Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Secrets Don't Make Friends...



Guess what?  I am going to blog about achievements again.  Why?  Why you ask?  Because I am completely and totally obsessed.

The current phraseology is "achievement whore."  While this may sound horrible, it's not completely untrue.  Myself and my other whorish brethren are willing to do darn near anything for that satisfying little blip on the screen:  you've achieved something.  It may be awesome, like defeating a mega-boss, or it may be ridiculous, like farming 100,000 crops (and, subsequently, accepting the fact that you spent 30 hours farming said crops.)  But it was for a larger purpose, right?  Now your GamerScore is 12,450 instead of a measly 12,440.

That entire diatribe is a build-up to this: I love achievements.  They are so much fun.  But, that said, I am consistently irritated by the way they run.  It's a love-hate relationship, I guess.  My current beef?  Secret achievements.

Xbox is notorious for the secret achievements.  Secret achievements are those that say "secret" instead of giving you a direct assignment or at least a hint as to what will get you those achievements.  You can't even see them on your friend's list unless you've unlocked it yourself.  Some games have almost their entire lists blocked out as 'secret'.  Some only offer a few.  Either way, they irritate me.  I mean, generally a secret achievement is something you wouldn't do anyways in a game, or finding some random Easter egg, so why make it a secret??  It's almost like they don't want anyone to do it, ever.  "Ever" being until they look online and find out what the achievement is.  I'm not entirely sure, because I never use them, but are the secret achievements spelled out in the guidebooks you can buy for games?

I just fail to understand what the purpose is behind the Secret.  I mean, just give it to us, or at least give us a vague hint.  That blank screen, that empty secret...it just kills me.  And it just gets me off Xbox and on the computer so I can figure out how to fill that need.  That need to achieve.

4 comments:

Debbie said...

anytime i have to hunt down how to get an achievement, im not a happy camper.

Unknown said...

Solution to your achievement conundrum, my brother in-law and I have started giving out achievements during daily life. Like a good lane change, a funny joke or really anything you feel merits it. It can be quite funny at times. Altho most of my achievements involve driving like an ass, it's really pretty fun.

Linz said...

i love that idea, Creegan!

Debbie said...

i hate secret achievos. I wish they would all show the achievement and i double wish they were all extra cool like the beatles rock band where it shows you your progress. like the ahcievo is to earn 1 million points so you check the list and it says 456,789/ 1 mill or whatever. i love that.