Single Playthrough Method

[LegendExeter]

Like the first game there is a method for getting the platinum in a single playthrough, and I used this method:

 

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/topic/217069-guide-to-all-trophies-in-one-playthrough/

 

Maybe you could call it 1 and 1/2 playthroughs.  I modified somewhat off what he says in the guide.

 

In the first game there is a moment in the story I think most know near end game where you can do a massive Karmic Shift.  InFamous 2 doesn't have that at the end of the game, it's actually about 1/2 way through, or  2/3 through.  So this is what I did, I followed what he said in the first few paragraphs, making a save before a karmic trophy mission, then doing it on Evil, then reloading the save I had made, and redoing the mission on Good and then continuing on with the story.  I also literally right away at the start of the game, turned the difficulty to hard, and just to not mess with things, when I did the Evil side of missions, I just did them on Hard anyway.  I also did the Take Out the Trash mission, as you will need that for a trophy later on.

 

Where I differed mainly from what he says is how he finished it out.  So I finished it on Hard - Good and then waited for credits to roll and I got the Hard Trophy and Good Ending Trophy.  The only thing I did on the Aftermath file of the Good playthrough, was play through the 4 Ice Conduit Good Side Missions for that trohpy, then saved.  After that I debated what to do and I agree with another poster on that thread that dropping your karma would take a long time, yet you also need a good amount of XP in order to buy all the powers.  So I reloaded my Save File I had right before "Storm the Fort", and I turned the difficulty to easy, and this is the mission in the game where if you are at Champion (high good karma) and you choose Nix(evil), it will take you all the way down to Thug.  So I took advantage of the massive karmic shift, and from that point on just kept going through the missions I had completed prior on Easy, choosing evil of course, killing civilians for that trophy.  I got Arch Villian before I reached the final mission.  After beating the final mission on Easy Evil, wait for the credits to roll, the game gives you 15,000 XP for beating it now on both karmic paths.

 

At this point I then needed the island trophies still, so I did all of the evil and regular side missions, which just gave me more experience.  I bought all the powers as needed, you need all the Neutral powers and powers of your Karma, so I needed all the Red colored powers and the Neutral ones for "With Greater Power Comes Greater Power".  When I was done I had nearly 6 or 7 K experience to spare after buying the necessary powers.

 

I feel its also easier when you beat it on Evil the second time, to stay on that file, as if you are needing experience or just want to make sure you have enough I like the Ionic Drain ability.  The Ionic Vortex is good for the Convoy missions where the pickups are lined up in a row on the street, send a tornado down at them.  However the Drain is awesome, as it doesn't matter who you hit, since you are evil anyway, a pack of monsters, drain them, you see a bunch of protesters, drain them.  If you do enough at once you will get Super Drain  (x5), 3, 4, or 5 in 1 combo x 5, and some other multipliers, which nets you quite a bit of experience.  

 

I don't mind anyone enjoying the game and wanting to play through it twice, yet it's very doable with a 1 playthrough method and this saved me at least doing 20 missions twice.

 

EDIT: The dead drops in this game are pretty easy to find, however keep in mind if you are 1 short at the end almost everyone misses that there is one back at the encampment like zone that you first arrived to New Marais at.  So wait until you have the ability blast and then head back to that area getting you the "Back to the Bayou" trophy and find that dead drop before you go back to the city.  It was the last one I needed, and I had to google this during play, so you will want to remember this.

Edited October 5, 2021 by LegendExeter