Shadow of the Colossus/YMMV: Difference between revisions
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* [[Alternate Character Interpretation]]: Are they all just mindless beasts? Or are they aware of Wander's motives and actively attempting to stop him from releasing Dormin? Or are they, perhaps, attacking out of fear? (Celosia's behavior suggests that the Colossi are capable of feeling fear, as he backs away from a lit torch and may even sound a bit like he's whimpering.)
* [[Anticlimax Boss]]: Malus can feel like this to some players expecting a more action-oriented finale. For one thing, Malus cannot harm you once you've passed the [[Death Course]], almost qualifying as a [[Zero Effort Boss]] at this stage were it not for the fact that he can shake you off like any other colossus can. Malus ''can'' shoot you, ''[[Fridge Logic|somehow]]'', '''through his armor''', but only when you're around his feet, and only sometimes after you try something pointless like shooting his ankle (as the arrows will just bounce off). There will also be the occasssional run where he'll put up one ''hell'' of a fight for his life to throw you off.
* [[Breather Boss]]:
* [[Goddamned Boss]]: Considering that there are sixteen wildly variable boss battles to choose from, it's inevitable that some of them will end up as this. Occasionally, a Colossus is not tricky to defeat but it is a [[Marathon Boss]] and takes a long time to complete the strategy (Cenobia is a big offender here). The most notable ones, though, are:▼
** From a gameplay standpoint, Phalanx is far easier than the three bosses that came before it. It can only deal damage indirectly, and the fight is pretty fun to boot. From an emotional standpoint, though, it's likely to be the first boss that'll make you reconsider Wander's actions, thanks to it's rather majestic death animation.
** Pelagia. One of the trickier [[Puzzle Boss]] battles, since getting it to expose its weak point requires a complicated bit of planning and experiment. This is also while said boss is shooting balls of lightning at you every now and then, and you're swimming awkwardly through the water with it. Doesn't really help that it's [[Nightmare Fuel]]/[[Paranoia Fuel]] either.▼
** Argus, the 15th Colossus, is quite a bit simpler and less tense a fight compared to Cenobia, the Colossus that came before it. That said, figuring out how to get up on it can be a bit of a [[Guide Dang It]] moment, but it's still a step down in difficulty when compared to Cenobia.
** Dirge. Even if you realize quickly that you can shoot it {{spoiler|in the eyes}}, doing it while sitting backwards on a horse is tricky. The target also might not appear before Dirge makes an aggressive dive, or Agro might have to make a turn and throw your aim off. Even worse if you're still struggling with Agro's controls by this stage.▼
** Kuromori can be this when you realize that the higher up it is when it falls, the longer it stays down. Lure it up to the highest level of the arena, shoot it down, then immediately jump after it and there's a good chance you'll be able to kill it without it managing to get up again (at the expense of a little health lost in your own fall).
** Basaran, (though see [[That One Boss]] if you found it really hard). Unlike most other Colossi, the [[Colossus Climb]] is the easy bit. The really annoying bit is getting it to {{spoiler|stand above a geyser in time to get thrown over. Even if you get it in the right position, the geyser may stop just before you have time to shoot its ankles, and by the time the geyser fires again, Basaran has usually moved on. It doesn't help that Basaran would rather shoot you than move closer. Oh, and the geyser has to be in just the right place or it won't work, even when logically it should have an effect.}}▼
* [[Catharsis Factor]]: From a game play perspective, the game's hardest challenge is completing all of the Time Trials on both Normal and Hard. Not only does that feel like a major accomplishment, but using Flash Arrows to blow up those slippery silver-tailed lizards and delivering a [[One Hit KO|One-Hit KO]] to any Colossus with a single sigil with the Queen's Sword just feels so ''good'' after all the pain experienced to get them.
* [[Epileptic Trees]]: Malus' face is potentially a [[Double Meaning]]: their carved stone grimace can be interpreted as fury towards your actions, or horror towards them.
▲* [[Goddamned Boss]]: Considering that there are sixteen wildly variable boss battles to choose from, it's inevitable that some of them will end up as this. Occasionally, a Colossus is not tricky to defeat but it is a [[Marathon Boss]] and takes a long time to complete the strategy (Cenobia is a big offender here). The most notable ones
▲** Pelagia. One of the trickier [[Puzzle Boss]] battles, since getting it to expose its weak point requires a complicated bit of planning and experiment. This is also while said boss is shooting balls of lightning at you every now and then, and you're swimming awkwardly through the water with it. Doesn't really help that it
▲** Dirge. Even if you realize quickly that you can shoot it
▲** Basaran, (though see [[That One Boss]] below if you found it really hard). Unlike most other Colossi, the [[Colossus Climb]] is the easy bit. The really annoying bit is getting it to
* [[It's Easy, So It Sucks|It's Easy, So It Sucks!]]: "Sucks" is a strong word, but for some players who have a large focus on boss fights vs story/setting, they will complain that after you figure out how to climb every Colossi, actually killing them takes little effort as all you've left to do is just stab it till it's dead, and that once you've beaten the game once, there is no challenge to a replay. Rather astonishingly, one skilled player uploaded a video of him defeating all 16 Colossi in Hard time mode in ''less than an hour''.
* [[Paranoia Fuel]]
* [[That One Boss]]: Basaran (if not [[Goddamned Boss]]), for the same reasons as stated there. For extra fun, try fighting it in Time Attack Mode
* [[Uncanny Valley]]: Part of what makes Pelagia so... [[Nightmare Fuel|different...]] from the other
== Everything else ==
* [[Alternative Character Interpretation]]: The game gives you only the barest hints of story and leaves the vast majority up to the player.
* [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]]: In September 2010, Team ICO announced that they ''would'' be remaking ''Shadow of the Colossus'', along with ''[[Ico]]'', for [[Play Station 3]] with the same gameplay but improved graphics, as the two original ''God of War'' games were; something that they had previously stated they would like to do but was unlikely due to resources.
** [[Video Game Movies Suck]], right? Well, usually they do
* [[Crowning Music of Awesome]]: Pretty much every song in the game, but in particular the one [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69io0J2wOBQ first heard when climbing Valus
▲* [[Crowning Music of Awesome]]: Pretty much every song in the game, but in particular the one [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69io0J2wOBQ first heard when climbing Valus.]
** And [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqVIJFvUraw Avion's theme] is ''gorgeous''.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ungASYe3OF0&fmt=18 "Revived Power"] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm8vd9Yge_o&fmt=18 "Prologue: To the Ancient Land"].
* [[Cult Classic]]: The ''[[Team Ico Series]]'' games as a whole are this, but even in regards to ''[[Ico]]'' and ''[[The Last Guardian]]'', ''Shadow of the Colossus'' is ''still'' regarded as the best game in the series and has a massive surprisingly active fanbase to this day, alongside a series of dedicated hackers trying to find "the last big thing" hidden in the game's code.
* [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]: Agro, no pun intended. Almost every gamer can agree
* [[Good Bad Bugs]]: Jumping upwards diagonally costs almost no grip meter, allowing you to reach the secret garden much earlier than intended, although jumping up ''the whole temple'' that way is quite a physical challenge in its own right. Was fixed in the remake, to many fans' dismay.
* [[It Was His Sled]]: It's nigh impossible to not know how the story ends, even passively.
* [[Just Here for Godzilla]]: The moral ambiguity of the plot fascinates some, but others just play the game to battle the
* [[Player Punch]]: The death scene of each colossus is accompanied by the same melancholy tune, which more than once leaves players questioning whether all this killing is really worth it. A more unexpected one comes near the end when Agro {{spoiler|''falls into a ravine while throwing you to safety.'' Even though she survived, on a first playthrough no one could say for certain and for all any player knew, she could've been.}}▼
* [[Narm]]: The [[Controllable Helplessness]] of the final section where Wander fights against falling into the supposedly inevitable can last pretty much as long as the player is stubborn. This quickly becomes hilarious as the music just keeps repeating and repeating while Wander strains, falls, and sometimes even stumbles end over end, but does not succumb.
* [[That One Sidequest]]: Well, this is pretty much the only one but still, reaching the secret garden will take you a long time. Not that the climbing course is particularly difficult in itself, but you will have to make your grip gauge grow out of the screen if you don't want to fall to your death mid-way. Be prepared to make two or three playthroughs and hunt down ''a lot'' of lizards for that.▼
▲* [[Player Punch]]: The death scene of each colossus is accompanied by the same melancholy tune, which more than once leaves players questioning whether all this killing is really worth it. A more unexpected one comes near the end when Agro {{spoiler|''falls into a ravine while throwing you to safety
* [[Sacred Cow]]: Due to the clear [[Doing It for the Art]] nature of the game. When the developers from BluePoint discussed the PS4 remake, they made it clear they knew they wouldn't be able to please everyone.
▲* [[That One Sidequest]]: Well, this is pretty much the ''only'' one, but still, reaching the secret garden will take you a long time.
* [[Viewer Gender Confusion]]: Most players assume Agro to be a stallion, perhaps for how heavily built the horse is, but [[Word of God]] is that the designers consider her a mare.
* [[Vindicated by History]]: While initial reviews were never bad, it was not the star game of the year, with multiple GOTY awards going instead to games like ''[[God of War]]'' and ''[[Resident Evil 4]]''. ''Shadow of the Colossus'' was not so much overlooked as it was just overshadowed (no pun intended), having the misfortune of coming out in a year that saw the release of ''several'' excellent games. However, years later, it has been rated by various publications as the best game of the decade, second best game ever, fourth greatest moment in gaming (for its ending), and in addition is frequently held up as a - if not ''the'' - prime example of Video Games As Art. It's on the shortlist of [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee's]] favorite games ever, if that means anything to you.
* [[Visual Effects of Awesome]]: The vast open backdrop, through which you can make your lonely way; the soft lighting effects, as if you were looking at this world through a permanent [[The Dulcinea Effect|Dulcinea Effect]]; the fluid animations of Agro and Wander, and of the colossi themselves. Pretty much the entirety of the visuals count. It's so awesome that others [[Follow the Leader|have attempted to replicate some effects to various degrees]]. The Colossi in particular are simply breathtaking in their detail and sheer scale.
* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]: White doves and black shadow-like figures are shown to gather around Mono and Wander respectively, one of each for every Colossus killed.
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