Trophy Bragging Rights

[Kong Wen]

Platinum trophy #74: Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (PS4)

I bounced off this game several times in the past, but I finally gelled with it on this latest attempt. It's a step up from FF1 in terms of storytelling, pretty much on par in terms of dungeon design and world design, and a charming but abortive little experiment in systems design. It's also a chunky little early prototype for FF4, so it sits comfortably between its predecessor and its successors in overall franchise development... which is where we would expect it to sit. A fine Final Fantasy.

Platinum trophy #73: A Little to the Left (PS5)

This was a cozy tidying-up game that I played through to completion late last year after picking it up during the Xmas sales. It had a couple trophies related to daily puzzles, which is why it took so much longer to get the platinum after completing it... but here we are, 100 days later.

[Claytone]

Platinum is Me! Tomba! from Tomba! Special Edition.

Good trophy set that is coterminal with 100% completing the game. I struggled to get into this game in the early going, but it really grew on me, and now I'm quite pleased to have its platinum. I hope to accomplish the same feat with its sequel that is purportedly getting its own Special Edition later this year.

[Kong Wen]

Platinum trophy #75: Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (PS4)

The last time I 100% completed this game was in the 3D remake on the DS, which was overall pretty good and much bulkier/longer (and harder?) than this PR. I spent a lot of time grinding every kid's job (I hesitate to call them "characters") to max level. I didn't max every level this time, but I did everything the platinum trophy required of me, and it was nice to revisit this entry in a form closer to its original.

It doesn't measure up to FF4 in story and character, and it doesn't measure up to FF5 as a vehicle for the job system, but it's a clear iteration on the ideas that came before.

Platinum trophy #74: Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (PS4)

I bounced off this game several times in the past, but I finally gelled with it on this latest attempt. It's a step up from FF1 in terms of storytelling, pretty much on par in terms of dungeon design and world design, and a charming but abortive little experiment in systems design. It's also a chunky little early prototype for FF4, so it sits comfortably between its predecessor and its successors in overall franchise development... which is where we would expect it to sit. A fine Final Fantasy.

[Kong Wen]

Platinum trophy #76: Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (PS4)

This has got to be the 40th-50th time I've played through this game, which certainly helped me in terms of being able to zip through it in one day this time lol. Excellent entry in the series, top of its class. I enjoyed visiting all my childhood favourite characters and places again.

Platinum trophy #75: Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (PS4)

The last time I 100% completed this game was in the 3D remake on the DS, which was overall pretty good and much bulkier/longer (and harder?) than this PR. I spent a lot of time grinding every kid's job (I hesitate to call them "characters") to max level. I didn't max every level this time, but I did everything the platinum trophy required of me, and it was nice to revisit this entry in a form closer to its original.

It doesn't measure up to FF4 in story and character, and it doesn't measure up to FF5 as a vehicle for the job system, but it's a clear iteration on the ideas that came before.

[Kong Wen]

Platinum trophy #77: Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster (PS4)

Since this was only my third time beating FF5, I decided to go apeshit completionist and get & max everything. That's probably what made this seem longer than I remembered. Fun game that definitely has a lot of elements that bridge FF4 and FF6... but it's tough to measure up to both of those.

Platinum trophy #76: Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (PS4)

This has got to be the 40th-50th time I've played through this game, which certainly helped me in terms of being able to zip through it in one day this time lol. Excellent entry in the series, top of its class. I enjoyed visiting all my childhood favourite characters and places again.

[Claytone]

Platinum is It can't be for nothing from The Last of Us Part I.

Nice trophy set that required getting all the collectibles and of course finishing the game (and its DLC chapter Left Behind). This is the first time I've made heavy use of the "Game Hints" feature of the PS5, which allowed me to clean up all the collectibles I missed without having to pull up any external guides or anything. Pretty nifty!

This was my first time playing through any version of the critically-acclaimed The Last of Us. As anticipated, I thought it was solid but perhaps fell short of its reputation as an exceptional, generation-defining experience. Still, it was good enough for me to go ahead and purchase Part II, so maybe I'll have that plat to post about sometime in the future!

[Claytone]

Platinum is Champion Of The Diamond! from MLB The Show 24.

This was a super easy ~5hr platinum—a far cry from the previous years, which generally required you to devote your life to them. This is another bit of evidence supporting my belief that Sony has intentionally moved toward easier trophy sets for their first-party titles. For comparison, I put over 30 hours into MLB The Show 20 and did not even come close to earning its platinum.

I obviously don't mind having a new platinum for the collection, but this stark reversal in difficulty may have been a bit of an overcorrection IMO. All trophies are obtainable in quick play/exhibition mode, which seems rather in disservice of its primary single-player modes like Road to the Show, Diamond Dynasty, and Storylines. Previous titles required rather deep play into the former two modes especially. Personally, I don't mind not having to delve into Diamond Dynasty, which is the microtransaction-driven superteam-building mode, but the Storylines mode is a genuinely quite cool pair of interactive documentaries, one highlighting Negro League greats and the other the career of Derek Jeter. Doesn't seem crazy to me to at least dangle a trophy-shaped carrot over the completion of those!

But whatever! Glad to finally have a platinum to show for my hours of service spent with the series of baseball sims. My only real regret is that I didn't get it as my 44th platinum in honor of the great Henry Aaron!

[Claytone]

Platinum is Ninja Master from Ninja Five-O.

Although the trophies are awarded on a more granular basis, all you have to do to get this platinum is beat the game on Hard difficulty (you will get the rest en route). Unfortunately, this is one of those games that requires you to first clear Normal mode before you can do that. Maybe for the best, as Normal is tough enough as it is, and Hard is a decent step up. There were a couple bugged trophies, but nothing that didn't ultimately unlock on my Hard playthrough.

This is a fun little game by Hudson and a nice diversion from the more famous video game ninjas. Glad to have snagged a disc copy of this re-release at a much cheaper cost than the original GBA cart.

Edit: I also noticed that my earning of the platinum caused the platinum get rate to jump almost 2%. Guess this game isn't exactly in high demand lol (or at least not the PS4 version).

[Kong Wen]

Edit: I also noticed that my earning of the platinum caused the platinum get rate to jump almost 2%. Guess this game isn't exactly in high demand lol (or at least not the PS4 version).

Game is in high demand, but none of the demanders are good enough to get the demanding platinum.

[Kong Wen]

I don't think I'm going to include this in my beat games tally, and it's not a platinum, but this is still the place to mention it:

The DLC packs for A Little to the Left went on sale, so I picked them up and brought my trophy % for the game back up to 100%. Fun chill little organizational puzzles.