Wow, 50 rants is somewhat of a milestone I’d say. I hope today’s topic proves worthy.
I’ve ranted about Guitar Hero in the past. I’ve even ranted about Achievements in the past. Well, guess what? Today I’m specifically going to rant about Guitar Hero Achievements! Who in the hell is in charge of coming up with the Achievements for these games and isn’t there somebody, somewhere that says “You know, I’m not so sure this is a good idea…”
Let’s take a look at some of the “difficult but acceptable” Achievements from Guitar Hero III:
- Gold Star 20 songs on Expert – Wow, that would be hard, but if you’re that skilled, I guess you deserve it.
- Earn $350,000 in career lifetime earnings – Seems like it’d take a while, but still doable.
- Earn 100,000,000 points total in career – Wow, another one that’ll take a long time but yeah, it’s feasible.
- Complete a career on <insert difficulty level> – That’s a fairly basic and expected Achievement.
So there are some undeniably “acceptable” Achievements, but when you start looking at the list in more detail, the logic starts falling apart. They’re no longer based on your ability to play the game well, but arbitrary rules made up solely for the intent of attaching them to Achievements:
- Complete career lefty and righty – Who in their right mind would do this for any reason other than this Achievement?
- Use the Whammy Bar on every held note on Number of the Beast – Using the whammy doesn’t DO anything gameplay wise on “every” held note.
- Beat any song on the expert difficulty with the games sound options turned down to zero – Okay, seriously, WTF?!
- Complete a career on Hard or Expert using a standard controller – What’s the name of this game again? Controller Hero III?
- Refuse a boss battle – they did this crap with refuse an Encore last time. It’s no points, but counts toward your Achievements earned. Pfft!
- Fail any song 10 times – This is something to reward players for? Nice…
- Fail a song passed 90% completion – What in the hell is the point of this? I mean really. It’s just dumb. At best, someone will accidentally get this (and is an accidental “Achievement” really worth noting) and at worst, you’re encouraging someone to intentionally tank a song…
Then there’s my personal distaste for forcing the multiplayer aspect into the Achievements. What if I game by myself or don’t have any friends in the same skill level? I’m now automatically ineligible for those Achievements. Here are some of the more ridiculous ones:
- Complete all songs as Backup/Lead guitarist – so now I have to play through the game by myself, then with someone else, then with someone else AGAIN?!
- Win 15 consecutive Ranked songs online using a standard controller – Okay, now you guys are just making this crap up. What’s the true skill evaluation going on here? What have I really “achieved” by earning this, that I can be manipulated into doing goofy-assed stuff for 5 meaningless Gamerscore points?
- Win 500 Online Ranked matches – Yeah, that’s likely to happen. Even if I went undefeated, Jesus that a long frickin’ time to apply one’s self for 20 points.
- Beat one of the creators of Guitar Hero 3 at their own game – This. Is. Just. Retarded. How much do I get for tracking them down in real life and beating them down with a baseball bat?
- Earn a 2000 note streak in a Co-op match – Are you trying to get people put in jail by putting that much pressure on them to not screw up? I don’t know anyone that I could complete this with.
- Score 1,000,000 on any song in a Co-op match – Again, I’m ineligible because I don’t know anyone that can do this. Don’t worry about me, the guy that bought the game. I’ll just sit this one out.
I really, really hope these Guitar Hero Achievements prove to be the exception rather than the norm. Maybe Microsoft needs to further specify guidelines for their Achievements and Gamerscore because it’s games like this that make me despise the entire system. What are your thoughts on the way the Guitar Hero franchise seems to be going with their Achievements?
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It seems to be the case for a lot of achievements in games. Especially the multiplayer aspect. There are plenty of games that require ridiculous commitment to playing multiplayer to unlock a few points, and often those games can’t hold my attention for that long
This combined with the prices of the downloadable song packs are the reason I bought GHIII for the PS2. Now I don’t have to worry about it. Rock on!
Holy crap, those are seiously stupid achievements. And i thought you would be exaggerating on them when I looked at the picture (but it seems very appropriate now).
The only way this could be acceptable is if they gave a prize for the first person to complete all the achievements (and they don’t)
I hope to God the Snoy home trophies don’t require this much time to obtain (don’t have a 360 probably never will).
I would mock the chances of meeting and beating the creators, but a friend of mine did just that. He was so excited he called me when it happened. Shout out to pottedmeat7910. Still love South Park’s idea of what happens when you score 1,000,000.
“Beat one of the creators of Guitar Hero 3 at their own game ” You don’t have to beat them your self but beat someone who beat someone who beat the creator so in all actually its one of the easiest to get. But if you think achievements should be based around gameplay that you would do anyway why do you care wheter you get them or not? If you don’t want the gamer score don’t attempt to get achievements because they are meant so you would try new things that you probally would not have done
Ok, I am not an achievement whore, per say, but using the standard controller for this, if you really were that into the game, and you saw those achievements and then the £60 you have to spend on the standard game + controller (that’s $120 over here in the UK people) that’s just not right.
Maybe I understood wrong but:
You can play Guitar Hero 3 with Controller (which I comes with the console) you don’t have to buy separate non-guitar version of the game.
why activision, why?!?!?!?!?!
“Complete all songs as Backup/Lead guitarist”
did u actually know that each one is different…?
“Win 15 consecutive Ranked songs online using a standard controller”
Yes controller is harder for some, easier for others, although it is an odd achievment it is perfectly understandable, lets see you rock out on a controller.
“Score 1,000,000 on any song in a Co-op match”
I’ve seen- no I can do higher
“Earn a 2000 note streak in a Co-op match”
VERY possible… TTFAF (Through The Fire and Flames) has over 2000 notes just on one player, two people isnt THAT hard.
“Beat any song on the expert difficulty with the games sound options turned down to zero”
Yes I’ve actually tried this on GH2, and that was on my PS2… IT’S HARD!!! just because its a bit odd, doesnt mean its messed up.
“Beat one of the creators of Guitar Hero 3 at their own game”
I’m sure it’s not that hard to track them down, I’m sure there are plenty at competitions.
“Win 500 Online Ranked matches”
Yes, a long time for a small ammount of points, but you don’t actually have to play 500 songs non-stop… just have fun! you’ll get there eventually.
“Fail any song 10 times”
Yes, failing a song 10 times means that you are deticated to beating it, and don’t go to put in the ‘All Songs’ cheat or whatever right away.
“Fail a song passed 90% completion”
So somebody does it on accident, so what? Again this shows that the person is deticated to beating it (most of the time).
“Refuse a boss battle”
This is probably the only one I agree with you on. I’m just glad it’s no points.
“Complete a career on Hard or Expert using a standard controller”
Again, it’s sometimes harder for people, just because you suck at it (from your statements it’s easy to tell) you don’t have to yell at the creators for having a little fun.
“Complete career lefty and righty”
It’s hard dude… Anything hard is worth completing.
“Use the Whammy Bar on every held note on Number of the Beast”
This one you can really have a BLAST doing
I registered for this place JUST to yell at you and leave the longest comment I’ve seen on here so far. You sir obviously cannot play the game. You REALLY suck when you can’t Gold Star 20 songs on Expert…
~~~Neo39925
the next time u see guitar hero achievments it will be something along the lines of
“beat the game on expert while standing on your head chewying beef jerky that one of the activision staff threw up after a christmas party in 1995 while having ur best friend standing on the tv using a mirror to see the screen playing lefty flip and getting a 2000 note streak and getting 5 stars without your eyes bleeding playing through the fire and the flames as your 3rd friend rescues a kitten orphanage from a fire” seriously they really might as well have put that in there my gaming time is more valuable then jumping through hoops for achievments
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transfer balance to another low rate card
I have to agree with neo39925 on everything. He hit the nail on the head. The Guitar Hero franchise, right from the start, was about being different, having fun, and experiencing something new and different while giving hardcore gamers a hell of a fun time. And besides that… if you don’t want the achievements, you don’t HAVE to get them. Personally, I can’t gold star anything on expert yet, but that doesn’t mean I’m not trying. And by the way… isn’t the reason the industry started in the first place to give something new and different to experience (they are NOT the same thing), much like the anime industry? If blandness is rewarded in the gaming industry where it shouldn’t be, then the gaming world is heading in a direction I simply will not stick with it in. Titles like Sonic the Hedgehog that are rushed are considered good by only the idiots. Neversoft and Activision damn well took their time on GH II and III, and I feel they are two of the greatest games I’ve ever played. If you’re a gamer, and yet you never go outside your comfort zone, you are a study in contradictions. Even though I like playing NFS Most Wanted as much as the next guy, simply because the game was so much fun, occasionally, I thrive on going outside mine. Forza 2 with all assists off is a must try. While it may be a bit frustrating at first, the level of attention you must pay to it is drastically higher, and if you have a problem with having everything off, you can always turn something on until you get used to it. Get my picture yet? I hope so, because that’s all I have to say, you insecure pinhead of a ranter.