Although I haven't got into the whole trophy/acheivement obsession, as an rpg fan it's been pretty much drilled into me to try for any and all optional objectives. Whether it's an optional boss or side mission, you're often rewarded in some way (item, cut scene, generally unlocking stuff). This has sort of trained me to want to try for 100%.

I laugh in the face of Suikoden's 108 recruitable characters. FFVII's multiple 'weapons' don't phase me. But just don't make me try to unlock the apprentice in Soul Calibur IV, because I will cry.

Achievements have ruined my life. Im a perfectionist so I generally cant put a game down until I have the maximum gamerscore for it. During the PS2 days I'd just play a game for fun and put it down once I completed it. Now I'll play a game through several times, if the achievements require it! Sometimes if Im halfway through a tricky and time consuming achievement I want to give up but cant as Ive already spent so much time on it, e.g. online freeskate activities in Skate 2. It took forever but I got em all eventually. Still grinding for online legend :(

They were also a great idea, in terms of measuring your gaming skill you can proudly display a tough achievement as a badge of honor. Some of my proudest achievements are: (Ive said this a trillion times but its my greatest gaming accomplishment ever) only kiwi to get 200/200 In Bionic Commando: Rearmed. You just try beating all of those challenge rooms...... I still have nightmares about it. I also got 1000/1000 in Call of Duty 2 & 4 which was an excercise in screaming, punching and controller throwing.

Ive got 190/200 in Shadow Complex, just need level 50 for my last achievement (at 43 now). The challenge rooms were a joke, not hard at all.

I also wouldve put down Splosion Man ages ago if it werent for achievements. Almost done with Hardcore mode, I wouldve given up ages ago If it werent for the sweet sweet 25Gs waiting for me at the end of it :D

My mates call me an achievement 'whore' but Ive yet to play a crappy game just for achievements. If my video shop gets Hannah Montana in, however....

If anybody hasn't seen the documentary "The King of Kong" I'd highly recommend it.

Love the picture BTW!

I'll tend to replay a game again (and again) for a higher gamerscore, if the requirements aren't too soul-destroying ('Vault-Tec CEO' without a walkthrough anyone?).

As for beating friend's scores, it can indeed get quite competitive, but sometimes, you have to accept that there's no chance of ever matching the amount of time they're able to sink into a single game... or at least that's how I justify not being as good as them sometimes.

Just for my own satisfaction, I like to be able to say i compleated game X or i discovered such and such achievement without resorting to faq's and walkthroughs.

Favorite to date: Fable II - the swinger...

Same as The Sceneman. It takes so much effort to just ignore the trophies because I don't really want to play a game to 100% even though I usually try. I play to have fun and purposefully trying to unlock achievements isn't fun in my opinion.

I normally only bother with unlocking bonuses/achievements if it unlocks something in the game that's either entertaining or useful for subsequent re-plays (anyone remember the different 'endings' in the silent hill games?). I'm not a competitive person, so maxing things out just for the sake of bragging rights doesn't really appeal to me (not bagging those who do it, just not my thing).

Awesome pic btw Gerard =)

Sorry for the double-post, but one achievement of mine that took some real dedication was finishing Mirror's Edge without firing one shot!

And I know I've posted this before, but "Rolled Over" in GTAIV took me fooooreeeveer to get - rolling a car five times from one single crash.

I used to spend alot of time playing games to death to get maximum value from them but now that I am much more time limited (young famiy and a job....) I am more inclined to pass on a game that requires a significant time investment. Fallout 3 got 30 mis of time and never got back to it so sold it, Bioshock got purchased and never got played a all....sold it. The list goes on. Currently trying to finish off a few games (including achievements but not 100% completionist types...flag collection missions in Ass Creed for example) to reduce gme down....problem is interesting arcade games keep coming out that are distracting me (Trials HD I am looking at you and your friends leaderboard!). Also playing way too much horde mode on gears 2 in an attempt to get the 1999 achievement and working on Seriously 2.0.....theseare really the only two grind type acheivements I have had a decent go at.

Achievements are now very important in game purchases. Once I purchase a PS3 I will still get the Xbox version of a game (if available) as it has the Xbox Live achievements.

Yes king of kong is a very good doco.

10 or so years ago, i had the highest score in the world at Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars). i remembered reading a nintendo magazine and it showed pictures of the top peoples Lylat Wars scores which showed the total amount of kills.. and i could get at least 500 more kills on the entire game.

So yeah, im the best. Do a barrell roll