Problems with Yorda in graveyard on speed run

[big_bob002]

I've watched videos and 2 things are not working for me. I park her half way down the stairs near the save point and push the first box into position. In the videos they call for her and she starts running towards the stairs on the side. In my game I call for her and she just stands where I parked her and gets grabbed by the shadows.

The 2nd problem is much more frustrating. I try to park her on the second switch to get through the door and up to the second box real quick. Every time I put her on the second switch, it goes into the ground and she steps off. I can't get her to stay on it long enough for me to get through the door.

While I'm at it. In the next room you grab a chain and it lowers, allowing you to swing jump onto a higher ledge. That spawns more shadows. Its possible to call her over and pull her up before the shadows get her. However, sometimes she shakes her head "no" and then you would have to kill all the shadows to have time to pull her up.

Tips?

[The Chosen Undead]

I wouldn't know; I'm having the same problem. The problem's you're having are happening to me as well. The only thing I could say is keep at it, maybe it will go away. It has happened to me, where Yorda would just stay put and get taken, but then she would come if I reloaded my save, so I just think this series of puzzles is just very glitchy, but with perseverance, you might be able to beat it.

[MyLordD]

I had the same problem too. The best way around it is when you ran to the hole with Yorda, gentle walk her over hole and release her hand and quickly run to the door. It works for me. Btw, i'm going for the castle guide trophy too. I hope you passed it as well.

Edited December 29, 2013 by MyLordD

[Mujo_Ku]

This is one of the most frustrating sections of the game to speedrun.  Yorda's responses depend heavily on where you leave her.  I found that if you left her somewhat central in the pit she would come up before the shadows could get her but it was somewhat chaotic.  Mre critical was the next section with the gardens and the sewers where you have to leave her perfectly under the overhang to get her through the sewer gate cleanly.

[Cilllah]

I spent five hours perfecting that part of my speed run so I feel your pain! It's all trial and error. I moved her onto the switch slowly and left her there mad she stayed. I only just made it back before she got swallowed up.

[Danger_Dad]

:^/ Way back when  the game was new, the PS2 graphics were state of the art, and well ahead of anything that had come before. But the biggest contirbution to the feel of the game was the artificial intelligence of the non-player characters. These included Yorda, the demons who chased them from time to time, and even the birds on the grass in the outdoor scenes.

 

Yorda's algorithms added touches of randomness to her behavior to make her seem more convincing as a living thing, naive and curious about the world around her. So, she'll approach the pigeions outside, who'll then follow their own algorithms and fly away when anyone gets too close. Yorda will pause as the pigeons take off, then walk towards them again when they alight. Sometimes Yorda will hesitate to make a leap, needing to gather her courage first. Or, she'll want to stay close to Ico as he runs away, or change her mind partway along a ladder, not sure whether she's doing the right thing, and so on.

 

;^) On PS2, the game was magic. Reviewers could not praise it enough. Then for PS3, they added trophies, which was fine. I bought the collection disc for the trophies, and played ICO again.

 

:^( Somebody decided to make one of the trophies require that the game be completed within two hours. That transformed the enchanting experience into one of extreme frustration, even vexation, because a timely run depends too greatly upon variables that are not guided by the player. If Yorda decides on the last rung to return to the top of the ladder again instead of climing down after all, -twice- there is nothing the player can do but to bear it, accept the added time on that run, and hope for better luck on the next run through.

 

Just understandig why Yorda does these things can help the player to cope with it. Of course, it's still frustrating. I have also found that it helps to use every save spot, despite the temptation to save a few seconds by skipping one, as some of the YouTube videos show.

[BlindMango]

:^/ Way back when  the game was new, the PS2 graphics were state of the art, and well ahead of anything that had come before....

 

Yeah, wow, i just recently got around to playing the game for the first time seeing that it was free for PlayStation Plus and I could tell that when playing it that it had a lot of little things that seemed well ahead of its time for being a PS2 game. It really is a fantastic and advanced game for the time that it was made with a lot of neat things here and there like you said. I happily played the game twice and got all of the trophies except for the 2 hour speed run. On my second playthrough I knew that I didn't even want to try getting the 2 hour trophy when rushing the hell out of the first part getting to the first stone couch 2 minutes after I was supposed to and I said to myself, "how could I possibly even shave two minutes off of that!?" So I went for the 4 hour trophy, haha, I finished the game in 3 hours rushing it as fast as I could just to see how I did! I can't even imagine the pure frustration that 2 hours is, and I don't want to know. that's ridiculous that they would add that kind of trophy for a game like this, 4 hours is fine, but two?? lol man

Edited January 21, 2014 by BlindMango

[NICK16_06]

Okay, I just began and finished this trophy yesterday, you may check, so I can be of help. First of all, I am not a pro in this game, to me it's just as clunky as to most people, I watched the videos, and what they do takes an understanding of the mechanics that we simply have no time (or desire) to learn, so I will tell you the Common-Joe way. 

It requires luck, there is no arguing, and you will most likely not get it first time, but keep restarting and all the pieces of randomness will work for you. You have to push the box to the right stone, not to the left as in most videos, then you call yorda from the stairs but run toward her so you grab her and deposit safely in the switch. The key to her not moving is to walk (holding circle) the last steps before you reach the switch. This is proven by my and requires no luck. The next part is where you require luck. If Yorda came fast enough to you, you will not hear the shadows approaching and will have enough time to reach inside and up. If you hear her scream while inside, (you were not fast/lucky enough) you may as well restart. When you reach outside, drop down, and call Yorda to your side, as she is close, push the switch to the slot no matter what, she will be kidnapped, but you must not stop moving, if you get knocked out by a shadow, pray you have enough time. Once the gate is open, run to Yorda and get her inside, and proceed.

Extra tip. After you lower the chain and you have to swing, make sure Yorda is close enough to you before jumping. Drop down from the chain and place her just below where you land. If one ghoul gets her, as it got me and I finished with less than a minute left in the timer because of this, it will take her to the other side of the room and you will have to kill every last one of those guys before continuing. If you do what I told you, she will climb up as the shadow rises and you will just have to trigger the gate.

Hope I helped, and good luck in getting this trophy.

[DrBloodmoney]

I remember this - she gets hella brain-panics and runs about like a headless chicken.

Try try and try again is all you can do. Eventually when she does get it together enough to not have an eppie you'll have the section down to a science!

[TootyMcNasty]

Hate to say it but this is one of those things that takes a little bit of luck and perseverence and it's definitely the most frustrating part of the speedrun. If I remember this correctly, you wanna push the block to the right (left when you enter the graveyard; the one in the sun) into position first then call for Yorda while you run to the stairs in the shade. The baddies will be onto you by now but if you do it right, they wont grab her yet. Pull her on to the second trigger WHILE SPRINTING, and don't stop running (this will take practice and even if you do it right, she still loves to wander off sometimes for no reason). If you can make it inside before they grab her, she'llbe safe until you make it back outside to push the second block down. Once the block lands, GET HER immediately cuz theyll drag her back up the stairs. Whack some baddies and retrieve her and sprint back down the stairs with her, push the block into position, grab her then go. If they grab her a second time, no worries, just repeat your retrieval AFTER the second block is in position. The youtube videos are the way to go for most of this game, notice the "shortcuts" they take

[Bizz-dono]

True this is one of the most frustrating parts of the game on speed run, one false move & you have the shadows all on your back! For me it took 5 restarts & 2 different youtube videos on my speedrun for me to get it right on point! Some luck, alot of patients & persistence is what helped me.

[MMDE]

If you are in your second playthrough, you can use a second controller to have more control over Yorda. I didn't use it for the graveyard part though. What I did there was leave her on the left side above the staircase (held her hand to there from the save point, so she wouldn't follow me down), from there I ran down moved the stone in the position left of the entrance. Then I went over to the other side where the other button is to the end of the stair case there, and from there I yelled at Yorda to come. When Yorda walks on the path below the staircase near the bench, the dark creatures will appear, so as soon as she gets to you, walk her over to the button and drop her off there while you get through the door as soon as possible. If done correctly, and you're a bit lucky, the dark creatures wont take her, and you can make your way to the top and drop down the box. When you drop down the box, hurry up and place it. She will be kidnapped, and the camera will annoy you while you place the box. If done fast enough you can run up, grab the girl and run down through the open door with her. Now you can run up to where the box was and through the door with the girl waiting safely on you inside the house. When you get to the chain that drops down when you grab onto it, move the chain back and forth so you can jump onto the other side where if you are fast enough with climbing up you can yell on her before the video of the dark creatures appearing and she will try to climb up to you while that movie plays. She fumbled when I did so, spent way too much time, but in my experience, if you do this perfectly after jumping to the other side, this seems to be what normally happens and she will be able to climb up to you without the dark creatures pushing you or attacking her successfully. Run against the door and you've got to the wind mill. There's a save point above, takes a lot of extra time to save at it, but the next part is just as annoying, so it's worth the few extra 20-30 seconds it takes to save there and run back.

 

In the next part, you will want to place the girl behind the chain, between the two blocks there... She is very likely to just wander off, which is unfortunate, as the dark creatures will then take her when they appear. To save yourself a lot of trouble, just go into the options menu (needs to be second playthrough) and turn on two players, with a second PS3 controller turned on of course. Now you can safely climb the chain knowing she will stay where she is. The dark creatures appear, you don't have much time, run to the hole in the ground so you get to the sewer part. Run over to the button on the right side and stand on it. The gate to the where the girl and the dark creatures are should now open. After standing on the button and while waiting for the gate to open, you should change controller and control the girl so she runs through the gate. Take her through all the way over to where you are, and if the dark creatures follow, make sure she is in the water. If the dark creatures attacks her in the water, they die, and that's actually preferable. Take control of the boy again and jump on the button on the left side and quickly go out through the door before it closes. Yorda doesn't need to stand on the button, if you are fast enough you can jump on it and get out (intended by developers so you could get out alone). Once you get out, climb the pipe, jump over to the other side and turn off 2 player. Get over to the hole, stay on the side furthest away from the pipe and ask for her to come over to you so you will sit down and offer your hand out to her, so you can lift her up by your hand. Then quickly run up the small path in the corner, where you at first climbed up the chain, and activate the stone to kill the dark creatures.

 

In this part, the 2 player option made it so much easier for me.

[Guenter_G]

:^/ Way back when  the game was new, the PS2 graphics were state of the art, and well ahead of anything that had come before. But the biggest contirbution to the feel of the game was the artificial intelligence of the non-player characters. These included Yorda, the demons who chased them from time to time, and even the birds on the grass in the outdoor scenes.

 

Yorda's algorithms added touches of randomness to her behavior to make her seem more convincing as a living thing, naive and curious about the world around her. So, she'll approach the pigeions outside, who'll then follow their own algorithms and fly away when anyone gets too close. Yorda will pause as the pigeons take off, then walk towards them again when they alight. Sometimes Yorda will hesitate to make a leap, needing to gather her courage first. Or, she'll want to stay close to Ico as he runs away, or change her mind partway along a ladder, not sure whether she's doing the right thing, and so on.

 

;^) On PS2, the game was magic. Reviewers could not praise it enough. Then for PS3, they added trophies, which was fine. I bought the collection disc for the trophies, and played ICO again.

 

:^( Somebody decided to make one of the trophies require that the game be completed within two hours. That transformed the enchanting experience into one of extreme frustration, even vexation, because a timely run depends too greatly upon variables that are not guided by the player. If Yorda decides on the last rung to return to the top of the ladder again instead of climing down after all, -twice- there is nothing the player can do but to bear it, accept the added time on that run, and hope for better luck on the next run through.

 

Just understandig why Yorda does these things can help the player to cope with it. Of course, it's still frustrating. I have also found that it helps to use every save spot, despite the temptation to save a few seconds by skipping one, as some of the YouTube videos show.

Very well written

 

Yeah, wow, i just recently got around to playing the game for the first time seeing that it was free for PlayStation Plus and I could tell that when playing it that it had a lot of little things that seemed well ahead of its time for being a PS2 game. It really is a fantastic and advanced game for the time that it was made with a lot of neat things here and there like you said. I happily played the game twice and got all of the trophies except for the 2 hour speed run. On my second playthrough I knew that I didn't even want to try getting the 2 hour trophy when rushing the hell out of the first part getting to the first stone couch 2 minutes after I was supposed to and I said to myself, "how could I possibly even shave two minutes off of that!?" So I went for the 4 hour trophy, haha, I finished the game in 3 hours rushing it as fast as I could just to see how I did! I can't even imagine the pure frustration that 2 hours is, and I don't want to know. that's ridiculous that they would add that kind of trophy for a game like this, 4 hours is fine, but two?? lol man

The 2 hour speedrun trophy ruins the game. Idiotic.

 

Okay, I just began and finished this trophy yesterday, you may check, so I can be of help. First of all, I am not a pro in this game, to me it's just as clunky as to most people, I watched the videos, and what they do takes an understanding of the mechanics that we simply have no time (or desire) to learn, so I will tell you the Common-Joe way. 

It requires luck, there is no arguing, and you will most likely not get it first time, but keep restarting and all the pieces of randomness will work for you. You have to push the box to the right stone, not to the left as in most videos, then you call yorda from the stairs but run toward her so you grab her and deposit safely in the switch. The key to her not moving is to walk (holding circle) the last steps before you reach the switch. This is proven by my and requires no luck. The next part is where you require luck. If Yorda came fast enough to you, you will not hear the shadows approaching and will have enough time to reach inside and up. If you hear her scream while inside, (you were not fast/lucky enough) you may as well restart. When you reach outside, drop down, and call Yorda to your side, as she is close, push the switch to the slot no matter what, she will be kidnapped, but you must not stop moving, if you get knocked out by a shadow, pray you have enough time. Once the gate is open, run to Yorda and get her inside, and proceed.

Extra tip. After you lower the chain and you have to swing, make sure Yorda is close enough to you before jumping. Drop down from the chain and place her just below where you land. If one ghoul gets her, as it got me and I finished with less than a minute left in the timer because of this, it will take her to the other side of the room and you will have to kill every last one of those guys before continuing. If you do what I told you, she will climb up as the shadow rises and you will just have to trigger the gate.

Hope I helped, and good luck in getting this trophy.

Thanks for sharing this!

 

If you are in your second playthrough, you can use a second controller to have more control over Yorda. I didn't use it for the graveyard part though. What I did there was leave her on the left side above the staircase (held her hand to there from the save point, so she wouldn't follow me down), from there I ran down moved the stone in the position left of the entrance. Then I went over to the other side where the other button is to the end of the stair case there, and from there I yelled at Yorda to come. When Yorda walks on the path below the staircase near the bench, the dark creatures will appear, so as soon as she gets to you, walk her over to the button and drop her off there while you get through the door as soon as possible. If done correctly, and you're a bit lucky, the dark creatures wont take her, and you can make your way to the top and drop down the box. When you drop down the box, hurry up and place it. She will be kidnapped, and the camera will annoy you while you place the box. If done fast enough you can run up, grab the girl and run down through the open door with her. Now you can run up to where the box was and through the door with the girl waiting safely on you inside the house. When you get to the chain that drops down when you grab onto it, move the chain back and forth so you can jump onto the other side where if you are fast enough with climbing up you can yell on her before the video of the dark creatures appearing and she will try to climb up to you while that movie plays. She fumbled when I did so, spent way too much time, but in my experience, if you do this perfectly after jumping to the other side, this seems to be what normally happens and she will be able to climb up to you without the dark creatures pushing you or attacking her successfully. Run against the door and you've got to the wind mill. There's a save point above, takes a lot of extra time to save at it, but the next part is just as annoying, so it's worth the few extra 20-30 seconds it takes to save there and run back.

 

In the next part, you will want to place the girl behind the chain, between the two blocks there... She is very likely to just wander off, which is unfortunate, as the dark creatures will then take her when they appear. To save yourself a lot of trouble, just go into the options menu (needs to be second playthrough) and turn on two players, with a second PS3 controller turned on of course. Now you can safely climb the chain knowing she will stay where she is. The dark creatures appear, you don't have much time, run to the hole in the ground so you get to the sewer part. Run over to the button on the right side and stand on it. The gate to the where the girl and the dark creatures are should now open. After standing on the button and while waiting for the gate to open, you should change controller and control the girl so she runs through the gate. Take her through all the way over to where you are, and if the dark creatures follow, make sure she is in the water. If the dark creatures attacks her in the water, they die, and that's actually preferable. Take control of the boy again and jump on the button on the left side and quickly go out through the door before it closes. Yorda doesn't need to stand on the button, if you are fast enough you can jump on it and get out (intended by developers so you could get out alone). Once you get out, climb the pipe, jump over to the other side and turn off 2 player. Get over to the hole, stay on the side furthest away from the pipe and ask for her to come over to you so you will sit down and offer your hand out to her, so you can lift her up by your hand. Then quickly run up the small path in the corner, where you at first climbed up the chain, and activate the stone to kill the dark creatures.

 

In this part, the 2 player option made it so much easier for me.

Very clever

[MMDE]

I don't know if I mentioned before, but once you get to the water tower parts, you can save "a lot" of time here using the 2 player option. Before you go over to where the bomb is that you got to throw at something, turn on the 2 player option, so Yorda doesn't follow you down to where you pick up the bomb. It's such a waste of time lifting her back up. You can also have her stand where you want her to be for when you finally get closer to the exit and the dark creatures come (which you don't have to fight).

 

But yeah, if she screws with you, take control of her and make her do what you want.  Sometimes you can save a lot of time on it, other times you can save yourself a lot of headache which only cost you some few seconds, which is worth it! I don't care what most guide says about trying to do long parts without saving. You are far better off mentally doing shorter parts well instead of one long decent. Might even be faster. I know my times were good and I saved a lot more than I actually needed.

Edited January 31, 2015 by MMDE

[NICK16_06]

Look, as everyone said it takes a lot of finesse and luck. It is a hard section to speedrun mainly because of the randomness. It took me about an hour; sometimes she wouldn't stay still, othertimes I didn't climb up fast enough and she got carried away. I remember a time when I got to the second room and I failed to jump the rope quick enough and she got stolen... Point is you have to keep trying. But enough with the motivation LOL... What I remember, because it was long ago, is that I left her at the stairs, then called her just before I pushed the stone. Then I left her on the switch and killed some monsters that were close by. Then if you are lucky she'll stay in the switch and you have to haul ass and do the second section flawlessly. This is where you have to have certain finesse. You have to push the stone in the quickest way possible. Yorda will get taken away most likely (happened to me, still got the trophy). If you do it perfectly, you will end up getting to her just in time and then it is pretty straight forward. Jump the rope, throw the crate, and don't stop calling her until you get with her. I ignored every monster and just as one was about to lay hands on her, she opened the gate. 

 

As I said, it is really random, but the garden part was a lot more stressful to me, the one with the sewer duct where you have to open the grate and have her stand on a button, because there the camera angles are all wrong. It is a hard plat my friend, and getting it means you were really a Castle Guide

[MMDE]

Look, as everyone said it takes a lot of finesse and luck. It is a hard section to speedrun mainly because of the randomness. It took me about an hour; sometimes she wouldn't stay still, othertimes I didn't climb up fast enough and she got carried away.

 

No... Everyone didn't say that. If done correctly, there's barely any luck involved. I did the "hard" part of both the graveyard and the sewer area more than twice because I failed at some later point. I could do both parts in like 2-3 attempts.

[Hogie838]

On 11/1/2013 at 5:55 PM, big_bob002 said:

I've watched videos and 2 things are not working for me. I park her half way down the stairs near the save point and push the first box into position. In the videos they call for her and she starts running towards the stairs on the side. In my game I call for her and she just stands where I parked her and gets grabbed by the shadows.

The 2nd problem is much more frustrating. I try to park her on the second switch to get through the door and up to the second box real quick. Every time I put her on the second switch, it goes into the ground and she steps off. I can't get her to stay on it long enough for me to get through the door.

While I'm at it. In the next room you grab a chain and it lowers, allowing you to swing jump onto a higher ledge. That spawns more shadows. Its possible to call her over and pull her up before the shadows get her. However, sometimes she shakes her head "no" and then you would have to kill all the shadows to have time to pull her up.

Tips?

 

I've had all these problems too, god it's a nightmare!! I want to chuck her off the mountain and be done with her. Does she WANT to be saved or what!?

[MMDE]

10 minutes ago, Hogie838 said:

 

I've had all these problems too, god it's a nightmare!! I want to chuck her off the mountain and be done with her. Does she WANT to be saved or what!?

 

Read my comments. Just do it in NG+, there you can use a second controller to control her, make her move where you want!  Can save you time at several locations, but especially the headache of this one location!  

[Hogie838]

16 minutes ago, MMDE said:

 

Read my comments. Just do it in NG+, there you can use a second controller to control her, make her move where you want!  Can save you time at several locations, but especially the headache of this one location!  

 

Thanks, appreciate that! Unfortunately I only have one controller though. I'm through the graveyard now just gotta get past the sewer. The rest is easy enough. I made so many mistakes with this game Lol

[MMDE]

3 minutes ago, Hogie838 said:

 

Thanks, appreciate that! Unfortunately I only have one controller though. I'm through the graveyard now just gotta get past the sewer. The rest is easy enough. I made so many mistakes with this game Lol

 

The sewer is the annoying part though!

[Hogie838]

I don't find it as hard, in the graveyard she just won't do anything you want her to  I'm past both now thank god!

[starcrunch061]

Oh, God. I have problems with Yorda from the beginning of the game. Reading this just saps my will.

 

I probably should put this title back in the heap.

[MMDE]

On 8/16/2017 at 4:23 PM, starcrunch061 said:

Oh, God. I have problems with Yorda from the beginning of the game. Reading this just saps my will.

 

I probably should put this title back in the heap.

 

Nah, you can control her in NG+, and so it isn't a problem at all.