I can’t imagine a publisher NOT setting aside an appendix for the Achievements/Trophies of a game, but I can say that if I come across one, that’s an automatic loss of two points. And I mean two points out of five for the overall score. A guide that fails to mention them is like a non-Wii game that fails to have them: upsetting to the user.
However, I look more to this section than just a simple list of the Achievements/Trophies and their point values. I check to see if the game announces what difficulty you play on to the world, which is something I personally hate. I don’t like seeing my list of Achievements announcing that I ONLY beat the game on Normal or sometimes, Easy. So I check the list to see how I will be potentially embarrassing myself with this game if I need to lower the difficulty to Easy. I never said I was the best gamer, and sometimes a game gets the best of me.
Once I check for that, I look to see if the guide gives any tips on how to complete some of the Achievements/Trophies. The guides for Bayonetta and Final Fantasy XIII both do this very, very well. They tell players where to go, what accessories to equip, what levels they should be if necessary, and then what to do. I have seen guides that just say, “Do this” without any real direction on what to do. I’m not an Achievement whore or Trophy hoarder, but many people out there are, and this info is important to them. Not only that, but a guide just isn’t complete without this info, just like a game wouldn’t be complete without these virtual rewards.
There are people out there who won’t play PSP games due to the lack of Trophies. This is the new world we live in, and I expect the guides to keep up. Fortunately, very few have not.
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