White Knight Chronicles or Star Ocean: The last hope

[Aexuz]

Which of these games has the hardest/ most time consuming platinum trophy?

I'm a big fan of RPGS and I'm considering buying WKC but I want to know first how hard is this platinum compared to Star Ocean.

I'll really appreciate if someone that has played both games can tell me what game has the hardest/ most time consuming trophy list.

[griffthedragoon]

I would say WKC is probably the harder/time consuming to plat (about 750 hours if you are lucky) of course this can go down if you have help from others who are high lvl and geared well.

(Kinda funny this thread popped up cause SO4 is next on my list lol)

But if you do get WKC hit me up I would be more then happy to help cut that 750ish hours out of the game for you

[SuperZay]

Star Ocean platinum is very time consuming with 600-1000+ hours of gameplay. It's also very annoying as you will need to grind a lot (like kill 30.000 enemies with the same character = ~80 hours of pointless grinding). But SO4 has very long story, and you will need to complete the game at least 3 times.

WKC on the other hand is very short game for an RPG and you can complete it under 8 hours. After that - hunderds of hours of online, but there are not many players to help you with quests now.

I would say - get them both.

[Aexuz]

I would say WKC is probably the harder/time consuming to plat (about 750 hours if you are lucky) of course this can go down if you have help from others who are high lvl and geared well.

(Kinda funny this thread popped up cause SO4 is next on my list lol)

But if you do get WKC hit me up I would be more then happy to help cut that 750ish hours out of the game for you

Thanks some help would be really appreciated. I will probably get White Knight Chronicles II, I've heard it comes with the first game included but I'm not sure if its available for all regions.

[Piggie_Pie]

hmmmm

I think it comes down to difficulty Vs. Time consuming...

both are time consuming but having to beat Star Ocean on "Chaos" difficulty might make it harder in terms of difficulty.... I think both have around the same amount of hours it takes for platinum... Im guessing because i only platinum'd WKC and i haven't played all of Star Ocean yet (although im getting the itch and i told my wife last night that after im done with Rune Factory i will be playing Star Ocean... she had no objections).

My vote is Star Ocean...

[CompSci88]

WKC is next of my list after ... diablo 3, so I don't know how many months it will be before I have time to touch WKC.

Star Ocean 4 is good if you hate playing with other people. WKC plat time is reduced greatly if you can find good buddies. In my opinion, both game are equal on term of difficulty.

I'd get them both. However, if you must only choose one, then go with WKC as it's easier to find help online now than wait like next year to play.

Edit: I saw that you have SO4 plat, so yeah WKC it is. I don't know about starting WKC2 first. It indeed comes with WKC1 but no trophy. I'd buy the international version of WKC, plat it, and move on to WKC2.

[Aexuz]

Star Ocean platinum is very time consuming with 600-1000+ hours of gameplay. It's also very annoying as you will need to grind a lot (like kill 30.000 enemies with the same character = ~80 hours of pointless grinding). But SO4 has very long story, and you will need to complete the game at least 3 times.

WKC on the other hand is very short game for an RPG and you can complete it under 8 hours. After that - hunderds of hours of online, but there are not many players to help you with quests now.

I would say - get them both.

Its a huge grinding indeed. You need to kill 60 000 enemies by yourself to really know how boring it can be. It took me arround 690 hours to get the platinum of that game. Beating the story 3 times is not that bad cause you can speed up the playthorugh and get only the neccesary items and gear (40 hours per playthorugh more or less) Battle trophies are the most time consuming requirements for the platinum.

[Orlay_]

WKC is more difficult, imo. Because you have to rely on others to help you and sometimes you can have sour luck finding a group. SO is long, but you can do it solo. It's more grinding than actually difficult.

[Aexuz]

WKC is next of my list after ... diablo 3, so I don't know how many months it will be before I have time to touch WKC.

Star Ocean 4 is good if you hate playing with other people. WKC plat time is reduced greatly if you can find good buddies. In my opinion, both game are equal on term of difficulty.

I'd get them both. However, if you must only choose one, then go with WKC as it's easier to find help online now than wait like next year to play.

Edit: I saw that you have SO4 plat, so yeah WKC it is. I don't know about starting WKC2 first. It indeed comes with WKC1 but no trophy. I'd buy the international version of WKC, plat it, and move on to WKC2.

WKC remastered included in WKC II doesn't come with trophies?? that really sucks... I'll be getting the international version then, thanks for the heads up.

WKC is more difficult, imo. Because you have to rely on others to help you and sometimes you can have sour luck finding a group. SO is long, but you can do it solo. It's more grinding than actually difficult.

So the amount of hours can be reduced if you play online, that's something good to know. I hope there's still people out there willing to get this plat, sounds like a fun game with a good and dedicated team.

[eburkulosis]

There is only 1 person I know that has both SO4 plat and WKC plat (and also WKC2 and a host of other impressive plats) I don't know if anybody else is qualified to answer your poll

https://psnprofiles.com/Evanidus

^^ one of my favorite trophy profiles of all times.

Sadly that person doesn't appear to be active on this or any other forum at all.

[Rick_Sanchez]

I have both WKC IE and WKC II platinum trophies which took me around 650 hrs for both games because I had a kick ass team with me. The second one was more fun and it's easier to get the platinum if you bring over a save from the first game where you have tons and tons of materials for your binding list.

as for Star Ocean 4, thats on my list to plat eventually but I can't really comment on it, however a buddy of mine has the plat and all he had to say about it is "You'll have to get me drunk before I ever touch that game again" after obtaining the plat after about 2-4 months of playing it.

[Piggie_Pie]

There is only 1 person I know that has both SO4 plat and WKC plat (and also WKC2 and a host of other impressive plats) I don't know if anybody else is qualified to answer your poll

https://psnprofiles.com/Evanidus

^^ one of my favorite trophy profiles of all times.

Sadly that person doesn't appear to be active on this or any other forum at all.

actually acasser has both plats and is working on WKC2... he is the one who co-opped WKC1 with me until i got platinum and he told me not to even bother with SO4 because of how insane it was (not saying that i won't finish SO4 at least for the story and amazing gameplay)

here is his profile

https://psnprofiles.com/acasser

I don't think im gonna change my answer but if i finish SO4 one day i will for sure come back and relay the message, lol

maybe we can base it on how many people have each plat?

[CompSci88]

maybe we can base it on how many people have each plat?

The only reason WKN has many people with plat is because it's hackable.

[Piggie_Pie]

The only reason WKN has many people with plat is because it's hackable.

i didn't realize that some trophies were NOT hackable... that just makes my 562 hours of game play worthless (to everyone but myself of course)...

but thats a good point... maybe if SO4 trophies are not hackable that is the only reason why people don't have it... That makes me want it even more, lol

[griffthedragoon]

i didn't realize that some trophies were NOT hackable... that just makes my 562 hours of game play worthless (to everyone but myself of course)...

but thats a good point... maybe if SO4 trophies are not hackable that is the only reason why people don't have it... That makes me want it even more, lol

^this

[acasser]

Did someone mention my name? It's been a long day, so I'm just going to give the brief answer tonight. If someone wants the verbose text wall later, I'll be glad to expand on this. The relevant points:

• Both games can be tedious grind-fests.
  
• Star Ocean 4 has missables, so you need a good list in front of you to account for that.
  
• Star Ocean 4 has the more difficult individual tasks. Some of the Battle Trophies are nasty, and some of the bosses are very difficult -- think six-wing versions of the bonus dungeon bosses, both of whom you'll have to farm a few times when going for 100% Item Creation.
  
• White Knight Chronicles can be boosted.
  

Star Ocean 4 takes 450-500 hours to platinum if you come into the game with a good road map and that missables list (one thorough cycle on Galaxy, one cleanup cycle on Universe, one speedrun on Chaos). WKC is a little more of a crapshoot, because of uneven boosting help.

Until the WKC servers are shut down, it's the easier one to platinum. Not necessarily the quicker one, but definitely the easier one.... and the percentages on the Star Ocean trophies being where they are is all the proof one should require. Not to rag on piggie_pie, who I think is awesome, but he's the example that someone else can do a lot of the heavy lifting pulling a person through the platinum.

[Piggie_Pie]

Until the WKC servers are shut down, it's the easier one to platinum. Not necessarily the quicker one, but definitely the easier one.... and the percentages on the Star Ocean trophies being where they are is all the proof one should require. Not to rag on piggie_pie, who I think is awesome, but he's the example that someone else can do a lot of the heavy lifting pulling a person through the platinum.

Not to rag on me either but i couldn't have done it without you... well, maybe, but it would have taken me 500 more hours LOL!

so about SO4... I have the strategy guide and it seems like it has all the treasure chests and stuff... did you use the strat guide or an online guide for the missables? do battle trophies and such carry over to NG+ type of thing?

[Aexuz]

The only reason WKN has many people with plat is because it's hackable.

Isn't Star Ocean platinum hackable too?

Some people has gotten the platinum in 1969 before Atari was released lol

[CompSci88]

Isn't Star Ocean platinum hackable too?

Some people has gotten the platinum in 1969 before Atari was released lol

Well, that is the problem with PSNprofiles. I should be more clear that every platinum is hackable if you know where to look. However, WKC plat hack is accessible more easily. Personally, I haven't seen any person running around with a hacked SO4 plat, but I've seen a lot of hacked WKC & WKC2 plats.

[Piggie_Pie]

Isn't Star Ocean platinum hackable too?

Some people has gotten the platinum in 1969 before Atari was released lol

thats horse crap!!!

I loved my atari but if there was PS3 back then i really missed out

That really sucks... why do people cheat their way to having high trophy numbers? boosting is one thing but hacking trophies is completely different... i love knowing that ive worked for something... acasser was a huge help to me in WKC but i still have pride in knowing that i put 561 hours and 33 minutes into it

[Parker]

Isn't Star Ocean platinum hackable too?

Some people has gotten the platinum in 1969 before Atari was released lol

I don't think that has anything to do with hacking. I believe if you earned trophies before you had a PSN account set up, when you sync them to this site they appear like that. I know a few people on here who are for sure not trophy hackers have a few trophies on their list from the '70's.

The fastest achiever list may be hacked though.

Parker

[acasser]

Not to rag on me either but i couldn't have done it without you... well, maybe, but it would have taken me 500 more hours LOL!

My point isn't to pass judgment positive or negative, simply that those trophies that can be boosted reduces the difficulty curve by a fair amount. You can "earn" trophies without actually having to work for them.

so about SO4... I have the strategy guide and it seems like it has all the treasure chests and stuff... did you use the strat guide or an online guide for the missables?

I had a handful of printed pages of notes when I sat down to do my more thorough cycle:

For my first cycle (on Galaxy), the only thing I made a note of was which recipes had to be unlocked before the point in the story where one character leaves your party permanently (and is no longer available for Item Creation brainstorming sessions). Doing more than that would have spoiled the game for me.

For my second cycle (on Universe), I printed out a thorough list of all treasure chests broken down by location, a second thorough list of other missables -- various data pieces from areas that one cannot return to plus quests that expire or have a very short window -- and wrote in notes here and there as necessary.

For my third/final cycle (on Chaos), I printed out a thorough guide to the character-specific epilogues I hadn't already unlocked. Most of them are actually pretty easy, but a few of them require you to see certain events at certain times and locations and the game isn't the slightest bit helpful in pointing out those pitfalls. Then again many RPGs have a "true ending" of sorts with the same issues, where you have to see certain events in certain times and locations without any hints directing you that way.

I don't buy strat guides, because I consider them a waste of money with all the free resources out there. If I am stuck/uncertain about something, my first instinct is generally to consult the various available resources at GameFAQs as a lurker, and to de-lurk and ask a question directly if I don't see what I'm looking for.

do battle trophies and such carry over to NG+ type of thing?

If you pay close attention to when you load/save games (or go into the master save file directories on your PS3), there are two distinct files. There's the saved game that you're actually accessing, and there's a "core" data file that is shared by/common to all saved games.

The "core" file is where your various databases are recorded -- enemies, weapons, ships, and Battle Trophies. As far as that last category goes, I imagine the file is simply a 900-character string of zeros and ones corresponding to the 900 BTs and whether any particular one has been earned.

Progress towards a Battle Trophy is kept in the saved-game file and not the "core" file. You can't kill 15k enemies with Edge on one saved game, kill 15k on another saved game, and get the 30k kills BT in that fashion. This is a large part of why unlocking 100% of Battle Trophies is so tedious, because you have to grind it on the one saved game (mostly in the postgame) and likely after you've done pretty much EVERYTHING else. The same applies to 100% Item Creation: it has to be every possible created item on the one file (iirc, the number is 521 different items), and the game doesn't even give you a handy checklist where it will mark things off for you as you go similar to WKC. Partial progress is scored within the saved game, although never anywhere you can get a look at it. If you want to keep track of Edge's kills (for example), you effectively have to do it yourself -- I kept handwritten notes on when I hit a particular "milestone" and had an idea of my "pace" and put the two together to estimate how close I was to the next marker.

Finally, there is no actual NG+. You unlock the higher difficulties by defeating the final boss on the next-most-highest difficulty and the game simply makes some sort of notation in the "core" data file. The game itself does not save after the final boss -- you'll get kicked back to the last save you make before said boss (with all those consumables you spend intact) and the game will make changes in the "core" file when you're prompted to save after the ending credits.

Instead of NG+, you simply start a fresh game on the higher difficulty. As that "core" data file is shared amongst all the save game files, it will be intact when you first begin. The really big advantage this presents is the ability to write a particular enemy's data to a Monster Jewel (once you get them) if said enemy's data is at 100%. Doing so at higher difficulties with certain monsters (all of them endgame/postgame types) can grant you an immense power boost early in the game, enough to overcome the disadvantages lumped on the player as the difficulty increases.

[ScreechingOwl]

Isn't Star Ocean platinum hackable too?

Some people has gotten the platinum in 1969 before Atari was released lol

If you're PS3 doesn't have a wired internet connection or wireless, then all your timestamps will be the same time on the 31st December 1969 or 1st January 1970 depending on your time zone. If you have wireless but no PSN profile then the timestamp will be correct, I've seen it happen myself so I know it's true.

It's the same story for the fastest achievers. I'm 3rd fastest for Mini Ninjas, 6th for Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, 13th for Darksiders and 20th for God of War, all in 0 seconds.

[Aexuz]

If you're PS3 doesn't have a wired internet connection or wireless, then all your timestamps will be the same time on the 31st December 1969 or 1st January 1970 depending on your time zone. If you have wireless but no PSN profile then the timestamp will be correct, I've seen it happen myself so I know it's true.

It's the same story for the fastest achievers. I'm 3rd fastest for Mini Ninjas, 6th for Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, 13th for Darksiders and 20th for God of War, all in 0 seconds.

I don't get it. If you don't have an internet connection how is the profile updated with new trophies?

[ScreechingOwl]

I don't get it. If you don't have an internet connection how is the profile updated with new trophies?

It isn't, you can't make a profile without an internet connection. I mean if you look at your trophies on your PS3 with an internet connection then the timestamp will be correct, but if you don't have an internet connection there won't be any timestamp, it's only when you go onto sites like this do you see a timestamp with 1969/1970.