Poll: 100 Percenting

[Recusant]

In the apartment of a friend of mine sits a stuffed dog (plush, not taxidermied). It is far larger than anyone would ever need a stuffed dog to be. It's better than four feet tall, and takes up a great deal of room that could probably be better spent on more urgent things. But it sits there, with pride of place. Why? Because we won it. Not bought, not built, not were given. We spent (odd days over a couple of) years, and probably two or three times what it would cost to just buy it outright, but we earned that dog. It was one of the giant, top-tier, been-gathering-dust-since-the-Carter-administration, no-one-ever-wins-one-of-these prizes at our local arcade. We set our minds (and wallets) to doing it, and we did it. And we had to redeem the tickets at a quarter to midnight, so we weren't surrounded by throngs of worshipful eight-year-olds, and our names are not spoken only in whispers within the walls of that arcade. But that's okay, because it's not about fame, or about glory, or about the silly old dog. It's about winning it- about earning it. And about the story.

That was an achievement worth getting. Victor Sokolov, a randomly-generated X-Com agent, survived an entire Terror From The Deep Campaign- which I wouldn't've thought possible. Uvash Morulumam charged alone at Rubal Spidersoak, the Nightmare of Demons, who had eviscerated my entire military without taking a scratch, and killed it with a single crossbow bolt.

These are the kind of things I find it worthwhile to labor for- the things that you'll be talking about decades later. The difficult, impressive challenges. The "find all 250 coins/stars/rainbows/whatevers"? Not a chance. Especially if they don't affect gameplay.

 

[Summerstorm]

Never... ever... and i think if i ever actively do all those inane achievements and ridiculous collectible shit in games, i need to be put out of my misery (Because something in my mind has apparently snapped)

What i sometimes do is read the steam-achievements for a game. But seriously a achievement for "Dying 5 times in a row on light difficulty" or like that. Doesn't seem even possible. On the other spectrum "Collect every one of the 50.000 tiny specks of magical dust in the Desert of Murderdeath?" What the hell? The games is fucking 6 hours long, maybe i will play it again in a year of five, but don't stretch it with timewasting crap to 50 hours.

I hate the whole concept. I have 100-percented a game if i see the epilogue / credits. Not by wasting time on random shit. I like tight storytelling... or Open Gameplay or competetive gameplay.

REAL Achievements are ok and something to show. If i see someone who has a 720 degree noscope - 6 kills achievement i at least know that he had a hell of a game or moment of brilliance once. Nice information.

 

[fenrizz]

No, not at all.
I find myself going for it too often, and it usually only serves to kill all enjoyment I have of the game.

Hell, I've even given up on several games because of this.
Can't progress because I might have missed something, then I'm too burned out on the game to bother.

 

[Skruff]

Meh... Not really. I've got too many games in my backlog to spend time trying to get super-hard or super-grindy achievements/trophies.

If I'm enjoying a game, I'm certainly open to going a bit out of the way to get some of the non-"low hanging fruit" trophies, but if it becomes too annoying or too frustrating, I'll just move on.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

If I like the game? Or if I see I'm reaaally close. Like, over 90% close.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

I don't see the point. Achievements and trophies are not worth my time. I try to beat the games I play, that's about it. If I get an achievement because I accidently hit 500 headshots, that's fine. But I'm not going to replay a game or part of a game just so I can get that sort of thing.

 

[FluffehFoxEM]

Currently working on Skyrim...again. Got all trophies on PS3, now working on getting all achievements on Steam before the updated version comes out.

Ive 100% Dead Rising 1...twice. Plan for a 3rd time when I get it on Steam.

Im an achievement whore. To a detrimental degree really, since some games I dont play because of it having achievements I know I wont get. Other games are too late stuck to my profiles.

Getting all the achievements in a game usually makes me feel like I completed it fully, and I like that, but some games make that harder than others. Multiplayer ones being the worst, since most games dont have multiplayer that people actually play.

Multiplayer shouldn't even have achievements/trophies. The Souls series for one got it right. Instead it should have a separate set of in-game stats. There is no way of knowing how long support for the MP side will continue, or how long people will even keep playing for collecting to even be possible. There will always be glitchers, connection issues, etc. and if boosting is almost required for some of them then what's the point.

It's the reason the only Uncharted game I ever bothered to Platinum was the first. I've thought about Hitman: Absolution though, since it's only passive online.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I like going for 100%, but normally only games I REALLY enjoy seeing as 100% often requires various types of grinding and/or multiple playthroughs which can be a chore in games that underwhelm after ONE playthrough. The only exception to that rule in my library is Rory McIlroy?s PGA Tour 2015 which was so goddamn god-awful, I wrung 100% out if it just because that was about the only thing of value to it and for $60, I was determined to get SOMETHING out of it.

 

[Michel Henzel]

I don't think I have ever gotten a 100% completion with a game, and I don't think I ever will. There was a game I got close with, but I never bothered to do it as it did not get me anything worthwhile, other than the achievement. Basically get all my characters to lvl 999 and beat a lvl 999 boss, but since there was no extra story bit involved, or any loot involved, I could not be bothered with it as I just cannot bring myself to care about achievements.

But hey, If you are the type of person that loves them, then more power to you.

 

[Remus]

I can be OCD about questing, which is why I hate experience modifiers in games, but 100%? No. Most games I play I hit low-mid 90s, maybe 85% if I'm lazy. But after a certain point, those last couple secrets just aren't worth it and the big challenge at the end of the game ceases being a challenge because I've skilled past it before ever reaching it. I'm trying to break myself of this habit but if I find a game I like, I instinctively want to see all of it. That said, if I have to turn to google to find those last few percentage points, or if a side quest is so impossibly difficult that I gotta look up the strat because devs couldn't bother to make an encounter that could be reasonably figured out, then it is not worth the effort.

 

[Potjeslatinist]

I have never hundredpercented a game in my life, because why? Some of those challenges are boring and inane, others are just plain buggy and impossible to complete. When I'm done with the main story (if applicable, of course) I consider the game completed. I may come back to it, do another playthrough, make different quest choices, up the difficulty setting, get some mods in, do those challenges that appeal to me, but most of those achievements will stay greyed out forever. Kill that end guy, that's pretty much what I aim for in games.

ADDED: that doesn't mean I shortcut my way through games, I'm rather OCD about filling out my quest journal, for example. And I will alway go for those optional harder bosses and ultimate loot type things.

 

[wings012]

If extra dungeons and stuff are actually fun, like in Valkyrie Profile 2 - then I might give it a go. Though never to the extent of DO EVERYTHING.

But overall 100% type stuff is just a checklist of fannying about. Which I only do some of cause I want the upgrades.

Cheevos are just arbitrary goals decided by random people. Which can be sometimes inane.

In open world Bethesda type games I'll try to at least do every quest as to not miss out on any real content.

 

[Evonisia]

I enjoy it when I actually love the game enough to do it. Even then, I'll always check the achievements first. Multiplayer achievements, especially on aging games, I don't even consider doing. Games with achievements which require ridiculous grinding are dismissed.

I think the last game I 100%ed was "Silent Hill Downpour". Sadly there were only a few good achievements to go for, but I loved the game enough to keep replaying anyway. There was one particular achievement I found quite a challenge, that being one to go the whole game without killing any monsters, but even the particular action intense sections can be done without killing to my surprise.

 

[aozgolo]

Well I enjoy taking a game to 100%, but I don't consider trophies/achievements part of that equation even if developers do. I consider 100% to be doing all the content in the game, every side-mission, every collectible found, all secrets unlocked, etc.

This only applies of course to games I enjoy. The first game I ever did 100% on (where you could) was Kirby's Adventure on NES. I've done it at least 4 times on the original Spyro the Dragon. The most recent example would be Shadow of Mordor which I got all the extra collectibles and unlocks on, while only completing 61% of the total achievements (most just through the course of playing, not deliberate)

In RPGs I tend to do it the most though, often with the least success, which is also part of the draw. I love completionist goals in worlds that I already am enjoying my time in. On my second playthrough of The Witcher 3 I'm taking my time being sure not to miss anything that can be missed (at least within the confines of my story decisions) and taking a much more detailed exploration of every area. In Fallout 4 I'm going out of my way to collect any uniquely named weapon and hoard it in my base whether I ever intend to use it or not. I have yet to do every hunt and side mission in Final Fantasy XII (now opting to wait until Zodiac Age) and the pursuit of such has kept me from finishing the main game, because I am enjoying my time in the world with these activities.

Often 100 percenting is just a way of arbitrarily padding out a game's length, and I am okay with that if it is fun. For me, the journey will always be far greater than the destination, and I can easily say without a doubt that many of my absolute favorite games are ones I have never beaten despite putting twice or often times much higher numbers of hours into them than someone who has.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Almost never. A lot of achievements involve doing things I don't find enjoyable or utilizing playstyles I'm not really interested in. Or worse, they involve collecting meaningless fluff to pad the game time (looking at you Assassin's Creed).

I think the only game I distinctly remember 100%ing was Dishonored because the limitations the achievements put on you actually did make for multiple interesting playthroughs.

 

[CritialGaming]

I wish I did. But frankly I never have the patience required to pull out a 100% on a game. Even if it is a game I really really enjoy, there is always something in the game that just makes me go "yep, not fucking doing that."

Some people really love it and that's awesome. I always wondered how people can sit and sink dozens of hours into a game that they have technically "beaten" in order to get everything.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

They could provide a kind of score-attack chalenge to some games, and they can incentivise different playthroughs in terms of style or choices, but I found they had begun to change how I played, and so eventually I just stopped paying attention to them, and have enjoyed games more since doing so.

Sometimes I still like the idea of maxing a game I especially like, but simply enjoying what I like however I wish is just more enjoyable. And it's easier...

I do want to get the tea related achievement in Elite Dangerous, though... and I was rather chuffed at first discovering a new world/system, as that took me months (granted, I wasn't playing regularly, and I wasn't exploring).

Currently working on Skyrim...again. Got all trophies on PS3, now working on getting all achievements on Steam before the updated version comes out.

I put hundreds of hours into that game, yet never managed to 100% it. I needed to create characters who'd actually do the things required; sure, I could've easily just bought up all the plots of land and houses then reloaded the save, but where the's - ahem... - achievement in that?

Achievements in Skyrim were most enjoyable when they were a natural part of a character's mis/adventures. I did have a second gamertag (created solely to get around DA:O's character limit) where I tried the adoption 'system', but on my main tag I just couldn't find a character who'd actually see that as a vaguely sensible thing to do given the world and quests. Ditto the one requiring all daedric artifacts (I'm pretty sure I screwed that up with one character).

Currently playing through Fallout 4, and given it's modded I've unlocked just one achievement, and likely won't ever acquire any others.

 

[Saelune]

They could provide a kind of score-attack chalenge to some games, and they can incentivise different playthroughs in terms of style or choices, but I found they had begun to change how I played, and so eventually I just stopped paying attention to them, and have enjoyed games more since doing so.

Sometimes I still like the idea of maxing a game I especially like, but simply enjoying what I like however I wish is just more enjoyable. And it's easier...

I do want to get the tea related achievement in Elite Dangerous, though... and I was rather chuffed at first discovering a new world/system, as that took me months (granted, I wasn't playing regularly, and I wasn't exploring).

Currently working on Skyrim...again. Got all trophies on PS3, now working on getting all achievements on Steam before the updated version comes out.

I put hundreds of hours into that game, yet never managed to 100% it. I needed to create characters who'd actually do the things required; sure, I could've easily just bought up all the plots of land and houses then reloaded the save, but where the's - ahem... - achievement in that?

Achievements in Skyrim were most enjoyable when they were a natural part of a character's mis/adventures. I did have a second gamertag (created solely to get around DA:O's character limit) where I tried the adoption 'system', but on my main tag I just couldn't find a character who'd actually see that as a vaguely sensible thing to do given the world and quests. Ditto the one requiring all daedric artifacts (I'm pretty sure I screwed that up with one character).

Currently playing through Fallout 4, and given it's modded I've unlocked just one achievement, and likely won't ever acquire any others.

Well, my first character I just played the game and beat it. I made a new character just to do the Civil War questline, and a character for Companions and for Dark Brotherhood. This was all on the 360.

Then I got the GOTY version of Skyrim for PS3, and made one character and got every achievement on it, cause I wanted to 100% it.

On Steam, I just played it sometimes. If not for the updated version with its own achievement list coming out soon, and free for PC users who already own all the DLC, Id still not be close. Im at 200 hours now, and just started Dragonborn, which is all I have left. I love this DLC though, and am taking my time, unlike Dawnguard, cause...meh.

I kind of hope the new version has different achievements. But if its the same list, I will 100% it too...eventually. But I plan on taking my time. Hell, I try to not even use fast travel most of the time even.

Really though, I like achievements that are fun and interesting. Milestone ones are good, like ya know "Beat the game" ones, but I like ones that make you do fun things you might not have otherwise. Dead Rising usually does a good job of that.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Well, my first character I just played the game and beat it. I made a new character just to do the Civil War questline, and a character for Companions and for Dark Brotherhood. This was all on the 360.

So you didn't RP that first character? RP's generally become more interesting if you're familiar with the game, at least that's how I feel, but I always try to RP all characters - I just couldn't be motivated to play it through just to 'do' stuff in (not that I'm criticising anyone who does, obviously - TES's give the player agency, so all ways are valid).

I kind of hope the new version has different achievements. But if its the same list, I will 100% it too...eventually. But I plan on taking my time. Hell, I try to not even use fast travel most of the time even.

Not sure how much I'll play the 'new' version - it depends on how it's supported, mod wise, on console. Mods'll disable achievements, so I'll probably match my [non-]amount on Fallout 4.

Really though, I like achievements that are fun and interesting. Milestone ones are good, like ya know "Beat the game" ones, but I like ones that make you do fun things you might not have otherwise. Dead Rising usually does a good job of that.

Sure, offers of distinct little challenges can be nice (e.g. the idiosyncratic tea delivery achievement in Elite. and Little Rocket Man in one of the Half-Life 2 episodes was a bit of a classic), but these days I find I abandon games or just take ages to getting around to playing them, if at all, and so those kinds of challenges and quirky asides just take up too much time.

I think Dark Souls [1] was the last game I felt deserved all that attention and time.

 

[Saelune]

Well, my first character I just played the game and beat it. I made a new character just to do the Civil War questline, and a character for Companions and for Dark Brotherhood. This was all on the 360.

So you didn't RP that first character? RP's generally become more interesting if you're familiar with the game, at least that's how I feel, but I always try to RP all characters - I just couldn't be motivated to play it through just to 'do' stuff in (not that I'm criticising anyone who does, obviously - TES's give the player agency, so all ways are valid).

I kind of hope the new version has different achievements. But if its the same list, I will 100% it too...eventually. But I plan on taking my time. Hell, I try to not even use fast travel most of the time even.

Not sure how much I'll play the 'new' version - it depends on how it's supported, mod wise, on console. Mods'll disable achievements, so I'll probably match my [non-]amount on Fallout 4.

Really though, I like achievements that are fun and interesting. Milestone ones are good, like ya know "Beat the game" ones, but I like ones that make you do fun things you might not have otherwise. Dead Rising usually does a good job of that.

Sure, offers of distinct little challenges can be nice (e.g. the idiosyncratic tea delivery achievement in Elite. and Little Rocket Man in one of the Half-Life 2 episodes was a bit of a classic), but these days I find I abandon games or just take ages to getting around to playing them, if at all, and so those kinds of challenges and quirky asides just take up too much time.

I think Dark Souls [1] was the last game I felt deserved all that attention and time.

To be fair, I RP'd that character the best probably. I was a stranger to a land I did not know, just doing what I felt was right.

Now when I play, I plan my reactions and even order of events.

Achievements motivate me to play games more. Plenty of games I wuld never give a second (or sometimes first) chance to. Hitman Blood Money is a prime example. It was a gift cause I offhanded mentioned I wanted it (based on very little info). I was awful at it and hated it. Only because I was even more an achievement whore then did I bother trying to squeeze what few points I could get to make it more worth it. Since then, Ive 100%'d it 3 times and love the game to death. (Wish I had some good sequels to play though...)