Confessions of a Trophy Whore
It’s rare that I can write about a (relatively) new aspect of modern gaming without that ever-familiar rage setting in. Quite often modern gaming makes me so angry, I’ll be sitting at the computer with sweaty palms, grinding my teeth down to little dentine stubs. I actually thump out most articles using clenched fists: hammering down on my innocent little keyboard. It’s not the keyboard’s fault. Why do I do it? I guess I’m just an angry man. How refreshing it is then to be able to profess my love for something as innocuous as trophies (I’m a PS3 gamer).
That’s right ladies and gentleman; I am a self-confessed trophy whore and damned proud of it.
I should preface the following doting ramble by saying that there are certain trophies I am very much opposed to. Notably: decidedly average games with less than desirable competitive online achievements. Take for example ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’, the film was average at best and for the most part the game follows suit. But beware, this is a title that harks back to a time where games didn’t have to be brilliantly delivered, dazzlingly polished, Oscar worthy gems in the sparkling crown of gaming. Instead, ‘Transformers’ opts for fun and frolics over highly-polished bollocks.
Warning – this game isn’t great but it is fun!
Anyway back to my point, the game’s offline trophies are fairly standard. Basically achieving a bronze requires you to be able to finish several of the levels, whilst the silvers require a near superhuman ability to accomplish mission objectives in the shortest time possible throughout the whole game. You don’t want to know how good you have to be to get gold… Online is a different story. These trophies encourage you to win on every map as every character in every mode (a mind boggling amount of game-time), or reach the dizzying heights of being in the top 1000 gamers to have played the game (a feat I imagine is a lot easier as a PS3 gamer, as there are far fewer of us).
I told you it was a real trophy
Now this wouldn’t be so bad if the online play were more enjoyable, but the offline glitches that made you smile and think ‘they probably should have caught that in QA’ are somewhat exacerbated when you take the game online. Continually crashing into buildings as you attempt to transform into vehicle mode is frustrating, and obstructs my ascent to the upper echelons of the leaderboard.
Everybody seems to hate the trophies, and especially people that strive to achieve them. So many forums call for physical violence against us trophy whores for constantly trying to enlarge the size of our ‘e-peen’ (an allusion to an Electronic Penis – this has nothing to do with pornography). I resent the implication that simply because I want to uncover everything a game has to offer I am somehow inflating my gaming ego so that everyone I know can marvel at my greatness. In any case, my friends are all poor and can’t afford PS3s, so my gamer score only impresses myself and the several random people on the street I boast to/shout at.
This guy probably has a massive gamerscore
Modern gaming shouldn’t be about derision and disdain just because someone is slightly different from the norm. I can see a future where the trophy whores, hardcore and casual gamers can all play together on the newest first person shooters… The hardcore gamers eliminating everyone on the battlefield as they employ SAS tactics they’ve learnt from reading too many Andy McNab books. Casual gamers strafing from side-to-side with gun pointed at the ground; and us lowly trophy whores hiding in a corner, trying to achieve some outrageous timed survival trophy.
I must confess, I was never really bothered about trophies, but since I got Uncharted 2, I’ve decided to go for my first platinum. I’m about half-a-dozen trophies away from it and I think I will be paying alot more attention to trophies in future (and past) games I played. I also became rather obsessed with winning the trophy for getting the title in every weight class in UFC Undisputed. I prefer off-line trophies though. I don’t think devs should place too much emphasis on the online trophies.
My first platinum was inFamous – great game and the trophies aren’t that hard to get. Working on Assassin’s Creed II now… I was hopeful for Transformers but the online makes getting that platinum near impossible!
Trophies are just the PS3 copying the 360 and steam. even warcraft has them. sony were way to slow this gen.
I tilt my hat to you , Sir. I too have become a victim of the PS3 gamer’s oldest profession.
Let me explain why: I (as with most of us gamers) cannot afford to buy all the games I want to play, and so I am able to dedicate a lot of time to the few that I do own. Many games can be completed in 8-10hrs, not all, but many. Reviewers of 3D Dot Game Heroes complained about it’s mere 6-hour campaign, but praised it for the reduced RRP. However, if you take into account the time (and playthroughs) required to get the platinum you’re looking into a sizeable investment of your time. I have 3 playthroughs: 14hrs, 19hrs, and 25hrs respectively just to get that sodding ‘All swords’ trophy…all for £20 mind you
3DDGH & FFXVIII are good examples of why many reviews are unreliable due to the amount of time a reviewer has to play a game before giving a score that will influence millions of people. Platty the f*cker before you give a score dammit! I’m sure many reviewers would like to change some scores now they’ve had a chance to put more time in to certain games – especially with achievements attached.
My point is that trophies can add so much more longevity to a game. The developers add these trophies to allow you appreciate the effort they put into programming the (in some cases pretty cool) game mechanics that a speed-player might miss out on. Once you achieve platinum you can safely say you’ve experienced everything the developers wanted you to see.
However, as you point out, online trophies can screw over a platinum trophy hunter if the online is unplayable for various reasons;
i.e. LittleBigPlanet’s level creator is great, but to get a level ‘hearted’ by a pre-determined number of the community (50?) for the ‘create’ trophy is near impossible now, or being rated in the top x-number of players in a week on KillZone2 are hard to get now that those games are gathering dust on GAME’s pre-owned shelves.
My advice: attempt the online trophies as close to launch as possible to avoid the disappointment.