Everything GREAT About Shadow of the Colossus!

[Music] from the opening moments we are informed that what we are about to experience is going to be a beautiful masterpiece this music here never drops the ball even for a second and yes this is going to be the remake as it was easier to record and what a great remake it is in its own right just absolutely gorgeous at every turn but there is something that it can't take away from the original which probably wasn't intended but more of a limitation of the hardware shadow of the colossus ps2 feels much more lonely and desolate this land felt much more forbidden and abandoned that with the unnatural bloom of everything created an atmosphere that can't be replicated [Music] with the minimalistic approach in mind with this game the music often tells the story that words or cinematography might try to convey here is a good example with wander peering over mano and another is with the death of a colossi i kind of like wander's new face he looks a lot more boyish than he did in the original was you hick how well yet for all this short narration by iman is short sweet and to the point but through its simplicity and vagueness it's left so much to speculate about it makes us ask more questions by providing exposition which for this type of story is absolutely brilliant this mask behind the fire makes me believe that this is a story being told to wander as a boy by iman around a fire and again this brings up more questions like what the relationship might be or iman's role in the community i love that so much can be extracted from the simplest of artistic choices [Music] that could be in reference to the light half of dorman who actually does have real control of beings of light but also the dark controlling with malice or manipulation then we've got this mask in front of the map which of course is what iman's talking about but it's still got the clouds on it makes me think that when imon sealed away dorman he hid the locations of the colossi to make it more difficult for anyone to find him yes i do believe this is a diegetic map you're probably thinking there's a lot of thinking and believing in this video yep i'm going to roll with my interpretations of everything in this game with the game this vague i kinda have to i think that's more fun this channel is dedicated to one man's opinion as objective as i may try to be wait there's no win in that um um shadow of the colossus is a perfect game to describe my philosophy of this channel win what i love about the games i play there we go aggro senses the shadows behind her animals have a sixth sense and nobody can change my mind on that these shadows are likely a test for dorman to see if those who enter the shrine are worthy of the boon they can bestow wander presents the sword and the shadows fade away and out comes dorman so powerful they seem to affect the weather by the mere presence of their voice i've never played eco but i know of the shadowy figures in that game could provide some challenge to the player here wander dispatches them with the literal draw of his sword telling returning players this is a whole new ball game [Music] dorman's voice is that of a male and female team eco's stories all remain around the theme of light and dark i believe dorman is the god of both light and dark in that it was he that forced iman to seal them away and she was just collateral damage i'll continue to elaborate this as we go [Music] the name dorman is derived from so many interesting things there's the play on the latin word darmino which means sleep which dorman can be assumed to be doing while waiting for a warrior with the sword or it could be that dorman is nimrod spelled backwards nemron can be attributed with the origination of false worship he also ordered the creation of the tower of babel which soon became a place that mortals were no longer allowed to reside and finally nimrod was cut up and dispersed among the earth just like dorman and finally there's our english word dormant which is a bit redundant for me to mention as the word was derived from the latin word as discussed above but just wanted to mention it it's not always amused already click if the list do is if you want to keep with the idea of dorman and sleep the phrasing here might suggest that people don't really die but their souls leave their bodies sleeping eternally which sounds just like death but this means there's always a chance to return the soul and that these people are aware of this all which makes me believe that iman's people know how to remove one's soul through their time worshiping dorman evidence that mono has no visible wounds am i winning my own theory yes but it's also into the amazing storytelling and its ability to make me care so much to think like this [Music] laughing and following up seeming mockery here shows that they're obviously a little upset about the mortals trapping them rightfully so but also shows us that they aren't completely benevolent and harbors some ill feelings towards them [Music] wanderer just runs up and starts slashing at them with his sword doorman wants to be free of course but actually warrens wander most likely the light side of them coming out the framing here suggests that the outcome won't be what wander once regarding mono i sort of called drogo resurrection type thing but this is all just a misdirection unknowing self-sacrifice our first look at a colossus is shown from the height of wander to make sure we understand the true scale of these creatures no game has quite captured the david and goliath feel such as this one introduced to the first of so many great mounting tracks of this game so many good ones dorman gives wander hints on how to take down these colossus it makes sense since well of course i know him he's me the track that plays after this cutscene is called the open way our tiny self just made this giant creature drop to his knees it's reinforcement to the player but more likely to wander that this might be possible the way forward mentally and literally is opened our first fight starts nice and simple and is a great way to get us introduced to the mechanics of everything am i winning a tutorial i am when they are this great this black blood was a surprise to almost everyone i feel it's kind of ridiculous but makes you feel like you're actually making progress a depleting health bar does that but this is far more effective fun fact valus is the only colossi to have wildlife around him the game opens and closes on a hawk so it feels fitting that they'd watch wander's first takedown [Music] we go from this badass triumphant music to super sad makes us question whether what we are doing is right at first glance are these colossi their own beings with consciousness or maybe the music is pouring one out for wander as with each one he's slowly ruining everything he is with the destruction of each colossi of course it's the release of fragment of dorman but i like to believe it's the release of both halves to separately go their own way we have the dark tendrils that start to possess wander but also the white beam to the sky that brings wander back to the shrine and puts herself inside of mono this also solves the issue of getting wandered back to the shrine god it would be a pain to walk all the way back i like to think this is the thing people see when they die in this world as they are being transported to the other side but with wander they bring him back to the shrines since you know it's to their benefit the fact that wander hears mono vaguely makes me think this and as mono had her soul removed and not killed maybe that's why she's still in this limbo i know i just keep winning my own theories but damn it let me have my fun and i want you guys to have fun too drop any of your own theories in the comments below i would love to hear what you guys think and more with the separation of the two of dorman we've got white doves for the light and shadow figures for the dark and that's it that's our gameplay loop super simple but absolutely perfect from here on out there won't be crazy amount of wins pertaining to each fight since it's mostly all just gameplay which y'all know i don't pay too much attention to and the greatness of this game would be more easily translated through discussion and analysis so stick around to the conclusion for the good old deep dive [Music] to me the first three colossi or tutorials in here quadratus introduced us to a different type of weak point and the idea of multiple sigils something really thought-provoking are the eyes of the colossi they look like galaxies with these creatures harboring a fragment of dorman it makes me wonder if dorman is a creator type god or the creator of this world or has knowledge beyond the stars you might not believe me but this guy is actually the second tallest colossus second of course tomales [Music] and to round off our tutorials we are taught to use our environment to our advantage guys has the most dope mounting move in the whole game i tried doing the sword launch for like 15 minutes for you guys just so i could say i did it i gave up i'm going to mention this for every colossus and one fell swoop all of them have something super defining about this gaius with the sword malice doesn't move durs has got one big ol eye and if there isn't something about the themes themselves that stands out think the theme repeats like cenobia and celosia then there's something about the arena that you've got to use to take them down that is very memorable and after taking all 16 down once i'm sure most players can recount each fight something that makes the remix so brilliant is that blue point didn't start from scratch they're actually running the original engine at the same time as their new engine for this game using the bones of the ps2 version is why the gameplay feels exactly how it was from way back then from the funny physics to aggro's realistic controls also using the old code helps save them time the sticks around wander's waste for instance are reused amazing that code from 2005 still holds up today team ico is truly something else thinking back to the original version it's amazing that it ran at all sure the frame rate was literal garbage sometimes but it ran and looked amazing team eco had to pull some wizardry i'm sure to get this running and i went back to the ps2 version to see if they put fog around this fight to save on resources nope the draw distance is just as impressive as it is here on the remake i mean what the hell even was shadow of the colossus on the ps2 the little fortune cookies dorman gives wander about each foe is cute i like to imagine them talking to each other trying to come up with something really clever while waiting on his return the graves mentioned here aren't your traditional graves they are tumunals which are barrel-like tombs think of the two towers when aon sings that ungodly song while putting her brother away most of the footage you see here is played on hard and if you've gotten this far please go and play the game but on normal this game came out before single difficulties were becoming more common but damn does it feel like normal is the perfect balance for this game now it's confirmed that aggro and mono have a relationship and just when you thought colossae couldn't get any cooler they'd throw this bird [ __ ] at us the track titled silence plays for avion hydras and phalanx all three arguably the most docile of the colossi you really feel the speed of what it's like to fly like avion a little hint and nod that barbara can and will destroy the walls in the arena an underground colossi with the beard this is the closest thing we get to a dwarf colossus love when these colossi are shown to have personality like him searching for us under here if thor a catfish and a ran over snake had a baby super interesting that the three wounds count for so much of the health of hydras explains why everyone calls these minor sigils and not just wounds there's something about the sound design here that makes the water sound so amazing the most interesting thing about kirimore is that he's trapped in a coliseum it makes me wonder about the people's relationship with these colossae do iman's people use this one for sport or something or did he wander in here and get stuck after getting halfway through the roster we start to hear some words from mono instead of just moans she's obviously becoming more to life if kiramore is duct taped and basaron is flex tight uh if kirimore is ibuprofen then basaron is oxy no no that's not better if all i'm saying is turtleman's energy bombs are scary and hit like a [ __ ] way more than kiramura's gassy saliva [Music] it's little things that make experiences so memorable like the music coming in during this turtle topple as he hits the ground [Music] my all-time favorite track plays during this fight it just gets me so freaking pumped hearing it for that reason alone he is in my top three favorites and also that track is named counterattack which is used here and for phalanx and i like that since the moment durge is awoken he attacks and actively hunts wander and we gotta strike back and with phalanx he doesn't attack at all which is ironic for the name of the track these giant ass sigils are kind of cool that's it no theory on how the size of the sigil could lend to the idea that maybe not all fragments of dormant are created equal and the bigger ones create bigger sigils and that explains why durge's eyes are so much larger in the eyes of representation of dorman's control over the galaxy oops i'm kidding i literally just bs to that on the spot but now that i'm thinking maybe george's eyes glow the brightest of all the colossi on the map for obvious reasons by the time you've gotten used to fighting giant creatures tmyko had the great idea of changing up the formula and having us fight a super tiny fast one it's a surprise to be sure and a way to keep us on our toes if you notice celosia's webbed feet which makes sense since this is a dried up lake how did they make me feel bad for this shit-eating colossus and how did they make those eyes look so sad i can't tell if they moved the brow or not as that would be the main indicator of a scared look i don't know it's well done am i the only one that thinks barroth from monster hunter looks like this guy [Music] these are the weirdest music instruments i've ever seen this is the only colossus without eyes it looks like those ports could be a place for his eyes but who's to say these tusks replace the aggro color for us though a weird thought is that pelagia is actually missing the top half of its head there's literally no evidence of this other than these music instruments look like teeth but who knows fun to think about [Music] seeing imon is a nice reminder that wander doesn't exist in a vacuum that there's a whole world out there oh there he is my favorite colossus and another win for my favorite track because i just like it that much so phalanx doesn't fly in the traditional manner of wings i think he uses sand to fill up his floaty sacks and can hover using them and while we're at it can we just say that phalanx did nothing wrong to anyone that shits on this fight i think it's fun i don't know jumping off the towers while they fall is just cool right here is where i noticed wander really started to look like dog [ __ ] from always endured from dorman's tentacles i could have worded that better i'm aware you even see the sigil forming on his back and wander getting more health stamina and attack power makes sense as he's being imbued with dorm and strength is mono saying help me wander well good luck saying no to that argus has got to be the most intimidating and chad of all the colossi i think it's because of his ability to climb up holding that scary-ass weapon with that punched in monkey face [Music] and he's so badass that he takes the counter-attack motif and changes it to something i don't know more desperate [Music] our final colossus is given such good treatment leading up to him the first of those being his gate needing the light of the sword to be [Music] opened the second being our best girl aggro dying if they wanted to raise the stakes seemingly killing off our only companion was the right way to do it and i'll be hung at the gallows if i don't mention how good a girl aggro is she was there for us always fearless standing up after getting hit with turtle balls and letting us kick her to speed her up endlessly here's to our girl [Applause] and then the rain starts pouring with a lightning strike with our sad wander oh this all just comes together so well [Music] when dorman first spoke there was a crack of lightning and a gathering of clouds maybe this is dormant getting a stiffy because wander lost maybe the only other being he cared for and now truly has nothing to lose and feels wander will succeed in carrying this out i mean when i lost aggro i was so upset blamed this colossus and wanted to kill him so bad i'm sure dorman could sense this and wander as well last treatment is this haunting death toll sounding score and the great presentation of malice being the biggest colossus we've faced dude is big enough to stare big ben in the clock face i love how curious malice seems here maybe after hitting two minor sigils then stabbing at nothing he's probably thinking all right what the [ __ ] is this thing i'm dealing with it would be super cool if his eyes went blue while looking at wander here but i understand why they didn't and this again shows some personality and humanity inside the colossi raising questions to what's going on in that little noggin of theirs interestingly malice is the most human of all the colossi i mean dude is wearing a skirt for christ's sake previously wanderers fought mostly beast-like creatures and now at the end when he's furthest away from his own humanity as possible he's destroying the most human of the creatures that will steal him away from that humanity i don't know i like the irony [Applause] wander's cloak is very similar to that of iman it makes me wonder what the relationship was there are so many possibilities but i like to think he was probably being trained to be whatever position iman is in the community which would explain water's knowledge of the ritual the lands dorman and the sword and about the cloaks notice how similar they are to the sigils of the colossi another hint to this civilization's relationship with dorman gives me a chicken and egg idea is there clothing taken from an emblem given to them by dorman and that's why the sigils are what they are as a representation of dorman by dorman or are the sigils what came of the ritual to seal away dorman look at me go theorizing again and now we get confirmation on how wander gets back it's really sad seeing wander like this and we know he's almost truly gone with him having the same blue eyes as the colossi and in a moment dormant he races his crossbow but the next shot's framing reminds us that it's the sword that is needing to do that [Music] and does this track that's playing sound like some of the music from lost or is it just me and after all wander went through he died believing he was tricked and used by dorman and mono staying dead which maybe she might have had iman not banish the dark side of dorman again that's some shakespearean level of tragedy for you with wanda removing the blade from himself he finally becomes the shadow of the colossus [Music] notice as this dark form appears the female side of dorman's voice has completely dropped out that is why in all my theorizing above i've talked about them as they are both dormant but can be separated as it seems right here they are one final time we've got the minds of a ritual coming back as dorman is whole again filling us her dread because yeah wander failed track's meaning is also doubled from its use during the malice fight because we thought that was when the ritual would end through the success of defeating him dorman's eyes never roll orange during the final scene which suggests he doesn't have any ill intent towards him on his men maybe he just wanted to be warped again i mean his attacks don't even kill emon or his men i love that end of a battle comes in once more for the death of dorman [Music] self-sacrifice success mona's glow gives me more ammo my theory that dorman was split into two when the female light side was put into mono is alive agarose fur is another great nod to the themes of this story she's a dark horse with a small patch of light wander her writer some comes to the dark but saves mono which could be the small light of this situation ungodly in atonement these are definitely religious people who used to worship dorman wandering a [ __ ] baby has got to be the weirdest and most unexpected plot twist surprise i've ever seen and with mono picking a baby wander we will have thousands of forum posts about the connections of the story to eco book ended with our flying hawk from light into darkness whereas at the start it was darkness to light in a way it's a representation of this story's themes wander wanted to bring mono from the dark of her death to the light of life but in the end he himself went from the light to the dark in a worse way than just death only stories this amazing are worthy of showing us the word end at the end of their stories i think i said this for ghost to sushima but when you look up masterpiece in the dictionary you see a picture of wander looking at guys because that is the only word that could be used to describe this game at the time it was such a departure from most games we were getting and even now it stands alone in what it sets out to do i'm sure there are some indie games i'm missing that are similar i've noticed i've been doing a lot of sony exclusives lately sorry xbox fans but damn is there just too many good games in their lineup i first played this game when i was eight years old and this remake is exactly how i remember the game looking there is criticism that this remake has lost a bit of the lustre that made the original so special but i don't really care seeing these colossal and all their hd beauty is enough to make me happy and it's not like the original is gone so we're really getting the best of both worlds on the back of the shadow of the colossus game box game informers said breaks storytelling barriers no one knew existed and yeah that sounds like magazine hyperbole that we hear all the time but anyone who's played the game would know that yeah it truly does i've never played a game with such simple minimal storytelling that forced me to ponder what was actually happening and it's not just me like i mentioned earlier there are thousands of forum posts discussing the intricacies of this world this game only has 115 lines of dialogue 115 lines and some beautiful art direction was all it took to capture the attention of a community that still hasn't let go to this day and it was the design philosophy that fumito ueda brings to his games that achieves this of the three games team eco has made each is in line with the design by subtraction mindset but not just that also letting the process of creation take you where it will teamiko didn't have the ending in mind when they started the development process they started with the idea of a boy wants to bring a girl back to life that was it and everything that we got flowed out of that one idea now once they've got that going and have a solid foundation or quite a bit into the process they'll ask themselves what is not integral to the story world or game as a whole then cut it out not for the sake of cutting something but to trim the fat and truly focus on what is important in the game now when you continually trim a piece of work down like this every other element will be highlighted much more every element is given much more meaning and weight when you do this which is why there are thousands of theories about this game out there and which is why half of the wins section of this video just feels like a theory crafting seminar less is always more when done right and the ambiguity of shadow of the colossus is what makes it so special ueda is on record saying that he doesn't like to pigeonhole himself into sticking to one theme he finds that restrictive in his ability to create freely and let the process guide the development which is ironic because he mentions that he loves embracing the restrictions placed on him by the medium he has chosen and the hardware of his time which is a beautiful way to approach art my opinion let the ideas flow through you and feel emboldened by the tools you have to work with back to the ambiguity of shadow of the colossus and its minimal approach ueda also said that he has no intention of directly translating a narrative to the player no desire to tell a story that is cut and dry and that he doesn't want the players to know his intentions for the story he wants us to direct the story ourselves which might be frustrating to some as what he and team eco has created is some of the best art in the video game medium we've experienced but that's what makes it so great good art is supposed to make you feel something but also to make you think and interpret it's live vague so the player can fill in the blanks with whatever they desire which team eco obviously succeeded at a thing that makes this game so great is that everybody's theories are correct since ueda has never come out to give us facts about this world it makes me wish i was older when the game came out so i could be around for the initial discussion of it on the blooming internet i know bioshock has often attributed the honor of the first game to make people ask if video games are art and i'd like to politely disagree and said that shadow of the colossus and eco are some of our earliest depictions of true art in the medium of video games let me know if there are any before their releases that you think might hold that torch i know i mentioned earlier that this game is easier talked about than wind but i lied it's a game best to experience yourself and thought about everyone's personal experiences with this game are going to be different and the ideas and feelings that they draw will vary for me and i'll be speaking about the original version here this game made me feel very lonely not in a bad way though but more at peace which sounds silly since we were slaying these massive beast minds too but it's the moments of quiet between that that stick out to me it's just a quiet trek with aggro for you to contemplate what just happened and what is to come which is why i love that there isn't any music playing during these segments you're forced to just stare around at this barren abandoned land and think about everything and that's not something we get anymore not often at least ghost to sushima had these great moments of reprieve but even with that game there were more things to draw your attention here it's just the natural sounds of the world and the thoughts in your head and the nays of your best girl who i would like to mention has some wonderfully designed controls and i throw that in quotes because it's when you can't control her that stands out aggro isn't a car or a motorcycle she's a living creature who doesn't always obey there will be moments where she will swing out wide when you're just trying to go straight but it's never too often or too unresponsive to feel frustrated into player just enough to make her feel real in a game where these 16 boss battles with the draw it's funny that i haven't even talked about them yet which i'm gonna say is just a testament to how great every aspect of this game is but it would be a disservice not to every fight perfectly encapsulated the david and goliath sentiment never do you feel completely suited to take down any of these beats but you have to anyway the first thing i like to tell people who have never played this game is that it's a puzzle game but the puzzle is how do i take down this 300 foot creature and that's another thing that set this game apart you're not hacking at the legs of these creatures till a health starter pleats at dark souls don't get me wrong their boss battles are great but nothing as interactive as this which makes just about every one of these fights memorable i couldn't imagine there being 24 or even 48 clawside i'd just be exhausted by the end i think 16 was good but could have been trimmed down to 13 if t-michael really wanted to focus things up but like that's nitpicking for nitpicking's sake i say that but if they release the other eight plan fights you can bet i'd be ready with my credit card information we come for the colossae but i think that we stay for the world and storytelling you are enamored by what happened here it's in our nature to be curious and want answers but it's the mystery of everything that makes shadow of the colossus so much more engaging as tomorrow jueta came out with a detailed history of this world we would all lose interest overnight it's why horror movies end after the unmasking of the villain or why we aren't shown the big monsters at the end or even why not showing us the gory or frightening parts of horror is so much scarier our minds are infinitely better at filling in the gaps than if the author did and the best part about that is our thoughts are always subjected to ourselves so through keeping things ambiguous creators in a way can please everyone we all can get the story or believe the ideas we want and if we do feel so compelled share those ideas with others and create a community and friendships that might not have happened otherwise [Music] do [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you

Channel: GamingWins

Views: 88,529

Keywords: gaming wins, gamingwins, game wins, gamewin, game review, shadow of the colossus review, shadow of the colossus, everything great about, everything great about shadow of the colossus, shadow of the colossus analysis, shadow of the colossus critique, things you missed about shadow of the colossus, shadow of the colossus missed details, shadow of the colossus great, shadow of the colossus story analysis, shadow of the colossus theory, shadow of the colossus retrospective

Id: 2wxSORWwX_0

Length: 30min 31sec (1831 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 12 2021