I try and finish every game that comes into my possession, but I don't have to finish them. By which I mean, if I get a game, I'll play it through to the end of the story scenario, perhaps I'll do it twice, but I won't go out of my way to find absolutely every collectible or obtain every achievement. Although I do make an exception for any secret or collectable that further enhances the story or setting of the game I'm playing. A good example being Vincent and Yuffie in Final Fantasy VII, Bioshock audio logs or the evidence in Max Payne 3.
Things might be changing.
If you read my last post, you'll know I'm practically out of games, and I'm delving into my library to find titles to squeeze some extra replay value out of. At the moment, said title is Sonic Generations. Certified 'Bestest Sonic game since Adventure 2'. My girlfriend bought it for me on release, and I played it to death, or at least I though I had. I blitzed through the single player and enjoyed a thrilling rivalry on the leaderboards with my best friend. At one point, we were both ranked in the top 20 on Sky Sanctuary act 1, such was the intensity of our competition. And as the times tumbled, the rivalry intensified until eventually, new games came along and Sonic fell to the wayside. As it happens, when I checked last night, I'm still ranked 46 on Sky Sanctuary. Not bad considering nearly a year has passed since I last ran a time attack there.
But that was before I ran out of current gen games. I fired Generations back up last week and was shocked at how much I had missed. Trivial things like S ranks on the action stages or setting a time on every level over xbox live. I vowed to rectify this, so I did. The S ranks stacked up and an achievement popped up. It sparked an unexpected flash of satisfaction. Eager for more, I rooted around the hub world to see what else I'd missed. There were challenges, and they unlocked cool concept art. Art is a reward in itself, so I spent a couple of nights dispatching the challenge mode. It wasn't as fun as blitzing through the action stages in the flow state that a really hot run of a Sonic stage induces, but still, the challenges were fun in their own way, and there was art coming as a result. ART! Another achievement popped up on completion of the last challenge, and another hit of satisfaction followed. I wanted more. Then came the momentary horror of realising that I'd descended into achievement whoredom. I cast it aside. I didn't care. Doing superfluous stuff was getting me in game rewards. I was hooked.
Gaps remained in my collectible collection, there were songs and art missing. The last things that needed finding in game were the red rings. So I spent last night finding them, reaping the rewards as I did. I get the feeling that the red rings are included as an incentive to slow down for a moment, explore the handiwork of Sonic team and drink in the still impressive graphics and art design. It's been well documented that the sheer speed of a Sonic game demands a lot of work from its developers. Some of the later stages with modern Sonic are something like twenty kilometres long. That's a lot of hard work that just gets ignored if you blast through at top speed, and the need for their effort to be appreciated is the reason that the much derided Warehog sections were included in Sonic Unleashed. The Warehog was a mistake, but the rewards offered by the red rings are a great reason to rein in the speed for a bit. When you do, you can really see just how gorgeous the worlds crafted by Sonic Team really are. It's a win for everyone.
With the red rings collected, I suddenly found myself with three achievements popping up. Three! Cue a wave of satisfaction. Grinning, I checked the achievement list to see how many remained. Imagine my surprise when I found out there was only one left. The thing I like about the way achievements work in Sonic Generations is the way they can be obtained by just playing everything the game has to offer. You don't need to do any of the weird, cryptic tasks that you need to gain achievements like you have to in some the other titles I own. Stuff like that is part of why I am turned off from achievements to start with.
That last achievement, you ask? Beat the final boss without taking a hit. Difficult, but probably not impossible. And you know what? I'm actually going to attempt it. If this was any other game, I wouldn't bother, but I'm not this close to a full achievement list for any other game in my library and I'm genuinely excited about getting 100% completion on a title through my own effort, rather than by default, like I have in Bastion and The Walking Dead. What's happening to me? Will it stay happened if once I do get that last achievement?
When I think about it, going out of my way to get 100% completion on one game doesn't really make me a proper completist. But it has given me an insight into the sense of satisfaction a completist gamer must get when they work their way through a game's achievement list. It's intoxicating, and I suppose it can be addictive. Still, I don't think I'll be going out of my way to finish the achievement lists of any of my other games.
So, I'm more than likely not an achievement whore. Not yet at least. I can be something of a graphics whore though, but that's another blogpost.
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