Guys,
Don't you think that focusing on gamerpoints ans bragging rights for achievements... takes away from the game experience.
...
It takes away from the individual enjoying the game experience for what it is. Skipping stories and running about willy-nilly for a few points is NOT the way games should be played.
Anybody agree?
A little bit yes, but mainly no. I'm not the sort to go rushing through a game anyway, but I find the Achievements adds to my enjoyment of a game. At the moment, if there's a 360 version and a PS3 version of the same game, I'll get the 360 one every time for that reason.
Let me give you some examples of how, for me, Achievements add to the game.
First, an example of how Achievements can actually prevent you skipping stories and running about willy-nilly - the Tomb Raider games. Sure, you could leg it through each level and finish the game, but if you want the Achievements you have to take your time, and examine each area as you go in order to find the hidden artifacts and relics. You might spot one or two if you just played through quick, but you'd never get all of them. My missus and I spent a good half an hour in one section just because we were trying to figure out how to get one relic - believe me, we totally appreciated the time the designers spent on setting it up!
Now, here's how they help you get more from a game: Bioshock. You can, if you fancy, take photos of the enemies to "research" them. You don't have to, it makes them a bit easier to defeat, but it's not necessary. As soon as I realised there were achievements for fully researching each enemy, I stopped running into a room and shooting everything in sight - I'd work out how to get the best photos without getting killed (you can't take photos and shoot guns at the same time). It changed the way I played the game.
Some games give you Achievements for killing enemies in particular ways - like x number of melee kills, so rather than shooting everyone you've got to learn how to be good at hand-to-hand. Again, this makes you change the way you would have otherwise played the game, and makes sure you enjoy more of the game the way it was meant to be played.
I could go on, but to sum up - if anything, I think Achievements give you goals which you would otherwise not have, outside of a game's main plot, and this helps you enjoy, and get more from, the game than just finishing it without them. You've got something to aim for - to achieve - other than just finishing the game.
Moved:
