Trophies/Achievements for Downpour

[thy_butcher]

I've come to the realisation that Downpour will include Achievements for the Xbox 360, and Trophies for Playstation 3... and it's bothering me.
I play on PS3, so I remember a time when games didn't have Trophies and still don't. I believe Homecoming is one of them...
Anyways, my point is, I'm hoping the inclusion of these digital rewards won't affect my gameplay experience. Anyone that's ever earned a trophy knows what I mean when I say "Pling!" It is such a happy little note, one that I don't want to play whenever I'm running for my life down the desolate streets of SH. Or when I stick my arm down a toilet, or whatever.
I guess I can turn off the notification for my Trophies, but I'll still earn them. I can't beat my curiosity & NOT look at the list. I just don't want it to detract from the game, for me or anyone.

Has this crossed anyone's mind other than mine?

[TotalObelisk]

Given the poor atmosphere homecoming created, it didn't bother me all that much but you make a very good point.

Although admitedly I'd prefer if they did have achievements/trophies (I play xbox, somebody shoot me ) that they weren't so god damn easy to get. Homecoming's achievments basically amounted to 'get all endings/items and kill all monsters' and I got nearly all of them in under a week before I gave up on the game completely. If they do use them then the achievements should be a challenge such as 'kill X number of monsters', 'complete X number of sidequests' 'complete the game in less than X hours' and not child's play...

[Kenji]

Yeah, the problem with achievements is that they aren't... well... achievements. When I played Sonic Adventure, I got a trophy for saving Tails. That was all of one stage of work. That's not an achievement.

Trophies and achievements should come from acts that you would tell your friends about, while hanging out. Y'know, something amazing. Yet, I don't think there's ever been a story behind any trophy I've gotten that was worth telling (aside from amusing asides about how I love kicking puppies in God of War). That's just wrong: If we're going to be rewarded with something that only has meaning to other nerds, at least let us wax breathlessly about it in our D&D sessions.

Actually, I think it's part of the larger culture of entitlement that has infected the hardcore culture. Look back to the NES days, those games were so much harder than today's, and victory wasn't guaranteed. If you didn't have the skill, you didn't win, but it was still fun. A lot of today's games are starting to feel like a chore, like watching a really long B-movie.

[TotalObelisk]

Agreed, 9 out of 10 games today are piss easy and barely last more than 4 hours, some of them I can still enjoy but I'd rather they'd last longer. Especially since I'm a completist and there's no satisfaction in completing a game without any effort...

[Harrys_Girl]

Like God of War. You get achievements for literally PLAYING THE GAME. You get them for fighting enemies you HAVE TO FIGHT. That isn't an achievement, it is just playing the game.

Now things like the Accolades of 0rigins, weren't bad. I could be a-ok w/ that.

[SilentWren]

^Yeah.

If we actually receive something we can use for future play throughs, I'm all for it.
And if the requirements aren't stupid as well.
Yay.

[leftshoe18]

I've always hated the achievements system. It takes you out of the moment to have a popup sound and that stupid notification message.

[QuestionSleepZz]

Things like "Chapter 1 Complete" and "Defeated the second boss" shouldn't be Achievements/Trophies. I've yet to see a game where you have to actually earn ALL of the achievements. We should be forced to actually go that extra mile and do something out of our way the get the reward (If you care about Gamerscore/Trophies).

The collectibles from Homecoming were on the right track, but I also like the "Accumulate x amount of x monster kills".
The whole "Got Ending 2" was a terrible idea for achievements. It just forced you to play the whole game 5 times (or less if you saved before first event that alters your ending).

I'm down for earning them for side quests though.

[Typographenia]

I was actually thinking about bringing this up in the "downpour is official" thread last night, haha!

I wouldn't mind trophies or achievements if they handled it like they do in Heavy Rain, but I'm still of the opinion that games work just as good without them. The idea of giving you in-game unlockables like costumes, more difficulties, and so forth was a much better motivation and reward for playing the game differently or making you explore.

I forgot that homecoming didn't have trophies, and when I came across the achievement list not long ago I thought "what is this?"

[thy_butcher]

So I'm not alone! Hehehe I feel the same as everyone else here. I believe that the digital rewards could be fun, if only they implement it well. As with almost every game, a "Chapter 1 Complete" isn't an accomplishment. I agree that it should be special events that you have to partake in that gives you the rewards.

Let us hope it isn't too much trouble for them to break the mold of pathetic Trophy/achievements. Honestly, how difficult could it be? It should be on Vatra's To-do-list as a part of post-production-polishing. Ooooh, that felt neat to say...

[Huh? Radio?]

I personally don't find them too distracting and they help improve replay value. Hopefully they can do what Quantic Dream did with Heavy Rain and have them at the end of tense/atmospheric moments.

What would be really great is if they could delay them till the credits; then you can enjoy the atmosphere of the game and actually have a reason to stick around for the credits.

[Jecht]

I don't think the ping of the Acheivements take away from the game any more than the ping for friends coming online does. And not all games have extremely easy acheivements like the Madden game where it has you intercept a certain QBs pass. Most of the time it's better to let those kind of acheivements to happen then actively go for them. But I do agree the extremely easy ones aren't fun.

[leftshoe18]

^ I also think the friends coming online thing detracts from the game. I wish there were a way to just shut all of that stuff off.

[Dragonforce1080p]

A simple solution for those that want a real immersive game, just get off the net. Meaning disconsolate from PSN and XBOX live. It really comes down to, what do you want more, notifications of how good you are in the game or a jolly good time. I know, stupid solution for those that want both. Just a thought though.

[leftshoe18]

^ If you get offline the achievements still appear, though.

[Dragonforce1080p]

^ If you get offline the achievements still appear, though.

oh yea, wow i cant believe i forgot that, what a dumbass. xD.

In that case I agree with everyone, have a nice way to implement the achivements, like at the credits like someone already mentioned.

[QuestionSleepZz]

^ I also think the friends coming online thing detracts from the game. I wish there were a way to just shut all of that stuff off.

There is. On the Xbox at least (I don't have a Playstation 3),

Hit the guide button.
Go to Settings.
Preferences.
Notifications.
And tick whatever you want/don't want.

I do it all the time when I play horror games.

[Skele]

yeah, on my 360 i have it where nothing pops up while playing games. my friends will get online, send me messages and i won't notice they're there until i turn off the console. i think the only time i ever turn notifications on is when i'm playing fighting games.

for the PS3, you can't turn off the in game pop-ups, but you can turn off the pop-up for when friends get online. it's not all that annoying, but it'd be nice if you could turn all pop-ups off completely.

im not quite sure which console i'm getting Downpour for. i guess whichever is the lead console

[leftshoe18]

^ I also think the friends coming online thing detracts from the game. I wish there were a way to just shut all of that stuff off.

There is. On the Xbox at least (I don't have a Playstation 3),

Hit the guide button.
Go to Settings.
Preferences.
Notifications.
And tick whatever you want/don't want.

I do it all the time when I play horror games.

I can't believe I didn't know that. I feel dumb.

[Typographenia]

Don't feel bad, I didn't know that either, leftshoe. I guess we need to spend more time looking at setup options, haha!