juv3nal

Journey (thatgamecompany's next thing)

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No it doesn't. But it makes the experience all the more gut wrenching and poignant. It was a great mind blow too to realize the cyclical nature of the shooting stars and the mountain and so on.

Journey was my personal GOTY 2012. No other game this year has had as much an affect on me as playing through its final moments. You should get your girlfriend to play it too!

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Fat chance :) I'd like to try and play the walking dead with her as she likes the tele show. But unless its Tetris or bejewelled she ain't interested. Actually I got her hooked plant vs zombies.

She doesn't like not being in control, so if I stuck her in front of journey she'd be like "I don't know what I'm doing, I feel stupid, don't like it" which I the beauty of it, the mystery.

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Am I the only one that didn't love this game? I bought into the hype back before it came out, but when I actually played it this year it felt so....nothing? Insubstantial? The visuals were pretty, but I didn't really feel they were used to great effect. The storytelling was ...existent.... but I never felt like the story was worth the game. And the game, most of the time, was just walking forward. (Or jumping, flying, sliding, etc., forward.) Everyone raves about this, but I feel totally befuddled, like I'm missing some aspect of the experience that makes it worthwhile. Honestly, a few months later, I am struggling to remember the damn thing.

I feel bad ragging on it, because this is exactly the sort of thing I (theoretically) wish there were more of: short, controlled interactive experiences with less emphasis on traditional gameplay. But there it is.

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It's less game, more experience (but what is game)

I think having played flower leveled my expectations, I kind of guessed there wouldn't be much in the way of controls.

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I think the visuals were used to amazing effect. Everything around you reinforces the idea of loneliness. Even the beautiful remains of a great civilization. The loneliness of the visuals is contrasted against the strength of the multiplayer. You meet a stranger, you call out, hopefully they respond. Or you're the one sailing about when you suddenly hear a quiet chirp from a long way away and turn to search for your new friend.

And the end: struggling together against the inevitable and finally losing each other in the static whiteness of the storm feels like a perfect pinnacle followed by the rushing release of the epilogue.

I also think the controls are really, really good actually. Flower is a lot more free flowing and loose since it was mostly taking input from the six-axis. While there was looseness here, you still had plenty of control of your character. I also only used the analog sticks. The best moments actually were boosting off your multiplayer partner to the point where you could both fly through a huge stretch without ever touching the ground.

Also:

More than any other game, I wish I could experience it for the first time again.

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Imagine an open world, 64 player simultaneous multiplayer Journey. I want this to happen so I can see if players would end up flocking like blackbirds. The mechanic of flight when in proximity to other players could be emphasized by increasing wing power slightly for every other player within a small radius.

I want to see this multiplayer mobility mechanic explored; I love the idea of video games allowing us to visualize different types of social interactions by defining the mechanics.

I can't wait for a developer to say something like "We didn't want to make a game, we wanted to make a church in which you could have ecstatic social experiences that encourage you to love one another."

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"Some Journey players who had recently lost a parent have been playing the game to work through their grief, projecting their thoughts onto the other player as a kind of parent figure. “By walking through the whole game with this character, by walking into the light, they felt they’ve managed to say goodbye to their parents,” says Chen."

That is so incredible. I can totally envision this narrative too.

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That is quite beautiful. I think I remember reading the specific post on TGC's forums about a kid that had a parent (his dad, I think) recently pass away and he played Journey to help him grieve. I could totally understand using a game to numb yourself, or to try and ignore the pain of loss and grief.. but to actually feel like the game has helped you deal with some of those feelings, and helped you to move on in any way at all after such a monumental loss, is astounding. 

 

I'm not sure I could ever have the second type of experience with a game tbh. I'd probably just use them as a black hole to make time pass quickly (much like I do now, only without the horrendous pain of grief) so I didn't have to concentrate on grieving.

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I should have posted this earlier while I was still marveling over this game. "Earlier" meaning a little over two weeks ago since I'm super late to playing Journey. I played through twice and had a great experience both times. Each time I was lucky enough to have a partner that wanted to stay with me the whole way. The first time the person seemed a tad more experienced than me as they pointed out where some of the symbols were so that I'd get them. This was a much more casual playthrough and I just enjoyed how much the social aspect actually enhanced the game in a very low key way that I haven't really seen before. Since there's no communication with a stranger, there's not a ton of pressure to do things right and both players are forced to leave room for error, fosteringa very caring nature in both players. I was mostly amazed someone was waiting for me every time I screwed up, when I can't say for certain I would have done the same, especially since I usually play games alone or I with friends I know in person either in the same room or online, neither of which is really comparable to the experience.

 

My second playthrough was kind of strange (or I should say second and a half) as I was planning on just collecting all the stuff I missed with a guide and ignoring everyone so that I could get the trophy where I pass 10 random people, since I already got the camaraderie trophies first play through with my loyal companion. So I checked the guide for the symbols on the levels I knew by comparing to the little stone thingy in the level select area, taking my time up until level 4 when I realized I couldn't actually backtrack on the sliding part like the other open areas. I kept missing the symbols you had to get by going up ramps on a certain route. After going back to the level select area and restarting the slide a third time, I realized it was resetting my damn scarf and then I got all OCD and annoyed and started over from the beginning, armed with only with a hunch on how to get the symbol on the sand slide that was up really high up. I'm also pretty sure you need a longer scarf for some of the later symbols and I didn't want to risk being locked out of them.

 

So I make it back to the bridge after restarting, recollecting the symbols along the way while ignoring the glyph walls because I already activated all of them in the area. At some point a character with a white cloak entered the area, noticed me, and started following me on my way to get the last symbol, I guess thinking they were showing me where it is. After I collected it, they turned around and flew over to the cave where one of the glyph walls are and started chatting incessantly, trying to get me to go over there. I ignored them, activated the bridge completely, and made my way up past the first piece of cloth when I noticed them in the distance, still standing there all alone and pressing the chat button. I started to feel really bad so I just went over there to indulge them and activate the wall. We then move on to the next area, the desert, and they started leading me towards the symbols and glyphs I've already gotten. I was somewhat annoyed, but they were kind of winning me over by flying around with me and giving me constant power by sending out the energy from their infinite scarf. By the end of the level, I was just having a lot of fun hanging out with this person.

 

Weirdly my autonomous sensory meridian response starts flaring up and I get in to a trance. This usually only happens when someone is talking to me giving me instructions or asking me questions over a phone or something, and it's very strange it just happened from a purely visual sense. People make all those dumb Youtube videos that are supposed to activate the response by talking softly, but it never actually works because I have to be actually interacting with the person. So once this kicks in, I just give in to the person and let them guide me around to every collectable and secret in the game. The sensory response doesn't last for more than like 10 minutes, so the trance subsides a bit and I just started experimenting with what's it's like to have an active guide suck all of the challenge out of the game. It becomes welcome because even before the sliding part, I was already having some amount of difficulty following a text guide during my half playthrough. I hate watching videos on collectables because of how long it takes and how much it sucks me out of the game by having someone's badly recorded shit on Youtube that they tend to talk over or score with blaring music so I tend to stick to text guides.

 

The playthrough went on for about two and a half hours. I think the white cloak was trying to show me some glitches on the snow level but I didn't really understand and probably fucked them up, but they were still consistently patient. Floating underwater with them to that obscure secret hallway where the flOw creature lies was a definite highlight, as I had no idea where I was being led or that I could dive that deep, so it was a nice little surprise. At the final area, they were running around a bunch while I was trying to get them to stay still so that I could get the Meditate trophy. But they would not keep still so I started running around in circles and then suddenly stopping to try to emphasize that I wanted them to stop too. It took me a while to realize that they were writing in the snow (had no idea I could do that, nice little touch thatgamecompany :)) and that I was completely fucking up what they were writing. So I stopped moving and they wrote "bye :)" on top of the mess I made. Awww! I then wrote "thank you," but I realized that probably took up way too much room and it just looked like a mess at when I finished and they may not have been able to make it out. I like to think they understood the sentiment, though.

 

Anyway, that was a really great and unique experience. I'm glad I let go of my pride on getting all the crap myself for once and let someone else do it for me, because it was kind of heartwarming. I think through doing that, I got to what the core of the game was all about.

 

I'm also kind of confused that there are players out that are willing to sacrifice that much time and dedication on some random player just for fun. You probably won't find me playing again with my white cloak and leading someone through the whole game, but then again even though I collected everything, there's no way I'd be able to still know where everything is on the fly without double checking some guide and stalling the person I'm supposed to lead. This leads me to assume that this person must do this a lot. Nice to know there's people out there who just want to play out of the pure motivation of helping.

 

Shit, I wrote a long thing again. I imagined this post to be two paragraphs max. Whoops.

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I agree, that was a great read. I find it hard to stay focused on finding the collectibles in this game because the gorgeous scenery and music just compel me to continue moving forward on my journey.

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I just finished my first playthrough of this game. Pretty fantastic game, it would be a shame if the devs were shut down :(

Edit: That was supposed to be a sad face, but i'm not changing it

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I played through recently and had an absolutely enchanting time conquering the entire latter half with someone who seemed to know as little about the game as me. Towards the end,

 

when the chill set in and we started slowing up, we stayed huddled together tightly the whole time and kept using the voice, even as it decayed to less than a murmur. We stuck together and tried everything to stay alive, both of us trying to help the other out. It was such an affecting moment. Then when the light came down and we ascended the mountain I was so elated I remember shouting something like "YEAH BUDDY, WE DID IT!" even though I knew he wouldn't hear me. :P

 

I think the sense of shared naivety contributed a lot to our cooperation, I doubt it would've been the same if it was someone who already knew their way around it. By any chance, does the game selectively matchmake players who haven't finished before, or did I just luck out?

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I played the first time with someone who wore a white cloak (which i guess means he's played way more than most people). I still had an enchanting time, our relationship seemed more mentor/apprentice than partners at the end. I felt dependent on his knowledge. And at the end, he drew a heart in the sand and I giggled like a massive baby.

 

A pretty amazing experience.

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I played the first time with someone who wore a white cloak (which i guess means he's played way more than most people). I still had an enchanting time, our relationship seemed more mentor/apprentice than partners at the end. I felt dependent on his knowledge. And at the end, he drew a heart in the sand and I giggled like a massive baby.

 

A pretty amazing experience.

 

Whitecloaks are players who have found every scarf upgrade at least once. It's an option you can turn on in chapter select. You start with a much longer scarf than usual, which will drain much slower and automatically recharge as soon as you hit the ground. Two whitecloaks working in harmony can fly indefinitely by chirping in time with one another and moving together.

 

(I have a white cloak)

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So out of nowhere this game is back in my normal rotation. I completed it again the other weekend and couldn't help but start it up again last night to try going through the areas more thoroughly and find all the hidden stuff I had missed. As I was going through the first stage, a Whitecloak joined my game and just naturally started guiding me to all of the hidden stuff I was looking for. It was such a cool experience to just have someone come in and patiently guide me to various easter eggs, glyphs and symbols and then stop and wait for me any time I lagged behind. I find it amazing that this game manages to naturally foster this sort of master/apprentice dynamic (as jmbossy put it) and I'm now finding myself compelled to continue the cycle when I unlock my white cloak.

 

I'm also surprised at how well this game holds up over repeat playthroughs. I thought the experience would be diminished after going through it for the first time but I am finding that it still manages to evoke the same emotional response that I got on the first playthrough. There is something about the gorgeous presentation of the world combined with the way the music builds throughout the stages that just makes me want to play this again and again. It's kind of become a video game version of a really good album that I just can't help but listen to over and over.

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