Achievements/Trophies

[Arius]

I was wondering, what's everyone's thoughts on achievements and trophies in gaming?

I do occasionally take part in achievement hunting, but I'm not a big online gamer, so I often go without points from games. And if it's too much trouble, I don't bother. Like in Oblivion, I have only the Duke of Mania achievement to go. But I don't feel like going through all the work for that one achievement, so it may never end up getting completed.

In the end, I just like doing achievements, not because it gives me a high gamerscore, but because it gives me a goal. The Duke of Mania achievement mentioned earlier has nothing pushing me to get it, because I've already done all of that, I just chose the other side.

But what are your thoughts?

[Trymantha]

In the end, I just like doing achievements, not because it gives me a high gamerscore, but because it gives me a goal.

This.

I need to have a goal in a game, this best example for me would be something like sim city/the sims, I just cant play them I get so bored I have nothing to aim for.

[iEatNinjaZ]

I love getting achievements, I only have three games but I still love getting them.
It really is that feeling of accomplishment that makes you want more.

I wish there were more Games For Windows LIVE titles then I could get achievements for PC as well, I was looking at bioshock last night and if it could do live I would have had every one of them. Damn

[masamune]

depends entirely on the game and what they are for me. if they're fun or challenging to get without becoming a chore, i'll try and hunt the majority down, but i never play online so i'm always missing at least a few. i have to admit, though, they DO become addictive and on the odd occasion i have been known to spend hours trying to get some.

[gcninja]

and this is why games sell so well, its the psychological boost of getting the achievement or earning the trophy...... I live to get them if theyre not too much work. also, why do multiplatform games have different trophies and achievements?! like COD:MW2 the PS3 version has one more "platinum" one for getting them all, why cant the 360 have a 100 gp thing for that?

[Genghis Ares]

I like Achievements. They give you a goal and they give you a score outside of the game. Having the goal itself is very encouraging, as good achievements steer you into doing things differently, finding special easter eggs, or just completing the game.

I like the points, but not for having a high score, but for having something to add points to and giving you a grand total of all you've done.

[Nevrmore]

I get the large majority of trophies by accident, just fucking around and seeing what the game will allow me to do. Near the end, I'll look at each achievement, and if one seems either easy to do or fun to do, I'll go and complete it. Hard ones can go fuck themselves, and story-based ones will be rewarded anyway so it doesn't matter.

Completionists annoy me.

[Matt]

I loathe achievements that require online play or multimple completions of a game. Those are bullshit.

Anything else is fair game though.

I do enjoy the satisfaction of getting a little public reward for doing something cool in a game, even if noone really cares.

-m

[Dave-O_Boy]

I don't mind them. They don't really enhance the game at all, and I'll rarely go hunting for them, but they can still be kind of fun.

[Darkobra]

Trophies give me something to do in a game some of the time. Other times, I just play it to have fun and get what I can in one playthrough. I hate games that say "Beat it on easy, normal and then hard mode!" Surely if I've beaten it on hard mode, I've surpassed the other two? Yet I don't get the trophies for that.

[Ionflux]

I also like to use achievements/trophies as a goal setting... thing. I try to get them all, unless they are multiplayer ones (Like Killzone 2s achieve #1 rank on the weekly honor boards, that trophy is bullshit) or if they are exactly the same as another one, except instead of saying choice A you pick choice B. I don't care about gamer score/trophy count, but I do feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish a challenging one.

[Dave-O_Boy]

Oh I should have said. My philosophy on Achievements is that they should never be for things that you'll get just by going through the game normally. No "you beat level 1!" type of stuff. Side quests or choices are alright, but still pretty much a cop out.
They should be for extra challenges that most players may not think to do, or something that difficult to do. Like "Beat the game without losing a life," or "get 10 head shots in a row without dying." Something that's really badge-worthy.
A friend of mine, who I'm working on a game with, had the idea that the main character could be wearing a hat that would come off when you're first hit and there would be a whole bunch of achievements based around getting to certain points in the game with the hat on. But he decided to scrap that idea unfortunately.

[Vigafre]

I believe achievements are a good reason to play again again after completing the game. Occasionally, I will hunt, but I try not to whore them.

[Cade Antilles]

I think that they can be, if implemented properly, a major factor in my enjoyment of a game. Poorly implemented achievements are the ones that require multiple play-throughs to attain (ie Ninety-Nine Nights, Mass Effect), or tedious collections of irrelevant items (the intel items from CoD).

However, achievements that reward doing something awesome make me happy. Like getting a bajillion points in Peggle, or some such. Achievements that reward me for finishing games are nice, but don't make me feel special.

Overall, what I'm saying is that achievements can be nice, I like getting them, and sometimes they can make games better. But, I don't need them.

[iamevilchris]

They don't really enhance the game at all

Mass Effect achievements (well, most of them anyway) unlock bonuses that affect your characters on that profile. Zombie Genocidist in Dead Rising unlocks Mega Man's Mega Blaster in the safe room. i'd like to see more games do stuff like this.

Trophies give me something to do in a game some of the time. Other times, I just play it to have fun and get what I can in one playthrough. I hate games that say "Beat it on easy, normal and then hard mode!" Surely if I've beaten it on hard mode, I've surpassed the other two? Yet I don't get the trophies for that.

i think Guitar Hero 3 is the only game i know of that does this. everything else i've played with difficulty achievements, they stack (except the ones where you have to unlock difficulties, of course).

the ones i really don't like are the ridiculous grind ones... like Seriously/Seriously 2.0 in Gears, and Zombie Genocidist ones in Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead 1 (though playing Custom Maps on L4D1 for PC is a good excuse to get it, haha).

multiplayer ones are fine for me because i do play multiplayer

storyline ones are okay for me, except for when they don't unlock (yes, Master Wizard in Oblivion, i am talking to you. funny because i have one for completing the Mage Guild questline, but not the second last one). if i like a game enough to do multiple playthroughs with different choices (when applicable), those are fine by me too.

[Darkobra]

Batman's Arkham Asylum did that. From what I heard, my friend who has an XBox beat hard and got the lower two while I, on my PS3, had to beat all 3.

[Genghis Ares]

I do like it when achievements are tied into the game like with what Mass effect and Dead Rising does. They both require multiple playthroughs though, which is fine for some games if it's something you know you're going to play again, but sometimes you just don't want to.

[Metcarfre]

I like achievments as a sort of "Ding! You did something cool!" Like in Borderlands, which had a number of 'secret' achievements that you didn't know what they were until you got them. It gives you a reason to keep playing the game other than "kill 365 more bad guys".