ICO Trivia Quiz

Answer: A sword

The sword's blade crackles with a strange energy; it no doubt carries a portion of Yorda's power or resonates to her in some way. In the final half hour of gameplay, Ico will gain possession of the sword which acts as a substitute for Yorda's gate-opening ability. It is also the weapon Ico uses to deliver the death blow to the Queen.

Answer: An earth tremor breaks the crypt open

Maybe I missed something, but the earth tremor was never explained or justified. It was also strange in that there were no further earth movements for the rest of the game - it seems to have been a convenient one-time occurrence. Maybe Yorda had something to with Ico's escape? I doubt it though, because Yorda seemed to only become aware of Ico's existence after he had escaped and climbed the stairs to find her in the cage.

Then again, the storyline of "ICO" is open to plenty of explanation so anything could be put forth!

Answer: A stick

Ico receives this weapon shortly after he rescues Yorda from her cage. The stick is the weakest of all the weapons in "ICO" in terms of attacking power, but it still gets the job done in the end. Ico regularly needs to use the stick as a torch in order to solve puzzles within the castle, and it's particularly fun to use it to light bombs! Just don't be holding the bomb while it's lit; I kept mixing up my buttons and making Ico pick up flaming bombs!

Answer: True

Just as the pair looked set to escape, the Queen made her presence known and ruined their plans. Beautiful despite her shadowy looks, the Queen later revealed her plan to use her daughter Yorda as a spiritual vessel in order to maintain eternal life and youth.

The Queen does not fight Ico and Yorda on the two occasions she appears before them, but responds to Ico's challenge at the end of the game - she has the ability to petrify living objects in one grand sweep, but Ico is immune to the effect as long as he holds the special sword.

In the final battle, use the sword to break the Queen's shield, and use the moveable pillars as cover each time you have to recover your sword from where it was thrown from your hands. It doesn't take long for the Queen to bite the dust!

Answer: Ico and Yorda must sit together on a couch

"ICO" featured the most unique form of game saving I've ever seen in a game - my eyebrows went through the roof when I realised how the system worked! What I found especially touching though was that after a short time, Ico will eventually fall asleep on the couch... and if you wait a little longer, Yorda will also nod off on Ico's shoulder. :)

Answer: False

Believe it or not it's true! This was one of the many game extras included in the PAL release of the game - in the US version, the mace was the only secret weapon, but playing through the PAL version a second time and completing the mace side-quest gets you a light sabre instead! I've never gotten it myself, but screenshots prove it to be a very worthy weapon indeed... the glowing blade triples (and possibly quadruples) in length when Ico holds Yorda's hand, making it perfect for dispatching multiple enemies in a single blow!

Answer: Green

Maybe the lighting in my room is bad, but I didn't pick up on Ico's eye colour until the sequence when he killed the Queen and a close up was shown of his face! Originally I'd assumed his eyes were brown since he looks a bit Asian in appearance, but I think green looks more fetching.

Answer: "Good bye"

Yet another extra in the PAL version includes a translation of Yorda's dialogue the second time you play. For the record, Yorda never said "I love you" or "I'm sorry" during the game, but did say "Thank you" as the Queen manipulated her into dropping Ico from the bridge.

After the final battle and the Queen's demise, the castle started to break apart and Yorda was presumedly doomed to go down with it, but for the final game sequence which thankfully proved us wrong!

Answer: "You were there"

This is the vocal version of "Castle in the Mist" - the other two titles are songs from the soundtrack. "You were there" is a perfect rounding up to "ICO" and is a very sought after song even three years after the game was released. Sung by a boy named Steven Geraghty who puts himself in the place of Ico, the music provides melancholy accompaniment to the sight of the castle and island sinking into the sea.

Answer: watermelon

Something else I've never actually seen in the game, but I have the watermelon ending downloaded so I wound up seeing it anyway. This ending can be seen if, in the final sequence when you regain control of Ico, you run over to a green patch of grass near one of the cliffs straight ahead of him. There're watermelons in the patch, and picking one up and having it in your arms when you find Yorda will give you the brief (but sweet!) shot of Ico and Yorda having a watermelon snack.

Anyway that's it folks, and I hope you enjoyed this quiz as much as you enjoyed playing "ICO"!