Vita games that COULD be affected by March 2015 system update

[StrickenBiged]

Edit, 02/02/15: Something urgent has come up at work, so I won't be able to edit this post again for a couple of days. Please read on as a number of games have been mentioned in the thread over the weekend. I'll get back to this post when I can. Thanks for your patience guys and gals.

 

Hello all

 

So, we learned yesterday (28 Jan 2015) that Sony is going to be retiring the Maps app from the Vita system in a system update scheduled for March 2015. This will have knock on effects for at least some of the functions used in the [near] app, and games that rely on [near].

 

It has been speculated that a number of games will be affected and, even worse, some of their plats may become unobtainable as a result.

 

This thread is to ask the community to help identify those games that you know of that may be affected by the change, so that we can prioritise those Plats that may, I repeat: MAY, become unobtainable in March 2015.

 

I will try and keep OP up to date, to provide an easy reference point at the start of the thread. Please could other users identify the game that may be affected, specify how they think it may be affected, and state whether you think the plat will be unobtainable or whether there is a workaround. I have not played every game so if you just say, for example, "Splatblasters VII" without any explanation, it will not be very helpful.

 

Obviously we want to prioritise those games where the plat will be affected, but if you know of games that might simply be affected without becoming unplattable, please mention those too.

 

P.S. After the March update, I may remember to come back and confirm whether the system update did indeed cause problems. No guarantees though; that's a few months away!

 

Below are some that have been identified as possibly being affected:

 

Uncharted: Golden Abyss - Trophies affected: 5x  for example Bounty: Arcana. There are a number of sets of in game collectibles called "bounties". A trophy is unlocked for completing each set of bounties. Game uses [near] to do bounty trades with people on your friends list and nearby users. It is speculated that the removal of Maps may prevent this from working. Plat should still be obtainable as bounty sets can be earned in game as random drops from enemies. Recommendation: no need to prioritise as [near] is not essential.

 

Smart As - UPDATE: CONFIRMED NOT AFFECTED SINCE VITA UPDATE. Trophies affected: 2x , 1x , 1x  for example Globe Trotter. Game determines your location, possibly using Maps, to give you a weekly set of local challenges and the ability to earn "Street Smart Stars". You can earn up to 9 stars per location per week. There are 4 trophies that are unlocked for earning 10, 20, 50 and 100 stars respectively. If the Street Smart weekly challenges become unplayable, this Plat will probably become unobtainable. Recommended: prioritise this game, just in case.

 

Note - you would not have time to earn 100 stars playing "legit" between now and March if you do not do any travelling. If you rarely travel, I recommend you try using Skyhook to pretend your network router is located in another town/city, which should let you do enough challenges in time. See Globe Trotter (linked above) for more details.

 

Street Fighter X Tekken (Vita) - Trophy affected: Magnanimity ( ). Give 5 character color gifts. Colour gifts are sent using Near, so no Near no trophy, no trophy no Platinum. (Thanks to Kirijama.) Recommendation: Prioritise, just in case.

 

Ragnarok Odyssey (and RO: Ace) - Trophies affected: this one (I can't type Japanese) and Complete Card Collection, respectively. Not that critical since near only works as support for Plat. (You can send skill cards through near to your friends for the skill cards completion trophy.) Removing near won't block you from earning the trophy but the grind needed for Plat will be exponentially raised. (Thanks to Satoshi Ookami.) Recommendation: No need to prioritise; Plat should still be obtainable.

 

Travel Bug (no plat) - It looks like almost all trophies may be affected. You use Near to send and receive bugs across the world. (Thanks to lachz_17.) Recommendation: Prioritise, just in case.

 

Soul Sacrifice - only uses near to send people Offerings. Or maybe to adhoc play with other people, but since you can adhoc play by yourself and still get the multiplayer trophies, it's not needed. (Thanks to damon8r351 for the explanation.) Recommendation: do not prioritise. 

 

Little Deviants - Throwdown and Honour Upheld. These trophies require you to issue a challenge to another player and, respectively, complete a challenge issued by another player. From the trophy descriptions (I have not played the game myself) it appears that this can be completed by issuing and receiving challenges from people on your friends list. However, from reading around the internet, it looks as if the game also scans for other players using [near]. It is therefore possible that these trophies will be affected, but should not prevent the plat from being obtained. More information from someone who's played would be welcome. (Thanks to Bth9698 for the heads up.) Recommendation: no need to prioritise, but [near] makes things easier.

 

From HeyPJ93: 

I have platinum on little deviants and no you don't "need" near to get a challenge from someone. That said the game is very broken and from my experience near was a great help and got me the trophies. I got two challenges from psn friends before i knew how rare they were and they were from two different countries. so you don't need near, but it gives you more options.

 

Destiny of Spirits - The developers have confirmed that this game will not be affected. (Thanks to renatabls.)

 

 

Angry Birds Trilogy - 2 trophies, Winging it and Free as a Bird. (Thanks to the_rex89.) Please can someone give me details on what's required for these? As far as I can tell, you need to send things on "migration" which I would imagine might involve [near] somehow.

 

Sunflowers - My first gift: One or more flowers have been sent to a friend for the first time. Apparently this trophy requires [near]. (Thanks to JeieeM). However, bcks007 queried this as the trophy popped when he had no connectivity. Apparently, the trophy will pop by pressing yes when a warning message from game asking you if you want to send the gift [appears on screen], so [it should be] possible to earn just being offline and just send a gift. Can anyone confirm this workaround please? Recommendation: consider prioritising pending confirmation of the workaround, just in case.

 

A-Men - "Treasure Hunter" and "Broker". These two trophies state that you need to use [near]. (Thanks to litanja.) Recommendation: prioritise, just in case.

 

Unit-13 - Cloud Nine. Unit 13 requires NEAR to share high value target missions. They can be unlocked without NEAR but you need to get all the stars in every mission as far as [fps_d0minat0r] can remember and that can be a real pain in the ass. Recommendation: no need to prioritise as the HVT missions can be obtained in-game.

 

Modnation Racers - Near can be used to gift items to people to use. (Thanks Nitro.) Can anyone confirm if this will affect trophies?

 

CoD Black Ops: Declassified - [near] can be used to gift multiplayer classes. Can anyone confirm whether this will affect trophies?

 

More to follow later, if I get the chance.

Edited March 30, 2015 by StrickenBiged

[Kirijama]

STREET FIGHTER X TEKKEN (Vita)

 

Magnanimity
Give 5 character color gifts.

 

Colour gifts are sent using Near, so no Near no trophy, no trophy no Platinum.

 

Kirijama

Edited January 29, 2015 by Kirijama

[Saltyie]

This is a good thread idea!

 

Nice to know Uncharted will still be obtainable, anyone know if Soul Sacrifice utilises Near?

[Satoshi Ookami]

Ragnarok Odyssey and ACE.

Not that critical since near only works as support for Plat. (You can send skill cards through near to your friends for the skill cards completion trophy)

Removing near won't block you from earning the trophy but the grind needed for Plat will be exponentially raised

 

 

 

Nice to know Uncharted will still be obtainable, anyone know if Soul Sacrifice utilises Near?

I never needed it in SS.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Satoshi Ookami

[Meacham]

Does Smart As require information from near every time you attempt street wise?

 

This is a good thread idea!

 

Nice to know Uncharted will still be obtainable, anyone know if Soul Sacrifice utilises Near?

Never used it when I played Soul Sacrifice, so I'm assuming nope.

[Guest]

Travel Bug is a big one if anyone is boosting it, you use Near to send and receive bugs across the world.

[StrickenBiged]

STREET FIGHTER X TEKKEN (Vita)

 

Magnanimity

Give 5 character color gifts.

 

Colour gifts are sent using Near, so no Near no trophy, no trophy no Platinum.

 

Kirijama

 

Good idea to provide a link to the affected trophies, I will start doing that. Thanks for the help.

Does Smart As require information from near every time you attempt street wise?

 

Don't know. It's possible that the "location" is determined at the Smart As server end when connecting to the Servers. Even then, it is possible that Maps may be involved. It's a "better safe than sorry" recommendation.

[Meacham]

Don't know. It's possible that the "location" is determined at the Smart As server end when connecting to the Servers. Even then, it is possible that Maps may be involved. It's a "better safe than sorry" recommendation.

I guess so, I read up that it takes around 3-4 months depending on skill and how many cities you visit, if it does use either of them and you don't travel, you can pretty much call it quits now.

 

 

I could be mistaken though, who knows.

[StrickenBiged]

I guess so, I read up that it takes around 3-4 months depending on skill and how many cities you visit, if it does use either of them and you don't travel, you can pretty much call it quits now.

 

 

I could be mistaken though, who knows.

 

I added to the guide this morning a short note on how to use Skyhook to trick your router into thinking that your network is located somewhere else, which was tested for me yesterday. Ham was able to get all street stars in about 7 hours. See my guide for more info.

[Meacham]

I added to the guide this morning a short note on how to use Skyhook to trick your router into thinking that your network is located somewhere else, which was tested for me yesterday. Ham was able to get all street stars in about 7 hours. See my guide for more info.

Really? That's brilliant actually. Also, for Uncharted I think they patched the drop rate of the bounties, so using near isn't really needed at all for that game but still worth the note.

 

This will become a very handy thread indeed. When I'm allowed to like again, I'll make sure I head on in to this thread lol.

Good work buddy.

[StrickenBiged]

Really? That's brilliant actually. Also, for Uncharted I think they patched the drop rate of the bounties, so using near isn't really needed at all for that game but still worth the note.

 

This will become a very handy thread indeed. When I'm allowed to like again, I'll make sure I head on in to this thread lol.

Good work buddy.

 

Yeah, I know. I found it was much quicker overall to just replay particular chapters or sequences until I had the full sets. I tried using [near] trades, but other people were not as regular as me at checking.

 

Added it here because a lot of people have been asking about it on the other thread.

 

Thanks for the compliment. TBH I thought that someone else would have started it yesterday, but apparently not.

[damon8r351]

This is a good thread idea!

 

Nice to know Uncharted will still be obtainable, anyone know if Soul Sacrifice utilises Near?

 

Soul Sacrifice only uses near to send people Offerings. Or maybe to adhoc play with other people, but since you can adhoc play by yourself and still get the multiplayer trophies, it's not needed.

[Wdjat Prinny Doods]

Was wondering if Smart As would be affected. Guess I'll need to learn how to use Skyhook and go for that plat now doods

[Andreh-Feijoh]

I've tried using Skyhook, but there is no way in hell i can make the vita see me in another place! Couldn't i configure a proxy server in my connection, to achieve this?

[Bonzi Buddy]

maybe Smart As..

[StrickenBiged]

I've tried using Skyhook, but there is no way in hell i can make the vita see me in another place! Couldn't i configure a proxy server in my connection, to achieve this?

 

Sorry, I don't have any more info on how to use Skyhook than is available in my guide. As I mention there, I haven't used it personally and I am relying on what others have taken the time to tell me. Try having a google - I'd have thought that there must be a tutorial out there somewhere.

[Porch]

Little Deviants has one that requires Near.

[StrickenBiged]

Little Deviants has one that requires Near.

 

Any details brother?

 

Edit: I can't easily figure out which trophy could be affected in the list.

Edited January 29, 2015 by StrickenBiged

[johnie74]

Do you think Destiny of Spirits will be affected?
It's a GPS/Location based game that I play daily and JUST recieved an update yesterday adding new features and content

 

plus it's a Sony-made game...but I'm not sure if that even matters

[Porch]

Any details brother?

Wait I seem to have made a mistake, there are 2 trophies that are made easier with near.

[StrickenBiged]

Wait I seem to have made a mistake, there are 2 trophies that are made easier with near.

If they're potentially affected at all, it would be useful to know which ones (sorry if it seems like I'm going on...). The thread is not only for ones which will become un-plattable, but also to reassure people that some games they're worried about wont become un-plattable.

 

If you let me know the trophy names I'll update the OP.

[Porch]

If they're potentially affected at all, it would be useful to know which ones (sorry if it seems like I'm going on...). The thread is not only for ones which will become un-plattable, but also to reassure people that some games they're worried about wont become un-plattable.

 

If you let me know the trophy names I'll update the OP.

Throwdown, and Honor Upheld.

[Mog]

Do you think Destiny of Spirits will be affected?

It's a GPS/Location based game that I play daily and JUST recieved an update yesterday adding new features and content

 

plus it's a Sony-made game...but I'm not sure if that even matters

 

They tweeted not too long ago that it won't be affected, no.

 

https://twitter.com/dos_official_en/status/560621765626306560

[amebapiko]

Throwdown, and Honor Upheld.

 

I did a bit of searching and they aren't anything to do with location data? Seems to be a trophy just relating to playstation network.

[stitchesnscars]

If they're potentially affected at all, it would be useful to know which ones (sorry if it seems like I'm going on...). The thread is not only for ones which will become un-plattable, but also to reassure people that some games they're worried about wont become un-plattable.

 

If you let me know the trophy names I'll update the OP.

 

Thanks for starting this thread and providing the info for the games that could suffer from this loss. I have several of these games in the backlog and might need to get my ass in gear.