Achievements are one of the worst things to ever happen to games

I'm curious what others think about this.

I really think that achievements take something away from the game. They quietly grow more and more important in the back of your brain, until you find yourself not doing something because it's not for an achievement.

I played through Morrowind about 6 times; there were no achievements, I just loved playing the game. Mario, Sonic 3, Vectorman, GTA San Andreas, Jade Empire, KOTOR, I played all of these multiple times, for no reason other than pure pleasure. I'm starting to get over the "MUST 100%" thing, but it's soured gaming a bit for me.

It doesn't help the way some achievements work. For Oblivion, the achievements were (if I remember correctly) pretty much based solely on completing parts of the game, and reaching the tops of guilds. In Bayonetta, there were achievements for killing 6 enemies without touching the ground, while also balancing on one toe and singing the Star Spangled Banner.

My first game with achievements was Assassin's Creed II. I got all but 3 or 4 of them, and most of those were just organic, happened during the game. I looked at what it would take to get the others, and said "screw it." Since then, I've ignored all achievements in God of War and Bayonetta. They're silly, and they're made to keep people playing the game over and over.

Totally irrelevant to me.

I forget about them as soon as they get in the way of enjoying the game as it is. I see why they did it though. I have a friend who insists on completing every stinking challenge in a game. I let him borrow God of War 1, 2, and 3 way back at the beginning of the summer, and he's still chugging away on the first. He's beaten it once, but now he has to beat it on hard mode, then use such-and-such weapon to kill a thousand enemies, and use such-and-such magic power a thousand times, etc. To get trophies. That don't exist.

I play games for the experience (story, gameplay, pretty stuff), and so does he for the most part. However, the achievements provide him with the endless hoops he apparently desires to jump through.

that I'm playing over and over again anyway, like mass effect or fallout, I'm fine with all the weird ones. I see it as a challenge.

But even with ME, theres an achievement for beating it on "insane" or whatever. No. Don't care enough to spend hours moving through a single firefight because one shot brings my shield down, and I'm being swarmed by husks.

:evilgrin: