Ico and Shadow of the Colossus: Telling stories through setting and gesture

EDITOR'S NOTEfrom Rob Savillo

Too much dialogue can ruin a game for me -- more often than not because many titles just have horribly written exchanges between characters. Not to mention that I don't think the medium is quite there yet regarding the expression of lifelike, emotional performances through animation. But Antonio argues that a focus on setting and gesture can make all the difference when telling a story, and I especially like this approach when designers can work gameplay systems into the underlying themes of the experience.

My Xbox 360 got the red ring of death New Year's Eve, and I'm too lazy to let Microsoft know. If I can send an email to someone in a few seconds, I should be able to digitially deliver my 360 and get it fixed; sending it in a box seems so 20th Century.

But now would be a good time to buy a Playstation 3, as Fumito Ueda's The Last Guardian will be released this year, and I have a soft spot for his two previous games: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. He knows how to tell a story.

Rather than throw ham-fisted dialogue at the player, Ueda expresses story through settings and gestures between characters.

I love the environments of both games. They focus on one immense location; because they are scarecly populated, gamers can have an intimate relationship with their world.

You don't have time to gawk at the White House in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 while Russians try to kill you. Everything moves fast with bullets flying and bombs exploding. Then again, it's a war zone, so there's not much to admire anyway.

But in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, time doesn't seem to exist -- you're in no hurry to move on. Feel free to race your horse, Argo, up a cliff to stare at the sea in Shadow of the Colossus. Take a break from a difficult puzzle in Ico and admire the detail put into the windmill soaring above you or the softness of the grass as sunlight hits the ground. I haven't played many games where I truly want to stop and look around mostly because I'm too busy killing something else.

The mood of both really carries over into the slow pace of the action. Together, they put me in a quiet and pensive state of mind. And those emotions are essential to completing the puzzles in them. Mood and pace seem genre-specific: I don't think a quiet gamer can play a fast-paced action game. That would probably require a more proactive emotion: fear, for instance. But who says an action game must be fast-paced and create a sense of danger? I guess it ceases to be an "action" game when everything crawls from point to point.

Ico Lends a Hand Telling the story through character complements the mood in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Dialogue remains sparse. When characters do speak, it's brief and straight to the point. But more importantly, dialogue does not drive the narrative -- action does. Ico stretching his hand out to help Yorda stand must be the best moment in the game.

The scene leading up to that moment is perfect. The couple reaches the main gate of the castle -- it's wide open. As they race for the exit, the gates begin to close, yet it looks like they'll make it. Then Yorda falls. Ico goes back for her. The gates close. And Ico calmly reaches out for Yorda. It says far more than dialogue could. What would they say if I rewrote the scene? Ico says, "Are you okay?" And then Yorda replies, "Yes...I think so." And finally Ico finishes with,"Come on. We'll find another way."

The gamer can see that Yorda is okay and that they need to find another way out. Eliminate the talking, keep the movement, and the scene will say exactly that. The Wanderer in Shadow of the Colossus can scream upon his first encounter with a giant. He can gasp and say, "That thing is huge!" But we see that it's huge. Let the appearance of the creature say everything. Ninety percent of communication is non-verbal, anyway. I appreciate a friend's show of kindness rather than his saying kind words, whispering sweet nothings in my ear.

I expect more of the same with The Last Guardian, and that's not a bad thing, especially when I like how Ueda tells his stories.

So, what's your favorite way to tell a story?

Tags: Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

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Richard Moss

February 01, 2011

As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words. I am certainly far more moved by someone doing a nice thing than saying a few kind words, and I look for the same thing in stories.

I think it's something games are particularly suited to, since it is much easier to script emotionally resonant reactions to the player's deeds if they are delivered non-verbally.

I also like environmental storytelling in games, wherein the world/level implicitly tells a story through its design -- the decadent splendour of a failed utopian paradise, the empty barrenness of desert ruins, the sterility of a scientific laboratory. Little flourishes of detail entice the imagination to fill in the blanks and try to decipher the mystery of these places -- their story, purpose, and history.

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Errol Burke-Horner

I spent most of my time on hold when I was on the phone with Microsoft. They just need an address to put on the box that they send you. Maybe a serial number. Took shorty about 15 minutes, but most of the time was on hold. You're right though. You should be able to email them about the red rings. I didn't play ico or shadows, but I've heard nothing but good things. Might check out The Last Guardian

Alex R. Cronk-Young

I wish more games told stories through gameplay and visuals. Personally, I find it much more effecting that way. Have you ever played Flower? That's another great example of that kind of storytelling. They never walk you through a story, you just witness the story as you're playing the game.

Layton Shumway

Couldn't agree more, Antonio. I wrote in a similar vein a couple months ago, using Epic Mickey as an (non-)example. Why blast me with a bunch of text when I can see what's going on just fine without it?

Nice work.

Antonio Byrd

February 02, 2011

@Errol James--Wow. That sucks. You'd think Microsoft would have better service (not putting gamers on hold for like forever, creating e-mail communication) considering that the RRoD stops all productive gaming! Thanks for the heads up!

@Alex--I have not played Flower, although I've seen great footage of it and I've seen a few articles here on Bitmob about it. I really like how the story is told from a flower's perspective. You don't even need a human being to tell a story! It can be in nature. Developers should think of new ways to tell a story based on that.

@Layton--Thanks!

David Banahan

Out of this World is another game that pulls this off flawlessly. No one speaks, but the game tells an entire story about two prisoners who form a bond and friendship escaping an oppressive ruling class on an alien planet.

Your article actually brings up something I find incredibly lacking in a lot of my favorite games. Bethesda games, for example, have you talking to people who robotically stare straight ahead at you during a conversation. The character animations in Oblivion and Fallout 3 are so stiff that I find it's hard to connect with characters in those games at all. You have to rely solely on the writing and the acting.

Rich McGrath

Great article!

Chris Hoadley

Errol, Microsoft now has e-mail services. I got my XBox sent for repairs and back without talking to anyone.

February 03, 2011

@Chris--That's good to know!

Thanks everyone for the comments, and Rob for editing the article and putting it on the front page. I'm always surprised by how the changes you make are painfully obvious.