What you did in 2005? John Paul II was buried together with its predecessors, was officially YouTube, it was released Star Wars: Episode III, there were bombs on buses in London, and so on.
In that year Fumito Ueda, fresh from the success of Shadow of the Colussus begins to think of his third videogame: The Last Guardian. Details are sketchy, but the basic concept is everything is consistent with his philosophy of the game: a magic world, made of large buildings, and mysterious, but often in ruins, a narrative that shows, rather than tell, and characters that have to interact, trying to find a way to cooperate and a communication channel that is common.
After the initial enthusiasm of the audience the game is lost in the labyrinths of the development, he jumped completely to the era of the PlayStation 3 and started toward the dark lands of the "vaporware", which are those video games that are in development for so long that it probably will never escape, and perhaps it is better so.
To make the even more critical we also put on the fact that Ueda tore up his contract with Sony because he felt he did not have more support from the company. Nevertheless, The Last Guardian continued to smoulder, and, surprise, showed up as if nothing was at E3 last year, as if it had passed 10 years, as if all of us had not aged a day.
We now tell the story of a child and Trico, one of those fabulous animals (no reference to the magicians in london) that it normally would find yourself drawn into a medieval bestiary.
Trico is a sort of griffon with a pair of horns, large ears, the beak and the feathers of a bird, short wings on the back, that moves a bit like a cat, and produces verses that remind us, sometimes a dog, sometimes Chewbacca.
We dress the role of the child, who one day wakes up covered in strange symbols, and right next to Trico, who sleeps chained to the ground. As the tradition of the fairy tale teaches, taking the most classic of the thorns in the paw, we will start with time to build a relationship of trust, harmony and mutual help with the animal, trying in the meantime to get away from that which seems to be an ancient city full of secrets.
The game is in fact a species of continuous puzzle in which every time we will be asked to activate levers that are in hidden places, take advantage of the ability of Trico to advance, nurture it when you are tired, be defended, when we attacked it and help it to heal after the riots.
so far, so good, but before I talk about anything that I appreciated, let us get immediately the tooth: how many games developed for too long, The Last Guardian is wounded of technical problems, which threaten seriously to undermine the nature of the poetic-narrative. First of all, take enough on the PS4 "normal", the management of the camera is often atrocious, so much so that often it is not clear by which side you’re jumping. Considering that the game is based a lot on the move between platforms overlooking the empty, this means that you will occasionally throw toward the nothing, with consequent death to the fall.
in Addition, the movement of the baby is covered by a defect, glitches and inaccuracies that occasionally make jumps and climbing more difficult than expected, not to mention those moments where the animations will look like a rag doll hung from a cliff.
as far as the interaction with Trico, the question is more complex. After a beginning in which we can simply call it to get closer, we can develop a link that with the animal being able to give some essential commands. The problem is that these commands are never and then never explained.
No one will ever tell you how to do that jump, how to ask him to hit something, roaring or down, you should discover it by chance or rely on some friend ahead of you. Moreover, the animal’s response to these commands is not often so quick and precise, which involves slowdowns frequent and a certain sense of frustration.
However, if we lose for a second the mentality of the hardcore gamers that tries to finish the game as soon as possible, we realize that behind this choice could be part of the nature of the game. the Anyone who has ever had a dog you know how much patience of wants in the be able to make yourself understood and to establish a channel of dialogue with a species that does not speak like us. Therefore, part of the satisfaction and challenge of the game lies in knowing what and how to talk about with Trico. When calm, when to do something, hoping that we imitate, when to call him, climb in his thick plumage and ask him to take us on that platform where we shall never arrive alone. Ueda has done an amazing job on the movements, the expressions and the language of the animal, the result is a beast adorable that any child would want to find at Christmas, even if it is larger than the living room of the house.
skeptics may argue that these are just excuses to hide bad game design with a narrative inspired by it, and every so often you have the feeling of being in front of a beautiful restaurant, with a less spectacular, but no one understands our orders and all move with the extremely slow, but if you choose to surrender to the sensations and rhythm of the game the result is less frustrating than expected.
But after a few hours of the game I have realized that I have begun to understand Trico, to be able to read it in his movements the clues that I would have carried on to the next section, I have learned to endure its slow and not overdo it with the orders and give him the necessary time, because the brain hidden behind his eyes to understand what I was asking.
Who will be willing to close an eye, even two, on a construction technique definitely improved, and will not be in a hurry to get obedience from the dog magic the top three floors will be faced with a title of breathtaking landscapes, loneliness, majestic, music, music, puzzles, intelligent, moments of tenderness, incredible and others where you will feel alone, lost and helpless. to Ascend towards freedom will not be easy, but opening the mind, observing your surroundings and understanding how to work with Trico you’ll succeed, trust me, don’t let anxiety get the better of.
A story of redemption, growth, rise and the management of the inevitable fall, a spectacular history, this is so ugly to see it crippled from all the errors, the inaccuracies and frustrations that are not necessary.
If it was only having to handle a beast stubborn there would be no problems, but when that frustration is added to that of the controls are imprecise, camera that goes about his business, jumps to case, people that for no reason lose their grip and fall into the void then, the situation begins to get annoying.
I Would love to, but I can’t, he can say only nice things about The Last Guardian, because it is one of those works that are possible only through the language of the game, but I can say that you should play it, beyond its defects. A movie, a book or any other form of expression of the human intellect would not be able to make the bond between man and animal, between intelligence and nature, between the player and the machine.
And patience if sometimes you find yourself railing against the stupid and stubborn beast that does what you say, look around you, you are so small, how are you always giving orders?
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