Gamemand: Ico - 20091217

ICO left me with the same unnerving, pondering feeling that I got from the end of Shadow of the Colossus. The ending was far from tidy, and it left me wondering what really happened at the end. I liked it. Of course, this victory was marred by the frustration of the first hour.

You would think that with all the escape-the-room games I've played, I would be prepared for using off-kilter thinking, and I was. The one thing that I have finally learned is that I don't try solutions multiple times. When I finally cleared the roadstop, it was a solution that I had already tried. But instead of blaming the game like I usually do, I've just come to believe that sometimes there's an "exactly right" way to do things in some games, and it might take more precision to get the job done.

One week to play the first hour. A day to finish the rest.

Gamemand: Ico - 20091212

New name. New style. Let's see how it goes.

Ico

Ico​ (イコ, Iko, pronounced /ˈiːko/) is a 2001 action-adventure video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment and released for the...

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Initial release date: 2001

Genre: Action-adventure, Puzzle

Release Date: Mar 18, 2002

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Fucking windmill.

I am not in the mood tonight. I've fought spirits. I've traversed ledges. I've deduced. I've inferred.  And I will not, will not be undone by you, windmill. I don't know what leap of logic you expect me to take, but I will have none of it. Not tonight.

I can see what you want. I see the lever and the bridge it will extend, across the fathomless gap. I see the path, leading from a staircase, to an overpass, to a platform right above that fucking windmill. But no amount of climbing, no amount of pushing, nay, no about of hitting will help me conquer this ascent.

I'm not wrong, not after all the searching I've done. I've been across every inch of this accursed garden, tried ever action I can think of and came up short, but I'm not the one who has failed. No. You are failing me, and I'm at the end of my rope. I'm…I'm…

God. I'm stupid. What am I missing? What am I not seeing? I'm only an hour into my adventure, and already I've spent twice that time at this in-pass. God oh god oh god. Why can't I figure this out? Up until now it's been so straightforward, and now, now, when I'm meant with genuine challenge and adversity, I can't prevail.

This is emasculating. An emasculating link in a abasing chain of gaming endeavors. First, I fail to match the act to the skill point in Ratchet & Clank and end up consulting a guide for the last ten. Ten! Then, I gnash and snarl as I force my way through the final challenges of The Mark of Kri and Rise of The Kasai. And now I'm stymied at the very onset of my newest endeavor. I am, at least for this moment, not the kind of gamer I thought I was. Am I having fun? I honestly can't tell.

…And now it's 2:00 A.M. I'm going to bed.