This game made me cry I can't remember the last time, if ever, a game did. I picked the controller back up a few months ago and finished where I left off. I got about halfway through and just stopped. I originally started playing this game back in 2018. Still, if you are willing to engage with this game on its terms, and not your own, there is a profound and heartfelt experience to be had. A game should be enjoyable, after all it is a GAME. If you quit because of this frustration, I wouldn't judge you. There are plenty of times where Trico acts like a complete idiot, or just feels like being aloof and doing his own thing which can sow frustration to the player. This adherence to this design philosophy can be reasonably levied as a criticism. It's kind of funny how often this bird-cat acts like a real cat, whether by design or bug. The end result is a large bird-like sassy cat. He wanted to create an AI companion that felt like a living and breathing creature. While that may sound like a simple premise, the execution was complicated. Fumito Ueda set out to make a game about building a bond with an animal. The Last Guardian, like it's predecessors, is ambitious. ICO is the best escort quest I have played while SoTC is one of the best adventure games. ICO and Shadows of the Colossus (SoTC) are both brilliant in their own rights and adhere to a philosophy of minimalism. Team ICO has made some of the most interesting games that I would argue both transcend and leverage the medium to the fullest. It makes the average person more dismissive of less flashy content, though it could be more expressive, thoughtful and/or revolutionary compared to say Assassin's Creed or Avengers. The polish you see in Marvel movies or a AAA game is what is socially perceived to be meaningful, despite being as vapid as the medium can be. Furthermore, there is a socially constructed stigma of what 'high art' is. Trend setting is left to the Indie developers, only to have AAA swoop in and exploit the next big trend they didn't invest to discover. By buying and making these soulless games marketable, you are encouraging the gaming industry, or the film industry, to destroy art by conforming to trends rather than experimenting/revolutionizing the medium.

When you're betting that high, it's reasonable to play it safe.

This results in trend chasing, risk minimizing, and a formulaic approach. Like with blockbusters, AAA games require millions of dollars making it a high risk but high reward scenario. It makes the average person more dismissive of less flashy content, though … More

Lucas Pope is a great example of creating something with artistic merit, though lacking the AAA spectacle. They're just less complicated to make allowing a small team of motivated artists to deliver a polished product. It's one reasons why there has been an uprising in retro-style Indie games. You didn't need a team of hundreds of coders and artists to compete with the latest release. This was due to the limitations of hardware. Video games as an art form is the youngest of all forms of expression. For a time, there wasn't a distinction between Indie and AAA games. This game signifies the end of an era for video game development, so let the bells toll.

The last guardian gameplay hours