Trophies/Achievements

[Furore]

The systems, I hate them with their seemingly unturnoffable notifications and silly protrusions into my gaming experience. I didn't have to deal with this shit on SNES or PS2 damnit. I mean I could always stick to ancient PS3 games, but that makes my selection very small...

Does anyone feel the same way as me? Would you disagree?
Is there a way to turn them off on either console that I've missed? (If so I would be eternally grateful).

[Xithor]

I'm pretty sure there is a way to turn off notifications of achievements, I don't think you can physically disable them though. Turning notifications off might be not as annoying because you don't get the pop ups on screen while you're playing. Notifications settings should be able to disable you being notified of achievements

[Tiffany]

They personally don't bother me. Normally it'll happen not because I'm gearing towards them but something unlocks, then I need to go see the Achievements section and see what it was that I did to get one.

[Rocky]

The only problem for me is when I go out into the real world and when I pull off some impossible task, like successfully getting a hot chick's number, and there is no "Achievement Unlocked" on the ground that pops up or something.

[Dodie16]

I honestly don't care, because trophies/achievements don't really mean that much to me. I guess they can add more challenge to a player if they're a completionist or whatever, but I just have fun with a game and not worry about getting everything.

I have no idea if you can turn off the notifications, but I've never been bothered enough by them to actually try and see if I can.

[Unknown Entity]

I don't mind them. Half the time I don't even pay attention to it, but it's nice when I get one unexpectedly.

When it comes to collecting them... I don't usually go for them. Games like inFamous, I don't mind trailing off from the story to collect some because... you can do that. It's not like I'm on a straight path with that game anyway. Games like Heavy Rain (which I realise is probably a bad example because that has delayed trophies) are linear, so you can't really pay attention to getting trophies and the story at the same time. Especially because each choice you make has an effect on that scene or the story.

I knew that was a bad example. Hopefully you'll see my point though.

[Jin]

They don't bother me. I rather like the chime made when I get a trophy or achievement. Sure, when I'm trying to immerse myself, it's a reminder that I'm playing a game, but I can't say I've ever been so immersed by a game to be lost that deeply. All and all, I like being visually and audibly rewarded for in game accomplishments and enjoy having said information available for myself to look at.

There are some caveats though.

1) Achievement/trophy whores: People who put achievements and trophies on a pedestal higher than the game itself. I've known people who've refused to buy games because there were few or no achievements (mostly PS3 titles) as well as people who rent games like Avatar: The Last Airbender because it is possible to get all 1000 achievement points in a matter of minutes. To me, that's absurd. Trophies should be used to enhance a game, not supersede it.

2) When I find myself caring about trophies at the expense of the game: sometimes, I find that I play the game a certain way so as to get trophies or achievements. An example of this would be the "get X kills with weapon Y" trophies in Uncharted and Uncharted 2. They're easy enough trophies to get, so I naturally try to get them, but in doing so, I spend most of the game playing with weapons I dislike. The trophies that require the player to use stealth or melee are even worse as it completely changes the gameplay style that I would like to use, making it less fun. With a game like Uncharted, it's not a big problem as I like the game enough to play through multiple times, the first time the way I feel like and the next time(s) to gather trophies - in this case it actually lengthens the gameplay for me - but for games I want to play through only once, I often find this urge restricting.

Yes, I have been using "achievement" and "trophy" interchangeably.

[The Dark Crystal]

Well I have no idea how the PS3 trophies work, but when you get one on the xbox it appears at the bottom of the screen. So it's not really in the way of my experience with the game, nor do I hate it.

In Fact I actually enjoy having the achievements, it gives some games more replay value, or it can make the games more interesting.

Me personally, I don't try to be a completionist with all the games I play. (Unless it's GoW) If their simple enough, and can obtained without going out of my way, then I'm all over it!

[Leonknight]

The PS3 trophy notification pops up in the upper right corner of screen, fyi lol.

Me i'm a completionist, no joke. I go for every trophy there is after about the 2nd play through. But before that i take time to enjoy the game and have fun with it, yes it is nice to have a trophy pop up, but I could careless if i get them on my first or second play through.

[Maciariello]

It never occurred to me that a "halt trophy notification" feature would be desired. Honestly, the little "plink!" sound and the trophy that pops up makes me happy. It's like a souvenir you can quietly display on your profile from a game you enjoyed.

[Tiffany]

They don't bother me. I rather like the chime made when I get a trophy or achievement. Sure, when I'm trying to immerse myself, it's a reminder that I'm playing a game, but I can't say I've ever been so immersed by a game to be lost that deeply. All and all, I like being visually and audibly rewarded for in game accomplishments and enjoy having said information available for myself to look at.

There are some caveats though.

1) Achievement/trophy whores: People who put achievements and trophies on a pedestal higher than the game itself. I've known people who've refused to buy games because there were few or no achievements (mostly PS3 titles) as well as people who rent games like Avatar: The Last Airbender because it is possible to get all 1000 achievement points in a matter of minutes. To me, that's absurd. Trophies should be used to enhance a game, not supersede it.

2) When I find myself caring about trophies at the expense of the game: sometimes, I find that I play the game a certain way so as to get trophies or achievements. An example of this would be the "get X kills with weapon Y" trophies in Uncharted and Uncharted 2. They're easy enough trophies to get, so I naturally try to get them, but in doing so, I spend most of the game playing with weapons I dislike. The trophies that require the player to use stealth or melee are even worse as it completely changes the gameplay style that I would like to use, making it less fun. With a game like Uncharted, it's not a big problem as I like the game enough to play through multiple times, the first time the way I feel like and the next time(s) to gather trophies - in this case it actually lengthens the gameplay for me - but for games I want to play through only once, I often find this urge restricting.

Yes, I have been using "achievement" and "trophy" interchangeably.

I have a friend like that. He only rents/buys games that have an easy Achievement list. Its funny, he didn't get enough Achievements quickly in Lost Odyssey, but if he had actually played the game for the sake of playing it, he would've figured out that you get 125 gamer points just for completing each disk, and the game is like 4 discs or something crazy like that.

When I told him, he went back and got the game. I suppose that's what floats his boat, but I game because I like playing the GAME. Not so my Achievement score is like 200,000 points or something like that.

[LocoColt04]

On the 360, you can turn off ALL notifications, but there's no way to select just achievement notifications. This means you will never receive notice of achievements, messages, game invites, etc. If it bothers you that much, it also means ignoring your friends.

On the PS3, you can turn off "notifications" but that is everything EXCEPT for the trophy notifications. There is currently no way to disable those. Heavy Rain is the only game out there that delays the trophies, giving you anything you earned at the end of a chapter, during loading screens, to avoid disrupting gameplay.



Honestly... they're not that annoying. Usually it's out of the way - most games will move the box wherever it needs to go in order to not block the important areas of the screen.

[Furore]

On the 360, you can turn off ALL notifications, but there's no way to select just achievement notifications. This means you will never receive notice of achievements, messages, game invites, etc. If it bothers you that much, it also means ignoring your friends.

Cheers, didn't realise that included achievements.
And yeah, I noticed the delayed trophies in Heavy Rain. Damn thoughtful of them. If I'm lucky Sony might introduce something in an update, but I doubt it'll happen anytime soon as I seem to be in the trophy disliking minority.