Platinum Difficulty Rating - 10/10FIFA games have recently coaxed people in with easy trophies in recent years, but this list most definitely goes back to the original roots of the series, with a gruelling set that only the most committed of football fans will managed to squeeze a Platinum trophy from.
The list covers a vast array of game modes, including the Road to the World Cup mode, which has a handful of trophies for successfully getting through the World Cup qualifying stages using a country from each FIFA confederation. Some regions have longer qualification campaigns than others, but completing all 6 regions will take some time, which is a recurring trend in this list.
Speaking of which, the "Boyhood Dream" trophy, awarded for Winning the FIFA World Cup as the Captain in Captain Your Country, is definitely one of the most time consuming trophies in the entire game. It requires you to play through a 3 year International calendar, including the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with a round of games preceding each squad cut. You need to make each cut above the line to be able to make it to the World Cup, and missing the cut at any stage means you'll need to start from the beginning or reload from a previous save point. It's also important to mention that, if you don't make it to Captain before the World Cup starts, you won't be promoted any further during the tournament itself, which means you won't be able to earn this trophy.
You can unlock a bunch of trophies related to various cuts throughout the mode, and there are also trophies for winning the World Cup tournament awards (Golden Ball for being the best player, Golden Boot for being the tournament top scorer). These are potentially missable, because you'll only get one chance at them, but as long as you score the most goals and win the Golden Boot, along with lifting the World Cup, you should win the Golden Ball too, though that isn't a guarantee.
You'll play in excess of 50 matches throughout the mode, which can easily take 15-20 hours, and if you fall under the line and get cut from the squad, it's game over and you'll have to reload your last save, or restart the whole thing if you don't have one, which adds unnecessary replay time on top of everything else.
Sticking with the Single Player modes, the "Conqueror" trophy, awarded for completing all scenarios (major objectives) in all 6 FIFA regions in Story of Qualifying, requires you to complete all 54 scenarios that relate to the real qualifying campaign in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The trophy doesn't tie you down to a specific difficulty level, and in truth, they are really easy if you play on Semi-Pro, but if you want to tackle these with a challenge, the higher difficulties will provide a more than adequate one, and it'll take some time to master every challenge to unlock this trophy.
Similarly, the "Reliving Every Moment" trophy, awarded for Completing all scenarios (major objectives) in Story of Finals, follows the exact same requirements as above. These scenarios just relate to all 64 FIFA World Cup finals matches that took place during the summer tournament, as opposed to the qualification matches. Again, they don't have to be done on a specific difficulty level, but the challenge is available if you want to take it, and 64 matches is a fair slog on top of the 54 qualification matches too. Both modes will take anywhere in the region of 30 hours to complete in full.
Moving onto the Multi-Player modes, this is where the game excels in difficulty, with a handful of trophies that will challenge the most hardened FIFA players to the highest limit.
The "WHO won the FIFA World Cup?" trophy, awarded for winning the FIFA World Cup with a 0.5-1.5 star team, is undoubtedly the toughest trophy in this list, and you will need to be prepared to put alot of trial and error into achieving this trophy. Practically every player you run into will be using a 5 star team, so even if they might not be a great player, they'll have such a greater difference in team quality, it can often be the difference between winning and losing.
In regards to which team to use, it's best to just experiment. I eventually managed to win using the Central African Republic after around 20 attempts using 10 different teams, and it was just about finding out which team was best suited to my general gameplan of deep defence and playing on the counter attack. If you go head to head with the vastly superior teams you will encounter, you'll get beaten too often, and with 4 knockout matches to negotiate in the latter stages of the tournament, it's vital to have a set gameplan based on defence and stick to it.
As mentioned, it took me around 20 attempts to unlock this trophy, losing at the final on 2 separate occasions before winning it. Persistence is hugely important, and if you can accept the fact it will most likely take a multitude of attempts (both in order to experiment with different teams/tactics and losing alot), then it definitely becomes an easier challenge to tackle. In reality though, this trophy will make or break this list for many people, and it's a big scalp to achieve alone, never mind the rest of the set.
"The English Invented It..." trophy, awarded for Winning the FIFA World Cup 5 times to match the all time record set by Brazil, is self explanatory, and although you're free to use whichever side you want, as many times as you like, it still means you'll need to win 4 knockout matches in a row on 5 separate occasions, which is tough in online FIFA modes. If you're a good player, being able to use the best teams available should just mean the 5 wins is a matter of time, but it could take a while, and also require some patience if you end up getting knocked out in the latter stages a few times.
It makes more sense to link this trophy into the other 3 trophies that require you to win the FIFA World Cup with various rated teams, but if you want to focus on those separately instead, just exclusively stick to Germany or Spain.
Finally, the "We Actually Did It!" trophy, awarded for winning the FIFA World Cup in Road to Rio de Janeiro mode, requires you to reach the 12th City and win the division in order to clinch the World Cup. Road to Rio de Janeiro is just a re-skinned version of Head to Head seasons featured in the regular FIFA games, but you'll need to climb through 12 divisions, as opposed to the usual 10, and the relegation points threshold is also much higher, making you more susceptible to relegation if you have a bad season.
The earlier divisions for the starting cities are actually quite easy to get through, but the game spikes in difficulty fairly quickly and you'll suddenly find yourself needing to win 7/8 out of 10 matches in order to gain promotion to the next city. It will take a while, and the matchmaking will always put you against players in and around the same divisions, so the quality standard of your opponents will scale accordingly, which makes this trophy a solid challenge in it's own right.
All in all, this is a list that packs in an abundance of time consuming and highly skill based trophies in big measures. The list holds many similarities to FIFA games of years gone by in the sense that you'll be required to divulge and complete practically every game mode in it's entirety, and every Gold trophy on offer will test your skill and determination to the very maximum. Such vast amounts of exploration also mean a time consuming venture that will take anywhere in the region of 100-150 hours depending on how long it takes you to reach the final stage in Road to Rio de Janeiro and win the World Cup 5 different times.
If you were disappointed in the recent slump in difficulty of current FIFA titles, then this challenge is the perfect remedy.
Notable Trophies -
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| Boyhood Dream - Win the FIFA World Cup as the Captain in Captain your Country Conqueror - Complete all scenarios (major objectives) in all 6 FIFA regions in Story of Qualifying Reliving Every Moment - Complete all scenarios (major objectives) in Story of Finals WHO won the FIFA World Cup?! - Win the FIFA World Cup with a 0.5 - 1.5 star team The English Invented It... - Win the FIFA World Cup 5 times to match the all time record set by Brazil We Actually Did It! - Win the FIFA World Cup in Road to Rio de Janeiro mode |
WHO won the FIFA World Cup?!
Win the FIFA World Cup with a 0.5 - 1.5 star team
