Please, Please Don’t Read This Prince of Persia Achievement List

Tue, Nov 25, 2008

I'm going to take a flying leap here and assume that if you clicked on this post, you intend to enjoy the new Prince of Persia come its December 2nd release on Xbox 360 and PS3, or its December 9th debut on PC.

To that end, I beseech you: Do not continue reading this post. Why? Because based on series creator Jordan Mechner's own definition of what makes a game's narrative compelling, the Xbox 360 and PS3 achievement list released today for Prince of Persia spoils all the fun. If I could rewind time and tell myself not to read it, I would have done so; and now I hope to warn you of the same.

You clicked. Why, why did you click? I told you not to. I told you that reading the list of achievements could ruin this game, but you didn't listen.

Well, I suppose it's not too late yet, if you're actually reading this line instead of skipping down to the spreadsheet. There's still time to tell you to turn back, and explain why reading the below would be a bad idea.

To be truthful, there isn't an incredible amount about the plot revealed below that you couldn't determine from simple knowledge of how plots like this one usually unfold -- the evil gets defeated, and the good triumphs... at a price. But what is spoiled, unfortunately, is some of the wonder of exploration you might have gotten -- nay, might still get, should you turn back now.

Do you really want to know how long the game is? How many bosses it includes? How you're supposed to defeat them?

Do you really want to know the internal name for the brilliance that is Elika reaching out her hand to pull you back from certain death? Once named, it becomes a maneuver, a gimmick, it loses its wonder. Once you find out how someone wants you to play the game, you cannot discover how to truly play it for yourself.

Once you read past this line, you're on your own. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Accomplishment	Requirement	Gamerscore	Total
First Meet	Encounter Elika	10	10
Save me please	Discover Save Me	10	20
All the basic	Completing the Canyon	10	30
Explorer	Use Compass (first time)	10	40
Beginner Healer	Healing 01	30	70
Master Healer	Last Healing	50	120
Hunter's end	Kill Hunter in his lair	20	140
Warrior's end	Kill Warrior in his lair	20	160
Concubine's end	Kill Concubine in her lair	20	180
Alchemist's end	Kill Alchemist in his lair	20	200
Ahriman's end	Kill Ahriman	30	230
Explorer	Explore every part of every region.	20	250
Block Master	Blocking 50 attacks	20	270
Deflect Master	Deflecting 20 attacks	20	290
Biggest combo	Do 14 combo hit in fight	20	310
Be gentle with her	Do less than 100 save-me throught the game.	100	410
Breaker	Use a enemy to break something.	10	420
Against the wall	Win a wall mini-game in fight	10	430
Race Ruined Citadel	Run from the Sun Temple's Fertile Ground to the Fertile Ground in Windmills in 5 minutes	10	440
Race Observatory	Run from the Fertile Ground in the Construction Yards to the Fertile Ground in Heaven's Stair in 6 minutes	20	460
Race High Castle	Run from the Fertile Ground in the Royal Gardens to the Fertile Ground in the Coronation Halls in 4 minutes.	30	490
Race Lava Rift	Go from the Fertile Ground in the Tower of Ahriman to the Fertile Ground in the City of Light in 7 minutes	40	530
Warrior Special	Dodge 20 warrior attack in one fight	20	550
Hunter Special	Deflect hunter 5 times in one fight	20	570
Alchemist Special	Defeat the Alchemist without using the acrobatic button	20	590
Concubine Special	Defeat the concubine without using grab	20	610
Sparkles rookie	Collect 100 sparkles	10	620
Sparkles beginner	Collect 200 sparkles	10	630
Sparkles casual	Collect 300 sparkles	10	640
Sparkles novice	Collect 400 sparkles	10	650
Sparkles collector	Collect 500 sparkles	10	660
Sparkles chief	Collect 600 sparkles	10	670
Sparkles veteran	Collect 700 sparkles	10	680
Sparkles expert	Collect 800 sparkles	10	690
Sparkles hardcore	Collect 900 sparkles	10	700
Sparkles master	Collect 1001 sparkles	50	750
Speed and peace	Kill 10 generic enemies before they spawn.	10	760
Thrower	Throw 10 generic enemies in pits	10	770
Assassin View	Find the Assassin view	10	780
Titanic view	Find the Titanic View	10	790
Jumper	500 coop jumps	10	800
Precious Time	Take one minute to think (at the right time).	10	810
Beginner Listener	Trigger one dialogue with Elika	10	820
Good Listener	Trigger more dialogue with Elika	10	830
Perfect Listener	Trigger a lot of dialogue with Elika.	10	840
Climber	Found the highest point in the world	10	850
Diver	Find the lowest point in the world	10	860
Speed Demon	Finish the game in less than 12 hour.	10	870
Gone baby gone	The End	80	950
Combo Specialist	Find every combo in the game	50	1000

So there. Are you happy now, with your fourteen-hit combo, your five bosses, eight regions, one thousand and one sparkles and the knowledge that at some point you must wait one precious minute in your twelve-plus-hour game to unlock a measly ten Gamerscore points?

I know what you're thinking. "Why, oh why, didn't I take the blue pill?"