J-RPG Heaven, Achievements Hell
Gareth
It’s tough to be a J-RPG lover and an achievements whore. The Xbox 360 has a decent collection of Japanese role players of varying quality but pretty much all of them have one thing in common: horrible achievements. If you want the full 1000G on any of the following games you’ll probably want to use a guide and even then it’s no guarantee. I’ll give a brief summary of the achievement difficulties you may face and list the toughest achievements.
Enchanted Arms (From Software)
The best game, as far as achievements go, with all 1000 points being gained by playing through the story. No collection based ones, no grinding ones, simply play the game. Only one missable achievement. I’ve not played the game myself, but it has received above average reviews.
Biggest Obstacle
Grand Finale
Happy Ending – 150G
Simply make the right decision during the game and you’ll get the ‘happy ending’, otherwise you’ll get a ‘bad ending’. If you want to see the bad ending then I suggest using multiple saves rather than replaying the whole game again.
Blue Dragon (Mistwalker)
With a guide this is a pretty easy game to max out, if time consuming. There are a lot of missable achievements, from getting every type of item (some of which have to be stolen from one time bosses) and fighting every type of monster to perfecting minigames. The item and monster collection shouldn’t be a problem with a guide, the minigames will require a couple of attempts (luckily there are save points nearby) and there are numerous moments where you have to tap the A button faster than seems humanly possible. However, although these are missable, I don’t consider them to be the biggest obstacle to the full 1000.
Biggest Obstacle
Max all classes
Max out the rank for all classes – 50G x 5
There are five of this type of achievement, and it basically requires hours upon hours of grinding. Each character has numerous job types, and you have to rank each of them up to 99. You won’t get anywhere near this without grinding, and I suggest simply tying your joypad up with string and letting your character run in circles as you do something more interesting. A guide will give you the full details.
Eternal Sonata (Tri-Crescendo)
Despite owning this game for years I’ve never played it, but the achievements seem very straight forward with the aid of a guide. It does, however, commit the cardinal sin of forcing you to play the game multiple times (at least twice). Some side quests aren’t available the first time through, so you’re looking at playing a 30-40 hour game twice if you want the full 1000. There are also uneven achievements (one for 79G and another for 321G).
Biggest Obstacle
EZI Worshipper
All the items related to EZI have been collected – 321G
There are a couple of achievements you can’t get until the second playthrough, but this appears to be the most time consuming (and the high, but uneven, 321G supports that). With a guide this shouldn’t cause any headaches.
Lost Odyssey (Mistwalker)
Only one missable achievement in this (Spell Collector), but there is no excuse for missing it really (simply buy every spell you find in the shops as you find them). Plenty attached to side quests, and maxing out each character, but a guide should help you clear up anything you need for the 1000, as long as you do it before the point of no return. There is some DLC which has added 100 points.
Biggest Obstacle
Treasure Trove
Obtain all Treasure Box items in the field – 20G
Not missable, but can be a major chore, even if you use a guide from the very beginning. You have to open every chest in the game. Some are in areas which you only visit once, but don’t worry, these items will appear in the Auction House where you can bid on them. It’s the items in areas you can go back to that you have to worry about. Miss one and you won’t get the achievement, so you’ll have to go back to every area and check every chest to find which one you missed. Chore.
Infinite Undiscovery (tri-Ace)
There are many horrible achievements in this game, far too many to list here. A guide will help you with the twelve missable achievements, but even then there are some which will cause game rage. On top of that there is an awful crafting minigame, uneven achievements (a 49G and 1G) and Infinite Undiscovery requires three playthroughs to get the full 1000. It’s not the longest JRPG in the world, but that’s still not on.
Biggest Obstacle
Compulsive
Obtain every item – 50G
It’s actually incredibly difficult to pick the worst achievement in Infinite Undiscovery. This requires you to have had every type of item in your inventory at some point during the game (not necessarily at the same time). With a guide it shouldn’t be too horrible, it just means you have to be careful and thorough. Runner up goes to ‘Seraphic Gatekeeper’ which asks you to complete the optional dungeon at the end of the game on the hardest difficulty (which you’ll have to play through the game twice to unlock) for 1G.
The Last Remnant (Square-Enix)
Three missable achievements here, but all are related to side quests. If you ensure you complete all the side quests (some of which are only available if you recruit certain people) then these three achievements will be available to you. Not a hugely difficult 1000, but very time consuming (probably over a hundred hours).
Biggest Obstacle
The Final Instance
You have finished the quest “Things Unchangeable” – 200G
There is a very tough boss you can face if you get this achievement, and although really challenging, if you haven’t completed every quest (thus unlocking the “Things Unchangeable†quest) then getting that achievement is not even an option. A guide will help you to make sure you do not miss any optional quests.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope (tri-Ace)
The worst achievement list of the bunch I have to say. This requires a minimum of three playthroughs and has twelve missable achievements. A guide (or more likely, multiple) will help you get the majority in one playthrough, but if you do want the full 1000 then you’ll be looking at well over 200 hours worth of play over multiple playthroughs. Still, at least there are no uneven achievements, right?
Biggest Obstacle
Ultimate Battler
Obtain 100% of all battle trophies – 10G
There are 900 battle trophies, 100 for each character. A trophy is awarded to a character upon completing a certain stipulation (fight 100 battles, defeat 100 enemy types, etc.). A lot of them require you to be in control of that character at that time (others can be unlocked by the AI), some are missable and a lot simply won’t be unlocked through natural play. The amount of time and effort required simply isn’t worth it, despite the battle system being the best thing about this rather poor game. There are also achievements for 10%, 20%, 30% and so on.
Tales of Vesparia (Namco Bandai)
Tough one to call as this has literally just been released in the UK. With a little research though I have found that the game requires multiple playthroughs and there are missable achievements. This doesn’t seem as bad as Star Ocean, but only time will tell how tough the achievements on this game truly are.
Biggest Obstacle
They Call Me…
Clear sub events to acquire titles – 30G
It’s hard to tell which is truly the most difficult achievement at this point, but this one requires multiple playthroughs, and with a guide I think the majority of the others should be simple enough if time consuming. I may be wrong on this, but you can guarantee it won’t be a quick and easy 1000G.
So there you have it. A list to make the average achievement whore cower like a little girl behind their copies of Avatar and Lost: Via Domus. I personally have the full 1000 on Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey and I’d like to think that I could max out Eternal Sonata and The Last Remnant someday (and Enchanted Arms if I ever buy it), but I doubt if I’ll even bother attempting any of the others. I’ll play them, but the max will require more dedication than I feel it’s worth. If you max out all of these, fair play. You’re a bigger whore than I.