Wanda and the Colussus

[Marek]

My mind can hardly fathom this level of brilliance. It's been a while since I've gotten goosebumps from a game trailer, especially one that is so poorly edited (but still fucking awesome) as the Wanda trailer. Wow.

More here.

[Erkki]

It's gonna kick ass!

Is it going to be released in Japan first?

[ysbreker]

*installs a drool-drainage system in this thread*

[Marek]

[Pappa]

Fuck yeah! This game is gonna be so incredibly awesome. I have a hard time grasping just how awesome it'll be.

My expectations are... high, to say the least, especially since ICO probably is my favourite game, ever, or one of 'em at least.

[Ben]

There are no words really. The best thing is that, as beautiful as these images look, i'm almost 100% certain that the game itslef (like Ico - The Greatest Video game of All Time) will have gameplay that is win, with the graphics, sounds and music there to supplement the gaming experience, rather than being too overriding/overbearing and in your face. Ico was a lovely looking game, but the gameplay and design of the world is so immersive that you barely notice it while playing, which is how it should be, it just fits in and is amazing without being so stunning in an obvious way that makes you go "OMFG look at the graphics!"

I'm not sure if that made sense.

[manny_c44]

I understand and agree Ben.

I hope the game retains puzzle elements though, it seems much more acton oriented than the deliberately paced ICO. Also if the game is purely based around these giants in a huge overworld, will there be any tightly interwoven areas with brilliant level design? I hope so.

[Erkki]

Yeah, the graphics are not why I'm excited about this game, but the gameplay concept.

[Erkki]

The trailers on the japanese site didn't work for me, but gamespot has them too.

[Roderick]

Well the trailer became a stuttering slideshow for me so I really couldn't get into the atmosphere. I did notice the horrific flaw in the editing though. But those pics look magnificent, and I also taste how this could be a fantastic game; storming all those colossi, each one playing out as a different puzzle (or at least, that's what I understand it's going to be like).

[Chris]

Oh man, the footage looks fantastic. The trailer was kind of poorly done but screw it. Seeing that stuff in action was great.

[Jake]

Oh man. Woot.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

People, you need to understand. This will not be a game to compare to other games (as ICO was) in a conventional fashion. This will be more akin to the other small yet perhaps profound little pockets of wonderment and discovery in your life, beyond the PC and console, that imbed themselves in your dreams: the first time you read Demian, discerning a beautiful young girl in a crowded street but never seeing her again after, your first time away from home and family...

As was with ICO, you will find yourself not discussing Wanda And The Colossus in terms of 'those graphics are teh win!'. To talk about it like a moronic pubescent fanboi would be to insult the sheer artistry of it, to ultimately miss the goddamn point. When you gushed over ICO did you notice that you were actually not using the same nerdy techie l33t sp33k you used for Doom 3 or the other titles? Of course you must have noticed! Wanda And The Colossus will be similar, this game (if you can even categorize it as such) will transcend the typical conventions and dogma of a what a game is. Even we gamers define our interests within preconceived boundaries. In a way, that's a kind of advantage for a very rare title title like Wanda, because it does take a rare thing like this to inspire us to realize it and frown at ourselves: How dare we impose limitations on ourselves when we could instead soar beyond them!

And deadworm, remember our conversation? Well, this is, in one way, the equivalent of our sitting together on the quay, gazing off towards the northern sea and being at once close and far far away.

O man, I would love to get a chance to review this one!! I'd do the artistry of this game justice with my pen.

[Chris]

I think we know that, Trep. However, at this point I think it's perfectly reasonable to have an appreciation for the gorgeous art direction. I haven't seen anyone in this thread mention polygons or anti-aliasing or anything. Just because people are using terms like "kick ass" does not represent a lack of appreciation at anything below the surface level. In fact you yourself are coming off as rather fanboyish: "this game (if you can even categorize it as such) will transcend the typical conventions and dogma of a what a game is." Slow down, cowboy. Just because everyone else isn't using SAT words doesn't mean they can't be excited.

[Erkki]

I actually disagree, Intrepid. I don't think Wanda will push any game-defining boundaries. It will just be one hell of a game (most likely).

ICO's elements separately are not that dissimilar from other games. It's just the whole of it that is extraordinary and artistic and can even be appreciated by non-gamers*. But it didn't really go beyond what I as a gamer think a game is. Why else did a lot of people say that it was how Prince of Persia should have been in 3D. And likely Wanda and the Colossus will be the same -- awesome and even a piece of art, but not beyond what we think when we say the word 'game'.

* well, at least my mother watched me play it (for about 2 hours, I think), she's never done that before. But then again, it was practically the only game I played in front of the TV.

[OftenK]

How convenient that I don't own a PS2!

[Thrik]

Remember people, hype kills. Calm down.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Guys, don't misunderstand me. That you can see how this game will be a wonder to look at and experience to inspire you to use words like 'awesome' or 'kick-ass' doesn't necessarily invalidate it as a great looking game as no other game can be with its individualistic artistry. That's your chosen vocabulary and mine. But that doesn't mean that I myself or anyone else shouldn't or simply can't go move onto another set of words of attribution in this case.

I mean, come on, Chris! I love discovering new words and using them and sharing them with others, but that doesn't make me a snob, does it? It just happens that the words I personally want to use here seem more apt for my effect. What I was saying is that it looks to be what a mere computer game can accomplish in the service of being more a work of art - it starts off as a computer game but then moves beyond itself to where you now longer notice the 'conventional' trappings of it as a computer game. Similar to watching a Kurosawa film and forgetting soon about such things as camera direction and lighting and just letting the story and its world wash over you. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

And Walter and Erkki, I hope you didn't think that I'm thinking that it's the 'Second Coming'. I would never be that silly, only a fanboi would do that, and I can't possibly attach myself that way. You guys know me better than that. Remember, I was moved by Syberia but was one the first to complain about its lack of interactivity and other blemishes.

[Erkki]

And Walter and Erkki, I hope you didn't think that I'm thinking that it's the 'Second Coming'.

No, of course not. It's just how you started your post. Read your first paragraph again and tell me you didn't sound a bit fanboyish

[Pappa]

I think it's the Second Coming.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

No, of course not. It's just how you started your post. Read your first paragraph again and tell me you didn't sound a bit fanboyish

People, you need to understand. This will not be a game to compare to other games (as ICO was) in a conventional fashion. This will be more akin to the other small yet perhaps profound little pockets of wonderment and discovery in your life, beyond the PC and console, that imbed themselves in your dreams: the first time you read Demian, discerning a beautiful young girl in a crowded street but never seeing her again after, your first time away from home and family...

What part of it? I think you're reading too much, Erkki. Just because I compare ICO and what Colossus might be to good things beyond other games DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN that I think it will be better than other games. Where does it say that?

I raved over Christopher Philips' book Six Questions Of Socrates, I love listening to Everything But The Girl, and I love eating Nutella on toast. Does that make me a 'fanboy' for every one of those things? Does automatically falling in love with a few screenshots and a brief movie make me a 'fanboy'? Even Marek gushed over the game's look. So that makes him a 'fanboy'?

And I'm too old to be a fanboy.

[vimes]

I never played ICO... never had the chance to ... maybe that's why I don't have the slighiest bit of enthusiasm raising in my veins as I read/wtach things realted to this new game.

Even if the trailer gives a very ' Miyazaki' feel - well, more like a Joe Hisaishi feel, in fact - I'm not quite getting what the gameplay and other unimportant things like that will look like.

[manny_c44]

...I always wondered how a post about Nutella would be worked into one of these threads, I'm only sad that it wasn't me.....

I think the Intrepid Homoludens is right about ICO though, although you can gawk and clamor over the graphics thats not what really what it was all about. Few games can produce so many memories....jumping from one cage to another in the mist of a waterfall, those dancing shadows, the final boss and the ending cutscene. Its very comparable to Grim Fandango in the fact that its an awesome 'thing'. Not just one of the best games ever, but defying its genre and conquering most movies and music too, the whole experience is what leaves the impression.

I swear I'm not on acid.

[Nick]

mmmmmmm

even more reason for me to get one of 'em fancy slim PS2s

[Erkki]

What part of it? I think you're reading too much, Erkki. Just because I compare ICO and what Colossus might be to good things beyond other games DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN that I think it will be better than other games. Where does it say that?

Well, this: "People, you need to understand. This will not be a game to compare to other games (as ICO was) in a conventional fashion."

It doesn't say it will be better (how would you measure that anyway), but you are already saying what a great experience it will be while you've only seen a trailer and a few screenshots. I'm not saying that you're wrong (watching the trailer again in full screen sent shivers down my spine), but I wouldn't speak of it with such certainty i.e. "People, you need to understand... it will not be this and that".