The lightsaber is a visual way of seeing that Ico has magic within him. The manual and these details help in this understanding. But what kind of magic? The monsters in the game, the queen, all revolve around a kind of shadow energy, while Yorda, doors and weapons work with the energy of light. Ico falls under the magic of shadows. The shadows melting in his dream is a representation of his power to sense presence. Have you ever thought that something similar must happen to the shadows or even the queen? Every time Yorda got close to the main gate, the queen received a kind of sense. The shadows just wait for Ico to leave and know exactly where Yorda is.
@_jose_antonio_ There’s a lot that's hard to pin down about magic in ICO. That's why I haven't had the confidence to make a video detailing it yet. The most confusing thing is how Yorda is freed from stone and becomes a Shadow. The capsules, powered by their sacrifices, shoot bright lightning into her, which is, Light Magic. So do the sacrifices each contain a bit of Light Magic? But then the lightning results in her having a Dark form, and that makes it even more unclear. I do think the other sacrifices/shadows can sense her too. That's a pretty straightforward mechanic of combat that gains new meaning when you see it happening through Ico.
@@Mystic_Ode Personally I don't think there's a distinction between light and dark magic, they both are two sides of the same coin. The shadows and queen's petrification pulse both have that cyan light that is so distinctive (although the petrification pulse is more green which is unique in ico and sotc). Dormin also has cyan eyes despite being made of shadow
@@ASapphicKitsune I believe there are distinctions, but I also believe the line is allowed to be blurred. That there can be a yin-yang of both Light and Dark. But they are distinguished as Light and Dark for good reason. The Queen's Sword, The Main Gate Orbs, The Sacrifical Capsules, each of these objects lash out with bright white Lightning effects. But though the Queen has these thin black rippling strands of lightning that tether into the ground, she never uses a similar power herself. She solely uses abilities that are signaled by that seafoam green color. She never opens an Idol Door, she just teleports. I think she doesn't have any Light Magic to use for herself, and that is important to the narrative somehow. So in my eyes it's worth separating.
I don't have a strong opinion on this. Because we can consider that shadow magic is a kind of stronger light magic, just like blue fire. This would explain the queen having this type of magic, and Yorda gaining it at the end of the game, since she is receiving the power from the offerings and from her own mother. But if this is true, Ico should have stronger magic than Yorda, even if in smaller quantities. I don't get that, unless Yorda is repressing her powers, which I also don't get since she barely opens the gate. That's why what I believe most is that they are different but compatible magics. Returning to the example of the lightsaber, Yorda has a lot of light energy, but Ico, even though he has dark magic, still manifests light magic. Maybe because he had contact with Yorda, who knows? Or maybe everyone has it. Maybe because dark magic is physically stronger, the queen prioritized it, and possibly she is the strongest because she has both types. At the end of the game, Yorda is paralyzed just so that the ritual of moving the queen's mind to Yorda's body can be performed. That's why she is bombarded with shadow energy from the horned boys so that the queen has the same strength as her old body. However, because Ico killed her before, Yorda just became super powerful. Because she didn't know how to control herself, she ended up using her strength and destroying the castle. That would be my logical interpretation of the game's events.
I even remember theories that talk about Shadow of the Colossus. We must remember that the curse of the horned boys began because Wander ended up fragmenting Dormin into a curse, diluting much more than 16 Colossus. But we can remember that the shamans possessed this kind of light energy, and that Dormin was manifested in a male voice at the end of the game even though it had two voices throughout the game. I really believe that the most logical thing would be that the female part clung to Mono, since she was the only one left, this would fulfill her destiny, it would explain the abandonment by the shamans. This would explain Mono without any surprise with the whole situation. With the objective of reuniting Dormin again, Mono began this ritual of capturing the horned boys who have parts of Dormin and passing them to her daughter's body in the process. This is the part where I feel most firm in the connection between the franchises, since I'm not sure where The Last Guardian would fit into this, things like human technology and the most primitive form of the Master of the Valley make me think that it takes place before Shadow. Still, it's another good parallel of light and shadow energy, and finally the announced game, which I consider either the beginning that explains how everything originated, or most likely the end of everything, we can think of this by the advanced technology itself, have you ever stopped to think that human technology is a clue to the temporality of the franchise?
Cool theory, I never thought to look more closely at this camera mechanic in particular. One counterpoint I would have for why the camera finds the sword during the final boss is that the sword makes a noise when it lands after being flung out of Ico's hands; him knowing where it is could easily be explained by him hearing where it lands, I think. Granted, that doesn't explain why he still calls out when you press the button. I'm inclined to believe that the calling out is just a result of how the mechanic is implemented, but I appreciate your interpretation regardless
@@loosemagoose There are situations where Ico can hit the R1 button and not call out. For instance, if he is hanging from a ledge. In that case the camera moves, but no call sound is made. I assume something similar could’ve been accomplished here to stop the call sound at least. To your credit, perhaps the difficulty was finding/creating an animation to replace the shouting animation? And so if he seemed to be shouting, without the sound playing, it would be more jarring? Even so, I believe they would’ve attempted this and we might’ve seen a difference of some kind between the NTSC-U and NTSC-J Sword Call Mechanic, if that were really the case. (And I don’t remember with 100% clarity right now, but I think there’s no difference in the way the camera turns towards the sword as Ico shouts, between versions. I’m trying to confirm it as I type, but I think I lost some saves so I may have to replay the game to check properly.) The months between the American and Japanese releases were prime time to make adjustments and tweak anything the devs didn’t like. Not to say they got everything they wanted to fix in that time, but certainly the major offenders.
@@Mystic_Ode You might be right that they could have fixed it between version releases if it was considered an issue, and I'll take your word for the version differences, as I've only ever played the PS3 HD collection version of the game. Too many unknowns for me to feel strongly one way or the other (or maybe it is known and I'm just ignorant to the answer). I do wonder though, now that you bring up how it works when he's hanging from a ledge, do you have an idea as to why sometimes he would need to call out to "sense" Yorda's location and sometimes not?
@ Something notable about the times where he can’t shout is that Yorda is not programmed to respond to most of them. (The exception is if Ico in his ‘hand extended waiting to grab her on the other side of a gap’ animation, because usually when he does that she can see him anyway, and she’s responding to seeing him do it. He doesn’t need to call when pressing R1 in that situation.) If Ico is hanging on a ledge or gripping a box and he holds R1, the camera will point to Yorda, but Ico doesn’t call, so she won’t do anything. The call, at least for Yorda, is just to actually signal her over. It isn’t needed to sense her, evidently, but it’s what Ico knows to do. …I would perhaps justify him calling out to sense her after she’s gone as a psychological association he has made. Theoretically, he could sense her without needing to call, maybe all it requires is the kind of will and intent that comes naturally when vocalizing like that. He could keep that intent in his mind, without acting on it, and get the same results. But he doesn’t know that, he’s 13, and he’s emotional. He’s going to scream at the stones, and the clouds, and the rain.
@@Mystic_Ode Interesting, I think from that perspective it would make sense that he might feel the need to call out to the sword, even if it's not a necessary step. Like, since he's in a life or death situation with the queen, he resorts to the method of locating it that he knows will work most consistently and reliably, assuming he's not 100% confident in his abilities. Thanks for the detailed responses. I always like learning more about the intricacies of games that are important to me. Gonna have to look at your other stuff on this channel as well
A wonderful gift for the end of the year, thank you! I think that the evolution of this mechanic throughout the game represents the the connection itself, as it forms between the two. Ico can call for help when he is alone in the beginning, but nothing comes out of it, he is still alone. After the deja vu dream sequence, Ico steps into Yorda's dream, forms a sympathy and understanding for her just by the act of seeing with her eyes. And after that, he is never completely alone, his call for help finds a recipient in the form of Yorda, and she always pulls his attention in the direction of what is the most vital thing to get out. Which is mostly Yorda herself, as both the goal and the fail-state in any part of the castle are connected to her. And when you can't help her anymore, she helps Ico find the sword, it being the "next best thing" that the current goal and Ico's salvation relies upon. So for me, the source of the ability is both of them - one to call, and one to answer. For the nature of the connection in-game, lore-wise, it's hard to tell. Perhaps Ico is the source of a physical act, and Yorda is the "supernatural" part of the equation, using the Light magic to pull his focus. When Yorda is being dragged by the shadows out of frame, she instigates the connection herself, without Ico's call, because it's urgent for him to help her, so the camera directs us to her location without an R1 button. But only two of them combined form the whole mechanic. The sad magical girl and the brave proactive boy build a connection that is deeper than words, it transcends the castle that entraps them. Maybe it's the most important mechanic of this game thematically. Thanks again, the analysis is very thoughtful and stimulating, for some reason I never noticed that Yorda stays asleep when Ico talks to her for the first time! Happy New Year!
I feel that this R1 camera function is one of those trick that ueda use to complement a useful gameplay mechanic with lore and world building: to me it feels like the intention is to tell to the player about the boy's magical abilities given by the horns to perceive yorda from everywhere in the castle, like you said, and that was held true throughout the most of the game except for the beginning (which wouldn't make sense since yorda and the boy have yet to meet) and during the queen bossfight where such a mechanic would have only interfered, so the devs decided to target the sword instead maintaining the continuity of this camera function only gameplay wise. This is what my gut feeling is telling me, there's not much more than a clever way to combine gameplay with lore. Nice video
The lyrics in the song You Were Here say 'countless visions haunt me in my sleep.' It seems like the song was sung by Ico after the ending but I thought it was worth mentioning.
@@couchpotato3197 The lyrics of the song were written by Lynne Hobday. Lynne was a complete outsider to development, only being given a summary of the plot and some guidelines. We can assume the presence of the word ‘nonomori’ was dictated by Team ICO in the guidelines, but we’re left in the dark as to what else was their specific contribution. (The word ‘nonomori’ is spoken by Yorda in the game, and means ‘Thank You’, so the proper use of it in the song would point to Yorda being the singer, if it is from the perspective of any one character.)
@@Mystic_OdeI was listening to the song again because of your videos and I have a completely unrelated question but do we know what the weird sounds are at the beginning and end of the song?
@@couchpotato3197 I don't know that there's ever been confirmation for all the instrumentation used in the opening and ending of the track, but I know it sounds like wind chimes and various woodwinds+synths.
@@Mystic_Ode NP, I'm just really passionate about that game in particular since the first time I've beat it. I actually have a poster of art from ICO in my room, and I don't do posters on the wall often
When you mentioned their dream, I remembered that interview about ICO's ending where Ueda says something about it all being a wishful dream of Ico finding Yorda at the beach. I don't know if it could contribute somehow to your view of Ico having some extraordinary perception. Maybe it's premonitory, he dreams of finding her at that spot and that's why we can press R1 to know where Yorda would be, based on what he dreamed (?).
6:25 Fun fact. During gameplay (which I thought needed a small change) when Yorda is far away from you, she's not reacting to ICO's voice but rather the R1 button before she approach him.
Its a cool theory. One thing it misses is the formation of the bonding Ico-Yorda: The touching hands. Only exception would be the introductory scene, but after that point forward Ico guides Yorda by grabing her hand. And just before the last part of the game the bond seems to "break" as Ico falls to the ocean. However, if the bond didnt break but rather became stronger one might understand why the camera follows Yorda even after the fall and in the boss room. While Ico guided her through the castle she guides him in the final battle. It might seem the Queen had taken Yorda's life force, however the bond she shares with Ico remains, thats how her stone body guides him to the room and why the camera follows the sword. The sword is held with the hand that Ico was hanging on before the fall, hence Yorda, wherever she is might be guiding Ico towards the sword by the same mechanic he guided her the entire time, by the hand. In essence: Holding hands is the key to the formation of the bond between Ico and Yorda, so by the same mechanism Yorda guides Ico in the boss room by their last point of contact they had: the hand that Ico holds his sword with. So then the camera follows the bond they made rather than any other kind of trace
It's a very valid theory and I really think that these R1narrative in mechanics are true (I think it's a great study of game design too, after all, it's a very ingenious way of implementing narrative within the mechanics). But I also think that if that were the case, we would definitely have materials or things that would imply that R1's mechanics are narrative... Or something like that. But, anyway, makes sense. Amazing video and amazing analysis!!
What if Yorda is the one responsible for the camera? Like she guides Ico, even when turned into stone, her magic somehow still shows him the way? I don't think that Ico himself has power over magic. His unnatural endurance is connected to him being a horned being. But I see his horns as mutation of the body not magical power. He represents more traditionaly masculine archetype of physicaly strong character and Yorda is more traditionaly feminine archetype of physicaly weaker character with mystical, mysterious powers of the supernatural origin. Other even dumber theory I came up with is that we don't play as Ico directly. Rather we as player are kinda like guiding hand of fate or destiny that pushes Ico into the right direction. Man that sounds dumb. In my defence I have a slight fever and Im writing this at 4 a.m XD.
Looking at how, in Shadow of the Colossus, the main character (who is the same as in Ico, I know) has a way of tracking the colossus that makes sense in universe, the sword... idk, it could be, not saying it is, just that it could
I do wish for a narrative explanation and I would be happy with it if it weren’t for one wrinkle, you might be better suited to answer the following question. Does R1 behavior “Always” point to “objective”? I get that R1 points to the girl and that it even tracks beyond map loads, but to me, that falls under the “make player not lose yorda”, as for the behavior of R1 during times or places where there is no in-game explanation for the boy to know Yorda’s location, it seems to me a developers check mark for a map (R1 points players to objective direction) I think R1 temporarily pointing to the sword is less to do with an in-narrative explanation of the boys powers and more of a (yorda is no longer objective, make R1 point to objective in this map) perhaps the answer can be found by exploring any other behaviors of R1, but the limitation of 3 states (nothing, camera to Yorda, camera to sword) suggests a highly controlled feature meant to guide the player and less of a narrative tool. I’ll need to see R1 exhibit “extra” behaviors before I believe its use has narrative ramifications.
@@lilnoobito Well there is something else that R1 does, and I neglected to bring it up because it was really obvious to me as a frequent player of the game. R1 is often called the “Yorda button” by players, not just because it points the camera to her and calls her over, but because when she’s close, it’s the button you use to hold her hand. Note as well that picking up items or gripping pushable objects (like boxes, turn switches, and trolley carts) is always O, so the function of R1 is clearly distinguished from the typical interactions Ico performs with his hands. You hold it to extend your hand over gaps and catch her, you use it to pull her out of a Shadowy nest of darkness, and you use it to give her a lift up high walls. Yes, these also ultimately tie into ‘objectives’ of escaping together but when your primary use of the button is to hold the girl’s hand, the button’s overall purpose is less remembered as a player guiding tool and more associated with the NPC that 99% of its programming is attached to. I didn’t bring up these uses in the video because they neither added nor subtracted from my investigation of why the R1 camera moves like it does when she’s away. Remember as well, this feature isn’t active before you meet her. Some players could’ve actually used a direction to be pointed in for the first room of the game, because it is a vast area, and the camera doesn’t draw attention to the exit very well. It’s so strictly tied to her, and exclusively her, that the sword mechanic really comes out of left field, and makes you wonder why it was added. I’ve seen many people beat the boss without ever knowing the function existed. No manual ever mentions it. No visual design prompts it. And no player would intuitively try to hit R1 to look for an objective because, to them, it is ingrained in the mind as the Yorda button. I don’t think that fact was lost on the designers.
Ludonarrative interpretation tends to be overthinking but I definitely appreciate the effort before it becomes cliche. I wonder who is represented by the camera actually, if we really need to find out “who”. I’d say the castle itself could be the one instead of our boy Ico, that doesn’t explain the camerawork on the beach though
@@liplepeoberty5815 It was definitely the kind of thing that, once I noticed it, and was left to think about it, it just got harder to dismiss. This video wasn’t going to be about the narrative, initially, but the evidence really started to build against me. Because, like I alluded to in the video, this feature is extraneous. It’s entirely unnecessary for most of the late game stages. The map geometry guides every player exactly where they need to be, and I know that because I’ve watched over 75 playthroughs where the R1 camera was not needed to tell people “You should head in the only direction you can go.” I have, however, seen people get lost in the very first chamber, before the R1 camera is active. They could’ve used a hand in finding the exit to that stage, but it wasn’t added there because it wasn’t really about that. I found myself thinking, “ICO is a game that famously cuts the down on the unnecessary and this is a feature they added… for whose benefit?” Like I said in the video: “No one would complain if they hadn’t.” This was a result of intrinsic motivation. Done for consistency, it seems. Because if the camera stopped tracking Yorda after Ico’s fall, something (other than player experience) would be compromised. I figured it had to be the narrative. This also wouldn’t be the first time the devs did something so unnecessary for the sake of creating a consistent world. I have a video focusing on the game’s physics that makes a good case for that.
That said, I like the inconsistency in Final Boss fight that R1 focuses on the sword, it sacrifices the consistency here, serving the basic gameplay purpose instead of focusing on the outside of the boss room where Yorda is in.
The entire deja vu cutscene is so weird to me, I wonder if it was moved at some point and was meant to be encountered later. There's also an unused shadow called 'enemymodel_deja' which uses a unique shader and one of the models of the cut shinkan enemies
@@ASapphicKitsune The earliest storyboards we have from June 2000 imply it shows up exactly where it was meant to show up. Going back any earlier than that means we're talking about ICO's development plans on PS1 and that had a very different structural setup. There was one note margin that implied, in the PS1 concepts, that Ico would be able to spot/hear Yorda through a crack in the wall before meeting her proper. In that sense, there's always been this idea that the player should know something of her before first interacting with her.
@@Mystic_Ode oh right I forgot, GlitterBerri and I were speaking about that some months back. Yes I believe Yorda would be found in a different room and the boy would hear her singing through the crack. (definitely a reference to Horus/Hols since Hilda in that is found by the protagonist singing)
Bro is consistenly making Nomad-level of content about ICO and thought we wouldn't notice.
5:16 wait WHAT?
DAMN this just makes the cutscene before it more meaningful!!
The lightsaber is a visual way of seeing that Ico has magic within him. The manual and these details help in this understanding. But what kind of magic? The monsters in the game, the queen, all revolve around a kind of shadow energy, while Yorda, doors and weapons work with the energy of light. Ico falls under the magic of shadows. The shadows melting in his dream is a representation of his power to sense presence. Have you ever thought that something similar must happen to the shadows or even the queen? Every time Yorda got close to the main gate, the queen received a kind of sense. The shadows just wait for Ico to leave and know exactly where Yorda is.
@_jose_antonio_ There’s a lot that's hard to pin down about magic in ICO. That's why I haven't had the confidence to make a video detailing it yet. The most confusing thing is how Yorda is freed from stone and becomes a Shadow. The capsules, powered by their sacrifices, shoot bright lightning into her, which is, Light Magic. So do the sacrifices each contain a bit of Light Magic? But then the lightning results in her having a Dark form, and that makes it even more unclear.
I do think the other sacrifices/shadows can sense her too. That's a pretty straightforward mechanic of combat that gains new meaning when you see it happening through Ico.
@@Mystic_Ode Personally I don't think there's a distinction between light and dark magic, they both are two sides of the same coin. The shadows and queen's petrification pulse both have that cyan light that is so distinctive (although the petrification pulse is more green which is unique in ico and sotc). Dormin also has cyan eyes despite being made of shadow
@@ASapphicKitsune I believe there are distinctions, but I also believe the line is allowed to be blurred. That there can be a yin-yang of both Light and Dark. But they are distinguished as Light and Dark for good reason. The Queen's Sword, The Main Gate Orbs, The Sacrifical Capsules, each of these objects lash out with bright white Lightning effects.
But though the Queen has these thin black rippling strands of lightning that tether into the ground, she never uses a similar power herself. She solely uses abilities that are signaled by that seafoam green color. She never opens an Idol Door, she just teleports. I think she doesn't have any Light Magic to use for herself, and that is important to the narrative somehow. So in my eyes it's worth separating.
I don't have a strong opinion on this. Because we can consider that shadow magic is a kind of stronger light magic, just like blue fire. This would explain the queen having this type of magic, and Yorda gaining it at the end of the game, since she is receiving the power from the offerings and from her own mother. But if this is true, Ico should have stronger magic than Yorda, even if in smaller quantities. I don't get that, unless Yorda is repressing her powers, which I also don't get since she barely opens the gate. That's why what I believe most is that they are different but compatible magics. Returning to the example of the lightsaber, Yorda has a lot of light energy, but Ico, even though he has dark magic, still manifests light magic. Maybe because he had contact with Yorda, who knows? Or maybe everyone has it. Maybe because dark magic is physically stronger, the queen prioritized it, and possibly she is the strongest because she has both types. At the end of the game, Yorda is paralyzed just so that the ritual of moving the queen's mind to Yorda's body can be performed. That's why she is bombarded with shadow energy from the horned boys so that the queen has the same strength as her old body. However, because Ico killed her before, Yorda just became super powerful. Because she didn't know how to control herself, she ended up using her strength and destroying the castle. That would be my logical interpretation of the game's events.
I even remember theories that talk about Shadow of the Colossus. We must remember that the curse of the horned boys began because Wander ended up fragmenting Dormin into a curse, diluting much more than 16 Colossus. But we can remember that the shamans possessed this kind of light energy, and that Dormin was manifested in a male voice at the end of the game even though it had two voices throughout the game. I really believe that the most logical thing would be that the female part clung to Mono, since she was the only one left, this would fulfill her destiny, it would explain the abandonment by the shamans. This would explain Mono without any surprise with the whole situation. With the objective of reuniting Dormin again, Mono began this ritual of capturing the horned boys who have parts of Dormin and passing them to her daughter's body in the process. This is the part where I feel most firm in the connection between the franchises, since I'm not sure where The Last Guardian would fit into this, things like human technology and the most primitive form of the Master of the Valley make me think that it takes place before Shadow. Still, it's another good parallel of light and shadow energy, and finally the announced game, which I consider either the beginning that explains how everything originated, or most likely the end of everything, we can think of this by the advanced technology itself, have you ever stopped to think that human technology is a clue to the temporality of the franchise?
Cool theory, I never thought to look more closely at this camera mechanic in particular. One counterpoint I would have for why the camera finds the sword during the final boss is that the sword makes a noise when it lands after being flung out of Ico's hands; him knowing where it is could easily be explained by him hearing where it lands, I think. Granted, that doesn't explain why he still calls out when you press the button. I'm inclined to believe that the calling out is just a result of how the mechanic is implemented, but I appreciate your interpretation regardless
@@loosemagoose There are situations where Ico can hit the R1 button and not call out. For instance, if he is hanging from a ledge. In that case the camera moves, but no call sound is made. I assume something similar could’ve been accomplished here to stop the call sound at least.
To your credit, perhaps the difficulty was finding/creating an animation to replace the shouting animation? And so if he seemed to be shouting, without the sound playing, it would be more jarring? Even so, I believe they would’ve attempted this and we might’ve seen a difference of some kind between the NTSC-U and NTSC-J Sword Call Mechanic, if that were really the case. (And I don’t remember with 100% clarity right now, but I think there’s no difference in the way the camera turns towards the sword as Ico shouts, between versions. I’m trying to confirm it as I type, but I think I lost some saves so I may have to replay the game to check properly.)
The months between the American and Japanese releases were prime time to make adjustments and tweak anything the devs didn’t like. Not to say they got everything they wanted to fix in that time, but certainly the major offenders.
@@Mystic_Ode You might be right that they could have fixed it between version releases if it was considered an issue, and I'll take your word for the version differences, as I've only ever played the PS3 HD collection version of the game. Too many unknowns for me to feel strongly one way or the other (or maybe it is known and I'm just ignorant to the answer).
I do wonder though, now that you bring up how it works when he's hanging from a ledge, do you have an idea as to why sometimes he would need to call out to "sense" Yorda's location and sometimes not?
@ Something notable about the times where he can’t shout is that Yorda is not programmed to respond to most of them. (The exception is if Ico in his ‘hand extended waiting to grab her on the other side of a gap’ animation, because usually when he does that she can see him anyway, and she’s responding to seeing him do it. He doesn’t need to call when pressing R1 in that situation.)
If Ico is hanging on a ledge or gripping a box and he holds R1, the camera will point to Yorda, but Ico doesn’t call, so she won’t do anything. The call, at least for Yorda, is just to actually signal her over. It isn’t needed to sense her, evidently, but it’s what Ico knows to do. …I would perhaps justify him calling out to sense her after she’s gone as a psychological association he has made. Theoretically, he could sense her without needing to call, maybe all it requires is the kind of will and intent that comes naturally when vocalizing like that. He could keep that intent in his mind, without acting on it, and get the same results. But he doesn’t know that, he’s 13, and he’s emotional. He’s going to scream at the stones, and the clouds, and the rain.
@@Mystic_Ode Interesting, I think from that perspective it would make sense that he might feel the need to call out to the sword, even if it's not a necessary step. Like, since he's in a life or death situation with the queen, he resorts to the method of locating it that he knows will work most consistently and reliably, assuming he's not 100% confident in his abilities.
Thanks for the detailed responses. I always like learning more about the intricacies of games that are important to me. Gonna have to look at your other stuff on this channel as well
A wonderful gift for the end of the year, thank you! I think that the evolution of this mechanic throughout the game represents the the connection itself, as it forms between the two. Ico can call for help when he is alone in the beginning, but nothing comes out of it, he is still alone. After the deja vu dream sequence, Ico steps into Yorda's dream, forms a sympathy and understanding for her just by the act of seeing with her eyes. And after that, he is never completely alone, his call for help finds a recipient in the form of Yorda, and she always pulls his attention in the direction of what is the most vital thing to get out. Which is mostly Yorda herself, as both the goal and the fail-state in any part of the castle are connected to her. And when you can't help her anymore, she helps Ico find the sword, it being the "next best thing" that the current goal and Ico's salvation relies upon. So for me, the source of the ability is both of them - one to call, and one to answer. For the nature of the connection in-game, lore-wise, it's hard to tell. Perhaps Ico is the source of a physical act, and Yorda is the "supernatural" part of the equation, using the Light magic to pull his focus. When Yorda is being dragged by the shadows out of frame, she instigates the connection herself, without Ico's call, because it's urgent for him to help her, so the camera directs us to her location without an R1 button. But only two of them combined form the whole mechanic. The sad magical girl and the brave proactive boy build a connection that is deeper than words, it transcends the castle that entraps them. Maybe it's the most important mechanic of this game thematically. Thanks again, the analysis is very thoughtful and stimulating, for some reason I never noticed that Yorda stays asleep when Ico talks to her for the first time! Happy New Year!
I feel that this R1 camera function is one of those trick that ueda use to complement a useful gameplay mechanic with lore and world building: to me it feels like the intention is to tell to the player about the boy's magical abilities given by the horns to perceive yorda from everywhere in the castle, like you said, and that was held true throughout the most of the game except for the beginning (which wouldn't make sense since yorda and the boy have yet to meet) and during the queen bossfight where such a mechanic would have only interfered, so the devs decided to target the sword instead maintaining the continuity of this camera function only gameplay wise. This is what my gut feeling is telling me, there's not much more than a clever way to combine gameplay with lore. Nice video
10:05 You've reached a good point, the powers"that the curse of the horn brings. I've read this passage before and it made me think about it.
This game is so good
The lyrics in the song You Were Here say 'countless visions haunt me in my sleep.' It seems like the song was sung by Ico after the ending but I thought it was worth mentioning.
@@couchpotato3197 The lyrics of the song were written by Lynne Hobday. Lynne was a complete outsider to development, only being given a summary of the plot and some guidelines. We can assume the presence of the word ‘nonomori’ was dictated by Team ICO in the guidelines, but we’re left in the dark as to what else was their specific contribution. (The word ‘nonomori’ is spoken by Yorda in the game, and means ‘Thank You’, so the proper use of it in the song would point to Yorda being the singer, if it is from the perspective of any one character.)
@@Mystic_OdeI was listening to the song again because of your videos and I have a completely unrelated question but do we know what the weird sounds are at the beginning and end of the song?
@@couchpotato3197 I don't know that there's ever been confirmation for all the instrumentation used in the opening and ending of the track, but I know it sounds like wind chimes and various woodwinds+synths.
Thank you for acknowledging ICO. Such a beautiful game
@@xFODDo That’s what the channel is about. Thank you for commenting!
@@Mystic_Ode NP, I'm just really passionate about that game in particular since the first time I've beat it. I actually have a poster of art from ICO in my room, and I don't do posters on the wall often
Wow this video is actually awesome, Never thought I'd genuinely be moved by the 'R1' button on the PS! controller
Great and interesting discoveries from you, as always. Thanks and Happy New Year!
When you mentioned their dream, I remembered that interview about ICO's ending where Ueda says something about it all being a wishful dream of Ico finding Yorda at the beach. I don't know if it could contribute somehow to your view of Ico having some extraordinary perception. Maybe it's premonitory, he dreams of finding her at that spot and that's why we can press R1 to know where Yorda would be, based on what he dreamed (?).
6:25 Fun fact. During gameplay (which I thought needed a small change) when Yorda is far away from you, she's not reacting to ICO's voice but rather the R1 button before she approach him.
Very interesting points i never thought about, great video
amazing video
Its a cool theory. One thing it misses is the formation of the bonding Ico-Yorda: The touching hands. Only exception would be the introductory scene, but after that point forward Ico guides Yorda by grabing her hand. And just before the last part of the game the bond seems to "break" as Ico falls to the ocean. However, if the bond didnt break but rather became stronger one might understand why the camera follows Yorda even after the fall and in the boss room. While Ico guided her through the castle she guides him in the final battle. It might seem the Queen had taken Yorda's life force, however the bond she shares with Ico remains, thats how her stone body guides him to the room and why the camera follows the sword. The sword is held with the hand that Ico was hanging on before the fall, hence Yorda, wherever she is might be guiding Ico towards the sword by the same mechanic he guided her the entire time, by the hand.
In essence: Holding hands is the key to the formation of the bond between Ico and Yorda, so by the same mechanism Yorda guides Ico in the boss room by their last point of contact they had: the hand that Ico holds his sword with. So then the camera follows the bond they made rather than any other kind of trace
Alternative title, 17 minutes of ICO screaming hahaha good video
It's a very valid theory and I really think that these R1narrative in mechanics are true (I think it's a great study of game design too, after all, it's a very ingenious way of implementing narrative within the mechanics). But I also think that if that were the case, we would definitely have materials or things that would imply that R1's mechanics are narrative... Or something like that. But, anyway, makes sense.
Amazing video and amazing analysis!!
What if Yorda is the one responsible for the camera? Like she guides Ico, even when turned into stone, her magic somehow still shows him the way? I don't think that Ico himself has power over magic. His unnatural endurance is connected to him being a horned being. But I see his horns as mutation of the body not magical power. He represents more traditionaly masculine archetype of physicaly strong character and Yorda is more traditionaly feminine archetype of physicaly weaker character with mystical, mysterious powers of the supernatural origin.
Other even dumber theory I came up with is that we don't play as Ico directly. Rather we as player are kinda like guiding hand of fate or destiny that pushes Ico into the right direction. Man that sounds dumb. In my defence I have a slight fever and Im writing this at 4 a.m XD.
great video!
Looking at how, in Shadow of the Colossus, the main character (who is the same as in Ico, I know) has a way of tracking the colossus that makes sense in universe, the sword... idk, it could be, not saying it is, just that it could
I do wish for a narrative explanation and I would be happy with it if it weren’t for one wrinkle, you might be better suited to answer the following question. Does R1 behavior “Always” point to “objective”? I get that R1 points to the girl and that it even tracks beyond map loads, but to me, that falls under the “make player not lose yorda”, as for the behavior of R1 during times or places where there is no in-game explanation for the boy to know Yorda’s location, it seems to me a developers check mark for a map (R1 points players to objective direction) I think R1 temporarily pointing to the sword is less to do with an in-narrative explanation of the boys powers and more of a (yorda is no longer objective, make R1 point to objective in this map) perhaps the answer can be found by exploring any other behaviors of R1, but the limitation of 3 states (nothing, camera to Yorda, camera to sword) suggests a highly controlled feature meant to guide the player and less of a narrative tool. I’ll need to see R1 exhibit “extra” behaviors before I believe its use has narrative ramifications.
@@lilnoobito Well there is something else that R1 does, and I neglected to bring it up because it was really obvious to me as a frequent player of the game. R1 is often called the “Yorda button” by players, not just because it points the camera to her and calls her over, but because when she’s close, it’s the button you use to hold her hand.
Note as well that picking up items or gripping pushable objects (like boxes, turn switches, and trolley carts) is always O, so the function of R1 is clearly distinguished from the typical interactions Ico performs with his hands. You hold it to extend your hand over gaps and catch her, you use it to pull her out of a Shadowy nest of darkness, and you use it to give her a lift up high walls. Yes, these also ultimately tie into ‘objectives’ of escaping together but when your primary use of the button is to hold the girl’s hand, the button’s overall purpose is less remembered as a player guiding tool and more associated with the NPC that 99% of its programming is attached to. I didn’t bring up these uses in the video because they neither added nor subtracted from my investigation of why the R1 camera moves like it does when she’s away.
Remember as well, this feature isn’t active before you meet her. Some players could’ve actually used a direction to be pointed in for the first room of the game, because it is a vast area, and the camera doesn’t draw attention to the exit very well.
It’s so strictly tied to her, and exclusively her, that the sword mechanic really comes out of left field, and makes you wonder why it was added. I’ve seen many people beat the boss without ever knowing the function existed. No manual ever mentions it. No visual design prompts it. And no player would intuitively try to hit R1 to look for an objective because, to them, it is ingrained in the mind as the Yorda button. I don’t think that fact was lost on the designers.
Ludonarrative interpretation tends to be overthinking but I definitely appreciate the effort before it becomes cliche.
I wonder who is represented by the camera actually, if we really need to find out “who”. I’d say the castle itself could be the one instead of our boy Ico, that doesn’t explain the camerawork on the beach though
@@liplepeoberty5815 It was definitely the kind of thing that, once I noticed it, and was left to think about it, it just got harder to dismiss. This video wasn’t going to be about the narrative, initially, but the evidence really started to build against me.
Because, like I alluded to in the video, this feature is extraneous. It’s entirely unnecessary for most of the late game stages. The map geometry guides every player exactly where they need to be, and I know that because I’ve watched over 75 playthroughs where the R1 camera was not needed to tell people “You should head in the only direction you can go.”
I have, however, seen people get lost in the very first chamber, before the R1 camera is active. They could’ve used a hand in finding the exit to that stage, but it wasn’t added there because it wasn’t really about that.
I found myself thinking, “ICO is a game that famously cuts the down on the unnecessary and this is a feature they added… for whose benefit?” Like I said in the video: “No one would complain if they hadn’t.” This was a result of intrinsic motivation. Done for consistency, it seems. Because if the camera stopped tracking Yorda after Ico’s fall, something (other than player experience) would be compromised. I figured it had to be the narrative.
This also wouldn’t be the first time the devs did something so unnecessary for the sake of creating a consistent world. I have a video focusing on the game’s physics that makes a good case for that.
That said, I like the inconsistency in Final Boss fight that R1 focuses on the sword, it sacrifices the consistency here, serving the basic gameplay purpose instead of focusing on the outside of the boss room where Yorda is in.
The entire deja vu cutscene is so weird to me, I wonder if it was moved at some point and was meant to be encountered later. There's also an unused shadow called 'enemymodel_deja' which uses a unique shader and one of the models of the cut shinkan enemies
@@ASapphicKitsune The earliest storyboards we have from June 2000 imply it shows up exactly where it was meant to show up. Going back any earlier than that means we're talking about ICO's development plans on PS1 and that had a very different structural setup.
There was one note margin that implied, in the PS1 concepts, that Ico would be able to spot/hear Yorda through a crack in the wall before meeting her proper. In that sense, there's always been this idea that the player should know something of her before first interacting with her.
@@Mystic_Ode oh right I forgot, GlitterBerri and I were speaking about that some months back. Yes I believe Yorda would be found in a different room and the boy would hear her singing through the crack. (definitely a reference to Horus/Hols since Hilda in that is found by the protagonist singing)
I want to believe
overthinking?
@@chunkymilk I might be. You tell me.