Whoa, You're Quite Large. I'm Just Gonna Run Now

I think it's been awhile since my last post about games, though I'm too lazy to check my archives. Seems that way, at least. Anyway, I figured I'd talk about Shadow of the Colossus, having defeated it and all, especially since it once vexed me so.

For those not familiar with the game, a quick intro: You are a boy with a name lost to time. You have journeyed to a "Shrine of Worship" in the Forbidden Land, to ask a being of great power trapped there to bring a girl, of uncertain connection to you, back to life. The being, named Dormin, agrees, but first you'll have to defeat some colossi scattered across the vast landscape of the Forbidden Lands. The quest won't be easy, and you're told it won't come without cost to you, but you are resolute, and so, armed with a fabled sword that can locate and harm the colossi, and astride your horse, away you go.

And that's about it. It's a very sparse game. You have to kill the colossi in a specific order, so you find one, kill it, cue cut scene where you get attacked by black tentacles exiting the colossi's wounds and pass out. Then you wake up back in the Shrine and you're ready to go after the next one. There's no sidequests, unless you want to get some fruit to boost health, or kill the white-tailed lizards around the save points to boost your strength (which does make clambering around on the colossi a bit easier). There aren't any henchmen to fight, or archery or horse-riding mini-games like you might find in say, a Final Fantasy or Legend of Zelda. It's remarkably straightforward in that respect. You just climb around on those Colossi until you find their weak points, and you stab the hell out of them, trying not to fall off, or getting squashed.

The Colossi are found allover, from lakes, to caves, to mausoleums, to abandoned fortresses. They range from a little smaller than an elephant (by my estimation), to so large Galactus would be craning his neck back to see their faces (the 16th Colossus especially). Some were more fun to fight than others, as I got a bit annoyed with some of the rigmarole you had to go through at times, just to expose the weak spot on them, let alone actually attack them (the 14th Colossus leaps to mind here). But, I guess it's a way to mix up the strategy a bit.

One of the enjoyable parts for me is the landscape. The Forbidden Land is massive, with ravines, waterfalls, numerous lakes, forests, deserts, caves, ruins here and there, it even borders an ocean. I just wish it didn't take so long to get places, even with your wise, trusty, and very brave horse. It's a place that would take years to explore if you were there with just your faithful steed (you have no idea how faithful). That's one thing I'd love to have as an unlockable, the ability to get a jammin' car with the radio blasting, so you could just go tearing around, check out everything. It'd be like GTA, but without drive-bys. Maybe a Warthog, from Halo? See how those Colossi like a little firepower of the future? I doubt they would be very impressed.

That would ruin the mood of the game, though. It's very tranquil. Until the very end, it's always light out (though you can never pinpoint the source of the light, it's just everywhere, and it's almost too bright, as things tend to get washed out, especially at a distance). Never too much wind. No real distractions. The occasional lizard scurries by, depending on location you'll see hawks, doves, seagulls, crows, and they may follow you as you ride (And you can apparently grab one and be carried through the air. Not sure how that works. Never tried it). Then you find the Colossus and suddenly the earth is being shaken, landscape torn up, the Colossi aren't above roaring at times. It's quite a shift.

The other thing I like is the sense of backstory to the game. Like I said, there are ruins scattered throughout, and smaller versions of the Shrine of Worship (those are the save points). People used to be here, but they aren't anymore. It's 'Forbidden Land' now. Why? What did Dormin do to be sealed here? There's some signs at the end of a cultural struggle, and a sense that the loser hasn't exactly been pleased with the way things turned out, and that the winner isn't completely in control of things. So the end sheds a little light on things, but it's one of those cases where it's just enough light to reveal more questions. I do enjoy it when the game clues you in to why things are as they are (Phantom Dust being an example where I thought it was done well), but Shadow of the Colossus is an example of how it can be fun when the creators leave it to you to decide what happened to make the world that you're in the way it is.

I don't know about replay value with the game, I haven't tried to replay it yet. Jeez, I only beat it this afternoon, give a man a little time to absorb the experience! I probably will play again, maybe on Hard mode, maybe not. Mostly, I just want to ride around the landscape and see what there is to see.