{"id":57,"date":"2008-07-18T08:44:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-18T08:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rglas.dds.nl\/wordpress%20blog\/index.php\/2008\/07\/18\/to-unlock-or-not-to-unlock\/"},"modified":"2021-02-15T07:49:29","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T07:49:29","slug":"to-unlock-or-not-to-unlock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/2008\/07\/18\/to-unlock-or-not-to-unlock\/","title":{"rendered":"To unlock or not to unlock…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I finally started playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl <\/a>recently, and I have to say it\u2019s an awesome game. The more I play it, the less chaotic it is and the slicker and more productive my fighting skills become. Problem is: I don\u2019t want to be better at this game.<\/p>\n

That seems like a strange thing to say when dealing with a game, especially a game I just admitted to liking a lot. Fact is, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a multi-player game and this is the main reason I bought it. I want to play this game with (\u2018up to\u2019) three of my friends, not alone. As most of these friends don\u2019t have a Wii with SSBB on it, I simply don\u2019t want to train myself to such a point where competing is not fun anymore for those involved.<\/p>\n

Why not stop playing alone then? Like with many games in the beat-\u2018m-up genre, a large part of the game\u2019s attraction is unlocking hidden characters to play with. That\u2019s not just the completist in me. These characters aren\u2019t just cosmetic rewards. They all have their own unique and often exuberant fighting styles. So, I want <\/span>Sonic, Solid Snake, Falco, Lucario. I need <\/span>Ganondorf, Luigi, Mr. Game & Watch and Captain Falco.<\/p>\n

Problem is: to unlock them I need to spend hours and hours on single-player content. Here\u2019s what I need to do to unlock Jigglypuff, taken from an unlock guide on gamefaqs<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Play 350 Brawls<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Complete SSE and then clear Events 1-20<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Complete SSE and then Find Jigglypuff in the Swamp stage (He is in a Red Door, just enter them all)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Admittedly, this character is one of the hardest to get access too, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with rewarding perseverance and skill at all. The best\/most dedicated players should get some kudos from the game. It\u2019s all part of the whole challenge\/reward curve of proper game <\/a>design<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    This completely logical reward system does however interfere with the casual gaming approach I\u2019d like to take with this particular title. The either\/or situation is a recurring one I find myself in with fighting games. Novice and expert players simply don\u2019t mix well in this genre like they do in, say, Guitar Hero or Mario Kart.<\/p>\n

    Unlockable features, especially playable characters, remain tricky game design decisions in this industry. If you don\u2019t want to or cannot invest the time and energy to unlock them, you are missing out on content you\u2019ve already paid for.<\/p>\n

    I guess it\u2019s back to single-player again for me. I might get better in SSBB than I (or my friends) would like. But who doesn\u2019t want to fight with one\u2019s own R.O.B.<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I finally started playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl recently, and I have to say it\u2019s an awesome game. The more I play it, the less chaotic it is and the slicker and more productive my fighting skills become. Problem is: I don\u2019t want to be better at this game. That seems like a strange thing … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “To unlock or not to unlock…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneglas.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}