I like to work for them, meaning unlocking something that makes it easier to find them if I wish so. Trying to find collectible without any indication where they might be is horrible, especially in a sufficiently large environment.

I remember a trophy from one of the prince of persia games being called "where's the walkthrough?". They clearly know it that no one wants to spend countless hours trying to find that one collectible, so why not just have an item reveal them on the map?

In other words, I couldn't agree more, OP.

Agreed. I hate collectibles because i feel like im pausing the game every minute to look at a video guide and since i like trophys i try to get everything on one play through when you really should be doing it on a second.

Absolutely agree with "finding using a mechanic". No one likes a chore.

Some sort of unlocking mechanic and all collectibles should appear on the map if playing on NG+ or the easiest difficulty.

What if the whole point of the game is finding these collectibles?

Yes, they should always be discoverable (and collectable) in-game. Not anything like Final Fantasy XII, where you have to avoid four completely arbitrary containers to get the Zodiac Spear. (Yes, you can get it otherwise too, but it's so unlikely that getting it that way is infeasible.) Anyway, I don't particularly care whether getting them is behind a game mechanic or not, I just want them to be discoverable in-game. That said, having collectibles at all is more or less a questionable mechanic in most cases, and the feature's existance should be very carefully analyzed before having it in any game. Usually it's just a cheap way to extend a game's duration without adding anything meaningful to the game.

I played Tearaway and Tearaway: Unfolded, and I absolutely loved those games EXCEPT for the collectibles, which were a vomit-inducing pain.

Just to add to this, the placement of collectibles can be extremely important. A lot of collectibles are placed in levels with areas where you can't backtrack, and if you miss them, you have to restart the whole level (and sometimes, the whole game) just to get back there.

In Uncharted 4, there's a jeep level where you have to collect a bunch of crap on this volcano mid-way through, and if you make the stupid mistake of driving over a small ledge, you can't go back and get stuff you missed without restarting the level and going through a big gunfight/lots of driving.

I don't understand them to begin with. Why am I pausing my important quest to search for statues of a cat?