Accomplishments and Trophies
Spent Monday afternoon with The Artist, his wife and the too energetic Devil Child. Somehow the conversation turned to the awards system on both the XBox360 and PS3 with the interesting statement by The Artist that he saw no point to them.
He was getting fed-up of reviews using them as a longevity/re-playability index, because he didn't care. Now me I like the trophies I'll quickly jump back into a game just to get one, but I can see his point as some of them are truly pointless. Killzone 2 for example awards you a trophy simply for completing each game section at any skill level, a feat you have to accomplish just to progress, in The Darkness you can gain an Accomplishment for collecting every phone-number/envelope and dialing/posting them; unlike Bioshock they don't add anything to the main story line so it's collection for collections sake. Oh sure you might argue it encourages exploration, but it doesn't. They're either directly in front of you as you progress or tucked into dead-end corners that serve no other purpose.
On the other hand you have Burnout Paradise which is rather mixed - visit a repair shop for the first time, which is an instruction in the tutorial; sure you don't have to but who isn't. Then you get something like visit a repair shop in the middle of an event which sounds silly, but is a nice reminder that it's possible to do. It's even got the collection via Super Jumps, Billboard smashs and Gate smashs; but each of these indicates possible short-cuts and opening new areas you may not realise exist and so add to the game.
That's where the lazy awards system fails - the questions that have to be asked "Does this enhance the game? Does this encourage the player to do something different? Does this remind the player they can do something?" Visit a repair shop in a race - yes; complete a section of a campaign you have to do anyway - no.
I would say that as they're new developers are still finding their feet with them, but I can't as the 360 has had them since inception and the multi-platform ones are identical. I suspect they'll get better, but even the latest release InFamous seems to be a collection hunt - collect all these, kill this many, travel this distance; 29 out of 50 trophies with another 3 being complete the game Good/Bad/Hard and 1 more for getting all the other trophies.
As Sony still haven't integrated the Trophy system into the internet as Microsoft have done you don't even gain any bragging rights by posting you score on your blog/myspace/whatever page.
So really if they don't get their act together what really is the point?
11 comments:
I have no idea what you're talking about. However, what this does remind me of is Valve's “achievements” built into some of their games.
For example, in HalfLife 2: Episode 2, one achievement is “kill every antlion grab in the game”. (Although actually, it seems you merely have to kill most of them to be awarded the achievement.)
Another achievement is winning a little race. It's actually not that easy to win, and whether you win or lose makes no difference to the rest of the game. It's just amusing to try to win it.
On the other hand, there are achievements like “survive the antlion attack”. Well, um, you have to do that to play the rest of the game! And there are several other achievements like that.
Of course, the real achievement-whore, the place where it all started, is Team Fortress 2. First they just added some achievements. But then they came up with this idea of releasing a major game update every 6 months where they focus on one character.
The first such update was the Medic. People complained that playing as Medic is too boring.
So, they added two-dozen achievements specific to the Media. And if you get 1/3 of the achievements, it “unlocks” a new weapon. And when you get 2/3 of the achievements, that unlocks the next weapon, and so on.
Each new weapon can be used instead of one of the existing weapons. It's up to you whether you use 'em or not.
Of course, if the new unlockables were “more powerful” than the existing weapons, that would be kind of unfair on the people who haven't unlocked them yet.
For this reason, the new weapons are more like side-grades than up-grades. E.g., the Pyro get the Backburner which replaces the Flamethrower. It does less damage than the Flamethrower, except from behind, where it does triple the normal damage.
Since the Pyro is supposed to be an ambush class, that means that if you ambush people from behind, this weapon is much more powerful. But if you're confronted head-on, you now have a less powerful weapon. Swings and roundabouts.
The achievements range from the trivially easy (“win a round”) to the really rather hard (“do 1,000,000 points fire damage”). And then there are some achievements that are just darn silly:
“Beat somebody so badly that they leave the server.” (Oh, that's really sporting, isn't it?)
“Get backstabbed 20 times.” (Um, hello? You're supposed to avoid getting backstabbed! WTF? This isn't an achievement, this means you suck!!)
It should of course be completely obvious that most TF2 players, being 12 years old or younger (WTF? This game has a 15 cert!), just want the unlocks. Obviously if an achievement is “heal 1,000 damange points”, all you need to do is get you and two mates on an empty server. One of you go Medic, one go Pyro, one go Heavy. Let Heavy just stands there and lets the Pyro injur him, the Media stands there healing him. The three of you stand around in this configuration until the achievement pops up. No skill required.
This “achievement farming” has reached such proportions that there are now dedicated servers set up specially for the task. I saw one that has a scripted room full of Scouts. Every 8 seconds, a spark ignites all the Scouts in the room, and you can run round and extinquish then heal them all. Won't take too long to get half a dozen achievements this way.
This explains why I see TF2 servers full of players who are utterly crap, but have every unlockable in the game.
This weekend, the Sniper update was released (which also somehow turned into the Spy update as well). But there's a new scheme. Rather than needing X number of achievements, you now get given unlockables at random. Why, just the other day I was playing as Scout and I suddenly got shot in the head, and given one of the Media unlocks. Interesting idea…
"I have no idea what you're talking about." and yet managed to describe it perfectly as pertaining to TF2 etc. :-P The ad-ons didn't make it to the PS3 version as it wasn't made by Valve them being whiny babies blubbering that the PS3 was 'too hard'.
But yes that what the achievements occasionally appear to be - doing it for the sake of doing it. Likewise it also seeps into the online stuff for consoles where you have groups coming together solely to unlock the achievement.
I don't mind the negative ones too much, sometimes they can be quite fun and make you play in a different way.
You really gonna have to get a PS3 sometime - £280, what's that the cost of one of your PC graphic cards? :-)
At the least I think you'd like Killzone2 even if it took you a while to get used to a gamepad over keyboard+mouse.
Why would I want a PS3? It's not upgradable, plays only limited games, and has an unusable controller. What's to like? :-P
TF2 is cartoon-based, so some of the things don't really make sense. (E.g., a rocket launcher that fires 4 rockets before requiring a reload.) The update for the Heavy added an unlockable that consisted of a sandwich; when you eat it, it heals you. (WTF?)
But the thing that really worries me is the new Sniper update. The Sniper gets a new bow and array that's more powerful than the sniper rifle. (WTF?) He gets a backpack that stops Spies backstabbing him. (OK…) But, worryingly, he also gets Jaraty.
Let's get right to the point here: Jaraty basically means throwing a jar of piss at people. This turns them yellow and dripping, which makes them more volnerable to damage. Fair enough, except… WTF? EEEWWW!!!
"What's to like?" Not having to pass the system requirements through a filter to determine if your machine is capable of playing it at any decent rate or resolution or worrying that your new upgrade is incompatible with your old games. And of course it's upgradable you can switch out for a new hard drive whenever you like :-P Oh and don't forget you can install Linux on it too.
Anyway sounds like I'm not missing anything from the TF2 update.
Got to agree on the controller, it's damn annoying as the PS3 has usb support for mice and keyboards and there are indeed games (such as UT3) that can use them instead of gamepads; just none of the developers seem to want to implement them. Sony missed a trick by not allowing an in-OS remap... still never know might make it in an OS update.
I've only come across one game that my PC can't “handle”, and that was Crysis. (Need I explain further?) Even that was playable; I just couldn't put it to all the maximum settings. (Partly because I don't have Vista, by the way.)
Anyway, TF2 used to be a fun game. I feel they're making it slightly overcomplicated now. But more to the point, I'm getting really fed up of how certain players are seemingly unkillable. Like the guy I shot 23 times in the face from point-blank range, yet the deathcam shows me he still has 100% health. Suspicious, much?
(Somebody yelled at me “learn to aim!” But the dude was standing still! WTF?)
Ah the infamous Cray-requirement of Crysis :-) Ah but how much did it cost to get a PC that could handle all the current games? How much will it cost to handle future games? As you say you don't have Vista and thus don't have DX10, so watch the games come out with a DX10 minimum.
As I've said elsewhere I jumped onto the console waggon when I got fed-up upgrading my PC; considering so many were also coming out on the consoles I considered it an even trade off against the control and graphical limitations. I just stick the game in and it works, moreover in theory because all the consoles are identical what I'm playing is exactly the same as the developers... in theory.
It's easy and in a more comfortable arrangement; I can just fire up a game complete a section and come straight back out with no hassle. I've got the default 60Gb HD with some videos, pictures, PS2 saves, some PS3 demos and all the PS3 game data and still got 8Gb left. If that proves too little I can either off-load the pictures and videos to an external drive or replace and data restore a new larger hard drive.
As for TF2 - lag? The guy was moving, but that information hadn't updated to your computer so he appeared to be standing still and you appear to be blasting away at thin air.
Now, see, I don't play games all that much. What I do do a lot of is computer programming. Last time I checked, you can't type things on a games console [easily], and you certainly can't run compilers and stuff.
Also, the programs I build tend to be extremely compute-intensive. (Ray tracers, fractal generators, digital synthesizers, etc.) Games consoles surely have a lot of 3D power, but that's not applicable here.
Finally, I'm fairly sure you can't run Cubase, Absynth, Reaktor or Akoustik Piano on a games console.
In short, my priorities are different than yours, which leads me to a different solution. I like the fact that with a PC, you can upgrade just the precise component that is holding you back, so if you have unusual usage patterns, you can deal with it.
My current PC cost £500 to built — far less than the cost of purchasing a games console.
Plus, you talk about consoles as if they last forever; as far as I know, a games console comes out, is popular for maybe 2 years, and then is superceeded by a new model. So once that happens, if you want to be able to get any new games, you have to buy a complete new console. PCs don't generally have this limitation.
My current PC can't really be upgraded any further. The processor is obsolete now, so eventually I will have to replace it. But even when I do, I can still keep my expensive graphics card, by harddrives (plural), and my PSU. Oh, and the case.
As for TF2: From what I've seen on YouTube, the game has a number of bugs. Things like hitboxes that don't match what you can visibly see on the screen. For example:
- When the Soldier does his taunt animation, the hitbox for his head stays in the same place, even though the model for his head has moved. You have to shoot him in the left shoulder to get a headshot.
- A Sentry Gun has an invisible box around it which acts like an impenetrable shield. An Engineer stood behind one cannot be shot. And a Spy stood on the other side of one cannot be killed by the furious Engineer who wants to hunt that *#@&$%!er down and mutilate his cold, dead remains with a spoon!!
- On some maps, it's possible to shoot people through the starting gates with certain weapons, even though this is supposed to be impossible.
I also believe that some of the players are actually cheating. When you continuously burn somebody and they don't actually ignite, something is wrong…
Yup I agree a computer does its thing and a console does its; but again I'll point out that you can install Linux on the PS3 so you can run 'stuff'. CPU intense items - the PS3 has 8 processors although the 256Mb of RAM is a bit feeble compared to PCs.
Cost-wise it's £300 end-of story with a life span of 5-10 years. Look at the PS2 released in 2000 and still selling and having games made for it now. No they don't last forever, but neither do PCs. My current main PC has a MB with an AGP slot, how many of those are around, PCI becomes PCI-E becomes... whatever. Different CPU slots with different north/south bridge requirements.
So you update the MB and then the CPU, add more RAM, and perhaps get a new GPU, and you need a bit more power so you get a new PSU, then increase the HD size... but it's still the same PC right ;-)
But yeah for the stuff you do a PC is more suited to the task, but a console can complement that. Stream movies and photos from the computer wirelessly to the TV, pop on to the internet without having to wait for the PC to boot-up (yes you can use a keyboard and mouse) and just play games quicker when you want to.
I'm not pushing this or anything, it just seems interesting to me that with the amount you spend on music programmes, equipment etc for your PC, and the fact you've met up with good friends via TF2; a console isn't something you've considered.
Like I said, a console is a device specifically designed for playing games. I don't play games all that much. It's pretty simple. ;-)
(Of course, the big reason is gamepads. They're horrid. I'm currently hoping I might be able to get COD4 on the PC so I can actually enjoy it. Playing it on a PS3 was just an exercise in frustration. You just can't hit anything!)
PS. Why would you want to stream movies from to your TV? That doesn't make any sense. Also, how is it physically possible to do that wirelessly?
Ah but do you not play games because it's a hassle to play? ;-)
I agree gamepads aren't as good as mouse/keyboard, but as I've mentioned for the PS3 that's a limitation of the developers not the hardware; in fact you can buy 'converters' that allow you to map gamepad functions to such a layout, but you shouldn't have to if developers pulled their fingers out.
With streaming by sheer coincidence I caught a PC World advert with some prat whittering on about being a movie buff and how with the help of PC World could now stream movies to his TV.
As for why - Digital Distribution. The manufacturers don't want to have you buy shiny shiny things that you can hold and then buy or sell to other people; they want you to be leaseholders or renters. You download their movie and get to watch it - once, or more if you pay for the privilege.
Boxes already exist that hook directly to the TV lookee here at the AppleTV. As for wirelessly, say you've got your PC wired to the router that's up to 100/1000Mbps and a g/n wireless link up to 54/100+Mbps with Blu-ray requiring a maximum throughput of 54Mbps; your only problem is signal reliability.
Oh and both the 360 and PS3 can talk to your PC via a media server such as TVersity or Media Player. So make your own movies then stream them across so everyone can watch them on the big screen TV without messing with physical media or codecs.
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