Look at the bottom of their cloak. An extra pattern gets added each time you complete it. So if they just have one pattern (like yours), then your good.
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Journey |OT| Perfect Strangers
- Thread starter alr1ght
- Start date
Look at the bottom of their cloak. An extra pattern gets added each time you complete it. So if they just have one pattern (like yours), then your good.
PedroLumpy
Member
Fantastic, thanks!
Just entered this contest & thought I'd share with GAF. You can win a Journey scarf just by leaving a comment.
http://www.examiner.com/video-game-in-national/contest-win-a-journey-scarf-bag
Scarf photo
http://www.examiner.com/video-game-in-national/contest-win-a-journey-scarf-bag
Scarf photo
Just entered this contest & thought I'd share with GAF. You can win a Journey scarf just by leaving a comment.
http://www.examiner.com/video-game-in-national/contest-win-a-journey-scarf-bag
Scarf photo
Shit, I need a facebook account for this?
We have all those scarfs here in my office. I'm literally sitting next to a stack of about 100 of them.
OK how much do you want for one?
Seth Balmore
Member
Giveaway! Giveaway!
phosphor112
Banned
...can we buy them?
So, I'm seeing a lot of praise all over. I liked Flower and Flow, but I'm a gamer who likes some meat on my games either with replay value or length.
Flower just didn't cut it in that. Good game, unique game, but I only played for a few hours and had completed it to fullness sadly.
Does Journey at least come to a 15 hour mark after 2 replays or ?
Flower just didn't cut it in that. Good game, unique game, but I only played for a few hours and had completed it to fullness sadly.
Does Journey at least come to a 15 hour mark after 2 replays or ?
Woah seriously? God damn. What's the price for the game? Idk if I can justify spending more than 10 bucks for that to be honest, no matter how good it is.
Woah seriously? God damn. What's the price for the game? Idk if I can justify spending more than 10 bucks for that to be honest, no matter how good it is.
Dude, just buy it.
Trust me, time does not matter for this game. It is literally the only game I can think of where it could not have been even a half hour longer and worked the same.
The whole general structure of Journey is meant to facilitate the ability to easily play through with one companion in a single sitting. If you do not play the game in one sitting and you don't do it with a companion, the experience is simply not the same and the intent of the developers is definitely diminished.
If this game was 4 hours, few people would play through it in one sitting with a partner. If this game was 10 hours, it'd be basically impossible. At 2 hours max, it's digestible in a period that allows players to absorb the intent and meaning of the game without distractions, as which is pretty atypical for other games.
Ask anyone and they will tell you I was dissing the shit out of the length of the game (among other things) prior to playing Journey. I felt "$15 for 2 hours? LMFAO Fuck yourself."
I played Journey through once with my fiancee, and that alone was worth the $15 and then some. I think if you consider that most movies go for $20 on average, and Journey at least has some bare incentive to replay at least once, it's certainly worth it for me. But it's something interesting, a discussion catalyst that I've never experienced before, something that demanded I sit up, pay attention and re-evaluate what I think is required of my games. It didn't change my opinion on what I feel makes a good game in most cases, but it did open my eyes to the possible exceptions to the rule. And this is that exception, I feel. The discussion it inspires is part of what you're paying for, I think.
The whole general structure of Journey is meant to facilitate the ability to easily play through with one companion in a single sitting. If you do not play the game in one sitting and you don't do it with a companion, the experience is simply not the same and the intent of the developers is definitely diminished.
If this game was 4 hours, few people would play through it in one sitting with a partner. If this game was 10 hours, it'd be basically impossible. At 2 hours max, it's digestible in a period that allows players to absorb the intent and meaning of the game without distractions, as which is pretty atypical for other games.
Ask anyone and they will tell you I was dissing the shit out of the length of the game (among other things) prior to playing Journey. I felt "$15 for 2 hours? LMFAO Fuck yourself."
I played Journey through once with my fiancee, and that alone was worth the $15 and then some. I think if you consider that most movies go for $20 on average, and Journey at least has some bare incentive to replay at least once, it's certainly worth it for me. But it's something interesting, a discussion catalyst that I've never experienced before, something that demanded I sit up, pay attention and re-evaluate what I think is required of my games. It didn't change my opinion on what I feel makes a good game in most cases, but it did open my eyes to the possible exceptions to the rule. And this is that exception, I feel. The discussion it inspires is part of what you're paying for, I think.
I seriously don't understand sentiments like this at all. My wife laughed when I asked her if she was moved or had an attachment to the game emotionally. It was a pretty cool experience with a decent narrative (that frankly had a similar pace to Flower) and I definitely enjoyed playing through it, but there is no way it touched us in any deep or artful way.
OJdaKiller
Member
No. It's roughly a 2 hour playthrough each time.
While I think it'd be difficult not to buy to this game considering the overwhelming amount of praise this thread has given the game, personally it was a big letdown.
Without ruining the story/experience for you basically Journey takes a topic that might be fun to discuss over a cup of coffee, or a handful of shrooms and makes it a game. But the kicker is, this "game" is unlike any other game you've probably played. There is no challenge, nothing to really avoid, nothing to solve that requires any thought, no real gameplay, nothing motivates you to keep going. So yeah, basically take a provactive theme, remove what typically makes a game fun or challenging, and there you have it...Journey.
But as I said, most people seem to really like it, so I know I'm in the minority here. To me it was 2 hours and 15 bucks down the drain.
None of us cried, but when we got to that one particular part - you know the part - the room had the air sucked from it, so quiet were the two of us that you could literally hear a pin drop. I got them pin prickles, like that feeling you sometimes get where ones body seems to go flush and get suddenly cold or something from a bad feeling.
That was immediately followed up with the next level, which created an almost exact opposite feeling, a bursting near orgasmic bit of audiovisual pleasure, a perfect companion to the scene that preceded it.
It's all executed with a level of expertise that makes me pretty aware at how and why this might effect people the way it has. It's difficult to imagine many other games capable of moving any of us, and I don't think Journey has exactly crossed that threshold myself, but it certainly got extremely close to something, even if that something might be a bit undefinable in my mind.
No no, the game matches you up with someone automatically as you proceed on your journey. And you can choose to stay together and play through the game together, which is clearly how it is meant to be played.
I personally inserted my own informal matchmaking with my fiancee, where we traded controllers every level to get a feel for the experience.
That was immediately followed up with the next level, which created an almost exact opposite feeling, a bursting near orgasmic bit of audiovisual pleasure, a perfect companion to the scene that preceded it.
It's all executed with a level of expertise that makes me pretty aware at how and why this might effect people the way it has. It's difficult to imagine many other games capable of moving any of us, and I don't think Journey has exactly crossed that threshold myself, but it certainly got extremely close to something, even if that something might be a bit undefinable in my mind.
zlatko said:
No no, the game matches you up with someone automatically as you proceed on your journey. And you can choose to stay together and play through the game together, which is clearly how it is meant to be played.
I personally inserted my own informal matchmaking with my fiancee, where we traded controllers every level to get a feel for the experience.
I don't really want to make a huge post but I'm pretty sure I dug Flower a lot more than this. I guess I could blame it on finding partners that just rushed through everything while I like to take my time looking around. Then there's those long dull stretches of DON'T JUMP. I'm glad I played it in any case.
It's like everyone is saying: The game effects every person differently. I could write you a 5 page essay about what I've been thinking about the past couple of months and what has been going on in my life, but I'm not going to do that. What I'll tell you is that the reason I enjoyed the game so much is because of this stuff. It's like the whole duration of the game is putting you in this certain mindset and when you reach the end, the events happening make you subconsciously think about a bunch of other things that have nothing to do with the content of the game, but rather the content of your life.
It's a really personal experience that doesn't necessarily speak to everybody.
GhaleonQ
Member
Me, too. I'm not necessarily more engaged by austerity than direct emotion, either.
However, I did actively despise their previous 2 games and the praise that followed them. I am impressed that they made an artistically coherent, innovative, and gameplay-centered game. I can't deny that it's good and that it occupies a unique space.
It's just intellectually shallow. The metaphors could be grasped by a kindergartener. I don't demand that my games be thoughtfully challenging, but, to me, this game is no different than OutRun 1. Each is a tiny, well-/perfectly-formed experience that evokes exactly what it's trying to evoke while simultaneously being a bit dumb. I can't begrudge people for overestimating 1 when I'd gladly listen to Magic Sound Shower on a loop for hours. People get excited. Whatever. I'll play some Outrun 2.
Hm. More criticism than compliment. I really did like it, Thatgamecompany! Nice job.
Edit: Oh, and a lot of the posts were interesting, even when they were overwrought. Nice job, topic participants!
LightofRohan
Member
Just went through it for the first time! Wow, that was stunning. At some points I thought it was just a beautifully done painting and then realizing I'm playing shocked me.
And those complaining about price; you never bought/went to the movies? Shit I've spent more on a 3D movie and only got to see that once.
Also it's funny how you can tell that you have different companions (or at least I could). The first guy I played with didn't really want to hang out with me and didn't know you could charge each other up. The second guy was OCD and explored every cranny, but liked to stick together. The 3rd guy seemed to be the coolest, always stuck close and took our time. The last guy I had was obnoxious, he was ADD -- didn't stick together spammed the O button, kind of killed the last bit.
But all in all was great! Should I have my GF play it? Or watch me replay it?
And those complaining about price; you never bought/went to the movies? Shit I've spent more on a 3D movie and only got to see that once.
Also it's funny how you can tell that you have different companions (or at least I could). The first guy I played with didn't really want to hang out with me and didn't know you could charge each other up. The second guy was OCD and explored every cranny, but liked to stick together. The 3rd guy seemed to be the coolest, always stuck close and took our time. The last guy I had was obnoxious, he was ADD -- didn't stick together spammed the O button, kind of killed the last bit.
But all in all was great! Should I have my GF play it? Or watch me replay it?
How do I go about obtaining one?
PM'd my mailing address, thanks UNCyrus!
LightofRohan
Member
Goddam! Fan art time? I did a physical painting of Journey for a final assignment at my school and it came out not so bad. But my teacher never returned the painting to me... and I didn't take a picture of it.
I think everyone that understands games, goals, and that has an appreciation for audiovisual experiences should give it a go. I'm getting a lot of my artsy fartsy friends to play it.
My girlfriend needs one of these.
I don't see what's hard to understand about it. The game has a way of pulling your attention in and not scattering it out with any dialogue or other typical gameplay contrivances that pull you out of the experience...so the game in essence becomes something of a mirror for the person playing it. Once your attention is fully in the game, the themes unfolding in front of you really feel like reflections of your own life, and your partner's.
So you get out what you put into it, I guess you could say. If you put all your attention into the game and let it absorb you, as most people seem to, the experience will be powerful. If you don't do that, it likely won't do much for you.
"But can't you say the same thing for any game?" I don't think so. The universal themes and lack of distractions in the game design coupled with the especially beautiful world lend themselves extremely well to what I described above. I can't think of any other games that allow the player the same rapturous absorption.
And of course perhaps the biggest thing, the untainted sense of mutual companionship the game presents you with, which has never been seen in a game as far as I know.
It can't really be a foreign concept that art is interpretive and not some concrete emotional syphon, right?
Yeah, that's really all that I was trying to convey in my story about the ending making my wife cry. The game is capable of putting you in a reflective state of mind, especially if you're particularly immersed in the game's aesthetics and world. It takes a great deal of skill and attention to detail to craft an ending sequence that can evoke such emotions from a viewer (my wife) who is in no way emotionally invested in the game up until that point.
Of course not everyone will be affected by the game in the same way, but it's a testament to the game's quality (on a thematic/aesthetic level, at least) that it's even capable of speaking to some people in a way that makes them ponder events or concepts from their own lives.
But whether or not the game made you feel "something" during its finale, I think that the game's greatest accomplishment from a game design standpoint is the way that it effortlessly encourages genuine cooperation, forging a sense of almost innocent camaraderie between anonymous companions.
Played the game day one and loved the hell out of it. One of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever head. Took some time for me to have a solid 2 hours to devote to the game without interruption again, but when I played last night, I did the second half of the game with a single companion, and he waited for me up at the top of the mountain before the final scene (I did this scene with a partner my first time already, btw). I landed up on the top ridge and looked around to make sure there weren't any glowing orbs down below (I didn't expect there to be in this area, but thought I'd check) and accidentally fell off the edge in some weird way that caused me to glitch into the mountain. I was running around in weird open space and could never get out to finish the level with my partner Totally sucked to be just a few steps away from that incredible ending and have the game bug out on me I would have been able to get back in a few seconds since I still had some flight charge left, but there were invisible walls that kept me out of the main part of the level.
Going to give it another go again tonight. I'm missing one or two of the ancient glyph story board things or whatever they are and I'm pretty sure the only glowing orb I could have missed was on the sand surfing part.
Totally sucked to be just a few steps away from that incredible ending and have the game bug out on me I would have been able to get back in a few seconds since I still had some flight charge left, but there were invisible walls that kept me out of the main part of the level. Going to give it another go again tonight. I'm missing one or two of the ancient glyph story board things or whatever they are and I'm pretty sure the only glowing orb I could have missed was on the sand surfing part.
This is my feeling too. For all the things this game does brilliantly, helping me form a genuine connection with someone I have never and will never talk to is it's biggest achievement. Compare that to the stereotypical ignorance-spewing on an FPS. It really restored a lot of faith I didn't even realize I had lost in basic human interaction.
Callibretto
Member
sorry if old, saw this on n4g yesterday
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/03/20/journey-producer-reveals-how-gamer-reactions-influenced-the-game/
early build of Journey have more interaction between player and during playtest, instead of trying to help each other, they try to kill each other instead like pushing other player to cliff etc.
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/03/20/journey-producer-reveals-how-gamer-reactions-influenced-the-game/
early build of Journey have more interaction between player and during playtest, instead of trying to help each other, they try to kill each other instead like pushing other player to cliff etc.
FantasticMrFoxdie
Mumber
Miggytronz
Member
yo quero dat scarf bad......
Journey Souls!
Cramoss
Member
I heard that on a recent interview to Jenova Chen on the Joystiq podcast. I recommend it if you want to find out more about this early stuff.
jetsetfluken
Member
So are there any plans for physical merchandise for Journey?
Artbook?
Perhaps a "thatgamecompany" (ideally hardcover) artbook of flOw, Flower and Journey.
Or a deluxe "limited edition" soundtrack CD.
I like to collect promo posters and misc. stuff for my favorite games, but unfortunately with digital titles there hardly is ever anything.
Artbook?
Perhaps a "thatgamecompany" (ideally hardcover) artbook of flOw, Flower and Journey.
Or a deluxe "limited edition" soundtrack CD.
I like to collect promo posters and misc. stuff for my favorite games, but unfortunately with digital titles there hardly is ever anything.
Ugh. I'm sure "people" find Rothko and Brakhage intellectually shallow as well...
Speaking of Rothko, and I'm not sure if this was posted, Ian Bogost wrote an incredible piece on Journey for The Atlantic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...rtrait-of-the-artist-as-a-game-studio/254494/
Invading chirping players.
Had my first chance to play Journey a day or two back at a games event in Tokyo. Really strange to see and play the game. Everyone played in utter silence, trying to wrap their heads around what was actually going on. Loved the 20 or 30 mins I had with the game I only wish I had a PS3 to actually play through it myself.
What gives you the impression that they were going for an intellectually deep game? The metaphors are obvious, yes, and this is by design. TGC did not set out to make an intellectually stimulating game, they sought out to make an emotional one.
These are two very different things.
ThisWreckage
Banned
I can't get into this game. I don't think I get it. I loved Flower. I've tried to play it for more than ten minutes three times now and I simply cannot get into it.
Just sit down for an hour and play with a partner. If you're not hooked I'll eat my scarf.
ThisWreckage
Banned
I'm not even sure how to play with a partner. The game does a poor job of telling you what you're supposed to be doing.
You can't encounter any until you get to the broken bridge, but then you'll almost certainly come across one. Watch the edges of your screen for white light indicating a partner is around, also listen for chirps. If you complete the level at the same time, you will continue on with him/her.
Don't let the lack of clear instruction bother you--savor it.
My first encounter with someone was pretty memorable. I hadn't seen or heard anything and then the camera swung over to them when they completed a bridge piece. It definitely emphasized the awe from finally seeing someone else!
Yeah you really have to give the game a good 20 or 30 minutes maybe. I mean, I personally was into it from the get-go, but once you bump into a partner and start to explore new and interesting areas... it gets great. The first ten minutes are the most barren parts of the game with little to do. The first area was a bit of a chore on my second play-through even if it's only several minutes, but after that the game was nearly just as sublime as it was my first time through.
