Achievements and Trophy's. How much do you value them?

[CrazyT]

When the xbox360 launched, Microsoft came up with the idea of achievements which has gained huge popularity throughout the years. Soon after that Sony got something like it, called a trophy system. And as followed almost every other sort of platform adapted this feature. From PC platforms like Origin and steam, to even the mobile devices.

Many people forget that Microsoft was the one who came up with the idea first, so everyone else has copied this idea. What do you personally think of them though? Do you think it was a good idea or do you think they are useless?

For me personally I just really dislike them. I am a completionist when it comes to games. I like it especially when a game rewards for a said completion. Whether it's small unlockables like arts, or entire new characters etc. But I feel ever since achievements has come and invaded gaming. Devs have less been concentrating on how to make it worthwhile to keep the player engaged with worthwhile "ingame" rewards, rather has been making these achievements to make the player feel like they gained something after seeing a simple pop up with a "congratulations" message.

I feel like devs just wanna artificially increase the longevity of a game by adding silly asignments like, "collect this many feathers(known from assassins creed), collect this many coffee thermos cup(from alan wake). Etcetera etcetera. It annoys me how all these assignments aren't just not fun, but the reward is ridiculously stupid. They are distracting and change the whole focus. Yet some people won't even give a second look at platforms that don't have achievements.... like Nintendo

[Emmett The Crab]

I think the games that don't have in-game rewards wouldn't have had them anyway, and there are other games that have in-game rewards and achievements, sp for games you might have just played through once, you have more reason to replay them. 

Sony's trophies were a disappointment because not all games even have them, and syncing them is dumb.  Hopefully trophies and achievements carry over next generation and in Sony's case become consistent and update automatically.

I thought the medals in Valkyria Chronicles should have also been tropies.

[TJKitsune]

There was some talk that with the Xbox One, the new achivement system will give more in-game stuff, such as unlocking art, power-ups, etc.  So what you explained you like to see, CrazyTails, is what Microsoft is trying to turn towards more of.  There are also games currently on the 360 that reward you with like shirts or accessories for your avatar...not that many of those are all that great though..

I could take or leave achivements..  I like the fact it shows I've reached a certain goal, but at the end of the day, it's just like...meh...so I have a large number of points and have played over four dozen games...I must be an addict.

[Barry the Nomad]

I loved the achievements in ASRT, as they were tied to license stickers and each had a very cool fan-service name.

I also like when achievements give out free avatar clothes, like in Sonic 4 and Red Dead Redemption.

[George]

Honestly its a game within a game. You can ignore the feature or not. I personally think it was pretty cool. I like the idea that Steam is doing with their trading cards and I hope that they do that with achievements/Trophies in the future. The idea would be like, instead of selling you avatars and nonsense for .50 cents, why not give them up for free with achievements?

There will be a real point to them, free stuff.

[CrazyT]

There was some talk that with the Xbox One, the new achivement system will give more in-game stuff, such as unlocking art, power-ups, etc.  So what you explained you like to see, CrazyTails, is what Microsoft is trying to turn towards more of.  There are also games currently on the 360 that reward you with like shirts or accessories for your avatar...not that many of those are all that great though..

I could take or leave achivements..  I like the fact it shows I've reached a certain goal, but at the end of the day, it's just like...meh...so I have a large number of points and have played over four dozen games...I must be an addict.

I didn't know that. That's pretty cool if they do that for every game. The type of achievements I dislike are the ones I described, collecting all sorts of stuff within the game just to get a pop up. I see that pretty often.

It's annoying to me because I like 100%ing games. And it feels like they shoehorn them in just to give some kind of artificial replay value. Replay value should be made fun as a priority first. A lot of games don't do that anymore.

That's the least of my problems with them though . My biggest problem is that they make me paranoid lol. A lot of challenges require multiple playthroughs and sometimes unfun assignments. For someone like me thats just anoying lol

@Barry. Yes I really liked how it was done in sonic racing transformed. I really like it in sonic racing transformed because all the achievements in that game happen with simply playing the game and getting better at it. They might as well not have achievements and the game would have been exactly the same. But achievements, when they dont reward in or outside the game, are simply to have something recorded, or for reputation. In that regard I like it because you won't have to think about it.

[Barry the Nomad]

"Win a race as ____ character" for each character, with a corresponding license sticker was very cool. I realized that I had never played as Amy Rose thanks to this element and it got me to play as her, and I actually enjoyed her as a racer. Probably wouldn't have played as her otherwise.

[Happy Cat]

You would be surprised how many people at neogaf refuse to play Valkyria chronicles because it has no trophies  : P  some lots of people just take that stuff seriously, no trophies/achievments, not playing that game!

as for me personally, i think they are a cool addition to have. Not having them doesn't ruin a game for me, but it's fun be playing and see i got a trophy and it's like "oh i got a trophy! awesome!"

[Nameless 24]

You would be surprised how many people at neogaf refuse to play Valkyria chronicles because it has no trophies  : P  some lots of people just take that stuff seriously, no trophies/achievments, not playing that game!

That kind of angers me as a VC fan as well. They're not playing the game because it's amazing and fun, but for silly trophies that do absolutely nothing for you in the long run.

What happened to make these gamers obsessed with numbers or virtual awards on their console? If VC was released on the PS2, it would have most likely gotten millions of sales in addition to being classed as one of the greatest console strategy games of all time, never mind one of SEGA's best.

I honestly wish these people played the fucking game without going "Oh...this game has no trophies...I'm not playing it", it not only makes them look childish, but it also makes them pathetic gamers who don't play the game because it's fun. Perhaps the awards system makes gamers take them too seriously.

As for me, I honestly don't care for them (because I suck at 100% games anyway), but I have played Resonance fo Fate 100% because of it...but I actually enjoyed the game enough to 100% it regardless.

[CrazyT]

^Yeah that's kind of the reaon why I asked it in the first place. There's some people who put a lot of value into achievements and trophy's. Personally they just detract me so much from the experience. I wanna have nothing on my mind while going through a game. I think it's great for replay value, and it is optional yes. But like I said, I get paranoid by these kind of things because i'm kind of a completionist when it comes to games.

Sometimes there are achievements where it says "don't die throughout the whole game", or any other specific part. I just lose it when I die then lol.

Silly me. But then I got the wii u, and I feel kind of relieved that they didnt decide to copy the idea. I like how they have kept it publisher specific, where they can design their own app for their own games if they want it. Or ingame like they did with smash bross brawl. I like it optional. Being able to turn off notification on the ps3 with the last update is probably the best thing ever for me.

In their defense, I think they work best in competitive games. Games with lots of replay value, not story driven.

[Barry the Nomad]

For me, I don't hunt down achievements, but it is a happy surprise when I unlock one. In smaller arcade titles, like Sonic games, I use them to give me a reason to play the game a bit more after completing it.