Achievement difficulty doesn't make sense

#1

(GOG v1.1.47)

The achievements are categorized into 5 difficulties (trainer / easy / medium / hard / impossible). I consider it very strange that sometimes it’s not possible to complete an achievement without first completing an achievement that “more difficult”. There’s a logical problem there.

Examples:

Swiss Army Breastplate (Medium, earn all unique armor) cannot be completed before completing Sheep Slayer (Hard, kill the Super Sheep – this is the only way to get the Platinum Fleece)

Similarly, it’s not possible to earn both Big Box o’ Killing Stuff (Hard, upgrade all unique weapons) and Big Box o’ Not-Dying (Hard, upgrade all unique armor) without first earning Ultra Sheep Slayer (Impossible, kill the Super Sheep+).

Book Dragon (Hard, earn all the books in new game+) and Marathon (Hard, reach wave 100 in Endless 2+) both require you to have 201 gold stars (the threshold for unlocking Endless 2+). But Super Completionist (Earn 201 gold stars) is Impossible.

#2

I agree with the first two, but I disagree with the last:

  • Earning all the books is hard but not impossible-ish, but getting 201 stars is impossible-ish. It’s the achievement’s difficulty itself that counts, not the “parent” achievement’s.
#3

What if I proposed two additional achievements? “Unlock every bonus challenge in the standard game” and its upgrade, “Unlock every bonus challenge in new game+”.

Obviously, “Unlock every bonus challenge in the standard game” is easier than “Defeat every bonus challenge in the standard game” (Book Worm), right?

So, “Unlock every bonus challenge in new game+” is easier than “Defeat every bonus challenge in new game+” (Book Dragon)… right?

At some point, someone might notice that “Unlock every bonus challenge” seems to always co-occur with Super Completionist, and if they look into it they’ll probably realize that that’s because the requirements are identical. I don’t think anyone would think “hey, unlocking the challenges is such a big deal that it should be listed as more difficult than not just unlocking, but defeating them”. That would be crazy. I don’t see why it’s less crazy if I change the wording of the achievement without changing the criteria in any way.