General gaming news

[Hitoshura]

Guys.. this can all be solved with one image.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3...8598505yr8.jpg

[Semitry]

Guys.. this can all be solved with one image.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3...8598505yr8.jpg

And why is that a bad thing? I enjoy from time to time flipping through other people's achievements and seeing what they completed in that games compared to what I did. It's not like achievements are costing the gamers anything. They're there, if you don't enjoy them, don't use them.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Achievements don't take a long time to do. A friend of mine took a day, less then 8 hours to do the icons for the Bully Achievements and picking out the achievements in a well designed game wouldn't take long either since it's in the design. There's probably some counter variable for all the templars, or counting kills or w/e and I'm sure the 360 framework makes adding achievements as a simple function call.

And they could have given you a better reason to kill them, like making it fun instead giving you a false sense of achievement over nothing.

I'm not a fan of doing achievements but nothing wrong with them since if lets you fully complete a game you enjoy in a logical manner. It's nice to have milestones to reach and it doesn't take away from a game. Obviously they're not stupid because LOTs of people enjoy it but I find it kind of funny achievement hating people on a MMORPG message board since to me, FFXI is just a big ass achievement system with a social aspect to it.

Actually, my problem with achievements stems from my knowledge of FFXI and what it does to people, what stupid things they end up doing, and thinking about how bad of a fit such things are for a lot of games where they come up with their own incentives like unlockables or sheer enjoyment.

[Bweigelt]

Achievements don't take a long time to do. A friend of mine took a day, less then 8 hours to do the icons for the Bully Achievements and picking out the achievements in a well designed game wouldn't take long either since it's in the design. There's probably some counter variable for all the templars, or counting kills or w/e and I'm sure the 360 framework makes adding achievements as a simple function call.

And they could have given you a better reason to kill them, like making it fun instead giving you a false sense of achievement over nothing.

I'm not a fan of doing achievements but nothing wrong with them since if lets you fully complete a game you enjoy in a logical manner. It's nice to have milestones to reach and it doesn't take away from a game. Obviously they're not stupid because LOTs of people enjoy it but I find it kind of funny achievement hating people on a MMORPG message board since to me, FFXI is just a big ass achievement system with a social aspect to it.

Actually, my problem with achievements stems from my knowledge of FFXI and what it does to people, what stupid things they end up doing, and thinking about how bad of a fit such things are for a lot of games where they come up with their own incentives like unlockables or sheer enjoyment.

Who said the all Achievements aren't fun? I haven't once completed an achievement just because, its always because its something fun to do or it was something I did anyway and just happened to get an achievement for. You make it sound like every game has totally unfun Achievements just to get people to do boring shit in their game, when that is just not the case. I don't no why you have this extreme hate on for them but they actually are fun in most cases.

[Pyro]

I don't think people will say their PS3 versions of COD4 or AC are "crappy" by any means... they just have less replay value offline (in cod's case it's offline..it's the only mode in AC.)

Killing templars is a fun thing but like I said, not all games do it like that and as a result their acheivements suck (which is the reason I have games like Blue Dragon where I have 30 achievement points because working towards any of them is useless and stupid.. but for other games where it's actually FUN, I don't mind..)

I do realize there are those that will replay blue dragon 5 times to get 1k/1k, but I just don't care.. I get 1k/1k in games that I enjoy playing (like call of duty of AC... going back to those two only because they're the recent ones i've played heh... I also have 1k points on Oblivion pre-expansion pack, etc.)

I get where you're coming from... but it's fun in some cases, which is when I actually go for it.

I don't know about everyone else, but when I get a game I like to completely finish that game. Regarding Assassin's Creed on PS3, I'd get all of the flags and templars just to say to myself that I finished it completely and it doesn't matter to me that someone online knows it. It's the whole reason that when I beat Super Mario Brothers 3 for the first time that I also got max lives and max points. Just because you do or don't get a reward for doing something (whether it be worthless or not) doesn't mean people aren't going to do it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are plenty of people that will play AC on the PS3 that will get almost the same amount of replay value out of their version as someone on the 360 minus some little things like stealing that dudes pen.

[Semitry]

Achievements don't take a long time to do. A friend of mine took a day, less then 8 hours to do the icons for the Bully Achievements and picking out the achievements in a well designed game wouldn't take long either since it's in the design. There's probably some counter variable for all the templars, or counting kills or w/e and I'm sure the 360 framework makes adding achievements as a simple function call.

And they could have given you a better reason to kill them, like making it fun instead giving you a false sense of achievement over nothing.

Like what? Anything they give you, achievements can be on top of that with no costs to the developers.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Achievements don't take a long time to do. A friend of mine took a day, less then 8 hours to do the icons for the Bully Achievements and picking out the achievements in a well designed game wouldn't take long either since it's in the design. There's probably some counter variable for all the templars, or counting kills or w/e and I'm sure the 360 framework makes adding achievements as a simple function call.

And they could have given you a better reason to kill them, like making it fun instead giving you a false sense of achievement over nothing.

Like what? Anything they give you, achievements can be on top of that with no costs to the developers.

And if they had the problem of finding a way of encouraging you to do something, they would find a solution. That's how creativity works a lot of the time. So this solution of achievements given to them is a crutch that stunts creativity.

[Semitry]

Achievements don't take a long time to do. A friend of mine took a day, less then 8 hours to do the icons for the Bully Achievements and picking out the achievements in a well designed game wouldn't take long either since it's in the design. There's probably some counter variable for all the templars, or counting kills or w/e and I'm sure the 360 framework makes adding achievements as a simple function call.

And they could have given you a better reason to kill them, like making it fun instead giving you a false sense of achievement over nothing.

Like what? Anything they give you, achievements can be on top of that with no costs to the developers.

And if they had the problem of finding a way of encouraging you to do something, they would find a solution. That's how creativity works a lot of the time. So this solution of achievements given to them is a crutch that stunts creativity.

I like the example you gave of how they could improve it and explained why achievements stunts creativity when it costs practically nothing to do. Who said achievements and creativity are mutually exclusive.

[Xavier]

Guys.. this can all be solved with one image.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3...8598505yr8.jpg

I'm not sure whats funnier, his cocky face or the DS w/ Mario taking up half the advertisement.

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I personally don't think creativity and "achievements" go hand in hand, because a really creative game lends itself to natural achievements fairly well. The big problem is when achievements are used to essientially compensate for shitty gameplay, asking the player to do stupid shit to distract them from how poor the game plays.

I kinda consider the "Skulls" in Halo 3 to be a good example of a poor achievement, since they completely take you out of the game and have you running around in the middle of a war looking for skulls in incredibly obscure places when you're supposed to be saving the world. Stuff like 10 headshots in a row, special kills, etc, are fine w/ me because they incorporate skill into the gameplay.

[aurik]

The best kind of achievements are the kind that just pop up when you're kicking ass.

[Maxxthepenguin]

I like the example you gave of how they could improve it and explained why achievements stunts creativity when it costs practically nothing to do. Who said achievements and creativity are mutually exclusive.

You can be antagonistic, putting words into my mouth and assuming I'm just being a hater or you can discuss this and try to understand what I'm saying and why I'm saying it.

What I'm saying is an easy solution stunts creativity and achievements are a stupidly easy solution for motivating people to play games and thus doesn't make devs come up with their own motivations to get people to do certain tasks. Need is the best way to spur creativity and motivation is one of the things that IMO should always have more creative solutions in gaming.

[Hitoshura]

The best kind of achievements are the kind that just pop up when you're kicking ass.

^See now that sounds cool.

[Kaylia]

I kinda consider the "Skulls" in Halo 3 to be a good example of a poor achievement, since they completely take you out of the game and have you running around in the middle of a war looking for skulls in incredibly obscure places when you're supposed to be saving the world. Stuff like 10 headshots in a row, special kills, etc, are fine w/ me because they incorporate skill into the gameplay.

But side quest are fun when they break away from main gameplay imo. I had fun going off the track to find the skulls. Would never have went to those place otherwise.

If you're talking about the "achievement" part only, I can agree to some extent, but in the end, I dont think it matter. It was only 5-6 achievement out of many.

[Xavier]

The best kind of achievements are the kind that just pop up when you're kicking ass.

QFT, rofl.

[Hitoshura]

Xavier are you playing TF2?

[Xavier]

I've been playing a little TF2, yeah. I have it on the PC and 360, and have mainly been playing it on the 360 for the achievements. I'd prefer to play the PC version, but I don't really have a computer that runs it smoothly enough to be enjoyable.

[Bweigelt]

Why do people keep using the skulls in Halo as an example of shitty achievements? They were in the first two games as well before achievements were even around and they do much more than just get you achievement points.

[Falconblade]

Why do people keep using the skulls in Halo as an example of shitty achievements? They were in the first two games as well before achievements were even around and they do much more than just get you achievement points.

Because the skulls in halo was the dumbest fucking vidya gaem idea since using Skittles as a plot point.

[Bweigelt]

Why do people keep using the skulls in Halo as an example of shitty achievements? They were in the first two games as well before achievements were even around and they do much more than just get you achievement points.

Because the skulls in halo was the dumbest fucking vidya gaem idea since using Skittles as a plot point.

And that has what to do with Achievements?

[Falconblade]

Why do people keep using the skulls in Halo as an example of shitty achievements? They were in the first two games as well before achievements were even around and they do much more than just get you achievement points.

Because the skulls in halo was the dumbest fucking vidya gaem idea since using Skittles as a plot point.

And that has what to do with Achievements?

Because putting achievements on skulls was the dumbest fucking thing since putting skulls in halo.