IDEA: Future Telltale games with trophies based on choices

[gameoncomrade]

So I am currently playing through all of the seasons of The Walking Dead for the 1.091.385th time, and I've been giving this some thought... What if you actually needed to put in an effort to get these trophies and not just play through the games from Telltale? I liked what they did with the trophies for Back to the Future The Game, Jurassic Park The Game and some of the trophies for Minecraft SM. But since The Walking Dead, trophies have not been an intrinsic part of the game, so they're not forcing players to play the game a certain way.

 

So what if each major choice and/or outcome had a trophy? Let's take an example (if you haven't played the first season of TWD, you should ignore these next few lines):

 

Throughout the whole first season of The Walking Dead you're making choices and those choices have a marked effect or influence on who will help you throughout episode 5. If you save Ben by pulling him up, showing the bite to everyone and asking for help, that should cut it, right? No, because based on previous choices during all episodes, the opinions of you from Kenny, Ben, Christa and Omid were formed. If you left Clem with a gun at the house during the trip to Crawford, Christa and Omid will tag along. If you side with Kenny in every argument throughout the game and sticks with him through major decisions (treating Duck and Katjaa in a good way before their deaths) he will join you as well. If you save Ben he will come along if you ask him to, but he will only join you of his own volition if you had been showing him support throughout the past couple of episodes and/or mentioning to him that Clem would support him at any time.

 

What if you got a trophy for bringing Christa and Omid along? Another trophy for Kenny and a third trophy for Ben? And even a fourth trophy for keeping all the characters close to you?

 

What do you think? I think you would in most cases be able to compare this suggestion, as to a possible course of action, to how it works throughout Until Dawn's trophy list.

 

Cheers!

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

I'd definitely be up for Telltale games having trophies like that. It'd give them a lot more replay value, and it'd actually make the trophies fun to achieve. I've been taken off guard once or twice when a platinum trophy suddenly pops after finishing a Telltale game, and I'm just left thinking "....But, I didn't do anything...?", until coming to the realisation that "oh right, it's a Telltale game..."

 

It honestly isn't much fun gaining platinums for nothing, the thing I like most about getting a new platinum, is a sense of achievement, and 100% (or close enough) completing a game, experiencing most or all it has to offer.

 

I also wouldn't mind seeing some collectable trophies in future Telltale games. Would give a bit more reason to explore everything in those sections where you're left to free roam and interact with objects and people.

Edited July 29, 2017 by SuperSmexy500

[Doomsdayman]

I don't know, Until Dawn got pretty annoying the 2nd playthrough and even more the 3rd.

[KingGuy420]

Wolf Among Us had something like that. I think it was only 1 choice per chapter but you had to go back and see the alternate for the trophy.

 

I might be wrong about this since it was a long time ago that I played it but I think I remember that lol.

[gameoncomrade]

2 minutes ago, Doomsdayman said:

I don't know, Until Dawn got pretty annoying the 2nd playthrough and even more the 3rd.

 

How many times have you played through, let's say, The Walking Dead? The games are very different even though the stories for each game are tailored by how you play. What did you like the most? Perhaps it would be different from Until Dawn?

 

2 minutes ago, KingGuy420 said:

Wolf Among Us had something like that. I think it was only 1 choice per chapter but you had to go back and see the alternate for the trophy.

 

I might be wrong about this since it was a long time ago that I played it but I think I remember that lol.

 

The Wolf Among Us had these Book of Fables entries, and those could be unlocked depending on how you progress through the game. The majority of these are gained through natural progression, but there are some that requires a replay. For example in Episode One, to obtain the last one you’re missing, you need to go back to the last chapter, go through it again and when faced with the choice at the end, you just need to choose the opposite from which you picked on your original playthrough.

[temp-910724]

I wouldn't mind too much (though I would prefer 1 playthrough = 100%) if every major choice gave a trophy.

But if it ever comes to the point where choice 1 and 2 gives a trophy and choice 3 doesn't, like in your OP, then it just forces people to use a guide which would defeat the entire purpose of the Telltale games

[DizzyDavidson]

I'm not gonna lie, I enjoyed Sam & Max a lot more than what Telltale is making now. Those required some actual puzzle solving and different outcomes (some throughout the whole game) for trophies instead of just getting to the finish line. However, since Telltale's recent games focus more on stories, I think they just want people to experience it for themselves and make their own decisions. They really don't want us to play in any specific way. I mean pretty much every other game requires us to do that, I think it's ok for Telltale to hold on to their current formula.

[gameoncomrade]

Just now, midgetstrawdog said:

I wouldn't mind too much (though I would prefer 1 playthrough = 100%) if every major choice gave a trophy.

But if it ever comes to the point where choice 1 and 2 gives a trophy and choice 3 doesn't, like in your OP, then it just forces people to use a guide which would defeat the entire purpose of the Telltale games

 

Well, we know there are a great deal of people who's just using guides, but I also to happen to know that there are people who wants to do everything by themselves - like me and a few of my friends. I've used two guides throughout this entire year and those were for Mr. Massagy because I didn't want to sit through all of the annoyance and exasperation. The second was for South Park The Stick of Truth because I had no idea of how everything worked.

 

The thing is, I believe the purpose of the Telltale games are telling stories featuring decisions that are made by the player that creates determinants that affect how future events play out. If you're only playing through it once, only one story have been told. So if you craft your own personalized take on the offered story and then go through it how they offer it via the trophy list, you would get the maximum experience out of the game.

 

I realize what you mean with using a guide ruining the true purpose of Telltale's games - enjoyment, jurisdiction and satisfaction. But what stops people from enjoying the game the first time, and if they missed some trophies, they can go back? Laziness? 

[Conker]

this would be something interesting to see, would defo give the games more replay value 

[Cleggworth]

Personally I prefer them the way they are. You play them making decisions that feel right at the time and you get the endings that are right for you. The game would be lessened for me playing it repeatedly making other decisions. Using the walking dead season 1 as an example, I was a Kenny guy through and through. Asides the obvious Lee and Clementine relationship,  TWD season 1 was the Lee and Kenny bromance as far as I was concerned. It would not be the same game if I was forced to clash with him at every turn for the sake of a trophy

[SlimSanta94]

Telltale games aren't as well made and good as they used to be. A lot of people I know only buy Telltale games for the easy platinum trophies now and I think they know that.

[rdhight]

My current experience of a Telltale game is: play through blind, once, making whatever decisions I want.

 

Under your proposal, my experience of a Telltale game would be: check a guide, determine how to get the platinum in the least number of playthroughs, and play through at least twice, making the choices that generate that quickest path. Or maybe some chapter select.

 

I've played Game of Thrones and Borderlands because they went on PS+, and there's nothing about them that makes me think they deserve multiple playthroughs. I don't see how it would be more fun to go back and do it again.

 

Leave the branching-paths trophies to higher-quality games like Until Dawn that actually deserve it, and let Telltale remain the junk food that they are.

[Carol]

To be completely honest, I like the trophy lists as they are. For me, playing a Telltale game is always such a pleasant experience, because I know that I can sit down, relax, enjoy a good story and earn a platinum at the end of the game. For me, as a trophy hunter, a game that allows me not having to worry about having to follow a guide or about having to find collectibles or about missable trophies is a jewel. Don't get me wrong, I like the normal way of trophy hunting; I like to actually having to accomplish something in order to unlock the trophy. Otherwise, I wouldn't be a trophy hunter. It's just that sometimes it feels really good to be able to enjoy a game, without having to worry about all the pressures of trophy hunting and still earn some trophies. Besides, the types of games we are talking about are great to play once, but when I have to repeat the same chapters over and over again just to unlock different outcomes, they get really boring. It's the case, for example, of "Heavy Rain" or "Beyond: Two Souls". I absolutely love these games, but earning the platinum was almost painful, due to amount of times I had to replay the games to unlock the different endings (especially in the case of "Heavy Rain"). 

People are free to replay the Telltale games for the different choices, but, in my opinion, the trophies lists are perfect when they give you a platinum just for beating the game once. I usually watch a youtube video, when I feel curious about the different outcomes and that's enough for me. Things don't change that much, anyway.

[Omelette Paradise]

I would just leave them as they are although I would be fine with a few collectible trophies just to add a bit of variety and to make sure some sort of effort is involved. You could have a different type of collectible in each of the five episodes and each episode has it's own trophy for collecting all of that type of collectible.

 

As far as choice related trophies go, I almost think that goes against what Telltales games are meant to be if you're being forced to play the game in a distinct way. These games are definitely best played blind without a walkthrough. I definitely wouldn't want to look at the trophy list before playing and seeing all sorts of spoilers amongst them ?

[ImplyingYouCare]

I'm going to be honest, I really dislike the recent Telltale games. Everything they've put out in the past 3 years has been incredibly mediocre and I wouldn't play them if they weren't free or in humble bundles. The only thing these games have going for them is the the story telling, but it's not even good. The majority of the choices you make are either surface level and don't factor in, or worse, the game outright ignores the choice you made anyway. The animations are awful, the delivery doesn't match character expressions a lot of times, and the timing of the dialogue is completely off. Nothing the characters do feel natural or fluid in these games. There's no way I would want to play through these multiple times. Nothing about them seems like they would be anything but less enjoyable the second time.

 

So, I really can't see them adding choice related trophies or achievements for 3 reasons. 

 

1. They want people to go through the story making their own decisions without using a guide. That's why the games have community stats at the end that tell you the percentages of who made what choice. This whole poll will be thrown off if you have large numbers of people just picking the choice that awards a trophy/achievement. 

 

2. Having people replay the game for trophies/achievements and changing their old choices wouldn't be good if they made a sequel. Now you have loads of people who changed their initial choices and are stuck with them for the next game unless they want to replay it another time just to 'fix' it.

 

3. Getting people to replay the games would show that the majority of the choices you make don't really matter. It would be a boring grind for people who might have had a decent experience the first time, but see that there's very little replay value in repeated runs.  

 

 

[Doomsdayman]

4 hours ago, gameoncomrade said:

 

Well, we know there are a great deal of people who's just using guides, but I also to happen to know that there are people who wants to do everything by themselves - like me and a few of my friends. I've used two guides throughout this entire year and those were for Mr. Massagy because I didn't want to sit through all of the annoyance and exasperation. The second was for South Park The Stick of Truth because I had no idea of how everything worked.

 

The thing is, I believe the purpose of the Telltale games are telling stories featuring decisions that are made by the player that creates determinants that affect how future events play out. If you're only playing through it once, only one story have been told. So if you craft your own personalized take on the offered story and then go through it how they offer it via the trophy list, you would get the maximum experience out of the game.

 

I realize what you mean with using a guide ruining the true purpose of Telltale's games - enjoyment, jurisdiction and satisfaction. But what stops people from enjoying the game the first time, and if they missed some trophies, they can go back? Laziness? 

 

2 times and the 2nd time it felt already boring.

[DrBloodmoney]

Then the question with every choice is not "what should I do?", instead it's "what do I need to do?"

 

That would ruin the games for me.

[Spelunkette]

Fleshing out TTG trophies would detract from the experience, IMO. You would no longer own your choices, and the results / choice statistics would become completely meaningless. And for me, seeing how my choices compare with others' at the end is as much a reason I love TTG's games as the narrative. I really shouldn't care at all if it didn't affect the stats, as I didn't even replay The Wolf Among Us for the collectible trophies not wanting to break the narrative my choices created, but it would ?

[diskdocx]

No. Not every game needs a harder/more complicated trophy list, certainly not a story driven game.

 

I thought implementing that really detracted from Beyond Two Souls. You have to play the game a certain way to earn the trophies, not the way you want to play the story. Completely defeats the point.

 

I don't disagree that the Telltale games aren't as good as they once were, but I don't think changing the trophy list is the solution, and making you replay a weak story 3 times, is certainly not going to improve the overall experience.

[Babsimabuse]

I liked it in the past that you were able to play PS3 and PS4 (Vita) versions in different ways. But Batman was the last PS3 version I think.

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy]

I'd prefer they go back to the Back to the Future / Sam and Max style lists if anything.

 

No real challenge, but enough incentive to go back and do shit a different way, beyond just picking the other choice, which is about the only reason I replay their games as it is already.

[Dreakon13]

5 hours ago, SlimSanta94 said:

Telltale games aren't as well made and good as they used to be. A lot of people I know only buy Telltale games for the easy platinum trophies now and I think they know that.

 

Depending on what you mean by "as they used to be", I assure you people genuinely enjoyed the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and Tales from the Borderlands to name a few.  Regardless of trophies.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Dreakon13

[EnforcerAwakens]

While this seems like a good idea in theory, some other people will see it as Telltale telling people how to play. I agree with my aforementioned idea that this is influencing people to play a certain way. I believe their should be a compromise: Trophies for doing very minor things, like picking something up or saying something that has little-to-no bearing to the story and edging towards an easter egg of sorts.

[Nitro]

While it's a cool idea, I'd not like to see it implemented unless I could chapter select. Or do something similar to Saints Row 3 where you could save just before the major choice and then reload your save after you pick the forst choice.

[stellanovas]

Replaying my absolute favourite game multiple times to get Plainum on PS3 & 4 is a draaaaaag - Telltale games are like a breath of fresh air to me but that's just one humble gamer's opinion