Topic: The Trophy Discussion Thread

Got my second Platinum tonight, A Way Out. Pretty easy enough trophies with a guide which I feel is needed cause some of them you will miss since they are not obvious.

@Th3solution @Kidfried @Jaz007 Do you reckon it's just you though or a general thing? Or even a thing at all?

A quick look at my trophies and of the 55 PS4 games I've played, I have 8 platinums (Far Cry 4, Fallout 4, two Telltale games, Day of the Tentacle, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, and Nier Automata) and 9 from the PS3. 14 of those games I haven't even hit 50% of available trophies.

Partly, I think games are frequently longer now so repeat play trophies are almost completely a no-no for me, especially when coupled with the fact I game less than I used to.

Call of Duty: World at War probably my most proud platinum weirdly as defeating that on the hardest difficulty was TOUGH and some of the challenge trophies equally difficult (like taking out the sniper level target with a pistol headshot instead of the sniper rifle).

@Thrillho That’s a good point on game length. Games might be longer in general now, owing to increased data capabilities. And I agree, with the sheer number of games I want to play, then multiple playthroughs is a rarity nowadays whereas in previous generations I might be more apt to try a repeat run.

I love that there’s a trophy in Amnesia for immediately backing out of the game.

There I was, on the edge of my seat, ready to face the darkness. The game kicks off, very eerie and all and I do a little tour of the beginning area as I always do to check the lighting and controls. Went back to the main menu and a trophy pops up called ‘NOPE’... I took a few moments to appreciate this before starting again.

FINALLY finished Sleeping Dogs.

Got the platinum and all trophies for the DLC, but not all of that was worth it unfortunately. Playing the DLC just felt like masochism at times. At some point during the DLC all icons disappeared from my map - never to return again, so I had to use maps on the internet to even find missions.

Anyway, I won't recommend this game to anyone. Game started out really strong, but sadly ended on a lull. I got some fun out of playing it, but in hindsight it felt like a waste of time.

@Kidfried Sleeping Dogs is loads more fun when you're not going for the platinum. The trophies for doing all of the challenges suuuuuuuuuck. Not as bad as the ones in Mad Max, but still awful.

@Kidfried @johncalmc When I finished my final challenge on Sleeping Dogs, I sat back and waited for the platinum to finally pop, but nothing happened. When I looked I found that I hadn't achieved kills with all the melee weapons. So some guy walks past with a briefcase and I think "hm I don't think I've killed anyone with a briefcase yet", so I take his briefcase and lamp him with it. Ten seconds later I'm the owner of a new platinum. Turned out that was the final thing I needed to do.

Easiest platinum ever (if you don't count the endless hours before that)

I'm a firm believer of when game stops being fun... STOP! Probably why only got 6 platinums!

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, it’s a difficult balance sometimes between pushing through to feel the exhilaration of getting a platinum, and focusing on just experiencing each game to the extent it is enjoyable. I try to balance it and I have a mere 16 platinums. And a couple of those were a bit of a slog, but it’s just too tempting if you get so close to the virtual reward and just have a couple things to do. Often it is deceptively harder to mop up those last few trophies and before you know it you invested 20 hours in doing something that is not fun anymore. But having that platinum just feels so darn good! 😄

@JohnnyShoulder That's a great approach on one hand. On the other I have so often had games that weren't fun for a short period of time, but then started being great again. Sometimes you need to pull through.

I'll admit though, that me getting the 100% on the DLC was a bad idea. I should have seen that coming too, but I let my obsessive nature get the better of me.

@JohnnyShoulder ...but odd-numbered percentages drive me crazy.

Although, in all seriousness, I've got very few platinums for the amount of games I've actually played. I'll try and get most games to a solid 60% or over, and on an even number, before making the call to leave them be or press on to completion. Sometimes it just isn't worth it.

Thanks to @Kidfried for the heads-up on the Sleeping Dogs trophy list. That's one that I've gotten to around 60% and then left alone, despite two full playthroughs of the main story and one of all the DLCs. I've always thought it'd be something I'd come back and grab one day, but if that's been your reaction then I'm comfortable leaving it where it is. Wouldn't want to end up hating a game I actually really like.

@RogerRoger I enjoyed the playthroughs, but the stuff you specifically need to for the trophies just isn't worth it. There isn't any reward for any of the challenges and collectibles in-game, so... you pretty much only do it for the trophy.

I'll try and forget the tail end of that game and just remember the main story instead!

Also, to me it's funny that you did play and enjoyed Sleeping Dogs, which I found very brutal, raw and dark. But aren't interested in Yakuza, which is kind of the romanticized equivalent of that game (with more fun side stuff).

I'm not trying to push you into playing Yakuza, just wonder whether you didn't find Sleeping Dogs too dark? Because I looked away from the screen quite a few times, and also was astonished with how they almost didn't sugar coat the crime.

Yakuza 0 is my first game of the series and screw trying to platinum that! Doing everything on the completion list will definitely stray into the territory of "not at all fun", and that's with me doing as many as possible to get the upgrade points as I go.

@Kidfried Understood; yeah, trophy-hunting for the sake of trophy-hunting does wear thin.

Very briefly (because we're in the trophy topic), I am interested in Yakuza. I'm just cautious about it, because it's such a large unknown to me and is also the product of a Japanese developer, which makes the cultural tone a little more difficult to judge; in my experience, the Japanese definition of "mature" is way more mature than what I think it'll be. You also don't play as a cop, as far as I'm aware.

As for Sleeping Dogs, you do play a cop. Yes, he's pushed in certain directions and conflicted in his loyalties, quite compellingly so, but he's still a cop (and yes, I really am that pathetically moral). I always had difficulty fulfilling my Triad score, but my Cop score was maxed out every time. I probably looked away at all the same moments you did, and refrained from performing the more gruesome takedowns in combat; I told myself that if folks could walk away from the beatings I'd just given them, then it was no different from if I were playing as Batman.

Same as with when I play Hitman, Sleeping Dogs has enough wiggle room in its mechanics to be the game you make it. The moments where the story displayed the violence of criminality, it just reinforced my belief that I was playing it the "right" way.

@RogerRoger You're not a cop in Yakuza, but you do play a similar role. I don't want to put spoilers all over the place, but basically you're working more against criminals rather than with them. He's a mafioso in the way Nathan Drake is a thief.

You don't kill people, nor do you Rob or hurt them. It's pretty much all self defense. I'm predicting Kiryu will align more with your morals than Wei.

Anyway, I still get where you're coming from and won't push you into playing something you're not interested in.

The Platinum trophies in Yakuza are super hard, by the way (trying to get myself back on track). I still have Yakuza Kiwami and Zero on my HDD, because I still have some things left to do, but I don't know if I ever will. These games are quite the investment...

@Kidfried That's good to know. As I said, I am interested in the series, even moreso now with that reassurance, so I'm grateful for that, thank you.

Now it's just about finding the time to play seven massive, tough-to-platinum games!

@RogerRoger @Kidfried @Th3solution Ah yes there have been l plenty of games where their have been a slow start only to improve after some more play time. It's not a hard and fast rule I live by, usually if I'm near the end and can be bothered to continue playing to finish off the trophies.

The two 'proper' platinums have been in games where I feel the trophies were really achievable and I still wanted to play the game more (Shadow of Mordor and God of War).

There have also been plent of games when I've been playing for ages and thinking when is the first trophy going to pop? Only to find out I'm still doing the tutorial or something! 😂

@JohnnyShoulder On the flipside of your last point, there was a period on the PS3 where I played two or three games in quick succession that awarded you trophies for literally just starting the game. The one I remember most was GoldenEye 007 Reloaded, where I'd noticed a trophy saying "Meet up with 006 at the Dam" and I thought okay, that's gonna be my first objective or something... nope, literally how the first cutscene opens, pops after the loading screen.

By and large, I think my most favourite trophy lists have been ones where I've gotten a steady progression throughout the story or "main" game, which brings me to around 50% or 60% once the credits have rolled; mostly just for clearing levels or objectives, with a handful of cumulative tally ones thrown in for good measure. The remaining trophies have then been skill-based rewards or challenges to push myself a little bit further, or funny little in-jokes or special circumstances to trigger the unlock. Stuff that's fun and achievable because your playthrough has steadily increased your ability, where you kinda go "if I come back for these later, they'll be tougher to get; better unlock them now whilst I've got my eye in".

Games that give you 10% for clearing the story and then expect you to "get six headshots in four seconds with your eyes closed on Nightmare difficulty during the final boss, using only one hand" for the rest feel really cheap, and will genuinely put me off ever returning to the game they belong to.

Got Spider-Man's platinum today. It's my 19th platinum trophy.

Not a hard platinum, but I didn't like having to get the best rank for some of Taskmaster's challenges just to make every suit.

@DerMeister I'm only a couple of trophies away from my platinum and should finish it later tonight. Luckily I realised those challenge tokens were scarce early on and didn't waste any on gadgets meaning the suits were much easier to get