Is there any reason to NOT play Journey Mode?

[Aviarchis]

So I watched a Terraria video yesterday demonstrating Journey mode, and I had my eyes opened. Before I had just dismissed it out of hand on the grounds that creative modes in games take the fun out of playing since they eliminate that need to explore, or the joy of finding a rare item. I don't really see creative modes as anything other than something I play for a little bit to test some parts of the game.

The awesome thing about Terraria's Journey mode is that while it gives you all the features at your fingertips. It's not like Minecraft's creative mode that actually seems to de-incentivize exploration. Hell, you can straight up ignore the Journey mode exclusive features in Terraria.

That said, it is awfully convenient that you can duplicate things. I used to play using a "home base" world, and as I progressed through the world, periodically I would start new, throwaway world to grab extra resources so I wouldn't have to strip my main world bare. This way I could fix or avoid those ugly, blocky tunnels I inevitably ended up with whenever I dug through solid rock in pursuit of resources. With duplication, I don't have to start throwaway worlds and can just get more of whatever I need without making my cave systems look like ugly Swiss cheese.

Moreover, the difficulty slider is amazing. I spent way too long getting pestered by zombies while trying to build my Barbie Dream House™ a couple of days ago. It just got tedious. Grab materials, place blocks and walls, get attacked by zombies and eyeballs, kill said zombies and eyeballs, have my inventory filled up with lenses and shackles so I can't pick up more building materials, dump lenses and shackles in chest, grab more building materials, rinse and repeat. Worse, my chests would typically end up being horribly disorganized and I'd have to spend the next half hour decluttering. In Journey mode, I can easily and temporarily turn off monster spawns while I finish the more annoying parts of construction. In addition, I can also change the time of day to get a good look at whether my base looks good in other lighting conditions so I don't get a nasty surprise when I realise that color of stained glass looks horrible in that room at dawn.

The option to use extended reach (or not) is another boon to building. This one is obvious, so there's not much to say about it, but it makes the annoyance of having to go all the way around a large build just so you can stick a few more blocks on the other side of a wall a thing of the past. Simply toggle on while building something big, then toggle off during the rest of the game.

The ability to increase difficulty is brilliant as well, and I have never seen another game with a creative mode where you can do this. Previously I had been in the habit of making my base on a normal difficulty world and then I'd create extra worlds to function as expert difficulty battle arenas because to be honest, bosses are more fun in expert, while regular mobs on expert are just annoying and not fun. Being hit by a slime for 14 damage? No thanks. With Journey mode, I can leave it on normal or expert (if I'm feeling tough) while exploring, then crank up the difficulty to expert or maybe even master while fighting bosses. I could even try out master mode in a regular game session without getting locked into it and ragequitting if it's simply too tedious. If you want to, you can seemingly make the game harder than the preset difficulties by increasing the enemy spawn rate on top of the other options.

Finally, being able to change the weather is super nice. I was showing Terraria off to someone shortly after 1.4 came out, and I kept hyping up how great he thunderstorm music was. I showed off various biomes, items and characters, but I was disappointed when not one thunderstorm hit while I was demonstrating the game despite the fact that I had had one thunderstorm after another when I'd been playing earlier. If I had been playing on Journey mode, I could have just switched the weather to play the music then and there.

Best of all is that all these features are optional. You can use them to spice up your game, have a better building experience, and try out new things without an inordinate risk, but the creative mode aspect is never shoved down my throat. If I want a straight expert difficulty run of the game at any point, I can just ignore the more cheesy features and play the exact same way I'd play a non Journey world. It's like playing Skyrim: the cheat console is there should you want to tamper with game settings, but it's so easy to ignore that it barely affects your own playstyle.

So tl;dr, is playing anything other than Journey mode even worth it? Aside from certain special cases of wanting to play a mediumcore or hardcore character where you're locked out of Journey mode, I legitimately cannot think of any downsides to Journey mode at all. With Journey mode, you get all the game with all the options and potentially none of the annoyance (unless you like that sort of thing, in which case, you can still get it). I was describing Journey mode to a non-gamer earlier today who said it sounded like the deluxe version of Terraria. Honestly, I thought that was a pretty good assessment.

Serious question, is there any reason, any reason at all to not play Journey mode? Barring the instance of mediumcore and hardcore characters, of course.

[Vespertellino]

Axeman a écrit :

In the past I played this game for the same reason I play dark souls. The reason not to play journey mode is preference and I prefer to be able to beat boss rather than have the boss handed to me on a silver platter.

I mean, you can use only a limited toolset, not the whole godmode and stuff. I mostly go for the duping and sometimes daytime change, while there are like 5 other options available to me.

It's also great for co-op imo, to be able to share the stuff you find with your pals

[prpl_mage]

You play the game however you want. Despite some 500 hours in this game I started a Journey Mode world and character simply to collect everthing and build some fancy thing. It's like working on your collection but you don't need a seperate world for storing everything. You just research it and it is added to your menu. Perfect.

As for reason not to, well it kinda breaks the designed gameplay with being able to skip time and all that. But if you've already played through the game, who cares? Have fun, that's what the game is about.

[♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥]

Only thing about journey mode that I thought was pretty killer is the ability to control the weather. Very enjoyable to do things while there is a full force blizzard going on in the snow biome.
Would have loved that ability on the other modes but the weather actually effects game play related stuff so I understand why it's locked to j - mode. Other than that I don't really have the desire to make a new char just for one feature that I would use. Also I don't know if journey mode players can get the master mode accessory (7th) slot - if they can then disregard.

[prpl_mage]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ a écrit :

Also I don't know if journey mode players can get the master mode accessory (7th) slot - if they can then disregard.

they do

[Aviarchis]

Yggdrasil ♥♥♥♥♥♥ a écrit :

Journey Mod is like a long-term Singleplayer investment. You play through the game, research more stuff, and become an even more capable builder as you go. Journey mode is very, VERY singleplayer-centric, and almost exclusively for building new and better structures as you go. It makes resources a non-issue, and for that, it unshackles a lot of the resource management Classic mode puts builders through.

That being said, the existence of a cheat console can make the initial game less entertaining, and ultimately feel like you are putting unnecessary restrictions on yourself. Humans feel better when we struggle for something, but we always look for the easiest way out. It's counter-intuitive, but I suppose this is better than an instant Creative Mode. I do not see myself playing it soon, but eventually.

Fair enough about Journey mode being targeted at single player. I mainly use single player, so that's likely why I find it so appealing.

I disagree with your second paragraph though. Last I checked, I was human, and my main goal is to enjoy myself, however that's done. Sure, struggle is fun, except when it's not. It's nice to be able to mitigate some of the more tedious aspects of the higher difficulties while still being able to get a decent challenge. I don't know about you, but I (and many other humans) don't "always look for the easiest way out". The easiest way is often the most boring way, and honestly I question why you'd spend money on a game if you feel that your only options are between having the game babysit you so you don't act naughty, taking the easy way out, or "putting unnecessary restrictions on yourself". Most sandbox games are a lot more lax than Terraria when it comes to restricting the player. On that note, I and many others find fun in "putting unnecessary restrictions on ourselves. Ever hear of challenge runs? Hell, am I expected to immediately max out all my stats in Skyrim just because the cheat console is available for use in an unaltered game? It doesn't feel like "putting unnecessary restrictions" on myself when the net gain of these restrictions is more fun to be had.

Axeman a écrit :

In the past I played this game for the same reason I play dark souls. The reason not to play journey mode is preference and I prefer to be able to beat boss rather than have the boss handed to me on a silver platter.

I mean, did you even read my post or try Journey mode for yourself? You can crank up difficulty to master level on Journey mode, increase enemy spawn rate, and serve your pixellated corpse to the boss on a silver platter. Journey mode doesn't mean easy mode by a long shot, and to me, that's the whole appeal.

prpl_mage a écrit :

You play the game however you want. Despite some 500 hours in this game I started a Journey Mode world and character simply to collect everthing and build some fancy thing. It's like working on your collection but you don't need a seperate world for storing everything. You just research it and it is added to your menu. Perfect.

As for reason not to, well it kinda breaks the designed gameplay with being able to skip time and all that. But if you've already played through the game, who cares? Have fun, that's what the game is about.

You had a storage world too, huh? Mine came in super useful after my money trough (somehow) went missing. It was slightly annoying to maintain, but that won't be a problem anymore.

I disagree that Journey mode breaks the gameplay since the time change and god mode are entirely optional. You can go an entire game without touching those options. The only reason besides building or demonstrating the game that I'd want to use time skip would be so I don't spend a year trying to get a damn sextant on my main. True story, for the past year, the only reason I'd play Terraria was to do fishing quests so I could get a sextant. Stupid angler kept giving me 50,000 weather radios and fishing lines. I even got most of the 1% drop rate decorative items, but no sextant. Half the time I'd AFK because I couldn't be bothered to wait around for a new day and new quest. I got annoyed that there wasn't any way to speed up time other than the sundial. I got to a point where I didn't really enjoy Terraria that much because I was determined to nab a sextant before I did anything else with the game. 1.4 gave me new hope and a reason to start over with Journey mode. It should just make the game a lot less grindy.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ a écrit :

Only thing about journey mode that I thought was pretty killer is the ability to control the weather. Very enjoyable to do things while there is a full force blizzard going on in the snow biome.
Would have loved that ability on the other modes but the weather actually effects game play related stuff so I understand why it's locked to j - mode. Other than that I don't really have the desire to make a new char just for one feature that I would use. Also I don't know if journey mode players can get the master mode accessory (7th) slot - if they can then disregard.

Honestly, my big gripe with Journey mode originally was that you had to create a character specifically for that mode. I have a character from 2014 that I'm super attached to and periodically downgraded him for challenges and such. Most of my playtime in Terraria is on this little dude. However! I was able to edit this same character in Terrasavr to be compatible with Journey mode. The downside is that I lose my hoard of loot and only keep what I can carry on my person (including piggy bank and safe) but that's still a fair amount of loot, and honestly, transferring loot will be a thing of the past with Journey mode, so it's worth it in my eyes.

As the other guy also mentioned, you do get extra item slots in Journey mode, but only if the difficulty slider is cranked up. If you put an item in the slot and then crank down the difficulty, the item becomes useless, but you can remove it (or use the extra slots for storage lol). I just tested this before replying cause I was curious.

Honestly, Journey mode is the same as the base game, but with more options. It's just better and lets me play around and try things out, but also lets me play seriously without potentially forcing me into a ragequit scenario. Journey mode just makes Terraria more like the other sandbox games I play, albeit with a separate menu instead of a cheat console. It's glorious, I highly recommend it if you'd want to give Terrasavr a shot to convert your character.

[nasedo73]

I spent about 300 hours including this account any one of my family member as well, so this result is not so impressive, got to say that. Since several months I've been waiting for 1.4 bearing in mind this will be a final version, and then I will be able to start playing since very beginning.
Obviously I haven't seen everything in the game (1.3.x) and haven't seen new features in 1.4.x, so for me best start is normal mode - play one world corruption and another crimson, complete if it will be possible - and then, start in journey mode. If for some reason playing normal, then hard will be impossible for me or too hard... just abandon my previous idea and try to start in journey.
It's only one reason behind this, I don't want to spoil anything for me, I want to feel surprised, like just recently... when I saw gnome or fairy first time... just small things but I really enjoyed it.
I'm not trying to say "journey mode" is good or bad, because I have no opinion yet, however it's tempting... but not for now, my (big) journey must wait a bit.

[CrescentMouse]

nasedo73 a écrit :

I spent about 300 hours including this account any one of my family member as well, so this result is not so impressive, got to say that. Since several months I've been waiting for 1.4 bearing in mind this will be a final version, and then I will be able to start playing since very beginning.
Obviously I haven't seen everything in the game (1.3.x) and haven't seen new features in 1.4.x, so for me best start is normal mode - play one world corruption and another crimson, complete if it will be possible - and then, start in journey mode. If for some reason playing normal, then hard will be impossible for me or too hard... just abandon my previous idea and try to start in journey.
It's only one reason behind this, I don't want to spoil anything for me, I want to feel surprised, like just recently... when I saw gnome or fairy first time... just small things but I really enjoyed it.
I'm not trying to say "journey mode" is good or bad, because I have no opinion yet, however it's tempting... but not for now, my (big) journey must wait a bit.

Quick tip, try the seed 05162020 the information after doesn't matter. Just type 05162020 into the seed

[Aviarchis]

nasedo73 a écrit :

I spent about 300 hours including this account any one of my family member as well, so this result is not so impressive, got to say that. Since several months I've been waiting for 1.4 bearing in mind this will be a final version, and then I will be able to start playing since very beginning.
Obviously I haven't seen everything in the game (1.3.x) and haven't seen new features in 1.4.x, so for me best start is normal mode - play one world corruption and another crimson, complete if it will be possible - and then, start in journey mode. If for some reason playing normal, then hard will be impossible for me or too hard... just abandon my previous idea and try to start in journey.
It's only one reason behind this, I don't want to spoil anything for me, I want to feel surprised, like just recently... when I saw gnome or fairy first time... just small things but I really enjoyed it.
I'm not trying to say "journey mode" is good or bad, because I have no opinion yet, however it's tempting... but not for now, my (big) journey must wait a bit.

Journey mode doesn't spoil anything though. We're not talking Minecraft where creative mode gives you a whole inventory of infinite items. In Journey mode, you start with a couple extra items (this is perhaps my one issue with Journey mode, but whatever) but you don't get lists of things straight off the bat as in Minecraft. You get thrown into the game, and have to fill out the bestiary manually just like in every other mode. You don't even see any items through the duplication menu until you have gathered enough of that item and manually requested to have them duplicated.

All Journey mode does differently than other modes is give you a button that opens a sidebar where you can customize your game, such as with weather and spawn rated. There's no spoilers involved. If you've played Terraria for no more than one real life day, I doubt Journey mode would spoil anything.

I'm saying this as someone who started without Journey mode for similar reasons as you and honestly wishes I had given it a shot before spending a full day forgoing sleep building a nice base. Now I have a great base in normal mode, wishing I could copy it to Journey mode. I thought Journey mode would be a lot cheesier and less exciting than normal. From what I've seen, it's the opposite.

You do you, but I thought I'd share my experience.

[nasedo73]

Aviarchis a écrit :

Journey mode doesn't spoil anything though. We're not talking Minecraft where creative mode gives you a whole inventory of infinite items. In Journey mode, you start with a couple extra items (this is perhaps my one issue with Journey mode, but whatever) but you don't get lists of things straight off the bat as in Minecraft. You get thrown into the game, and have to fill out the bestiary manually just like in every other mode. You don't even see any items through the duplication menu until you have gathered enough of that item and manually requested to have them duplicated.

All Journey mode does differently than other modes is give you a button that opens a sidebar where you can customize your game, such as with weather and spawn rated. There's no spoilers involved. If you've played Terraria for no more than one real life day, I doubt Journey mode would spoil anything.

I'm saying this as someone who started without Journey mode for similar reasons as you and honestly wishes I had given it a shot before spending a full day forgoing sleep building a nice base. Now I have a great base in normal mode, wishing I could copy it to Journey mode. I thought Journey mode would be a lot cheesier and less exciting than normal. From what I've seen, it's the opposite.

You do you, but I thought I'd share my experience.

I do understand journey mode is not creative mode or at least not entirely one. I've heard some gossips and not sure if they even true, like no meteor / meteor happens only in hard mode, something is no longer, something could be achieved but in different way... If some of those news are real... maybe starting from the beginning is a good idea, but maybe not.
I'm not hardcore player and I believe normal mode or even easier would be sufficient for me, but my only concern about journey mode is... "what if something will be achieved too easy?"

I played in version 1.4.x less than 10 hours and I'm not sure if this version is better than 1.3 (not talking about journey mode). For now, I know it's stable 1.4.0.2, I had some performance issues, but nothing can be fixed with video settings... and sure... journey mode is tempting... but, for example controlling time... without journey mode, when the night comes (in early stage of the game) I need to wait, do something else... but just skipping the night is much easier.

I think, I will play a few more hours in my new world, created just for 1.4 version and then, create new character and new world for journey mode and see what happens then.

[Aviarchis]

nasedo73 a écrit :

I do understand journey mode is not creative mode or at least not entirely one. I've heard some gossips and not sure if they even true, like no meteor / meteor happens only in hard mode, something is no longer, something could be achieved but in different way... If some of those news are real... maybe starting from the beginning is a good idea, but maybe not.
I'm not hardcore player and I believe normal mode or even easier would be sufficient for me, but my only concern about journey mode is... "what if something will be achieved too easy?"

I played in version 1.4.x less than 10 hours and I'm not sure if this version is better than 1.3 (not talking about journey mode). For now, I know it's stable 1.4.0.2, I had some performance issues, but nothing can be fixed with video settings... and sure... journey mode is tempting... but, for example controlling time... without journey mode, when the night comes (in early stage of the game) I need to wait, do something else... but just skipping the night is much easier.

I think, I will play a few more hours in my new world, created just for 1.4 version and then, create new character and new world for journey mode and see what happens then.

The thing is, even in Journey mode there's no real incentive to skip the night. It's an option, but it's not that impressive, and you can completely ignore it and play like you normally would.

A lot of games function like Journey mode. They have the cheat console available, and technically you can cheat, but it's not fun to cheat, so most players just ignore the console. Take it from a long time Elder Scrolls fan, the console is a wonderful thing, but honestly it's just not that tempting.

[nasedo73]

I gave a chance for journey mode - and I would like to clarify first: I'm really happy this mode is in the game, no doubts. This is giving more options for player, more freedom and chance to focus for whatever is the best.

I'm trying to remember my first experiences, when I found first time Magic Mirror - it was really "wow effect" - I must say, if I would be a new / beginner player I would regret, this item just been given for me - just like that without any effort.
When anyone starting a game in normal mode - it's challenging (at least a bit) - feeling confused, feeling weak, afraid of first night and what most interesting without a knowledge how to build something more advanced than wooden door.
Exactly the same with travel - just normal speed without increasing ability of jump of fly... this comes later in the game... if player is lucky and find good item increasing their ability. It's fun... slowly but surely getting a knowledge and becoming better and stronger.

I'm not rejecting journey mode, but definitely I would like to finish game first on normal and maybe hard mode. If and when I will achieve this, I would want to have chill experience, with easiest possible difficulty, when I will have a time for everything and I will be able to control my environment - trying not to fight much, not have a challenges as usually, but just have an adventure and relax.
For me - journey mode will be reward for completing my game.

[hellatze]

Its poor man creative mod.

[rincewind]

Journey mode is a godsend for me.

You can play the game without worrying about grinding whatever you want to build something.

Seriously, my concept of fun isn't chopping trees or mining rock at industrial pace to build something hopefully nice.
And the little birdie is so cute. Love having a nest-hat.

nasedo73 a écrit :

I'm trying to remember my first experiences, when I found first time Magic Mirror - it was really "wow effect" - I must say, if I would be a new / beginner player I would regret, this item just been given for me - just like that without any effort.
When anyone starting a game in normal mode - it's challenging (at least a bit) - feeling confused, feeling weak, afraid of first night and what most interesting without a knowledge how to build something more advanced than wooden door.
Exactly the same with travel - just normal speed without increasing ability of jump of fly... this comes later in the game... if player is lucky and find good item increasing their ability. It's fun... slowly but surely getting a knowledge and becoming better and stronger.

Yeah, I have the same good memories of my start with Terraria. The wonder of discover in every corner. Defeating the bosses for first time. Discovering new drops.
Shame that only works once. Or at least a few of times.

[Dani]

because i dont like cheating.

[CuddilyWuddily]

because i feel like a man if a i beat master mode hardcore and feel like a wimp if i beat journey mode journey character