So as I finished Ocarina of Time on my 3DS and began on my master quest it occurred to me. Why don't Nintendo have achievements? Everyone else followed the lead of Microsoft, Sony, Steam, Apple, yet Nintendo remain etched in their ways "determined to be different." I get that nintendo market to an audience that really don't care about achievements and that's fine, there's a lot of people on Xbox Live, PSN and Steam who don't care but they are there all the same. What it comes down to is that achievements have changed the way we game and I believe for the good.
The thing I like best about achievements is that they provide proof, confirmation that yes I have finished Halo Reach on Legendary Solo, it proves that yes I have 10 000 Ranked Kills in Gears of War, I don't care about my gamerscore or trophies or anything (40 000 in 4.5 years, even less on steam) I've never really gone for them, what I do like however is that proof they offer, that I can show people - yep I've done that, there is my proof.
The other thing is that well thought out achievements can make us play games in ways we never would have thought, take paths we otherwise wouldn't have, how many of you carried that gnome all the way though Half-Life? How many went all the way through Dead Space with just the plasma cutter? What about going through Mirrors Edge without shooting an enemy? But if there wasn't an achievement would you ever have considered it? Most likely not, but because of these achievements we've experienced these games in a new way.
So this brings me to Nintendo and I have to say I think that they are now lagging behind, that's not to say that all my games have to have achievements, but when I finished Ocarina of Time this morning i loaded it back up and was about to go collect more hearts, kill gold skulltulas etc and then I thought why bother? No one is going to see this and go "hey dude, impressive" I believe in completing a game on the hardest difficulty just to prove I can, but I hate collectables, why would I go get all these things when I've already finished the game? I'm not going to. What about the Master Quest? How many people are just going to ignore that because remembering we've all played this game before, we've been playing it for 13 years and I think what it comes down to is that it would have been nice to get an achievement for catching that Hylian Loach.
The thing I like best about achievements is that they provide proof, confirmation that yes I have finished Halo Reach on Legendary Solo, it proves that yes I have 10 000 Ranked Kills in Gears of War, I don't care about my gamerscore or trophies or anything (40 000 in 4.5 years, even less on steam) I've never really gone for them, what I do like however is that proof they offer, that I can show people - yep I've done that, there is my proof.
The other thing is that well thought out achievements can make us play games in ways we never would have thought, take paths we otherwise wouldn't have, how many of you carried that gnome all the way though Half-Life? How many went all the way through Dead Space with just the plasma cutter? What about going through Mirrors Edge without shooting an enemy? But if there wasn't an achievement would you ever have considered it? Most likely not, but because of these achievements we've experienced these games in a new way.
So this brings me to Nintendo and I have to say I think that they are now lagging behind, that's not to say that all my games have to have achievements, but when I finished Ocarina of Time this morning i loaded it back up and was about to go collect more hearts, kill gold skulltulas etc and then I thought why bother? No one is going to see this and go "hey dude, impressive" I believe in completing a game on the hardest difficulty just to prove I can, but I hate collectables, why would I go get all these things when I've already finished the game? I'm not going to. What about the Master Quest? How many people are just going to ignore that because remembering we've all played this game before, we've been playing it for 13 years and I think what it comes down to is that it would have been nice to get an achievement for catching that Hylian Loach.
