Just finished playing ICO

This is what i call a truly piece of art. This is why videogame must be considered ART. I'm so happy, so great little details like when the credits are over you take control of the character again and play the last part of the ending...

Great visuals and plot... though it left me with some questions there hehe

Is it worth playing if I have a 360? I think it's unlike most games I play, so I don't want it to be a waste. A few PS2 games I like are:

MGS2

Twisted Metal: Black

GTA3

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

Timesplitters 2

Also, it adds to the enjoyment if the game has a great story/stories, such as MGS2 and Twisted Metal: Black.

Honestly... I don't know.

I will admit that I've only finished 3/4 of the game, but during those 3/4 I was expecting more. I've the reviews and I've heard so many people speak of it as a masterpiece. But when I played it, It was just... strange.

And I'm a guy who understands subtleties and hidden messages...

All in all, a disappointment.

you should use

***Spoiler***

***Spoiler***

If you are going to give away the ending :S

A fantastic game, good storyline, e very hard to beat without a game guide.

An old game but still very good.

Is it worth playing if I have a 360? I think it's unlike most games I play, so I don't want it to be a waste. A few PS2 games I like are:

MGS2

Twisted Metal: Black

GTA3

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

Timesplitters 2

Also, it adds to the enjoyment if the game has a great story/stories, such as MGS2 and Twisted Metal: Black.

TM_Darkside

Its a unique game. It's still fun and looks great even after playing next-gen games, so I wouldn't worry about that. There is a plot, but you have to look for it, the game never spells it out for you.

Honestly... I don't know.

I will admit that I've only finished 3/4 of the game, but during those 3/4 I was expecting more. I've the reviews and I've heard so many people speak of it as a masterpiece. But when I played it, It was just... strange.

And I'm a guy who understands subtleties and hidden messages...

All in all, a disappointment.

Lunne89

The thing about Ico is that there's almost no plot until the end, and then that's when everything hits you. Even then though you have to be able to notice small details and understand the symbolism in the game to get most of the plot.

Anyway, for those interested here's a quick and dirty plot spoiler:

WARNING: Glitchspot keeps returning me with a "HTML is not well formed" error if I try to use the spoiler tag so dont read below this if you don't want the game spoiled

The queen has been using the villagers to bring her horned children for sacrifice so that she can create Zorda and give herself a new body as she's currently dying. She then uses the spirits to do her bidding. By the time Ico reaches the castle the queen is finished with her plan, or at least one child away from finished. The way we know this is that:

- At the end when you're in the sarcophogus room the spirits you kill have horns and are the same size as Ico. Once killed their spirit becomes trapped in one of the sarcophogi

- The queen tells us she's dying and plans to take Zorda's body for her own

- The castle, which is connected to the queen, is falling apart, another sign she's dying

- The queen is almost entirely engulfed by darkness. Only her face remains lit up. Yet another sign she's close to death.

- The spirits are pure black. Zorda is pure white. Either a sign of death and life, and/or a sign that the sacrificed children's souls have had their pureness seperated from the rest of their souls to make Zorda.

- We know the queen is finished preparing since she doesn't care if Ico leaves throughout the game. The only person she doesn't want leaving is Zorda, hence the reason she was locked in a cage at the start (she tried to escape previously) and that the spirits you fight are only interested in Zorda.

- The way we know the queen has been having the village deliever her horned children for sacrifice is that the castle was once connected to the mainland by a bridge and the queen speaks the villagers' language whereas Zorda only speaks the language of the castle.

Oh, and as for the ending after the credits, its hard to explain that since Zorda isn't suppossed to be able to live outside the castle according to the queen. Either the queen was lying, she was being figurative, or something to do with being imbued by all that dark energy allowed her to live (I personally subscribe to the latter most idea).

There's some other symbolism in the game as well, mostly to do with the black/white/dark/light theme. I won't go into all that, however, since I claimed this was a quick and dirty spoiler :P

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safe to read now

interesting theory... i wish there was some kind of interview with the game creators so they lighten up a little bit the plotalucardio

Game developers like to keep certain parts of the plot in the dark for you to fill them in with your own imagination. This makes the player want to go back and play it again.

I thought both characters dieing in the end was a nice twist after you spend so many hours trying to escape the castle it was all in vain. Atleast they find eachother again in the afterlife.

I thought both characters dieing in the end was a nice twist after you spend so many hours trying to escape the castle it was all in vain. Atleast they find eachother again in the afterlife.

hot114

[spoiler] They didn't die. You only need to look at Ico to figure that out. His horns are still bloody stubs. Unless the devs' version of heaven involves people not getting perfect bodies/their original bodies back (which would suck if you died due to an explosion), this rules out an afterlife. Not to mention that when he gets off the boat he stumbles off and nearly falls down, meaning that he's still not feeling too well after taking that blow to the head (we can safely assume it wasn't an innocent mistake either seeing as how Ico was leaping across chasms, climbing up poles, and shuffling across ledges the whole game without any problem). What I think happened is that Zorda stopped being so fragile and weak thanks to getting imbued with all that power. After all, the whole game she can barely climb up a three foot box, and then suddenly she's able to carry Ico without any trouble. Seeing as how she was unconcious on the shore I'd think it would be safe to assume she floated to the mainland. [/spoiler]

[QUOTE="hot114"]

I thought both characters dieing in the end was a nice twist after you spend so many hours trying to escape the castle it was all in vain. Atleast they find eachother again in the afterlife.

gameguy6700

[spoiler] They didn't die. You only need to look at Ico to figure that out. His horns are still bloody stubs. Unless the devs' version of heaven involves people not getting perfect bodies/their original bodies back (which would suck if you died due to an explosion), this rules out an afterlife. Not to mention that when he gets off the boat he stumbles off and nearly falls down, meaning that he's still not feeling too well after taking that blow to the head (we can safely assume it wasn't an innocent mistake either seeing as how Ico was leaping across chasms, climbing up poles, and shuffling across ledges the whole game without any problem). What I think happened is that Zorda stopped being so fragile and weak thanks to getting imbued with all that power. After all, the whole game she can barely climb up a three foot box, and then suddenly she's able to carry Ico without any trouble. Seeing as how she was unconcious on the shore I'd think it would be safe to assume she floated to the mainland. [/spoiler]