Opinion
The seventh generation was the first time this type of collectable was introduced. Xbox had their achievements, the Steam platform for PC gaming also had achievements and the PlayStation introduced trophies. Since they began the community’s opinion on them has been divided. For some, hunting trophies is an obsession that transcends the games themselves and for others they simply couldn’t care less about pointless digital relics.
I personally think trophies are excellent. I remember when they were introduced into the PlayStation 3. It is a shame that not all games support them as some earlier titles just missed out. Some of them received patches to add the support later, like Metal Gear Solid 4 but others still remain trophy-less.
I think PlayStation outdid Xbox here with the introduction of the Platinum trophy. On the Xbox the achievements are just a giant list, you can be awarded points based on the difficulty of the achievement, a bit like PlayStations Bronze, Silver, Gold, but there is no outright extra for completing everything. But the Platinum Trophy is something unto itself. An easy marker to showcase your mastery.
What I like about them is that they provide another way to enjoy a game. They elevate the playing experience beyond just seeing the credits roll and give you some structure to explore content you might not have otherwise not have bothered to experience.
Well that is how it should be. I must confess that far too many games have trophies that are outright ridiculous, boring and are nothing but a waste of time. In the early days of the PlayStation 3 developers didn’t approach trophies in a consistent way. Some games made it incredibly easy to complete the trophy list. The first platinum I ever got was for a game called WWE Legends of WrestleMania, I don’t think I even realized that I had most of them and then I decided I might as well finish the list and my love of hunting platinum trophies was born. Other games seemed to use the trophy list as an excuse to keep people playing their online multiplayer modes for longer than they otherwise would have. Games like Quantum of Solace which I also really enjoyed had trophies for doing 100 online matches, which wouldn’t be too bad if the multiplayer was fun and even a trophy for “Be a top player in an online match” which is completely out of your control.
The other problem facing us PlayStation 3 trophy enthusiasts is the number of games whose trophies relied on online connectivity and the servers have now shut down. I used to love the game The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and I have every trophy except the online multiplayer ones, so I am forever locked out of the Platinum for this game.
There are games which have good trophies and those that don’t. In my view a good trophy list needs these things.
I don’t want to be grinding away at boring repetitive tasks for no reason.
If you are collecting or ticking something off, I shouldn’t have to guess what I am missing. In L.A. Noire there is a trophy for using every weapon but the trophy is bugged and doesn’t have a tracker, this lethal combination means you have to try everything again and again in the hope that it eventually clicks.
It is so much more satisfying when a trophy list lets you figure it out in game without having to look stuff up. This also means a mechanism in the game to find collectables.
There are games whose main story is about 30 hours long and have trophies associated with a missable event and leave you with no other option than starting a second play through just to get it. That’s bad.
If you want online trophies that is fine but they should be kept in a DLC pack so as not to block platinum trophy in the future.
A game like Skyrim has an excellent trophy list. The game has a number of interesting side quests and the trophies are built around you exploring all of those options, there are regretfully a few missable trophies but they can be looked up in advance without much spoilers.
I have 22 platinum trophies across my PlayStation 3 collection. Not a big number at all but I am quite picky when it comes to attempting them. I will only go for Platinum trophies if I genuinely enjoy the game, I’m not going to buy games with easy lists just for the sake of it. I also don’t bother if the list has anything that requires a ridiculous grind. I’m willing to put up with some but when a list is going to take 60-100 hours where most of that isn’t the core gameplay… I’m out.