Getting the Platinum diminished my enjoyment of Detroit: Become Human

[DarthMagnus0605]

Whenever I finish a platinum in a game I usually do two things. The first is a jump up in my chair screaming "YESSS!!". The second is to reflect on how getting the platinum affected my experience with the game. Sometimes my appreciation of the game goes way up and it can make a good game feel great (i.e. Infamous Second Son) or a great game feel even greater (i.e. Resident Evil 2). However, every now and again the chase for the platinum, while fun, can diminish my enjoyment of the game and Detroit: Become Human was one of those times. Now don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved this game. I think next to Indigo Prophecy this might be my favorite David Cage game yet. The characters, the story, the emotions i felt along the way, the revelations were all extremely satisfying. In fact I turned off the trophy notifications my first time through because I wanted to appreciate this game for what it was. However, the chase for the Platinum diminished my enjoyment of the game. I was now forced to make decisions for characters that I felt was incongruous with the story and motivations I had built up for them. My Markus is more MLK than Malcom X. My Conner wants to have a bromance with Hank not be cold to him. My Kara does make it. Forcing my characters to do things I didn't want them to do sucked and in some ways took away from the experience I had the first time playing it. I still am glad I got the Platinum but it came with a cost.

 

Did anyone feel the same as me? What games did you feel you would have enjoyed more if you were not chasing after the Platinum?

 

 

[communistwookiee]

As long as you did your first playthrough following your own moral values and choices, nothing should take that away from you. I tried to look at the required choices as a validation of why I did what I did.

[Helyx]

I felt the same way about Heavy Rain. The more I played it, the more I hated it.

[DaikichiKawachi]

This applies to Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls too. The platinum's suck the fun out of otherwise great games.

[AGuyCalledRoy]

Personally I enjoyed finding out the alternate routes for each character and seeing how different choices affected the rest of the story. It was quite a satisfying platinum for me to get, as I got to see every possible permutation of the story.

[SGRevan]

45 minutes ago, communistwookiee said:

As long as you did your first playthrough following your own moral values and choices, nothing should take that away from you.

^This

[Dr_Mayus]

I said the same thing. 

 

It is why I wish Cage would do the telltale thing where you get the platinum for beating the game that way you play it your way without worrying "did i screw something up".

[PlayerWhiteMage]

Didn't David Cage even say his games weren't meant to be played more than once? 

 

Honestly a lot of games lose the enjoyment when going for the platinum, it just depends on the person. Some love replying Detroit while others don't, some people love replying Resident Evil 2 while others hate it, it all comes down to personal preference and just how much you personally enjoy it. It also doesn't help that its a story game and you know what will happen without being able to skip/speed things up, at least other games you can rush things. 

[RevengeancePrime]

I felt my enjoyment for Beyond Two Souls diminish, but not because I was forced to make alternate choices for the platinum, but rather because it became tedious to play through the game so many times with changes that weren't really worth sitting through. This is what has put me off from wanting to revisit Heavy Rain or Detroit. While I enjoyed both games, I think subsequent playthroughs with guided choices will diminish my enjoyment for these games.

[Astray404]

I think the most issues I had when I played those QD games are horrible controls (press R2 to walk) and stupid cameras. Even if those stories are attractive, the gameplay would ruin my experiences and prevent me from doing multiple playthroughs.

[JEDLander]

I'd say around 40% of the Platinums I do have some kind of negative impact the game.

Story games are the worst: going back to make disingenuous choices, often having to do far more runs than you want to. Not good.

Then you've got games like Monster Hunter that ask you, with a straight face, how much you'd love to spend about 500 hours (not hyperbole) grinding bleak RNG trophies. That diminishes the enjoyment of the process.

Collectibles suck dick 9 times out of 10.

Those trophies that are like 'Kill an enemy with a handgun, then your fist, then a car, then mean language, while eating toast, on a Sunday, 5 times'. They're pretty shit.

[Arcesius]

8 hours ago, DarthMagnus0605 said:

 However, the chase for the Platinum diminished my enjoyment of the game. I was now forced to make decisions for characters that I felt was incongruous with the story and motivations I had built up for them. My Markus is more MLK than Malcom X. My Conner wants to have a bromance with Hank not be cold to him. My Kara does make it. Forcing my characters to do things I didn't want them to do sucked and in some ways took away from the experience I had the first time playing it. I still am glad I got the Platinum but it came with a cost.

 

Did anyone feel the same as me? What games did you feel you would have enjoyed more if you were not chasing after the Platinum?

 

I agree, and I also don't. I know exactly what you mean... I did a first blind playthrough without looking at the trophy list and got "SURVIVORS" at the end, so you can imagine what kind of choices I made naturally ? Then of course I needed to do a violent playthrough and make choices I wouldn't have otherwise. And while I "hated" having to make these choices, I also appreciated seeing the story develop in a completely different way. In the end, getting the plat didn't have a negative impact on my appreciation for this game, even though my first blind playthrough was of course the most impactful one. 

 

 

There is one game on my list that I liked at first, and I ended up hating after getting the platinum, and that's The Last Guardian. My first playthrough was pretty enjoyable, then I had a look at the trophy list. Combat-related trophies in a game without combat, a speedun trophy in a game where Trico can be entirely uncooperative, a no-death trophy in a game where the camera can easily kill you, and the WORST collectables I've ever seen in a game: The 95 hints, all of which trigger if you play the game like a 2-year old and get stuck on purpose in a really easy game. Fuck that. 

 

 

[DarthMagnus0605]

On 1/9/2020 at 4:21 PM, JEDLander said:

I'd say around 40% of the Platinums I do have some kind of negative impact the game.

Story games are the worst: going back to make disingenuous choices, often having to do far more runs than you want to. Not good.

Then you've got games like Monster Hunter that ask you, with a straight face, how much you'd love to spend about 500 hours (not hyperbole) grinding bleak RNG trophies. That diminishes the enjoyment of the process.

Collectibles suck dick 9 times out of 10.

Those trophies that are like 'Kill an enemy with a handgun, then your fist, then a car, then mean language, while eating toast, on a Sunday, 5 times'. They're pretty shit.

I agree and it is a big reason why I don't like to play games just for the sake of the platinum. I don't have as much time to play games now as I used to and as my family expands that time will only go down. Value proposition is important to me not only in what games I play but what platinums I chase. I want the chase for the Platinum to be one that gives me a greater appreciation for the game and the hard work that goes into making it and maybe I've been lucky but I feel like most of the games I platinum have given me that. I agree that the "collectible" ones suck but my way around that is that I just turn the volume down and catch up on my podcasts while I do so

[NieSwiety]

Because I don't want to play this game twice (story games are tedious to repeat), for platinum I need to play with a guide. But with guide this game isn't a fun experience, so I rarely play it. This sux

[Metal]

On 10/01/2020 at 0:03 AM, LucileRosethorn said:

Didn't David Cage even say his games weren't meant to be played more than once? 

 

Honestly a lot of games lose the enjoyment when going for the platinum, it just depends on the person. Some love replying Detroit while others don't, some people love replying Resident Evil 2 while others hate it, it all comes down to personal preference and just how much you personally enjoy it. It also doesn't help that its a story game and you know what will happen without being able to skip/speed things up, at least other games you can rush things. 

 

I haven't played Detroit but I can relate to what you're saying. I feel as though some games requiring multiple play throughs for the completion, work better than others. For example, games that are more gameplay focused (From Software games fit this pretty well imo) are quite fun to beat multiple times, as opposed to predominantly story driven experiences like Detroit and similar. My guess is that a lot of developers out there aren't trophy hunters, so I'm not sure how much thought gets put into the trophy list. Some games have a list that compliment the experience quite nicely. Others feel like a total miss match. 

[DarthMagnus0605]

On 1/20/2020 at 11:41 AM, FierceMetal said:

 

I haven't played Detroit but I can relate to what you're saying. I feel as though some games requiring multiple play throughs for the completion, work better than others. For example, games that are more gameplay focused (From Software games fit this pretty well imo) are quite fun to beat multiple times, as opposed to predominantly story driven experiences like Detroit and similar. My guess is that a lot of developers out there aren't trophy hunters, so I'm not sure how much thought gets put into the trophy list. Some games have a list that compliment the experience quite nicely. Others feel like a total miss match. 

 

I totally agree. I think being a trophy hunter allows us to have a different perspective on the game. I think it is hard for story based games to have meaningful trophies that compliment the core experience. Either they are too easy like The Walking Dead and feel meaningless or they force you to play the game in a way you wouldn't otherwise do like in the case of Detroit. I will say that although getting the platinum diminished my enjoyment of the game I do appreciate that they at least tried to have a trophy chase that was more than just "beat the game"

[Spacey_Dweeb]

I often feel this way in this type of game. e.g. Most TellTale Games, Until Dawn, Man of Medan, Detroit, etc. It can be interesting to see how else things could have gone.However, they usually reveal too much about how the sausage is made and which decisions didn't actually matter and how you'd be forced down a certain path anyway. So the extra playthroughs required end up making me appreciate the initial journey much less. 

[PhantomFear94]

Each to their own. For me, the Platinum was very enjoyable as it showecased Detroit's greatest strength - decisions genuinly matter, and the game can completely changed based on your choices. I feel its more authentic in this than most games.

 

Detroit is one of the most underrated games of the generation IMO. Admittedly, I loved Heavy Rain too, but this is even better. It's considered a good game by most, and reviewed decently, but was a GOTY contender for me and to me is an elite experience with few flaws. I think its the best PS4 exclusive not named God of War. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by PhantomFear94

[JayDeLosDioses]

I've played the story 3 times on my way to the plat, but my blind run is the most memorable one.

Spoiler

I didn't get Survivors because:

Simon died after the broadcast. Shooting the guy who runs away felt wrong.

Luther never reached Canada because I took the long way around the control and missed the bus. I've tried that boat trip so many times but I don't think there's a way to save him.

At least Connor and Hank had a happy end.

 

But as @PhantomFear94 said, the trophies reflected what is DBH by far biggest strength, the decisions you make.

And unlike Until Dawn (appart from TellTale games it's the only decision based game I've played) the early game decisions you make do matter.

You can do whatever you want with Sam and Mike for 99% of Until Dawn, it doesn't matter how bad you played them, until you've reached the final scene, that's the only place they can die afaik.

 

[majob]

I enjoyed playing multiple times, if only to see how different actions impacted the story. My Terminator Conner run was my personal favorite because there's nothing more awesome than a determined cyborg killing everything and anything in its way in order to fulfill its mission.

[gepap13s]

I know i am pretty late to the party but this discussion is very interesting. I wasn't a trophy hunter up until this year. Honestly i didn't even know that many people were hunting platinums and 100% completions.(i had 4 different profiles because i didn't see the point on having just one and i have forgotten the passwords for all of them expect this one lol).  So i had been in all the sides of the spectrum. 1)just playing a game 2)playing a game to earn the plat 3)playing a game to 100% 4)playing a bad just to earn a plat 5)not playing a great game because the plat it's almost impossible.

 

Now that i am trophy hunting i see some things differently about games because now to evaluate a game i also think about the plat and if it's obtainable. I hate multiple playthroughs especially when the game askes you to play again and again without changing anything other than the diffuculty (DEVIL MAY CRY 6 PLAYTHROUGHTS,old Metal gear games etc). However when playing a game even before i felt in love with trophies i always wanted to see everything the game has to offer.

Detroit become human it's not the same game if you choose to see the alternate roots.Even though some choices seem forced on you just to get the plat i see it differently. The game forces you to see everything it has to offer and that's a good thing for me. Heavy Rain came out at the start of the trophy frenzy and the trophies were all over the place.You had to play at least 2 times (if you were lucky) and chapter select around 10 times to do everything right.You had the play with the kids glitched trophy and you had to play the JAYSON JAYSON JAYSON mall thing again and again. Quantic Dream have been improving on every aspect of their games storywise and trophywise but that's just my personal opinion 

[audiopile]

I enjoyed playing all of Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls and Detroit Become Human. Very much actually. 

 

Getting the plats was not as fun, tedious at times. Even though I have the PS4 versions of HR and B:2S I will not be replaying them for plats due to the lack of enjoyment. Conversely, I platted  Tomb Raider, Bioshock, TLoU, and several others multiple times because I did enjoy getting those plats the first time.

[jadenofshadows]

Detroit is actually the first QD game I managed to finish because I was at least a bit invested in the characters. It still has some ankward controls, but they're not as terrible as previous games. Playing through it the first time was an enjoyable experience. Right after that, for the second playthrough I've pretty much shut down my brain. 

[nuta1]

I find playing any game multipul times for a plat ruins the enjoyment of the game.

[anotherfangirl]

For me it was the complete opposite. I loved trying out alternative routes for all the characters and choosing things I normally wouldn't choose. It was interesting to see how my new choices affected the characters. I love the game and I loved the platinum trophy and I'd do it all over again ?