Nintendo Switch

Video Games
562

Well, what was the first game with unlockable content? What even IS unlockable content?

If you play Super Mario Bros., you “unlock” world 1-2 by beating world 1-1.

RC Pro Am you had to earn money to buy/unlock better parts and cars.

SSF2T had a cheat code that let you play as Akuma.

Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM Shareware demos you only got one mission and had to pay money for the rest of the missions.

In SNES JRPGs like FF6 and Chrono Trigger you don’t necessarily have to get all the characters in your party and such. You also don’t have every character from the start. You “unlock” them as the game goes along.

In Final Fantasy 1 you unlock the silver sword by grinding a whole bunch.

On a pinball machine you literally unlock multiball by achieving certain goals.

Just about everything in video games can be considered unlocking.

The only problem is when it’s involved in asymmetric multiplayer. All players should have equal access to all races, classes, units, weapons, fighters, cards, etc. Extremely not cool if different players have different options based on how much money or time they have invested. See: CCGs, Smash Bros, MMORPGs, etc.

563

I don’t think I’ve played a game with egregious unlocks, but I also haven’t played a lot of super recent things.

Of the games I have played, there’s an acceptable minimum so that new players aren’t dumped into a confusing mess.

  • FTL unlocks new ships as you play.
  • Slay the Spire unlocks the second character after you’ve beaten the game with the first. (And presumably the third after the second.)
  • Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon walks you through the base game and adds new characters until you beat it.

None of these felt bad.

564

These are also single player games where it makes sense in terms of progression.

However, even in FTL I ended up hacking a save file to unlock all the ships so I could try them.

565

What are we searching for here. Consensus or what is the divinely ‘correct’ way to do unlocks?

I’m just guessing that most people didn’t bother hacking their ftl savefile and just unlocked the ships the way the game asked us to.

566

No unlocks in multiplayer games.

Simple.

567

or

Which is it?

568

FTL is single player?

569

Yes

570

I know, I was asking because I don’t see the contradiction there.

571

Devs would prefer if you play their games the way they intend you to. In their eyes if you modify it, well fine but it’s a failing on their part, their game should not need modification. Kinda like how in Italy you wont find salt on the table in restaurants or at my familys’ houses. They see you having to salt their food as a failure on their part.

Rym did not play FTL the way the developers intended, he modified his save to unlock things.

When asked what devs had to do so they did it “correctly” he replied “No unlocks in multiplayer games.” which FTL complied with by not being a multiplayer game and having unlocks.

The contradiction is that doing what Rym asks is clearly not enough for Rym as the FTL guys did that and he still considers them to have done it wrong, as demonstrated by his fixing it for them on his play-through.

572

I love FTL. I’m not particularly good at it though. I’ve only beat the game once or twice and that was playing on the easy mode. As a result, I’ve never unlocked the other ships. I’ve put something like over 20+ hours into the game and would love to try them, but I can’t, because they’re behind some stupid wall.

There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to use those other ships and configurations. It wouldn’t detract from my playing experience. It wouldn’t affect how I play the games. Once I buy the game, I own it. It’s mine. I don’t care how the Devs think I should play it.

573

I pose to you the same question then

574

I don’t think there’s a “correct” way to do unlocks. There may be multiple “correct” ways to handle them depending on the type of game it is: single player versus multiplayer, depending on the genre, etc.

575

I have the online thing gy so if you want to smash let me know.

576

I think it’s pretty simple. You’re doing it right as long as you’re not doing it wrong.

577

The Smash soundtrack is fucking slap city, so good.

1 Like
578

Ok so the unlocking situation in Smash is worth than advertised. Not only is it a huge time commitment to unlock a character. You then have to fight that character and beat them. Not only that, but you have to use the character you were just using. You don’t get a retry (immediately). You have to put in the time again to get another shot.

I’m trying to beat classic mode with all characters. That means I play it with characters that I suck ass with. I am not that good to begin with. Also, the difficulty keeps increasing. So far I’ve lost to four challengers. I could have four more characters unlocked right now than I currently do if I sucked less, or if the game wasn’t bullshit.

e.g.: I just beat the classic mode with Ryu, who I suck with. Ganondorf challenges me and just fucking destroys me like I was playing against a pro. Barely touched him. Fuck that noise.

579

I’m not really into smash but I seem to remember this is how it has always been? I mean if it irks you it irks you but its not any different than it was.

580

Either I was better at Smash then, or it’s harder now, or both. I unlocked all characters in previous Smashes no problem.

581

On other hand. I was just playing Smash with my friend today and we constantly got new challenges approaching which was always exciting. And unlocking a new character lead into trying it out and friend ended up liking King Dedede a lot after we unlocked him and was taken for a spin.

Unlocking new meaningful stuff makes monkey brain happy and this monkey is fine with it.