My two favorite Colossi so far have been the big eagle looking one, and the long serpent in the lake that takes you for a swim. I thought both of those were very unique. I'd say the sand worm that takes flight is freakin' awesome as well. Having to run after him and jump off your horse onto him full speed was one of the most exhilirating moments I've had gaming in a long time. Hope you guys are having as much fun with this game as I am. Hopefully I'll be done with it soon, and time to try to go for the unlockables.

But I gotta say it's some nice marketing!

You didn't fall off once? From hand to arm or bicep to hand? With the controls not being the best I found it extremely frustrating and I kept falling off only to have to scale it over and over again. But after I got the hang of it I did it quickly. It was still to me the hardest boss. As far as the ending goes, I admit it was a very artistic choice and put all the pieces of the puzzle together but I was extremely disappointed to find out I was ethically involved with releasing a demon spirit (without my prior knowledge). And being a Christian it goes against my spiritual principles. That's just me though.

But it is just a game.... plus, there is redemption in the end too, Lord whatever his name even said it.

I was riding a bull once I got to the top with all the bucking and moving he was doing. Very frustrating.

that the baby found in the pool by the girl is actually ICO. Did you notice the little horns on his head? And the reason he gets banished in ICO is that he finds his way out of the wasteland and back to the village. They think he's still cursed so they put him in exile at the castle. Also the shadow creatures are actually remnants of the Colossi from this game. The shadows surrounding the hero whenever he defeated a colussus and ended back at the shrine look almost exactly the same as the shadow creatures from ICO. I also think that Yorda, the girl from ICO is actually a spiritual reincarnation of the girl from Shadow. She probably died which is why the boy escapes the badlands and goes back to the village.

I really liked the image of the broken horse coming back into the temple and coming up to the girl. Very touching. I almost thought the girl wasn't going to wake up after all the boy went through.

As for the trickery, I think it was pretty cool that you were being mislead. Not the kind of curve ball you normally get from games these days. Also raises some interesting questions from a spiritual perspective:
- Was the light from sky indicative of a diety or higher power?
- Should you always do as you are told by an authority?
- Is bringing back a loved one worth it at any cost?
- Are the "bad guys" always bad or is it a matter of perspective?

climb to his lower back and stab him, jump on his hand, climb up to his upper arm and stab him there, jump to his other hand, stab him there, shoot his left shoulder with an arrow, jump on his shoulder and run to his head to stab away as normal.

shot him in the shoulder part. I was just trying to jump to his neck/head area first which wasn't working and thus resulting in a fall. (rendering me pretty pissed after about almost 2 hours of this)

falling off him all the time? The only time I even came close to falling off him was when jumping from his upper arm to his hand, and I would just grab onto his arm again when I'd miss, and climb up a little and try again

the world itself was under-developed; since there were birds and lizards around, I was wondering where everything else was. Also all the travelling you have to do through this almost empty world to reach the next collosus seemed like a way to add length to the game without adding any real content.

I don't think the child is ICO, but the first of his kind. In ICO, it is said at some point that a child with horns is born every 100 years (At least that's what I remember, but could be wrong, maybe it's in a manual or some place else). When ICO is entombed, it appears hundreds of tombs have been filled already. The shadow creatures also had horns.

So, I think the girl, or her body, from Colossus is the queen thousands of years in the future. She built a land and castle over that time, and every 100 years, the next boy was brought to her, and the shadowy essence released. ICO, however, got a chance to redeem his ancestor by being freed and escaping with the girl.

Emon says at the end of this game what could one do in a cursed land. Well, I think we see it in ICO, and she may even have some how started the tribes that ICO eventually comes from.

That still leaves many, many questions my wife and I have. Did the god lead the boy there? Does the hawk contain the god's essence, or the girl's? Was the girl's soul lost, is that the god in her body now? How did the girl die originally, the god? And so on and so on. I love this open ending with so many questions and answers I can make up.

My only disappointment with the story was that I saw part of the end coming. I knew killing the colossi was bad, the game made that painfully obvious with music, etc. So, it is hard to justify continuing without knowing how much this girl means to the character. Beyond doing something bad though, I wasn't expecting the rest.