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Member of the Month - October 2020


Ashbo

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Well, it's been ace this year hasn't it? Lockdowns, local lockdowns, holidays cancelled, day trips, nights out, gigs, festivals, weekends away, house parties, family get-togethers/visits all called off and to top it off the clocks went back as well, so here in the UK it's dark before 5pm now! YAY. Anyway, lets liven it up a bit here in the wonderful, warm, small cosy part of the tinterweb that is PST. This month and fittingly with Halloween, our Member of the Month goes to our very own potions and concoctions creator The Alchemist.

 

 

Can you tell us a bit more about the person behind the PSN ID?

 

Hey all, my name is Steven though some smartasses around here know me as AlchemLST. I’m 30 years old so i’m starting to push on a bit now I suppose. I live in Ireland, County Wexford to be exact which is in the sunny south-east. It’s an objective fact that Wexford is the greatest of all the 32 counties of Ireland and if you ever hear otherwise then it’s a barefaced lie.

 

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I’ve had some people ask me why I chose the name Alchemist but there isn’t much to it. I like how alchemists were kind of mad scientists of their time, trying to turn metals and other stuff into valuable things and I saw a loose correlation between that and trophy hunting, earning lowly bronze and silver trophies and trying to convert them into a shiny (P). I’m also big into Hip Hop, especially the production side of it and one of my favourite producers growing up is a guy called The Alchemist, so it’s a little homage to him too.

 

 

What sort of setup do you have going back home for your gaming?

 

It’s one of my dreams to have a dedicated gaming room setup with all of the bells and whistles but alas, it isn’t a reality yet. At the moment I use a separate room for my gaming, though I wouldn’t call this a proper gaming room by any stretch as it’s also used for other things. I have an older LG 42” 4K TV which isn’t that great especially compared to newer models. I have my PS3 Slim and PS4 Pro hooked up to it along with my PSVR and I also have my Vita close by.

 

I have a 55” LG CX coming in time for the PS5 which I'm also getting on launch day and I'm super hyped. You may have seen me post endlessly in the PS5 thread, posting the smallest of details and tidbits. I haven’t been this excited about something gaming related since I was a young lad waiting for my copy of GTA San Andreas to arrive. In the meantime I’m just collecting little things here and there to hopefully one day add to my dedicated gaming room.

 

 

Always a tough one, but with the PS5 only a few weeks away from us now, do you have any standout highlights from the PS4 era that you think the PS5 will have a standard to live up to and ultimately surpass?

 

The biggest highlight for me is just the sheer quality of games we got. The current generation has been my favourite ever when it comes to exclusives and games in general. It started off slow for the first 2 years but from 2015 onwards Sony have just knocked it out of the park with banger after banger which made the PS4 the must-have console. Despite PS5 launching very soon, this year alone saw 2 of the most critically and commercially successful titles launch on the system so we’ve been getting spoiled to the very end.

 

The PS5 has a lot to live up to when it comes to games but I have full confidence that Sony will deliver in the exclusives department for next gen. They have a winning formula and I think they’ll be fine. With games like God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West already slated for 2021, along with some very solid launch titles they are already off to a strong start and they could perhaps even surpass this gen which would be some feat.

 

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Sticking with PS5, being a frequent poster of info and news in the PS5 thread, what 3 things are you looking forward to the most from the next generation of gaming?

 

Oooh this is a tough one :think:

 

The SSD. I would have been happy just to get a standard SSD in the PS5 but the fact we’re getting such a bespoke beast and for console money is amazing. I can’t wait to be rid of terrible load times and unnecessary game design elements like long corridors and slow walking sections. The overall speed and snappiness from the system is something I am hugely looking forward to, especially coming from PS4 where the UI/UX is very sluggish and buggy at the best of times.

 

Higher frame rates. When the upcoming consoles and some of their features and specs were announced, I don’t think many people were taking the claims seriously. Things like ray tracing, 4K 60 and even 120FPS in some titles seemed like a pipe dream, many people thought we wouldn’t actually see them on consoles but not only are we seeing those things in action but they seem to be widespread in launch titles! The quick adoption of these technologies is amazing. The new consoles are at the forefront of tech unlike in some previous gens where the hardware was essentially outdated and underpowered on arrival.

 

Trophy tracking. It remains to be seen if this will be implemented across the board but it’s something I have wanted for the longest time. I hope it’s used in more than just first party games and I hope it’s accurate and works well. If it does then this will be a game changer in my opinion.

 

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How long have you been gaming and what made you decide PlayStation as your gaming companion?

 

I’ve been gaming for as long as I remember, probably since I was 6 or so. I started off my gaming journey with a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis to my US folk) which was a hand-me-down if you will, but boy was I glad to get it. I absolutely adored that machine and played on it for countless hours. It’s the only system outside of the PS brand that I’ve ever owned.

 

A bit later on my best friend had the original PlayStation and we used to play it together all the time. My mind was quickly made up that I wanted one too and that set in motion something that would continue to this very day: My love for the PlayStation brand. I’ve owned every PS console from 1-4 and soon to be 5 too. I’ll never own anything other than a PS system so long as Sony keeps doing what they’re doing.

 

 

What was the last game you bought, and what's the next one you’re looking forward to?

 

I actually haven’t bought any games for the past couple of months, the last one being The Last of Us Part II Collector's Edition which was back in June. I have such a backlog of half finished and unplayed games that I could go without buying another game for a year or two and I would still have plenty of games to keep me occupied in the meantime.

 

As for upcoming games, I’m excited for Cyberpunk 2077 (who isn’t?) though i’ll most likely hold off until the full PS5 version drops. I maintain a spreadsheet for games I’m interested in and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. If you don’t see a game on my profile, rest assured that it’s most likely on my spreadsheet. There’s so many games and just not enough time to play them all!

 

 

Out of curiosity, this spreadsheet you maintain for your games and such, what does this entail? Are we talking next-level detailed breakdowns of games or just ‘ticking boxes’ as it were?

 

I have sections for PS3, PS4 and PS5 along with the Vita, and I further divide the sections into AAA, EZPZ / PST events, PSVR and indie games, and whether there are physical copies available. In the case of Vita games, I also list info such as whether they are cross-buy or not and also info about regional stacks if they are available. It’s fairly simplistic and it isn’t particularly pretty to look at but it works well for me. I’m a bit of an organization freak and this kind of ties into me being a completionist. If you’re wondering, I also keep a similar spreadsheet for movies and TV shows I want to see!

 

 

If you had the chance to improve the PlayStation and/or PSN store, what one thing would you like to see implemented?

 

There is a hugely annoying glitch (feature?) where if you browse the PS Store on PS4 and exit after a minute or two it will completely freeze up and slow down the whole system and it takes about a minute for things to return to normal. As someone who rarely uses the web store and still makes their purchases through the store on PS4, this is beyond irritating. The store in general is slow and buggy so that’s the thing I would most like to see get fixed. With the store not being a standalone app anymore on PS5, along with the blazing speeds of the system, hopefully issues like this will be a thing of the past.

 

 

If you could add one title to the PSN store from any gaming system past or present what would it be?

 

Forza (whichever one is the best). I’m not a fan of Xbox at all, the system/s and it’s games never appealed to me but I love a good racer and I have watched plenty of videos/streams about the Forza series and it looks amazing to me. It’s not enough to make me go buy an Xbox but it is something I wish I could play on PlayStation. So yeah, I’d take whichever Forza game is the best. Maybe those with more insight could let me know which is the one to go for?

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How much of a certified trophy whore are you? Does the trophy list play any part in the decision to play or buy a game, or do you base that decision entirely on the game?

 

If by whore you mean stacking every region for every Rata game ever made and also doing the Vita trick so I can get Vita stacks too, then I’m not even close to being a whore. Don’t get me wrong though, I do love the sound of the ping and I have played my fair share of questionable games though nowadays I tend to stick to Rata/POWGI for site events only.

 

The only way a trophy list plays a part in my decision to play a game is if the game has permanently unobtainable trophies. If a game has been out for years and had servers shut or something, that’s fine, but for a game to launch with unobtainable trophies and for the devs to not do anything about it is unacceptable. IMO this constitutes a broken game and so I will avoid it. Difficulty/rarity and all that jazz plays no part whatsoever. Hell, I even have Wolfenstein 2 somewhere on my spreadsheet of terror so some day I will probably get to see what the fuss over mein leben is all about.

 

Something I often wonder about: As a trophy hunter, would you ever consider retiring your current Gamer Profile and starting a new account all fresh and shiny for the PS5 and the next generation of gaming?

 

Not a chance! I’ve spent too much time, effort and money on my current profile to just throw it all away. I know some people like starting over every gen but it isn’t for me. My profile is what it is, for better or worse and I’m proud of it.

 

What would you say was your proudest platinum and why?

 

Killzone Shadow Fall because I earned the platinum long before the bot farming methods came about and it was a hell of a grind. Difficulty wise it actually wasn’t too bad but I probably pumped 250+ hours into it which is insane for a game of this type.

 

An honourable mention goes to Red Dead Redemption II because you need a strong mental fortitude to get through it all. I spent 15 hours searching for a single bird. Sums it up really

 

 

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Now that we know your proudest platinum, what would you say is your worst Platinum, and, if you could, would you remove it off of your profile?

 

I’m going to cheat a little here and list a game without a platinum because I truly feel it deserves it. The game is Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta - Episode 1. I have Little Adventure on the Prairie and Orc Slayer on my profile but this game even tops those for being absolute w**k. It’s irredeemable trash with zero positives and it’s a top contender for the worst game of all time in my opinion. Calling it a blatant Uncharted rip-off is too kind and doesn’t begin to describe the awfulness. The only good thing, if you’re not already traumatized by the experience of playing it, is that the game only made it to episode 1.

 

I’m all for embracing your profile and using it as a reminder of the good and the bad, the complete and the incomplete but I would make an exception in this one case and remove it if I could, but only if I could also remove the memory of playing it. Otherwise it would be a bit pointless.

 

 

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If the end of the world was nigh and you had to grab three games/franchises to take with you to play out your final days to, what would they be?

 

Grand Theft Auto because the series will always have a special place in my heart. Rocket League because I have dumped 2,000 hours into it and it’s my go-to game when I want to chill and play something relaxing (or rage inducing depending on teammates). FIFA because it’s a series I have put a lot of hours into over the years despite not playing the last few entries, and I can lead Man United to every trophy in sight, something us lot won’t be doing again IRL for a long time to come!

 

 

Like you, I love me some GTA, and we all know GTA 6 will happen at some point, so if you had the chance to choose GTA 6's setting, time period and protagonist(s), what would they be?

 

Haha, this is actually something that really grinds my gears. I hate browsing YouTube and seeing clickbait videos like “Next GTA set in Australia - confirmed!!!111!”. The GTA series has always followed a predictable path: Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City. We’ve had Liberty City with GTA IV and San Andreas with GTA V. Logic dictates that we’re due to get Vice City again with GTA 6. I know in the past we got expansions which were set in London but they don’t really count! :p

 

In saying that, this is a tough question because I really don’t think GTA would work as well if it was set outside of the US. The series is a brilliant satirical look at the US so it’s very much intertwined with the setting. If I could choose a setting though, then I would like something a bit closer to home. A GTA set in the UK and Ireland and being able to travel between all the nations would be pretty awesome.

 

 

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What brought you to PST and what keeps you coming back?

 

I was browsing PST for years before I ever joined. Soon after I got a PS3 and learned what trophies were, I needed a reliable source of information about trophies and I stumbled upon PST where to my surprise, there were guides for just about every single game and a really helpful community to go along with them. I continued to lurk for a few more years like a creepy neighbour until I decided to join properly about 5 years ago. It took a year or so before I started to explore the forum side of things and get involved in events and stuff but I’m glad I did. I always have great fun with the crazy events the staff keep throwing at us.

 

We tried a couple of times to do some joint guides together and it didn’t happen for one reason or another. Are you keen to get a few trophy guides under your belt once you’ve played a few games on the PS5?

 

We’ll get a guide done some day, mate ;)

 

Definitely though, guide writing is something I have enjoyed doing. I put a lot of time, effort and detail (and your fantastic graphics :D) into my guides and it’s definitely a worthwhile hobby as I do enjoy helping others around the site as much as I can. I’m still early into my guide writing journey but I do plan on writing more in the future especially as we move into the next gen. Eventually I would like to get a guide up within the launch week of a game so that’s something I will aim for soon. I do have a game in mind for the PS5 but I will have to wait and see how it goes because it’s a highly anticipated game and I have a feeling competition for a guide will be strong :D

 

 

If you were an admin of PST for a day, what would you do and why?

 

Easy! Make it so that every member can change their username to whatever colour they like. I want purple dammit :francis:

 

 

Any final words for the community?

 

This is not something I ever expected to receive and it really is a huge honour. This site is basically my social media hub. I love hanging out here and discussing a range of topics with everyone and even if I have a disagreement with someone every now and again, it’s always forgotten about pretty quickly. I can honestly say that this is the nicest community on the internet and I would be lost if I didn’t have it to turn to.

 

I just want to give a huge thank you to every member of staff for your tireless and sometimes thankless work, you’re the heartbeat of the site. To all of my fellow members, thank you for every guide, every helpful tip, every discussion we’ve ever had, every hello and how are you doing? Thank you for contributing to this site in each and every way, whether we have talked personally or not. Thank you. And please keep safe and well in this craziest of years!

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Congratulations The Alchemist! :applause: You are always a positive influence around the forum, and your guides and events participation helps to make this site what it is today. Whatever the game may be, I'm looking forward to the Alchemist/Ashbo guide collab. Even I know that it's highly anticipated. :p Well done. :)

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Congratulations The Alchemist! Very well deserved...and a great interview as well. Nice to see that you live in the greatest county in Ireland and not one of those lesser counties....:whistle:. Also, you are totally offbase...the PSN store in the best store on the web! Especially now with all their great changes...:eek:

 

Congrats once again and enjoy your month!

 

 

Oh, since when is wank a censored word?

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I'd like to be the first to congratulate you on your MotM award matey. Well deserved and glad I got to do the interview! :hug:

 

Enjoy your month mate.

 

Thanks matey :hug:

 

It was a lot of fun doing this. Thanks again bud :)

 

Congratulations mate, very well deserved award. Enjoy your month.

 

Thanks mate :)

 

Congrats.

 

I was hopeing Alchmeist is a homage for Fullmetal Alchemist. One of the better Animes around :D

 

Sorry to disappoint you, Meikoro :p

 

Congrats LST!

 

Thanks a lot ya big fecker! :p

 

Congratulations! :applause:

 

Thank you :)

 

Congratulations mate, club invite incoming :applause:!

 

Thanks T :)

 

Congratulations The Alchemist! :applause: You are always a positive influence around the forum, and your guides and events participation helps to make this site what it is today. Whatever the game may be, I'm looking forward to the Alchemist/Ashbo guide collab. Even I know that it's highly anticipated. :p Well done. :)

 

Thank you for the kind words bud, much appreciated :)

 

Congrats! Enjoy your month!

 

Thank you :)

 

Congratulations The Alchemist! Very well deserved...and a great interview as well. Nice to see that you live in the greatest county in Ireland and not one of those lesser counties....:whistle:. Also, you are totally offbase...the PSN store in the best store on the web! Especially now with all their great changes...:eek:

 

Congrats once again and enjoy your month!

 

 

Oh, since when is wank a censored word?

 

Thank you my man :D

 

I lucked out when I was born in the greatest county in the country :p I would hate to live in one of the pleb counties! :whistle:

 

Haha it's self-censored. Ya never know who you might offend these days!

 

Congrats on MoTM!

 

Thanks Tuff :)

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Congrats dude, GTA6 should be set in Australia, honestly, London would be bleak and always raining. Good to see some Killzone love though, I finished #2 and #3 100% and will get to #1 and #4 (Shadow fall) and I do look forward to it getting around to it in the massive backlog. And finish wolfenstein already!

EDIT: Oh wow, you haven't beaten "Elite mode" on Killzone SF, c'mon mate! Clean up that game to 100%!

Edited by DBZ0wnz
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Congratulations mate. I know we haven't always seen eye-to-eye or even gotten along but congratulations regardless. :p

 

I'm patiently waiting for GTA6 like everyone else too, but with the way things are going, we'll be old men before it arrives. I was going to post a meme from my Twitter timeline but I can't be bothered to spend an eternity searching for it. :|

Edited by mjfan97
No "congratulations" emote? Weird.
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Congrats dude, GTA6 should be set in Australia, honestly, London would be bleak and always raining. Good to see some Killzone love though, I finished #2 and #3 100% and will get to #1 and #4 (Shadow fall) and I do look forward to it getting around to it in the massive backlog. And finish wolfenstein already!

EDIT: Oh wow, you haven't beaten "Elite mode" on Killzone SF, c'mon mate! Clean up that game to 100%!

 

Thanks mate :)

 

Haha I went back to KSF a while ago to mop up the DLC trophies as I was putting it off for years but I found a good group and we knocked them out over a few days. It'll probably be a few more years before I finish the elite campaign playthrough :p

Going back to the game did make me appreciate it a bit more though, it still holds up technically to this day. Amazing looking game that plays really well. I've always been a fan of the series and thought it was underrated. Here's to hoping we get another title in the series at some point

 

Congratulations mate. I know we haven't always seen eye-to-eye or even gotten along but congratulations regardless. :p

 

I'm patiently waiting for GTA6 like everyone else too, but with the way things are going, we'll be old men before it arrives. I was going to post a meme from my Twitter timeline but I can't be bothered to spend an eternity searching for it. :|

 

Thank you dude :)

 

Unfortunately I think Rockstar's glory days are behind them. A lot of the older, important figures have left the company in recent years and it's all about milking GTA V now. That game was a gift and a curse for them. Granted we got RDR2 in between that, and I'm sure we will get a GTA 6 before the end of next gen, I'm just not as hyped about it as I normally would be because the company as I knew it since my childhood is no more :(

 

holy

 

Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooly

in her.

 

It always makes me happy when a Friendly member wins Motm. You deserve it Alchemist, always a friendly member on the site

 

Thank you Hloody, I appreciate the kind words buddy :)

 

Congrats Alchemist enjoy your well earned month!! :applause: :bow:

 

Thanks mate :)

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Thank you dude :)

 

Unfortunately I think Rockstar's glory days are behind them. A lot of the older, important figures have left the company in recent years and it's all about milking GTA V now. That game was a gift and a curse for them. Granted we got RDR2 in between that, and I'm sure we will get a GTA 6 before the end of next gen, I'm just not as hyped about it as I normally would be because the company as I knew it since my childhood is no more :(

No doubt but I hope it comes sooner rather than later. It doesn't matter anyway because at least I have GTAV 100% speedruns to tide me over until then. :D They never get boring - it's especially funny watching people blast through Michael's family missions.

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Awesome interview and congrats mate!! You deserve it. :) Enjoy your month!

 

Also, great job Ash! I love the pics. ;) :hug:

 

Thank you ixii :)

 

Congratulations mate, very well deserved :applause:

 

I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to Cyberpunk, just waiting for that PS5 version at this point.

 

Thanks mate :)

 

Yeah I'm not in a huge rush to play it despite being excited for it. I know you get upgraded for free but I'd rather wait and play it on PS5. It will give me some extra time to continue clearing backlog

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Congr.....

 

Now that we know your proudest platinum, what would you say is your worst Platinum, and, if you could, would you remove it off of your profile?

 

I’m going to cheat a little here and list a game without a platinum because I truly feel it deserves it. The game is Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta - Episode 1. I have Little Adventure on the Prairie and Orc Slayer on my profile but this game even tops those for being absolute w**k. It’s irredeemable trash with zero positives and it’s a top contender for the worst game of all time in my opinion. Calling it a blatant Uncharted rip-off is too kind and doesn’t begin to describe the awfulness. The only good thing, if you’re not already traumatized by the experience of playing it, is that the game only made it to episode 1.

 

Get fucked LST :mad:

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