[Question+Request] Health Nut Achievement

[Hugo]

So just now I noticed there is an achievement you get for beating the final boss of the game without updgrading your health. I've already upgraded my health to maximum, can I still get the achievement somehow or am I screwed?

I was aiming for 100%, I don't usually go for all achievements anymore but this game I like so much I wanted to go for it, but if I just have to beat the game again just to get everything, I definitely won't bother plus I will be left with a really sour taste in my mouth :(

So yeah, if there is no way to do this, please, devs, make it possible to do it without having to restart the game from scratch!

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Just noting I have the same issue. I beat the game and wasn't aware of this achievement, in fact I'm missing five of them now.

There's a number of BS achievements in this one. The titular one for starters, which literally requires you to restart the game from the beginning since you can't remove a health bonus. I wish I had known that before. I didn't even need the health bonus, sure I used it to damage boost in time trials but that wasn't strictly necessary since it's possible to beat some levels by minutes doing that in some cases. So that is extremely annoying.

Then, buying everything from the shop. I only noticed until the last few levels that there is a fruit cap of 5000 since I didn't pay attention to my total fruit count, which is far less than what you need to buy everything. So for no reason most of my fruit collection was for naught. What's the point of doing that other than screwing unaware players? What am I supposed to do now, grind the same level over and over just for the fruit which I was already supposed to have anyway?

The Bird Band achievement sucks, too, since the game doesn't tell you in which levels you haven't found them yet. So I guess I got to go through every level again just to make sure I found all of them?

I had a lot of fun 100%ing the first game, but I think for this one I'm good. This is just too grindy and stupid. Just what I was thinking, got a bit of a sour taste in my mouth now, sadly.

Up until this realization the game itself was very fun though, genuinely one of the best weapon mechanics in a platformer. Not sure if I liked the grappling mechanic being reduced but the run and gun is top notch.

[Yuto]

If you found a duck band then there will be an icon next to the treasure box of each stage.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3336797885

Spicy Bee has done a guide to the locations of all the Duck Band.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3330911014

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Originally posted by Yuto:

If you found a duck band then there will be an icon next to the treasure box of each stage.

Thanks for telling me, I never noticed that. That gave me the motivation to complete the game. Revisiting every single stage searching for every single band would have really sucked. I even went and ground for the fruit I needed to purchase everything from the shop.


To OP: I discovered the save file can very easily be edited, so you can remove health upgrades and defeat Vyr without them.

You have to be comfortable doing this because this is debatably, if not certainly cheating. Despite the description only mentioning the Vyr boss fight, the idea of the achievement is likely to include "proving" that you can beat every stage and every boss at 4 HP, and not just Vyr. But I personally couldn't be bothered to replay the whole game again, and had I known that beforehand I would have just stayed at 4 HP. At the end of the day, it's up to you.

Open the file "gdcc_savedata.ini" in the following location:
Windows –

C:\Users\[Your Windows username here!!!]\AppData\Roaming\GrappleDog2

Linux –

[Steam install location here!!!]/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/2278790/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/GrappleDog2/

Find "health_pab_total", "health_luna_total" and "health_all_total" and change all numbers to "0". Then find "shop_unlock_health" and change the number to "11111111111111111111".
It should look like this:

health_pab_total="0"
health_luna_total="0"
health_all_total="0"

shop_unlock_health="11111111111111111111"

Now your health should be reset to 4 and you can go and defeat Vyr for the achievement. If you want you can beat all the former bosses as well to feel better about yourself, lol.

[Hugo]

Originally posted by The Sucky Pliers:

Originally posted by Yuto:

If you found a duck band then there will be an icon next to the treasure box of each stage.

Thanks for telling me, I never noticed that. That gave me the motivation to complete the game. Revisiting every single stage searching for every single band would have really sucked. I even went and ground for the fruit I needed to purchase everything from the shop.


To OP: I discovered the save file can very easily be edited, so you can remove health upgrades and defeat Vyr without them.

You have to be comfortable doing this because this is debatably, if not certainly cheating. Despite the description only mentioning the Vyr boss fight, the idea of the achievement is likely to include "proving" that you can beat every stage and every boss at 4 HP, and not just Vyr. But I personally couldn't be bothered to replay the whole game again, and had I known that beforehand I would have just stayed at 4 HP. At the end of the day, it's up to you.

Open the file "gdcc_savedata.ini" in the following location:
Windows –

C:\Users\[Your Windows username here!!!]\AppData\Roaming\GrappleDog2

Linux –

[Steam install location here!!!]/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/2278790/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/GrappleDog2/

Find "health_pab_total", "health_luna_total" and "health_all_total" and change all numbers to "0". Then find "shop_unlock_health" and change the number to "11111111111111111111".
It should look like this:

health_pab_total="0"
health_luna_total="0"
health_all_total="0"

shop_unlock_health="11111111111111111111"

Now your health should be reset to 4 and you can go and defeat Vyr for the achievement. If you want you can beat all the former bosses as well to feel better about yourself, lol.

Yeah, I wouldn't really feel right doing that, but thank you for the suggestion! I'll just wait for a fix (if there's one) or just replay the game some other time when I feel like I want to revisit it (certainly not now).

It's a real bummer because I was REALLY enjoying the game before that realization. Now it's a great game, for sure, but it lost quite a few points. Don't really like missables in platformers, it feels weird.

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Originally posted by Hugo:

I'll just wait for a fix (if there's one)

I doubt there would be a fix because I'm pretty sure the intention is to make you play through everything at 4 HP. It's just very poorly designed. Why would a game punish you for using a main intended mechanic (collecting fruit in levels, spending them on upgrades)? There wasn't even a warning like "Hey, if you use this intended mechanic then you cannot reach 100% with this playthrough".

It's just very dumb like I've said multiple times. I wish they had just made the game stick to 4 HP then. Damage boosting honestly made most time trials trivial, it doesn't feel like it added anything meaningful to the game and then they used it as bait to ruin your save file.

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by HopefulToad:

Ori and the Blind Forest, an otherwise great game, has an achievement for beating the game in one-life mode (you can't die, ever), in a game filled to the brim with instant death hazards. Basically the only way to unlock it without cheesing it via save scumming is to either be superhuman or make it your life's work.

This is why I don't like that kind of achievement (as impressive as doing a no death run is).

[Zelakon]

Originally posted by Hugo:

It's a real bummer because I was REALLY enjoying the game before that realization. Now it's a great game, for sure, but it lost quite a few points. Don't really like missables in platformers, it feels weird.

Plenty of games have Steam achievements like this, but they are not really considered missables because there is no in-game reward for doing so. For example in this game, you still get 100% for maxing out the collection tab.

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by HopefulToad:

Originally posted by Ikagura:

This is why I don't like that kind of achievement (as impressive as doing a no death run is).

Yeah, I've long since resigned myself to not getting that achievement. I tried a few times, and once or twice got pretty far, but always died to some stupid thing. It's just not worth the necessary time investment for me.

I understand that there are hardcore gamers that want bigger challenges (like a no death run or even speedrunning the game) but there's a fine line between engaging challenge and frustration.

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Originally posted by Zelakon:

Originally posted by Hugo:

It's a real bummer because I was REALLY enjoying the game before that realization. Now it's a great game, for sure, but it lost quite a few points. Don't really like missables in platformers, it feels weird.

Plenty of games have Steam achievements like this, but they are not really considered missables because there is no in-game reward for doing so. For example in this game, you still get 100% for maxing out the collection tab.

A game telling me I got 100% in-game and 100% achievements is both equally arbitrary to me. I don't know where people draw the distinction in that sense. If I want to complete everything then that includes everything, both completion percentages and achievement percentages

[Hugo]

Originally posted by The Sucky Pliers:

Originally posted by Zelakon:

Plenty of games have Steam achievements like this, but they are not really considered missables because there is no in-game reward for doing so. For example in this game, you still get 100% for maxing out the collection tab.

A game telling me I got 100% in-game and 100% achievements is both equally arbitrary to me. I don't know where people draw the distinction in that sense. If I want to complete everything then that includes everything, both completion percentages and achievement percentages

Yeah, if I don't get all the achievement I don't get the sense I've fully "completed" the game. I was really into trophies/achievements back in the day, now I just don't enjoy them at all. I actually prefer when they don't exist at all. If I had played this game on Switch, I would be 100% satisfied with just 100%ing the save file, because there is nothing in-game telling you to beat the game without health upgrades. But now the achievement page is there and I feels like it's telling me "oh but you didn't do EVERYTHING". It just makes me feel less accomplished. It's probably a me thing, but I just don't like it.

[Zelakon]

Originally posted by The Sucky Pliers:

A game telling me I got 100% in-game and 100% achievements is both equally arbitrary to me. I don't know where people draw the distinction in that sense. If I want to complete everything then that includes everything, both completion percentages and achievement percentages

The distinction is between game completion and save file completion.

Many achievements for games are either missable or mutually exclusive, and therefore require more than one campaign to unlock all. There are also plenty of games in the reverse case (e.g. that don't have achievements for collecting all trinkets on a save file), so would you feel the same here, despite Steam not saying you haven't completed it?

In addition, some games have high X counter achievements, and it doesn't make sense to hold the opinion that you haven't completed everything the game has to offer until you've "died 1,000 times", when reaching 100% only took you 100 deaths.

The only way to avoid unnecessary runs if you want to obtain all achievements is to plan accordingly. In this case, to hold off on buying any health upgrades until defeating the last boss, then buy them afterwards for the other two related achievements.

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Originally posted by Zelakon:

The distinction is between game completion and save file completion.

Yeah, I don't care.
That's arbitrary. When I go for 100%, I go for 100%.

[Zelakon]

Originally posted by The Sucky Pliers:

Originally posted by Zelakon:

The distinction is between game completion and save file completion.

Yeah, I don't care.
That's arbitrary. When I go for 100%, I go for 100%.

You said you don't know where people draw the distinction, so I'm clarifying it for you.

But by all means; if a game has an achievement for dying a thousand times when you've completed it in less than a hundred, feel free to jump into the nearest pit 900 times to call it '100%'.

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Originally posted by Zelakon:

Originally posted by The Sucky Pliers:

Yeah, I don't care.
That's arbitrary. When I go for 100%, I go for 100%.

You said you don't know where people draw the distinction, so I'm clarifying it for you.

But by all means; if a game has an achievement for dying a thousand times when you've completed it in less than a hundred, feel free to jump into the nearest pit 900 times to call it '100%'.

This didn't clarify anything, because it's arbitrary.

I also don't know why you keep bringing up a hypothetical game that requires you to die a thousand times for completion. If a game I wanted to 100% had an achievement like that, I would be complaining about that, too. So I don't know what your point is.

Games can have dumb conditions for reaching 100% in a save file as well. That is not exclusive to achievements at all.

[Zelakon]

Originally posted by The Sucky Pliers:

This didn't clarify anything, because it's arbitrary.

I also don't know why you keep bringing up a hypothetical game that requires you to die a thousand times for completion. If a game I wanted to 100% had an achievement like that, I would be complaining about that, too. So I don't know what your point is.

Games can have dumb conditions for reaching 100% in a save file as well. That is not exclusive to achievements at all.

My point is that you seem to think both types are arbitrary, when it's only the external Steam achievements (like this Health Nut) that are.

In-game ones related to 100% (such as buying all health upgrades) are instead relevant to the context of the game's completion.