The Last Guardian – „How to train your… animal”

Previews 07/04/2015

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PREVIEW – After Ico and the Shadow of The Colossus, Fumito Ueda wanted to continue the “series” with Last Guardian. Another great story, told from the perspective of a mute young hero, who roams the land with a creature that, while at seems frightening is actually really cute. Last Guardian seems to be yet another spiritual sequel to Ico, as was Shadow of The Colossus was.

This means that emphasis on the gameplay and the lore is love, empathy, fear, and perseverance to complete a quest. However the game kept getting delay, and eventually pushed all the way back to 2016. Sony, and Ueda finally pulled the title from development and hopefully us PlayStation 4 owners will finally be able to see if we can save the Guardian or not.

Why was it so late? What were the obstacles?

First of all we knew that the development had commented on the difficulty to program for the PlayStation 3. This is not a new thing, as many other games also were delay initially in the first few years of the life cycle of the console. The other issue for the development and the marketing team was the lack of confidence for the actual game. The games back were full of action, explosions, multiplayer features, and violence. It was not tuned for a game similar to The Last Guardian types, and Sony was unsure whether it would survive in such a bombastic climate. On a personal note I think this was a bad move, since it is impossible to compare the genres in such a way in terms of sales. Maybe the game would have been a success.

So there is The Boy, and Trico

Will they finally arrive? Are they going to be alone as Ico, and Yorda? Will there be a bond between them just as in Wander and Argo in Shadow of The Colossus? It seems at first glance based on the known information that the answer is a resounding yes. However the big feathered dog, cat, ratlike creature will not be the fan of kids. However The Boy will be a link between the NPC and the player. Plus Trico treat The Boy as his master, since he cares and nurses the creature back to health. As during the first encounter The Boy takes food to Trico, and also removes the spear from Trico. Where did these attackers, and spear come from? We’ll have to run from these armored knights, and since The Boy does not have any weapons, so it is up to Trico to fight.

CatDog

The main theme of The Last Guardian will be friendship, and The Boy will tame Trico over time, and how he needs to be calmer in certain situation. Maybe that is why there will be a deep connection between the play and the creature. As this beast is not a monster, but a weird little creature. Anyone who had a pet will know what I’m talking about. There is not a more heartwarming moment when our little pet thanks our caring after we cleaned them or fed them. There is also the part where our pet gets distraught when he feels we are going to leave it alone forever. The traits described are all shown with Trico during the game, and it is unbelievable how detailed the emotions of Trico are on the screen.

Prepare you handkerchiefs

My only fear is that such themes, and storylines end up in disaster. When Argo fell into the abyss? I was almost in tears. It was a sad moment to see my only companion fall, and I was there to face the final colossi alone. Of course it is not just I who thinks that such a moment can occur. If everything goes according to plan then we will play another high quality adventure title, and The Last Guardian will be as good as Shadow of The Colossus or even better.

– Dazo911 –