The Best Achievements 107
Like them or not, achievements have become a staple of modern gaming, giving players goals to strive for and a measuring stick with which they can compare themselves to random strangers on the internet. Eurogamer discusses why they've become so popular, and takes a look at some of the most entertaining examples. Quoting:
"... we mock Achievement points because they spell out in large numbers what is so pathetic about video games. But we also celebrate them, because, when used in funny, creative or interesting ways, they also spell out what is so compelling and wonderful about video games. Because for every Achievement in which you have to do nothing more than play through a tutorial there's another that subverts convention, rewarding you for skipping it instead. For every fetch quest that has you collecting dogtags for the millionth time, there's another that makes you fight the baddy with your arms tied behind your back. And for every Achievement you earn in jest for pressing the start button, there's another that only rewards the single best player in the world."
Speed runs, sequence breaking, etc (Score:5, Informative)
Great fun to watch and to do. Although these usuall aren't "official achievements", as they tend to exploit the game in some way or another.
A good classic example: Super Metroid
City of Heroes Badges (Score:5, Informative)
City of Heroes did the whole 'Accomplishments' thing fairly early on. [badge-hunter.com]
Some of my favorites are
'Untouchable' - Defeat 200 mobster bosses.
'Speeder' and 'Speed Demon' - Navigate the Christmas-only ski slopes in Pocket D (twitch-haters LOATHE these since they cannot be ground.)
'Transmogrified' - Save the Terra Volta nuclear reactor core from melting down while it's being attacked by waves of enemies (Skyraiders, Freaks, or Rikti aliens). This is, incidentally, also the trial which earns players the right to respecify their powers.
Two of the hardest to achieve are 'Master at Arms' and 'Demolitionist'. They require the player to participate in 10 or more 3-6 group raids to plant bombs on the crashed Rikti Mothership and then to fight the Rikti Master at Arms, U'kon G'rai (You con grey).
Re:Microsoft's Ripoff Of Sony's Skill Points (Score:5, Informative)
Sony really got Skill Points/Trophies/Achievements right with the PS3.
The Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum breakdown lets you look at another gamer's profile and almost immediately get a sense of just what type of gamer they are.
With Trophies you get:
* Obviously what games they play
* What games they like the most and put the most time into
* What type of gamer they are - lots of just Bronze Trophies and they like to buy games and not complete them, lots of Silver and Gold Trophies and they are a serious gamer who completes games and gets lots of the side quests and hard parts of games done, Platinums and you know you've looking at a hardcore gamer
And like Skill Points, Sony has talked about your Trophy level unlocking things inside of Home in the future.
Re:Microsoft's Ripoff Of Sony's Skill Points (Score:5, Informative)
sorry to double post just wanted to throw a link in here related to my above post.
http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/activision_patches.html [atariage.com]
1998 Spyro Skill Points Earliest Example (Score:4, Informative)
1998's Spyro on Sony's PS1 is the earliest example that anyone has come up with that:
1. A unified system with an overall progression level
2. Elements that a player normally wouldn't do in normal gameplay
3. Rewards for obtaining X number of those elements
Nintendo had games for the GameCube with something similar, but they came a few years after Spyro.
High Scores
Easter Eggs
Secret weapons and items or areas
Rewards for high scores
all existed before Spyro. But the Sony's Spyro game was the first to ever come up with what we now know as the Skill Point aka Trophy aka Acheivement system today.
Re:This is why... (Score:5, Informative)
Why hate the AC? The game's mentioned in TFA... oh, right.
Re:City of Heroes Badges (Score:5, Informative)
Nethack has had "achievements" for a long time. Atheist conduct (never pray), Illiterate conduct (never read scrolls or write on the ground), weaponless conduct (never hit with a wielded weapon), pacifist conduct (complete the game without killing a single enemy personally!)
I remember an old arcade game by Taito, don't remember it's name, it was a spaceship-style shooter where you would pick up stars to buy powerups. Just for fun, I once tried to see how far I could get without firing a shot. To my surprise, when I finally lost a life, I was sent a long, long way ahead in the game. One of the few "secrets" I've found all by myself.
So voluntary challenges aren't new, even if tracking them between sessions is.