# What are the best video game objectives or achievements? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 1, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334 "2019-05-01T17:18:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/21 "2019-05-02T18:57:24Z")
Cookie clicker has some fun and loony ones, also “shadow” achievements which are near impossible to get without cheating. One is “God Complex” which you get by naming your bakery after the Developer, Orteil. Another is “Click the tiny cookie” which you get for idly clicking what looks like just an image in the text. If you hack the game it will catch you, and give you the “Cheated Cookies Taste Awful” achievement. In the SIMS if you throw a really good party, Drew Cary will show up in a limousine dancing and telling jokes. At some point there was a ladder into the clouds and if you climbed Maxis Founder Will Wright would be there and re-set all of your mood levels. I suppose those are technically easter eggs, but they had to be earned. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/22 "2019-05-02T20:15:33Z")
Speaking of achievements that you get anyway by playing through the story mode, there’s one near the end of Portal 2: GLaDOS: Well, this is it. This is the part where he kills us. Wheatley: This is it! The part where I kill you. Chapter 9: The Part where he Kills You Achievement unlocked: The Part where he Kills You (this is that part) ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/23 "2019-05-02T20:48:52Z")
Not really a video game, but the Choose Your Own Adventure style gamebook application for phones “Magium” has a series of achievements called “Average Joe”. It’s accomplished by surviving each book to the end (currently 2 books are finished in the app, and a third is partway started), without having ever raised any of your stats via your stat device (all stats start at 0 and you get more stats to spend as the game progresses, however, you never have to spend any). You get one version of the achievement for each book you finish. (Not having stats makes it really easy to die.) In Book 2/Chapter 2 there is an achievement called “Fourth Wall Breaker”. There is someone else who knows how your stat device works. This person will look at your device and ask why you haven’t raised any of your stats. The three options for your answer to the person are something along the lines of “hadn’t decided yet”, “saving for emergency”, and “trying to get the Average Joe Achievement”. If you pick the last option, you get the Fourth wall Breaker achievement. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/24 "2019-05-02T21:13:47Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I like achievements that you ear by dying in interesting ways. (Even when it’s games like Long Live the Queen, which I describe as the world’s cutest regicide simulator…the reason 90% of the achievements are for dying is you’re going to be doing that, constantly.) _Prey_ has the “Intrinsic Value” achievement, which you get by turning yourself into crafting material with a recycler grenade. _Prey_ has another of my favorites as well, “Escape Velocity”. You have to copy the mimicry power of your enemies, which enables you to transform into various small objects. Then you have to mimic an object and get blasted 20 meters through the air by an explosion. (It’s safest if you also get the power that lets you fire kinetic blasts, but enemy or environmental blasts also work.) So…it’s an achievement I got by turning into a psychic coffee cup and exploding a teapot. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/25 "2019-05-02T21:18:29Z")
It’s not an achievement in the game that I’m aware of but I always thought it would be quite an accomplishment to kill every single NPC in Skyrim ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/26 "2019-05-02T21:43:33Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > It’s not an achievement in the game that I’m aware of but I always thought it would be quite an accomplishment to kill every single NPC in Skyrim You’d need a mod; there are a lot of NPCs in _Skyrim_ that are marked as “essential”, which means they can’t die. Some of them lose the essential flag or have scripted deaths eventually, but there are quite a few that just can’t be killed. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/27 "2019-05-02T22:37:12Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The only “exploit” which is used is city placement - you want a city that has the ability to farm, mine, and have access to the sea (and for later versions of Civ, access to resources). It’s also easier to do on smaller maps. > > This was so popular in Civ 1/Civ 2 that Firaxis actually made it an option for future versions. Yup. In fact _Civ V_ (and also _Endless Legends_, a fantasy 4X by another developper entirely) even has a civilization whose shtick is just that : one city allowed, period. In return, these megacities are automatically spawned in a ridiculously resource-rich area compared to the baseline and get some added tools for building taller, faster by interacting with neutrals differently than other civs. Regrettably the AI of either game can’t do _shit_ with those civs. It just cannot handle not being able to expand, doesn’t protect its supercity any better than usual even though it’s quite literally their lifeline, etc… And as a result they turn into big happy piñatas to effortlessly conquer for said superrich land. But both civs are cool experiences to play as in those games though. > [@zoid](#): > > ``` > It's not an achievement in the game that I'm aware of but I always thought it would be quite an accomplishment to kill every single NPC in Skyrim > > ``` I think it was _Fallout New Vegas_ (citation needed) whose operating design philosophy was “Design as if the player’s head was replaced by a giant, autofiring gun”. That is to say, the narrative and quests would/should always be able to progress and make sense even if the player simply killed _every single person_ they came across without speaking to them. Because, y’know, if you can, some players will :). As a result, the game has no arbitrary “you can’t kill that guy” flags nor “the villain taunts you from behind a bulletproof window just so you can’t just shoot him in the face mid-monologue” moments ; and you can’t screw yourself out of an ending by just mass murdering your way through the desert - or even (in DLC) _lobbing nukes_ at every major faction in the game. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2019, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/28 "2019-05-03T00:28:31Z")
The definitive list of smart-aleck cookie achievements: > **[Achievement](https://cookieclicker.fandom.com/wiki/Achievement)** > > For achievements in beta versions, see Cookie Clicker Beta. Achievements are badges you earn for achieving certain goals, and each one increases the amount of milk you have (except shadow achievements). They were introduced in version 1.026. As of... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/29 "2019-05-03T00:43:19Z")
The Achievement Unlocked series of Flash games also deserves mention here (I think the second one was the best one). The entire game is nothing but a whole big list of mostly-silly achievements, that you’re trying to get all of. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/30 "2019-05-03T13:53:03Z")
_The Division_ has a beloved commendation for closing 200 car doors throughout the largely abandoned post-plague New York. Just a weird silly activity while you’re fighting gangs of flamethrower and axe-wielding sanitation workers. Sadly, The Division 2 didn’t include it although there is a Uplay achievement for doing a “cop slide” over a car hood (run up, vault and slide over the hood on your ass). ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/31 "2019-05-03T14:40:53Z")
In Europa Universalis 4, when playing as Aragon, you might get a mission to become king of Gonder. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/32 "2019-05-04T14:15:07Z")
I just remembered that Dungeons of Dredmor has an achievement for having a beer with the devs. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/33 "2019-05-04T14:53:18Z")
I don’t remember what game it was but a few years ago there was a shooter that had an achievement for playing against someone who had that achievement. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/34 "2019-05-04T15:57:13Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I don’t remember what game it was but a few years ago there was a shooter that had an achievement for playing against someone who had that achievement. Probably more than one game has achievements along that track but, in Team Fortress 2, there was an achievement that came with a hat. Which you got by killing someone else already wearing that achievement-hat. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/35 "2019-05-04T16:16:15Z")
Sort of the opposite of that, Portal 2 had one for playing the multiplayer tutorial with someone who’d never done it, but after you’d already completed it. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/36 "2019-05-04T16:16:39Z")
The first X-Com also had a “Plague” achievement that only the game devs had on release - players could earn it by playing against someone who had that achievement. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/37 "2019-05-04T16:48:55Z")
In addition to the question asked in the OP, I’d like to get everyone’s take on what achievements they _would_ like to see in a game. If you come up with some, that could be interesting on its own, give us more to understand what makes games fun, how play can be contextualized since goals tend to do that and finally, you might name a kind of achievement and then someone else reading the thread could say: “Hey! That sounds like the achievement in this game!” and then you could discover a game that has the same sense of humor or play as you. Wouldn’t that be neat? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/38 "2019-05-04T20:05:12Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I like achievements that you ear by dying in interesting ways. (Even when it’s games like Long Live the Queen, which I describe as the world’s cutest regicide simulator…the reason 90% of the achievements are for dying is you’re going to be doing that, constantly.)\ In _Star Wars: The Old Republic_, you earn the title “worm food” by jumping into the Sarlaac Pit on Tatooine and dying. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/39 "2019-05-06T17:20:24Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > In addition to the question asked in the OP, I’d like to get everyone’s take on what achievements they _would_ like to see in a game. This is pretty far out there, but one of my minor objectives in any game is to break the game. I wouldn’t mind seeing a category of achievements that are literally supposed to be unobtainable–though I would prefer that they be completely hidden, not appearing in the achievement numbers and not contributing to gamer score or whatever. Examples: \*\*Uncharted \*\*- Visit a location that is outside the game map. **Nothing Is Immortal** - Kill (or be present at the death of) a creature that should be unkillable. **Death Wish** - Die in a “safe” zone. (Some games actually have these, like _Prey_’s “No Show” achievement for dying in the tutorial, but those have mechanisms designed in to make it possible.) I recognize, however, that incorporating this type of achievement would involve extra effort from developers for very little payoff. (Though they might capture some useful bug data if they tied the achievements to a log-and-report function, so they could see how someone broke the game.) On a more practical front, I like achievements that are awarded for doing normal game tasks in unlikely ways, for those who like to set themselves odd little challenges. Examples: **A Thousand Cuts** - Kill [Big Nasty Thing] using only [Weakest/Basic Weapon or Environmental Damage]. **Goat Emulator** - Get past progress-blocking barrier without blowing it up/unlocking it (presumably by parkouring around it). ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334/40 "2019-05-06T17:30:37Z")
The Fable series had some fun ones. Such as… Coronation Chicken: Perform a royal judgement while dressed as a chicken. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-best-video-game-objectives-or-achievements/833334.md?page=3)