It is very rare these days for a game to only offer you one thing to do. For various reasons - often unknown - some poor fool has scattered a bunch of junk around the world of the game, and tasked you, the player, with finding it. Sometimes they're in plain sight, other times they're hidden away in infuriating places, or require an obscene amount of backtracking. Often it is a mixture of all three. But more often than not, they offer a reward that is too good to pass up. So, it's time to collect stuff! So, how do you feel about collectibles? Do you generally go out of your way to find them all, or are they something you've never really looked for? What game do you feel has the best collectibles?
I like collectibles as something extra to do, not as a required task but as a fun little thing. It adds a little bit more dimension to the games.
Collectibles? I like them. They add an extra layer of fun to the game, in most cases. Stuff like the Puzzle Pieces in Kirby Star Allies are good collectibles, as you can find them mostly rather quickly, without having to tediously go back and forth, and you can also grind for them by replaying levels. It makes it a lot easier. Now, Korok Seeds in BOTW on the other hand... *shudders* they're quite... infamous.
I think think they’re great and really add a lot more to the game. To me, it helps make the game worlds feel more expansive as you try explore finding them.
Collectibles can be fun if they make sense. Recently for me in Far Cry 4 and Primal, some of the collectibles were "gather the relics of an ancient evil diety because the people who live in this country are superstitious" and "destroy the relics that people in an opposing tribe have placed all over the game area as their form of 50,000 BC propaganda". Both of those make sense. But when it's something like "take photos of every billboard", or "find the pieces of cheese that are everywhere for no reason" or "peel off all these gold stickers scattered around four islands one VLFS" *ahem*, then that just seems silly. I don't mind collectible-hunting, but I want it to be something more than a challenge-for-the-fun-of-it. I want a story-based reason why an action-packed hero like me would take time off saving the world to do this.
I think for me the two primary determining factors as to whether collectibles are worth getting or not are quantity and availability. If there are more than 100 or so - unless it's a long game and you acquire them naturally as you go, anyway - I generally don't bother...and if any are missable I don't bother either, because there is nothing more annoying than realising you missed something and the only way to get it is to restart. Better not to even bother trying. If they're not going to have significance in terms of lore and worldbuilding, then the reward for getting them needs to be worth it. Having them in there to have them in there is just artificially extending the life of the game and honestly I think that's bad design. Plenty of games offer books or whatever that expand upon the game's world in some small way, putting in five hundred golden whatevers just for a trophy or to compensate for how short the main story is or for whatever else is just lazy. But generally I like collectibles when they're well-designed, as they take me to optional areas of the game I may not otherwise get to explore, and searching for them also leads to natural levelling, which lessens the grind, which makes the game more enjoyable.
I usually don't aim to gather them unless there's a good enough reward even then I usually forget to do it as I usually end up getting caught up doing something more fun then suddenly come across one of said collectibles and remember what I was suppose to do.
I usually try to 100% things, so I'll pretty much always go for the collectibles. I think it's a good way to encourage players to explore the world.
I like exploring and collecting things. It's something that I pretty much always do in any game that gives the option. I meticulously go through every area when playing a game, which usually leads to a ton of backtracking as I try to figure out which way leads to progressing the game and which has some hidden goodies.
I like collectibles when they are optional. If they are mandatory a lot of the pleasure and rush of finding them goes away and is just replaced with resignation on my end.
