RGT Nostalgia Society #11 - Ico

[PupinDaTurd]

I have sat down for a single session with Ico and managed to make it well past the activation of the first reflector... oops!

I will probably be finishing this one relatively quickly, so I'm tempted to either play through twice or track down some of the extras you can do/get.

I think this is a game with a good NG+. Wasn't SotC like that as well? Definitely a game you play more than once to experience everything.

 

[DanCalibur]

Got the mace for the first time today

 

[solnK!]

I looked up on Wikipedia and it says that the PS3 remaster is based on the PAL release for those who might be wondering.
Good luck for me I guess

 

[TheOneEV]

I'm about 2hrs in on the PAL copy and I think I'm at the East Arena?

I don't think that's too bad for only two hours, taking it extremely slow, and not really enjoying puzzle type games.

Puzzles aren't usually my cup of tea, but I find it's a bit easier to kinda sit back and think with the ambient sounds of the world, and no hassle or hud. (Well, the only hassle thus far is the shadow monsters.)

I'm enjoying it thus far!

 

[DanCalibur]

Finished, how the heck people do it in less than two hours?

Post automatically merged: Apr 5, 2026

Finished the new game+, got the secret ending and the Jedi Love Saber. Time was around 4 hours this time. Breaking the 2 hours mark will take some serious witchcraft

 

[PupinDaTurd]

I imagine people beat it in less than 2 hours like they beat every other game in some insanely low time:
Taking advantage of some exploit or bug to achieve some kind of unintended progression skips.

How does this game upscale, to any of you that use those options. I always play at native res with no enhancements but I'm tempted to try them out for a game that's as atmospheric and visual as this one.

 

[ThatOneLum]

I imagine people beat it in less than 2 hours like they beat every other game in some insanely low time:
Taking advantage of some exploit or bug to achieve some kind of unintended progression skips.

How does this game upscale, to any of you that use those options. I always play at native res with no enhancements but I'm tempted to try them out for a game that's as atmospheric and visual as this one.

can't talk for software enhancements through emulators, but it looks great on a PS2 using component output to upscale slightly. Genuinely been shocked at how the game looks and plays at times for a PS2 game on native hardware.

I think this is a game with a good NG+. Wasn't SotC like that as well? Definitely a game you play more than once to experience everything.

I'm glad to hear it. I'm not far from the end now so I'll probably end up straight onto NG+

Finished, how the heck people do it in less than two hours?
View attachment 170958

Post automatically merged: Apr 5, 2026

Finished the new game+, got the secret ending and the Jedi Love Saber. Time was around 4 hours this time. Breaking the 2 hours mark will take some serious witchcraft

Hot damn dude. We got a finisher so early this month.

 

[TheOneEV]

Its about 7:12am where I'm at and I beat the game.

Spoiler

I'm not sure how I feel about the game. I'm not big on puzzles, but the urge to just keep going...to keep trying was always present. Early into the West half of the castle I was debating on giving up, but I'd take a break, listen to the ambient noise and just kept thinking, that I needed to see what happened to the Boy and Yorda.

Save time vs actual playtime is about an hour and a half difference....which I'm sure takes into account the few times I quit mid frustration from the shadows or the puzzles. I'm about 4 cheevos away from completion - but I'm not sure, at least at this time, that I would go back and complete. Maybe the NG+ content, but not the time related one.

For upscale questions in PXSC2 - I did opt to turn a few patches on, and probably could have used even more to make it pop.

Spoiler

 

[Bakuma1997]

Well, guess it is time to undust the thinking hat

 

[solnK!]

Breaking the 2 hours mark will take some serious witchcraft

Damn, that worries me, because I wanted to get the platinum trophy for this game but one of those wants me to finish it under 2 hours...I'm scared

Anyway, I'm near ending my first playthrough, already got to the west arena and managed to get the mace.

 

[DanCalibur]

I did it using the Yeet Jump skips on 50Hz with some hilarious results.

 

[dkpopman]

I looked up on Wikipedia and it says that the PS3 remaster is based on the PAL release for those who might be wondering.

I was going to skip this one as I've already cleared ICO about two years ago, but knowing this will make me go back to the save I abandoned over a decade ago on the PS3 version.

I never knew about these regional differences. I assumed beating the game on the PS2 was the more authentic experience at the time. It would be really cool to go back and clear that old save I never beat.

I bought the PS3 version so I could play Shadow of the Colossus back in the day. I had heard about it before, but became very interested when it was played on Game Grumps (lol) way back then. So I stopped watching that playthrough, and ordered me a copy on Ebay. I gave ICO a try after clearing SotC, but I didn't get how good it was until many years later when I played the PS2 US version.

 

[diapered]

This was bullshit, how was I supposed to know to just push R1 here?

I died over and over and had no idea what I was doing wrong.

 

[solnK!]

This was bullshit, how was I supposed to know to just push R1 here?
View attachment 171448
I died over and over and had no idea what I was doing wrong.
View attachment 171449

Yeah...some of the gameplay explanations came in the manual and not in game, that could be very frustrating.

 

[diapered]

Yeah...some of the gameplay explanations came in the manual and not in game, that could be very frustrating.

So I read the manual, but I don't think it is in there. Yea, now that I know R1 does something I guess it is not that cryptic, but why didn't they add to this...

R1 PULLS HER OUT OF PORTALS!!!!

Unless I missed something, the closest tip for this is

It is the first time interacting with her, the first usage of the R1 button, and there is a time limit to run over and do it?! What were they thinking? I thought I was supposed to pick up the stick and do something with it. The fire on it went out so I thought I needed to light it to fight the shadows?

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

I've been away for a little while, so I'm a little slower to get stuck in this month, but as this isn't the longest game (I wasn't aware of that going in!) I feel comfortable with the pace I'm progressing at. :]

Quick couple of things:

- Everytime I see someone new displaying an NS Userbar in their sig, I gain an extra year of life.


- The music that plays when resting/saving at a bench is enrapturing. Mixed with the bird song and environmental ambience, I sometimes find myself just glued to the spot listening, blissfully unaware of how much time is passing.

- The castle environment continues to impress. I'm just a little bit past the

Spoiler

sewer section.

- I'm looking forward to getting a weapon other than a stick.

- I feel like I'm gonna break moonlit girl's arm everytime I start running whilst holding her hand. The yank animation is merciless. xD

- It was only in the most recent cutscene I realise the kid isn't wearing a helmet - Those horns are actually growing out of his head between bandages! That's cool. :O

Eager to play some more once I've made a bit more progress through Demonschool. Big congrats to those of you who've already beaten the game (multiple times in some cases!) You da real MVP's.

 

[PupinDaTurd]

This was bullshit, how was I supposed to know to just push R1 here?

I died over and over and had no idea what I was doing wrong.

Wow. That's like the second room five minutes in where you free the Girl...
Why didn't you grab the torch that falls right next to you and start swinging? When the cut-scene of her getting grabbed ends the camera is looking right towards it, indicating its importance.
Even if you didn't get that hint when she starts getting portal'd you can probably panic mash buttons and save her. There's only eight of them on the controller, and even if you don't read the manual you know by then that △ jumps and R2 Zooms, so only six are left to try.

Anyways, here's some screenies of the enhancements at work for anyone curious like I was. I think this is a good candidate to dip your toes into those options if they're available.

Spoiler: Set 1

Spoiler: Set 2

Top one is completely Default PCSX2 settings, bottom is

16:9 Widescreen Patch
4x Resolution (1440 to match my Monitor)
16x Anisotropic Filtering (Didn't notice a huge diff but it's cheap so why not)
Medium Blending Accuracy (This eliminated some ugly color banding in the far off fog)
TV Filter Shade Boosting (This was the biggest benefit, particularly adjusting Gamma to remove the washed out fog)

I might return to 4:3 Aspect Ratio because I feel like an artistic game like this probably purposefully blocked scenes and angles out for that, and I'm also wondering if maybe the blown out bloomy foggy look was intentional as well. However, other screenshots here aren't as washed out looking so maybe it's the right move to adjust that down with the Shade Boosting options.

- I feel like I'm gonna break moonlit girl's arm everytime I start running whilst holding her hand. The yank animation is merciless. xD

Yeah sometimes the jerk is around a turn or up a step looks quite sharp. For that reason and for immersion I tend to walk most of the time I'm holding her hand. It does mean I'm playing the game holding down R1 and O but I can deal with that.

 

[DanCalibur]

Wow. That's like the second room five minutes in where you free the Girl...
Why didn't you grab the torch that falls right next to you and start swinging? When the cut-scene of her getting grabbed ends the camera is looking right towards it, indicating its importance.
Even if you didn't get that hint when she starts getting portal'd you can probably panic mash buttons and save her. There's only eight of them on the controller, and even if you don't read the manual you know by then that △ jumps and R2 Zooms, so only six are left to try.

Anyways, here's some screenies of the enhancements at work for anyone curious like I was. I think this is a good candidate to dip your toes into those options if they're available.

Spoiler: Set 1

View attachment 171502
View attachment 171503

Spoiler: Set 2

View attachment 171504
View attachment 171505

Top one is completely Default PCSX2 settings, bottom is

I might return to 4:3 Aspect Ratio because I feel like an artistic game like this probably purposefully blocked scenes and angles out for that, and I'm also wondering if maybe the blown out bloomy foggy look was intentional as well. However, other screenshots here aren't as washed out looking so maybe it's the right move to adjust that down with the Shade Boosting options.


Yeah sometimes the jerk is around a turn or up a step looks quite sharp. For that reason and for immersion I tend to walk most of the time I'm holding her hand. It does mean I'm playing the game holding down R1 and O but I can deal with that.

The only problem I noticed with the widescreen patch was a blinking light effect after the final battle that was only applied in a 4:3 window. Apart from that, everything looked fine.

 

[diapered]

 

[DanCalibur]

I always thought they were somewhat related

 

[dkpopman]

Spoiler: Set 1

View attachment 171502
View attachment 171503

Spoiler: Set 2

View attachment 171504
View attachment 171505

Looks pretty good, I would go with 4:3 if I was emulating. These settings make it look pretty close to the Bluepoint port on PS3 honestly.

 

[solnK!]

Well, I finally beat it today

Can't say something nobody has ever said before about ICO, the perfect example of videogames as art, it's a fantastic experience that only can be truly experienced by playing it. This challenge made me finally finish it after so many years and I'm thankfull for it .
It becamed this month's hyperfixation for me.

Maybe I'll wait a bit for the NG+ and the platinum trophy, that last part where Ico has to go alone and the plattforming becomes a hell really burned me, pretty shitty section ngl >:(

Anyway, thanks again and good luck for those who haven't beat it yet.

 

[snes9x]

I was playing this last month, didn't know there's a thread. I'll pick it back up but I'll probably be lost as hell. Ueda's games are a good riposte to games that try to feel cinematic by cramming in as many cutscenes as possible. It really feels like you're playing something that's more than a video game, especially in SotC.

 

[ThatOneLum]

I haven't had time to pick the game back up again but I think it's partially because I don't want it to be over but I know it's going to be the next time I have time for a full session lmao

I've been trying to split my time with LOTRO to make it last longer. I'm deffo going to be moving onto SotC again after this. They just feel like a perfect duo tbh, even if they're barely related games in many ways.

 

[DanCalibur]

I haven't had time to pick the game back up again but I think it's partially because I don't want it to be over but I know it's going to be the next time I have time for a full session lmao

I've been trying to split my time with LOTRO to make it last longer. I'm deffo going to be moving onto SotC again after this. They just feel like a perfect duo tbh, even if they're barely related games in many ways.

I always saw SotC as the first chapter and ICO as the final chapter of the same story.