Tell Us Dammit

24 responses to “Tell Us Dammit”

1. 

   706-2

   January 27, 2011 at 11:07 am

   I cared for a while. I would try and get every achievement in a game, mostly out of a completionist drive but the gamerscore was a nice representation of that. I even considered getting a couple of the achievement easy games like Avatar, and though I never did it was a factor in some of my rentals.

   Once I hit 20,000 though I decided that was enough, I wouldn’t worry so much about it. I would still try and get some achievements, due to wanting to feel like I had 100% a game, especially if it was a game I liked such as ME2 or RDR but I have stopped going out of my way to get them.

   I do still care about it in a way though, I see people with lower than me gamerscores as generally having played less games and not being quite as serious a gamer as I am, whereas people higher are probably more serious gamers than I am. I don’t see either one as a negative, but it is an easy way to get a vauge idea of how much people play.

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2. 

   James Mac

   January 27, 2011 at 11:15 am

   Have I played a game just for the cheevo’s?
   No.
   Do I care about my Gamerscore… a bit.

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3. 

   Joshua Sanchez

   January 27, 2011 at 11:15 am

   I received Quantum of Solace for PS3 as a gift for Christmas 2009. I’ve been avoiding it, expecting it to be terrible. Today, over a year later, I finally took the plastic wrapping off and put the game in. 10 minutes later, I took the game out, put it in the case and put it back on the shelf. It was atrocious.
   I still have some game called Conan still in plastic that the same person gave to me as a gift. No doubt pulled from the budget bin.

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4. 

   Unicron

   January 27, 2011 at 11:45 am

   I would prefer achievements that actually gave you something, like avatar items or some Microsoft points towards the same games DLC.

   I may try for achievements, if some are required to experience all of the game or if the achievement is for doing something fun in the game but not essential for completion.

   But considering i never play online my gamerscore is basically pointless.

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5. 

   Batguy the Champion

   January 27, 2011 at 11:46 am

   I’ll never buy a game for the gamerscore. But it will sometimes keep me going for a little while after I stopped caring about the game. This might be the end-game collectathon, or playing those free XBLA games for an extra hour or so after it stopped being fun. So achievements make me play a game longer, which probably costs them money, rather than making it!

   But I’ll go for cross platform games on the Xbox nearly every time because I greatly prefer the controller and the online integration. Any gamerscore is a bonus, but does not factor into the decision. Simple as that.

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6. 

   The Cracks

   January 27, 2011 at 11:51 am

   While I don’t play games just for achievements, I still like to get them when I can. The best achievements are the ones that aren’t tedious, but inspire different ways to play a game, and can prolong the enjoyment of a game.

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7. 

   Jimu Hsien

   January 27, 2011 at 11:52 am

   Nope

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   1. 

      Jimu Hsien

      January 27, 2011 at 2:31 pm

      I will eloborate cos I want to now.

      Generally I don’t bother with acheivements. I am slowly working on getting all in Dragon Age cos I find the game very fun, most of the acheivements were easy enough anyway.

      Reply
8. 

   Tech Knight

   January 27, 2011 at 12:06 pm

   I only get achievements for the sake of a challenge. Just an example here. Okay so now i beat the game, now finish a specific level without taking any hits? Challenge accepted! Ones like those really put my defensive skills on a game to the test. If I beat achievements like that, I get a smile on my face cuz I can tell my mates, “Yep! I managed to do that.” with pride.

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9. 

   oggob

   January 27, 2011 at 12:08 pm

   I stopped caring about my Gamerscore when Trophies finally became available… :p

   Not enough time in my world to really believe that getting the Platinum on everything is going to happen, but depending on the game I will try and make sure I get the majority.

   Recently I put in a solid week into Killzone 2, to get the weekly rank trophies and it ultimately was quite enjoyable, still need about 3-5 trophies in Killzone 2 though… but I’ve got a few games like that where I haven’t yet completely polished off the final few…

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10. 

    FatShady MBA

    January 27, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    For a very short period of time when i cared about them, I started playing Fight night round 3 again, as you get 1000 points for 10 fights. It started to get grindy so game up with 350 points.

    Other than that, I have played to get achievements but for the right reasons. I got the 100% RDR one because i enjoyed it and i wanted it as a badge of honour (I have also got 100% GTA Vice city and San Andreas. I didn’t get 100% GTA IV because i was not compelled to do so by the game…

    So yeah, I do keep an eye out for them but only where i think the getting of the cheevo is an achievement in itself.

    Also, I have all Trials HD ones for the above reasons, along with my proudest moment, getting 1550 gs for Fallout 3 (that is all 72 cheevos including 5 X DLC). Again, this is something i wear with pride about my gaming skills and habits. If other gamers see this, they know what i am into. (Just don’t look for viva pinyata ones)

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    1. 

       oggob

       January 27, 2011 at 12:55 pm

       Viva Piñata is nothing to be ashamed of, that is a truly fantastic game!

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       1. 

          Batguy the Champion

          January 27, 2011 at 1:26 pm

          …and is coincidentally one of the few disc-based games where I have the full complement of achievements!

          Reply
11. 

    Ross Moir

    January 27, 2011 at 12:16 pm

    While the novelty of acheivements quickly wore off for me, I still like seeing which ones I can achieve without going too far out of my way.

    The first, and so far only, game I have all acheivements for was Mass Effect 2. I came close with AC2, but couldn’t quite manage the last two.

    But the only game I have made a specific effort towards acheivements for is Team Fortress 2, particularly some of the medic/heavy acheivements.

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12. 

    ZePpLiNs

    January 27, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    I have to say, I have bought a few games just to get the chevies, but I have gotten those after researching to see if they are actually worth it.

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13. 

    Fenixius

    January 27, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    No. It means nothing to me. I will never alter my game for the sake of gamerscore. My colleague has told me stories of how the fate of the galaxy has hung on his decision, the Reapers poised to strike, and he based his choice on the G awarded. I was not impressed.

    However, the shiny number next to my name -is- kinda cool; I think it’s why Sony’s Trophies and Steam’s Achievements havn’t got as much power behind them as Xbox Live’s Achievements.

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14. 

    Shane

    January 27, 2011 at 12:42 pm

    I will often grind during a game if it increases the odds of getting an achievement before I finish the main story.

    (Example: the Saboteur. I destroyed every German emplacement by the time I was about 1/2 way through the story)

    But as soon as I finish the main quest of a game, I usually think “Well, thank god that’s over” and don’t bother with any more achievements.

    I am like Mark re: gamerscore in that I am reluctant to get myself a PS3, because that would mean starting again from 0…

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15. 

    Trjn

    January 27, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    One of the reasons most of my multiplatform games are on 360 is because of the achievements. Although I’ve never gone out of my way to play a game just for the achievements, unless you count those free Doritos games on XBLA that are an easy 200 points.

    That being said, I have finished games solely for the achievements. Prince of Persia 2008 and The Force Unleashed are two games that I endured to the end solely so that I could get something out of them, and that something was the gamerscore. Then again, Afro Samurai on PS3 was a similar story, but I like to think that I finished that one out of spite.

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16. 

    Chuloopa

    January 27, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    Simple answer – nope.

    with something nearing 70 360 games, i only have a GS of 5000 odd.

    I just can’t be botherd hunting acheivements down unless it’s fun to do so, liek it was in Batman AA or Dead Rising: Case 0

    Reply
    1. 

       Jimu Hsien

       January 27, 2011 at 2:29 pm

       Man

       I was looking at your list on LIVE last night, you must have only popped the disc on to see if it worked on some of those games.

       Plenty of ZEROS there!

       Reply
17. 

    Denaz

    January 27, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    Yeah I’ve played for cheevy’s, but never paid for a game just for them. Thats my line 🙂

    I can proudly say I’ve never touched avatar! And thats with 120k gamerscore 😀

    Reply
18. 

    Matthew Buckner

    January 27, 2011 at 3:54 pm

    I was a massive achievement whore for a few years. Then when Trophies came out, I got addicted to them. I hired a few shitty games on PS3 to get easy platinums, not afraid to admit it!

    That being said, there is usually a point I get to where I reach my goal and get over it. On Xbox 360 I was over it at about 40k gamerscore. On PS3 I got over it when I got to 1000 trophies.

    These days I play a lot of games on PC and will sometimes go for achievements on Steam, but generally not. The only Steam game I pay attention to the achievements is TF2.

    My Fiance is worse than me though. She will not stop playing a game until she has 100% completed it and also got 100% of the achievements.

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19. 

    Neil Williams

    January 27, 2011 at 7:55 pm

    While I’m not generally a huge achievement whore, I am something much, MUCH worse.

    I am a spreadsheeter.

    “What is a spreadsheeter?”, you may ask? Well, when I start most games (albeit not all games), I will open up Excel and start designing a spreadsheet that tracks all achievements, as well as other tasks towards completion in the game. I will add boxes in which you can tick off with an ‘X’, and I will have formulas set up that keep track of my current state of completion (generally in an ‘x/total’ form, a percentage form, and an ‘x left’ form).

    For example, in my Super Street Fighter IV spreadsheet, I have an ‘Arcade Mode’ sheet that tracks Arcade completion for each character on Medium difficulty (needed for an achievement), which Rival battles I have completed (as some characters have 2, and all are needed for another achievement), and completion for each character on Hardest difficulty (just because). I have a ‘Trials’ sheet that keeps track of which trials I have completed for each character, as well as telling me individual percentages and individual completion in ‘x left’ and ‘x/total’ form, as well as a final total for all trials in all 3 forms. I have a sheet called ‘Colours & Taunts’ that does a similar thing to the previous sheet except with tracking how many colours and taunts are unlocked for each character (related to 2 achievements). And finally we have the ‘Achievements’ sheet, which obviously tracks my achievements, as well as completion for both ‘amount of gamerscore obtained’ and ‘amount of achievements obtained’.

    Now why would somebody in their right mind do something like this? Well, there are a few reasons.

    1: I like being able to track my completion in all aspects of the game straight away, and in a form that is easily readable, modifiable and accessible. With checking achievements, I normally have to navigate Microsoft’s front-end, which stops me from doing anything game-wise until I’m done. Doing this in the middle of an online match without getting yourself killed is impossible. And certain things in-game aren’t tracked in a way that is accessible to the player, or take much more time to find. There is no way to tell which rivals you have seen in SSFIV, for example. And having to go into versus mode and select every single character to see individual completion of colours and taunts is not fun. My spreadsheets negate this issue.

    2: I am a completionist. I enjoy the push towards 100%ing a game. I of course enjoy the game itself (I wouldn’t be playing video games if I didn’t). But I also enjoy that post-game aspect too (depending on the game, of course). Being able to see how I’m progressing towards that illusive 100% is quite enjoyable.

    3: I actually enjoy putting together the spreadsheets. This is possibly the strangest reason of all, but no less valuable than the other reasons. Spending the time putting each sheet together, formatting it so that it is easy to read, setting up conditional formatting so that any boxes that are ticked off are coloured so as to make it easier to see which things need to be completed…it’s all good!

    Now please note that I am not playing games specifically for achievements/gamerscore. I enjoy the games I play for what they are, and have done so ever since I started gaming at the tender age of ~5 (I’m 24 now). But I also enjoy 100%ing a game, and achievements are usually a part of that nowadays. ^^

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20. 

    tomaytto

    January 28, 2011 at 2:05 am

    I’ve never played a game just for the achievements, but I did play fallout 3 past the boundary of enjoyability just to completely 100% the game

    Reply