Well, by the title you probably guessed that I have a PS3....
I don't do "Trophies". I don't see the point of them and frankly, I have a feeling that these things did something to games that I don't like. It is of course true that no one is forcing me to chase after them, but it does change the game. I can see in my mind's eye how a developer thinks of trophies to make me play the game again, or other reasons for me to go through it again. When what I am hoping for, is that they can make the game so good, I'll want to do those things without the stale carrot on the end of the stick.
I decided to go on an adventure. To see things from the other side and get a 100% on a game. After finishing Uncharted 2, the thought popped in my head: "Hey, if you're going to do this, at least do it with a game you will actually enjoy playing again". So I have, and since last night I am an owner of a platinum trophy. I'll admit, I used help to find the last 25 or so treasures because they are mad hard to find on my own, and maybe this is a part of the point I was trying to make. Without my quest, I would have gladly left the game at the 70% (just like I did Uncharted) and be done with it. So why can't I get 30% more reasons to play that doesn't involve a FAQ ?
I am a firm believer of unlockables, art gallaries, hidden movies and secret stuff. When I get something tangable (electronically tangable...) for my extra effort, then I'm down like a clown. I replayed probably every Ratchet I had, but I'll never delete my Burnout Paradise save just so I can start over and get those trophies for it. Hell, I got a bit of a complitionist in me. I mean, even in Burnout (before it had trophies) I think I'm short of two gates and a Big Jump from completing the task list that only opens a couple of cars when I only use two or three to begin with.
But maybe it's a different thing for different people. I mean, the whole of Giantbomb.com swears by them, often proclaiming "I need to get the full THOU". So why am I feeling so robbed ? Why do I have the feeling that "You Bought The Game" tropey/acheivement/... is a retarded thing that was born only because of this thing ?
Well, by the title you probably guessed that I have a PS3....
I don't do "Trophies". I don't see the point of them and frankly, I have a feeling that these things did something to games that I don't like. It is of course true that no one is forcing me to chase after them, but it does change the game. I can see in my mind's eye how a developer thinks of trophies to make me play the game again, or other reasons for me to go through it again. When what I am hoping for, is that they can make the game so good, I'll want to do those things without the stale carrot on the end of the stick.
I decided to go on an adventure. To see things from the other side and get a 100% on a game. After finishing Uncharted 2, the thought popped in my head: "Hey, if you're going to do this, at least do it with a game you will actually enjoy playing again". So I have, and since last night I am an owner of a platinum trophy. I'll admit, I used help to find the last 25 or so treasures because they are mad hard to find on my own, and maybe this is a part of the point I was trying to make. Without my quest, I would have gladly left the game at the 70% (just like I did Uncharted) and be done with it. So why can't I get 30% more reasons to play that doesn't involve a FAQ ?
I am a firm believer of unlockables, art gallaries, hidden movies and secret stuff. When I get something tangable (electronically tangable...) for my extra effort, then I'm down like a clown. I replayed probably every Ratchet I had, but I'll never delete my Burnout Paradise save just so I can start over and get those trophies for it. Hell, I got a bit of a complitionist in me. I mean, even in Burnout (before it had trophies) I think I'm short of two gates and a Big Jump from completing the task list that only opens a couple of cars when I only use two or three to begin with.
But maybe it's a different thing for different people. I mean, the whole of Giantbomb.com swears by them, often proclaiming "I need to get the full THOU". So why am I feeling so robbed ? Why do I have the feeling that "You Bought The Game" tropey/acheivement/... is a retarded thing that was born only because of this thing ?
I personally love trophies because I don't get to buy games very often, so I have to make the ones I do get last long. Being a completionist doesn't hurt either, but I feel they add a good bit of value to a game. I thought Fallout 3's trophies were a good fit for the game since it provided me with a checklist of quests and other things to do so that I could keep track of everything. I missed quite a few quests my first three times through the game pre-trophies since I just never happened upon them and ended up missing out on some fun things. I would never buy a game just to get some easy trophies though, or force myself to 100% a game that I really didn't care about.
" Without my quest, I would have gladly left the game at the 70%" That's probably what you should have done. If you didn't enjoy getting the last %30, why bother? If you aren't compelled to get a platinum trophy for every game, then don't. Everyone plays games for different reasons, and everyone expects to get different things out of their games. The same can be said of trophies.
For me, trophies and achievements are a great way to compare your progress in a game to your friends. It's not about e-dick waving. It's just fun to be able to see what they're playing, what they have played, how far they're playing. I don't care about 'completing' a game or getting a 1000/1000 gamerscore. I'll probably never get a platinum because that's not what I'm after. I find it harder to bring myself to play a game that doesn't have achievements these days. It's not a deal-breaker, but my Wii has never been dustier. Imagine if earlier consoles had achievements. If you could pull up Nintendo's website and have a list of all the Super Nintendo games you and your friends beat way back when. A pipe dream to be sure, but in a decade, it will be pretty neat to be able to look back at all the old 360 and PS3 games you used to play (assuming Sony ever gets around to fixing their broken-ass trophy website).
"That's probably what you should have done. If you didn't enjoy getting the last %30, why bother? "
to this, i point to here : "I decided to go on an adventure. To see things from the other side and get a 100% on a game. "
it wasn't about suffering through a game, just to get there. it was about finding out what is behind these things that have taken over gaming. I agree that it's nice to see where your friends are and what are they playing, but that could have easily happened without points or scores or rankings and grades and levels. So i'm inclined to think that on a major level it IS about e-waving your dicks.
and i'm pretty sure i won't be doing that again any time soon :)
It's about whatever you and your community of friends decide to make it about. The scores and levels don't take anything away from the experience. They only add another aspect to it that you can choose to embrace or ignore. I chose the later but many people seem to enjoy them. Trophies and achievements bring many different positives to gaming. The only negatives seem to be from people who are at odds with some perception of what trophies are supposed to be about. It's a simple remedy though, just ignore that aspect of them. If at the end of the day you decide that no aspect of achievements appeals to you, then they are easy enough to ignore.
I only platinum games I enjoy playing. Trophy hunting can be an enjoyable experience, but if you're there for the trophies and not the experience, you're missing the point, IMO.
"I don't see the point of them and frankly" & "Hell, I got a bit of a complitionist in me" are 2 incongruent statements. The apeal of trophies to me is simply that the developer has defined the action in the game that gives you the trophy as something to be done in the game. For me the platinum trophy is now what defines the end of the game. I have done everything in this game that was explictly defined by the developer as something to do in the game.
"So i'm inclined to think that on a major level it IS about e-waving your dicks." I dont really understand this sentiment, it seems to me that this is something more likely to be ridiculed than admired. Often times when people "brag" about how many points they have the common response is to accuse them of having no life or implying that they must live with their parents and that they must have a lot more free time, saying how nice it must be to not have to pay rent, etc.
While i do agree that the inclusion of trophies has made me play a game a lot longer then i normally would have, and i would probably have more fun doing something else with that time, the completionist in me compels me to keep playing.
I have no issue with Trophies/Achievements, In a game I enjoy going through and finding all the hidden things can be fun. But I really don't like the ones that require you to replay the game over and over to get them. The only exception to that is Earth Defense Force: 2017 I have been playing that game for years now, An hour or two at a time every few weeks. And enjoying it the whole way. It's the only game I own that (while it gets stale fast) is still fun to pick up fairly often and just tear some shit up. And it only has like 6 achievements total.
I like having Trophies or achievements. My main reason is simple. I am low on cash at this point, and being able to go back to my library and find a game I would like to improve upon is a nice thing. I recently went back on my 360 and, using Giantbomb's grading scale, started to get rid of some of my shoddy D-Rank games. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was a lot of fun to play, and I never would have had that fun if I didn't say "Oh, wow, I could do better than this."
There is the negative side to it though. I have bought games for the points, and not liked them. For stuff like that, I feel pretty dumb. But when I started playing through Uncharted: Drake's Fortune again because I wanted to get more trophies, I thought, "Hey, even on the PS3, where I have very few friends to see what I am doing, this is making me enjoy this game more than I probably would on my own."
Some of them are hit-and-miss though. But I like them overall.
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