PSNP Interviews Dragon-Archon!

[Parker]

Alright PSNP, member interviews are officially back. I'd like to thank Dragon-Archon for allowing the community to ask him questions and taking the time to answer them. This is quite a long interview and a wonderful read so instead of a long introduction and some in between fluff, I'm just going to copy and paste Dragon's answers. It will more than likely be multiple posts as well. 

 

The names at the end of questions are the member who asked that question. In the future I'll make it more organized but since we've already been waiting so long for this interview ( ) here we go!

 

 

 

1. Why do you go by Dragon-Archon? (Yuri)

Oh wow, no small talk first? Getting right to the point immediately. Ok, I guess it’s time to reveal one of my closest guarded secrets. So you’d best find a comfortable seat and I’ll tell the story if you promise not to laugh.

 

When I first made a PSN account, I wanted to use something that I liked. The word ‘dragon’ was already taken. So I added the ‘Archon’ part, because at the time I thought the Archons were the coolest units in StarCraft. They’re giant ghosts covered in… not exactly sure what actually   and they shoot ghostly lightning from their hands.

 

So there, now you know the origin of my PSN username. Anyone who laughs about it, gets to study the stomach of my pet dragon… from inside (if you know what I mean ).

 

2. What is your real first name (you don't have to answer that if you don't want to) and how old are you? (Yuri)

Well don’t feel like revealing my real name (sorry dude), but if I had to pick one, you can call me Ryu  . As for my age, I’m 25 years old.

 

3. Cat man or Dog man? (Yuri)

Well my mom has a cat, so I’m going to say: dog man  . Just kidding, cat man. Although I used to have two parakeets too.

 

4. What is the best part about living in the Netherlands? (Gotakibono)

There isn’t a best part, there are numerous best parts  . Let’s see:

• The Weather: The Netherlands has its own rain magnet, which we call “The United Kingdom”. Seriously, most of the rain gets dumped there (it’s a miracle the UK hasn’t sunk into the ocean yet), leaving all the sunshine for us. This sunshine makes the winters very gentle, but a downside is we hardly have any snow.
• The Food: There’s a Chinese takeout, Japanese sushi shop, Mexican Taco stand, or an Italian restaurant practically around every corner. Fastfood isn’t the usual toxic waste that passes as food in America. And the Cinnamon Dolce Latte from Starbucks is simply amazing, the next time you’re near one, try it. You won’t be disappointed.
• Holidays: We have an extra holiday in December. Every year Sinterklaas (an old guy on a white horse) brings presents to everyone over the course of a single night, if you set your shoe at the front door. The horse can easily travel on the rooftops and his henchmen (called Black Petes) go through the chimney to deliver the presents and sweets. And after December 5, he goes back to Spain (!) with the now-empty fleet of present steamboats and the naughty children are taken with him to work in his toy factory as child labor for next year’s presents and are beaten with his golden staff. And everyone is totally ok with all that (what a bunch of hypocrites), because he’s Sinterklaas. The man who brings happiness and presents to everyone in The Netherlands, while also visiting every elementary school in the country (at the same time). And after he’s gone, the entire country forgets about him for 50 weeks and rushes to bring out the Christmas decorations.
  

• No Smoking: smoking isn’t allowed in public areas like trains, cafes, work, etc. If you want to smoke, you have to go outside.

 

5. What is your favorite movie and why? (MarsipanRumpan)

• The Italian Job: who doesn’t love a good heist movie, where the thieves are the good guys  . Stealing millions worth of gold, racing through Venice, being betrayed, and going for payback.
• Ocean’s Eleven: much like The Italian Job, this movie involves robbing 3 casinos simultaneously. To do that Danny Ocean assembles a team of 11 experts. My favorite part is where the Chinese guy speaks Chinese and everyone seemingly understands what he’s saying  .
• The Bourne Identity: After being picked up by a fishing boat, Jason Bourne has no memory of what happened before he ended up in the ocean. However, he speaks 6 languages, is a master of martial arts, and has a lot of professional hitmen on his trail.
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: an epic, fantasy story about fighting evil, where armies clash together.
• Harry Potter: It's great how J.K. Rowling came up with all that stuff and mixed it together with modern times.
• Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl: a great pirate movie with a lot of humor. Definitely a must-see.
• How to Train Your Dragon: because dragon mounts, hell yeah!!! 

 

6. If you had the means, where would you want to live most in the world?

There are a few locations that come to mind:

• Italy: for the food, the landscape, and the historical places.
• Japan: Japanese culture really interests me, I’d be able to get games months before the EU release (though I’d have to learn some proper Japanese first  ). I could eat meals with chopsticks, I’d have an authentic Japanese garden with the iconic sakura tree and of course a dragon statue  .
• Switzerland/Austria: I’d only want to live here during the snowy winters. It’s been so long since it snowed properly in The Netherlands. Most winters are just rainy autumn days. I remember waking up during the Christmas holidays and spending days playing in the snow, unwrapping presents, and having a huge family dinner.
• Hawaii/California: I hear the weather is absolutely the best. Getting a penthouse here would be fantastic.

 

7. How did you find this site? (Razza)

I first found this site when I was skimming through a guide on playstationtrophies.org. The writer had a trophy card that looked great and I wanted one too. After clicking on it, the card directed me to PSNProfiles. To be continued in another question  .

 

8. Who do you consider to be good friends with on this site, whether it be trophy buddies or general person to talk to? (Razza)

It took a while to compile this list and keep having the feeling I missed someone. Anyway the list below also mentions people that aren’t so active anymore, but it was always nice to chat with them.

• Andylish
• Ala-Arska
• BlindMango
• BlueFireReaper
• Boooda56
• Darkness_X
• Dav9834
• Dr_Mayus
• Edunstar84
• Floriiss
• HARD_ANGEL_FAN
• HcG-_Clawz
• HcG-_Terror
• Hemiak
• JeieeM
• Kochiya-Shana
• Mah2c
• MarsipanRumpan
• Masamune_316
• MrCostari
• Nevetsteven2
• Oblivion
• Omar
• Precision-Play
• Razza123
• RoyalRedPanda
• ShadowStar83x
• ShogunCroCop
• Somalia99
• Styx2319
• SuperBuu3
• TheFinalEmblem
• theguytom
• TheLastSurvivorD
• TheYuriG
• Timathon
• Wdjat Prinny Doods
• x9zackattack5x
• XchocomanX
• xZoneHunter
• zadorvp
• Zajac9999

 

While I’m at it, I may as well add a list of people I’d like to know better:

• Bmj14772
• Kevinnummer1
• MistressComp
• Parker
• Platisfaction
• Simula67
• Sly-Ripper

 

9. What is something you're really proud of? (StrickenBiged)

Prior to the Mass Effect 3 release back in 2012 there was this contest on a site I used to be active. They were giving away 5 replicas of the SR2 Normandy space ship + a copy of Mass Effect 3. In order to win one of these 5 prizes participants had to prove they were a fan of the series. The contest started right before the test week and lasted 2 weeks. The timing couldn’t be worse. At first I didn’t want to enter, because I was busy studying for the tests.

 

Eventually I thought “screw it, I’ll give it a shot anyway”. So I spent every free moment thinking of a way to prove I’m a fan. All the things I could come up with seemed average and nothing really jumped out. I realized 99% of the other participants had most likely thought of the same things. Then one day it hit me: why not write a story from the bad guys’ perspective. Mass Effect usually has a lot of grey moral areas, where you have to decide between the lesser evil and that’s exactly what I wanted to implement in the story.

 

Using pieces of lore and some imagination, I created a draft version which combined them into a gripping story and this seemed like a good start. The story’s ending was way too predictable and I wanted it to be a surprise, something that would make the reader think “Wow, that totally blew my mind away”, so in the end the bad guys always win in every possible outcome (Mass Effect has different choices that affect the endings). Two weeks later I submitted the story just before the deadline, while also studying hard for the tests.

 

A few weeks later I passed all the tests with flying colours, which was a great achievement, considering the amount of time I put into the story. And even better, the story ended up on the second place in the contest. On the day of the release I was the proud owner of a Normandy replica and a copy of Mass Effect 3. But being the Mass Effect fan, I’d already pre-ordered the ME3 Collector’s Edition months ago. So I sold the game from the contest. The employee at the shop was really surprised about me selling a sealed copy of ME3 the day after the launch, and after telling him the story, he bought the game for €50, which was an amazing deal. To this day that Normandy replica has an honorary place next to the Collector’s Edition. In fact, it looks like it’s part of the CE.

 

 

 

 

10. At this time in your life, what is your greatest personal accomplishment? (soultaker655)

Without a doubt learning to eat all kinds of food with chopsticks like a pro. I had no one to teach me, so it’s self-taught (well you know, besides that vague description on the chopsticks’ wrapping). That’s way harder than it looks. Now when I somehow end up lost in the middle of nowhere without any cutlery and I can’t order takeout because the phone has no bars, I can at least eat food using 2 twigs. That is a huge relief   .

 

11. Biggest challenge you've overcome in your life thus far? (DaivRules)

After all the crap I’ve endured, I’m still alive and studying at a university. That's annoying a few people. Which is one of the reasons this song is so fitting (the other being it’s a great song).

 

 

 

12. How does being a member of the guide team impact your life? (Makise Kurisu)

Being part of the Guide Team is hard work, we’re all that stands between PSNProfiles and the guide avalanche that threatens us every day. This job comes with a lot of responsibilities and the slightest mistake can have catastrophic consequences. They expect me to be in top physical conditions, which means getting up at 5AM and training from 5:30AM to 7:30AM. Breakfast at 8AM and afterwards it’s time to patrol the conveniently placed giant ice wall.

 

Besides physical training, I also work on other things. English isn’t my primary language, and I’m one of 2 members whose native language isn’t English (the other being Kevinnummer1, who is also a fellow Dutchman). Which gives an idea how strict the requirements are for joining the Guide Team. But I started learning it at the age of 8. That’s because I couldn’t understand a thing when playing games like The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Time, Pokemon Yellow, and Final Fantasy. I’ve been writing reports and projects near the end of primary school and learned how to correctly use different formatting options, like bold, italic, insert bulleted/numbered lists, different headings for titles, etc. So using these in the guides was like second nature. Besides that, I’m somewhat of a perfectionist and tend to proofread guides a few times to get rid of most (if not, all) the errors.

 

The guide avalanche has become more dangerous during the past few months and the dragon powers are quite effective at keeping the threat levels in check. We’ve been able to capture more bits and pieces, adjust them (with a lot of help from volunteers), and share their knowledge with the community.

 

During the day things are relatively quiet, however, at night things get much worse. That’s why we have a special division called ‘Night’s Watch Writers’ that stands guard at the Wall. The Night’s Watch Writers is a group of guide writers who help the Guide Team.  Each Guide Team member takes turns to pull an all-nighter with the Watch. These nights are really exhausting, especially with the blizzards. Luckily my dragon flames keep us warm. Those can be kept in jars and also double as combustion grenades  .

 

Once a Guide Team members has successfully captured a guide, usually one of the writers will tame it. This is a long and dangerous process and there’s no guarantee it’ll work every time. The Guide Team handles the most dangerous and unstable guides ourselves. When it does succeed, the guide is reviewed and if it meets the standards, we send it to King’s Landing PSNP HQ to be shared with the community.

 

13. What has been the most rewarding guide for you to personally work on with others and/or write on your own? (zadorvp)

There are a few that come to mind:

• Borderlands 2 GOTY Edition: This was the first guide I worked on with fellow member MrCostari. Borderlands 2 had just come to PS+ and we did some co-op regularly. So when the guide system was introduced to PSNP, he suggested we write one for the GOTY Edition (which includes the 4 DLC pieces with trophy support). This was back when DLCs were allowed to be in the same guide for the main game. I was interested in writing one and agreed. In hindsight we really should’ve started with a short PSN game, because it took a lot of work to figure everything out and heavily integrate the DLCs. It almost reached the point where we both gave up, but I didn’t want to let all that work go to waste and finished the guide. Two months after starting it, the guide was finished. At first I thought the guide had too much content, but the responses from the community proved otherwise. No one complained about the length and they were happy with the detailed descriptions. I believe this guide has been on the first page of the Popular Guides tab ever since it was published. When the decision was made to separate DLCs from the main guide, I thought for sure I had to create 4 more guides for each DLC. But a handful of guides were allowed to stay that way, including Borderlands 2. All those guides had combined the DLCs with the main game’s content and made it a seamless guide and taking it apart would’ve required a lot of effort.
• Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories: Soultaker once posted a status update saying he was going to revise his main guide. I had just platted the game and used his Boss Guide and main guide, so I offered my help. We completely overhauled the guide and added a lot more details, tips, and farming places/methods. While that didn’t take that much time as I thought, the teamwork was good.
• Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen: After spending 250+ hours in the game, I decided to write all my knowledge down. I could’ve just written a guide for the Dragon’s Dogma vanilla version, because the trophy lists are exactly the same for the Dark Arisen re-release. But that seemed like such a waste. The description for The Hero trophy took the most amount of work and I wasn’t pleased with the description at all. At the time some I had to deal with some things and was also busy with school. After things settled down, I wrote a gameplay guide especially for that trophy.
• Dragon Age Inquisition: For this guide I asked my buddy Mah2c to help me. I knew it was going to take a lot of work and he wanted to write a guide too. Plus he really likes the game, which is imo important when writing a guide. I believe it took us 2 weeks to write the guide and the teamwork was great. We really kept the pace in it and communicated in a PM about our progress and what to do next. After the PS3 version was finished, we also ported the guide for the PS4 version. When writing a guide, I release status updates at certain intervals to keep others posted about the progress. This game had been released for a few weeks and there was no guide yet. A member was very interested in the guide and asked me a lot of questions. At first I thought he just wanted help and gave a sneak peek with some information. However, later I found out he was working on a DAI guide too and used the info I provided in his guide. BlindMango told me he rushed through the guide and submitted it on the same day (I posted the day in a status update) to be the first one. But that one contained a lot of spelling and grammar errors, so it had to be revised a lot. That’s the last time I gave sneak peeks. 
• Ys Memories of Celceta: For the complementary guide I took a lot of screenshots with the Vita and edited them to show all the maps with the collectables. It was the first time I had done such a thing at that took so much work, but it was a fun change from the usual written guides. And I improved my paint.net skills a lot too  . I’m so ready to try Photoshop next.

 

There are also a few people that I want to write a guide with, but I haven’t found the right game for that yet. So maybe in the future.

 

14. What has been the best part about reviewing other people's guides and working on the Guide Team in general? (zadorvp)

Well working on the Guide Team and writing guides is my way of giving back to the community, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. When reviewing other people’s guides, I can help them. As a bonus that means early access to guides  .

 

Besides that the Guide Team lounge is amazing. There’s a pool, game room, bar, all you can eat buffet, gym, 80 inch TV with 24/7 anime channel, comfortable seats and couch, Starbucks coffee,  and they even added a dragon aerie  . Also now that I’m on the Guide Team, I’m in a perfect position to make Dutch the primary language on this site with fellow Guide Team member and partner in crime Kevinnummer1. Hmm perhaps I shouldn’t have revealed that yet  . Crap, sorry Kev. Time for some damage control: look at this pendulum swinging, Look at it intently and listen to my voice. Observe how it swings: left… right…. left… right….  you get the idea  . You feel relaxed, all your worries and troubles disappear. You’re going to forget about reading this paragraph forever. The only thing you’ll remember is the irresistible urge to learn and speak Dutch, especially on this site. 

 

15. So tell us a little bit about your history on this site, what got you stick around here when you found the site and tell us about how you became interested in writing guides (then became part of the guide team) and stuff like that (Mango)

Finding PSNP

As stated a few questions back: I first found this site when I was skimming through a guide on playstationtrophies.org and the writer had a trophy card in his sig. After clicking on it, the card directed me to PSNProfiles. At the time I thought it was a site to create a trophy card, but after looking around for a bit and discovering the leaderboard, all kind of statistics, the milestones, and most importantly: the gaming sessions, it quickly became one of my favourite sites.

 

Back then I was also active on three other gaming sites, but the communities on those sites were terrible and I was looking for another site. On those other sites the jackass with the biggest mouth posted a comment that usually made no sense at all or was aimed to start a fight and the majority would mindlessly agree with him. Anyone who had an opinion of his own was subjected to a witch hunt. Then there were the infinite amount of trolls and spammers (there even was someone promoting his own business and posting his merchandise and sales in every thread. When I asked why a mod didn’t intervene, I got a reply back that said: “What can we do about it?”. Yeah, I know. Didn’t even bother to respond back.

 

One of the first things I noticed here was how friendly the community is. IMO that’s a very important part of a site and can easily make or break it. All the other sites I’ve been active on had a shitty community. If you have a problem or a question, there’s always someone willing to help you out. That’s why I stayed here and two years later I still like this site.

 

Dawn of a New Era: PSNP Guides

I’ve always wanted to try to write a guide, but had zero experience with it. I really don’t like Playstationtrophies.org’s 1 guide per game rule. One could say that results in the best guides surviving the purge. But IMO something like that doesn’t encourage inexperienced writers to start, in fact it has quite the opposite effect. Because if a veteran author writes one, your guide is locked and all the time and effort it took to write one is wasted. PSNP didn’t have that rule and because of that I started writing on this site. And I’ve never encountered a published guide that was bad on this site before. I’m not sure how many guide writers create guides on other sites, but I think more than a few people started here because of that.

 

After writing the Borderlands 2 guide, it was satisfying to see how it helped other people and felt like giving back to the community. That started my career as a guide writer. So I wrote a few more and tried different kind of guides (main game, DLC, and gameplay guides). After writing a few guides, I asked if it was possible to join the Guide Team. Unfortunately, at the time there was no need for another member. Then a few months later I got a message from Sly, asking if I was still interested. This was it, the chance to contribute something meaningful to the site.

 

After accepting, my training began under BlindMango sensei watchful eye. How he can see is still beyond me, even after spending so much time training. But Blind senses everything around him. One time I even threw my lunch (mangoes) at him from behind and he still caught them, like it was nothing. He was very strict during the hard training exercises and I got more than a few scars. But (eventually) I managed to complete them all without dying, got my orange forum name, and officially became part of the Guide Team.

 

I’ll also let you in on one of the Guide Team’s secrets: the reason behind our orange forum names. When practising martial arts hundreds of years ago, students would only wash their uniforms, but not the belts. So eventually the belt became green (from the grass), brown, and eventually black. This signifies how long someone has been fighting. Just like that, my forum name was slowly turning orange from all the mangoes I had to eat during the vicious death courses. Because breakfast, lunch, and dinner always consisted of… you’ve guessed it: mangoes.

 

Events and Future Projects

I’m usually active on the Forums and also use the PMs a lot. You’ll hardly find me in the Chat Box though. I’ve met a lot of interesting and nice people here, mainly through things like the Trophy Hunters League (THL), Song Vote, Signature of the Month, forum games, starting a checklist, boosting trophies, etc.

 

Trophy Hunters League is a competition in which participants are placed in leagues and play a fixture against other people from the same league. Earning trophies gets you points and at the end of a fixture, the one with the most points wins league points. At the end of a season the #1 from each league faces of in an elimination round until there’s only 1 remaining. I’ve participated a few seasons and it’s been a lot of fun. Sure there are some disagreements once in a while, but those things happen. We also talk about basically anything while hunting trophies.

 

Song Vote is a great place to try out new songs and post your favourite songs. Dav9834 (the founder) asked me to join the admin team and I thought “why not?”. I’ve heard a lot of great songs there and also placed in the top 4 a couple of times. A running gag in the SV seems to be how I never manage to get the first post when submitting a song . While I’ve never participated in the Signature of the Month, I’ve voted many times and seen some amazing sigs that blew my mind away. Those people are so talented (sometimes too talented if you ask me), which makes it very hard to vote for only 1 sig.

 

A few months ago THL creator Precision-Playy posted a poll to decide his 100^th platinum trophy. Star Ocean The Last Hope got the most votes and, having seen Superbuu’s We Play threads, I jokingly said we should do a Let’s Play SO4 so we’d all share the suffering. Precision seemed interested and Dr_Mayus also reluctantly joined. That’s when I seriously started to flesh out the details. The event would last 1 year and in that timeframe we’d all try to plat the game.

 

For a game that takes an average of 500-600 hours to plat, I wanted to do something special. So I tried to make it as epic as possible by adding introductions for everyone, asked fellow Dutchie Floriiss to create a banner, and Dav9834 created the rewards. I’d asked Floriiss to create a banner for my checklist, so I was confident in his skill to create something amazing. And he delivered. The rewards were to memorialize the event after it’s finished. I’d seen Dav’s work in the Song Vote threads, but he created the rewards from scratch just for the event and really outdid himself.

 

The event started out with just a few participants, but more and more members joined. Some people didn’t want to plat it, so platting the game wasn’t a requirement. Others had started or were planning to start the game, but the huge amount of hours needed to plat the game is what stopped them. Seeing a thread like that, where everyone goes through the same suffering, also motivated them. Which was something I was hoping for.

 

After that Superbuu started a We Play Ys, where participants plat a game at the same time by playing up to a predetermined checkpoint. Buu asked me to join as an advisor for that thread, because I already played the game and was working on a guide for it. It was a new experience and Buu didn’t have to worry about figuring out all the details, missables, and checkpoints. I only did it for 1 We Play and it took quite some work, I can’t even imagine how it must be for him when he’s doing about 5 of those threads simultaneously.

 

A while later there was a thread about popping 150 plats on the same day and whether or not that person was a cheater (which (s)he wasn’t, it was an official event on a German site). A few members were interested in doing something like that on PSNP, so I created a Platinum Rain Day (PRD) thread too. The goal is to pop at least 10 plats on a single day per participant, which is going to flood the Most Recent Plat thread for 3 days  .

 

Lately I’ve been trying to arrange some cross-over events to connect them and bring the community together. PRD admin Zone Hunter started the Project Platinums, where people try to plat all the games from a franchise and has included a cross-over event in the format, which is great. It’s amazing to see this come to fruition. Doing a PP seemed like fun, so I also started one for the Ratchet & Clank series. Luckily Zone provides a format, so I didn’t have to come up with all the things myself. I did try something new and created custom titles for each section, like Zone has in his first PP thread.

 

As for future projects, I’m planning to do start another Project Platinum for RPGs (role playing games) where dragons have a prominent role in the game. It shames me to tell you I didn’t come up with it. Fellow member Hemiak actually suggested that I’d do that. I also think it’s time to start another guide, but all the games I’m planning to play in the near future already have a guide. Besides that I’m also planning something special for post #10,000  . It won’t be an event though.

 

If anyone is looking for some fun events to join and to meet new people, I recommend these threads (read the first posts in the threads for more information):

• Trophy Hunters League
• We Play General Discussion and FAQs
• Project Platinum General Info & Leaderboard (contains links to all the PP threads)
• Let’s Play SO4: Epic Quest for the Platinum Trophy
• Platinum Rain Day
• Song Vote (a new thread is created every 2 weeks)
• Signature of the Month (a new thread is created every month, the link is placed in this Hall of Fame thread)

 

If those threads aren’t your thing, you can always take a look at the Community Events, Contests & “We Plays” subforum to find something that suits you or create your own event.

 

16. Tell us something that you wish more people knew about you. (StrickenBiged)

Take your pick:

• I can eat with chopsticks
• I’ve been taught how to cook food since the age of 9. Though this wasn’t my choice, I’m glad I can cook a proper meal now.
• I wish I could meet some PSNP members in real life
• My first PS3 got a YLOD one month after the warranty expired 
• I still have my PS1 and PS2 along with all the games
• I still don’t have a PS4
• Modern cartoons (no anime isn’t the same as a cartoon) are retarded crap. I like cartoons from the good ol’ days, like Tom & Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Biker Mice from Mars, Swat Kats, Dexter’s Laboratory, Hong Kong Phoey.
• I wish to learn proper Japanese one day.
• I hope the future mrs. Dragon is into gaming and that I’m going to meet her soon.

 

17. Besides gaming, how do you like to spend your free time? (Omar)

Definitely watching anime, reading manga, listening to music, playing the keyboard, and soaring through the sky on my pet dragon  . Which reminds I have to create a My Anime Planet account. Somehow I always keep forgetting that  .

 

 

Gaming:

 

1. What is the game that got you into gaming?

The first game I ever played was the Mario Bros / Duck Hunt pack for the SNES. I’m not really sure which one of those I played first, but Duck Hunt was by far the most memorable of the two games. It was amazing to use a pistol-shaped controller and shoot ducks on the screen. It also felt so unreal to use a toy gun in real life to shoot ducks in the game. After that I was hooked. It would be many years until I got a Gameboy Color and Pokemon Yellow.

 

2. What is your most special platinum? (Roster13)

That depends on the category. In terms of difficulty it’s without a doubt Vanquish. Those who have (attempted) this plat, know why. For those who aren’t familiar with this game, you’ll get a more detailed explanation in another question  . In terms of beautiful plat image, there are a few in my collection that I really like, such as:

• Persona 4 Golden
• Dragon’s Dogma
• Resident Evil 5
• Mass Effect 2 (I don't like the skull in the image though)
• Prince of Persia The Two Thrones
• Final Fantasy XIII/XIII-2
• Dragon’s Crown
• Deus Ex Human Revolution
• Okami HD
• Soon to be added (once I have 6,000 trophies) Tales of Hearts R

 

See the spoiler for the plat images

 

These plats are special because I like the games a lot and the images are very nice, which is something I like. It feels as if the developers  went that extra mile to create a beautiful image to reward gamers who plat the game.

 

3. What is your favorite game of all time? (Blackbeard)

It would be impossible to choose just one game, so here are my absolute favourites:

• Crash Bandicoot 2: I played this non-stop at the afterschool day care and was one of the best players. This was way back when there were no guides, so finding the coloured gems was done by endless experimenting and using your wits. I found the green and purple gem on my own and traded those secrets for the blue and red gem. One of the other best players told me how to get the yellow gem on his last day at the day care. I sometimes miss those days.
• Dragon Age Origins: the story is simply amazing and your choices affect how the story unfolds.
• Golden Sun The Lost Age: spent a lot of time replaying this game.
• Jak 2: this was the first open world game I ever played.
• Jak 3: spent a lot of time free roaming Haven City with unlimited ammo and invincibility just killing enemies with the Peace Maker  .
• Kingdom Hearts: the reason I bought a PS2.
• Kingdom Hearts 2: this game took everything from the KH1 and improved it (except the prologue dragged on way too long).
• Mass Effect 2: the story is amazing and the morality system (which affects how the story unfolds) definitely adds a lot of replay value.
• Mass Effect 3: same as Mass Effect 2 and this game is an epic conclusion to the trilogy. Only the last 5 minutes make no sense story-wise.
• Persona 4 Golden: Best. Vita game. Ever!!! The story is amazing and the characters are well-written.
• Ratchet & Clank 3 Up Your Arsenal: the story, the weapons, the humor, and this game has one of the best villains ever.
• Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction: this game explores Ratchet’s past, which was done excellent. Besides that the weapons and soundtrack are great.
• Ratchet & Clank A Crack in Time: this time it’s Clank’s past and again a great villain.
• Spyro Trilogy: nostalgia factor +100. One of the first PS1 games I’ve played.

 

4. What is your favorite and least favorite genre of games? (Styx2319)

My favourite game genre is without a doubt (J)RPGs. These games usually keep me entertained for dozens of hours, have a lot of lore, there’s a unique world to explore and the story and characters are interesting. And the chances of dragons appearing are much higher in (J)RPGs compared to other chances  .

 

The least favourite genre is sport games: these games have no story at all and I can play the sports in real life too if I want.

 

5. What was your most challenging platinum (acedragons)

At the time of writing it’s definitely Vanquish. 

 

The game is doable, even on Hard. Getting all the collectables takes some time, but using a guide fixes that too. The reason why Vanquish is my most challenging plat is because of the challenges. Tactical Challenge #6 is the reason why this plat is ultra rare and I spent a lot of time trying to beat it.

 

You need lightning-fast reflexes to pull this one off (+ some luck and a lot of trial and error) while being completely aware of your surroundings (cover, ammo, enemy attacks, enemy locations, noise created from the footsteps of invisible enemies, AR meter). The bosses in round 5 from challenge 6 (on normal mode) are even more powerful than during the story boss fight on hard mode. Also to follow the bosses' movements you need to slow down time. When (not if) you die, you need to start all over again in round 1. I honestly died more times during challenge 6 than I did during the Demon's Souls and Dark Souls combined. Anyone who has ever tried this will know what I'm talking about. It's the hardest plat in my collection

 

Here's a video of challenge 6 (this guy makes it look like it's easy though, but don't be fooled):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9kC8HIMh-k

 

 

6. What upcoming game are you most looking forward to? (Saltyie)

I’m looking forward to quite some games:

• 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim
• Attack on Titan
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Danganronpa 3
• Dark Souls III
• Demon Gaze 2
• Deus Ex Mankind Divided
• Dishonored 2
• Final Fantasy VII Remake
• Final Fantasy XV
• Gravity Rush 2
• Hellblade
• Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD
• Kingdom Hearts 3
• Mass Effect Andromeda
• Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
• Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
• Overlord 3 Fellowship of Evil
• Persona 4 Dancing All Night
• Persona 5
• Project Setsuna
• Ratchet & Clank Reboot
• Star Ocean 5
• Sword Art Online Lost Song
• Tales of Zestria
• The Walking Dead Season 3
• Trine 3
• Uncharted 4 A Thief’s End
• Zero Escape 3

 

Besides that I really want:

• An Akame ga Kill game developed by PlatinumGames. There’s still a remote chance that this might eventually happen, maybe.
• A Fairy Tail game developed by CyberConnect2. I know, that’s not going to happen  .
• Bayonetta 2 Playstation port. Again not going to happen, I refuse to buy a Wii-U for this game alone
• Crash Bandicoot Remaster
• Darksiders 3
• Dragon’s Crown 2
• Jak 4. Naughty Dog broke their unwritten rule about creating only trilogies followed by a racing game when they announced Uncharted 4, so there’s still hope for this. Just like how Sly Cooper got a 4^th game years after Sly 3.
• Prince of Persia 2008 sequel. Yes I really liked the story and want to know what happens next, sue me.
• Sly Cooper 5. Come on Sanzaru, you can’t end it like this. Especially with that secret ending cutscene. I want to know what happens next and how things will work out for everyone.
• Spyro 1-3 Remaster. I’m talking about the original Spyro trilogy from Insomniac, not those abominations that were released later. I’m going to pretend you just didn’t ask me about Skylanders, because there’s no way I’m ever accepting that as Spyro.
• Trophy support for Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty

Part 2:

 

7. Favorite Pokemon? (RedWaterAngel)

I admit this question is a lot harder to answer that I thought. Booted up the old Nintendo DS and went through my Pokemon Platinum save file (which btw contains pokemon from Ruby, Leafgreen, Diamond, and Heartgold). To decide it, I followed a few steps. First step is to narrow it down: I started with pokemon red and ended with pokemon platinum, so that means I only have to choose between 492 of them  .

 

The next step is to list my favourites from each generation (and I’ve also listed which games I’ve played):

Generation I (Pokemon Red/Yellow/Leafgreen)

1. Blastoise
2. Charizard (normal and shiny form)
3. Pidgeot
4. Shiny Arbok
5. Shiny Ninetales
6. Haunter
7. Arcanine
8. Jolteon
9. Flareon
10. Vaporeon
11. Zapdos
12. Moltres (no, I didn't forget about Articuno)
13. Mewtwo
14. Mew

 

Generation II (Pokemon Silver/Heartgold)

1. Feraligatr
2. Shiny Noctowl
3. Scizor
4. Espeon
5. Umbreon
6. Sneasel
7. Houndoom
8. Tyranitar
9. Shiny Ho-oh

 

Generation III (Pokemon Ruby) 

1. Aggron
2. Salamance
3. Shiny Metagross
4. Shiny Latias
5. Latios
6. Regirock
7. Rayquaza

 

Generation IV (Pokemon Diamond/Platinum)

1. Torterra
2. Infernape
3. Luxray
4. Roserade
5. Lucario
6. Gliscorp
7. Spiritomb
8. Shiny Glaceon
9. Giratina 2^nd form
10. Darkrai
11. Arceus

 

And with that the number of pokemons has been reduced from 492 to a manageable 41 pokemons. The lists contain pokemon I like because of their usefulness, their design, and both. To further reduce this list, I’ll get rid of the pokemons that don’t match both requirements, which leaves the following 11 pokemons:

1. Charizard
2. Feraligatr
3. Scizor
4. Umbreon
5. Tyranitar
6. Shiny Ho-oh
7. Rayquaza
8. Lucario
9. Spiritomb
10. Giratina 2^nd form
11. Darkrai

 

I’d like to leave it at that, but that probably won’t satisfy you. So I’ll take an in-depth look at those 11 pokemons:

1. Charizard: from the moment I first saw this pokemon, I wanted it. In Pokemon Red/Yellow Charizard could use fire, flying, and ground attacks, making it an dangerous foe that could defeat a lot of different types. In the Leafgreen version Charizard could also add metal and dragon-type moves to his arsenal, making it even more dangerous (I still think he should be a fire/dragon type pokemon). Definitely a powerhouse.
2. Feraligatr: moves like Surf and Hydro Pump don’t do as much damage, because this pokemon favours Attack over Special Attack. Once I figured that out and learned him moves like Aqua Tail and Watefall, the damage output drastically increased. Adding moves like Ice Punch and Crunch makes dragon, grass, psychic, and ghost types wish they never met Feraligatr.
3. Scizor: with his ridiculously high Attack and Defense Scizor can do some serious damage. He can learn moves like X-scissor, Cross-poison, Iron Head, and Earthquake to make short work of grass, psychic, dark, rock, steel, thunder, and fire types. If only he could learn Fly too. A drawback is Scizor’s low speed and Special Defense.
4. Umbreon: the only eevee-lution to make it to the final round. Being able to heal himself and use dark + psychic moves. Add a Dig or Fire Fang and Umbreon becomes very versatile. Having the Synchronize ability (inflicted status ailment is also added to the opponent) is a major help too.
5. Tyranitar: is probably one of the most all-round pokemon I’ve encountered. Tyranitar has a high Defense and can learn ground, rock, dark, flying, thunder (!), dragon, and ice type moves. Tyranitar helped me win a lot of battles against my nephew.
6. Shiny Ho-oh: a normal Ho-oh looks great, a shiny one looks even better. Having access to fire, flying, and psychic moves as well as being able to heal himself.
7. Rayquaza: being a dragon pokemon is always a good thing. Ray’s Attack is unbelievably high. Making him go on a rampage with Outrage can easily defeat most other pokemons. Giving him an item to cure the confusion enables him to use it again.
8. Lucario: I usually don’t train fighting type pokemons, but Lucario’s Aura Sphere is deals quite some damage and it never misses. Add a Dragon Pulse, Extreme Speed, and Earthquake and he can defeat a lot of other types.
9. Spiritomb: while this pokemon lacks any strong attacks, it has no weakness. Meaning no kind of attack will be super effective. I learned it Dark Pulse and gave it some moves to inflict status ailments.
10. Giratina 2^nd form: the 2^nd form looks a lot better and boosts Attack + Special Attack a lot and makes him invulnerable against ground attacks. It’s signature move Shadow Force can’t be blocked (even with Protect) and Giratina can’t be damaged while using it. Earth Force and Aura Sphere quickly turn ice and dark types into minced pokemon meat.
11. Darkrai: with the move to put 2 enemies to sleep at the same time, Darkrai really shines in double battles. It’s special ability allows him to reduce the health of sleeping opponents. Add a Nightmare and Dream Eater moves and sleeping foes are guaranteed to faint within 1-2 turns. On top of that, his design is very cool  . I was a little disappointed Darkrai had not dark lightning attack. I really thought that was his signature move with a name like that.

 

And now we’ve finally reached the last part of this analysis. Time to unveil the top 5 that are still eligible for the title of ‘Favourite Pokemon’. But first we’ll take a short break. So go refill your   and we’ll be back in 5 minutes.

 

 

Welcome back ladies, gentlemen, and dragons. Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: which pokemon is going to be the favourite. Time to build up some suspense *cue drum roll*. 

 

 

 

 

#5 

 

 

 

#4 

 

 

 

#3 

 

 

 

#2 

 

 

 

#1 

 

 

 

8. What consoles have you owned in your lifetime and which one is your favorite? (IntenseFATE98)

The list would be really short if it’s only consoles, so I added the handhelds as well. So far I’m the proud owner of a:

• Gameboy Color
• Gameboy Advance SP
• Nintendo DS
• Playstation
• Playstation 2
• Playstation 3 Phat (which died about a month after the warranty expired )
• Playstation 3 Slim
• Playstation Vita

My favourite is the PS3. The PS3 added some great things to my gaming experience, like the friend list, trophies, and I really like the changed    and     shoulder buttons on the controller.

 

9. Worst game you've ever played?

I guess that award goes to Super Rub A Dub. It’s a game where you play as a yellow toy duck and have to avoid the sharks, collect other ducks, and safely escort them to the drainage without falling out of the bathtub. You can also play as a shark and try to eat as many ducks as fast as possible. It’s such a boring game and the only reason I played it is because I got a redeemable code for it when I bought the PS3 Slim. Deleted it the same day from the HDD.

What is the meaning of life? (Max)

 For me it would be: find a woman who makes me happy and with whom I want to spend the rest of my life with (preferably someone who is also into gaming  ), have friends I can count on when it matters, and life live as I see it fit without purposely causing harm to others.

 

2. What is your perfect pizza? (Beyondthegrave07)

Finally, we’re getting to the important questions. I’m very critical when it comes to pizzas after my vacation in Italy. The pizzas I ate there are nothing short of miracles served on plates … with a price tag. A very expensive price tag, but it was worth every penny. My perfect pizza has to be prepared like in Italy, so it has no pineapple or other weird things. It should be stone-baked and has:

•  
• A thin crust
•  
• Tomato sauce
•  
• Buffalo mozzarella
•  
• Slices of black olives (green ones are imo a bit too bitter for a pizza)
•  
• Fresh basil
•  
• Spinach
•  
• Pepperoni
•  
• A few spices
•  
• Dragon herb (this one is a must)
•  

To complement this dragon-certified pizza, I’d eat a pistachio ice cream for dessert *drools*  .

 

3. What goes through your mind whenever you miss-out on getting the 1st entry in the Song Vote, & do you think you'll ever get it? (Masamune_316)

I wrote a 5,000 word essay to convey my feelings. But then someone told me a picture says more than a 1,000 words. After a facepalm moment, I realized that’s true. So instead of 5,000 words, you can guess what’s going through my mind by looking at these pictures:

 

 

 

 

4. Do you breath fire? (Ichiban_Hybrid)

Of course, it really comes in handy when we’re having a BBQ party and during the winter. Though there is a downside too: I can’t fully control the fire breath when sneezing. I accidentally set a woman’s clothes on fire once and… no wait, you’re getting the wrong idea here. Don’t look at me like that, it’s not what you think. I swear it was an accident… the first time. 

 

5. Are you prepared for the moment when I overtake you in posts? (Satoshi Ookami)

 

*Looks at the picture* nope, not worried at all  .

 

6. Would you rather have the ability to summon dragons to be your allies at the snap of your fingers OR be able to transform into a dragon? (Beyondthegrave07)

I thought hard about this question and decided for the dragon reinforcements. Transforming into a dragon would be quite something, but the problem is my clothing wouldn’t be able to handle it. So unless The Hulk reveals his mysterious, personal pants-maker, I would end up in my birthday suit every time I transformed back. Damn Hulk never got over the fact that I think The Thing is cooler than him, so we don’t see exactly eye to eye these days. He’s such a sore loser.

 

Anyway, getting a bit off track here. Being able to summon dragons has a lot of advantages, for example:

• I’d be a hit with the hot female magicians, sorceresses, and other female mythological beings.
• I would never have to use the public transport and could just fly anywhere I wanted, this includes visiting a lot of countries during the weekend. It would be possible to visit Italy during the lunch and get my perfect pizza.
• I’d open the world’s fastest delivery service, called ‘Delivery Dragons’ and become a millionaire. Naturally this includes the Night Fury Toothless (from the movie ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, shame on you if you haven’t seen it yet).
• A dragon landing in front of the movies will definitely scare all the people waiting to buy a ticket, which means I’d never have to wait in line again.
• With an army of dragons I could realize my dream of world domination and make it a paradise for gamers, anime lovers, music lovers, and rap haters  .
• I’d be able to learn Fire Dragon-slaying magic from them, wear a dandy scarf made from white dragon scales, change my hair colour to pink, and join the wizard guild ‘Fairy Tail’. Then I’d be able to eat fire. Now I only need to find a cat, name him ‘Happy’, paint his fur blue, let it grow wings, and teach him to walk on 2 legs and to talk.

 

 

So there you go PSNP, Dragon-Archon's interview. I hope you all enjoy it.

 

 

Parker

[HcG Clawz]

It has finally come, this is going be a good read while grinding

[slash]

well worth the wait! 

 

funny, i found this site exactly the same way you did, by clicking someone's card on playstationtrophies. i'm really glad i found my way here, though!

[TheYuriG]

8. Who do you consider to be good friends with on this site, whether it be trophy buddies or general person to talk to? (Razza)

It took a while to compile this list and keep having the feeling I missed someone.

• TheYuriG

OMG, I feel special being mentioned. 

Althought you didn't answer, I found out your name earlier today when you joined the "Zajac Boi's" lel.

[StrickenBiged]

If you like those PS3 triggers, you are going to looooove the ones on the DualShock4. (Why not go buy a DS4 now? They work with the PS3 these days. Then you'll have a 2nd when you finally get your PS4.)

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this up Parker and Dragon. It was nice getting to know Dragon a little better. 

 

And you're welcome for all the rain-attracting services we provide here in the UK.

[Boooda]

tl;dr

Kidding, that was actually one hell of a read and I feel like I know more about you the I do myself o.O

Edited October 16, 2015 by Boooda

[thegirlruka]

Noooooo! My question wasn't answered! Now how am I supposed to know how much time I wasted reading this

[Dragon-Archon]

Hell Yeah, post #7,000 .

 

Alright PSNP, member interviews are officially back. I'd like to thank Dragon-Archon for allowing the community to ask him questions and taking the time to answer them. This is quite a long interview and a wonderful read so instead of a long introduction and some in between fluff, I'm just going to copy and paste Dragon's answers. It will more than likely be multiple posts as well. 

 

The names at the end of questions are the member who asked that question. In the future I'll make it more organized but since we've already been waiting so long for this interview ( ) here we go!

 

So there you go PSNP, Dragon-Archon's interview. I hope you all enjoy it.

 

 

Parker

I can't believe it all fit into 1 post . It seems the 3 videos are missing though.

Edited October 16, 2015 by Dragon-Archon

[xcomplicatedx]

Very nice interview. 

 

Alls you gotta do is shoot me a PM or friend request  

[thegirlruka]

Also which pokemon is number 4?

It looks more like Shenron than a pokemon.

[Dragon-Archon]

It has finally come, this is going be a good read while grinding

LMAO , you're welcome.

 

Althought you didn't answer, I found out your name earlier today when you joined the "Zajac Boi's" lel.

Crap, I knew I forgot something .

 

And you're welcome for all the rain-attracting services we provide here in the UK.

Thank you very much

 

tl;dr

Kidding, that was actually one hell of a read and I feel like I know more about you the I do myself o.O

This is the tl;dr version .

[Floriiss]

Great read

Hey Dragon you think you could teach me how to eat with chopsticks one day?

[Dragon-Archon]

Also which pokemon is number 4?

It looks more like Shenron than a pokemon.

Looks like the rest of that part is missing too. Now it's MissingNo , It was supposed to be Rayquaza.

[Jello]

Great read

[TheFinalEmblem]

Awesome interview dude, I enjoyed reading it.

[Parker]

Hell Yeah, post #7,000 .

 

I can't believe it all fit into 1 post . It seems the 2 videos are missing though.

Looks like the rest of that part is missing too. Now it's MissingNo , It was supposed to be Rayquaza.

 

Quite right, videos have been added. Also, that is the picture you sent me you bastard, it isn't my fault!  If you'd like to send me a different picture I can edit it real quick.

 

 

Parker

[mittoucp]

Really good interview here...

BUT...

I guess that award goes to Super Rub A Dub. It’s a game where you play as a yellow toy duck and have to avoid the sharks, collect other ducks, and safely escort them to the drainage without falling out of the bathtub. You can also play as a shark and try to eat as many ducks as fast as possible. It’s such a boring game and the only reason I played it is because I got a redeemable code for it when I bought the PS3 Slim. Deleted it the same day from the HDD.

You did not just say that... take it back. Edited October 16, 2015 by mittoucp

[Omar]

A predictably AWESOME interview!!

 

I have considered Dragon a buddy since I started being active here, quite some time ago already lol I knew he was a cool and nice guy and this was a great read

 

Also LOL at the #4 best Pokemon choice hahahaha

 

I am glad to see these interviews back again, looking forward to the next!! ^^

[Dragon-Archon]

Very nice interview. 

 

Alls you gotta do is shoot me a PM or friend request

Awesome .

 

Great read

Hey Dragon you think you could teach me how to eat with chopsticks one day?

Sure thing, I'll bring my knowledge and you'll take care of the Chinese or Japanese food .

 

Awesome interview dude, I enjoyed reading it.

Thnx

 

Quite right, videos have been added. Also, that is the picture you sent me you bastard, it isn't my fault!  If you'd like to send me a different picture I can edit it real quick.

 

 

Parker

Did you look in the spoiler tag? There were 2 pictures

 

Really good interview here...

BUT...

You did not just say that... take it back.

Sorry, the truth can be hard sometimes.

 

A predictably AWESOME interview!!

 

I have considered Dragon a buddy since I started being active here, quite some time ago already lol I knew he was a cool and nice guy and this was a great read

 

Also LOL at the #4 best Pokemon choice hahahaha

 

I am glad to see these interviews back again, looking forward to the next!! ^^

Thnx bud .

[Starrk_01]

Nice interview! Was well worth the wait

[Gotakibono]

Awesome interview, and thank you for such an in-depth answer to my question!

[Wavergray]

Nice interview, but the most important question was not asked. What is your favorite Dragon? 

[DaivRules]

Yay!    One of my questions was answered! 

 

Thank you for the fantastical insight into the mind of Dragon-Archon and thanks Parker for putting it all together. 

[Beyondthegrave07]

You'd learn dragon slaying magic from your dragons, get a scarf from your dragon, then get a cat, paint it blue, and name it Happy?

Omg, yes!!!

Also, you must name one of your dragons "Igneel" or it just won't feel right...

[Lord_of_Ra]

Amazing reading and awesome interview but damn, must have taken a while to write all that