From what I’ve heard, it seems they just changed the button layout. For instance: X being jump now instead of Triangle. And other similar changes.
From what I’ve heard, it seems they just changed the button layout. For instance: X being jump now instead of Triangle. And other similar changes.
To be honest, the actual grip command didn’t cause me too much trouble. I made it to the 15th colossi.
What drove me mad is when you are supposed to finish this 15th colossi with a final blow at a specific point.
To reach it, you have to climb on top of the giant and let yourself fall then grip, fall/grip… this section felt so stupidly random in the way Wander succeeded or failed to grip…
But again, if they added an option for the camera not returning to center/neutral position, it would probably save a lot of frustration.
Is it true in the original the camera was not returning to center or you could disable this ?
I agree with all of this. Now I’ve finished the game I can see how it would’ve been so impressive back in the day. That’s not to say I didn’t find it impressive nor enjoyable, it’s just that the controls and camera are so awkward by modern day standards.
It’s easily the most beautiful game I’ve ever played. The section on the way to I think it’s colossus three, with the waterfalls and cliffs and trees was simply breathtaking. Its just that the camera makes it so hard to properly enjoy these environments that you’re travellling in because you can’t just… Look… At something easily.
Once you get a hang of the new controls its not so bad - based on what I’ve read here they definitely seem to be better than the old ones. There isn’t much of a learning curve to them, but as mentioned they seem unreliable. You can do the exact same thing twice but Wander will move off in a different direction each time. It’s not game breaking, just frustrating; especially during the last few colossi…
The story intrigues you in the beginning, and disturbs you by the end, but the middle is devoid of story which I think is one of the game greatest strengths. Here you are, in this stunning but empty open world, going about your business with just your thoughts to keep you company. It just gave me time to think, what am I doing, who is Dormin, where am I, etc etc.
Overall I had a great time playing SotC for the first time, and I’m glad I played this version in 2018 rather than attempt the PS2 or PS3 versions. However, I think the game was probably most enjoyable if played back when it was first released.
I’m glad you enjoyed finally playing through the game, @UrbanReflex of the Colossus. The Last Guardian is still fairly new, so perhaps play that next? It very much feels like the successor to Shadow of the Colossus even though the two games aren’t explicitly linked.
I was actually considering playing Ico next, although I have my concerns about how well it’ll hold up in this day and age.
That and Bluepoint Games have said their next project is also a remake… Could it be…?
Ico? They’ve said their next project is “a bit bigger”, but Ico is definitely a smaller game than Shadow. And it seems a bit too soon for a Last Guardian remake. So I’m guessing that it’s unrelated to these games, probably something more mainstream that a publisher could justify remaking.
If you’re going to play Ico, the PS3 version should be fine. I don’t think it would benefit from a remake as much as it’s successor. It’s not a technically demanding game like Shadow of the Colossus, much smaller in scope.
It defaults to a new control scheme, but the option still exists to play with the original controls. I prefer playing the old way with the two button roll though. Old habits.
That pic legaia posted with the lack of fog…yeah I hate that. I’m very attached to fog and draw distance limitations/effects in videogames. It’s what made games like Silent Hill 2 or Tomb Raider (1996) so impactful for me. Atmosphere is just everything in games for me.
If someone in the forum would like to gift me a PS4 pro and with Sotc, I’d be happy to play this game again.
I finished playing through the remake of Shadow of the Colossus (on Normal difficulty). I’ve now played through the game three times, one playthrough of each version (PS2, PS3, and PS4).
Despite the visual changes we already know about, this remake really is a faithful rendition of the original. It brings back that feeling of playing the PS2 original all those years ago, of being an uncared for participant in a desolate world, a place can be a struggle to exist in, that will not lead you by the hand. And for that, the remake can be praised, I think. It would have been very easy for someone to decide to add extra dialogue, waypoint markers, more happening in the world, etc in order to “modernise” it. This still feels like Shadow of the Colossus.
The remake is perhaps a little too similar to justify replaying it. At many points I was thinking “this looks really nice” while simultaneously thinking “been there, done that”. So for those who have played either the PS2 or PS3 version, maybe hold off buying the remake until a sale. Since I’ve played the game three times now it will likely be a long time before I play any version of Shadow of the Colossus again.
Visually, some of the criticisms mentioned earlier are valid, but it also does not distract from the experience when the game is in motion. You have to think of this as an alternative rendering of the world. And it does look really good, one of the most visually impressive PS4 games around. But if you only played the PS4 remake I encourage you to watch at least part of the PS3 version on YouTube to see what you’re missing out on. Some of the minimalism and abstractness of the original visuals have been lost in the remake, while other things have been enhanced. I’m glad the game was remade though, since many people would overlook the PS3 version for looking “too old” otherwise.
I’ll comment briefly on the controls and camera. There are a number of different control configurations, but they’re basically just button remappings. I ended up with a control setup similar to that of the PS3 version. Wander stumbles around, as a vulnerable young man would in the presence of a colossus. It’s not effortless Uncharted and it shouldn’t try to be. The camera, while annoying at times, represents the viewpoint of a person temporarily glancing up at the colossus while running away; such an act would be temporary. It’s not supposed to be smooth, it’s supposed to feel like a struggle. So I’m glad that these parts of the game weren’t changed. I had no major frustrations finishing the game, even though it’s been a few years since I last played it (although that last colossus always proves to be a challenge).
Overall, the remake gets the thumbs up from me, as a fan of the original. I realise that gamers used to modern controls will likely call the game flawed or not progressive enough, and in many ways I can understand that. Shadow of the Colossus was a game of it’s era, and it’s unlikely anyone will try to make a game like it again, because games are expected to be effortless these days. I’m okay with that - it is what it is in the history of video games - but I hope that future games can continue to learn from it’s implicitness, minimalism, and focus.
I also found an easter egg that wasn’t in the original game. In the forest area you can enter an underground cave and find one of the barrels that you feed to Trico in The Last Guardian, surrounded by those blue butterflies. This probably isn’t an explicit link between the two stories, but my imagination likes to think so.