The Toughest G’s
As you all know, I’m a lover of “The G’s” (or Achievements as they are more commonly known) and happily admit I unashamedly chase them down with each game I play. While I’m realistic enough to know that they represent nothing more than how much time you put into your games, I still believe there are certain Achievements that separate the casual gamers from the more hardcore. I do like to lumber myself in the latter category; after all, I invest a considerable amount of time into this hobby whether I’m playing video games, writing about them, or reading up on them.
It was no surprise then that when I came across a list of (apparently) the ‘Top 10 Toughest Xbox 360 Achievements‘ I had to compare what I had scored against those on the list. So how did this so-called ‘hardcore’ gamer fare up?
10. “Mile High Club” (“Sky dive to safety on Veteran difficulty”) - Call of Duty: I managed to unlock this Achievement only last month after spending a ridiculous amount of time perfecting my sky diving to safety technique. Definitely an Achievement I’m proud of.
9. “Aperture Scientist” (“Earn gold medals on all Portal challenges”) - Portal: If I remember correctly, you had to complete the challenge within a certain time limit or number of steps/portals to unlock this Achievement. While I managed to complete the game on Advanced, I couldn’t get bronze medals on the challenges let alone gold.
8. “Seriously…” (“Kill 10,000 people in versus ranked match total”) - Gears of War: Taking into consideration I played Gears of War on my old account, I was no where near reaching this Achievement. Mind you, I’m not the biggest Gears fan and didn’t spend much time playing this online.
7. “Number One” (“Achieve the number one rank on the All Gametypes leaderboard”) - Quake 4: N/A
6. Three Way RPG Tie! “321” – Eternal Sonata; “Completed Item Record” – Blue Dragon; “Extreme Power Gamer” – Mass Effect: Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata are both games I’ve played, and both games have notably tough Achievements. I’m still working on Eternal Sonata but as yet do not have this Achievement, plus they are all ‘Secret’ so I have no idea what this actually is. As for Blue Dragon, I didn’t manage to obtain every item, and doubt I was anywhere near doing so.
5. “All Weapons Acquired” (“Awarded after acquiring all the weapons in the game”) - Earth Defense Force 2017: N/A
4. “Complete All Scenarios” (“Complete all the Challenges in Global Challenge”) - FIFA World Cup 2006: N/A. But I am surprised to see a Fifa game in this list. I thought their Achievements were well-known for being easy?
3. “7 Day Survivor” (”Survive for at least 7 days”) - Dead Rising: Er, hell no. I haven’t attempted Survivor yet. I will one day, but I’m not expecting to get as far as 7 day Survivor. Maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to manage 5 day Survivor. After a good hundred attempts no doubt.
2. Any of the 75 level achievements in Final Fantasy XI (“Level up the *insert job here* job to its maximum level”): N/A
1. “Guitar Hero” (“Earn 5 stars on all songs on the Expert difficulty”) - Guitar Hero 3: I can’t even 5 star all of the songs on Hard difficulty…
So for someone who thinks they are a hardcore gamer and willingly chases down Achievements I didn’t fare up too well, did I? No. I tick one measly box on this list. What about you?
Now ’scuse me please. I have some Achievements to unlock.
Tags: Achievements, Blue Dragon, Call of Duty 4, Dead Rising, Eternal Sonata, GamerScore, Gears of War, Guitar Hero 3, Mile High Club, Portal, RPGs
April 14th, 2008 at 1:39 am
I managed to score a healthy 0 on this list; although I have only played 2 of the games listed (well, 3 if you count Portal but I have that for the PC).
I can’t even complete GH3 on Expert (One by Metallica and Raining Blood by Slayer have me beat) let alone 5 star all of them (I’ve got 5 stars on roughly half of them at a guess).
On a completely unrelated note, I’m disappointed that none of my friends have bought Vegas 2. I managed to rope one of my friends into playing some co-op on Realistic but it gets difficult when your team mate appears to have no sense of tactics. No matter how many times I tried to stop him from just running, firing into a room/area full of terrorists he kept on doing it. Plus because I was playing as the 2nd player (for the achievements), I couldn’t command the two AI players. I therefore had to attempt to instruct my friend as to what to tell them to do. Needless to say it got frustrating and we gave up when we reached the end of Act 3 - Scene 1 when you get to the room with the climbing walls.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Andy, I’m stuck on GHIII on expert, too. Unfortunately my game has glitched and will no longer save my progress, which means I’d have to complete the final tier all in one sitting o_O No can do.
As for Rainbow, I don’t think there’s anything worse than playing a game with someone who can’t grasp the controls, the tactics, or who’s just plan shit. If you need someone to play through the story then I may be able to jump in now and again to help you out. Or are you needing to be the second player? I wouldn’t mind playing through again for some XP.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I’ve gone through the Story on the Normal difficulty setting but I was going through co-op on Realistic as the 2nd player (for “The G’s” :P).
I’m still annoyed at the glitched achievements in Vegas 2 (Mainly the Private First Class achievement which I can’t get because of the XP carried over from Vegas 1). The sooner Ubi patch it the better.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:41 am
That’s a crazy list, I was actually thinking of doing the infinity mode on Dead Rising before I found out you weren’t allowed to save the whole time, wth :(.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Andy, let me know if you need a hand and I could host, you could play as the second character for The G’s (glad it’s catching on!).
Chronnus, my friend attempted Survivor and feels he’s worked out a better tactic of staying alive. It sounded complex when he was explaining it to me, but what an accomplishment it would be to score that Achievement! I’m still thinking of attempting it, but I think it’s best you do it along with a friend for moral support
April 18th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Hey, finally got my ass in gear to reply. Well, as you know I only have the Mile High Club achievement which I’m really proud of, BUT I’m currently playing Eternal Sonata to death to achieve 100G’s! I’m at 100+ hours overall, on my second playthrough and I’m close. Going to go for it this weekend.
Also Chronnus, I am said friend (I think) and I attempted Survivor and lasted a mere three hours or so. There’s a definite tactic to it which I’ll gladly go into if you like. I’m wanting to attempt it again and get 1000 on DR but I really want to do it alongside someone for the company. Unfortunately you really need to be level 50 and Ash doesn’t have the game on her new profile otherwise I would have roped her into it ages ago, as I know she’s hardcore enough!