Dear Foolish Adventurer##
Be thee a wise man, or a fool? Well, I am an achievement hunter so I am clearly a fool. For personal reference and opinion, achievement hunting means to me to complete the games you would have bought any way. Buying games just because they have many and/or easy achievements has nothing to do with achievement hunting as it destroys the purpose of the hunt being a supplement the game and elevating it to the main point hence robbing it of what it meant to be to begin with - a game. And I really wish those 5000 achievement games would be deleted retroactively or reduced to 100 achievements to send out a clear message. Also, that you could report games with broken achievements and they would be taken off from the game without waiting for developer interference. Or better, a game having broken/unobtainable achievements can not be sold on store anymore or only at reduced price to force developer hand.
Well, back to my foolishness. The last four months have been in the sign of unfinished buisness (achievement-wise). I followed the trails of the frogs, I challenged the mirrored rhythmics, I survived the nightmare of the zombie-apocalypse, I cleared the Streets of Red, I faced the horror of the Teleglitch and lasty I finally returned to the ruins of La-Mulana and completed them.
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La-Mulana
112 hours playtime
64 of 64 achievements
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Guns, Gore and Cannoli 2
6 hours playtime
20 of 20 achievements
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NAIRI: Tower of Shirin
6 hours playtime
20 of 20 achievements
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Heroes of Hammerwatch
368 hours playtime
92 of 92 achievements
La-Mulana: If you say you like Metroidvanias but you have never player La-Mulana you have done something wrong. If you have played the game and thought it is not good but unfair you are slightly correct on the unfair part but you haven’t understood either the game or metroidvania and you are making excuses. If you have played La-Mulana and used a guide less than two hours in, you have again made a stupid mistake because you don’t use guides on puzzle games this fast.
La-Mulana is an archeological platformer, exploration games which hinders your progress on three levels: Skill, Items/Abilities/Knowledge. Each is needed to reach the goal and yea, it is unlikely that you will reach it without using any guide at all, especially for endgame. You fight monsters in the ruins, you look at murals, read hints and solve puzzles to find and fight the guardians of the ruins. The whole map design is probably the best I have ever seen in any game. Although you can’t appreciate it if you havent spent some major time with the game. Personally, I managed to get 60-70% of the game done before I had to succumb myself. I did then finish the main story and unlocked hell temple just to stop playing at 80 % achievement progress. Five years fast forward, I finally picked of where I left of, confirming myself why the bonus section hell temple deserves its name because it is probably the most unfair area in the whole game (and while you can finish this section in less than 20 minutes it took me more than 4 hours to get through myself and that with videoguide). The initial plan was to get some of the “easier” achievements left. I thought there are some which are just to troublesome like getting all dialogues for Xelpud or Mulbruk but magically enough after Hell Temple I got the last missing dialogue for Xelpud. So I checked what else was left to do. Getting all characters in the ending! Which means a speedrun below 10 hours, killing all guardians on Hard (again), finding everything, and doing Hell Temple (again). So I checked a speedrun guide (of someone doing the game in less than 3 hours, sick people) and tried to stay as close as possible and still took nearly 5 hours in-game time (and probably 10 - 15 hours real time). Finding all scannable objects which means replaying the game or reloading older saves and just replaying parts because some objects vanish during the game. Lastly left? Getting all of Mulbruks dialogues and playing Hell Temple (again) but without the fairy vest (and since you cant just unequip them and all my saves were either hard mode or after finding the items it meant replaying the game, again). The fairy vest thingy was straight forward, Mulbruk on the other hand has over 50 dialogues and yes, they do change during the game meaning if you miss one, you cant get it anymore ….. so I had to check the underlying point system, get to Mulbruk as fast as possible with the fewest amount of items possible, rechecking her after beating a boss, solving a puzzle, finding new areas, finding new items everytime to check for new dialogues to find the missing ones. Sounds annoying? It is. Luckily, I already did the red (hard) achiements years back already like deeating all guardians just with primary weapons.
La-Mulana is a fantastic game but as achievement hunter you might have some bad times here and there. But I finally, completed the ruins. The cool thing about it? I can buy somewhere La-Mulana 2 in the future without having to worry over the first part. Also, the second part seems to have far less annoying achievement. And this time I will come prepared with pen&paper to note everything down. Because you can solve La-Mulana and everytime checking a guide I was angry because i could have solved it myself.
Guns, Gore & Cannoli 2: I’ll keep this short. You play as Vinny Cannoli a Private Detective who survivd the zombie nazi outbreak in Thug Town (First game) by questionable methods. Gameplay-wise this is a run&gun platformer shooting lots of mafia, police, nazis and zombies. Overall not to hard and a nice filler for inbetween. A rare occurence where I played a main character which is less heroice and more opportunistic and self-centered. Overall an enjoyable game with rather easy achievements.
NAIRI: Tower of Shirin: Won this on Steamgifts and enjoyed it for the most part. It is a Point&Click Adventure game with beautiful scenaries and graphics (probably handdrawn). You have to search for items and solve puzzles, talk to people and progress through the story. For most part this is not to hard. Only exceptions to this are the temple sections. The first one is confusing but manageable. However, the final temple is really tricky and sadly there was one puzzle I couldnt solve myself as it is to obscure in my opinion. The story presented was interesting but only so far because the game just stops in the middle. So considers this game like “Season 1” ….
Achievement-wise you are also on a rather easy ride as even the annoying ones like collect 40 gold coins are fair as there are more than 40 gold coins. Some achievements are missable though. Another (maybe) annoying thing is that the game is still “learning” so no completed game on the Steam counter and also no entry on my BLAEO account.
Heroes of Hammerwatch: Well, not much to say here. If you want to know more look on my old post about it. So why is this here again although I already completed the main game and the pyramid DLC? Because they added the Witchhunter DLC and I needed to complete it again. The fun part? August brings another character DLC (and probably more achivements). Sometimes, I feel trapped in some games because they keep adding new achievements (looking at HoH and 100 % OJ menacingly).
So, this was it game-wise. Are you a wise man or a fool? Ah, regarding achievements. I am replaying the enhanced Borderlands GOTY. I have done the main game and two DLC’s so far so Im not searching for a permanent partner. But there are several multiplayer achievements which I would like to do on a new char and some slight speedrunning. They should be done in about two hours I think. Anyone interested?
The rest will be random emo talk.
Those interested may have seen my thread in the forum. If you remember my last BLAEO post, I tried my luck with the “Deutsche Sportabzeichen”. And the good news is that I was succesful, getting it done on Silver Level which is a nice challening basis to retry it again next year. And everything was fine and I felt good and then …. I got notice that a working colleague got pregnant. And for some reasons this is really damping my mood. I was checking out if it is because I like her. And while I find her sympathic, we dont have that much contact and I knew she was married anyway which is reason enough for me to stay away. Still the feeling remains and after thinking more about it, I think it is less about who she is but about what she is - about as old as I am. So she is married, is getting a child and it reminds me that those are things I’m far away from. I am, most likely, jealous. Which is an annoying feeling. Extra annoying because I “know” the solution to the problem: Finding a partner, having a happy life and maybe marrying myself. But I always come up with thoughts that it seems impossible for me ….. so I stay trapped with these feelings which are unfair towards her. Because she has done everything right. Feelings are annoying. Just two months ago, everything was fine and some weeks later it feels messed up.
If you say you like Metroidvanias but you have never player La-Mulana you have done something wrong. If you have played the game and thought it is not good but unfair you are slightly correct on the unfair part but you haven’t understood either the game or metroidvania and you are making excuses.
As someone who hasn’t played the game (but has played games with riddles similar to how this game’s riddles are described), I can safely say that your conclusion isn’t being entirely fair, either. Mechanics-based puzzles like Toki Tori 1 are one thing since the game tells you exactly how all the items work; you just need to figure out where/in which order to use them (and it gets harder without introducing many new things, instead building on what’s already there). However, with riddles, the challenge isn’t about testing your knowledge of how the mechanics react with each other, but rather, it’s about discovering what said mechanics and reactions are in the first place before either regurgitating or abandoning said mechanics, with said riddles being either too simple or too arbitrary (requiring trial-and-error outside of using a walk-through). It absolutely infuriates me that the two are conflated as I can never really tell which “puzzle” games are which, and as someone who does like nonlinear platformers, I could’ve easily been mislead into buying this game before I knew what to watch out for.
I have a slightly-more-in-depth explanation on my opinions here, if you’re still not sure what I’m trying to say: https://www.backlog-assassins.net/posts/db8kgjb
and maybe marrying myself
That sounds awesome. You don’t have to worry about that arbitrary tax hike for unmarried people (at least in the U.S.), but you also don’t have to worry about interpersonal conflict at home since you’re your own spouse. ☺
Well, I understand the problematic situation of tags being used in a to general way like “puzzle”. But I think the store front is pretty straightforward and obvious in what you can expect from the game. Also, if someone says: “Okay, this doesnt work for.” then I can accept it. Games adress different people differently, that is all fair.
But what I don’t like is people then starting to claim that it is “bad game design”. I see the problems with those cryptic text messages, especially if one considers that they have been translated before so some things may even be lost. I would still say you can solve most of them with logic deduction. And the most important thing, this is an exploration game where the cryptic design fits perfectly with the narrative. So saying that people didnt understand the game when they start blaming is, seems somehow justified to me. The same for the controls. The first hour they feel horrible until you figure out the nuances. Also, the whole game has been designed around them.
Hm, I see the ambiguity in my phrasing now O.o I would have to check but I think what I meant to say is expressed correctly. Other than that I hope I never get sad and narcistic enough to consider marrying myself :P
Wow congrats on getting through la-maluna. I’ve got it sitting in my backlog and I’ve been tempted a few times to check it out, but I know it’s a hard game and takes a long time to beat fully. Maybe one day I’ll get in the right mood and install it.
I feel your pain on games that add new achievements randomly years after. On one hand, I know it’s not fair to get angry with the developer about it, as some people do, it’s nice that they still love their games and are committed to adding new content. But on the other hand, it feels like a step backwards for people who’ve diligently beaten the game already, to now return to it years later.
I can recommand the game on a lot of levels. Not sure if achievement hunting is one of them ^^ But yea, thanks for the words.
Also to the second point. Yea, it is weird to blame developers if they keep supporting a game and I think I avoided that so far. On the other hand I think it is fair to blame developers if they don’t do anything against broken achievements.
Haha, well yeah, I don’t mind playing a good game even if I know I’ll never get all the achievements. It can go on the list.
I agree, that it’s ridiculous how lazy some devs are. They don’t even need to ‘fix’ the code, all they have to do is log in with their developer account to steam and remove the achievements from the game schema, no coding necessary, but so many don’t. Like they arrogantly think it doesn’t matter.
So she is married, is getting a child and it reminds me that those are things I’m far away from.
I know the feeling. It sucks. I wish I had some encouraging thoughts, useful hints or whatnot, but I haven’t. I became much better when I focused on the things in my life I enjoy. As shallow as it sounds, it kind of worked for me, at least for the moment. I wish you the best, I hope it blows over fast.
Other than that, as I already commented on one of your other posts, really inspiring achievement hunting, going after the super-hard ones or re-perfecting games which got new achievements. I definitely could use some of your patience and dedication sometimes ;) Looking forward to your next post, hope RL is looking up again when we read you next time!
Yea, I think it will just take time. Although it probably doesnt help that I will watch her just getting more pregnant the next few months :P
Well, I can only answer what I probably answered back then. The trait you are striving for is called stubborness and I am really not sure it is that worthwhile. Because there is a fine tipping point between being patient and blindly wasting time. But thanks for the words. I appreciate it because it means something to me. Wouldnt do it otherwise. They are just icons but it reminds me that effort can overcome difficulties.
Wait a minute, you have four games listed as Beaten but with 100% achievements! Is that because you forgot, or do you have a different definition of completed than I do? For me, if I have 100% of the Steam achievements, then I consider the game Completed (and usually uninstalled). If it doesn’t have Steam achievements, then I consider whether I’ve really “100%ed” it. You know…get three stars on ever level, completed all available content (within reason), gotten all collectibles, etc.
Changing a game from green (Beaten) to blue (Completed) is always such a joy for me, that I’d hate to think you forgot! :D
No, I did not forget them. The reason is simpler. All of these games are still being updated and there are chances that they will get more achievements in the future. It is more of a reminder for me. For HoH for example I’m pretty sure it will get some with the new Temple of the Moon DLC, Black Mesa is also very likely with getting out of Early Access. Death Road to Canada most likely is finished as none from the last three of four updates introduced more achievements. Vermintide 2 is a mixed box, developers said they are to much work for benefit but they change their mind from time to time. Vermintide 1 also got a late collection of hard achievements. I guess Winds of Magic will give a picture where they are going.
On the other hand, I have games under completed which may get updated too. But in that case I just didnt know it :P
Oh, okay– gotcha. Yeah, every now and then I see a previously completed game become less than 100% completed (e.g., Glass Masquerade and others). Bitterness usually ensues. ;-)
Congrats on the completions and more even on the silver sports badge!
Try to don’t be too jealous or compare yourself too much to other people and their “life milestones”, that only will makes you feel bad about something completely arbitrary. Just focus on being a better version of yourself (in a way YOU feel is better, not whatever goals people are setting for you) that would make you more happy and better with your own self, and the rest will come.
Yea, I am somehow proud of the sports badge. Especially the coordination discipline came off as a surprise. But it makes it difficult to keep the results for next year ^^
Other than that, it is easier said than done. I mean I would be surprised if you had never a phase in life where you wanted to battle your own feelings. This will just take some time. I actually achieved a lot already this year on a personal level.
Oh, all the time, that’s why I was telling you that (and i know it’s easier said than done). Sorry if it came out wrong.
Don’t worry, it didnt. I have yet to see you doing something making your username justified ^^ It was meant more for myself.