Question about Score Attack leveling up method

[mecanicwars_]

So i jumped into the max payne pain this week by the fact that the servers will shut at September and i was wondering if i need to be logged at psn to register my points at score attack. Personally I don't like to be logged because i got a lot of notifications and it really bothers me.

[MonaSaxPayne]

no u can grind score attack offline

 

but when u get to level 50 u have to join any online match for that trophy to pop

 

[Deceptrox]

You have to be logged in to PSN or you won't get any xp. When I was grinding xp I forgot once to do so and wasted like 20 minutes and didn't get any xp when I decided to press continue rather than restart.

[SH06UN5126]

1 hour ago, jvlourenco2004 said:

Personally I don't like to be logged because i got a lot of notifications and it really bothers me.

Notifications as in messages, and alerts for people going online/offline?

 

You can disable those in the settings.

[mecanicwars_]

1 hour ago, SH06UN5126 said:

Notifications as in messages, and alerts for people going online/offline?

 

You can disable those in the settings.

Not only that. My internet is really really bad and most of the times i need to spend like a hour to log in

[SH06UN5126]

On 18/07/2021 at 2:03 PM, jvlourenco2004 said:

Not only that. My internet is really really bad and most of the times i need to spend like a hour to log in

Oh, fair enough. That sucks.

 

You can surely "grind offline" as in play Score Attack, and then connect to multiplayer/play a match to update your level.

But I've put that in quotes because I'm not sure if "offline" is just not playing multiplayer or being properly disconnected from the PSN as Deceptrox says.

I've just simply heard that you do the grind in Score Attack and connect to multiplayer for it to update.

 

I still have to do the grind. I can check that for you and report back here when I get a second.

[Sergen]

7 minutes ago, SH06UN5126 said:

Oh, fair enough. That sucks.

 

You can surely "grind offline" as in play Score Attack, and then connect to multiplayer/play a match to update your level.

But I've put that in quotes because I'm not sure if "offline" is just not playing multiplayer or being properly disconnected from the PSN as Deceptrox says.

I've just simply heard that you do the grind in Score Attack and connect to multiplayer for it to update.

 

I still have to do the grind. I can check that for you and report back here when I get a second.

 

You must be online on PSN to get any multiplayer XP... If you're not online then the game doesn't recognize that or give you XP, you then have to play an online match after you hit level 50 with the arcade method to get the trophy to unlock.

 

This is an obscure thread, but I recommend people to use NEW YORK MINUTE to grind to level 50, it's so much easier to get a platinum score there compared to Score Attack. The trophy guide on this website stupidly recommends against it because you have to unlock Chapter 4 in New York Minute to get the opportunity to grind there, but you also have to complete the game on New York Minute for a separate trophy so it's stupid not to make that progress and grind your level 50 trophy there. Explosion bonuses against all the vehicles in 4-1 on New York Minute make it hard not to get a platinum time when you grind it.

[giinha]

44 minutes ago, Sergen said:

 

You must be online on PSN to get any multiplayer XP... If you're not online then the game doesn't recognize that or give you XP, you then have to play an online match after you hit level 50 with the arcade method to get the trophy to unlock.

 

This is an obscure thread, but I recommend people to use NEW YORK MINUTE to grind to level 50, it's so much easier to get a platinum score there compared to Score Attack. The trophy guide on this website stupidly recommends against it because you have to unlock Chapter 4 in New York Minute to get the opportunity to grind there, but you also have to complete the game on New York Minute for a separate trophy so it's stupid not to make that progress and grind your level 50 trophy there. Explosion bonuses against all the vehicles in 4-1 on New York Minute make it hard not to get a platinum time when you grind it.

But winning the platinum medal in score attack is very easy.
You only need 5000 points. Even if you don't do a good run you already get 7k to 8k points.

[Sergen]

2 minutes ago, giinha said:

But winning the platinum medal in score attack is very easy.
You only need 5000 points. Even if you don't do a good run you already get 7k to 8k points.

 

You don't need any hit multipliers when you do New York Minute for leveling up, you simply have to kill everyone as fast as you can without caring about aiming accuracy before the cars show up. Simply running through it and using soft lock to kill everyone while spamming shots with the dual wield pistols makes getting the platinum there much easier. Because of the explosion bonuses you get for destroying the cars in New York Minute and killing enemies with those explosions, getting above the 3 minute requirement is very simple.

Edited July 19, 2021 by Sergen

[giinha]

5 minutes ago, Sergen said:

 

You don't need any hit multipliers when you do New York Minute for leveling up, you simply have to kill everyone as fast as you can without caring about aiming accuracy before the cars show up. Simply running through it and using soft lock to kill everyone while spamming shots with the dual wield pistols makes getting the platinum there much easier.

Exactly what I do in score attack. I always end up with somewhere between 12k and 19k points.

I think in the end it doesn't matter which way you play, they're both easy.

[dieselmanchild]

6 minutes ago, Sergen said:

 

You don't need any hit multipliers when you do New York Minute for leveling up, you simply have to kill everyone as fast as you can without caring about aiming accuracy before the cars show up. Simply running through it and using soft lock to kill everyone while spamming shots with the dual wield pistols makes getting the platinum there much easier. Because of the explosion bonuses you get for destroying the cars in New York Minute and killing enemies with those explosions, getting above the 3 minute requirement is very simple.

Personally I think the Ch.4 Score Attack method is much faster and easier. If you shoot the cars you’ll chain together numerous explosive kills which guarantees a platinum medal with almost no effort whatsoever.

 

Also, in regards to OP’s question, I believe you must be online for your XP gains to register. I’ve heard numerous people say they wasted large chunks of time by grinding XP offline and finding out later that the game doesn’t register it. 

[M-C83]

I was also kinda hoping to grind offline as since playing a few matches online this week I'm now getting bombarded with game invites constantly from random players. It's aggravating as xxxx.

[MonaSaxPayne]

20 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

Personally I think the Ch.4 Score Attack method is much faster and easier. If you shoot the cars you’ll chain together numerous explosive kills which guarantees a platinum medal with almost no effort whatsoever.

 

Also, in regards to OP’s question, I believe you must be online for your XP gains to register. I’ve heard numerous people say they wasted large chunks of time by grinding XP offline and finding out later that the game doesn’t register it. 

 

I don't know if something changed between when I played it in 2020 and when u did, but I played score attack completely offline. my level 40 trophy popped (offline) when it was supposed to, but when I got to level 50 I had to join an online match to get that to pop

[SH06UN5126]

10 minutes ago, M-C83 said:

I was also kinda hoping to grind offline as since playing a few matches online this week I'm now getting bombarded with game invites constantly from random players. It's aggravating as xxxx.

As I've mentioned earlier in the thread, you can disable the notifications for those. That's what I did ages ago, a while after I joined some PSN messages groups for a couple games.

 

1 hour ago, Sergen said:

You must be online on PSN to get any multiplayer XP... If you're not online then the game doesn't recognize that or give you XP, you then have to play an online match after you hit level 50 with the arcade method to get the trophy to unlock.

@jvlourenco2004 There you go. Thanks for clearing that up. I'd heard a few different things and wasn't sure what to believe myself.

[MrGarland]

50 minutes ago, giinha said:

But winning the platinum medal in score attack is very easy.
You only need 5000 points. Even if you don't do a good run you already get 7k to 8k points.

A correction. You need 7000 points for the platinum medal. Get less than that, and you'll get gold. And yeah, I agree that Score Attack is much better method than NYM. You're allowed to mess up a few times, but you can't do that too many times. Blowing the cars is a good way to get extra points.

 

Also, the best way (at least it worked for me) to complete it is to use the Soft Lock option and dual wield the pistols. Since the enemies die in 1-2 hits, you can pretty much speedrun this chapter once you learn how. Personally, it took me about 3 minutes for each run.

Edited July 19, 2021 by MrGarland

[M-C83]

3 minutes ago, SH06UN5126 said:

As I've mentioned earlier in the thread, you can disable the notifications for those. That's what I did ages ago, a while after I joined some PSN messages groups for a couple games.

 

@jvlourenco2004 There you go. Thanks for clearing that up. I'd heard a few different things and wasn't sure what to believe myself.

Oh okay cool, Thanks

[NamoPh]

In contrast to what some say here, you absolutely do not need to be online to grind exp in Score Attack or NYM. I prefer to play offline whenever I can, and I finished the grind no problem, only logging in for the trophy pop. You should probably finish Challenge Mode first though, since that one you do have to be online for, and if I recall it does give you exp, so it'll chip away from the grind a little bit.

[MonaSaxPayne]

59 minutes ago, MrGarland said:

Also, the best way (at least it worked for me) to complete it is to use the Soft Lock option and dual wield the pistols. Since the enemies die in 1-2 hits, you can pretty much speedrun this chapter once you learn how. Personally, it took me about 3 minutes for each run.

 

if u (or anyone else) is going for the platinum, I'd strongly advise against ever using soft lock

 

u can't use it on nymhc, and literally everything u do in this game should be practice for that mode

[Sergen]

20 minutes ago, HondaHoe said:

 

if u (or anyone else) is going for the platinum, I'd strongly advise against ever using soft lock

 

u can't use it on nymhc, and literally everything u do in this game should be practice for that mode

 

It's okay to use soft lock for the mindless grind to level 50 for the game, there's no reason to limit yourself when you need to grind for 30 hours to reach level 50. Otherwise you can't use soft lock for Hard, Hardcore or Old School because the trophies only unlock if you did the entire run of the story with free aim.

[Vergil]

3 hours ago, Sergen said:

 

You must be online on PSN to get any multiplayer XP... If you're not online then the game doesn't recognize that or give you XP, you then have to play an online match after you hit level 50 with the arcade method to get the trophy to unlock.

 

This is an obscure thread, but I recommend people to use NEW YORK MINUTE to grind to level 50, it's so much easier to get a platinum score there compared to Score Attack. The trophy guide on this website stupidly recommends against it because you have to unlock Chapter 4 in New York Minute to get the opportunity to grind there, but you also have to complete the game on New York Minute for a separate trophy so it's stupid not to make that progress and grind your level 50 trophy there. Explosion bonuses against all the vehicles in 4-1 on New York Minute make it hard not to get a platinum time when you grind it.

Wish i knew this before. Rank 48 now lol

18 minutes ago, Sergen said:

 

It's okay to use soft lock for the mindless grind to level 50 for the game, there's no reason to limit yourself when you need to grind for 30 hours to reach level 50. Otherwise you can't use soft lock for Hard, Hardcore or Old School because the trophies only unlock if you did the entire run of the story with free aim.

Is this mentioned in the guide ? Haven't checked. Seems rare info . Would suck to beat it and don't get the trophy. Ive been using soft lock until now actually for dlc and Score attack. 

[Kolm]

22 minutes ago, Sergen said:

 

It's okay to use soft lock for the mindless grind to level 50 for the game, there's no reason to limit yourself when you need to grind for 30 hours to reach level 50. Otherwise you can't use soft lock for Hard, Hardcore or Old School because the trophies only unlock if you did the entire run of the story with free aim.

 

Those 30h will be aiming practice for NYMHC which requires free aim and if you use soft lock you'll learn different habbits compared to free aim. Unlearning those soft lock habbits when playing the other modes which require free aim, might waste you a lot more time. I'm already so used to free aim that someone watching next to me barely sees the difference when playing that 4.1 chapter.

I also prefer score attack because it's very hard not to get a score of 7000. If you have a x2 or x3 hitstreak when going outside and blow up the cars, you're always good to go. But even without that and only blowing up all cars and shoot dodging you already get it. I'm usually 20+k without thinking much but my max score is 47k and I know at least 1 way I could improve it but that would actually require me to concentrate on it which I don't want to.

While NYM... I don't like playing against time in general so that already makes me make more mistakes. For that reason I don't know if I'll ever get through NYMHC. I'm working on NYM and how well that goes will make me decide if I ever go for NYMHC...  

@Vergil: You'll get the same XP for completing the 4.1 score attack level with soft lock and a platinum medal, but at the same time you're learning a few bad habits if you ever want to go for NYMHC  

Edited July 19, 2021 by Kolm

[Sergen]

1 minute ago, Vergil said:

Is this mentioned in the guide ? Haven't checked. Seems rare info . Would suck to beat it and don't get the trophy. Ive been using soft lock until now actually for dlc and Score attack. 

 

Confirmed by Rockstar support here: https://support.rockstargames.com/articles/200153336/Serious-Payne-and-Payne-In-The-Ass-achievement-trophy-not-unlocking-in-Max-Payne-3

It is also in the PlayStationTrophies.org guide for the game.

 

You can use Soft Lock to get the challenge mode and New York Minute trophies, New York Minute Hardcore forces you to use Free Aim though, so it's best to Free Aim the entire game as practice.

[MrGarland]

17 hours ago, HondaHoe said:

 

if u (or anyone else) is going for the platinum, I'd strongly advise against ever using soft lock

 

u can't use it on nymhc, and literally everything u do in this game should be practice for that mode

I only mentioned it because that was the fastest way for me. Free Aim didn't do me any good so I decided to switch for the Soft Lock to see if I could do it any faster (which turned out to be just that). For leveling, I recommend using that. Just trust me. It may not be the best option, but it's still an option for some. Besides, it's only one chapter so why not? Not to mention, since you have to play the story multiple times, you get all the Free Aim practice while doing that. And yes, I'm going for the platinum, but I'll take my time with it.

Edited July 20, 2021 by MrGarland

[Kolm]

8 minutes ago, Sergen said:

 

Confirmed by Rockstar support here: https://support.rockstargames.com/articles/200153336/Serious-Payne-and-Payne-In-The-Ass-achievement-trophy-not-unlocking-in-Max-Payne-3

It is also in the PlayStationTrophies.org guide for the game.

 

You can use Soft Lock to get the challenge mode and New York Minute trophies, New York Minute Hardcore forces you to use Free Aim though, so it's best to Free Aim the entire game as practice.

In challenge mode it would make some challenges with headshots/crotch shots/limbs very hard, but it would make X kills within Y seconds very easy.

I just tried doing chapter 4.1 score attack with soft lock and... I only got 13k. It's so hard to shoot the cars for the bonuses because it locks on to enemies behind it. So lost my hitstreak after the first car and had to carry on without ever getting it back. But still got the score with a big margin

 

Maybe soft lock is better if you want to go with the timed method and play chapter 4.1 in NYM ?

Edited July 19, 2021 by Kolm

[MonaSaxPayne]

21 minutes ago, Kolm said:

Those 30h will be aiming practice for NYMHC which requires free aim and if you use soft lock you'll learn different habbits compared to free aim. Unlearning those soft lock habbits when playing the other modes which require free aim, might waste you a lot more time.

 

exactly