Do achievements dictate your gameplay?

Ever since achievements became available on STEAM, origin and Uplay I've noticed myself immediately reading the achievements before even playing the game as to do as many as I can in one play through even though most achievements, like on STEAM have no rewards other than self satisfaction. Now, something simple like, "kill five enemies with your knife" or "blow up an enemy using the environment", sure I can do that and it may happen naturally during game play. But when asked to play a certain way instead of playing the game as I want, I tend to follow what the achievements ask for.

Lets take Metro: Last light for example. Just installed it, went through the intro map and then began reading the achievements. Instead of fighting my way through, I found myself skulking around like in splinter cell, quietly taking out enemies as not to get detected. Then halfway through the game I find two achievement in which I must choose to either go stealth or take out everyone in the level, but which ever I choose, I will have to play through it a second time to unlock the other.

After scrolling through, majority of the achievements are stealth related which for me, began losing interest as I purchased the game for action not stealth. Sure I can play however I want and I most certainly will. STEAM achievements offer nothing so why should I put the time to unlock them unless I REALLY enjoyed the game...which is rare.

Maybe it's poor choices on achievement creativity and Metro may be a bad example. Alright, so how about Dishonored. All about stealth and not leaving a trace of your presence behind. I definitely am expecting stealth like achievements and boy did they deliver. Play the entire game without your super powers, don't kill anyone other than story related, etc. I played the game enjoying as many powers as I could, but I also played through only subduing the enemies which was time consuming as oppose to killing them as I saw them coming around. Again, I found myself losing interest as I was following the achievements instead of my own gameplay style.

Whether the achievement actually grants points or not, time and time again I've found myself changing my style in order to unlock the most amount of achievements on my first play through. The easy thing to do would be to finish the game first and then read the achievements and play through it a second time if I really enjoyed it that much, but on a personal level I hardly do go back and I tend to play most of my games once and then I move on to the next, so I guess you could say we've found where my problem lies.

How do you, the community tend to tackle the achievement lists on your initial play through?

Let me pitch you a scenario. The most anticpated game of 2013, Arkham Origins, is being released to day, you've been waiting for this badboy for like....forever, preorderd the special edtion and everything, it finaly comes in the mail. You tear the packaging off with your teeth, gently remove the disk from the cover and carefully place in the drive and run it and the very 1st thing you do is check the achievements ? WHAT THE **** ! Does anybody actually do that, check the achievement lists and try them on your very 1st outing ?

The only time I "go for" the Achievements is if it's a game that is part of a franchise I really like and want to really dig in and spend as much time as possible with it. Halo games, Dead Rising games, most of Rockstar's games, etc. If it's just some random game I don't pay much attention to any of the trophies or achievements or whatever.

Of course if an unproven quantity proves to be more enjoyable than anticipated, I'll often go through the Achievement/Trophy list after finishing it to try and get a bit more play out of a game I really enjoyed. Mark of the Ninja was one such game.

I mean it's nice and cool to look for achievments. I like doing as many as i can. But i don't platinum games, because i want to enjoy the game and story in the end. Do i look for achievments during gameplay? Sure, sometimes. but i don't let achievments dictate how i play the game. I never check out the achievments before i begin the game. I think you lose perspective on why you are actually playing the game. Playing Hannah Montana just for the platinum is stupid. Do it because you like the game and if you want to explore the game by doing addtional ways to play the game, then sure. Just don't make it a chore. That's my take on it

Yes

Not in one bit.

I use achievements if a game is fun to play and i want to have more fun than just the main story.

I could live without them. Every now and then when I have the time I put in the effort to get one that looks like a neat achievable challenge. But I've never seen them as a big deal before, and continue not to care.

No, and the reason is I never read the achievement list before beating the game, 1) to avoid spoilers and 2) to avoid what you mentioned

Never on the first play through.

Yeah, spoiling the game before you even play it because of achievments is silly

Ill only really go for achievments after I beat the game and if I really like it. If im not a huge fan of the game there is no point on going for the achievments IMO

Only if there is replay value. A firstplaythrough should always be for fun not as a job that just makes it a chore.

I check out the achievements after I finished the game.

In short and just to answer the question (I didn't read a single bit of the waaaaay to long initial post):

They do after I've finished a game and really liked it to se what's left of it and what there is left to be done. But not until I've beaten the story or spent my time with it on my own.

Yeah, exactly. I treat them like additional quests in games where I've completed most everything else but still want to play the game more.

I used to go after them pretty avidly, but it just got old. I was competing with a couple of my friends for awhile, and they still hunt them, and we still make fun of Dante for his Hannah Montana platinum. A guy in his mid 20s. Hannah Montana.

When they're done right? Yes.

When they're completely unimaginative or grindy? Nope.

Unfortunately most are the latter instead of the former these days.

Not really, my first playthrough is for the experience of the game. I'll do whatever I have fun doing. However, if I see some trophies that are probably really easy to get, I might go for them (though I won't go way out of my way or anything).

Not at all. In fact, I didn't even notice achievements until I started adding friends and comparing trophies. There have been a few times I saw a trophy in Skyrim when comparing trophies that was easy to obtain during a 3rd or 4th playthrough, but I would never look at a trophy list before doing my first playthrough.

One of the main reasons I lost interest with Assassin's Creed is because Brotherhood added these dumb 'simon says' achievements like 'explore a tomb in under 8 minutes' for mission completion needed to unlock additional sequences instead of letting you play how you want.

I recently created a new account and people have been messaging me wishing me good luck with starting over. I find that hilarious people make such a big deal about a gamer score when it does nothing for me in real life and is nothing but a number for bragging rights.

This basically me through-and-throught when it comes to achivements/trophies and playthroughs. I might glance at a trophy/achievement list, but I don't study it w/ hawk-like precision and base my gameplay around it. Like lensflare mentioned, if it's something I think might be fun to go after doing or it's something that kinda unwraps itself during my journey of experiencing the story and whatnot, then I might do. But I'm not one of those people stalking down achievement-chasing and playing a certain to get certain trophies.

At this point, you're boardering along the lines of 'grinding' instead of being lost in pleasure of enjoying the game, imo, and I DON'T do needless, tedious grinding just for no damn virtual reward.....<_<.

If it can't be 'achieved' WHILE I'm playing through the first time--it won't get 'got', at all.

@scarred_fox: First, I would like to say nice Monster Rancher avatar. It brings me back.

About the topic: Trophies and their counterparts are cool. I like being able to show other players what I can do.

No

Achievements on steam are useless since people just install some software and get them all with just a click of a button. I can't believe Valve implemented them so poorly.

Very true, i don't see the point in going out of your way to get those damn trophies only for you to spoil the game

I play my games for fun not achievements, sure they pop up during play all the time but i really dont bother with them per se.

Ive never played a game just to get a certain achievement like it seems alot of people do these days, my game playing would still happily exist without achievements.

Yeah I'd say that they dictate how I play the game somewhat. I always like to check out the achievements/trophies when I first get a game. I'll usually play to get the most on how I feel like playing the game initially but I won't alter my gameplay for certain things that I might not feel comfortable on a first playthrough such as too high a difficulty, no kill run, or stealth run. I usually go for those on a subsequent playthrough unless it's a franchise that I'm already familiar with.

Not exactly when you're a PC gamer.

As some people have said before, I like to go for some achievements after my first playthrough. I mean, they honour their name by simply giving a sense of achievement. When I scored with the basketball in DE:HR (not knowing there was going to be an achievement) and I got the achievement, I felt good about myself, even though it was an absolute waste of time. And I like how some achievements motivate you to play in a different way. They enrich the experience, because they point me at play styles I probably wouldn't have used otherwise.

But some are tedious and forced, of course. I go for the ones that look like fun.