Support NeoGAF

[yatesl]

I've always had a thing for achievements, but whether you love them or hate them, they let really interesting data emerge.

For example, I've just been playing Downwell (fantastic game) on PS4, and it's really interesting to see the level of drop off between areas. Now, the game has just come out on PS+ (today? yesterday?), so that will affect the overall % with people trying it out for free and finding it's not for them, but it's interesting none the less. For example:

Here is the breakdown on the areas. Downwell is a quick roguelikelitelikelite, and each areais split up in to 3 stages. Each stage can be completed in less than a minute, so theoretically someone could fly through the game in under 10 minutes. Not something a first timer would do, but it gives you an idea of what kind of game it is.

We can see that 46.2% of the people have beaten the first 3 stages (again, pinch of salt due to PS+). After that, though, the drop off is massive - right down to 16.8%. Almost half again drop off for the third area, and then slightly less so for the fourth (arguably the easiest area).


You can do the same for things like Bloodborne:

Only 63.3% of people beat Cleric Beast (although technically optional, the path typically leads you to him), 59.6% beat Gascoigne, and then only 47.8% went on to beat the next mandatory boss.

You can do the same on Steam (although you can cheat those), and I think Xbox One has added it too.

There's the arguement against achievements/trophies that they hand them out for just playing the game, but I love that it lets me see stuff like this. Data is fascinating.

 

[bananafactory]

It really is.

I was looking at my Witcher 3 trophies the other day. Did you know only 79% of players met Yennefer? That's like the opening mission of the game that 1/5 people never finished.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I always look at it and believe it's a great way for game developers to understand the genre and the titles and see what interests people and what doesn't.

 

[TimeEffect]

Im curious how much syncing trophies affect data

 

[Tapejara]

I always find it interesting that the trophy for beating MGSV Ground Zeroes (PS4) is only at 53.2%. It's higher on PS3 (71.2%), but I'm not sure how big the difference is in playerbase. The PS4 version of GZ was given out on Plus a while back.

 

[Morts]

Im curious how much syncing trophies affect data

Same. As far as I know you still have to look at your trophies to sync them on PS4, and im sure a not insignificant amount of people never bother.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Yeah, you can see some interesting stuff

See for example this thread, where I used trophy rarity to (arguably) debunk the myth that Souls games are too difficult for their players

 

[Wesley-Sigma]

0.1% of people have Platinum-ed Transformers: Devastation.

Very perplexing since it is not very hard.

 

[BiggNife]

Yeah, you can definitely get some interesting insights from them.

80% of people who have played Crash 1 in N.Sane Trilogy beat Papu Papu. Only 48% beat Ripper Roo, the next boss.

 

[AndyVirus]

Yeah, looking at the drop for story related trophies is interesting. Last game I just platinumed, Lego Force Awakens, only has 92.6% for "Complete a Blaster Battle" which is something you have to do literally 5 minutes in. So 7.4% of people have started the game and closed it, never to go back, within 5 minutes of progress.

 

[PhantomThief]

Yeah I really love trophy rarity. It actually makes me want to try and get some of these trophies!

 

[bananafactory]

Yeah, you can definitely get some interesting insights from them.

80% of people who have played Crash 1 in N.Sane Trilogy beat Papu Papu. Only 48% beat Ripper Roo.

Because Ripper Roo fucking sucks

 

[FZW]

yes, it is. Very fascinating. I also love the other data that the Xbox One OS gives you about each game. Play time, percent completed, how much collectibles retrieved. Really tells you a lot about how ppl play these games. It's like stats in sports.

 

[Gator86]

It's incredibly interesting information. It's amazing to see where people just fall off games or what games manage to hold people the entire way.

 

[Camwi]

I always find it interesting that the trophy for beating MGSV Ground Zeroes (PS4) is only at 53.2%. It's higher on PS3 (71.2%), but I'm not sure how big the difference is in playerbase. The PS4 version of GZ was given out on Plus a while back.

That would be the reason why.

 

[Iriscomeback]

Just keep in mind that the data for games that have been free on PS plus isn't very reliable.

But yeah it's interesting

 

[InsaneTiger]

yes, it is. Very fascinating. I also love the other data that the Xbox One OS gives you about each game. Play time, percent completed, how much collectibles retrieved. Really tells you a lot about how ppl play these games. It's like stats in sports.

That is cool. I would love for those collectibles trophies to live update as you collect items. Give you an idea how many you need.

 

[BiggNife]

Because Ripper Roo fucking sucks

That, and the fact that Native Fortress is between Papu and Roo. I'm betting that level broke a lot of people who weren't expecting that kind of difficulty spike.

 

[StoneFox]

Trophy rarity is kinda cool with games like Bloodborne and Deadly Premonition because you can see that there is a certain amount of players where the game really clicked with them. If I recall correctly with DP, about 3/4 of the players who made it through the first chapter ended up reaching the end.

 

[xir]

Had a thread about this for Star Wars Battlefront, a massively popular game with "casuals" and found it very itneresting:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1168055

The downwell data is a little suspect for right now, since it was probably downloaded a ton in the last 24 hours. I'd check again in a week.

 

[The Dear Leader]

Yeah it's really interesting, gives a look into others playing habits. Steam has achievement rarity too and those are pretty unexpected at times.

 

[Griss]

What always freaks me out:

-You only show up on trophy lists if you actually start the application
-Game where you get a trophy for starting the game or sitting through the opening dialogue or what have you
-"87% of players have this trophy"

And you're like... wait, 13% of people started up the application but didn't make it 5 minutes in and never returned? Really?

Then there are other games like OP's Bloodborne where it's fucking rock hard yet it feels like everybody has the platinum because of the type of gamer it attracts. (And by everybody I mean more than 10%, which is a huge amount for a plat.) With Bloodborne you can see that if you're good enough to get past the first boss, there's a strong chance you'll complete the game. Other games see a more gradual decline as people lose interest.

I have some trophies in Don't Starve that weren't that hard to get but are crazy rare. I don't get it. I have some super rare Spelunky ones but that makes more sense - that game is highly skill-dependent.

 

[Adam Prime]

yes, it is. Very fascinating. I also love the other data that the Xbox One OS gives you about each game. Play time, percent completed, how much collectibles retrieved. Really tells you a lot about how ppl play these games. It's like stats in sports.

That's awesome, I didn't know this. Can you post a screen shot or something of some of these stats?

 

[GunBR]

I like to see the differences between the games that people bought and the ones that Sony gave for free on Plus
There's some games from Plus that less than 20% of gamers beat the very first level

 

[ZoronMaro]

I agree it's really interesting, except for when you look at games that were ever free at any point, then the data becomes much harder to interpret and has much less value.

I've seen trophies go from 90% completion to less than 50% because it became a PS+ game, because lots of people will download and boot the game without ever playing it. I don't have PS+, but I do the same thing because then I can see what games I have access to by looking at my trophy list rather than going through the awful PSN store download list.

 

[Mr. Phellps]

The amount of "Beat the game" trophies with, like, 50% rarity always baffles me. This happens with every single game, a lot of people buy games and just never finish them.

 

[Kyrios]

Yeah I always like seeing trends and rarity. Really shows that a lot of people don't actually beat most games, so it's neat to see a common place where people stop playing.

 

[ghibli99]

I looked the other night, and found it interesting that Crash 2 currently has the lowest % of platinums (I think Crash 1 and 3 are at around 1.3% or so each, while 2 is at 0.8%). I thought 1 would be the lowest since it's considered the hardest, but maybe it's also the most popular and most played because it's the first.

 

[Static Veins]

I always love checking trophy rarity when I'm playing through a game. Some of them are insanely small. Did you know only 50% of people who played The Evil Within made it to the end of the 3rd level and beat the first boss?

 

[The Elite]

I do this a lot. It's really interesting to see at one point in progress trophies that rarity goes under 50%.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Because Ripper Roo fucking sucks

It was my favourite boss of the game

That, and the fact that Native Fortress is between Papu and Roo. I'm betting that level broke a lot of people who weren't expecting that kind of difficulty spike.

Did they fuck this level up in the remaster or what? I don't remember finding this level to be particularly difficult back in the day

 

[SomedayTheFire]

0.1% of people have Platinum-ed Transformers: Devastation.

Very perplexing since it is not very hard.

Because most players aren't going to play it on commander or care to get SS rankings.

 

[Zarth]

Trophies is how we've known for awhile that not that many people finish games.

Devs have been looking at data like this since the early days of Steam and the previous generation. Its good stuff.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

It is very interesting to look at the trend of when people quit a game in games that have achievements based on story progress, and then try and factor in sales, length of the game and reception. I got the Platinum for Persona 5 and I wonder how many people even beat the damn thing, since the Platinum essentially requires you to beat the game twice

Its probably not very reliable but it sure is interesting.

Now if only every PS4 game and an in-game way to track achievements that require you to kill 100 enemies with x or collect all of x.

 

[Seijuro]

I like to see the differences between the games that people bought and the ones that Sony gave for free on Plus
There's some games from Plus that less than 20% of gamers beat the very first level

First thing I thought about when clicking into the thread. The trophy statistics of free PS plus games are surely f-d up.
But player drop-off in general is one of the most interesting things about the trophy stats. makes me feel good to beat something that over 50% of players didn't (care to) beat.

Another thing that I find fascinating is that while every publisher will tell you gaming revolves around the online experience they should take a look at percentages of online achievments - especially in fighting games where it is astounding how few people actually play/win an online match online (ranked or otherwise, an almost universal achievement in this genre).

 

[LakeEarth]

Sometimes a game has a single achievement that's clearly harder than the rest. For Street Fighter 5, it's the "Extreme" survival where you have to not lose after 100 matches, takes over an hour. AI is cheap as fuck. Healing amount is random. You lose once, start from the beginning.

Then I see that the platinum trophy is something like 0.2% lower than the achievement for Extreme Survival and I can't help but think... who fuck punished themselves that horribly to get the one trophy, but then didn't bother to get the platinum? Baffling.

Then again, the only thing preventing me from getting the Rocket League platinum is the "play with a friend" trophy, so who am I to talk.

 

[The Greek Freak]

The amount of "Beat the game" trophies with, like, 50% rarity always baffles me. This happens with every single game, a lot of people buy games and just never finish them.

If I don't enjoy the game why would I waste my time finishing it?

 

[Firestorm ZERO]

The strange ones are the "start the game" trophies. I have never seen it at 100% in the games that have it. This is not even the "see the prologue" or "do the tutorial" trophy which takes a little effort. It literally start the game.

So there are people who bought the game, installed it (and maybe went through downloading updates as well), booted the game, saw the title screen and quit.

 

[hank_tree]

My favourite stat was that the trophy percentage in Destiny for completing the raid was around 25%. But the trophy for bring fully equipped with legendary gear (which is basically the minimum requirement for the raid) was also around the same percentage.

So actually the vast majority of people who played long enough to gear up actually completed a raid.

 

[BiggNife]

Did they fuck this level up in the remaster or what? I don't remember finding this level to be particularly difficult back in the day

It's far from the hardest level in Crash 1 but it's a pretty big jump in difficulty from the other stages at that point. I've also heard that the remaster fucked a bit with the hitboxes of the torches making it a little tougher but I can't confirm that.

0.1% of people have Platinum-ed Transformers: Devastation.

Very perplexing since it is not very hard.

Devastation was a PS Plus game, right? The rarity percentages probably got messed up from hundreds of thousands of people playing the game for 30 minutes and then uninstalling it.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Being able to sort by rarity is something I hope Xbox adds soon for achievements. I always set my PS4 trophies by rarity so I can get a good measure of what trophies I should get and not bother with. I would've missed some things in horizon had I not looked at how for example a ton of people went and did at least one of those caves where the robots are made.

 

[NintendosBooger]

Only rare trophies I own are from crappy games that award me for accomplishing mundane feats towards the tail end of them since everyone else has long before quit.

 

[Common Knowledge]

I've been playing Hitman 2016, and, boy, outside of the "clear the mission" trophies, almost all of them are in the "very rare" or "ultra rare" categories. Granted, quite a few of them require a lot of replaying of missions to reach Mastery level and complete all assassination opportunities, but I've been having a blast going through them all and obtaining these rare trophies.

 

[sixteen-bit]

If I don't enjoy the game why would I waste my time finishing it?

Yeah. Kinda makes me wonder what the completion rate for movies is since the time investment is shorter.

 

[astroturfing]

yeah, i gotta admit i love getting Ultra Rare trophies, even though i tell myself i'm too old to care about such silly things. it's just really satisfying to unlock something that required a lot of concentration and effort on my part.

just unlocked 6 Ultra Rare trophies in Polybius, ahem ahem there's one that is suuuuper rare at literally 0.0% and i've almost got it twice, but messed up in some stupid stupid way.. damnit.

 

[Cels]

if you look at steam's dark souls 3 stats: http://steamcommunity.com/stats/374320/achievements

only 87.1% of players lit the first bonfire, which is literally only a couple minutes into the game, in the tutorial area. this basically means 1/8 of dark souls 3 owners probably haven't played the game.
only 80.6% beat the tutorial boss
only 67% beat the boss of the first proper area

but after that progress doesn't seem to drop as much:
for example, 42.3% have beaten a boss (

Spoiler

champion gundyr

) which is an optional boss that is behind yet another optional boss, in an endgame area
a whopping 42.1% have beaten the penultimate required boss in the game (

Spoiler

prince lothric

). once you beat this boss you can proceed to the final boss.

and some stats are a bit puzzling to me. more people (35.6%) killed what i consider to be one of the hardest bosses in the game (

Spoiler

nameless king

), even though he is optional, than people who discovered one of the covenants that is not even really all that hidden (

Spoiler

aldrich faithful

, at 35.2%).

definitely fun to look at some of these stats

 

[OSHAN]

Then I see that the platinum trophy is something like 0.2% lower than the achievement for Extreme Survival and I can't help but think... who fuck punished themselves that horribly to get the one trophy, but then didn't bother to get the platinum? Baffling.

.

300 online wins would stop them.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

300 online wins would stop them.

I would sooner get that then the Survival one. I got that in Street Fighter IV way before the more grindy ones.

 

[ZoronMaro]

The amount of "Beat the game" trophies with, like, 50% rarity always baffles me. This happens with every single game, a lot of people buy games and just never finish them.

I would actually say 50% is incredibly high from what I've seen, although it depends on the genre. I would say anywhere between 25-33% is more normal for just beating the game although I've seen it much lower.

It might be interesting to crunch the numbers to figure out what % of people finish games, but there's too many variables like genre and whether it was free at some point, and I have better things to do right now.

 

[TheShampion]

I platinumed Transistor and I was surprised how rare the trophies were. The trophies do a good job or outlining how to play the game optimally I thought, so the fact that they were rare makes me wonder how people played compared to myself.