Earning platinum before release date

[You]

I know this is happening quite recently, this game too. (Epecially with deliveries for certain people arriving faster than others on release date (for physical games))

 

I've never been a person to try and be the first to get platinum on this site.

 

But when I see people getting review copies and earning trophies or getting platinum weeks before release.

Just seems a bit unfair, has been happening a lot recently with various new games. Resident Evil 4 remake was the same.

 

At the very least, I do feel a bit sorry for people who (in this case) maybe for someone out there, Final Fantasy 1 is their most favourite game of all time and they wanted to be first on this site with a platinum, but they don't have a fair chance in doing so since certain people can finish before you even start.

 

Another nail in the coffin to why trophy hunting is furthermore a bit of a joke these days. I kinda feel like trophies earned before release date shouldn't be synced / earning trophies should be disabled until a certain date and time.

Edited April 18, 2023 by enaysoft

[DaivRules]

Curious what the full “fair” implementation would look like for everyone across the world who “wants to be the first.”

 

 

[SnowxSakura]

Even without review copies and early release, developers themselves will get the platinum weeks before release. Know someone that works for bend and he got the days gone trophies over 3 weeks before release

Edited April 18, 2023 by SnowxSakura

[DesmaBR]

Those who's favorite game is Final Fantasy II can rejoice, at least

 

F in the chat for the poor lads going for that plat

Edited April 18, 2023 by DesmaBR

[ExHaseo]

This has been happening for over a decade at this point. Even in cases where they don't outright get the plat before launch, there's always people who get games early and get a head start. Once I realized that, I completely stopped caring about the "first" leaderboards. Add in that people can get the PS4 version and then autopop the PS5 version, and you have pointless "fastest" leaderboards too.

 

Unfortunately, there really isn't anything that can be done. If you tried blocking trophies from popping before release they would either autopop all at once, or lead to a bunch of trophies just being missing. Either way, for a site like this, it would just be a nightmare. There'd be no way of knowing who's really cheating. Especially in the case of autopopping. Since anyone could just say they played the game before release, and just now reloaded the game to pop the trophies.

 

The best thing to do, is stop caring about other people. Being on or off of a leaderboard for a game isn't going to change the experience of playing it unless you let it. I like to see being on one of the leaderboards as a neat thing that happens sometimes, not a goal. So it's just kind of cool when it happens.

[You]

12 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

Curious what the full “fair” implementation would look like for everyone across the world who “wants to be the first.”

 

 

 

There isn't a solution unfortunately. Especially since time zone wise, staggered release dates starting from Japan and ending in America, the further east you live in the world the higher advantage you have. We can try to make it a bit fairer though.

 

www.powerpyx.com starting playing RE4 remake on Mar 7th, almost 3 weeks before the official release date of Mar 24th. Earning platinums for PS5 on 12th March and PS4 on 20th March.
 

We regularly ban people from this site or get them to hide trophies when they earn trophies after a server has shut (rightly or wrongly) but why do we allow the opposite to happen and allow people to earn trophies before a game has been released?

 

The opposite is allowed for some reason. Enforced rules, but with certain exceptions.

Edited April 18, 2023 by enaysoft

[DaivRules]

Just now, enaysoft said:

We regularly ban people from this site or get them to hide trophies when they earn trophies after a server has shut (rightly or wrongly) but why do we allow the opposite to happen and allow people to earn trophies before a game has been released?

 

The opppsite is allowed for some reason.

The devs allow people access to their game to earn trophies as early as the devs choose, hence earning before release date. Devs cut off people from earning after a shut down, hence removal from the leaderboards. Doesn’t seem that complicated. 
 

 

[Xillynoc]

I say just...don't worry about leaderboards and people being lucky enough to get to play games before release, man. Not that big a deal.

[Toxia]

the final fantasy 7 ps4 version was a surprise drop during an event and i called off work and played non stop to be first for the platinum. was a big deal for me to cancel work and sleep lol. was considering trying again for final fantasy 6

[You]

3 minutes ago, Toxia said:

the final fantasy 7 ps4 version was a surprise drop during an event and i called off work and played non stop to be first for the platinum. was a big deal for me to cancel work and sleep lol. was considering trying again for final fantasy 6

 

Congratulations mate! You are indeed No1 fastest for Final Fantasy VII!!

 

Good luck on Final Fantasy 6 if you indeed try to go for it. However 2015 and 2023, a lot has changed since then.

Someone has maybe already got the platinum for it, I guess we'll know once the trophy list appears a bit later today.

[Knave21]

17 minutes ago, Toxia said:

the final fantasy 7 ps4 version was a surprise drop during an event and i called off work and played non stop to be first for the platinum. was a big deal for me to cancel work and sleep lol. was considering trying again for final fantasy 6

Haha I remember the exact day that 7 dropped! I didn't try to be the first to platinum like you but I was the first in the world to get the "party wipe" trophy (as I assumed most people would have to go out of their way to get that one and wouldn't bother right away).

[Jeanolt]

Completely unrelated but reading the trophy list reminded me of that weird spin-off with a guy in a t-shirt saying "chaos" every 10 seconds, hahahah man what were they thinking when doing that game.

[ThatMuttGuy]

2 minutes ago, Jeanoltt said:

Completely unrelated but reading the trophy list reminded me of that weird spin-off with a guy in a t-shirt saying "chaos" every 10 seconds, hahahah man what were they thinking when doing that game.

 

Stranger of Paradise was such a fun game! It doesn't take itself seriously until really the end, but it really was a great time.

[Xillynoc]

23 minutes ago, Jeanoltt said:

Completely unrelated but reading the trophy list reminded me of that weird spin-off with a guy in a t-shirt saying "chaos" every 10 seconds, hahahah man what were they thinking when doing that game.

They were speaking the language of the gods, THAT'S what.

[Infected Elite]

1 hour ago, enaysoft said:

 

Another nail in the coffin to why trophy hunting is furthermore a bit of a joke these days. I kinda feel like trophies earned before release date shouldn't be synced / earning trophies should be disabled until a certain date and time.

 

Trophy hunting is a joke though. It's far from profitable. I'd rather make money. Obviously my body can't go 24hrs without sleep if i worked it all. But if i could make money every hour I'm awake instead of gaming I would. 

 

But also #2: Those who have money have power. You have money, you get first dibs and so on.

 

Nothing new. I have no complaints or care if I'm first or last at finishing a game. Its a hobby.

 

[Play3GianniGreed]

Someone has to be the first. 

What difference make that is someone from the press or someone who bought the game? 

 

The important thing is to get the platinum. 

 

I am the first achiever of some, because I used to write review for a website, and really, I can't understand why it should be a issue. 

No one cares who the first and basically no one except me know that I am the first in those games. 

But, that said, is not like there is a way to not get the trophies. I was doing a job and had deadline to make, I had to finish the games that I had been given fast as possible. 

 

The guilty, if there should be one, should be of the software houses. They could give review copies without trophies, or make it that trophies can't be earned before release date. 

 

[SH06UN5126]

1 hour ago, enaysoft said:

We regularly ban people from this site or get them to hide trophies when they earn trophies after a server has shut (rightly or wrongly) but why do we allow the opposite to happen and allow people to earn trophies before a game has been released?

 

The opposite is allowed for some reason. Enforced rules, but with certain exceptions.

 

1 hour ago, enaysoft said:

There isn't a solution unfortunately. ...

You've answered your own question.

 

At the absolute extreme of this situation, do you expect devs not to playtest their games? Do you expect devs not to test their conditions for trophies?

[turniplord]

As someone that has had numerous 'firsts' thanks to review copies, it's nothing special. Nobody knows me, nobody adds or messages me about it, you get no attention and nobody cares. The thing is, the leaderboards on here are ONLY people that have signed up to the site or been searched for by someone else on here, so most of the time the 'first' person isn't even the first as they aren't synced or they write for certain websites and hide all their trophies to purposely hide how much of a game they've played before reviewing them...

I see where you're coming from, but it's a pointless 'achievement' to be first, second, or 200th to grab the platinum. Anyone that cares should just take pride in actually unlocking all the trophies and adding to their own collection of completed games, not how fast someone else rushed through the game or if they got it a few days before anyone else.

3 minutes ago, SH06UN5126 said:

 

You've answered your own question.

 

At the absolute extreme of this situation, do you expect devs not to playtest their games? Do you expect devs not to test their conditions for trophies?

Regarding developers - I've only known one publisher that plays their games on a retail console prior to launch, out of the hundreds of other developers and publishers I've worked with, not one of them played the game pre-launch.

The version the QA and developers play is usually on the dev kit which isn't connected to PSN servers, or they play on dedicated office machines which are constantly offline. There may be the odd developer that gets handed a retail copy a few days before launch but it's a very rare occurance.

8 minutes ago, Play3GianniGreed said:

 

The guilty, if there should be one, should be of the software houses. They could give review copies without trophies, or make it that trophies can't be earned before release date. 

 

It's impossible to restrict trophies being earned as they're baked into the game itself. They can enable them on the server on release - as many do - but you can begin unlocking them as soon as the game is installed - that can't be changed.

Technically, they 'could' distribute a version of the game with no trophies, but that will mean a separate version of the game on PSN servers which only reviewers get. Many years ago, I got a game to review which had no trophies. However, those that bought it post-release were unlocking them. Going offline showed that there was literally none present in the game at all - I don't know if that was a mistake or if they had distributed a copy with none to us then fixed the issue and had to re-submit it to Sony for approval for public use (which is probably what happened). But, that's the only time I've seen that happen on a game.

[SH06UN5126]

3 minutes ago, turniplord said:

Regarding developers - I've only known one publisher that plays their games on a retail console prior to launch, out of the hundreds of other developers and publishers I've worked with, not one of them played the game pre-launch.

The version the QA and developers play is usually on the dev kit which isn't connected to PSN servers, or they play on dedicated office machines which are constantly offline. There may be the odd developer that gets handed a retail copy a few days before launch but it's a very rare occurance.

Okay, that makes sense. I think the point still stands though, since if system were to sync then that fits the argument. It would be "first" before anyone else.

But I was only making the point of that extreme in particular. If that's way less likely to happen, then I'll concede to that. Dev kits can probably stop themselves from syncing, and tons of other things, now that I think about it.

 

On the topic of the review copies though, that's gotta be fair game, right? If you're given a copy of the game, unrestricted, to write review about, isn't the expectation that you'd play that game inside-out? ... Seems like you'd be compromising your own view of the game, and the integrity of the review by restricting yourself in any way.

[LuckySlime]

there is no fair way really yes I have gotten review codes for games myself and been first but even without I have gone and bought games on New Zealand PSN just to be ahead of everyone else for a first achiever and there have been times where I have gone 24+ hours playing for first as well it's really just a endurance test if you really want it so no matter what there is no real fair way I think the way it is now is fair anyway cos they are still the "first" person to plat said game

Edited April 18, 2023 by LuckySlime
typo

[turniplord]

6 minutes ago, SH06UN5126 said:

On the topic of the review copies though, that's gotta be fair game, right? If you're given a copy of the game, unrestricted, to write review about, isn't the expectation that you'd play that game inside-out? ... Seems like you'd be compromising your own view of the game, and the integrity of the review by restricting yourself in any way.

You'd think/hope that reviewers do that. However, it's not always the case - which is why the majority of reviewers out there have their trophies hidden. I'm not going to mention any names or sites, but I've mentioned a few in the past and got quite a bit of harassment from them. Just seems silly when someone plays a 4-5 hour narrative adventure game for around an hour, only completing two or three chapters, then gives it a bad score and claims it doesn't get any better - despite not even making it to the end of the game. Or those that review Visual Novels, again with a bad score, yet their trophies showed they possibly read about 30-60 minutes of the narrative then literally hit 'skip all' and proceeded to unlock the other trophies within seconds of each other.

But, that's why they hide their trophies, so people can't see how much (or little) they've actually played. You can usually tell though, their reviews look like the summary on the back of the box, with no actual in-depth discussion about the game they 'played'.

Anyway, that's off-topic

But yeah, dev kits don't work like retail units, so when they play on there they literally can't access consumer features like the PSN store and servers (for trophies). That's why, in some cases, games release and they forget to enable the trophies on the network or they don't unlock correctly - because they couldn't actually 100% test them prior to launch in a live environment.

[StanPortrBridges]

I have a friend from Saudia Arabia who has been playing games early since the PS3 days. I remember him playing God of War 3 a week before the game came out.

 

The 'first' leaderboards are a waste of space for the most part unless it's a digital game with a global release, and even those you're at the mercy of your regions store updating slightly before others. The leaderboards as a whole have been worthless for a decade, everythings either cheats, shovelware, or obscene stacks now.

 

BACK IN MY DAY!!! You had to Import Demons Souls physically from multiple regions and plat them normally! *shakes cane at children*

Edited April 18, 2023 by StanPortrBridges

[Sikutai]

2 hours ago, enaysoft said:

I know this is happening quite recently, this game too. (Epecially with deliveries for certain people arriving faster than others on release date (for physical games))

 

I've never been a person to try and be the first to get platinum on this site.

 

But when I see people getting review copies and earning trophies or getting platinum weeks before release.

Just seems a bit unfair, has been happening a lot recently with various new games. Resident Evil 4 remake was the same.

 

At the very least, I do feel a bit sorry for people who (in this case) maybe for someone out there, Final Fantasy 1 is their most favourite game of all time and they wanted to be first on this site with a platinum, but they don't have a fair chance in doing so since certain people can finish before you even start.

 

Another nail in the coffin to why trophy hunting is furthermore a bit of a joke these days. I kinda feel like trophies earned before release date shouldn't be synced / earning trophies should be disabled until a certain date and time.

 

I've expressed my opinion on this topic several times and I still think that members who get their games sent to them for free before the release and platinum them before the release should not be found in the leaderboard of the respective game.

 

Maybe you should also think about marking these members with a special symbol or something similar. Like reviewers or something so everyone knows they aren't real players.

[Beyondthegrave07]

I fail to see how the inability to scream to the heavens, "FIRST!" makes trophy hunting more of a joke. Even marginally, I don't see it moving the needle. I just don't.

 

People get review copies for various reasons, and they will always be first. Who cares? Speed running the trophies would be way more impressive and bring much higher bragging rights than being a first achiever imo.

 

If you really want to be first, join Powerpyx, become a YouTube game reviewer, or work for an institution that receives early copies. Play their game. Complaining here and trying to discount the trophy system further definitely won't help.

[SH06UN5126]

7 minutes ago, turniplord said:

You'd think/hope that reviewers do that. However, it's not always the case ...

That's exactly my point, though. There is an expectation. So, in my mind at least, that kinda makes it fair game. Expect to see something of an indication that the game was played, no matter how illegitimate as your stories make it seem. And yeah, stay safe regarding naming people/sites. Understood there.

 

7 minutes ago, turniplord said:

But yeah, dev kits don't work like retail units, so when they play on there they literally can't access consumer features like the PSN store and servers (for trophies). That's why, in some cases, games release and they forget to enable the trophies on the network or they don't unlock correctly - because they couldn't actually 100% test them prior to launch in a live environment.

That's interesting. I'm sure they'd still be able to test the conditions themselves, though. I'd also imagine that would mean that the testing of online features in games are void of any data that would come from PSN servers. Meaning they'd mock all of that data.