The Platinum that Broke Me

[GhostWolves]

On 4/24/2020 at 6:01 AM, surtech5 said:

 

TL;DR

This game, though I enjoyed myself with the main campaign, has many challenges created for the sole purpose of stretching out the time spent in game rather than actually embracing the more advanced mechanics the game has to offer. On the Hard difficulty, the game removes and heavily taxes many aspects of the combat, funneling you into set patterns and borderline requiring you to play with as little creativity as possible.

Though this game is not the most grindy (not even close), not the most difficult, and certainly not the worst made platinum, the combination of the three problems, at this specific point of my life, finally made me rethink my approach to gaming. Sort of like the straw the broke the camels back.

From now on I will be focusing entirely on the personal enjoyment, and not treating gaming like it's my job... That is the takeaway.

 

 

 

Don't want to get too into the hard mode argument. I loved hard mode. I feel like you really didn't understand how things worked, as you said all you do is spam attack and triple slash when there are lots of materia combos (enemy skill + mp absorb) and abilities (aerith's magic shield)  that aren't needed in normal but come alive on hard. You claim the game forces you to play a certain way but it kind of does the opposite. You weren't experimenting and were just getting frustrated "your way" wasn't working.

 

Anyway, for your overall take: trophies represent whatever they represent. Sometimes they represent skill, sometimes luck/RNG, sometimes a grind, sometimes that you beat a game and sometimes absolutely nothing. They are there to show proof that you did something. They were originally made, when the Xbox 360 came out, to challenge the player like you said. There were no easy 1000s back when it first came out. As time went on and developers were forced to put them in their games, they started to get more creative.

 

They do feel like jobs. It's kind of the point. You're completing a task you usually don't really want to do. They aren't mandatory and nobody here really cares if you stop going for them. We are here to help each other, but we all know it's meaningless. Playing games is meaningless as well. You only got one life. If you don't want to waste it chasing trophies, right on. 20 years from now who knows if they'll even still exist. 

 

I like them because I can look back on a game and say "I completed that" and that's something that I can say I did for the rest of my life. It's a good feeling, but I don't put a ton of stock into them. I switched from Xbox to PS4 this gen and left behind a lot of 1000s i spent a TON of time on, but I don't mind. I know I got them and that's all that matters.

 

Try playing stuff on the Switch, which has no trophies, and see how it feels.

[JPageMartin36]

5 hours ago, enaysoft said:

definitely a good idea to leave Tida out of this battle.

 

Is that Tide and Tifa's secret love child?

[JagKenobi]

Back in the PS3 days, I only earned Platinums on games I really enjoyed and not just because they were available or easy. Life became a lot more stressful for me personally over the last three years, so I picked up a lot more games on my PS4 and tried earning the Platinum on every single one.

 

FF7R is a perfect example of my desire to go back to my Platinum/trophy philosophy from the PS3 days. Do I love FF7? YES. Do I love FF7R? Yes, I do. Do I want to subject myself to this Hard Mode for a Platinum trophy? Not really, no. Especially not after everything I've heard. I'll dabble in it to get my weapons to max level and attempt taking down Malboro and Pride and Joy, but I don't want to start hating the game. I never played Crisis Core on Hard for the same exact reason. 

 

Point is, some people will go for the Platinum because it's another Platinum, or because they really enjoyed the game and that's enough of a reason for them. It's not that I don't love the game enough; it's that I don't think the Platinum in this case is worth all the potential stress and frustration. When you start feeling like a Platinum is going to be too much work or too unfair or too time-consuming or too whatever - anything at all, that's when it is 100% okay to step away and count whatever % you're at as "the Platinum" for that game. I have MotorStorm Pacific Rift at 63%, but I worked my butt off for that percentage. At the end of the day, games are meant to be played for fun. Even if you don't earn the Platinum for a game, it doesn't mean you didn't enjoy it / that you don't love it / that you're less of a gamer for not earning it. You do you. 

 

I'm going to earn my 91% in FF7R with pride.

[xxdmcgee2288xx]

21 hours ago, S-A-U-S-I said:

It never made sense why almost every guide out there recommended Ice + Elemental for the Pride and Joy challenge. Shiva is the first battle and the second easiest of them all, but most people go looking for help online and unless they dig a little deeper they see the same advice everywhere. I guess it's part of the race to release the fastest guide, but some things should be updated

I did ice+ele because it was rec to the general public on a guide and because I ran through Ifrit in less than 5 mins every time he spawned.. mind you.. it took me around 7-8 hours to do it.. but I was still ice+ele on the last run where I was successful.. 

 

I made a slight adjustment.. I’m a huge Barrett fan.. historically, his story with Dyne imho is one of the most touching stories.. I also love NANAKI and Seto (son and father) story.. anyways sorry about sidetrack, I equipped Barrett’s weapon with thunder+ele but clouds armor stayed ice+ele and clouds elemental Materia was almost level (high 2) 3 while Barrett’s weapon elemental Materia was level one. Anyways.. I will get back to the plat later. For now I’m playing other games. 

[surtech5]

I came back to this thread after a few days and... Wow...

 

I feel the biggest problem is that a lot of people, on either side of 'the argument', didn't read the post, or at least went in with a specific idea of what it was and blurred out everything that didn't fit their interpretation. This post was never about the platinum being awful, it was about the platinum, and game, having issues that drove me to realize what I was doing to myself for platinums. How I was, by going after goals set by others, was ruining my own experience. This is why the thread was called "The Platinum That Broke Me" and not  "Why FF7R Sucks".

 

Half the comments are people defending Final Fantasy 7 and trophy collecting as a whole, (half the time submitting evidence of the game's faults and... strongly proving my points while telling me to get good which; well its an experience) while the other talk about how poor the game is and how nobody should enjoy it... In a post about a flawed game I enjoyed. I mean even if the thread WAS about the game itself (which it isn't), coming back to see arguments about who's more adult and 'trophy' sizing contests was... The whole point was to show the lack of meaning behind trophies and how the trophies can negatively affect your view of a game, case in point, everything that followed after the first post.

 

There were some generally constructive comments here. Some I agreed with and others not to much, but at the very least I could understand where the user was coming from and respect their opinions. Beyond that though, the sheer amount of negative comments to me, to people who were negative to me, to people who were negative to people who were negative to me... It's just insane to me. I never wanted a shouting match and I hate that I started one.

 

As such, I will be locking this thread. If you would like to continue a discussion about how horrible or immaculate the game was or how much more of an adult you are than the commenter above you, I invite you to make your own thread about that topic. Thank you to everyone who remained civil, and especially to those who took the post for what it was and added to the intended conversation.