Journey Journal/ThatRandomWayfarer - Stepped into the Desert and found a Paradise

## How I Started

I found out about Journey when one of my best friends recommended the game on PS4 a while back - but didn't actually start playing it until the start of the pandemic in 2020.

I remember waiting patiently for the download to finish and starting the game on a Friday night. I didn't know anything about the game - and to this day - I still believe that is the BEST way to experience it.

### Base PS4 Knowledge & Playstyle

I've only played games and changed settings or options once my sibling was working on a particular game - hence I've never used the PS4 outside of that context.

My main playstyle for gaming is heavily exploration/farm-based, as I serve as the grinder for my sibling's games on their PS4. Over the years, I was used to spending time and repeating actions in one area or level to find all the collectibles or drops that were possible on the map as a way to relax after work and helping out my sibling.

The types of games that they played hammered in the fact if you pass through to the next area or level even once - that specific item or ability might not be available afterward – permanently.

### How This Affected My Journey

As a result, I became attuned to expecting clear save points or tutorials regarding menus and was paranoid about making sure to save.

Unfortunately, Journey had NONE of these things!

Combining all these habits that were ingrained - plus the way the music and cutscenes flowed - all culminated in an unusual experience.

Total time for my first playthrough? ~8 hours.

Crazy isn't it?

## Stepping into the Desert: My First Playthrough Experience

### Entity Terminology

I thought the game would tell me what the various entities were called. When it didn't, I decided to make up names for them:

Small flying carpets were called “tickets” since they resembled old movie tickets.

The thin tombstones with hexagonal holes as “throwing knives” for a short while, as the hanging cloth reminded me of them. Then continued to evolve to “hex wrench” as the game went on when I realized no large enemies were spewing them to shoot at the player.

Glowing symbols that moved were called “meteors” and its stationary versions were just “glowing symbols” to me. I wasn’t sure why some moved and others didn’t.

The tall vertical single carpet strips were referred to as “streamers” and the multi-carpet streamers in the underground were called “kelp”. I based this on both the coloring of the level in the underground and the fact that you get soda ash from burning them, which is used in many things in real life. I figured something similar logically was at work for the world that my character lived in, where these were used as a source of energy or were key components to their civilization.

I called the area where I lit up the magic circle an “altar” since I’m activating it to see the “Elder Historian” and seeing the glowing symbols that swirl as it conjured up the cutscenes.

The carpet creatures themselves were labelled as “dolphins”, “sentinel”, or “whales” mostly because of the sounds they made overriding my initial perceived shape of them, which were “fish”, “dragonfly”, and “hammerhead shark”.

For the rest of the entry, I will be using Journey Wiki terminology to prevent confusion.

### Broken Bridge

Since I was following a grid search pattern, I immediately noticed and was sad that I couldn't go further into the western or eastern sides as the larger boulders blocked the way.

But this didn’t stop me from trying!

I spent way too much time exploring every inch of those two border areas before giving up.

Picking up the three symbols in the area gave me great excitement as I was able to fly further and higher with each one that I found.

I did try to see if I can fly through the bridges but then realized there were no recharging flyers for me at the top. This forced me to open all the caged flyers by chirping at the vertical banners that flew out of the war machine segments.

The sounds I most appreciated at this level were the sand as I walked across, the flap of the robe as I flew, and the deep and rich harp or cello plucking as the bridges were constructed.

### Pink Desert

From past knowledge, the green sky meant storms or tornados to me, and thus, I was amused that it was very peaceful here.

The pink sands were also a nice complement to the sky. The vastness of it with no visual limiters of the area - like boulders from the last level - meant perhaps I could find a desert paradise or something?

This hope was tossed away as I was once again slapped by the boundary winds everywhere I could walk to.

The darker area with the swirling sand and loud machinery noises first scared me, so I didn't go near it until my search pattern absolutely had exhausted other options. Since I was also going about it in that manner, I didn't start heading upwards until I was completely done exploring the limits of the ground area.

The way the music changed or became absent led me to believe that the next area might probably be scary.

When I was ready to exit the area, catching a ride with the dolphin carpets was an awesome way to travel – not to mention the hopeful and energetic music that picked up my mood. This further reassured me that my anxiety from earlier was totally unwarranted.

### Sunken City

This was my first favorite level, speeding down the sandhill through gloriously old and worn-down structures.

I liked having the speed of movement that didn't take scarf powers while traveling - plus the fact my dolphin friends were coming along with me! I really liked hearing their enthusiastic calls throughout.

When the hallway threw me out to the next area, the change in music paired with the shooting star was one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve seen so far in this game.

Little did I know more was on the way!

I remember being so stunned that I did not move the wayfarer at all - or even let out a single chirp - during the entire lateral hallway section with the golden sunset glittering the sand through the pillars. I made a mental note to have my sunglasses out for the next time here.

In real life, I hadn’t seen the sun in a very long time as I went to and left work when it was dark. Seeing it through the game was like a beautiful nostalgia - even as it was searing itself into my light-sensitive retina!

### Underground

This level gave me a false sense of security right before the Ambush War Machine and it instantly became the most anxiety-inducing and hated level.

Mr. Carpet, I TRUSTED YOU!!.. (╯ರ ~ ರ）╯︵ ┻━┻

…You *know* what I’m talking about. [*FYI, this carpet is known as “Longtail”.*]

I remember personally hating this moment but absolutely loving it in terms of gameplay design and setup for the player and thought it was ingenious!

However, I do not deal with jump scares well in real life. Ergo, I proceeded with immense reluctance after patting myself to calm down for a few minutes.

I didn't get attacked by any of the war machines because I was walking so slowly and off to one of the sides. Didn't want to find out what would happen if I stepped right in front of one.

I distinctly recall being irritated at the fact I hadn't run across a save point or mechanism still and wondered just how far I needed to go before I got to trigger it. I wondered if I did something wrong or missed it but decided to continue onward.

It felt like I had been playing for a LOT longer than usual for a "blind attempt" game but I didn't have any way to tell the time in my living room with no other analog or virtual machinery near me that had this feature – plus no in-game clock to reference either!

Not to mention, since I didn't know how to gauge safety anymore for my wayfarer in this area, decided to push through and hope that a save area was just around the corner.

### Tower

The best part was the ancient glyphs on the outer ring of the tower. I loved seeing them and getting the glowing waters that allowed me to swim to recharge the scarf.

I remember thinking for a second "is this a combined blender and condenser?" because as far as I knew, the flying powers came from the flyers and creatures... and well... in order to have this power, you would probably need their essence?

This thought was a bit morbid, so I stopped entertaining it immediately and just focused on the environment as I played through.

The whale was a pleasant surprise and I loved catching a ride on it and just enjoying the music of the level. This peacefulness was MUCH welcomed to help to process my adrenalin and anxiety heightened from the last level.

At the top, seeing the whole set of ancient glyphs together for the first time in the cutscene made me realize that this was truly…

… a Journey!

However, the end was just out of reach, as the camera panned to show the snow through the windows and the shot of the mountain. I didn't like the fact that it looked like I'd be crawling once I get there - according to the cutscene.

I remember giving up at this point trying to find the save function naturally in the game and decided to push through because I didn't want to lose the progress I had made.

### Snow

This was the level where I realized that I CAN lose scarf powers due to the environment where the cold freezes you up AND blows away your scarf length.

It was emotionally hard to watch as the poor wayfarer slowly lost the scarf length that was built up through the long journey. With the music and the howling winds in various areas, it seemed to be hinting at something the further I went up the cold and freezing mountain.

In the war machine patrol fields, I remember sticking to the sides based on my previous playthrough of that underground level. I was safe for the most part as I kept watch of the flight path of the machine.

In the windy balcony area, I was blown off and was terrified that this was the moment my character dies – and I STILL hadn’t encountered a save function!

Thankfully, I survived that fall and continued to make my way upwards, guided by the frozen kelp.

After entering the last entryway, I kept wondering if I was going the right way when it seemed like the harsh winds kept pushing me left and right. Nevertheless, I continued up as I began to doubt myself that this was the correct heading.

What I didn't expect was watching in horror as my wayfarer suddenly flopped over on its knees and then on its face, as it froze to death!

I thought at this point that maybe I got the “Bad Ending” while I was gesturing at the TV violently and saying all sorts of words that I can’t type here. Kept thinking maybe that I had missed something along the way and fully expected a "Game Over" screen as the scene faded to white.

Thankfully when the cutscene kicked in, it mitigated the pain and emptiness that I had felt and kept me in my seat as it looked like there was more to the game!

### Paradise

The uplifting and energetic music along with the variations on the central theme melody instantly changed my mood for the better – plus my flying powers were back with such an epic long scarf!

I mentally thanked the game developers and designers for not letting it end like that in the last level. Not sure if that was intended by the designer to have this level as a reward for coming this far, but that’s exactly how I remember thinking of it at the time.

I took my time playing with the dolphins, jellyfish, and enjoying the whale rides up and down the waterfalls. Eventually, I made my way up to the final walk area where the music subsides and you hear the little footsteps of the wayfarer in the snow until you cross into the light.

This was when I had to apologize to MY ancestors since I realized those things I called “hex wrenches” were actually TOMBSTONES!!!

Granted I was sleep-deprived, but this was just extra bad as I grew up around similar cemetary structures and ancestral tablets at one point in my life.

## After 1st Playthrough

### The Emotional Rollercoaster

Bruh.. first of all…this emotional roller coaster was NOT something I was expecting from a game. This was truly a WILD ride as far as the best emotional rollercoaster I’ve had ridden in a VERY long time.

### Game Design Contributing to Length of Play

Considering the game, it made sense why I kept going as the traditional markers for the player indicating pause/save points were essentially nonexistent.

There were no visual indications of how many lives I had left or even a health bar to be conscious of or even an in game activity clock - and it fed directly into why I kept going – purely based on my own history of gaming.

Not sure if this is the case for anyone else?

### No Close Encounters

I didn't see anyone for the entirety of the game and thought that was normal since I had no idea about the multiplayer aspect of this game yet.

As I was watching the credit scene with the backward traveling shooting star, I was overwhelmed with a swirl of emotions that I haven't felt in a long time.

I cried like a newborn baby that was slapped to take its first breath in the world - just because of how beautiful the music was along with the familiar review of the landscapes of the game.

If there was ever a way to manufacture and evoke deep attachment and nostalgia in such a short period of time, it was here.

### Missed the CMATW

Unfortunately after the first set of credits, I stepped away to take a break and eat and noticed that ~8 hours had gone by. As a result, I completely missed the Companions Met Along The Way screen for my first playthrough.

Also learned afterward that I had achieved some of the game's trophies just through this single playthrough alone. I still wonder to this day who my 10 unique companions were that I never saw on my screen.

You'll forever remain a mystery.

## Additional Playthroughs

### 2nd Playthrough

After taking a food/water break after my first game, I was too wide awake to sleep, so I immediately started my 2nd playthrough and encountered a fellow Red Robe player!

I thought they were an AI at first that got unlocked after playing the game once. I met them right after I entered Broken Bridge and as I was grabbing the first Symbol on the left.

*Looking back on this now, the timing must have been IMPECCABLE for them to join me.*

After doing some quick tests, I concluded they were behaving much more naturally than I thought an AI would, and so, I decided to stick with them.

That's when I realized that with the power of two, there's nothing you can't do!

We flew further and higher than I have before and found that the proximity auto-charged our scarves as well! The mutual chirping also recharged scarves too! I was no longer beholden to the limits of slow walking or emptying of my flying powers with my single scarf!

We managed to finish the game much faster as a result and it was the first time that I saw the CMATW!

Even at this point, I was wondering if that was a real person's ID and didn't think about it much further than, "Weird that it's showing me a name here?"

I mean *why* would they reveal a specific User ID *anyway*? Hmm...

I remember googling at this point to see if players were real people and that was as far as I got to learn more about the game and didn’t dig further.

### First White Robe

After playing sporadically for a while, I encountered my first White Robe.

I thought I was hallucinating since there were seemingly no ways to obtain a new outfit. Thought that I must have missed something big even though I had played the game randomly over a span of several months and thought I obtained everything.

That player was the one who led me to ALL of the symbols, taught me how to climb the tower via the sidings, AND showed me the Flow Ancestor in the Tower level.

I never messaged anyone before (or even wanted to) but the way they played with incredible patience and showed me all these things gave me the courage to try to reach out.

Unfortunately, I didn't know how to take screenshots within the PS4 yet, so I used my phone to take a picture when their ID came up and decided to search.

Never searched a name before on PS4 either and navigating each area was both nerve-wracking and exciting, since I didn't want to accidentally press a button that you can't undo the action of - especially since this wasn't my PS4.

I found their profile page and their language listed was Japanese! I decided to at least write it in romaji the best I could along with my English message to thank them for their time and the wonderful journey experience.

I knew a little bit of Japanese since I grew up with it during a short portion of my life through my maternal grandfather when I was very young. But I never needed or wanted to learn to write it until a bit later in life when I became interested in languages in general.

But until I get fluent enough in any of the modern languages, Google Translate is my best friend. It sure has come a long way in terms of translation since its initial days that I remember - but you should still use caution when using it (because it isn't perfect).

### Second White Robe

By the time I met this Second White Robe, I found out there were input language settings on the PS4, knew a bit of how the recording or screenshot features worked, AND how to take it out. I remember feeling sad that I couldn’t capture the moments with my 1st White Robe and didn’t want that to happen again.

I naively thought I knew and experienced all that the game had to offer until I randomly matched with my 2nd White Robe at Broken Bridge – almost a year after I started playing.

They were the first to take me out of bounds using the Headbonkers Cave.

You should have seen my face when they disappeared behind the rocks! Since I wasn't aware of where the entrance was located, I was struggling to get out for a while. They were VERY patient with me and chirped so that my scarf was renewed continuously as much as possible until I got through.

What greeted me was a giant sand cliff on one side and see-through boulders on the other side to the main map area. This was like having a two-way mirror! I could imagine someone hiding out in here.

This was my first experience of any glitches in a video game and little did I know, more fantastical sights awaited once we got up top!

As they spent time showing me various things, I realized this is like a WHOLE ANOTHER GAME within a GAME!

GAME-CEPTION!..... Wow!

I remember learning from them:

* How to tumble backwards on the sandfalls
* Letting the wind gust tumble you forever in The Tumbler
* Exploring the scary dark area with a black box in the sky
* The floating mural
* Beautiful colors of the sky that changes in this OOB
* Disappearing/reappearing structures as you go near them
* Walking on invisible grounds and going into peeling grounds

As we progressed through the different levels, they showed me more and more things I just never knew were possible!! I started getting a headache from just how much new information I was trying to remember – since I wasn’t sure if I was recording or not during certain moments.

The funniest thing was at the Tower level when they signaled me to sit.

I did NOT know that you can sit on command until I had met them and was super glad that I had my phone near me to quickly google it!

I sat... and this is where (for a hot second) I thought they were being mean.

It looked like they were pushing me towards the edge. Like wtf mate? Seriously? We JUST climbed up here! I kept standing up and they kept sitting down and I did not know why they were trying to push me over?!?

Eventually, I gave up and stayed sitting and they pushed me off the edge and that was THE coolest thing ever as I flew through the golden waters and bounced off various structures on my way down. [*This is a variation of Zen Jump on the Wiki.*]

Now, I realized what they were trying to do and felt REALLY bad.
But we had no way of talking in this game and figured they must be an expert, they probably thought I was an idiot, and I made this WAY harder than it should have been for them.

The most insane thing was, despite how much time we ALREADY spent…that they also took me out of bounds at Snow!

They tried to show or help me get to each area for us to get out of bounds, but it took SO long mainly because I had no clue and didn’t understand.

Eventually, we DID make it out of bounds but my gosh, they had the patience of an ANGEL combined with the World’s Greatest Mentor levels of determination in trying to teach me how to do all these things – instead of abandoning me or the task at hand.

I remember thinking that I want to learn and practice these things, so I can also surprise someone with this and pass along their teachings!

Our trek in Snow OOB was the craziest thing too! I always thought you just had to bear with the entirety of the level, but my 2nd White Robe Master showed me that there was a shortcut!

We took the East Path (Route B on map in the Wiki), saw the back of the Lantern Room, frozen war machine, climbed at steep angles, and popped out to the surface – only to immediately die upon walking a few steps onto the snow with our entire scarf length intact!

*How they managed that, I STILL do not know yet. The timing was SO PERFECT that it was really hilarious when I witnessed this.*

Towards the end of the Paradise level, they drew in the snow, and it was the first time I saw a heart – and we both started drawing adjacent hearts! It was the cutest thing ever and I was SO GLAD I was able to capture this moment for posterity.

They found me after the game and sent a kind thank you message and a link to explain Zen Jump to me and that’s when I learned that there is such a thing as the Journey Wiki!

## Many More Journeys Later

### Changed Objectives & Perspectives

I’ve had so many travels with randomly matched players and I wanted to give back somehow… to be that White Robe showing another player that there’s more to this game. I wanted to gift that sense of pure awe and amazement randomly – just as I was lucky enough to have!

I wanted to learn MORE about the game – completely uncharacteristic of me by the way – as I usually only try to attempt certain achievements or figure out the game naturally via many playthroughs.

But if I started looking things up, I felt like it would spoil the game and it wouldn’t be as exciting. I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted to do this and kept from looking things up for a while still.

### Joining the Social Side of Gaming

Thanks to that 2nd White Robe’s introduction to the Journey Wiki, I started to actively look up things…then ran into a wall as I got frustrated.

I personally had a harder time using the Journey Wiki and that’s when I realized that this was maintained by a community! This meant that I could try and help somehow and became extremely excited. It was ages since I created anything tangible or made a difference in the public space and this was something within my capabilities.

Upon more investigation about the game, I ran across a subreddit (r/JourneyPS3) where I saw that people posted public thank you messages, shared screenshots, and wrote about their journey. I was lurking for a bit as I’ve never wanted to join social aspects of gaming before, but soon started to participate.

After few months, I began to recognize a particular username as we happened to comment on each other’s posts.

More interactions later, I had my first arranged journey after learning from them it was possible! They were also the first to mention the Journey Discord and I joined as it was easier to chat than using Reddit/PS4 messages with my Reddit friend. They also became known as my Journey Best Friend in my household as we've shared our findings through "regular" meetups in-game.

As I was accessing Reddit a bit differently, I had NO CLUE for the longest time that there even was a Discord for this community - not to mention any of the special events until it was too late! It seemed like there was a slight disconnect between the Discord and Reddit side and I wanted to bridge the gap.

Didn’t take long before I joined the Journey Wiki side, as I wanted to help make it better for other newer players to find information and to understand it.

It has been incredible to see the wealth of information gathered here by everyone who is passionate about each topic and game mechanisms they have expertise in.

I just never knew ANY of these things existed and was fascinated to learn while balancing some life things during the pandemic. It was a welcomed variation to my days as I slowly learned more about Discord, Journey Wiki, Reddit, Twitch, and YouTube.

### From Hate to Love

Remember the level that I hated with a passion personally because of a certain Longtail carpet?

With so many playthroughs completed, I learned that the Ambush War Machine was harmless. I even walked right up to it with more timid players – even if some did not follow.

This is one of my favorite levels now as the war machines were the first topic that I wanted to learn more about from the Wiki.

### Contributing to the Community

I came to know another player who was also working extensively for the Wiki and joined forces to learn/test the things we were curious about as they also happen to be on PS4. We started traveling together when our schedules aligned.

As a result, developed a great working relationship to improve the Journey Wiki along with Discord/Reddit experience, and each took a portion to help manage the work that we both do out of love of the game and community - as many team members have done thus far.

I tend to be on Reddit mostly and post about events, reminders, and directing people to the Journey Discord - since that’s something I would have liked to know of as a newer player stumbling upon the subreddit for the first time.

As far as the game itself, I travel on PS4 in 3rd Tier Pattern with the intent of trying to get some interesting pictures for whomever I match within the game to commemorate our trip together. I may not always have this pattern but this is the pattern I like the most it seems. I usually try to adapt my picture-taking strategies depending on their behavior in the game but have some safe go-to spots or moments in the game if all else fails.

Thankfully, I’ve never had to resort to an entire album made of those moments, as I tend to get VERY lucky in some of the screenshots I obtained.

I rarely have a complete vanilla journey for that specific reason, but the chances are higher if I happen to play on Ruby Tuesday – as it is more likely to meet novice players.

If I run across one and can message them with the pictures, I also let them know that there is a Discord as well as the Wiki that they can explore - if they choose.

I'm still learning a lot about the game itself - literally with each trip taken and while working on Wiki things. Hopefully, I'll have more variety of activities and capabilities under my belt as time goes by to give more cool experiences and moments to the random players.

## Finding Paradise: Interaction with the Community

I want to thank each and everyone in the community for providing such a welcoming space with a supportive atmosphere. I was very lucky in that this fandom was my first exposure to the social side of gaming - especially after hearing through the years how toxic certain ones can be.

It takes a special kind of openness and conscious effort to continue to create this lovely environment and interacting with us newer players that trickle in.

Everyone that I interacted with on both the Community and Wiki Discord has been a kind guiding soul as I learned more about the game and even non-related topics with our collective expertise in different areas and being located all over the world.

I want to tell you - as a relatively newer player to the community and still learning about all of these social media and content creation platforms - that I appreciate the various efforts of the longtime members and veteran pro players for keeping this community alive and healthy.

You are a true treasure in this world and I can’t wait to get to know more of you as time allows for us.

In addition, I STILL get very excited as the newest players find the Subreddit and Discord to share their experiences. I hope that spark of life continues to live on in many more hearts and minds!

Hope you'll join us in leading others to this little paradise and can't wait to hear of your travels!