[XBoPoMo] Achievement a Day

[Herzwesten]

In the spirit of NaNoWriMo (and jenskot's thread about finishing games), I have decided to embark on a little project of my own. Starting tomorrow, I will strive to get at least one Xbox Achievement every day. Yes, it doesn't seem incredibly demanding and, of course, the points mean absolutely nothing, but I have an absolute compulsion to collect those things. And you get to hear all about it!

To make the whole thing more structured, I've also come up with a number of rules:
1. Achievements that I get from getting to a certain part of the story through normal gameplay won't count as my achievement for the day (unless its for beating the entire game on the highest difficulty level for instance). I'm going to try make this month about getting the interesting and/or difficult achievements.
2. I won't use any guides or websites to look up any strategies or to discover any secret achievements. I do consider looking at the list of achievements the game presents to be fair game, though.
3. If I miss a day (like I probably will this coming Wednesday), I will do my damnedest to get two achievements the following day.

Stay tuned to this thread to see how many points I can rack up! Also, feel free to join me on this project if you also have as much time to kill as me!

[Herzwesten]

Before I start this chronicle, let me warn you that it will probably contain SPOILERS for the video games I play.

Starting gamerscore: 18335

Sunday Nov. 1
The game: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Now, I just started playing this game, and often achievements come pretty fast at the beginning of games, so I managed to rack up six achievements with about 90 minutes of playtime.

Freeflow Combo 5 and Freeflow Combo 10 (both worth 5)
I got these by chaining together a row punches and kicks while fighting. The 5 combo came pretty easy, the 10 combo took a little while longer.

Shocking Rescue, Malpractice Needs More Practice, and Born Free (each worth 10)
These all came from playing through the single-player campaign.

Leave No Man Behind (worth 10)
For this one, Batman rescues three people that are hanging from catwalks above a cloud of deadly Joker toxin. It didn't seem necessary to progress the story, and one of the people is actually one of the convicts that makes up the majority of the thugs throughout the game (who Batman immediately knocks unconscious after rescuing him). I think it would be possible to miss this achievement if you didn't care to rescue that convict. But then again, you wouldn't really be Batman at that point.

[Herzwesten]

Monday Nov. 2
I played for a couple of hours today, so I managed to get a bunch of achievements.

Just What the Doctors Ordered, Daydreamer, Baneful Payback, and Breaking and Entering (various points)
All of these came from just playing through the story.

Arkham Analyst and Cryptic Investigator (each worth 20 points)
These came from "solving" 5% and 10% (respectively) of the Riddler's challengers. These challenges include simply finding these trophies that the Riddler has left around, as well as answering the occasional riddle.

Catch! (5 points)
This one was a little unexpected. First, I had to upgrade the Batarang to be remote controlled and then I sent one out and around and back at Batman to see what would happen. He, of course, caught it.

[Herzwesten]

Tuesday Nov. 3 and Wednesday Nov. 4

I won't be home much tomorrow, so I doubled up on the achievements this evening!

Recurring Nightmare, Zsasz Cut Down to Size, Solitary Confinement, and Double Trouble (various)
These were all story related achievements. This game really likes to give these out!

Lateral Thinker, Mystery Solver, and Conundrum Cracker (each 20 points)
Solved more Riddler Challenges. 25%, 40% and 55% respectively. Finding and getting these object gets easier as you get more gadgets within the story (Metroid style). Plus, if you find a special map within the game, they get marked on your map. While this may seem to make doing the Challenges a piece of cake, some of them are still tricky. Considering how the map is only 2D, while the rooms often have several levels.

Rope-A-Dope-A-Dope (10 points)
You get this achievement for doing something that seems both really in character for Batman and kind of dickish. First, buy the "Inverted Takedown" upgrade, which allows you to hang upside down from one of Arkham's many gargoyles and string up one of the escaped convicts. Then, zoom over to another spot and use the Batarang to cut the rope you just hung that guy from while another convict walks under him. Fun!

I then moved onto the Worms arcade live game to get:
Challenges (15 points)
Ok, I may have sort of cheated a little here. You get this achievement for completing all 20 of the Worms single player challenges. Until today, I had already completed 19 of them. However, the last one was the hardest, pitting you against three other teams of worms who are out to get only your team! I've been trying to get this achievement for a week now, honestly, and I got kind of lucky to get it tonight!

[Herzwesten]

Thursday November 5

It's getting a little trickier to get the interesting non-story achievements as I get further into the game.

Mental Athlete (20 points)
Solved 70% of the Riddler's Challenges. Gettin' close to gettin' them all!

Resist the Fear and Crocodile Tears (both worth 50 points)
Big points for big story-related deeds. Guess I'm near the end of the single player game.

Freakshow Rodeo (10 points)
Ha, jumped on the back of a monstrous creature man and as I rode him like a bull, he swung his arms back and forth. Just enough to knock down 10 nearby thugs, which helped me get the next one...

Freeflow Combo 20 (10 points)
I actually got the combo multiplier up to 20 just by having the monster do my dirty work.

However, I have yet to beat this particular fight. It may be because I'm trying for another achievement as I do so...

[Eppy]

Go, Herzy, go!!!

[Herzwesten]

Friday November 6

Finally beat that fight and with it got this:

Mano-a-Mano (10 points)
Fighting one of these mutant henchman, the best bet is to use a Batarang to stun it a bit so you can beat on it. This achievement comes from defeating one of them WITHOUT using a Batarang. Having electric security fields nearby to taunt the monster into charging into them definitely helps here.

Poisoned Ivy (50 points)
Another story achievement. You can guess who I had to beat to get this one.

Riddle Resolver (20 points)
Got this one for solving 85% of the Riddler's Challenges. Again, having the secrets map makes this easier, and now that I have all the gadget upgrades, I can definitely GET them all. On the other hand, these chattering Joker teeth that you have to find and destroy aren't marked on the map...

[Barry Lutz]

I can't wait till next weekend when we get the achievement for playing through the entire career mode of Beatles Rock Band in one shot!

this batman game is really fun to watch except that sometimes batman's cape (or maybe it's the bat colony) makes a sound like the kettle is boiling and i've been drinking a lot of tea lately so it's confusing.

[Herzwesten]

I can't wait till next weekend when we get the achievement for playing through the entire career mode of Beatles Rock Band in one shot!

Spoiler!

Saturday Nov. 7 and Sunday Nov. 8

I just beat the game, which netted me a couple of achievements, but then I went back in to do a couple of other things.

Big Bang, Bigger Bang, and Biggest Bang (each 50 points)
You get these from completing the story on Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties respectively, but if you just beat the story on Hard, you get the other two for your troubles. And it was worth it! Great story!

Crack the E Nigma (20 points)
For finally solving all the riddles on the island. As a reward in the game, you also get to hear the Riddler being arrested. Hehehe. It took me a little while to get past the final challenge, as it had to do with those Joker teeth that don't appear on the secrets map.

World's Greatest Detective (20 points)
Part of the Riddler's Challenges is discovering these messages on the walls that seem to be from the ghost of Amadeus Arkham, who is himself a little crazygonuts by the way. When you find the last one of those, the messages lead you to believe that the ghost has possessed/controlled someone on the island, and the game prompts you to figure out who that is. Well, it's no real surprise that its the current warden (a character written for this game), so I went over to where I left him and found a final message. And an achievement.

Night Glider (5 points)
There always seems to be an achievement like this in every game. "Glide continuously for over 100m" it reads. Well, of course you go up to the highest point you can find on the island (the big clock tower looming over Arkham mansion) and jump off that.

[Herzwesten]

Monday Nov. 9

Having finished the story part of the game, I've moved onto the Combat and Predator Challenges. The Combat Challenges require you to fight four rounds of henchmen in order to score points. The Predator Challenges require you take out henchmen in certain ways to earn the medals (or Batarangs really). I am finding the Predator Challenges a lot easier and more fun.

Predator Bronze, Predator Silver, and Predator Gold (various points)
For getting 8, 16, and 24 medals in the Predator Challenges.

Invisible Predator (10 points)
Completed a Predator Challenge by only sneaking up behind the henchmen to take them out without being spotted once. You don't get any medals by finishing a stage in this way, so I had to back and do one of the easier ones again to get this achievement.

Flawless Freeflow Fighter (10 points)
Completed four rounds of a Combat Challenge without getting hit once. This is probably necessary for all Combat Challenges as it also earns you extra points to get the medals needed for the other achievements.

It's going to be hard to pick up these last few Batman achievements, so I might end up moving on to another game before the week is out.