Cy1999aek_maik's Trophy Hunter Blog

[cy1999aek_maik]

Hello Everyone and Happy Holidays

 

I'm Michael and I've been playing games since... well I don't exactly recall, but I started with a PS2 a Gamecube and a PSP. I moved on to the Wii and the PS3 later on and currently I'm only using my PS3 and PS4. My 1st trophy was on Call of Duty: Black Ops in 2011 and my 1st platinum was on Borerlands 2 in 2013. Looking at my stats page, it seems I started chasing after trophies more intensely at around 2014 and I've been at it since. Although platinums are a nice dopamine hit, I'm more interested in 100% completion of the games I play. My current completion rate is quite horrible at 37% but I'm not too worried about that. I have many games with unobtainable trophies and I've made my peace with that, as I'd rather not start a new account. I suppose my aim is to have as many 100s back to back on my trophy list and push the shitty 1% unobtainables to the bottom. I've given up on chasing a better overall completion rate as it made me feel guilty for starting a new game.  

 

The point of this post is mostly for me to have a timeline of the games I'm going through. I'll be reviewing the games I finish and talking about the ones I'm currently playing through. I don't expect many people to follow this but it would be nice if I wasn't just talking to myself! Either way I will enjoy using this as a blog and I may start some polls for people to vote on what I should play through next, when I can't decide for myself (Assuming there's someone here to vote). I'm not too familiar with the formatting of this forum but I bet I'll figure it out as I go along. I will probably post updates monthly on what I've been up to as well as an update on certain stats I'm interested in. With the new year around the corner it feels like a good time to start this. Also I should note that I will gradually start reviewing the 32 games I have completed in seperate replies and the initial post will hopefully act as a table of contents.

 

2013 (Total of 1 Completed Games)

 

1. Borderlands 2 (PS3) - Review

 

2014 (Total of 1 Completed Games)

 

2. The Walking Dead: Season 2 (PS3) - Review

 

2015 (Total of 5 Completed Games)

 

3. Infamous First Light (PS4)

4. The Wolf Among Us (PS4)

5. Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell (PS4)

6. Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare (PS3)

7. Tales from the Borderlands (PS4)

 

2017 (Total of 2 Completed Games)

 

8. Dishonored 2 (PS4)

9. Life is Strange (PS4)

 

2019 (Total of 1 Completed Games)

 

10. Apex Legends (PS4)

 

2020 (Total of 3 Completed Games)

 

11. Rocket League (PS4)

12. God of War (PS4)

13. Titanfall 2 (PS4) 

 

2021 (Total of 20 Completed Games)

 

14. A Way Out (PS4)

15. Rocket Arena (PS4)

16. Uno (PS4)

17. Burnout Paradise Remastered (PS4)

18. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (PS4)

19. Need for Speed: Rivals (PS4)

20. The Walking Dead (PS3) - Review

21. Assassin's Creed II (PS4)

22. Assassin's Creed Unity (PS4)

23. Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4)

24. God of War (PS3)

25. God of War II (PS3)

26. Life is Strange 2 (PS4)

27. Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4)

28. Minecraft - Set 2 (PS4)

29. Overcooked (PS4)

30. Killing Floor 2 (PS4)

31. Assassin's Creed II (PS3)

32. Call of Duty: Black Ops (PS3)

33. Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection (PS3)

 

2022 (Total of 17 Completed Games)

 

34. Jetpack Joyride (PS3)

35. Ultratron (PS3)

36. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (PS3)

37. Titan Attacks! (PS4)

38. HyperScape (PS4)

39. Minecraft (PS4)

40. Battlefield V (PS4)

41. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (OR) 

42. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (EU)

43. Elden Ring (PS4)

44. Danger Zone (PS4)

45. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (NA)

46. Super Bomberman R Online (PS4)

47. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (PS4)

48. Dead By Daylight (PS4)

49. Slay the Spire (PS4)

50. Dead By Daylight - Additional Chapters (PS4)

 

2023 (Total of 8 Completed Games)

 

51. God of War Ragnarok (PS5)

52. Pinball Heroes (PS5)

53. Pinball Heroes (PS4)

54. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS4)

55. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS4)

56. Knockout City (PS4)

57. Assassin's Creed III (PS3)

58. Welcome Park (PS Vita)

 

Update #1 (26/12/2021)

Spoiler

 

Overall Completion Rate: 37.64%

Completed Games: 32

Platinums: 39

 

Progress Update

 

Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection (PS3) 64%

Jetpack Joyride (PS3) 71%

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (PS3) 15%

 

I suppose it's appropriate to post the first update here as opposed to posting it as a reply. Well, I am currently at home, away from my PS4 which is at my uni flat in the UK. I have my PS3 here and I will use it until mid-January when I leave it behind and return to the PS4. I am currently going through the trophies of DBZ Budokai HD Collection which has proven harder than I thought. With any luck, I will finish it before the end of the year and reach 40 platinums before 2022. I am also going through Jetpack Joyride (yes, that Jetpack Joyride) which is a shitty little game I earned a trophy in a while ago and now it's stuck on my list. This one doesn't have a platinum and it seems to take way too long for the last trophy I have left. Regardless, it's an ok time killer when I have a podast in the background. I will not be completing that in time for the new year but that is ok.

 

After these two games, I would like to go through all 5 Prince of persia games, although that might be a bit optimistic considering that I only have until mid-January. InFamous and Batman Arkham Asylum are also 2 PS3 games that I've left unfinished that I would like to go back to. Realistically, I expect to finish the first 2 games and then 1 PoP game before I have to part ways with my PS3, but I'm not too bothered about it. Another goal of mine is to start reviewing the 32 games I've already completed, but that will take some time. 

 

Anyways, Happy New Year to anyone who might be reading this  I might create a poll in 10 days or so, regarding which PS4 games I should take with me to the UK, if there seems to be an interest.

 

Update #2 (24/1/22)

Update #3 (4/3/22)

Edited April 30, 2023 by cy1999aek_maik

[cy1999aek_maik]

#1: Borderlands 2

 

Date Completed: 12th of August 2013

Time to 100%: 10 months, 19 hours, 33 minutes

Platinum Rarity: 6.31%

Completion Rarity: 2.01%

 

Borderlands 2 is one of my favourite games of all time. I was first exposed to the game on a youtube channel by the name of Meatwagon22. The unique art style and inventive loot system gripped me. I was addicted to the game when I first got it which resulted in me finishing the game about 15 times as well as buying the game on PS3, PS4 and Steam. Borderlands 2 offered something new that other developers tried to recapture with Destiny, The Division and Anthem. All of the games that followed in Borderlands 2's footsteps failed to capture my attention, including the subsequent games in the Borderlands series. 

 

Story

 

The story of Borderlands 2 could be boiled down to a treasure hunt gone wrong. An ancient civilisation left behind several treasure vaults around the galaxy, and 'Vault Hunters' attempt to obtain the potential riches. Those are the characters we play as. Having skipped Borderlands 1 and gone straight into 2, I thought the story might be hard to follow. The opposite was true as the game quickly catches the players up to the events of the first game. A vault was opened on the planet 'Pandora' which is where the first 2 games take place. The vault opening triggers a new mineral to surface, which attracts corporations to the planet. Hyperion is one of them and they manage to take over the planet to mine the precious mineral as well as pursue any other vaults. 

 

Although the story is generic, there are some highlights to it. The main villain Handsome Jack carries the game's story, as well as the story of Tales From the Borderlands and Borderlands the Pre-Sequel. He is a funny character that keeps checking in with the player to trash talk while the story progresses. He also happens to be a maniacal tyrant, a manipulator and the most interesting character in the Borderlands series. Although his story arc in the Pre-Sequel makes the player sympathise a bit more with him, the events of BL2 make taking him down very satisfying. 

 

Overall, the story is nothing special. It has it's good moments but it acts as a reason for doing everything we're doing. The lore of the vaults, the alien race and the sirens still intrigue me but other than that (and Handsome Jack), the story isn't groundbreaking.

 

Loot

 

The loot is what intrigued me about this game initially. As far as I understand, the guns and equipment of this game all depend on several factors which are randomly generated. The manufacturer of a gun, the preset of it, the rarity and then several parts (that are only visible if you know what you're looking for) affect the guns' effects and performance. That means that 2 SMGs that should act the same, don't. The manufacturers each have a niche to their equipment and weapons, which by itself spices up the weapon selection. This is something that no other game after Borderlands has been able to accomplish. The weapons in Destiny, for example, fall under the usual stereotypes of LMG, rifle, rocket launcher etc. whereas in Borderlands 2, I was interested in picking up every single weapon to at least shoot once or twice and see its effect. Not to mention the countless unique weapons and legendaries, each with its own unique effect. 

 

Long story short, not only was I addicted to the huge variety of weapons, but I was also hooked on collecting all the legendaries on all my characters. A dream that was not realistic and never came true. I will say however, that the more time I spent with the game, the magic formula of variety began to unravel. I became able to categorise the guns into archetypes and knew which ones to pick up and which ones to skip. As a result, the game started to lose its magic for me.

 

Progression and Endgame

 

The game originally features 4 characters and 2 DLC characters. Each character is unique and can be played in different ways as a result of their skills and skill trees. Zer0 can be a sniper, or a melee charcter for example. Maya can specialise in elemental damage or be a healer. I enjoyed going through the game's quests, leveling up to level 80 with a couple of characters. It seemed like I would never get sick of the game or farming the raid bosses for new weapons.

 

There's plenty of replayability here, which was extended with the release of Raid on Digistruct Peak. This DLC offered 8 Overpowered levels(later extended to 10) if the players manage to defeat the raid. OP levels allowed the player to fight level 90 enemies, collect level 90 gear but their character's health and skill points remain to that of a level 80 character. This allowed the players a nice challenge where they could turn on OP10 and play the whole game on what was basically the hardest difficulty. Although on paper this seems effective, the implementation of it was in my opinion poor. The higher OP levels overly relied on the 'health gate'. The health gate in borderlands 2, refers to the fact that the player cannot die in 1 shot if their health is above 50%. So as long as the player's health is at 51% he cannot be one shot. The problem is that I always felt like I was one step away from 1 shot (as a result of the high damage of the enemies) which caused an over-reliance on self healing items, as my favourite character (Axton) was not well equipped to heal passively. And as I was playing alone, there was nobody there to heal me either.

 

This is an issue I had with some of the games' harder raid bosses and why I thought the gunzerker was more powerful than the rest of the characters. The gunzerker has the ability to dual wield any weapons, allowing him to have a healing weapon on one hand and a high damage weapon in the other. As for the rest of the classes, I felt like I had to keep switching to the healing weapon all the time which took away from the flow of the fight. 

 

Another issue with OP10 is that it made non-unique weapons obsolete. The vast majority of the randomly generated weapons are useless in OP10. That is probably why I found that the first playthrough with each character is the most enjoyable, as I can use literally anything I find on the ground and have fun. 

 

DLCs

 

The game's DLCs are for the most part up to par with the original game. The first 4 DLC campaigns were amazing, with the last one (Tiny Tina's Assualt on Dragon Keep) getting a standalone release in 2021 and a whole game based on its premise (Tiny Tina's Wonderlands).  Tiny Tina's Assualt on Dragon Keep's standalone version was on sale for £3 recently and I encourage everyone to try that if they're unsure about getting into Borderlands. The second season of DLC include 5 smaller campaigns which are for the most part forgettable, with the exception of the final one which reintroduces a Borderlands 1 raid boss. The 2 DLC classes are both unique and fit well into the existing selection. The final DLC for the game was not released on the PS3 version. It came shortly before Borderlands 3 and was meant to tie the two games together. That being said, I don't remember the DLC as I was burnt out on the series by the time of its release. 

 

Trophies

 

The trophies for this game are frankly very annoying. The requirement to complete all quests, for the DLC as well as the main game was a drag, as the majority of the quests are unoriginal and have the player collecting something. Another trophy that was annoying was completing all of the challenges. The menu for the challenges is quite horrible and this challenge took ages to finish. Other than that, it's an ok trophy list. If it wasn't for my love for the game I don't know how I would have sat through those 2 trophies though.

 

Final Verdict: 8.5/10

 

The final rating may come as a surprise, given how much I've complained about the game. That is due to the fact that the more I played the game, the more apparent seemed its flaws and it became harder for me to appreciate its merits. Discovering Borderlands 2 was like lightning in a bottle for me. I would encourage everyone to give the game a shot, however due to the sub-genre of looter shooters now becoming overcrowded, the game doesn't shine as bright. 

 

Borderlands 2 had me anticipating the next game for years. When the third game arrived I could not get invested in it. Borderlands simply doesn't do it for me anymore. Borderlands 2 remains the only game in the franchise I have completed but I hope one day I can return to any of the other games (or even the PS4 version of BL2) and actually complete them. For now, Borderlands 2 will remain amongst my favourite games. 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by cy1999aek_maik

[SuperPatchZ7]

Man, you played Borderlands 2 way beyond the platinum.

I got a bit obsessed with the game too, around 2016, when i got every character in OP leves, the only one who got to OP 8 was Salvador for obvious reasons.

I liked the new dlc, commander lilith, but the grind to level 80 and the two new OP levels hadn't the same "something" that hook me before. O maybe i just got tired.

 

Anyway, good luck with your list.

Edited December 28, 2021 by SuperPatchZ7

[cy1999aek_maik]

5 hours ago, SuperPatchZ7 said:

Man, you played Borderlands 2 way beyond the platinum.

I got a bit obsessed with the game too, around 2016, when i got every character in OP leves, the only one who got to OP 8 was Salvador for obvious reasons.

I liked the new dlc, commander lilith, but the grind to level 80 and the two new OP levels hadn't the same "something" that hook me before. O maybe i just got tired.

 

Anyway, good luck with your list.

That's exactly how i felt.. That 'something' hasn't been replicated by the franchise for me and I kinda miss being obsessed with the game..All the grind also made me realise that the best part of the game is the first and second playthroughs with each character! After that it gets to grindy and a lot of the gear becomes obsolete..oh well, it was fun while it lasted

[cy1999aek_maik]

Update #2 (24/1/22)

 

Overall Completion Rate: 37.64% --> 38.56%

Completed Games: 32 --> 36

Platinums: 39 --> 41

 

Progress Update

 

Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection (PS3) 64% --> 100%

Jetpack Joyride (PS3) 71% --> 100%

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (PS3) 15% --> 100%

Ultratron (PS3) 0% --> 100%

 

Overcooked 2 (PS4) 28% 

Dead by Daylight (PS4) 60%

Dead by Daylight Additional Chapters (PS4) 37%

 

It's been a while. I've now abondoned my PS3 and only have access to my PS4 but that will do nicely for a while. Looking back at my first update, it was very optimistic of me to think I'd be able to finish the whole Prince of Persia franchise. I'll settle for the 1 game I was able to complete though. 

 

The Dragon Ball game was a nice blast from the past and made me consider picking up Dragon Ball FighterZ, although I've resisted that urge so far. Jetpack Joyride was a huge grind but it was mostly enjoyable. Prince of Persia Sands of Time was honestly a disappointment. There are a lot of issues with the game which apparently are exclusive to the PS3 port. I was eager to start Warrior Within but thanks to missing 1 collectible I had to replay the whole game a second time so there was no chance for a different game. Ultratron was a cool indie game I had installed on my PS3. It became my fastest completed game at just under 12 hours.

 

Now I've set my sights on Dead By Daylight again. The game hooked me when I first played it in Novemeber and I couldn't wait to get back to my PS4 to play some more. The 2 trophy lists combined amount to 185 trophies with more on the way in March. The lists consist of a huge laundry list of specific actions and is a bit of a grind to be honest, but I don't mind it. I'm periodically purchasing the DLC characters needed for some of the trophies. I only need to be mindful of getting burned out on the game but that won't be an issue if I throw more games in the mix. I've purchased 3 months of PS Now, mainly to play Overcooked 2 with my girlfriend. It also gave me access to all of the god of war games, which I'll start completing, as I've only completed 1,2 and 4. If there's any PS Now games I should try out let me know, I've already downloaded a few contenders. 

 

I generally like to have 3 games I'm playing at a time. Right now I'm playing Dead by daylight and I'm about to start GoW III, so that leaves 1 more game to throw in to the mix (Overcooked 2 doesn't count). I wanted to create a poll of a few games I'd like to start because I can't decide myself. Hopefully I'll figure out how to do that on here and get a few votes. 

 

I'm enjoying writing here even if only a few people might be reading and I'm hoping I can do it more often in the future. ✌️

 

 

[cy1999aek_maik]

Update #3 (4/3/22)

 

Overall Completion Rate: 38.56% --> 38.63%

Completed Games: 36 --> 37

Platinums: 41 --> 42

 

Progress Update

 

Overcooked 2 (PS4) 28% --> 30%

Dead by Daylight (PS4) 60% --> 79%

Dead by Daylight Additional Chapters (PS4) 37% --> 61%

Titan Attacks 100%

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes 0% --> 7%

Hyperscape 28%

Super Bomberman R Online 0% --> 35%

God of War: Ascension 0% --> 1%

Family Feud 0% --> 54%

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth 79%

Elden RIng 0% --> 2%

 

I've gotten so many trophies in this one and a half month, yet my completion rate has barely moved. That is definetly as a result of the amount of new games I started. Overcooked 2, Family Feud and Bomberman are games I play casually with my girlfriend but I do wish to get 100% completion on them at some point. I finally got the platinum of Dead by daylight but hit a wall in terms of trophies as I need to purchase more DLC to progress and I don't want to do currently. DbD used to be my 'main' game but I'm using Elden Ring to take a huge break from DbD. Given how Elden Ring is my first FromSoft game and how I'm planning on doing the first playthrough blind, it will take me months to plat this and move on. The game is unbelievable so I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

I had Titan attacks incomplete in my profile for a while so I went back to quickly finish that. House of Ashes was a horror game I bought to play with a friend. Given what it requires, I probably won't be completing it any time soon so that's another stain on my list. After hearing how Hyperscape is shutting down soon, I redownloaded that to complete it before it remains incomplete on my profile forever, but now I'd rather leave it incomplete than play anything other than Elden Ring. I earned the multiplayer trophy in god of war ascension with no plans to play it further for now. On ps3, that trophy requires an online pass, but ps now skips that. I plan on finishing the game eventually on ps3. Finally I bought the final DLC of the Binding of Isaac and I play that on the side when I want a break from Elden Ring.

 

Hopefully by next time I'll have the completion rate higher as I don't plan to start any more new games. I'll just focus on Elden Ring and Isaac for now.

[cy1999aek_maik]

#2 & #20: The Walking Dead Seasons 1 & 2

Season 1:                                                            Season 2:

Date Completed: 25th of March 2021               Date Completed: 31st of August 2014

Time to 100%: 7 years, 8 months, 1 day.          Time to 100%: 8 months, 6 days, 23 hours

Platinum Rarity: 47.88%                                   Completion Rarity: 56.13%

Completion Rarity: 15.63%

 

Telltale's The Walking Dead is a classic story in video games. I remember watching the hype on youtube when the game first came out, unable to buy the game myself as I was a child at the time. I played season 1 about a year and a half after its release and by then I had not forgotten the spoilers I watched on youtube. Regardless, I enjoyed making my own choices and playing through the game myself. The reason for the 7 year trophy gap in season 1 was that rock, paper, scissors trophy that I couldn't bother to obtain after I failed to in my first playthrough. 

 

I will try to write about the memorable things of my playthrough here. It has been almot a decade since I've played these games fully, so it was necessary for me to look at some playthroughs and such to refresh my memory. I will not be spoiling anything in this thread.

 

Season 1:

 

Season 1 is often recommended as one of the most emotional stories in games. I agree with this sentiment, as Lee's character arc and bond with Clementine is unparalleled by most stories in media. The cast of side characters is also compelling for the most part and they each have their own story arcs. Kenny, Ben, Carly, Lilly and Larry's group offers a diverse pallet of perspectives and backgrounds of personalities that rival the show in my opinion. If anything, the game's cast often felt more human in the decisions and arguments they had. 

Lee is introduced as a criminal and immediately the game throws him into the apocalypse. He finds his way to Clem and his path to redemption become clear at that point. Between this event in the first episode, and his moment in his family's old shop, Lee's choice to cut ties with his old life becomes easy, as he has a new makeshift family to deal with and a young girl to coach in surviving the new world. Something I liked about Lee was that every dialogue option was in character for Lee. Although some were goofy and made me laugh at times (e.g. 'Fuck you Larry, eat up'). Upon looking back at some footage, I also noticed that he starts and ends the game in handcuffs, which is a reminder of how the whole story affected his character. 

 

A common criticism of these games are that they give the illusion of choice. If you save X character, he dies anyways, making the choices inconsequential. I don't completely disagree with the statement, however, the game's choices can be seen as a reflection of the player's traits. Moreover, if we give some characters more time to live, they often come to terms with certain things they've caused and it gives better closure/redemption to their character. I understand the issue of the illusion of choice, but it could be argued that the state of the world doesn't leave the characters much choice to begin with, which is how the game reflects that, by giving the players little choice to affect the world. The choices in these games are still a better feature than the choices in a game like AC Odyssey, where the character's personality can feel inconsistent depending on the player's actions, as we are allowed to do practically anything in certain situations, even if it doesn't align with the character's interest. TWD's actions are also a better feature than a game like Far Cry 3, where the game has no build up or justification to the final choice. Jason makes his own choices until the end, which seems like a shoehorned way to force non-linearity into a game that doesn't need it.  

 

Season 2:

 

Season 2 was significantly less memorable than season 1 for me, so this section will be shorter. The cast of characters was less memorable as well, with Jane and Luke standing out, as well as a scared girl that I forget the name of. This season marked the last TWD season I played and where I lost interest in the series. By introducing a new cast of characters, I felt that the journey we went through in season 1 was even less relevant. Kenny makes an appearance, but for some reason he seems to have lost his mind completely. That being said, the dilemma at the end, was not much of a dillema as the choice seemed obvious to me. That being said, neither of the endings provided a satisfying ending or a desire to play more for me.

 

I was excited to play more walking dead after how much fun season 1 was and how invested I was getting in the show. The 400 Days DLC was a chore to play, and I was hoping that season 2 would provide the excitement I needed from the franchise. That excitement was not brought back, and as the show became a walking simulator, it seemed my interest for the franchise died. 

 

One of the things that killed my interest in this franchise was how bland everything is. The Walking Dead is the 'default' zombie story. It is zombies with no spice. Nothing interesting to vary the concept of an apocalypse, the zombies just walk slowly and as a result the survivors seem to just walk slowly as well, away from the zombies. It doesn't help that the villains in the walking dead are not particularly compelling either, albeit with some exceptions.

 

Final Verdict: 9/10 for Season 1, 6.5/10 for Season 2

 

I'm not completely against the franchise. The Definitive Edition on ps4 often tempts me when it goes on sale. I'm simply fatigued by the amount of zombie content I've consumed over the years, most being better than TWD. It doesn't help that the Telltale story-telling sub-genre has been hijacked by other studios as well as oversaturated by Telltale themselves. 

 

I've started catching up to the tv show again recently, and characters like Beta and Negan provide enough flavour for me to keep watching. So who knows, maybe I'll get back into these games again someday. I'd love to hear other people's opinions on season 1 and 2. I wonder if you feel the same way about season 2 signifying a decline for the series.