archetypical roles, and the team attempted to foster a "cool" image in molding Wander's gestures. The colossi's design was derived from that of the gameplay, and was meant to invoke a simultaneous sense of peculiarity and realism while not indicating their true nature. Ueda was keen to achieve a convincing depiction of the colossi's scale, which was underlined by the addition of a climbable fur surface to the creatures. However, the complexity of the game's physics engine meant that the faster colossi needed to be smaller as well. Another concern for Ueda was to materialize a unique connection between the colossi, as NPCs, and the game's audience, by ensuring that victory over an enemy evoked a conflicted sensation in the player. In exploring this aspect, Ueda combined a scene that portrayed the death of a colossus with a melancholic song from a film soundtrack. He presented the edited sequence to the staff, who "burst out laughing. To have a scene like that ... seemed like a mistake to them". Nevertheless, Ueda resolved to carry the idea over to the rest of the colossi battles, which he asserted to be a well-judged choice after he had asked players to voice their opinions on that matter. While Icos plot is told partly through dialogue, Shadow of the Colossus avoids that narrative device and relies more on nonverbal storytelling. Ueda strove to clearly characterize the game's setting within the constraints of the target platform, and thus devised a simple storyline for the title. As part of his approach to the game's environmental design, Ueda emphasized the motif of a "lonely hero" in the game, in keeping with the atmosphere of Ico. Ueda explained that his design practices, together with the technological limitations of the time, meant that he favored "characters that live inside their own heads instead of having complicated relationships with other characters". At the same time, he was interested in the concept of companionship between an AI-controlled character and the player. This led him to construct a partnership between Wander and Agro, reminiscent of the connection between Icos titular hero and Yorda, an NPC. Based in part on Ueda's own experiences in horseriding, the team prepared a detailed set of maneuvers that Wander could execute in concert with Agro, and gave Agro a crucial supportive role during gameplay. Kaido was especially satisfied with Agro's implementation, and Ueda was inspired by the