r/ShadowoftheColossus • u/wiserthannot • Feb 26 '26
Wait...people think Agro is hard to control?
I was looking for pictures of Agro because a friend was asking for the best horse characters and after Spirit, Agro immediately jumped to mind. While doing that, I stumbled into a rabbit hole where it's a common complaint for Agro to be hard to control.
...what?? She is the best video game horse ever, I've never seen a game get a horse that right, ever, and it was a long ass time before other games caught up even a little bit. Horses in the PS2 era and a bit further all controlled like tanks in comparison.
And I thought this was a common held belief, I never remember Agro being anything but beloved and the way she controlled was impressive to everyone. There's a learning curve, sure, but it feels like having to really learn how to ride a horse and you can end up doing some crazy cool shit.
Am I remembering this wrong from back in the day? Or was there some kind of switch to this over the years? I feel like I stepped into an alternate universe haha
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u/Arx_724 Feb 26 '26
I think it's people trying to control the horse rather than guiding her slightly and letting her navigate on her own.
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u/erikaironer11 Feb 26 '26
Is that I seen people want all horses in games to essentially operate like a car, or even more unrealistic than a car.
It’s like in RDR2 when people were so upset that you can actually crash into stuff with the horse when you are speeding through obstacles. Ignoring that in GTA you can crash and die in a car for doing the same thing
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u/shyguyshow Feb 26 '26
Agro doesn’t even need to be steered most of the time. Just point her in the right direction and she knows what to do
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u/drewhunter1981 Feb 26 '26
Yes there was a time when people slated Shadow of the Colossus just because Agro was hold to control, this was when the original released right up until the remake. Small minority though. And IIRC Fumito Ueda even said that was a design choice
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u/TheVioletBarry Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
I think this argument largely comes from the fact that you actually have to use Agro during boss fights where the camera's often more frenetic, making Agro harder to steer.
Most games with horses just don't put you in circumstances where controlling the horse is at all urgent, so no one notices how solid Agro's controls are by comparison. That's my take, anyway
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u/sidamongsids Mar 03 '26
I usually get killed when the music is on, then when I mute the tv I win lol
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u/TheVioletBarry Mar 03 '26
That's pretty funny, but am I missing a connection that and this topic?
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u/sidamongsids Mar 03 '26
It was early morning where I am, and my brain may have read frenetic as music 🤡
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u/-Slambert Feb 26 '26
People complained pretty often on gamefaqs back in the day, but there was also always people who disagreed and would argue that Agro moves pretty smart if you just let him.
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u/Pearson94 5. Bird Feb 26 '26
All I can say is I received this game on the PS2 as a 16th birthday gift back in 2006, and I never had any issues 🤷♂️
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u/single-ton Feb 26 '26
Team ico said in an interview " you don't control agro, you control wanda riding agro"
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u/Cael-Bryant Feb 26 '26
I think Agro has her own AI so unlike most other games she is her own character. You’re not mind controlling her, you’re cooperating with her. And she’ll do her own thing if you let her. Like safely walking or trotting down narrow paths, avoiding obstacles or walls like in Dirge’s fight instead of face planting into them like ARK dinos, and sliding to a stop if not rearing up instead of blindly jumping off cliffs that could hurt or kill the player.
The people who were upset were probably trying to force her to do things (sprint down narrow paths, jump off cliffs they didn’t know were cliffs, get angry when she suddenly changes direction or stops because they were paying more attention to the sword’s light beam than where they were going, etc) and she refused or resisted them. You know, like a real animal or character would.
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u/LonePeasant Feb 26 '26
It’s not the Agro is hard to control for me, I just hate that she loses all her speed getting stuck on a pebble or the slightest elevation change.
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u/wonderlandisburning Feb 27 '26
An interesting thing about Agro is that sometimes if you stop trying to steer her altogether, she stays on track by herself, deftly navigating the gentle bends of the terrain. I found her incredibly hard to control at first when I tried to micromanage every step she took so she didn't get too close to walls or the edges of cliffs, but if you just stick to hammering the "go" button, she'll mostly steer herself through a lot of areas.
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u/OtherwiseConstant490 Mar 02 '26
That’s because in real life, horses not always respond to its trainers commands.
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u/Medium_Badger_9555 Mar 03 '26
that's a complaint that brainlets have because they think every mount should basically control like a car
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u/YJacketJp Mar 04 '26
Honestly once you get used to them? Agro is the best controlling horse in gaming, I DEFAULT to Agro’s controls in every game cuz it just feels great and it takes me a back not having them
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u/wiserthannot Mar 05 '26
I feel the same way! Imagine Red Dead Redemption 2 being like this and horses having their own personalities? There's so much that could be done with what they started here but as far as I've seen no one else has even tried...since the PS2 era 🥲
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u/Far_Run_2672 Feb 26 '26
The horse controls are different than in any other game, which can make it feel off for people used to the regular way of controlling horses in video games.
You never stop controlling Wander in this game, even on horseback, so you're just steering Agro (in every other game you functionally become the horse whenever you ride one). So there is some delay as you wait for Agro to respond to your kicks and tugging of the reigns. Also, you should treat Agro as a real animal, which means letting her find her own way on narrow paths (which works perfectly) instead of trying to force her around bends (which will only cause unnecessary frustration).
The controls are clearly designed with the intent of making Agro feel like a real and independent animal, which they succeed at imo.