Zenpai's Temple of Trophies

[Zenpai]

A million thanks to Floriiss for the gorgeous signature!

 

 

 

Hey there! I’m Zénpai and this is my checklist. Seems like checklists are sort of the way people introduce themselves here on PSNProfiles, so… why not make one myself?

 

 

I’m a 35-year-old Portuguese male. My three passions are:

 

• Gaming
• Comic books (all kinds – French, Belgian, Italian, English, American, and especially Japanese manga)
• Television (namely anime).

 

I’ve been playing ever since I was 8 (longer, if you count the time I had no console of my own and only played on other people’s, like my cousin’s). My first console was the original Game Boy. Originally, since we only had the one TV in our house, I gravitated more towards portable gaming. Still, I also had a few home consoles, starting with a Sega Saturn, and ever since I got a TV in my bedroom, I’ve been playing less and less on my portables.

 

I've had a variety of systems from a variety of publishers, but as time passed, I’ve been gravitating more and more towards the Sony side. I always liked their controllers better and in my opinion, no one can hold a candle to their exclusives.

 

My favorite genre is action-adventure, but I do indulge in the occasional RPG, puzzle and fighting game.

 

My history as a trophy hunter is pretty simple. I always liked getting everything out of my games, unlocking every single thing there was to unlock. When trophies came along… well, they were just one more thing to unlock! Though that only applies to games I like, obviously. To me, games are supposed to be fun and trophies are a mere extension of the games I love, not my endgame.

 

Since I don’t actively search for new games to play (only try new ones when they’re extremely popular and/or seem interesting to me), my checklist is kind of short for now... Oh well, at least that means I don’t have to spend all that much typing it out!

 

Well, then, enough about my history, let’s move on with the checklist!

 

First, a disclaimer: anyone checking out my profile will notice a blue H and 564 hidden trophies, which is a far higher amount than what people are used to around here. Well, the thing is, for about 5 years, me and my younger brother shared my account, and he got a large number of platinums while playing on it. Only in August 2014 did we remember to create a separate account for himself. When I started coming to the site more often, I wanted my profile to show my games only, so I hid my brother’s from view.

 

I also hid a couple of games I tried once, didn’t like and no longer own, while I was at it. Some people might take issue with that, but it’s my profile and I say it goes!

 

Anyway, now for real this time, onward with the checklist!

 

 

 

PLATINUM TROPHIES

 

 

#1: Prince of Persia (2008)

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 4/10

 

My very first Platinum! I originally got this all the way back in 2009, but since the epilogue was delisted from the Portuguese PSN store, I didn't really want to show a game on my list that wasn't 100%, so I hid it from view. it took me forever to understand how the DLC system works, find out a store in Europe that still sold the DLC, make an English account, buy the DLC from there and then, after 12 years, finally manage to beat the game in its entirety!

The game is not particularly hard. It's more of an "interactive experience" than an actual game. There are a lot of interesting concepts going on and the ambience and music are super soothing and perfect for when you just want to wind down a bit. The relationship between the Prince and Elika is also super interesting and the actual heart of the game. Shame they never made a sequel so that we could see how the story ultimately ends. But for what it is, it's a nifty experience that will keep you invested for sure.

 

 

#2: God of War III

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

The final installment in the God of War trilogy. I absolutely loved the first game on the PS2, and still consider it to be a masterpiece. The second one played just as well as the first, but the story and directing were, in my opinion, a big step down (check this video for a splendid explanation as to why). God of War III was just as enjoyable as the second – a game that, while extremely fun, did not compare to the masterpiece that was the first game.

 

#3: Prince of Persia – The Forgotten Sands

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 3/10

 

I absolutely loved the original Sands of Time trilogy on the PS2, especially the first game. The second one, while a big step down in terms of story, was also very enjoyable. The third game was a bit bland compared to the other two, but still a worthy ending. Forgotten Sands was… well, even blander. It was a game that didn’t ever need to be made; the last try by Ubisoft to capitalize on the popularity of the PS2 trilogy. It’s enjoyable enough, but by no means a masterpiece.

 

#4: Naruto Shippuuden – Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

As a diehard Naruto fan, I had to get this one.

 

I skipped the original UNS for just throwing you the main battles from the manga/anime in succession with just a text recap of what happened in between (and the Zabuza and Haku arc was just completely skipped!). When I get a licensed game, I want it to be an interactive, abridged version of the original story, not just the main battles with barely any context. I ended up getting Rise of a Ninja and Broken Bond for the X360 to satiate my Part I fix. While, graphically, they’re nowhere near CyberConnect2’s animation, they’re about as enjoyable (and even have the original music from the anime!)

 

Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, on the other hand, was exactly what I wanted from a Naruto game. It has online trophies, one of the things I hate the most in gaming these days, but still. It’s a bit simple, but extremely enjoyable nonetheless. It’s a blast to watch and participate in the story, beautifully recreated in computer graphics. The character models are extremely detailed and superbly animated. Highly recommended for any Naruto fan.

 

#5: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 5/10

Difficulty: 3/10

 

 

I’ve been a huge Harry Potter fan ever since I was 13 and have every version of all the videogames released – and by that, I mean every single version: 5 different versions of Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets (PC, PS2, PS1, GBA, GBC), 3 versions of Prisoner of Azkaban (PC, PS2, GBA), and 2 versions of all the others (between PC, PS2, GBA and DS).

 

 

However, the quality of the games varies wildly: the first three games, especially Chamber of Secrets, were extremely enjoyable. Quidditch World Cup was good, but a bit on the simple side. Goblet of Fire was a big step down in all regards. Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince were a bit better, but also a bit simple and bland.

 

Deathly Hallows is probably the worst Harry Potter game of all. Not only is it even blander than the worst games of the franchise, they turned it into a shooting game. As you can see by my checklist, shooting games aren’t really my thing, but whether you like them or not, turning Harry Potter into one was a terrible decision. Oh well, as long as I had all the other ones, might as well also get this one.

 

 

#6: LEGO Harry Potter – Years 1-4

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 3/10

 

 

Never having played a LEGO game before, I originally intended to skip this one, thinking it was just a cheap cash-in on LEGO’s Harry Potter licensed sets; but after I saw a lot of people on Mugglenet.com commenting on how great the game was, I decided to give it a shot.

 

And boy, am I glad I did.

 

This retelling of the story is just hilarious. The attention to detail in this game is just mind-blowing. And who knew you could get so much humorous effect by just taking out nearly all voice acting? (Apparently, everyone who ever played a LEGO game before). Exploring Hogwarts, finding all secrets and unlocking every character (and there are a TON of them) was just a blast. And doing it all with John Williams’ score for the Harry Potter films in the background is just icing on the cake. Extremely enjoyable and highly recommended.

 

 

#7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 5/10

Difficulty: 3/10

 

Pretty much the same thing as Part 1, only with less settings. A few gameplay tweaks, but nothing beyond barely noticeable. Oh well, at least now I have them all.

 

#8: LEGO Harry Potter – Years 5-7

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 3/10

 

Basically the same as Years 1-4. I don’t know if I just went with my expectations too high, but I found it to be a little less funny than the previous one. Still, extremely enjoyable and highly recommended. And well, at least now I have an actually decent game for the second half of the Harry Potter series.

 

#9: DmC: Devil May Cry

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

I’ve been a fan of the Devil May Cry series for years, but I was a bit skeptical when news of a reboot came along. Still, I decided to give it a shot, and was actually surprised at how good it was! While it may not be as epic as other games in the franchise, the story was solid, the music was awesome (finally, more than two battle themes for the entire game!) and the combat system is possibly the best in the entire franchise. It’s probably tied with DMC4 as my favorite game of the franchise.

 

#10: God of War Ascension

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

The first home console God of War prequel. I saw a lot of people disappointed with this game, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. The new elemental combat system was a really clever way to freshen up the franchise – and it’s pretty damn fun. Not to mention we don’t have to deal with crybaby Kratos from GOW II and III, so that’s always a plus.

 

#11: Catherine

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 9/10

 

I decided to try out this game, seduced by its mature allure, and was very pleasantly surprised, for I got an extremely enticing story and solid gameplay. And this game’s difficulty is so goddamn high it attained legendary status. In fact, my 11 rarest trophies all come from this game!

 

This game’s superb story and eye-catching style made me realize maybe I should try out more of this company’s games. Like, for example, Persona 4…

 

#12: Assassin’s Creed II

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

No longer able to contain my curiosity as to why this franchise was so popular, I decided to try out the first Assassin’s Creed. While a bit repetitive, I really enjoyed its style, music and compelling story, so I decided to get all the other games in the series available at that point. Assassin’s Creed II, whom the majority says is the best game in the franchise, improves on its predecessor on every level… and yet, I liked it less. I guess I just liked the first one’s Middle Eastern environment better. Still, AC II is an extremely solid game and tons of good fun.

 

#13: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

 

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 8/10

 

First – no, I didn’t skip from II to Revelations, I played Brotherhood before. But more on that later.

 

Honestly, I found Revelations to be a return to grace to the franchise. Brotherhood had already polished every mechanic from its predecessor, but Revelations brought it back to the Middle Eastern environment I enjoyed so much from the first game. The Desmond Sequences, while far from perfect, mix things up a bit and tell us more background information about the main character.

 

The one bad thing about this game and every Assassin’s Creed game since Brotherhood were the multiplayer trophies. Well, at least these were a lot easier to get over with.

 

#14: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

Since I liked the LEGO Harry Potter games and also like the Marvel movies, I thought I’d give this one a go. I was a bit sad to see it’s not silent, but it’s still pretty funny, and the gameplay is as solid as you’d expect, while still being considerably different from the Harry Potter games.

 

#15: Assassin’s Creed III

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

Assassin’s Creed III tried to bring a breath of fresh air to the franchise - and it succeeded. I liked the more medieval settings of the first four games, but it’s still pretty solid and the story’s different enough from its predecessors. Still, by this point, after 5 Assassin’s Creed games, no matter how many improvements were brought to each sequel, since the core gameplay was essentially unchanged, I was starting to feel a bit tired from the franchise.

 

The multiplayer trophies are still unfortunately present, but at least now you could get most of them by yourself, which helps a lot.

 

#16: Naruto Shippuuden – Ultimate Ninja Storm 3

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 4/10

 

Since Generations was basically Storm 1 with more characters, I decided to skip it and get the sequel that actually has a decent story mode.

 

It’s as enjoyable as you’d expect. A few tweaks and additions were made to the story mode to make it feel less repetitive, and they work. Superb (Japanese) acting and animation as always. The number of characters this time around is absolutely insane, which means you can spend a lot of time checking them out. And yet… some Part I characters present in Generations were left out… here’s hoping they come back in Storm 4.

 

#17: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 4/10

 

The pirate setting was a no-brainer for Ubisoft, with Black Flag being many people’s favorite Assassin’s Creed entry. It’s not my personal favorite, but it was good fun nonetheless.

 

Still, after 6 games, I felt like I’d reached AC burnout. It just felt like more of the same, every single year. And now with Desmond and Warren dead, even the original real-world story that tied all the previous games together was lost. So I decided to make Black Flag my last Assassin’s Creed game.

 

#18: The Legend of Korra

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

FINALLY, a decent Avatar game! Most of the games for the original series were just passable, but with Platinum Games now developing, we finally got something more. I had a blast bending my way through all the locations from the show and gathering all collectibles. The fact that it had a canonical script and the original music from the series was just icing on the cake. Too bad it’s a bit short, Mako and Bolin barely appear and Tenzin doesn’t appear at all, but those are just minor complaints.

 

#19: Heavy Rain

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

Tried this game after hearing all the praise it gets from Playstation fans and was not disappointed. The mechanics are original and the story is gripping. It’s more of an interactive movie than a game, but it’s still pretty enjoyable.

 

#20: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 9/10

 

Brotherhood takes everything that made Assassin’s Creed II good and just made it better. I especially liked the enhanced combat system.

 

The only problem with this game, trophy-wise, would be its new feature: the multiplayer. I never enjoyed multiplayer in games (except local MP), but even considering that, the online trophies are absolutely punishing. Abstergo Employee of the Month requires you to have 4 people and extreme coordination to unlock some of the bonuses, and Download Complete is just so painfully long it can take you 45 hours (!!) to get it without boosting. Boosting reduces that time ninefold, but the servers are so bad, it makes gathering the necessary six (6!!) people a major chore, even with the site’s gaming sessions feature.

 

I played Brotherhood right after Assassin’s Creed II, but the online trophies were so bloody hard I only got the platinum 1 year and 5 months after starting. And I’m the type of guy that doesn’t switch to a new game until he’s finished the one he’s currently playing. Well, it did make me aware of the gaming sessions feature on the site and consequently come here more often, so I guess it wasn’t all bad…

 

#21: Dragon Ball: Xenoverse

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 9/10

 

Considering Dragon Ball is my favorite series of all time, I’m surprised it took me this long to get a DB Platinum. I did get Burst Limit, but it had no trophies, and by then, I already had so many DB games, I decided I wouldn’t get a new one unless it was either extremely original or superbly made.

 

I guess Xenoverse falls under the first category. It was pretty fun playing as your own custom character and studying under many of the characters from the series, all while exploring a ton of what-ifs from the story.

 

Why doesn’t Xenoverse fall under the second category? Because of this game’s undying love for RNG. Seriously, everything in this game is RNG. Some things are even buried under several layers of RNG. There’s even a piece of clothing that’s buried under 4 different RNG layers. I don’t mind the occasional RPG or RNG, but the way it’s made in this game is just infuriating. And they didn’t correct it even after several patches.

 

My profile registers Xenoverse as having been completed in 1 month and 1 week, but since I like to get everything contained in my games, not just the trophies, It really took me two months and two weeks of intense grinding to get all drops. First thing I did afterwards was making a complete console backup, because I’m certainly not doing this again. Oh well, at least I don’t have to do it anymore.

 

Oh yeah, the new DLC came out since, right?

 

Right.

 

Damn it.

 

UPDATE 23/10/2015: Finally got to DLC 3 and got every other drop. It actually wasn't that bad this time... were it not for the fact that you have to be level 93 to get Unlock Potential and leveling up after level 80 is a long and tedious chore... sigh... fortunately, I still had my "I want to grow" wish from the Dragon Balls, so it went by a little bit faster, and Unlock Potential is actually a pretty good skill for non-saiyans. It's impressive how much more fun this game is when you're not forced to keep doing the same thing over and over again...

 

#22: J-Stars Victory VS+

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

I've been getting more and more into anime over the past few years, and since 75-80% of the ones I like all originated in Jump, this was a game I could not miss, especially considering crossover games are extremely rare on this side of the globe.

 

It was extremely repetitive, terribly unbalanced and fundamentally flawed. And yet, I liked it - because the characters saved this game for me. The gameplay, despite its flaws, is "okay", but the true fun in this game is trying out all the characters, seeing how they all play out and how they all interact with each other.

 

I knew about 2/3 of the series represented in the game, but J-Stars made me curious to check out all the ones I haven't seen yet (except maybe Chinyuuki - Taro has gotta be the worst character ever created). And to think my "To-see" list of TV shows was nearing its end... oh well.

 

#23: LEGO Marvel's Avengers

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 3/10

 

Almost one year after my last one, I'm back on the Platinum track! This time, with another LEGO game, so you know the drill - fun, light-hearted and humorous with solid gameplay and tons of collectibles. Extremely enjoyable as always.

 

 

#24: Persona 4 Golden

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 5/10 (but only because it takes quite a while to get everything)

 

First Persona Platinum and first Vita Platinum!

 

I've been a pretty big fan of Extra Credits ever since I saw a forum member, StrickenBiged, put a link to the famous Why The Vita Failed video. The format looked interesting, so I decided to check out all of their videos from the start. At the time, I had to wait a lot for the bus that took me to work, so it worked out. One of the first ones they ever did was Sexual Diversity - How a Gay Character Made Persona 4 Great. Through this episode, i found out that Persona was a game that was clearly well thought-out with an emphasis on characters and tackling hard subjects. Just my cup of tea. The enthusiasm the EC team had for the game was also contagious, so it stuck in my head, thought not enough to go get it right away. As I continued to further explore the forums, I realized people just reveled in showering Persona 4 Golden with praise. After a while, I just couldn't contain my curiosity any longer so I made up my mind to try it out. I had already enjoyed Catherine, a game from the same studio (and as I later found out, the exact same director, composer and character designer), so it seemed like a relatively safe bet. Since I didn't have a Vita at the time, I got the PS2 version. And all I have to say is thank you, Extra Credits. Thank you, PSNProfiles.

 

Man, and I thought I enjoyed Catherine enough. The more I played, the more I fell in love with the world, the characters, and the superb directing and game design. It wasn't perfect, namely in a few technical aspects, and the plot could get a bit bizarre at times, but it was just so much bloody fun. So much so that after I finished, I decided to get every Persona game released since FES. The only ones I skipped were P3P, since it's just a handheld port of P3, and Persona 4 Arena, since Arena Ultimax has the original's story mode as DLC and improves upon it in every aspect, gameplay-wise - not to mention it's also a lot easier and, for reasons that are beyond my understanding, Persona 4 Arena is getting to be pretty expensive right now, so it worked out.

 

In fact, I liked the original P4 so much and people were praising Golden's improvements so highly that I got a Vita mostly just to play it (though I also wanted to play DAN). And I'm the kind of guy that hates having two different versions of the same thing.

 

Having played the original before Golden, I'm not quite sure all the improvements were for the best. Honestly, I think they frequently even ruin the PS2 version's impeccable cohesion. For example, the co-op attacks were a bit too "Power Rangers-y", the cavalry attacks were not a good idea at all (they already got into trouble for trying to get into Junes with fake weapons, how could they possibly get in there with scooters unnoticed?!) and Teddie's lady-killer aspect was a bit overplayed in the new content. The worst offender by far, though, was Marie. The character in itself was fine, but everything surrounding her just seemed shoehorned into the game, especially her dungeon, which doesn't fit in with the story at all. You barely earn any experience and you can't even earn money, gain new items or even use the old ones while inside it! This mini-review is already getting a bit too long, so if you want to know more about why I disliked some of the changes in Golden, you can check this older post.

 

That said, some of the changes were definitely for the better: Better visuals, more spoken lines, interesting new story and gameplay additions, custom difficulty, the addition of a skip-function and especially skill-cards, which are a godsend.

 

Overall, I thought Golden just made the original a lot more convenient and polished while also adding new content. I didn't quite enjoy some of it, but fortunately most of it can be skipped over without much fuss, so Golden's definitely going to become my default P4 version for when I to replay it just for shits and giggles. Though I'm not quite finished with it yet, since I still intend to make two more playthroughs: one to get all skill cards and costumes, and another to create my "perfect playthrough" - all social links, all quests, all books, etc. (it's a thing I kind of like to do in games). It's already the fourth time I'm playing the game (two on PS2, two on Vita), so I'm getting a bit tired, but nothing the new skip-function can't help me with. I'm going to play another game after this playthrough, just to get some variety, and then do all the clean-up.

 

I definitely enjoyed the game immensely and wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone that's interested.


BONUS: Mini-Vita review

 

 

(As if this wasn't already long enough )

 

 

Since this is my first Platinum on a platform other than the PS3, might as well also give my two cents on what I thought of the Playstation Vita.

I though no handheld could ever be more comfortable to use than the Game Boy Advance, but boy, I sure was wrong. While the GBA's shoulder buttons are still the most comfortable thing ever to be made in the history of gaming, everything about the Vita just feels right. The console's visuals and power are amazing and the addition of the two analog sticks really makes you feel like you're having the Playstation experience on the go. Shame that Sony just stopped supporting it, especially in light of the 3DS's resounding success. The Vita has a lot more potential than this and it could have easily surpassed anything Nintendo's made if handled correctly.

 

Personally, even if I can't find any more Vita exclusives I want to try out, I'm definitely getting a few ports, it's a great system and I'm sure as hell not letting it go underused.

 

 

#25: Portal 2

 

 

Spoiler

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 8/10

 

After hearing so many people praising the hell out of this franchise, soon came the moment where I had to try it out for myself.

 

People generally mention the second game first of all, but I fell in love with the original right away. The puzzles were fun and not too hard and the whole thing was just sprinkled with humor throughout.

 

The sequel just grabbed what was good about the original and refined it to perfection. Basically more of the same, just with more polish and variety. The co-op mode trophies were super hard to get, though, especially the online-only ones. The conditions were so restrictive it's actually a wonder I didn't have an even harder time with it! Thankfully I had my brother around and some real-life friends to help me out.

 

 

 

#26: Naruto Shippuuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 4/10

 

First PS4 Platinum! (Finally got around to christening that bad boy ? )

 

Same as with the other two main games, really enjoyed the experience. Kind of a shame that the first 40% of the story mode aren't fully recreated in 3D, using screenshots from the anime instead (by far my biggest disappointment with the game). Still, it's extremely enjoyable, you get to use a shit ton of characters and there is a lot of stuff to do. A fitting end to the Storm series.

 

Now that I'm done with the trophies, time to try out all of those characters, one by one...

 

 

#27: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Remastered)

 

 

Spoiler

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 8/10

 

To be honest, I was kind of hesitant to try out this game. The story and exploring aspects of the game really enticed me, but all the shooting didn't. I'm not much of a shooter fan, so it kind of put me off from trying out the game. After a while, I kept hearing so much praise thrown at the series that it got the best of me and I decided to bite the bullet. And I'm glad I did. The experience is like taking part in a Hollywood movie. The set pieces, the story, the characters, the gameplay, the environments, everything was great. And I hear the sequels are even better! Even the shooting elements were okay, so I'm definitely going to carry on with the series and try out the later games.

 

Though despite not having exactly disliked the shooting elements, per se, they're still the part of the game I enjoy the least, so when I revisit it, it's definitely going to be in explorer mode.

 

The remastered version looks great, though. I heard the original was a bit rough around the edges, but this one runs silky smooth, with stable 1080p 60fps and gorgeous visuals. The new trophies are absolutely insane, though. I still have no idea how I managed to beat Brutal mode... well, actually, I do, since I used the tweak exploit ? - to be honest, that part of the game was definitely not optimized at all - it just felt like your progress was entirely dependent on dumb luck - and don't even get me started on the jeep section. If I hadn't used the super slow motion tweak, I still wouldn't have beaten it.

 

 

 

#28: Nier: Automata

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

People kept talking about this game so much to the point I just had to go and try it out for myself. It's a fun experience. The world is well done, the characters are interesting and the music is phenomenal. You can really see the amount of imagination and ingenuity behind the minds that created the game. It's certainly unlike anything you'll see out there. And that ending E will certainly scar me for life

 

My main gripe with this game is... it's too damn depressing! So much harping on about finding (and losing) meaning in life, so many robots (even children) committing suicide... sweet Jesus, lighten up a bit! I mean, I did like the game enough... but I don't think this is really "my thing". If a sequel comes along in the future, I may just have to pass it up... unless the themes are a bit more cheerful this time around.

 

 

#29: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 8/10

 

After having enjoyed the first game, it was time to try out what people consider the crown jewel of the Uncharted series. I personally didn't think it was all that much better than Drake's Fortune, but it was very much enjoyable nonetheless. The game is more varied in its set pieces and its story (and especially its villain) are definitely a step up from the first game. Definitely had a lot of fun.

Brutal difficulty, on the other hand, is still a major pain in the ass. I figured I'd have to yet again use the tweak exploit to have any chance of beating it, so I played the game entirely unpatched (since patch 1.02 actually fixes the exploit), but it turns out, since I'm playing the standalone Uncharted 2 Remastered, which came out a year later than the Nathan Drake Collection, the game actually comes pre-patched... so no exploit for me. Thankfully, I had a friend that actually owned the original Nathan Drake Collection, so I borrowed it and managed to also get Charted! - Brutal out of the way. It's actually kinda fun, playing in a kind of "Heaven or Hell" mode  (better than the original intent, which is the "die, die, die" mode).

I had to do the Speed Run thing twice before actually unlocking Needer for Speeder, since I underestimated of much of in a hurry you had to be and overstepped the time limit by 12 minutes, but afterwards, after realizing I couldn't just dawdle around with unnecessary battles, I managed to do it with 10 minutes to spare.

Yet, I had to play the game seven times before actually nabbing all trophies. I have Uncharted 3 Remastered waiting on my shelf, but I first want to play some other games to get some variety. Don't want to get burned out like how it happened with Assassin's Creed!

 

 

#30: Persona 4: Dancing All Night

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

Pretty fun game. The story mode's sadly a visual novel like Persona 4 Arena, but at least the story in this one is more interesting and is mostly just dialogue, so it's easier to read. The songs are super catchy and I found myself having a blast trying to clear them all and getting all the trophies.

I think this was the game that cemented two things for me: first, that I really enjoy rhythm games. Second, that I absolutely suck at them . Thankfully the trophies are pretty easy and don't require you to go into All Night mode at all, hence why I now have this beautiful platinum.

Now, onto listening to this game's entire soundtrack...

 

 

#31: Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 4/10

 

So... I decided to come back to Assassin's Creed. Since Ubisoft seems to be learning a lot from their mistakes in handling the series, and the most recent entries seem pretty interesting, I decided to give it another go. And I figured 5 years and 14 Platinums should be enough for me to recover from my burnout

Liberation is... okay. The story... worked, I guess, but it's a bit confusing and not particularly gripping. The game also has some bugs that haven't been ironed out when porting the game over from the Vita, which I can't say I enjoyed all that much. Still, it's the same good old AC formula I've grown used to, which means I always have something to enjoy myself. I particularly liked the added twist of being able to change your Persona (no, not that one) to achieve different ends - or to more easily accomplish the same ends.

 

 

#32: Persona 3 - Dancing in Moonlight

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

So I was about to start Persona 5 after finishing Persona 4: Dancing All Night, but since this one came out right before I could get there, I decided to play everything from the previous Persona titles before stepping onto the brave new world that is the most recent main entry.

Just like P4DAN, it's fun times. I liked the new "music video"-style songs with multiple characters dancing - shame there's only two of those, though. The rating system is a bit stricter this time around, but it's a good thing that there are now a lot more options to customize your play style... even if your score gets penalized for it.

I also really liked the new Social mode that replaced the story mode from the previous game. If the story is just going to be in a visual-novel style (which I don't like all that much), to be honest, I'd rather just get a shorter "story mode" that has actual animation like in this game. It's perfectly fine as long as it still has all the characters we know and love. Also, getting a chance to explore all of their bedrooms was really neat.

Oh, and DUAL AUDIO!! FINALLY!! Took you long enough, Atlus!!! I actually didn't use it in this game since I played all the other Persona 3 games with the (forced) English dub (even though it's actually pretty good, to be perfectly honest), so might as well also play this one with the dub for consistency. But as soon as I get my hands on Persona 5 and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, that "Japanese Voices" option isn't going to be set to the default "Off" for very long...

 

 

#33: God of War (2018)

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

I will have to admit, at first I was a bit skeptical about this new direction the franchise was taking. I even took a wait-and-see approach to see what people were saying before committing. But after seeing that the game was being showered with near-universal praise, I decided to take the plunge and actually buy the damn thing.

It's... quite different from the original six games. The new open-world style feels a bit strange at first, but, even with all that change, it's still pretty much God of War, alright. Everything that actually matters is all still there. The best change was Krato's personality, by far. We turned a giant, deicidal man-baby into someone with an actual likeable personality.

The worst change, however, was the camera angle. I really liked how in the original games you could easily see and maneuver around in battle to dispatch your enemies, but with the new over-the-shoulder camera, it just becomes a lot harder to actually hit the enemy you want to hit, especially if they move behind you. I even heard rumors (or was I having some sort of feverish dream?) that you could actually change to the classic camera after beating the game the first time around and that was sadly not the case ? Oh well. I still really liked the game and spent more time on the endgame than on the actual story, so I'd say it was time well spent ?

 

 

#34: Marvel's Spider-Man

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

The more I saw of this game online, the more I knew I had to get it. As a major Spider-Man fan, how could I not get this massive love letter to the world's most famous webhead?

The story is just phenomenal. While it acknowledges that you already know the major beats of the Spider-Man experience, it also tries its best to tell something new while at the same time making it extremely easy to follow along without having to brush up on more then 50 years of comics history

 

The world is also incredible. New York is faithfully recreated and it just feels... alive. There's also tons of Easter eggs scattered throughout and it's just a joy to find all of them.

 

The gameplay is extremely varied and fun, too. Swinging throughout the city is a joy and the combat never lets you feel bored, even if it is because it can be a bit merciless at times. I even had to do something I rarely ever do - play on *gasp* easy mode!

Verdict: the sequel cannot come soon enough.

 

 

 

#35: Uncharted: Golden Abyss

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

I had planned on playing Uncharted 3 before getting to this one, but since I spent most of August on vacation and Golden Abyss is set before the events of Drake's Fortune, I thought it'd be a better idea to maybe bump this one up on my backlog list and leave Drake's Deception for later

 

This sure is Uncharted on the go, alright. I'd say I had just as much fun with this one as I had with Drake's Fortune and Among Thieves, even if it does have a few things holding it back, namely the mandatory touch screen segments (There are also a bit too many collectibles ?). That said, the gameplay is just as solid and the story is gripping (even if a bit confusing at times). And it does its job as a showcase of what the Playstation Vita can do quite well.

 

 

#36: Persona 5

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 10/10

Difficulty: 5/10 (but only because it takes quite a while to get everything)

 

Games like Persona 5 don't come around all that often. I wondered whether I should even give it this high a grade, considering I don't think the game is perfect... but then again, no game is. And I'm pretty sure this is as perfect as it gets. I think not since Ookami on the PS2 have I enjoyed a game this much. I already liked Personas 3 and 4 + Catherine quite a lot, but Persona 5 just knocks them all out of the park. Every single issue the previous games had has been addressed and all the good things have become even better.

 

I mean... what more can I even say? The game has even more style than it already did, the characters are excellent, the story treads new and exciting ground for the series, the more pragmatic approach to the social links is a godsend and the immense variety brought to the dungeons is certainly a welcome addition. Oh, and dual audio! Finally Atlus got their heads out of their asses and realized that no game has ever sold less for giving people more options.

I like this game so much - and that is precisely the reason I will pass up on Royal. Atlus tends to get games just right on their first try, with the re-releases tending not to bring much to the table - mostly just fanservice. Granted, Golden did bring a lot of new technical additions that were immensely welcome, but in terms of the overall experience, I still think the original PS2 game nailed it on its first try.

That said, reworking Ryuuji's Insta-kill ability (which I think is my one, sole gripe with this game) and having a Gallery mode sounds pretty cool, but I'm not going to spend another 60€ and 300 hours on Royal when I'm already plenty satisfied. No matter how much you like something, sometimes, you just gotta move on ?

 

 

#37: Assassin's Creed: Rogue - Remastered

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

My Assassin's Creed saga continues. I'm sticking to one game a year to avoid the burnout I had back in 2013.

 

This time, I'm playing the least assassin-y Assassin's Creed game - the one where you actually play as a templar. I really enjoyed the new twist on the formula and most of all, the fact that this is the only game where you actually go to my country and can even see one of our most important pieces of History firsthand.

 

There's not really much else to tell about this game otherwise. It's the same old Assassin's Creed formula. After 4 (four!!) consecutive games set in North America, I'm ready for something different in 2020, something more revolutionary... 

EDIT (17/09/2021): Yeah, I tried Unity. Hated it. It felt like they were stripping away everything that made the gameplay enjoyable in the first place. At times, it just felt like a slog trying to get somewhere to get something done. The guards almost seemed like they had supernatural perception and were cranky all the time, because they kept on attacking me for the smallest reasons.

I give up. This is the second time I give Assassin's Creed a chance and they squandered it. From what I can see, all other games after Unity just feel like a product rather than something made with actual artistic vision. Something made to appeal to the most people possible and bring in the most revenue possible. Count me out.

 

 

#38: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

This was a game I have been expecting for nearly 20 years. When I buy a game based on a beloved franchise, one of the things I want the most from it is that it allows me to actually experience the story I fell in love with (oh, and also to be fun to play, I guess).
 

Dragon Ball has had at least one game per year ever since 2002’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai and it was not a bad way to start at all. While the gameplay is pretty shallow by today’s standards, the cutscenes were wonderfully well done (even if the story mode is an extremely abridged version of the manga) and you could just feel the amount of passion for the franchise that the development team poured into the game. The presentation is, to this day, second to none and I still go back and replay it from time to time. Sadly, it stopped at the end of the Cell arc and none of the game’s three sequels deigned themselves to give the Boo arc the proper treatment, nor do they have nearly as much love put into their presentations as the first one did.
 

The Legacy of Goku series is also another fine example of a great retelling of the original story. The second and third games were incredibly faithful (even if they do put some movie stuff in there from time to time) and fun to play. I still really like that Game Boy Advance aesthetic. Sadly, the first game is absolutely dreadful and it covers half of the Z story arcs, so that’s 50% of the story that didn’t get a proper adaptation.
 

There have been other games that also let you experience the Dragon Ball Z story, but none of them nearly as good. The Game Boy Color’s Legendary Super Warriors actually got pretty close and it actually adapts all of the story arcs in a consistent way… but sadly, the game was very limited by its hardware.
 

Over the last decade, there have been almost no Dragon Ball games that let you faithfully experience the story of the manga, beginning to end. So when CyberConnect2, the studio behind the excellent Naruto Storm series, was announced to be coming out with a new Action RPG for the series I was obviously… cautiously optimistic
 

To be honest, after 2008’s Burst Limit, I had played so many Dragon Ball games that I swore to myself that I would only get new ones if they’re either

 

• ·         From the early Dragon Ball era (pre-Z)
• ·         Have a very different and novel concept
• ·         Are extremely well done

 

So, it wasn’t an instant buy for me, but I swore I’d keep an eye on the game on social media to see if I could make up my mind. The part where Goku and Gohan whip up a fake tail to fish almost threw me off of the game completely, but after seeing that yes, it actually does have the entire story from Raditz to Boo, it has the gorgeous cutscenes we’re used to from the Storm series and that it had score by the original series composer, Kikuchi Shunsuke… I was sold.
 

I really enjoyed Kakarot. It melds together the best elements of both Budokai 1 (excellent cutscenes) and Legacy of Goku II/Boo’s Fury (an RPG that faithfully recreates the original story). The presentation might not be quite as good as Budokai 1’s and there are a few story elements that Kakarot glosses over that were indeed present in Legacy of Goku II/Boo’s Fury (like Vegeta and Trunks’s battle with Perfect Cell and the entire part with Goku and Vegeta inside of Boo’s body), but I’d say Kakarot’s average is higher than both of those games' (I mean, it does contain the Boo arc, unlike Budokai 1, and the Saiyan and Namek arcs aren’t an absolute turd, like the first Legacy of Goku game).
 

The cutscenes are bloody amazing. I guess that’s to be expected from the developer that brought us the Storm series, but goddamn. For some reason, though, the amount of those God-tier animations sharply decreases from the Android arc onwards – to the point that both the Saiyan and Namek arcs have more of those gorgeous cutscenes each than the Android and Boo arcs combined. I don’t know exactly what happened, maybe they ran out of budget or time midway through or something, but…
 

The (Japanese) voice acting is great as always. It’s a shame that the actors are now older and aren’t quite what they used to be back when they first recorded the show, but they're still great nonetheless. And the new actors that replaced the ones that have passed away do a great job as always (except for Mr. Popo’s, who is absolutely dreadful and I still have no idea why they even picked him to begin with).
 

The combat is serviceable. It’s not the most engaging thing in the world, but the mechanics are varied enough to keep you busy and entertained for a long time. And I kept discovering new ones right up until the very end.
 

Funnily enough, one of the reasons that actually convinced me to buy the game – the soundtrack – is one of the biggest drawbacks. Don’t get me wrong, the Kikuchi arrangements are beautiful, but… there’s just not enough of them. And the new tracks composed for the game are kind of weak. It all just makes for a very jarring transition. Budokai 1 certainly did a lot better, but then again, that game didn’t have any open-world segments, just a lot of cutscenes, so I guess it was easier to make everything fit, but still… I can’t help but feel that Kakarot’s sound was a disappointment. Maybe I just had my expectations set too high…

As for other drawbacks… well, there aren’t any of the places from the first series in the game, like Pilaf’s Castle, the Red Ribbon Headquarters, Baba’s castle, King’s Castle… kind of a shame, because the map just feels kind of empty without those.
 

Oh, and trying to search for stuff and being constantly interrupted by random battles is not fun. I sure as hell would have wanted some kind of repel or something.
 

I also don’t know why the enemies and orbs keep respawning. I sure as hell would have liked to at least be able to search areas in peace without fear of being constantly interrupted by enemies that I already beat. And the game gives you so many orbs already (to the point I actually reached the orb ceiling) that I don’t really know why all the orbs just respawn every time you leave a location and come back. It would have made for a far more compelling colectathon (and a far “cleaner” map) if the orbs were more limited. I sure as hell would have enjoyed searching for them a whole lot more.
 

I also have no idea why the zoom function in the map is so limited. Sometimes, I’m trying to target a very specific part of the map and it’s just impossible due to everything being so tiny and all crammed together in the same place. Oh and, while I’m at it, allow us to pick what we want marked on the map. Because the way it is right now, it’s just a massive busywork and it just makes it harder for us to track what we really want to.
 

Also, the game is kinda buggy.
 

Overall, I really liked Kakarot. It’s the kind of Dragon Ball game that, again, I’ve been looking forward to for almost 20 years. Is it perfect? No. As you can see by my grievances, there’s quite a lot that could have been improved.  I sure as hell wanted to give it a 9/10, but just couldn’t, in all honesty. But even if no other Dragon Ball games came in the future (there will), if I just have this and FighterZ, I’ll count myself satisfied.

 

 

#39: Dragon Ball FighterZ

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 9/10 (mostly because of the massive, pointless grind towards the platinum)

 

Dragon Ball fans have been starving for a return of the series to a classic 2D fighting game, since the last time we had one was back in 2008, with the Playstation 2 game Infinite World (well, we also had Extreme Butouden on the 3DS since, but… it’s the 3DS, it’s not exactly the best place for fighting games ). Well, Bandai Namco finally decided it was time for the series to come back to its roots, and it just so happened that instead of Dimps (which is busy with the Xenoverse series), they decided to pick Arc System Works, quite possibly the developer with the most classic fighting game pedigree in the world.

 

And it definitely shows in the final product. This game is probably the most technical the series has ever been, to the point where it’s actually going to be used in EVO 2018, the biggest competitive fighting game event in the world!

 

And yet, despite all of the complex combos and techniques you can pull off, the game is extremely accessible. You can just pick up the game, learn the half a dozen combos that every character has and you’re good to go! The crux is in how those combos play out, which is what gives every character variety of play style.

 

And the game… is just so much fun. It’s also absolutely hectic to watch, but it’s just a joy to play. And you can really tell the love the developers have for the Dragon Ball franchise. Nearly every battle intro and outro is different depending on the characters that are facing each other or that are on the same team – heck, sometimes, the same character pair might even have more than one intro or outro! And the Dramatic intros and finishes… oh, God… as an old-school, 23-years-a-fan Dragon Ball addict, those are just absolute, drool-inducing gold.

 

The game can be a bit difficult to clear, however. The Story Mode’s AI in Hard difficulty is absolutely merciless and the combo challenges can also be extremely hard to clear, due to extremely strict requirements the game has in considering your combo valid. You must use the precise button press at exactly the right time or the training dummy will recover, ruin your combo, and force you to start all over again. You also have My Power Level is 530 000, which requires you to attain 530 000 BP in Ranked – which is not easy at all.

 

But those are not the reason why Dragon Ball FighterZ is my first “one that got away”. That reason would be Set for Life, which requires you to cumulatively get 20 000 000 zeni over the course of playing the game. The problem is… the game is extremely stingy with its money drops. Even employing the fastest way known to the community to get money, it’s a 100-hour, mind-numbingly repetitive, pointless grind. And yes, you heard right, pointless, since you can basically buy out the entire in-game store at around 4 000 000 zeni, meaning 80% of the entire 100-hour grind would be exclusively dedicated to just getting the damn trophy.

 

I mean… maybe If this was the teenage me, who had tons of free time and very little money (and hence games), maybe I would have considered it just to kill a little time. But right now... I just have a lot less time and a lot more games to justify such a huge time investment just to get a little ping in return.

 

If at least you got some kind of in-game reward for doing all that grind... but no, it's just a huge, mind-numbing, pointless grind. You get absolutely nothing of value for just wasting all of those hours in front of the screen.

 

What makes this all the more frustrating is that this will be the first game in my collection that I just had to give up on. And it wasn’t even because of the online trophies (where all sorts of problems can pop up). Like I said, no matter how much I like the game… I just cannot justify this huge of a time sink.

EDIT 28/05/2020: I finally got it! Arc System Works has been a lot more generous with its zeni giveaways lately and I finally managed to get my hands on Set for Life! And since the shop has since been updated with a lot of (extremely expensive) items, I took the chance to do a little exploit and make myself truly set for life. But even then, I still spent 30 million zeni just buying every single thing I still had left to buy (all trophy rooms and about half of the items on the new special store). Oh well, 71 million should be more than enough to easily buy everything this game might still throw at us in the future ?

 

 

#40: Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

Last of the "Persona Dancing Trilogy". Kind of a shame the songs in Persona 5 aren't as good for dance remixes as the ones from Personas 3 and 4, I have the impression I wasn't "rocking" as hard this time around. The fact that Persona 5 doesn't have as big a pool of songs as 3 and 4 also didn't help, but still, pretty fun game overall, same as the other two.

 

 

#41: Yakuza 0

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 9/10

 

Whew! Finally got this bad boy. I've seen hard games and I've seen long games, but this was the first time I've ever had a game require this much dedication to be beat. You don't really feel like you're playing just one game, you feel like you're playing a collection of games, and lots of them are pretty hard! Baseball, pool, and all of the arcade games really gave me a run for my money. Mahjong also seems pretty hard, but it just takes some patience for you to actually learn how to play it and then just hope for luck of the draw.

As my first Yakuza game, count me impressed. The story and the setting are super interesting, loved the tone of the substories and I was just super impressed at the sheer scale of everything in the game. And despite being hard, it's never so hard that it would make you feel frustrated or want to quit.

In fact, I think I'm going to get the rest of the Yakuza games. No biggy, there's just... 8 more of them... oh, God, what have I gotten myself into?!

 

 

#42: Undertale

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 9/10

 

So I finally tried out the 2015 smash sensation, Undertale. I'm not quite sure if I went in with my expectations way too high or anything, but personally... I didn't find it to be an absolute masterpiece or anything. It's certainly fun and oh my God, is the soundtrack an absolute delight, but not earth-shattering by any means. And to be honest... it can be really tough, bordering on unforgiving. Actually, this might be the only Platinum I got for a game I didn't even technically finish! ? I most definitely finished my pacifist run, but the genocide run? No way I can beat Sans with how crazy unforgiving that battle is. Undyne was already pretty crazy, and I managed to beat her by the skin of my teeth.

It certainly is a fun game with a lot of charm, and the atmosphere and the soundtrack certainly pack a punch... but I don't really think it's anything to write home about.

 

 

#43: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Remastered

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

Last game of the original trilogy! I think I might have enjoyed this one the most out of all Uncharted games so far - though it might be because I have a thing for Middle Eastern settings ?

Drake's Deception doesn't really add all that much to the Uncharted formula. That said... if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

 

I thought for sure that the story was hinting that Sully was going to die at the end because of Nathan's pride... but it turns out that he just gets kidnapped. Which is bad, no doubt about it... but it feels a little bit anti-climactic ?

All in all, another great addition to Nathan Drake's repertoire of adventures ? Looking forward to finally playing a Thief's End next year.

 

 

#44: Persona 5 Strikers

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

Finally, six years after having played the original Persona 4 on the PS2, I have caught up with the Persona games. Well, that was one heck of a ride ?

 

I consider Strikers to be one of the best Persona spin-offs, right up there with the first Persona Q. While the gameplay is significantly different... it doesn't feel like it. It still hits a lot of the same notes as a mainline game. Even the story is one of the more fleshed out out of all the spin-offs, and it's a pretty good one at that. At times, I felt like I had just picked up a story DLC for the original Persona 5. I particularly liked the fact that they specifically tried to give some more character development to the two characters that lacked it the most in the original game: Yuusuke and Haru.

Compelling gameplay, a riveting story, awesome music (as usual)... call me a satisfied customer.

As for what's next... with the Persona 25th anniversary celebration currently underway... let's see with Atlus surprises us with. I for one, am nothing if not excited.

 

#45: Yakuza Kiwami

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 9/10

 

Another year, another Yakuza game. I thought it was a bit lacking compared to 0, but it's still pretty enjoyable, regardless. The insane amount of minigames is back, as usual, but this time, it takes even longer to complete all of them ? And that car chase scene in Legend mode, my God... to this day, I still have no idea how I managed to clear it. It was so infuriating having to start the chapter all the way over from the beginning just because no one bothered to put in a save spot after the Snake Flower Triad sequence. I was really about to just throw the towel when, unexpectedly... I managed to clear it. After that, it was smooth sailing towards the Platinum trophy.

Thankfully, this seems to be the hardest out of all the Yakuza Platinums by far, and since the second hardest was 0, everything else in the series should be a piece of cake, comparatively.

 

 

#46: Katamari Damacy Reroll

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 9/10

 

Bought this game for its eccentric atmosphere and innovative gameplay. And while it certainly is very enjoyable and the soundtrack is an absolute delight... my God, it's just unnecessarily difficult! Not only do you have the timer going on, you also have to deal with everyone bumping into you and making your katamari smaller. And getting all the items for the Platinum... dear god, what a chore. And don't even get me started on the Taurus and Ursa Major stages. I pretty much got PTSD from those.

 

Nevertheless, it's a pretty fun and quirky game. I just hope they tweak down the difficulty if they ever decide to port the sequels.

 

 

#47: Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

I'm pretty sure this is now my favorite game in the series. I really liked all the new gameplay tweaks and accessibility options. And I was really glued to the story the entire time, I could barely wait to see what was going to happen next!

This was also the easiest Uncharted in the series by far. With you now being able to earn trophies even with cheats enabled (now called "gameplay modifiers") and in Explorer mode, not to mention all the new accessibility options like auto-lock, this Platinum was a breeze to get.

I hear the only game I'm still missing, The Lost Legacy, is the best in the entire series. Let's hope it lives up to the hype. But now I'm going on a little bit of a Uncharted break, so it's something I will only be able to confirm next year.

 

 

#48: Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 3/10

 

After having loved the original Marvel's Spider-Man, I obviously had to come back for the sequel. It plays very much like its predecessor, despite having a few new tricks here and there. I think I preferred Peter Parker's story better, but Miles can also hold his own in a solo game (hell, that's the entire premise of the game ).

 

There's not much more I can say here that I haven't already said for the previous entry, but yeah, Miles Morales is a pretty good game

 

 

#49: Astro's Playroom

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 4/10

 

First PS5 Platinum! (And I don't even have the console yet )

Sometimes, when hanging out with my friends at one of our houses, I find myself with nothing to do. But since the owner of the house we usually hang out in actually has a PS5, why not try out this "Astro's Playroom" thing whose praises were sung so much by everyone that actually managed to get their hands on a PS5?

Well, I can say those praises were definitely deserved. Not only is it a great nostalgia trip through the history of PlayStation, it's... actually also a great game?... Team Asobi definitely overdelivered with Astro's Playroom. Not only is it a great tech demo for the PlayStation 5, it's also a great game in its own right. Let's hope they decide to do a sequel... though it's quite unlikely, considering that the main purpose with which the game was made was already fulfilled.

 

 

#50: Nier Replicant Ver. 1.22474487139...
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 3/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with my 50th Platinum. I tried giving Nier Replicant a go after having enjoyed Nier Automata, but it's definitely not on the same category as its sequel.

First, the good stuff. The game runs butter-smooth, the character models are amazing and the music absolutely divine.

The bad stuff is the most important one: the gameplay. This game commits what is to me one of the biggest gaming sins: it makes you waste your time on purpose. I spent more time grinding, farming and just walking everywhere than actually doing anything interesting. It has no real New Game+ (the one it has, it makes you start 60% of the way into the game), the sidequests are all way too mindless and boring for how many they are (not to mention how easy they are to miss), and even Fast Travel, the one thing that's supposed to help you save some time, not only is it only available like 60% of the way into the game, you also temporarily lose that ability partway into the game!

 

And getting the Platinum to this game was not enjoyable. Not only do I have to make six different playthroughs of this game - and that's not even the worst part - I also have to do some truly mindlessly long and boring grinding and farming just to get one trophy.

I swear to God, it's like everything in this game was designed to be inconvenient. There's a sliver of something really good here, but it's buried under a ton of mindless sidequests, needless grinding and farming and just unnecessary backtracking.

And the thing is... they could have done something about it! This is a remake of an 11-year-old game! They could have completely redone the sidequests (or just scrapped them altogether), implemented a much better Fast Travel system (and implemented it much earlier in the game) and overhauled the upgrading system so that we wouldn't need to be grinding mindlessly all the time.

I think the only thing that kept me going was the music and the story, otherwise I would have dropped this game much earlier. Not recommended at all.

 

 

#51: Yakuza Kiwami 2
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

 The Yakuza game of 2022. While not bad at all, I think this one is even weaker than Kiwami 1. The removal of the battle styles present in 0 and K1 makes no sense at all and I found the Clan Creator missions boring as hell. Despite the removal of most loading screens, I found that the Dragon Engine doesn't really work all that well. I found it much stiffer compared to the previous games.

 

Apart from that, great story and gameplay as always. This one has no hair-ripping segment like 0 and K1, so comparatively, it was a breeze to Platinum. And I so enjoyed the reintroduction of the Cabaret Club storyline, definitely the best sidequest by far.

 

Well then, on to Yakuza 3, which I should play around summer time.

 

 

#52: Fairy Tail
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

 Finally, one of the video game adaptations I wanted the most (now only Hunter X Hunter left... ?). I found it quite enjoyable. It's not a gaming masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, and you can see that it was made quite on cheap, but I still had plenty of fun playing with all these characters I love so much. Shame they couldn't start the story from the beginning, but I can't really complain all that much, since I finally got to play a Fairy Tail game

 

 

#53: Ghost of Tsushima
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

Assassin's Creed in Japan. This is how I would describe Ghost of Tsushima. But not just any Assassn's Creed. Assassin's Creed back when it was good. My God, the ambience in this game is like nothing I've ever seen. Considering how much I love Japanese culture, It seems like it was made with me in mind. Love this game to death. Obviously played it in Japanese, for the Full Immersive Experience™. The music, the art direction, the story... it struck all the right places. It's sad, which I don't generally like, but it's sad in a way I loved. And by God, is there a ton of stuff to do! They clearly wanted you to explore Tsushima to its fullest!

Hope they can come back with a sequel, one of these days. Sure wouldn't mind seeing more of Jin's adventures as the Ghost

 

 

#54: Donut County
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 3/10

 

I wasn't originally planning on playing Donut County, but while doing babysitting for a friend of mine's kids, I was stuck trying to find some way for the girls to entertain themselves. And then I remembered that I had bought Donut County on sale a long time ago and that maybe they would enjoy it. Well, I struck gold, because they spent the rest of the afternoon playing it ? And I too thought it was a real nice, short and sweet game that I could platinum in a couple of hours, so I thought "why not?" and went for 100% completion.

 

It's a super fun puzzle game that doesn't really ask too much brain power of you. It's just a really chill game, perfect for winding down after a long day. And the framerate... oh my God, this game runs butter smooth.

So yeah, had a ton of fun playing it. Really enjoyed it

 

 

#55: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

Last Uncharted game! That's one more entire series completed!

This one was short and sweet. It was definitely not as good as Uncharted 4 (or any other Uncharted game, if we're to be completely honest), but it was good for what it was I liked the story, the environments, the villain... Couldn't really play it for long, given it's so short, but it's definitely a fun game.

Well then, onto new series! The backlog keeps on growing!

 

 

#56: God of War Ragnarök
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

And that's the end of another God of War era. I didn't really feel like it was all that different from the previous game, but I enjoyed its gameplay and story nevertheless. The constant changing of companions also helps keeping things fresh throughout Just didn't really enjoy the segments where you play as Atreus, since it's so different from playing as Kratos, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

 

But goddamn, this game is hard! For someone who prides himself on 100%-ing every game, being forced to lower the difficulty down to Easy was kind of humiliating... until I grabbed my old God of War (2018) save and realize I did that on the previous game as well, and from the very beginning! ?

 

Nevertheless, a worthy conclusion to the Nordic saga Let's see what you do next, Sony Santa Monica!

 

 

#57: Hogwarts Legacy
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 6/10

 

(God, this has got to be one of the worst Platinum Trophy images I have ever seen)

 

I don't think I've ever had more mixed feelings about a game than I've had with Hogwarts Legacy.

 

For context, I am a massive Harry Potter fan. Have been ever since I first read the books in 2001. I enjoyed the classic games (until Goblet of Fire, that is...) for what they were - easy, but nevertheless enjoyable. Some were actually pretty good, like Philosopher's Stone for the PS1 and Chamber of Secrets for the GameCube, but most games in the early era had something interesting that set them apart.

 

Goblet of Fire was the game that ruined it all. Now adhering more closely to the movies than to the books and changing the gameplay completely - for the worse - that was when the Harry Potter series became nothing more than a "basic" movie tie-in. Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood-Prince at least had some vision behind them, with their full recreation of Hogwarts, but... sadly, those games are booooooring (OotP moreso than HBP). And we don't talk about the disaster that was Call of Duty with wands.... I mean the Deathly Hallows games.

 

We also had the LEGO Harry Potter games, and while I love them to death, and they're also available on the PS4, I always felt like I needed a meatier Harry Potter experience... and that's where Hogwarts Legacy comes in.

 

First of all, you can tell that the developers really understood the Harry Potter world. Even the tiniest and most obscure references ever made in the books, movies, Pottermore, and sometimes even the prior videogames are present here. It's truly a treat for any Potterhead worth their salt. I think the only thing they missed (perhaps intentionally) was the fact that Dumbledore was a first year in Hogwarts during the events of the game.

 

The music is also fantastic. While not really on the same level as the score from the early games, composed by Jeremy Soule, and obviously not even in the same league as the movie themes composed by John Williams, it's still very good and fits the environment very well.

 

The story is... serviceable. While not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, the characters felt real and it's always interesting seeing where it will take us next.

 

The gameplay, though, is... not the best. While the combat is interesting and there are certainly plenty of options on how to defeat your foes, the fact that you have so many spells but limited spell sets means some of them either stay by the wayside during battle, or you have to keep constantly reassigning them. Maybe a different system would be better, though I'm not really sure which one. Well, it is at least a big improvement from the old games' system, where you had to reassign spells on a constant basis 😅

 

Also, for a game called "Hogwarts Legacy"... you certainly don't spend a lot of time in Hogwarts! It's the best part! And it was so faithfully recreated! Such a shame that most of the game just has you exploring the (huge) Hogwarts outskirts.

 

Speaking of which... the outskirts may be a bit too big. There's also way too many collectibles and challenges to do, many of which aren't really all interesting and just feel like the developers padding for time. Hell, there are so many pointless collectibles Hogwarts Legacy gives even Ubisoft games a run for their money!

 

I think the user interface might be the worst part of the game, to be honest. Many things do not appear on your map until you've actually passed close to them - and as I've mentioned, the map is freaking huge. I wish we had some kind of "tower" system, like in the Assassin's Creed games, where you "unlock" all the information of a given region on the map as soon as you "activate" it. And speaking of the map, you can't even filter by what you want to find - you see all of the information, all of the time. Also, whose great idea was it to have a mouse-like cursor on a console game? Took me ages to figure out that's how you selected options in the menus.

 

The PS4 port, while certainly playable, also leaves a lot to be desired. While I am willing to bear with the reduced resolution and framerate (sacrifices do need to be made, after all), the textures on some assets and the constant pop-in are not really acceptable on a console as powerful as the PS4. We really should have had better optimization. And don't even get me started on the bugs!... Though I guess those are present on all platforms, even the 9th-Gen ones.

 

And I think that's all. While I did enjoy Hogwarts Legacy for what it was, I cannot help but feel like this was a bit of a prototype for a bigger, better sequel. Let's hope that is the case, I certainly wouldn't mind coming back to Hogwarts if it came in an improved gaming package!

 

(Actually, maybe scratch the "bigger" part, the game's already too big as it is 😂 )

 

 

 #58: Untitled Goose Game
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 7/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

Well, this is definitely a... different title 😅 I really liked the art style and the whole ambiance of the town. The gameplay is also super novel and interesting. It really makes you explores all the levels to solve the puzzles. Never gets boring. Getting all the trophies was a little bit hard, though, especially all the "quickly" ones! God, was the Back Gardens a hurdle. And only managed to get it with, like, one second to spare! 😅 But it was otherwise a really fun and interesting game. Was really needing a shorter, breezier title after all the huge games I went through this year.

 

 

 #59: A Short Hike
 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

This one was really enjoyable 🙂 The relaxing atmosphere really makes you appreciate everything about this game more. And apart from Remember This Day Forever, there's no trophy that is really all that hard. You can just jump in, relax and enjoy. Wish they made more games like this 🙂

 

 

100% GAMES

 

 

As of right now, I have just the one:

 

#1: Journey

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 7/10

 

This game’s popularity and artistic visuals enticed me into getting it. It’s a calm, beautiful experience that I certainly enjoyed. Too bad it’s really short and the online trophies (namely Companion) can be a pain, but it was still a worthwhile experience.

 

 

 

THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY

 

 

This is the section for the games that, for one reason or another, I did not get the platinum for:

 

 

#1: Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session

 

 

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 10/10

 

The game is really fun ☺️ The songs are super catchy and it's really fun to try and see how good you can get. Shame I can't use the drums I imported to play the game since they're kind of noisy and my upstairs neighbor has the devil's ears, but it's still real good fun.

Now, why did this game "get away"? The reason is quite simple:

 

 

Considering that this is the amount of skill the game requires you to have to get the Platinum... yeah, I just went ahead and played the game fully aware that I would never get all trophies. I mean, I'm not that bad, but I'll never be this good.

 

 

#2: Persona 4: Arena Ultimax

 

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 6/10

Difficulty: 10/10

 

To be honest, as a Persona game, this was a bit of a disappointment. While the music is awesome and you've got all the great characters you've come to know and love, all with their unique fighting styles, shticks and quirks, not to mention the visual style the Persona series is known for... the rest was a bit of a disappointment. Not only was the Story Mode done extremely on the cheap, being reduced to a mere visual novel, the story itself was... not all that good. At least in comparison to the main games. Despite not having played the original Arena, I did get the P4A Story Mode DLC, so I experienced the story from beginning to end (and I think the first part is actually more solid than the second, despite forcing you to play through the same story with different characters about ten times, with only a couple characters breaking the mold a bit), and even though you've still got the same great characters and you get to see what happened to them after their respective games ended (which is especially valuable in the case of the P3 characters) and even get a glimpse at their plans for the future, the whole "our strength comes from our bonds" shtick is a bit too on the nose and Minazuki is extremely weak as a final villain.

 

Regarding gameplay, while the game is fun, it's... not quite made for JRPG fans, but instead for hardcore fighting game fans. It's a bit too technical and difficult to master. Not to mention it requires loads of grinding if you intend to unlock everything.

 

And how did this game end up on the "The ones that got away" section? Well, in one word, challenges. In my profile, you can see that all the trophies I'm missing are related to the combo challenges, and as my good friend @Satoshi Ookami tried to warn me, the combo challenges in this game are absolutely nuts. I cleared all the ones in Dragon Ball FighterZ, a game made by the same developer, so I thought this game would be about just as hard. It's... not. You would need to have skills good enough to warrant this song starting to play in the background while you're clearing them... and no matter how much I love Dragon Ball, I'm not quite at Ultra Instinct level... yet

 

Also kind of frustrated that I never managed to unlock the Navigator voices. I mean... given that you need to beat 4 different 10-battle Score Attack courses on the highest difficulty, where all the opponents are in boss mode (meaning they have all their buffs on from the start, give 3X the damage and can handle 3X the punishment) and you need to do it all in one go... I mean... I have my limits.

Oh well, at least I did manage to unlock the boss characters. Shame I can't use them in Score Attack. Would make unlocking those navigators so much easier.

 

 

#3: Devil May Cry 5

 

 

Spoiler

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 10/10

 

As I mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of the Devil May Cry series. I love its ambience, its style, but most of all, its gameplay. People were showering the newest entry in the franchise with all sorts of praise, so I was very optimistic about this one.

 

While it's not my favorite in the series... it's still Devil May Cry, so I had a blast hacking-and-slashing my way through hordes of demons. I really liked Nero's new Devil Breaker, it really adds a lot of variety to what has been so far the most shallow main character (gameplay-wise) in the entire franchise. Dante is a blast to play with, as always, and while V isn't exactly my cup of tea, he's nevertheless an interesting character to play with, especially once you unlock Super V and can just sit back and watch as your demons rip through your enemies with ease.

 

What made DMC5 "worthy" of being in the "The Ones That Got Away" list? Well, fittingly enough, the trophy Worthy of Legend, which requires you to get S-Rank on every mission, on every difficulty. And that includes Hell and Hell, a mode so... well, hellish, that every single enemy will kill you with just one attack. I actually managed to do a similar trophy back in DMC4, but not only was that game easier, it didn't require you to get S-Rank on Hell and Hell. Not to mention it didn't penalize you for using checkpoints.

 

So... yeah. Yet another DMC game that I failed to Platinum (I also didn't get all achievements on DMC 4 because of King of the Palace). Nevertheless, they're always a blast to play through, even if I couldn't unlock their full potential.

 

 

CURRENTLY WORKING ON:

 

 

Right now, I'm going through Yakuza 3! After that, time to experience Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes!

 

 

CURRENTLY INTENDING TO PLAY:

 

 

Bloodborne

Skyrim
Nioh
Shadow of the Colossus
Sekiro
Super Mario 64
Guilty Gear Xrd
Pokémon FireRed

Pokémon: HeartGold
Final Fantasy VII
The Legend of Korra (3DS)
The Wonderful 101
The Stanley Parable
Super Mario Odyssey
Ducktales
Tekken 7

Fire Emblem Awakening
Horizon Zero Dawn
Silent Hill
Resident Evil

Super Mario Brothers

Lollipop Chainsaw

One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows

Stray
We Love Katamari
Xenoblade Chronicles

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited September 17, 2023 by Zenpai

[Cassiopria]

Nice plats do you have !!!! Catherine that nice one have in your collection

Edited June 21, 2015 by Cassiopria

[NotAFoxAnymore]

Nice plats and a well organised checklist c:

[Zenpai]

Updated with J-Stars Victory Vs+.

[Crespelio-X12]

Nice trophy checklist dude

[Zenpai]

Nice plats do you have !!!! Catherine that nice one have in your collection

 

Thanks! Yeah, Catherine is one of the three Platinums I'm most proud of. Not at all easy, but definitely satisfying when you finally get your hands on it.

 

 

Nice plats and a well organised checklist c:

 

 

Nice trophy checklist dude

 

Thanks to all of you!

Edited August 7, 2015 by jrdemr

[Jak]

Questions:

 

- You said DB is your favorite series. 1. So "Dragon Ball" (the one with Kid Goku) is really your favorite series? 2. (Even though this is a gaming website and gaming related topic, it's still possible you could be talking about television to, because that's just how it is, so) Dragon Ball (which ever one you mean/meant) your favorite what series? Too vague there.

 

- In your signature, is that temple like structure in the background related or from the Avatar (cartoon) universe?

 

- Is your "Temple of" in your title a reference to OR inspired from the recently released, as a monthly PS+, Tomb Raider game? If not, what's the origin of it?

 

- The platinum trophies listed here are the ones you actually got by yourself (instead of with your brother's help) right?

 

 

Concerns:

 

- Dragon Ball Xenoverse may not have fixed their RNG system (what game with RNG is perfect or actually legit good/balanced? Even The Legend of Korra, a game you got the platinum trophy from, has its own issues with RNG but wasn't mentioned in your description for the platinum), but the game's RNG was tweaked, making it easier (even if it's slightly) than it was at launch/early days.

 

And yes the DLC came out, multiple actually.

 

- Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm. I disagree with your isolation towards this game. I forget if part 2 kept it, but it was nice to have the button-mashing collision system (between jutsus), although Hidden Leaf Village is just one place, area, and location, I found it (as a Hub world) more enjoyable than running around the different locations in the sequels (plus HLV had mini games in the village with Naruto) and definitely better than the counterparts in the sequels, the boss battles were good, it was enjoyable to have 1 installment on the next gen focusing on the kid era & story (before Shippuden), and the missions were more simple, not complex, and not overwhelming (don't get confused with not a challenge) to get all the stars in since there were none of these fragments or those other pieces of similar components they change up in every installment required to get all stars or whatever. It was simple. Just do the mission conditions to get all the stars. The game was really good, despite some missing elements like Haku's and Zabuza's story and even their inclusion as playable characters (which were obviously linked).

 

 

P.S. Not some bad Platinum trophies you got there.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Mar

[Zenpai]

Questions:

 

- You said DB is your favorite series. 1. So "Dragon Ball" (the one with Kid Goku) is really your favorite series? 2. (Even though this is a gaming website and gaming related topic, it's still possible you could be talking about television to, because that's just how it is, so) Dragon Ball (which ever one you mean/meant) your favorite what series? Too vague there.

 

- In your signature, is that temple like structure in the background related or from the Avatar (cartoon) universe?

 

- Is your "Temple of" in your title a reference to OR inspired from the recently released, as a monthly PS+, Tomb Raider game? If not, what's the origin of it?

 

- The platinum trophies listed here are the ones you actually got by yourself (instead of with your brother's help) right?

 

 

Concerns:

 

- Dragon Ball Xenoverse may not have fixed their RNG system (what game with RNG is perfect or actually legit good/balanced? Even The Legend of Korra, a game you got the platinum trophy from, has its own issues with RNG but wasn't mentioned in your description for the platinum), but the game's RNG was tweaked, making it easier (even if it's slightly) than it was at launch/early days.

 

And yes the DLC came out, multiple actually.

 

- Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm. I disagree with your isolation towards this game. I forget if part 2 kept it, but it was nice to have the button-mashing collision system (between jutsus), although Hidden Leaf Village is just one place, area, and location, I found it (as a Hub world) more enjoyable than running around the different locations in the sequels (plus HLV had mini games in the village with Naruto) and definitely better than the counterparts in the sequels, the boss battles were good, it was enjoyable to have 1 installment on the next gen focusing on the kid era & story (before Shippuden), and the missions were more simple, not complex, and not overwhelming (don't get confused with not a challenge) to get all the stars in since there were none of these fragments or those other pieces of similar components they change up in every installment required to get all stars or whatever. It was simple. Just do the mission conditions to get all the stars. The game was really good, despite some missing elements like Haku's and Zabuza's story and even their inclusion as playable characters (which were obviously linked).

 

Dang! Now this is paying some serious attention to every single thing I wrote!!

 

 

To answer all of your questions:

 

- Dragon Ball is my favorite franchise of all time. And no, not just the one with Kid Goku. I'm more a fan of the manga than I am of the anime, and the manga was all "Dragon Ball" (no "Z") from Bulma to Buu. Though, obviously, I also enjoy the anime immensely as an adaptation of the manga. Of course, I also have plenty of games from the franchise, but since there are too many of them, I only get the ones I deem to be the very best.

 

- Actually, no, the temple is not related to the Avatar universe (though it is my second favorite series of all time). I asked Floriiss to create a banner based on the render of Goku you see above, with the words "JR's Temple of Trophies". He just picked up an image of a temple and used it as a background to fit the name (which I thoroughly enjoyed).

 

- I chose to call my checklist "Temple of Trophies" as a reference to the temples of the gods you see in Dragon Ball (and because no one had picked that name yet).

 

- Yup, I got all trophies listed here 100% by myself. The comments below each Platinum show I actually spent time with each game. Actually, I also got one more Platinum besides the ones shown here - the one for Prince of Persia (2008). That was actually my very first Platinum of all time. However, when I saw that I could no longer get the Epilogue DLC on the Portuguese PSN store and would therefore be forever unable to 100% the game, I gave it away and got the X360 version, since at the time the Epilogue was still available for purchase. Seeing as I only want my profile to show the games I currently possess, I hid that one as well. If only I knew all I needed to do was get the DLC from the UK store... oh well.

 

 

Regarding your concerns:

 

- Some people keep telling me the RNG in Xenoverse was improved between patches, but honestly, I didn't notice much of a difference (if any). I only play RPG every now and then, but I do know the RNG in Xenoverse was implemented terribly. The successive layers of RNG and the amount of time you have to spend actually getting to the part where you might have a chance to get what you want is painfully frustrating. I hate this kind of artificial game lengthening.

 

- And yes, I do know of all the DLC that came out for the game (I do follow Kanzenshuu, after all), that last part was meant more to be humorous than anything else    - just to mention the fact that even after all the grinding I did, I still have to get the drops from the third DLC.

 

- I'm not saying the first Ultimate Ninja Storm was bad (it actually looks pretty good), but as I said, when I get an anime game, I want it to follow the story reasonably closely - something I thought UNS 1 didn't do. And Rise of a Ninja and Broken Bond let me explore Konohagakure (and lots of other places!) as well, so...

 

 

P.S. Not some bad Platinum trophies you got there.

 

Thanks!

Edited August 7, 2015 by jrdemr

[Jak]

Dang! Now this is paying some serious attention to every single thing I wrote!!

 

 

To answer all of your questions:

 

- Dragon Ball is my favorite franchise of all time. And no, not just the one with Kid Goku. I'm more a fan of the manga than I am of the anime, and the manga was all "Dragon Ball" (no "Z") from Bulma to Buu. Though, obviously, I also enjoy the anime immensely as an adaptation of the manga. Of course, I also have plenty of games from the franchise, but since there are too many of them, I only get the ones I deem to be the very best.

 

- Actually, no, the temple is not related to the Avatar universe (though it is my second favorite series of all time). I asked Floriiss to create a banner based on the render of Goku you see above, with the words "JR's Temple of Trophies". He just picked up an image of a temple and used it as a background to fit the name (which I thoroughly enjoyed).

 

- I chose to call my checklist "Temple of Trophies" as a reference to the temples of the gods you see in Dragon Ball (and because no one had picked that name yet).

 

- Yup, I got all trophies listed here 100% by myself. The comments below each Platinum show I actually spent time with each game. Actually, I also got one more Platinum besides the ones shown here - the one for Prince of Persia (2008). That was actually my very first Platinum of all time. However, when I saw that I could no longer get the Epilogue DLC on the Portuguese PSN store and would therefore be forever unable to 100% the game, I gave it away and got the X360 version, since at the time the Epilogue was still available for purchase. Seeing as I only want my profile to show the games I currently possess, I hid that one as well. If only I knew all I needed to do was get the DLC from the UK store... oh well.

 

 

Regarding your concerns:

 

- Some people keep telling me the RNG in Xenoverse was improved between patches, but honestly, I didn't notice much of a difference (if any). I only play RPG every now and then, but I do know the RNG in Xenoverse was implemented terribly. The successive layers of RNG and the amount of time you have to spend actually getting to the part where you might have a chance to get what you want is painfully frustrating. I hate this kind of artificial game lengthening.

 

- And yes, I do know of all the DLC that came out for the game (I do follow Kanzenshuu, after all), that last part was meant more to be humorous than anything else    - just to mention the fact that even after all the grinding I did, I still have to get the drops from the third DLC.

 

- I'm not saying the first Ultimate Ninja Storm was bad (it actually looks pretty good), but as I said, when I get an anime game, I want it to follow the story reasonably closely - something I thought UNS 1 didn't do. And Rise of a Ninja and Broken Bond let me explore Konohagakure (and lots of other places!) as well, so...

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Yup, that's the kind of person I am. I'm the same way with games and movies; analyzing and observing everything!

 

Oh, ok I see.... Yeah, the Dragon Ball split came with the anime adaption, both Japanese and USA. Assuming you live in USA, the technical specification of which series or the entire franchise was your favorite would be necessary, otherwise perceived as Dragon Ball with Kid Goku... if not specified (which you cleared up in your comment). Luckily, the way the storylines work in the Db and Dbz games don't have you needing to play the first in the series before buying the second, such as Raging Blast. However, with this example, RB2 did entirely not have a story-mode whatsoever so that's one advantage and reason to actually own Raging Blast 1. Great or improved gameplay is l always a good thing, but no story at all is a serious flaw. While on this subject, despite some of the good additions in Ultimate Tenkaichi had along with good music, good story, graphics, cut-scenes, etc, this game is the only one I feel of last gen that's actually not worth buying (unless for really cheap but not single digits cheap) or owning.

 

Odd, because I know for sure this temple [image] is from some anime, cartoon, or game I've seen/played. It looks way too familiar.

 

Oh o_O, wow....

 

Cool.

 

 

Because it's true, and it was. Hmm, it was bad, but I don't think that bad. Getting things in the beginning didn't take naturally long. Ever notice how it felt longer when we were down to our last few needed (general term, not the actual DB: Xenoverse) items? Sure, some things in the beginning were also hard to get, but it was always harder to get the last ones you needed. This needs to be considered and noted. It was the same in TLOK where it was only the S and A tier items that were incredibly painful to get and took long. Everything (in both games) weren't hard to get, just some or a good amount.

 

Partially figured this haha.

 

It did follow the anime closely, from what I remember. That Naruto vs Gaara scene was amazing and mostly on point, along with the Sasuke vs Naruto fight at the Valley and others. Was really a great game. If anything, don't the Shippuden games alter the scenes more?

[Zenpai]

While on this subject, despite some of the good additions in Ultimate Tenkaichi had along with good music, good story, graphics, cut-scenes, etc, this game is the only one I feel of last gen that's actually not worth buying (unless for really cheap but not single digits cheap) or owning.

 

As I said, there are way too many Dragon ball games, so I'm just sticking with the ones I deem to be the very best. This generation, that was Burst Limit and Xenoverse (more of a Dimps fan, myself).

 

 

Odd, because I know for sure this temple [image] is from some anime, cartoon, or game I've seen/played. It looks way too familiar.

 

You're going to have to ask Floriiss where the image came from.

 

 

Because it's true, and it was. Hmm, it was bad, but I don't think that bad. Getting things in the beginning didn't take naturally long. Ever notice how it felt longer when we were down to our last few needed (general term, not the actual DB: Xenoverse) items? Sure, some things in the beginning were also hard to get, but it was always harder to get the last ones you needed. This needs to be considered and noted. It was the same in TLOK where it was only the S and A tier items that were incredibly painful to get and took long. Everything (in both games) weren't hard to get, just some or a good amount.

 

I still found it to be way too unnecessarily grindy.

 

 

It did follow the anime closely, from what I remember. That Naruto vs Gaara scene was amazing and mostly on point, along with the Sasuke vs Naruto fight at the Valley and others. Was really a great game. If anything, don't the Shippuden games alter the scenes more?

 

I've seen plenty of playthroughs of the game on YouTube and I'm going to have to disagree. I can't call a game that skips the very first arc "close" to the anime. The rest of the battles are all there, but that's all there is - the battles, with almost no context, just a text recap. Check out some playthroughs of Rise of a Ninja on YouTube and you'll see what I mean when I say it's a lot closer.

[Woop982]

You got a nice collection of plats! And Catherine! 

[Zenpai]

You got a nice collection of plats! And Catherine! 

 

Thanks! Yeah, Catherine was probably the hardest game I ever played, but it felt so good when I finally beat Babel. Gonna play Persona 4 Arena Ultimax in a few months, though, so... wondering if I have the skills to Platinum that one, too.

[mody94_Station]

Great list dude, that Catherine plat is impressive, nice work (^___^)b

[Zenpai]

Great list dude, that Catherine plat is impressive, nice work (^___^)b

 

Thanks! It's clearly the crown jewel of my collection (so far).

[30 Year Old Boomer]

I like your checklist man! You have pretty good plats. I have Prince Of Persia The Forgotten Sands in my backlog. Plan to play that soon.

[Zenpai]

I like your checklist man! You have pretty good plats. I have Prince Of Persia The Forgotten Sands in my backlog. Plan to play that soon.

 

Thanks, I'm proud of them, too.

 

The Forgotten Sands is a nice game if you liked the original Sands of Time trilogy on the PS2. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it's enjoyable enough and very easy, so you should plat it in no time.

[James_Tonto]

Decent plat collection, keep working on building up that respectable collection and avoid shitty games

[Zenpai]

Decent plat collection, keep working on building up that respectable collection and avoid shitty games

 

Thanks! I'm very picky with my gaming and only try something new after it gets a lot of popularity, garners excellent reviews (90% or higher) and/or piques my interest. Since I try to get the most out of my games anyway, I don't need all that many. If by some chance my backlog ends, I'll just revisit my old favorites, it's what I keep them for.

[Dantes_994]

Awesome platinums mate! I mean a list that as Caterine as a plat cannot be bad That game is so hard to plat! The rest are awesome as well! DBX, The Naruto games, and the lego Harry Potter are some of the best I played at least in its genre

[Zenpai]

Awesome platinums mate! I mean a list that as Caterine as a plat cannot be bad That game is so hard to plat! The rest are awesome as well! DBX, The Naruto games, and the lego Harry Potter are some of the best I played at least in its genre

 

Thanks! Apparently platting Catherine is the secret to getting a lot of love on the site   I used a lot of video walkthroughs, as there's no way I had the brains to do it all 100% by myself, but it was still extremely hard.

 

And yeah, I like to get video game tie-ins for the franchises I like. Some of them are pretty good, and since most are relatively easy, you're guaranteed to have a good, relaxing time. (Except with Xenoverse, which just loves putting RNG everywhere).

[Zenpai]

Minor updates:

 

• Introduction
• Dragon Ball: Xenoverse
• Currently working on

[LethalBlade26]

How do you make the platinum trophies appear on your post? I see people do that and i'm jealous and want to know how to do it

Btw nice plats man, I am impressed with the Catherine plat

[Zenpai]

How do you make the platinum trophies appear on your post? I see people do that and i'm jealous and want to know how to do it

 

It's quite simple, really. Open the game's trophy list, click on the platinum, then click on its icon. Copy that page's URL. Afterwards, make a new topic/post and, beside all your other posting options, such as bold and italic, select the icon that looks like a picture. A window will appear, telling you to paste the desired image's URL. Paste the URL you copied before and voilà.

 

 

Btw nice plats man, I am impressed with the Catherine plat

 

Thanks!

[LethalBlade26]

Thank you so much!!!!!

[Zenpai]

Updated with LEGO Marvel's Avengers.