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

I've watched Matt and Pat from Two Best Friends play it, and I have to say while I like the story and the concept, it seems to be flawed enough that I don't think it'll warrant me picking it up to play myself.

Spoiler:

I didn't like Heavy Rain very much at all... I wouldn't say I hated it, but I didn't like it very much. The gameplay was quite bad when it wasn't QTEs; and when it was QTEs--well, it was QTEs! So I did hate the gameplay through and through. The main issue I had was that I couldn't take the game seriously. When it was supposed to be emotional, it didn't get to me at all--and I was really trying to let it affect me. I felt the emotions at the beginning of the game, but I quickly became resistant to it. It was a mixture of the gameplay, the plot holes, the plastic characters, etc. I just didn't believe the narrative or the emotions, so the game fell flat for me.

Heavy Rain is not going to be for me.


I hate crime dramas.

I've killed eight Colossi, and the game is kind of becoming repetitive.

I still like the game and respect it, but I'm not super motivated to finish it. Then again, I am pretty unmotivated to play any games, though I did just start DS3. We'll see if that holds interest. Problem is, I have been playing games way too much for the past few months because I was injured and couldn't do much else, now I'm just tired of them altogether.

Give it a break if you have to, but the last four or five colossi were some of the most memorable experiences I've had while gaming.

Well really, all of them, but 13 through 16 all stuck with me pretty well.

I still haven't beaten the final colossus because...that last jump is hard to do.
Yeah, the colossi tend to get better near the end, but my favorite ones were #10 and #13 (Respectively named Dirge and Phalanx), however, they were also the easiest despite the epicness. Otherwise I feel some of the last ones were a bit tedious, however, #14 (Cenobia) was pretty awesome.

I recently watched a "speed run"* on speed demos archive, and there was some very impressive playing in there. I've beaten SotC about a dozen times, never would have dreamed you could do a lot of the things the runner does!

http://speeddemosarchive.com/ShadowOfTheColossus.html


*I just put the quotes because it's segmented. In my opinion, it's not really a "run" if you re-tried ad nauseam before achieving it once, then pasting it all together... Impressive stuff nonetheless!

So I finally got this game based on the rave reviews and my god... do I absolutely HATE this game. I seriously don't see why everyone loves it so much. The controls are absolutely abysmal, it's extremely repetitive, it's REALLY short, and there are only basically 4 types of collosi and they are all defeated in pretty much the same way. I'm on the last collosi now and have absolutely no desire to finish it, I'm just really tired of doing the same exact thing over, and over, and over again... did I mention it was repetitive. Glad I didn't get the Ico pack and saved myself $20. Just awful. Going to go watch the end cutscene on youtube now to save myself the trouble.

aceluby wrote:So I finally got this game based on the rave reviews and my god... do I absolutely HATE this game. I seriously don't see why everyone loves it so much. The controls are absolutely abysmal, it's extremely repetitive, it's REALLY short, and there are only basically 4 types of collosi and they are all defeated in pretty much the same way. I'm on the last collosi now and have absolutely no desire to finish it, I'm just really tired of doing the same exact thing over, and over, and over again... did I mention it was repetitive. Glad I didn't get the Ico pack and saved myself $20. Just awful. Going to go watch the end cutscene on youtube now to save myself the trouble.

I'm so glad someone finally posted a hate post of it, I can never trust a game that's been reviewed as pretty much flawless

Serious_Much wrote:

aceluby wrote:So I finally got this game based on the rave reviews and my god... do I absolutely HATE this game. I seriously don't see why everyone loves it so much. The controls are absolutely abysmal, it's extremely repetitive, it's REALLY short, and there are only basically 4 types of collosi and they are all defeated in pretty much the same way. I'm on the last collosi now and have absolutely no desire to finish it, I'm just really tired of doing the same exact thing over, and over, and over again... did I mention it was repetitive. Glad I didn't get the Ico pack and saved myself $20. Just awful. Going to go watch the end cutscene on youtube now to save myself the trouble.

I'm so glad someone finally posted a hate post of it, I can never trust a game that's been reviewed as pretty much flawless

I wouldn't say it's flawless, but for its time it was a great game, same with ICO (although I prefer ICO.)

God of War on the other hand...

I loved Shadow of Colossus, but I really feel like the element of going through a lot of terrain with your horse just to reach boss fight area is damn boring. I mean, puzzles, or platform elements are okay, but make them be closer to the "main" building, no need to eliminate those elements, but the element of traveling huge amounts of terrain only to get there gets pretty repetitive and boring. I never felt the fights were repetitive, and I got to the 9th colossi. I never finished the game, mainly because I don't like the fact I have to travel a lot of EMPTY LAND to reach my destination.

I didn't mean flawless.. I mean it got a flawless set of reviews. Before Ace just slated it I've never seen anyone say it's a bad game before.. Almost like it was a nerd community 'cool' thing to do.. Kinda like saying 'New FF's suck' or saying you love pretentious indie games etc.

Serious_Much wrote:I didn't mean flawless.. I mean it got a flawless set of reviews. Before Ace just slated it I've never seen anyone say it's a bad game before.. Almost like it was a nerd community 'cool' thing to do.. Kinda like saying 'New FF's suck' or saying you love pretentious indie games etc.

Yeah dude all the FF's past X suck.... and I love Braid!

Onion Knight wrote:

Serious_Much wrote:I didn't mean flawless.. I mean it got a flawless set of reviews. Before Ace just slated it I've never seen anyone say it's a bad game before.. Almost like it was a nerd community 'cool' thing to do.. Kinda like saying 'New FF's suck' or saying you love pretentious indie games etc.

Yeah dude all the FF's past X suck.... and I love Braid!

Lol guys, are you even trying?

*clears throat*

Call of Duty fans are ****, it's the crap every year, and every one who buys it is a tool.

If you buy DLCs you're stupid

Braid is better than Assassin's Creed (?)

mmm can't think of anything else ....

I seriously think your enjoyment of Shadow of the Colossus is highly dependent on when you played it. I got it Day-1 on PS2, and this is significant in two ways: compared to the games back then, and compared to the games today.

Compared to games back then, SotC was incredibly gorgeous. Off the top of my head right now I can think of two games that stand out graphically and artistically on the PS2, and they're SotC and FFXII (Okami would probably be, too, but I haven't played it). There are probably other really good looking games on the console, but those are the ones that come to mind now. So at the time it was visually breathtaking. Those long travelling sequences some of you aren't enjoying right now were amazing back then. I loved every inch of that world I traversed!

I don't feel like refuting all your arguments because I don't intend on single-handedly changing your opinion of the game--and I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that even if I wanted to. All I really want is to try and get you to see it from the eyes of someone playing it nearly 8 years ago.

As for compared to the games today: I don't mean to judge it on different standards that you judge games today; what I mean is--and this could just be me (sorry I'm having too much fun with my punctuation!)--if you're not completely willing to let yourself be absorbed by an older game right now, then it'll be over-shadowed by your desire to play modern games. There are so many great new games coming out soon and that have come out very recently, that whether you're consciously thinking it or not, it might be hard for you to be willing to invest yourself emotionally so much in an older game when, on the back of your mind, you're thinking about playing a modern game. I just played FFVI, and honestly at times it was hard for me to focus on it, because I knew it'd be a long ride, and I kind of just wanted to play a new game instead. But in the end I was really glad I got through FFVI, and I think you'll be really glad if you let yourself get totally immersed in SotC also.

All I'm trying to say is give the game a chance! Try to see it for what it was 8 years ago, and be patient with it--forget about all the modern releases you could be playing instead while you're playing it. Also, forget about all the reviews you may have heard of it--good or bad. An over-abundance of one-sided reviews can sway your opinion the other way, no matter which way the reviews sided.

BLA1NE wrote:I seriously think your enjoyment of Shadow of the Colossus is highly dependent on when you played it. I got it Day-1 on PS2, and this is significant in two ways: compared to the games back then, and compared to the games today.

Compared to games back then, SotC was incredibly gorgeous. Off the top of my head right now I can think of two games that stand out graphically and artistically on the PS2, and they're SotC and FFXII (Okami would probably be, too, but I haven't played it). There are probably other really good looking games on the console, but those are the ones that come to mind now. So at the time it was visually breathtaking. Those long travelling sequences some of you aren't enjoying right now were amazing back then. I loved every inch of that world I traversed!

I don't feel like refuting all your arguments because I don't intend on single-handedly changing your opinion of the game--and I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that even if I wanted to. All I really want is to try and get you to see it from the eyes of someone playing it nearly 8 years ago.

As for compared to the games today: I don't mean to judge it on different standards that you judge games today; what I mean is--and this could just be me (sorry I'm having too much fun with my punctuation!)--if you're not completely willing to let yourself be absorbed by an older game right now, then it'll be over-shadowed by your desire to play modern games. There are so many great new games coming out soon and that have come out very recently, that whether you're consciously thinking it or not, it might be hard for you to be willing to invest yourself emotionally so much in an older game when, on the back of your mind, you're thinking about playing a modern game. I just played FFVI, and honestly at times it was hard for me to focus on it, because I knew it'd be a long ride, and I kind of just wanted to play a new game instead. But in the end I was really glad I got through FFVI, and I think you'll be really glad if you let yourself get totally immersed in SotC also.

All I'm trying to say is give the game a chance! Try to see it for what it was 8 years ago, and be patient with it--forget about all the modern releases you could be playing instead while you're playing it. Also, forget about all the reviews you may have heard of it--good or bad. An over-abundance of one-sided reviews can sway your opinion the other way, no matter which way the reviews sided.

I played it "back then" too on my PS2 and I stopped playing for the same reason. Then I bought the HD edition for PS3 and because I can play it on my Vita.

Chizfreak, stop arguing all the time.

I agree about the point of having had experienced SotC when it was new. I have noticed even now that some particular areas look very nice. I am going to finish it eventually, but it is hard to play an older "art" type game in the midst of more modern things. You have to be in the right mindset. Add to the fact that post-DKS almost all games seem easy, so that detracts from the gameplay value of SotC.

BIG TIME MASTER wrote:Chizfreak, stop arguing all the time.

I agree about the point of having had experienced SotC when it was new. I have noticed even now that some particular areas look very nice. I am going to finish it eventually, but it is hard to play an older "art" type game in the midst of more modern things. You have to be in the right mindset. Add to the fact that post-DKS almost all games seem easy, so that detracts from the gameplay value of SotC.

What you mean with that? I just said that I played the game in the PS2 when it was considered "modern" and I still didn't like that thing about going through a lot of empty land.

Stop it!

ChizFreak wrote:I loved Shadow of Colossus, but I really feel like the element of going through a lot of terrain with your horse just to reach boss fight area is damn boring. I mean, puzzles, or platform elements are okay, but make them be closer to the "main" building, no need to eliminate those elements, but the element of traveling huge amounts of terrain only to get there gets pretty repetitive and boring. I never felt the fights were repetitive, and I got to the 9th colossi. I never finished the game, mainly because I don't like the fact I have to travel a lot of EMPTY LAND to reach my destination.

I have to call you on this one. The atmosphere of the game was perfect, admittedly the trip to/from was tedious. But, it was how it should have been. The giants wouldn't likely be close to each other. And you should have just soaked in the environment you were in. It was a trip. And it was great. ...but i get where your coming from. At least it had checkpoints in the form of shrines, otherwise im not sure i would have ever finished it.

I have ico/shadow collection and have not gotten around to beating them again on the ps3. But loved them on y old ps2. Glad they got a hd remake they deserved it.

As far as journey....im missing the boat here too. Waiting for it to go on sale again after the psn awards it will get a sale and ill pick it up. But...im just not seeing it. I enjoyed the game flower, same developers i think. But journey just never got my attention.

^I was the opposite! Bought Journey right away, but have always been waiting for Flower to go on sale--as far as I know, it never has yet.


(Off topic: I'm also waiting for Corpse Party for PSP to go on sale... Hasn't either. I figured for Halloween, or after Halloween, or when they released Corpse Party 2--but no, never been on sale. And isn't it a really old game, too? Discount it already!)

I just want to say that collecting health fruits/stamina lizards really helps break the monotony of the trips to the different colossi. I think it makes you appreciate the breathtaking environment a little more too; Kinda puts you in the mood the game wants you to be in.

Not unlike a game whose forum we all may be a part of...

BLA1NE wrote:

As for compared to the games today: I don't mean to judge it on different standards that you judge games today; what I mean is--and this could just be me (sorry I'm having too much fun with my punctuation!)--if you're not completely willing to let yourself be absorbed by an older game right now, then it'll be over-shadowed by your desire to play modern games. There are so many great new games coming out soon and that have come out very recently, that whether you're consciously thinking it or not, it might be hard for you to be willing to invest yourself emotionally so much in an older game when, on the back of your mind, you're thinking about playing a modern game. I just played FFVI, and honestly at times it was hard for me to focus on it, because I knew it'd be a long ride, and I kind of just wanted to play a new game instead. But in the end I was really glad I got through FFVI, and I think you'll be really glad if you let yourself get totally immersed in SotC also.

All I'm trying to say is give the game a chance! Try to see it for what it was 8 years ago, and be patient with it--forget about all the modern releases you could be playing instead while you're playing it. Also, forget about all the reviews you may have heard of it--good or bad. An over-abundance of one-sided reviews can sway your opinion the other way, no matter which way the reviews sided.

The biggest problem I had with it is that there was nothing to immerse me. I was really excited to play this game and after the first few colossi was more excited to see what else would be thrown my way, and truly did enjoy the scenery. The first few fights were exciting, fun, and I couldn't wait to discover the other colossi.

Unfortunately it took a steep downhill turn after about 6 or 8 colossi which led me to stop caring about how great the scenery was since I had seen it all before. Take your horse, run forever to get to the next colossi, use the hints and terrain to figure out how to get on the colossi, strike weak points, rinse, repeat... 15 more times.

The story was non existent, the colossi were not very unique, and despite how big they were, I was never once afraid of dying (except the electric water one)... I was more afraid of having to repeat the steps ad nausium if I happened to fall off, miss a jump, or grab the wrong part. Many times I felt I was punished from no fault of my own, like grabbing an edge instead of hair, which happens WAY too often, and typically means you'll just dangle there and have to do the steps to get you to that point again.

In the end I'm glad I played it, but I won't be picking it up again, that's for sure.

The traveling in SotC only takes 2-3 minutes per Colossus.

Journey is awesome, though I only played it once (1 entire playthrough) at my friends' house because I didn't bought it. It was awesome, I really loved it, the music was awesome too. Still I think the best part is the "random" multiplayer. How people leave and join your "game/world" at any time without telling you. I remember at one time I was falling through a low of water falls, me and a random buddy who I played half of the game along dropped there, it was very fun, but when I reached the end, I noticed my buddy never made it. I never saw him again. After some time traveling alone I found another guy, he was very friendly, he was always close to me and "buffed" me continuously, I finished the game with him.

So I totally recommend it to you, and play it online!