ICO (and various)

[Sacred Jellybean]

I recently picked up a few games from Gamestop. There were 5 in total, more than I had planned on getting, but there were too many attention-grabbers that I couldn't ignore. One of them was Shadow of the Colossus. I've been drooling over it and ICO for longer than I can remember, and now that the titles are cheap I can get more than one for the price of one game.

I asked the clerk about ICO, but unfortunately, she said it's hard to find. She gave me a gamestop location that did have a used copy, but I had spent so much money already that I think I'll hold off.

Question:
Do you think I should play ICO before starting Shadow of the Colossus? How integral is it to know the story of the its predecessor to really appreciate its story? I popped it in to get a good feel of the game. I'm liking the epic presentation and gorgeous scenery (albeit with a few problems with aliasing and framerate). The control system is interesting, and I'm sure adjusting to it won't be difficult.

Hopefully the game will keep me engaged, and I might start on it after working my way through Manhunt (fuck yeah, shanking sleazy gangsters with a glass shard, hope the gameplay doesn't get repetitive).

Hell, I already mentioned two titles. The other three:

Crazy Taxi (GameCube): I lost my Dreamcast copy and always had great times with it back in the day.

GTA3: The original - I didn't get Vice City because I can always borrow it from a friend, and for some reason I just always felt drawn to try it over the newer ones. San Andreas sounds cool but I think it would get too immersive for me, such as having to go to the gym or eat or whatever other meta thing you have to do. It's the first free-roaming game I've owned aside from that lame cop game that took place in LA. I bought it because I wanted to try a free-roaming game, okay? I guess the +/- points for solving crimes or committing them was an interesting system, but the main character was so annoying (and the game's humor/presentation so embarassingly stupid) that I've probably sat down to play it less than 10 times.

Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2: Not for me, but my girl wanted it and she's broke. I thought it was a Silicon Knights title, but apparently someone named Crystal Dynamics developed it. I only played a demo of the first game in a disc that came with Official Dreamcast Magazine, and although at the time I might have had some interest in owning the game, thinking back, I'm not sure that kind of gameplay could sustain my attention span for an entire game. Hopefully this one is decent, though.

[Weltall]

Vice City is the only good GTA game. And that's mostly because the 80's motif makes it that way.

And Crazy Taxi is the shits.

[Dark Jaguar]

The story isn't too complicated, it's just told in a very good way, mostly without words.

You can play them in either order. It works both ways.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Excellent, thanks. I'm glad to hear it's told with few words, as well. It's always cool to see film makers / game creators do that.

[Weltall]

I had no idea they were part of a contiguous series. Though, I never played SotC.

[Sacred Jellybean]

What were your impressions of ICO?

[A Black Falcon]

I have Ico... haven't gotten too far (for no reason), but it's great. Very stylish and interesting, with well-done if cliche wordless storytelling. I definitely want SotC, I'll get it for sure eventually... they're two of the most interesting games on the PS2 for sure.

[Dark Jaguar]

Weltall, they're related but you only find out how at the end of SOTC. For the most part they're about completely different people in different places of that world.

I can't wait for that new "The Chain" game from those guys. I think that's the name.

ICO's American box art was rather terrible compared to the Japanese box art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ico

Check the right side of the page and read the description. Choosing that generic "angry CG protagonist all up in your grill" wasn't just ugly, it was insulting.

Other than that, the Japanese version has co-op. Wow, that would have made things so much better in that game.

[A Black Falcon]

Other than that, the Japanese version has co-op. Wow, that would have made things so much better in that game.

Woah, that WOULD be awesome... seriously? :(

[Dark Jaguar]

It was in that Wikipedia article but isn't any more.

At any rate, read that article. It's apparently had a major influence on all sorts of game designers around the world. For example, it was both influenced by and later influenced Prince of Persia.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/367472/17307

At any rate, it's not in that Wikipedia article but according to that game guide for the european version, based on the Japanese release (apparently the US version was released first), yes, there's a co-op mode but it has to be "unlocked", which is really a dumb thing for a coop mode.

[Geno]

Vice City is the only good GTA game. And that's mostly because the 80's motif makes it that way.

And Crazy Taxi is the shits.

Vice City is the only GTA I cared enough for to complete. GTA3 got too annoying after a while, with all the gangs who hold vendettas against you shooting at you every time you drive by even if there's no logical way for them to know who you are inside your vehicle from a mile away. San Andreas is maybe too big and I didn't get far in it. It might have something to do with the fact that it was, for the most part, just like the previous GTAs and I was bored with the concept after having completed Vice City.

Also, as you said, the 80's motif made Vice City. San Andreas is set in the early 90's and has a more gangsta feel; I prefer the Miami Vice feel, or even GTA3's Martin Scorcese feel.

[Great Rumbler]

San Andreas is the best GTA.

[EdenMaster]

Absolutely, San Andreas is the best.

[Geno]

Don't get me wrong, if I had played San Andreas first (which would've required it being out before I could get ahold of GTA3 and Vice City, but I digress), I'm sure I'd have loved it the best as well. Though it's the same general concept, it is a vast improvement in pretty much every way. I should probably just get farther in it, though for right now, my interest isn't focused on GTA. Maybe someday though, if I get the urge to play the series again.

So, is that to say that San Andreas is better than GTA4? I don't own a PS3 or an XBox 360 (I'd like to get at least one of them soon though), so I've never played GTA4.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Crazy Taxi is fucking awesome. It's just as fun as I remembered it being. I was slightly worried, as I was afraid it wouldn't hold my attention, but my craving to play it seems pretty consistent so far.

My buddy and I are gonna relive on old times when I bring it over to his house.

[Geno]

Crazy Taxi was one of the first PS2 games I ever owned and it was indeed fun. I haven't played it in ages though. It had an appeal to it that the taxi mission in GTA somehow didn't capture completely. Maybe it was the light-heartedness of it, the fact that you couldn't actually kill anyone, nor could you scare potential customers away because your taxi was all smashed up, and yet there was still a great deal of carnage as you plowed through tables and chairs, drove through water, and flipped other cars over as you sped to your customer's destination (because they'd rather get there quickly than get there alive, and if you're not on the other end of town in 30 seconds, they're not afraid to tuck and roll!)

[A Black Falcon]

Crazy Taxi is indeed awesome... the one thing I'd complain about is that it didn't have multiplayer. It's such a perfect game for it... yet none of the major-console Crazy Taxi games have any at all. :(

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars for PSP, which is a collection of Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2 (the only way to play Crazy Taxi 2 other than getting it for Dreamcast), did add multiplayer, evidently... that's cool, but it's really too bad that the Dreamcast, Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox releases didn't have any.

Also, the game's really hard... I have Crazy Taxi for Dreamcast, it's fantastic for sure but I'm not that good at it. I just can't manage to do a bunch of the moves in the Crazy Box mode or whatever is for instance... or survive in the main game for all that long in the normal modes. Oh well... it's fun anyway.