Journey (PS3)

[thehungerartist]

Anyone played it yet? Been looking forward to this for an age and it's getting some pretty strong reviews. Thanks.

[chand]

I'M ABOUT TO PLAY IT RIGHT NOW

[mobias]

What's it all about?

[chand]

What's it all about?

It's about a journey. All set to a soundtrack of 'Don't Stop Believing'.

Played about 15 minutes of this last night, it really is a gorgeous thing. It's still odd to play a game with no dialogue that explains almost nothing to you, even having played Flower. It teaches you to rotate the camera with a Sixaxis tilt like Flower, but it never really feels right the way that did, you'll mostly just use the right stick. You have to work the rules of it out yourself, but so far I haven't really felt too bewildered by it, though sometimes it feels like the help you get is a little arbitrary. But anyway, it's been a joy to play so far, the look, feel and sound of the sand really adds to it, as weird as that might sound.

[mcbpete]

It's a bloody good time for my PS3 to get a YLOD

*cries at not being able to play the game I'd been anticipating since 2010*

[Neomod]

Is this a playstation exclusive cos it sure does look preddy?

[chand]

Is this a playstation exclusive cos it sure does look preddy?

Yeah, their previous two games (FlOw and Flower) never ended up on 360 so I doubt this will.

[Pseudopath]

Holy shit...it's a masterpiece. I could have happily soared up that mountain on top of those jellyfish dudes for hours - I've never had a gaming experience like it.

[mcbpete]

It's a bloody good time for my PS3 to get a YLOD

*cries at not being able to play the game I'd been anticipating since 2010*

.... and with the purchase of a hot air gun and a few hours work I somehow repaired the thing, bringing it back from the grave just in time to download it last night. It's every bit as enchanting as I hoped it would be- bloody lovely little game.

[chand]

Holy shit...it's a masterpiece. I could have happily soared up that mountain on top of those jellyfish dudes for hours - I've never had a gaming experience like it.

The level partway through where you pretty much just slide down a big hill bathed in sunlight was amazing.

[Pseudopath]

The level partway through where you pretty much just slide down a big hill bathed in sunlight was amazing.

True dat. Then it goes into that side-scrolly surfing bit with the gleaming domes, fluttering rugbirds[nb]That's what I'm calling them.[/nb] and Cameltoe Mountain[nb]I nicked that one off YouTube.[/nb] in the background. Gorgeous.

[mcbpete]

The level partway through where you pretty much just slide down a big hill bathed in sunlight was amazing.

Just reached that section too with another player sliding and weaving their way down the hill along with me in an almost dance like way. When we reached the section near the bottom where it goes to a side view of us both sliding along, and the light was filtering through the gaps in the stone work silhouetting us both 'rhythmically', I actually gasped at the beauty. I have never seen any game that's visually had such an effect on me before - thatgamecompany have completely excelled themselves with this one.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

It's an absolute wonder that something so simple is so captivating, engaging and beautiful.

[mcbpete]

My word, the whole ending section. Just. Well there are no words.... I honestly haven't played something quite as transcendental as this in my life.

[thehungerartist]

This game's pretty special, alright - even more immersive than Flower I think. Spying another player in the distance for the first time and doing the

Spoiler alert

bridge 'puzzle'

[close]

together was strangely joyous. Trying to take my time with completing it as once it's over I'll be devastated. Have you come across many other people online? Guess I'm about a quarter of the way through and have only met two so far.

[mcbpete]

The tally at the end said that I met had met 8 companions so I guess that'd be about right. I think it's been purposefully done that way for both technical (network latency) and atmospheric reasons so that you never have more than 1 person following you per 'stage'.

[TIAL]

That was brilliant, bought it on a whim after seeing the comments above and absolutley loved it.

I'd only encountered one person through the whole game, and we went through pretty much the whole thing together. We used the little bursts of language to point out scarf pieces to eachother, and when we were going for a break (and when we were back).

[HappyTree]

This is the kind of thing that makes me wish I had a PS3! Looks nice on Youtube, I will watch the walkthrough and chill out.

[bitesize]

This was amazing, I really loved it. The whole end section was just jaw dropping, and fairly emotionally overwhelming. Been going back to play through it more just to experience messing about in the lovely gameworld again.

From what people have been saying, the best way to play it is straight through in a single session, with a single partner - given that it's only about 90 mins long that's doable for most people (although not for me). Love the limited amount of communication with your partner, and the fact that you do both make yourself understood to each other, just through chirping. Great stuff, like nothing I've ever played before...

[Thursday]

Yep, that was beautiful, the only thing was the last level, I seemed to lose whoever I'd been playing most of the game with thinking I'd fallen behind, but after I'd landed and waited a bit, they seemed to catch up with me. I did wonder if it was someone else who'd only just caught up with me, but the fact that I got the trophy for finishing the game using the same player for the majority of the game seems to confirm it was.

There is that temptation to add that person as a friend on PSN, but maybe it's best just to leave that to be your only contact with person.

I interpreted most of our communication as:

"Thanks for waiting for me"
"That's okay"

I was nervous about working with a stranger, thinking I'd be constantly screwing and they'd be thinking I was an idiot, but it does make the whole experience charming. I'm sure some people are going to have an experience where they're just abandoned all the time though.

Will want to play again offline just so I can explore more as it seems there's quite a few secrets to discover.

[Pseudopath]

The first player I encountered in Journey kept kneeling down and meditating every few seconds. Thinking he/she was doing it deliberately to wind me up, I just stood next to them and chirped incessantly, before getting bored and abandoning them.

In retrospect, I now realise that they were trying to achieve the Reflection trophy (sit and meditate with another player for more than 20 seconds) and I feel like a right bastard. :'(

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

The first player I encountered in Journey kept kneeling down and meditating every few seconds. Thinking he/she was doing it deliberately to wind me up, I just stood next to them and chirped incessantly, before getting bored and abandoning them.

In retrospect, I now realise that they were trying to achieve the Reflection trophy (sit and meditate with another player for more than 20 seconds) and I feel like a right bastard. :'(

That trophy really brought home how strangely effective the limited communication was. I settled down, the other user followed suit - they were wearing the white robes, which suggested they knew what was up - the trophy popped and I voiced my thanks, followed by their response of, what I assumed to be, 'no probs'.

Experiencing the journey with a single player is bizarrely satisfying. We were genuinely protective of one another by the end.

[The Boston Crab]

I'm going to borrow my bro's PS3 for this. It sounds absolutely magical.

[DAZZA DIRTBOLLOCK]

I was watching the ending credits roll within about an hour of downloading it, but it had me crying like no other game has ever made me. Hands-down one of the best games I've ever played.

I got through about 95% of the game with one particular stranger, helping and spurring each other on with those fantastic little chirps. We lost contact after the incredible

Spoiler alert

blizzard

[close]

scene and I stopped a bit further on, not knowing whether the stranger was behind me or whether they'd gone on ahead. I decided to continue by myself, absolutely heartbroken. When the credits were rolling I was frantically digging through the list of recently-met players but they seemed to be hidden. When the list of encounters came up at the end I scrambled for a pencil to write down the names and say "thanks", but it was gone by the time I grabbed one. Probably for the best in retrospect.

My friend and I were chatting about it after he completed it shortly after and he suggested we play through it again together, but I don't think I really want to. He'd be trying to get trophies which isn't attractive to me in the slightest (I actually have an apopleptic aversion to the ubiquitous trophy messages on modern consoles), but also the experience I got from the first run-through was so profound I wouldn't get the same out of it with a friend. The point of the chirping and gestures would be completely pointless if my friend is messaging me saying 'at this point let's XYZ' or whatever.

This is definitely one of my favourite all-time games.

[Neomod]

This is the first time I've been jealous of PS3 owners.

[falafel]

My boyfriend has never played a game in his life and we whizzed through it together a couple of weeks ago. He loved it. It's wonderful.

[Thursday]

Yes! I got the reflection trophy! As soon as I saw another person, we both seemed to be chirping a lot, so I figured they might be after the same thing. I played on a little while after in the hope this person might lead to some of the other secrets, but I don't think they really knew of any more. I feel bad though, because I quit at the start of the temple level, I hope I wasn't ruining his chances of getting the companion trophy.