Unlocking 'features' in games is stupid (1 Viewer)

[Joseph Young]

If you don't possess the necessary skills to unlock features/secrets/weapons/etc., then tough luck.

Perhaps you're right. Maybe I should stick to Animal Crossing.

cheers,

joseph

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Even I have done that, but I'm talking about the inability to perfect the level objectives for a GOLD with the ghetto customizations your ship has 'coming out of the gate.'

I still don't see the problem. You're saying that to unlock the bonus features (without using a cheat code) you have to go above and beyond what the game would normally demand, and you don't like that?

 

[DaveGTP]

I saw Godzilla mentioned, but no first hand opinions. I will chime in on this one for Godzilla for GC. I played that damn game on rental for probably 20 hours or so. Great game, single player game is cheap. REALLY cheap. Nothing more frustrating that barreling your way through the game (about 30-40 minutes), only to get cheaply smacked down by MechaGodzilla over and over again at the end. I can stomp Mechagodzilla with most of the monsters, but it becomes very difficult with others. And Godzilla comes with only 3 characters to start with. THAT is NOT the way to handle unlockables. I thought DMC did a good job.

 

[Joseph Young]

I still don't see the problem. You're saying that to unlock the bonus features (without using a cheat code) you have to go above and beyond what the game would normally demand, and you don't like that?

My problem is with the implementation of upgrade acquisition, specifically, the arbitrary manner that they're just sort of scattered throughout levels. The fact that acquisition of upgrades needed to perfect the game hinges on factors other than skill. I had a problem with this and you don't. So what? It doesn't mean I'm opposed to upgrades and unlockable bonuses. It's just my opinion on one developer's handling of a game. Jeezo.

Do you need me to proclaim myself a lazy gamer? I will if it will mean a merciful reprieve from these tiresome Morgan Jolley semantic acrobatics that have derailed countless other perfectly good threads. You're insufferable sometimes.

cheers mate, keep drinking your Ovaltine

joseph

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Joseph-

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with what you're saying, and I agree with you to an extent. Yeah, the placement of those items was a bit tedious, but if you're really into the game, then you'll either put the effort into finding them or use a guide.

 

[Peter Rohlfs]

I think it is what gets unlocked, and how.

MK DA had the right idea with the Krypt for the most part (If the koffins with characters and costumes had been marked) but then messed it up by having 2 characers you can only get if you finish Konquest was wrong.

The Tekkens do it right except when they require you to do things like Tekken Bowl, Force, etc.

I like what Team Ninja did with DOA2 HC. If you can't do the straight forward thing to unlock a csotume, it will unlock just because the character is chosen alot (I would prefer if it was character wins...but that's nitpicking).

Unlocking an end movie by beating the game with a character is a perfect example of a good unlock. And IU like when they give you a way to see it again with a theater.

My 2 cents,
Peter

 

[Joseph Young]

If you can't do the straight forward thing to unlock a costume, it will unlock just because the character is chosen alot

Peter,

I've always liked the features that unlock after so many hours of gameplay or what-not. Panzer Dragoon Orta unlocks the original Panzer Dragoon (a neat addition) after you accrue 10 hours of gameplay. Rez, as BrianB mentioned, steadily gives you extras as you accrue time. Super Smash Bros. does the same thing. And while some of them can enhance the way you play the game, most of them are just neat 'bonuses.'

~joseph

 

[Steve Y]

I too played Rogue Leader and was put off by the arbitrary placement of hidden weapons. Advancement in a game should be based on logic and skill, not mere chance. Otherwise it's not really fun. I suppose it's much easier for the game designers to just pepper vast levels with various items and leave the rest to the gamer.

In other words, I don't mind a challenge, but if the challenge isn't fun, then I'll likely move on to better things. I do not find exhausting easter-egg hunts fun. But unlockables in theory I do not find objectionable (in fact I like them!).

Rez is one great example of how to do it right. I've also been playing Vanishing Point, which leaves the car-adjustment shop locked at the beginning of the game. You have to very good at (basically) fishtailing wildly all over the road until you manage to win enough races to adjust the controls. It's a little frustrating but based entirely on your skill as a driver.

~Steve

 

[BrianB]

Vanishing Point is damn hard initially, have to agree, but the rewards are set up to justify the skills you need to build.

Another good one for this is Demolition Racer on the DC - some great extras unlocked as you beat the challenges (challenges that grow in difficulty really well). Very under appreciated game.

 

[David_N]

Unlocking new characters, stages, etc.. is neat. I like collecting the statues in Super Smash Bros Melle.

I like games where they tell you what you have to do to unlock things, like Marvel Vs Capcom 2 you have to earn a certain number of points to buy characters, color changes, stages, and artwork. Or Metroid Prime tells you flat out what you have to do in Metroid Fusion.


Of course some of the coolest bonuses came when you didn't know they were coming. In Metroid Prime I was scanning some computers and a message appeared saying that an image gallery opened. Or finishing Legend of Zelda gives you a chance to play through again with a higher difficulty setting. (I'm kind of sad that none of the future installments featured this though) Same with Super Mario Bros, after finishing you get to play trough with all the Goombas turned into Beetles. Or the first time I played GTA3 I didn't know what the hidden packages did, and realized that I got new weapons for every 10. Not something you have to do but just a bonus. In SSBM it's cool to have finished the game and suddenly are challenged by a new character. Then after beating them they become playable.

 

[Joe Szott]

I agree that putting in unlockables just to have unlockables is pretty stupid most of the time. But some games have unlockables that are really interesting to play and should NOT be available the first time you start the game.

For example: when you play Panzer Dragoon Orta, after certain missions a side mission unlocks. If you play that side mission, it usually has something to do with the level you just passed. Like a friend that gets shot down in that mission has to try to get back on his mount and get back to you. Later in the real PDO missions he shows up again, but now you know what he had to go through to get back! If you had access to this mission from the start of the game, it wouldn't have made any sense, and might have contained massive plot spoilers.

So for unlockables like that, it is a very good idea to hide them from the new player. Used to be that having all the unlockables done (or the coolest ones) was worth it for the bragging rights, these days not so sure anymore.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

...mechassault is stupid, I shouldn't have to play single player modes to access xbox live features.

The only thing I can think you are referring to are the Ragnarrok and Ymir 'mechs. If that's the case I would disagree with you. The XBL features are otherwise complete without them. They are simply new playable characters "rewarded" by finishing the game.