Date played: July 18th
Platform: PS4
I made a lot of progress in the game... I picked up where I left off, at a large pool of water. There were a good number of puzzles here that all required that I reach a switch to open a gate and make an underwater door open for Trico to swim through. It's kind of cliche to say that a video game's water level sucked, but damn, the water level sucked.
The swimming controls are difficult to use, and it's easy to go in the wrong direction. This led to a few accidental drownings on my part... Then there's Trico, who can swim, but does so very slowly, like a real animal would. This is realistic and all, but it's also really bad gameplay wise. However. the real problem was one of the puzzles.
The room was simple. There was a big pool of water, a large rock that acted as a springboard for Trico to jump into the water, a gate and a small underwater tunnel leading to the switch. The problem is that the ledge to reach the switch was too high. I spent a long time in this room, and got very frustrated. I tried everything I could think of, but all I got was a whole lot of swimming slowly and Trico being confused. I had to look it up online, something I really don't like doing. Turns out, the solution was to get near the switch, then have Trico jump from the rock, which made waves big enough to carry me to the switch.
Shortly after, we escaped through an underwater gate, but the boy doesn't have the giant lungs that Trico has. I was stuck underwater for too long and passed out, Trico swimming away without noticing the missing boy. When I woke, I was in a big room with some suspended cages that ended up being makeshift elevators.
As I explored the area, I found a large room and saw Trico's tail hanging from a platform. I grabbed onto it and climbed into the main portion of the room, excited to be reunited with my feathered friend. To my horror, it wasn't Trico's tail, it was the evil one's instead! He was really fucking mad too, and started attacking me right away. I spent the next few minutes trying to escape by climbing and jumping to areas out of reach to the animal. At one point, I even had to jump on it's head, which was stuck in a doorway. I eventually hid inside one of the cages from earlier, protecting me from the dangerous beast. However, I actually trapped myself in the cage...
The contrast between the bad swimming section and the exhilarating sequence with the evil Trico is a great representation of how I feel about The Last Guardian in general. It's got some really good highs, with emotionally charged moments, sweeping music and amazing animation. Then it's got some really bad lows, with frustrating checkpoints, floaty controls and obtuse puzzles. There are times where I fucking love this game, and there are times that I hate it. The highs are so good that I still enjoy myself, but it could have been so much more.
Anyway, I had to wait a very long time in the cage, with nowhere to go. I could move around a little bit, by rolling the cage around, but there was no path for me to take. There were even some cinematic cuts that led me to believe the kid was there for many days. After a few of these cuts, I called for Trico and heard it's faint response from a long distance. After a few minutes, I saw Trico's head poking through the ceiling of the room as he dug through the rock. My friend came to my rescue!
I was still stuck in the cage though... Trico helped me by pushing the cage around with it's muzzle. Iwas then able to move around a bit more, rolling the cage around like a hamster. I crashed down some stairs and ledges and platforms, destroying much of the path along the way. When I crash landed, the door to the cage finally opened.
Trico was exhausted and needed some food, so I went in search of more glowing barrels. There was a good sequence here where I had to lead one of those statues around the room long enough to grab a barrel then bring it back to Trico. It was a cool little puzzle. After being reinvigorated, Trico was ready to go again. We reached another of those nests, and of course, Trico swallowed me again.
This time though, the boy had a dream, or a kind of flashback and it revealed the origins of the boy's story. He lived in a small village and was kidnapped by a Trico during the night. The creature had much bigger wings, longer horns and a bunch of armor. There's also mention from the villagers that the boy is "chosen", so that's mysterious. The beast flew away thanks to it's gigantic wings, but was struck by lightning near the ruins I've been exploring since the beginning of the game. Some men show up, tie up Trico and leave. I think they chopped it's wings and horns, removed it's armor and left the boy for dead. But Trico regurgitated the boy after some time, leading to the opening moments of the game.
After the flashback, I woke up to the most impactful scene in the game so far, at least to me. Trico is awake and no longer under the influence of the nest, so he picks up the boy and tries to wake him by carrying him to a courtyard. What's special about this scene is that the boy looks like he's dead, and for a long time, I thought he was, and that this was the end of the game. The scene lasted really long, and you could feel the tension as Trico desperately tried to wake it's friend and companion. Thankfully, after a few heart-wrenching minutes, the boy woke up.
We found a path forward that led us down some collapsing mine shafts, where I had to solve a few simple puzzles and turn on some switches. We're back on track now, reaching a large bridge blocked off to my feathered friend by some more stained glass eyes. I have to find a way to destroy them now.
Platform: PS4
I made a lot of progress in the game... I picked up where I left off, at a large pool of water. There were a good number of puzzles here that all required that I reach a switch to open a gate and make an underwater door open for Trico to swim through. It's kind of cliche to say that a video game's water level sucked, but damn, the water level sucked.
The swimming controls are difficult to use, and it's easy to go in the wrong direction. This led to a few accidental drownings on my part... Then there's Trico, who can swim, but does so very slowly, like a real animal would. This is realistic and all, but it's also really bad gameplay wise. However. the real problem was one of the puzzles.
The room was simple. There was a big pool of water, a large rock that acted as a springboard for Trico to jump into the water, a gate and a small underwater tunnel leading to the switch. The problem is that the ledge to reach the switch was too high. I spent a long time in this room, and got very frustrated. I tried everything I could think of, but all I got was a whole lot of swimming slowly and Trico being confused. I had to look it up online, something I really don't like doing. Turns out, the solution was to get near the switch, then have Trico jump from the rock, which made waves big enough to carry me to the switch.
Shortly after, we escaped through an underwater gate, but the boy doesn't have the giant lungs that Trico has. I was stuck underwater for too long and passed out, Trico swimming away without noticing the missing boy. When I woke, I was in a big room with some suspended cages that ended up being makeshift elevators.
As I explored the area, I found a large room and saw Trico's tail hanging from a platform. I grabbed onto it and climbed into the main portion of the room, excited to be reunited with my feathered friend. To my horror, it wasn't Trico's tail, it was the evil one's instead! He was really fucking mad too, and started attacking me right away. I spent the next few minutes trying to escape by climbing and jumping to areas out of reach to the animal. At one point, I even had to jump on it's head, which was stuck in a doorway. I eventually hid inside one of the cages from earlier, protecting me from the dangerous beast. However, I actually trapped myself in the cage...
The contrast between the bad swimming section and the exhilarating sequence with the evil Trico is a great representation of how I feel about The Last Guardian in general. It's got some really good highs, with emotionally charged moments, sweeping music and amazing animation. Then it's got some really bad lows, with frustrating checkpoints, floaty controls and obtuse puzzles. There are times where I fucking love this game, and there are times that I hate it. The highs are so good that I still enjoy myself, but it could have been so much more.
Anyway, I had to wait a very long time in the cage, with nowhere to go. I could move around a little bit, by rolling the cage around, but there was no path for me to take. There were even some cinematic cuts that led me to believe the kid was there for many days. After a few of these cuts, I called for Trico and heard it's faint response from a long distance. After a few minutes, I saw Trico's head poking through the ceiling of the room as he dug through the rock. My friend came to my rescue!
I was still stuck in the cage though... Trico helped me by pushing the cage around with it's muzzle. Iwas then able to move around a bit more, rolling the cage around like a hamster. I crashed down some stairs and ledges and platforms, destroying much of the path along the way. When I crash landed, the door to the cage finally opened.
Trico was exhausted and needed some food, so I went in search of more glowing barrels. There was a good sequence here where I had to lead one of those statues around the room long enough to grab a barrel then bring it back to Trico. It was a cool little puzzle. After being reinvigorated, Trico was ready to go again. We reached another of those nests, and of course, Trico swallowed me again.
This time though, the boy had a dream, or a kind of flashback and it revealed the origins of the boy's story. He lived in a small village and was kidnapped by a Trico during the night. The creature had much bigger wings, longer horns and a bunch of armor. There's also mention from the villagers that the boy is "chosen", so that's mysterious. The beast flew away thanks to it's gigantic wings, but was struck by lightning near the ruins I've been exploring since the beginning of the game. Some men show up, tie up Trico and leave. I think they chopped it's wings and horns, removed it's armor and left the boy for dead. But Trico regurgitated the boy after some time, leading to the opening moments of the game.
 |
| Is this... Trico? |
We found a path forward that led us down some collapsing mine shafts, where I had to solve a few simple puzzles and turn on some switches. We're back on track now, reaching a large bridge blocked off to my feathered friend by some more stained glass eyes. I have to find a way to destroy them now.
