The TT Community Interview: ylc0304

By Kes Eylers-Stephenson,

The TrueTrophies community interviews are back! This week, we are talking to ylc0304 about their trophy haul, favourite games, and more!

If you are interested in being interviewed, shoot me a direct message on the site for further details.

Introduction

PSN ID: ylc0304

My name is Yoeri. Actually, YLC stands for Yoeri Leo Carl. I needed a username for Xfire, so I used my first name and the date. I'm from the Netherlands. One of my biggest hobbies is gaming, although I feel miniature board games overtake the video games when it comes to my biggest hobby. Otherwise, I like reading and music. I have autism, but try to not let that burden me so much. I'm a software test engineer and I've studied programming.

How did you start gaming and trophy hunting?

I remember as a kid I would play on my brother's MSX and later on the family's NES and SNES. My first console was the Nintendo 64, which I played a lot on back then. The first achievements I earned were on Xbox 360, with the first trophies being when they were introduced on PS3. I also played a lot of games that didn't have trophies at the time (I loved playing Folklore a lot on PS3, but no trophies there). I didn't really bother too much with trophies until much later; it does make my Period Summaries interesting when you look further into the past. When I found the TT events and started joining them, I had gotten myself much more involved with the TT community and there's a Discord channel where I ended up being the events manager (joy for me and my anxiety). Right now, I have a yearlong streak going.

Which consoles do you predominantly play at the moment?

Mainly on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, even though I've got an Xbox One and Nintendo Switch connected to the TV, too. Recently, I did pull my SNES out of my storage to play on, though. I've been playing Lufia (in the actual Dutch language). I'm still hoping to obtain a PS5.

Give us a taste of your favourite games!

Final Fantasy VI is my absolute favourite, but I'm a huge fan of the entire Final Fantasy series. I'm also a fan of The Elder Scrolls, Kingdom Hearts, Shantae, The Legend of Zelda, but recently also into Genshin Impact and I thoroughly loved Tales of Berseria.

What is your favourite genre?

I believe I'm very much into RPGs, and especially JRPGs. Although, I also play tons of fighting games.

Where in the world are you and what is the gaming climate like there?

I'm from the Netherlands, although in the corner of the country I'm in we don't have a computer store or anything. I have to drive a bit to even be able to buy video games physically. Not too familiar with the going-ons in the gaming industry here. Even though I'm in a Facebook group with all Dutch gamers, I personally don't know too many Dutch gamers. Most people I game with are from other countries: my best gaming buddies are a Brit, an American, and a Canadian.

Do you have any controversial hot takes related to gaming?

I'm getting a bit confused about how companies are doing content for open-world games these days. I absolutely enjoy playing through storylines, wasting my time in an open world, and having many quests spread all over the place. But, I also see a lot of 'gather this', 'gather that', and such types of trophies that just have me wasting my days away on trying to grind a 1,000 of this or a 2,000 of that. It really saddens me...

Do you have a love for a game that isn’t well-regarded by others?

Huh... uncertain what is and isn't well-regarded. I could shout out the Shantae series, they weren't that well-known in the past at least. Otherwise, I would definitely say Hand of Fate. Really unique as a game, I loved it back on Steam and I was surprised to see it appear on PS4. An action-RPG type of game where you build the gaming map from a deck of cards. A deck-builder roguelike? I'm unsure of how to refer to this game.

What upcoming game are you most excited about?

Most excited, despite not much known as of yet, would be for Final Fantasy XVI as a huge Final Fantasy fan. The fact Yoshi-P's involved has only got me more excited.

The Trophy Case

What is the hardest trophy you have earned?

Hardest... Looking at my highest ratio trophies, I think most of them are fairly easy to obtain (or was when I did it *looks at "Infallible" trophy*), also some of the harder to obtain trophies I also obtained without going for them. Like I earned "Juggernaut" in Hand of Fate not by going for it, but just got lucky in upgrading my health and not losing too much; there's a lot of luck involved there for what cards you do and don't get.

The Juggernaut trophy in Hand of Fate worth 95 pointsPossess 150 or more health.

What is the longest it took for you to earn a trophy?

Most definitely the trophy "An Adventurer's Life" in Final Fantasy XIV. I actually set a goal last year before finding out I could not do it due to the allowances per day. I had thus set myself an impossible goal as I could only get six allowances every day and so couldn't get 1000 levequests done in time.

The An Adventurer's Life trophy in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (PS4) worth 96 pointsComplete 1,000 levequests.

What is the naughtiest way you have circumvented the hard work to grab a trophy?

Unsure if getting "Infallible" during the glitch is considered naughty, a lot of people jumped right onto that one before it got patched. It was amusing that several communities I'm in all jumped right onto that one and I ended up in groups for it, even aiding a lot of other players. I cannot think of many exploits otherwise that I've made, apart from self-boosting.

The Infallible trophy in Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (2020) (PS4) worth 394 pointsWin 5 Episodes in a row

What is the easiest full list for the best game?

Hmm... I feel like I'm terrible at finishing games! I used to play and enjoy Duke Nukem 3D back in the past on PC and also enjoyed playing it on PS4 when the 20th Anniversary Edition got released there. Was surprised that a lot of older games appear and the trophies are not locked when you enable cheats in these, so you can easily fly through the games. For Duke Nukem 3D only one trophy is not obtainable while using cheats, but the game has a rewind button, so you can do "See, I'm Tough, Too!" by loading up a level and then just rewind constantly when things don't go well until you've earned it, making this a very easy Platinum to get.

The See, I'm Tough Too! trophy in Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour worth 38 pointsFinish any level on "Damn, I'm Good" difficulty.

What is the trophy you are most embarrassed to have?

The most embarrassing trophy... not entirely sure what trophy I would count as embarrassing to have. There are some embarrassing games I’ve played, I feel — some due to how easy they are, but also some just... generally bad. Last year I worked through Kick-Ass 2 and there were some weird glitches as I worked through that game. Actually, I lost progress two times due to getting stuck inside an enemy. The final boss of the entire game also had me fall through the floor once.

What trophy are you embarrassed not to have?

I kind of want to say "Welcome Park Master!" A while ago people were surprised when someone finished Welcome Park on the Vita and took very long to do so, but I've been having a lot of difficulty getting the Snap + Slide puzzles done. I try from time to time, but the 14 pieces and 15 pieces in the allowed time for the trophies I've yet to manage even when I follow the guides, so I apparently am very bad at these puzzles. Maybe one day I'll be lucky, but right now I'm still hoping to even earn one of the two puzzle trophies, bringing me slightly closer to getting this gold trophy.

The Welcome Park Master! trophy in Welcome Park (Vita) worth 178 pointsCollect all trophies in Welcome Park.

Which lists have you given up on?

I'm a very bad quitter! Usually, I just put games to the side and plan to get back to them in the future. I got tons of those still sitting and gathering dust, but now and again I do grab an old game and suddenly continue them. Like, I did suddenly pull Ico out from storage and earned a trophy in it again (before putting it back in storage when I started having a hard time). Similarly, I've been going back in and out of the Souls series. I like the games, but when I start having too much trouble, I start to get very irritated, and then I am quick to erase the games from my system and put the game to the side until I return to it in the future. At least I don't break the controller in half, but this does frustrate me a lot. Sometimes, I feel streamers make it look easy!

Best non-trophy related gaming achievement?

Unsure what I could consider 'best', I used to lead a clan in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault I was really proud of. I wasn't allowed in other clans since I wasn't 18 yet, so I made my own clan and had a lot of people from all over the world in, my first actual experience with people from other countries. We did quite a number of clan wars and both won and lost a lot of those, but honestly, I had a lot of pride in that clan and treasure the memories a lot. Honestly, having a group of people in games to play with always makes me really happy as I tend to be really afraid of strangers and my anxiety does not help whatsoever. If I talk to someone new, I tend to do this with a lot of fear and always expect to be a bother. So, to actually have found people that would play with me feels like a great achievement for myself.

What was your favourite trophy list?

Hard to say... I actually like how they keep adding new things to Gems of War and the trophy list keeps reflecting that. It’s seemingly an unending list and while there are some ‘grinds’ in a way, it’s not that big of a deal, I think. It’s quite a challenging list to plough through and one I’ve yet to finish. But it is definitely an amazing game to work on and one easy to play during breaks with limited time.

When you first skim a trophy list, what do you look for?

Based on how a list is constructed, I like how some fighting games have been getting easier lists than in the past while still giving a bit of a challenge. I enjoyed actually working on the trophies for like Tekken 7, while a lot of other fighting games I just get stuck on certain trials and whatnot because I have trouble performing certain techniques or combo's that I generally start giving up. Also, I like some lists due to how the trophies themselves are named. Having a lot of puns and such sometimes makes it extra fun earning them.

How should a list be constructed?

As previously said, I prefer not the 'perform 1,000 of this, 'gather 3,000 of that', the long endless grinds that crush the soul. It's likely the reason I don't have many trophies in Genshin Impact, despite loving the game. I just cannot be bothered searching across Teyvat for all those chests. Trophies should encourage the player to undertake certain things and experience all the options available in the game. So they actually go out and try everything the game has to offer.

The Community

Any TT community shout-outs?

A shout-out to the staff specifically, also to all the people I've gotten to know of since I started doing TT events and have pulled me along for some games. I cannot thank you all enough! Also a shout-out towards the TT events in general, for those that haven't tried joining in on them: do give them a try when they appear! There is always great fun to be had and both the members joining in and the staff are always friendly and helpful if you have trouble or don't understand something.

We would like to thank Yoeri for taking the time to talk to us! We can't believe how much variety there has been. If you have any other suggestions or would like to have a swing at answering some questions yourself, feel free to let us know in the comments!

Written by Kes Eylers-Stephenson

Editor Kes is our resident expert in PlayStation and other gaming news. He writes about PS5 exclusives like The Last of Us and Horizon, PS Plus news, and his favorite games — The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, and God of War — before an evening swim.