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What a platinum trophy should look like |
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Dude, I just keep dying! |
Platinum Name: Toughest Soul Trophy (aptly named)
I tackled Demon's Souls (also know as Demon Souls, Demon's Soul, and fuckshitcockballs) many months after its release, hesitant over the famed difficulty it boasted and waiting until the wiki was robust enough that any question I had could be answered. Some might see this as being cheap, but whatever, it's freaking Demon's Souls, chill your balls. While definitely hard, I actually found most of the levels fairly tolerable with some patience. Most of the challenges were more unforgiving than hard, in my opinion, which really prompted me to take my time with each area to insure I limited the amount of times I had to chuck my controller against the wall.
To gain enough boss souls to net the platinum, you need to play through the story about 3.5 times and, unlike 99.9% of games with a new game+ mode, things actually get harder when starting over with your character. I found several strategies I used against bosses suddenly ineffective and trying to get through level 5-1, the Defilement of my ass, became one of the darkest periods of my life. I cannot count the amount of times I got knocked off the cliff towards the end, forcing you start the board again. Never before had I ever gotten so close to rage quitting before in my life.
But after a shit-ton of hours and lots of frustration, I rose above like a nerd rising from the ashes of something nerdy! Now to just muster enough courage to start Dark Souls...
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Merry Christmas, bitches! From the 1%! |
Platinum Name: War Hero (ballin!)
I like shooters, but would never consider myself a shooter guy per say because my tolerance for multiplayer is somewhat limited, which is basically the backbone of the FPS genre. Sure, it's fun mowing down kids and hearing everyone call each other gay and fag, but I feel like I would rather play something new rather than the same thing over and over and over again. Nonetheless, Killzone 2 was the first multiplayer mode since the N64 era that I ate up with a spoon. Combined with a very solid campaign, Killzone 2 hinted at the potential the franchise had before Killzone 3 dropped its turd on our face (ok, that was harsh, but it just wasn't as good).
The two biggest hurdles to this platinum are beating the game on the hardest difficulty and getting within the top 1% in the weekly leaderboards. The first was probably one of the most grueling hard runs I ever had to do. You needed to have you shit together because, if you to a second to scratch you face or respond to something happening in reality, prepare to suck some lead. The Helghast attack with poise and relentlessness and each board felt like you were just scrapping by (in a good way). The final knife battle was probably the only real frustrating part,needing more luck than skill to survive, but thanks to the checkpoint system, beating the campaign on the hardest difficulty was hard, but by no means unfair.
When I first saw the 1% trophy, I originally just decided on passing on this platinum. But after getting the hang of the multiplayer and seeing that I wasn't a slouch, I waited until I had a break from work and dedicated a week to playing Killzone and Killzone alone. All day. Like a BOSS! The hardest part wasn't netting alot of points, since I usually placed in the top 3 in kills every round, but playing...so...much...Killzone. Whenever I left the dark cave that was my basement to rejoin society, I would see that people would pass me by the boat load on the leaderboards so on I had to keep playing, even when it became more of a chore than fun. I decided to take a break on the weekend which ofcourse was a 1.5 XP weekend, so that plan went out the window fairly quickly for fear of falling out of the 1% and wasting all the hours committed. It was by far the most I ever played of a single game in such a small time period but, looking back, it was definitely worth it when I heard that chime on Sunday night.
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Ohhh, it makes colorful holes. |
Platinum Name: Portal 2 Platinum Trophy (probably least clever thing in the game)
Portal 2's platinum wasn't that hard to get, but makes this list simply because it was one of the funnest plats to earn. I'm starting to just really get into the bulk of Skyrim and still have Uncharted 3 to play, but Portal 2 stands as my game to beat as of now still for game of the year. It was one of the few times I wasn't sick of a game by the time I finished up all the trophies, which definitely speaks to its quality and Valve's understanding that there's no need to be cheap by sucking time out of your life for no reason (ahem Arkam City).
The road to the trophy is fairly straight forward, asking you to beat the story and co-op campaigns for the bulk of the metal. While the story was a blast, I had suuuuuuch a good time playing through the co-op with my cousin, each of use putting our heads together to try and figure out how to proceed. What made it all so great was, while challenging, none of the puzzles felt beyond comprehending. And when we finally did figure out what to do, satisfaction followed the a ha's! and we walked away feeling smarter, which is a reward in itself.
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Crotch targeting FTW |
Platinum Name: Platinum Trophy (laaaame)
It took me some time (and some trophy motivation) to get into Fallout 3, despite the heaps of praise lopped onto it. After an unsuccessful romp with it on the PC, I finally found my stride with the game of the year edition on PS3 and never looked back. The sense of freedom is palpable and, from the moment you shoot out of your mom's vag in the vault, the world immerses you. New Vegas was a solid follow up (after the bugs were patched) but I still think I enjoyed Fallout 3 more simply for the newness factor and more apocalypse/less western feel.
Besides the "getting to level x with y alignment" trophies(which is easy to get around with multiple saves and a little heads-up) none of the trophies were annoying to get, which was refreshing. It's fun sometimes when trophies require you to change the way you play the game, but it's also somewhat relaxing knowing you can just play the freaking game and not have to worry about missing anything. Although I think Skyrim will eventually it's place as my favorite Bethesda game, Fallout 3 will always hold a soft spot in my heart. And ditto for its platinum.
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Note to self: don't get caught smuggling |
Platinum Name: PLATINUM TROPHY (I LUV CAPS)
Like Portal 2, Bioshock's plat finds its way into my top 5 simply because it's the shit and had no trophies that felt were an unnecessary time suck to get. Besides beating the game on the hardest difficulty, which is not easy but by no means a struggle, you can just enjoy the experience Rapture offers without having so sweat your balls off trying to do something idiotic that you wouldn't normally do that trophies sometimes like to require, like beat the whole thing with just the wrench while standing on one leg. Again, I appreciate when earning some trophies require you to step out of your comfort zone at times and think of new ways to attack challenges, but far too often I feel like developers simply just make things harder for difficulty sake. It would be one thing if I needed the ego boost, but I don't, let me just enjoy the freaking game. And when it's a game like Bioshock, there's alot to enjoy.
So there are my top 5 platinums. But like the Force, there's a light side...and a dark side. Coming soon: 5 platinums that suck and weren't worth it.
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