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The Ico debate

What the community thinks of Ico, ordered by reader support. Agreeing, translating and reporting a message need no account.

54 comments

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  1. Craig_2007

    Sure, let's rank a PS2 game with a wonky camera above stuff built decades later with actual budgets, because apparently vibes outrank everything else on this site.

    PixelPilot1995

    Seeing it still climb duels after two decades feels like proof this whole ranking thing isn't just nostalgia talking.

  2. CosmoHunter49

    the castle itself felt like a character to me, more than most actual characters in games from that era. i was maybe thirteen when a friend lent me his copy and i remember just walking around not doing anything for a while, just looking at the place.

  3. LootPlayer95

    Oh sure, let's put a nineteen year old PS2 game against Assassin's Creed II and act surprised when people argue about mechanics for three pages.

    SaveLegend2

    Funny thing is I had that exact three page argument with a friend once, mechanics versus mood, we never settled it either.

  4. Rudolph_2

    Its win rate says more than its rank does honestly.

    Camille_25

    Le taux de victoire c'est bien beau mais je le trouve surtout mal placé, j'ai eu le même réflexe en voyant le chiffre.

    rowe_trystan

    True, though I check that win rate more than the rank, honestly, every single duel I click into.

    SilentRunner

    ¿Alguien más recuerda más partidas que victorias reales, o solo yo perdí la cuenta de tantas veces que me atraparon las sombras?

    Arnaude_40

    Ce fameux taux de victoire, moi il me rappelle surtout les soirs où je recommençais le même passage en boucle avec ma sœur qui regardait sans rien dire, jusqu'à ce qu'on y arrive enfin.

  5. LuckyHunter

    Compared to Portal 2 this feels ancient in terms of mechanics, but compared to Limbo the two almost feel like siblings from different generations arguing about the same idea.

    IronDragon41

    Ancient mechanics, sure, but Limbo owes it a debt it never really paid back.

    RogueLegend

    Ce duel avec Limbo revient tout le temps mais franchement le silence n'a pas le même poids dans les deux, ici il sert la relation entre les deux personnages...

    PedroHunter

    Con Portal 2 al lado ya se nota el paso del tiempo, y con Limbo la comparación tampoco lo favorece tanto como dicen.

    VinylAce25

    Camera fights back at times.

  6. MertieHunter

    Replayed it on an emulator setup a while back and the core idea holds up fine, the hand holding mechanic especially. Where it struggles now is pacing, modern players expect quicker feedback loops.

    Turbo_Dietrich

    The pacing critique is fair, but the ranking already reflects a game people keep choosing anyway despite that flaw.

  7. mae14

    Seeing it still duel this often after all these years is honestly kind of amazing to me! It's punching so far above its weight class!!

    RogueNinja97

    Not amazing to me, honestly. Just quiet. I remember the quiet more than the punching above weight class part.

  8. claire72

    It's rough around the edges by now but that castle still gets under my skin every single time I boot it up!!

  9. GlitchByte51

    The camera control is genuinely rough by today's standards and I won't pretend otherwise, but the way the whole thing builds trust between the two characters without much dialogue still holds up better than most modern attempts at the same idea.

    Cortez_1998

    The trust building works partly because the animation weights feel deliberate, the girl's movement reads as hesitant in a way that never feels scripted (small detail but it sells everything).

  10. FramePlayer

    People put this next to Limbo a lot, but where Limbo isolates you completely, this one is built entirely around not being alone, and that changes everything about how it plays.

    RetroSniper19

    a mi me parece que estos debates de posicion siempre giran en torno a lo mismo, la soledad contra el acompañamiento, y nunca se resuelve nada, cada quien vota segun lo que sintio y ya

  11. juanita56

    I played it during a rainy week when I had nothing else planned, borrowed console and one disc from a friend who insisted I try it. I remember not wanting to talk to anyone while I was in it, which almost never happens to me with games.

  12. RachelleLegend

    It's ranked 60th and that still bothers me every time I scroll past it. This game basically invented a whole vocabulary that other studios have been borrowing from for twenty years.

    CoopRider

    Twenty years of imitators doesn't automatically mean the original still plays as well today.

  13. VinylByte

    Everyone acts like holding a hand invented emotion in games. It didn't, not by itself.

    BerryRunner

    Oh no, not the emotion invented by hand holding argument again, truly groundbreaking analysis we're blessed to witness here today.

  14. gdicki

    gameplay-wise it's simple, but the way it uses silence still hasn't been copied right

  15. ArcadePhoenix2

    On refait ce débat sans fin, je vote, je passe à autre chose.

    leilani_harber

    People keep voting out of habit here more than judgment (myself included, if I'm honest), which says more about the fanbase than the game against something like Assassin's Creed II.

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