The Last Guardian: Lightning Emissary/Speedrun Beginner's Guide

[@morbideddie]

Just got lightning emmisary. Awesome guide, was very easy to play along with without having to pause constantly. Strats are easy to pull off and the time saves add up over the run so I had plenty of time to make a few mistakes and pick up a hint I missed in the main game. I think the 5h limit is lenient, but without a way of tracking time in game it can be intimidating. This guide made everything so easy and smooth, excellent resource. Thanks for putting this together. Also, there was a time I was spamming R1 to call trico and my calls synced exactly with the video, which made me laugh more than it should have. Edit, also worth noting for any guys going for lightning/untouchable emmisary, If you are worried about a difficult section backing up your save to cloud/USB doesnt mess with the trophy. I backed up about 3 times in total, once after the first trico encounter where he knocks you and you get stuck in a tree, the first visit to white tower and once after the trico fight. Messed up on the first white tower visit and died, reloaded my save from USB and continued on to get lightning and untouchable. Also, any tips for intensive care? My first two playthroughs I was thorough in removing spears before moving on but it didn't pop, and didn't pop on my lightning emmisary run either. Dont mind ding a 4th run to get the last trophy, but there arent many guides and was wondering if there was any known optimal strategies. Cheers.

[@sabledragonrook]

I'm so glad you found this helpful! As for Intensive Care, that can certainly be a hard one, and it is pretty stressful to make sure I get it during platinum% speedruns for sure. The best strategy I've found is to spend extra time removing spears from Trico in sections where it feels like you should just speed as fast as possible. As far as I can tell, there is no "X spears means you fail" or "going across a checkpoint means you fail" (which is what some guides claim). I believe it's that there is a timer that ticks for each spear in Trico (two spears means each are adding to the timer, etc.), and if that timer exceeds a certain amount of time, you fail. Thus, it's smarter to stand on Trico, for instance, during the fight with the other Trico when he's being peppered with spears, and keep removing them until the soldiers run out. Otherwise, even rushing through the fight, he still has multiple spears in him for a minute or more. (The soldiers who throw spears while Trico is trapped on the pillar before the drawbridge will not run out of spears, so just rush.) Other than that, you've already got it down: give Trico a thorough once-over after every fight, making sure to check under the arms/wings and butthole. If you reload a checkpoint or die, some spears can respawn in Trico sneakily and will need to be removed again. Good luck on Intensive Care this time around!

[@morbideddie]

@ most guides seemed to imply you just needed to remove them before moving on, but in 2 runs I made sure to do that and no luck. So I figured that want how it worked. The time idea definitely seems like it’s probably how the game works. I read a comment from someone who claims the official book says you have a hour, I.e if the total amount of time spears are in trico exceeds 1h then you fail. So if trico has 6 spears in him for 10 mins then you fail etc. I also waited for hints, plus restarted checkpoints and died a lot in those runs to get misc trophies so that might also contribute since I’m not sure if resetting checkpoints would also set the timer back. Will try again sometime and try to focus on not dying, removing spears quickly and taking out spear guys or distracting them as soon as possible. For the bit where trico is trapped on the pillar I might try to push the guys off the edge or get them to chase me. Might at least give trico a little less spear damage. And I’ll definitely follow your tip for the trico fight. I didn’t know they could run out so getting rid of as many as possible before they are stuck in him for ages makes sense. Thanks again for the tips and amazing guide. Once I have intensive care Last Guardian will be done, then just need to finish off ICO.

[@yungtoenail5555]

Thankyou so much :), got the plat today! made a lot of stupid errors and biiiig set backs, timed myself at like 4 hours 25, so still a looot of minutes for the trophy! to anyone reading, u got this.

[@VyzieTaur]

I've been trophy/achievement hunting for over 10 years and I've used a LOT of collectable guides, game walkthroughs and "how to earn X trophy/achievement" videos. This is one of the best guides I've ever had the pleasure of following. You turned a very daunting trophy into something not only manageable for the average, non-speedrunner gamer, but also something fun. Thank you for your hard work! :)

[@sabledragonrook]

So glad you found it helpful!

[@RatchetFennecFox]

Just wanna say a big thanks to you Sable! I would have never made it under 5 hours without your guide. My run was horrendous but I still got it. For anyone else reading this, I had big doubts that I couldn't do it but tried anyway. Every worst possible thing that could have happened that lost me time, happened to me, things that I've never ever seen happen in ANY of my playthroughs but I still got it under 5 hours. Just try your best and use the checkpoint skips and you'll make it! Now I'm gonna be using these speedrun strats to go get the 3 hints I missed lol.

[@sabledragonrook]

So glad that it helped! Congrats on that trophy!

[@NomadColossus]

Awesome!😆Have been watching your speedrun on Twitch!

[@sabledragonrook]

Yo Nomad, great to see you!

[@Platchums]

Thank you so much for this amazing guide! Just picked up the platinum with your help, you really made the speedrun super manageable and I learned a lot about how Trico works from your explanations.

[@sabledragonrook]

So glad that it helped! Congrats on your shiny new plat trophy :)

[@ShadowTash]

Thank you for making this video it will help a lot of people that are struggling with the lightning emissary trophy, i had it on my old account but now struggle getting it now

[@udellacrewgamer4192]

Thank you for posting this it helps a lot but Im still such a slow poke I’ve been trying this for 4 while yrs and I still die and mess up trico 😭 I’ll keep trying and watch this whole thing and get it ❤️❤️❤️

[@udellacrewgamer4192]

I’m sick of this timer running out and restarting from the begging when I’m half way through! 😩😖😖 Thank you for posting this though I’ll check it out and maybe it’ll help 🥲

[@sabledragonrook]

Good luck! If you have Playstation Network or a PS4 with a USB slot, you can always save your game to the USB or the network whenever something goes well! Then, if you mess up and lose time, download the save and try again. :) Don't forget, too, that if you're watching a timer (like a clock) as you play, you have MUCH more than 4 hours. Time in the game is different than time in real life, and the game will stop counting time during certain things.

[@udellacrewgamer4192]

Thank you! 🥰😊 I think I just need to stop darn bumpin stuff 🤦🏻‍♀️ and remember what to do with trico and follow your great steps to save lots of time! 😊😘 maybe it’s a curse to try speedruns with the ico costume on though I love ico the game too and can’t help putting on the costume 😢… im joking 😂 but thank you! I’ve done so much research for the trophy and finally found the perfect result!!! 😄 thank you for your tip and thank you for posting this!!! 😘❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@tyhkyhjlrtgjrytuk]

I am so happy you decided to make this video. I have promised myself to finish games I start. So 1 hour into The Last Guardian I was very bored but I knew about The Lightning Emissary trophy. So I found your video and decided to try and speedrun with your guide on my first playthrough (I restarted from the beginning). And it worked! I got the trophy and I actually enjoyed my time with the game by playing this way. I had a goal in mind and it kept me playing. The ending was very good and now I can see why people love this game. The gameplay is just personally not for me and the story only picks up later which made me drop the game previously. But all in all I had a good time because of your video so thank you very much.

[@tyhkyhjlrtgjrytuk]

Btw I'm pretty sure that restarting from checkpoints in general doesn't waste time for the trophy as I tried doing the white tower/bridge skip over and over until I got it xD But you have to make sure you reset before you die

[@nonamelj8346]

Followed your guide as I did my run and ended up getting the trophy with minimal effort, thanks alot for the video! Liked and subbed, will come through when you're streaming!

[@sabledragonrook]

So glad that it helped! Congrats on that shiny new trophy! :)

[@isashallow3862]

Thank you so much!!! I messed up a lot during this run and yet, I still got the trophy! You were thorough, detailed, and an excellent commentator, so you just gained a new subscriber!

[@sabledragonrook]

I'm glad that it helped! Congrats on the new trophy!

[@William-Sunderland]

Incredible guide, I managed to get lightning emissary and intensive care at the same time, so for those who want to get those two trophies at the same time, wenever there is a fight pay attention and see if the enemies have spears, if thats the case, instead of going for speedrun strats, help Trico during the fight, try to push enemies with spears and at the end of the fight make an intensive research for spears in Tricos body, also, in the fight at 02:53:00 I followed the speedrun strat and didnt notice that at the end of that fight, when Trico falls over unconsious, a lot of Spears on his body disapear and only a little will remain on his body, I thought that I missed the Intensive Care trophy right there, still I take care for the few spears left on his body and restarted checkpoint, also quit the game and continue, once I started to play again I noticed that Trico didnt had a single spear on his body, so continue progressing with the game, without knowing if I fucked up or not, in the long fights at the white tower I just stayed on Tricos back paying attetion and trying to take care of any spear that hits Trico, the first one was particularly long, it doesnt matter, that is not going to ruin the speedrun trophy, I missed a lot of time, also started the run not remembering the controls of the game and still managed to get both trophies, follow the guide and pause the game every time you need to check the video, as I really think there is a huge window for error, in real time the run takes three hours and twenty minutes to three hours and fourty, and I would say about fourty to and hour of the run are cutscenes that pause the time for Lightning Emissary, so thats about two and a half hours of admisible time wasting, you have enough time to pay attention to other trophies if you want them, well, maybe except collectable ones, so dont be that worried of missing trophies during the run, also, wenever you think you failed Intensive Care, restart checkpoint, quit and then continue the game, I think it is possible that every time you restart chackpoint, as spears disappear from Tricos body, they arent going to count towards the trophy.

[@andrecruz9394]

Thank you very much for your fantastic guide and your kindness too!!! brazilian here

[@aphoticknight]

20 minutes in and you gave some solid tips to help shave off time. Thanks!

[@sabledragonrook]

Glad it helped! :)

[@irxssxp]

thank youu for making this guide it helped me a lot

[@vincevirtua]

Thanks for this guide. Very chilled and a nice listen.

[@ac-dtmusic6566]

Thanks Sable, couldn't have done it without your help.

[@bradders515]

Wow, thank you so much Sable! Using your great (and interesting) guide I finally got lightning Emissary last night with a time of around 4 hours. Now if I can only complete Intensive Care I'd be a very happy guy.

[@sabledragonrook]

So glad that it helped! For intensive care, as best we know, it's a combination of "don't walk through checkpoints while he has spears" and that there's a total "this is how long Trico has had spears in him" timer; walking through a checkpoint (which you can't see) "banks" the time. So your best bet is to use call+X command (or pet him) to get Trico to sit down after every encounter and comb him for spears before he moves on! It's easy to forget sometimes that he has spears if you weren't with him in the fight, like after you lower the drawbridge for him to jump across! Be especially careful about his armpits and butthole; it's hard to see spears there. Good luck! :)

[@bradders515]

@@sabledragonrook Thanks for the advice! Starting my run tonight and will keep it in mind.

[@bradders515]

I got it!!! Thanks so much for the tips 😀

[@sabledragonrook]

@@bradders515 YES! awesome! Big congrats :)

[@jascarpenterkc]

This was a great video! Very relaxing to play along with. Thank you for making it!

[@lsd_xprnc]

Thank you so much for this spectacular video. I'd never attempted/completed a speedrun before and thank's to you i have. Thank youuuu

[@sabledragonrook]

So glad you found this helpful!

[@Ben-Jack]

Just got Lightning Emissary done first attempt (3rd playthrough) thanks to the guide, I probably should have watched your guide first before trying but instead I had the video running as I went :) I saw a video from Digital Foundry about the game running at 60fps on PS5, so yesterday I bought the regular PS4 disc from ebay to check out how it feels. Might wait for that to arrive before I finish off my remaining trophies Untouchable Emissary and All Talked Out for platinum. P.S. Mort is pretty cool/cute👍

[@gleave9]

I went for lightning, untouchable and intensive care all within the same run. Used the ps plus back up save and even then it was very frustrating, felt cocky and went an hour before missing a ledge and having to load up the back up. But I digress! This guide helped me a lot. Plenty of useful hints and tips to make the speed run comfortable. Thank you

[@KonkaBass]

This was excellent. Thanks for the help, also the extra help understanding extra AI mechanics insights were all very helpful.

[@Isilily]

Still not sure if I want to go for lightning emissary-- it always baffles me why there's always speedrun trophies in Team Ico games when the games themselves tend to encourage a slower pace so I always want to go slow and take time to take care of Trico with pets and extra barrels and all of that. I'm just not cut out to be a speedrunner lol, but I appreciate your very accessible guide on what techniques are most reliable and aren't excessively risky. I also really love learning how the game actually works, like the explanations about Trico's AI and how he registers commands, and the best people to go to for that are usually speedrunners.

[@WeskerKTH]

Thank you so much for this comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide! I had no problems popping Lightning Emissary using this. The only thing remaining for me now is The Call of Nature. On that note: "If a Trico poops in the game and no one is around to see it, did he still poop?" It is a serious question though, as I have had no luck with this trophy so far. Is it possible that I missed him pooping somehow and now he is all pooped out...? What is his... Uh... Cooldown? For this? Thanks again!

[@sabledragonrook]

HOOOO I hoped poop wasn't the last one, but here we are! xD Congrats on that Lightning Emissary Trophy! Call of Nature can be extremely challenging -- so challenging, in fact, that even after dedicated efforts by the community, we're still not sure how to make it happen. But here's what we do know. 1) He prefers to poop on flat or semi-flat ground. That means you don't have to worry about him pooping if he's trying to jump somewhere. 2) He tends to poop best when you're not looking at him. That means the boy, the actual character, is faced away from him. Try just letting Trico do his own thing while you huddle around a corner with the camera peeked over to him. 3) We see a correlation between poops and barrels, but correlation does not equal causation. It's likely that he poops more during All Barrels runs simply because we go slower and spend more time standing around him. Still, if you're going to be waiting on him anyway, might as well give him the barrels! 4) There are certain areas where he is more likely to poop. These are at the water puzzles, at the coliseum with the catapult, and at the white tower at the end. However, he CAN poop anywhere. 5) It is entirely possible that he poops and YOU MISS IT. RIP. In order to get the trophy, you gotta be staring straight at that butthole when the poops are ploppin'. So what does this mean? Take your time enjoying the game while finding all barrels, all the while being cognizant of flicking the camera back to Trico and keeping an eye on him from a distance. If this doesn't work, I've got some...suggestions. If you've got some time, a rubber band, and some tape. www.speedrun.com/team_ico_games#TLG__Call_of_Nature is the leaderboard specifically for poop%; if you go to the end of each runner's videos, you can get an idea of what was happening right before the turds of truth. I also have a platinum% run in which I (necessarily) got poops. Hit me up if you're still unsuccessful, or I stream TLG every Tuesday at 11am ET and I'd be happy to help you out. May the Trollco be with you!

[@oliboli1992]

Thanks for your guide! Helped me tremendously with the lightning emmisary! However, maybe put your voice a bit louder, barely hear you at time.

[@Jaikhay231]

55:45 If you miss the thing and take fall damage, you can restart checkpoint and it'll place you near the switch.

[@sabledragonrook]

Great point! I left that out as part of an effort to keep resets to a minimum, but it's definitely an easy reset to do if you remember! As soon as you hit the ground and the boy is hurt, you're good to reset!

[@bringmebliss.]

Thank you for this. You are awesome!

[@alexanderpaulsen819]

Great guide, very helpful. Thank you!

[@tb9897]

awesome, awesome guide. but these trophies really made me hate the game lol.

[@xaviernieto7141]

Thank you for this!

[@selinasmelodiefountain726]

Wow, thank you 🖤

[@SupermuzuDK]

Thank you! :D

[@logi_c_1233]

Is it just me or is this game your favourite game by far

[@sabledragonrook]

You might not be wrong... xD

[@logi_c_1233]

@@sabledragonrook I’ve completed it 6 times what about u

[@sabledragonrook]

@@logi_c_1233 Right now I think it's somewhere between 320 and 330 times since the last time I reset my timer, which would have happened the first time I got a 3:35 as my final time. How many times before that I'm not sure lol

[@logi_c_1233]

@@sabledragonrook wow did u get the game as soon as it came out and played it almost every day😂

[@Jaikhay231]

When I did the lightning emissary trophy, I backed up my save data before every difficult section. For a speedrun I'll have to do it in one segment, shouldn't be too hard though right?

[@SanchoPandaVTW]

Teach me, senpai!

[@masterkratos0929]

Is there any chance that it’s possible to achieve the trophy this on a ps4 slim because of the reduced frame rate? I’ll be sure to use your tips from the run, but I don’t know if it is possible because of how the frame rate is on the ps4 slim and the original model

[@sabledragonrook]

We have runners using every type of PlayStation, so it should work just fine! If you get FPS drops, it'll usually be around the chains in the two rooms back to back with the guards turtled into the ground. You may need to take two passes to fully get the door open, but that shouldn't change much.

[@masterkratos0929]

Just managed to get the trophy around the 5:15 mark. I’m guessing that the trophy is negated as soon as the timer hits 6 hours. The only challenging one left for me is intensive care.

[@fauxyeahjandy]

Does pausing the game counts towards the Lightning Emmisary time?

[@sabledragonrook]

We THINK it's okay to pause. As far as we can tell, time doesn't continue if you're paused. But if you're going to be gone for a while, it's usually best to just close the game

[@fauxyeahjandy]

@@sabledragonrook I tried to close the game When I got tired and continued the next day, I did not know that you have to play the whole game for the whole 5hrs str8 to get the trophy! 😭

[@sabledragonrook]

@@fauxyeahjandy You don't! You can do it in pieces. I've gotten emissary for games that I've had half-completed for months. So you'll be okay!

[@fauxyeahjandy]

@@sabledragonrook hUdhshshd then why it did not do it the last playthrough? 😭 I must be done something wrong

[@fauxyeahjandy]

I DID IT. I said F this, why not do it now. And I did it! 3:40:37 .34 WAAAAAAHHHHHHH! I am completed thank you so much for the help!

[@ivon1671]

I'm guessing the in-game timer stops if I pause the game?

[@sabledragonrook]

Based on our knowledge, it should, but we typically pause and dashboard or just close out of the game if taking a break just to be sure!

[@ivon1671]

@@sabledragonrook I am now confident that pausing is not counted since I paused the game for litteraly 3 hours and constantly paused the game as I was watching your walkthrough at the same time (also failed a buch). Thanks a lot for showing me the holy path to lightning emissary

[@sabledragonrook]

@@ivon1671 That's great to know! Now we can say so with confidence :) Congrats on that lightning emissary trophy!

[@FoxxMulderr]

480p? Seriously?!