A lot of people have trouble getting Trico to do what they want, and the game does a somewhat poor job of explaining its command system. You're supposed to kind of feel it out, but these two tips will solve the vast majority of your problems when interacting with your big floofy pal. Above all: be patient.

1) Don't spam! Give him one command and wait to see what he does. Spamming will only confuse him. It can take a few seconds for him to start doing what you told him to do. Be patient.

2) R1+direction is all you need for 90% of cases. If you want him to jump across a gap, you'll want to use R1+direction rather than R1+triangle, which is really only useful when you want him to jump in place (not really necessary, but fun) or put his front talons against a wall so you can climb up. I'm pretty sure you can beat the entire game without ever using commands other than directions and jump.

See, you don't even fully explain the system in your post! The command system is holding R1 + a modifier button, which can be a face button or a direction on the analog stick. Those face button modifiers being unnecessary is its own problem, but the game not explaining the commands is awful. I didn't even know it was possible until I had to go to GameFAQs because Trico's tail wouldn't fall through the beams to let me out of the water pit. Turns out, that's just one of the parts of the game where it can just break.

Also, the idea that the commands are supposed to be discovered that some people like to use as justification is bunk. There's another version of The Last Guardian in a parallel universe where the player eventually understands each command and there's a well designed system in place for actually teaching Trico what the commands mean. That's not what we got though. We got a video game ass video game.

@razzuel: The game explained that well enough, I think. There's a big prompt showing the controller and what buttons to use when they introduce the command system. It just doesn't really tell you what each command will do, and I think they want you to experiment, but I understand the frustration. I can only say that personally, using my tips, Trico pretty much always did what I wanted him to with minimal fuss.

Thank you kindly~

@razzuel: Open the game manual. Go to the part about controls. You get told every command. The game tells you the commands in game when it's time to use them, but if you need a refresher you just need to open the manual, not go to Gamefaqs.

The stuff which I had the most trouble with was the more subtle. I don't think at any point does the game tell you that you can grab Trico's tail and drag it around. Seemed super inconsistent that there was no hint for what was an essential function in certain parts of the game, but they still felt the need to slap a huge box reminding me how to issue commands every 3 minutes.

Still... probably one of my favourite games this year.

Not to be to an old thread but boy, I'm glad I'm not the only one with issues on the command. Trico is actually great at listening, I've been petting the heck out of him and barely need to tell him anything.

Until we fell through the roof and I got stuck in the tree. No prompt, like there was for a million other rudimentary puzzles. The goal is to make him jump above you. You can't point, because "reasons" I suppose. You don't tell him to jump, even though that is the goal. No, you command him to interact, at nothing in particular, at which point he jumps above you.

Just wtf.