But, just thought I'd throw my thoughts on it out there. Noone can answer these damn questions definitively anyways (save for the creators, and even then I doubt they'd be able to decide on one singular explanation of it all), but it is fun to hear everyone's thoughts on the whole concept.[/QUOTE]
Sounds good to me...and never say never! Fumito Ueda (creator of this game) is going to make his next game for the PS3. Will we be seeing an Ico 2!? One could only hope...
 
[quote name='y2kenjination']Sounds good to me...and never say never! Fumito Ueda (creator of this game) is going to make his next game for the PS3. Will we be seeing an Ico 2!? One could only hope...[/QUOTE]

As much as I love this world, I'd kinda prefer to see him do something new. That, or something else that takes place in this world, but isn't necessarily related.
 
Just finished it. I've got to say, it was the first game that I could not put down for a while. Although I haven't played Ico in a couple of years, I remember enough of the ending to say that this has got to be one of the best endings I've seen in a long time. Excellent game.. it makes me want to go through Ico all over again.
 
Just finished it. I've got to say, it was the first game that I could not put down for a while. Although I haven't played Ico in a couple of years, I remember enough of the ending to say that this has got to be one of the best endings I've seen in a long time. Excellent game.. it makes me want to go through Ico all over again.
 
Well this isn't necesarily related either. It's all just assumption. Very probable assumption, but assumption nonetheless. From the way it's going it's going to have an unrelated Title like Shadow of the Colossus and Ico are unrelated. But fit in enough stuff to draw a picture in people's minds that adds something if you've played all three.
 
curse = horns

so yeah...?

ico was known to be a cursed child due to the horns... supposedly maybe the wanderer was the first to make this curse. Maybe it's a mark of dormin that stayed around in the wanderer when the two melded together.

All I can say that the obviose links to Ico and Shadow are:

Horns
Undead Black Spirits
Cloth Tunic thingy (it's the same style as what ico had almost)
and horses (not really a connection, but both games had them in the begining)
 
[quote name='Trakan']I loved the ending. It was one of the only games that has ever made me sad. Literally. The entire game was emotional; fighting each colossi, learning that they were innocent the whole time, and were actually just guarding the seals of Dormin. I pretty much knew Wander would die, as at the beginning of the game Dormin tells him Mono can be resurrected, but there would be a significant price to pay. I loved the interactive ending. Controlling Dormin was enjoyable, even if it only lasted a few minutes. Actually controlling Wander as he tried running towards Mono really added to the ending.

As far as the who the horned baby is, I'm not exactly sure. It could be Wander reincarnated, which makes sense because at the end of the game, he does have horns, and has to atone for the sins he has committed. This could be his second chance, and the horns would just act as a reminder of what he has done. I also think that it could be the first in the race of the horned babies, and that this is the prequel to Ico. I think the scene with Mono/the deer at the end proves that life can can exist inside the temple.

I've watched the videos of Wander climbing up the temple and getting to the secret garden. He's able to get up there, but there's nothing actually up there. Just the room itself. You can apparently go across the entire bridge, which takes a very long time, but only end up coming to an invisible wall at the other side. Interesting nonetheless.

It's hard for me to put how much I enjoyed this game as well as the ending into words. I found that it was less of a game and more of an experience. I really loved this game. It has easily become one of my all time favorites, and I will be playing through again soon.[/QUOTE]
Sorry for the long 2 month bump, but I've just finished the game and experienced the ending video(s) and I've got to agree with Trakan here almost to the T. The little bit of interactivity at the end was nice, but it being futile to try to change anything was a little annoying (it's a gaming pet peeve of mine, nothing really against the game). I see a lot of the similarities mentioned in this thread and I do feel that SotC is probably a prequel, more or less, to Ico with the connections that have been mentioned.
 
I posted this in the video game review forum but I don't think anyone actually read it so here is again:

Anyone else notice that you can actually get to Mono in the final playable part of the game when the white vortex in the shrine is sucking you into it? If you repeatedly tap the jump button you'll do a series of short hops that will gain a fair amount of ground before you tumble end over end. After a little effort you'll eventually reach the altar where Mono's body rested, but her body isn't there. The exits next to alter have invisible walls around them so you can't get out that way, nor can you climb the large circular staircase right next to the vortex. Strange that developers would make her body disappear, but maybe they just figured that no one would actually make it over to her.
 
huge bump! just finished this tonight (old sig revived in celebration)

I pretty much agree with that gamefaqs ending description. The ending has a ton of Ico references and it's so hard not to think it's a prequel. Like when Mono is walking away from the alter with Agro-- for a few seconds before she exits the screen, the lighting gives her a washed out look, which made her look just like Yorda!

the whole Dormir thing was confusing-- I thought for sure that the girl wasn't going to come back and that the wanderer was gone...instead he regressed into a baby?? It's definitely the Wanderer. I think that's what the red hair was telling us.


As far as the prequel question goes, the creators confirmed it in this GI interview. Not sure if this is old, cause I just got it in an email:

Game Informer: Can you clear up something for us? Is the boy at the end of Shadow of the Colossus supposed to be from the original ICO? And is Shadow of the Colossus a prequel to ICO?

Fumito Ueda: I didn’t intend the boy to be the same as in ICO. Yes, users have thought that Shadow of the Colossus is a prequel to ICO, and that’s my idea as well. I wanted to make it so the imagination is up to the user.
Click to expand...

but as far as the connection with Mono and the baby Wanderer with Ico goes...

GI: Do you hope to make games that are not really connected but slightly connected in that universe?

Ueda: The stories themselves from ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are not connected, but I want to create the world and environment to be the connection between the two games.
Click to expand...


If they did "officially" connect the two games (and future ones) it could make for an amazing series. On the other hand, they might feel it would cheapen the experience if their fans were expecting a trilogy or series. Can't wait to see their next gen offerings.

Anyway, here's the rest of the interview. Despite things like the Ico beach being in the game and the undeniable similarities, it seems like they maintain that the games are just connected in a physical way.



GI: The art style that has been used in both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, what do you think you’ll be able to do to expand that moving forward with the PlayStation 3?

Ueda: I can’t really go into to much detail on our current ideas. We just started our planning stages for PlayStation 3 and other hardware. For the PS2 period, we tried to accomplish a lot with the art style which pushed the limits of the PlayStation 2 hardware. The PlayStation 2 hardware has a lot of limitations, but we tended to ignore those. I created something very unique and different within the limitations of the hardware. The same ideas cannot be on the PlayStation 3, but we’re looking to see what the limitations are of the PlayStation 3 hardware.

GI: What about bringing this world over to the PSP?

Ueda: I haven’t decided yet which platform I should work on next. I’m leaning towards PS3. If I did make a PSP title, however, I’d want it to be unique to the PSP features.

GI: A lot of game designers, when asked what games inspired them, ICO is many times the answer as far as being not only beautiful to look at but changed the way games were played and viewed. Is this something that when you guys sit down and design a game that puts pressure on you? Or does that make you want to do something new and different which each game that you work on?

Ueda: To be honest, I really don’t feel any pressure from that kind of feedback. I just want to create a game that I want to play.

GI: What do you look for for inspiration as far putting emotional value into the games you create? As far as most of the videogames that are made, most don’t have the emotional pull that both Shadow and ICO have.

Ueda: I actually didn’t intend to implement emotional issues into Shadow of the Colossus. But for ICO I did want to add emotional things. However, we found that users experienced a lot of emotional things in Shadow as well. I’ve thought about why this has happened and what this came from, because the colossi came to life for players, and the characters would attack the colossi which would evoke emotional responses – which ultimately are just images displayed on monitors.

GI: Did you look at the animal kingdom for inspiration on how the colossi should move and act? All of them seem to act like someone’s pet, and they have a lot of tendencies of real animals.

Ueda: I didn’t really have any inspirations like novels or artwork for the design of the colossi. I’m always thinking of what kind of artwork will work well with the game design process. I came up with the design of the colossi from our game design.

GI: Who is the boy in ICO to you?

Ueda: The boy isn’t an existing person, and it’s not me, or anyone I had in mind. Creating the characters, I may have unconsciously implemented some of my own personality into the boy. That boy doesn’t talk too much, and I don’t talk too much in real life. Those kind of implementations on the characters were probably done unconsciously.

GI: With Shadow of the Colossus, how was the decision made to make a game revolving around boss battles?

Kaido: There were a lot of reasons why we implemented the boss fighting as the level design. There are two major reasons. The first one is that I just wanted to fight with big bosses in the game. Second, I wanted to do something original. If we included elements outside of boss battles, it would have been similar to games that are already out. We wanted to do something completely unique, which was with the boss battles being the level.

GI: What challenges did it pose to have the entire levels located on the boss itself? It was a very interesting choice since most games have you move through the level, and then fight the boss. In Shadow, the level is the boss.

Kaido: I get asked this a lot. The one difficulty for making the boss-level was the technology we created called the organic deformation system. This is how we implemented a character on a boss that is always moving. That kind of technology was really challenging for the team. Another thing was the game balance. I always had to think about the game design itself, and the motion of the character and other element of the bosses.

GI: Would you like to do a game that would incorporate the adventure elements of ICO and the boss battle style of Shadow of the Colossus? Is that something you’d like to do or would you like to do something completely different?

Ueda: I go both ways with it. I’d like to create something similar to ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, and it would be in that same world. However, I’d like to create something different as well. I’d like to create another game that I’d like to play.

GI: You’ve kept a lot of the team members moving from ICO to Shadow. I’m assuming you’re going to keep those members on board and then expand?

Kaido: Yes. The core members of the development team will be moving to the next project, but we’ll be increasing with some staff.

GI: Your team size for both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were very small [around 20 people – ed.] in comparison to other developers that do games on the scale that you make. Moving forward with making games for the PlayStation 3, there’s a lot more assets and art that you’ll need to create. How will this affect your team size? How are you going to take on the challenge for creating games for the next generation?

Kaido: This is kind of a hard question to answer. Having a big team, like other developers is not the way we make games. Like creating a title in a short period of time, and implementing new assets in the game. Because increased staff means I’d have to educate the new staff and that’s really hard work for us. But at the same time I think the team size isn’t good enough for the next generation, so I need to think about what the balance will be. Increasing the new staff means sharing the team spirit with the new members. It’s really hard work.

- Andy McNamara, Billy Berghammer
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for that...it's been awhile since I last played the game, and it was nice to think about it again. Certainly one of the best games to come out this generation.
 
Yeah this was the last game I beat, about a month ago. And all I have to say is it's a ALL-TIME GAMING fucking CLASSIC! A must play/own game.
 
I posted a huge theory on gameFAQs about how SotC is related to Ico, and I was just going to dig it up and post it here, until I realized it died. It must have been like a page long too.

It was about how the priest at the end says you may one day atone for your sins, and how Ico's horns break off when he kills the queen. Needless to say I went into much more than that, but thats just a overview. If you guys want I could probably rewrite it from memory. Not right now though.
 
[quote name='Blind the Thief']Thanks for that...it's been awhile since I last played the game, and it was nice to think about it again. Certainly one of the best games to come out this generation.[/QUOTE]


Agreed! Despite its flaws this is still one of the most amazing games ever.
 
[quote name='onetrackmind']Agreed! Despite its flaws this is still one of the most amazing games ever.[/QUOTE]

Just thinking about what Ueda might be able to do with the PS3's power makes me drool.
 
[quote name='onetrackmind']Agreed! Despite its flaws this is still one of the most amazing games ever.[/QUOTE]

Shadow of the Colossus has no flaws, the PS2 just isn't strong enough for it!
I could hear my system panting and let out a sigh of relief after I finished the game ;)
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']Sorry for the long 2 month bump, but I've just finished the game and experienced the ending video(s) and I've got to agree with Trakan here almost to the T. The little bit of interactivity at the end was nice, but it being futile to try to change anything was a little annoying (it's a gaming pet peeve of mine, nothing really against the game). I see a lot of the similarities mentioned in this thread and I do feel that SotC is probably a prequel, more or less, to Ico with the connections that have been mentioned.[/QUOTE]

I agree that SotC is a prequel to Ico as mentioned by many of the people before me, but any way you look at it, SotC was one of the top 5 games of 2005 and maybe one of the greatest games of all time..
 
it's more like $30 on ebay nowadays...if you have a Menard's near you, Ico will be $13 if you can find one.
 
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