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I'm thinking of getting back into Nintendo gaming properly (and will be making another thread on that after this one), but knowing that Nintendo records play time but does not have achievements got me thinking.
I'd like to be one of those people who say "yeah, achievements and trophies are meaningless to me", but that isn't true. I've been through a few phases of this. In the early days of the Xbox 360, I did play games for the gamerscore when it was the hot new thing, but I didn't push it nearly as far as a lot of people. When the PS3 introduced trophies, I would definitely pay attention to them and they influenced my decision as to which games to play and for how long to some degree. Not exclusively by any means, but they have definitely at times made me choose one game or another if the trophy set is more achievable, and pushed me to play some games for longer if I can get more trophies, or all of them.
As of right now I don't think they're quite as relevant as they may have been to me in the past, but I do still take them into consideration to some degree. I only have two fully completed Steam games, Hades and Subnautica, but I did play Hades for longer than I might otherwise have done to get them all (albeit it took three years), and the same with Subnautica. In Subnautica's case, I thoroughly enjoyed the game but absolutely played for the achievements, and stopped playing when they were finished. But with many other games, and most Steam games, I just stop when I want to. Helldivers 2, for example, has an accessible set of achievements, but I just naturally drifted to Clair Obscur. I might return to Helldivers 2 afterwards or I might not. I might get all the achievements in Clair Obscur, or I might not. Achievements are a factor in these choices but they're one of many.
I've recently started playing my Vita for the first time, and my choice of games to bring and play was influenced by the trophy sets. I landed on the Walking Dead because I wanted to give it another go, but also because it's a 10-12 hour experience with the platinum at the end without grinding, and that was attractive. I won't play a rubbish game because it has an accessible trophy or achievement set, but as I say, it's a factor I pay attention to.
I've always liked a way to mark my activity and progression in games, and I think the notion of them being akin to a modern version of leaderboards is valid. I don't need achievements or trophies to enjoy a game and don't even pay attention to them necessarily in all games that I play, but it would be an absolute lie to say that they're irrelevant to me. I like to get them when I can, to the extent that it's consistent with me enjoying the experience.
I made this thread because I am actually quite attracted to the idea of moving to Nintendo consoles again and having a record of the time spent playing games, but with no achievements. The record of the time spent is a positive for me, but part of me is actually curious as to whether I can and will enjoy games the same and approach them in the way that I used to pre achievements when they're not present, given that the games I've played for so many years now have had them. Hence me reflecting on that and making this thread. I'm interested to hear how others have been impacted by them.
I'd like to be one of those people who say "yeah, achievements and trophies are meaningless to me", but that isn't true. I've been through a few phases of this. In the early days of the Xbox 360, I did play games for the gamerscore when it was the hot new thing, but I didn't push it nearly as far as a lot of people. When the PS3 introduced trophies, I would definitely pay attention to them and they influenced my decision as to which games to play and for how long to some degree. Not exclusively by any means, but they have definitely at times made me choose one game or another if the trophy set is more achievable, and pushed me to play some games for longer if I can get more trophies, or all of them.
As of right now I don't think they're quite as relevant as they may have been to me in the past, but I do still take them into consideration to some degree. I only have two fully completed Steam games, Hades and Subnautica, but I did play Hades for longer than I might otherwise have done to get them all (albeit it took three years), and the same with Subnautica. In Subnautica's case, I thoroughly enjoyed the game but absolutely played for the achievements, and stopped playing when they were finished. But with many other games, and most Steam games, I just stop when I want to. Helldivers 2, for example, has an accessible set of achievements, but I just naturally drifted to Clair Obscur. I might return to Helldivers 2 afterwards or I might not. I might get all the achievements in Clair Obscur, or I might not. Achievements are a factor in these choices but they're one of many.
I've recently started playing my Vita for the first time, and my choice of games to bring and play was influenced by the trophy sets. I landed on the Walking Dead because I wanted to give it another go, but also because it's a 10-12 hour experience with the platinum at the end without grinding, and that was attractive. I won't play a rubbish game because it has an accessible trophy or achievement set, but as I say, it's a factor I pay attention to.
I've always liked a way to mark my activity and progression in games, and I think the notion of them being akin to a modern version of leaderboards is valid. I don't need achievements or trophies to enjoy a game and don't even pay attention to them necessarily in all games that I play, but it would be an absolute lie to say that they're irrelevant to me. I like to get them when I can, to the extent that it's consistent with me enjoying the experience.
I made this thread because I am actually quite attracted to the idea of moving to Nintendo consoles again and having a record of the time spent playing games, but with no achievements. The record of the time spent is a positive for me, but part of me is actually curious as to whether I can and will enjoy games the same and approach them in the way that I used to pre achievements when they're not present, given that the games I've played for so many years now have had them. Hence me reflecting on that and making this thread. I'm interested to hear how others have been impacted by them.
