ICO/SOTC HD REMASTER IS OUT, BUY BUY BUY

[Bebpo]

Just got mine in the mail at work.  Going to burn through this games sooooo fast this week/weekend.  Two of my favorite games of all time and I've heard nothing but good things about this remaster.  I pretty much know both games by heart after countless runs so I should be able to speedrun them fast (I think Ico takes about 2 hours? speedrun and SoTC about 5-6).  Maybe my first platinum trophies!

[Mr. Gundam]

Bought a copy at Fry's on my lunch break. Only $30.

ICO is one of my favorite games of all time, can't wait to play again.

[Robo]

ART... now in HIGH DEF

[Positive Touch]

cant stand ico but sotc was pretty good and is worth replaying @ 60fps

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Wrong question: "Is Shadow of the Colossus art?"
Right question: "Is Shadow of the Colossus 3D 1080p 60fps with 7.1 sound and 30 new trophies?"

[Bebpo]

SoTC is 30fps, 720p though   But locked 30fps, with AA and 3d and trophies

Ico is 1080p, 30fps, AA, 3d and trophies

cant stand ico but sotc was pretty good and is worth replaying @ 60fps

I can't pick which is my favorite.  I love, love, love Ico so much.  It's the perfect puzzle platformer adventure to me.  The animation is incredible and the atmosphere on the castle omg.  Ending song!!

But SoTC is such an epic adventure exploring the barren land and finding all this history and wonder as you encounter the colossi one by one.  And the music!  I love that soundtrack.

These are going to make me really want Last Guardian to be out already!  If TLG doesn't live up to these two games it's going to destroy me and a thousand others.  Ueda has much to live up to.

[demi]

Buy me a copy, Bebpo. I'm certainly not going to.

[Positive Touch]

Wrong question: "Is Shadow of the Colossus art?"
Right question: "Is Shadow of the Colossus 3D 1080p 60fps with 7.1 sound and 30 new trophies?"

two of which are find all the fruit/lizards.  SMH

ico would have been an alrite, interesting-but-simple puzzle platformer but they completely ruined it with the combat.  so tedious and boring that it ruins the fucking game.

sotc is pretty cool but the theres no randomness to boss patternes so they're not nearly as exciting as they could be.  also i will never understand why they chose to make such a huge world with absolutely nothing to do in it.  why why WHY aren't there any environmental puzzles or even platforming beyond that small bit in the intro??

[Howard Alan Treesong]

sotc is pretty cool but the theres no randomness to boss patternes so they're not nearly as exciting as they could be.  also i will never understand why they chose to make such a huge world with absolutely nothing to do in it.  why why WHY aren't there any environmental puzzles or even platforming beyond that small bit in the intro??

for the same reason songs have soft parts AND loud parts

[Positive Touch]

yeah, land exploration coulda been some walking with the occasional puzzle area to navigate - that would open up a shortcut at the end, of course - and then the boss fights would be OMG HUGE MONSTER PUZZLE WITH LAZERS & GIANT HAMMERS

instead its like oh look a lake and some neat looking trees.  lets keep on moving til we get to the actual gameplay

[Raban]

Exploring the overworld is the gameplay. Sure the game isn't firing on all cylinders all the time, but aren't there enough games doing that?

[cool breeze]

newegg

ordered it a long time ago for $30 w/free shipping and it was here today

Wrong question: "Is Shadow of the Colossus art?"
Right question: "Is Shadow of the Colossus 3D 1080p 60fps with 7.1 sound and 30 new trophies?"

the answer to the right question is no

Shadow of the Colossus is 30 fps locked, and I'm not sure about 7.1 sound.  but it's 3D!

[Bebpo]

Plus there is still occasional platforming in the world of SoTC

I think I'm more excited to replay Ico just because it's been longer and I can't wait to get to the underground prison cage water area again.   

And hang on that windmill.

[Bebpo]

You know, I wonder if the version of ICO in the collection is based on the superior Japanese version that came out later and had 1 new puzzle area and a new game+ where Yorda's dialogue was all translated (might've been another difference or two, can't remember).  The PS2 game was one of the few I double dipped on.

[cool breeze]

I bought it for SOTC.  Ico is still fine.  SotC PS2 is, has and will always be a slideshow when a colossus is on screen.

I've seen delusional opinions that say the whopping 12 frames per second is is like rumble for your eyes and the Earth trembling is reflected by your PS2 having an emotional engine breakdown.

finally I can see what's happening during the final colossus battle

[Howard Alan Treesong]

You know, I wonder if the version of ICO in the collection is based on the superior Japanese version that came out later and had 1 new puzzle area and a new game+ where Yorda's dialogue was all translated (might've been another difference or two, can't remember).  The PS2 game was one of the few I double dipped on.

I think so, that version made it to Europe too (translated in English!) so it's fairly canonical

SOURCE: The GIA

[Akala]

hype for it, but know there is no way I'd play it right now. these won't age as badly as lots of stuff, so I'm going to buy when I can devote some time to them.

or until I get drunk and see it somewhere, whatever.

[Mr. Gundam]

You know, I wonder if the version of ICO in the collection is based on the superior Japanese version that came out later and had 1 new puzzle area and a new game+ where Yorda's dialogue was all translated (might've been another difference or two, can't remember).  The PS2 game was one of the few I double dipped on.

I think so, that version made it to Europe too (translated in English!) so it's fairly canonical

SOURCE: The GIA

Yep, the collection has the European version.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

I think SOTC is locked at 30 fps, but that sure as hell beats 10 fps.

[Bebpo]

You know, I wonder if the version of ICO in the collection is based on the superior Japanese version that came out later and had 1 new puzzle area and a new game+ where Yorda's dialogue was all translated (might've been another difference or two, can't remember).  The PS2 game was one of the few I double dipped on.

I think so, that version made it to Europe too (translated in English!) so it's fairly canonical

SOURCE: The GIA

Yep, the collection has the European version.

 

[Bebpo]

SOURCE: The GIA

Haha, re-reading that site is fun

[pilonv1]

30fps?

[Bebpo]

30fps is fine for these games

Also I'm old and have given up on the 60fps fight this gen.  Years ago I would boycott myself for playing a 30fps racer, but I'm playing hot pursuit and it looks nice and all I feel is apathy toward the framerate battle.

[The Sceneman]

thread reported

[pilonv1]

at last, after five years of team ico slaving away and numerous delays we can

we can play the same games they had out five years ago

I would say it worked for Nintendo but then they would have released both games separately.

[pilonv1]

That's true, I was mainly talking about "playing what you were 5 years ago"

[Bebpo]

Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

ICO - they did an incredible job with this set.  These games look AMAZING.  Ico at 1080p in 3d looks SO GOOD.  Like a completely different game.  Yorda's model looks like something you'd expect out of a cell-shaded game this gen.  At times the game looks like somewhere between a PS2 and PS3 game.  The jump from 240p->1080p is killer and the 3d really adds a lot since it makes the rooms and vistas more dimensional.  Awesome game is awesome (combat is still kind of too frequent though).  Also the 7.1 sound is a huge jump.  Sounds so freaking good!

Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah x 2

SoTC - OMGGGGGGGGGGGGG, the intro is still utterly amazing.  Especially now at 720p AND in really well done 3d and AT 30FPS.  And with BLU-RAY QUALITY 7.1 MOVIE SOUND.  Like that was one thing I really noticed on the shitty RE4 port, the sound was like you were playing a NES game.  Otoh, here the music sounds better than it's EVER SOUNDED BEFORE and I was totally surprised at how insanely high quality the voice recordings are; I guess they still had the original wavs.  The sound is incredible in SoTC.  And the first time I rode out to the wasteland at BEAUTIFUL 30FPS WITH ULTRA SMOOTH AA NO JAGGIES in super awesome 3d I had to pick up my jaw off the floor.  Incredible upgrade.

Best collection is best collection.  GoW I/II collection was already pretty damn impressive, but it was brought down by low res fmvs, lack of 3d, and the sound didn't jump out as much improved.  This collection is setting the high point!  So glad Kojima got these guys to do MGS2/3.  That collection is going to be crazy awesome as well (and ZoE2 next year!).  Too bad DMC collection will be cheap outsourced Capcom crap.  Would've loved a DMC1/3 like this.

[Diunx]

shadow of the colossus best ps2 game after mgs3

[demi]

Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

ICO - they did an incredible job with this set.  These games look AMAZING.  Ico at 1080p in 3d looks SO GOOD.  Like a completely different game.  Yorda's model looks like something you'd expect out of a cell-shaded game this gen.  At times the game looks like somewhere between a PS2 and PS3 game.  The jump from 240p->1080p is killer and the 3d really adds a lot since it makes the rooms and vistas more dimensional.  Awesome game is awesome (combat is still kind of too frequent though).  Also the 7.1 sound is a huge jump.  Sounds so freaking good!

Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah x 2

SoTC - OMGGGGGGGGGGGGG, the intro is still utterly amazing.  Especially now at 720p AND in really well done 3d and AT 30FPS.  And with BLU-RAY QUALITY 7.1 MOVIE SOUND.  Like that was one thing I really noticed on the shitty RE4 port, the sound was like you were playing a NES game.  Otoh, here the music sounds better than it's EVER SOUNDED BEFORE and I was totally surprised at how insanely high quality the voice recordings are; I guess they still had the original wavs.  The sound is incredible in SoTC.  And the first time I rode out to the wasteland at BEAUTIFUL 30FPS WITH ULTRA SMOOTH AA NO JAGGIES in super awesome 3d I had to pick up my jaw off the floor.  Incredible upgrade.

Best collection is best collection.  GoW I/II collection was already pretty damn impressive, but it was brought down by low res fmvs, lack of 3d, and the sound didn't jump out as much improved.  This collection is setting the high point!  So glad Kojima got these guys to do MGS2/3.  That collection is going to be crazy awesome as well (and ZoE2 next year!).  Too bad DMC collection will be cheap outsourced Capcom crap.  Would've loved a DMC1/3 like this.

You now realise the only PS3 games you have bought in the past year are PS2 games

[tiesto]

I've only dicked around in SOTC, battled the first 2 Colossi... game still looks and sounds great, proof that art direction will always dominate over technical shit.

[Smooth Groove]

Proof that a boring game will still be boring in HD.

I dig Ico though but not for $30. 

[Bebpo]

shadow of the colossus best ps2 game after mgs3

I can get behind this order.

[Van Cruncheon]

shit games are still shit

[Mupepe]

shut it, prole!

SOTC

I'll be picking this up tomorrow.  Ico is alright, but SOTC is OMG.

I let my wife's dad borrow my PS2 SOTC years ago and he lost it so she's owed me this game for a while and I get it tomorrow

YESSSSSSSSSSSS

Imma smoke a bowl and slay some fucking giants.

[chronovore]

Anyone else get the limited edition Japanese box set? A friend had me pick one up for him; it looks pretty sweet.

[Great Rumbler]

[chronovore]

Yeah, anyone wondering why the first one didn't sell well in North America need look no further than the cover. :smh :sony

[Mr. Gundam]

Anyone else get the limited edition Japanese box set? A friend had me pick one up for him; it looks pretty sweet.

It looks amazing, but $29.99 for the NA version vs. ~$100+ for the JP version? NA version bought.

[D3RANG3D]

shit games are still shit

.

[Bebpo]

Getting near the end 1/3rd in Ico.  I don't understand people who hate this game.  It's such a wonderful puzzle platformer that holds up even today.  The way the castle is complexly setup so you're constantly revisiting sections but from different locations is ingenious.  Same with how you see parts of the castle in the distance here and there and then you end up climbing them.  Ueda or whoever sat down and drew up the map of the castle is amazing.  This game is so inspiring in how it creates so much with so little hand holding.  I wonder if today's gamers will even be able to figure out the game mechanics since there is no tutorial.

Game looks really, really nice.  The texture work is surprisingly good for an early PS2 game.  I dunno if they redid some textures (I think they did) but most of the tiles and bricks look sharp and detailed.  My only complaint about the visuals is in dark areas the game is darker than the PS2 game because it uses the full HDMI expanded black levels.  This wouldn't be a problem except TWICE already I got stuck for twenty minutes in a room and finally youtube'd it to find out there was a doorway or object hidden in the PURE BLACKNESS THAT I CANNOT SEE... >_<  They should have added an extra torch in around those couple sticking areas in this version.  At least I know for future runs.

[chronovore]

Sony probably just wasn't testing it on $5000 TVs which had been carefully colorbalanced by letting it age for 100+ hours.

[Mupepe]

Just bought this during my lunch break

woooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[Bebpo]

Sony probably just wasn't testing it on $5000 TVs which had been carefully colorbalanced by letting it age for 100+ hours.

Oh, yeah, forgot they were poor and that's why their games take 5 years and are underbudgeted.  Time to start a canned food donation drive for Sony Japan studios...

[Mupepe]

Goddamn!  I haven't played Ico yet, but SOTC is still as good as I remember.  Sometimes it's horribly frustrating, but when you finally bring down the beast you feel awesome.  The sound design is fucking incredible and it's so different playing it at a decent framerate.  I think this is the first game where the framerate shit was noticeable and I'm one that usually doesn't give a fuck.  Fucking amazing. 

[chronovore]

Sony probably just wasn't testing it on $5000 TVs which had been carefully colorbalanced by letting it age for 100+ hours.

Oh, yeah, forgot they were poor and that's why their games take 5 years and are underbudgeted.  Time to start a canned food donation drive for Sony Japan studios...

Considering what they pay their programmers, that would be a good idea.

You'd be stunned at the lack of QA on varying setups. Stunned.

[Bebpo]

Just beat ICO

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still every bit as good as it was 10 years ago.  The pacing is perfect and the puzzles/platforming is so good!  Lovely visuals/music as well.  The scale of the castle is still incredible (even more so in 3d!!).  Playing through it again has been one of the best gaming experiences of the year for me.

One of my favorite games of all time

ICO


PS.  I love it when my favorite games of all time actually hold up and are still 100% playable in modern day.  ICO - check, MGS3 - check, Xenogears - lollolol no

[Bebpo]

Looking at the trophies they're actually going to take some effort.  No thanks!  Time to move onto SoTC

[Sho Nuff]

Sony probably just wasn't testing it on $5000 TVs which had been carefully colorbalanced by letting it age for 100+ hours.

Oh, yeah, forgot they were poor and that's why their games take 5 years and are underbudgeted.  Time to start a canned food donation drive for Sony Japan studios...

Considering what they pay their programmers, that would be a good idea.

You'd be stunned at the lack of QA on varying setups. Stunned.

At my last company we all had the cheapest-ass tube TV's in existence. I think they were bought from a second-hand shop or were the employees' old sets. There was nothing even remotely resembling color correction. Before we shipped (Xbox 1) some of our guys had to take the game to Microsoft Japan to test it on HDTV's to make sure it actually worked in 480P mode, because there wasn't a single HDTV at the studio.

[Himu]

Goddamn!  I haven't played Ico yet, but SOTC is still as good as I remember.  Sometimes it's horribly frustrating, but when you finally bring down the beast you feel awesome.  The sound design is fucking incredible and it's so different playing it at a decent framerate.  I think this is the first game where the framerate shit was noticeable and I'm one that usually doesn't give a fuck.  Fucking amazing. 

Yeah, I saw comparison vids and holy shit, it's night and day

[chronovore]

At my last company we all had the cheapest-ass tube TV's in existence. I think they were bought from a second-hand shop or were the employees' old sets. There was nothing even remotely resembling color correction. Before we shipped (Xbox 1) some of our guys had to take the game to Microsoft Japan to test it on HDTV's to make sure it actually worked in 480P mode, because there wasn't a single HDTV at the studio.

That's pretty classic. Of course, that was original Xbox, right? HDTVs were not exactly commonplace then.

We have a largely homogenous set of SDTVs, same make for PAL and NTSC. Our HDTV range is much more widely varied, but not by design, simply what's available as each stage of "necessary" HDTVs has been at significantly different price-points. It's interesting, an art director at the client claimed there is no way of consistently color-balancing the HDTVs like you can with SDTV. It was news to me. He'd researched a means of getting two identical HDTVs to come as close as possible to displaying identically, but it wasn't color balancing.

[cool breeze]

started up SotC and it runs really smooth.  there are blurry textures and pop in, but the fact that it's finally running at a stable clip makes it feel different.

dodging the third colossi's beam smash followed by a mad dash to climb it is still hectic.  this is one of the few games I want to play in 3D.  number five would be bonkers.

[Bebpo]

The problem with 3d in SoTC is that it doesn't add 'that' much and yet the framerate is worse than the PS2 game it's literally a slideshow and if I want a slideshow I'll play it on PS2!

I might do them all in 3d in time attack, but for my first "HD" run I'm sticking to 30fps 2d.

[cool breeze]

that's disappointing, but not surprising.  the few PS3 games I played in 3D made big compromises.

[Bebpo]

Yeah I had heard the framerate was terribad in 3D, but you were talking about the 3D a lot and not mentioning it, so I didn't know what to say there.

3D is perfect in Ico.  It's probably the only game on PS3 that has no downgrade when playing in 3D.  1080p, 30fps locked, MLAA in 3D mode.  Looks great as well.

SoTC is terribad in 3D.  Looks ok, but the framerate is 10-15fps. 


Since I think Bluepoint are pretty good at this stuff considering the GoW collections and Ico, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that SoTC is just a really intensive game and rendering it twice at a locked 30fps was just not possible on PS3. 


Just downed the 5th Collosi.  It hasn't been that long since I played this game so for about 1/2 of them I still remember what to do when the fight start, the other half I'm relearning it.  Kind of would rather have waited another 4-5 years to replay this so it'd be all fresh again.  The landscape is still really gorgeous.  Can't wait to see the giant scope Ueda brings with Last Guardian.

[iconoclast]

$25 at Best Buy: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ICO+and+Shadow+of+the+Colossus+Collection+-+PlayStation+3/1972853.p?id=1218303650414&skuId=1972853&st=ico&lp=6&cp=1

Too bad none of my stores have it for pickup.

[demi]

Still too much

[Sho Nuff]

We have a largely homogenous set of SDTVs, same make for PAL and NTSC. Our HDTV range is much more widely varied, but not by design, simply what's available as each stage of "necessary" HDTVs has been at significantly different price-points. It's interesting, an art director at the client claimed there is no way of consistently color-balancing the HDTVs like you can with SDTV. It was news to me. He'd researched a means of getting two identical HDTVs to come as close as possible to displaying identically, but it wasn't color balancing.

Black levels consistently drive me fucking bonkers whenever I'm mastering content. I'll make something then pull it up on someone else's screen and it will look COMPLETELY different or have a weird color cast to it. I bought HueyPro calibrators for the entire studio and there's STILL inconsistencies.

I mean, with SDTV you had to worry about using colors that were outside the NTSC or PAL gamuts, but everything looked pretty much the same. Now you have bargain basement $199 HDTV's from Walmart that utterly slaughter your work

[chronovore]

What's funny is when I see bugs relating to some utter POS headseat or the headphone jack on a super-cheap TV. Like in:dsign or Vizio TVs, which are just barest of bare-bottom quality, and QA is stunned when something sounds weird with the headphones. 100% replicable on Cheap Ass TV, 0% on anything from Toshiba, Sharp, or Sony.

The headset bug was good, too: Someone on a forum was using a Turtle Beach headset without individual volume controls for voicechat and game content. Here was my bug fix suggestion: "Spend more than 19 dollars on your headset."

[Bebpo]

Marathon'd the last half of SoTC which made me discover it's also known as the "not fun, always annoying" half.

I mean I love SoTC and somehow I don't remember having any issues in my multiple runs on PS2, and 1-9  here were all good stuff.   But 10-16 are filled with non-stop encounters where you either have lots of sitting and waiting, have to deal with awful camera situations (like shooting a bow while riding a horse), the fucked up new physics in this version (#15 is so bullshit now), and then the messed up camera and input lag (final boss).  They're still cool encounters and I still love the game to death, but where Ico feels flawless, even today; SoTC feels flawed in that between the two SoTC is the one that keeps reminding me it's a video game when controller-throwing bs occurs and bosses that take forever.  Plus Ico has a better ending. 

So yeah, Ico > SoTC


SoTC looks amazing though in this collection.  Riding around the overworld with gorgeous everything and nice motion blur it looks better than 90% of PS3/X360 games this gen.  Even by modern standards this version of Ico/SoTC are some of the best looking visuals in gaming.  Very impressed by the effort that went into the remaster, though I'm sure it delayed Last Guardian a year while Ueda spent all his time working with Bluepoint on making it so.

Will replay both again at some point.  Ico for the new game+ stuff and rest of the trophies, SoTC for doing a run in slideshow 3d just for the 3d experience.

[MCD]

Send it to demi.