DEI2EK Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 6 minutes ago, SnowNinjaRaccoon said: To quote the merchant in RE4: "Got something that might interest ya!" I think that game might destroy you completely: https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/7876-koihimeenbu-ryorairai So I nominate Koihime Enbu Ryo RaiRai for the 2nd round of your challenge. From what I heard the game has combo-challenges which make other fighting games look like a walk in the park, haven't played it myself so far though. Went to that page and saw the game didn't have any metadata originally so i pulled it in so lurking this thread helped me update a game thanks lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 (edited) 16 hours ago, SnowNinjaRaccoon said: To quote the merchant in RE4: "Got something that might interest ya!" I think that game might destroy you completely: https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/7876-koihimeenbu-ryorairai So I nominate Koihime Enbu Ryo RaiRai for the 2nd round of your challenge. From what I heard the game has combo-challenges which make other fighting games look like a walk in the park, haven't played it myself so far though. Yeah, Koihime Enbu Ryo RaiRai probably would destroy me. ? Even surviving the trials in fighting games like Skullgirls 2nd Encore took every last drop of patience I could muster. That said, fighting games are one of the few genres I've chosen to exclude from the nomination list (there are a set of nomination criteria in the OP) because I don't really have much experience in the genre and I rarely enjoy them that much either. So, while the game is a great pick for fighting game enthusiasts looking to get destroyed, I'll have to pass myself. Sorry! If you have any other games you would like to nominate instead, please let me know! Edited December 29, 2020 by ExistentialSolid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeman4200 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 Binding of isaac depends on how well you can play with the different tear effects and many little things that help out in the long run. It's an amazing game. But damn is beating the whole game without getting hit is fucking hard. And you gotta do it like 4 times with that character. I seriously had my heart break today. I was so close and had a strong ass run, but one mistake was made...and I died :(. It still hurts...but I learned to never make that mistake again. It's so fun to watch tho. Watch sinvicta who has a 1006 streak now. It's crazy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 (edited) 14 hours ago, BB-BakkerJ said: Action Henk is awesome! If you already have it in your backlog go and play it. Difficulty is around 8/10 imo. It does look fun! If I can survive Ikaruga and Action Henk doesn't get nominated, maybe I'll check it out while the 2nd poll is live to pass the time. 3 hours ago, freeman4200 said: Binding of isaac depends on how well you can play with the different tear effects and many little things that help out in the long run. It's an amazing game. But damn is beating the whole game without getting hit is fucking hard. And you gotta do it like 4 times with that character. I seriously had my heart break today. I was so close and had a strong ass run, but one mistake was made...and I died :(. It still hurts...but I learned to never make that mistake again. It's so fun to watch tho. Watch sinvicta who has a 1006 streak now. It's crazy I took a look at Sinvicta and he really is nuts. High-level play with calm, insightful narration is always impressive to watch. The fact that he's posted over 1,000 videos on Binding of Isaac is absurd and I wish I had that level of dedication. It sounds like you really enjoy the game even if the challenge can be brutal so I'm definitely interested in checking it out sometime regardless of whether it wins a future poll. ? Edited December 29, 2020 by ExistentialSolid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted December 30, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 30, 2020 (edited) ~ Ikaruga Progress Update #2 ~ Which trophies have you earned?Grade-Specific Trophies: (Awarded for earning an S and S++ Grade on Chapter 1)One Coin Clear: (Awarded for completing the game on any difficulty without using a continue) Tell me about them! Last week, I was in struggle city trying to grind out an S++ grade on chapter 1 of Ikaruga. But now, after 11 total in-game hours of practice and having to switch reference videos to learn more consistent routing, I finally achieved my S++! I am thrilled with the final result: my movement was clean, my chaining was gorgeous, and there were no deaths to speak of. If you'd like to see the run for yourself, here's the video! [Special thanks to @Vergil (DPatriot) for his chapter 1 S++ video through which I was able to learn much more consistent routing! The section I struggled with considerably in last week's update can be found at around 1:39.] Let me explain a little of what's going on as parts of this video will probably be confusing to some players without context. At the start, you will notice me getting unnecessarily close to some of these enemies before destroying them. The reason I'm doing this is to absorb more of each enemy's revenge bullets (bullets that spawn once an enemy is destroyed). If I destroy enemies while they are close to me, I will be able to absorb a higher percentage of these bullets than if I were to destroy them at long-range. Now, there are two reasons why I would want to absorb these bullets at any given time: I earn points for every bullet absorbed and I gain power for every bullet absorbed (indicated by the bar on the left side of the screen). Normally, there is little need to take risks like this for the sake of absorbing more bullets as the points gained by them is fairly low and there are often enough bullets flying around to fill your power bar without the extra effort. But, when you spend hours in these stages, unnecessary risks can keep things more exciting and can also provide a convenient score buffer if you miss 1-2 enemy chains. Something I have yet to discuss, but is important throughout this run, are quick kills and bonus enemies. Often in Ikaruga, if you destroy a set of enemies quickly, you will be "awarded" with even more enemies to destroy to fill in what would otherwise be dead air. For example, if you check my video at 1:15, you will see me quickly destroy 4 large tank-like enemies. Destroying these tanks quickly results in the tiny "popcorn" enemies that appear at 1:23. I have seen up to 6 sets of these enemies appear depending on how quickly I destroy these tanks. However, if you are slow in destroying these tanks, you may only see 2-3 sets of these enemies or even none at all. It is often crucial for the S++ grades to maximize the number of bonus enemies you encounter (more enemies will mean more points to work with). As a result, quick kills are often vital to your success. Now, some of you eagle-eyed viewers might notice that I had already achieved the S++ grade prior to this run's completion (you can tell by the achievement already being present on the left side of the screen (4th tile from the top of the 1st column)). My original S++ grade had an embarrassing death during the boss fight and a pause mid-fight when I was convinced the run was over. So, not being happy with the result, I spent an extra hour to get the video you see above which is a much cleaner and more satisfying result after all of the practice that went into this one. While I was trying to get a cleaner run, I learned something the hard way about chapter 1's boss that, if you're curious, you can find in this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ybwTcbXeqo.What about the 1CC? This is the next exciting bit of news! I was able to finish Ikaruga without using a continue! Granted, this run was on easy difficulty, with 5 starting lives, and with extra lives every 2,000,000 points. But it's a 1CC nonetheless and was sufficient to earn the trophy! The video below is quite long (23 minutes) so no worries if you'd rather skip this one (though I hope you check out the S++!). However, if you'd like to see a full 1CC playthrough of Ikaruga, this video will be here for you: A lot of the strategies I used in this run to safely navigate my way through the game came courtesy of a YouTuber that goes by Blinge. He has a well-detailed walkthrough of the game on his channel (also included in the PSNP guide) in which he guides the player through the game, highlighting safe and consistent strategies along the way. Definitely consider checking him out if you're looking to 1CC Ikaruga as his video helped me considerably.What's next? My plan is to dive right away into chapter 2 and learn the next S++ route! I will update you all on my progress and go more in-depth with my struggles with the chapter on January 3rd. Thank you all for sticking with me! I really appreciate all the kind words and support and I will continue to try my best to make these updates worthwhile! Edited December 31, 2020 by ExistentialSolid 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Ikaruga is clearly out of my league. Old school style shmups are some of the most difficult games out there, and Ikaruga would probably age me at least a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted December 31, 2020 Author Share Posted December 31, 2020 (edited) 12 hours ago, Spaz said: Ikaruga is clearly out of my league. Old school style shmups are some of the most difficult games out there, and Ikaruga would probably age me at least a few years. I don't think Ikaruga is out of your league. Even if it is a shmup, improving at the game isn't much different than improving at other difficult games like Super Meat Boy. Having the patience to learn each chapter by heart and practicing long enough to develop the muscle memory needed to pull off an S++, while certainly difficult, can be done by just about anyone with enough determination I feel. Something that has always intimidated me about most shmups though are how they often are unafraid to throw bullets at ridiculous speeds at you. Reacting to something that is seemingly impossible to react to feels...well impossible. One of the only shmups I've played in recent years, Raiden V, was guilty of throwing bullets at absurd speeds at the player and I dreaded every minute of it. I know that the patterns of the bullets and the positioning of your ship can also be memorized, so, obviously, it isn't really impossible, but the action felt incoherent and frustrating as a result. In Ikaruga, bullets travel at manageable speeds that just about anyone can react to so every death feels like my fault and I rarely end up frustrated. Edited December 31, 2020 by ExistentialSolid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Yes, it’s not impossible. However, I got too much on my backlog to invest time in a game like Ikaruga. Resogun’s DLC will keep me busy enough, including the local co op trophy and beating Commando Mode. So I’m good on shmups. I also have Super Stardust HD, may pick up Super Stardust Ultra at some point in the future, but because VR platforms give me severe motion sickness, unlikely I’ll earn the 100 percent because the DLC requires I get a PS VR. Stupid decision to put DLC like that behind the VR, but nothing I can do about it. 2021 is going to be more backlog clean up. Got a number of game series where I’m one, two games from completing the entirety of them. Mafia, Metro, Middle Earth, Just Cause, Trine, Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot and Prince of Persia. So I will be looking forward to every one of them. The hardest will be Crash Bandicoot followed by Mega Man. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 (edited) 20 hours ago, Spaz said: 2021 is going to be more backlog clean up. Got a number of game series where I’m one, two games from completing the entirety of them. Mafia, Metro, Middle Earth, Just Cause, Trine, Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot and Prince of Persia. So I will be looking forward to every one of them. The hardest will be Crash Bandicoot followed by Mega Man. Sounds like some great picks for series completion. ? For Mega Man, I still need to get around to the Legacy Collections (originals and Zero/ZX) myself. 10 might be worth going back to at some point as well. Mega Man 11 is a gem so I think you'll like that one once you get around to it. It has all the essentials covered: a steep but fair challenge, solid platforming, and fun boss fights. For Crash, the only one I have left is 4 but I'm looking forward to starting it once it goes on sale for a price I can afford. Not sure how much you enjoy racing games, but I thought Crash Team Racing was easily one of the best racers I've played in years so you may enjoy that one too. Edited January 1, 2021 by ExistentialSolid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Mega Man 10 is a PS3 PSN title, if it’s on PS Now I definitely suggest playing it on that. Mr Perfect is definitely the hardest trophy, used Protoman mostly for his shield, saved my ass on several occasions. Mega Man 11 I probably won’t get until I finish Mighty No 9. Basically a poor mans Mega Man, graphics are horrible and the game was received poorly. I don’t know how Crash 4 and CTR: Nitro Fueled run on an OG PS4. Load times were a bit annoying in the N Sane Trilogy. Crash 4 I hear is by far the most difficult, so I’ll see how hard it is when I finally get around to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 (edited) 18 hours ago, Spaz said: Mega Man 10 is a PS3 PSN title, if it’s on PS Now I definitely suggest playing it on that. Mr Perfect is definitely the hardest trophy, used Protoman mostly for his shield, saved my ass on several occasions. Mega Man 11 I probably won’t get until I finish Mighty No 9. Basically a poor mans Mega Man, graphics are horrible and the game was received poorly. I don’t know how Crash 4 and CTR: Nitro Fueled run on an OG PS4. Load times were a bit annoying in the N Sane Trilogy. Crash 4 I hear is by far the most difficult, so I’ll see how hard it is when I finally get around to it. I actually played through Mega Man 10 back in 2015, but it was before I cared much about trophy hunting so I only have 2 of the game's 12 trophies. I remember thinking Mr. Perfect was impossible so I figured, "why bother trying" and settled on beating the game. I didn't really understand the importance of practice back then so I just assumed that most challenging games were out of my league. Good luck with Mighty No 9! The no-death run (challenge 36) was such a chore; I was just relieved when the game was over. The trophy guides on PSNP and PST both underestimate the difficulty imo. Felt more like a 7 or an 8 than a 5 personally but maybe that's due in part to some of the questionable design choices rather than actual difficulty. ? I'm looking forward to the difficulty of Crash 4. I think I only earned 2 or 3 of the platinum relics in the original trilogy (since there wasn't really any incentive to collect them) so grabbing them all this time around should be a nice change of pace and will probably present a pretty steep challenge. Edited January 2, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: I actually played through Mega Man 10 back in 2015, but it was before I cared much about trophy hunting so I only have 2 of the game's 12 trophies. I remember thinking Mr. Perfect was impossible so I figured, "why bother trying" and settled on beating the game. I didn't really understand the importance of practice back then so I just assumed that most challenging games were out of my league. Definitely not an 8 out of 10 in difficulty for me. More like a higher 6 or 7 out of 10. If you take your time with it, you will definitely get it done. You can get Mr Perfect with either Mega Man or Bass, but I suggest Protoman because again, his shield. Only problem is you have to jump for him to pull it out. I wish I was into trophy hunting much earlier. Starting back in 2008 - 2010 would of been ideal, could of played a lot of the old PS3 PSN titles which were fairly popular at that time. Now they're all practically dead save for maybe one or two of them out of over a hundred PS3 era PSN titles. I will still play Super Stardust HD, and I will do both Sonic Adventures as I want every Sonic game finished. For most of them, it's just not worth it. PS4 era PSN titles not only look better and run a lot smoother, they're far more accessible. A good majority of my PSN games are basically PS4 titles that I picked up for under $5 - 10. I have to jump through hoops to gain access to the PS3 PSN titles, you may find some on PS Now but many of them are not on that service. A lot more convenient to just look at the PS4 PSN titles, there's enough challenging ones out there without having to go back to the PS3. But as the saying goes, 'better late than never'. 4 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Good luck with Mighty No 9! The no-death run (challenge 36) was such a chore; I was just relieved when the game was over. The trophy guides on PSNP and PST both underestimate the difficulty imo. Felt more like a 7 or an 8 than a 5 personally but maybe that's due in part to some of the questionable design choices rather than actual difficulty. The game looks horrible and it was badly received at launch. I only dabbled in it a few times, only beaten a couple levels so I don't know much about the game. Does it play just like Mega Man? I think everyone would agree that Mega Man 11 is a much better game. 4 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: I'm looking forward to the difficulty of Crash 4. I think I only earned 2 or 3 of the platinum relics in the original trilogy (since there wasn't really any incentive to collect them) so grabbing them all this time around should be a nice change of pace and will probably present a pretty steep challenge. Platinum Relics are very difficult because you literally cannot make any mistakes. Your runs have to be perfect. I earned about four or five of them, but some, especially when you got to the Lab levels, were really challenging. You can easily spend hours and hours getting one or two platinum relics. Crash 4 looks to be a challenge and people have reported spending over 100 hours on it. Definitely look forward to playing it myself. Edited January 2, 2021 by Spaz 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted January 3, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 3, 2021 (edited) ~ Ikaruga Progress Update #3 ~ Which trophies have you earned?Grade-Specific Trophies: (Awarded for earning an A, S, and S++ grade on Chapter 2)Co-op Trophies: (Awarded for completing one chapter in any co-op mode without using a continue)Tell me about them! When your heart starts pounding out of your chest, when your hands start to tremble with the anticipation of victory, when you start muttering obscenities to yourself at 4 AM, this is when you know the challenge has arrived! Chapter 2 was absolutely relentless, but, after roughly 9 in-game hours of practice, I was finally able to earn an S++ grade in chapter 2! I'm really happy with my performance overall but I should let the final product speak for itself. Here's the video of the run! [Special thanks once again to @Vergil (DPatriot) for his chapter 2 S++ video that I used as a reference for my own run's routing!] Eerie isn't it? Without the music on, it seems less like a game and more like some absurdist ballet of toy planes and colored bullets. Sound effects like the gates opening and bullets being absorbed are usually drowned out in all the excitement but can now be heard in unsettling isolation. In all seriousness, the music was a little obnoxious in this chapter and I turned it off so I could focus a bit better. ? Don't worry, I plan to turn it back on for chapters 3 and 4! Anyway, you came here for the struggle, not to hear me wax poetic about the music being turned off! Let's start by taking a look at this section: This dizzying dance with enemy planes was the trickiest section to master overall but, thankfully, it takes place in the first 30 seconds of the level so practice wasn't as painful as it could have been. Memorization was more complicated than you might imagine though because bullets are fired towards your general location for the entirety of the sequence, so you couldn't really get away with staying in one place for too long without turning into a pile of rubble. My approach was to treat this section sort of like a song: it has a beat and a rhythm that you will start to feel as you play it over and over. What helped me was to count the enemy chains like units of the song and to group them together according to the pattern of the enemy arrangements I was supposed to destroy. In my head, the grouping of the song went something like this: [1-2-3], Unique Transition Chain, [1-2-3], [1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9]. Each grouping would roughly correspond to a different route I would need to take with my plane when firing at the enemy. I then kept track of the general shape (route) I was making with my plane during each successful chain group and tried to replicate these shapes each time the appropriate point in the sequence was reached. All of this nonsense is really just to say that it takes time and practice. You will eventually find patterns in the madness if you immerse yourself in it for long enough. Next up, I'd like to talk about this seemingly innocuous box sequence: The boxes aren't always arranged this way. While the 1st, 3rd, and 5th rows are fixed, the timing of the 2nd and 4th rows seems to fluctuate. There seems to be only two patterns but I failed this section dozens of times trying to understand what was going on. Random elements are something that Ikaruga seems to like to slip in when it can as chapter 1 had a similar section that required a bit of improvisation (the bonus popcorn enemies that would show up if you destroyed the four tanks quickly enough always appeared in different patterns). As these chapters get more and more complex, I could probably ramble about them for longer and longer (there are two other sections I almost prattled on about instead!) but that's part of the beauty of Ikaruga. There's so much going on at one time that it feels almost impossible to explain it all coherently without writing out full-blown essays. If there are any sections you would like to hear more about in any of my S++ runs, feel free to ask and I'll be happy to ramble away!Huh, you earned a co-op trophy? Oh, right! I don't really have much to say just yet about the co-op trophies as plans are still tentative but testing is happening and a full co-op run may happen soon! The trophy I earned was for completing chapter 1 in co-op without using a continue but that's nothing compared to the full co-op 1CC so there's still a lot of work to be done. What's next? I plan to keep rolling with my S++ pursuit by tackling chapter 4 next! This looks to be the 2nd hardest chapter of the game and I'm excited to see how far it can push me. Here's a peek at some of what the chapter throws at you: Looks terrifying and I love it! As always, thank you all for sticking with me through these updates. ? I'll be back with the next update on January 8th! (*Edit: Accidentally listed the next update as "Dec. 8th" by mistake. Sorry for any confusion!) Edited January 4, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergil Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Nice going. Did you do those gifs yourself? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
You Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 I watched the whole video, it does seem very weird having no music. Hats off to you, I never got an S on any levels lol. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 46 minutes ago, Vergil said: Nice going. Did you do those gifs yourself? Thanks! ? Yeah, I made those gifs really quick in Imgur. The footage in the first two gifs are taken directly from my run while the footage in the bottom gif is taken from the reference video for chapter 4 on the PSNP guide. 12 minutes ago, enaysoft said: I watched the whole video, it does seem very weird having no music. Hats off to you, I never got an S on any levels lol. Thank you! It really was weird without music. ? If I ever end up turning the music off again, I'll be sure to turn it back on when the S++ is a possibility, otherwise these runs will all be kinda creepy. Something I discovered late is that, if I download my replay of the run off the leaderboard, I can simply turn on music again and it will play during the replay. So I probably could have just used my replay data instead of the raw footage and music would be back to normal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenoblast91 Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Do you even sleep, bro? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 20 hours ago, Spaz said: I wish I was into trophy hunting much earlier. Starting back in 2008 - 2010 would of been ideal, could of played a lot of the old PS3 PSN titles which were fairly popular at that time. Now they're all practically dead save for maybe one or two of them out of over a hundred PS3 era PSN titles. I will still play Super Stardust HD, and I will do both Sonic Adventures as I want every Sonic game finished. For most of them, it's just not worth it. PS4 era PSN titles not only look better and run a lot smoother, they're far more accessible. A good majority of my PSN games are basically PS4 titles that I picked up for under $5 - 10. I have to jump through hoops to gain access to the PS3 PSN titles, you may find some on PS Now but many of them are not on that service. A lot more convenient to just look at the PS4 PSN titles, there's enough challenging ones out there without having to go back to the PS3. But as the saying goes, 'better late than never'. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to start earlier too though I doubt I could have convinced my younger self that trophy hunting was any fun. Back then, I had more fun playing for the sake of playing and liked to jump from game to game whenever I started to get bored. But people change I suppose. Nowadays, it's much easier to stick with a game to completion but it's harder for me to find as much enjoyment in gaming as I used to so I've sought out challenging stuff to try to bring some sort of thrill to the table but the results have been hit and miss. I've thought about doing both Sonic Adventures as well (along with Unleashed at some point) since I grew up with the 3D Sonic games and have always had a bit of a soft spot for them. But with the hoops to jump through and my last PS3 controller being kind of a pain to use, I have been losing much reason to go back and give them a shot. 20 hours ago, Spaz said: The game looks horrible and it was badly received at launch. I only dabbled in it a few times, only beaten a couple levels so I don't know much about the game. Does it play just like Mega Man? I think everyone would agree that Mega Man 11 is a much better game. It feels a little bit like Mega Man but plays like an experiment gone wrong. Defeating an enemy in the game usually requires the player to dash into them once they have been stunned (you can usually destroy most enemies without dashing into them but it takes more bullets to do so). The game seems to have been designed around this dashing mechanic as you are encouraged to speed through the levels destroying enemies and dashing through them as quickly as possible. It can feel good once you get into a groove and chain together kill after kill but the enemies often feel like fodder and do little to make the levels more interesting. It doesn't help that the dash can trivialize some platforming sections entirely. I still remember an underwater section that you can skip almost the entirety of by just dashing mid-air repeatedly as soon as you enter. Insta-kill hazards are littered everywhere and, after a while, become your biggest obstacle to getting a clean run through a level. You have the ability to ledge-grab to avoid some of these insta-kills but grabbing ledges feels finnicky and unusually precise so I usually died anyway. I spent most of my time with that game fuming over deaths that felt unfair or mindlessly cleaning up fodder enemies. 20 hours ago, Spaz said: Platinum Relics are very difficult because you literally cannot make any mistakes. Your runs have to be perfect. I earned about four or five of them, but some, especially when you got to the Lab levels, were really challenging. You can easily spend hours and hours getting one or two platinum relics. Crash 4 looks to be a challenge and people have reported spending over 100 hours on it. Definitely look forward to playing it myself. With how difficult some of the platinum relic times looked in the original trilogy, I can't say I'm too surprised to see 100 hour+ times for 4's platinum. Chasing near-perfect times can be a blast though if the gameplay is enjoyable and Crash 4 certainly looks the part to me. Looking forward to it as well! 2 hours ago, Xenoblast91 said: Do you even sleep, bro? I got a full 40 minutes! ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trumpet_Boi_208 Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Where does this platinum rank when it comes to your most difficult platinums of all time? Is it too early to tell? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergil Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Btw. Don't know If you know about it but. All S++ can be done in co-op. You will get double boss Score 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExistentialSolid Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Trumpet_Boi_208 said: Where does this platinum rank when it comes to your most difficult platinums of all time? Is it too early to tell? Right now, it's kind of tough for me to tell for sure. I've saved the hardest two chapters (3 and 4) for the end and they may very well push this into my "most difficult platinum" slot but, right now, I can only use the other three chapters I've earned an S++ on as a difficulty reference point (1, 2, and Final). In terms of the precision required so far, I'd personally place Ikaruga alongside games like SMB, Trials Fusion, and Trackmania Turbo but I have trouble deciding whether or not it is definitively "more difficult" than some of these other games. Part of that has to do with the brevity of each chapter. While each chapter requires hours of practice to master, they also only last 3-6 minutes. If you compare this to Super Meat Boy, a no-death run of Dark Cotton Alley (and some of the harder worlds) may last something closer to 7-10 minutes and require similar levels of precision. If there were a trophy requiring the player to earn all 5 S++ grades in sequence, there would be no question whatsoever that this is more difficult but you get the luxury of focusing on one chapter at a time and, often, on easy difficulty to make chaining a bit less dangerous. Another difficulty for me in trying to compare this game to others is my general inexperience with shmups. What may be difficult for me, as an amateur shmup player, might be considerably easier for someone more experienced in the genre. All that said, I think the general consensus is that Ikaruga is more difficult than SMB (which I would personally consider my hardest overall platinum) so I'm excited to see what sort of challenge these last two chapters hold! 4 hours ago, Vergil said: Btw. Don't know If you know about it but. All S++ can be done in co-op. You will get double boss Score Ah, that's right! I remember hearing about that early on but completely forgot about it. With something like chapter 4, the boss score with a decent time is often so high, that, if it were doubled, you would be around 40% of the way to an S++ with that alone. You could probably miss quite a few chains and/or break your chain and still earn an S++ with that approach. I think something would be lost in earning the S++ grades with that approach though so I will save that as a last resort (co-op is a pain to coordinate anyway). Edited January 4, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergil Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Chapter 3 becomes very easy in co-op prototype mode. Boss goes down in seconds. Doing it solo however is totally different. Obviously it takes little time to set up so everything goes right But doing all solo its 10/10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to start earlier too though I doubt I could have convinced my younger self that trophy hunting was any fun. Back then, I had more fun playing for the sake of playing and liked to jump from game to game whenever I started to get bored. But people change I suppose. Nowadays, it's much easier to stick with a game to completion but it's harder for me to find as much enjoyment in gaming as I used to so I've sought out challenging stuff to try to bring some sort of thrill to the table but the results have been hit and miss. I've thought about doing both Sonic Adventures as well (along with Unleashed at some point) since I grew up with the 3D Sonic games and have always had a bit of a soft spot for them. But with the hoops to jump through and my last PS3 controller being kind of a pain to use, I have been losing much reason to go back and give them a shot. You were rather young 10 years ago so I would of been surprised if you actually stuck to playing those older games to completion. I was already in my early 20s and had my own job so I had no problem picking up new Xbox 360 games by myself. The thing is I didn’t go for all the achievements, I played them mostly for fun and when they stopped being fun, I moved on. It’s a bit difficult to find a real PS3 controller anymore. There is literally a ton of cheap Chinese knockoffs on Amazon. I was scammed last year because I thought I got a real PS3 controller. Turns out the controller was fake, buttons felt more stiff to the touch, control sticks weren’t as smooth, and the shoulder buttons creaked every time I pressed them down. This in turn makes some games a little more difficult to play. 5 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: It feels a little bit like Mega Man but plays like an experiment gone wrong. Defeating an enemy in the game usually requires the player to dash into them once they have been stunned (you can usually destroy most enemies without dashing into them but it takes more bullets to do so). The game seems to have been designed around this dashing mechanic as you are encouraged to speed through the levels destroying enemies and dashing through them as quickly as possible. It can feel good once you get into a groove and chain together kill after kill but the enemies often feel like fodder and do little to make the levels more interesting. It doesn't help that the dash can trivialize some platforming sections entirely. I still remember an underwater section that you can skip almost the entirety of by just dashing mid-air repeatedly as soon as you enter. Insta-kill hazards are littered everywhere and, after a while, become your biggest obstacle to getting a clean run through a level. You have the ability to ledge-grab to avoid some of these insta-kills but grabbing ledges feels finnicky and unusually precise so I usually died anyway. I spent most of my time with that game fuming over deaths that felt unfair or mindlessly cleaning up fodder enemies. Interesting. This was a PS Plus game and like most I picked up the game through that. But the gameplay felt off, like it was trying to be like Mega Man but failed to execute. One of many examples of Japanese developers doing a superior job in game mechanics. Dark Souls you would think would have a couple decent knockoffs. So far I haven’t found anything that emulates the gameplay quite as well. I tried out Lords of the Fallen, and it is literally a poor mans Dark Souls. Cumbersome and not that fun to play. 5 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: With how difficult some of the platinum relic times looked in the original trilogy, I can't say I'm too surprised to see 100 hour+ times for 4's platinum. Chasing near-perfect times can be a blast though if the gameplay is enjoyable and Crash 4 certainly looks the part to me. Looking forward to it as well! Having an OG PS4 may put me at an disadvantage. Several late era PS4 games were seemingly built with the PS4 Pro in mind. That of course has Boost Mode which improves performance. Buying the Pro now is completely worthless though. If it’s as tight and strict as people say, Crash 4 is easiest the hardest in the series to platinum. Edited January 4, 2021 by Spaz 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trumpet_Boi_208 Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 4 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Right now, it's kind of tough for me to tell for sure. I've saved the hardest two chapters (3 and 4) for the end and they may very well push this into my "most difficult platinum" slot but, right now, I can only use the other three chapters I've earned an S++ on as a difficulty reference point (1, 2, and Final). In terms of the precision required so far, I'd personally place Ikaruga alongside games like SMB, Trials Fusion, and Trackmania Turbo but I have trouble deciding whether or not it is definitively "more difficult" than some of these other games. Part of that has to do with the brevity of each chapter. While each chapter requires hours of practice to master, they also only last 3-6 minutes. If you compare this to Super Meat Boy, a no-death run of Dark Cotton Alley (and some of the harder worlds) may last something closer to 7-10 minutes and require similar levels of precision. If there were a trophy requiring the player to earn all 5 S++ grades in sequence, there would be no question whatsoever that this is more difficult but you get the luxury of focusing on one chapter at a time and, often, on easy difficulty to make chaining a bit less dangerous. Another difficulty for me in trying to compare this game to others is my general inexperience with shmups. What may be difficult for me, as an amateur shmup player, might be considerably easier for someone more experienced in the genre. All that said, I think the general consensus is that Ikaruga is more difficult than SMB (which I would personally consider my hardest overall platinum) so I'm excited to see what sort of challenge these last two chapters hold! I’ve never played Ikaruga or SMB, but judging from what you said, it seems like SMB is more difficult. However, I remember you mentioning in a previous post that there are random elements present in the game. If that’s an apparent thing in an infamously difficult shmup, combined with your inexperience with the genre, then it could be a no-brainer on what’s more difficult. But, this is all subjective on your end, so I have no right to judge on what’s more difficult for you. Good luck on chapters 3 and 4! 2 hours ago, Spaz said: Having an OG PS4 may put me at an disadvantage. Several late era PS4 games were seemingly built with the PS4 Pro in mind. That of course has Boost Mode which improves performance. Buying the Pro now is completely worthless though. If it’s as tight and strict as people say, Crash 4 is easiest the hardest in the series to platinum. If you attempt it on an OG PS4, then you are at a disadvantage, since a regular PS4 runs it at roughly 40 frames per second, while the Pro runs it at a frame rate near 60. Considering that people are calling it tight and strict, then your odds of platinum are slimmer than they already are. Yikes... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 2 hours ago, Trumpet_Boi_208 said: If you attempt it on an OG PS4, then you are at a disadvantage, since a regular PS4 runs it at roughly 40 frames per second, while the Pro runs it at a frame rate near 60. Considering that people are calling it tight and strict, then your odds of platinum are slimmer than they already are. Yikes... I've done harder stuff than Crash 4 so I can definitely earn that platinum. Had I waited another year I could of picked up a Slim or Pro PS4. But those are worthless now, and I can't afford a PS5 console, so I'm basically stuck for a while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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