This is a game that's, in my opinion, a would-be masterpiece hurt by minor problems that are turned major by being so vital to the experience.
I get that there's something to be said about the loss of subtlety with narration compared to Ico and SotC. At first it threw me off a little too, but really it's not nearly as bad as it initially leads you to believe. There's a lot of narration early on to help ease the player into its environment based puzzle platforming, something that shouldn't be new for an Ico or SotC player but will take some time getting used to for a first timer. These games might follow a template that games like Uncharted began to use in the 2010's but the difference is how it's based less on momentum and more on intuition. The Last Guardian isn't going to lay out a pathway that's plainly apparent to follow. Much like in Ico, it uses simplicity as a strength rather than a crutch for lazy design.
When it comes down to it, level design is very basic but you have to pay attention to your environment to find anything that appears off. And this isn't finding the colour coded ledge or rock to climb, though sometimes it may be. That's actually what makes this game so clever. Very infrequently that will be the way forward and it'll condition you to think about the environment like that, and it's not always the wrong approach. You're truly rummaging through dinghy remains of a kingdom of titanic proportions, attempting to find anything that will help you or Trico forward.
Which brings me to the complaint everyone has, that is Trico himself. I hate to agree with the majority here, cause the visual storytelling of Trico and the boy is truly something special. And it's why I have to criticise the volatile AI and control of Trico. While I do think it's not quite as bad as people say most of the time, it's bad enough in some areas that it can make the game miserable to play. Trying to get this bastard to swim underwater unironically took me 15 minutes. Just think about that for a second. This game is pretty slow paced and a heavily atmospheric reliant experience, but imagine playing any other game where you reach an underwater gate you have to swim through to progress and it takes you 15 fucking minutes whether because the mechanics are so cripplingly problematic or because someone takes the controller out of your hand and counts every tedious second in your face.
Thing is, I get not everyone will have the same trouble with swimming that I did. But if it's not the swimming sections then it's trying to get Trico to find a platform to jump onto, or making his tail come towards you so you can climb it, or Trico just jumping all over the place just cause he feels like it. One time he actually got lost and I didn't even know where he went, it took me like 5 minutes to find him.
It sounds almost funny and akin to something like having a pet of your own, and to an extent I can understand why some people even defend this when I look at it like that. It is true that Trico becomes more responsive as the game goes on and it's true that when he cooperates with you this game is really awesome. I'm more of an Ico guy than SotC so I love the increased focus on platforming and level design. It's just that I can't ignore that the moment Trico's being an asshole and making the process take WAY longer than it needs to I'm taken out of the experience. In that sense it's like a real pet being obnoxious and you're trying to get its attention or calm it down. I love him so much and I love the bond you create over this journey but god he frustrated me to no end sometimes.
A more generic criticism I have which would be easily fixable with a good port (or emulation) is this game runs like ass. It barely meets the stable 30fps cut most of the time. And yeah, I get Ico and SotC aren't immune to this either, but it doesn't matter nearly as much in those. Maybe I'm being a purist here, but Ico's dated albeit charming visuals don't need that improved framerate. It'd be a whole lot better sure, but none of the platforming or combat demands enough of you for it to affect your skill expression. SotC I can contest that this criticism is equally relevant, though even so it still hits 60fps pretty often. The distinction here is that The Last Guardian dips below 30fps often. VERY often. There's a few sections in the last third of the game that probably dip down to 10fps and one of them requires you to jump platform to platform to avoid an instant death. It's not hard, but it feels like hell to play in that moment.
Anyway I'm not gonna go too much further into this, I just wanted to get this off my chest. I really did like this game and I'm super happy to have completed the Team ICO trilogy. It's just sad that this game should be fucking amazing. The things that hold it back aren't the level design, the combat or the soundtrack. It's things that could've even been patched. That's why this game needs a port so badly. Give it an unlimited framerate treatment and let the fans fix the AI with a mod. Make that happen and this may be my favourite Team ICO game.
I get that there's something to be said about the loss of subtlety with narration compared to Ico and SotC. At first it threw me off a little too, but really it's not nearly as bad as it initially leads you to believe. There's a lot of narration early on to help ease the player into its environment based puzzle platforming, something that shouldn't be new for an Ico or SotC player but will take some time getting used to for a first timer. These games might follow a template that games like Uncharted began to use in the 2010's but the difference is how it's based less on momentum and more on intuition. The Last Guardian isn't going to lay out a pathway that's plainly apparent to follow. Much like in Ico, it uses simplicity as a strength rather than a crutch for lazy design.
When it comes down to it, level design is very basic but you have to pay attention to your environment to find anything that appears off. And this isn't finding the colour coded ledge or rock to climb, though sometimes it may be. That's actually what makes this game so clever. Very infrequently that will be the way forward and it'll condition you to think about the environment like that, and it's not always the wrong approach. You're truly rummaging through dinghy remains of a kingdom of titanic proportions, attempting to find anything that will help you or Trico forward.
Which brings me to the complaint everyone has, that is Trico himself. I hate to agree with the majority here, cause the visual storytelling of Trico and the boy is truly something special. And it's why I have to criticise the volatile AI and control of Trico. While I do think it's not quite as bad as people say most of the time, it's bad enough in some areas that it can make the game miserable to play. Trying to get this bastard to swim underwater unironically took me 15 minutes. Just think about that for a second. This game is pretty slow paced and a heavily atmospheric reliant experience, but imagine playing any other game where you reach an underwater gate you have to swim through to progress and it takes you 15 fucking minutes whether because the mechanics are so cripplingly problematic or because someone takes the controller out of your hand and counts every tedious second in your face.
Thing is, I get not everyone will have the same trouble with swimming that I did. But if it's not the swimming sections then it's trying to get Trico to find a platform to jump onto, or making his tail come towards you so you can climb it, or Trico just jumping all over the place just cause he feels like it. One time he actually got lost and I didn't even know where he went, it took me like 5 minutes to find him.
It sounds almost funny and akin to something like having a pet of your own, and to an extent I can understand why some people even defend this when I look at it like that. It is true that Trico becomes more responsive as the game goes on and it's true that when he cooperates with you this game is really awesome. I'm more of an Ico guy than SotC so I love the increased focus on platforming and level design. It's just that I can't ignore that the moment Trico's being an asshole and making the process take WAY longer than it needs to I'm taken out of the experience. In that sense it's like a real pet being obnoxious and you're trying to get its attention or calm it down. I love him so much and I love the bond you create over this journey but god he frustrated me to no end sometimes.
A more generic criticism I have which would be easily fixable with a good port (or emulation) is this game runs like ass. It barely meets the stable 30fps cut most of the time. And yeah, I get Ico and SotC aren't immune to this either, but it doesn't matter nearly as much in those. Maybe I'm being a purist here, but Ico's dated albeit charming visuals don't need that improved framerate. It'd be a whole lot better sure, but none of the platforming or combat demands enough of you for it to affect your skill expression. SotC I can contest that this criticism is equally relevant, though even so it still hits 60fps pretty often. The distinction here is that The Last Guardian dips below 30fps often. VERY often. There's a few sections in the last third of the game that probably dip down to 10fps and one of them requires you to jump platform to platform to avoid an instant death. It's not hard, but it feels like hell to play in that moment.
Anyway I'm not gonna go too much further into this, I just wanted to get this off my chest. I really did like this game and I'm super happy to have completed the Team ICO trilogy. It's just sad that this game should be fucking amazing. The things that hold it back aren't the level design, the combat or the soundtrack. It's things that could've even been patched. That's why this game needs a port so badly. Give it an unlimited framerate treatment and let the fans fix the AI with a mod. Make that happen and this may be my favourite Team ICO game.