14th Journey - The One Where I Boosted Up the Tower

Happy 9th anniversary to our beloved game, Journey!

I went on what I will call my 14th journey today, in celebration of the 9th anniversary event.

Every journey brings a different perspective with it, and this one was no different.  I wasn't sure exactly what to expect -- my last journey was something quite special, a chirp-filled exploration with Gilorien as my chaperone/companion showing me all manner of amazing things.

I decided again to don my white cloak for this event -- being in white simply makes flight more enjoyable, and allows for some fun fancy tricks like "chargeboosting" in the first Broken Bridge level, for instance, without the assistance of a partner.

1:30PM hit and I leapt off the entrance to the Broken Bridge level and wandered around for a bit.  I was actually surprised by how long it took to find a companion -- in past events I remember connecting with another traveler quite quickly.

Seemed like I had matched up with a red cloak -- what seemed like a fully embroidered one (?), and I ran up to them with a happy chirp dance at having found a companion.  I could tell that this person seemed more..."normal", for lack of a better term.  They chirped in response, but there was no mutual faceplanting, no extended wiggling around and circling each other excitedly.  They were quick to move onto unlocking the bridge segments and navigating around to each of the points of interest in the level.

I happily let them take the lead and mainly followed them around, chirp chirping along and helping to maintain their flight charge by providing some helpful chirp energy.  But already I could sense that this person...was not as attuned to "caring" about me.  I don't know how else to explain it, but I could tell through their "body language".  Probably the most obvious point was that they did not seem to bother worrying about providing me with chirps to maintain my scarf energy, despite the fact that I was trying my best to do the same for them.  So any brief cooperative flight sessions ended with me dropping to the ground first.  Of course, I can't lie -- I was a bit disappointed that I did not meet some well-traveled companion who would show me charge-boost spots, take me out of bounds, and all of that.  But I was OK with that.  What didn't feel as OK was feeling like I was not really much of a concern to this other player.

But perhaps their negligence was more out of ignorance than malevolence.  I followed them to the Pink Desert stage where something curious happened -- they sat down and meditated at the hill at the very beginning of the level, which I thought was quite nice; it was a nice view after all.  They stayed sitting for quite a while and some strange things occurred, like them sliding down the hill occasionally somehow (was this some strange new sitting technique that I was unaware of??).  After a while I wondered whether they had just gone AFK in real life or something?  I started slowly pushing them away from their original position bit by bit.  Eventually they rose up again and like clockwork, started going off to some of the various locations in the Pink Desert.

I never remember my way around the PD level at all, so I let them lead again.  It was interesting, trying to discern whether they knew their way around the level very well, or didn't...?  They seemed to be hitting most of the stops one by one, but then at one point or another, ran into the level's edge.  We even stopped by the Flower in the desert...yeah, I'm really not sure.  At this point I actually started to develop the suspicion that this was a player that perhaps had some sort of walkthrough or map open, and was trying to reference it -- hence the pausing and goal-seeking.  But it was just a hunch.

Climbing the structure at the end of the PD level was....interesting, as again it seemed half of the time like they knew exactly where they were going and the other half of the time they seemed lost or curious about totally random other places.  It was a bit disorienting, but I don't think there was much I could do after all, they didn't seem like they were responsive to being the one following me around instead.

Watching the history lesson at the end of that level, I began to think on something that would form one of the themes of this particular Journey.  I had just finished writing a letter last night talking about how I am a "being of the past", about how I have never really moved on from many things, and about how there is some sense of feeling "old" or "out of my time" because of that.  Watching the history lessons this time, I began to think a little more about the white "ancestors" in those cutscenes.

These story cutscenes always serve to paint the "backstory" of Journey, of course in a sort of vague symbolic way, since nothing is ever explicit.  But I began to wonder today, as I was confronted with this redcloak who seemed to just be ready to move forward whether I was coming or not, whether my "place" was not here, but with those ancestors.  What would it be like to be one of them, instead?  Not one who travels through the game, but one who came before.  Perhaps that is what I yearned for, at this moment.

What does it take, to become an ancestor?  These figures are tall, wise, and seemingly eternal, appearing to us in our history lessons when we sit and pray at the old stone statues.  They are not agents of the game, well at least not in the traditional sense.  You could argue that they play a part in the penultimate scene of "rebirth" -- the scene where the ancestors bear witness to your struggle, your collapse, and are there to see -- or perhaps to instigate -- your resurgence.  But for the most part, they are not the "players" of the game.  Perhaps to "become an ancestor" means to stop playing Journey altogether.  For then you would no longer be of the (in-game) physical world, but something removed from it.  One who "came before", and one who bears witness to those who would still take the Journey.  Could you call that sense of separation, a type of "enlightenment"?  It's a curious thing to think about.

Anyways, my companion and I eventually made our way to the "Sunken City" level (the one with lots of sandsurfing, and the famous "sunset scene" depicted so often in fanarts).  Here something again curious happened -- as we were sledding through the sands, we missed one of the glyphs near the beginning (it had been a long time since my last Journey, so I had forgotten about it), and at that point I remember seeing them sit down (??).  I wondered if perhaps they had quit out or done a chapter select, since they had missed a glyph and had wanted to collect it.  Maybe they would disconnect -- "dust" -- on me?  I really wasn't sure.  But regardless, I surged forward, free of that responsibility, and went on to the rest stop area.  I felt a bit of a weight lifted from my shoulders at being free of this companion.  It's not a very nice thing to say, of course -- we should be grateful for company of any sort, but sometimes you do end up getting a companion who seems to be more of a burden than a buddy.

I resolved to take my time at the rest stop and play around with some chargeboosting with the carpet flyers there, but before I could do that, I connected again with a red cloak there.  Turned out it was the same person who had rejoined me in the rest stop area.  They activated the flyers, and I decided to stay behind a little bit and see if they would even pause at all to wait for me.  To my surprise, they did, and so instead of playing with the flyers and practicing chargeboosting, I obliged and went ahead with them to the next section.  They left me behind at the second rest stop area, though I caught up to them at the entrance to the UnderGround level.

At the beginning of the UG they sat down once again for a while, and it seemed like they would stay sitting for an extended time again.  At this point I was a bit concerned with the time as I had other plans this afternoon, so I started to push ahead of them, not as concerned anymore with leading the way for them or anything like that.  I tried at least to point out the glyph locations to them, but finally in the section leading up to the "War Machines" I sped ahead and simply lost them (despite turning back once to check).  At that point I simply pushed onwards and never saw them again.

How interesting to lose one's companion in the underground.  Somehow, it was fitting in terms of the emotional undertones of this harsh and dark level.  I sped rather quickly to the end of the level, watched the history lesson, said hi to the two scarf fragments on the right, and then went on to the Tower.

The Tower is a stage where you go around activating switches that raise the "water" level progressively, each letting you ascend to another vertical level of the tower, until at last you reach the top where you watch the history lesson and move onwards.  However, with a faithful companion, you can actually "dry climb" the tower by providing each other with enough flight power to make it up despite not having any of the "water" to recharge your energy or provide a place to land on.  I had done it once before, with raisin.

This time I did no such thing (I had no companion after all), but after activating the very first level of water -- which causes scarf flyers on platforms to emerge -- I decided to try my hand at some chargeboosting practice.  "Chargeboosting" is an advanced flight maneuver in which you "charge" by building downwards-pointing flight momentum, and then "boost" yourself by using that accumulated momentum to sail upwards in the opposite direction.  It's something that doesn't make sense in terms of real-world physics, but for some reason the game engine lets you use downwards "charge" to fly upwards, being propelled seemingly magically.  It's a little easier when there are flyers present since they will help you not only recharge your flight energy but also propel you upwards, which can prolong your "downward" charge.

And this was perhaps the highlight of the entire Journey, as I surprised myself by being able to chargeboost high enough to grab all 3 of the glyphs in the level, and then from there I tried yet another chargeboost -- and this time, managed to boost myself high enough to reach the very top!  What a thrill!  I had previously done long chargeboosts before, but those had always had "infinite charge spots" where you can charge to your hearts content while staying in the same position -- a quirk caused by certain level geometries.  I had never had quite the same skill with continuous-motion chargeboosts, but here I was, at the very top of the tower, after having boosted myself all the way up.  This is something I'll have to try again someday.

The rest of the Journey was rather uneventful -- I contemplated some of the stuff about "ancestors" that I mentioned above, as I went on the death march in the snow stage, and then said a friendly hello to the scarf whales in Paradise.  The last significant thing I did was to do a sliding meditation leap on the cliff right after the final ascent to the mountain.  I don't think I had ever done a meditation sit-jump at this particular spot before, but it's a fabulous one, as you slide off the mountain and fall a long way, all while glowing in the golden "final ascent" light.  Very fun!

Every Journey is different, and this one was no exception.  The behavior of my (admittedly somewhat uncaring) companion made me value my previous sojourns with raisin and Gilorien even more, but also prompted me see the backstory of the game in a way that I had not before.  I was struck particularly by the history lesson in the Tower.  This is a grand cutscene in which you see the entire "story tapestry" as a panorama around you at the top of the Tower.  This tapestry chronicles the travels of two red-cloaks (representing you, and a companion), as you make your way from the Broken Bridge, through the Pink Desert, through the Underground, all the way to the base of the mountain at the snow level.  Very grand, very epic, and the music always moves me every time.

But this time it was different.  This was not the first time I had seen this cutscene in white, but for some reason my mind saw this cutscene and saw the tapestry not as representing my own journey, but as representing the journey of someone else.  Those red cloaks in the tapestry =were not me=, for I was in white.  I was an observer, much like those ancestors in the cutscenes.  I would stand and watch as the others traveled forward, in the continuous cycle of birth and rebirth.

They say that to observe something is to become detached from it.  Perhaps it is a bit lofty to claim that I felt myself as being one step closer to enlightenment when I saw myself as an observer, not a participant.  But these are the things that I had on my mind, during this 14th Journey.