A Look Back At • The Last Guardian (Analysis)
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- Опубликовано: 17 июн 2021
- The Last Guardian is a video game (?) for the PlayStation 4.
It's a puzzle adventure game made by Fumito Ueda while he was working at Team Ico and GenDesign.
This game was in development hell once didn't you know?
It launched in 2016.
It has a big animal in it.
It's alive!
The team employed a "subtracting design" approach to reduce elements of gameplay that interfered with the game's setting and story in order to create a high level of immersion.
Special Thanks to:
*Team Ico & GenDesign
*Fumito Ueda & Shuhei Yoshida
*ProjectLongplay
*LongplayArchive
*Sony
Footage from:
*ProjectLongplay
/ @projectlongplay
*WorldOfLongplay
/ cubex55
Patreon: / medievalmegaman
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/aesiraesthetics
Essays&Espresso:
/ @essaysespresso8637 
Игры
The ending of The Last Guardian still makes me cry.
Can't wait to try out your game
:)
@@AesirAesthetics great video, really. obviously deserves more views we dont have to talk about that, i do guess that the game wasnt that popular, regarding sales at least and for me at least its not a game that idk requires or where i really want to watch a deep analysis. i mean i did, but because i watched ur sekiro video as my first video of yours, so i knew yeah its gonna be good, but as a new watcher, no chance im clicking that i guess. kingdom hearts next?
Trico was an A.I. like no other & "The Last Guardian" made me cry. So I must give the game & it's creator credit for that. "ICO" was also an emotional journey with some interesting platforming. "Shadow Of The Colossus" still reigns supreme as my all-time favorite game of the 21st Century. 16 years later & I never get tired of playing it or listening to it's awesome soundtrack. Can't wait to play & explore in the next world Fumito Ueda creates for us.
In the after credits scene, there's actually a third set of eyes that are very tiny and hard to see. The noise you hear is a baby trico :)
i love this fuckin game series
The most immersive and cinematic game I've ever experienced. The music, the animation, the setting, the scale, the visual, everything is god tier. And Trico is the best AI companion ever in a video game. Truly a masterpiece.
I wished it was more polished and less clunky but at the end of the day, it was quite a unique masterpiece that has amazing highs that make the lows not matter.
the last guardian is not about Trico understanding the player's commands. It's about the player understanding Trico. The more i re played the game, the more i understood Trico and he feels and thinks; and easily got him to do what i wanted. Too bad people didn't understand that.
I am classifying Triple A games as million dollar projects which launch with the backing of a major publisher and cost 60 bucks at launch.
I have literally just finished the game right now and I cannot stop crying, it hurt my soul seeing Trico getting beat up like that by the others of his species.
Still a grand game and I will happily play it again once the tears stop flowing
I also recently finished the game. I was a blubbering mess. I immediately started a second playthrough lol.
Such a great analysis on a game that is sadly ever talked about since release, not only do you praise the game thoroughly in all the right regards your building of the context of its development cycle resulting in it being a sort of time capsule for a time when video games could be essentially whatever the designers could imagine is so accurate and to top it all of you did it all without once mentioning the supposed bad controls or the hard to deal with camera which every reviewer could hardly stop themselves from mentioning within the first paragraph.
The Last Guardian and all of Ueda's game are incredible works of art which should have settled the video games as art debate back in 2001 but I digress. You also mentioned very briefly how amazing and unique the nest is as a video game setting and I would be welcome to see you maybe make a video just about that but anyway I look forward to more of your content and will be interested in you game development endeavors. Subscribed.
Although you probably love The Last Guardian more than I do, I still strongly agree with the information stated in this comment.
I teared up at several points when you brought up certain scenes and events from the game that caused me to reminisce.
7:52
Then: dials down the cuteness
Trico: still one of the cutest animals in video game history
Beautiful video on my second favorite game ever, and Ueda's magnum opus. It's not as pure in it's design as Ico, or as regularly epic as Shadow of the Colossus, but it takes the best of both and adds it's own personal touch to it. The fights with the armors on/in the ivory tower once you have the shield again gave me the most child-like joy I've experienced in years, running around the battlefield like a madman pushing the armors down, and then smiting them with lightning from Trico's tail. A boy and his animal companion in perfect sync. Cried tears of joy just remembering those times while listening to this video. Thank you for such a wonderful analysis.
Glad you liked it :D
In my opinion the nest is the most beautiful setting in any video game ever, I just would just gaze out at the massive tower structures and the intricate cables that hold up the glass eyes, they sway with the wind so realistically. The sense of vertigo during some of the climbing sections is incredible, I would compare it to something like uncharted 4 in terms of those breathtaking setpieces
And throughout this entirely well written, edited and narrated analysis, did ever even mention the sound and music! They are both equallly excellent!
This game literally made me cry, and I still get teary-eyed thinking about the final scenes. And the score was just amazing
Loved your analysis and feeling towards this epic game. Still remember the music building the first time Trico was back pedaling before taking his first planned flight. Such a good game!
Sometimes I consider The Last Guardian my favourite game of all time. It's just an incredible experience. Thanks for the video!
This game...if you ever need to prove games are art just point at a copy of this game
Hard disagree, if this is art. my empty rooms are Michelangelo.
In the words of Sethical, I know you be smoking that pack hard.
I personally would still point to Shadow of the Colossus or Okami over this but yeah...I agree.
The Last Guardian is a masterpiece and people who don't see that just have to learn that MAYBE it's not a game for them. :)
It doesn't make the game objectively bad if it is not for you, Bruce Vayne.
@@tadaokou4919 just because shadow of the colossus is better doesn't mean The last guardian is not great
@@omarfarooq7211 Never said anything else? If you would have read my comment you would see that I call TLG a masterpiece myself.
I love the game.
It's just not the first one I would point towards in terms of "art" in gaming because of problems like the framrate and stuff like that.
I love the ending of this game. The way the final shot was the actual FIRST ever image we saw of the game made me nearly cry. :')
Regarding the epilogue, hopefully it's not the final game of it's era. Once Fumito Ueda's 4th game comes out I feel it will be right at home with the other 3 games in the way it will look & the way it will be played. In other words the game will feel like a Team ICO game. If that turns out to be false, the full complete "Praey For The Gods" should be out by or before years end & if nothing else, that game will feel like a true spiritual successor to "Shadow Of The Colossus".
Just finished this amazing game. It's up there with my other favorites, like What Remains of Edith Finch. Love everything about it, everything serves the gaming experience, *especially* the difficulty controlling Trico (it's not supposed to be easy!) Even the boy's twitchiness is perfect for an uncoordinated young child. Thank you for this amazing analysis. Just subbed to your channel and I will go see what else I can watch!
I literally smacked myself I never once made the Trico connection beyond ico in the name
Thank you for making this video, truly, you did an amazing job.
57:59 Thank you for acknowledging that it’s not a question of better or worse and that you would make the opposite criticism if it were the other way around. So many times people are just fixating on what would fix a flaw without thinking about what that fix would do to the rest of the game.
Great video, thanks for all the work you put into them!
I wish there was a follow up to this incredible game. But we’ll never get one
Such an amazing video. I listen to it almost every night.
That was very entertaining. Such an interesting deep dive, I really appreciate the effort this would've taken. It's my 2nd fav game of all time and I totally can't wait for the next title! If it's still a thing.
Thank you :)
I also made videos on the other Team Ico titles if you're interested :)
Sad how underrated nd misunderstood this game is. I love it
"They deliberately dialed down the cuteness"
Me: watches trico roll around in a puddle
Failed step 1
Best game analysis channel on RUclips. I found your content 2 years ago out of nowhere and haven’t looked back.
Once again a wonderful video! Thank you for this! Hopefully this wont be the last team ico video we will see. Patiently waiting for their next game :)
I hope so too!
I think the reason of why I like this game is because it feels like a game. It is a both simple and challenging game to play.
Wow, this was such incredible coverage of this beautiful game. I love your videos and look forward to many more! You deserve many more subscribers friend.
Beautiful video as always!
:D
Incredible work
awww, Trico... I'm in tears - again. Thank you.
Great video! Well said, thought out and put together.
Thank you
Great video as always, thanks for this!
:)
Your point about save mechanics adding more to a game's design than we realize, and how the total abandonment of them in modern games has lead to game design balance issues which used to take care of themselves via save point considerations, is something I hadn't thought of before. I have always missed save points... and what would Resident Evil be without it's "save room music"? But I have never thought as deeply about it as what you propose, and I really appreciate the point you make regarding that issue.
Bring them back, I say!
The time has finally come
Enjoy!
This game is really misunderstood in my opinion. Many reviewers critique Trico or the controls of the boy or the framerate or something else.
Honestly the only thing I dislike about these things is the control of the boy.
Yeah, sure, it serves a story purpose but sometimes it's really hard to play with him if you are so used to Shadow of the Colossus or Ico's controls.
Other than that
Really thank you for giving one of my favorite games justice.
In my opinion it is an masterpiece even if it is not perfect. People who say the game is "bad" just have to accept that the game is probably not for them.
If a game is not for me, I don't judge it as bad.
But many people just throw their opinion in the discussion about Last Guardian and completly miss the point.
So again:
Thank you for giving this game justice!
I agree I abouslty love this game but yeah the controls for the boy where kind of annoying at times
The wait for this game (And this video!!) was very worth it!! Please, consider doing something similar with Journey. That game is also such a piece of art with such a mysterious and fascinationg world and story. Thanks, man.
Noted!
Yes dude!!! Very excited to see what you have to say about this gem.
:)
Once again, thanks for your videos my dear friend
It makes me sad that people seem to completely forget about TLG when they talk about the best games of the last generation. Its like it got released and immediately forgotten by everyone. But to me its easily as important as SOTC or ICO. I think a lot of people bounced off it as much like Trico, the game makes you work for its best moments. Tricos AI is unlike any other ive ever come across, it genuinely feels like a living creature that operates on its on whims, and until you form a bond with it it continues to only kinda tolerate your presence. Also the ending is stunning, and my hat goes off to to Team ico for not doing the obvious route of killing Trico for emotional heft, but instead manipulating you into a altogether more heartbreaking kind of ending. TLG is a god damn masterpiece. Great video!
Just finished the game for 29th time. Even though I've lost a lot of interest in the game, I still come back to it once a year to play it out of respect. Because for me, it's my favorite game ever.
Amazing essay and such deep understanding of the game development process. If you're not a game designer then I don't know what are you doing with your life (youtube videos apparently) 🙃
Imma binge-watch this entire channel. 🖤
Another beautiful video
Thank you
great work.... i enjoyed this very much
Glad you enjoyed it
I just love your videos. They’re so intelligent.
When you say it's one your favoirte games of all time and one the best games of all time I completely agree in fact The Last Guardian is the kind of storyI would want too tell make if I where making games myself. Both Trico and the story are perfect. I love everything about the story from the themes of breaking from being controlled to bonding with another speices. The fact that the boy is leaded to believe these are horrible man eating creatures only too find out the truth that their being used and that are just another living creature once the amour comes off is just beautiful. And don't even get me started about the ending seriously that ending.
I was sold 1 second in with that disclaimer
I love this game. It's my favourite of the Team Ico trilogy. It was everything I hoped it to be. Shame that the rushed review schedule of big publications and RUclipss can't accomodate games like this.
yeah, I think this is legit the last bonafide AAA masterpiece we got.
7 years later and nothing touches this
Great work as usual.
Happy to hear you liked it!
:D
You get a sub this video was highly entertaining:)
I totally forgot about this game. Time to play it I guess.
This was one of the best game analyses I've ever seen
Thank you :)
great work
Thanks!
Amazing analysis as always, I loved it. I cannot wait to play your game and give you feedback. If you ever need to translate it to spanish I can help you as a little thanks for all the entertainment and great content you have provided me with. Thanks again and good luck!
Wonderful video! Never played this game but it always borderlined intriguing but not enough to justify a purchase.
I personally felt the clunky nature of the game almost added to it. I found it funny that Trico didn't instantly listen to everything you said.
This game isn't for everyone but I still found it to be perfect in its own way.
yeah :D
6 months ago? That explains why I haven't heard of this video before!
I will never forget this beautiful game in my life.
Making me tear up again, remembering the ending.
I utterly detest The Last Guardian. It is my least favorite game of the PS4 generation and it's trophies are utterly infuriating as a trophy hunter that it took me 4 full playthroughs in order to get the platinum.
and I say all that to say, I really enjoyed this video! Despite the game being my nemesis, I absolutely appreciate what the game did regarding what you mentioned at 42:00. It never even onced, in all my time playing it, crossed my mind to try and climb on Trico's crotch. and you beautifully explained well. Wonderful job and I appreciate the extensive work you did on finding footage of early prototype development as well as including lots of Ico and SotC footage.
I know I keep commenting here, but has anyone else noticed the visual similarities between the Master of the Valley in The Last Guardian and the large spheres near the main gate in Ico?
"A look back at". Remember how we were waiting for this game? Same can be said about Final Fantasy 15. How time flies.
I think it's a little bit different with Sony and Ueda. I think Ueda wanted to make another game for sony with this big scale. Sony Directions with big IPs and Franchises are now in the opposite direction of Uedas philosophy. they have no interest in studios with technical problems, long devolepments and a game design which is not for the masses.
money is always a concern but the lomg development cycles arent exactely a problem as we have several examples of sucessfull games being developep for 4/5 years. the important questions are: is team ICO too ambitious and are their type of games profitable enough to invest in?
while i love Ueda´s storytelling and worldbuilding i am not a big fan of the gameplay and rythm. Maybe because of that i believe their games could be made with small budgets and have the story still be impactfull.
It is my all time favorite game. It was the first game from Ueda that I played, and when Ive gone back and played his other two games, Ive liked them a lot, but for me they couldnt compare to this. That said whatever he is curently making is the game Im most excited about to come
i remember playing it as a 9 year old child, in 2014. i teared up when trico died at the end. i remember struggling with the game because i couldnt figure some stages out, but it introduced me to videogames. the gameplay was amazing, i look back to playing through it again :)
@@cynically_insane the first two sentences doesnt make much sense. Also you have a rickroll vid on your channel so I guess you are trolling
@@arnevesper imagine, assuming im a troll based on a rickroll. also, it’s don’t, not “doesn’t”. why don’t they make sense? i am currently 16 years old, do your math
@@cynically_insane relax. I checked your channel and saw the rickroll, and I checked because you wrote two major faults, which made me question if you were a troll. And the spellcheck, lol, just relax. The game came out late 2016 and he didnt die in the end. And thats why I thought you could be a troll
@@arnevesper damn, i must have messed up the dates, i assumed my age based on the game release date (i thought its 2014). my mistake
Bro whaaat? They planned to do Shadow of the Colossus Multiplayer on a PS2 System? Team Ico is kinda goated.
Goated indeeda
I played this game when it came out, I was part of the seemingly vocal minority that experienced Trico's AI near constantly failing to work as intended. When I finally finished the game I felt relief only because my frustration had come to an end. It wasn't until years later that I learned people actually liked and/or loved this game. My experience was so sour that I honestly have no desire to touch it again, even "just to see". You made a great video, and I love your content. In this particular case I just felt like sharing my experience. I'm sure the game is very great when working as intended, but that wasn't my experience so I figured I'd share.
that sucks.
I hate when that happens to me, I hit a hit in Nier Automata where the narrative just stopped progressing and since I wasn't in the mood to replay the entire game again, I haven't been able to "get it" to this day.
@@AesirAesthetics you're really missing out!
I hope you can finish it one day, it's the most profoundly affecting experience I've ever had while holding a game controller in my hands, bar none.
The trick to a Fumito Ueda game is matching the pacing of the game and moving the sprites in a way that makes sense for their physicality as opposed to just an inanimate tool in an arbitrary environment.
I found that keeping Trico well groomed & removing the blood from his wounds, he will listen to you a lot better than if you neglect him & leave him looking like a wreck. I've played through the game many times & I've never had a frustrating struggle getting Trico to do what is needed. I contribute that to taking care of him & giving him attention. Just something to think about should you ever give the game another try.
@@AesirAesthetics I'm not sure I quite understand "Neir Automata". But I played through the game enough times that I leveled to 99 which makes the default sword so powerful you can wipe out any enemy or boss with it. Probably the most memorable thing for me in the game is something I've tried but failed at so far...beating a secret final boss which requires you to battle the end credits as they scroll onto the screen.
"The boy's nostalgia makes things more fantastic than they really were." sounds like a statement that can be applied to many things.
43:47 R1+X doesn't order Trico to go down, it orders him to stop or cancel the previous order. At first I made the same conclusion you did, since the game doesn't name each individual command, so it's safe to assume it imitates the boy for each one. This is true for 3 out of the 4, (though you also say R1+∆ makes him go up but not exactly, since it actually makes Trico jump), but this isn't true for R1+X since it makes the boy do a feet stomping motion, in no way indicating a downward movement. So I tested it out, because on almost no circumstance does it seem to work or matter, but I had my opportunity when Trico was jumping through pillars and I accidentally directed him back the same path, despite directing him back up he kept going down, so I did the R1+X and, lo and behold, Trico stopped.
In 1 month and 2 days it will be Icos 20th anniversary, I am excited
I want to play the game before watching this video but I'll leave a like since I know I'll like it when I watch it
Great analysis as always! BTW where we can learn more about your game? Like what genre it is or what mechanics are you gonna implement in it?
I will have a video going over it in a few weeks when I release the playable test
@@AesirAesthetics Thanks, also are you planning on changing the artstyle/sprites/assets of your game in the future? In my opinion, the graphics look very empty and kinda creepy.
@@BlyeRedandWhite I dont know yet.
I have a very good idea of what parts of game design I enjoy but since I've never actually released anything I've made for people to play, I haven't got a clue about what parts of my games (if any) resonate with people.
The point of releasing the little test game will be to get feedback before I finally assemble the codes I've been writing for the past months into a cohesive game.
@@AesirAesthetics Man, I can't wait to see your prototype in the future!
@@BlyeRedandWhite :)
Imagine being the muppet that disliked this XD
To be fair, I did kinda ask for it on Twitter
This game proves art direction can push a game incredibly far
6:45 forever ago, I took an intro to computer science course at my university as an elective. Thought it would be fun. I remember one project was making a plane take off and land. Y=(x*V,Z) = Why did I sign up for this. I can't even imagine what the team working on Trico did for stress release lmao.
the people that rate this game highly must have had a much different experience to me. the thing I remember most about it is quitting some %70 through because it felt like I was fighting against the game instead of playing it.
Animals always get you right in the feels. More games need to tap into players base instincts like caring for an animal companion to make their stories memorable and stories that stick with you long after your finished with the games.
I think games like last of us 2 did the exact opposite of this and because we already DO NOT like the character we are forced to play as they add on top of that mess with an extended dog killing section to drive home that this is our new hero I guess??
nobody expects the trico crotch conversation
lol
Will you ever do reviews on mgs or the zelda games or hell resident evil?
I did a video on Metal Gear Solid 1 as well as a Link to the Past, Ocairna and Majora's Mask.
@@AesirAesthetics oh shit awesome ill go look those out thanks man
what was the last risktaking Indie-game? Outer wilds?
I dont think there are much more risktaking games than in the AA-field. but I hope I'm wrong about that.
When I say Indie, I'm talking about tiny one man studios releasing something on itch
@@AesirAesthetics yeah but I dont see there not much more than the obvious names with Lucas Pope or Jonathan Blow. maybe I'm wrong.
I think outer wilds should definitely qualify as indie
What is the music for this video
❤ I adore this game. ❤
1st time seen no dislikes wonderful great 😃
'the final Team Ico game....'
😰
GenDesign is our new crush
“BUUUUUUUUEEEEEEttt” 1:43
Lol :)
Ooooohhhhhh maaaann
1:00:00
I feel really sad when I remember this game.
Ico is not that famous, but it is considered an amazing game, and people in general have a good view about the game. Not the case here.
I think we have to praise games like this one. Each game has their time, ok? I love Assassins Creed Odyssey, because it allows me to create dozens of builds and experiment them in a massive open world. I LOVE, SIMPLY LOVE The Division 2, because it has one of the best AIs in any shooter, has amazing well balanced combat, and a huge amount of build variety. I love FF XV because it is the game with the most organic and believable characters I've seen in a game, with a gameplay so deep is can make me play it with hundreds of hours.
If you want to make it feel like reality, like Last of Us 2, then go for it.
However, Ueda's games are so unique, so different, that I think we should embrace and love them as much as we can, we need to encourage developers to try new stuff.
The Division 2 is amazing, also unique, sure, but what makes Ueda's games so interesting is that the fundamentals are very different from most games out there, just like the Souls series. We need more variety in the industry, even though there is already a lot of variety.
I completely disagree with you that triple A games are becoming worse over time. The Last os Us 2 has amazing combat, that feels real and grounded in reality. Metal Gear Solid V and Death Stranding also have refined gameplay and a lot of room for player expression. Dark Souls games. Devil May Cry 5. The new Resident Evil games, specially RE 2 Remake. Shadow of War is an amazing example of story telling through its gameplay loop. The new God Of War also has a really interesting unique combat. Watch Dogs 2 has a very dynamic world, way more than GTA V and Red Dead Redemption, and besides many flaws of Watch Dogs Legions, that game has some very ambitious ideas. FF 7 Remake with its amazing combat system. Freaking Monster Hunter World.
Ico was so simple, that it did not need button prompts for us to know how to play it. The moment it got complicated, they added that to Shadow and Last Guardian.
Ico used the bench as an amazing save system, but that became useless later on in the game.
Dark Souls and Bloodborne are so simple we don't need a text to explain how it works, which is why Sekiro has is... how the hell are you supposed to learn how that posture bar works?
What I mean is that some games have to be designed from the ground to accommodate to these different approaches to game (like Shadow of the Colossus). Dark Souls makes you play the game slowly, which is why it is way more intuitive to tell the story through the art of the level, specially how like Bloodborne does. Now go to Division 2, explore the world and learn that is also has dozens of story telling through its level design, just like Souls games, however, because Division 2 is a looter shooter game, it has audio files everywhere, because that fits more with the genre of the game, because players need the audio to assure they can see the world has a lore to it. Sekiro also reduces a lot the story telling through the map and visuals, probably because you jump around and move fast.
One of the gods of tutorials, Dark Souls, had to move to the conventional "pause your game" to teach the player, because Sekiro got complicated like most other games.
This is why I hate that old video from Mark Brown, where he says every game should follow the tutorial of Half Life 2. HL2 is kinda like Ico, or Souls... much more simple. And in the case of HL2, very linear, making it easier to teach without pausing your game. Now go try to explain the phase dodge from FF XV without a proper text, where holding the dodge button makes you automatically dodge, the more you hold the more MP it costs, some attacks can only be evaded by manual dodge...
You don't need to reinvent the wheel to be creative. FF XIV has amazing creativity to its boss design, even though the entire game is meant to be a Final Fantasy WOW. Horizon Zero Dawn follows many video game trends, but the entire art direction is extremely unique, and the creativity behind the robots is just insane. FF XV has a big part of its story impact related to the road trip, and how the gameplay is a cycle of waking up, do whatever you want, and sleep, but before that, go see the pictures Prompto took during the day - You start to make your journey through the pictures you took, and just before the end, you choose one picture to take with you, making you remember all the good and bad moments you had during the journey, by scrolling every single picture. Even if a game is not as original as Last Guardian, it can still have a lot of creativity behind it.
Thank you for the video ❤I’m going to watch the trilogy
enjoy :D
Ah yes, I never considered the game design implications of Trico's crotch hair until now
Lol
But what about Tricos butthole? It has a one and you can pet it😅
Intriguing...
I'm so sad it was team Icos last game, they'd be able to make such amazing things with what we have today.
GenDesigns next game surely rock.
When it arrives
The ending of this game is the most powerful one of all the 3, although it's the game of the trilogy I like the least. Fantastic game, it just doesn't have nothing compared to its siblings.
Ueda is a MF genius.
I've try 3 times to play this game but everysingle time, around 2 hours of gameplay i start to get bored. Because i really enjoy playing Shadow of the Collosus, i bought this game thinking i would love as well, but, i dont know, this game just didn't click for me. Maybe someday i'll try again and maybe next time it will click.
If you can, play it through with someone else. It turned out to be a *very* special game for me, that way
I’m not gonna lie, I never thought of Trico’s crotch before seeing this video haha
What is fumito ueda and the developers doing now?
ueda founded gen design and is working in a game
People loved Argo because we all felt the loss Artax in The Never-ending Story.