apex legends

Going for a Platinum Trophy or All the Trophies

Published on March 30, 2019March 24, 2019 by KyraLeave a comment

Your uncle Geekly trophy hunts from time to time, but most of my PS4 trophies must meet certain criteria for me to pursue it. For those of you who don’t know, a PS4 platinum trophy is usually handed out when the player earns every other trophy (or accomplishment if you’re an X-Box player) the game has to offer. Not all games offer a platinum trophy—I’m looking at you, Apex Legends—and for those games I’ll collect all the trophies I can. Also, there are plenty of games that hand out a platinum after an hour or two or in the case of My Name is Mayo thirty minutes, but countless PS4 platinum trophies require work. Lots and lots of hours of grinding.

Like I said, I do trophy hunt at times, so you may see the My Name is Mayo platinum buried in my profile. I’m not proud of it. I sold out to gain a few Playstation levels and make my stats look good. But most of platinum trophies are legit. I promise.

If you’re wondering what My Name is Mayo is, it’s a game where one clicks on a jar of mayonnaise wearing provocative clothing. The jar even dons a leopard print bikini. Again, this isn’t the high point of my gaming trophies, but other game trophies are better. Honest. The following is a list for the more difficult games in which I choose to earn a platinum.

I Have to Like the Game

Okay, this is a duh moment, but if I’m going to invest over a hundred hours to get every trophy a video game needs for a platinum trophy or get all the trophies the game has in its catalogue, I’d better like it. Heck. I better love the game. Skyrim? Sure. Persona 5? Of course. Final Fantasy XV? Yes—I liked it enough to earn the platinum, but it could’ve been better. Fallout 4? Why did I get that one? Nubla? It’s a very good puzzle game with an easy to get platinum, so this may have been another trophy hunter moment—but I don’t care. Where was I? Yes. I must like the game to even think about earning the game’s platinum. Earning a platinum trophy shows your love of the game to the world.

No Online Multiplayer Trophies Needed

I like playing online video games every once and while, but I’m not any good at them and I won’t be able to unlock any online trophies—or at least most of them. As soon as I see that a game that can be played solo has an online component to its platinum trophy, I know I’m not getting the ultimate prize.

I liked the Magic: The Gathering video games from the PS3 but knew I would never get every trophy because I saw that I had to win X number of online matches and place in the top ten during an event. That’s not for me. I unlocked every other ridiculous trophy for those games except for the online ones, and the old Magic games aren’t even the most difficult of the bunch. Anything ultra-competitive like Fortnite, Overwatch, or Apex Legends will yield gold for me at best.

Speaking of gold, I stunk at the N64’s Goldeneye. I like the game. It deserves all the accolades it receives, but you know I’m no good at multiplayer games if I can’t win Goldeneye multiplayer while playing as Oddjob. Sure, Kyle, you can cheat by picking Oddjob. He starts with armor and a weapon (his hat) when no one else begins the game with either and must scrounge the map for both. I still lost consistently.

No Hard Mode Required

There are people in the world who like to be challenged with video games. It’s great if you’re one of them. I’m not—most of the time. I may play a hard mode if a game offers one, but it’s a turnoff for me earning a platinum trophy if I must beat the game on the game’s most difficult setting to unlock it. Did I play PS4’s Spider-Man? Yes. I even played it on the unlockable ultimate difficulty setting, but I don’t like being told to play a certain way in order to earn a platinum trophy.

The Uncharted series is one of my favorites, but as soon as I see that I must finish the game on the most difficult setting, I know I’m not getting the game’s best trophy. Life is hard enough. Why must I play Nightmare Mode or Are You Kidding Me Mode or Ludicrous Mode or Geekly Must Die Mode? I’ll try the more difficult modes, but don’t expect me to do anything.

No Speed Playthroughs

If you’re one of those people who can finish Super Mario Brothers in 2 minutes flat, good for you. You’re awesome and your reflexes are second to none. I’m not one of these people. But my lack of speed playthroughs goes beyond this. I don’t believe Final Fantasy VII has a speed playthrough trophy, but I’ve seen games of its ilk (other JRPGs and western RPGs) offering one for beating the game in under 20-25 hours. If I beat Final Fantasy VII or any game of that type that fast, I feel cheated.

I like to take my time. Give me a world and characters I can lose myself in and I’ll do just that.

A Maximum of 3 Playthroughs

If I can’t get all the trophies in three playthroughs, I’m out. Usually, I don’t like playing a game a third time. Persona 5 took me almost three playthroughs because I missed a minor something during my second play and I considered abandoning the game’s platinum since it would take me a third. After several grunts and groans, I fired up the game for another play and cursed at myself during the next twenty or so hours. I like earning the platinum in a single play whenever possible.

2 Shiny Platinum Trophies for Every Embarrassment

Yes. I own some embarrassing platinums in my PS4 case, but your uncle Geekly strives for 2 platinums I don’t mind displaying for each one I hide behind the rest. I mentioned My Name is Mayo earlier, but I include Telltale Games platinum trophies in this group as well. All one must do to get most Telltale Game platinums is finish the game. That’s too easy. I’ll do it, but your trophy goes in the back row. I want trophies I don’t mind polishing in the front.

After taking a moment of silence for Telltale Games closing their doors late last year—I liked their games despite how easy it was to get their platinum trophies—let us know what criteria you look for when going for a game’s platinum in the comments. Do you even care if you ever earn a platinum? Which platinum trophies do you own?

Video Game Players Only Want Multiplayer Games

Published on March 9, 2019March 3, 2019 by KyraLeave a comment

I’m not sure if this has come up or not in the past several years Uncle Geekly’s been doing this blog, but your uncle dislikes absolutes, so I’m being facetious with this writeup’s title. Okay. Maybe video games and what players want isn’t serious enough of a topic to warrant me calling it facetious, but it’s an important topic for geeks.

Anyway. Any absolute like this title is inherently flawed. One can’t make a blanket statement about a large group of people or things, because there are many exceptions to the norm. The title derives from video game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) insisting that video game fans only want multiplayer experiences, but they’re doing so by saying that players don’t want games with a linear story, and if one looks at their recent track record, EA seldom publishes single-player games with linear stories.

Electronic Arts has been making games for decades. They’ve seen the video game climate change over the course of those years, and the comment EA makes every time they cancel a Star Wars game with a linear story or character driven game in the past decade or so is that players don’t want a single-player experience.

EA’s Patrick Soderlund illustrates the company’s attitude by stating in his blog “Our Visceral Studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe. In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come. We needed to pivot the design.”

Let’s look beyond the fact that some Visceral Studio employees lost their jobs—Soderlund also stated that EA would shift as many Visceral Studio employees over to other projects as they could, which means that they didn’t do that for all their employees—and get to what Soderlund, speaking for EA, is saying. On the surface, it may sound to players as if EA wants to make games that resonate with players and grant players years of replay value but consider the source. Soderlund is a video game executive. He’s talking about monetization and making games that run like a service.

Do you think that I’m making a little bit of a leap there? Maybe, but EA has a long history of making great single-player, linear story games (Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Deep Space). They even have a long history of producing great linear story Star Wars games that are single-player like Knights of the Old Republic and the Jedi Knight series, so EA has plenty of research to suggest the contrary to what Soderlund said. Players do want linear story, character-driven games, especially ones set in the Star Wars universe.

EA’s 2018 release A Way Out reinforces that players want single-player, linear story, character-driven games. A Way Out sold as many copies (200,000 for about $1 million) in one week as EA thought it would sell in the entire fiscal year. The truth is that EA wants players to only want multiplayer games. A single-player linear story game needs to have a finite ending to be satisfying. If that’s the case, players won’t purchase skins or weapons for a character when they’ve already beaten the game, unless they plan to play the game a second time.

I get it on some level. AAA games cost a lot of money to make, so publishers want to watch their bottom line and produce games that can bring in consistent money over a long period of time, games like the ones Soderlund mentioned in his blog “experiences that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come.” But let’s cut EA a break—sort of—and say that they don’t understand that there is more than one video game audience.

If EA knew there was more than one video game audience, they may not have released Apex Legends at the beginning of February 2019 when Anthem was scheduled for release later the same month. They’re both solely online games that will attract a similar audience. Video game companies can’t predict what another studio will do, but they can space out similar releases from their own stable of games. That’s why video game companies need single-player games as much as they do multiplayer games.

Some players like multiplayer games, almost exclusively; others prefer single-player games. I dig both game types, but I lean toward single-player experiences. Variety is paramount. EA can, and should, offer great multiplayer and single-player games. I’d hate to see the publisher behind classics like Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic never make another single-player, linear story, character-driven game. It’s single-player games like the ones EA has produced in the past that lead some to accept video games as art, or at the very least, examples of incredible storytelling.

Do you agree or disagree that gamers still want single-player experiences with linear stories? Do you think EA and other companies like it are off-base with their assessment of the video game market? Let us know in the comments.

My Favorite Gaming Element for Apex Legends

Published on February 21, 2019February 17, 2019 by KyraLeave a comment

Your uncle Geekly has tried out the latest battle royal craze Apex Legends and I like it despite loathing the genre. I’m more of a solo experience video gamer. Give me a story and characters I can invest in and I’m happy; multiplayer games don’t usually do a lot for me. Battle royal games and the chaos they bring do even less for me, but I’m surprised by Apex Legends’ focus on teamwork.

Everything about Apex Legends screams that the players must work as a team. When players jump into the map, they do so as a team and that shows the emphasis on team play at each game’s beginning. I’ve heard on some message boards that Fortnite players dislike being forced to jump as a team, but Fortnite is every player for themselves. Sure, there is a squad (or team) option for the game, but it pales in comparison to the every person for themselves game mode. Apex Legends’ squad play outshines Fortnite’s most likely because players jump as a team.

The communication system, or ping system, works like a charm. The Gears of War series may have instituted a ping system, but Apex Legends gets it right. Players don’t need to use mics if they don’t have them. Heck. Even if they do have them, they may prefer to use the ping system. If you see a shield or gun a teammate can use, ping it so the item shows up on their map. If you see an enemy on the next ridge, ping the location so it shows up on your teammates’ map and you can converge on the enemy. Players can even ping one location for their teammates and another for themselves—you go here, I’ll go here—and a team can formulate a pincer attack in near real time.

Can Apex Legends be played by oneself? Yes, but not well. I’ve had teammates drop out because of server issues—of which there have been a lot since the game’s launch—and ended up in a solo team. I’ve made it to the final three squads in several of these instances, but when the game gets tight, more firepower is needed, firepower that won’t exist if a player is by themselves. The closest I ever got to winning a game as predominately a solo squad was second place with one other combatant standing. That’s not saying that Uncle Geekly’s good at Apex Legends, in fact, I strive for mediocrity, but my point is that one can’t win the game that easily going solo.

More than any other battle royal game—on the market today—Apex Legends focuses on a team dynamic and if I’m going to play a multiplayer game, I prefer a team atmosphere. I could carry this team mentality further and discuss Overwatch at length and how the character selection screen breeds discontent while Apex Legends has a more relaxed feel, but let’s say that the concept of team shines through most of Apex Legends and that’s where players will find the fun. If you prefer team based multi-player games, you may enjoy Apex Legends.

Do you agree that Apex Legends is a good team battle royal game? Do you have a character that you prefer to player more than another? Let us know in the comments.