From the makers of Flower comes Journey

It's such a shame they have a contract with Sony, because this game would do *so* well on PC.

Hyetal wrote:

It's such a shame they have a contract with Sony, because this game would do *so* well on PC.

That thought also crossed my mind as well. I would love to see this running at 1920x1200 instead of 720p. It's such an arty game I can't imagine it would sell horribly on the PC.

Just finished it. I stand by the following:

shoptroll wrote:

So far it's my Portal for 2012.

Such a beautiful game. I absolutely love the way the multiplayer works, the visuals, the way the music syncs up with the key moments.

This game provided me a sense of amazement and discovery* I haven't had in a game in a long while. I don't think I fully got the ending (I'm a bit tired right now) but I definitely see myself replaying this in the near future.

* As I was playing I was thinking of Tevis Thompson's deconstruction of modern Zelda games and it hit me: the problem he has might not necessarily be with Zelda games, but rather the fact that he's become accustomed to the franchise. Getting dropped into Journey felt like stepping into Hyrule for the first time in Zelda. You don't know what you're doing or where you are or quite where to go. It's a brave new world with new rules, a new language, a new everything. I genuinely felt that I was exploring a world for the sake of exploring, not just looking for the telltale signs of the nearest rupee deposit or piece of heart. Of course, I won't have the same sense of wonder on the next playthrough, but I can't imagine that this isn't the same feeling people get when they play their first Zelda or Elder Scrolls game.

Just finished. Man. What a lovely, singular experience. Like Flower, some may call this pretentious, but, man, this is some beautiful and necessary pretension.

A funny moment of emotional reaction from me:

Spoiler:

Like with Flower, there was a moment of pure rage. In Flower, it was the first time I ran into the powerline and burned away a bunch of petals. I was soooo offended! How dare you do that to me! Here, it was the first and only time the sky eel caught me and tore my scarf. I actually shouted "What the f*ck!" But then, a little later, my companion spotted a scarf bit, and pointed it out so I could grab it. It is the strangest feeling to have someone genuinely help in an online game--not because they need me alive or anything, but just because.

The Bombcast this week mentioned the notion of playing with the obnoxious CoD types, but never knowing that's what they are. I encountered my first companion in the ribbon bridge area, way off in the distance, and I raced at them while they flew past me, both of us hitting our chime, excited to find someone. Turns out, according to the end, he was Xx_BoNg-MiTsFa_xX.

Pretendbeard wrote:

Mind you, this guy probably says it better than I did...

That is an awesome review.

Spoiler:

The dragons were absolutely terrifying. Also, had trouble with the bridge in the ice area and was really sad when I managed to get myself separated from my companion. Twice. Especially when they didn't come down to help me the second time. I don't think I've felt that strong a sense of abandonment in a game before

Holy crap this game.

Spoiler:

The part starting from when you die in the snow to when you finally ascend the mountain was transcendent. And the ending was perfect, I can't imagine it any other way. I'm going to remember this game for a long time.

Demyx wrote:

Holy crap this game.

Spoiler:

The part starting from when you die in the snow to when you finally ascend the mountain was transcendent. And the ending was perfect, I can't imagine it any other way. I'm going to remember this game for a long time.

The title of the game is apt, no?

garion333 wrote:

The title of the game is apt, no?

Oh yes.

Spoiler:

The part where you're struggling to walk and then fall down, I felt so bad, I wanted to yell at the TV "Noooo, you can make it! Keep going!" I'm really glad it didn't end there!

Actually, I just played Ico for the first time last week, and this game reminds me very strongly of that. They're both about moving through big, empty, abandoned spaces on a quest to get somewhere important, and they both have a similar melancholy feel.

Demyx wrote:
Spoiler:

The part starting from when you die in the snow to when you finally ascend the mountain was transcendent. And the ending was perfect, I can't imagine it any other way. I'm going to remember this game for a long time.

That part confused me too because it was such a gradual transition and then I realized what was happening.

Spoiler:

I don't think there was any other way to end it either

Does anyone know if there's a place to download the OST?

Pretendbeard wrote:

My desire to lavish my love for this game on the world resulted in me doing a review thing.

I thought that review thing was pretty great. You perfectly described a lot of what I feel about the game, but much more effectively than I would have been able to articulate.

That mini review is also great.

Dyni wrote:
Pretendbeard wrote:

My desire to lavish my love for this game on the world resulted in me doing a review thing.

I thought that review thing was pretty great.

One observation I like:

It’s a game that wants you to see everything

What's amazing to me is how well they pulled this off without yanking control away from the player to say "look at this over here!" as seems to be the trend in bigger games lately.

Michael Barnes' thoughts on Journey. Barnes works for Gameshark and I highly respect his opinions even if we don't see eye to eye.

Reading some of the comments reminded me of when I got mad at my companion:

Spoiler:

There was a spot after sliding down a big long hill that you could get a new piece of scarf. You could get it by floating in the right direction when you finished the slide. If you missed, then you had to climb up, but there were some jumps that were not possible without energy. A pair could do it by helping each other. When I came down my companion was already trying to get the piece. I helped out and we worked our way up. Near the top, I missed a jump and fell to the bottom, while my companion made it. He went off to explore, even though I yelled and yelled back at the climb. Finally, I gave up and travelled onwards, but I did not worry about catching up to him. Now he may or may not have known that he screwed me over, but ... well... grrr!

My desire to lavish my love for this game on the world resulted in me doing a review thing. although, for all 1000-ish words, it could probably be best summarised with what I couldn't say for fear of spoiling the experience.

Spoiler:

Journey, on more than one occasion, made me feel like I was flying. Not just in my mind - it was a supremely physical sensation, and the whole experience felt significantly more meaningful than most games I've played this past decade as a result.

Mind you, this guy probably says it better than I did...

IMAGE(http://gon.cdn.on.net/screenshots/a/0/7278/2012-03-16/journey.jpg)

Edit: I should probably credit the source of that image.

Dyni wrote:
Pretendbeard wrote:

My desire to lavish my love for this game on the world resulted in me doing a review thing.

I thought that review thing was pretty great. You perfectly described a lot of what I feel about the game, but much more effectively than I would have been able to articulate.

That mini review is also great.

Cheers

I've not read all of it yet, but I'm going to link this essay by Ian Bogost anyway. I have to say that all of the writing that's burst forth about this game has delighted me; it's not all been great, but that's kind of the point. A lot of people have found something they want to try to explain, and are really struggling - I find this to be really interesting.

What a wonderful, beautiful, poignant game. The sections of 'skiing' and soaring (especially on the final climb) are joyful.

garion333 wrote:

Michael Barnes' thoughts on Journey. Barnes works for Gameshark and I highly respect his opinions even if we don't see eye to eye.

I haven't played this yet so I'm not going to read that but Barnes is one of my favorite games writers, period. I find his views very refreshing.

Well, Journey is the first game I've ever played that made me get choked up and almost cry. It's a masterclass of emotional manipulation. Everything works in perfect concert to make the player feel things like joy, sadness, despair, elation, tiredness, and exuberance. This short game has more memorable moments than a dozen other games, movies, or albums combined.

It would be unconscionable not to share: a significant amount of Journey's soundtrack.

At the bottom they say "Details on the official soundtrack release coming soon!" I know I'll be picking it up immediately.

Haven't managed to set aside time for this game yet, but I think I'm going to give it a shot tonight after work.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Haven't managed to set aside time for this game yet, but I think I'm going to give it a shot tonight after work.

It's only 2 hours long! No more excuses!

And if you haven't played it yet, you should really stop reading about it.

There's a decent interview with Jenova about Journey at the tail end of this Joystiq podcast.

This game was exactly what I needed tonight! After seeing all of the overwhelmingly positive feedback, the game still met my expectations. I got home from work, plugged in my trusty AKG K702 headphones, cranked the volume, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Here are a few things I loved:

Spoiler:

-The fact that your cloak gains patterns as you complete journeys. I was wondering why fellow journeymen had more gold patterns until I completed the game. I thought it might be a PS+ thing initially.

-Flower didn't give you an emotional connection to the character you are playing. They completely and utterly fixed that problem in this game.

-The game is a metaphor for life but doesn't beat you over the head with that idea.

-I stayed away from listening to the full soundtrack before playing. It was worth the wait. I will be buying it as soon as it is available. Hopefully, they have a FLAC version. I hope they do an interview on Top Score with Austin Wintory.

Oh Tom Chick. You never fail to disappoint

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/201...

Did we play the same game?

I'll admit I don't read his reviews, and enjoy his podcast work, but what was that? It didn't read much like a review or opinion piece, just a common negative internet forum post. He didn't elaborate on his feelings and some of his wording was just wrong.

Dyni wrote:

Oh Tom Chick. You never fail to disappoint

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/201...

Did we play the same game?

I thought what this guy said was spot on:

As with most games striving for 'art', it's all a bit Emperor's New Clothes. I saw an experience and you saw mechanics, Tom. Such is the way it goes.
If only it had been more Emperor's New Groove. Maybe next time.
cyrax wrote:

I'll admit I don't read his reviews, and enjoy his podcast work, but what was that? It didn't read much like a review or opinion piece, just a common negative internet forum post. He didn't elaborate on his feelings and some of his wording was just wrong.

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed in the length of the review. I'm half tempted to believe he really wanted to give it 3 stars, but gave it a 2 star rating so Metacritic would drive a ton of people to his site (see the amount of comments, and the content of them). Them again, most of the commentors aren't saying much of anything and are unlikely to come back to the site.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This game was exactly what I needed tonight! After seeing all of the overwhelmingly positive feedback, the game still met my expectations. I got home from work, plugged in my trusty AKG K702 headphones, cranked the volume, and enjoyed every minute of it.

I'm glad you listened and played it ASAP. I knew you'd like it.

Guess I'll be the guy that's played ~30-40 minutes and now wishes there had been a demo. Too much 'game as art', and not enough 'game'.

*shrug*

I should note that I don't like playing games with other people much, particularly not in exploration/puzzle based environments. The first time I saw another person in the game, I quit. Weird reaction, I know.

I came back about 2 hrs later, signed out of PSN and loaded it up again. Played another 15-20 minutes crossing more desert, playing with some, um... kite things, and then got to a large pit area. Climbed to the top of that, and noticed that maybe I had missed 2 scarf power ups in the vicinity (is that what those glowy things signify at the end gate?) and didn't want to go back down to look for them.

I turned it off and haven't loaded it again since.

Tyrian wrote:

...
I should note that I don't like playing games with other people much, particularly not in exploration/puzzle based environments. The first time I saw another person in the game, I quit. Weird reaction, I know.
...

Not surprising that you wouldn't like it; the core of the game really is the seamless anonymous multiplayer system they built. As a single player game, it is OK (beautiful but shallow). It is the feelings it is able to evoke through the process of cooperative exploration that make it something special.