Whats so great about Journey? NOW Shadow of Colossus first time play

I downloaded the demo and it didn't strike me as anything special.

Whats the big deal?




EDIT: I have now beaten the game, and my question still holds.

The unknown lore makes its atmosphere great.
The revelation of one truth that presents itself to you little by little by paintings,images...
You learn from what you see.
The ending is just enough to make any cry yet,it becomes oh so beautiful.
There are unforgettable awesome moments in the game.

You can't get that from a puny demo.

Don't forget about the awesome soundtrack! (The first time a game soundtrack has been nominated for a grammy!)

BIG TIME MASTER wrote:
Whats the big deal?

The memories. You must finish the game to acquire those

And the random multiplayer. People enter and leave your game randomly. You may meet someone at the middle of the game, without ever doing anything special, and he may stay with you enough to reach the end the game together.

OK, so I bought it based on the outrageous claims people have been making about it, I figure there has to be something about it.

It was fun. It lasted about one hour, and it was a pleasant hour. For fifteen bucks I won't complain.

The scenery is pretty, the music is relaxing, the game play is somewhat entertaining.

As for the big revelation at the end, all I have to say is whoop-dee-doo. I still don't get it. Whats so special? Let's be clear, I am not a person totally devoid of emotion or a keen sense for appreciation of beauty, but Journey has just gone completely over my head or something.

Spoiler:

The random drop in of other players was fun, and it was nice to walk up the frozen mountain with somebody chirping little musical notes back and forth to keep each other from freezing. I appreciated that, it reminded me of DKS, but not nearly as meaningful as DKS because in DKS you actually need eachother.

Yeah, the game is definitely nice. I don't quite get the ending either, but the awesome thing is that the story is told subtly, and the co-op is an addition, having fun with strangers in a stress free setting.

I absolutely have nothing against the game. I would say it is a very pleasant game to play. My issue is with the outlandish reviews and remarks it seems like everybody is bestowing it.
A week from now I won't remember this game.

I just finished downloading Shadow of the Colossus. I'm hoping this is going to live up to the hype.


I am also working on Okami HD here and there. It is a cool little game but not enough to keep me hooked.

SotC is a wonderful game. Enjoy.

Do yourself a favor and don't take anyone's advice or use the internet at all for your first playthrough. It's one of those games where figuring out what you need to do is half the fun. Such an epic game.

Listen to PlasticandRage on that, please. You will ruin the game for yourself if you don't truck through it on your own.

Yup. A lot like DkS in that way. Using the internet for your first playthrough would have just destroyed the whole experience.

I began to read the IGN review and the first thing they said was that it was hard to review without given anything away, so I stopped reading right there.

I have killed the second Colossus and I have to say, this game is lining up to be what I would consider a perfect game.

All my time training in DKS has definitely made me a better gamer. If I hadn't played DKS so much I think I would have rage quit SoTC already, but so far it hasn't been terribly hard. The first boss took me a minute to kind of figure out the climbing mechanic, the "Sloth" never stood a chance. I can see that each Colossus is going to be upgraded with more places I got to stab, and I imagine they will become faster and such later on. DKS level of difficulty or not, this game is fantastic so far.

The big humanoid one with the sword looking thing is one of my favorites. You're coming up on him. I think he's the third or fourth. The further you get, the harder they get to figure out. I remember the first time I played, one of the last ones took me hours to figure out how to hurt. I was managing to stay alive, I just couldn't figure out how to hurt the damn thing. Took me forever.

If you like SotC, you should check out Ico too if you get the chance. They're not all that alike as far as gameplay goes, but the design is just as clever. I bought them together, and I've really enjoyed Ico.

This seems like a game I could end up finishing in a few days, so I am going to space it out, and just do like two a day. I'm pretty busy with work the next two weeks anyhow. So I am done for tonight.

Yeah, I have a feeling this is going to play out something like Dragons Dogma (which obviously borrowed the boss climbing gameplay from this game) in that the bosses aren't necessarily deadly in their attacks, but the challenge lies in figuring out how to defeat them. In Dragons Dogma it is a little more simple, but the core concept seems the same.

So far what I am liking about it are a few key things I have always wanted in an adventure game, or rather things I prefer to not have.

There is a minimal HUD
There are no contextual actions (meaning at a certain point the game tells you what button to push and you just follow prompts)
The controls are simple
There is no elaborate backstory
There is no cheesy dialogue
There is no filler content
There are no cliche characters
There are no upgrades, the game is focused on gameplay, observation, and skill, rather than mathematical building of stats
The only gear you have is what you start with (at least it seems like it will stay this way)
The horse controls realistically
There is a lot of attention to detail put into player and enemy animations, as well as the horse. For instance, when the horse is far away the player whistles to get his attention and when the horse is near he calls it by name (Agro, I think?)



Just a few first impressions.



Also, fantastic score

The 9th colossus is always the one that gives me the greatest headache, my favourites have to be the smaller ones that are agile and give you a run for your money, its a nice contrast to the lumbring giants. Suffice to say you are in for a treat of a game, just finished playing through it again in hard difficulty. I'll second plastics idea to try out ICO if you enjoy this game, its a little more simplistic than SoTC, but the story and atmosphere are just top notch.

There are stat buffers in the game, I won't tell you what they are but keep a keen eye on your surroundings, and don't be afraid to explore the map between colossus. I hope you'll keep us updated on your progress too.

There is a huge backstory actually but its mostly linked to Ico.
There are a lot of speculation about the lore of SotC

SotC was great. Ithink it was the first game that let you climb on bosses.

Spoiler:

I also liked the way the horse moved. He will keep moving on his own without crashing into anything. I wish other games were like that. (PS: It comes in handy in one of the fights.) The last colossus is ... let's just say you'll be surprised.

Ico was also great, but it made me feel like an idiot. Once I spent a few days trying to figure out how to get past an area. Then I looked it up and thought ,"Oh, duh!". My only complaint is the fights got boring and reptitive really quick. Near the end they were just annoying.

I'm gonna be honest and say I don't remember the ending now (I played it a long time ago), that itself says something.

^ Are you refering to Ico or SotC?

Both endings were great.

WandererReece wrote:^ Are you refering to Ico or SotC?

Both endings were great.

I was referring to Journey, no spoilers! I have yet to finish SotC, I have the HD edition for PS3, I can play it on my Vita for bonus style points.

BIG TIME MASTER wrote:So far what I am liking about it are a few key things I have always wanted in an adventure game, or rather things I prefer to not have.

There is a minimal HUD
There are no contextual actions (meaning at a certain point the game tells you what button to push and you just follow prompts)
The controls are simple
There is no elaborate backstory
There is no cheesy dialogue
There is no filler content
There are no cliche characters
There are no upgrades, the game is focused on gameplay, observation, and skill, rather than mathematical building of stats
The only gear you have is what you start with (at least it seems like it will stay this way)
The horse controls realistically
There is a lot of attention to detail put into player and enemy animations, as well as the horse. For instance, when the horse is far away the player whistles to get his attention and when the horse is near he calls it by name (Agro, I think?)



Just a few first impressions.



Also, fantastic score

Funny you should mention all that, since that's exactly what the devs were going for at the time. The main point of the game was that it cut out absolutely all filler content, and gave you nothing but the epic boss fights. That's why there are no random enemies in between, and any of that other stuff you mentioned.


As for Journey though, I don't know if I can explain it if you didn't get it yourself. I thought it was absolutely incredible. How such minimal actions and interactions can create so much wonder and emotion. The environments and the music were beautiful and were so well matched. The bonds you form with other players, with the bare-minimum of communication, is impressive. I disagree that you don't need other players, too. When you stand near each other you can refill each's cape, and if you chirp at the right time you fill it instantly. Do it right and you can refill your cape in mid-air, allowing you to reach otherwise unreachable places. Also, you warm each other in the mountain. And I love the way the game builds on itself. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it, but it starts out not all that grand in rather desolate desert (but is still beautiful!) and builds to a gorgeous finale.

Anyways, I loved Journey!

Why aren't there more games like this (SoTC)???