Achievements/Trophies

[BD2003]

Back before I got a 360, I thought the whole achievements thing was pretty silly. Like oooh look at my gamerscore, e-peen++ etc. Yet now I think they add so much to a game, that its yet another reason why my PC gaming has also gone down considerably. Part of what makes gaming fun is the act of overcoming obstacles and achieving goals, and being able to show it off makes it feel like you've actually achieved something more concrete.

Im not the type that needs to unlock EVERY achievement - I especially hate when the achievements have nothing to do with the actual game. GoW isnt all that much fun when you have to scour every corner to find stupid dog tags.

I cant say I've bought games solely because of the achievements, but I cant say it hasnt been a factor - not because I need more points to show off, but because its just addicting on its own. I probably wouldnt have tackled a bunch of games on the harder difficulties without the achievements for them, but in the end I'm glad I did.

Now the PS3 has their trophy system, and the whole leveling up thing sounds even more addicting than the 360 achievements. Blizzard and Valve are also on that boat...I'm sure itll take nintendo another 5 years though.

But anyway, am I the only one that actually enjoys these things?

 

[coldmeat]

I just do them when I'm bored or finished the game. It just lets me get a little more out of it. If the achievement is too hard, I don't even bother. I just get pissed off at the hard ones.

 

[mugs]

They add replay value... they're a sort of meta-game. I like them, and I usually try to achieve them. I don't waste a lot of time trying to get them, so I've never gotten to 1000 (and I'm usually not good enough anyway)

 

[RandomFool]

I like them but they don't really affect me too much. Occasionally if I know how I'll do a little extra to get an achievement, like in the Penny Arcade Adventures Ep1 I went back to kill some guy I had missed.

I'm not a big fan of how Valve did them. It's a neat idea to have unlockable weapons that depend on them but I know I'll never unlock them all. I don't get to play all that often and when I do play I don't want to be farming achievements just for new guns.

 

[Dumac]

I rarely take notice of them, but I'd rather them be there than not in case I ever feel like trying to reach those goals.

 

[herkulease]

achievements/trophies are nice little items as long as they are for things done outside of the story line. There are several games that simply award you achievement points for get to point x in the story line. those types of achievements come off as if the developer was last and said okay we'll just random select things and give achievement points for them to comply with Microsoft.

 

[KaOTiK]

I don't like them. I don't need a virtual slap on the ass saying good job. How about when I do stuff in a game I unlock stuff like you use too, it is so rare nowadays to unlock stuff. Why bother when we can give people an achievement then turn around and charge them in the form of downloadable content for what we use to give to them for accomplishing in game!

So few games actually unlock stuff and things of actual worth at that nowadays.

Oh and the multiplayer ones are the worse. Most matches online aren't even about the actual objective anymore, but instead I need to do this for xxx acheivement.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: KaOTiK
I don't like them. I don't need a virtual slap on the ass saying good job. How about when I do stuff in a game I unlock stuff like you use too, it is so rare nowadays to unlock stuff. Why bother when we can give people an achievement then turn around and charge them in the form of downloadable content for what we use to give to them for accomplishing in game!

It's ignorant to lump all DLC into your little category. Oblivion horse armor, yes. Rock Band songs, Burnout Paradise DLC months and months after release, and multiple other pieces of DLC that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Besides, why are you even talking about DLC when we're talking about achievements? Achievements have never been considered a method of payment, and they never will. I remember when the achievement system first came out, everybody was mystified as to why they wouldn't let you spend those points you were earning on something.

 

[Queasy]

When they are done well (Geometry Wars I & II, Fable II), they are totally worth it. When they are done badly (King Kong, Avatar: The Burning Earth), they are useless.

 

[KeithTalent]

I'd be happy if they removed them from any and all games. An achievement for me is beating a part of the game (SP) or beating the guy I'm playing against (MP).

KT

 

[nycxandy]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I'd be happy if they removed them from any and all games. An achievement for me is beating a part of the game (SP) or beating the guy I'm playing against (MP).

KT

Ok, I understand that you don't care for achievements, but why would you be happy if they were removed?

 

[KaOTiK]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: KaOTiK
I don't like them. I don't need a virtual slap on the ass saying good job. How about when I do stuff in a game I unlock stuff like you use too, it is so rare nowadays to unlock stuff. Why bother when we can give people an achievement then turn around and charge them in the form of downloadable content for what we use to give to them for accomplishing in game!

It's ignorant to lump all DLC into your little category. Oblivion horse armor, yes. Rock Band songs, Burnout Paradise DLC months and months after release, and multiple other pieces of DLC that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Besides, why are you even talking about DLC when we're talking about achievements? Achievements have never been considered a method of payment, and they never will. I remember when the achievement system first came out, everybody was mystified as to why they wouldn't let you spend those points you were earning on something.

Just as ignorant to think I was lumping all DLC together. Read what I typed before, me not liking achievements was tied into DLC. You seem to misunderstood or simply just didn't get what I said going on about using the points for payments.

 

[destrekor]

I thought achievements were interesting but also silly, as I knew a lot of people who were gamerscore whores.
But now that the PS3 has trophies, albeit very limited (hopefully they become universal for all new games)... I'm enjoying them. Haven't started playing Uncharted again, but will sometime soon... but I've been loving them in Super Stardust HD. Gives that game a helluva replay value bonus... before I never beat it (and have yet to still... working on that), but the trophies have given me something more to work towards, in addition to just beating it, but mastering what it available before I unlock the last levels.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Originally posted by: nycxandy

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I'd be happy if they removed them from any and all games. An achievement for me is beating a part of the game (SP) or beating the guy I'm playing against (MP).

KT

Ok, I understand that you don't care for achievements, but why would you be happy if they were removed?

I personally would be happy if they were removed in multiplayer, because it gets stupid. Like in TF2, how everyone farms achievements and everyone plays the same class. You get people doing stupid things in other games, which takes alot of fun out.

 

[Piuc2020]

I agree, multiplayer achievements are one of the worst ideas Valve has had ever, it's just downright moronic.

I like achievements and many PC games are including them now, however, they don't make or break a game for me, maybe if there were rewards like on the Ratchet & Clank games but getting them for the sake of getting them ain't that fun.

 

[BoberFett]

I'm an achievement whore.

PS I voted "pointless and stupid" but that doesn't change the fact that I've become an addict.

 

[Killerme33]

I do like them. It is pretty cool to get 1000/1000 on a game. What annoys me is when they add something to the game that has no relationship to the game, and is clearly added just for achievement points (intel in COD4, flags in Assassin's Creed).

 

[GenHoth]

I like them because they are mementos of interesting moments. Like activating uber's with 3 other medics or completing the game on hard mode.

 

[RandomFool]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13

Originally posted by: nycxandy

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I'd be happy if they removed them from any and all games. An achievement for me is beating a part of the game (SP) or beating the guy I'm playing against (MP).

KT

Ok, I understand that you don't care for achievements, but why would you be happy if they were removed?

I personally would be happy if they were removed in multiplayer, because it gets stupid. Like in TF2, how everyone farms achievements and everyone plays the same class. You get people doing stupid things in other games, which takes alot of fun out.

It's not the achievements that are the issue. It's that they are only way to unlock the new weapons. If it wasn't for that I think the number of people farming achievements would be significantly less.

I keep hoping one of these new updates Valve will just start unlocking the extra weapons for people who didn't get all the achievements. Like unlocking all the Medics weapons in the upcoming Heavy update and then unlocking the Pyro's in the update after that. That way people who really want to earn all the weapons can get them before everyone else and the rest of us actually get a chance to play with the new stuff at somepoint. That might also balance out everyone only playing the updated class when the update is released.

 

[JoPh]

i liked them. they give me things to try and do that i would have never bothered with.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Killerme33
I do like them. It is pretty cool to get 1000/1000 on a game. What annoys me is when they add something to the game that has no relationship to the game, and is clearly added just for achievement points (intel in COD4, flags in Assassin's Creed).

Yeah...there are definitely good achievements and bad achievements. Theres usually your standard 200ish points for progressing through the game, then a few more for doing it on a harder difficulty. Those are fine, and the extra difficulty ones do add to the replay value for sure. Theres the kill 3 guys in 5 seconds, didnt get shot in a level kind of achievement...also fun.

The ones that really annoy me are the ones like you describe - they not only have no relationship to the game, but they actually distract from it. COD4 is not and should not have ever been a scavenger hunt.

Also ridiculous are the "earn the top spot in the worldwide leaderboard" achievements, which are just IMPOSSIBLE for just about everyone.

And my least favorite of all, the "played this game for 500000 hours". That's not even an achievement by any sense of the word.

I like the occasional oddball one, like the one you got in HL2 for putting the can in the trash like a good boy, or killing a rockstar dev in GTAIV (cant believe I actually randomly got that one).

IMO the only thing valve screwed up is that they release them a class at a time - achieving things to unlock stuff has been standard since long before the gamerscore, but when valve brings it out one class at a time, it really screws up the game for a while.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

They add to replay value more often than not, and can be a good time pursuing. Particularly if you don't look at them the first play through, and stumble on some good ones because of your playing style.

 

[Piuc2020]

Originally posted by: BD2003
The ones that really annoy me are the ones like you describe - they not only have no relationship to the game, but they actually distract from it. COD4 is not and should not have ever been a scavenger hunt.

Let me get this straight... Call of Duty 4 is not a scavenger hunt.. but it shouldn't have been one? My head is spinning

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020

Originally posted by: BD2003
The ones that really annoy me are the ones like you describe - they not only have no relationship to the game, but they actually distract from it. COD4 is not and should not have ever been a scavenger hunt.

Let me get this straight... Call of Duty 4 is not a scavenger hunt.. but it shouldn't have been one? My head is spinning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
I agree, multiplayer achievements are one of the worst ideas Valve has had ever, it's just downright moronic.

I like achievements and many PC games are including them now, however, they don't make or break a game for me, maybe if there were rewards like on the Ratchet & Clank games but getting them for the sake of getting them ain't that fun.

Multiplayer achievements can be fine if done right. Halo 3's achievements are mostly things that would happen to a good player, things that you don't have to play differently to try to achieve. Mongoose Mowdown is the only one that you'd have to play abnormally to try to achieve.

Call of Duty 4 doesn't have any MP achievements, but it has challenges. They encourage you to use different weapons and play differently, but not abnormally. It's not obvious when a person is doing things to try to finish challenges.

Originally posted by: Killerme33
I do like them. It is pretty cool to get 1000/1000 on a game. What annoys me is when they add something to the game that has no relationship to the game, and is clearly added just for achievement points (intel in COD4, flags in Assassin's Creed).

Collectibles were around before achievements existed (i.e. GTA series)... I'd actually say they may have influenced the creation of the achievement system, they weren't created because of the achievement system.