Stupid Achievements/Trophies

[Mike Fang]

I don't have a problem with achievements, per se, but a lot of 'em do seem pretty superfluous or asinine because they're giving you little trophies for things you would have to do inevitably to play and/or win the game.

But my big complaint about achievements isn't about their existence, but one aspect of how they're done. I don't think people should be told how many achievements are in a game or what they are. That way you would discourage achievement farmers who are obsessed with getting these otherwise arbitrary check marks on a to-do list, while at the same time encouraging folks to explore the gameplay area and experiment with their strategies to see if they uncover an achievement. I think achievements should be treated like an Easter egg hunt; it wouldn't be as much fun if you were given a map to all the eggs, would it? Especially if the map told you that you had to scale a telephone pole on the other side of town to get one.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Any online trophies. It makes it unfair to those who don't have MP.

I don't feel that is unfair in the slightest. There is no guarantee of acquisition stated or implied in your purchase of a game. That some are effectively impossible to get because you do not play online is not unfair.

That said, I generally prefer that achievements be kept out of online play as they tend to greatly influence player behavior. Battlefield and Modern Warfare (the first two - I have not played the third) did this well. Battlefield generally had achievements simply for reaching milestones of rank along with a few that would simply be hard to accomplish most of the time. Modern Warfare simply locked all achievements behind single player actions.

 

[Jeremy Meadows]

Im not as big of a achievement whore as my brother is but I'll still try to get everything done unless there is some I can't or will not do. Best example is Dead Rising 1 where you have to get 8 female survivors to follow you at once, but the only way to do that is to kill all the male survivors. Why would I do that?

So there are some games I've 100%'d like Oblivion or COD 4. But then there are others that I havn't got half of them (like all the used games I get that have multiplayer achivments but nobody is playing them anymore like F.E.A.R 2. GRRRRRRRRRR)

I do wish there was some sort of little reward though. The avatar clothes is nice but I wish you'd got them for getting a ceritan amount of achivments in the game not just one certain one. My idea is to give you 200MP for every 1000g. That way I get more free MP and used game sales go up because people might/will go out and buy a used game and beat it to just get the MP.

 

[DarkSoldier84]

The 2006 Xbox 360 games had some dumb achievement ideas. Madden 2006 was the pinnacle, I think: it only had eleven achievements, most of them were no-effort affairs, and the few that actually required effort could be cheesed.

"Enter the History Book?" So I have to do well in the game to get into history? Nope. You have to literally enter the History Book section.

"Complete twenty years of franchise?" It can all be simulated.

"Activate RS Card?" Click the right stick nearly anywhere.

"Get a touchdown?" "Get a first down?" Okay, now you're messing with me.

 

[EricKei]

I kinda understand having really easy cheevos for things like finishing a level, just as long as they're not the ONLY ones you get. I always gathered that the idea was that each game should have some "freebies", a bunch of "do something specific" ones, and a tiny number of "you have no life" awards.

Tales of Vesperia is a good example.

It has cheevos for:

Completing story arcs (the last boss can be a pain, tho): (gimmes)

Pulling off specific actions ("Secret Missions") during specific boss fights. These range from "oh, that was easy" (don't lose aggro/let your healer get hit in Zagi I) to "Reload Save x50 because the requirements are so strict" (Hit boss with one specific special attack (that only one character can use) within X seconds of his using one of his specific specials one too many times, causing him to get tired momentarily (Jaeger or final Zagi fight), and do it before killing him. To make it just a little more evil, nothing in-game suggests what you need to do (for most of them), let alone that you CAN alter the battle in this way: (specifics)

Getting every other cheevo -- Plat trophy on Ps3 (japan only), ZERO-point cheevo on 360: (no lifer)

 

[loudestmute]

Certain multiplayer achievements, I can deal with. "Reach Prestige Mode" in games like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Gotham City Impostors, not so much.

"Beat the invincible cheese monster that is our final boss fight, on the hardest difficulty setting, with every character in the game" is a staple of Capcom fighters that needs to go away. Immediately.

Trying to clean up Prototype before the sequel drops, there was one collectible for the Streetwise achievement that nearly caused me to throw the game away. Putting doodads in hard-to-reach places, fine, go nuts. Making a doodad hard to reach by wrenching control away from the player if they approach in the wrong way, that's the kind of bad design that makes me wish the developers had just been lazy instead.

 

[marobidoux]

I don't mind getting a bronze trophy / low achievement for completing a level. I think it shows your progression through the game. And if there's also an achievement for completing the level on the highest difficulty or under a certain time limit, that's even better.

I consider myself a trophy farmer, because for me a game is not finished until I got the platinum trophy or all the trophies if there isn't one. I don't mind having to grind because it's something I enjoy doing (Must... Get... Level... 99!).

However, if I must get online to rate 10 player-made missions, win 500 online games or play the campaign for beginning to end in co-op with the same player in order to earn all the trophies, I feel cheated, because now if I want to complete 100%, I must rely on the presence of other players, which is not guaranteed if the game is old.

Finally, I think there should be more "speedrun" trophies and achievements. Those are really satisfying when completed

 

[Diddy_Mao]

I have a general distaste for Achievements awarded for doing shit you would have to do anyway.

Bing! You Finished level 1!
Bing! You beat your first boss!
Bing! You opened a treasure chest!

The only time I can tolerate this is when it's tied to completion of optional content. Otherwise they're the gaming equivalent of those insulting participation awards they give out in grade school.


For my money I prefer the Achievements that promote exploration or the world or experimentation of the game mechanics.

Bing! You killed 100 enemies with each weapon in the game!
Bing! You uncovered the Treasure of the Sierra Madre!

 

[DJ_DEnM]

The "Kill an obscene number of enemies" trophies. As in, the ones that require killing more enemies than you would in two full playthroughs of the game.

Example - the murder 50,000+ zombies achievement chain.

Easily done in one dedicated playthrough. An insane one is the sequel's 72,000 zombies. It really is harder.

Shadowrun Fever: teabag an opponent who already has this achievement.

I lol'd of course but still dumb.

How did the first person get it?? 0.o

Employees start with it and spread it when they play online.

 

[shadyh8er]

Uncharted trilogy gives you a trophy for finding ONE treasure. Easiest trophy in any game next to pressing start.

Nothing compared to the "Ride the Crocodile" trophy in the 3rd one. You just have to stand on top of a stuffed crocodile in a library. You just know that they ran out of trophy ideas with that one.

Then there are two in Resident Evil 5. "Lead Aspirin" (kill an enemy with a headshot while it's jumping) and "Be the Knife" (deflect an incoming arrow with your knife).

EDIT: I also hate the ones that are all cryptic in describing how to get them.

In RE4 HD, there's one called "Don't Shoot the Water." The hint to get it says, "Summon the beast of the lake. Don't rock the boat." I thought they meant kill the lake boss without taking damage. Nope! Turns out you have to shoot the lake and get eaten by the damn thing!

 

[shadyh8er]

The "Kill an obscene number of enemies" trophies.

I'm reminded of the trophy in Resistance 2 that requires you kill ten THOUSAND enemies...in online competitive mode.

 

[go-10]

Street Fighter X Tekken - access the store and look at our DLC -___-

 

[primodummy]

The GTA online trophies. Tried for 4 years to get them and now I've given up..

 

[bluepanda 492]

Online achievements/Trophies that require you to play ranked to recevie them and pretty much online ones in general.
Also suprised this hasn't been mentioned Ghost Recon's
(World Champion- Climb to the top of the universal leaderboard)

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

I think Crackdown 1 had a ball with this kind of thing.

Be good at everything (Explosives, Athlete, Wheelman, Brawler, Marksman)
Run people over 175 times
Blow up 100 explosives in 60 seconds
Wreck havock in 60 second increments (aka do 6 specific things for one achievement)
Climb the tallest building in the game then jump off (yes, that's an actual achievement)
Doing vehicles tricks
Do all rooftop races
Do all vehicle races
Kill all gang leaders
Co-op action

It's to the point in which these could count as actual good achievements opposed to others.

 

[j0frenzy]

In Mass Effect 3 (yeah, I loved it enough to 100% it, hate away) there's an achievement that you can get by either completing all 6 multiplayer maps on Gold, or completing all single player missions on Insanity. It's nice that they presented an alternative to playing online, but completing all single player missions on Insanity is just completing the single player campaign on Insanity, and there's a different achievement for doing that.

So, basically, two separate achievements for doing the same thing. You can get one of them a different way, but if you want to 100% the game, doing it that way is pointless since you'll get it anyway when you go for the other one.

Actually, I thought it was for doing the N7 missions on insanity while the other one is for getting to the end of the game on insanity. The later just requires the story missions which will translate to a shitty war preparedness I believe (still haven't had the time to finish my first run through). So not quite the same.
I actually really like ME3's achievements for having online options while still being attainable for people who don't play the multiplayer or if/when the servers go down for good.
I recall Rockband 2 had some bat shit insane achievements. I think there was a different one for completing the Endless Setlist 2 for each difficulty. I recall that being like 5 hours of game time the one time I tried it with my friends one afternoon. I don't think I could ever 100% that game.

 

[Beautiful End]

All of the trophies in Hannah Montana. No, I haven't played the game. but...hey, it's Hannah Montana. You get the picture.

Also, what has already been said: Online-based trophies, trophies that you get for starting the game, trophies that you get for PLAYING through the game, etc.
(The last one is a bit redundant; I mean trophies that are awarded by completing a certain chapter, getting a default ability, and so on)

 

[scorptatious]

The "Return" trophy from Journey.

Because I have to spend a week without playing such an beautiful game in order to get it.

 

[targren]

I have to agree with the "story advancement" achievements. They're pointless (except for the "Beat the game" types. Those make sense)

At least those damn MP-only achievements accomplished some good. They broke me of my achievement whoring.