PS3 to PS4 - Easier Games, Less Difficult Trophies

[AJ_Radio]

I honestly have no real idea where to put this topic than here in the PlayStation 4 forums, since this does cover the console. But rather than post my thoughts on my favorite PS4 titles and yadda yadda yadda, there is something that has been concerning me for a quite a long time.

 

While this doesn't necessarily apply to every single game to a console since there have always been difficult games since the very beginning eons ago, I have definitely noticed quite a shift in the transition from PS3 to PS4 in terms of overall difficulty, what you have to do for the platinum trophy, the time investment (especially multiplayer) and just the overall hobby of trophy hunting.

 

I have personally struggled with a great deal of PlayStation 3 games, and I consider myself to be a pretty decent gamer. This doesn't necessarily apply to broken game mechanics, glitched trophies, server shutdowns and the like but more particularly with the way the games were designed and what you have to do to earn trophies in general. However when I compare to games I played to the PlayStation 4, I can't help but feel I didn't have to put nearly as much effort into games on the newer system as I have to do on the older systems (PlayStation 3).

 

What seems to be the theme these days especially with Sony exclusives is giving a solid high quality drama, with various themes that become important as the story moves along. There is very little of anything that is remotely challenging, games like Days Gone and Marvel's Spider-Man are pretty much a breezethrough where any casual gamer who doesn't quite have the skills to tackle something overly challenging can get the platinums with little trouble. Difficulty related trophies are becoming more and more rare, quite the contrast to early in the PS4 generation when Killzone: Shadowfall  and Knack both had difficulty related trophies on top of being somewhat time consuming. I often find games like that generate a lot of complaints from people who can't beat Very Hard difficulty or something else that a lot of people can't seem to do. Many of the difficulty related trophies have been removed in place of more story related trophies to try to attract more people into trophy hunting and also to make the experience more accessible to everyone, rather than a niche audience that was once the focus and whom played a lot of difficult games to challenge themselves and feel great satisfaction.

 

That was definitely the case early on in the PS3/360 generation when a lot of games in general took a lot of work to earn trophies/achievements. Stuff like the first inFamous, Prototype 1, Demon's Souls and the such were noted for being difficult/annoying, but getting the platinum trophy was seen as a sign of accomplishment. Even easier stuff like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time had some challenging bits. Games with multiplayer had time consuming elements. Crysis 2, Street Fighter IV and the such were hard on top of requiring a big time investment.

 

Nowadays I see trophy hunting/achievement hunting to be more of a participation sport. I see a lot of accounts now with relatively easy stuff in AAA games, but nothing all that difficult. Ratalaika Games makes it easy to stack multitudes of indie games, making gold trophies a joke and having 100 platinums to be nothing noteworthy. AAA games have definitely taken the easier side, although Call of Duty, Battlefield, Destiny 2 and other games that focus on multiplayer still have some challenges should you do all the DLC. Assassins Creed games are much easier now, God of War 2018 took a lot of the challenge out that was present in the older games, the list goes on.

 

Sports games have even taken the easier route although I can easily argue that they were far too difficult and time consuming years ago. But the general idea here is it takes less effort to earn a platinum now compared to how it was 10 years ago. This seriously makes me wonder if games will get any easier with the PlayStation 5 generation.

 

Not trying to lump the 'everything is easier' argument here. Plenty of hard stuff on the PS4 when you look at indie games and there is some Call of Duty stuff that is difficult and requires a lot of time spent. But overall it just feels that games in general have gotten a lot easier, I don't have to put as much effort on the PS4 to get a platinum trophy in a lot of games as I have to do on the PS3.

 

What do you all think?

[EdwardTheMartyr]

Supposedly it's because developers wanted people to play their multiplayer games for longer periods of time, possibly in order to keep the online player population high?

Single player games have gotten easier with every console generation. I think it's because as gaming has become more normalized as a hobby, developers try to cater to a broader crowd.

BTW, how hard was Super Meat Boy for you?

[Upendo_Vitani]

I think it's because gaming in general is becoming more and more socially acceptable and more people are playing now than ever before. That being said, there's now a larger demographic to cater to; the average person spends most of their day at work and doesn't have a lot of time to devote to gaming so the more they feel like they're progressing in a game, the better, otherwise there's the danger of them stopping playing entirely. Developers know that if they churn out a game that appeals to the masses, the more the masses will buy their next game, and so on. It's the science of business in my opinion. 

[Copanele]

Since lately I've returned to the PS3 backloggery , I honestly couldn't agree more with your statement.

Not to say that there aren't games that are a pain to platinum on PS4( apart from small games like Slain : Back from Hell , Injustice 2, Bloodborne and DMC5 were pretty pain-inducing plats) HOWEVER compared to PS3... not even close. Some PS3 trophies remind me of the glorious Steam Achievements where you almost have to sacrifice your neighbour for an achievement.

 

Just to give a proper example ... Demon's Souls vs Dark souls 3/ Sekiro. Any of it works.

While DS3 and Sekiro aren't the easiest of games ( you need an NG+ run at least for each of them and for a newcomer they will absolutely whoop your ass) the trophies are...pretty straightforward. Kill this, gather that , rings can be traded, farm level Y . Plain and easy. Yeah...good luck with that on Demon's Souls. Game is a pain even with a guide ( nobody mentions that Black Phantom Satsuki will destroy your sorry ass unless you have a greatsword). Without a guide...figuring out World Tendencies and Character Tendencies is horrendous. Even Dark Souls 1 was difficult with all the upgrade paths and figuring stuff out.

 

Example 2 : As @Spaz mentioned , God of War . God of War 2018 is a very good game ( I personally love it alot) however trophy wise the hardest trophy was...idk finding all those ravens? Compared to the first God of War and its absurd challenge of the gods, GOW 2018 felt like a walk in the park. Or GoW 3 on Titan Mode , whoowhee that one was a challenge! 

 

Also fighting games! Injustice 1, MK9, Street Fighter 4, Marvel vs Capcom 3 , Skullgirls 2nd Encore , holy mama those are crazy to platinum. Mad respects for the skilled ones that do that , I suck at those apart from Guilty Gear. But the latest ones.... MK11 , Samurai Shodown , Tekken 7... finish the campaign, play some onlinery , do a stupidly easy cheesy survival mode and poof platinum. THEY ARE NOT BAD GAMES JUST EASY PLATINUMS ( somehow I feel the need to mention this at every paragraph in case people would misunderstand my words, Samurai Shodown is a very good fighting game)

 

There's more examples but it will take alot of space to waste just to cover them. One thing is for sure : I am playing some games on PS3 as of late and boy getting all them trophies is a blast(Call of Juarez Bound in Blood is a perfect example, that multiplayer was friggin godlike , the most fun I've ever had in a long while while going for them money) . On PS4 I feel that thrill only with games faithful to the franchise (mmm...DMC5... S rank on everything) or games that are straight up ported from PC  (Hey there Mount and Blade Warband). 

 

However... I don't really mind it. Sure the plats are easier but the games themselves are pretty good. I mean, ok God of War is easy to plat however do yourself a favour and play it on Give me God of War challenge. Oh how it will challenge you ,that mode. Sure if one goes only for the platinum then the view about the game quality might be abit distorted but...game ain't only about the platinum.  

 

At least that's my opinion  

[willmill97]

Yes I’ve noticed this a lot lately, especially in the last year. You still get some really difficult and rare platinums like Black Ops 4 and Wolfenstein 2. But games these days seem to be less MP focused than on PS3. 

 

PS3 games such as Far Cry 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 1and so on just had ridiculous trophies where you need to boost online kills for what seemed like forever. But I can’t even remember the last game since KZ Shadowfall to have this sort of trophy list. 

 

Im probably in the minority where I like online trophies, providing they’re not like the games in paragraph above, ones where you’re able to just play it out at your own pace are fine with me. I wish games these days would have some more challenging SP trophies and non-tedious MP trophies. For example I see Far Cry Primal has a permadeath mode, but no trophy attached to it, wasted opportunity I think.

[Conor]

Well great, guess this means my PS4 backlog won't take as long to get through as my PS3 so I see this as an absolute win, should be ready for PS6 games by the time the PS7 is out! 

[Potent_Delusions]

I miss the early days of trophies, where getting a platinum trophy meant you had done everything on the game: you'd completed the campaign on the hardest setting, you'd earned all challenges/awards online, you'd reached the max rank online, you'd gotten all collectibles etc.  Nowadays it's just complete handouts: complete 50% of the online awards, reach the 2nd rank online, all at the behest of whiners who don't want platinums going over 40 hours in length. I've got a great idea: if you aren't up to the task...don't get the platinum. Simple as that. 

 

I always have been and always will be someone who believes the platinum trophy should be given for doing most, if not all, of the notable feats in the game. 

[The Devils Reaper]

All i play is PS4 but i'm aware of what's involved for a lot of PS3 games and it looks like a lot of the same shit to me. The examples in this thread have been a handful of PS4 AAA titles, so not really sure if thats anything to go off.

 

@Spaz If PS4 is proving to be kids stuff then you should try giving some of these a crack and let me know how easy you find them ?

 

Surgeon Simulator

Trackmania

Bound

Shadow Warrior

Ultra Street Fighter 4

Street Fighter 5

UFC 2

King of Fighters 14

Nex Machina

Thumper

Rocksmith

Wipeout Omega Collection

 

Just to name a few i found quite difficult. Wipeouts a good example cause it consolidated all the difficult PS3 trophies, and some..

Heck look at Wolfenstein 2, in another league compared to its PS3 predecessors.. So not entirely sure of the purpose of this thread.

 

Maybe you're just targeting easy games on the PS4?

[Vergil]

42 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Since lately I've returned to the PS3 backloggery , I honestly couldn't agree more with your statement.

Not to say that there aren't games that are a pain to platinum on PS4( apart from small games like Slain : Back from Hell , Injustice 2, Bloodborne and DMC5 were pretty pain-inducing plats) HOWEVER compared to PS3... not even close. Some PS3 trophies remind me of the glorious Steam Achievements where you almost have to sacrifice your neighbour for an achievement.

 

Just to give a proper example ... Demon's Souls vs Dark souls 3/ Sekiro. Any of it works.

While DS3 and Sekiro aren't the easiest of games ( you need an NG+ run at least for each of them and for a newcomer they will absolutely whoop your ass) the trophies are...pretty straightforward. Kill this, gather that , rings can be traded, farm level Y . Plain and easy. Yeah...good luck with that on Demon's Souls. Game is a pain even with a guide ( nobody mentions that Black Phantom Satsuki will destroy your sorry ass unless you have a greatsword). Without a guide...figuring out World Tendencies and Character Tendencies is horrendous. Even Dark Souls 1 was difficult with all the upgrade paths and figuring stuff out.

 

Example 2 : As @Spaz mentioned , God of War . God of War 2018 is a very good game ( I personally love it alot) however trophy wise the hardest trophy was...idk finding all those ravens? Compared to the first God of War and its absurd challenge of the gods, GOW 2018 felt like a walk in the park. Or GoW 3 on Titan Mode , whoowhee that one was a challenge! 

 

Also fighting games! Injustice 1, MK9, Street Fighter 4, Marvel vs Capcom 3 , Skullgirls 2nd Encore , holy mama those are crazy to platinum. Mad respects for the skilled ones that do that , I suck at those apart from Guilty Gear. But the latest ones.... MK11 , Samurai Shodown , Tekken 7... finish the campaign, play some onlinery , do a stupidly easy cheesy survival mode and poof platinum. THEY ARE NOT BAD GAMES JUST EASY PLATINUMS ( somehow I feel the need to mention this at every paragraph in case people would misunderstand my words, Samurai Shodown is a very good fighting game)

 

There's more examples but it will take alot of space to waste just to cover them. One thing is for sure : I am playing some games on PS3 as of late and boy getting all them trophies is a blast(Call of Juarez Bound in Blood is a perfect example, that multiplayer was friggin godlike , the most fun I've ever had in a long while while going for them money) . On PS4 I feel that thrill only with games faithful to the franchise (mmm...DMC5... S rank on everything) or games that are straight up ported from PC  (Hey there Mount and Blade Warband). 

 

However... I don't really mind it. Sure the plats are easier but the games themselves are pretty good. I mean, ok God of War is easy to plat however do yourself a favour and play it on Give me God of War challenge. Oh how it will challenge you ,that mode. Sure if one goes only for the platinum then the view about the game quality might be abit distorted but...game ain't only about the platinum.  

 

At least that's my opinion  

You forgot Persona 4 Arena on ps3. 

 

But hardest fighting game is on Ps4. 

 

Koihime Enbu RyoRaiRai. That one is hardest.

[Copanele]

7 minutes ago, Vergil said:

You forgot Persona 4 Arena on ps3. 

 

But hardest fighting game is on Ps4. 

 

Koihime Enbu RyoRaiRai. That one is hardest.

I guess  I don't usually touch games whose names I can't even pronounce right. Just picking out the main meaty ones , because I bet out there there are several obscure japanese fighting games on PS4 ported from arcade only in japan that asks you to defeat 30000 opponents in a row while in ranked match (for a measly bronze trophy) which would put any PS3 list to shame. Japan is magical at pulling those kinds of stuff.

[Arcesius]

2 hours ago, Copanele said:

Example 2 : As @Spaz mentioned , God of War . God of War 2018 is a very good game ( I personally love it alot) however trophy wise the hardest trophy was...idk finding all those ravens? Compared to the first God of War and its absurd challenge of the gods, GOW 2018 felt like a walk in the park. Or GoW 3 on Titan Mode , whoowhee that one was a challenge! 

 

Absolutely true. There should have been a trophy for beating the game on "Give me God of War". I personally played the game on "Give me a Challenge", the Valkyries, especially the Queen, were no joke. But sure, that is not required for the plat. 

 

 

I never owned a PS3, and in general I come from a gaming history of mostly JRPGs, with some God of War or Onimusha and DmC here and there.. so I have to admit that I only started discovering challenging games on the PS4, thus I might be a bit biased. 

 

There are plenty of challenging games to be found on the PS4, you don't even need to look at the indie market. Devil May Cry 5 is such an example, as is Wolfenstein II, to just name two. Also more mainstream games such as The Witcher III, while admittedly easy, has a trophy for playing through it on the highest difficulty. 

 

 

Yes, gaming is becoming more and more mainstream, and many games are very streamlined and try to offer a great experience, not a challenging one, and that is reflected in their trophy lists. I mean look at what happens when challenging lists are put out... "This is so unfair" or "I can't get this trophy, what were the devs thinking!" or worse... "Can I cheese this?", "Does this and that glitch still work?"... Or the very worst: "Sekiro needs an easy mode".

 

As a recent example, take Darksiders III. There is a trophy for playing that game on Apocalyptic, the highest difficulty setting. Even then, it is really, really easy, yet one of the first threads about that game is something like "YOU DON'T NEED TO PLAY ON APOCALYPTIC", and many players have been using a glitch to play on Easy and get all difficulty-related trophies, even downgrading their game to be able to use that exploit. 

You see that more and more often. Most players don't wanna be challenged. And many trophy hunters don't wanna be challenged either, they wanna inflate their trophy count with as little effort as possible. 

 

But there will always be challenging games, you just need to look for them. What games you play is up to you. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Arcesius

[scemopagliaccioh]

Yes, it's something I definitely noticed during this gen. It's not always connected to the online or lack thereof but it has  its part for sure. As gaming becomes less physical and more digital (for example I only have three physical ps4 games, when the previous gen most of my stuff was physical, since ps3 store lacks a good deal of digital titles) developers are less likely to add trophies that avoid for someone to sell the game used after completion like they did in the past with 10,000 kills trophies, connect 6 months later in Crysis 2 etc, though you still  have some scumbags like the devs. of Dragonball Fighterz,  but it goes beyond online, I remember a Square Enix interview talking exactly how back in the ps2 gen games they made were overly long and cryptic, and how things have changed now, and if you look at Final Fantasy 15 to previous entries you see the difference,  or even Bloodborne,  much more straightforward than Demon's Souls. Games seem to have taken a shift with them being more "accessible" and shorter, as the medium needs to account the increase of people interested (and the money they give in).

Edited September 19, 2019 by scemopagliaccioh

[Zenpai]

Funny, I only lost my 100% completion rate after I started playing PS4 games ? (Even if I did play Persona 4 Arena Ultimax in the meantime).

 

I think developers just realized what kind of trophies were fun and what kind of trophies were just a pain in the ass, so they adjusted accordingly. But that doesn't mean there aren't difficult or even annoying trophies anymore.

[Carol]

I also thought about doing a thread about this!

I feel the same way. I have been playing a lot of AC games this year and the older ones, with the 100% sync requirement, were much more respectful platinums than the more recent ones. 

Trophy hunting became much easier with the PS4. The PS3 and even the Vita have much more demanding trophy lists. Nowadays, most PS4 games that come out have incredibly straightforward platinums, although at least somewhat time-consuming. I miss difficulty-related trophies as part of the main game list. On God of War 2018 this was especially disappointing. The game is great and it would definitely deserve a trophy for finishing it on a higher difficulty setting.

 I can’t explain why this happens, but it’s definitely a trend. Trophy hunting is definitely a more accessible hobby than it was in the past.

I hope TLoU II has a somewhat challenging platinum, with difficulty-related and online trophies, like the first game! I am planning on making it my 175th platinum, if it indeed releases in February!

[ShadeSplit]

I've noticed it as well. Most of my difficult trophies are from the PS3 era or early PS4 era.

[mako-heart]

tl;dr trophy whores & shovel ware = $$$

[fbdbh]

Most PS3 games with "rare" or "uncommon" platinums are not that hard or challenging, at least not intrinsically, but more like because of lack of stable framerate and quality of life features.

 

But yes, I kind of feel it too. Most "rare" or "uncommon" platinums on PS4 are just time consuming (any challenge can be overcome with grinding). I can't find a really nice sweet spot, where the platinum requires a fair deal of skill, a little bit of completionism, but nothing too insane. Something like Uncharted 2 or Resident Evil: Revelations. A chill playthrough on the first weekend + a really intense cleanup on the second (or a really intense playthrough + chill cleanup) is a good formula, but nothing hits it quite right. I used to do this with all Uncharteds and Ratchets, and it was just right.

 

5 minutes ago, mako-heart said:

tl;dr trophy whores & shovel ware = $$$

 

I play shovelware on my Vita because there's nothing else at the moment that I can play for 5-10 minutes while commuting that yields rewards in a reasonable timeframe. When I have a longer commute, I work on my longer Vita games, but I just can't find anything meaningful and straightforward (no missables / looking at a walkthrough when playing a handheld is just meh).

Edited September 19, 2019 by fbdbh

[mako-heart]

8 minutes ago, fbdbh said:

 

 

 

I play shovelware on my Vita because there's nothing else at the moment that I can play for 5-10 minutes while commuting that yields rewards in a reasonable timeframe. When I have a longer commute, I work on my longer Vita games, but I just can't find anything meaningful and straightforward (no missables / looking at a walkthrough when playing a handheld is just meh).

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that tracking on newer games is shit versus older games. Esp since Sly wasn't updating anyone for awhile or wtfever?

 

RIP my baby Vita Q_Q

[fbdbh]

1 minute ago, mako-heart said:

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that tracking on newer games is shit versus older games. Esp since Sly wasn't updating anyone for awhile or wtfever?

 

RIP my baby Vita Q_Q

 

Didn't experience anything like this, although there are some weird trophy popping glitches (like popping twice or popping but then disappearing from my list). I still have a great deal of games to play on Vita, but it's not a very good platform, with loading times and framerate being sometimes ridiculous on third party games (that I'd enjoy), some of them even drain the battery in an hour, while others last for 4, etc. 

[neospoon]

It is kind of noticable. It's been mentioned before, gaming is reaching a bigger audience nowadays, so maybe developers try to keep everybody happy by lowering difficulty. That might be a reason why new game+ on a higher difficulty is part of DLC nowadays, which used to be part of the main list with older games on PS3. Ofcourse there's still new games that have that from launch. Maybe difficulty has also to do with originality? Which I feel is less present on current gen than on previous generations.

 

I also feel that as soon as games are labelled as too hard there's enough people complaining and demanding change from the developers end. Happened a couple of times. Think of Killzone Shadowfall and more recently Crash Bandicoot. 

I don't mind harder games and trophies from time to time. I complain about them to my friends, but never have I felt privileged to complain towards developers to change stuff. But that might be something for a different topic.

[SukkarPunch]

 

I have noticed this trend in some of the recent PS4 instalments from my favourite franchises (Dead or Alive, Mirror's Edge, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, for example). However, as a previous poster said, if hard trophies are what you primarily play for, then they are out there, it's just a matter of finding them.

 

Another angle to consider is that platinum 'difficulty' is entirely subjective. If you are playing a game that is considered by the majority to be of a high difficulty solely because you want the bragging rights for that platinum, then you are going to have a much harder and more frustrating time trying to obtain that platinum than someone that genuinely enjoys everything that makes that game what it is.

Edited September 19, 2019 by SukkarPunch

[RedDevil757]

Games are getting easier. People also avoid games with a hard plat or none at all.

Edited September 19, 2019 by RedDevil757

[GraniteSnake]

Definitely seems to be the case. I’ve recently noticed this with Metro: Last Light Redux. It’s PS3 counterpart seems like a much more challenging platinum, with a trophy for beating it on the hardest (maybe second hardest?) difficulty, as well as going through the entire campaign without killing another human unless forced to. The PS4 version tasks you instead with obtaining both good and bad endings, which you can both do on Normal difficulty which provides next to no challenge. I’ve already added the PS3 version to my wishlist on psprices.

 

It’s not always a bad thing though. Take a look at one of your examples, inFamous. The original had 250 blast shards to collect, which require you to meticulously follow a collectible map while ticking off each one as you go to ensure you don’t mess up. Fast forward to Second Son and collectables are marked on the mini-map and ticked off as you go. For me this is a welcome change.

 

Intersting topic for sure.

[karpathoulas667]

I couldn't agree more. I have had the same thoughts for quite some time. The reasons for this are pretty simple. Just look on the Wolfenstein games. In this site 195.000 own the first game (New Order). It has a pretty easy plat (6/10, 20 hours). On the other hand, The New Colossus which is a better game than the first, only has 65.000 owners. That's 1/3 of the original one. The only reason i see for this happening is that trophy hunters avoided that game because they couldnt get the platinum! Even me! (although I will platinum it, its on my to do list). So why would a company put a hard trophy to give to die-hard fans a challenge and have sth to boast about, and have 130.000 less sales (that is 130.000 * 30 euros average price = 3900000)? Just for a stupid trophy? It doesnt make sense. So, they make easy trophylists with around 50 hours to achieve the plat, because 100+ hour plats will also make the trophy hunters reluctant.

Edited September 19, 2019 by karpathoulas667

[Baker]

The hardest platinums or 100% are on PS4. I feel the difficulty of AAA games on PS4 is about the same as it was on PS3. So that means gaming has gotten harder? (I’m just ignoring the EZPZ trash that’s out there)