Extra Punctuation: Pokemon 100 Percenters Are Mad

[Retsam19]

Now, I suppose someone may have said this, but each game (except I think the 2nd generation which just added to the first generation) has a specific list of Pokemon that are "native" to that generation, which is usually about 200 Pokemon, which is still fairly comparable to the original 150. The focus of the game, in order to "catch them all" is to fill the Regional Pokedex; usually they don't give you the entire "National" Pokedex until you've essentially beaten the game.
I don't think that it's really fair to say that Pokemon is encouraging you to collect all 600 every time, and to count that as a flaw against the game. Yes, it -allows- you to import Pokemon from older games. I think there'd be much annoyance if they didn't let you move Pokemon into newer games; certainly people would complain about that. And, yes, they keep track of what Pokemon you have from other games, but people would also complain if the games didn't keep track.

Besides, while, yes, there are some people who spend thousands of hours trying to collect every single pokemon from all the games, because they can technically do it, you could make the same argument about games that have internet high score tables that cause people to waste hundreds of hours on a single little flash game, just so they can have the high score.

 

[Zakarath]

The only 2 games (that I recall) I've gone out of my way to 100% were Ratchet & Clank 1 and 3; and they weren't mind-numbing grinds, just finding hidden spots and doing random stuff. And the reward was worth it, at least for 3. (I forget what you get from 1)... They basically showed off a ton of interesting things that ended up getting cut from the final game.

 

[samaugsch]

Admittedly i would like to fill my Pokedex, but im in no hurry to do it, i like training my little Mons. And again...admittedly, i don't know why i have so much fun on them games, it's a game that should NOT work...but it does...if anyone else had developed this concept, it would be a total disaster.

But come on Yahtzee, don't tell us that your not playing this game right now...we all you know you are, and we all know you secretly love it

Soon Yahtzee will want every single Pokemon, making him a 100%er

My friend, you have sucked in to the world of Pokemon

I'm kind of like that, except that I stop catching certain Pokemon when it stops being fun

 

[Henry921]

I actually liked catching them all back when it was remotely feasible to do so, but time has since worn away my youthful optimism. Up until the third generation, I was driven by a mad lust to collect them all, even if I didn't intend to keep them all (as anything I found aesthetically unpleasing or unfit for competitive battle was released or traded to someone who needed it). The fourth generation, for all the praise I can heap on it, finally destroyed my sanity with two Pokemon:

Manaphy and Phione.

Unlike the "event" Pokemon, which Nintendo practically gives out like candy these days, Manaphy was nowhere to be found in Diamond; I had to get an egg from the far-less enjoyable Pokemon Ranger game to find it. While Pokemon has always had "version exclusives" dating back to Red and Blue, never had it been more transparently obvious that Nintendo wanted my money, and told me the only way I'd EVER catch them all was by buying and playing through a game I didn't want.

I sat through the first ten movies (the tenth one was actually pretty awesome) with dubbing of questionable quality. I traded with people I'd never hang out with for any other reason. I spent a few hundred bucks on cards and figurines and even spent years of my life writing fan fiction. I put up with plenty of ruthless cynicism from Nintendo; I accepted it because I got to control a legion of monsters who carried out my will on an unsuspecting and consistently gullible fictional world.

But Pokemon Ranger was crap, and the reward wasn't worth the scratch. Manaphy and Phione are crappy battlers anyway.

So, for the first time, I accepted that I wouldn't catch them all. I became more selective and far less obsessive. I became content with the Pokemon I had, and stopped obsessing about the ones I didn't.

Now that I've gotten my disgust with Manaphy out of my system, I'm going to catch forty six different Axews so I can find a male with the Mold Breaker ability and a Jolly nature. Then I'll be sane again. I promise.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

The only thing similar to 100%ing a Pokemon game I've ever done was getting all of the available robots in G Generation World, which isn't really the same thing because it involves actually using all of them in the process and thus forces you to experiment with different ways of playing the game before you just settle on a whole army of the undisputed best unit in the game for killing hell mode. I also actually am a bit OCD (clinically diagnosed), so that probably explains it.

 

[NaramSuen]

I 100% almost every game I have ever owned and done some time consuming quests in the process, including said Gold Skulltulas, but I have never ever attempted to catch 'em all. A man has to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

 

[Batadon]

NIER had its issues gameplay-wise, but it's so much better when you realize it was built to troll anyone attempting to 100% it.

 

[Enlong]

...You know, the game hasn't used that tagline for quite some time now.

 

[deathjavu]

Or, the people don't have an unlimited video game budget like some lucky wankers and want to get the most enjoyment they can out of their games.

It's nice to have something to do with a game after the first play through rather than just restart it, or play with some self-imposed challenge.

Picking up an old game to play it for an hour or so isn't that weird. That's how I got 470-some pokemon.

 

[TiefBlau]

Probably the most ridiculous culmination of this are achievements. I know quite a few people that play games just for the sake of acquiring achievements, which to me is a lot like buying a pizza to acquire a decent amount of cardboard.

Perhaps the worst part is that, as you said, they're not having fun. They're only under the impression of having fun because what they're doing can be labeled as "playing". But the very concept of achievements are opposed to fun. They're the textbook definition of Skinner box techniques, using operant conditioning to make you continue playing a game long after it's lost its fun.

That being said, there are good ways to make 100% completion a fun, useful part of a game. Batman: Arkham Asylum is by favorite example of this. In the game, you hear a variety of riddles being told by, you guessed it, the Riddler. Solving each riddle wasn't all that difficult, and there are maps scattered throughout the island for the sole purpose of allowing you to locate each riddle. Additionally, everything you collect or solve allows you to acquire one piece of unlockable content, including these incredibly interesting patient interview tapes for each villain on Arkham Asylum. Finally, you get to solve the "Secret of Arkham", an incredibly interesting sidestory which leads up to the next game with a fun and exciting plot twist.

 

[Redd the Sock]

I'm a 100%er, and we don't understand ourselves much some days, but to give you some insight: I always say I'd rather be and OCD gamer than an ADD gamer.

People that don't even beat their games confound me. You paid 50 - 60 bucks for this thing and can't see it through to the end at least? Say what you will about me, I get my money's worth out of a game (down to pennies an hour sometimes). And it isn't just games: pocasts that haven't had an episode in 6 months, forgotten blogs, web comics that die in months, fanfiction that dies in weeks, all because the person doing it stopped finding it "fun" after a while. It's that same mindset that has kids give up musical instruments after a week because they aren't instantly good and practice is boring. Heck, that midset would have kept me from more than a few video game genres I stank at at first.

Not everything in life is fun or has great reward, but sometimes, for some of us, there is a great euphoria of accomplishment that comes from finishing a great task that outweight the drudgery it takes to get their, and it's amplified when people like you come around and we can say we took on a task these guys were unwilling to even attempt. Crazy? Probably. But we get our kicks where we can.

And sometimes isn't even that much drugery. I have several final Fantasies grinded to level 99 done either while watching TV, or studying for a class. It's a low minded task suitable for doing while your mind needs to be elsewhere.

Now back to Dragon Quest 9. If I 100% that without cheating I'll have earned that BJ.

 

[samaugsch]

I guess I'm mad.
I got 100 skulltulas
I got every figurine (in two play throughs over the course of 3 years)
I remember in Vice City I got all the stunt jumps and hidden packages
And guess what? I had fun the entire time.

My rule is I only try for 100% if I'm truly compelled to, and this only happens in games that deserve it.

He said that he hadn't met a single person who had enjoyed doing that.

 

[jtiberiusk]

While the extremes which Yahtzee patently goes to are impractical (not to mention icky for some), it might be a good idea to instigate a reward system for the 100%er while they are growing up. Start off with something intangible like Pokemon while simultaneously giving rewards for tangible things like doing chores. Then stop the rewards for the game while continuing the rewards for the real world tasks. That way, they might learn that the reward in gaming is less tangible and important than the rewards for hard work in the real world.

 

[Electrogecko]

I guess I'm mad.
I got 100 skulltulas
I got every figurine (in two play throughs over the course of 3 years)
I remember in Vice City I got all the stunt jumps and hidden packages
And guess what? I had fun the entire time.

My rule is I only try for 100% if I'm truly compelled to, and this only happens in games that deserve it.

He said that he hadn't met a single person who had enjoyed doing that.

Well....it was certainly extremely gratifying. I want to get the most out of my games and I want the satisfaction of knowing that I complete the shit out of the ones I truly love. I feel like I really accomplished something by collecting all the figurines- the complete set is like an encyclopedia of all the characters, critters, and enemies you've encountered throughout the sea, (that's a lot better to me than a new, possibly game-breaking gun) and knowing that it's done will allow me to relax on it if I ever replay the game. Yahtzee said himself that the best rewards are the ones you have to work for. (paraphrasing from his Minecraft review) Even if they're simple and seemingly useless, (like a golden cock and balls statue) the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment can be reward enough.

As for whether it was fun...well...obviously having to play the sun's song 6 times every trip was tedious and the camera maybe could've held more than 3 shots, but I thought it was a fun game within the game that was completely optional.

 

[samaugsch]

I guess I'm mad.
I got 100 skulltulas
I got every figurine (in two play throughs over the course of 3 years)
I remember in Vice City I got all the stunt jumps and hidden packages
And guess what? I had fun the entire time.

My rule is I only try for 100% if I'm truly compelled to, and this only happens in games that deserve it.

He said that he hadn't met a single person who had enjoyed doing that.

Well....it was certainly extremely gratifying. I want to get the most out of my games and I want the satisfaction of knowing that I complete the shit out of the ones I truly love. I feel like I really accomplished something by collecting all the figurines- the complete set is like an encyclopedia of all the characters, critters, and enemies you've encountered throughout the sea, (that's a lot better to me than a new, possibly game-breaking gun) and knowing that it's done will allow me to relax on it if I ever replay the game. Yahtzee said himself that the best rewards are the ones you have to work for. (paraphrasing from his Minecraft review) Even if they're simple and seemingly useless, (like a golden cock and balls statue) the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment can be reward enough.

As for whether it was fun...well...obviously having to play the sun's song 6 times every trip was tedious and the camera maybe could've held more than 3 shots, but I thought it was a fun game within the game that was completely optional.

Oh. You sounded like you were giving him a hard time about it at first so that's why I said something.

 

[infohippie]

As a completionist myself, I do like Yahtzee's idea of prizes for each stage of completion. If anybody wants to sponsor me like that I will immediately start on a dozen new 100% completion quests.

 

[Scrythe]

You can never win when it comes to Pokemon.

If you play to literally catch them all, you are obsessive compulsive.
If you play for competition, you're a tourneyfag [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Tourneyfag] (this includes EV training).
If you play and are over the target audience, you're probably autistic.

Now I'm not saying any of this is true, but these misconceptions do exist. Hell, I remember the revulsion and disgust I felt the first time someone explained to me what EV training [http://www.serebii.net/games/evs.shtml] was. I've eased up on the concept, but at the same time I can't help but feel this is the extreme counterpart to 100 percenters. Either that, or this is how MMO-mentality translates to non-MMO games. Either way, it's still maddening to think there's groups of enthusiasts who grind up imaginary stats for the ability to play Pokemon on god-mode-unlimited-rocket-launcher.

 

[Hijinx]

People that don't even beat their games confound me. You paid 50 - 60 bucks for this thing and can't see it through to the end at least? Say what you will about me, I get my money's worth out of a game (down to pennies an hour sometimes). And it isn't just games: pocasts that haven't had an episode in 6 months, forgotten blogs, web comics that die in months, fanfiction that dies in weeks, all because the person doing it stopped finding it "fun" after a while. It's that same mindset that has kids give up musical instruments after a week because they aren't instantly good and practice is boring. Heck, that midset would have kept me from more than a few video game genres I stank at at first.

I completely agree with this. My music teacher used to always rant about students like that in my lessons. Some would use all types of excuses to ditch their lessons when their parents have to fork out the money for instruments and tuition in the first place! I can understand being bored when you have to practice, but I can't stand people who just waste money because they can't be "perfect" with minimal effort involved - they need a reality check, because you can't be great at anything if you don't do a bit of practice first.

I remember when I first started to play the flute, I couldn't get a sound out of it for an entire month, but I kept at it, and then it just seemed to come naturally, as if I'd always known how to do it. I really surprised my parents because they started to have their doubts about my abilities! And that's not the only time I've had to prove them wrong. (Sometimes parents can be a pain...)

Not finishing you games is like buying a ticket for a movie, greatly enjoying it, but then leaving the cinema and never watching the rest of it again. Where's the fun in that? (only in this case, it'll be about six tickets when compared with the price of games.) When I was younger, I'd only get around 1-2 games a year if I was lucky, so now I always play my games 'till the end to get my money's worth. Well, it's not really about money. I only play games that I know I'll enjoy, and I end up really needing to know what happens to characters in the end - I guess I play games like an interactive book in that respect.

Then again, I'm not a 100%er, unless I really enjoy the game and it's easy enough to complete everything. In other words, if it stops being fun and makes me look at the game in a negative way, I won't do it.

 

[sketchesofpayne]

I always set my own goals in video games and once I reach them I quickly tire of the game.

 

[tehweave]

What do you do if you like the pokemon games, don't really want to get 100% but your girlfriend is constantly egging you to help her complete her pokedex? Keep in mind, this is the lady who controls how much sex I get on a regular basis.