This is a topic that a lot of people have been bringing up lately, so
I figured I would go ahead and talk about it myself. Now as some of you
may know, Nintendo still isn't supporting the achievement system
(outside of a few select games which have in game rewards), and that has
caused the topic of "achievements" to become quite popular. While some
people are upset that the Wii U (and even the 3DS) doesn't use them,
others are glad that Nintendo is staying far away from them.
It seems that achievements have become a love or hate feature in most of today's games, with the fan base being split. Some people think that they add challenge to the game, and give them a reason to play, while others feel that they are stupid and pointless, and that anyone who TRIES to obtain them is a loser. (Pretty sure if I actually quoted how a lot of people feel, I'd be banned from Capcom-Unity...)
Anyway, what do you guys think? As for myself... I love them!
Before I stopped playing my 360, achievements were always something I took a good long look at before I even started up the game. I would check to see if there was anything I should look out for (to avoid missing the achievement), and I would also see what kind of challenges I would have to put myself through to get them. Although I actually rarely went for 1000/1000, I still had fun getting them. I can also say the same thing about the PS3 now. Since I'm mostly playing my PS3 now days (360 is having too many problems sadly X_x), and also because the Vita connects to my PSN account, I've been finding myself caring more and more about the trophies.
For me, achievements and trophies just really help add onto the game. They give you something extra to do, the storyline achievements help show off where you are in the game, and the challenge achievements give you a reason to actually TRY to complete challenges. Look at Jak and Daxter for example (which I reviewed awhile ago). In that game a lot of the things you could do, gave you NO reward at all. You could spend hours trying to do something, only to find out that it was pointless in the end; however that isn't the case when it comes to the trophies. Now that you actually get some kind of reward for doing these different pointless tasks, there's now an actual reason to do them! Really it just helps add onto the replay value of games, and it also gives you something extra to do.
Another way you could look at it is, what do you do after you FINISH a game? Let's use another game for an example, one that doesn't have any kind of achievements... Say... Super Mario 64 DS.
In SM64DS you do get rewarded stars for doing different missions, which will unlock more content, but with an actual achievement system, Nintendo could have really expanded the replay value. They could have added in achievements for beating the first mission of every level with each character, they could have added in challenges like "reach the goal without jumping," they could have added in time attack challenges, there could have been achievements for killing so many enemies or collecting so many coins, and there could have also been achievements for general storyline parts. I mean, that wing cap outside the castle may not be worth getting all the stars to everyone, but an achievement which shows up on their profile forever may be.
Now I'm not saying I think achievements are extremely important, because at the end of the day, how fun the game was is all that really matters; however that doesn't mean achievements aren't fun to collect. I just really don't understand why some people hate them so much, especially since they don't hurt anything at all. Maybe it's just them being jealous of how much better other people may be at a game. I mean, achievements kind of do show off your skill level in a way. *looks over at my friends who have 100%ed a game*... Darn them....
It seems that achievements have become a love or hate feature in most of today's games, with the fan base being split. Some people think that they add challenge to the game, and give them a reason to play, while others feel that they are stupid and pointless, and that anyone who TRIES to obtain them is a loser. (Pretty sure if I actually quoted how a lot of people feel, I'd be banned from Capcom-Unity...)
Anyway, what do you guys think? As for myself... I love them!
Before I stopped playing my 360, achievements were always something I took a good long look at before I even started up the game. I would check to see if there was anything I should look out for (to avoid missing the achievement), and I would also see what kind of challenges I would have to put myself through to get them. Although I actually rarely went for 1000/1000, I still had fun getting them. I can also say the same thing about the PS3 now. Since I'm mostly playing my PS3 now days (360 is having too many problems sadly X_x), and also because the Vita connects to my PSN account, I've been finding myself caring more and more about the trophies.
For me, achievements and trophies just really help add onto the game. They give you something extra to do, the storyline achievements help show off where you are in the game, and the challenge achievements give you a reason to actually TRY to complete challenges. Look at Jak and Daxter for example (which I reviewed awhile ago). In that game a lot of the things you could do, gave you NO reward at all. You could spend hours trying to do something, only to find out that it was pointless in the end; however that isn't the case when it comes to the trophies. Now that you actually get some kind of reward for doing these different pointless tasks, there's now an actual reason to do them! Really it just helps add onto the replay value of games, and it also gives you something extra to do.
Another way you could look at it is, what do you do after you FINISH a game? Let's use another game for an example, one that doesn't have any kind of achievements... Say... Super Mario 64 DS.
In SM64DS you do get rewarded stars for doing different missions, which will unlock more content, but with an actual achievement system, Nintendo could have really expanded the replay value. They could have added in achievements for beating the first mission of every level with each character, they could have added in challenges like "reach the goal without jumping," they could have added in time attack challenges, there could have been achievements for killing so many enemies or collecting so many coins, and there could have also been achievements for general storyline parts. I mean, that wing cap outside the castle may not be worth getting all the stars to everyone, but an achievement which shows up on their profile forever may be.
Now I'm not saying I think achievements are extremely important, because at the end of the day, how fun the game was is all that really matters; however that doesn't mean achievements aren't fun to collect. I just really don't understand why some people hate them so much, especially since they don't hurt anything at all. Maybe it's just them being jealous of how much better other people may be at a game. I mean, achievements kind of do show off your skill level in a way. *looks over at my friends who have 100%ed a game*... Darn them....
