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Let's discuss the Steam Achievements

JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
edited February 2016 in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
As mentioned in the latest Beamblog entry, Beamdog are in the process of testing the Steam achievement system. I've thought it would be a good thing to discuss this system as it's now, so that we could give them our feedback.

BGEE has currently only 5 achievements:

Loremaster - Have a Lore skill of 100 or more.
Untouchable - Have an Armor Class of -15 or lower.
Godlike
Dark Places
Dragon Slayer

https://steamcommunity.com/stats/228280/achievements/

BG2EE has a lot more:

[spoiler=93 achievements]

The Book of Kaza
Track down the Book of Kaza for Korgan.

Family Matters
Help Keldorn settle matters with his family.

Homecoming
Help Jan's loved ones.

Restored
Find a way to break Jaheira's curse.

Sisters
Help Mazzy Fentan's sister.

Absolute Power
Help Nalia prove the corruption within the Roenall family.

Spherical Stronghold
Acquire the Planar Sphere.

I'll Keep This
Acquire de Arnise Keep.

Peace At Last

Friends Like These

Planehopper
Rescue Haer'Dalis from a grim fate.

The Nether Scroll
Help Edwin track down the Nether Scroll.

Twisted Victory

A Battle for the Ages
Defeat Kangaxx the demilich.

Freedom
Free the mage, Vithal, in the Underdark.

No Child Left Behind
Find and return Garren Windspear's missing child.

Double Cross

Triple Cross

Reunited
Reunite Cernd with his estranged family.

I Dub Thee
See Anomen join the Order of the Most Radiant Heart.

To the Limit

Don't Mind Us

Guild Times
Acquire the thieves' guild.

Divine Domain
Acquire a chamber in your temple.

Black Dragon Slayer

Shadow Dragon Slayer

Red Dragon Slayer

Time to Slay

Silver Dragon Slayer

Green Dragon Saviour

Epic Priest
Reach level 30 with a cleric, druid or shaman.

Epic Warrior
Reach level 30 with a fighter, ranger, paladin, monk or barbarian.

Epic Rogue
Reach level 30 with a thief or bard.

Epic Mage
Reach level 30 with a mage or sorcerer.

In Balduran's Image
Don the sword, shield, helm, and plate of Balduran.

Ancient Power
Purchase the Robe of Vecna.

The Play's the Thing
Obtain the deed to the theater.

Home Grove
Speak to the Spirit of the Grove.

Cabin In the Woods
Acquire your own cabin.

Orderly Surroundings
Acquire a chamber within the paladin order.

Welcome, Brother

A Sister's Sacrifice

Legendary Relic
Construct Crom Faeyr.

The Holy Sword
Recover Carsomyr, the Holy Avenger.

Fury of the Heavens
Acquire the Celestial Fury blade.

Light in Darkness
Find the source of evil in the temple ruins outside the Umar Hills.

Fang and Claw
Put a stop to the strange animal attacks at Trademeet.

A Daring Escape

Worst Day Ever
Have Disease, Fatigue, and Poison active at the same time.

Best Day Ever
Have Bless, Chant, and Luck active at the same time.

Oathbreaker
Become a Fallen Paladin or a Fallen Ranger.

Picking Sides
Raised enough gold to hire assistance.

Across the Sea

To Hell and Back

Staked

Return to the Surface

Inmates Running the Asylum

Murder Incarnate
Kill 1000 creatures.

Villain
Acquire Despised Reputation.

Flying Solo
Complete the game solo.

Grandmaster
Become a Grandmaster.

Loremaster
Have a Lore skill of 100 or more.

Untouchable
Have an Armor Class of -15 or lower.

Lord of Murder
Complete the game on Legacy of Bhaal difficulty.

Friend of Volo
Complete the game on Story Mode difficulty.

Hero
Acquire Heroic Reputation.

Juggernaut
Reach 150 hit points.

Sacrifices Must Be Made
Finish the game with a full party of dead allies.

Leave No Friend Behind
Finish the game without any party members dying.

Shadow Ally

Friend of Darkness

Wand Collector
Disarm the traps in the lower level of the wizard's dungeon.

The Fifth Challenge

The Fourth Challenge

The Third Challenge

The Great Detective
Solve the Skinner Murders.

Best Friends
Return Wellyn's missing bear.

Trade Must Flow
Break the trade monopoly in Trademeet.

Close the Eye
Destroy the Cult of the Unseeing Eye.

Heart of the Abyss
Discover the secrets of the Planar Sphere.

New Ownership
Put Hendak in charge of the Copper Coronet.

The Second Challenge

The First Challenge

Felling the Giant

Hell's Pocket

Took a Chance

Unknown Risks

Dragon's Demise

The Seven Statues

Heavy Is the Head

Sieze the Throne

Solar Supremacy

Godlike
Increase an attribute score to 25.

[/spoiler]

http://steamcommunity.com/stats/257350/achievements/

I think that the BG games didn't need any achievements, but since they're already worked on, there's no harm in getting them.

My view is that there're too many achievements. 93 is too much. I see a lot of quest achievements and personally think that the majority of them are not needed. Maybe only the achievements about the main quest should stay, and about rare (more hidden) quests, like the Twisted Rune.

I like achievements that don't include any quests: Finish the game without any party members dying, Complete the game solo, Complete the game on Legacy of Bhaal difficulty.

The achievement I would like to be added a lot is Finish the game without the main character dying. BG has a rich history of no-reload runs and this achievement will really be of a help to us, no-reloaders.

Also, it's unclear how the "Flying Solo" achievement could be transferred to BGEE, since Imoen joins the party automatically.

I don't have a steam version of the game, but if I did, after the achievemens are added, I would be trying to get all of them, which would mean new and new runs through the game (and this is a good thing).

P.S. The visuals of the achievements are superb. The icons look nice.
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Comments

  • PantalionPantalion Member Posts: 2,137
    I'm pretty ambivalent towards achievements in general (though I confess I've done pretty much all the things in this list), but just to mention that you can avoid Imoen in BG1 by immediately moving south off the map, or killing her on sight because you killed her in Candlekeep, so she must be a doppelganger.

    They're all doppelgangers.
  • GreenWarlockGreenWarlock Member Posts: 1,354
    I agree with @bengoshi - discovering and completing quests within the game are their own reward, and should not be spoiled by having an achievement badge advertising their existence. This is one of my pet bugbears about 'achievements' in modern games. I do like achievements for beating the game in different ways, that encourage replays. I mentioned before that as a completionist, I find speed runs hard to motivate. Achievements for speed runs would put my completionist tendency to work for a non-completionist run or two :) The first mass effect game had achievements for beating the game with each of the companions, but you had to take that companion on enough missions, not just one or two, to qualify. For companions that required a bit of the game to get to, that could also be a challenge, and was welcome. Achievements should live up to the name, rather than be handed out like candy.

    For what I see above, BGEE seems to have taken my preferred approach, and BG2EE jumped off a cliff in the other direction. As I don't play on Steam anyway though, this won't affect me unless they port the system over to the Apple App Store.
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    I like to collect Steam achievements, as long as they don't become the reason for playing. I only like the ones that come naturally through playing the game normally. I'm not going to do something like "Finish the game without resting," "Kill Drizzt", "Rest in a hostile area until you kill 100 rest-spawned enemies," "Rescue Dynaheir without killing a single gnoll", etc.

    Why are all the Steam global values at 0%? Are the current achievements in place without being actually active and winnable yet?
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
    BelgarathMTH said:


    Why are all the Steam global values at 0%? Are the current achievements in place without being actually active and winnable yet?

    According to http://blog.beamdog.com/2016/02/beamdog-achievements.html, "You might see achievements for our games on Steam but be unable to access them. That's because we're still internally testing the achievements to make sure they're fully functional when they go live in the next update. We'll post again here when that happens."
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    bengoshi said:



    My view is that there're too many achievements. 93 is too much. I see a lot of quest achievements and personally think that the majority of them are not needed. Maybe only the achievements about the main quest should stay, and about rare (more hidden) quests, like the Twisted Rune.

    I like achievements that don't include any quests: Finish the game without any party members dying, Complete the game solo, Complete the game on Legacy of Bhaal difficulty.

    The achievement I would like to be added a lot is Finish the game without the main character dying. BG has a rich history of no-reload runs and this achievement will really be of a help to us, no-reloaders.

    Also, it's unclear how the "Flying Solo" achievement could be transferred to BGEE, since Imoen joins the party automatically.

    I don't have a steam version of the game, but if I did, after the achievemens are added, I would be trying to get all of them, which would mean new and new runs through the game (and this is a good thing).

    P.S. The visuals of the achievements are superb. The icons look nice.


    Having side quest as a achievement allows players to realize they might have missed something their first play through. The achievements are like little check marks allowing the player to know they have discovered everything the game has to offer.
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    Too many achievements I'm afraid. I do not think I will actually yet to get all of them but I expect that I will get at least half of them in a normal play through.
    Thing is, with that many achievements when you start playing you probably get a pop up every few minutes. That kind of distracts from the game itself.
  • FlashburnFlashburn Member Posts: 1,847
    I don't mind achievements as long as they aren't for something that every player will do, like advancing the story. (Hooray, you equipped an item!/killed a monster!/drank a potion!)

    They're called achievements for a reason. At least make them challenging, but not so that you have to grind or go out of your way to get them, like killing 1000 of one kind of monster.
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    "Demi-Death: Kill 25 demiliches"

    Sounds reasonable to me.

    It looks like Steam's browser site is showing all of the achievements (even a lot of ones that are supposed to be "hidden"); if you view that same page in the Steam client itself, the visible list is much shorter.
  • BillyYankBillyYank Member Posts: 2,768
    Worst Day Ever
    Have Disease, Fatigue, and Poison active at the same time.
    Hilarious.
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    Just read BG2's achievement list and I'm surprised at how much I like them. Specially because they're mostly not silly/random things that serve no purpose to the game other than unlocking an achievement. You can unlock practically all of them just by replaying the game with different NPCs and choosing different paths, which is what most players already do anyway.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited February 2016
    Lord_Tansheron said:

    I'd like to see more interesting challenge achievements, even wacky ones.

    How about...

    Heed No Warnings - Use the Rift Device on Amelyssan

    I thought you can't leave the sewers with the rift device.
  • MetallomanMetalloman Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 3,975
    @elminster: Creative use of C:AddItem("xxx") ?
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    @elminster , creative use of familar (not sure if EE nerfed the exploit)?
  • simplessimples Member Posts: 540
    i think achievements are bullshit, but the "best day ever" achievement is hilarious
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,212
    edited February 2016
    elminster said:

    I thought you can't leave the sewers with the rift device.

    That's the whole point of the achievement :P
    gorgonzola said:

    @elminster , creative use of familar (not sure if EE nerfed the exploit)?

    Correct. You can use a familiar to pickpocket the Rift Device from yourself, then stow it in your pack, leave the sewers, and retrieve the Device at some later point. The check of whether you have brought it to the surface only happens when you leave the sewers, after that you're good to go.


    Something creative to figure out for people who're into that sort of stuff.
  • KrotosKrotos Member Posts: 156
    What exactly makes achievements trigger? I'm currently doing a run with my Elven Wild Mage and reached heroic reputation but the achievement didn't kick in. Does having your console on or mods disable achievements?
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
    @Krotos The achievement system is still in the works, they're not available for players.

    Although it may be a good idea to restrict several achievements if your console is activated or mods installed (like with Pillars of Eternity). But difficult to implement.
  • KrotosKrotos Member Posts: 156
    bengoshi said:

    @Krotos The achievement system is still in the works, they're not available for players.

    Although it may be a good idea to restrict several achievements if your console is activated or mods installed (like with Pillars of Eternity). But difficult to implement.

    I was looking at Baldur's Gate 2's list of achievements and thought you can trigger them in game. Thanks for the info.
  • brusbrus Member Posts: 944
    Dust in the wind - your drow equipment turns to dust when lit by sun


    How to achieve this?
    Untouchable : have an Armor Class of -15 or lower.
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    pretty easy for a FM.

    Start with a good AC, add spells that lower it like blur and improved invisibility, the +3 protection ring and all the items that boost it, have your cleric and bard help you a bit, equip a good shield and you can reach the cap, that is well beyond -15
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    edited February 2016
    I don't think this warrants a new thread and I'm not sure @Dee is the one I should be pestering about this but I'm taking the opportunity to point out that the "Seize the Throne" achievement is misspelled as "Sieze the Throne."
  • ScottP480ScottP480 Member Posts: 5
    As someone who loves achievements and also has fond memories of the games from when they first came out, I'm looking forward to hunting for these. I don't think that 93 is too many at all; I'd even be fine with more of them to be honest. I'm also very happy with the variety of achievements that we see.

    For those that have been asking, you can't unlock them yet. Also, I'm assuming that BG1 will end up with more than 5 achievements (at least I'm hoping for way more). Until recently, BG2 only had a placeholder 3 achievements. A recent update boosted that up to the current 93 that we see. I'd expect the same with BG1 and I'm hoping for a similar amount in that game.

    Also hoping we see them added to IWD.
  • HudzyHudzy Member Posts: 300
    I'd also like to see them in IWD and point out that a lot of games use spoiler protection to hide plot and quest achievements until the player completes those, which might be nice for those concerned about that.
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    The only achievements I would be interested in are related to discovering a new, still unknown, exploit.
    Sadly is not possible to implement something like that.
  • CoM_SolaufeinCoM_Solaufein Member Posts: 2,606
    Achievements? Perhaps I need to buy a copy from Steam, I like little goodies like this.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
    edited February 2016
    The achievements for BGEE have been updated - they are still WIP, though. Now, there's 61 achievement for BG1:




    Judge, Jury, Executioner

    Second Chance

    A Work of Art

    Philistine

    Reunion

    Damsel Out of Distress

    Fishermen's Foe

    Fishermen's Friend

    The Legend of Durlag's Tower

    Noble Assistant

    The Written Word

    Faerûnian Idol

    Gallor's Plot

    This Belongs in a Museum

    Master Thief

    Use Your Words

    Entertained

    All the Options
    Have Neera, Dorn, and Rasaad in the party at the same time.

    Back to Basics
    Speak to all the Candlekeep Tutors and learn what they have to teach you.

    Lover's Sacrifice

    An Ancient Evil

    Lover's Redemption

    The Stone Cleric

    Witch Saviour

    Completionist

    He Started It

    Foreshadowing?

    ACH_SAFE_FOR_NOW

    Witch Slayer

    Forest Friend

    Save the Cow!

    Villain
    Acquire Despised Reputation.

    Hero
    Acquire Heroic Reputation.

    Murder Incarnate
    Kill 1000 creatures.

    Loremaster
    Have a Lore skill of 100 or more.

    Best Day Ever
    Have Bless, Chant, and Luck active at the same time.

    0%
    Oathbreaker
    Become a Fallen Paladin or a Fallen Ranger.

    Juggernaut
    Reach 150 hit points.

    Sacrifices Must Be Made
    Finish the game with a full party of dead allies.

    Lord of Murder
    Complete the game on Legacy of Bhaal difficulty.

    ACH_FLYING
    Complete the game solo.

    Friend of Volo
    Complete the game on Story Mode difficulty.

    Godlike
    Increase an attribute score to 25.

    Leave No Friend Behind
    Finish the game without any party members dying.

    Untouchable
    Have an Armor Class of -15 or lower.

    Worst Day Ever
    Have Disease, Fatigue, and Poison active at the same time.

    On My Own

    Worst Bodyguard Ever

    Mercenary of the Month

    Scent of a Kobold

    Only Mostly Dead

    Sobering News

    Unpetrified

    Hero of Baldur's Gate

    On My Own... Again

    Victory is Mine

    Friendly Faces at the Friendly Arm

    Bandits Banished

    Water, Water, Everywhere

    On the Trail

    Grandmaster
    Become a Grandmaster.



    http://steamcommunity.com/stats/228280/achievements

    I especially like Complete the game solo and "Leave No Friend Behind" (Finish the game without any party members dying). "Back to Basics" i.e. Speak to all the Candlekeep Tutors and learn what they have to teach you is funny and a nice touch.
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    All the Options
    Have Neera, Dorn, and Rasaad in the party at the same time.
    Oh the things I could write about this one.
  • CahirCahir Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 2,819
    I wonder if Beamdog considers adding achievements to GoG Galaxy too. AFAIK Obsidian added GoG achievements for PoE in one of the patches.
  • SirBatinceSirBatince Member Posts: 882
    bengoshi said:

    The achievements for BGEE have been updated - they are still WIP, though. Now, there's 61 achievement for BG1:

    http://steamcommunity.com/stats/228280/achievements

    I especially like Complete the game solo and "Leave No Friend Behind" (Finish the game without any party members dying). "Back to Basics" i.e. Speak to all the Candlekeep Tutors and learn what they have to teach you is funny and a nice touch.

    There's something heart warming about this. Concrete evidence in-your-face that 1.4 exists somewhere. This sort of thing is just great when you've been a Valve fan for so long :blush:

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