DrunkenEngineer's OCD Funhouse!

[YaManSmevz]

2 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

A ton of titles on my wishlist are currently on sale with pretty big discounts.  Not sure what to do here, do I embrace the giant backlog or engage in ascetism?

 

Decisions, decisions...

 

I'm grappling with the same thing. Leaning towards buying the games, with the justification that they're all pretty short, which is great for when you're either stuck on a more time consuming game, or you're in between time consuming games. 

 

Then again I've always been really good at coming up with justifications for my impulsiveness, so I'm not sure how valuable that is?

[DrunkenEngineer]

53 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

I'm grappling with the same thing. Leaning towards buying the games, with the justification that they're all pretty short, which is great for when you're either stuck on a more time consuming game, or you're in between time consuming games. 

 

Then again I've always been really good at coming up with justifications for my impulsiveness, so I'm not sure how valuable that is

 

Same, also that life is fleeting and I might get hit by a bus tomorrow and none of this really matters.

 

Also, it's not like they show up in your trophy history until you actually play them, so it's easy to have them out of sight, out of mind.

 

PlatPrices has pricing history and I'll use that to whittle down what I want to buy.  If the games aren't matching their historic low, they can stay on my wishlist until they are!

[rjkclarke]

1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said:

I'm grappling with the same thing. Leaning towards buying the games, with the justification that they're all pretty short, which is great for when you're either stuck on a more time consuming game, or you're in between time consuming games. 

 

Then again I've always been really good at coming up with justifications for my impulsiveness, so I'm not sure how valuable that is

 

100% this!! I'm always like "this can sandwich in nicely between something long I'm planning to play" then the length of them scares you more than one of these bald cats that I thought only existed in my nightmares - which means you tend to just play the shorter ones anyway... .

 

It's too easy to justify why you picked up something that looks interesting right? That's why I'm god awful at planning games I'm going to play, and end up just winging it haha!

 

25 minutes ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

Also, it's not like they show up in your trophy history until you actually play them, so it's easy to have them out of sight, out of mind.

 

Equally they don't show up in here unless you put them there - so people won't question why you haven't started something, if you just don't mention it. If you're interested in something and it won't eat too much into your funds, and you aren't planning to start it right away - you don't have to worry about it making your completion rate take a nose dive, I'd say jump in and go spending. You'll probably accumulate a whole load of in-between type games like me and Smevz clearly seem to have done ?

[YaManSmevz]

5 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

 

100% this!! I'm always like "this can sandwich in nicely between something long I'm planning to play" then the length of them scares you more than one of these bald cats that I thought only existed in my nightmares - which means you tend to just play the shorter ones anyway... .

 

Ever since I gave myself a platinum minimum I've noticed how clutch it is to have those shorter games on deck! And, as it turns out, I've been pretty fortunate and have enjoyed every one that I've encountered! Although that is largely thanks to the fine people in this forum?

 

7 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

It's too easy to justify why you picked up something that looks interesting right? That's why I'm god awful at planning games I'm going to play, and end up just winging it 

 

I've been thinking about this - my untouched backlog is large, but not so large that I can't see about trying to prioritize it a bit. A bit of structure makes it less intimidating I feel!

 

8 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

Equally they don't show up in here unless you put them there - so people won't question why you haven't started something, if you just don't mention it. If you're interested in something and it won't eat too much into your funds, and you aren't planning to start it right away - you don't have to worry about it making your completion rate take a nose dive, I'd say jump in and go spending. You'll probably accumulate a whole load of in-between type games like me and Smevz clearly seem to have done

 

Terrible influences?

[DrunkenEngineer]

2 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

Equally they don't show up in here unless you put them there - so people won't question why you haven't started something, if you just don't mention it. If you're interested in something and it won't eat too much into your funds, and you aren't planning to start it right away - you don't have to worry about it making your completion rate take a nose dive, I'd say jump in and go spending. You'll probably accumulate a whole load of in-between type games like me and Smevz clearly seem to have done

 

At this point time is more of a concern than funds.  And a lot of the games on my wishlist I own (and beat, but not 100%ed) on PC but have been interested in for (checks notes) literally YEARS to play on console.

 

The Dishonored games, for instance (Mankind Divided made me think of them again).  When Dishonored 2 launched I was very close to buying it on PS4 rather than PC, even though my PC objectively runs games better.  I ended up buying it on PC because I'm much more comfortable playing first-person games with a keyboard & mouse, but I still really like the elegance of analog controls for walking speed that you get with a controller.  60FPS on PC is nice, but not a dealbreaker if I'm stuck with 30FPS on console.

 

Been running through DXMD on Steam and yeah, I can't really say that the PC experience is demonstrably better than the console one.  Game is real good no matter what.

 

But, I can also look at it this way - if I liked the game enough to buy it again to earn a PSN plat, what does that say about the game?  That I really loved it the first go around on PC, and I can always play it again on PC in the future.  It's not going anywhere.

[YaManSmevz]

1 minute ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

At this point time is more of a concern than funds.  And a lot of the games on my wishlist I own (and beat, but not 100%ed) on PC but have been interested in for (checks notes) literally YEARS to play on console.

 

Mos def. Ive got enough funds to buy more games, but not enough to buy myself the necessary free time! I don't have a PC, but there a lot of stuff I've bought for PS4 that is a pre-gen remaster or port that I already played on the 360 and would love to get to, but there's just so much else to finish first!

[damcrac5]

5 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

A ton of titles on my wishlist are currently on sale with pretty big discounts.  Not sure what to do here, do I embrace the giant backlog or engage in ascetism?

 

Decisions, decisions...

I've been eyeballing a couple titles too, but I think my approach will be to use plat prices history to see how often or if a game has gone on sale. Something that gets discounted often, I'll wait. If it is a first discount or an unusual discount, I might pull the trigger. 

[DrunkenEngineer]

Welp, the backlog has expanded.  Picked up some nice titles that will fit in between my big projects when I need a break. Some updates/roadmapping detailed below.

 

Grand Theft Auto V

I am so very close to the 100% it's palpable.  I have the knife flights, stunt jumps, fill out the 100% (currently at 91%), and then get the 70 gold medals and I'll be done!

 

Maquette

Very easy little palate cleansing game that I'm doing a chapter at a time in between GTA.

 

Rocket League

I still can't get into this game, haven't booted it up in ages but I know I need to work on it.  I'll give it an honest go once I clear off Maquette and GTA5.

 

Not sure what I'll tackle after this, but I know it's going to be fun!

[YaManSmevz]

10 minutes ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

Grand Theft Auto V

I am so very close to the 100% it's palpable.  I have the knife flights, stunt jumps, fill out the 100% (currently at 91%), and then get the 70 gold medals and I'll be done!

 

Yo I'm rootin' for you man✊ you've got this, that game don't stand a chance!!

 

13 minutes ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

Rocket League

I still can't get into this game, haven't booted it up in ages but I know I need to work on it.  I'll give it an honest go once I clear off Maquette and GTA5.

 

I'm still down to take you up on your boosting offer! Lemme know when it's about that time?

[DrunkenEngineer]

Thanks for the reminder, I think we can tackle this very soon, as in after we put the pin in the GTA5!

 

I got most of the stunt jumps done last night (boy these are tedious), should make good progress through the rest of it this weekend.

[YaManSmevz]

I stopped playing gta 5 when I stupidly got mixed up with my stunt jumps, I was like thirty deep or something like that. I had just finished the bridges and knife flights too?‍♂️

 

At this point I imagine you're so close to that hundo you can taste it. I wouldn't be surprised if you get it wrapped up more quickly than you think!

[DrunkenEngineer]

On 8/20/2021 at 10:31 AM, YaManSmevz said:

I stopped playing gta 5 when I stupidly got mixed up with my stunt jumps, I was like thirty deep or something like that. I had just finished the bridges and knife flights too?‍♂️

 

At this point I imagine you're so close to that hundo you can taste it. I wouldn't be surprised if you get it wrapped up more quickly than you think!

 

I spent the weekend working through the stunt jumps, knife flights, bridges, and a bunch of the misc. hobbies & past times.  All that’s left are about 15 gold medals on mission replays and I’ll have the platinum (and 100%).

 

Had me a thought about this - I understand there are profile trophy milestones that change based on how many platinums & trophies are accrued.  Right now I get a milestone every 10 platinums (have 20 total right now), and once I get above 50 plats they get replaced and occur every 25th.  So maybe I should sit on this one for a bit and make it my 25th?  It’s not been my favorite game to play, but man has it been memorable and probably the most time consuming game on my trophy list, until I get back to RDR2.

 

I’ll probably pick up another handful of games for the old backlog and several of them have very intimidating trophy lists for the 100%.  Dishonored I played the crap out of on PC, and would love to add it (and the rest of Arkane’s games) to my profile here.  The DLC City Trials look like no joke, any of my loyal readers attempted those, and are they as bad as everyone on the internet makes them out to be?

[rjkclarke]

3 minutes ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

any of my loyal readers attempted those, and are they as bad as everyone on the internet makes them out to be?

 

I have - although I haven't completed them yet. I fully intend to go back to them at some point. They are definitely challenging that's for sure. Some more than others. They are quite fun to play through though. I couldn't honestly say why I haven't quite gotten back to them yet. One of them is very RNG based - the one that's essentially a traversal challenge where you blink everywhere. That ones very reliant on where the checkpoints you have to get to spawn. I came close to getting the 3 stars on that so many times before I stopped playing that game. I think as you've played the game extensively already you probably won't have too much trouble with them. I'm sure you picking it up will probably pique my interest in going back to it though. Much like you playing Deus Ex made me want to go back and polish off Breach mode.

[DrunkenEngineer]

1 minute ago, rjkclarke said:

 

I have - although I haven't completed them yet. I fully intend to go back to them at some point. They are definitely challenging that's for sure. Some more than others. They are quite fun to play through though. I couldn't honestly say why I haven't quite gotten back to them yet. One of them is very RNG based - the one that's essentially a traversal challenge where you blink everywhere. That ones very reliant on where the checkpoints you have to get to spawn. I came close to getting the 3 stars on that so many times before I stopped playing that game. I think as you've played the game extensively already you probably won't have too much trouble with them. I'm sure you picking it up will probably pique my interest in going back to it though. Much like you playing Deus Ex made me want to go back and polish off Breach mode.

 

Right on!

 

Also, it helps to keep things in perspective a bit here vis a vis trophy difficulty and ability to earn it.  After doing the online trophies for GTA5 *shudders* any single player trophy isn’t near as intimidating as the only obstacle is me and my patience.  I can always come back to them later and don’t have to worry about working with others, or a server shutting down.

 

Though I suppose with Dishonored there are leaderboards - I wonder if those factor into the trials trophy requirements?

[rjkclarke]

8 minutes ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

any single player trophy isn’t near as intimidating as the only obstacle is me and my patience.  I can always come back to them later and don’t have to worry about working with others, or a server shutting down.

 

Though I suppose with Dishonored there are leaderboards - I wonder if those factor into the trials trophy requirements?

 

Precisely how I tend to look at it too - so long as the online is all done, the only thing you have to contend with is yourself, and how much you're really motivated to do it. I always like to get that sort of thing done and dusted as quick as possible - for the most part anyway. Most of my unearned trophies are online ones, which I just struggle to motivate myself to go back and get.

 

If memory serves me correct - I don't think the leaderboards actually factor into the trophies in any way. I think they just serve as a bit of a comparison point, of how other people have done on the challenges. I'd fact check that to make sure first though. But I think primarily there are set score targets for 3 stars on each of the challenges and that's about it. It's some of the miscellaneous requirements of those challenge trophies that somewhat increase the difficulty. Some of them are either just very obtuse or very unusual.

[DrunkenEngineer]

41 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

Precisely how I tend to look at it too - so long as the online is all done, the only thing you have to contend with is yourself, and how much you're really motivated to do it. I always like to get that sort of thing done and dusted as quick as possible - for the most part anyway. Most of my unearned trophies are online ones, which I just struggle to motivate myself to go back and get.

 

Yah, same.  My main checklist goal was to dust off multiplayer trophies.  I've made a huge dent in the last 6 months, and have a couple titles to go.  Getting GTAO done was a huge relief though; I have Last of Us Factions, RDR2 Online, Rocket League, and Uncharted 4 left.  Might have a couple of stragglers I'm not thinking of, but those are the big ones.  And I don't think I have to worry about any of them going offline in the next year.  For any new titles I add I'll for sure knock out MP trophies first thing.

 

43 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

If memory serves me correct - I don't think the leaderboards actually factor into the trophies in any way. I think they just serve as a bit of a comparison point, of how other people have done on the challenges. I'd fact check that to make sure first though. But I think primarily there are set score targets for 3 stars on each of the challenges and that's about it. It's some of the miscellaneous requirements of those challenge trophies that somewhat increase the difficulty. Some of them are either just very obtuse or very unusual.

 

Good to know, this appears correct.

 

Also thinking super hard about adding Hyper Light Drifter to my profile as well, and that's a toughie, too.  So many good games, it's a fantastic time to be playing.  I'll still be dipping back into my existing progress to clean up trophies as I can.  After I get done with GTA5 it would be nice to play a couple of easy games as a palate cleanse, and not just jump into the next hard project.

[YaManSmevz]

4 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

I spent the weekend working through the stunt jumps, knife flights, bridges, and a bunch of the misc. hobbies & past times.  All that’s left are about 15 gold medals on mission replays and I’ll have the platinum (and 100%).

 

Had me a thought about this - I understand there are profile trophy milestones that change based on how many platinums & trophies are accrued.  Right now I get a milestone every 10 platinums (have 20 total right now), and once I get above 50 plats they get replaced and occur every 25th.  So maybe I should sit on this one for a bit and make it my 25th?  It’s not been my favorite game to play, but man has it been memorable and probably the most time consuming game on my trophy list, until I get back to RDR2.

 

That's what's up!?

 

You're making me wonder if I should start picking away at it again here and there... I'm such a GTA fanboy, I can always happily go back to those games. I'm already on course to fully complete the PS2 trilogy for the second time (cue Homer going "NNNNEEEEEEEERRRRRD!!!").

 

Save the milestone if that feels like the thing to do! Nobody knows the ins and outs of your profile like you do, so if that's the look you want for it, then you should definitely do that! I remember playing Res 2 and Ground Zeroes at the same time and saw plat #20 and trophy #1337 around the corner. I decided to line them up accordingly and I don't regret it a bit?

[DrunkenEngineer]

18 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

That's what's up!

 

You're making me wonder if I should start picking away at it again here and there... I'm such a GTA fanboy, I can always happily go back to those games. I'm already on course to fully complete the PS2 trilogy for the second time (cue Homer going "NNNNEEEEEEEERRRRRD!!!").

 

Save the milestone if that feels like the thing to do! Nobody knows the ins and outs of your profile like you do, so if that's the look you want for it, then you should definitely do that! I remember playing Res 2 and Ground Zeroes at the same time and saw plat #20 and trophy #1337 around the corner. I decided to line them up accordingly and I don't regret it a bit

 

I'll have a full write up when I finish the game...but boy howdy I would not recommend it for completionists.  The online heists are no joke, and I had to find a very nice team to carry me through them.  Had I not been resourceful I doubt I would have been able to find enough randoms to do them for trophies before I died of old age.

 

The single-player, however, is a great game to pick away at.  Nothing is very hard, just long as heck.  Won't be able to rush through anything. Fingers crossed that RDR2 is more like this on the multiplayer side.

 

Hah, I had no idea about milestones until recently.  My #1337 trophy is "winning in winning" in Rocket League, which seems appropriately named.  If I do save GTA for the 25th, I won't see it's milestone until I hit 51 platinums anyway, so sometime next year.  I might have have a better game to line up for 25...like Last of Us Remastered as that's what got me into the whole multiplayer trophy hunt to begin with!  Oh yes, I like that idea.

Edited August 23, 2021 by DrunkenEngineer

[DrunkenEngineer]

Platinum #21 - Maquette (August 23, 2021)

 

 

A short, lackluster first person puzzler that deserves a short, lackluster review.  Maquette has an interesting puzzle gimmick of perspective manipulation, but is bogged down by a hammy story and hinky controls.

 

The Good

• Charming indie soundtrack
• Graphics are nice and runs well on the PS5
• Easily digestible length

The Bad

• Voice acting is awkward
• Controls are less than responsive
• Story feels like a first draft of 500 Days of Summer, but extra depressing
• Puzzles can be obtuse, and I just didn't get any of the symbolism between the Maquette worlds and the story

100% Impressions

The controls often made for very frustrating attempts at the speedruns, but the time limit was really only an issue for the first couple of levels.  There are a few chapter-specific trophies worth looking up in a guide, but otherwise most of the trophies come naturally just by playing the game, or reading the trophy descriptions.  At one point Chapter Select was hidden behind a dev menu, but my version had been updated to officially support the feature; no trophy is truly missable using Chapter Select.

 

I'd rather play Talos Principle or What Remains of Edith Finch.  At least this was a free title on PS+, but I wouldn't recommend paying money for it.

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by DrunkenEngineer

[DrunkenEngineer]

It’s done, Grand Theft Auto 5 has been completed.  I’m going to take a couple of days to relax and reflect, and this weekend produce a write up.  What a journey this was.

 

@YaManSmevz how you feeling about a little Rocket League now?  This weekend I’ll boot it up and get settled in and we can work on it at your leisure.

[KindaSabbath]

Congrats on that monster completion! I took one look at the Trophies and thought, nope. Nice work dude! Hell of a task and one to be proud of!

[DrunkenEngineer]

54 minutes ago, KindaSabbath said:

Congrats on that monster completion! I took one look at the Trophies and thought, nope. Nice work dude! Hell of a task and one to be proud of!

Thanks! I had a gap of almost 7 years between my first trophy and the plat. I played it before I got into trophy hunting, and would never consider adding to a fresh profile in 2021. 
 

It will be interesting to see what the PS5 trophies look like and if they split up the online into its own list. 

[YaManSmevz]

3 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

@YaManSmevz how you feeling about a little Rocket League now?  This weekend I’ll boot it up and get settled in and we can work on it at your leisure.

Hell yes, let's get it? I'll send you a request today?

[DrunkenEngineer]

Platinum #22 + DLC 100% - Grand Theft Auto V (August 25, 2021)

 

 

The game that needs no introduction, Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV) is widely considered a milestone for open-world titles.  My first (and to this point, only) Grand Theft Auto game, GTAV introduces a 3-protagonist mechanic, a crime story reminiscent of Heat, Casino, Reservoir Dogs, and other pop-culture masterpieces, GTAV brought it all together into a landmark achievement that has become a victim of it's own success.

 

The Good

• A level of technical excellence only to be surpassed by Red Dead Redemption 2
• Fantastic mo-cap animations that have aged well some 8 years after the original release
• Car driving is an absolute blast, with moderately realistic physics and capability for some insane vehicular hijinks
• Truly beautiful vistas - you'll be rewarded for taking a Sunday drive and helicopter tour just to see what you can see

The Bad

• The sardonic humor and parody of American values got old quick
• The length; it's way way way too long
• The third person controls are mind-boggling archaic - hold X to run?
• Doomsday Heist is awful, and GTAO has become a monster in of itself

100% Impressions

Knowing that the next gen version is coming out Fall 2021 I bumped this up to highest priority anticipating changes to the Online.  The game has been on my profile since 2014 and was one of the first games I picked up when I bought my PS4.  I came back with save files at roughly 75% completion, and absolutely no experience with Online.

 

It became quickly apparent that getting through the online base list wouldn't be difficult, just grindy.  With the trick to establish a solo public lobby one could whittle away in relative peace.  However, the Heist trophy lists were going to be no joke, especially Doomsday with the Elitist and Criminal Mastermind trophies with their ridiculously low completion rates.  They require essentially flawless multiple completions of the Doomsday Heist, which in itself takes 6-10 hours per run!  No way!  I snooped around and found a community of folks who run those challenges and was able to find some reliable teammates and with their gracious help we managed to get them done over 4 very long sessions.

 

With the stressful online portion complete, the single player cleanup was a very pleasant, uncomplicated, but long task. The stunt jumps and knife flights were beyond frustrating.  Definitely use a guide for those!  Otherwise, the Rockstar Social Club checklist was invaluable and with some time one can get the in-game 100% no problem. The Gold medal trophy was my last for the platinum, and I worked it out to hit it on a replay of the "Third Way", the canonical ending mission.  My hope was the trophy would pop as the credits rolled, a perfect sunset to an arduous and rewarding project.

 

What actually happened was I spent 2 hours setting this house of cards up, only to have the trophy pop during the loading screen after the mission when I was returned back into the open world. Hah!

 

I really have to warn completionists against adding this fresh to a profile in 2021.  You'd be looking at a 250+ hour project with no guarantee of a 100% given the frankly ridiculous trophy requirements for the Doomsday Heist DLC.  If you are OK with having an incomplete game, by all means take the plunge.  It was rightly considered a game of a generation and honestly everyone should at least sample it.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by DrunkenEngineer

[YaManSmevz]

20 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

Platinum #22 + DLC 100% - Grand Theft Auto V (August 25, 2021)

 

Great work! Fantastic review, and huge congrats on the completion! I really like how you were considering saving this one, then just said fuck it and finished it off! I don't have any games I've been on the ropes with for multiple years, so I could only imagine the sense of accomplishment you've gotten from finishing this behemoth.

 

GTAO always seemed intimidating, but 6-10 hours for a heist??? What the crap! As you said, absolutely no joke! I think I'm gonna go back and complete the base game itself, just with the goal of raising my percentage as opposed to total completion. That is a gargantuan achievement... I imagine immediately after finishing this you looked like you had just emerged from a burning building with singed children under each arm!

 

Yo the big trophies never pop when we imagine they will, do they???