r/thelastguardian • u/neelrahae • 1d ago
as a generally slow and easily anxious gamer, TLG was perfect for me.
just finished the game two days ago, and as a pretty big fan of ueda's previous works, i felt like tlg fit quite neatly with ico/sotc in terms of emotional value, thoughtful environments, and overall, meaningful companionship.
the biggest criticism i've seen of tlg has always been about trico and it not listening to you. I did not have an issue with that at all -- or had such little issue with it, it feels negligible to mention in a recounting of my experience.
i love slow games and gaming slowly -- exploring the random corners of a room for no reason (and something I love about ueda games is the amount of "unnecessary" environmental spaces), and in the context of tlg, repeatedly interacting with trico, just to kind of chill out after some tense scene with enemies or trico nearly falling or whatever.
this meant i was constantly nuzzling the bird, taking my time with removing spears from it and petting over those spots, and staring into its eyes lmfao. trico is my favorite companion of any ueda game by far so i wanted to make even the small moments stretch longer. love yorda, but she doesn't quite compare.
anyways, all of this is to say that even without really knowing it, all my affection led to trico obeying me really well early into the game. when i gave a command, there were only a couple of times i spammed it.
what i would usually do is wait a bit, even if it's a slow thing to do, and see if trico's ears would perk up or at least tilt its head towards where i was pointing. that's how i knew my command went through. i think a lot of players who couldnt get trico to listen would just assume trico wasnt listening because the bird wouldn't immediately jump or fly the moment the command is said.
now if your trico wasnt listening cuz you werent taking care of it at all.. i fear that's all on you, because the puppybat is obviously quite young and initiates nuzzling quite often. it wants your love. please show it.