Playstation 3 Trophy Hunting

It took me awhile to get some cash together to buy some new Playstation 3 games since this new 160gb system cost me $300. I now have a few games going at once and so I should be set until at least January when Little Big Planet 2 and Mass Effect 2 release.

This article will be discussion on the games I'm playing, as well as on each games trophies and perhaps some strategies and guide links on trophy hunting. Check it out!




#1 - Final Fantasy XIII

I started a new file in a couple of weeks ago after having lost my save file earlier in the year. I've now finished the game and completed about 90% of the Cie'th Stone side-quests, as well as a couple other optional things.

Completely maxing out my characters is a difficult and time-consuming task that I've been working on for about a week. I tend to turn the volume down and listen to podcasts while I grind out the experience. Makes the time go a lot faster. The only trophies I have left to obtain are Adamant Will, Treasure Hunter, Exorcist, Natural Selector, Galuf's Grail, L'Cie Paragon, and Superstar. All of which are listed on this page here from PS3trophies.org

#2 - Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers

I had a family Christmas party last weekend and my cousin gave me a $20 PSN card as my gift. We exchange names and buy for our different family members, which is a great way to get everyone involved in the holiday spirit of giving.

I spent a lot of time looking through the PSN store trying to figure out what I wanted to purchase, eventually coming across this Magic the Gathering game.



MTG is something I've been playing for many years, I own a huge amount of cards but it's always been a hassle to get them all ready to play just for a few games with someone. I don't know a lot of MTG players anymore.

I used the $20 card to purchase Duels of the Planeswalkers and the first expansion and right away after starting my first duel I fell in love with it. I've been playing it almost non-stop for almost a week and there is still so much for me to unlock, including trophies. I have 41% of them completed but that's including a few trophies from the more recent expansion packs that I have yet to purchase. You can find a thorough list of trophies for Duels of the Planeswalkers right here.

#3 - MAG

With all this talk of Call of Duty lately, I felt the subconscious need to shoot something in the face. I thoroughly enjoyed Battlefield Bad Company 2's objective based tactical shooter and so I decided to pick up the PS3 exclusive MAG after doing some research on the game. MAG has similar skill-trees and job classes but while with Battlefield 2 I maxed out the jobs in a couple weeks, MAG looks like it will last me quite awhile.

I watched a couple online video reviews as well as a few written ones, and the majority of them were very positive. However, since most of those reviews were created there has been a huge update to the game which looks to be widely called MAG 2.0.

The skill system and balancing has been redone and the game looks better than ever with graphical updates. It also includes PS Move support so someday when I pick myself up a Move controller I'll be able to partake in this motion gaming stuff. I've only played a few matches so far but I did get a single trophy. I apparently killed an enemy unit while being affected by poison gas. Awesome. Full trophy list can be found right here.

#4 NIER

While I was out to pick up MAG from EBGames, I saw this game on the checkout counter. I've read a little bit about NIER prior to this purchase, but I remember reviews being all over the place, much like FFXIII. Some people loved the casual nature of this new FF entry while others wanted something more traditional. I fall in between both of those actually, you can read about my thoughts on the game right here.

NIER is another game from Square-Enix that was released earlier this year. Square-Enix was merely a publisher this time however, a group by the name of Cavia is actually the developer. I saw it there on the counter and saw three price stickers, one on top of the other. $59.99 followed by $29.99 and then under that was a red sticker with $9.99 on it.

While I was about to pay for my copy of MAG, I asked if this was really the correct pricing. The clerk told me it was for a brand new copy as well. It was an instant purchase. After playing it for about 5 or 6 hours, it's definitely a steal for $10. The graphics are pretty bland and forgettable, especially with such stellar games that we've seen thus far this generation, but the game-play more than makes up for it. All I'm going to do is post a link to the review that I completely agree with. This review is from PSX Extreme and it's one of my favorite PS3 reviews/news sites. Check it out right here.

For NIER trophies you can find the list on PS3trophies.org. I only have 2% of them so far, mostly just from doing a handful of side-quests. I haven't got very far as of yet, but I absolutely love the battle system. There's also gardening much like the Harvest Moon games, and some fishing as well. If you're into that kind of stuff, it's pretty well done as far as I can tell. NIER is definitely the type of game that, if we ever see a sequal, needs a definite budget boost next time around. Hopefully Square-Enix can lend Cavia a hand with that.