If you join my Patreon, you'll get access to a full-length video director's commentary on this essay! and also I will be able to buy more treats for Tori! It's a win/win, really.
Cool video but those weird cuts involving ramping up your dialogue before shutting it down to a totally black screen with the music stopping is kinda annoying and redundant.
@@sirrealism7300 It was referring to the way the game is. He said that it never really aloud you to feel sentimental, it would cut you off, until the end where there is a nice moment of emotion and happiness.
Honestly, you shouldn't need spoiler warnings. common sense should tell you, "Oh this is a video about a game/movie/show I haven't played/seen yet, maybe I should wait and watch/play the actual thing first. People who care about spoilers are people who lack accountability. You have so much more control of your environment than you think.
@@Jake38nineespecially when the title says emotional peak, it should be common sense there are going to be spoilers. The endings are always the most emotional, and generally you can’t really talk about scenes that evoke strong emotions without them being a spoiler.
@@Jake38nine to add to that: at some point in time the game/movie/book or whatever else will be to old for spoiler warnings. Nobody will be mad for talking about the ending of Moby dick in an essay without a spoiler warning, and it's weird if people are at this.
To be fair though, if this was an isolated incident and you were to go about telling 1 person about the ending and they havent seen it yet and they tell you not to spoil it, you SHOULD NOT spoil it for them. Thats a dick move if its an isolated incident. But on the internet? Nah, you cant control spoilers, but you can prevent yourself from looking. @tellux040 But that's the thing, nobody really understands deferral of gratification or prevention. People only ever want cures to things, which is just impossible. You can't cure everything, but you can prevent a lot of things.
"To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . ."
When I played through The Last Guardian, I had this distinct feeling that there would probably never really be a game like it again. It relies on players having a kind of patience that I have never really seen in a game before, at least not one from a major studio. While there are certainly a few layers of jankiness that were not intentional, most of the things that I found frustrating about the game where intentional. It does this amazing thing where you are always a little annoyed with how things are going until you hit those bigger action moments where everything between the boy and Trico is in sync. And this feeling is so easy to relate to. Whether it be with a pet or even a real person, relationships are a lot of work. Building trust is a lot of work. The Last Guardian gives its primary relationship time to grow in a way that no game I have played really does? Like, I love the Last of Us, but you can look through that game and really pinpoint 2-3 moments that led to Joel and Ellie becoming bonded, but you can't do that at as easily here. There are a few moments that emphasize the bond (the boy almost dying, Trico almost dying, and the top of the tower), but they are the result of how the bond grew on a moment to moment basis through game play. And I think that those moments are so meaningful because they feel so earned. As you touch on, they are these sort of forced moments of reflection where you think, "God dang, I love Trico." GOOD GAME. GOOD VIDEO. GOOD.
@@sahus Nothing exclusively on it. I am working on a piece about the intersection of game mechanics and storytelling, and this will definitely have a place in that video. I have had thoughts of doing a big piece on the three Team Ico games, but at this point, that is more of a "this would be fun" instead of a "I have an interesting take on this" so I need to wait until I have a more concrete idea for it.
For what it's worth, the only other AAA game I've played since TLG that relied on player patience as much as TLG did was death stranding. They're incredibly different games, but the minute to minute gameplay of death stranding reminds me a lot of a team ico style game. Somber quiet, where it's just you navigating a world coupled with the obscene level of detail and complexity with which the world is rendered and able to be interacted upon. Climbing a mountain in death stranding reminded me of climbing cliffs and colossi. You slowly navigate and use careful planning to determine spots where you can rest and catch your breath.
Last Guardian came out about 6 months after my cat had died and playing the game helped me grief. By the end I was crying so loud I think my neighbours heard me. Is it technically a perfect game? No. Do I think it's still a perfect game? Absolutely. It's special to me in a way art that really hits home is.
This is my same exact relationship with the game. I had just lost my cat of 19 years, and this game came out exactly when I needed it to. After already waiting so long, for it to come out at that timing felt like it was all a weird dream. By the end, I was crying like a baby, but I am convinced that getting to have that connection and trust with an animal again, even a fictional one, helped me through my grieving process immensely. I will forever be grateful to this game for that, and it will forever be one of my favorite games. To me, it's perfect. It feels like a part of me, now.
I can understand that. I played it several times with my corgi including the first time I played. She used to always look up at the tv anytime she heard trico (I had the surround sound way up lol) The days before I knew I had to put her to sleep (she had a degenerative disease), I played it with her one last time. I still feel like the bond between trico and the player is very similar to the bond we share with our pets, only condensed into a 12 hour experience
I played the game, knowing it would probably destroy me, about a month after my dog died. The only dog I ever had for about 15 years of my life (more than half at this point). The game just gave me reminder after reminder. I owned a dog, and the patience of dealing with Trico was... surprisingly easy. But my god the ending made weep... and that moment. The one after the fight with the other trico you find and you fall off a bridge. Where Trico seems to be just barely alive and you just feed it barrels as best you can, and you try to pet it and help it... it reminded me so heavily of what my dog looked like near their final days that I just couldn't handle it.
Jacob, your videos always fill me with joy. For the level of quality, for your eloquence, for your passion, for the fact that I'm living in a time where people like you are able to produce content like this that is easily available to people like me. Those Patreon dollars are the easiest I've ever spent. In this video that joy did spill over into the lump in the throat and moistness of the eyes-territory, and boy am I happy for that. Thank you, well done.
The moment that destroyed me was Trico realizing that they possibly killed the boy. You have no control over the situation except the camera, and Trico is basically controlling you, trying to see if you come back, and gosh that part was so sad, but at the same moment the boy came back and Trico was all happy and jumping all over. Basically, I think that Fumito Ueda does these really sad moments, but at the same time, there's fun and hope too. Like the end of SOTC, with you never really uniting with your loved one, but she and the land are back to life and free. The outcome isn't perfect, but the horizon is beautiful.
Ueda is a softie at heart and it's crazy how few people realize this. None of the main characters in all three of his games actually die, none of them. Even Wander gets another chance. And all three games end on optimistic notes, which is the most important thing, where they actually end. Even some fans of Ueda can't seem to handle this, and will come up with theories that twist the plots so they're secretly dark and sad - Mono becomes the Queen from Ico, Ico and Yorda are actually dead and the beach is the afterlife. They can't process the positivity.
My favorite part is still the post credits. It gave me the happy ending I really wanted. That was the part that made me lose it. I was holding in tears the entire time but when i heard trico groan and then saw the baby trico, I lost it. Even now just thinking of it I get choked up. And I am not an emotional man. I'm super repressed tough guy douchebag type and this game just tore me apart
i only know one youtuber that did and that's jacksepticeye and i loved his playthrough because he didn't give up and he felt the emotions and felt it all and finished it with a broken heart
Well that was beautiful and also made me cry, so a fairly standard Jacob Geller video then. :P (seriously though the personal anecdote at the end was the perfect climax for the video. Good dogs are good!)
I get it. The happiest memory I have in my life is laying on my bed with the sun coming though the window in the summer and my cat napping next to me. He died half a year ago. His name is Midnite. I love him and miss him so much.
This game ripped my heart out as I had no idea how the ending would play out and got WAY too attached to Trico. I would spend time to just groom Trico settling their ruffled feathers and just playing with them. Thanks for the tears, my dude. I'm crying in the club.
I've been a dog person my whole life and when my Dad died when I was 25 I was ready to call it a day. Few months later my best friend committed suicide but the one constant during all that pain was my little dog Ted. He gave me a reason to live and get out of bed in the morning. Nights and days I didn't want company but he never left my side. 8 years later hes here with me in my own house, helping my battle my demons. The power of dogs is immeasurable. They are an extension of mankind. Much love to all the dog owners out there who take dogs in and unlock the dogs true purpose and power into their lives.
OH MY GOD YOU HAD ME SO GOOD WITH THE BIT ABOUT YOUR DOG. I'M SO GLAD SHE'S SAFE AND HAPPY AND HAS A HUMAN WHO TOOK THE TIME TO LOVE HER THROUGH THE ROUGH PATCHES
I just finished The Last Guardian. I never had a pet, be it cat or a dog, but thats pretty much what I always imagined it to be like. As soon as I started the game I immediately fell in love with Trico and no matter how badly he got on my nerves sometimes, I knew that I was ready to die for him. The final confrontation with other beasts made feel the most intense panic I ever had during any game. The moment one of them ripped Trico's tail off I had to pause and take a break because I felt like crying. And I still do. I dont think there ever will be other game to make me care for its character as much as I cared for Trico. And thank you for pointing out how boy's parting with his friend made sense since Trico belongs in the valley high above the land. This moment made me so sad because I naturaly wanted them to stay together but now that I think about it, their story was never meant to end like this. After titles scene does hint for their reunion but we can only hope. One of the reasons I wanted Trico to stay is because I genuinely began to hate the place I spent entire game getting out from. But now I also realise that the valley itself wasn't evil, it was the marble tower. I imagine the valley used to be a peaceful place where people lived in harmony with the beasts (hence the statues of them) but some strange alien invaded this place and created a tower in order to control it. And after we managed to disable it and destroy the mysterious force within, the valley comes back to peace, to how it used to be. This may all be obvious but I feel like I needed to write it down to calm myself after such a journey. My god. what a game.
I feel like Jacob Geller has now become one of if not my favourite RUclipsr, which is both a good and bad thing. A good thing, because it means that I am subscribed to someone who always produces quality of the highest content, even if he doesn’t think that. And a bad thing, because it has now dawned on me how little passion and love there is left on RUclips. Very few people in the hundreds of millions on this site actually give me pure, unadulterated joy when I receive a notification. Thank you Jacob Geller for existing.
I don’t agree with this. I think there is more thoughtful, delightful content on this platform than ever before. Perhaps the percentages aren’t great, but that’s because this is a service that is free to use for literally everyone. Of course there will be lots of soulless, lowest common denominator creators, but my subscription list is so full of wonderful stuff that I can’t keep up with it all. If you want some recommendations let me know, because I definitely admit the good content can be hard to track down.
@@samuraishodownmugenproject5094 sure thing! What are you looking for? Edit: the stuff I know best is video game content, both essays and lighter stuff, tabletop gaming, science and engineering stuff, pop culture analysis, and animal care stuff. I do have a list of other random things as well. I spend a worrying amount of time on RUclips 😂
@@JohnDoe_51151 tragically I do not, unless it’s tangentially related to other stuff (like Nier Automata). That said, it is definitely something I am interested in learning more about. Do you have any recommendations on good videos or channels? Edit: there are a few channels I watch that deal with philosophical issues like Ask a Mortician and Contrapoints, but I assume you mean more classical academic stuff
This video came out a little over a year before I lost my first dog. She was the biggest, sweetest old English sheepdog, no, the sweetest dog I've ever met. I've not been able to get my hands on a copy of this game due to college and work and what not, but only yesterday I picked it up and immediately thought back to watching this when I was still in that muddy haze of grief. I can't describe exactly why I immediately fell in love with trico but seeing him right at the start with spears stuck all through him, struggling to stand, reminded me of the last week or so of her life. She was an old dog and there wasn't much we could do to help her besides putting her to rest, but being able to pull the spears from trico and really help him back to his feet actually made me cry. It's not closure, but it helps.
8:31 stopped me in my tracks and by the end of the video I was crying in the middle of the cafeteria I was eating lunch in. Phenomenal job, Jacob. As always.
I might be a fair bit late to this video, but this game broke me in ways I haven't experienced in any game. When I played this game I was in part of the peak of my alcoholism, but no matter what there was this little cat that I came home to. I was so alone and felt completely helpless, but every day I came home from work I would meet my cat Maria. She was always there for me and gave me so much reason. There were moments when I had considered suicide but while I was in a drunken haze, that little cat was always sitting with me on the couch. I got a tattoo of the boys tattoos in this game on my right arm as a memory for the unspoken companionship found with animals and to honor the bond I had with that cat before she died. She developed a sort of immune disease thats specific to cats, and so I had to get her put down to ease her suffering and I held her the entire time while she got the injections. I held her in the same way she held me during the lowest points I've ever felt. And that's why this game was so much for me.
I wonder where that idea came from, that Last Guardian would have to have ended with either the boy or Trico dying, seeing as neither of the previous Team Ico's games killed their main characters and that's hardly the only way to write an emotional and impactful ending? Is that sort of gut-punch really so overplayed, that we can no longer look at a cute animal in story-based media without thinking of it getting killed off for an emotional beat?
I think that's Shadow's fault to a degree (Wander's state at the end is... ambiguous), but probably also the default "saddest thing." When I think about characters I don't yet care about having a bond I don't understand yet, then the saddest thing I can imagine happening to them is one of them dying. And there is an expectation, with Ueda, for a bittersweet ending. So I think most people just didn't make the jump to "forming this bond and then separating the two forever is the saddest way this can go," because that requires an assumption that the bond will be built well and people will care about it. One half dying is sad even if the narrative otherwise fails.
When I was in elementary school, our teacher read us a book called "No More Dead Dogs" that was a funny story about a kid sick of the "animal dies in the end" trope. Those memes about The Last Guardian really reminded me of it, haha. Because yeah, Ueda always goes for a much more interesting and bittersweet ending than the easy/obvious tearjerker copout. It's a big part of why his storytelling is so beloved to me.
It is overplayed and it's also super cheap. I literally refuse to watch movies that do it. Even movies that aren't at all about the dog like I am legend and butterfly effect. Those both upset me so much that I will never watch them again and will always say fuck those movies (especially butterfly effect. I feel straight up traumatized by that shit) So I absolutely loved the way this game truly ended (post credits). I held in my tears through all the worst moments and saddest parts, but the post credits completely broke me. It made me so fucking happy and still does.
@@littlekitsune1 so true. Couldn't agree more. I especially love it because he gives happy endings while also not playing it safe whatsoever. He's a genius and I will forever love him for the gifts he has given us
Never felt this close to a game - the absolute best work IMO of this amazing studio. A game about making bonds instead of breaking them - befriending an other instead of killing it. It's incredibly special, criminally under-experienced, and hopelessly intertwined with my soul; a realization of what games can be. Thank you for the tribute to it, and thanks for sharing such a lovely personal story along with it.
I clicked on this video because this game was an amazing experience and I wanted to hear what you have to say about it. I didn't expect to find myself in your story, also having a puppy that guards her food and has bitten me on several occasions because of this. We are still working through it but we cuddle in the mornings and seeing her face light up with joy when i say the word WALK warms my heart. And you are so right, this game really does emulate the feeling of having a companion (like a dog) really REALLY well, communication is hard, it takes a while to get things working, but at the end of the day you care for each other and love each other. it's beautiful
There are few video essayists whose videos I -savor-. And Jacob? You make me relish every single video. This is excellent, and deserves a million views.
God, when you got to the "and neither of us bite each other when we take away bread" I almost burst out crying at work. This is beautiful. What a wonderful, transformative piece of art you've made. Good job, thank you, and best of luck.
The end of the video got me emotional, my family had gone through chaos, divorces, social struggles, legal pain, family struggles, struggle in school, living in deadly neighborhoods. a rough time throughout the years, the only time I had to relax was in bed, I cried to take out the held up pain, slept to hide from my issues, stared at old pictures and objects that revealed past moments of perfection, and moments of reflection. When I got my first dog, he was a year old, a dog commonly abused and outcast from love, the jindo is commonly farmed in Korea, smugglers send them to Washington to save their species, when I saw the dog, I saw his pain, he had (and still has) a mark on his nose, skin without fur, a constant frown, a fear of the slightest noises, he and I have gone through hell, and with each other, we feel at peace together, instead of crying, I smile every time I see him.and he smiles back, a dog is a true best friend. What is a friend, a friend is someone you are connected to, you’ll know it when you see them, because they’ll see it in you.
Jacob, you need to stop making cry so much with every video. 😭 I had all the same feelings you did playing this game and I also got a dog to help with my depression since antidepressants don’t really work on me. His name was Rex, an Akita/lab mix and he was the best thing that ever happened to me. I adopted him when he was 7 and spent months breaking through his aloofness and my own inexperience and it felt like the greatest victory of my life when I truly felt our own bond with each other because I truly had to work at it unlike how it is with most other kinds of dogs. Then in November I found out he had lymphoma, we said goodbye to him at the end of January. I didn’t even have him for a year. I knew adopting a large senior dog came with these risks but I... always thought we would have a few years together before I really had to... That sense of fleeting you mention with Trico, I had always sort of felt that with Rex, but it doesn’t stop like feeling the rug is pulled out from under you when you realize it’s much less time than you wanted. The Last Guardian captures this very well, because they really give you that moment for it to sink in. Thanks Jacob.
God, but this video really GOT to me. I watched it in work while I should have been making fliers, and it just dragged me, violently, back to how I felt at the top of that tower with Trico. I started the Last Guardian right after losing my little dog - he was almost 17 but somehow that wasn't nearly enough time with him. I had to put Trico away for a while because even through the screen, making friends with this big feahtery goofball felt like a betrayal. Coming back and finishing it this year was one of the most visceral experiences I'd ever had with a game. I was so wrapped up in what was happening that I didn't even shed a tear until the credits rolled, but once they started, I found that I couldn't stop. I just cried and cried, the way a little kid does. It was very late at night and my partner was asleep, so I had to cry silently so as not to wake her. Looking back, I think I only really grieved for my little dog after I finished the Last Guardian.
This is a game I play on a yearly basis, it just blows my mind on so many levels and means so much to me. It’s probably my favourite Ueda game, I played all of them when they first came out but this one is much more direct. AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING.
I definitely think Ueda understands what video game narrative CAN be. Making players feel emotions through what they’re playing and not watching, I think that’s what separates him from other auteurs such as Kojima etc (not to detract from their achievements).
@@nilssonschmillson5395 100% agree. The Last Guardian and Inside were my favorite games of the last generation. Their stories are told through gameplay and are thus much more impactful than so called cinematic videogames. For this reason I assume, games like, for example, Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and Uncharted series havent affected me in a slightest way. I forgot about them pretty quickly after finishing. If I would want to watch hours of cut scenes I would go to the cinema to watch a movie. It's really time for video games to grow up as a medium and find its own way to tell stories. Ueda gets this. Kojima doesnt. Cant wait for Fumito's 4th title.
When The Last Guardian finally came out I was in a rough place financially so I wasn't able to play it, so I tuned in to a favored youtuber doing a lets play of it and the ending devastated me. In the past year I finally got to be able to play it and I understood the difficulty and distaste some people have with it but knowing how it ended made me look past the momentary struggles and enjoy the scenery until Trico was ready to work with me to progress. And when we made that final fated flight off the tower I knew it was a bittersweet moment because I knew what was coming. That ending is brutal. Beautiful, but brutal.
@@BornEvilXIII I plan to! I've got a LOT of games I need to get through though. I say that like it's a bad thing, but obviously it's amazing that there are so many incredible games out that the only problem is which ones first.
Dude, I was getting teary at the end there, and I wasn't even watching the video, just listening. Your writing and narration are actually perfect. Amazing work.
That one point watching the sky together with trico made me think about the moment i just sit beside my dog. You feel connected and you feel eachother the same can happen with people i cant explain it. But its that raw emotion without verbally speakinh that has such a warm feeling. I think thats what makes it that strong. The fact the lower parts of the game are dark , you ve been in the daek with this thing and you made it out.
I just finished this game for the first time last night. My last previous Sony console was the PS2, and I'd played both Ico and SotC on that system. I was excited for the Last Guardian but had no way to play it, so I mostly blocked it out of my mind until I had a chance to play it fresh. Having just bought a PS5, it was nearly a 15y wait. And on another note, last year, we had to let our dog of 12 years go. Her health took a sudden turn without warning, and we were faced with the horrifying surprise choice of putting her through countless tests and treatments or to let her go peacefully. Her breathing in the last hours of her life was _exactly_ like the scene after the bridge fight, and it wrecked me. I wasn't sure I could finish the game. I'm crying again thinking about it. When I finished, I wanted to go see what others had said about the game, because like I said, I had low-key memory holed it until I had a chance to experience it myself. I was aware of technical complaints and the Penny Arcade comic, but nothing else really. I was _very_ surprised to see content creators whose opinions I respect seemingly miss the point entirely. I agree that the game camera has problems. There are a couple of places that Trico's inability to follow directions clearly broke the fourth wall and ceased feeling like the aloof actions of a living sentient creature. Any time I had to get Trico to lower his tail for a puzzle was a nightmare. But, none of that matters to me at all. Team Japan's games are _always_ outliers, and I will happily fight a few bugs for the opportunity to experience what they create. I'm very happy to see from this video essay that I'm not alone. I have one last point to make, and I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere (yet). I think this game is also about overcoming trauma, and about found families. (I think this could be said, to some extent, about all TJ games). Trico has been exploited and abused, and harms the boy as a result of this past. He gradually learns to trust the boy, but at times his past comes back and hijacks him in the present, making him do awful things, including nearly killing the boy. The remorse that Trico feels in that moment, and his joy when the boy wakes up, were the first time in this game that I had to stop and compose myself. Through their friendship, they work together to overcome their limitations and survive. Both the boy and Trico were born into a system they didn't choose, and those that created that system have basically abandoned it long ago. Ultimately, they come out on the other end, reclaiming their lives from those that tried to abuse them. I think it's fitting that the last TJ game finally gives some catharsis, as both Ico and SotC leave on a darker, ambiguous note. I had to get this out there because I was surprised by the reactions to this game online. I can't fault anyone for being frustrated with the technical issues, but to me the game is so, so much more than that. I've spent far more time on far less interesting games. Thanks for the touching essay.
i know no ones gonna read this but damn this resonates with me. in a lot of sentimental movies too, there is the feeling of fleeting love. when you know the protagonists will be torn apart in the end. it’s not just the love that makes the parting stronger, but vice versa.
This video was a beautiful find, I played The Last Guardian earlier this year and it is the most emotional I have ever felt from a game. It will easily be one of my most treasured gaming experiences forever.
430 am and this video nearly had me bawling just as hard as i did when i first watched this game from beginning to end. i never got to properly play it, just watched it via someone else's playthrough, but even then it was enough for me to form a bond alongside them. years later i'm finally getting the chance to play through it on my own and i can't wait for it to wreck me again. thank you for reminding me of what makes this game hit so hard it left a mark on my soul.
When you were talking about how the boy was not able to live out his days with trico and that it was a fleeting relationship that he will never forget, it made me realize even further that the boy literally is the player. Ive always felt like the boy was me and everything he goes through, and his bond and love for trico was identical to mine, but also the way it ends for the boy is identical to the way it ends for the player. We can't continue our bond with trico forever. At the end of the game we have to say goodbye, just like the boy does. It's almost like a metaphor for any fiction piece of work and how we can only experience something for the first time once. It's also a metaphor for our relationships with pets since most pets only live a fraction of our entire lives. He will never confirm this, but knowing Fumito Ueda, I would bet that he had this in mind when he decided how to end the game. He really is that kind of genius
I haven't gotten to play The Last Gaurdian, but even when it came out, I remember hearing the reviews of "oh Trico doesn't always listen and that's BAD." or "it doesn't meet my expectations of having a big giant creature I can control, and that means it's bad and clunky." and I remember thinking that they probably don't really treat or think of Trico like an actual creature, not like an actual animal. more of just another video gamey character that they NEEDED to control. and the section you talked about, where most people would rather just put down their dog, rather than actually spending the time to help them. A close person to me, one where we finally started dating after 2 years, has a dog that she treats as her son. she loves him to the extent that I've never seen anyone love. other people that saw this thought she was super weird (which I felt was completely unfair), but this dog is different because of it. you can tell he's intelligent, respectful, and he learns so much INCREDIBLY FAST. like when she was first training him to be a service dog, usually it would take years to get to certain levels (mainly because of the training) but out of genuine love she had for him, and staying with him to train him, he learned and learned and is now a full time service dog. which blew the people away of how much he improved. I think overall, this has just ultimately changed how I view other creatures, not as just PETS or if their cattle then FOOD, but as thinking, living beings (I can't really put it into words how I feel, when I try to explain it, it just comes out wrong. but lets just say that I actually FEEL the genuine fear in a spider when it sees me looming at it, and it's confusion and relief when I let it outside) since I'm still in highschool, I wonder how this will evolve over time as an adult. The first time I played ICO, I wasn't even aware that I needed to bring Fey with me in order to save, I thought for like 67% of my time playing the game that it was possible to save without her. but I always brought her with me, I constantly didn't try to run too fast because I could just FEEL how uncomfortable that would be to her. even the part on the bridge, I understood how weak she was, and even though I was so SO eager to leave, I walked as slow as possible, not even realizing WAY later that it actually was apart of the game where if you ran she would stumble over and fall. I never saw her as just a video game character, and I think that improved my overall feel and love with the game. I mean even as a kid I really REALLY hated to hurt anyone, and could just feel their pain whenever I did (I'm talking about games like Infamous) I think if I ever get the chance to play this game, I wonder if it'll end up being one of the most precious games to me. Thanks for the video by the way, I'm absolutely a fan of your content!
Yours may be the most meaningful gaming content on the platform. Mankind well needs a light such as you. Once again, a deep, introspective look at why we play games.
I know this video is almost a year old now, but i keep coming back to revisit it over and over. I cried the day it was released, and I keep crying every time I come back. On April 16, 2020, we had to sacrifice my dog due to old age (16 dog years are a lot of years) and since then this video has gotten even closer to my heart. I played the whole game back when it came out and I adored it, but playing it after going through saying goodbye to a lifelong friend and companion was a beautiful and heartbreaking experience. I had tears on my eyes the whole way through, because I knew that I was going to have to say goodbye to Trico once we reached the top, and that was something few games have acomplished to do. I just wanted to say thank you, because I'm once again sitting here, my desk filled with teardrops and my heart aching. This is a beautiful essay and it has been my coping mechanism for this whole shitty 2020 trainwreck. You're something special and we do not deserve you. All of my love to you, Mr. Geller, you handsome mf.
that music at 9:00 its life is strange music Its, its really strange to hear it, lots of memories attached to it I may not be a player of any Ico games, but I can think we can agree Games can bring emotions and tears to someone like no other form of media Its, just, magical sometimes The bond you can make with these people, or animals, I dont know Just Yeah
This was, a very, very lonely time in my life Being honest my whole life has been lonely Strange, if I knew back when I wrote that comment that not even a few weeks later I would get such a close and emotional bond with someone And that someone would eventually become my partner I dont think I would have cried as much but it was worth it And even still, life is strange still can make me cry Those games got me through the begining of a horrible time in my life And I will always be thankful to them Remember, even at your darkest, light is always there, you just have to let yourself see it
You need to play the ico games. Please do. If you have a decent PC, the pcsx2 emulator will let you play Ico, or the remaster version on ps3 if you have one Shadow of the colossus has the best remake ever on ps4 (you need to play that version) and of course the last guardian is on ps4 and ps5 with bc. Please play them. Straight up, if you don't have money, I can at least let you play the last guardian on one of my accounts for free.
This game means so much to me. Every time I finish it, I start crying. I don't know what it is so emotional about the ending, I just cry. Even during this video I almost started crying again, it's just such a strong, impactful ending. And your narration in this video made it all the more emotional, especially when you talked about the relationship with your own dog and compared it to the boy and Trico. Amazing video❤!
This is an absolutely wonderful video, thank you! I watched it years ago and couldn't remember where to find it again until now--glad to see it's still here and being appreciated by others.
Your video brought me to tears. I also have a dog with some serious anxiety issues, and sometimes it's difficult to have anyone it doesn't know intimately into the house, but little by little we are managing to get him feeling better every day. Thank you for the beautiful content.
TLG has the best last 60 minutes of any game I've ever played, those moments are so beautiful, no other game made me felt this much emotion, definetly a special game.
The Last Guardian is an unmitigated masterpiece and my favorite game. Its an experience like no other, one where you play a small boy who has to befriend a huge creature. That bond you form, the trails and tribulations on the way and the time spent is not like anything else. I walked and climbed every inch of the nest I could, looked into every crevice and hole, scanned the horizon and carefully marked my progress at every vista, with Trico at my side the whole time. Its a place I'd go and company I'd keep in a heartbeat. I will always cry at the end, knowing that you (as the boy) will never see your friend again and even now, many years later I wish there could have been a sequel where the boy (now grown) journeys back to the nest to find his friend.
Welp! Good job on making me cry again. The Last Guardian was one of the first games I played through after my cat passed away. She used to sit in my lap all the time when I played games. So I dunno, playing through the game was quite an emotional and changing experience. She was my best friend
Never has a youtube video made me cry tears of relief and joy. I have a one year old dog that has seriously saved my life. When you transitioned to talking about Toriel I felt my heart plummet; he was sitting at my feet at the time and I had to pick him up. Then you gave the happiest plot twist I've ever seen.
The last guardian is so underrated, it's troublesome at times but the whole game comes together so well, I love it. And this video made me tear up as well, I had a dog and remembered all the wonderful times when you revealed that she was still alive today. Thanks for a great vid
I never comment on videos, but this video is actually fucking insane. I clicked on it and was like "Oh it's only a few minutes, hopefully it'll be interesting" and I fucking balled my eyes out. Like, harder than I've cried in a long, long time. You are doing God's work my man, thank you for making this
it's been two years since this came out and I adopted a dog that turned 3 on this day that had the same issue described at the end of this video.......i still have to say the most beautiful part of what we all share is that love that is immediate and inescapable.
Well I shed a tear or two. This is one of your most touching videos, and I mean, I've nearly watched them all. Great work as always, and Tori seems to be the goodest girl!
Jacob, this is one of the most beautiful synopsis of a video game I have ever seen. I too had a very difficult dog, but much like yours, he saved me from a very bad and dark period in my life. He was hard work but ultimately sharing a part of my life with him was one of the most truly special things I have ever experienced. I loved Last Guardian, I like others had waited all those years, thinking it would never see the light of day. It didn't disappoint, despite how tough it was to play at times but ultimately its just too beautiful. The emotional highs it gives those who stick with it are worth more than anything in any other medium. Thank you sir
to a lot of people, it would sound absurd that I'd get emotional over someone talking about a video game for 15 minutes. but here I am and after watching this beautiful video I just wanna write you a message. you might never see it but that's okay. I just wanna write it. i have spent the last month or so inhaling every video you have. I watched a few before but I really dove in recently, and it has been such an amazing experience. you make some of the best content I've seen on youtube hands down. its incredible. and you've opened my eyes to a different way of thinking about games. i liked to think that I thought critically about the games I played, and yeah I guess, I am certainly a lore buff in the games I enjoy, but seeing your videos made me think a little more broadly about the emotional core of the games I play, about what they're saying. I want to write about games now. i want to write about music in splatoon, i want to write about the melancholy husk of a kingdom that is hollownest, i want to write about how hopeful the zelda series is and its all because of you. thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you.
i just lost a dog and this video made me weep. this video always does that but this time it was so cathartic and raw. i loved my lil fur ball and missing her almost makes me love her more.
The Last Guardian broke me! It is one of my most favorite games EVER!! When it ended I was lost! I fell so in love with Trico that after it was over it took me a while before I could play any other game! All I wanted was more trico! If I could have a dog I'd name it Trico! Everything was Trico and I was the boy! No game has EVER made me feel that way!! Sure there's amazing games I've played but I've never walked away after playing them and felt lost!!! Everything thing in the game no matter how tedious it may have felt was worth it to me!!
there are no smiles because these games aren't happy stories. because the end of these games does not represent the end of the stories. we're just allowed to play until that point. there's more after the beach. there's more after the horned baby. more after arriving home. But that's just the way fumito tell his stories. and that's exactly the reason we always get so glued to his games. it's always a mistery behind the characters, the motivations, the world's background. we never know anything, and this arouses our curiosity so much. That's a brilliant story teller for you
The Last Guardian is one of the only games to make me cry. I personally had no issues with the AI, or the physics, which in my mind, heightened the experience. I made a bond with Trico that I cannot explain. It's the first time in my life that I felt I actually needed someone there, like I would be nothing without them. When I played this game, I was at a low. Afterward, I was at a lower point than before. But for some reason, it felt good. Being sad about something that would never be reality made me happy in a way. This was a game I needed to play, and to this day I'm so damn happy I did. I still cannot believe that a game made me a better person, but it sure as hell happened. Thank you for this video, I needed this.
For me the moment I broke down was right at the ending where Trico makes his running leap to fly you home. Watching my dorky tuft of a dog finally manage to take full flight while maimed and hurt just to bring you home filled me with a feeling of pride like I can't describe. I didn't even understand why I was crying at first. I never cry at anything and i certainly wasn't feeling sad so it was alien to me. The Last Guardian isn't a very good game. The controls are off, they don't even tell you how to command Trico, you need to have patience, the frame rate is dire, and there are one too many guide dang it moments. Now I actually got along very well with Trico and didn't have many incidents but each point I made can very likely impact someone's will to finish the game. All I'll say is to muscle through it. Once you reach the end I can guarantee that part of your journey will stick with you and whether you loved the game or hated it, that experience is absolutely priceless.
I love how the higher you got, the more the game seemed to add colors to the world and at the highest peak, we got the most beautiful and colorful scenery in the entire game. I believe it was an intentional art decision that reflected the bleakness of the situation at the bottom of the abyss and the hope we gain everytime we get higher.
Didn't know much about this game and had to try not to get choked up at the reveal that Trico and the boy don't get to go home together after everything they've shared because the boy's home is not compatible with Trico. I have had to say goodbye to five cats over the course of my life because I had to move into places where I could not keep them to get away from people who abused me. Four of these cats were the sources of love that helped me survive those awful homes, and the fifth was one I met after I had left the last abusive home, who I helped get through a life-threatening illness. I've often felt like no one around me understands the pain of losing a beloved animal not to death but to insurmountable circumstance. It sounds like this game understands. I hope Trico and Hershey and Turbo and Rock and Soul and Teddy got to be happy after those goodbyes.
I saw this video in my recommendations a long time ago, and the title and thumbnail has stayed on my mind until I finally gave it a watch. And wow, well done on this! There are a few things I'd like to share my thoughts on; 1. I have played The Last Guardian and have finished it seven times. It's one of the games that I do an annual playthrough of. And no lie, I've never been at my wit's end with the game, even with the first time I played it. My biggest problem was always trying to figure out where to go and what to do next, a issue I have with quite a few games as I can have my clueless moments. I did take a break from The Last Guardian for a few months during my first playthrough, I was at that section with the chain and the jug. I gave up because I had no idea what to do, I didn't even think of just looking up a video on how to get past that area (which I ended up doing a few months later when I returned to the game) The controls, gameplay, and Trico's A.I has never really bothered me like it has bothered many players of The Last Guardian, I'm weird like that. 2. 6:46-6:54, the first time I played The Last Guardian, I was like "WTF" when Trico first "ate" the boy. What I think is important to remember with the scenes with the boy and Trico and that antenna thing is that it shows the progression of the relationship between the boy and Trico, as well as Trico reaching his freedom. Trico, along with his brethren, are enslaved by a higher force to kidnap children and take them to this place to turn them into blue goo in barrels for whatever the reason. As you see in the game, Trico's kind are normally friendly and loyal creatures (much alike to dogs) but the Master of the Valley takes control of them, turning them into man-eating beasts, all to fulfill their own purposes. This aspect in the game is similar to dogfighting in my mind, and I'm not saying that I think the developer based it on that, but I can't help but draw parallels between the two. Each time you're in a room with Trico and the antenna goes off and takes control of him, it's the same scenario but different every time. The first time, it's certainly a shocking moment, and a reminder that Trico is a wild being, and that wild beings are (arguably) more unpredictable than those that are tamed. The second time, it reveals the reason why you are in these ruins with Trico in the first place, and that is because Trico took you away from your home while he was still enthralled under the Master of the Valley. And of course, it shows how much Trico cares for the boy as he tries to wake him up, and eventually succeeds. The third time, Trico is able to resist the call and destroys the antenna on the boy's command, in part due to his newly found will, and in part due to his love for the boy. The scene with Trico ignoring the eye-shields to rescue the boy from the horde of guards is a good example for this too. The Last Guardian is, in my mind, not only about the bond between a boy and a beast, but is also about a misunderstood creature that has their strength and power used for terrible things, with that creature breaking free from their prison and being able to choose to be who they choose to be. 3. Whenever a game has this moment that stays with you afterwards, it's something else. I have had defining moments in games, but one that comes to mind for me is when I played Detroit Become Human this year. It was that chapter where Todd was abusing Alice and Kara officially becomes a deviant. That part of the game specifically evoked this strong feeling of knowledge, that I would kill to protect someone that I love that is in danger. To me, games can have moments that are as powerful as moments from movies and books. 4. Tori's story fit in beautifully with this video. A lot of people would have picked her, as she is a pretty dog, but those people would have had her be put down with her problem, especially at the opinion of the dog behaviorist. But you didn't take the easier way out. You refused to give up on her, and you worked hard with her, and the end result was being rewarded for your determination and patience and love for Tori. Goes to show, our real life and virtual experiences can merge together in good ways. Apologies for that long ramble of a comment, just wanted to give my two-sense after watching this video. Once again, great job on this essay!
I don’t typically comment on videos but I have to say you are the finest video essayist that exists. Everything is so poignant and beautiful especially this one, shine on you beautiful diamond
When I can't deal, and am so defeated by my brain, and my life, I come to this video to hear you talk about the hard work you and Tori put in. And I can't express how much it helps.
Your story about your dog punched me in the gut man. A good friend of mine went through a similar situation and he did everything right and it just didn't work out. I hope you two have many happy years together
the attachment you have with your dog is heartwarming. it reminds me of my own dog that we lost to cancer in january 2018. her name was molly and i think about her every day. god, i miss her so much. make the most of the time you have left with yours, because, unfortunately, it is finite. in your video, when you were describing the feeling of knowing the beloved relationship will inevitably come to a sad end, it reminded me of the very same feeling I had in the last year or two of mollys life. she was getting old and slowing down and it was hard to watch her start to fade away as she was my only friend. man, I gotta say, you nailed it in this video. even though losing my dog felt like losing most of my heart at the time, this content reminded me that happiness is only real when shared. to never stop giving yourself to others because thats really the only thing that matters. its our struggles that define us. I dont know if any of this makes any sense but i wanted to say something. anyway, I dont know this game but Id like to play it. once again, bravo. your videos are very well done and I appreciate your perspective as well as the amount of effort you put into them. thank you
I don't show my emotions outwardly very often. I'm not the kind of person to cry at the movies or tear up in an emotional game. But somehow, these videos always seem to reach that part of me. They allow me to feel my emotions fully and properly. Thank you for making these. They are another level of beautiful.
Discovered your channel through a serendipitous mix of autoplay and algorithm. This was a beautiful video and also a reminder to give my street pup some extra tummy rubs tonight. Don't know who left her behind or hurt her, six years ago, but she's here now
this man is so good at describing feeling,connections,little similarities that his videos make me tear up not cry but just realize how significant the insignificant things are.
What an incredible video. I was teary eyed by the end of it. I haven't played any Ueda games but this video enticed me to give them a shot. The atmosphere and melancholic feeling of them you described really reminded me of the anime OVA Angels Egg by Mamoru Oshii. If anyone hasn't seen it yet do check it out. It's available on RUclips and is the easiest way to watch it since it still remains unlicensed. Once again, this was an incredible video. Edit: Forgot to mention Yoshitaka Amano did the art, so it's breathtakingly beautiful. And it's also one of those pieces of media where it's best going in blind.
I think it really speaks to the true art that games can create when we have technology capable of showing us fantastical worlds beyond our imagination but the memories that stick out to us most are the simple, human moments we find in them. The interactions between characters, the silent moments in reverie and awe...the true connection we establish when we identify with the stories...I think that's why I will always love this medium.
I just replayed this game like a month ago hahaha. The issues I had with it back when it launched were a bit worse now but overall it's still one of my top favourite, maybe even my most favourite game for the PS4. It's not a perfect game but it's such a unique and one of a kind experience. You just don't see too many games like this. I waited YEARS (since the first trailer) for this game to come out and when it did that's when I bought a PS4. XD Trico has this uncanny valley feeling, I still got it recently. He acts so realistically even though he's a fictional creature. Then the bond between Trico and the boy builds up so beautifully throughout the story. The story is such an emotional rollercoaster ride! Tricks you into thinking the boy might die, then Trico might die. Danger is always around the corner but you find a way out! The story beats are so cinematic with the action and the music. There's so many great moments in this game. It has all the elements you need to make a great adventure story. Also to note I have a dog as well and love animals so I think that's why I also really REALLY enjoyed this game. So stuff like where Trico is not listening to you, didn't bother me as much. From my experience with dogs, sometimes they listen right away, sometimes they're slow with responding or sometimes they will be sassy and not do what you say hahaha. I guess this game was doomed from the start to be a cult hit. But hey I think people will be talking about this game for years to come and even inspire future games. There are some very unique puzzles and great technical achievements done here. I always wondered though what happened during production? I wonder if someone will ever do a "in-depth" report on it. Most articles I've read don't really go into much detail. I just hope we get to see more of Ueda's work in the future.
I genuinely teared up and started to cry a little when you started to talk about Tori, the sheer amount of emotion in your voice, the fact that she's still alive, everything about that little tidbit of information made me sob. You probably won't read this, but as someone who's grown up with a cat and who loves him with every bit of my heart, I really got emotional over hearing you talk about your dog and it's just?? beautiful to feel something over a small part of this video. Thank you for uploading this, and all your other videos.
I have never played this game, still the video made me tear up. That's the mark of a good video right there, take a subject I don't really care about at all and 10 minutes later have me care enough about it where I'm pushed to tears.
If you join my Patreon, you'll get access to a full-length video director's commentary on this essay! and also I will be able to buy more treats for Tori! It's a win/win, really.
Cool video but those weird cuts involving ramping up your dialogue before shutting it down to a totally black screen with the music stopping is kinda annoying and redundant.
@@sirrealism7300 not really.
@@sirrealism7300 It was referring to the way the game is. He said that it never really aloud you to feel sentimental, it would cut you off, until the end where there is a nice moment of emotion and happiness.
@@1boyofsteel121 kinda just felt like gay amateur film cuts to me
@@sirrealism7300 that's fair
Video that shows people the end of a game
Most people: Spoiler warning.
Jacob: Implied subjectivity warning
This is a man of culture
Honestly, you shouldn't need spoiler warnings. common sense should tell you, "Oh this is a video about a game/movie/show I haven't played/seen yet, maybe I should wait and watch/play the actual thing first. People who care about spoilers are people who lack accountability. You have so much more control of your environment than you think.
@@Jake38nineespecially when the title says emotional peak, it should be common sense there are going to be spoilers. The endings are always the most emotional, and generally you can’t really talk about scenes that evoke strong emotions without them being a spoiler.
@@Jake38nine to add to that: at some point in time the game/movie/book or whatever else will be to old for spoiler warnings. Nobody will be mad for talking about the ending of Moby dick in an essay without a spoiler warning, and it's weird if people are at this.
To be fair though, if this was an isolated incident and you were to go about telling 1 person about the ending and they havent seen it yet and they tell you not to spoil it, you SHOULD NOT spoil it for them. Thats a dick move if its an isolated incident. But on the internet? Nah, you cant control spoilers, but you can prevent yourself from looking.
@tellux040 But that's the thing, nobody really understands deferral of gratification or prevention. People only ever want cures to things, which is just impossible. You can't cure everything, but you can prevent a lot of things.
"To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . ."
Where is that from? Pax?
@@joringedamke5597 The Little Prince
@@joringedamke5597 The Little Prince.
@@joringedamke5597 KNACK 2 BAYBEEEE
The little prince was a good book and movie.
When I played through The Last Guardian, I had this distinct feeling that there would probably never really be a game like it again. It relies on players having a kind of patience that I have never really seen in a game before, at least not one from a major studio. While there are certainly a few layers of jankiness that were not intentional, most of the things that I found frustrating about the game where intentional. It does this amazing thing where you are always a little annoyed with how things are going until you hit those bigger action moments where everything between the boy and Trico is in sync. And this feeling is so easy to relate to. Whether it be with a pet or even a real person, relationships are a lot of work. Building trust is a lot of work. The Last Guardian gives its primary relationship time to grow in a way that no game I have played really does? Like, I love the Last of Us, but you can look through that game and really pinpoint 2-3 moments that led to Joel and Ellie becoming bonded, but you can't do that at as easily here. There are a few moments that emphasize the bond (the boy almost dying, Trico almost dying, and the top of the tower), but they are the result of how the bond grew on a moment to moment basis through game play. And I think that those moments are so meaningful because they feel so earned. As you touch on, they are these sort of forced moments of reflection where you think, "God dang, I love Trico."
GOOD GAME. GOOD VIDEO. GOOD.
@Razbuten
Any plans on making a video on Last Guardian? I'd love to see your take on it too.
@@sahus Nothing exclusively on it. I am working on a piece about the intersection of game mechanics and storytelling, and this will definitely have a place in that video. I have had thoughts of doing a big piece on the three Team Ico games, but at this point, that is more of a "this would be fun" instead of a "I have an interesting take on this" so I need to wait until I have a more concrete idea for it.
@@razbuten Yeah, I wouldn't want you to make a video, on a game that you didn't have an "interesting take" on, just cause I like the game.
For what it's worth, the only other AAA game I've played since TLG that relied on player patience as much as TLG did was death stranding. They're incredibly different games, but the minute to minute gameplay of death stranding reminds me a lot of a team ico style game. Somber quiet, where it's just you navigating a world coupled with the obscene level of detail and complexity with which the world is rendered and able to be interacted upon. Climbing a mountain in death stranding reminded me of climbing cliffs and colossi. You slowly navigate and use careful planning to determine spots where you can rest and catch your breath.
@Razbuten notice me sempai
Definitely planned on crying on my lunch break today. That was completely intentional.
Beautiful video Jacob, hot damn.
I did not bring my permission slip for this feels trip.
today i woke up and thought: today is a good day to cry over a video about a game that i didn't play! how can i achive that?
Last Guardian came out about 6 months after my cat had died and playing the game helped me grief. By the end I was crying so loud I think my neighbours heard me. Is it technically a perfect game? No. Do I think it's still a perfect game? Absolutely. It's special to me in a way art that really hits home is.
This is my same exact relationship with the game. I had just lost my cat of 19 years, and this game came out exactly when I needed it to. After already waiting so long, for it to come out at that timing felt like it was all a weird dream. By the end, I was crying like a baby, but I am convinced that getting to have that connection and trust with an animal again, even a fictional one, helped me through my grieving process immensely. I will forever be grateful to this game for that, and it will forever be one of my favorite games. To me, it's perfect. It feels like a part of me, now.
I can understand that. I played it several times with my corgi including the first time I played. She used to always look up at the tv anytime she heard trico (I had the surround sound way up lol)
The days before I knew I had to put her to sleep (she had a degenerative disease), I played it with her one last time.
I still feel like the bond between trico and the player is very similar to the bond we share with our pets, only condensed into a 12 hour experience
I played the game, knowing it would probably destroy me, about a month after my dog died. The only dog I ever had for about 15 years of my life (more than half at this point).
The game just gave me reminder after reminder. I owned a dog, and the patience of dealing with Trico was... surprisingly easy. But my god the ending made weep... and that moment. The one after the fight with the other trico you find and you fall off a bridge. Where Trico seems to be just barely alive and you just feed it barrels as best you can, and you try to pet it and help it... it reminded me so heavily of what my dog looked like near their final days that I just couldn't handle it.
@@RPGgrenade💔
Jacob, your videos always fill me with joy. For the level of quality, for your eloquence, for your passion, for the fact that I'm living in a time where people like you are able to produce content like this that is easily available to people like me. Those Patreon dollars are the easiest I've ever spent. In this video that joy did spill over into the lump in the throat and moistness of the eyes-territory, and boy am I happy for that. Thank you, well done.
The moment that destroyed me was Trico realizing that they possibly killed the boy. You have no control over the situation except the camera, and Trico is basically controlling you, trying to see if you come back, and gosh that part was so sad, but at the same moment the boy came back and Trico was all happy and jumping all over.
Basically, I think that Fumito Ueda does these really sad moments, but at the same time, there's fun and hope too. Like the end of SOTC, with you never really uniting with your loved one, but she and the land are back to life and free. The outcome isn't perfect, but the horizon is beautiful.
Ueda is a softie at heart and it's crazy how few people realize this. None of the main characters in all three of his games actually die, none of them. Even Wander gets another chance. And all three games end on optimistic notes, which is the most important thing, where they actually end.
Even some fans of Ueda can't seem to handle this, and will come up with theories that twist the plots so they're secretly dark and sad - Mono becomes the Queen from Ico, Ico and Yorda are actually dead and the beach is the afterlife. They can't process the positivity.
"the outcome isn't perfect, but the horizon is beautiful." Fuaaark man that made me feel things I haven't felt for a long time
My favorite part is still the post credits. It gave me the happy ending I really wanted. That was the part that made me lose it. I was holding in tears the entire time but when i heard trico groan and then saw the baby trico, I lost it. Even now just thinking of it I get choked up. And I am not an emotional man. I'm super repressed tough guy douchebag type and this game just tore me apart
when the video essay is as much art as the game
Daniel Wallace teachers pet
Articulated perfectly
Facts bro - this essay is beautiful
To this day, the fact that so few people played The Last Guardian still breaks my heart.
And also I cry every like a little b*tch every time I'm simply thinking about Last Guardian's ending...
i only know one youtuber that did and that's jacksepticeye and i loved his playthrough because he didn't give up and he felt the emotions and felt it all and finished it with a broken heart
@@lrkeribergaard6110 gonna check it out!
Well that was beautiful and also made me cry, so a fairly standard Jacob Geller video then. :P
(seriously though the personal anecdote at the end was the perfect climax for the video. Good dogs are good!)
jfc jacob you made me cry over your dog, i hope you're proud (you should be. what you two have built is beautiful)
It always hits me so hard that the very last thing you do, the last time you actually play the game, is when you send Trico away. You say goodbye.
I get it. The happiest memory I have in my life is laying on my bed with the sun coming though the window in the summer and my cat napping next to me. He died half a year ago. His name is Midnite. I love him and miss him so much.
Rest In Peace Midnite
Get out of my head Jacob. I literally replayed The Last Guardian yesterday. I can't handle this...
This game ripped my heart out as I had no idea how the ending would play out and got WAY too attached to Trico. I would spend time to just groom Trico settling their ruffled feathers and just playing with them.
Thanks for the tears, my dude. I'm crying in the club.
I've been a dog person my whole life and when my Dad died when I was 25 I was ready to call it a day. Few months later my best friend committed suicide but the one constant during all that pain was my little dog Ted. He gave me a reason to live and get out of bed in the morning. Nights and days I didn't want company but he never left my side. 8 years later hes here with me in my own house, helping my battle my demons. The power of dogs is immeasurable. They are an extension of mankind. Much love to all the dog owners out there who take dogs in and unlock the dogs true purpose and power into their lives.
OH MY GOD YOU HAD ME SO GOOD WITH THE BIT ABOUT YOUR DOG. I'M SO GLAD SHE'S SAFE AND HAPPY AND HAS A HUMAN WHO TOOK THE TIME TO LOVE HER THROUGH THE ROUGH PATCHES
I just finished The Last Guardian. I never had a pet, be it cat or a dog, but thats pretty much what I always imagined it to be like. As soon as I started the game I immediately fell in love with Trico and no matter how badly he got on my nerves sometimes, I knew that I was ready to die for him. The final confrontation with other beasts made feel the most intense panic I ever had during any game. The moment one of them ripped Trico's tail off I had to pause and take a break because I felt like crying. And I still do. I dont think there ever will be other game to make me care for its character as much as I cared for Trico.
And thank you for pointing out how boy's parting with his friend made sense since Trico belongs in the valley high above the land. This moment made me so sad because I naturaly wanted them to stay together but now that I think about it, their story was never meant to end like this. After titles scene does hint for their reunion but we can only hope.
One of the reasons I wanted Trico to stay is because I genuinely began to hate the place I spent entire game getting out from. But now I also realise that the valley itself wasn't evil, it was the marble tower. I imagine the valley used to be a peaceful place where people lived in harmony with the beasts (hence the statues of them) but some strange alien invaded this place and created a tower in order to control it. And after we managed to disable it and destroy the mysterious force within, the valley comes back to peace, to how it used to be.
This may all be obvious but I feel like I needed to write it down to calm myself after such a journey. My god. what a game.
I feel like Jacob Geller has now become one of if not my favourite RUclipsr, which is both a good and bad thing. A good thing, because it means that I am subscribed to someone who always produces quality of the highest content, even if he doesn’t think that. And a bad thing, because it has now dawned on me how little passion and love there is left on RUclips. Very few people in the hundreds of millions on this site actually give me pure, unadulterated joy when I receive a notification. Thank you Jacob Geller for existing.
I don’t agree with this. I think there is more thoughtful, delightful content on this platform than ever before. Perhaps the percentages aren’t great, but that’s because this is a service that is free to use for literally everyone. Of course there will be lots of soulless, lowest common denominator creators, but my subscription list is so full of wonderful stuff that I can’t keep up with it all. If you want some recommendations let me know, because I definitely admit the good content can be hard to track down.
@@Tinyvalkyrie410 I always like quality recommendations. Does that offer extend to a different internet rando?
@@samuraishodownmugenproject5094 sure thing! What are you looking for?
Edit: the stuff I know best is video game content, both essays and lighter stuff, tabletop gaming, science and engineering stuff, pop culture analysis, and animal care stuff. I do have a list of other random things as well. I spend a worrying amount of time on RUclips 😂
@@Tinyvalkyrie410 Is there any philosophical type shit you know? I am addicted to these kinds of videos
@@JohnDoe_51151 tragically I do not, unless it’s tangentially related to other stuff (like Nier Automata). That said, it is definitely something I am interested in learning more about. Do you have any recommendations on good videos or channels?
Edit: there are a few channels I watch that deal with philosophical issues like Ask a Mortician and Contrapoints, but I assume you mean more classical academic stuff
This video came out a little over a year before I lost my first dog. She was the biggest, sweetest old English sheepdog, no, the sweetest dog I've ever met. I've not been able to get my hands on a copy of this game due to college and work and what not, but only yesterday I picked it up and immediately thought back to watching this when I was still in that muddy haze of grief. I can't describe exactly why I immediately fell in love with trico but seeing him right at the start with spears stuck all through him, struggling to stand, reminded me of the last week or so of her life. She was an old dog and there wasn't much we could do to help her besides putting her to rest, but being able to pull the spears from trico and really help him back to his feet actually made me cry. It's not closure, but it helps.
8:31 stopped me in my tracks and by the end of the video I was crying in the middle of the cafeteria I was eating lunch in.
Phenomenal job, Jacob. As always.
I might be a fair bit late to this video, but this game broke me in ways I haven't experienced in any game. When I played this game I was in part of the peak of my alcoholism, but no matter what there was this little cat that I came home to. I was so alone and felt completely helpless, but every day I came home from work I would meet my cat Maria. She was always there for me and gave me so much reason. There were moments when I had considered suicide but while I was in a drunken haze, that little cat was always sitting with me on the couch. I got a tattoo of the boys tattoos in this game on my right arm as a memory for the unspoken companionship found with animals and to honor the bond I had with that cat before she died. She developed a sort of immune disease thats specific to cats, and so I had to get her put down to ease her suffering and I held her the entire time while she got the injections. I held her in the same way she held me during the lowest points I've ever felt. And that's why this game was so much for me.
I wonder where that idea came from, that Last Guardian would have to have ended with either the boy or Trico dying, seeing as neither of the previous Team Ico's games killed their main characters and that's hardly the only way to write an emotional and impactful ending?
Is that sort of gut-punch really so overplayed, that we can no longer look at a cute animal in story-based media without thinking of it getting killed off for an emotional beat?
I think that's Shadow's fault to a degree (Wander's state at the end is... ambiguous), but probably also the default "saddest thing." When I think about characters I don't yet care about having a bond I don't understand yet, then the saddest thing I can imagine happening to them is one of them dying. And there is an expectation, with Ueda, for a bittersweet ending. So I think most people just didn't make the jump to "forming this bond and then separating the two forever is the saddest way this can go," because that requires an assumption that the bond will be built well and people will care about it. One half dying is sad even if the narrative otherwise fails.
When I was in elementary school, our teacher read us a book called "No More Dead Dogs" that was a funny story about a kid sick of the "animal dies in the end" trope. Those memes about The Last Guardian really reminded me of it, haha. Because yeah, Ueda always goes for a much more interesting and bittersweet ending than the easy/obvious tearjerker copout. It's a big part of why his storytelling is so beloved to me.
It is overplayed and it's also super cheap. I literally refuse to watch movies that do it. Even movies that aren't at all about the dog like I am legend and butterfly effect. Those both upset me so much that I will never watch them again and will always say fuck those movies (especially butterfly effect. I feel straight up traumatized by that shit)
So I absolutely loved the way this game truly ended (post credits). I held in my tears through all the worst moments and saddest parts, but the post credits completely broke me. It made me so fucking happy and still does.
@@littlekitsune1 so true. Couldn't agree more. I especially love it because he gives happy endings while also not playing it safe whatsoever. He's a genius and I will forever love him for the gifts he has given us
@@HugoStiglitz88 You must REALLY hate John Carpenter's "The Thing" I'm guessing. XD
Never felt this close to a game - the absolute best work IMO of this amazing studio. A game about making bonds instead of breaking them - befriending an other instead of killing it.
It's incredibly special, criminally under-experienced, and hopelessly intertwined with my soul; a realization of what games can be. Thank you for the tribute to it, and thanks for sharing such a lovely personal story along with it.
Same. It's why I never shut up about it. Ask my friends. They'll confirm that lol
I clicked on this video because this game was an amazing experience and I wanted to hear what you have to say about it. I didn't expect to find myself in your story, also having a puppy that guards her food and has bitten me on several occasions because of this. We are still working through it but we cuddle in the mornings and seeing her face light up with joy when i say the word WALK warms my heart. And you are so right, this game really does emulate the feeling of having a companion (like a dog) really REALLY well, communication is hard, it takes a while to get things working, but at the end of the day you care for each other and love each other. it's beautiful
There are few video essayists whose videos I -savor-. And Jacob? You make me relish every single video. This is excellent, and deserves a million views.
God, when you got to the "and neither of us bite each other when we take away bread" I almost burst out crying at work. This is beautiful. What a wonderful, transformative piece of art you've made.
Good job, thank you, and best of luck.
The end of the video got me emotional, my family had gone through chaos, divorces, social struggles, legal pain, family struggles, struggle in school, living in deadly neighborhoods. a rough time throughout the years, the only time I had to relax was in bed, I cried to take out the held up pain, slept to hide from my issues, stared at old pictures and objects that revealed past moments of perfection, and moments of reflection.
When I got my first dog, he was a year old, a dog commonly abused and outcast from love, the jindo is commonly farmed in Korea, smugglers send them to Washington to save their species, when I saw the dog, I saw his pain, he had (and still has) a mark on his nose, skin without fur, a constant frown, a fear of the slightest noises, he and I have gone through hell, and with each other, we feel at peace together, instead of crying, I smile every time I see him.and he smiles back, a dog is a true best friend.
What is a friend, a friend is someone you are connected to, you’ll know it when you see them, because they’ll see it in you.
that last sentence is a poem i want to always remember
Jacob, you need to stop making cry so much with every video. 😭
I had all the same feelings you did playing this game and I also got a dog to help with my depression since antidepressants don’t really work on me.
His name was Rex, an Akita/lab mix and he was the best thing that ever happened to me. I adopted him when he was 7 and spent months breaking through his aloofness and my own inexperience and it felt like the greatest victory of my life when I truly felt our own bond with each other because I truly had to work at it unlike how it is with most other kinds of dogs. Then in November I found out he had lymphoma, we said goodbye to him at the end of January. I didn’t even have him for a year. I knew adopting a large senior dog came with these risks but I... always thought we would have a few years together before I really had to...
That sense of fleeting you mention with Trico, I had always sort of felt that with Rex, but it doesn’t stop like feeling the rug is pulled out from under you when you realize it’s much less time than you wanted. The Last Guardian captures this very well, because they really give you that moment for it to sink in. Thanks Jacob.
God, but this video really GOT to me. I watched it in work while I should have been making fliers, and it just dragged me, violently, back to how I felt at the top of that tower with Trico. I started the Last Guardian right after losing my little dog - he was almost 17 but somehow that wasn't nearly enough time with him. I had to put Trico away for a while because even through the screen, making friends with this big feahtery goofball felt like a betrayal. Coming back and finishing it this year was one of the most visceral experiences I'd ever had with a game. I was so wrapped up in what was happening that I didn't even shed a tear until the credits rolled, but once they started, I found that I couldn't stop. I just cried and cried, the way a little kid does. It was very late at night and my partner was asleep, so I had to cry silently so as not to wake her. Looking back, I think I only really grieved for my little dog after I finished the Last Guardian.
Well damn at least I know what to play after my pet dies😢
This is a game I play on a yearly basis, it just blows my mind on so many levels and means so much to me. It’s probably my favourite Ueda game, I played all of them when they first came out but this one is much more direct.
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING.
I definitely think Ueda understands what video game narrative CAN be. Making players feel emotions through what they’re playing and not watching, I think that’s what separates him from other auteurs such as Kojima etc (not to detract from their achievements).
@@nilssonschmillson5395 100% agree. The Last Guardian and Inside were my favorite games of the last generation. Their stories are told through gameplay and are thus much more impactful than so called cinematic videogames. For this reason I assume, games like, for example, Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and Uncharted series havent affected me in a slightest way. I forgot about them pretty quickly after finishing.
If I would want to watch hours of cut scenes I would go to the cinema to watch a movie. It's really time for video games to grow up as a medium and find its own way to tell stories. Ueda gets this. Kojima doesnt. Cant wait for Fumito's 4th title.
When The Last Guardian finally came out I was in a rough place financially so I wasn't able to play it, so I tuned in to a favored youtuber doing a lets play of it and the ending devastated me. In the past year I finally got to be able to play it and I understood the difficulty and distaste some people have with it but knowing how it ended made me look past the momentary struggles and enjoy the scenery until Trico was ready to work with me to progress. And when we made that final fated flight off the tower I knew it was a bittersweet moment because I knew what was coming. That ending is brutal. Beautiful, but brutal.
You know. Watching this, I realized that I’ve cried at every one of these
The thing I hate about your videos
is that they don't have enough views
Other thing is, in this case I can't finish it because less than half way through I'm convinced I need to play this game. ;P
@@argenteus8314 play it, it's really good
@@BornEvilXIII I plan to! I've got a LOT of games I need to get through though. I say that like it's a bad thing, but obviously it's amazing that there are so many incredible games out that the only problem is which ones first.
@@argenteus8314 yeah I have this too, I'm playing breath of the wild, Persona 3, Dreams, Devil may Cry4, Sekiro, so many games
Dude, I was getting teary at the end there, and I wasn't even watching the video, just listening. Your writing and narration are actually perfect. Amazing work.
That one point watching the sky together with trico made me think about the moment i just sit beside my dog. You feel connected and you feel eachother the same can happen with people i cant explain it. But its that raw emotion without verbally speakinh that has such a warm feeling. I think thats what makes it that strong. The fact the lower parts of the game are dark , you ve been in the daek with this thing and you made it out.
I just finished this game for the first time last night. My last previous Sony console was the PS2, and I'd played both Ico and SotC on that system. I was excited for the Last Guardian but had no way to play it, so I mostly blocked it out of my mind until I had a chance to play it fresh. Having just bought a PS5, it was nearly a 15y wait.
And on another note, last year, we had to let our dog of 12 years go. Her health took a sudden turn without warning, and we were faced with the horrifying surprise choice of putting her through countless tests and treatments or to let her go peacefully. Her breathing in the last hours of her life was _exactly_ like the scene after the bridge fight, and it wrecked me. I wasn't sure I could finish the game. I'm crying again thinking about it.
When I finished, I wanted to go see what others had said about the game, because like I said, I had low-key memory holed it until I had a chance to experience it myself. I was aware of technical complaints and the Penny Arcade comic, but nothing else really. I was _very_ surprised to see content creators whose opinions I respect seemingly miss the point entirely. I agree that the game camera has problems. There are a couple of places that Trico's inability to follow directions clearly broke the fourth wall and ceased feeling like the aloof actions of a living sentient creature. Any time I had to get Trico to lower his tail for a puzzle was a nightmare. But, none of that matters to me at all. Team Japan's games are _always_ outliers, and I will happily fight a few bugs for the opportunity to experience what they create. I'm very happy to see from this video essay that I'm not alone.
I have one last point to make, and I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere (yet). I think this game is also about overcoming trauma, and about found families. (I think this could be said, to some extent, about all TJ games). Trico has been exploited and abused, and harms the boy as a result of this past. He gradually learns to trust the boy, but at times his past comes back and hijacks him in the present, making him do awful things, including nearly killing the boy. The remorse that Trico feels in that moment, and his joy when the boy wakes up, were the first time in this game that I had to stop and compose myself. Through their friendship, they work together to overcome their limitations and survive. Both the boy and Trico were born into a system they didn't choose, and those that created that system have basically abandoned it long ago. Ultimately, they come out on the other end, reclaiming their lives from those that tried to abuse them. I think it's fitting that the last TJ game finally gives some catharsis, as both Ico and SotC leave on a darker, ambiguous note.
I had to get this out there because I was surprised by the reactions to this game online. I can't fault anyone for being frustrated with the technical issues, but to me the game is so, so much more than that. I've spent far more time on far less interesting games. Thanks for the touching essay.
That was beautiful dude. Dammit the wind blew dust in my eyes again. Crazy how that happens indoors.
Yeah, it’s crazy, man. Here too.
i know no ones gonna read this but damn this resonates with me. in a lot of sentimental movies too, there is the feeling of fleeting love. when you know the protagonists will be torn apart in the end. it’s not just the love that makes the parting stronger, but vice versa.
The Last Guardian means the world to me. Trico saved my life. To watch such a respectful review is like a reward. Thank you.
This video was a beautiful find, I played The Last Guardian earlier this year and it is the most emotional I have ever felt from a game. It will easily be one of my most treasured gaming experiences forever.
Easily. Easily the most emotional game ever made
@@HugoStiglitz88 Man, now I wanna replay this game all over again
430 am and this video nearly had me bawling just as hard as i did when i first watched this game from beginning to end. i never got to properly play it, just watched it via someone else's playthrough, but even then it was enough for me to form a bond alongside them.
years later i'm finally getting the chance to play through it on my own and i can't wait for it to wreck me again. thank you for reminding me of what makes this game hit so hard it left a mark on my soul.
When you were talking about how the boy was not able to live out his days with trico and that it was a fleeting relationship that he will never forget, it made me realize even further that the boy literally is the player.
Ive always felt like the boy was me and everything he goes through, and his bond and love for trico was identical to mine, but also the way it ends for the boy is identical to the way it ends for the player.
We can't continue our bond with trico forever. At the end of the game we have to say goodbye, just like the boy does.
It's almost like a metaphor for any fiction piece of work and how we can only experience something for the first time once. It's also a metaphor for our relationships with pets since most pets only live a fraction of our entire lives.
He will never confirm this, but knowing Fumito Ueda, I would bet that he had this in mind when he decided how to end the game. He really is that kind of genius
this video made me cry thanks
13:17 is the most beautiful moment of the generation!
Seriously, you got me so scared. Pet your pup for me
I haven't gotten to play The Last Gaurdian, but even when it came out, I remember hearing the reviews of "oh Trico doesn't always listen and that's BAD." or "it doesn't meet my expectations of having a big giant creature I can control, and that means it's bad and clunky." and I remember thinking that they probably don't really treat or think of Trico like an actual creature, not like an actual animal. more of just another video gamey character that they NEEDED to control. and the section you talked about, where most people would rather just put down their dog, rather than actually spending the time to help them. A close person to me, one where we finally started dating after 2 years, has a dog that she treats as her son. she loves him to the extent that I've never seen anyone love. other people that saw this thought she was super weird (which I felt was completely unfair), but this dog is different because of it. you can tell he's intelligent, respectful, and he learns so much INCREDIBLY FAST. like when she was first training him to be a service dog, usually it would take years to get to certain levels (mainly because of the training) but out of genuine love she had for him, and staying with him to train him, he learned and learned and is now a full time service dog. which blew the people away of how much he improved. I think overall, this has just ultimately changed how I view other creatures, not as just PETS or if their cattle then FOOD, but as thinking, living beings (I can't really put it into words how I feel, when I try to explain it, it just comes out wrong. but lets just say that I actually FEEL the genuine fear in a spider when it sees me looming at it, and it's confusion and relief when I let it outside) since I'm still in highschool, I wonder how this will evolve over time as an adult.
The first time I played ICO, I wasn't even aware that I needed to bring Fey with me in order to save, I thought for like 67% of my time playing the game that it was possible to save without her. but I always brought her with me, I constantly didn't try to run too fast because I could just FEEL how uncomfortable that would be to her. even the part on the bridge, I understood how weak she was, and even though I was so SO eager to leave, I walked as slow as possible, not even realizing WAY later that it actually was apart of the game where if you ran she would stumble over and fall. I never saw her as just a video game character, and I think that improved my overall feel and love with the game. I mean even as a kid I really REALLY hated to hurt anyone, and could just feel their pain whenever I did (I'm talking about games like Infamous)
I think if I ever get the chance to play this game, I wonder if it'll end up being one of the most precious games to me. Thanks for the video by the way, I'm absolutely a fan of your content!
Yours may be the most meaningful gaming content on the platform. Mankind well needs a light such as you.
Once again, a deep, introspective look at why we play games.
I know this video is almost a year old now, but i keep coming back to revisit it over and over. I cried the day it was released, and I keep crying every time I come back. On April 16, 2020, we had to sacrifice my dog due to old age (16 dog years are a lot of years) and since then this video has gotten even closer to my heart. I played the whole game back when it came out and I adored it, but playing it after going through saying goodbye to a lifelong friend and companion was a beautiful and heartbreaking experience. I had tears on my eyes the whole way through, because I knew that I was going to have to say goodbye to Trico once we reached the top, and that was something few games have acomplished to do.
I just wanted to say thank you, because I'm once again sitting here, my desk filled with teardrops and my heart aching. This is a beautiful essay and it has been my coping mechanism for this whole shitty 2020 trainwreck. You're something special and we do not deserve you.
All of my love to you, Mr. Geller, you handsome mf.
that music at 9:00
its life is strange music
Its, its really strange to hear it, lots of memories attached to it
I may not be a player of any Ico games, but I can think we can agree
Games can bring emotions and tears to someone like no other form of media
Its, just, magical sometimes
The bond you can make with these people, or animals,
I dont know
Just
Yeah
I literally started crying when the music came up. Again. This game was the deepest emotional experience in my life. Seriously...
went looking through the comments to see if anyone else recognized it because it hit me so hard
This was, a very, very lonely time in my life
Being honest my whole life has been lonely
Strange, if I knew back when I wrote that comment that not even a few weeks later I would get such a close and emotional bond with someone
And that someone would eventually become my partner
I dont think I would have cried as much
but it was worth it
And even still, life is strange still can make me cry
Those games got me through the begining of a horrible time in my life
And I will always be thankful to them
Remember, even at your darkest, light is always there, you just have to let yourself see it
You need to play the ico games. Please do. If you have a decent PC, the pcsx2 emulator will let you play Ico, or the remaster version on ps3 if you have one
Shadow of the colossus has the best remake ever on ps4 (you need to play that version) and of course the last guardian is on ps4 and ps5 with bc.
Please play them. Straight up, if you don't have money, I can at least let you play the last guardian on one of my accounts for free.
@@HugoStiglitz88 I can promise you the second I am able to I will
Its always been a thought of mine to do so
Just never got around to it
This game means so much to me. Every time I finish it, I start crying. I don't know what it is so emotional about the ending, I just cry. Even during this video I almost started crying again, it's just such a strong, impactful ending. And your narration in this video made it all the more emotional, especially when you talked about the relationship with your own dog and compared it to the boy and Trico. Amazing video❤!
This is an absolutely wonderful video, thank you! I watched it years ago and couldn't remember where to find it again until now--glad to see it's still here and being appreciated by others.
Jacob every time I see that you’ve uploaded a video it makes my goddamn day.
Your video brought me to tears. I also have a dog with some serious anxiety issues, and sometimes it's difficult to have anyone it doesn't know intimately into the house, but little by little we are managing to get him feeling better every day. Thank you for the beautiful content.
TLG has the best last 60 minutes of any game I've ever played, those moments are so beautiful, no other game made me felt this much emotion, definetly a special game.
Hands down the best ending of any game, ever
The Last Guardian is an unmitigated masterpiece and my favorite game.
Its an experience like no other, one where you play a small boy who has to befriend a huge creature. That bond you form, the trails and tribulations on the way and the time spent is not like anything else. I walked and climbed every inch of the nest I could, looked into every crevice and hole, scanned the horizon and carefully marked my progress at every vista, with Trico at my side the whole time. Its a place I'd go and company I'd keep in a heartbeat.
I will always cry at the end, knowing that you (as the boy) will never see your friend again
and even now, many years later I wish there could have been a sequel where the boy (now grown) journeys back to the nest to find his friend.
Welp! Good job on making me cry again.
The Last Guardian was one of the first games I played through after my cat passed away. She used to sit in my lap all the time when I played games. So I dunno, playing through the game was quite an emotional and changing experience. She was my best friend
Never has a youtube video made me cry tears of relief and joy. I have a one year old dog that has seriously saved my life. When you transitioned to talking about Toriel I felt my heart plummet; he was sitting at my feet at the time and I had to pick him up. Then you gave the happiest plot twist I've ever seen.
Bro EVERY SINGLE VIDEO MAKES ME WANNA WATCH ALL YOUR OTHER VIDEOS ALL OVER AGAIN
The last guardian is so underrated, it's troublesome at times but the whole game comes together so well, I love it.
And this video made me tear up as well, I had a dog and remembered all the wonderful times when you revealed that she was still alive today. Thanks for a great vid
I never comment on videos, but this video is actually fucking insane. I clicked on it and was like "Oh it's only a few minutes, hopefully it'll be interesting" and I fucking balled my eyes out. Like, harder than I've cried in a long, long time. You are doing God's work my man, thank you for making this
it's been two years since this came out and I adopted a dog that turned 3 on this day that had the same issue described at the end of this video.......i still have to say the most beautiful part of what we all share is that love that is immediate and inescapable.
this was so very sweet thank you so very much!
God, that dread of separation reminds me so much of mourning my dogs. This video is so good. It hurts like peroxide on a cut, painful but healing.
Well I shed a tear or two. This is one of your most touching videos, and I mean, I've nearly watched them all. Great work as always, and Tori seems to be the goodest girl!
Your dog is beautiful and this game is beautiful and so was this video. Thanks for the tears
Jacob, this is one of the most beautiful synopsis of a video game I have ever seen. I too had a very difficult dog, but much like yours, he saved me from a very bad and dark period in my life. He was hard work but ultimately sharing a part of my life with him was one of the most truly special things I have ever experienced. I loved Last Guardian, I like others had waited all those years, thinking it would never see the light of day. It didn't disappoint, despite how tough it was to play at times but ultimately its just too beautiful. The emotional highs it gives those who stick with it are worth more than anything in any other medium. Thank you sir
to a lot of people, it would sound absurd that I'd get emotional over someone talking about a video game for 15 minutes. but here I am and after watching this beautiful video I just wanna write you a message. you might never see it but that's okay. I just wanna write it. i have spent the last month or so inhaling every video you have. I watched a few before but I really dove in recently, and it has been such an amazing experience. you make some of the best content I've seen on youtube hands down. its incredible. and you've opened my eyes to a different way of thinking about games. i liked to think that I thought critically about the games I played, and yeah I guess, I am certainly a lore buff in the games I enjoy, but seeing your videos made me think a little more broadly about the emotional core of the games I play, about what they're saying. I want to write about games now. i want to write about music in splatoon, i want to write about the melancholy husk of a kingdom that is hollownest, i want to write about how hopeful the zelda series is and its all because of you. thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you.
i just lost a dog and this video made me weep. this video always does that but this time it was so cathartic and raw. i loved my lil fur ball and missing her almost makes me love her more.
Why are you so good at video essays? Nice job
The Last Guardian broke me! It is one of my most favorite games EVER!! When it ended I was lost! I fell so in love with Trico that after it was over it took me a while before I could play any other game! All I wanted was more trico! If I could have a dog I'd name it Trico! Everything was Trico and I was the boy! No game has EVER made me feel that way!! Sure there's amazing games I've played but I've never walked away after playing them and felt lost!!! Everything thing in the game no matter how tedious it may have felt was worth it to me!!
there are no smiles because these games aren't happy stories. because the end of these games does not represent the end of the stories. we're just allowed to play until that point. there's more after the beach. there's more after the horned baby. more after arriving home.
But that's just the way fumito tell his stories. and that's exactly the reason we always get so glued to his games. it's always a mistery behind the characters, the motivations, the world's background. we never know anything, and this arouses our curiosity so much.
That's a brilliant story teller for you
The Last Guardian is one of the only games to make me cry. I personally had no issues with the AI, or the physics, which in my mind, heightened the experience. I made a bond with Trico that I cannot explain. It's the first time in my life that I felt I actually needed someone there, like I would be nothing without them. When I played this game, I was at a low. Afterward, I was at a lower point than before. But for some reason, it felt good. Being sad about something that would never be reality made me happy in a way. This was a game I needed to play, and to this day I'm so damn happy I did. I still cannot believe that a game made me a better person, but it sure as hell happened. Thank you for this video, I needed this.
For me the moment I broke down was right at the ending where Trico makes his running leap to fly you home. Watching my dorky tuft of a dog finally manage to take full flight while maimed and hurt just to bring you home filled me with a feeling of pride like I can't describe. I didn't even understand why I was crying at first. I never cry at anything and i certainly wasn't feeling sad so it was alien to me.
The Last Guardian isn't a very good game. The controls are off, they don't even tell you how to command Trico, you need to have patience, the frame rate is dire, and there are one too many guide dang it moments. Now I actually got along very well with Trico and didn't have many incidents but each point I made can very likely impact someone's will to finish the game. All I'll say is to muscle through it. Once you reach the end I can guarantee that part of your journey will stick with you and whether you loved the game or hated it, that experience is absolutely priceless.
Really nice touch to the video when you add your personal experience with your own pet.
Keep up the good work.
I love how the higher you got, the more the game seemed to add colors to the world and at the highest peak, we got the most beautiful and colorful scenery in the entire game. I believe it was an intentional art decision that reflected the bleakness of the situation at the bottom of the abyss and the hope we gain everytime we get higher.
Didn't know much about this game and had to try not to get choked up at the reveal that Trico and the boy don't get to go home together after everything they've shared because the boy's home is not compatible with Trico. I have had to say goodbye to five cats over the course of my life because I had to move into places where I could not keep them to get away from people who abused me. Four of these cats were the sources of love that helped me survive those awful homes, and the fifth was one I met after I had left the last abusive home, who I helped get through a life-threatening illness.
I've often felt like no one around me understands the pain of losing a beloved animal not to death but to insurmountable circumstance. It sounds like this game understands.
I hope Trico and Hershey and Turbo and Rock and Soul and Teddy got to be happy after those goodbyes.
I saw this video in my recommendations a long time ago, and the title and thumbnail has stayed on my mind until I finally gave it a watch. And wow, well done on this! There are a few things I'd like to share my thoughts on;
1. I have played The Last Guardian and have finished it seven times. It's one of
the games that I do an annual playthrough of. And no lie, I've never been at my wit's end with the game, even with the first time I played it. My biggest problem was always trying to figure out where to go and what to do next, a issue I have with quite a few games as I can have my clueless moments. I did take a break from The Last Guardian for a few months during my first playthrough, I was at that section with the chain and the jug. I gave up because I had no idea what to
do, I didn't even think of just looking up a video on how to get past that area
(which I ended up doing a few months later when I returned to the game) The
controls, gameplay, and Trico's A.I has never really bothered me like it has bothered many players of The Last Guardian, I'm weird like that.
2. 6:46-6:54, the first time I played The Last Guardian, I was like "WTF" when Trico first "ate" the boy. What I think is important to remember with the scenes with the boy and Trico and that antenna thing is that it shows the progression of the relationship between the boy and Trico, as well as Trico reaching his freedom. Trico, along with his brethren, are enslaved by a higher force to kidnap children and take them to this place to turn them into blue goo in barrels for whatever the reason. As you see in the game, Trico's kind are normally friendly and loyal creatures (much alike to dogs) but the Master of the Valley takes control of them, turning them into man-eating beasts, all to fulfill their own purposes. This aspect in the game
is similar to dogfighting in my mind, and I'm not saying that I think the developer based it on that, but I can't help but draw parallels between the two. Each time you're in a room with Trico and the antenna goes off and takes control of him, it's the same scenario but different every time. The first time, it's certainly a shocking moment, and a reminder that Trico is a wild being, and that wild beings are (arguably) more unpredictable than those that are tamed. The second time,
it reveals the reason why you are in these ruins with Trico in the first place, and that is because Trico took you away from your home while he was still enthralled under the Master of the Valley. And of course, it shows how much Trico cares for the boy as he tries to wake him up, and eventually succeeds. The third time, Trico is able to resist the call and destroys the antenna on the boy's command, in part due to his newly found will, and in part due to his love for the boy. The scene with Trico ignoring the eye-shields to rescue the boy from the horde of guards is a good example for this too. The Last Guardian is, in my mind, not only about the bond between a boy and a beast, but is also about a misunderstood creature that has their strength and power used for terrible things, with that creature breaking free from their prison and being able to choose to be who they choose to be.
3. Whenever a game has this moment that stays with you afterwards, it's something else. I have had defining moments in games, but one that comes to mind for me is when I played Detroit Become Human this year. It was that chapter where Todd was abusing Alice and Kara officially becomes a deviant. That part of the game specifically evoked this strong feeling of knowledge, that I would kill to protect someone that I love that is in danger. To me, games can have moments that are as powerful as moments from movies and books.
4. Tori's story fit in beautifully with this video. A lot of people would have picked her, as she is a pretty dog, but those people would have had her be put down with her problem, especially at the opinion of the dog behaviorist. But you didn't take the easier
way out. You refused to give up on her, and you worked hard with her, and the end result was being rewarded for your determination and patience and love for Tori. Goes to show, our real life and virtual experiences can merge together in good ways.
Apologies for that long ramble of a comment, just wanted to give my two-sense after watching this video. Once again, great job on this essay!
Beautiful Video man.
I don’t typically comment on videos but I have to say you are the finest video essayist that exists. Everything is so poignant and beautiful especially this one, shine on you beautiful diamond
When I can't deal, and am so defeated by my brain, and my life, I come to this video to hear you talk about the hard work you and Tori put in. And I can't express how much it helps.
Your story about your dog punched me in the gut man. A good friend of mine went through a similar situation and he did everything right and it just didn't work out. I hope you two have many happy years together
the attachment you have with your dog is heartwarming. it reminds me of my own dog that we lost to cancer in january 2018. her name was molly and i think about her every day. god, i miss her so much. make the most of the time you have left with yours, because, unfortunately, it is finite. in your video, when you were describing the feeling of knowing the beloved relationship will inevitably come to a sad end, it reminded me of the very same feeling I had in the last year or two of mollys life. she was getting old and slowing down and it was hard to watch her start to fade away as she was my only friend. man, I gotta say, you nailed it in this video. even though losing my dog felt like losing most of my heart at the time, this content reminded me that happiness is only real when shared. to never stop giving yourself to others because thats really the only thing that matters. its our struggles that define us. I dont know if any of this makes any sense but i wanted to say something. anyway, I dont know this game but Id like to play it. once again, bravo. your videos are very well done and I appreciate your perspective as well as the amount of effort you put into them. thank you
I'm crying in the club Jacob why do you do this
I don't show my emotions outwardly very often. I'm not the kind of person to cry at the movies or tear up in an emotional game. But somehow, these videos always seem to reach that part of me. They allow me to feel my emotions fully and properly. Thank you for making these. They are another level of beautiful.
Discovered your channel through a serendipitous mix of autoplay and algorithm. This was a beautiful video and also a reminder to give my street pup some extra tummy rubs tonight. Don't know who left her behind or hurt her, six years ago, but she's here now
This is one of the most heartfelt and well-done videos I have ever watched. Thank you.
It is tragically poetic that this video has so few views. Keep up the good work Jacob, we'll be right here
this man is so good at describing feeling,connections,little similarities that his videos make me tear up not cry but just realize how significant the insignificant things are.
What an incredible video. I was teary eyed by the end of it. I haven't played any Ueda games but this video enticed me to give them a shot. The atmosphere and melancholic feeling of them you described really reminded me of the anime OVA Angels Egg by Mamoru Oshii. If anyone hasn't seen it yet do check it out. It's available on RUclips and is the easiest way to watch it since it still remains unlicensed. Once again, this was an incredible video.
Edit: Forgot to mention Yoshitaka Amano did the art, so it's breathtakingly beautiful. And it's also one of those pieces of media where it's best going in blind.
Wow i cried a lot.
This is the best channel on youtube.
I think it really speaks to the true art that games can create when we have technology capable of showing us fantastical worlds beyond our imagination but the memories that stick out to us most are the simple, human moments we find in them. The interactions between characters, the silent moments in reverie and awe...the true connection we establish when we identify with the stories...I think that's why I will always love this medium.
Jacob you can't be taking me on this emotional journey right now. I need to go to work and I can't be crying the whole way there
I just replayed this game like a month ago hahaha. The issues I had with it back when it launched were a bit worse now but overall it's still one of my top favourite, maybe even my most favourite game for the PS4. It's not a perfect game but it's such a unique and one of a kind experience. You just don't see too many games like this. I waited YEARS (since the first trailer) for this game to come out and when it did that's when I bought a PS4. XD Trico has this uncanny valley feeling, I still got it recently. He acts so realistically even though he's a fictional creature. Then the bond between Trico and the boy builds up so beautifully throughout the story. The story is such an emotional rollercoaster ride! Tricks you into thinking the boy might die, then Trico might die. Danger is always around the corner but you find a way out! The story beats are so cinematic with the action and the music. There's so many great moments in this game. It has all the elements you need to make a great adventure story. Also to note I have a dog as well and love animals so I think that's why I also really REALLY enjoyed this game. So stuff like where Trico is not listening to you, didn't bother me as much. From my experience with dogs, sometimes they listen right away, sometimes they're slow with responding or sometimes they will be sassy and not do what you say hahaha. I guess this game was doomed from the start to be a cult hit. But hey I think people will be talking about this game for years to come and even inspire future games. There are some very unique puzzles and great technical achievements done here. I always wondered though what happened during production? I wonder if someone will ever do a "in-depth" report on it. Most articles I've read don't really go into much detail. I just hope we get to see more of Ueda's work in the future.
I have less and less issues with it everytime I play it. There are so many tricks to make it easier
Chills and I teared up, has to be one of the best videos I've ever seen. Always exited for more.
Damn. That was beautiful.
thanks for making this
I genuinely teared up and started to cry a little when you started to talk about Tori, the sheer amount of emotion in your voice, the fact that she's still alive, everything about that little tidbit of information made me sob. You probably won't read this, but as someone who's grown up with a cat and who loves him with every bit of my heart, I really got emotional over hearing you talk about your dog and it's just?? beautiful to feel something over a small part of this video. Thank you for uploading this, and all your other videos.
I have never played this game, still the video made me tear up. That's the mark of a good video right there, take a subject I don't really care about at all and 10 minutes later have me care enough about it where I'm pushed to tears.
Gosh I can't express how much I love what you do man