The "What Does a Platinum's or 100% Listed Difficulty Mean To You?" Thread

[AJ_Radio]

I mostly agree, but Heavy Rain requires multiple playthroughs to get all the endings, so I don't know about a 2 out of 10 difficulty. I'm playing though Everybody's Gone To the Rapture right now and it is mind numbingly boring. So glad I'll be starting Infamous First Light after this.

 

Now for Assassins Creed II, I think it should no more than a 3 out of 10 difficulty. Brotherhood and Revelations should be appropriately rated 4 out of 10 because of the 100 synchronization requirement and the crap multiplayer (which I'll probably never get to earn trophies in at this point). Feathers is really the only thing that's making a lot of people from platting Assassins Creed II, without those we're probably looking at a 40 - 50 percent platinum rate among game owners. However I have to agree that it's a cakewalk compared to Uncharted 1. 

 

From what I've heard from others Uncharted 1 has the most difficult Crushing mode. I died many, many times during my run and I don't know if it's easier on the remastered PS4 version. I would definitely give the game a 5 out of 10, because of manual aim and enemies take more hits on Crushing. Plus if you didn't use the glitch to get past a certain water room, you're going to have a hell of a time. To put Uncharted Drakes Fortune in the same category as Assassins Creed II is just plain stupid. Despite this, I don't think Drakes Fortune is a 7 out of 10 difficulty. Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are realistically closer to a 6 or 7 out of 10 difficulty, simply because you have to play challenges where Batman has to maintain a good combo while inputting 8 - 10 different moves.

 

In all honesty if I tried really hard I can probably platinum Arkham City in a few days. I just suck horribly at the challenge maps, and don't get me started on the campaign.

 

Hotline Miami is where it needs to be, there's nothing too difficult in the game apart from level 10 and level 13. Those require a bit of luck and fast timing to properly execute and maintain a good combo. A+ requires over twice the normal score.

 

All Souls games and Bloodborne are around a 7 out of 10 difficulty. I would actually put Demon Souls above the rest because you have character/world tendency to worry about. Plus there is the grind to bladestone, and there is a specific path you have to take if you want to get all the items in just one or two playthroughs. Bloodborne doesn't have that crap, it's more straight forward with it's trophy list.

 

Resogun DLC essentially almost requires somebody to have another player for one of the trophies. OlliOlli 2 is simply executing move after move in a perfect fashion.

 

I guess the only truly "difficult" game I've played so far is the Mega Man Legacy Collection. 54 challenges in all and you are forced to do at least some of the no Item Robot Rushes. There is also the Memory Block challenges which require good memorization. In fact all of the challenges require you use the items at your disposal. In instances where there are obstacles in the way with a straight path might convince you to use Rush. In Crystal Man's stage there are vendors that drop crystals, and the best item for that is Star Man's Star Crash move. Other parts of a challenge require you to just brute force them, or simply suicide yourself so you have full health when you face up against a Robot Boss. You have to know all six Megaman games in order to get a Gold rating from most if not all challenges. You are required to get Gold in all but four of them, and that is something a lot of people can't do apparently.

 

But even after all that I suppose Mega Man is a cakewalk compared to Super Meat Boy and Crypt of the Necrodancer. In fact only one person has platted Crypt of the Necrodancer.

[NavFromTheNorth]

1/10: Automatic - A game where trophies are automatically earned just by playing.

2/10: Borderline Automatic - A game where most trophies are automatically earned, with only a few requiring minimal effort.

3/10: Very Easy - A game where some trophies require effort but are still quite easy and can usually be earned quickly.

4/10: Easy - A game where most trophies require some effort with only one or two providing a challenge. 

5/10: Normal - A game that mixes trophies from tiers 1-4 with the occasional tier 6, 7 or 8 trophy.

6/10: Moderate - A game where most trophies provide a challenge but are otherwise attainable without issues.

7/10: Challenging - A game that includes many non-story related trophies that require careful attention and planning.

8/10: Hard - A game where all non-story related trophies require careful attention and planning and possibly heavy grinding. 

9/10: Very Hard - A game where all non-story related trophies are difficult to earn, but not necessarily out of reach for dedicated players.

10/10: For The Dedicated Few - A game with almost no story-related trophies which also requires complete dedication from the player. It is only meant for hardcore enthusiasts of that game.

Edited September 27, 2016 by NavTheConqueror

[Dragon-Archon]

1/10: Automatic - A game where trophies are automatically earned just by playing.

2/10: Borderline Automatic - A game where most trophies are automatically earned, with only a few requiring minimal effort.

3/10: Very Easy - A game where some trophies require effort but are still quite easy and can usually be earned quickly.

4/10: Easy - A game where most trophies require some effort with only one or two providing a challenge. 

5/10: Normal - A game that mixes trophies from tiers 1-4 with the occasional tier 6, 7 or 8 trophy.

6/10: Moderate - A game where most trophies provide a challenge but are otherwise attainable without issues.

7/10: Challenging - A game that includes many non-story related trophies that require careful attention and planning.

8/10: Hard - A game where all non-story related trophies require careful attention and planning and possibly heavy grinding. 

9/10: Very Hard - A game where all non-story related trophies are difficult to earn, but not necessarily out of reach for dedicated players.

10/10: For The Dedicated Few - A game with almost no story-related trophies which also requires complete dedication from the player. It is only meant for hardcore enthusiasts of that game.

I'm surprised the red colour wasn't used fo 10/10.

[Jak]

Yeah, this is the internet so I did expect something to happen.

I sort of wanted a thread to encompass it all. Sure, it could be just sentences, but with titles and descriptions it puts in in perspective to each other to compare games within a person's list. Without those, its harder to visualize how someone's difficulty fits together.

For "my" list of difficulties, requiring a guide is irrelevant to plat difficulty. There's always going to be a tricky trophy, or a bad description, prerequisites to tasks, hidden trophies, or just plain things that aren't straight forward, but still easy (or hard), etc. Anybody can look at a guide and know what to do. Basically, at some point it's about coordination and being able to accomplish said task. And in my view, Heavy Rain and TWD are "similarish" enough in gameplay style that almost anyone could do it if they "wanted too", thats the keyword there. The story and setting is way different, and Heavy Rain requires several play throughs, but the gameplay itself isn't THAT MUCH different. Is Heavy rain more of a chore, more boring, more tedious, time consuming? Yeah, probably. But its not more difficult if a casual player "wanted" to plat it, since there's nothing that really requires any kind of coordination thats harder than TWD, with the exception of The Bear, hence why "I" put a 2.

And that sort of sums up the topic of this thread. You obviously consider that sort of effort deserving of a higher difficulty, while I don't! I'd probably find what makes your list of 1's, 2's, and 3's interesting. And yes, certainly subjectivity exists. But if someone did actually put a sentence about TWD being a 7, I definitely wouldn't agree, but I'm sure their list would be interesting.

The Heavy Rain and TWD bits are simply wrong. Firstly, without a guide, Heavy Rain is automatically a 4-5 at least (its funny how people are claiming the mutiple endings are the only challenging trophies in the game).

Secondly, gameplay is not the only factor, especially in a interactive story based game. Thats its focus, and its tied focus with the specific trophies makes it hard from a interactive story perspective. Youre not going to plat HR nor TWAU (when youre not using a guide) without an overall large time gap and consistent choice of elimination method-play. This fact alone makes them a 2 at the very least, the games test your mental skill via outcome story events, instead of gameplay difficulty, similar concept to challenging QTE sections in games.

Gameplay relies on a mastery aspect with challenge being based on how long it takes you to master and overcome something through training. In interactive story games, like Until Dawn and Heavy Rain, your mind skills are put to the test via trying to make self-sophisicated decisions that lead to a "specific" result. Difficulty here greatly varies from skillful gameplay mastery, with choice of elimation making you one step closer to getting the specific outcome and (in most cases) eventually leading to the last branching option (you figured out) that would lead to that desired outcome all without actual effort (precisely like a puzzle, riddle, question, etc. Puzzles/aforemen- are hard right?), however, difficulty here is based on how many times you had to repeat the situation over again to get that specific outcome. So when you remove guides, games like HR (keeping a character out of jail, from dying, from finding this item, alive, alive with specific others you have to keep alive also, etc) and UD (keeping everyone alive to the end of game, or getting everyone killed by the end of the game), for what they are, are difficult platinums (for their genres) especially in comparison to most of TT's ID games that have literal 0% difficulty and objectively require no guides.

Thirdly, TWD and HR being the same genre games doesnt make them mostly the same automatically. HR is evidently on another level(s) entirely: HR having alternate endings collectibles, challenging qtes, and specific outcome trophies. TWD has NONE of that, and a guide isnt required at all. Objectively, they could never be the same rating. This is reality without guides (and with common sense).

Edited September 29, 2016 by Mar

[ProfBambam55]

One thing that I've absolutely never understood is how a game like Uncharted gets rated so similarly to games like Assassin's Creed 2 (such as in the first post of this thread -- I'm not trying to pick on the first post, but it's just the closest example).

 

In my thinking, AC2 is an absolute cakewalk compared to Uncharted. AC2 has no difficulty trophies, and an average gamer in my estimation would die maybe a handful of times while playing through the game. Uncharted, meanwhile, requires you to beat the game on Crushing difficulty, which kills you in about two shots anywhere in the game. Most people will die dozens and dozens of times playing through the game on this difficulty, no? So why does it get rated so low all the time (e.g., the trophy guide on this site says 3/10, which is absolutely bonkers IMO). And more generally, this seems to be true of difficulty levels in general -- people don't seem to rate games with difficulty setting trophies as much harder than games without difficulty setting trophies and I don't understand why.

 

Anyway, here's my list of "prorotype" games of each difficulty. All plats are games I've actually platted, except for some of the 9's and 10's:

 

1. A game where you get the plat just by playing, and the game itself is also dirt easy (e.g., most recent TellTale games).

 

2. A game that has zero challenge, but maybe has collectibles or multiple playthroughs. Games like Heavy Rain and most walking simulators like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. I find a lot of indie Vita games fall into this category, like Volume.

 

3. The first category for games that have a tiny bit of challenge. Typically games themselves that are on the easy side, but maybe require some grinding/basic effort for the trophies. Examples are Infamous First Light or most Ratchet and Clank games.

 

4. A game that is about as tough as "most" AAA games, but without difficulty setting trophies. Something like Assassin's Creed 2, Tomb Raider (2013), Dishonored, or Watch Dogs. A lot of RPGs fall in this category too IMO, despite being very long/grindy (e.g., Dragon Age: Origins, Borderlands, or any of the Fallouts).

 

5. A game like 4, but with a less forgiving difficulty curve, or maybe some sort of challenge arenas to complete that are harder than the main game. Examples include Hotline Miami and Rayman Origins/Legends.

 

6. This is where games start to transition from "doable" to "maybe I can't plat this game". Typically 6/10 requires you to beat the game on a hard difficulty setting, but that difficulty setting isn't *too* much harder than the default one, like Guacamelee. This category also includes RPGs with a fair amount of end-game content that is more challenging than the main game content, like Final Fantasy XIII or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.

 

7. Typically games with a hard difficulty trophy, but this time the hard difficulty setting is actually quite hard. Examples include Uncharted, Mass Effect, or most of the Kingdom Hearts games. Also includes RPGs with particularly brutal post-game content, like Final Fantasy X or (again) the Kingdom Hearts games. Most of the Souls games fall into this category too IMO, since their base difficulty setting is pretty much just what other games would call the "hard" setting.

 

8. This is where things get nasty. Typically these are harder than games even with obnoxiously hard difficulty settings, and instead have really tough challenges or require you to complete some really tough difficulty setting while also under other restrictions. Examples include OlliOlli 2 and the Resogun DLC, 

 

9. Games that sit on my trophy list for years. I come back to them every few months and manage to chip away at them slightly, but no matter how much I try, they're still brutally hard and I'm not convinced I'll ever be good enough to overcome their challenges. Nonetheless, there's something in me that prevents me from completely writing them off 100%. Games like Muramasa Rebirth, Hot Shot's Golf, Wipeout HD, and Dungeon Defenders (I finally recently platted this one!).

 

10. The platinum just doesn't even seem humanly possible to me. Even if I spent a year straight playing the game, I could never do it if my life depended on it. Games like Super Meat Boy, Crypt of the Necrodancer, or Gran Turismo 5.

  

1/10: Automatic - A game where trophies are automatically earned just by playing.

2/10: Borderline Automatic - A game where most trophies are automatically earned, with only a few requiring minimal effort.

3/10: Very Easy - A game where some trophies require effort but are still quite easy and can usually be earned quickly.

4/10: Easy - A game where most trophies require some effort with only one or two providing a challenge. 

5/10: Normal - A game that mixes trophies from tiers 1-4 with the occasional tier 6, 7 or 8 trophy.

6/10: Moderate - A game where most trophies provide a challenge but are otherwise attainable without issues.

7/10: Challenging - A game that includes many non-story related trophies that require careful attention and planning.

8/10: Hard - A game where all non-story related trophies require careful attention and planning and possibly heavy grinding. 

9/10: Very Hard - A game where all non-story related trophies are difficult to earn, but not necessarily out of reach for dedicated players.

10/10: For The Dedicated Few - A game with almost no story-related trophies which also requires complete dedication from the player. It is only meant for hardcore enthusiasts of that game.

  

i like this thread idea...i don't think i've ever looked at the stat for difficulty but here's my take if i had to rate games on a 1-10 scale...

 1. "So drunk I could barely move and still got the plat" - (Walking Dead, Kung Fu Panda 2)

these games can be platted without a guide and without any effort...just play and ding, ding, ding...

 2. "My daughter unlocked most of the trophies for me" - (The Godfather, Terminator Salvation)

these games are basically one playthrogh, no guide is needed ones...there might be one or two trophies less than super easy on the way to platinum...

 3. "That was fun, next" - (The Darkness II, Infamous)

these would be the first level of difficulty where a guide might be required and usually just for collectables...these games are not too grindy, fun to play and over quickly...i won't be expecting any multiplayer trophies aside from "create a character"...

**there is a fine line between 4s, 5s and, 6s for me...most of my games fall in these categories and will vary in number of collectables/playthroughs, co-op/multiplayer trophies, grinds, etc....the only seperating factor will be the overall level of skill and enjoyment... this is also the start of where i know i'll be needing a guide to unlock all of the trophies...4. "Time to hit up PSNProfiles" - (Dead Island, Far Cry 3)

these games have some not-so-interesting long, grindy trophies and not much skill is needed to acquire all of them...games that have a bad story, lame multiplayer, a lot of travel across a way too large map, or are part of a repetitive series often fall here for me...

 5. "A bit of this, a bit of that, a decent plat" - (GTA IV, Skyrim)

this is the middle class of games for me...usually the story is great and the gameplay addictive...trophy list has a bit of everything and the skill level seems to be one that most people could handle...i will expect to be spending quite a bit of time on these games both on and offline...

 6. "It's not as hard as you think" - (DMC, COD Black Ops)

a little bit more difficult than 5s but no less fun...usually one part of the game will stand out as being quite difficult on the way to %100 and i'll be nervous heading into it...a lot of first or third-person shooter titles that have online trophies and hack 'n slash games fall into this category for me...once i finish them i tend to think "that wasn't so bad after all"...

 7. "If this was cub scouts, I just got my platinum survival badge" - (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Naughty Bear)

7s are usually a good challenge...often these games don't have many complicated multiplayer trophies, are enjoyable, but need some time to build up skill level on the way to %100...i will expect quite a bit of trial and error as i repeat certain parts over and over...8. "Now this is why I love video games" - (Max Payne 3)

these are about as difficult as they get as far as skill level is concerned and are my favorite type of games...challenging but love the gameplay...8s have a bit of everything: decent story, multiple playthroughs, grinds, collectables, multiplayer...for both these and 9s often a guide is not enough and find myself on youtube searching for tips on how to pass certain parts of the game...the big difference between these and 9's for me is enjoyment level...

 9. "My kindergarten teacher's voice is echoing in my head 'Never give up, never give up, never give up...'" - (Wipeout HD, Mirror's Edge)

9s are often the same skillwise as 8s except i have next to no enjoyment while playing them and continue to the plat just for the sake of the challenge...i will expect my frustration to keep me motivated in moving forward...both games listed i pretty much hated right from the beginning...the controls, the physics, the repetition, the story (in the case of ME) but saw that there were challenges ahead and played till the end...much like jimi hendrix it would seem most people either love or hate these ones...for the record hendrix is great IMO...

 10. "I've just checked in to an insane asylum" - (N/A)

these are the just-about-impossible ones...i think fight night round 4 is one of the only games that i've heard of that falls into this category though i've never actually played it...if someone told me that a game has a 10 difficulty rating likely i'd think hard before starting it and see if there's even the slightest bit of fun to be had or not...

  

The examples used in my list are based off of personal experiences. Besides the game for 10, I have gotten the platinum in all of these games.

 

1: "Telltale Easy" (The Walking Dead)

1's are reserved for games that can be platted with almost no effort. There's no reason why you would need a guide for these games.

 

2: "Small Fry" (Fish of the North Star: Ken's Rage)

These games are very easy but are noticeably tougher than 1's due to things like grinding and collectibles.

 

3: "Only A Minor Annoyance" (Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleased)

3's are usually almost identical to 2's. What sets them apart are 1-3 trophies that are slightly tougher than the rest but are by all means manageable.

 

4: "A Standard Easy Game" (Aquapazza)

4's are pretty common for trophy hunters. They're usually games that are still good for trophies but provide enough of a challenge to make the game more enjoyable. They can involve slightly longer grinds, online trophies, or even difficult bosses (but not too difficult).

 

5: "Long, But Not Too Bad" (Bleach: Soul Resurrection)

5's are a lot like 4's, but unlike 4's, they typically have one or more menacing obstacles keeping inexperienced players from an easy platinum. Some can be long grinds, while others can just include one game mode that's several times more difficult than the rest of the game. A few 5's may even have *gulp* luck-based trophies!

 

6: " The Weird Difficulty" (Lolipop Chainsaw)

6's are strange. They're not hard, but definitely not easy, making them hard to categorize. They typically have frustrating trophies that start to be more skill-dependent instead of just grinds and collectibles. I bet a lot of 6's are mistaken for 7's because when you think of a game being difficult, you don't really think of a 6/10.

 

7: "A Nice, Fun Challenge" (Hyperdimension Neptunia)

Okay, so we're heading into difficult territory now. 7's are games that can still be beaten by most trophy hunters with enough experience. The problem is 7's typically require actual effort to plat, including playing games on max difficulty and multiple playthroughs. Unless you really enjoy the game, getting the plat will be a struggle.

 

8: "I'd Never Do That Again!" (Call of Duty: Black Ops)

To plat an 8 takes skill no matter how you slice it. Even with guides giving helpful tips and showing collectibles, the trophy list will seem like an army of heavens guarding the platinum with their lives. Not everyone can master an 8 well enough to get the plat, so it feels very fulfilling when I get one.

 

9: "How Did I Do That?!" (BlazBlue Calamity Trigger)

9's are games that you never expect to plat, but you just keep whittling away at them, one trophy at a time. 9's are extremely difficult to achieve, so I'm usually left in awe whenever I actually manage to get one. Some 9's may even feel like 10's, but in my opinion, if you can get the platinum, then it can't possibly be a 10.

 

10: "IMPOSSIBLE!" (Arcana Heart 3)

10's are games that you just know you can't get the platinum in. You can try all you want, but the trophies will never come. If you ever do manage to get the plat, then the game was actually a 9 and you just misjudged it. These games can be so hard that you don't even know where to start, or they can be cruel and only have one or two measly trophies that keep you from ever getting the platinum.

  

Edit: Clarification: The idea behind this thread is to have fun and come up with clever and witty titles based on how YOU determine a difficulty tier.  A description and game are more so someone else can understand what you mean.  It's not really about nitpicking or discussing where a specific game myself or someone else chose a difficulty.

 

So lately I've been debating various game's platinum or 100% difficulties which inspired me to create this thread. I'd like to know what people are thinking when they see or rate a game's difficulty on how hard it is to achieve a platinum or 100%. What differentiates one tier from the next? And why does one person's rating of 4 mean the exact same thing as someone else's rating of 6. Lets sort it all out here!  

 

To make this more fun, I'll be giving each difficulty tier a title, a description, and an example of a game that would fall in it.  I'll go first.

 

1: “So Easy Your Mom Can Plat It"  (Aabs Animals, The Walking Dead)

This is reserved for games essentially anyone, including non gamers could achieve.  Very few games should get a 1.

 

2: “Casual Gamer Cakewalk” (Minecraft, Journey, Trine 2, Heavy Rain)

As the title suggests, even casual gamers can succeed.  Super easy, but something in this resembles the attempt of a challenge but fails.

 

3: “Tier Three Trouble-Free”  (The Unfinished Swan, Okami)

This is kind of an in between easy and intermediate.  Overall trophies are still easy, but maybe the game is slightly challenging. Or the game is super easy, but there's that ONE trophy thats "slightly annoying."

 

4: “Only Slightly Entry Level” (Assassin's Creed II, Uncharted I)

Games in this tier are the first that a "gamer" may experience any kind of difficulty or there may be any trophy that poses any real challenge with risk of failing, but nothing that can't be accomplished with a few repeated tries.

 

5: “The Middle and the Most” (The Last of Us, Infamous, Red Dead Redemption)

This ranking or below is where probably 60% of the games should fall for "trophy hunters."  While casual or even people that consider themselves "gamers" may have a problem for a few advanced or hard trophies, regular "trophy hunters" will get them, either easily or with enough time and enough attempts.  Another possibility is there may be a few "annoying" online trophies but shouldn't pose too much difficulty.

 

6: “Tip of the Iceberg Advanced” (Devil May Cry, Resident Evil HD Remake, Batman Arkham Asylum)

The first difficulty tier that not all "trophy hunters" will be able to achieve platinum/100 in my opinion.  The game itself should be somewhat challenging. The trophies won't be easy either due to requiring some sort of speed run, or S ranks on challenges requiring various mastery of several levels, or one or two tough online trophies that requires skill.

 

7: “Its Hard, Frustrating, Annoying, But Just Achievable” (Grand Theft Auto IV, Super Stardust HD)

Basically look at 6's description, but has all of the listed traits in one game.  Or said game could have one whopper of a trophy. 

 

8: “OMG Only Master’s Get Insane Trophies Like This”  (Metal Gear Solid 2, Wipeout HD)

Anything in this tier will be a beast of a game or have insane trophies that will frustrate even best trophy hunters.  Games that where you die in one hit.  Games where literally exact perfection is required to meet a goal required to get a trophy.  Games that have that one level you need to navigate just perfectly because its unbelievably cheap.  Or really hard games that have online trophies that aren't easy because it requires coordination or extreme skill vs other humans.

 

9: “The Are. You. Kidding. Me. Ridiculousness.”  (Max Payne 3)

The hardest of hard games.  What separates tier 9 from 8 is that you won't get multiple tries to complete your tasks.  In Max Payne 3 NYMHC if you die, you start over.  Where as in Wipeout or MGS2 listed above, you can try the levels over as many times as needed after failing or dying right where you left off.  Games here will likely have a bunch of online trophies requiring skill vs other humans.

 

10: “This Game Company Is Moronic Because of Their Impossible Trophies” (Fight Night Round 4)

Games in this category basically have online trophies that are not boostable that require godly skills or luck.  It can also have multiple offline trophies instead of a single one with resemblance to tier 9.

 

 

Alright, lets hear yours!

Yay!...now they're all in one place...

[ForbiddenRavioli]

10s should never be assigned, but merely used as a boundary. It makes no sense to rate Max Payne 3 a 10/10, as that implies something like Super Meat Boy would be 11/10 and Crypt of the Necrodancer is 12/10. There can -- and will -- always be harder plats, so it's quite foolish to ever rate one as 10/10.

 

Then let's change the system. Why live under the Tyranny of 10. Let's create a x/20 system. Let's rattle the cages of the establishment!

[Jak]

Then let's change the system. Why live under the Tyranny of 10. Let's create a x/20 system. Let's rattle the cages of the establishment!

Theres a lot of different ways I can come at this comment, but ill try a new approach. The x/10 is already a solid expansion from x/5, and it makes sense. x/5s lacks precision. One good example of this fact is if a game is really good but not great, x/5 system doesnt have that option, so you either rate it standard good or great. Theres good, very good, and then great, extremely good argubly if a game is good enough to the point where its right near the great level. Adding that 4th level is just unnecessary though, very good does a great job already at covering any games that are beyond good. Very good is actually needed because not every good game is great. Point being x/20 is going to make things unnecessarily more complex AND change the lower difficulties by default of nature and balancing.

x/5s can even make x/10s useless, possibly, if the x.5s are generally accepted (more). x/5s wouldnt be an issue if the x.5s were used. x.5 adds the sufficient detail-half needed to precisely label game's ratings - games that are very good but not great, fantastic or outstanding but not a masterpiece, etc. Amazon, Gamefaqs, and Netflix (although half assed there) use the .5s in their x/5 rating system, and they definitely support my point.