This weekend somehow turned into one of finishing things. I platinumed in two Vita games and finished a book. Now I’m wondering what I’ll do next, handheld-wise, as I have plenty to do console-wise.
I honestly wasn’t expecting to finish either Vita game so quickly. Last week I reviewed a visual novel, Bad Apple Wars, for PlayStation LifeStyle. I know if I actually take the time, I can easily Platinum a visual novel, even though I’ve never done it before. Usually racking up the trophies in a visual novel requires multiple, multiple playthroughs. For the review, I played through it a few times, which was incredibly easy since there’s so little gameplay. It also helps that the game has an auto-play feature, allowing you to skip through dialogue you’ve already read and auto-scrolling through dialogue you haven’t read. Anything I could do one-handed, I did while holding my Vita and watching the movies play out. You make 1-2 decisions in the beginning, and then simply watch how it all unfolds. There’s some touch screen gameplay mixed in, but that can be done while doing something else one-handed.
After playing through each character’s ending once, I spent the next two days with the game on almost literal auto-pilot while I worked. When I realized on Friday night that I only had the bad endings to sort through, which I could start at each character’s chapter 6 (out of 9 chapters), it was game on from there. I have to say that the bad endings were some of the most depressing things I have ever seen in a visual novel, which is saying a lot. It probably wasn’t the best thing to end my night with, but the Platinum Trophy pop made it worth it.
Before I had to focus on Bad Apple Wars, I was trying to console myself over missing out on the Platinum trophy for The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game with LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Vita. LEGO games on the Vita are often a bigger pain-in-the-ass than on console, but this one takes the cake. It’s not LEGO Marvel Superheroes on Vita bad, but it’s in that direction. Thankfully, the strategy guide included the handheld strategies (they often don’t lately, only online), which was an immense help in trying to figure out some of the minikit locations in the levels. You’d think that with the Red Brick turned on to point you toward collectibles would be enough, but it certainly was not. I almost did better ignoring the markers completely than trying to figure out what in the world they were pointing to. When you have to destroy X number of things, don’t mark where the kit appears; mark the things you’re suppose to destroy. It was absolutely ridiculous.
The one trophy that might have prevented my Platinum glory, however—the one that requires killing 10 enemies by deflecting blaster shots at them. If you hold down the square button, the lightsaber wielder stands in a defensive position, almost like a batter trying to bunt. It was fairly easy to do this to kill the enemies, but it never counted. If I had the Red Brick turned on to allow perfect deflects, the trophy wouldn’t pop. So, okay, I turn that Red Brick off and all the other Red Bricks, just to be safe. Then I replay one level over and over to bat back blaster shots at stormtroopers. That still didn’t work. Out of extreme frustration, I read the trophy description one more time. It says to deflect as a Jedi. A Jedi. I’ve been using Kylo Ren, so could that be what’s preventing the trophy pop?
Once I switched to Luke, the trophy popped very quickly. It helped that by this point, I was a goddamn pro at deflecting blaster shots. Trophy popped, Platinum trophy popped, victory dance was had, and then it was time for bed.
Not sure if I’ll have any other productive weekends like that one, but it was nice to clear games off my plate when it feels like all I do is pile them on.
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