Fall/Winter 2021/2022 Backlog Challenge

[skeggah]

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

 

Good luck with this one! That shouldn't give you too much trouble. So I wish you all the best with it.

 

I knocked that out at the start of the challenge - and as you are doing the PS3 version like I did, I really hope that you don't run into the pain in the backside glitch where you get to the bomb bridge in one of the later levels, where every time a bomb appears on your screen it instantly freezes the game. It literally crashed my console about twenty times trying to get through that bit.

 

You might be doing this already.....

 

...... But, if you want to deal with enemies a little bit quicker on Nightmare difficulty, I recommend doing the rolling stab move that you can do and then transition into like that somersault jumping slam attack that you can do, that does a decent amount of damage, and let's you crowd control enemies. When you get a hammer it's even more helpful, as you'll knock enemies flying and you can usually isolate one of them and damage one or two in quick succession.

 

Hopefully that might help you a bit, as the game absolutely swamps you with combat and little areas full of boat loads of enemies later on, so using some of those really helped me to stay alive for some of the later levels.

 

Thanks for the pointers! So far I've been getting by with the somersault only, but figured out the rolling attack by accident against that armorer bear in Ch2. I've read about the bombing glitch, and not being a patient man when it comes to crashes galore, it will be guaranteed to test my patience!  I have a feeling I will be mentioning this part on the forum when getting there in the game..

[Bl4ckb1rd92]

Update:

 

Third Winter in Alaska and I finally got snowed in for this first time on a work day.  Got an extra day to just zone out and dive into my games.

1. Dark Souls II - started at 50% -->  03DEC2021   
2. Spyro 2 - started at 19% -->  06SEP2021
3. Control - started at 13% -->  04DEC2021 --> 100% 7 hours later  
4. FFVII - started at 10% -->  03DEC2021  
5. Dark Cloud - started at 0% -->  12NOV2021 
6.  Spyro 3 - started at 8% -->  30OCT2021 
7. Call of Cthulhu - started at 22% -->  03DEC2021  
8. Naruto: UNS - started at 10% -->  01NOV2021  
9. Greedfall - started at 14% -->  currently at 17%  Still on the backburner.  I've got leave coming up in a couple of weeks and plan to take my Vita (for the plane trips to Florida and back) and my PS5.  I'm going to knockout as much of my PS3 gaming as I can before then.
10. Fernz Gate - started at 1% -->  12NOV2021  
11. Antiquia Lost - started at 0% -->  03DEC2021 
12. Revenant Dogma - started at 0% -->  currently at 5%  Going to do this one on 26DEC.  
13. Gravity Rush - started at 5% -->  currently at 62%  Still not touching this one on weekends.
14. Moss - started at 0% -->  Haven't gotten to this one, yet.  It's on the to-do list.  Got it downloaded for when I'm ready.  Got some long weekends coming up, going to do this one over the course of one of those since I've got to break the VR gear back out and remember how to set it up.
15. Skyrim - started at 0% -->  currently at 30%  I'm back to knowing when my PS3 is going to crash before it happens and saving minutes before.  Really dug deep on this one over the impromptu 3 day weekend.  Good times, good times.
16. Hades - started at 0% --> currently 96%  Just waiting.  Waiting...

 

So I've completed 10/16 games on my list, used 1/5 swaps (because Berserk deserves a major milestone slot), and 1/2 games started above 33% (but still below 50%).  Two guides published over the course of this challenge.  Back up to 55.24% completion.  I'm estimating a total of 175ish hours remain on my selected games.  I figure I'll pop 7 more trophies Between Skyrim and Gravity Rush then slap those last three from Hades to make the plat 7k.

[MidnightDragon]

Decided not to continue with my list. However, I will finish Puzzle Bobble if I ever get unstuck and my current plan is to begin Voice of Cards on December 22. And will post updates on what I do here more. I've decided, for spring, just gonna do the minimum and not add more until they're finished so I can be more realistic about it.  I recently played My Universe: Pet Clinic Cats & Dogs...or, as I prefer to call it, Boring Vet Simulator. That should tell you how much I enjoyed it.  I'm currently fifth on the fastest completion list. I guess that's something.  

Edited December 21, 2021 by MidnightDragon

[PeachyJacobs]

This hasn't exactly gone to plan and I am way behind where I wanted to be. I haven't had a whole lot of free time and I was a little too hooked on Back 4 Blood and put all of my spare time into playing it. I'm also going to make a swap and remove Battlefield 2042 as I've decided not to pick it up.

 

Key:

Green = Completed

Orange = In progress

Red = Haven't started

1. Alien: Isolation [PS4]
2. Back 4 Blood [PS5] 
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum [PS4]
4. BioShock Remastered [PS4]
5. Detroit: Become Human [PS4]
6. Final Fantasy X [PS4]
7. Hades [PS5]
8. Heavy Rain [PS4]
9. I Am Setsuna [PS4]
10. inFamous First Light [PS4]
11. Jurassic World Evolution 2 [PS5]
12. Marvel's Avengers [PS5] - 55%
13. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy [PS5]
14. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [PS4]
15. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne [PS4] - 45%
16. Planet Coaster [PS5]
17. Returnal [PS5]
18. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice [PS4] - 4%
19. Tales of Arise [PS5] - 10%
20. Battlefield 2042 [PS5] The Wolf Among Us [PS4]

Games completed (1/20)

[xItsLesterx]

5 hours ago, PeachyJacobs said:

This hasn't exactly gone to plan and I am way behind where I wanted to be.

 

Don't stress it. I'm 1 of 35 ??

[YaManSmevz]

Toasty War Journal #14

12/21/12

 

What's good, y'all?

 

December is proving to be yet another unproductive month. Well, on the gaming front at least! Christmas shopping, tamale making, and quality family time have (not regrettably of course!) dominated the month. Combined with a sharp rise in hours at work, wifey obsessively binging that Kardashian show (I could move the PS4 into the spare bedroom, but.. what can I say, we like being around each other), and a bit of gaming de-motivation have sadly sapped my sporting spirit.

 

Also... I've rediscovered my love of MLB The Show. Of what few gaming hours I have each day, that little bastard has stolen a considerable chunk? I'm not even going for trophies when playing it, it's completely unproductive gaming.. like I'm just... enjoying it, or something! If the '20 edition is as reasonable a platinum as they say (even if '19 were eligible for me i would NOT use it), I might know what I'll be swapping next...

 

Hitman 2 and San Andreas are almost done (expect me to bug you very soon, @Heather342!) and with the quick games I've added to the list, I've no doubt that once I get a nice few days to veg and make that sweet challenge progress, I'll be back on track?

 

Hitman 2 is amazing, full stop. I'm already starting to get pre-emptively sad over when I'll finish the third game - this reboot really just made my socks go foom!

 

Down to the sniper challenges, and I dig how it's almost kinda arcade-y. Aiming and shooting with precision is sadly not my strong suit but it's so fun that I'm hardly worried about it. If I can get an S ranking shooting a tranquilizer from a shaky helicopter in Ground Zeroes, I can certainly do this!

 

Here's to finishing the month strong! Expect - can i say this?? - more checks next to the games in my list before the year is out, I know y'all certainly will. Happy holidays to everybody, I hope this week is good to you!

 

1. Resident Evil 5 (34%)

2. Yakuza 0 (22%)

3. ️Final Fantasy IX (8%)

4. Cities: Skylines (12%)

5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (75-->84%)

6. Sleeping Dogs (0%)

7. Hitman 2 (77-->91%)

8. Hitman 2 Additional Expansions (0-->74%)

9. Grim Fandango (0%)

10. Dex (0%)

11. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (0%)

12. Islanders (0%)

13. Hitman

14. Afterparty️

15. The Witness️

16. Hotline Miami️

17. Red Dead Revolver

18. The Wolf Among Us

[Zach]

Update!

 

I got the platinum for WRC 5 a few minutes ago. I actually really enjoyed this game. I might even try out another game in the series. I think I'm going to go for the Rivals DLC trophies in Ghost of Tsushima before attempting another game on my list!

 

Life is Strange (PS3)- 0% ---> 100%  date: 02/09/2021
Life is Strange 2- 0% ---> 100%  date: 23/09/2021
Zombie Army 4: Dead War- 18% ---> 100%  date: 04/11/2021

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered- 0% ---> 100%  date: 11/11/2021

Heavy Rain (PS4)- 0% ---> 100%  date: 15/12/2021

WRC 5 (PS4)- 0% ---> 100%  date: 21/12/2021

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5)- 26% ---> 37%

Beyond: Two Souls (PS4)- 0%

Detroit: Become Human- 0%

Remnant: From the Ashes- 50% --->

[damcrac5]

 

After three weeks without internet access (work has strange demands), I worked my way through 2 fantastic games, and another that was a nice change of pace.  Spider-man is, well, Spider-man and as most of you know, a fantastic game.  I was worried that NG+ was going to drag on, but I think I got it done in about 5-6 hours, which wasn't too bad.  Glad to have gotten it completed.  

 

I really enjoyed my time with Uncharted: Golden Abyss on the Vita, and the original Uncharted was also fantastic.  Little strange towards the end, but overall, the crushing run-through wasn't overly difficult.  Though at the conclusion of everything, I sat somewhere near 650 deaths/restarts.  So I died my fair share.  Not ashamed to admit I used tweaks on Brutal, but I just don't have the patience, and likely skill, to get through something like that, but the tweaks made the 2nd playthrough much more fun than the first run.  Only issue I had were the 10 kills via punching peach back-to-back.  Swore I got 10 multiple times, but figured out a workaround once I got internet and finished it off the other day.

 

Game of Thrones.  I enjoyed it, as I have the other Tell Tale games (I've tragically added the last three games of TWD to my backlog during this event).  It felt as if there were plans on another season. Which made the ending of the game a bit anti-climactic.  One could hope for a more fitting finish, which might be difficult to do without touching the main parts of the books or TV show.  Either way, a decent little 8-10 plat on a book/tv show I loved.  Happy to have played it.

 

While not on my backlog at the start, I just got the plat is Salt and Sanctuary.  Fun little game, but the map is confusing.  I had to use Optinoob's video guide to get through it.  Surprisingly, I had much more fun after I started following it, so I can easily recommend others check out his video and give the game a go.  Sequel coming out this year!  Plus, I may try to go for the vita stack since it is cross-buy.

 

For some reason, I decided to do Mass Effect 2 on PS3.  It is easily my favorite game of all time.  While I've done it on 360 and on PS4 via the legendary edition, I need to finish the series.  Especially with 3 having some online functionality that I don't want them shutting down.  I've had the trilogy on PS3 for a long time, so I'll just put it as an addition for now.  However, the framerate is rough.  I'm worried about harder sections of the game and if my ol' super slim ps3 can keep up.  Going to try and leverage some OP ally set-ups and see if they can help carry me like Garrus can is ME3.

 

Either way, its great to be back connected to the web, now I just need to spread my 25 upvotes each day to catch up for lost time!  Happy hunting! (I started God of War on the Vita.  We will see if I can get back to Sly 3 for my Vita backlog, but no promises.  I'm GoW1 and 2 away from finishing the entire series).

 

Currently Working:

Mass Effect 2: 0%

 

Completions: (15/28)

 MLB 14 The Show (VITA)  

 Maneater (PS5)  

 Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus (Vita)

 inFamous Second Son

 Kena: Bridge of Spirits

 Demon's Souls (PS5)

 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

 Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando

 Dark Souls Remastered

 Sly 2: Band of Thieves

100% The Touryst

 Ratchet & Clank Full Frontal Assault

 Game of Thrones

 Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered

 

 

Swapped in: (4/5)

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Rift Apart

Dark Souls Remastered 

The Touryst

 

Swapped Out

R&C: Into the Nexus

R&C: All 4 One

R&C A Crack In Time

Spyro 3

 

Yet to be started:

• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered
• Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception Remastered
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
• Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal
• Ratchet & Clank: Deadlocked
• Madden 22 (PS5)
• Madden 11
• Spyro
• Spyro 2
• The Wolf Among Us
• Sly Cooper 3: Honor Among Thieves (Vita)
• Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (Vita)

[Heather342]

Update 20

 

Bit of a mixed bag for me this past week. I was mainly distracted by playing Among Us, and then I saw I was pretty close to my 3,500th trophy milestone so with a little bit of planning I managed to pop the Among Us plat for that milestone ?. It was a lot of fun to play, but will need to get a group of friends together on voice chat to really get the best out of this game. The randoms in online lobbies just don't use the discussion time properly, and on console by the time you've typed up your defence the time has run out and you're already getting spaced ?. Oh well....

 

Challenge game wise though a bit more progress. Managed to complete the Ghost of Tsushima raid on Monday ?. Big shout out to the random person from matchmaking who knew what to do and guided my party to victory! The raid was pretty tough in places, but the final fight against Iyo was actually pretty good.

 

Other than that, I jumped back into Two Point Hospital to continue the grind. I managed to get another hospital up to 3 stars (current star total now at 36). Then I moved onto another hospital from the Close Encounters DLC pack and managed to pop 1 trophy for exposing 50 alien infiltrators in my hospital. Will get back to that tonight, as this first DLC hospital looks pretty straightforward to achieve the 3 star objectives.

 

I'm hoping to make a lot more progress over the next week. I have the week off work so should be able to get some good gaming time in. Just need to avoid getting distracted. It's my birthday on Friday, and then with Christmas on Saturday I'm expecting much PlayStation credit to be sent my way. New sale also announced, I had so many notifications on my phone that my wishlist items are on sale......the backlog will continue to grow ?. But hey, more games to keep me participating in these backlog challenges!

 

I hope you guys all have an awesome Christmas, and keep up with the awesome challenge progress! 

 

Trophy progress:

- Ghost of Tsushima - 15 -> 22%

- Two Point Hospital - 52 -> 53%

Edited December 22, 2021 by Heather342

[KimBongUn420]

Update #11- a short one but it's been a surprisingly productive week

• Judgment - Currently in Chapter 11 of the story and 91% through the completion list!  Done with all 407 of the Shop Missions, which means Drone Racing, Drone Parts, arcade games, and all of the gambling halls (including all Mahjong) are completed.  Drone Racing really wasn't that bad - I messed up a save scum for Mahjong and accidentally did the entire championship and Time Trials without the Turbo Takeoff skill, but still had minimal trouble with it.  Only TT that was hard was the Pipeline forward, but it boils down to "git gud" as much as I hate to say it.  44/50 Side missions and 44/50 friend requests done as well.  The game is fantastic and might be my favorite game I've played this year.

List Changes

• Added Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon.  I probably will only add one more game by the end of the event, which is currently looking to be Tales of Arise.  Never played a Tales game before so I'm looking forward to it!

Again, Happy Holidays to everyone!

 

Color Key:

Green: Completed Game (This Update) (100% or Plat)

Blue: Completed Game (Previous Updates) (100% or Plat)

Orange: In-Progress Games 

Purple: Newly-Added Games

Black (Non-Bolded): No Change Since Last Update

Swaps: 2/5 

1.  Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Sept 7)
2. Life is Strange 2 - 10% 
3.  Erica (Nov 8)
4.  Guardians of the Galaxy [PS5] (Dec 8)
5. Ghost Recon Breakpoint - 92%
6. 428: Shibuya Scramble - 26%
7.  Dragon Quest XI S (Oct 7)
8.  Beyond: Two Souls [PS4] (Nov 17)
9.  Subnautica [PS5] (Nov 8)
10.  Deathloop (Nov 20)
11.  Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (Nov 3) 
12.  LA Noire [PS4] (Dec 4)
13. Far Cry 6 [PS5] - 26% 
14.  Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 (Dec 8)
15. Judgment [PS5] - 14% -> 44%
16. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - 0%

Games Complete: 10/16

Total Trophies: 593/741 (80%)

 

 

[Bl4ckb1rd92]

Update:

 

Short days and long weekends during the holiday season.  Makes for some great gaming time.  Also, no DnD this weekend because of the 25th, so more time to play.

1. Dark Souls II - started at 50% -->  03DEC2021   
2. Spyro 2 - started at 19% -->  06SEP2021
3. Control - started at 13% -->  04DEC2021 --> 100% 7 hours later  
4. FFVII - started at 10% -->  03DEC2021  
5. Dark Cloud - started at 0% -->  12NOV2021 
6.  Spyro 3 - started at 8% -->  30OCT2021 
7. Call of Cthulhu - started at 22% -->  03DEC2021  
8. Naruto: UNS - started at 10% -->  01NOV2021  
9. Greedfall - started at 14% -->  currently at 17%  Doing this one on leave, should be a good time when I can hunker down.
10. Fernz Gate - started at 1% -->  12NOV2021  
11. Antiquia Lost - started at 0% -->  03DEC2021 
12. Revenant Dogma - started at 0% -->  currently at 5%  Going to do this one on 26DEC, 24 hour duties suck, but I'll be taking studious notes as I complete this one.  Gotta stay preoccupied.  
13. Gravity Rush - started at 5% -->  currently at 65%  Did very little with this one this week, no lunch hours so not a lot of my typical time allotment for the Vita.
14. Moss - started at 0% -->  About to break out the headset and have me a good little time.
15. Skyrim - started at 0% -->  currently at 37%  My chest in Breezehome officially crashes the game whenever I drop more than one thing at a time in it.  Minor goal complete, time to finish all the storylines.
16. Hades - started at 0% -->  22DEC2021  Finished the game post run 100.  What a great time.  Looking forward to doing this one on PS4 sometime in the future now that I know which grinds take the longest.  I want to see how many runs I can drop it down to and see how much time I can save.

 

So I've completed 11/16 games on my list, used 1/5 swaps (because Berserk deserves a major milestone slot), and 1/2 games started above 33% (but still below 50%).  Two guides published over the course of this challenge.  Currently at 55.29% completion.  I'm estimating a total of 165ish hours remain on my selected games.  I will most likely be starting and finishing Moss this weekend and getting pretty damn far if not finishing Revenant Dogma as well.  I'll likely be picking out one more game specifically for my Vita to do on the plane (I don't think Gravity Rush is going to be enough).

[TalesofGaming]

Update 29:

 

1. Tales of Arise - 100%  9/19/21

2. Among Us 75% -> 78%

3. Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition - 100%  9/7/21

4. Dark Souls III - 74%

5. The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince - 100%  10/28/21

6. Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist - 100%  10/23/21

7. Overcooked! All You Can Eat - 100%  9/30/21

8. Maquette - 100%  10/24/21

9. A Plague Tale: Innocence - 0%

10. Bugsnax - 100%  11/16/21

11. Crash Bandicoot: Warped - 75% -> 100%   12/22/21

 

I can't believe I finally finished Crash Bandicoot: Warped! That High Time level was about to be the death of me... I also managed to finish the Future Tense DLC trophies last night.

 

Swaps (4/5)

Shining Resonance Refrain -> The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince

Human Fall Flat -> Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Operation: Tango -> A Plague Tale: Innocence

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch -> Among Us

[karaman1025]

Update 1

Its been almost a week with the PS5 I am really enjoying the experience. The dualsense is awesome. Thanks to astro's playroom I saw what a controller can do. I didn't had Astro's playroom in my list but I completed it and started F1 2021. Also from the sale on psstore I bought some good games and I want to add them to my list. With the new games my list has grown a bit but I will do my best. Probably I will not have time to even look at ps4 games, so maybe I should delete them from the list.

 

PS5

1) Maneater 

2) Little Nightmares II 

3) Bugsnax 

4) Mortal Kombat 11 

5) Sackboy: A Big Adventure

6) F1 2021 (26 of 51 %40)

7) Astro's Playroom (46 of 46 %100)

8) Life is Strange: True Colors (New)

9) Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (New)

10) Assassin's Creed Valhalla (New)

11) Death Stranding: Director's Cut (New)

12) Hot Wheels Unleashed (New)

 

PS4

1) Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution (7 of 25 earned %26)

2) Metro 2033 Redux (4 of 50 earned %7)

3) Horizon Chase Turbo (4 of 49 earned %5)

Edited December 24, 2021 by karaman1025

[Zach]

Went ahead and did an easy game before starting another longer platinum. We love those easy platinums!

 

Life is Strange (PS3)- 0% ---> 100%  date: 02/09/2021
Life is Strange 2- 0% ---> 100%  date: 23/09/2021
Zombie Army 4: Dead War- 18% ---> 100%  date: 04/11/2021

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered- 0% ---> 100%  date: 11/11/2021

Heavy Rain (PS4)- 0% ---> 100%  date: 15/12/2021

WRC 5 (PS4)- 0% ---> 100%  date: 21/12/2021

Steins;Gate: My Darling's Embrace (PS4)- 0% ---> 100%  date: 23/12/2021

Control (PS5)- 0%

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5)- 26% ---> 37%

Beyond: Two Souls (PS4)- 0%

Detroit: Become Human- 0%

Remnant: From the Ashes- 50% --->

[Fanatixa1]

Hi everyone, 

 

Here's another update from me. I haven't played a lot because I was still traveling in Colombia and didn't want to bring my Playstation to the other location. Yesterday I returned to the Netherlands and I got some gaming time in today. I'm quite jet lagged so didn't want to do anything else. Also the Netherlands is in lockdown, so there's not a whole lot to do at the moment. 

 

I got the platinum for Carrion today. A really enjoyable game where you play as a monster instead of a hero. The game is fun to play and an easy platinum too. It took me about a day to finish, so not too long. Other then Carrion I've played some Crash Bandicoot 4. The game is kicking my ass, but I'm going to keep going at it. I really liked getting the platinum in the first 3 games and I'm hoping this one will be great too. I do understand it's a lot more difficult, but let's see. I made some more progress in Lost Judgment also. No trophies tho. 

 

I will keep playing Lost Judgment this week and Crash Bandicoot 4. I want to start a 3rd game next to those but not sure yet which one it will be. 

 

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 100%  

2. Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 - 100%  

3. Overcooked: all you can eat - 100% 

4. Hades -100% 

5. Guardians of the Galaxy - 100% 

6. Life is strange: True Colors - 0% --> 100% 

7. Carrion - 0% --> 100% 

8. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's about time - 32% --> 61%

9. Lost Judgment - 33%

10. Jurassic World Evolution - 1%

11. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - 0%

12. Kena: Bridge of Spirits - 0%

13. Chicory: A Colorful Tale - 0%

14. Tales of Arise - 0%

15. The Pathless - 0%

 

Swaps used (3/5)

 

Happy holidays everyone! I hope everyone has a great time! ??

 

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Fanatixa1

[KimBongUn420]

Update #11.5:

 

Judgment [PS5] #134

Difficulty: 6.5/10*

Grind: 8/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

 

Managed to round out the platinum Judgment tonight!  Definitely one of the more challenging plats I've gotten but well worth the effort.  I think this is my favorite game I've played this year - even better than Yakuza 7 or DQ XI S.  

 

*Before I get into the mini-review, a note on difficulty:  The PS5 version of the game removes the hardest mini-game (Puyo-Puyo) and adds Virtua Fighter 2.  It also significantly buffs the Amon fight (you can't cheese his shield anymore), but you can still spam Blazing Barrage extracts to win if you're having trouble.  Thus the hardest parts of this game are drone racing and the Amon fight, and arguably Mahjong depending on how much you understand the game and pray at the altar of RNGesus.  

 

I found the drone racing to be really not that bad; it requires patience and learning the tracks, but even then the only track I had to replay more than 3 times was the Time Trial for Pipeline forward.  As I said in my previous update, I accidentally did all the drone races without the Turbo Takeoff skill too.  I do play a lot of racing games so that may have helped, but again it's very doable with the right setup.

 

Mahjong is another mixed bag.  You have to play a LOT of mahjong to complete the game (win ~50 hands, along with a bunch of special win conditions on top of that).  Ultimately depends how much time you want to invest in learning the game vs. brute-forcing your way to victory.  I find mahjong to be a lot of fun, but if you hate it then this platinum is gonna suck for you.  

 

Amon fight I already covered; it's quite a bit harder in this version but if you're having trouble turn the fight down to simple and spam blazing barrage extracts.  I managed to beat him on normal but still did the blazing barrage method for the last half of the fight.  His shield is a pain in the ass to get through otherwise.

 

And on a final note, Legend difficulty is pretty easy if you get every other trophy done before doing Legend mode.  Having all fighting and battle skills is a must.  Only tricky part is the final boss fight, as he can one-hitter-quitter combo you if you screw up and drop your guard.  

 

Anyway, the point is I rated the game a 6.5/10 but this is one of the very few games I've played where I found it to be easier than I expected (Witcher 3 and FF7R are probably the only other ones) - usually I shy away from overly difficult games.  Case in point, the only other Yakuza platinums I have are K2, 6 and 7 which are the 3 easiest platinums in the series.  I think for the average person this game is closer to a 7/10 or even an 8/10 if you really struggle with Mahjong or the drone races.  The plat took me about 90 hours as well.  Just know what you're getting into before attempting!  And it goes to show that ratings such as difficulty are once again highly subjective.  

 

Okay, long-winded drivel over, time for the actual review.  RGG games almost always have good stories (except you, Yakuza 6) and Judgment does not disappoint in that regard.  Story-wise I think it's one of the best in the series, and it's one of the few Yakuza games I've played where I simply had to play it straight through without putting it down, because I was hooked.  For being brand-new characters, Yagami and his compatriots are remarkably fleshed out.  The story is also a superb detective thriller in its own right, and the fact that there's an entire game built around it is just a huge bonus.  

 

The game looks beautiful at 60 FPS and the fighting is as good as ever.  The move to the Dragon engine definitely had some hiccups but I think it's really solid now.  Lost Judgment supposedly has even better combat so I'm looking forward to playing that soon.  The game does have some weird difficulty spikes but overall the fighting is very well balanced and doesn't feel cheap (well, except Amon but that's every Yakuza game).  I also actually liked that they removed combat items from the game; I felt that in most of the games the combat items never really did much anyways except allow you to cheese Legend difficulty with the golden gun (which let's be real was pretty fun).

Kamurocho has a few added sights and events in this game which bring even more things to life, and I still maintain it's the best open-world video game setting there is.  AAA game makers like to tout how huge their map is or how massive the world is, but 90% of the time all they feel is vastly empty and full of wasted space.  RGG does more with a 1 square km open world than most developers do with maps that are 100s of square miles.  The exact same setting has been used for 8 yakuza games now and it still never gets old.  

Overall 9/10, a must-play for any Yakuza fans and general RPG fans should consider it too.  Yakuza/Judgment is an excellent series and it's nice to see it getting the attention it deserves in the west.  

If you are going to attempt the platinum, some things I found useful:
CyricZ guide: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/247615-judgment/faqs/77509/introduction - his guides are hands-down the best ones for each and every Yakuza game
Riichi Mahjong guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlnC2rgIPrc - yes, I know the video is 3.5 hours long but it's indexed so you only need to watch the things you need help with.  Excellent for understanding hands, yaku, dora, winds, dragons, and melds.  CyricZ's guide also has some tips.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hunting!
 

Color Key:

Green: Completed Game (This Update) (100% or Plat)

Blue: Completed Game (Previous Updates) (100% or Plat)

Orange: In-Progress Games 

Purple: Newly-Added Games

Black (Non-Bolded): No Change Since Last Update

Swaps: 2/5 

1.  Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Sept 7)
2. Life is Strange 2 - 10% 
3.  Erica (Nov 8)
4.  Guardians of the Galaxy [PS5] (Dec 8)
5. Ghost Recon Breakpoint - 92%
6. 428: Shibuya Scramble - 26%
7.  Dragon Quest XI S (Oct 7)
8.  Beyond: Two Souls [PS4] (Nov 17)
9.  Subnautica [PS5] (Nov 8)
10.  Deathloop (Nov 20)
11.  Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (Nov 3) 
12.  LA Noire [PS4] (Dec 4)
13. Far Cry 6 [PS5] - 26% 
14.  Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 (Dec 8)
15.  Judgment [PS5] - 44% -> 100% 
16. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - 0%

Games Complete: 11/16

Total Trophies: 610/741 (82%)

 

[DFuzed]

Update #17 for December 25th:

 

Merry Christmas everybody!

 

Diablo II Remastered - 44%

Word Quiz - 74% +9%

Epic Word Search Collection 2 (Vita) - 89%

 Life is Strange 3 (PS4)

 Life is Strange 3 (PS5)

Life is Strange Remastered - 0%

Life is Strange: BtS Remastered - 0%  

 Procession to Calvary

Lego Batman 2 (Vita) - 71%

 Link-a-Pix (PS4)

 Link-a-Pix (Vita)

 Spiderman (PS4)

Lego Star Wars (PS3) - 80%

 Persona 5 Royal

Trials of Mana - 41% +34%

Borderlands - 0%

Borderlands the Prequel - 0%

 The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

 

These are without the DLC included in them. 

 

Swaps: 1/5 - DDLC for Word Quiz. Will add DDLC back when bug is fixed.

 

Current Plans:

 

HOLIDAY MODE ON!! DAILY TROPHIES LIMITS RULE CURRENTLY SUSPENDED!

 

   - Work on Trials of Mana. Currently finishing the post-game dungeons on my first playthrough 

   - Play Word Quiz's Daily Questions and finish the trivia questions 

   - Play Lego Batman 2 (Vita) when possible 

   - Play Epic Word Search Collection 2 (Vita) if necessary. 

   - Play Borderlands games if the above is done

   - Go back to Diablo II Remastered when possible.

[Bl4ckb1rd92]

Update:

 

Dropped some major time into the games this weekend, made.  Decided to go ahead and update now because I doubt I'll feel like it after being up for over 24 hours.

1. Dark Souls II - started at 50% -->  03DEC2021   
2. Spyro 2 - started at 19% -->  06SEP2021
3. Control - started at 13% -->  04DEC2021 --> 100% 7 hours later  
4. FFVII - started at 10% -->  03DEC2021  
5. Dark Cloud - started at 0% -->  12NOV2021 
6.  Spyro 3 - started at 8% -->  30OCT2021 
7. Call of Cthulhu - started at 22% -->  03DEC2021  
8. Naruto: UNS - started at 10% -->  01NOV2021  
9. Greedfall - started at 14% -->  currently at 17%  About another week before I work on this one again.
10. Fernz Gate - started at 1% -->  12NOV2021  
11. Antiquia Lost - started at 0% -->  03DEC2021 
12. Revenant Dogma - started at 0% -->  currently at 5%  Going to do this one tomorrow.
13. Gravity Rush - started at 5% -->  currently at 65%  Again, not a weekend game.
14. Moss - started at 0% -->  currently at 92%  I absolutely adored everything about this game, from the interaction with Quill, to the way you could look around corners with the VR headset to find pesky easy-to-miss collectibles.  I also loved how they integrated the DLC into the story instead of making it a unique "chapter".  I will be doing the no death run next weekend, before I catch my flight.  I may have forgotten that the VR was going to make me queasy until I got used to it again, so I didn't technically finished this one like I had planned.
15. Skyrim - started at 0% -->  currently at 61%  I've just been running around absolutely WRECKING Northern Tamriel.  Trying to save the fight with Alduin as the last trophy and level to 78 before then so he can be a "legendary" dragon.  Only fitting, right?
16. Hades - started at 0% -->  22DEC2021  

 

So I've completed 11/16 games on my list, used 1/5 swaps (because Berserk deserves a major milestone slot), and 1/2 games started above 33% (but still below 50%).  Two guides published over the course of this challenge.  Currently at 55.75% completion.  I'm estimating a total of 160ish hours remain on my selected games.  I have decided to add Oceanhorn to have an extra game for the plane rides back and forth.  

[StilRh]

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

The last week I've drilled hard into Age of Wonders: Planetfall and finally achieved the platinum! There are still plenty of DLC trophies to go however. These include a few campaigns (which are pretty enjoyable) and some RNG miscellaneous trophies that'll likely bother me for weeks. Additionally, I've fired up Death's Door and Nier Replicant, played a good few hours on both but no trophies achieved yet.

My goals for the remainder of the year - knock out the low hanging fruit to fluff up my trophies completion percentage. I'll likely play Death's Door and maybe Visage. I have a few nights where the family are away, I may stay in bed with Muv Luv, who knows  Have a great new year everyone.

Spoiler

Age of Wonders: Planetfall 62% > 77% (plat achieved)

Airborne Kingdom 100%

Alan Wake 25%

Catharine: Full body 10%

Cities: Skylines 9%

Corpse Party 100%

Cyberpunk 19%

Death’s Door 0%

Deathloop 28%

Hades 33%

Judgement 41% - stopped?

King’s Bounty 2 10%

Labyrinth Coven of Refrain 36%

Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 2 10%

Moonlighter 26%

Nier Replicant 31%

Persona 5 47%

Rune Factory 4 Special 10%

Tales of Arise 19%

Tales of Iron 100%

The Messenger 100%

The Riftbreaker 73%

The Witness 91%

Visage 11%

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars 100%

Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sector 100%

 

Dangnronpa V3 Killing Harmony 30%

MuvLuv Alternate 10%

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove 13%

Spy Chameleon 17%

Tokyo Xandu 21%

 

Plats/100% 7*/31

*1 game Platted but not 100%

 

[The_Head_Crusher]

Update #9

 

Phase 1

Final Fantasy VIII ---> 14 16  4  1  = 35/35 100% Finished Dec 10, 2021

Another World ---> 9 3  1  ---> 13/13 100% Finished Sept 30, 2021

Spirit: Lucky's Big Adventure ---> 4 10  7  1  = 22/22 100% Finished Nov 28

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet ---> 19 1  0  0  = 20/63 24% --->28 3  1  0  = 32/63 48%

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age  ---> 26 10  4  1  ---> 41/41 100%  Finished Nov 28, 2021

 

Phase 2

PGA Tour 2k21 ---> 0 0  0  0   = 0/30 0% ---> 17 5  7  1  ---> 30/30 100% Finished Oct 24, 2021

Digimon Cyber Sleuth Hackers Memory ---> 0 0  0  0  = 0/46 0% --> 7 0  0  0  = 7/46 10%

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara (PS3) ---> 15 3   = 18/18 100% Finished Dec 17, 2021

Legend of Korra ---> 8 2  0  0  = 8/31 18%

God of War 3 Remastered ---> 0 0  0  0  = 0/35 0%

 

Green = Newest updated

Red = Previous accomplishments

 

Phase 1 Total Progress

36 30   17  3 ---> 86/117 79.62% Progress

 

Phase 2 Total Progress

35 8  7  1  ---> 51/146 32.01% Progress

 

Meant to split my time between SAO and Digimon, but need up focus solely on SAO. Much of the time was focused on relearning how to play the game and grinding things to the point where I would be able to complete the final mission in the main game.  I did complete that final mission once to view 1 of the 3 possible endings, but now I have to replay the last few missions a couple more times to get the other 2 endings.  After that it is the 2 online trophies, level grinding, skill and weapon grinding, and side missions to get the platinum.  However, there are still the 2 DLC to complete after that and 1 of the trophies is to get to level 270.  My characters are level 75 from just playing through the game, to add another 200 levels onto that is going to suck. I am worried I will not get that one before the end of this event (given I only get a couple of hours at night to play after the kids got to bed.)

Edited December 27, 2021 by The_Head_Crusher

[beerwego]

Merry Christmas all ....hope everyone is in good spirits .Got some time off work to get back on track now hopefully.Finished Bugsnax, my first PS5 plat .... hopefully many more to follow so I'll add Astro`s Playroom as the next . Slowly making progress with PvZ and Borderlands 3 ....so time to see some real in roads.Good luck everyone.

 

 

PvZ Battle for Neighborville 90%

 

Nier Automata 100%

 

Borderlands 3  32%.....>43%

 

Danganropa 2. 8%......>14%

 

The Cave 15 %

 

We Were Here 24 %

 

Metro 2033 Redux ...100%

 

Tekken 7........100%

 

Uno .....38%.........>52%

 

Bugsnax....0%,.........>100%

 

Demetrios......0%

 

Adding Astro's Playroom 

[karaman1025]

Update 2

It has not been long from since my last update but as I am going to take some days off I thought It would be better to do an update now. I have played Life is Strange: True colors. Honestly I can’t say It was the best LiS game but still kinda got me into the story in the last two chapters before that it was meh. Maybe my expectations were big because of previous games. The first one was the best, 2 was good and this one was ok. Of course these are my personal opinions it may differ for you. Not much to say for F1. I am an F1 fan got the online stuff out of the way and now only enjoying the game. I also auto-popped Spider-man remastered but I guess no need to put it here (not feeling guilty ). 
 

PS5 (All started from %0)

1) Maneater 

2) Little Nightmares II 

3) Bugsnax 

4) Mortal Kombat 11 

5) Sackboy: A Big Adventure

6) F1 2021 (26 of 51 %40) —> (34 of 51 %55)

7) Astro's Playroom (46 of 46 %100)

8) Life is Strange: True Colors (%0) —> (41 of 41 %100)

9) Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales 

10) Assassin's Creed Valhalla 

11) Death Stranding: Director's Cut 

12) Hot Wheels Unleashed 

 

 

 

[Fanatixa1]

Hi everyone, 

 

Only a short update because I want to change Tales of Arise for It takes two. My sister wants to play It takes two with me, so I hope we can complete it in the next few days. 

 

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 100%  

2. Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 - 100%  

3. Overcooked: all you can eat - 100% 

4. Hades -100% 

5. Guardians of the Galaxy - 100% 

6. Life is strange: True Colors - 100% 

7. Carrion - 100% 

8. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's about time - 61% --> 62%

9. Lost Judgment - 33% --> 40%

10. Jurassic World Evolution - 1% --> 14%

11. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - 0%

12. Kena: Bridge of Spirits - 0%

13. Chicory: A Colorful Tale - 0%

14. Tales of Arise - 0% --> switch for: It takes two - 0%

15. The Pathless - 0%

 

Swaps used (4/5)

[SicilianDragon92]

1. Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate (Vita) 44%
2. Dark Souls 2: SOTFS 38% > 44% > 50%
3. Final Fantasy XIV (PS5) 27% > 28% > 35% > 38% > 43%
4. Dishonored (PS3) 21% > 25%
5. Tekken 7 0% > 62% > 100% 
6. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey 0% > 7%
7. Alan Wake: Remastered 0% > 19% > 50%
8. Resident Evil: Village 0% > 42% > 81%
9. Assassin’s Creed: Origins 20% > 32% > 67% > 100% 
10. Hades (PS5) 13% > 68% > 92% > 96% > 100% 
11. Echochrome (PS3) 14%
12. Bully 0% > 49% > 100% 
13. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night 0% > 14% > 34%
14. Psychonauts 0% > 18% > 23%
15. Plague Inc 0% > 18% > 36%
16. Abzu 0% > 100%
17. Among Us 0% > 90%
18. The Forgotten City 0% > 89%
19. Full Throttle Remastered 0% > 100% 
20. Seasons After Fall 0% > 100% 

Update 5

 

It’s been quite a while since my last update. The run up to Christmas is always hideously busy at work. Going to write this one while waiting for Dark Souls summons!

 

As before, changes from previous update in Bold, swaps since previous update in Purple, completed games in Blue, and additions to the list in Green.

 

2. Dark Souls 2: SOTFS 38% > 44% > 50%

 

I’m currently at the end of Aldia’s Keep trying to grind for sunlight medals. I think I need 30 to max out the covenent and get a required miracle, at 24 so far. I’ve detailed before about my opinion on this version of the game so I won’t repeat myself. Going to finish off the sunlight medal grind and then polish off the other covenant trophies. Once I’m at the end of the game I’ll clean upthe gestures and then attempt the bit I’m not looking forward to - Darklurker

 

3. Final Fantasy XIV (PS5) 27% > 28% > 35% > 38% > 43%

 

It has taken a huge number of hours, but I’m finally up to Endwalker, and got through the squadron missions. Going to spend some time with the new jobs and see if there is another one I want to level while I’m on my way to level 90

 

7. Alan Wake: Remastered 0% > 19% > 50%

 

My goodness do I have some mixed feelings about this one. I have currently finished my first (blind) playthrough and the first dlc. Will need to do a collectibles run and a nightmare difficultly run as well as no death runs for the dlc which might be tricky.

 

I can’t remember who it was, but there was someone else in the thread who finished this game and I have to say hats off to you. The story and world building I absolutely love. It reminds me of Deadly Premonition except made by people who properly understand the aesthetic. On the other hand, the combat is ludicrously broken and it really sucks the fun out of every section it’s involved in. You get repeatedly swarmed by enemies running at you from random directions, at speeds that you can’t outrun them, when you take a maximum of three hits, and the controls really are only suited for dealing with one enemy at a time. The developers went on to make Control and I found that I tolerated the combat there, but their earlier attempt at this system was just awful. The whole thing just ends up being controller-bitingly frustrating. I will persevere and probably do the collectibles run, but I’m starting to wonder if the platinum is something I want to bother with, lest I break my teeth trying to get through hard-mode.

 

8. Resident Evil: Village 0% > 42% > 81%

RE8 is one of my favourites in the series and is very close to my game of the year. I think enough people have probably explained why by now so I won’t waste words going over it. I have completed a couple of extra runs to be able to afford the infinite magnum and am now part way through the village of shadows run.

 

13. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night 0% > 14% > 34%

 

I’ve never played any of the old school metroidvanias, but I had heard good things and having played a couple of 2D souls-likes, I thought I’d give it a go. Am liking what I’ve seen so far, though some of the bosses have been a bit more frustrating than I’m used to. Don’t know if I’m underlevelled but I appear to have hit something of a wall with the inverting skeleton dragon thing and haven’t touched it in a while. Will come back to it soon though I think.

 

14. Psychonauts 0% > 18% > 23%

 

I have tried to get on with Psychonauts once before, but gave up. As with most Double Fine games I like the humour but find the gameplay to be a bit repetitive. It’s a bit slow compared to most modern 3D platformers and the controls can feel a bit floaty at times (Yes I know, sorry). This had lead to some frustration but I still feel like I can keep going with it in between the others. Not any major road blocks so far.

 

16. Abzu 0% > 100%

 

There’s not a great deal to say about this one, I liked Journey and finished it twice, and I like Abzu. A very relaxing time which was a pleasant relief from some of the other games on my list. Nothing too extreme with the collectibles and miscellaneous tasks, so a bit surprising how low some of the percentages are.

 

17. Among Us 0% > 90%

 

I have never played Among Us before on any platform, and mostly bought it as a treat for my children who seemed to spend absolutely ages watching streamers play it. Have to say that while it is fun for a short while and I imagine it’s an amazing party game I really don’t think it works on consoles with random groups. There’s just not enough co-operation in the discussions and it’s absurdly easy to win as the imposter by simply staying quiet until near the end and then just making sure you get the first accusation in. Very few tend to argue I’ve found. I only have the tasks grind to do which I will and then imagine will drop it for good.

 

19. Full Throttle Remastered 0% > 100% 

 

I missed the Lucasarts point and clicks when I was younger but have long wanted to add them to my list. An easy plat and a bit short compared to their other offerings but I had fun and now another one to add to my collection.

 

20. Seasons After Fall 0% > 100% 

 

This was a fairly straightforward 2D platformer from PS Now. A budget palette cleanser to ease some of the frustrations with the other games on the list.

 

18. The Forgotten City 0% > 89%

 

I mentioned earlier that RE8 was very close to my game of the year and up until last week it was. However, over Christmas I’ve played The Forgotten City and it was the best thing I played all year. An absolute gem of a game.

 

Sorry I know this post is absurdly long already but I really have to gush as there are so few who seem to have played this and that is an absolute crime.

 

It starts with your character waking up having been pulled from a river and asked to go find a companion who apparently went to investigate a local temple and hasn’t yet come back. A short trip down a long shaft later and you find yourself entering a portal that takes you back 2000 years to a Roman city, full of creepy golden statues. You quickly learn that this city is isolated from the outside world and that all live under the tyranny of “The Golden Rule”, whereby if anyone in the city commits a sin (and what exactly constitutes a sin is not really explicitly stated) then all the statues come to life and begin to murder the inhabitants. The local leader tells you that he knows someone is about to break the rule and tasks you with finding out who and how. If you fail he reopens the portal and you get to loop back to the start of the day to try again, but crucially you get to keep any items and money you are carrying when you enter the portal again, as well as all the knowledge you have gained.

 

Forgotten City started life as a Skyrim mod that won some writing awards and some grant money for it to be developed as a full game. Although it’s no longer in the same engine as Skyrim the DNA is still present, so conversations still zoom in (though do not pause the clock!), items can be picked up and moved around and movement and combat is going to feel very familiar to anyone who has played a Bethesda RPG. As with its progenitor, combat is the weak link here, though there isn’t very much of it and it is simple enough that it does not become frustrating. The writing is where it really shines, it’s a time looping interactive mystery so well layered I had no less than three moments that made me say “wait, what?!” out loud, but in a good way.

 

There are so many little world-building touches, for instance people’s names are not marked unless you already know what it is. Everyone is “stranger” until you know better and that tiny thing is enough motivation to speak to as many people as you can. There are others but I’d be risking spoilers and I really don’t want to ruin it for anyone. One thing I will say is do not follow the trophy guide that recommends getting the bad ending quickly. It will rob you of a realisation that should lead you to that ending and it will be much more satisfying if you work out yourself how to get it, rather than triggering it in the first couple of minutes without really understanding what you are doing or why. Even if you miss it, it can be done in the first couple of minutes after a new game and much better if you know why that is triggering an ending.

 

Play it, please. Good writing like this is so rare in games and needs to be rewarded.

[TomataEighty9]

Not started/no progress

Newly added

Progress since last

Platinum/100%

 

My games : 

1. Jetpack Joyride (ps3) - 28%
2. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy (ps4) - 14%
3. South Park : The Stick of Truth (ps4) - 18%
4. L.A. Noire (ps4) - 11%
5. Ratchet and Clank (ps4) - 4%
6. Black Desert (ps4) - 41%
7. Path of Exile (ps4) - 25%
8. Bully (ps4) - Not started --> 37%
9. GreedFall (ps4) - Not started --> 1% 
10. Puzzle quest : Challenge of The warlords - 14% --> 23%
11. Gems of War (ps4, base game) - 80% --> 85%
12. PGA Tour 2K21 (ps4) - 97% --> Platinum!

 

 

This week was VERY productive!  

I finally grinded the last 5 hours in PGA Tour. I got something done in both Puzzle Quest and Gems of War. Then i got started with GreedFall (it didn't WOW me like i hoped, but i did the first map/tutorial, and im gonna head back in later). 

 

Bully REALLY took me by storm. I never played it back when it came (i bought it, and had it in my machine very brief, but was put off by the game being very closed, in comparison to the GTA games). Holy God i missed out back then! im enjoying it a lot. The Rockstar humor is as usual  

 

On a good note, my brother finally is feeling better, and actually asked me at Christmas dinner, if we should start POE back up. So im thinking we will play next off week from work (3rd-9th of January). 

 

Black Desert might also get some love the coming weeks. It's pretty simple, just time consuming. 

 

Keep up the amazing work guys, it's nice to see how much people are playing