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Old 05-31-2008, 04:12 PM   #11
Giligan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo View Post
I'll concede that in some cases Achievements do indeed encourage players to explore a game more fully but I find them a very artificial method of doing so, much like grinding in RPGs it's a rather empty pursuit and really the core gameplay itself should not need such contrived encouragement to be enjoyed.

In Half Life Episode 2 I actually found the constant pop-ups of unlocked Achievements really took me out of the atmosphere, reminded me it's 'just a videogame'. This was no less true of the Achievements in Assassin.

The lack of swimming was a little surprising, but considering the climate plausible and for gameplay purposes understandable. I can see people in such an arid region not having much use for swimming. I don't know, is there any historical word on swimming skills in the ancient Middle East? Either way, it didn't really bother me.
I don't know, if I lived in the Middle East, I'm pretty sure I'd want to spend as much time as possible out of the hot, dry desert and in the water. That said, I have no idea whether or not people who live in the Middle East swim much.

I get what you're saying on Achievement notifications, although when I played Half-Life 2: Episode 2, I was so immersed, not even that was enough to pull me out of the experience.
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