Do trophies ruin your experience?

At first I enjoyed them. In concept it makes sense that it adds replay-ability, it should only be a positive. I definitely have re-played a few games a 2nd or 3rd time through just to get the platinum trophy. That's a good thing. But I have to admit at times it also effects which games I feel like playing.

So I suppose that is a bit of a negative in that I might have delayed playing a few games because I "didn't feel like going for trophies", or because I got caught up trying to 100% something I might have set aside another game that was actually much, much better.

Fortunately I don't get caught up TOO much if I can't 100% game. Sometimes I will go all the way, and other times it's just not worth it. There have been more than a few games that I set out to 100%, but then when I discovered just how un-FUN the online or collectibles were, I ended up just abandoning the quest for 100% and moving on to something better. There's a few on my friends list that literally 100% *EVERY* game they play, and to me that would almost be torture. Sometimes you just have to walk away from a mediocre game. Especially those that are more time consuming. 

At first trophies were at the back of my mind, not caring for them at all, and if I enjoyed the game alot, I'd replay the game for the trophies for the sheer fun of it. But now, especially shooters, I find myself rushing to get the trophies or trying to get the trophies on my first playthrough. I hate it, I guess it's more of an OCD type thing, but I'm starting to hate these trophies :| It's a bizarre thing to say, but I've always liked collecting in games, and trophies is just an added value. But, it ruins the game for me. Do trophies interfere with your playing style?enz2

I couldn't care less for trophies. It is ok if I get some trophy but I don't play the game to get them. If a game is feeling like a long chore rather than a fun game, you shouldn't pay too much attention to trophies.

It goes both ways; I really enjoy collecting them and for some games they've been a push to do an extra playthrough on hard or something that I end up seriously enjoying. So in many cases I got extra enjoyment out of a game that wouldn't have occured otherwise.

Though a couple of times it's made a game experience worse. I played Darksiders on hard because of trophies. Now it wasn't hard or anything it was just repetitive. Bosses had soooooooo  much health that battles got protracted and clearly weren't balanced for good gameplay and thus it was a weaker experince. (Unlike say, Dark Souls where the player and the boss have relatively low health and the game is flawlessly balanced and super intesne and awesome) 

[QUOTE="enz2"]At first trophies were at the back of my mind, not caring for them at all, and if I enjoyed the game alot, I'd replay the game for the trophies for the sheer fun of it. But now, especially shooters, I find myself rushing to get the trophies or trying to get the trophies on my first playthrough. I hate it, I guess it's more of an OCD type thing, but I'm starting to hate these trophies :| It's a bizarre thing to say, but I've always liked collecting in games, and trophies is just an added value. But, it ruins the game for me. Do trophies interfere with your playing style?BH14

I couldn't care less for trophies. It is ok if I get some trophy but I don't play the game to get them. If a game is feeling like a long chore rather than a fun game, you shouldn't pay too much attention to trophies.

Nope, I don't pay them much attention when I first play the game. If I had fun with the game, and the trophies don't look to complicated, I'll probably eventually go back through and see how many I can collect. But I replay games all the time with no thought of trophies, and I have to be in the right mood to trophy hunt.

Yeah they're starting to get on my nerves as well. They are like the 400lb gorilla in the room, and almost feel like a burden sometimes. People say if you don't like them, ignore them, but sometimes it's a hard thing to do. The impulse to compare a play-through with what a  friend did is irresistible, and even though we all know they're superficial and mean nothing in the end, most of us just can't resist trying to get them, even the hard and time-consuming ones that make you wanna pull your hair out.

At this point I wish they never existed in the first place so I could just enjoy the game the way I want to.

I am very much a perfectionist in that I try to experience everything a game has to offer, which, of course, included going after trophies. But after a while I noticed that that was getting in the way of my initial playthroughs of a game, acting more as a checklist as opposed to what an intial playthrough should be: experiencing the game itself. So now I just play a game without really giving trophies a second thought. If I happen to get trophies, then great; if not, that's fine, too.

I used to be an avid trophy hunter. Ended up with 10 platinums. Then I started playing around on some other platforms and old school games and realized I was doing stupid stuff in games merely for the sake of 100% completion. I was replaying games that I didn't enjoy that much, doing stuff I didn't really care about. I can't pin it to an exact time but I just stopped caring about it. I'd enjoy them more if they managed to stick to being digital checklists of 100% completion but so many of them have random and odd stuff to do in them.

Now I'm just indifferent to them. They're just there. I check them out of curiousity from time to time but they no longer impact the way I play like they used to. I don't dislike them but I don't really care for them either.

Ya, i'm right with you on the OCD thing. It seems like I HAVE to get the trophys. It's almost like, if I don't, something just not right and it's just calling me to get those damned trophys.fnevaeva

Before there were ever trophies I used to just play through a came casually before moving onto the next. But with trophies I complete multiple playthroughs and spend a lot more time with a game before moving on. In saying that, I dont buy games just for trophies, I buy quality games and they are just a bonus for me

I ignored them for the first year, then from September 2009 - January 2013 I went pretty hard at obtaining them. Since I hit 5000 trophies, ive pretty much quit and have gone back to SNES/PS2/GBA 

I have no interests in trophies.

I don't look at the trophy list until I complete the story mode.unrealtron

I try to get the platinum for each game that I play. Realistically it seldom works out because the trophies themselves are just ridiculous or I get burnt out on the game. I wouldn't say trophies have ruined games so much as they've made me more self-conscious of the games I choose to play. I stay away from games with heavy emphasis on multiplayer or those that have a substantial amount dedicated to online play. I've always been a single-player lover so I naturally gravitate towards those types of games that offer me a better chance of unlocking trophies through a SP experience.

It's so hard for games to nail the perfect balance of challenge versus reward. On one hand you want the ease of unlocking them but not to the point that they no longer present a challenge. I think a game that does a good job of trophy allotment is the Uncharted series where they present just enough of a challenge and don't feel extraneous to earn, but at the same time aren't given away liberally.

I dont think so..it adds more to the game especially those that are finished in under 10 hours. It add challenges and replayability; most of them are stuff you wouldnt normally due after you complete a game. 

Trophies are kind of a double-edged sword.  Some of them you'll want to take the time to get, or be happy to accidently stumble upon.  Others take way too much time to get or are handed out like crazy, and just seem pointless.  I don't think there will ever be a happy medium with this sort of thing anyway.

I guess if there's a game I really like that I can spend a lot of time playing, I might feel more inclined to take the time to unlock as many achievements as I can on it.

Nope. I only go out of my way to get them on my second playthrough. On my first, I just want to coast through and enjoy the game.

I enjoyed getting my 21 platinums.  It's almost like an RPG thing - you collect them throughout the game until you've got them all, sort of like levelling up your character in a way.  But now it's almost impossible to find a game you can platinum without online trophies, and I just hate that.  If they're not forcing you to play some crappy tacked-on multiplayer for 10 times longer than any sane person could possibly enjoy it, they're forcing you to find trophy boosting partners and deal with all the nonsense of scheduling a boosting session with people halfway across the world and having them not show up etc.

So yeah, I used to enjoy trophies but the fact that they've pretty much ruined them now has definitely reduced my interest in gaming.

Certainly not, but they don't add to my personal experience, either.  To me, they're just "there".

I play games for one reason and one reason only to beat it and have fun. If I am not having fun I stop playing the game I won't go to Platinum a trophy. I play games for fun.

Before there were ever trophies I used to just play through a came casually before moving onto the next. But with trophies I complete multiple playthroughs and spend a lot more time with a game before moving on. In saying that, I dont buy games just for trophies, I buy quality games and they are just a bonus for me

black__bunny

[QUOTE="unrealtron"]I don't look at the trophy list until I complete the story mode.Reptylus

Trophies do not ruin my experiences other than take my attention away from what I was doing when it pings up onscreen.

Now that---I do wish I could toggle on/off. I could care less about this completely arbitrary 'achievements'.

[QUOTE="enz2"]At first trophies were at the back of my mind, not caring for them at all, and if I enjoyed the game alot, I'd replay the game for the trophies for the sheer fun of it. But now, especially shooters, I find myself rushing to get the trophies or trying to get the trophies on my first playthrough. I hate it, I guess it's more of an OCD type thing, but I'm starting to hate these trophies :| It's a bizarre thing to say, but I've always liked collecting in games, and trophies is just an added value. But, it ruins the game for me. Do trophies interfere with your playing style?BH14

I couldn't care less for trophies. It is ok if I get some trophy but I don't play the game to get them. If a game is feeling like a long chore rather than a fun game, you shouldn't pay too much attention to trophies.

I used to be a crazy trophy collector.  It was almost like an obsession.  I think I'm currently sitting at 29 platinums.  I must say that I rather enjoyed it, but most games have started to incorporate online requirements for trophies, and if the game's online portion sucks, and it usually does, then I'm not going to waste my time.  I have no inclination to play assassins creed games online just to get 100%.  For the life of me cannot understand why they've started making online trophies.  Once the game's online community dies it's virtually impossible to get 100% which really sucks for avid trophy hunters.

I like the trophies and the leveling up type of thing on the PSN...but it isn't a something too important for me. Sure I'd rather have the game to have trophies, but I never go out of my trying to obtain one. I only get the ones that are following the storyline mostly unless I truly love the game.

Nope, I usually for the most part ignore them for a first playthrough of the game, and if I don't think it is going to be too difficult I may try for the platinum, but lately haven't tried to get any trophies likely due to lack of motivation for it which is probably why I haven't platinumed a game this year yet.

If I've got one problem with trophies, its multiplayer trophies.  Take Tomb raider and Assassins creed as examples.  Single player games at heart with multiplayer trophies? Tell you whats bullshit - Thats Bullshit.  And the problem is that they are launch trophies to begin with.  So you cant get the platinum unless you play the feckless multiplayer mode that the developers have just tacked on the game as an afterthought.

If you were playing games that are meant to have multiplayer (CoD, MoH, GT5 etc.) I wouldn't complain so much.  They need them.

the only thing i dont like about trophies is that i have so many games sitting at 0% that i wish i could delete.blaqphantom

This, as well as the DLC trophies that get added to the list that I have no intention of ever getting.

If I think I can get a certain trophy I will attempt it if it is way out of my reach I won't bother but normally I just lay the game for the experience and to enjoy it.

I know what you're feeling. Early on I just played games for fun and if I trophy popped up then great. Sometimes I would replay a game to try to earn certain trophies and challenge myself. Now it seems whenever I start a game I've noticed I adjust my playing style in order to get a trophy. A most recent example would be when I was playing Bioshock Infinite, I'd use only specific weapons or combos in order to contribute to trophy tallies rather than using a weapon I enjoyed or better suiting the combat situation I was in.

The best tactic going forward would be to not read the trophy list until after completing the game so you don't get distracted. After the game you can decide whether or not you want to bother earning certain trophies. More likely than not you'll not bother wanting to go back and get trophies in comparison to starting a game with trophies in mind so it's probably for the best and will encourage you to move on to better games or replaying games that warrant a replay.

Well, for me it gives me a sense of something achieved. Trophies work for me and I am the sort of guy who throws the game away when it's finished. But thanks to trophies I stick to the game after I have completed the main story/part of it.

Nah. I'm the old-school type who gets done with a game once I've beaten it at the hardest difficulty level.

Ruin? Not really, I do enjoy collecting trophies during my play-through but that's about it. You won't see me purposely spending enormous amount of time trying to obtain them for collecting reasons.

They are a fun bonus to me personally, nothing more.