ant1th3s1s' things that go "ding!" in the night...

[Denaratuck]

I'm glad to hear everyone is doing good and are now home. Also, thanks for the heads up on PvZ Garden Warfare. I was going to send you a message asking about it tonight before I logged off from playing FFX as I recently downloaded PvZ 2 for my phone and have been playing it quite a bit.

[ant1th3s1s]

I'm glad to hear everyone is doing good and are now home. Also, thanks for the heads up on PvZ Garden Warfare. I was going to send you a message asking about it tonight before I logged off from playing FFX as I recently downloaded PvZ 2 for my phone and have been playing it quite a bit.

I never got into PvZ 2, mostly because it's free-to-play (:cough: pay to win), but I've played the crap out of PvZ on every platform and thoroughly enjoyed.

The charm of both Plants and Zombies translates to the third-person shooter genre and it is genuinely great fun. There's no griefing, no drop-outs, very little leeching (occasionally I've found an AFK player in the corner of the map) and it's easy to be competitive without knowing the maps. If only the same could be said of Call of Duty or Battlefield.

In other news...

#74 - Awarded All Trophies for Minecraft Vita Edition

For some God-only-knows reason, I can't upload my save game from either PS3 or Vita, so I got stuck three trophies from the Plat and I didn't feel like grinding out the end-game for a third time. Vettes came to the rescue with his Tutorial map (including a very neat path all the way to the Ender Portal) and I was able to bang out Diamonds to You, The End? and The End in quick fashion. Thanks again Vettes, much appreciated

I've achieved all of my goals for the year, except the 75th Plat. It's a milestone achievement and I'm lining up Diablo III Reaper of Souls on PS4 for the honour...it seems as worthy a title as any. It might take awhile as I plan to complete DIII on PS3 then transfer the level 60 characters across. That way I'll only need to drag a Crusader through the 500 bounties...gah. RoS is great fun, so it's a grind I can embrace.

[Ac3stralian]

great to see your checklist brother, its changed greatly since i was here a year ago!

[daftprophet]

Other people's kids suck. Your own kids are awesome.


I set myself a goal at the start of the year, so it's gotta be done.

If I had more time, 100 Plats was on the cards based on my solid start to the year, but it just didn't work out. So I had to be more realistic and low-ball it to 75.

Fair enough. I am just fine being a dink I suppose. Congrats on another spawn.

Well...I've also been working on the backlog and other stuff so it was inevitable. I'll come back though.

great to see your checklist brother, its changed greatly since i was here a year ago!

Holy hell! I haven't seen you in a minute...

[DragonWolfVII]

Congrats on the Minecraft platinum man and good luck on #75

[MadMardigan_88]

Congrats on the Minecraft Plat. I still don't get that game. lol Oh well it's entertained a lot of people and thats what matters.

[ant1th3s1s]

great to see your checklist brother, its changed greatly since i was here a year ago!

Ac3! Good to see you brother. I think I added a dozen or two Plat cards late last year, but I haven't worked on it all since. I had grand plans to rebuild it by mid-year, but life got in the way

Fair enough. I am just fine being a dink I suppose. Congrats on another spawn.

I've always wanted children and material possessions have never been a high priority (says the guy with a bazillion gadgets). My take on the whole 'life' thing is pretty simple - all we are is what we leave behind. If you do it right, you'll leave a legacy...some footprints in the sands of time.

I've left my run a bit late to win a Nobel prize, cure cancer or pilot a spaceship to Mars, so I get to do it by shaping some decent human beings for the next generation. Hopefully they'll follow my legacy when the time comes to have their own kids...

Well...I've also been working on the backlog and other stuff so it was inevitable. I'll come back though.

My secondary goal this year was to eliminate all Rank E games from my profile to lift the overall completion percentage. I'll keep working on the backlog to achieve it, but it's not a big deal and I haven't made it a priority. There's a reason I've left games at 1 or 2 trophies popped...they were more than likely just a bit shit.

Congrats on the Minecraft platinum man and good luck on #75

Ta DW. I can always count on you for a pat on the back whenever a Plat pops

Congrats on the Minecraft Plat. I still don't get that game. lol Oh well it's entertained a lot of people and thats what matters.

I don't get it either...it's a tiny sandbox game with very little to do and zero challenge. How it become the billion dollar phenomenon it is today is well beyond my comprehension.

There seems to be a big deal made about the crafting aspect of the game, but it's nowhere near as deep as I expected. In fact, it's downright rudimentary and hardly revolutionary. Play something like Ultima II to V on Commodore 64 and you'll find significantly more crafting depth.

And as far as the creative stuff goes, you need the PC version with God-mode enabled to create massive structures - it can't be done playing the core game legit (unless you invest mountains of time and strip-mine your world), so what's the point? I'd rather play Little Big Planet if I need to scratch the creative itch.

I guess what Minecraft has in its favour is accessibility - any numpty can play it and you make of it what you want. Prior to the PS trophy lists, I assumed it was just an open-ended sandbox with no objectives other than to dig and build shit until you get bored... Take the trophies away and that impression hasn't really changed.

What was particularly frustrating and turned me off the game was the inability to upload worlds from PS3 to Vita and vice-versa. I managed to do it once out of around 200 attempts...the fucking thing just kept crashing at 95%. I figured it might have been corruption, but a database rebuild, fresh install and clean Tutorial world still failed to upload from either PS3 or Vita. That tells me something's not quite right at Mojang's end and I don't have the time or the inclination to wait for a fix.

From a trophy perspective, it was well worth $25 for 3 Plats and I gave the Minecraft experience a red hot go. But the only reason I'll fire it up again is to teach my kids how to use dual-stick controls.

[Denaratuck]

Congrats on the new Minecraft plat and like you, I've never understood why it became so huge. Then again, I've also never tried it either, but still though, I can't see my opinion being very different if I did give it a chance.

As for PvZ 2, I dislike how some things are buy to unlock as I loved the first one and got both the 100% and plat for it across the PS3 and Vita. However, I've yet to spend any money on it, nor will I as I'm doing just fine playing for free here and there, wasting away a few hours when needed.

Good luck with DIII. I really want to play it but I only have the regular PS3 version I think and imagine the PS4 version is a lot better.

[ant1th3s1s]

Good luck with DIII. I really want to play it but I only have the regular PS3 version I think and imagine the PS4 version is a lot better.

The PS4 version looks and plays great, but to be fair the PS3 version, is still pretty good.

The most noticeable differences are the improvements made by the Reaper of Souls expansion rather than visual enhancements, though 1080p and 60FPS certainly ramps up the game's looks and frame-rate.

If you haven't already bought DIII, get RoS instead as it includes the full DIII game. That said, the trophy lists are different with DIII probably the harder of the two.

[ant1th3s1s]

#75 - Fundead Legionnaire for Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare (PS3)

And with that achievement, the dishes are done - all goals for 2014 have been met.

I had planned on popping Diablo 3 RoS on PS4 as number 75, but Fundead Legionnaire just sorta happened while the game was dishing out a tonne of fun.

On the surface, Garden Warfare looks like a casual online shooter, but it has a lot of depth under the hood. All game modes are well-balanced and once you progress beyond the Welcome Mat (noob mode), it typically comes down to tight affairs that are only resolved in the last few seconds.

This is particularly true of Gardens & Graveyards, which is where the veteran players all hang out. There's a mountain of new characters and upgrades to unlock, so I was initially up against it with ice, fire and poison DoT, but I held my own and soon made it back to the top of the pack as new gear unlocked.

Garden Ops was also enjoyable. I managed to pop Garden Hardcore very easily, so I stepped up for Garden Crazy solo. It's somewhat challenging and took a bit of planning to get my pot plants right, but out of 7 attempts, I made it to the escape zone 4 times...only to be foiled by the timer.

Attempt 1 - I made it to the pickup, but was in the air jumping into the zone rather than on the ground, so it didn't count.
Attempt 2 - I let the timer run too long and revived just outside the pickup zone.
Attempt 3 - I died in the pickup zone, revived as the counter expired and got the win, but not the trophy.
Attempt 4 - made it, died, revived with 2 seconds on the clock. Ding!

Two fails were bad boss round spawns, so there's a bit of luck involved. The third fail happened because 3 guys dropped into the game on Round 9 of 10 and fucked the whole thing up. Do this trophy solo!

A worthy 75th. There's still a tonne of stuff to do, so I'll be playing Garden Warfare long after the platinum.

Great fun. Get it. Time to do it all again on PS4.

[Nagflar]

I heard from Rubi the game was a piece of crap, but good to know you at least enjoyed it a bit lol.

[ant1th3s1s]

I heard from Rubi the game was a piece of crap, but good to know you at least enjoyed it a bit lol.

Different strokes...

If you've played and enjoyed Plants vs Zombies or Team Fortress 2, Garden Warfare is bloody great.

I bought Garden Warfare to play with my son so he could learn shooter controls, but it far surpassed my expectations. It's a well executed and polished game with great balance, a lot of variety and a good deal of depth.

[MadMardigan_88]

Congrats on Plat 75 and on meeting all your goals for the year.

[Larrydavidsavatar]

75 Plats!? Jesus, I'll be lucky to reach even half that before I'm 40 years old. Congrats ant. Once again glad you enjoyed PvZ Garden Warfare.

[Denaratuck]

Congrats on the PvZ: Garden Warfare plat and also on hitting all of your goals. I asked someone else about the game last week and they too said it was really fun so I'm probably going to pick it up sooner, rather than later.

[Nagflar]

Different strokes...

If you've played and enjoyed Plants vs Zombies or Team Fortress 2, Garden Warfare is bloody great.

I bought Garden Warfare to play with my son so he could learn shooter controls, but it far surpassed my expectations. It's a well executed and polished game with great balance, a lot of variety and a good deal of depth.

He did compare it a bit to TF2, but with lots of unbalance claims hahaha. But again, who cares as long as one enjoys it. It's like RE5: it blows, but it's a great deal of fun with a friend.

[ant1th3s1s]

He did compare it a bit to TF2, but with lots of unbalance claims hahaha. But again, who cares as long as one enjoys it. It's like RE5: it blows, but it's a great deal of fun with a friend.

I reckon he didn't give it more than a few hours if that's the sum total experience.

Balance is a strong part of the game, with effective 'rock paper scissor' counters for every class. Furthermore, if you don't like how a class plays, unlock the sub-classes and play with different weapons. For example, I suck at the Sclentist class as by default, it's close-range shotgun stuff and can't hit the side of a barn. But give it an automatic weapon and it plays much better.

Congrats on the PvZ: Garden Warfare plat and also on hitting all of your goals. I asked someone else about the game last week and they too said it was really fun so I'm probably going to pick it up sooner, rather than later.

I don't want to oversell it, but if "fun" is any indicator, it's the best online MP shooter I've played in years. Seriously. I picked up the PS3 version on the cheap for $15 and the PS4 version for $20 during the Halloween sale, hence why I own both.

More importantly, my son is quickly coming to grips with the dual-stick controls and he's learning co-op teamwork, which is sadly lacking for most online gamers. On the flipside, Garden Warfare is flexible enough that it doesn't matter if you fly solo, you still contribute to the win.

[cocoasg]

HELLO, ANTI, MY MAN! It has been a long time since I last posted here, no? Been busy with real life and Destiny stuff (finally, the platinum is very close now, just need one more trophy, the Titan subclass, and yes, I completed Flawless Raider successfully with my clan last time, hoho).

So how have you been? Still hoarding platinums like no other, eh?

[ant1th3s1s]

HELLO, ANTI, MY MAN! It has been a long time since I last posted here, no? Been busy with real life and Destiny stuff (finally, the platinum is very close now, just need one more trophy, the Titan subclass, and yes, I completed Flawless Raider successfully with my clan last time, hoho).

So how have you been? Still hoarding platinums like no other, eh?

Life is good Edo. My wife just had our fourth kid, so life in general is busy.

Work too has been busy since March, but is settling down leading into Xmas / New Year's, so I have a bit more time on my hands for gaming and should pop another 5-10 Plats before 2015. Looks like you've been banging out some nice plats of your own

I've got Destiny, but haven't fired it up yet. It's on my list and I might give it a go this week. Any tips?
Have you got Borderlands The Pre-sequel? I just started that too.

[Feral]

Congrats on the new plat and achieving all your goals for the year mate