The Ultra Rare Cleanup 2021

[Joe Dubz]

11 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

I would like to make a swap: 

 

Out: Bleed

In: Pier Solar and the Great Architects

 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a NPC to talk to and a Platinum to earn. 

 

I'll be back in 5 minutes. 

What, no way........!! I hope this means what I think it means!! Go Arcesius GOOOOOOOO!!

 

Edit: yep I just checked your profile and you def got it!! So happy for you bud, I knew you had it in you!! Woohoo! Congrats on that very hard earned plat, you deserve it. I'm glad this is no longer the thorn in your side, you must have been in BEASTMODE!!

Edited May 27, 2021 by Joe Dubz

[Miles]

@ArcesiusGood job on that Pier Solar platinum buddy, about damn time!

 

I swear you somehow managed to make that game seem harder than Splasher :') 

 

[Arcesius]

Ehm... IT'S FUCKING DONE!!!! ????

 

Oh, I lost my composture there for a moment... Excuse me. 

 

 

Let me tell you a story nobody asked for... You see, Pier Solar is a very special game in my gaming history. It has the honor of being the first game, ever, to break me. I mean it! 

 

It is a classic RPG, developed for the Sega Mega Drive... and it's a pretty good game, too! I started it in December 2019, when I was craving an old school RPG. And it did its job pretty well, for sure! 

 

Now, I finished the story and all side activities, did some cleaning up, and was only left with a certain minigame. The "Eternal Slip" minigame. If you look it up, it really doesn't look too bad. I told to myself that it would be awesome to get it done before Christmas that year.. and so I started to grind. 

 

But my mind wasn't in quite in the right place... I had seriously underestimated how tedious, boring, repetitive and endurance-asking this minigame would turn out to be. And it brought me down... I just couldn't get it done, man! And with every failed attempt, I would get more frustrated, and more frustrated, and more frustrated... Until I gave up. I told myself "that's not worth shit, just let it go". And for 1.5 years, I did... Pier Solar was on my list, mocking me at 88% completion... and trust me, I tried to go back.. I fired up the game for sure 10 times in the last 1.5 years, but that feeling of frustration would rise almost immediately. 

 

Until... yesterday. I don't know what it was, but after I finished Splasher, I was calm. In the evening, I fired up the game and.. something was different. I was failing, sure, but I wasn't getting frustrated... In fact, I couldn't stop trying! 

 

It took me 2.5 hours, but I made it all the way to the end of the slippery path... Got the checkpoint, put the PS4 in rest mode and went to sleep. 

 

I just came home from work and... made it all the way back to the start, earning that platinum! 

 

 

I honestly don't know what else to say.. Just that I am unbelievably happy to have conquered what has been my white whale for the last 1.5 years! It's not even THAT hard, but something prevented me from getting it done.... 

 

In any case... there have been quite a few people that have pushed me to get this done.. that have encouraged me to keep at it, to take it slow, to avoid frustration.. but to not give up... Thanks SO MUCH for all of your encouragement  I truly appreciate it. 

 

 

Now, there is only one game incomplete on my profile.. unfortunately, it's Crypt of the NecroDancer, and I'm not yet ready to go back to it (you know.. barely found time for Splasher, soooo...). I might swap Fury Unleashed with Rive or so, since I want to do that game when @Miles is ready to go but he won't start it soon I believe. 

 

Sorry for the long text, but this felt... well, relieving, to say the least... 

Edited May 27, 2021 by Arcesius

[Roronora_Zoro666]

If we’re nominating new Bounties, I would suggest all 3 Project Diva 100% titles on PS3. The ones where you have to get perfect on Extreme.

https://psnprofiles.com/series/122-hatsune-miku

 

 

 

There’s also Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Servers are down, but that is the only game that can still be platinumed. If you start that now, it’s arguably the hardest one to date as you have to do everything by yourself.

 

Theres also Green Day: Rock Band which has the hardest drum lessons to do and Beatles: Rock Band which is slightly easier, but still hard in that regard.

Edited May 27, 2021 by Roronora_Zoro666

[Copanele]

1 hour ago, Roronora_Zoro666 said:

If we’re nominating new Bounties, I would suggest all 3 Project Diva 100% titles on PS3. The ones where you have to get perfect on Extreme.

https://psnprofiles.com/series/122-hatsune-miku

 

 

 

There’s also Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Servers are down, but that is the only game that can still be platinumed. If you start that now, it’s arguably the hardest one to date as you have to do everything by yourself.

 

Theres also Green Day: Rock Band which has the hardest drum lessons to do and Beatles: Rock Band which is slightly easier, but still hard in that regard.

I think for that genre in particular only one entry, max 2 are good enough, because a lot of them are nasty hard  

We also do not offer medical support in case of broken controllers and moral loss caused by the Japanese rhythm games?

[dertswa687o]

5 hours ago, Copanele said:

Well, as a conclusion (and thanks to the replies), I will not add XCom 2 or Star Ocean 4 on the Most Wanted list, given they are grind based (and XCom 2 can be even cheesed apparently).

I would rather add something that would punish the skills and reflexes (and your entire life in the case of Necrodancer )

 

I'm fine with Star Ocean 4 not being added but I would like to defend the game's plat and grindy games in general. And I guess to me, this event is the Ultra Rare Cleanup, not the Ultra Hard Cleanup. Ultra Long games are a thing too.

 

Star Ocean 4 is a game that takes the average player well over 400 hours to complete. You can look at the forum thread here and see that the fastest time on the front page was 415 hours with most being over 500 hours. This is not a trivial amount of time no matter how you look at it. It is a multiple-month commitment that tests your patience. Someone starting the game today may literally not have the time to complete the game before the end of the year because of real life.

 

In terms of the game's actual difficulty, it's not hard at all. I'd put it at a 3/10 with a 3-hour risky section of 6/10. There is, however, plenty to screw up along the way. There is a missable within the first 5 minutes of the game. Miss it and you can't get the 100% item creation trophy. There are highly missable chests and quests too, where missing them and not realizing it could set you back a lot of time. The bulk of the time goes to the 900 battle trophies which range from trivial to stupid. The most notorious ones are for killing 30,000 enemies twice. The hardest one is for killing the Ethereal Queen within 10 minutes. The EQ is at the end of a 3-hour randomly generated dungeon with no save points. You have to land the killing blow with a character that cannot easily damage the EQ, who also has no visible health bar. Again, it's probably only worth a 6/10 for this one section as it's not that hard, but it's still very nerve-wracking.

 

Some other grindy games I think about are White Knight Chronicles 1 and 2, Mugen Souls, or even Fortnite. Each of these takes hundreds and hundreds of hours as well. If I see these games completed on someone's list, I do not discount them just because the actual tasks needed to get the plat are easy. These plats require a level of dedication beyond that of your ordinary UR plat. And if we want to think about it in an opportunity cost sense, these people spend all this time monotonously platting these games when they could have spent that time playing different games that they might enjoy more.

 

Grindy games may not test your skills or reflexes, but they can certainly test your patience and persistence.

[Copanele]

12 minutes ago, dertswa687o said:

 

I'm fine with Star Ocean 4 not being added but I would like to defend the game's plat and grindy games in general. And I guess to me, this event is the Ultra Rare Cleanup, not the Ultra Hard Cleanup. Ultra Long games are a thing too.

..

Grindy games may not test your skills or reflexes, but they can certainly test your patience and persistence.

Oh, I did not mean to sound like I look down on grindy games. I know that they can test your patience to the extreme and yes they are in a class of their own. In no way did I consider something like "meh, Star Ocean 4 is some joke of a game". In fact I'd never do a game like that because of the sheer patience that you need with it, to be completely honest . 

 

However...The Most Wanted list's purpose is to have a certain set of games that would give you serious troubles even if you have the skills, patience, determination and perseverance, if you catch my meaning. As in, yes you have the mad experience, the reflexes, the patience of a saint and so on, but input the command one millisecond too late and that's it, gotta do it again. Even with the best layout plan, with the textbook roadmap, the guides, everything, you still screw up. And it's 100% on you.

 

At least that was the idea when we thought this Most Wanted list  

 

NOTE: So far nobody complained yet, but if anyone thinks we should REMOVE a Most Wanted game, let us know (with good reason why, of course).

Edited May 27, 2021 by Copanele

[Arcesius]

 

8 minutes ago, dertswa687o said:

And I guess to me, this event is the Ultra Rare Cleanup, not the Ultra Hard Cleanup. Ultra Long games are a thing too.

 

[...]

 

Some other grindy games I think about are White Knight Chronicles 1 and 2, Mugen Souls, or even Fortnite. Each of these takes hundreds and hundreds of hours as well. If I see these games completed on someone's list, I do not discount them just because the actual tasks needed to get the plat are easy. These plats require a level of dedication beyond that of your ordinary UR plat. And if we want to think about it in an opportunity cost sense, these people spend all this time monotonously platting these games when they could have spent that time playing different games that they might enjoy more.

 

Grindy games may not test your skills or reflexes, but they can certainly test your patience and persistence.

 

Yes, you are absolutely right about what you write. This is a UR cleanup event, and all UR games count  The reason doesn't matter, at least this year it doesn't. And I agree, a huge grind such as the games you mention, test the player in some ways, be it enduring the monotony, having the patience, etc..

 

Nobody is discrediting the effort it takes to plat Star Ocean 4, believe me! If anything, @Baker's statement above about this being his proudest plat speaks for itself, especially given what other games he has completed (and you as well!). 

 

 

BUT, we created the Most Wanted list with the following thought: 

 

On 23.12.2020 at 10:31 AM, Copanele said:

1. In addition, we have put Bounties on specific tough as nails UR games that we believe only the best can complete. These games will raise an additional sum (hence give you more “points”) and will secure you a place in the Hall of Fame! 

 

Our goal with that list was clear. Including games (resp. rewarding players for completen games) that truly test your skill, not necessarily your patience. Now, it might be that we overvalued some games, as stated above with Nuclear Throne and Badland, that's our bad.. but our intentions were clear  

 

 

P.S. Aaaand I see that @Copanele was quicker ? 

[Copanele]

Ok, I have updated the MOST WANTED list with 3 new entries:

• Raiden IV: Overkill [NEW] - 15€ - 3 bounties
• Persona 4 Arena [NEW] - 10€ - 4 bounties
• Tetris Effect [NEW] - 10€ - 4 bounties

We decided not to add Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 on the list in the end, so we won't overcrowd it with fighting games. 

For Tetris Effect, the people who already completed the game have been added to the hall of fame. Congratulations @Kcrack_Km !

 

Now, the suggestion of adding a rhythm/music game is very good, however we would like to add only 2 of them, max 3 (again, to not crowd the list).

Let me know which games are considered the most unfair of them all  

[Together_Comic]

23 hours ago, Danny_Johansen said:

Since people are nominating new most wanted, I'd like to nominate Tetris Effect. Tetris is known by everyone and is a game that requires a lot of dedication to get good at. Often taking up several hundreds of hours in practise just to build muscle memory to get a fast sprint time.

 

I would agree with this.  I've been working on this for nearly 2 years with sprint as the only thing left to do, and I'm still over 5 seconds off.  

 

Edit: and that's what I get for not reading all the posts before commenting.  lol.  Copanele ninja'd me (ok it was an hour ago, maybe they are a slow ninja ?.) 

 

On the bright side, this does give me some motivation to make sure Copanele  Mori and Arcesius are a bit poorer ?

Edited May 28, 2021 by Together_Comic

[Danny_Johansen]

1 hour ago, Copanele said:

Now, the suggestion of adding a rhythm/music game is very good, however we would like to add only 2 of them, max 3 (again, to not crowd the list).

Let me know which games are considered the most unfair of them all  

 

Of all the 3 Japanese exclusive Hatsune Miku Project Diva games, Extend is the most challenging. It requires beating every song with a full combo and many of them are no joke.

 

Another good and challenging rhythm game is Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session. Taiko is a beginner friendly game but gets extremely tough as you go up in the star difficulty. What makes this list hard in particular is the trophy for getting a 10k note streak on a 8 star Extreme song. This is still challenging for rhythm veterans since it can take up to an hour depending on the song and a single mistake means starting over.

[Copanele]

10 hours ago, Together_Comic said:

 

I would agree with this.  I've been working on this for nearly 2 years with sprint as the only thing left to do, and I'm still over 5 seconds off.  

 

Edit: and that's what I get for not reading all the posts before commenting.  lol.  Copanele ninja'd me (ok it was an hour ago, maybe they are a slow ninja .) 

 

On the bright side, this does give me some motivation to make sure Copanele and Arcesius are a bit poorer 

Heh, ninja activated  Wanted to tell, Arcesius and Mori are the actual masterminds behind the good cause event  

Good luck with Tetris :> 

 

[Vergil]

Question. Maybe its too early now but. If there is a Ultra rare clean up 2022. Will it be like a continue from this year or completely new one?

[Arcesius]

9 minutes ago, Vergil said:

Question. Maybe its too early now but. If there is a Ultra rare clean up 2022. Will it be like a continue from this year or completely new one?

 

We haven't discussed this yet, but I think it would be a different event. You guys have provided feedback that we (or whoever decides to host the event) would want to take into consideration when coming up with the event structure. 

 

But yeah, I think it is a bit too early to say. Why are you asking?  

[Vergil]

3 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

We haven't discussed this yet, but I think it would be a different event. You guys have provided feedback that we (or whoever decides to host the event) would want to take into consideration when coming up with the event structure. 

 

But yeah, I think it is a bit too early to say. Why are you asking?  

Just curious

[AuburnDRM]

I was also going to suggest Tetris Effect among all this discussion, so I'm glad it was added! Overall, that seems like a pretty good list of new bounties. I'll agree that Taiko: Drum Session is a beast of a rhythm game (and quite fun, imo) and should be a contender for the bounty list.

 

Maybe this will light a fire under me to put more progress into Tetris, but I've been lazy and was somewhat waiting for that fancy multiplayer update this Summer.

 

On 5/27/2021 at 10:55 AM, Arcesius said:

Until... yesterday. I don't know what it was, but after I finished Splasher, I was calm. In the evening, I fired up the game and.. something was different. I was failing, sure, but I wasn't getting frustrated... In fact, I couldn't stop trying! 

Splasher is such a great game to really level up your patience and focus without being excessively daunting. Congrats on both that and Pier Solar! I'm really glad to see more people enjoying this severely underlooked gem of a platformer. Does the RPG portion of Pier Solar offer any challenge? It definitely seems like an interesting game.

Edited May 28, 2021 by AuburnDRM

[Joe Dubz]

44 minutes ago, AuburnDRM said:

Does the RPG portion of Pier Solar offer any challenge? It definitely seems like an interesting game.

IMO it was not too bad, maybe 4 or 5/10 at most! A decent challenge, but nothing too crazy. It really nails the good old-school JRPG feel, a la FFVI (FF3, if you are from the states like me)! If you think you are able to handle the Eternal Slip minigame, this one gets very high recommendations from me!

 

And that concludes my 2 cents you didn't necessarily ask for! I hope that helps you anyway ?

Edited May 28, 2021 by Joe Dubz

[UnboundedCash99]

yo, how are we doing?

i completely forgot i signed up for this and am just now reporting back that ive done 3 out of the 5 games i've promised i do.

i've done PUBG, Rayman Legends & THPS 1+2 and i would like to take WWE2K19 out for Overwatch 

 

im not sure how this entire process works so if im doing something wrong, please tell me

[ChxpointCharlie]

I've finished my first Tier 2 game.

 

Trackmania Turbo:

 

Wow. This was exactly the adrenaline fix I needed. What a rush! 

 

I was completely new to the Trackmania games, having never played an entry in this series before. I missed it when it was first available on PS+. But thanks to this event, and some of its incredible participants, this cropped up on my radar and I was hooked from the very first green light!

 

I am firmly of the opinion that you don't necessarily have to be from a driving background, or even a racing fan at all to be able to beat this game - considering you're technically not racing per se, rather, you're completing short, 30-120 second time trials and more precisely, memorising tracks. 

 

As some previous achievers (such as Arcesius before me) have pointed out, it almost plays more like an arcade puzzle game, in that the main focus is not on competing against AI racers, but more on learning course layouts, discovering braking points, finding the apexes, where best to place your car in the lead up to a jump to get that precision landing, where you can afford to stay flat-out and where you absolutely have to lift off to avoid spectacular disaster.

 

All in the aim of achieving that perfect track time. And the satisfaction of stringing it all together and pulling off those perfect runs, and the glorious feeling of earning the gold medal, and then subsequently the Trackmaster medal is unmatched. 

 

Of course, having some prior knowledge of racing lines, throttle control, cornering techniques and clipping points is invaluable. And whatever your preference, arcade/sim, or whatever discipline you hail from, be it drifting, rallycross, off-road or open wheel/formula, there is definitely something here for you!

 

Fans of WipEout will be familiar with the degree of difficulty on offer and the speed of the cars (the rollercoaster type levels are especially comparable). There is excellent variety between events (from grassy off-road trails, to sandy beaches, huge concrete dams and structures, slippery wooden boardwalks to more traditional stadium set ups) and courses start off relatively tame but quickly ascend to levels where it becomes apparent only a madman could've designed them! 

 

And whoever had the idea to implement a Hotline Miami style quick restart button into a racer was absolutely inspired! It acts only to ramp up the addictiveness and keep the heart rate pumping. This feature alone is responsible for countless "one more go" moments well into the small hours of the night. 

 

There will quite frequently be moments where you're left slack jawed in sheer amazement and virtually incapable of processing the pace of what is unfolding before you - all you can hope to do is buckle in and hold on to your balls.  

 

Tier 2:

• Trackmania Turbo (0.61%) - 100% 
• Mirror's Edge (2.89%) - 0%
• Wolfenstein II The New Colossus (0.81%) - 0%
• MGS4: Guns of the Patriots (4.28%) - 0%
• Vanquish (2.32%) - 0%

 

I'd also like to use my first swap to change Vanquish for TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan (2.41%) as I've begun playing this in co-op with my partner.

[BrandedBerserk]

Dirt rally 2.0 and need for speed 2015 100% are good picks for most wanted list as well if yall are still open for more suggestions. 

 

There's already three shmups on the list but rival megagun and fast striker are some brutal ones too. 

[Evil_Joker88]

2 hours ago, BrandedBerserk said:

Dirt rally 2.0 and need for speed 2015 100% are good picks for most wanted list as well if yall are still open for more suggestions.

 

Yeah i think so too. Need for Speed 2015 is hard and time consuming to complete so perfect for the Bounty list

[Arcesius]

2 hours ago, BrandedBerserk said:

Dirt rally 2.0 and need for speed 2015 100% are good picks for most wanted list as well if yall are still open for more suggestions. 

 

4 minutes ago, Evil_Joker88 said:

Yeah i think so too. Need for Speed 2015 is hard and time consuming to complete so perfect for the Bounty list

 

Thanks for the suggestions  We had discussed those two games already at the start of the event though, but good try bringing them up again ?

 

With the following conclusion: 

On 27.12.2020 at 0:38 PM, Copanele said:

It will not be a top 10 list, but I don't think NFS and Dirt Rally should be added either. The list might be still updated later on, it's not a definite list.

 

 

 

I believe that @Mori completed both games and was against adding them to the list as well, but we'll reconsider them  

 

[BrandedBerserk]

43 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

Thanks for the suggestions  We had discussed those two games already at the start of the event though, but good try bringing them up again 

 

Damn just checked and you're right I did bring these up before ?

[Mori]

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

I believe that @Mori completed both games and was against adding them to the list as well, but we'll reconsider them  

 

I was against NFS because it is more frustrating and at times unfair, but Dirt Rally 2.0. would be a great addition. The DLC is among my proudest trophies I've achieved on Playstation so far.

[Vergil]

14 minutes ago, Mori said:

 

I was against NFS because it is more frustrating and at times unfair, but Dirt Rally 2.0. would be a great addition. The DLC is among my proudest trophies I've achieved on Playstation so far.

What makes it so hard?