So I'd heard lots of good things about this game and decided to finally give it a go. I picked up the PS3 HD collection, which includes Ico and SOTC.
From the get go, it felt like a frustrating experience. Very little is explained to you about how the mechanics of the game work. I found myself trying to grab ledges on the colossi that weren't intended.
The game clearly wants you to experiment to find out the different ways in which the colussi will react, but it's often such a slow process that it starts to feel like a chore for half of the battles. And often I was so close to a solution but some small thing would be off, so I'd try something else instead. Then it would turn out that I had it right the first time, I just needed to be standing a metre to the right. So many times the solution felt illogical.
And whilst holding on to the head of a colossus and getting that final hit in is extremely satisfying, on some occasions the window would be so small that I'd get shaken off and have to repeat the whole process to slowly chip away at its health. Knowing exactly what I needed to do, but having to do it multiple times soon became quite dull.
About half of the colossi were genuinely fun to fight. The bird one in particular stands out - soaring through the air as you climb along his wings was incredible.
I will say that the atmosphere, music and story were beautiful. It's a great piece of art. But a lot of people claim that this is one of the greatest games ever made, and I feel like the 'game' part is lacking quite a lot.
Is there something I'm missing? I actually enjoyed Ico a lot more.
Unfortunately this game was an underwhelming experience for me as well. I think the main reason for this is that I never played the game when it came out and I'm missing the nostalgia of playing those remakes. I experienced this with other games as well. I don't think it is a bad game, I agree with your opinion that it did not age well. I liked the atmosphere, the emptiness and the desperation of the main character. I think I get why this game has a special place in someone's heart, but it's simply not for me.
Yes, I think you're correct - playing the game when it came out would have been a very different experience. It's obvious that it was very ahead of it's time and I can see how it has inspired so many others, which have really improved on that style of gameplay (Uncharted comes to mind).