Trophies (PS3)

Tim at Me and My PS3 has a piece on tropies, so I thought I’d write on post on the topic as well.

Initially I didn’t care much for them. I still don’t care much, but I find them somewhat amusing and it’s not uncommon that I play a little more or differently to catch a trophy or two. Usually like this: I finish the game once without worrying about them at all, and then if the game is fun enough I do some additional playing to get trophies, assuming the game is fun anyway (it would be kind of lame to display a big trophy collection in a boring game, not to mention the pain of getting them.)

I’d be prepared to do some boring chore to get a platinum in a great game. What comes to mind is Infamous and collecting blast shards. Most you collect anyway during normal gameplay because they enhance your ability, but hardly all, or even near. During my first (and only) playthrough, and I thought I was pretty throughout, I collected about 300 out of 350. I’m planning on playing the game again — it’s pretty much made to be played twice — and getting a platinum. I’ll be my first. I would make sure to get one in Fallout 3 if I could just play the damn game long enough, but the bugs eventually make the game unplayable.

A good thing about trophies, when they’re well chosen, is that you get to play a different style for a while, or try out new things, things you discover you like doing but wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. It’s a good way to get more out of games you enjoy. But that assumes that the trophies are well chosen and not just a mindless chore, even if the goodness of the game can compensate for that to some extent.