Trophies for Mental Health (Event)

[Weskerfan75]

I wanna join!

 

After taking another glance at the game selection, I'll be tackling the Mass Effect series since they fit better in my schedule. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Weskerfan75

[MissShake]

So I've been thinking about this event a lot and I've been looking at some games that I've played that may be good fits for this event.

 

Persona 5 has a party member that I would definitely argue is dealing with grief. I can't vouch completely for Royal, but I hear there's some stuff related to mental health in there as well. I'm just not sure if this is done in a respectful way or not.

 

Pretty much every Mass Effect/Dragon Age game has something related to mental health struggles, most consistently this revolves around grief. I'd say the game/character that has the most obvious example of something related to mental health is Cole from Dragon Age Inquisition, but if I'm being honest I can't quite place what exactly he would have. It feels like some sort of depression? He definitely does have problems fully relating to others though, so I would personally say that this counts.

 

Oxenfree has a main character going through grief, and is in a completely new environment. He's a rather central character too, so this is definitely a good pick for this game.

 

I'd say that Kaine from Nier has a lot of mental health struggles and problems relating to others due to *insert spoilers here*. I don't know if anger management is considered a mental health issue particularly, but I feel like Nier Gestalt and Replicant would work for this event.

 

Do hikikomoris count? Because if so I've seen one in Cyber Sleuth: Hacker's Memory. I'm not far into it though, so I don't know if the portrayal is respectful yet.

 

Dream Daddy has multiple routes that talk about mental health struggles. (Grief, alcoholism that seems to stem from depression.)

 

If you can manage the Prairie King bullet hell, then Stardew Valley has a lot of this. Characters dealing with grief, depression, a lot of possible love interests have some mental health struggles.

 

I'm sure there's more I've played, but I just wanted to add my two cents in about possible games!

[scemopagliaccioh]

Any chances  we'll have an updated list? I'd like to join, but of the games mentioned I only have Wolfenstein  2, Darkest Dungeon  and I am Bread, and there's   no way I can do them in a month.

[Beyondthegrave07]

1 hour ago, scemopagliaccioh said:

Any chances  we'll have an updated list? I'd like to join, but of the games mentioned I only have Wolfenstein  2, Darkest Dungeon  and I am Bread, and there's   no way I can do them in a month.

It's updated now.

 

I'll be adding games periodically to the list as I do research and read other's recommendations, but realize that it does not have to be on the list in order to use it. These are just recommendations. It's very possible to be playing through a game and spot mental health aspects as you are going through it (I recently came across it with Concrete Genie where a bullied kid under stress uses art in order to cope with it and the dark genies/darkness represent the negative thoughts/negativity in the town). I'll keep my eye on May's PS+ games to see if any of them would be applicable too.

 

Though, I did come accross an interesting read on a theory on Monokuma from Danganropa. That demonic bear is actually a representation of psychotic disorders such as psychosis. Essentially, Monokuma is the voice inside someone's head telling them to murder. Kind of blew my mind thinking about it after I recently finished the first game. Haha.

[scemopagliaccioh]

I'll join.

I don't have any fancy tales, but ever since I was a child I suffered from dysphagya. It's eating related and well, not having it, could have made my life better, and easier when interacting with others, it also made my journey to fitness (when I was younger) harder than most,  but it's the hard stuff that makes us.

Unfortunately, since it's a bit on the rare side, I don't  usually find themes in media regarding it, so let me see:

Call of Duty, I could pick this for PTSD, it's a classic, the warn torn soldier having flashbacks of the war in peaceful times, but I'll go more meta, and say that I'll pick it for the zombie mode.

Zombie is a co-op experience, so people helping eachother against the AI, but it's  the mechanic of the mode that's  jarrimg, as rounds go on, you'll  face more and more zombies, toughen up as you go along, the mode has no finale, there's  an easter egg, but once completed  you're  still playing the game, the entire experience is claustrophobic and people with agoraphobia can see several parallel, not on the playable character, but on you yourself. COD zombies carries its lovecraftian inspirations  on all aspects. The only cod games with zombies that I have are bo3 and ww2, so don't  worry, I'm not making this easy for me

Injustice Gods Among US (NA)

The whole game starts from an hallucination, Superman later on also becomes a psychotic and paranoid tyrant.

If you also read the comic, there are several instances of Batman being paranoid and simply childish, especially when he begs the greek pantheon, yeah, both characters here are fucked up strawmen, and only Aquaman (I2) is really the one with the most reasoning.

Marvel vs Capcom infinite, a bit hard finding dissociative personality disorder, but during the plot, the marvel and capcom worlds are merged, losing even their history in the past, and said villain Ultron omega,  which could be seen as an avatar of capitalism  commodification  on a multiversal level  plans to make the same with the protagonists, making them lose their sense of identity, and personal will/thought 

Watch Dogs (ps3) the game has a drinking game as its most difficult trophy, the setting is both orwellian for the security and incompetent  that a simple hacker can be god on earth, Pierce also has PTSD for losing a relative.

Hmm, can't  really think of anything regarding street fighter, will have to suspend 

Finlaly, I'll pick LBP as OCD, because that's  the only way you can explain the focus the creators put in their work there.

[Hisuiryu]

7 hours ago, MissShake said:

I'd say the game/character that has the most obvious example of something related to mental health is Cole from Dragon Age Inquisition, but if I'm being honest I can't quite place what exactly he would have. It feels like some sort of depression? He definitely does have problems fully relating to others though, so I would personally say that this counts.

Cole's a bit of an odd case I would say, his issues largely stem from not being human rather than metal health.... though his problems in dealing with and understanding others (and particularly the way they think/feel) is a reasonable analogy for neurodivergence in some ways, imo it falls apart when you consider the solutions on his quest line are either make him more "normal", or emphasize the fact that he isn't human.

[You]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but a new PSN sale is on.

 

"The Suicide Of Rachel Foster" game is now for sale at half price.

 

Well it is on the UK store anyway.

[WDB_Chaotic]

Sign me up for this, I'll go for Drowning (Ps4) as just a placeholder but look to play through as many as I can.

[MissShake]

10 hours ago, Hisuiryu said:

Cole's a bit of an odd case I would say, his issues largely stem from not being human rather than metal health.... though his problems in dealing with and understanding others (and particularly the way they think/feel) is a reasonable analogy for neurodivergence in some ways, imo it falls apart when you consider the solutions on his quest line are either make him more "normal", or emphasize the fact that he isn't human.

 

Ah right, I totally forgot about his personal quest. Thanks for the reminder, maybe skip on this one then guys!

[TimeLordCrow13y]

I’ll join. I’ve struggled on and off with anxiety and depression (and a few other issues) for upwards of thirteen years now. Don’t really feel comfortable sharing more than that. Though I will say no game has hit closer to home for me (in recent memory, or ever tbh) than Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Playing that game was incredibly cathartic. 

 

I’ll play SOMA (and possibly Blair Witch for my bonus game-you have a dog companion throughout most/all of the game unless I’m mistaken). 

[Beyondthegrave07]

15 hours ago, scemopagliaccioh said:

I'll join.

I don't have any fancy tales, but ever since I was a child I suffered from dysphagya. It's eating related and well, not having it, could have made my life better, and easier when interacting with others, it also made my journey to fitness (when I was younger) harder than most,  but it's the hard stuff that makes us.

Unfortunately, since it's a bit on the rare side, I don't  usually find themes in media regarding it, so let me see:

Call of Duty, I could pick this for PTSD, it's a classic, the warn torn soldier having flashbacks of the war in peaceful times, but I'll go more meta, and say that I'll pick it for the zombie mode.

Zombie is a co-op experience, so people helping eachother against the AI, but it's  the mechanic of the mode that's  jarrimg, as rounds go on, you'll  face more and more zombies, toughen up as you go along, the mode has no finale, there's  an easter egg, but once completed  you're  still playing the game, the entire experience is claustrophobic and people with agoraphobia can see several parallel, not on the playable character, but on you yourself. COD zombies carries its lovecraftian inspirations  on all aspects. The only cod games with zombies that I have are bo3 and ww2, so don't  worry, I'm not making this easy for me

Injustice Gods Among US (NA)

The whole game starts from an hallucination, Superman later on also becomes a psychotic and paranoid tyrant.

If you also read the comic, there are several instances of Batman being paranoid and simply childish, especially when he begs the greek pantheon, yeah, both characters here are fucked up strawmen, and only Aquaman (I2) is really the one with the most reasoning.

Marvel vs Capcom infinite, a bit hard finding dissociative personality disorder, but during the plot, the marvel and capcom worlds are merged, losing even their history in the past, and said villain Ultron omega,  which could be seen as an avatar of capitalism  commodification  on a multiversal level  plans to make the same with the protagonists, making them lose their sense of identity, and personal will/thought 

Watch Dogs (ps3) the game has a drinking game as its most difficult trophy, the setting is both orwellian for the security and incompetent  that a simple hacker can be god on earth, Pierce also has PTSD for losing a relative.

Hmm, can't  really think of anything regarding street fighter, will have to suspend 

Finlaly, I'll pick LBP as OCD, because that's  the only way you can explain the focus the creators put in their work there.

For those who are wondering if these will work:

 

I won't accept LBP for the reason given. Accepting this would just be projecting OCD on someone we never talked to or played with, and it's not nice to make these assumptions like this and is the sort of thing I want to avoid. Maybe argue that it's a relaxing thing that helps those struggling with illnesses, but I definitely won't take OCD as an answer here. Sorry!

 

MvC infinite sounds like a stretch, but I haven't played it so I'd probably need a second opinion on that one. 

 

Watchdogs and injustice sound like they'd probably work. I haven't played them so I'm not 100% sure, but they sound good.

 

Most CoD games deal with PTSD in some form, but I would want the person to be very specific on when/where it occurred in the game since most of the time it's not addressed directly. Not sure I'd count zombies though as an explanation. That's a bit of a stretch for me.

 

Hopefully, that all made sense. I'm not trying to knock down your suggestions, but also don't want people to just pick a game that's listed here, finish it, and have me tell them, "no."

Edited April 28, 2021 by Beyondthegrave07

[JourneySilvers]

10 hours ago, enaysoft said:

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but a new PSN sale is on.

 

"The Suicide Of Rachel Foster" game is now for sale at half price.

 

Well it is on the UK store anyway.

Can confirm thats a wonderful game, both in general and for the purposes of the challenge. 

[SupergiantStarr]

What an amazing event, thank you. I'd like to partake.

 

I'm going to pick The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories. I know very little about this game except that it deals with mental health issues while also centering around a trans queer protagonist. As a trans queer with mental health conditions, I figure it's finally time to dig this out of my backlog and it seems perfect for this event.

 

As for the #YouAreNotAlone bonus badge, I may finally go back to finish the cooperative trophies for The Forest. Not as deeply meaningful as The Missing, but cooperative trophies (sometimes moreso than competitive trophies) always pull me out of my comfort zone and it'll be nice to have that platinum.

 

I've been disabled with mental illnesses for some time now. Severe depressive psychosis, GAD, panic disorder, PTSD, and ADHD. They're one hell of a hurdle to get through on a day to day basis and I've struggled to adapt new routines to combat them. However, just like any other illness, I don't let them define me. It's okay to talk about it, it's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to reach out to those closest to you who might be struggling too. I've dealt with the stigma for years and it can be exhausting. I think the most important thing anyone can take from this event is that, yes, you are not alone.

[scemopagliaccioh]

1 hour ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

For those who are wondering if these will work:

 

I won't accept LBP for the reason given. Accepting this would just be projecting OCD on someone we never talked to or played with, and it's not nice to make these assumptions like this and is the sort of thing I want to avoid. Maybe argue that it's a relaxing thing that helps those struggling with illnesses, but I definitely won't take OCD as an answer here. Sorry!

 

MvC infinite sounds like a stretch, but I haven't played it so I'd probably need a second opinion on that one. 

 

Watchdogs and injustice sound like they'd probably work. I haven't played them so I'm not 100% sure, but they sound good.

 

Most CoD games deal with PTSD in some form, but I would want the person to be very specific on when/where it occurred in the game since most of the time it's not addressed directly. Not sure I'd count zombies though as an explanation. That's a bit of a stretch for me.

 

Hopefully, that all made sense. I'm not trying to knock down your suggestions, but also don't want people to just pick a game that's listed here, finish it, and have me tell them, "no."

You won't find much more on MvCI, it's  the usual Capcom fighting game where gameplay is first and  story is an afterthought, it just happens that the story uses as a theme the loss of identity due to the merge (land), and later on Ultron (characters)

Alright with LBP, truth to be said, I find OCD on various degrees, with some having it  a more aggravating form than others, trophy hunting itself, has spiked up my OCD

A pity regarding COD, PTSD can be found for sure on the campaign, so I can write something  about it, but the anxiety COD zombies bring, I could have written  on a more personal level.

I'll see what I can do for Watch Dogs plat wise, I detest collectibles, and Ubisoft loves them so...

Injustice I have prepared something, so it all depends if I manage to find the time  to grind out the trophies, most people analyze Superman and Wonder Woman and all they basically become monsters during  the story, and I wouldn't  say they're wrong (especially if you take into account Superman's ending in I2), but Batman gets off scott free in the whole ordeal, even though his decision to tackle  his trauma after losing his parents (no guns, no killing)  and forcing it to others is what made the situation possible in the first place.

[Dr_Mayus]

So Beyond does  my explanation for Disgaea 3 work?

 

I just seeing some games not counting and want to make sure

[Beyondthegrave07]

20 minutes ago, Dr_Mayus said:

So Beyond does  my explanation for Disgaea 3 work?

 

I just seeing some games not counting and want to make sure

As long as you can explain the mental health aspects of how it affects the characters and how they either overcome it in some way or suffer through it, I'm okay with it. Not necessarily a game I'd recommend per se, but you could fit it in.

 

I do want to be clear, I might not add every game someone says they are going to use to the recommended list. There are several games that you could fit and tackle mental health in some way, shape, or form. As I said, I will be pretty lenient on it (I'm more worried on the "why" you chose a specific game than the "what"), but if you want to ask me about it here like Dr_Mayus. That's fine.

 

@scemopagliaccioh listed several games and gave him my recommendations on how I would go about it. In the end, I probably won't give a hard "no" on a game as long as it's explained thoroughly and can tell you at least put some thought into part 2 (notice how I didn't necessarily say no to any of scemo's games, just asked him to look at them from a different perspective), but some games will be much easier to explain than others and will take a lot less effort and those games are the ones I am trying to put into the recommended section.

 

That make sense?

Edited April 28, 2021 by Beyondthegrave07

[MAUSZX]

On 27/4/2021 at 5:44 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Ohhh- I have this but haven't started yet - how is the game?

Might have to decide between this one and The Last Tree for my game

Well I just finished the game. 

Is kinda weird, is from the guys that made Life is Strange, but I guess without budget, so the voice acting is not very good and some of the writing is... Not terrible, but weird, like the child in the games acts more like an adult than 90% of the characters in the game. 

 

It has a very interesting premise and idea, sadly, when things are starting to get really interesting the game enters the final stage, like it feels like it ends very abuptly. I will still recommend you to play it, it tries something interesting for sure. 

[JimboUrbanian]

Hey beyond!! 

Count me in. I just need to read the whole intro text ?

 

I want another badge. ?

Edited April 29, 2021 by JimboUrbanian

[TrafalgarWarGrey]

My english is not very good but i wanna try to join and help.I wanna support this cause.

I played Heavy Rain.

The protagonist lost his son and the sorrow make him depressed.

When his other son get kidnapped in order to rescue him he needs to accomplish some task.

Others fathers who had their child kidnapped too failed and die.

The protagonist instead pass every single test and even if the kidnapper tried to kill him in the end the protagonist reunite with his son.

I choose the good finale when the protagonist with his new girlfriend and his son are in an a new house.

In this story we see the protagonist reach the lowest point in his life but he overcomes his sorrow and finally he let it go his past for move foward in the future.At the end of the tunnel will ever be a light.A good thing is be with your family and the people who cerish you.

Never give up.Sorrow is part of life.It's not simple.Sometimes struggles are common but what this games makes me learn is that even the most painful thing can be overcomed.

 

[Beyondthegrave07]

2 hours ago, TrafalgarWarGrey said:

My english is not very good but i wanna try to join and help.I wanna support this cause.

I played Heavy Rain.

The protagonist lost his son and the sorrow make him depressed.

When his other son get kidnapped in order to rescue him he needs to accomplish some task.

Others fathers who had their child kidnapped too failed and die.

The protagonist instead pass every single test and even if the kidnapper tried to kill him in the end the protagonist reunite with his son.

I choose the good finale when the protagonist with his new girlfriend and his son are in an a new house.

In this story we see the protagonist reach the lowest point in his life but he overcomes his sorrow and finally he let it go his past for move foward in the future.At the end of the tunnel will ever be a light.A good thing is be with your family and the people who cerish you.

Never give up.Sorrow is part of life.It's not simple.Sometimes struggles are common but what this games makes me learn is that even the most painful thing can be overcomed.

 

Very nice description, but you need to earn the platinum in May for it to count. Then, do the same thing you did here.

 

Love the effort though! I would've totally counted this.

[MattbluePT]

Count me in! This is an excellent idea, and I'll try to arrange some time to play a game with this requirements. Probably will go with Abzû, as I have it on my library.

Amazing way of raising awareness to mental diseases! Congrats

[edolusill]

I'd like to join too. I'll play Shinigami to Shoujo. Looking at tags on Vndb.org, at least some part of the story is related to depression but it's in Japanese. If it doesn't fit here, I have also Last day of June in my backlog.

[Dav9834]

@Beyondthegrave07 I was thinking the other morning, I think FF7 (original and maybe... remake) would work for recommended games, especially the original.

 

[Beyondthegrave07]

37 minutes ago, edolusill said:

I'd like to join too. I'll play Shinigami to Shoujo. Looking at tags on Vndb.org, at least some part of the story is related to depression but it's in Japanese. If it doesn't fit here, I have also Last day of June in my backlog.

Shinimagi to shoujo should work for the event as long as you would be able to explain it after you complete it.

 

29 minutes ago, Dav9834 said:

@Beyondthegrave07 I was thinking the other morning, I think FF7 (original and maybe... remake) would work for recommended games, especially the original.

 

Yup, a lot of the FF games address mental health in some way, shape, or form (FFXIII is another really good example of it, especially with Sahz in the first game). I'll add some of the games there, but I could probably list the whole series if I wanted to.

[Dav9834]

3 hours ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

Shinimagi to shoujo should work for the event as long as you would be able to explain it after you complete it.

 

Yup, a lot of the FF games address mental health in some way, shape, or form (FFXIII is another really good example of it, especially with Sahz in the first game). I'll add some of the games there, but I could probably list the whole series if I wanted to.

Oh ya now that you mention it! FFVI(not that we have a platinum :'( ) , FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, FFX(If explained properly), Idk about FFXII.

FFXIII yup! 

FFXV yup that I can think of something 

 

The golden age FFs are all good for sure

Edited April 30, 2021 by Dav9834