Shrooba's Corner of 100 Completions

[Shrooba]

G'day everybody! My name is Shrooba, and I've been steadily working towards a goal of 100 completed games.

One reason I made this thread is to log my experiences of my games, but I also made this because I wanted to have the opportunity to discuss with you guys!
Even though I've been on this site since late 2019, I've never actually made my own thread before, so I thought something like this would be a fun way to go about it. Feel free to ask me any questions or anything along the way! If we happen to have finished the same games, I'd love to hear your experiences as well!

I hold games with and without platinums of equal value, it doesn't bother me too much whether a game has a plat or not. I suppose this is partly because my first exposure to completing games was with the Xbox 360 way back when. ?

My personal philosophy when it comes to trophies is that I don't really care whether a game is "easy" or "hard", but only whether it's of good quality.
A game like Persona 5 Royal may have an easy plat, but I think it's one of the best games the PS4 has to offer, hence why it's a completion I'm quite fond of.

 

...But I digress!
This is about my journey to 100 completed games of course, so I should get to explaining how I'll go about discussing it:

At my current pace, I won't be hitting 100 for a long time, so every week around Monday, I'll post a review of each of my completions starting all the way back with Sonic Mania in 2019, and if I happen to complete any new games in the meantime, I'll also post a review of that as well, especially since it'll be fresh on my mind! I'll try to eventually review every game I've played so it'll be a long ride!

I like to categorize my reviews by the history of the game's development, the music, the story and the gameplay, and if I have a past connection with a game/series I'm reviewing, I'll also add a retrospective.
 

So what will I do when I hit my goal of 100 completions? Well, as anti-climatic as it'll be, I'll most likely continue gaming as usual. I just wanted to set a goal to help motivate me along the way, but I definitely won't stop my time with PlayStation once I eventually hit the goal... eventually! ?

 

Here's a quick look at my plans:

Currently working on:
Gran Turismo 7 - PS5

Backlog (in no particular order):
Crysis Remastered - PS4
Borderlands: GOTY Edition - PS4
Bridge Constructor Portal - PS4

Ducati: 90th Anniversary - PS4
Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut - PS4
Q.U.B.E. 2 - PS4
ChromaGun - PS4
The Spectrum Retreat - PS4
Hyper Light Drifter - PS4
Final Fantasy X - PS4
BioShock Remastered - PS4
BioShock 2 Remastered - PS4
BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition - PS4
Psychonauts - PS4
Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection - PS3
Gran Turismo 6 - PS3
Cyber Shadow - PS5
Little Nightmares - PS4
Final Fantasy VII - PS4
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - PS4
Jak II - PS4

Jak 3 - PS4
Jak X: Combat Racing - PS4
Yooka-Laylee - PS4
Far Cry 3: Classic Edition - PS4

 

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Shrooba

[Shrooba]

Completion #1
Sonic Mania - 15th June 2019
Completion time: 1 day, 6 hours



Here's where it all began for my profile, Sonic Mania in 2019! I regularly played with my Xbox 360/One through 2011-2019, but a majority of my IRL friends played together on PS4, so I made the leap over. My initial intention was to play the Crash N. Sane Trilogy first since I had already done so on Xbox and wanted to play through it again. However, upon buying PS Plus to play with my friends, I noticed June's free PS Plus lineup of games, the Borderlands Handsome Collection (comprising of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel), and Sonic Mania. I may not show it, but Sonic has been a huge part of games I played as a kid, and upon consideration I then knew that this had to be my first game on PlayStation.
 

Story:
Sonic Mania was developed by fans of the series, led by Christian Whitehead, who is well known for his work on the 2011 Sonic CD port to the 360/PS3, which added a playable Tails alongside the option to switch between the US and JPN soundtracks. He had a knack for making 2D Sonic projects, and his vision for a new 2D Sonic saw the green light.

The game takes place I believe after Sonic 3 & Knuckles, as we see Sonic and Tails traveling towards Angel Island. Rather than encountering Knuckles, they meet face to face with a bunch of Egg Robos, robots of Dr. Robotnik's army that were encountered in Sky Sanctuary Zone. The Egg Robos appear to be patrolling an excavation mission for a mysterious pinkish-purple gemstone called the Phantom Ruby, which suddenly distorts time and space around our two heroes and the robots, causing them all to be transported to Green Hill Zone, with the Egg Robos donning new forms (the Hard-Boiled Heavies) as they scurry away with the ruby. Similar to Sonic Generations, Mania is a celebration of Sonic's 2D adventures, as he traverses various different zones throughout the original trilogy, alongside new areas to explore. Upon encountering the Death Egg robot in Green Hill and defeating it, Sonic learns that Robotnik is in possession of the ruby, and he goes on a journey to collect the Chaos Emeralds, capture the ruby, and stop Robotnik. In a final encounter at Robotnik's main base, the Titanic Monarch, Sonic seemingly emerges as the victor, but Robotnik activates the ruby one final time and transports the both of them to an unknown time and space. The robotic leader of the Heavies seizes the ruby seemingly for it's own gain, with Robotnik rushing in with a new mech to reclaim it. In a true final battle with Robotnik, the Heavy King, and Super Sonic, the ruby goes haywire and transports Sonic to a new dimension, leading into Sonic Forces.

Like the other 2D Sonic games, it's a simple story, but it's very charming at what it does. It has a lot of inspiration unlike Sonic 4, and Mania ends up being one of the best Sonic games in my opinion.

Gameplay:
I didn't discuss much of the zones in the story, but they're a huge part of the gameplay this time around since they have new gimmicks. The controls themselves are the same as the other 2D Sonic games, but Mania includes the addition of a new mechanic for Sonic, the drop-dash. By holding down the spin dash button as you land from a jump, you instantly re-initiate a spin dash and zoom forward. Momentum is a huge factor of Sonic games, and seeing this addition allows you to aim for really fast times and it's a great reward to experienced players who know the layout of each level. Among the main characters are Sonic, Tails and Knuckles who all behave the same as in the original trilogy, but Mania Plus adds Ray and Mighty with new gameplay styles. Mighty has the ability to slam down through objects below (an inverse of Knuckles who can shatter objects in front of him), and Ray, who can glide up and down, adding momentum to the air (an inverse of Tails who is more catered to beginners, as he simply flies up). In doing so, there's a new plethora of gameplay opportunities with 5 characters.

The levels themselves each have changes, such as Green Hill's abundance of zip-lines similar to Sonic 4, to Chemical Plant's emphasis on science with bouncy goo and changes of gravity. However, the best part of Mania is it's new levels, and it's a shame that the Mania team weren't able to make a fully original game, because these new zones are where the game shines the most. Press Garden, Studiopolis, Mirage Saloon and Titanic Monarch are easily some of the best zones in the game. Studiopolis is brimming with funk and groove, with tons of easter eggs and nods to the "studio" aspect with popcorn machines that launch you, springy studio chairs, and clapperboards that bounce you to great heights. Press Garden's first act emphasizes the "press" aspect with a focus on newspapers, with lettered platforms popping in and out of view for Sonic to jump on, alongside a complete shift in the second act, which transforms the zone into a blooming forest, emphazizing the "garden" aspect. It's one of the most beautiful levels in any Sonic game, the team did a fantastic job here. Next is Mirage Saloon with spinning bar chairs, guns that quite literally shoot Sonic at blazing speeds, and an amazing boss against a Heavy that transforms into various past Sonic characters like Fang, Bean and Bark. Titanic Monarch is an intimidating final zone with purple orbs that can allow Sonic to launch in various directions as you traverse through some tricky platforming.


Overall, Sonic Mania is a fantastic game, and I'm very fond of it being my first completion! ?

Enjoyment: 9.2/10
Difficulty: 3/10



 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Shrooba

[Shrooba]

Just a quick update, I've been thinking of a way to make the thread more interesting, and looking back on my backlog (horrible pun intended), I thought a fun way was to let you guys decide what game out of the list I should play next!
By the time I've finished FighterZ, I'll be doing Sonic Colours Ultimate next, but I want to know what game you guys reckon I should do afterwards. ?

I've added a poll, but feel free to leave a comment here as well!
My next review will be focusing on Crash 1, my very first platinum, and I'll post it next Monday. ?

Edited August 24, 2021 by Shrooba

[Shrooba]

Dragon Ball FighterZ - Shrooba's ABSOLUTELY STUNNING, WORLD BREAKING NEWS (Alright... it's just a progress update)


Deep Pockets
Acquire 5,000,000 Zeni throughout the course of playing.

Okay okay, I know what you're thinking; "Shrooba buddy, this is just a regular silver trophy. This isn't a completion. Why are you posting about this."
That, my beautiful people, is a BRILLIANT question!
...
You see, this is no ordinary trophy... it marks 1/4th or an arduous grind to get 20,000,000 zeni. Basically, zeni is FighterZ's currency, and in most battles you'd only get arouuund a couple hundred I'd say. I believe in 2020 the devs added this "FighterZ Dojo" where you can fight in 3 AI battles to win tournaments. One of which has everyone on extremely low HP, and each overall win (beating all 3 AI opponents) nets you 30,000 zeni, which takes around 4 minutes on average each time. (The quickest I can do is around 3 minutes, but after grinding for several hours on end, it's hard to be focused).
I did the math, and...

30,000 zeni x 634 wins =
19,020,000 zeni
This may seem 1 million short, but by the time you get all the other trophies done, you're usually left with 1 million, so you only need to get the remaining 19,000,000. Except it's not a walk in the park. ?

Here's the BIG issue... I said earlier that each overall win is approximately 4 minutes... Times that by 600 battles and...

634 x 4 = 2536 minutes

 

After converting 2536 minutes to hours, it comes out as 42.26 hours of doing nothing but fighting the same fights over. And over. And over. And over.....Needless to say, that's pretty much double the time it takes to platinum the game as is (not counting the ranked matches).

I know there's an exploit where you can just wait for big zeni bonuses upon logging in, messing around with your network settings and getting the reward over and over, but I don't want to exploit this since it's a single-player related thing, I just reckon It'd be more rewarding to finally get it done after the grind! ?

Granted, this is nowhere near as bad as Gran Turismo Sport's Level 50 grind which took me an entire month (never doing that again!!!), but this definitely has a snug fit into 2nd place. But the weirdest thing of all is, and hear me out: This dojo method cuts the time roughly in half. See, I had actually already completed this before on Xbox, and back when I did the Zeni grind there, you had to replay the entire story again on hard mode, and equip zeni upgrades and get around 12,000 every 4 minutes. That's 18,000 less. Yet here I am, enduring it again, albeit in a slightly less painful method!

But anyway, that's it for the progress update. I'll keep the poll up until Sonic Colours Ultimate is done. Right now, it won't be out for another couple weeks, but with this grind in the way I'll be occupied for a good while.
As of now it's a tie between Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai HD Collection! There's plenty of time to vote so feel free.

And with that, have a good one everybody!


 

[KindaSabbath]

On 23/08/2021 at 8:38 AM, Shrooba said:

I hold games with and without platinums of equal value, it doesn't bother me too much whether a game has a plat or not. I suppose this is partly because my first exposure to completing games was with the Xbox 360 way back when.

My personal philosophy when it comes to trophies is that I don't really care whether a game is "easy" or "hard", but only whether it's of good quality.
A game like Persona 5 Royal may have an easy plat, but I think it's one of the best games the PS4 has to offer, hence why it's a completion I'm quite fond of.

 

I feel very similarly in regards to games w/wo a platinum. To me there is one goal and one goal only - Get all the Trophies! 

 

I also agree with your view on Trophies. Easy, hard, doesn't matter. Why play games if they're not the games you like? Quality game means the Trophies are just a little cherry on the top of a big old delicious cake! 

 

Looking forward to following your progress! 

[Shrooba]

Thanks for stopping by! I'll try to make things interesting as I progress, and I look forward to seeing the other games you'll be tackling in the future as well! ?
The quality of a game is the most important feature of all IMO, it's why I love a majority of games I've played. I even liked Cyberpunk despite it's bugs at the time (it's probably still buggy to this day lol), it had a lot of potential and I'm hoping to play the PS5 version as well, but that'll be in quite a long time!

[AJ_Radio]

19 hours ago, KindaSabbath said:

 

I feel very similarly in regards to games w/wo a platinum. To me there is one goal and one goal only - Get all the Trophies! 

 

I also agree with your view on Trophies. Easy, hard, doesn't matter. Why play games if they're not the games you like? Quality game means the Trophies are just a little cherry on the top of a big old delicious cake! 

 

Looking forward to following your progress! 

 

19 hours ago, Shrooba said:

Thanks for stopping by! I'll try to make things interesting as I progress, and I look forward to seeing the other games you'll be tackling in the future as well!
The quality of a game is the most important feature of all IMO, it's why I love a majority of games I've played. I even liked Cyberpunk despite it's bugs at the time (it's probably still buggy to this day lol), it had a lot of potential and I'm hoping to play the PS5 version as well, but that'll be in quite a long time!

 

Honestly though, I feel having to grind at times is a 'Catch 22' for us completionists.

 

Dragon Ball FighterZ. Personally I grew up on DBZ back in the 90s as a kid, so I know a lot about the characters (Frieza is by far my favorite villian), the struggles Goku went thru across all those episodes, etc etc. I've never actually gotten around to playing ANY of the DBZ games, even though there was a time when us teenagers used to get together and talk about what happened to Goku, because we were that much of a group of socially awkward kids.

 

Anyway, I generally refer to grind as something that's NOT fun. I'm grinding thru Max Payne 3 to get Rank 50, because the servers will close on Sept 16th. It's a very monotonous grind, roughly 30 - 40 hours depending on how fast you are as a player. It's still a very good game, definitely one of the more solid third person shooters I've played in my life. Very comparable to Uncharted, in fact they practically took the Uncharted cover tactic from it.

 

I don't like the grind, but I can appreciate the quality of Max Payne 3. In my experience I never met anyone who ever really said they enjoyed a grind.

 

That Deep Pockets trophy, I completely understand where you're coming from.

[Guest]

You are a charismatic guy, good luck on your journey ? and I agree with you about whether a game has a platinum trophy or not; I just like completing games regardless of that detail. I see people saying "wow, that game doesn't have a platinum trophy, what a waste! I won't play that" I see myself as a trophy hunter, and not necessarily a platinum hunter specifically.

[Shrooba]

1 hour ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

 

Honestly though, I feel having to grind at times is a 'Catch 22' for us completionists.

 

Dragon Ball FighterZ. Personally I grew up on DBZ back in the 90s as a kid, so I know a lot about the characters (Frieza is by far my favorite villian), the struggles Goku went thru across all those episodes, etc etc. I've never actually gotten around to playing ANY of the DBZ games, even though there was a time when us teenagers used to get together and talk about what happened to Goku, because we were that much of a group of socially awkward kids.

 

Anyway, I generally refer to grind as something that's NOT fun. I'm grinding thru Max Payne 3 to get Rank 50, because the servers will close on Sept 16th. It's a very monotonous grind, roughly 30 - 40 hours depending on how fast you are as a player. It's still a very good game, definitely one of the more solid third person shooters I've played in my life. Very comparable to Uncharted, in fact they practically took the Uncharted cover tactic from it.

 

I don't like the grind, but I can appreciate the quality of Max Payne 3. In my experience I never met anyone who ever really said they enjoyed a grind.

 

That Deep Pockets trophy, I completely understand where you're coming from.

Thanks for popping in! A lot DBZ games have grinds (Xenoverse 2 comes to mind), but if you want a fun plat, then the DBZ Budokai HD Collection is a neat game; it features slight remasters of Budokai 1 and 3 from the PS2, and it's akin to a 2.5D fighter of sorts. The only major difference is that the music has changed since the composer for the original games actually plagiarized and got fired! He even worked on the show itself and copied other work on that as well, here's one prime example on the top of my head:
 

Spoiler

Here's the theme of Trunks from DBZ, note the bassline from 1:17:
 

And now here's the original song, you'll hear nearly the exact same bassline from 0:35:
 

 

And good luck with Max Payne 3 by the way! You'll get it done before the online shuts down, there's still plenty of time so don't stress it! ? From one person enduring a grind to the other, you got this.

@KindaSabbath On the note of DBZ plagiarism, I reckon you might find this hilarious, I bet you'll recognize the song from 9:19 immediately ?:

 

 

1 hour ago, kevao97 said:

You are a charismatic guy, good luck on your journey and I agree with you about whether a game has a platinum trophy or not; I just like completing games regardless of that detail. I see people saying "wow, that game doesn't have a platinum trophy, what a waste! I won't play that" I see myself as a trophy hunter, and not necessarily a platinum hunter specifically.

Thank you for hopping in as well! I think a trophy list is a trophy list, plat or not. That statement you said at the end is something I completely agree with too, I see myself as a trophy hunter, not just one who seeks plats. That being said, there's nothing wrong with only doing games with platinums either, to each their own of course. ? I had a blast playing through Sonic Adventure 2 recently, and I played it because I love the game, and I wasn't too bothered about the lack of a plat.

I'll try to make my future reviews more interesting by maybe talking about how I've gotten into particular games, which I'll dive into a bit when I talk about Crash 1. ?

Edited August 26, 2021 by Shrooba

[Destructor-8]

On 23/08/2021 at 8:38 AM, Shrooba said:

Even though I've been on this site since late 2019, I've never actually made my own thread before, so I thought something like this would be a fun way to go about it. Feel free to ask me any questions or anything along the way! If we happen to have finished the same games, I'd love to hear your experiences as well!

I hold games with and without platinums of equal value, it doesn't bother me too much whether a game has a plat or not. I suppose this is partly because my first exposure to completing games was with the Xbox 360 way back when. ?

My personal philosophy when it comes to trophies is that I don't really care whether a game is "easy" or "hard", but only whether it's of good quality.
A game like Persona 5 Royal may have an easy plat, but I think it's one of the best games the PS4 has to offer, hence why it's a completion I'm quite fond of.

 

It's great to see more of these trophy checklists, especially as it one of the best parts of the site. It's interesting reading about different experiences in all sorts of games from many different people here. I'm the same when it comes to quality & whether it has a platinum or not, plus I always like looking through a list whether it's easy, hard or a mixture of both. There also are many decent games without a platinum of good quality so it's nice to find games that I didn't really know about before. I'll definitely be having a look at this trophy checklist every so often.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Destructor-8

[DrBloodmoney]

On 23/08/2021 at 8:38 AM, Shrooba said:

 

I hold games with and without platinums of equal value, it doesn't bother me too much whether a game has a plat or not.

My personal philosophy when it comes to trophies is that I don't really care whether a game is "easy" or "hard", but only whether it's of good quality.
 

 

A man after my own heart here!

 

 

On 23/08/2021 at 8:38 AM, Shrooba said:

...But I digress!
This is about my journey to 100 completed games of course, so I should get to explaining how I'll go about discussing it:

At my current pace, I won't be hitting 100 for a long time, so every week, I'll post a review of each of my completions starting all the way back with Sonic Mania in 2019, and if I happen to complete any new games in the meantime, I'll also post a review of that as well, especially since it'll be fresh on my mind!

I like to categorize my reviews simply by story and gameplay, but I do like to go on tangents so they might be a bit long, but we'll see.

So what will I do when I hit my goal of 100 completions? Well, as anti-climatic as it'll be, I'll most likely continue gaming as usual. I just wanted to set a goal to help motivate me along the way, but I definitely won't drop things once I eventually hit the goal... eventually!

 

Good luck on the journey - your profile is a completionist beast already, but I love that you are starting right at the beginning with your reviews - I'll be following along with your write ups for sure ?

[Arcesius]

On 8/23/2021 at 9:38 AM, Shrooba said:

One reason I made this thread is to log my experiences of my games, but I also made this because I wanted to have the opportunity to discuss with you guys!

 

Yes! This is definitely one of the best places to start interesting and civil discussions about games. For sure the right way to go, and I hope you'll have a lot of fun maintaining your own checklist as well!

 

On 8/23/2021 at 9:38 AM, Shrooba said:

I hold games with and without platinums of equal value, it doesn't bother me too much whether a game has a plat or not. I suppose this is partly because my first exposure to completing games was with the Xbox 360 way back when.

 

I never understood the obsession with the Platinum Trophies... Aren't they just... a trophy for earning other trophies? ? So yeah, I'm in the same boat there. I just value a 100% completion, regardless of the inclusion of a platinum. That's also why I recently restructured my checklist to not separate games with and without a plat. I see no point in doing so! 

 

On 8/23/2021 at 9:38 AM, Shrooba said:

I like to categorize my reviews simply by story and gameplay, but I do like to go on tangents so they might be a bit long, but we'll see.

So what will I do when I hit my goal of 100 completions? Well, as anti-climatic as it'll be, I'll most likely continue gaming as usual. I just wanted to set a goal to help motivate me along the way, but I definitely won't drop things once I eventually hit the goal... eventually!

 

Would you mind breaking down your "scoring system"? I'm curious because you have them down to the decimals!  

 

 

As for the poll.. I am personally not interested in any of those games, but I voted for Borderlands because that's the one from the list that I would play if I had to ?

[KindaSabbath]

42 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

@KindaSabbath On the note of DBZ plagiarism, I reckon you might find this hilarious, I bet you'll recognize the song from 9:19 immediately :

 

I didn't realise that DBZ games have such awesome soundtracks. It's crazy to think that album is over 50 years old! Still sounds better than most music released in the last 20 years!

 

Although Paranoid is widely considered their best album.. for me, the album Black Sabbath also released in 1970 is simply a masterpiece.

 

Not sure how many other metalheads we have around this side of the website, but I'll just leave this here as I'm sure everyone can appreciate good music:

 

I might make it a goal of mine to go after the games with legendary soundtracks at some point in the future!

 

Anyways, back on topic: @AJ_Radio a long ass grind is only doable imo, if you're playing games you enjoy/quality titles. I don't particularly love the sound of a grind - I don't think I've really had to grind for anything as of yet Trophy wise - but if the gameplay is atleast good, can just throw on some music/podcast and get through it. Saying that, I have been playing the same challenge and trying to improve for the last 4 days. I guess maybe that counts as a grind?

[Shrooba]

1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Good luck on the journey - your profile is a completionist beast already, but I love that you are starting right at the beginning with your reviews - I'll be following along with your write ups for sure 

Welcome aboard! I'll try to spice up the reviews in the future, just testing the waters at the moment but holy moly this blew up in the last couple of hours! ? I hope my writings will keep you folks invested. I'll do my best to respond whenever a comment is posted here.
On the note of my review structures--

56 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

Would you mind breaking down your "scoring system"? I'm curious because you have them down to the decimals!

Admittedly, my Sonic Mania score was just on a gut feel honestly! ? I feel it slightly excels a regular 9/10 but is held back by the lack of fully original levels. It's very plain at the moment but I'll consider a number of factors for my future reviews and how they impact the score:
1. If the game is a sequel; how the gameplay is improved upon it's predecessor- what innovations are made to the formula.
2. If the music is noteworthy, I'll talk a bit about what my favourite track is and the impact it has on me.
3. I'll try to go more in depth on the history of a game and what went behind the scenes with the developers. I touched a bit upon Christian Whitehead's involvement of the Sonic CD port in 2011, but perhaps I could go more in-depth and take that concept further. For God of War PS4 especially, there's a whole lot to talk about, and the passion and inspiration Cory Barlog had in the game can be something I can judge the game upon as well. If I can feel passion was put into a game, that can definitely change my perception on it.

So I reckon my main sections could be: Gameplay, Story, Music, History of the game's development. Typically I'd say gameplay would weigh the most in my score, but it's dependent on the type of game, like Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human's focus on story first. I don't think the history of a game's development would weigh too much, but I think it's a really cool retrospective that'll be fun to read.

I really loved playing Furi, so maybe one day I might give Hyper Light Drifter a go! ? By coincidence, I've had at least one UR game every 10 games or so to spice things up, so I may have it as a milestone.
 

 

37 minutes ago, KindaSabbath said:

I didn't realise that DBZ games have such awesome soundtracks. It's crazy to think that album is over 50 years old! Still sounds better than most music released in the last 20 years!

 

Although Paranoid is widely considered their best album.. for me, the album Black Sabbath also released in 1970 is simply a masterpiece.

 

Not sure how many other metalheads we have around this side of the website, but I'll just leave this here as I'm sure everyone can appreciate good music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwLQw_95hX0&ab_channel=AgustinGarcia

Black Sabbath has made a huge impact on the world of rock. It's awesome that Ozzy is still with us! ? On the note of the genre, this is another one of my favourites:
 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

@Destructor-8
It's great to see more of these trophy checklists, especially as it one of the best parts of the site. It's interesting reading about different experiences in all sorts of games from many different people here. I'm the same when it comes to quality & whether it has a platinum or not, plus I always like looking through a list whether it's easy, hard or a mixture of both. There also are many decent games without a platinum of good quality so it's nice to find games that I didn't really know about before. I'll definitely be having a look at this trophy checklist every so often.

That's one of the great things I love about other people's checklists, you get to see games you may not have heard of before, and hearing different views is a cool way to get an idea of each person's likes and dislikes with a game, and the journey it takes as they go through each one. ?

Edited August 26, 2021 by Shrooba

[DrBloodmoney]

8 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

Welcome aboard! I'll try to spice up the reviews in the future, just testing the waters at the moment but holy moly this blew up in the last couple of hours! I hope my writings will keep you folks invested. I'll do my best to respond whenever a comment is posted here.

 

Haha, trust me - your review style will cement itself all on it's own, and you're off to roaring start! - mine started as a few sentences, and now, I feel privileged if a single person actually reads them, as they have become longer and longer each time ? When you write about that you love, it's difficult to curtail yourself!

 

8 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

Admittedly, my Sonic Mania score was just on a gut feel honestly! I feel it slightly excels a regular 9/10 but is held back by the lack of fully original levels. It's very plain at the moment but 

 

Must admit, I'm very much not a sonic guy, but I still enjoyed the format of your first one, as well as your passion. For me, there's few things more interesting to read on this site, than someone articulating a passionate review of a game you yourself didn't like or wasn't your own wheelhouse - it gives a window to a die of gaming that is fascinating and worth understanding, whether it actually moves the needle for you on the specific game or series personally or not ??

[Destructor-8]

1 hour ago, Arcesius said:

I never understood the obsession with the Platinum Trophies... Aren't they just... a trophy for earning other trophies? ? So yeah, I'm in the same boat there. I just value a 100% completion, regardless of the inclusion of a platinum. That's also why I recently restructured my checklist to not separate games with and without a plat. I see no point in doing so! 

 

This is exactly how games should be looked at now considering how trophies have changed quite a bit. That's one of the reasons that I find your trophy checklist as one of my favourites since you play quite a variety of good games & are able to make mini guides for games that might or might not get one. I'm sure your most recent one will be of help to many people.

 

19 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

That's one of the great things I love about other people's checklists, you get to see games you may not have heard of before, and hearing different views is a cool way to get an idea of each person's likes and dislikes with a game, and the journey it takes as they go through each one. ?

 

Yeah it really helps bring certain games to more people especially the ones which aren't very well known. I've been meaning to get around to making mine as I'd like to hopefully help other people with some of the games I've played, which haven't got much information on or I might know something that most people don't know. Also it's nice & refreshing to just read the journey someone had on a particular game as I can either relate to it or get a good laugh out of it.

 

6 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Haha, trust me - your review style will cement itself all on it's own, and you're off to roaring start! - mine started as a few sentences, and now, I feel privileged if a single person actually reads them, as they have become longer and longer each time ? When you write about that you love, it's difficult to curtail yourself!

 

I really enjoy your trophy checklist & your reviews on all the games you play. I'm still trying to catch up on yours but so far I've read a few games where I've had either a similar experience or ranked certain games the same. The way you have ranked all your games & the in depth reviews so far have been great.

[Shrooba]

Completion #2

Crash Bandicoot – 16^th June 2019
Completion time: 22 hours, 19 minutes

It’s Monday again, time for another review! Progress on the 20 million zeni grind for DB FighterZ has been at a standstill this past week since I’ve been preoccupied with other things, but I won’t be busy for a good while, so I’ll be able to continue the 42-hour grind… upon second thought, I don’t know if this is worth celebrating! ?

Retrospective:

Anyway, Crash 1 marks the first platinum on my profile! I can’t believe it’s already been 2 years, I guess time has flown by with the monotonous lifestyle since 2020 I suppose, but I digress. To some reading this, that may not seem like much—I’ve seen people on PSNProfiles well over a decade in with their profiles, I respect the dedication.

As I grew up, my main console games came from the N64, PS1, PS2 and the Wii. I played the 2D Sonic games from the Sonic Mega Collection… but Crash? I loved playing Crash Nitro Kart! Easily one of the best games in my childhood, I hold a lot of nostalgia for that game and seeing the announcement of a remade trilogy did pique my interest! I believe I picked it up sometime in 2017/2018 when I still played on my Xbox One, and I had an absolute blast playing through it. As I mentioned in my Sonic Mania review, I had intended to make Crash 1 my first game, but after plans changed, I was still intent on having it as my first platinum, which is another milestone, nonetheless. I’ve always viewed Crash as the mascot of Sony, akin to Nintendo’s Mario and Sega’s Sonic, especially since his gameplay really showed off the potential of the PS1. I had seen the infamous “Crash is the platforming of Dark Souls” meme, but I went into it just wanting to have fun. I couldn’t stop playing, and I had the trilogy done in a week, I was hooked.
With how much fun I had with Crash as a kid, and seeing how fun the trilogy was, it really solidified it as being a great first platinum. With that retrospective done, let’s get on to rest of the review!
 

History of the game’s development/music:

Crash Bandicoot had really “crashed” in the late 2000’s/2010’s…
What’s that? You want me to apologize for that brilliant pun I just made? Let me think about it… Nah. ?

*ahem* Anyway, jokes aside, Crash did legitimately have some tough times through that era. Some diehard fans would even argue that the series fell since Crash: Wrath of Cortex, but I personally find the decline to have begun with Mind over Mutant, released in in 2008 (I didn’t mind Crash of the Titans that much honestly). He had a couple good games in the 2000’s such as Nitro Kart and Twinsanity, so it wasn’t all doom and gloom for him back then. But ever since Mind over Mutant, apart from some random mobile games, Crash would not have any news until the N. Sane Trilogy in 2016.

Imagine that. 8 years of nothing for our beloved marsupial hero… It almost makes me want to shed tears. Manly marsupial tears…
This all changed in 2016 with an official announcement of a remastered trilogy, honouring the original PS1 classics. There’s a Kotaku article all the way back from 2011 where the then-Activision CEO himself pondered on the revival of Crash given that Spyro would kiiiiiinda have his own game in the form of Skylanders. I guess he got his wish, he just to wait another 6 years! Made by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision, Crash was finally back and judging off the trilogy selling over a whopping 10 million units, people were happy to see him once again!

For a character with such an important place in PlayStation history, the Crash trilogy sports a great soundtrack, especially the iconic Crash theme for N. Sanity Beach. Composed originally by Josh Mancell, Crash 1 has a classic soundtrack befitting for the bandicoot himself. Josh’s career would even net him working on Jak and Daxter after his music with Crash; the guy is one credible man in his field of work with a fitting resume.
The music in the N. Sane Trilogy has been remastered by the Vicarious Visions audio team, and they did their best to keep the spirit and grace of the original soundtrack and stay true to Mancell’s style. Through the classic Crash theme on N. Sanity Beach, to the techno groove of Cortex’s castle, to the hard rock of the toxic wastes, there’s a ton of variety in each track, and it’s awesome to see such variation of music, especially for a journey that takes place in such a quick amount of time. The audio team did a brilliant job remastering the tracks.
Here’s a comparison between the original Toxic Wastes theme and the remaster, they did a brilliant job bringing Mancell’s music into the PS4:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Story:
The story to Crash Bandicoot 1, like classic Sonic/Mario games, is simple in its structure, but has a lot of charm. In a stormy castle at the coast of a beach, the crazed scientist Dr. Neo Cortex was creating an army of warped marsupials to lead an army to conquer the world. Cortex selects a worthy marsupial as the general of his army, but his contraption goes haywire, and Cortex’s bandicoot turns into a fuzzy friend. As Crash accidentally falls out of the building and miraculously survives due to Saturday morning cartoon logic, his fellow bandicoot companion, Tawna, is captured by the scientists, and it’s up to “Crash” to “crash in” and save her… Yet again, I will not apologize for these puns. I have no shame. ?
 

Anyway, Crash stumbles upon a mysterious magical mask named Aku Aku, who watches over the lands that have been steadily conquered by Cortex’s army. Through their journey, Crash and Aku Aku fight against a crazed tribal leader, a crazed kangaroo, a crazed… Okay, let’s just say they’re all crazy, insane even!
Through their progression to Cortex’s lair, they fight against his right-hand man, Dr. N. Brio, and finds himself on a giant airship after the battle, only to spot Cortex once again. With a plasma gun in hand, Cortex fights our marsupial hero, and Crash ends up the winner, and rescues Tawna, putting a seeming end to their journey. Things even turn out well for the bosses, as Ripper Roo for example becomes a distinguished professor after getting some well-needed therapy, good for him!

And that’s the story to Crash 1. It’s simple and I love it. It’s one of the best things about Crash, even in future games like Nitro Kart, you meet the antagonist early on, and you understand right off the bat what you need to do, it’s a good old Point A to Point B sort of thing. You know your goal, and it’s up to Crash to save the day.
 

Gameplay:
Crash 1’s gameplay, like it’s story, is the simplest in the trilogy. Whilst 2 and 3 would have a bit more controls due to the introduction of more gimmicks (such as the jet pack from Crash 2), Crash 1 is simple running, jumping, and spinning, with the occasional hog riding. Moving around can be done with the left stick and I believe the d-pad, with square being allocated to spinning and the X button for jumping. Like other games like Furi, it’s a simple moveset, but using this to master levels is the real tricky part. You can vary the length of your jumps by the timing of your X presses and chaining together quick and long jumps will save every second needed for the relics. Alongside this is strafing left and right along the hallway-like level designs, and taking the right routes is crucial for good times. Luckily, the platinum for each game in the trilogy is forgiving as you only need the gold relics. I’d say the hardest gold relic in the game would of course be Stormy Ascent, a level that the Crash developers themselves found hard. Yup, a level that even THEY found hard. You know you’re in for a fun time when you hear that.

I’d say the beauty of Crash 1 is really getting into the levels first and taking your time with them, getting used to all the intricacies; the crate placements, the location of each coloured gem, where to use Aku Aku, what route is the best to take, how you’ll time moving between changing platforms, deciding when to jump on enemies or when to dodge… With a simple control scheme, it brings about a plethora of different variables… Only then, once you learn these levels, does relic-hunting become a lot of fun as you dash through all the obstacles you’ve prepared for, and being met with a sweet gold—or even platinum—relic. The greatest part of Crash 1 is that while it can be tricky if you’re new to this type of game, it becomes a blast when you adapt to the controls.

Unfortunately, there’s not much else to discuss for Crash 1 since it is the simplest in the trilogy after all; I’ll have a ton more to talk about for Crash 3 especially, but that’s for another time. With all that said and done, that’s it for Crash 1! I’d say, with all these things considered, that it sits at about an 8.8 out of 10; It’s a great game, but I gotta say, I’m a Crash 2 guy. Crash 2 is within the 9/10 range, and I don’t think I’d quite put Crash 1 on the same pedestal. Though, this is like comparing diamonds with diamonds here, they’re both fantastic games regardless.
 

Hardest trophy: An Ancient Antiquity
- Do hard time.

Difficulty: 6/10 (Stormy Ascent is a 7/10 though)
Enjoyment: 8.8/10

 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Shrooba

[KindaSabbath]

Awesome write up dude! Thoroughly enjoyed it! Crash is a series I played to death as a child. I've never gotten around to the remaster, but it sounds like I'm in for a treat when I do, eventually.

Edited August 30, 2021 by KindaSabbath

[Shrooba]

20 hours ago, KindaSabbath said:

Awesome write up dude! Thoroughly enjoyed it! Crash is a series I played to death as a child. I've never gotten around to the remaster, but it sounds like I'm in for a treat when I do, eventually.

You'll definitely love the Crash trilogy, especially CTR: Nitro-Fueled. I really look forward to reviewing CTR when I eventually get to it especially! Don't let the whole "Crash is just like Dark Souls" thing get in the way, the trilogy is perfectly doable with practice, more so since you only need the gold relics and not the platinum ones. It's a treat for sure, you'll look forward to it! Best of luck with Trials Fusion in the meantime, I still can't believe you decided to start that so early on into your profile, definitely an awesome start! ?

- Shrooba's Fantastical, WORLD-SHATTERING, GRAVITY-DEFYING Mini Update -
Anyway everyone, on a side note, I figured I'd give a main update to you all reading, for two purposes:
1. I've added some new games to my backlog! They won't be included in the ongoing poll, but here's three games I'll get to at some point:
- Bridge Constructor Portal

Believe it or not, but I'm a HUGE fan of the Portal series, it's really a darn shame that Portal 2 has an unobtainable plat because I absolutely would've done it by now... To make matters worse, the original Portal 1 isn't variable on PS either, but was instead included in the Orange Box collection featuring the HL2 games as well-- but that isn't on PS as well.
But anyway, as I was browsing through the indie game sales, I couldn't help but notice this game! I had completely forgotten that this game was a thing, and if it's the next best Portal-related thing I can 100%, then so be it! ?
- Ducati: 90th Anniversary
Like Bridge Constructor Portal, I stumbled across this game on the indie game sale, for only 2 dollars! What a steal! I've always been enthralled by Polyphony's (Gran Turismo devs) work on Tourist Trophy, a motorcycling game, so seeing something like this for such a low price pretty much guaranteed that it'd take a spot on my list the moment I saw it.
- F1 2021
Formula One is one of my favourite sports; the speed, the adrenaline, the qualifying laps that determine who's the master of a track. It's a discipline only tamed by the most absolute daredevils willing to push racing to it's absolute limits. This is the sort of aspect I loved about GT Sport especially, I love playing with my IRL friends in lobbies and trying to push our times lower and lower... Well, one of the IRL friends I play GT Sport with was interested in getting F1 2021, so I figured I'd get it as well!
Don't worry though, even though I'll be playing F1 2021, I'll still prioritize playing whatever wins the poll after I tackle Sonic Colours Ultimate, I'm a man of my word after all. ?

And that's it for my current additions to the backlog. My second reason for making this update was to hear your thoughts on my current review schedule.
Usually, I intended to release 1 review every Monday, and something in-between if I just so happen to complete a latest game in the meantime. Since I will be a bit preoccupied a couple weeks in the future, my schedule might be a bit sporadic so if you like what you're seeing so far, you can follow the thread if you want, but I understand this schedule might be a bit slow, so I wanted to hear if you guys are fine with just 1 a week. Cheers to the people reading through my ramblings, I really do appreciate you fellas!

Edited August 31, 2021 by Shrooba

[DrBloodmoney]

16 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

- Bridge Constructor Portal

Believe it or not, but I'm a HUGE fan of the Portal series, it's really a darn shame that Portal 2 has an unobtainable plat because I absolutely would've done it by now... To make matters worse, the original Portal 1 isn't variable on PS either, but was instead included in the Orange Box collection featuring the HL2 games as well-- but that isn't on PS as well.
But anyway, as I was browsing through the indie game sales, I couldn't help but notice this game! I had completely forgotten that this game was a thing, and if it's the next best Portal-related thing I can 100%, then so be it!

 

I've heard good things about Bridge Constructor Portal - I have it in my backlog list myself - those other bridge constructor games are actually pretty awesome little puzzle games, and from what I understand the Portal stuff works super well within that!

 

BTW - as a Portal fan, there are some other games that could serve as a trophy-obtainable methadone for Portal if you are looking for such a thing - a few I've played (and a few in my backlog!) that work in a similar wheelhouse are:

 

The Spectrum Retreat

Chromagun

Quantum Conundrum (This one is actually made by some of the original Portal devs)

The Turing Test

Q.U.B.E / Q.U.B.E 2

 

just incase you're interested ?

Edited August 31, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[Shrooba]

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

I've heard good things about Bridge Constructor Portal - I have it in my backlog list myself - those other bridge constructor games are actually pretty awesome little puzzle games, and from what I understand the Portal stuff works super well within that!

 

BTW - as a Portal fan, there are some other games that could serve as a trophy-obtainable methadone for Portal if you are looking for such a thing - a few I've played (and a few in my backlog!) that work in a similar wheelhouse are:

 

The Spectrum Retreat

Chromagun

Quantum Conundrum (This one is actually made by some of the original Portal devs)

The Turing Test

Q.U.B.E / Q.U.B.E 2

 

just incase you're interested 

Awesome suggestions!
Since I don't have my PS3 on me, I won't be able to play Quantum Conundrum unfortunately, nor Gran Turismo 6 which I've been thinking of doing as well. I couldn't find The Turing Test on the PS Store either for some reason...
But the good news is, I'm able to add Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut, Q.U.B.E. 2, ChromaGun, and The Spectrum Retreat to my backlog, those are some cool games! Thanks for introducing me to these. Alongside Bridge Constructor Portal, these 5 games will quench my Portal thirst! ?

[Shrooba]

G'day everyone, time for another quick update!
I finally finished the 40+ hour grind for Dragon Ball FighterZ and nabbed another platinum at last! If you're wondering why it's a UR plat, direct your eyes straight to that horrific grind.
@AJ_Radio After finishing this grind, especially considering it was a similar length to what you did, I fully empathize with what you had to go through with Max Payne 3! ? Those things really take ages, don't they?

Anyway, I've started F1 2021 in the meantime to fill my thirst for a racing game, but next week I'll also start Sonic Colours Ultimate which also has a great trophy list!
Since I'll be starting it very soon, I've decided to end the poll now, and here's the results:


In a VERY close battle, Miles Morales wins with 7 votes, as opposed to Modern Warfare Remastered's 6 votes. Borderlands 1 was also close with 5 votes. In hindsight, I probably should've omitted the DBZ Budokai HD Collection since I don't have my PS3 on me at the moment, but it all works out anyway. Besides, after that cursed 20,000,000 zeni grind in FighterZ, I think I'm quite Dragon Balled out for now!!! ?

As usual, I'll have the Crash 2 review up on Monday, but seeing as I just completed FighterZ, I'll have a review for it up later on today, I need to take a break after that grind consumed me... When I get back, I'll be sure to post it and keep up with everyone else's checklists as well!

Take care everyone, and thanks to those who've been reading these so far, I really do appreciate it!

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Shrooba

[KindaSabbath]

Congratulations on the new !!

I bet you're super relieved to be done with that grind! I also finished a grind of sorts today (x amount of challenges) - nothing close to the grind you've just smashed out, but today is a good day nonetheless!! Looking forward to the write up! Today's and Monday's ?

[Shrooba]

45 minutes ago, KindaSabbath said:

Congratulations on the new !!

I bet you're super relieved to be done with that grind! I also finished a grind of sorts today (x amount of challenges) - nothing close to the grind you've just smashed out, but today is a good day nonetheless!! Looking forward to the write up! Today's and Monday's ?

Thanks! And excellent work so far on Trials Fusion as well, your progress in it has been incredible thus far!
I should've probably added, but due to timezone differences it may be quite a while for me to upload the next review! In Australia, it's just the beginning of Sunday (around midnight), so I'm gonna hop to bed for now! ? But anyway, I'll do my best to create a nice write up for sure!

[AJ_Radio]

I’m really tempted to rent Miles Morales via GameFly. Can finish it within a couple days and return it, all on a trial subscription.