Sex ed with Ico

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:03 pm

It's been about three years since my single run through Ico... I've long since meant to play through it a second time, but knowing of the additional content added to all the non-US versions of the game, I decided to wait until I got my hands on one of those. As I believe I mentioned not long ago, I just splurged on the Japanese version, so I finally sat my skinny ass down for a second investigation of my favorite PS2 game.

Firstly, I remember just how fucking awesome it is, even in light of everything that's come out since. Of course I didn't really forget how cool it was, but y'know, after a while you just sort of take it for granted, and accept almost in a religious manner that Ico is the best fucking thing ever, though you aren't ever immediately conscious of the passion that instated that mindset.

But anyway, the sexual innuendo associated with this game is even thicker than I recalled. Firstly, and most obviously, you have Ico's horns. Even if you brush off the contemporary associations with the word "horny," horns, probably as reference to the bull, have, throughout history and in many different cultures, been a symbol of male fertility. It could even be construed that this is why he was banished from his village, or tribe, or whatever society we are to presume he came from -- he was, perhaps, considered a sexual deviant.

Of course his weapon of choice is a stick, meaning that he runs around swinging his wood. Interestingly, he doesn't acquire the wood at all until he meets Yorda for the first time, when the stick seems to have magically appeared on the ground.

Another very obvious association are the save points... they're love seats. Love seats. Of course you'd expect to see such furniture in a game with a contemporary setting, but the fact that such items are found scattered around a crumbling, abandoned medieval castle can't be a coincidence. As soon as Ico sits on the stone couch, he calls over his spectral woman, who, after a bit of reluctance, slowly joins him on the sofa. If you quit your game here then load it later, you find that the young lovers are awakening from a slumber, and you are left to infer what must have happened while you were away.

Perhaps most interesting of all is the Star Wars light saber, which you can't acquire until your second time through the game and was not in the original US version. The light sword is normally very short, but as soon as Ico holds Yorda's hand, the sword triples in length. We are well beyond the realm of coincidence, here.

If I really wanted to go out on a limb, I could probably make associations with the black specters and their relentless desire to shove Yorda down their holes. Or Ico's offering of melons to Yorda in the ending. "Wanda and the Colossus" may turn out to be an apt title after all.

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:18 pm

I think Ico should officially be in every school's sex Ed class from now on.
~Neo

Post by **Segaholic2** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:48 am

Hot.

Darn it. I want to get a light saber on my second run.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:33 pm

Nobody told me I actually had to go pick up the stupid melon before I walk up to Yorda. Goddammit.

And that "extra" puzzle is stupid.

Trog13 · Post by **Trog13** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:03 pm

Is that melon thing only in the extra crap? I don't remember it.

Post by **Squirrelknight** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:49 pm

Yeah, the melon thing was one of the extras Americans were denied because SCEA president Kaz Hirai is a bitch.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:52 pm

Yop. You get the melon, then you save your game after the ending so you can play again with some extra stuff. Most interestingly -- and I didn't even know about this -- you can have a second player controlling Yorda. You also get some film grain options so you can make it look Silent Hilly.

On the downside, there's a puzzle about halfway through the game that's slightly altered, and not for the better. Also, on your second time through, you get the light saber instead of the mace in the hidden room. I'd be just as happy if I never see another Star Wars reference for the REST OF MY FUCKING LIFE, let alone in my glorious Ico. That shit's like a cancer.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:12 pm

Oh yeah, you can also have Yorda's dialogue subtitled with real text, so you can understand what she's saying, though it's all exactly what you would've inferred on your first time through: "Who are you?", "Thank you," "Please don't touch me there," yadda yadda yadda.

Post by **Segaholic2** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:54 am

What the HECK. Darn you, stupid American companies! I want those extras!

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:25 am

It was released in the US first, so those things hadn't been added yet. I'm not too sure why SCEA would've opted for an early release... I find it difficult to believe they thought it was going to be a big seller.

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:59 am

...Damned US version. No light saber, no melon... *Broods in corner*

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:44 pm

I'd be just as happy if I never see another Star Wars reference for the REST OF MY FUCKING LIFE, let alone in my glorious Ico. That shit's like a cancer.

"I asked for her name
and in a funny voice
she said "Yorda"
YO R D A
Yorda!
Yor, yor, yor, Yordaaaa!"

Post by **Popcorn** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:57 pm

Post by **Delphine** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:02 pm

*stabs Zeta*

...

*gives Pop a cookie. Ten cookies. A THOUSAND COOKIES*

Post by **Segaholic2** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:13 pm

*gives Del a swift kick in the butt*

Post by **Delphine** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:26 pm

*kicks Holic... IN THE NUTS*

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:42 pm

If you'll excuse me, I have buisness to attend to. *Shifty eyes*

Post by **Segaholic2** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:45 pm

Over just that?

*goes back to groaning and cradling crotch*

Post by **Delphine** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 4:31 pm

I'm an angry man-hating dyke, so any excuse is good enough, really.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:00 pm

Any more dirty pictures of Yorda?

Dache · Post by **Dache** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:03 pm

Only shitty ones.

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:12 pm

I wonder what Ico would look like at age 17? Think he'll be as well-endowed as his horns suggest?

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:16 pm

Yorda would crumble like a stack of matches. Literally. I don't think she could give much action... maybe a hand job if you're small and like it slow, maybe.

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:23 pm

Ico needs a better girlfriend. Like a version of him, but female.

Then again - I guess the female version of the "Bull-Horned Boy" would be "Girl with Cow's Udders".

The Scarlet Scorpion · Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:04 pm

Zeta wrote:
I'd be just as happy if I never see another Star Wars reference for the REST OF MY FUCKING LIFE, let alone in my glorious Ico. That shit's like a cancer.
"I asked for her name
and in a funny voice
she said "Yorda"
YO R D A
Yorda!
Yor, yor, yor, Yordaaaa!"

I take it you're a "Weird Al" Yankovic fan.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh my my, this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm also planning on making a custom "Jar Jar Binks, Jedi Master" action figure. Feel free to hate me.