[Redpyramidhead]

Well, I just beat the game! So here it goes...

Originally Posted by merylsilverburg

I just finished the game...I love the game, I love the graphics, the battles, the strategy, the music, and the story...but may I say that the ending is one of the worst I've seen in a long time while, at the same time, somewhat pretty good. Let me explain:

Spoiler: show

What the hell was that ending?! Okay, the good part about the end was that the game explained ICO and why ICO has horns (because the boy in "Colossus" is actually ICO because of the rebirth-with-horns thing) and all that. But oh my God. How tragic was this ending? The guy busts his butt to bring his lover back to life, treks through and battles 16 pretty tough colossuses, then woohoo, dies, and gets reborn. Wow, what a life. You'd think that devil guy, whatever his name was, would allow the boy to live, after all, he did live up to the end of the bargain (kill the colossuses). The ending I would've preferred would've been that the boy comes back to life but has horns on his head (part of the evil stuff he can't get rid of). He and his lover and Agro goes away, then the boy and his lover have a kid who has horns...thus being the ICO we know. NOT the boy becoming ICO, geez.

There you have it. That's my gripe...which is a pretty serious considering how much I loved the game. Such a shame.

Sorry I am so late joining this convo, but aside from what TTackler said I wanted to add this:

Spoiler: show

I also feel that the tragic aspect of the ending was more than made up for... Pay close attention to something the "Priest" character said right after the bridge was destroyed:

EMON: Poor ungodly soul... Now, no man shall ever trespass upon this place again. Should you be alive... If it's even possible to continue to exist
in these sealed lands... one day, perhaps you will make atonement for
what you've done.

That's the KEY right there. The wanderer's soul is still very much intact (which you already know) and now he will have that very chance to make atonement. So all was not lost. By some miracle, his soul has that chance to redeem itself and be saved.

Of course, yeah... I get your point... I mean after all that... he is not just back to square one, but a lot further from his goal than before... perhaps even by generations... as TTackler suggested. And the two lovers that knew eachother in that lifetime, as fate would have it in this game, would not get to be reunited.

But, the important part is, our decieved hero still succeeded.

Oh and Harry...

Spoiler: show

First, my apologies for not using the spoiler option. I should have realized I was leaving too much of a clue for people to read, but I was too traumatized at the time.

Yes, I was absolutely heartbroken when Agro fell to what I obviously thought at the time to be his demise. I actually shouted "AGGRROOOOOOOO!!!!" when that happened before the words even came out of the wanderer's mouth in the game...LOL. It was really late at night when that happened too and my neighbors were probably thinking "what the hell is he going on about this time?!" That part of the game for me was more depressing for me than the actual ending. I almost had not the will to go on. I kid you not.

Thanks for the encouragement to go on, but I am actually glad I waited until after beating the game to read what you said, because I would have figured it out and wouldn't have shouted again in delight when he miraculously turned out to be ok! Man. What a game. Had me shouting in both agonized sadness and relieved delight! Not to mention my shouts of triumph when defeating each Colossus. *APPLAUSE*

_RED_ stuff