[Hazz-JB]

I actually really dislike hidden things in games that don't let you know you're in the right general area to look for them. For example, finding 100 collectables in a sandbox game is pretty ridiculous if it means spending hours re-travelling a huge empty map looking for the last one or two you missed.

If you get a hint of the general area, you can enjoy a game without spending an unreasonable amount of time checking every corner in every area you pass. Once you know something is near, you can focus your efforts on finding it.

I must have played AO ten times or more desperately trying to get the last three mudokons that I kept missing. I finally gave up and used a walkthrough. With AE, I completed it first time with 300 muds and no help. I started over ALOT before that (mostly from getting stuck and wanting to replay the first half of the game again) but the point is that the skill and effort put in were rewarded, not wasted.

The achievment of finding the hidden area in a screen and then completing the challenge inside is enough, I don't think the risk of wasting an entire playthrough is worth the slightly larger sense of achievment you get if you're lucky enough and good enough not to miss anything.