Do you give a crap about achievements?

[Lord Helmet]

What do you think about the achievement system?

 

When I originally heard about it back befor the 360 launch, I really didn't give a crap. Since I got my 360 (around a year ago) I have started to warm up to them. I don't specifically set out to get them all, but I do enjoy it when I get one. I like it when they are tied to actual gameplay moments (like getting the fastest time in a race, etc) or when they are for discovering something (like finding Geometry Wars in PGR3)

 

What I don't like is when they are tied to something you might not do throughout the course of beating a game.

 

Still, its fun to seem my points pile up as I play more and more games. I wonder what will happen with the next version of the Xbox? I'd like to be able to keep my gammertag.

[Gabriel]

In answer to the topic question, no. I really don't care about achievements. They could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn't give a damn.

 

It's nice getting one, but not an indispensible experience.

[SomeGuyWithDSL]

I like them enough that it's a little depressing to play through a title on another system now and not get some sort of little trinket for accomplishing things.

 

And I enjoy the ones that are just a little out of the way, too. In Crackdown, for example, during the course of my gameplay I found about 95% of the agility orbs. Will I go for 100% and the achievement? You bet.

 

I only found about 30% of the hidden orbs, though, during my normal gameplay. Will I find the rest of those just to get the achievement? Nah.

 

Continuing the Crackdown example, I think the "do this" achievements are pretty fun most of the time, such as "Get a car 200 ft. high" or "Get to the top of the Agency tower and jump off without dying." Nothing you'd do in the course of a normal game, but fun little challenges left by the developers.

Edited July 11, 2007 by SomeGuyWithDSL

[Gabriel]

I like them enough that it's a little depressing to play through a title on another system now and not get some sort of little trinket for accomplishing things.

 

And I enjoy the ones that are just a little out of the way, too. In Crackdown, for example, during the course of my gameplay I found about 95% of the agility orbs. Will I go for 100% and the achievement? You bet.

 

I only found about 30% of the hidden orbs, though, during my normal gameplay. Will I find the rest of those just to get the achievement? Nah.

 

Continuing the Crackdown example, I think the "do this" achievements are pretty fun most of the time, such as "Get a car 200 ft. high" or "Get to the top of the Agency tower and jump off without dying." Nothing you'd do in the course of a normal game, but fun little challenges left by the developers.

 

While SomeGuyWithDSL likes this, I feel it illustrates what is wrong with achievements. So many of them are make-work/busy-work activities, as opposed to anything meaningful in the game.

[Lord Helmet]

Alot of them do kinda feel like side quests in RPGs

 

 

In some ways they are also like the return of high scores...like back in the old arcade days. With achievements, you have something to show for being good at a game, rather than just being able to say "yeah, I beat that game."

Edited July 11, 2007 by Lord Helmet

[Atari5200]

i could care less about them, i do not try to get them, i just play the game and along the way if i happen to get one, then fine, but I will not go out of my way for an achievement.

[StormSurge]

I love them & I can't fully explain why. Maybe it's simply that sense of accomplishment feeling I get from earning them.

 

I could care less about my gamerscore, I just like it when that little "bloop" shows up. I think they add replay value to games I would never touch after completing them initially. (Lego SW II)

 

It's such a simple addition to 360 games, yet they have sucked me in big time.

[moycon]

I like them and try to get 100% on every game. The reason is simple. It's a challenge and has increased the time I spend playing a game. In the old days I would spend my cash on a game, play through it in 12 hours and then put it on a shelf. Now I'll spend double or triple that amount of time trying to get all the achievements. I don't look at it as work it's fun when someone challenge's you and you complete the challenge. It's human nature to feel a sense of pride at your accomplishments. I'm playing my game longer and the way I see, I'm getting more out of the game for my dollar. Also In spite of folks saying achievements aren't worth anything. I got a T-shirt, gamerpoints, Contra and Fusion Frenzy for free that say they are at least worth that.

Edited July 11, 2007 by moycon

[Clint Thompson]

Achievements is what really got me back into gaming. That's a lie in a way because when I play the DS I feel the same sense of enjoyment without them. I just think we have a lot better games this gen... but Moycon said it best... which I agree with.

[BydoEmpire]

Nope. It's nice that they're there, and I do get a tingle of satisfaction when I see an acheivement unlocked, but I wouldn't miss them if they were gone. It doesn't make me play any more of a game.

[NE146]

No.. I don't. That being said, many of them come naturally just from playing the game.

 

However, I definitely don't go bother try to get some achievements like the "jump from building to building in a circle" achievements in Crackdown for example. Just imagine doing that in a 2D game, and you'll see how inane that is

[Cabal]

I'm somewhat of an achievement whore. I like the sense of well, achievement they give. And really I feel that they really add to the replay value and give added motivation to complete a game.

 

Although, I tend to hate the online only achievements since they tend to ruin team games, many players are more worried about getting a certain achievement and get mad if any player does anything that may help the team win, but hurts their attempts to get the achievement.

Edited July 23, 2007 by Cabal

[Bilnick]

Achievements are never a reason to buy a game, but I would buy a 360 version over a PS3 version of the same game because of them.

[cimerians]

It all depends. If they are reasonable then I enjoy them, but some of them are so out of whack that I just dont care.

 

I could really care less just as long as the games are enjoyable. They are kind of an added bonus.

 

What I really want is someone to just make a USB two button Atari joystick and an Atari paddle so we can plug those in and have even more fun and play them the way they were meant to be played. Thats what I really want.

[Lord Thag]

Occasionally they are a nice bragging right, but not really. My brother and his friend are all about them though. Still, I must admit, they are a VERY clever addition to online play. Lots of people go nuts trying to 'catch 'em all', if you will.

[FastRobPlus]

I agree with some of the posts here. Achievements for the sake of bragging rights do nothing for me, but they do help keep me interested in a game by giving me hints about things I might not have tried.

 

I’ll add that for some games, achievements can really help improve your score and/or enjoyment. For example, I was only so-so at Geometry Wars until I looked and found the “pacifist” achievement. Trying to get (and then getting) this achievement corrected the control issues that were preventing me form getting deeper into the game.

[Shannon]

I almost started a poll on this very subject cause lately I've been working hard to complete achievements on Lego Star Wars II.

 

When I first got my 360 my initial thoughts were bleh, but I have to admit I've been rather enjoying them lately. I will agree though that some of them are pretty stupid, and I don't bother with the ones that are outside of my skill level.

 

I will admit though that the "finish the level without dying" actually made me a more effective player in LSW II.

[ewing92]

I actually really like achievements, I just hate online only achievements, exactly because of the reason that Cabal mentioned above. Otherwise, they are really cool i think, not really for bragging rights, but more of something you can check on somebody to see how skilled they are at a particular game. Achievements also help me to actually want to try a game that I usually wouldn't try otherwise, so i can try out that game, and even if I'm not crazy about it, then I can still have something to show for it.

[Lord Helmet]

I will admit though that the "finish the level without dying" actually made me a more effective player in LSW II.

 

That's actually really tough to do.

[Buyatari]

I will admit though that the "finish the level without dying" actually made me a more effective player in LSW II.

 

That's actually really tough to do.

 

Only on the flying missions. The other missions let you play thru as the ghost which can't be hurt. Those are quite easy to beat without getting killed. Don't fall and you got it.

[+remowilliams]

You know, as silly and ultimately worthless as they are - I do like the achievements.

 

To the point where I have had the choice of buying the 360 or PS3 version of a game, and immediately got the 360 version just for that reason. I really dislike disproportionate multiplayer vs single achievement awards though.

 

Some of the achievements are just stupid or grind type stuff, but others I've actually enjoyed going back and getting after finishing a game.

[Lord Helmet]

I will admit though that the "finish the level without dying" actually made me a more effective player in LSW II.

 

That's actually really tough to do.

 

Only on the flying missions. The other missions let you play thru as the ghost which can't be hurt. Those are quite easy to beat without getting killed. Don't fall and you got it.

 

Hmmm. I hadn't thought of that. Guess I have a reason to dig this game out again. I havn't played it for quite some time.

[Shannon]

I will admit though that the "finish the level without dying" actually made me a more effective player in LSW II.

 

That's actually really tough to do.

 

Only on the flying missions. The other missions let you play thru as the ghost which can't be hurt. Those are quite easy to beat without getting killed. Don't fall and you got it.

 

I played thru all but one without the ghost. Minus flying missions of course.

[Lastblade]

I like achievements too. Kinda nice to see what you have accomplished and in what games. But now it is turning into a bad thing, I am willing to play a bad game for easy achievements.... (just bought Eragon for $10 for 1000 points, lol)

[moycon]

I actually kinda liked Eragon. I got it for Christmas last year, It's not the deepest game in the world, and the replay value is nil, but for $10 it's worth a playthrough for sure.