How do so many people have the Platinum already?

[D4rkSilver911]

200 hours is just wrong. I have around 130h and I only need to beat the final boss on hard mode to get the Plat. Also the 8/10 is also definitely way too high. I'd give it a 6/10 at most. Using the guides available online you can do the hardest VR challenges in 2-3 tries maximum and only due to the last fight against Odin requiring some practice, because the other 9 rounds are piss easy if you use the Optinoob's guides. 

[DaivRules]

5 minutes ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

You're more than welcome to find me another 8/10, 200-hour Platinum with 6% attainment. 

You’re going on about all this because of 6%?? I thought it was somewhere north of 25% with all the incredulity shown. 
 

What should have been acceptable to your understanding, 1%? Maybe 2%?

 

I think enough people have demonstrated that this isn’t a 200 hour game, nor an 8/10 for at least those 6% and seemingly many more who are stretching the platinum longer than they need to because they are enjoying the game. 
 

If my memory is correct Bloodborne also had a thread really early on asking how so many people had the platinum so early as well. Some games just draw in a lot of dedicated players really early on and they’re outliers, but clearly they exist. 
 

[shadowmaksim]

10 minutes ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

How could you have 15-20 hours of AFK? 😂 The game timer stops counting after like 60 seconds of idling on the pause screen. 

I didn't know it did that. So closer to 3-4 hours then I guess, maybe less. I still frequently went AFK a lot either way.

I was surprised to see that I was well under the guide's estimated time when I was done. I've gotten a couple other 200 hour platinums and "Rebirth" still felt longer to me overall.
 

13 minutes ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

Lower than a 7/10? You're out of your mind. Even a 7/10 is definitely too low. I stand by that 8/10 is the minimum any sane person could give this game. 

Fine, I'm out of my mind and insane. My bad for having an unpopular opinion of a mainstream game. That's a common occurrence for me unfortunately

[SWWDevereux]

It's not a 200 hour game and it's not 8/10 difficult. Took me 135 hours over 3 weeks while taking my time, replying Saucer dates for fun etc. The last few combat trials were a mild challenge, if you follow guides for recommended materia loadouts and get the genji equipment it's not that difficult. I work a full time job so it's really not surprising that a bunch of people have beaten it.

 

Tldr; it's not that difficult and definitely not 200 hours.

[SuperSaiyan3985]

9 minutes ago, D4rkSilver911 said:

200 hours is just wrong. I have around 130h and I only need to beat the final boss on hard mode to get the Plat. Also the 8/10 is also definitely way too high. I'd give it a 6/10 at most. Using the guides available online you can do the hardest VR challenges in 2-3 tries maximum and only due to the last fight against Odin requiring some practice, because the other 9 rounds are piss easy if you use the Optinoob's guides. 

The arrogance with this comment...I'm just not even gonna engage.

 

6 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

You’re going on about all this because of 6%?? I thought it was somewhere north of 25% with all the incredulity shown. 
 

What should have been acceptable to your understanding, 1%? Maybe 2%?

 

I think enough people have demonstrated that this isn’t a 200 hour game, nor an 8/10 for at least those 6% and seemingly many more who are stretching the platinum longer than they need to because they are enjoying the game. 
 

If my memory is correct Bloodborne also had a thread really early on asking how so many people had the platinum so early as well. Some games just draw in a lot of dedicated players really early on and they’re outliers, but clearly they exist. 
 

Yes, I am going on about this about 6%. And 6% after less than TWO MONTHS of the game releasing is definitely not normal, I don't know why so many of you think it is.

 

Yes, I was expected this to be a sub-1% Platinum, maybe a 3% max - and that's like years from now when the game's lifespan has run its course. At this point in time so soon after coming out, I would've expected it to be <1% without a doubt.

 

Except it is a 200 hour game. PowerPyx said it. The authors of the guides on this site said it. I've also seen a lot more people on these forums saying their runtime was closer to 200 hours than 100 hours. And personally, it's looking like I'm gonna land just under the 200 hour mark as well. The people beating this in under 150 hours are clearly skipping all cutscenes and dialogue. It's not even a question of skill, with the sheer amount of content in this game (the minigames, the collectibles, the combat challenges, etc. etc.) you can only do it so fast. Just to beat the story and 100% the open world is a minimum of 100 hours. That's not even including the VR challenges and hard mode. So yeah, the bare minimum I would expect (actually enjoying the first playthrough and not skipping cutscenes) is 150 hours. 

2 minutes ago, SWWDevereux said:

It's not a 200 hour game and it's not 8/10 difficult. Took me 135 hours over 3 weeks while taking my time, replying Saucer dates for fun etc. The last few combat trials were a mild challenge, if you follow guides for recommended materia loadouts and get the genji equipment it's not that difficult. I work a full time job so it's really not surprising that a bunch of people have beaten it.

 

Tldr; it's not that difficult and definitely not 200 hours.

I love how some people on here just so brazenly come out here and state that their experience is a matter of fact; "it was easy for me so it's gotta be easy for everyone else" while completely ignoring the official trophy guides out there that give realistic estimates. I think most people would rather take the word of people who write guides for a living rather than some random person on the internet who just happens to be an expert at the game. 

 

Just you calling the last few combat trials a "mild challenge" is hysterical. Maybe if you're a God at FF, sure, and wow, I called it right - you are a God at FF having 100%'ed every game in the series...that's impressive, but you don't speak for everyone. It's bizarre to me how a hardcore FF fan like yourself can't seem to recognize that you're the exception, not the rule. 

[D4rkSilver911]

Just now, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

The arrogance with this comment...I'm just not even gonna engage.

I'm sorry if it came across as arrogant, that wasn't my intention, just stating my experience. Multiple people have already told the same, it's just not a 200h platinum. I can see it being 150h, but definitely not 200. I beat the story while also doing every sidequest (except the last one) and completing some minigames in 95h. The rest of the minigames cleanup, coliseum, and VR challenges took me another 30-40h, but like I said I did most brutal/legendary bouts in 1-2 tries.

 

As for the 8/10, I guess that just depends on the person. But using the guides online it makes the battles significantly easier and it shouldn't take a long time to get the hang of the fights. Maybe I had an easier time understanding and putting in practice the guides, but it's also definitely not an 8/10. 

[Demortuus]

Just adding my stats (ingame timer) 

Time after first completion, doing all quests and minigames, all available colliseum and VR battles, de-fog-of-war'ing the ENTIRE map: 140h

Time after hard run and rest of colliseum: 160h

Time at platinum (rest of VR, including maxing EVERY materia): 180h

PSN timer: 240h (i idled A LOT)

I started on march 1st and finished on april 6th

180h / 37d = roughly 5 hours per day (without the idle time) 

Edited April 14 by Demortuus
Mixed up the order of events

[sephiroth4424]

I am sitting at 150 hours and 3/14 chapters completed on hard. I don't know if it counts time when you enter tactical though

[PraiseTheFluppi]

45 minutes ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

I love how some people on here just so brazenly come out here and state that their experience is a matter of fact; "it was easy for me so it's gotta be easy for everyone else" while completely ignoring the official trophy guides out there that give realistic estimates. I think most people would rather take the word of people who write guides for a living rather than some random person on the internet who just happens to be an expert at the game.

Well then, turn it around - why should your experience be a fact when so many here in the thread say otherwise? Just because it was hard and took a long time for you doesn't mean it is and does for everyone. Simply saying that everyone who is faster than you is suspicious and has to skip everything is kinda arrogant and naive.

Over time, even in a few weeks, more and more info about the game and tips and trick about challenges get shared on the internet. The guide writers who did it first might not have known a trick or two, and even just having a guide availabe for collectibles makes it much easier and faster than doing the guide yourself and looking for each collectible on your own.

On top of that, what many already said, FF is a big franchise, FF7 is the most well-known game in the series probably, and many are absolutely hyped about it, so they want to complete it. Those that completed the first and second game would probably come back and play the third as well, and the playernumber counted on this website is getting more and more filtered - it seems like a lot of trophy hunters are playing the third game, especially on this trophy website.

Edited April 14 by PraiseTheFluppi

[SWWDevereux]

52 minutes ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

Just you calling the last few combat trials a "mild challenge" is hysterical. Maybe if you're a God at FF, sure, and wow, I called it right - you are a God at FF having 100%'ed every game in the series...that's impressive, but you don't speak for everyone. It's bizarre to me how a hardcore FF fan like yourself can't seem to recognize that you're the exception, not the rule. 

I wouldn't call myself a mega fan of FF to be honest, I got into the series mainly over the last 12 months and played about 20 games from April-April. Most of them were great but I prefer more 'Anime' series like Tales of / Legend of Heroes.

 

I'm just stating my opinion, I've played some really hard games like Spelunky 2 which is 9/10 on PSNP guide and that game made me want to rip my hair out with stress. Rebirth being 8/10 just isn't right. It's an rpg where you can prepare, equip maxed out materia and follow guides to do the few harder challenges in the game. Even players not suited to action combat systems can do it with a little persistence. People who are good at action combat will beat the challenges first or second time.

 

Hard mode only takes 10-12 hours to run through while skipping cutscenes (which is the only time I skipped any) and was super easy with maxed out levels/materia. The main factor in me getting through the end/post game quickly was because I knew how important leveling up materia is from playing Remake, I was ocd about leveling as many materia as possible throughout the whole playthrough, prioritising the ones I knew would be needed like Elemental. I had almost everything I needed ready to go and didn't need to grind much at all before being ready for combat trials.

 

Just my experience/opinion. I'd go with 7/10 difficulty 150 hours at a stretch.

Edited April 14 by SWWDevereux
Add info

[mega-tallica]

1 hour ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

I understand that there hardcore gamers...again, I have to reemphasize this, that seeing this high of Platinum achievement rate so soon after a game's release is definitely out of the ordinary, at least from my experience. You're more than welcome to find me another 8/10, 200-hour Platinum with 6% attainment. 

 

From my own observations, many games now have much higher than expected completion percentages compared to games of the past.

 

I think it's directly related to the rise in popularity of trophy hunting in recent years. More players are going for trophies more than ever before so completion percentages are much more inflated now even for harder games as there's simply a bigger trophy hunting player base. 

 

I'll bring up Yakuza again, Infinite Wealth has over a 36% platinum rate which is insane for a game like that to me. If this game came out 10 years ago, it wouldn't even be half that. That's another one of those 80 hour games that people had plat'ed in a week. Meanwhile it took me 3 weeks and I felt like I was no-lifing that game, especially that first week. I can't even fathom how so many got it done so much quicker. 

 

A lot more trophy hunters now and a lot more competition. Like I said, I don't even concern myself or bother trying to compete and worry about how fast others are getting the game done. It doesn't matter. 

[TenebraZero]

On 4/12/2024 at 1:01 AM, NandoKpo said:

I´m still missing the Hard mode trophy because I´m playing some stuff on Xbox before starting it but if I´m here it´s all thanks to Optinooby

Sorry i haven't played the game yet but i read a lot about optinooby. What exactly is this?

[Nick240894]

3 hours ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

 

I don't think you're being fair here because you're comparing locations from two games with completely different settings. FF16 takes place in a medieval-esc time period whereas FF7 has a more modern-day flare - of course the latter will seem more lively and colorful than the former. I'm not sure what exactly you were expecting out of FF16 given the context of the universe. I agree though that it would've been awesome to visit Oriflamme...or hell, Dhalmekia too. They showed some pretty cool-looking cities but only via cutscenes and from afar. 

 

But yeah, you're being really harsh on FF16. Saying that the world is "completely devoid of interesting content" and that there's "no charm or any kind of truly unique identity" is just a ridiculous thing to say. It sounds to me like you were never gonna be a fan of FF16 solely based on the premise of the game's theme, so I'm surprised you picked it up in the first place. You're free to dislike it, but your viewpoint is a fringe case because the game is objectively good considering that there's consensus between both critics and gamers. 

 

 

See, I knew someone was gonna bring up the medieval vs modern time period argument, and that's just totally missing the point, no offense. I am talking about the fundamentals of making a place feel lived in. Novigrad in the Witcher 3 is also medieval, yet it feels incredibly alive. Even smaller towns like Oxenfurt and even small villages put anything in FF16 to shame. The bottom line for me is a town should feel lived in, there should be a sense of life and activity beyond the strict limits of the game's narrative. In my view, FF16 fails at that. Many games with medieval settings have succeeded at this so it's absolutely not about the time period.

 

The only time places seem bustling and alive in FF16 is in cutscenes of Kostnice, Twinside, etc... Once again proving that it is absolutely possible in that setting. It's just that the game devs relegated it to cutscenes while the places we actually explore are dead.

 

As for the world being devoid of interesting content or charm, that is my opinion. Despite your suggestion that the game is "objectively" good, art and entertainment appreciation remains entirely subjective. There is no such thing as objectively good when it comes to how much you enjoy a game. Unless you're strictly talking about frame rate, graphics, or other purely technical elements.

 

But the artistic elements can only ever be evaluated subjectively. It is always a matter of personal taste, preference, and opinion.

 

Your assumption that I was never going to like XVI purely based on the game's setting is also completely incorrect. You couldn't be more wrong. I was extremely excited for the game precisely because of its theme and because of the demo, that's why I picked it up. I love darker, grittier fantasy such as the early seasons of Game of Thrones or the Witcher games. I was excited for a game with a darker tone and a more mature world.

 

I just don't think the game executed those elements well at all, in my opinion it basically peaks during the prologue when Clive is 15, and it's just downhill from there. There is a huge disconnect between the game's intriguing premise and its (in my opinion) clumsy execution. There is also a huge gap between the exciting world shown in the trailers and the world that the player actually gets to explore. All the most beautiful, interesting, and fantastical locations are either relegated to cutscenes or to linear combat hallways. You never get to engage with them properly as you would in most RPGs. That is not down to the medieval genre at all, it's down to design choices.

 

They chose to make Oriflamme a gorgeous bustling city that they even slapped on the game's cover in some regions, and then they chose to do nothing with it. Sorry but places like Northreach and Martha's Rest just don't excite me, they are some of the blandest towns I've ever seen in a modern game. No beauty, no interesting visuals, no charming details, no life, no activities, nothing to find or marvel at, just grey buildings and depressed NPCs mumbling about how shitty life is.

 

Again, I come back to the Witcher 3. That is also a fairly dark and war-torn world. There are also a lot of depressed people. But there's more than that. It's not just a one-dimensional hellscape. It's also a place where people laugh in taverns, play cards, browse markets, race horses, go dancing, etc... Just like the real world. Do we ever get the sense that anyone does any of that in FF16? No, not really. It feels painfully shallow and artificial, which is why it didn't work for me.

 

 

Edited April 14 by Nick240894
Spelling

[Nick240894]

11 hours ago, ZombiJoel_Tlou3 said:

It's not simplistic at fucking all. All those things you mentioned are rpg game stuff it's not fair to hold it against any game that isn't rpg because then every rpg game is better than all the other games. This was made by the devil may cry guy. You got style switching , enemy stepping, charge buffering attacks which means you can hold down the button while you are doing something else, an actual real parry (not soulslike shit where you just block to parry) a ranged parry, a sword and gun combo (which isn't even in devil may cry btw) , perfect blocking, perfect dodging, meter building into super that heals, another meter for an ultimate attack, air launcher and juggling assist, combo cancels all this and even more without the need for a stupid stamina bar.

Fighting in FF16 is actually fun and much better than boring slow ass soulsborniroring games with r1 button mashing and stamina meter.

All those things you wrote in rebirth was already done in the ps1 game. This shit here had to be made from zero!

 

You pretty much outed yourself as never having played a Souls game. You do not block to parry in Souls games. It's not even the same button. Block is L1, parry is L2. They are different mechanics. The only game where it's the same button is Sekiro, but the timing is not the same. And parries in Souls are a good mechanic because they are high risk, high reward. If you just hold block it's safer but you don't get the benefit of parrying which stuns the enemy and creates an opening for massive damage. Something which is rare and valuable in a Souls game.

 

The FF16 parry is useless because it's high risk, very low reward. It just gives you a mini opening to get in a few basic attacks which do no damage. So why would I parry anything in FF16 when I can just spam my eikonic abilities and do a thousand times more damage? You never desperately need to create an opening to attack in FF16 the way you do in Souls games. in FF16 most eikonic abilities give you hyper armor which basically means you can easily create openings whenever you want. There is never a real reason to parry other than being flashy. For avoiding damage, it is always better to dodge and do a precision counter instead, and for dealing damage, eikonic abilities are always superior. Parrying is pointless in FF16.

 

And no, all the things I mentioned from Rebirth were not done in the PS1. The PS1 was turn based, this now has real time action and is much more complex as a hybrid system. It's also much more challenging than the original FF7 and much more challenging than FF16.

 

You say FF16 had to be made from zero. So what? That doesn't give it a pass on being so barebones. If you wanna compare it Devil May Cry, well I've got news for you, Devil May Cry has way more depth than FF16. I don't care if it's the same combat director. The system he designed for FF16 was deliberately made simple to stay accessible to old school FF fans who don't play action games.

 

But as someone who has played a lot of RPGs and also a lot of action games in my life, I feel like FF16 is not good at either of those things. It's shallow and simple both as an RPG and as an action title.

 

If you want character action you're better off with Bayonetta or DMC, if you want action-adventure you're better off with God of War 2018 and Ragnarok, if you want an action-RPG you're better off with FF7 Rebirth, Nioh, and others. FF16 doesn't really do anything as well as any of the great games in the genres that it's taking inspiration from.

[Nick240894]

20 hours ago, ShaNagbaImuru777 said:

Properly timed synergy skills can instantly turn the tide of battle. It's just impressive how well it all works together.

 

I just had to check your list after completely agreeing with what you said and sure enough we share a lot of games, fellow Resident Evil and Soulsborne aficionado!

 

 

 

Yup, it works incredibly well. It's definitely one of my favorite combat systems.

 

And yes, checked your list as well, we do indeed have a lot of similar taste! And you have a trophy I really want but have been putting off, the FF9 platinum. The rope jumping scares me lol. Did you use a script or do it manually?

 

I feel like most people use a script, which I completely understand, but I'd like to try to get it "legit" if I can. Curious if you might have any tips / insight.

[Virtua_Vince]

4 hours ago, D4rkSilver911 said:

200 hours is just wrong. I have around 130h and I only need to beat the final boss on hard mode to get the Plat. Also the 8/10 is also definitely way too high. I'd give it a 6/10 at most. Using the guides available online you can do the hardest VR challenges in 2-3 tries maximum and only due to the last fight against Odin requiring some practice, because the other 9 rounds are piss easy if you use the Optinoob's guides. 

Seems a bit disingenuous to say piss easy to me.  Maybe after practising for hours and getting all the fights down by memory as that's what it took me, I know all of it perfectly.  But getting there will be the hard part and vary from person to person.  Even with an Optinoob guide there's still a lot to learn & remember for each fight, to do the actions quickly enough in the right order at the right time... and minimal room for error, and for 10 rounds ... That Odin fight has an element of rng in how that fight can end as much as anything.  You can do it all perfectly and after 9 rounds and still get screwed.

 

[angelbless45]

On 4/11/2024 at 1:41 AM, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

I’m struggling to wrap my head around how less than two months after release, over 5% of people on PSNP and 0.4% of people on PSN already have the Platinum… From my experience, a game rated at 8/10 difficulty and 200 hours for the Plat should have a <1% achievement rate on PSNP and 0.1% on PSN - and that’s long term, not within 60 days of launch. I can’t imagine how people would be cheesing or cheating their way through this, so are Final Fantasy fans really that dedicated? 😂 Because I’ve never seen so many people attempt, let alone attain a Platinum of this caliber (let alone so soon). 

I don't think there is anything fishy there, I started playing when the game was released but I am only able to play during the afternoon on Saturdays and Sundays and I am already down to the last two two trophies, which are some of the Chadley missions and Hard mode. For people who has more free time, then this would have been possible within month or so. I am currently 115 hours into the game, my estimate completion time is around 150 hours, so definitely possible to have the platinum by now.

 

Also, for the ones debating the 200 hours in the guide, keep in mind that the people who wrote it did not have an @Optinooby (bless him!) and had less time to spend with the game, because they also had to write the guide and the tips. It is the effort of the community as a whole that causes new things to be discovered over time which facilitate certain trophies. However, I am more than sure that for those who made the guide before the game came out, it took well over 200 hours because they had to literally search every nook and cranny. In our case, we could watch a video and know exactly where certain things were, and what to do, considerably reducing our playing time. 

Edited April 15 by angelbless45

[SuperSaiyan3985]

6 hours ago, D4rkSilver911 said:

I'm sorry if it came across as arrogant, that wasn't my intention, just stating my experience. Multiple people have already told the same, it's just not a 200h platinum. I can see it being 150h, but definitely not 200. I beat the story while also doing every sidequest (except the last one) and completing some minigames in 95h. The rest of the minigames cleanup, coliseum, and VR challenges took me another 30-40h, but like I said I did most brutal/legendary bouts in 1-2 tries.

 

As for the 8/10, I guess that just depends on the person. But using the guides online it makes the battles significantly easier and it shouldn't take a long time to get the hang of the fights. Maybe I had an easier time understanding and putting in practice the guides, but it's also definitely not an 8/10. 

Speak for yourself man I just finished the VR challenges and I'm at 168 hours. Still got Hard Mode to do which is supposed to be another 20 hours. Yes, the guides make most of the combat simulations a cakewalk, but in my humble opinion, Bonds of Friendship alone warrants the 8/10 - it took me TEN HOURS to do that shit.

 

6 hours ago, Demortuus said:

Just adding my stats (ingame timer) 

Time after first completion, doing all quests and minigames, all available colliseum and VR battles, de-fog-of-war'ing the ENTIRE map: 140h

Time after hard run and rest of colliseum: 160h

Time at platinum (rest of VR, including maxing EVERY materia): 180h

PSN timer: 240h (i idled A LOT)

I started on march 1st and finished on april 6th

180h / 37d = roughly 5 hours per day (without the idle time) 

This sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I feel like for every person that did it in less than 150 hours, there's another five that took closer to 200 hours. To really take your time and enjoy the game, I just have a hard time comprehending how it can be Platinumed that quickly (again, unless you're an absolutely God at FF and can make the combat challenges and Hard Mode look like a joke). 

 

5 hours ago, PraiseTheFluppi said:

Well then, turn it around - why should your experience be a fact when so many here in the thread say otherwise? Just because it was hard and took a long time for you doesn't mean it is and does for everyone. Simply saying that everyone who is faster than you is suspicious and has to skip everything is kinda arrogant and naive.

Over time, even in a few weeks, more and more info about the game and tips and trick about challenges get shared on the internet. The guide writers who did it first might not have known a trick or two, and even just having a guide availabe for collectibles makes it much easier and faster than doing the guide yourself and looking for each collectible on your own.

On top of that, what many already said, FF is a big franchise, FF7 is the most well-known game in the series probably, and many are absolutely hyped about it, so they want to complete it. Those that completed the first and second game would probably come back and play the third as well, and the playernumber counted on this website is getting more and more filtered - it seems like a lot of trophy hunters are playing the third game, especially on this trophy website.

But it's not just "my experience", the guides back up my stance, so you can't automatically rule me out as an outlier. I know that my personal account is anecdotal and is not a blanket example. I was using the guides and other games of similar difficulty as my point of reference for making this post. 

 

You're correct that the people who wrote these guides obviously didn't have a guide to reference as they were going for the Platinum themselves, but how do you know that they didn't consider that when giving their estimates? It would only make sense that they did, and that the difficulty rating and time estimate they give is assuming you're following the guide to streamline the process. Who knows, it may have (and probably did) taken PowerPyx, zekunlu, and MakoSOLDIER 300 hours without a guide and they think it's 200 hours with a guide. 

 

Yes I understand that PSNP is a site comprised pretty much exclusively of trophy hunters (hence why the Platinum percentage is always much higher on here than PSN, obviously), but from what I've seen of other difficult Platinums, 6% seems abnormally high - and that's just right now, who knows where it'll settle at a couple years from now. Again, I invite you or anyone else to provide me with examples of other difficult/long Platinums that contradict my assertion. 

 

5 hours ago, mega-tallica said:

 

From my own observations, many games now have much higher than expected completion percentages compared to games of the past.

 

I think it's directly related to the rise in popularity of trophy hunting in recent years. More players are going for trophies more than ever before so completion percentages are much more inflated now even for harder games as there's simply a bigger trophy hunting player base. 

 

I'll bring up Yakuza again, Infinite Wealth has over a 36% platinum rate which is insane for a game like that to me. If this game came out 10 years ago, it wouldn't even be half that. That's another one of those 80 hour games that people had plat'ed in a week. Meanwhile it took me 3 weeks and I felt like I was no-lifing that game, especially that first week. I can't even fathom how so many got it done so much quicker. 

 

A lot more trophy hunters now and a lot more competition. Like I said, I don't even concern myself or bother trying to compete and worry about how fast others are getting the game done. It doesn't matter. 

I think I've also noticed higher Platinum completion rates here on PSNP but this is a site dedicated to trophy hunting, so I attributed that to trophy hunters becoming more engaged/competitive than before. I can't say I've noticed the same trend for the PSN percentages, those still seem to be pretty low, which leads me to believe the number of trophy hunters hasn't grown by much. I don't see why it would, as the vast majority of gamers have never cared for trophies/achievements in the past, so why would there suddenly be a massive surge in the hobby now when there's no incentive to be a trophy hunter (other than you're a completionist). 

 

4 hours ago, TenebraZero said:

Sorry i haven't played the game yet but i read a lot about optinooby. What exactly is this?

He's a YouTuber (and saint) who made a ton of amazing guides for Rebirth's VR combat challenges and Hard Mode; you can find his Rebirth playlist here. 

 

3 hours ago, Nick240894 said:

 

See, I knew someone was gonna bring up the medieval vs modern time period argument, and that's just totally missing the point, no offense. I am talking about the fundamentals of making a place feel lived in. Novigrad in the Witcher 3 is also medieval, yet it feels incredibly alive. Even smaller towns like Oxenfurt and even small villages put anything in FF16 to shame. The bottom line for me is a town should feel lived in, there should be a sense of life and activity beyond the strict limits of the game's narrative. In my view, FF16 fails at that. Many games with medieval settings have succeeded at this so it's absolutely not about the time period.

 

The only time places seem bustling and alive in FF16 is in cutscenes of Kostnice, Twinside, etc... Once again proving that it is absolutely possible in that setting. It's just that the game devs relegated it to cutscenes while the places we actually explore are dead.

 

As for the world being devoid of interesting content or charm, that is my opinion. Despite your suggestion that the game is "objectively" good, art and entertainment appreciation remains entirely subjective. There is no such thing as objectively good when it comes to how much you enjoy a game. Unless you're strictly talking about frame rate, graphics, or other purely technical elements.

 

But the artistic elements can only ever be evaluated subjectively. It is always a matter of personal taste, preference, and opinion.

 

Your assumption that I was never going to like XVI purely based on the game's setting is also completely incorrect. You couldn't be more wrong. I was extremely excited for the game precisely because of its theme and because of the demo, that's why I picked it up. I love darker, grittier fantasy such as the early seasons of Game of Thrones or the Witcher games. I was excited for a game with a darker tone and a more mature world.

 

I just don't think the game executed those elements well at all, in my opinion it basically peaks during the prologue when Clive is 15, and it's just downhill from there. There is a huge disconnect between the game's intriguing premise and its (in my opinion) clumsy execution. There is also a huge gap between the exciting world shown in the trailers and the world that the player actually gets to explore. All the most beautiful, interesting, and fantastical locations are either relegated to cutscenes or to linear combat hallways. You never get to engage with them properly as you would in most RPGs. That is not down to the medieval genre at all, it's down to design choices.

 

They chose to make Oriflamme a gorgeous bustling city that they even slapped on the game's cover in some regions, and then they chose to do nothing with it. Sorry but places like Northreach and Martha's Rest just don't excite me, they are some of the blandest towns I've ever seen in a modern game. No beauty, no interesting visuals, no charming details, no life, no activities, nothing to find or marvel at, just grey buildings and depressed NPCs mumbling about how shitty life is.

 

Again, I come back to the Witcher 3. That is also a fairly dark and war-torn world. There are also a lot of depressed people. But there's more than that. It's not just a one-dimensional hellscape. It's also a place where people laugh in taverns, play cards, browse markets, race horses, go dancing, etc... Just like the real world. Do we ever get the sense that anyone does any of that in FF16? No, not really. It feels painfully shallow and artificial, which is why it didn't work for me.

 

 

When the vast majority of people enjoy a game (or any piece of media for that matter), then it can be called "objectively good". That means it meets the criteria and expectations of most* people. Again, not saying everyone has to like it, but just because it does suit your specific tastes doesn't mean it's not a good game. I mean I've played games in the past that I think are overrated but most people absolutely adore, and I recognize that I'm in the minority for one reason or another. 

 

Regarding FF16, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree. I get what you're saying that the towns seem "boring" but that's the type of aesthetic I was expecting from the game so it didn't bother me. Is it a perfect game? No, definitely not, but I thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was and look forward to returning to it with that Rising Tide DLC 🔥

 

1 hour ago, Virtua_Vince said:

Seems a bit disingenuous to say piss easy to me.  Maybe after practising for hours and getting all the fights down by memory as that's what it took me, I know all of it perfectly.  But getting there will be the hard part and vary from person to person.  Even with an Optinoob guide there's still a lot to learn & remember for each fight, to do the actions quickly enough in the right order at the right time... and minimal room for error, and for 10 rounds ... That Odin fight has an element of rng in how that fight can end as much as anything.  You can do it all perfectly and after 9 rounds and still get screwed.

 

Took me ten hours to do Bonds of Friendship even with Optinoob's guide. That shit gave me PTSD. I mastered Rounds 1-8 pretty quickly, Bahamut wasn't terrible, but yeah Odin will kick your ass if you're not careful. The hardest part is just maintaining your cool and not choking when you're on the tenth and final round. If you know how to play it safe by blocking with Cloud in prime mode, casting Manaward/Haste with Zack, and only using Aeroga during openings, then it's perfectly doable. However, that's easier said than done when you're under pressure and are conscious that if you fail, it's gonna be another 15 minute-process to get back to where you were. If Odin was the first fight, then none of this would be a problem 😂

6 hours ago, SWWDevereux said:

I wouldn't call myself a mega fan of FF to be honest, I got into the series mainly over the last 12 months and played about 20 games from April-April. Most of them were great but I prefer more 'Anime' series like Tales of / Legend of Heroes.

You Platinumed 20 Final Fantasy games in the span of the year and still don't consider yourself a mega fan? Yeah okay buddy whatever you say LOL. 

[D4rkSilver911]

3 hours ago, Virtua_Vince said:

3 hours ago, Virtua_Vince said:

Seems a bit disingenuous to say piss easy to me. 

 

 

That was poor wording from my part and I'm sorry if it came out arrogant. Speaking about my experience, Bonds of friendship took me around 5 tries, simply due to the Odin fight. I got there around 3 times but I always choked in the end. To be a Hero took me literally 2 tries, because on the first one I accidentaly got petrified by the Jabberwock. I wrote on a notepad the steps for each battle and after doing them all once I got the gist of the fights down very easily. While yes, you have to follow the moves and use the commands on the right timings, you can also improvise a lot depending on how the fight is going.

 

I'm honestly curious as to which particular fights (except Odin) people are struggling with, I don't want to sound rude, but I genuinely don't see any particular hard fight on those missions. They're not piss easy like I said, my bad on that, but it's really doable to get them consistently after trying them 1-2 times. Most fights are almost the same (using Faith and sometimes Manawall on Cloud and keep using magic level 3 while on prime mode) and when staggered you pretty much kill the enemy. Odin is tricky due to his attacks dealing a lot of damage and you need to know his moveset a bit, but you can use the summon fight to practice a bit. 

1 hour ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

Still got Hard Mode to do which is supposed to be another 20 hours.

That's also not true. You can speedrun Hard Mode in about 6-7 hours. 

 

1 hour ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

Bonds of Friendship alone warrants the 8/10 - it took me TEN HOURS to do that shit.

Bonds was definitely trickier than To be a hero, I have no idea why, but it seemed like it. You said you mastered the 1-8 pretty quick, which was the same for me, I got to Odin on my first try but choked in the end. Bahamut is not hard if you just save atb for the wings, block in prime mode when he has the arms/weapons out, or use counterfire when he's using ranged attacks. The first 8 rounds are also really doable after you do them once or twice. I don't even think you can die to Phoenix, for example.

 

I guess you had an harder time with the fight, but in my experience it's still a 6/10 only. 

[SWWDevereux]

6 hours ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

 You Platinumed 20 Final Fantasy games in the span of the year and still don't consider yourself a mega fan? Yeah okay buddy whatever you say LOL. 

Yes because it was for a JRPG completion competition on another thread 🙂

[GuerrerDaurat]

An important factor regarding the platinum rarity is the amount of outdated profiles in this site. 31,000 owners for a game as popular and anticipated as FF VII Rebirth, one month and a half after release, is a very low number. Compare this with the "other" trophy tracking website, with many less registered profiles than PSNP but with almost 65,000 game owners as of today, and a platinum rarity of 2.7%. Just check the list of the latest earners in the other site and then see the same profile here: many of them haven't been updated in years.

 

The most dedicated trophy hunters are much more likely to keep their profiles updated than the more casual ones, which explains the "high" platinum rarity not only for this game but for other games released in the last years, since PSNP stopped updating most profiles.

Edited April 19 by GuerrerDaurat
Spelling

[Virtua_Vince]

9 hours ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

Took me ten hours to do Bonds of Friendship even with Optinoob's guide. That shit gave me PTSD. I mastered Rounds 1-8 pretty quickly, Bahamut wasn't terrible, but yeah Odin will kick your ass if you're not careful. The hardest part is just maintaining your cool and not choking when you're on the tenth and final round. If you know how to play it safe by blocking with Cloud in prime mode, casting Manaward/Haste with Zack, and only using Aeroga during openings, then it's perfectly doable. However, that's easier said than done when you're under pressure and are conscious that if you fail, it's gonna be another 15 minute-process to get back to where you were. If Odin was the first fight, then none of this would be a problem 😂

That sounds about right, similar to my experience with those final VR challenges, and I suspect we're not alone in that.  And many people of course 'only' know how because of the Optinooby guiding.  I find it peculiar that people will use wording like, "piss easy" for something they've been handed the strats for.  It reminds me a bit of some of the Dark Souls conversations about how hard or easy the games are.  I mean, they clearly are hard hence why people need to go to guides to cheese them through.  There's always a gimmick or a strat to do even the hardest stuff.

[Surgical_Assault]

Why are people arguing over the difficulty rating and plat time? lol Must have alot of free time on your plate. In regards to that though, it would be because when the game and guides released, refined builds weren't mustered up back then which with those recommended builds would have the difficulty at that. Obviously over time things i.e. builds for the VR missions have had more experiments implemented and much easier builds have been made.

Sure the trophy guide could be updated with these in mind, but again those are just estimates, maybe some people wont be as lucky on some minigames and all that and might take a bit longer, I think my total time was like 190-195 because the builds in guides at the time weren't doing it for me so I was experimenting with some others things until I found one that worked. If I waited it out one of these much easier builds would've saved me alot of time but I digress. 

All in all these are very mundane things to bicker about lol 

[mega-tallica]

9 hours ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

I think I've also noticed higher Platinum completion rates here on PSNP but this is a site dedicated to trophy hunting, so I attributed that to trophy hunters becoming more engaged/competitive than before. I can't say I've noticed the same trend for the PSN percentages, those still seem to be pretty low, which leads me to believe the number of trophy hunters hasn't grown by much. I don't see why it would, as the vast majority of gamers have never cared for trophies/achievements in the past, so why would there suddenly be a massive surge in the hobby now when there's no incentive to be a trophy hunter (other than you're a completionist). 

 

All the trophy hunting YouTube channels that sprung up in the past couple years that got very popular very quickly has a lot to do with the surge in popularity. Some of these guys are pulling in millions of views and hundreds of thousands of subscribers so they're certainly reaching more of the majority of gamers rather than just trophy hunters. Definitely has brought a lot of people into trophy hunting that weren't in it before from what I've noticed in my few years in the community. 

 

That's also attributing as to why existing trophy hunters are more engaged in the hobby as ever. There's an awareness surrounding the hobby now that wasn't there before. Don't think developers haven't picked up on this growing community either, there's a reason why so many newer games have such accessible trophy lists compared to the past. Before, trophy hunters were just a small niche they didn't have to care about, now trophies are being used as an extra enticement to buy the games knowing full well trophy hunters will buy and play games they don't even like as long as it has an easy platinum.  

 

And this goes full circle. You've got YouTuber's bringing all this attention to it and you've got games now with very accessible trophy lists, it's never been easier to get your foot in the door with this hobby and get the ball rolling. It doesn't take as much effort as it did before. 

[ZombiJoel_Tlou3]

Also it's called hack and slash, not character action! That's a shit new word some video essay jobless youtubers thought up to sound hip