Been working on these achievments for the past 3 days. These achievements are really involved . Usually i have to have like 3 achievement guides open at a time. very exhausting.

I especially dont like the one where you have to carry a gnome all the way though episode 2.

I really feel like the achievements in HL2 and the Episodes were implemented in such a way that diminishes the actual fun of the game.

Maybe your playing for the wrong reasons if you're not having fun and have 3 guides open?

I've got 92/99 acievements, the next one I'm gonna do is the gnome one.

I am just completing the game the way the developers intended me to. It is they who chose what the achievements were.

As developers they decided thats what they wanted me to do in the game. I am certain it was well thought out as well since there are 99 achievements.

I have 83/99 achievements. Going for the rest in TF2. I've had fun getting all the achievements and I'm not sure I want to go back and go the Gnome or ant lion grub ones, but we'll see how I feel when I run out of games to play.

I am just completing the game the way the developers intended me to. It is they who chose what the achievements were.

As developers they decided thats what they wanted me to do in the game. I am certain it was well thought out as well since there are 99 achievements.

No, you're playing the game as you have chosen to. Developers don't ad achievements intending the player to go through the game with three guides open being anal about getting every one of them and getting frustrated and not having fun in the process. Developers intend you to play the game, they add achievements because MS requires them to so some developers decide to add some fun little challenges in there for people.

This is why I don't do achievements, they're absolutely meaningless objectives, which are more often than not absolutely not fun and more often that not frustrating to achieve, which bestow upon you gamerpoints which are absolutely useless.

No, you're playing the game as you have chosen to. Developers don't ad achievements intending the player to go through the game with three guides open being anal about getting every one of them and getting frustrated and not having fun in the process. Developers intend you to play the game, they add achievements because MS requires them to so some developers decide to add some fun little challenges in there for people.

This is why I don't do achievements, they're absolutely meaningless objectives, which are more often than not absolutely not fun and more often that not frustrating to achieve, which bestow upon you gamerpoints which are absolutely useless.

For most games you would be pretty much correct I guess. However, the achievements for the Orange Box are included on the PC version as well. This isn't MS making Valve add them since they are linked to your Steam account for the PC side of things.

I really feel like the achievements in HL2 and the Episodes were implemented in such a way that diminishes the actual fun of the game.

Then why on Earth are you doing them? Perhaps we are different, but I like to have fun during what little game time I get. Something frustrates me or isn't fun, I'll move along to something else.

Achievements are good when they give you an extra fun challenge for yourself. If it's no longer fun, stop.

Also, I've found that guides only ever make a good game more fun for me in the unusual situation when I'm totally stuck on something. Otherwise, they diminish the sense of accomplishment that is what many games are all about. So far, I've only played through Portal, but it lists the achievements right on the main in-game menu so you can see what they all are and your progress toward each if it's numeric. Using a guide to tell you how to get achievements in what is essentially a puzzle game seems totally lame to me, especially if it isn't even fun.

Personally, I stopped without the ones for gold and silver on all the challenges because the time runs were getting tedious. I went ahead and got gold on all the least-portal challenges though because I enjoyed the puzzle aspect of those. Just do what you enjoy.

Hastley -

One might recommend not being such an achievement whore that it ruins the whole reason to play games to begin with. They are called "games", not "work".

I thought they were awesome! I am tired of blowing through games with little to no challenge. I thought the gnome one was cool, also love the "one free bullet" and the one where you do Ravenholm with the GG only.

Darklord james:

In reply to your post, i would like to say that historically i have only attained achievements that i got through the natural progression of play. I do not really care particularly about achievements. However, it is important to note that Orange box in particular for whatever reason has addicted me to 100 percent completion of this game. Perhaps it is because i was such an avid Half life 1 fan back in the days of my pc gaming. Perhaps not.

Additionally, please feel free to check out my gamertag and view my games list and you will see i have less than 20 percent of the achievements on most games, and the ones that are higher are generally attained by my Girlfriend who enjoys 100 percent completion of all games (although she rarely attains 100 percent).

GT is Hastley

Hastley,
After you accept my friend request, you'll notice that I actually have more points from Orange Box than you. Part of that is the fact that I have all of the acheivements from TF2. The Gravel Pit defense one was hard! Plus any excuse to play Portal again was well worth it. I went through that game like 4 times within the first two days of it being out. I pretty much ignored the insane achievements though. The gnome sounds boring. One Free Bullet and the Sand one sound like a horrible pain in the arse. Just because there are 99 achievements, I didn't feel like I had to get every one. I just did the ones that are fun. :)

You can get the sand one in about 20-25 minutes. Same with the Gravity Gun/Darkholme one.

I *could* get them within half on hour, but it sounds like there would be a lot of reloading of save games. I hate reloading savegames. :)

I *could* get them within half on hour, but it sounds like there would be a lot of reloading of save games. I hate reloading savegames. :)

I got the sand one without even trying, it's pretty easy. I have no idea why but I went through Ravenholm using only the GG for shits and giggles and didn't get the achievement. Does it mean you have to get through Ravenholm using only the GG or beat that chapter using only the GG? Because getting past the combine soldiers when you get out of Ravenholm before the chapter ends sans firearms would be an absolute pain in the neck.

My personal favorite is the OSHA Violation. Heh.

I don't play trying to get achievements, but I enjoy it when I do. Especially when they are humorous.

Sooke

I got the sand one without even trying, it's pretty easy. I have no idea why but I went through Ravenholm using only the GG for shits and giggles and didn't get the achievement. Does it mean you have to get through Ravenholm using only the GG or beat that chapter using only the GG? Because getting past the combine soldiers when you get out of Ravenholm before the chapter ends sans firearms would be an absolute pain in the neck.

iirc you should get it before reaching the soldiers. Also if you used even the crowbar to open a box or something then you won't get it.

iirc you should get it before reaching the soldiers. Also if you used even the crowbar to open a box or something then you won't get it.

Nope, used the GG on everything. The only time I even had another weapon drawn was when I picked up the shotty which I immediately put away in favor of the GG. Are you allowed to use traps because I know I set a few zombies on fire with traps and dropped a few cars on there heads.

If I ever blaze through HL2 again (which I prolly will when Ep3 comes out) I'm gonna give it a shot.

The achievement where you can't let the striders destroy any buildings was harder than hell but it made my heart race like I was skydiving!

The achievement where you can't let the striders destroy any buildings was harder than hell but it made my heart race like I was skydiving!

that part was awesome

I got the sand one without even trying, it's pretty easy. I have no idea why but I went through Ravenholm using only the GG for shits and giggles and didn't get the achievement. Does it mean you have to get through Ravenholm using only the GG or beat that chapter using only the GG? Because getting past the combine soldiers when you get out of Ravenholm before the chapter ends sans firearms would be an absolute pain in the neck.

I just tried to do "Stay off the Sand" last night. I thought I did it but the final bit where the queen and lions pop out even if you are NOT on the sand confused me. Do I have to just battle them standing on something? I made a sprint for it as soon as they came out, which of course put my feet on the sand. I just figured it was only for the parts where the lions would not spawn unless you stepped into sand. How did you do that part?

I tried the Ravenholm part with only the GG too - you have to play through the mine that way also, and I think you get it when you come out to the train tracks (I think).

I just tried to do "Stay off the Sand" last night. I thought I did it but the final bit where the queen and lions pop out even if you are NOT on the sand confused me. Do I have to just battle them standing on something? I made a sprint for it as soon as they came out, which of course put my feet on the sand. I just figured it was only for the parts where the lions would not spawn unless you stepped into sand. How did you do that part?

I tried the Ravenholm part with only the GG too - you have to play through the mine that way also, and I think you get it when you come out to the train tracks (I think).

You get the stay off the sand achievement prior to that part with the queen. You should get it when you get to the top of that last piece of land/rock, right before you have to jump down into that section with the queen battle.

You have to stay off the sand from the part where the bugs kill the two guys on the rock to the section right before the queen. If you even step on it for a second, you'll hear the "rumble" of the bugs. If you hear it, that means you've stepped on the sand and need to reload your game.

Sometimes you can step on the sand for a split second and not hear the rumble and still not get the achievement.

Sometimes you can step on the sand for a split second and not hear the rumble and still not get the achievement.

Awwww - bummer. I probably did that.

I was bored today and took the gnome from the start of ep2 to the end and launched him with the rocket into outer space. Only took a few hours cause I played through ep2 already and knew how things went. Very weird achievement.

I did the grub squashing achievement tonight, kinda fun looking for all those little guys, and rewarding when the achievement popup let me know I got em all. I'm 94/99 on Orange box with 910 points now.

Now I still gotta light 15 zombies on fire with flares......find all the lamba caches in HL2 and finish some more gold medals on Portal.

When I went through EP2, I missed ONE grub! I'm going to go through the game again, but with commentary on, so I can't try for achievements then. I figure I'll play it for real again when Episode 3 comes out.

I also missed a single Lamda cache as well on my play through HL2. Ugh!

I did get all of the TF2 achievements though. :) Defending Gravelpit was a pain.

My personal favorite is the OSHA Violation. Heh.

I don't play trying to get achievements, but I enjoy it when I do. Especially when they are humorous.

Sooke

enjoyed that one too.... 'hey, I bet I can drop a container on that guy' *splat*.... 'cool, an achievement.'

Is there a way to reload indavidual chapters or do you have to play through again (assuming you don't have a save file at the beginning of a chapter).

The most fun one so far for me was the Ravenholm achievement. There were a lot of tense moments when I was running around looking for a saw blade with the fast zombies on my tail.

You should be able to select which chapter you want to play under New Game, after you've beaten the game once.

ravenholm > me
i got almost the whole way through
then i got freaked out and grabbed the shotty haha

I am waiting on a achievement list that breaks them down per game. I have yet to find one. I could get a walkthrough but I don't want to know how to do it I just want to know what needs to be done. It takes the fun out of it if you tell me how to achieve them. I usually will play through a game once on the highest level and then go back through for the achievements.

I am waiting on a achievement list that breaks them down per game. I have yet to find one. I could get a walkthrough but I don't want to know how to do it I just want to know what needs to be done. It takes the fun out of it if you tell me how to achieve them. I usually will play through a game once on the highest level and then go back through for the achievements.
This should help you out.
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42821
I lost interest with the Orange Box after scoring a total of 880GS. I blame that gnome in space achievement, stupid thing wouldn't stay seated in the car. :mad:

The gnome achievement wasn't bad. If you have the game there is an achievement list on each games main menu breaking down which achievements are available in that game.

You should be able to select which chapter you want to play under New Game, after you've beaten the game once.

When I tried this a while ago it started me with no guns? And yes, 360a site rocks for achievement info!

In the words of Brick, from Anchorman: I love achievement.