I last wrote about the Achievement situation over 8 years ago and while I’d love to say I’m surprised it’s still as bad as it is, I’m unfortunately not. Just disappointed.
The short version of this is that Gameplay shouldn’t be locked by Achievement progress. If you have a mode that is unattainable or near impossible without getting all the things, it’s especially frustrating. Similarly, if a large part of your content is a customization-related thing (whether it be a wearable or decorative cosmetic), then those also shouldn’t be link to achievements. Most people who want to do these things do so for the difficulty/sense of achievement itself or score-based reasons– I just want to be able to access all the main gameplay for a game I paid for in the first place.
Achievements can exist on a page or be a little title or whatever, but I’m… so tired of getting so close and falling short because of things being locked and not even getting a chance to try.
I was really excited when it seemed like Super Mario Bros. Wonder had made it so the coins and flag poles this time were just tied to the stage pages and a little medal number next to your name. Only to find out there are two levels locked to getting all those done. Again.
I don’t care about all the score-based collectibles– I’m much more a trinket person, but I really wanted to get all the badges, Wonder Seeds, and do all the levels and it sucks to end up hitting a hard stop on that goal because it’s something I know I won’t be able to do.
It took me so long to complete certain levels, just trying over and over in hopes that maybe one time I’d finally get the timing right, but my hands are too small to easily hit all the buttons I need and I ended up really hurting my hand by the time I finally got it with just one second left. It’s not a fun or satisfying feeling, all I felt was pain and relief it was over, but I didn’t feel successful or good about it because I don’t get any joy out of playing solely for a challenge. I just want to experience all parts of a game/story, but stuff that feels really hard for no reason doesn’t really do it for me.
And they add in things like the ghosts to help you or Yoshi and Nabbit who can be invincible (unless it’s poison/lava/etc. because too bad then otherwise it’d sure help a lot), yet still end up cutting game content off to silly arbitrary trophies.
It just sucks to have put so much time and many attempts in, even to the point of pain, and be told “No, you still don’t get to try all the courses because you didn’t get this extra coin” or “You fell too short on the pole, too bad”. I’m not sure if I’ll try again, but it ended up making a game I had been enjoying a lot, despite some frustrating levels, finish with a bitter taste in my mouth. Like why I even bothered if it was just going to mean I once again fell short.
This kind of thing just constantly blows my mind because there seems to be such a disconnect on casual vs hardcore games and it’s not that black & white. I love collecting all the things, I love doing all the levels and stuff, but I don’t care about a lot of the ‘extra’ stuff like bonus coins or hitting certain timers at the end. But I also want to have fun and not have to practically break my hand smashing buttons to get the exact height and speed I need to complete these things.
To full completionists, I’d be a casual gamer. To casual games, I’d be a completionist/hardcore gamer. I don’t fit into either box really. But more and more, I miss when achievements were just a silly little pop-up or an extra bonus to your score and didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of thing. They were for those players who wanted more of a challenge without sacrificing/locking gameplay for those who maybe struggle a bit more.
And I hate that not only does it keep happening, but that people rarely see the problem in the first place.