Achievement hunting

[CritialGaming]

So I've always liked trophies and achievements in principle, the idea for getting a badge because you did something cool in a game was an idea I've always liked for a long time. Though because of my work schedule, I've never had much of a desire or the time to really push to get every achievement in a game. I would of course get whatever trophies that naturally occured during normal gameplay and maybe a few ones that just happen along the way by accident, but never getting all of them on Xbox or the Platinum on Playstation.

However about a month and a half ago I decide to revisit Bloodborne, at first it was just another playthrough. I felt like replaying the game so I went back to it. However once I was back into the grove of beating the shit out of the game I realized that I was only like five trophies from the platinum. So I decided to go for it.

Those five trophies turns out to require almost two more FULL playthroughs of the game, but I was determined and set now. So over the course of about two and a half weeks I pushed through and got the Platinum. And when that final 100% completion badge popped, damn it felt really good.

So then I got Dragonball Z Kakarot, a game you guys know didn't thrill me much. However when I beat the game, again I only had a few easy trophies to grab for the platinum. So I went ahead and got the Platinum for that too.

Now I'm in full Platinum hunting mode. Something about it has grabbed me. Now I'm playing Disblo 3 because it's another game that I only need a little grinding to actually get the platinum for.

Which leads me to my point of discussion. I might be addicted to trophies now. How do the rest of you guys feel about achievements? Do you hunt them down? Or do you not care about them? Have you ever based your purchase of a game (or you desire to continue to play a game) based on the achievements?

 

[bluegate]

Over the years I managed to collect 53 platinum trophies, so I guess that you could say that I enjoy them.


In general, I really like trophies as they add additional optional challenges and goals in games for players to try and achieve.

Generally I'd shelve games once I'm done with their story mode, but because of trophies I have extended my time with several games, getting more bang for my buck so to speak.
For example, if it weren't for trophies then I would have never bothered to play Lords of the Fallen with all three classes.

I'm not a big fan of overly grindy or online trophies though and I will usually ignore these.

I have never based my purchase of a game on trophies, and I never will.

 

[meiam]

I like the idea of 100% a game and I used to do that all the time when I was a kid (playstation 1/2, so before achievement) but nowadays there's so many game I want to play and so little time that I just can't be bothered to do it, certainly not if I want to put a crack in my backlog.

Plus there's more and more annoyance with online and stuff, maybe I'll pick an older game and to get 100% I need to play online but the online is dead and just can't be done, and it's just not the same if you can't do everything, even if it's not your fault.

I don't know if it's worth the investment, but I think it would be a good idea for company to make platinum trophy be somewhat personalized based on what order the achievements were unlocked. Like if the trophy was actually made of many parts and which parts you'd get depended on what order you cleared the achievements, so that someone looking at it could tell at a glance how you played.

 

[Xprimentyl]

In general, I really like trophies as they add additional optional challenges and goals in games for players to try and achieve.
?
I'm not a big fan of overly grindy or online trophies though and I will usually ignore these.

I have never based my purchase of a game on trophies, and I never will.

^This. I?m particularly against those that serve as little more than a test of patience rather than tests of skill. Like ?7-Day Survivor? in Dead Rising which essentially requires you play the game non-stop for like 14 hours, or one in one of the Rock Band games (I think) that requires you complete every song in the game, in a row, without pausing. It?s like? why?? They clearly put them in for their absurdity, but is the goof really worth gating off achievements from all but the most masochistic gamers?

 

[CaitSeith]

Pretty subjective. Depends on the mood and if I want to replay the game. I also got Bloodborne's Platinum because I enjoy playing the game so much that I even found the Chalice Dungeons appealing. Normally I don't do trophy hunting.

 

[CritialGaming]

So I've always liked trophies and achievements in principle, the idea for getting a badge because you did something cool in a game was an idea I've always liked for a long time. Though because of my work schedule, I've never had much of a desire or the time to really push to get every achievement in a game. I would of course get whatever trophies that naturally occured during normal gameplay and maybe a few ones that just happen along the way by accident, but never getting all of them on Xbox or the Platinum on Playstation.

However about a month and a half ago I decide to revisit Bloodborne, at first it was just another playthrough. I felt like replaying the game so I went back to it. However once I was back into the grove of beating the shit out of the game I realized that I was only like five trophies from the platinum. So I decided to go for it.

Those five trophies turns out to require almost two more FULL playthroughs of the game, but I was determined and set now. So over the course of about two and a half weeks I pushed through and got the Platinum. And when that final 100% completion badge popped, damn it felt really good.

So then I got Dragonball Z Kakarot, a game you guys know didn't thrill me much. However when I beat the game, again I only had a few easy trophies to grab for the platinum. So I went ahead and got the Platinum for that too.

Now I'm in full Platinum hunting mode. Something about it has grabbed me. Now I'm playing Disblo 3 because it's another game that I only need a little grinding to actually get the platinum for.

Which leads me to my point of discussion. I might be addicted to trophies now. How do the rest of you guys feel about achievements? Do you hunt them down? Or do you not care about them? Have you ever based your purchase of a game (or you desire to continue to play a game) based on the achievements?

Was that being unaware you could just reload a cloud/usb save from before the final boss to get the different endings, or did you miss the missable quest lines?

Anyways, I?d definitely go for more Plat?s if I had the time, but now I just do it for games I really, really like. It?s that way with Dark Souls 3, but since it?s a sequel and most trophies are redundant in the series I don?t feel as bad missing some. Having Demon?s Souls, Dark Souls and Bloodborne?s are enough, but I?d also like to get Sekiro to round it out.

Uncharted 4 and God of War eventually would be cool too, but right now I?m contemplating RDR2?s Platinum. Taking it one step at a time, as some of them are pretty demanding. If the game still holds my interest after getting the last few MP ones that will be encouraging.

I also think it would be cool if the platform holders would incentivize trophy collecting in terms of rewards. Like every gold trophy nets a discount or free add on/theme/etc. on the store, or a Platinum would net the player a free digital game copy of choice. Seems like a win/win.

 

[CritialGaming]

snip

No i didn't use cloud saving. I dont really know how nor to I care much to bother with it. Bloodborne doesn't really have quest related trophies, so you can't really miss anything unless you kill npc's for no reason. I did have to look up how to get to Cainhurst and a few of the random weapon locations though.

 

[bluegate]

I also think it would be cool if the platform holders would incentivize trophy collecting in terms of rewards. Like every gold trophy nets a discount or free add on/theme/etc. on the store, or a Platinum would net the player a free digital game copy of choice. Seems like a win/win.

Don't know about other platforms, but for a short period of time you could collect points ( or whatever ) with PlayStation's Rewards program by earning platinums.

I think it was only in the US though.

It would be cool if some additional awards for platinums were to come back. I loved how I got an email with a code for a theme when I platinumed Bloodborne.

 

[CritialGaming]

I also think it would be cool if the platform holders would incentivize trophy collecting in terms of rewards. Like every gold trophy nets a discount or free add on/theme/etc. on the store, or a Platinum would net the player a free digital game copy of choice. Seems like a win/win.

Don't know about other platforms, but for a short period of time you could collect points ( or whatever ) with PlayStation's Rewards program by earning platinums.

I think it was only in the US though.

It would be cool if some additional awards for platinums were to come back. I loved how I got an email with a code for a theme when I platinumed Bloodborne.

I didn't even know they had that. I just liked the pretty badge for completion. You get to see that nice 100% on your profile for a given game which is just cool.

 

[bluegate]

I didn't even know they had that. I just liked the pretty badge for completion. You get to see that nice 100% on your profile for a given game which is just cool.

I'm not in the US so I was never able to participate in the program.

Seeing that 100% bar next to a game is indeed strangely satisfying.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Coincidentally trying to Plat Bloodborne right now. Tips for Pthumerian Descendant welcome!

 

[CritialGaming]

Coincidentally trying to Plat Bloodborne right now. Tips for Pthumerian Descendant welcome!

Which boss is giving you trouble?

I have some good tips depending on what it is.

 

[Trunkage]

In general, I really like trophies as they add additional optional challenges and goals in games for players to try and achieve.
?
I'm not a big fan of overly grindy or online trophies though and I will usually ignore these.

I have never based my purchase of a game on trophies, and I never will.

^This. I?m particularly against those that serve as little more than a test of patience rather than tests of skill. Like ?7-Day Survivor? in Dead Rising which essentially requires you play the game non-stop for like 14 hours, or one in one of the Rock Band games (I think) that requires you complete every song in the game, in a row, without pausing. It?s like? why?? They clearly put them in for their absurdity, but is the goof really worth gating off achievements from all but the most masochistic gamers?

Didnt Stanley Parable have something about playing it for 24hrs on a Tuesday. That sort of stuff is utter nonsense

OT: Currently trying to 100% Fallout 4. The settlement 100% happiness was god awful and trying to make that happen was the worst. Also, one of the last ones is collect 100,000 of something... and I'm at 15,000. I don't know about that nonsense

 

[CritialGaming]

Over the years I managed to collect 53 platinum trophies, so I guess that you could say that I enjoy them.


In general, I really like trophies as they add additional optional challenges and goals in games for players to try and achieve.

Generally I'd shelve games once I'm done with their story mode, but because of trophies I have extended my time with several games, getting more bang for my buck so to speak.
For example, if it weren't for trophies then I would have never bothered to play Lords of the Fallen with all three classes.

I'm not a big fan of overly grindy or online trophies though and I will usually ignore these.

I have never based my purchase of a game on trophies, and I never will.

I 100% agree with this. I would never 100% the trophies in a game that were filled with utter bullshit.

To me a good trophy/achievement list would be mostly things that happen either during the course of normal gameplay OR encourage mose gameplay.

For example I think Diablo 3 has a really good trophy list. It doesn't require any really bullshit grinding like earn 1,000,000 shards or some shit. But it does encourage a lot of replayablity. It wants you to get a character to level 70 in hardcore, it wants you to get 1 of every class to max level, and beat the story on soft and hardcore. That's 90% of the achievements and it's perfectly reasonable.

Mortal Kombat 9 was notorious for fucking dogshit achivements. Like 24 hours of playtime as every character. That's just bullshit. There is a difference between wanting to encourage more play, and just forcing your player to hate your game.

Also I think a good achievement list has to be something that the player can do alone. Or if you want to require multiplayer, make sure it doesn't require an overt level of skill.

For example Mortal Kombat 11 has learned this lesson. Playing 50 online matches is fine. But winning 1000 matches is not.

It would like like if CoD had an achievement for winning 100 matches in a row. Or win 10 matches with a 2.0 KDR.

 

[Yoshi178]

achievements/trophies are literally just a digital pat on the back.
and getting an achievement for doing some of the the most basic things like "you completed the first level congrats!" just feel condescending to the player.

i'd much rather have some cool in game content like a stage character or even a really special character skin be unlocked for completing a difficult feat than be provided with just the stupid "you unlocked an achievement! congrats"


other than making your e-penis look bigger to show to other players online, what benefits do acheievements actually provide for the player?
and before anyone says "they encourage you to become a better player at the game" i'd still be much more encouraged if i actually unlocked something cool in the game content for pulling off a trick.

 

[Xprimentyl]

other than making your e-penis look bigger to show to other players online, what benefits do acheievements actually provide for the player?
and before anyone says "they encourage you to become a better player at the game" i'd still be much more encouraged if i actually unlocked cool in game content for pulling off a trick.

There?s a difference between those who earn achievements/trophies simply to inflate arbitrary numbers and those who appreciate them for the metagame they can often provide; conflating the two isn?t fair as I believe most with any stake in the issue fall into the latter category. I?ve played many a game multiple times and in myriad ways I might not have and have squeezed more enjoyment out of them than I might have without achievement incentives. Pretty sure the days of e-penis flaunting have gone the way of the dinosaur.

 

[CritialGaming]

achievements/trophies are literally just a digital pat on the back.
and getting an achievement for doing some of the the most basic things like "you completed the first level congrats!" just feel condescending to the player.

i'd much rather have some cool in game content like a stage character or even a really special character skin be unlocked for completing a difficult feat than be provided with just the stupid "you unlocked an achievement! congrats"


other than making your e-penis look bigger to show to other players online, what benefits do acheievements actually provide for the player?
and before anyone says "they encourage you to become a better player at the game" i'd still be much more encouraged if i actually unlocked cool in game content for pulling off a trick.

Badges mean a lot to people. They are basically profile cosemetics and prove that you accomplished a thing in a game. If they didn't matter to people, then people wouldn't do them.

It's like saying that cosemetics don't affect gameplay, because we all know that they do. If the cosemetic drives the players motivation to complete a task, then that cosemetic is gameplay affecting thing. Thus why lootboxes and microtransactions are bullshit.

There is a reason why there is a blast of cool music, and a little cinematic that plays in Mario every time you collect a moon. It rewards the player. That is your "pat on the back" in Nintendo games which is the only company that does not offer profile-based achievements in their games. However many Nintendo games still have badges and check lists to show completion.

But I think Achievements are fine because they translate to cosemetics for your profile and I think that is just as valid of a gameplay reward as anything else. And it's a bonus that such things are easy to share and show off to your friends.

 

[CaitSeith]

snip

Says the pot to the kettle

 

[Yoshi178]

achievements/trophies are literally just a digital pat on the back.
and getting an achievement for doing some of the the most basic things like "you completed the first level congrats!" just feel condescending to the player.

i'd much rather have some cool in game content like a stage character or even a really special character skin be unlocked for completing a difficult feat than be provided with just the stupid "you unlocked an achievement! congrats"


other than making your e-penis look bigger to show to other players online, what benefits do acheievements actually provide for the player?
and before anyone says "they encourage you to become a better player at the game" i'd still be much more encouraged if i actually unlocked cool in game content for pulling off a trick.

Badges mean a lot to people. They are basically profile cosemetics and prove that you accomplished a thing in a game. If they didn't matter to people, then people wouldn't do them.

It's like saying that cosemetics don't affect gameplay, because we all know that they do. If the cosemetic drives the players motivation to complete a task, then that cosemetic is gameplay affecting thing. Thus why lootboxes and microtransactions are bullshit.

There is a reason why there is a blast of cool music, and a little cinematic that plays in Mario every time you collect a moon. It rewards the player. That is your "pat on the back" in Nintendo games which is the only company that does not offer profile-based achievements in their games. However many Nintendo games still have badges and check lists to show completion.

But I think Achievements are fine because they translate to cosemetics for your profile and I think that is just as valid of a gameplay reward as anything else. And it's a bonus that such things are easy to share and show off to your friends.

technically those stars/shine sprites/moons in the 3D Mario games are actually the keys that help you unlock more levels to play through in the game. after you complete the main campaign though, 100% collecting all of those stars is pretty pointless tbh. i usually only 100% a game if something really cool happens for 100%ing the game, like a cutscene that's only unlocked through 100% completion.
for example, 100%ing Metriod Prime unlocks the cutscene that explains that when the Metroid Prime boss was defeated, the remains gave birth to the clone called Dark Samus and essentially helped set up the events for the sequel Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.


100%ing stuff is pretty pointless otherwise though.

 

[CritialGaming]

technically those stars/shine sprites/moons in the 3D Mario games are actually the keys that help you unlock more levels to play through in the game. after you complete the main campaign though, 100% collecting all of those stars is pretty pointless tbh. i usually only 100% a game if something really cool happens for 100%ing the game, like a cutscene that's only unlocked through 100% completion.
for example, 100%ing Metriod Prime unlocks the cutscene that explains that when the Metroid Prime boss was defeated, the remains gave birth to the clone called Dark Samus and essentially helped set up the events for the sequel Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.


100%ing stuff is pretty pointless otherwise though.

Regardless, earning achievements isn't any more pointless than other video game completion. It's a feature that many people find quite rewarding.