No, really, before the Xbox 360 we somehow managed without these pop-ups at the bottom of the screen, but now they are in literally every project. And game distribution launchers generally criticized the lack of this feature.
Basically, achievements, of course, perform the function of patting the gamer on the head with the invisible hand of the developer. The most unimaginative cohort of them shows the player.
Progress through achievements
Well done, you completed the first chapter! Handsome, you’ve reached level five!! Wow, you got a weapon that is given out according to the plot. And so on. The player does not get any pleasure from such achievements, since they stupidly state the fact of completing the game. And against their background, even.
Collecting through achievements
Personally, I’m not one of those who can’t sleep peacefully until I’ve collected all 420 flags or covered all the question marks on Skellige, but there’s no denying the fact that there are people who love to climb towers and clear outposts over and over and over again.
This kind of spinal cord gameplay with a beer and a TV series on the second screen is a good way to relax. However, if you are not a fan of such a pastime, then you will have to come to terms with the fact that you will not close any modern AAAA project 100%. The next type of achievements, as for me, performs exactly the function that was intended in this concept, namely, it sets.
Challenges through achievements
Complete the game on hardcore in the allotted time without dying, saving, weapons, arms, legs, eyes and ears – this is really "achievement" from which the player will experience a microorgasm. It seems to me that it is by completing such challenges that a gamer shows all his love for a particular project.
And here the main thing is that the developer approaches the implementation of achievements in good faith and does not cross this fine line of hardness, turning knocking them out into a nightmare that no longer brings any emotions.
One way or another, https://macau-casino.co.uk/login/ achieving such a plan requires the player to at least have direct hands, or again everything will slide into repetitious gameplay by the spinal cord with memorizing every step. Therefore, I personally like it much more when a developer invests in his project.
Humor through achievements
How I love achievements that encourage the gamer to do something funny, and sometimes even awkward, because of which the achievement no longer turns into a reason for pride, but into a black mark. And now you are already forced to knock out platinum to explain that you did this just for the trophy. By the way, this is exactly the name of the achievement from Yakuza 0, given for watching an erotic video.
Achievements from Lollipop Chainsaw and NieR: Automata with looking up the heroines’ skirts go to the same steppe. What I mean is that such jokes are the beginnings of a dialogue between a developer and a player using the achievements function. But there is a game that in this way fully revealed its plot, revealing to the world.
Storytelling through achievements
Playing through GRIS for the first time you will see amazing art design and experience platforming that introduces new mechanics every half hour, not letting you get bored, but what was this game about??
There are no dialogues or notes, and the whole story is told only in visual images. The game begins with the destruction of the woman’s statue and the disappearance of the color palette from the world. Passing through each level, the world will gradually acquire colors, after which the heroine, walking along the constellations, will disappear into the night sky.
And in the end, I think every person with nine grades will be able to say that everything is a metaphor and the game can be interpreted in different ways, “Death of the Author” and all that. But unlike some Lynch, who does not announce the true interpretation of his works, but rather confuses the viewer with his hints, the authors of GRIS wanted the player to understand the idea they laid down and did it in the best way for this type of art.
Now it seems that a sharp offtopic situation has begun, but this is necessary, everything is under control. You also noticed that the vector of society’s attitude towards games has turned? Something almost went wrong in the past – video games are to blame. And now e-sportsmen are great and games are art, but they praise absolutely the wrong things, which makes them a separate media.
Most people’s attention is based on cinematography, not gameplay. Edits are posted on TikTok, compilations of game cutscenes or plot retellings are posted on YouTube. If developers want to make films so much that they make in-game videos for an hour and a half, and people are so willing to watch them, then why take this extra step towards games?? Shoot and watch movies and animation. As they say IMHO, no negativity, but games are about gameplay, about the interaction between developer and gamer in real time.
At the very beginning of GRIS, you may not go where the game requires, but turn back, thereby receiving the “Denial” achievement. Next, you need to break three crying statues to complete the “Wrath” achievement. Those who were not in the subject are already beginning to understand where this is going. Then you need to try to sing to the statue. For an unsuccessful attempt, you will be awarded the “Bargaining” achievement. Then dive to the very bottom, unlocking the achievement “Depression”. And at the end of the game, sing in front of the sarcophagus, thereby receiving the achievement “Acceptance”.
“The Five Stages of Acceptance” – They Were a Meme Even Before the World Turned on Mental Health. But what is “base” for one person is an empty phrase for another, so I still think it’s necessary to discuss.
In 1969, psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, in her book “On Death and Dying,” proposed a model of people’s behavior when they receive a fatal diagnosis. The same five stages were distinguished: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and actually it all ends in acceptance. Despite the fact that even at the time of publication the model was criticized, in our time it has taken root in pop culture as a reaction to any irreversible grief.
Based on the achievements that the developer offers us to complete, we can conclude that the game is a metaphorical statement about how the main character copes with her trauma. The world is losing color and she needs to go through each stage step by step in order to finally come to acceptance and be able to move on.
And again, the names of the achievements coincide with what we need to do. Don’t go further, but go back. Smash the statues. Try to sing before your voice appears. Descend into the deepest and darkest abyss. To sing at the grave at the end. Stop.
What does this sarcophagus and all these statues throughout the game represent?? Outwardly, they are similar to the main character and apparently reflect her bodily torment of accepting her imminent death. Which ultimately leads us to the finale, where the girl’s soul travels across a bridge of constellations to heaven. I would say if the developers wanted to throw metaphors at the fan rather than make a statement.
Remember how in Assassin’s Creed 2, having found all 20 glyphs, we were shown a cartoon where Adam and Eve ran away from Isu with the apple of Eden, which was presented as “The Truth”? So in GRIS, collecting each of the hidden spheres explains the plot of the entire game. This is the real “Truth”.
The main character lost her mother, her entire universe collapsed overnight. Fortunately, the girl was very strong and was able to return color to the world and defeat the all-consuming darkness. Not without the help of your mother. Yes, yes, after all, our loved ones are alive as long as our memory of them is alive..