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Are new levels or gameplay elements the only worthwhile unlockables today? [poll]
 
Yes  (3/11 votes)
 27%
No  (8/11 votes)
 73%
 
Other than the satisfaction of accomplishing something, of course.

I was listening to a podcast where someone mentioned speed-running Shantae: Risky's Revenge yielded different pictures after the credits. Someone responded to him "Not really a good incentive for anyone who knows the Internet exists".

And you know, he has a point. The drive to go through a game multiple times to get alternate endings just isn't there when you can just youtube them.

Or DKCR's art galleries: they're pretty cool and all, but they're not the reason I'm getting all the puzzle pieces, since that same art has been posted on the net, at a higher resolution, in a more convenient format for viewing it.

Basically, the only rewards you can't reproduce on the Internet are gameplay-related (new moves, weapons or levels); or at the very least, game content-related (in-game costumes).

Or not. Did art galleries or unlockable videos/scenes ever drive you to do something in a game that you wouldn't have otherwise done for the fun of it? Has the fact that youtube and google exist now completely taken that carrot away?

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01/05/11, 02:55    Edited: 01/08/11, 03:59
 
   
 
Pandareus said:
The drive to go through a game multiple times to get alternate endings just isn't there when you can just youtube them.

I think I disagree with this. But it all comes down to the question of whether these carrots exist to get me to do something I kind of wanted to do anyway, or not. And frankly, if a carrot is leading me into doing something I don't want to be doing like the carrots in MMORPGs then I should probably start asking myself what the heck I'm wasting my time on this for. At that point I'll be fine with Youtube. But if the carrot is giving me a little way to add some uniqueness to a replay I kind of want to do anyway, then it works.
01/05/11, 02:59   
Yeah, I realize it's a tough question to answer because it's not all black and white.

I mean, I look at DKC2 and how I 102%'d it, and I ask myself: would I have done that if not for the unlockable levels? I'd like to think that yes, I would have purely for the fun of it. But then I totally didn't 101%'d DKC, and it didn't have unlockables for it.

Granted, I find DKC2 to be much superior to DKC, so the comparison doesn't entirely work.

Still, I think back about DKC2's more frustrating moments, and if I ask myself: "would I have stuck with those levels for as long as I did if not for the unlockables", I think the answer would be no.
01/05/11, 03:05   
Edited: 01/05/11, 03:06
I went for Metroid Zero Mission's alternate "endings" cause it was damn fun, not cause I wanted some art work unlocked. Same would go for any other game. If I don't have fun playing to unlock the content, then I usually won't bother.
01/05/11, 03:20   
Achievements.
01/05/11, 03:50   
@Secret_Tunnel

So true... and such a joke. I know a few people who put themselves through some of the worst games just for trophies/achievements. One was constantly bitching about how awful this one game was but no, he went on just to get a few pointless trophies.
01/05/11, 03:55   
@Pandareus Unlockable levels are real bonuses though, not just carrots! If I like a game I'll definitely work hard to get any unlockable levels.
01/05/11, 04:32   


Five...shiny...stars...
01/05/11, 04:40   
Edited: 01/05/11, 04:41
I don't care for unlockable art. I don't really care about art in the first place, so I'm definitely not going to bother unlocking it just to look at it. I might do whatever requirement would unlock it though, if I feel like doing it for the satisfaction, but I don't care about rewards such as that. I think I agree with the sentiment that unlocking different art and the like isn't quite as compelling.
01/05/11, 10:08   
@Simbabbad

Its' like playing Rock Band/Guitar Hero. You know there are so many awesome songs in there but you have to play through the shitty ones to get them.
Also more difficulty options are a shitty unlockable.

I think especially making of videos or interviews with the developers are a great unlockable. If you 100% a game you might really like it and want to know about how it started.
01/05/11, 11:06   
@Simbabbad That's a good point; the Subspace Emissary was pretty damn tedious to play. I loved the cutscenes, but the gameplay itself was really repetitive and dull.

@Feierabend Imagine though, if you were a game journalist and had to write an article about a game, yet the videos you needed to view as sources for your article were out of reach because you were unable to 100% the game (due to lack of skill/time)? I guess the solution here is to never have anything unlockable, ever. Which would mean that some people would stop playing games, because they'd then have nothing to unlock.
01/05/11, 11:14   
@X-pert74

I don't see the problem in not having them. You can write an article about a videogame or a movie without having background knowledge of how the made it. Furthermore there are still interviews with the developers.
I meant the kind of making of that was/is on Nintendo Channel about the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Journalists can do without them but as a consumer and fan of the game they are nice to have
01/05/11, 11:21   
@Feierabend @Simbabbad Well yeah, that's true.
01/05/11, 12:42   
@Simbabbad

You do know there was about 3 different ways to unlock each character right? You didn't have to play through SSE at all.
01/05/11, 13:39   
Nah. I kept working through Wario Land: Shake It! knowing there wasn't anything gameplay-wise waiting for me, just music and such. I didn't care...the extra challenges made it fun. Same with the Prime games and Other M. I collected everything and scanned everything because I wanted to get the images, concepts and tokens to buy dioramas and music.
01/05/11, 16:09   
@Simbabbad

Well fighting games are a different beast, though, the whole point is multiplayer. It never made sense to lock characters in the single player game.

As far as levels go, you don't think it makes sense to lock, say, the World 9 levels in NSMBW and reserve them for the people who actually manage to get all the coins? The people who didn't probably wouldn't be able to survive the world 9 levels. Same with the Gnarly/Tubular levels in SMW, they're a bitch to find, but they probably wouldn't be much fun for those who couldn't complete the Star Road levels.


As for the people who say they'd only do it if the task itself is fun: sure, fair enough. But is there really no case where you pushed through a bad spot because of an unlockable? Like, trying 102% in DKC2 was fun in itself except for that one level, that you still completed but would maybe have given up on it if not for an unlockable?

Or speedrunning Zero Mission or Fusion for the fun of it... does that mean you kept trying to better your time after you unlocked the "best" pic?

@ludist210

And the knowledge that all of that Prime stuff can be seen on the web at the click of a mouse doesn't devalue the unlockable art, for you?
01/05/11, 16:14   
Edited: 01/05/11, 16:17
I voted 'yes' for two reasons: Goldeneye and Resident Evil 4. I can't count how many times I played through those games to get the next weapon, invincibility mode, new Egyptian level, etc. Without those carrots dangling in front of me (and, let's face it, great gameplay), I would not have played through them multiple times.
01/05/11, 16:14   
@Simbabbad

I see what you mean about GX, but the bonus levels in Mario games definitely count as unlockables to me. You have to either find them or find doodads to unlock them, you're not going to see them if you just go through the game. In NSMBW, miss just one of over 25(?) star coins, and that world's corresponding bonus level is locked from you.
01/05/11, 17:19   
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