Locking game-critical content needs to stop.

[G-Boobie]

I apologize in advance. I need to rant.

So I bought Street Fighter IV today, like everyone else in the free world. I picked it up before work along with the strategy guide, which as a quick digression, is pretty incredible. It even has frame data and tier lists. An excellent application of twenty bucks. Strongly recommended.

End digression.

On lunch break, I flip through the guide and discover that three of the characters I'm interested in learning, Gouken, Gen, and Cammy, are unlocks. In order to unlock them, you need to play through arcade mode with various characters. They are not available for play until you've beaten the game. Repeatedly. Not in training. Not online. Not in arcade, or Vs. And Seth, the final boss that you must beat repeatedly? I'm finding him guilty of SNK Boss Syndrome. Fuck Seth. Even on easy.

So you can probably guess my beef, here. In order to access characters, even to practice against them or play them in training, I have to beat the game. How many times? Let's count!

To get Cammy, win with C. Viper. = 1
To get Fei Long, win with Abel. = 2
To get Gen, win with Chun Li. = 3
To get Rose, win with Bison. = 4
To get Sakura, win with Ryu = 5
To get Dan, win with Sakura = 6
To get Akuma, you win with every unlockable character except Gouken. = 10 (you've already won with Sakura to unlock Dan, which I'm pretty sure counts..)
To get Gouken, win with Akuma = 11
And, to get Seth, you need to win with everyone else = 22.

Twenty two times through the arcade mode to unlock characters that are already part and parcel of the scene. Assume ten minutes playing through the arcade mode each time on easy with the number of rounds set to one. Assume that Seth doesn't whack you real good a few times, and that each time through you never lose a round. That's two hundred and twenty minutes, or a little over three and a half hours to unlock the characters you've already bought with real earth money.

Soul Calibur 4 halfway admitted that locking characters is bullshit by rigging the system so that you could buy the characters that start off locked in an hour or so of minimal effort. Maybe Capcom should have paid attention to that, because after three hours of trying to unlock the characters I want to play, I'm a little less than halfway through the list. That means that if I want to play as Gen or even Dan, I have to invest all the free time I'm likely to get for a week or so. That's bullshit. I wanted to play online, and if I want to play online as Gen, you shouldn't make me jump through hoops to get him. I already paid you people.

Lock up alternate costumes. Lock up the sound test. Lock up the fucking ending movies and challenge modes. Do NOT lock up characters in fighting games. And if you do? don't make it a stone solid bitch to unlock them.

/Rant.

[The 1 2 P]

I feel your pain. I hated this on Tekken Tag Tournament on the PS2 because I competed in tournaments at anime conventions. If they didn't have a memory card with all the characters unlocked I was forced to compete with characters I hadn't mastered. That just blows. I don't mind time release characters, as you can always just keep your console on over night, but having to play thru multiple times just to get your favorite character is just, in your own words, bull shit. Furthermore, I thought these developers were gamers themselves. Do they really think this is what we want to go thru just to play their game?

[swlovinist]

I see both sides on this one. On one hand, having all the fighters unlockable from the get go Capcom would get flamed for there being no unlockables. Having it too much work to get unlockables you then have what we have here. It is a tough one, and one that I am sure Capcom thought of before doing. I am sure that there will be a code or easy way to unlock this stuff as time goes on. If not, looks like I will be sticking with the easy ones to unlock and play.

[Nionel]

With SFIV it kinda makes sense, I mean you start with the arcade roster and have to unlock all the characters that were added or made playable for the home versions, though having to play though with everyone is a bit excessive. I personally like having to unlock characters, as it adds to the single player experience, and with this game I'm interested in the story of several of the characters, so I'm planning on playing through multiple times anyway.

On a side note, Seth has SNK last boss syndrome? That bums me out.

[Kitsune Sniper]

At least you don't have to perform nigh-impossible combos to unlock your characters. Or actually get to them and beat them.

*curses at the sprained finger he got while unlocking the bonus characters in KOF XI*

*curses at NeoGeo Battle Colloseum's insane requirements to even get a glimpse of the true final boss*

[Bojay1997]

I understand your frustration, but this is not a new concept and it's certainly important to give players some incentive to actually play through the game multiple times with multiple characters. Otherwise, how many hours would you play a game like SFIV single player? If you could just pick every character from the get-go, are you really going to spend hours trying to access costumes or other content? Three and a half hours isn't exactly a long investment in a game to unlock everything. Frankly, to compete on-line, you're gonna need the practice anyway, so it's kinda like Capcom is helping you out here in a natural way.

[G-Boobie]

I feel your pain. I hated this on Tekken Tag Tournament on the PS2 because I competed in tournaments at anime conventions. If they didn't have a memory card with all the characters unlocked I was forced to compete with characters I hadn't mastered.

Really!? At least SF IV isn't that bad... I came close to losing my fighting stick tonight.

I see both sides on this one. On one hand, having all the fighters unlockable from the get go Capcom would get flamed for there being no unlockables. Having it too much work to get unlockables you then have what we have here. It is a tough one, and one that I am sure Capcom thought of before doing. I am sure that there will be a code or easy way to unlock this stuff as time goes on. If not, looks like I will be sticking with the easy ones to unlock and play.

I see your point, and I see where Capcom is coming from, but there are other, non-game critical things they could make unlockable. Movies, concept art, developer commentary, alternate costumes, etc. etc. etc. Those characters they've locked up? Someone out there mains them. Making them work in order to use the character's they want to use just seems dumb.

With SFIV it kinda makes sense, I mean you start with the arcade roster and have to unlock all the characters that were added or made playable for the home versions, though having to play though with everyone is a bit excessive. I personally like having to unlock characters, as it adds to the single player experience, and with this game I'm interested in the story of several of the characters, so I'm planning on playing through multiple times anyway.

I can even see playing through arcade mode a few times, sure, but twenty two times?

SoCal 4 had it right. If you're going to lock up characters, at least make it relatively easy to unlock them. Otherwise, you're gonna piss someone off. Like me, I guess.

On a side note, Seth has SNK last boss syndrome? That bums me out.

Yeah, your mileage may vary on this one. I suck at counter-throws, and he has a ridiculous shoryuken-style command grab that puts a serious dent in yer lifebar. On top of that, he has a move where he goes all black, sucks you in(which stuns you, unless you crouch), and allows him to have his way with you.

A good friend on PSN had no problems with him at all, which annoyed me since I regularly beat on him in HD Remix and Guilty Gear. So the Seth thing might just be me.

At least you don't have to perform nigh-impossible combos to unlock your characters. Or actually get to them and beat them.

*curses at the sprained finger he got while unlocking the bonus characters in KOF XI*

*curses at NeoGeo Battle Colloseum's insane requirements to even get a glimpse of the true final boss*

Word, son. I feel you.

[ScourDX]

This reminds me Capcom vs SNK & Marvel vs Capcom 2 for Dreamcast. You have to earn enough points and beat the game numerous time to unlock certain characters. It was a chore then and it is a chore now.

[Famidrive-16]

i doubt seth is as bad as whatshisname from KOFXI

[walrusmonger]

Seth's first round is easy, the second is very cheap. But honestly, Sagat beat me 15 times in a row, Seth beat me twice... something is very wrong.

[heybtbm]

Soul Calibur 4 halfway admitted that locking characters is bullshit by rigging the system so that you could buy the characters that start off locked in an hour or so of minimal effort.

You have to concede that the ease of Soul Caliber IV's unlockable characters was the exception, rather than the rule. Street Fighter IV's requirements don't seem out of line to me.

Hey, look at it this way...they could've made the extra characters DLC only. $5 a pop. Just like Namco/Bandai did with Vader/Yoda in SCIV.

[smork]

Dunno, this doesn't seem out of line to me. I'm actually glad you have to work to unlock everything!

[sidnotcrazy]

Well, to me it isn't that bad. Besides I am sure that someone is going to post save data on the net, and no one who really wants to play through the game will have too.

For me I love playing through the game with different characters, and since SF4 isn't that difficult, it isn't that much trouble for me. I did fight a guy playing Akuma last night so it's not like its going to be anytime before we see Gen, and the rest of the crew.

[JunkTheMagicDragon]

for casual players like myself this is a (slightly) bitter pill. i only play fighters in short bursts with drunken friends (too repetitive to play by yourself, imo) so i never unlock anything. of course, with the reviews this game is getting, the 720 will prob be out before it gets down to the sub-$20 price i'd consider getting it at.

rays for an unlock-all cheat code:
:ducks flying tomatoes from fighting fanatics:

[G-Boobie]

rays for an unlock-all cheat code:
:ducks flying tomatoes from fighting fanatics:

I'm not throwing tomatoes, good sir, and I'm a fighting game fanatic.

I appreciate that unlocking characters is standard practice. My problem is purely time. I want to play Gen and Gouken. Getting Gen is easy enough, but Gouken? That's every spare second of free time I'll have for a week. That's on easiest just spamming roundhouse. Between load times, mashing start to skip cut scenes and animations, and the actual fights, it takes between ten and fifteen minutes to get through and defeat Seth. That's excessive, where perhaps Soul Calibur 4 was too easy.

Just my opinion, but it fucking sucks that I have to play as a bunch of characters I don't like just to unlock a couple I'm interested in, and one who's traditionally been one of my seconds(Akuma). I'll get over it, I'm sure, since it's an otherwise fantastic game... It just strikes me as archaic.

[8-bitNesMan]

You have to concede that the ease of Soul Caliber IV's unlockable characters was the exception, rather than the rule. Street Fighter IV's requirements don't seem out of line to me.

Hey, look at it this way...they could've made the extra characters DLC only. $5 a pop. Just like Namco/Bandai did with Vader/Yoda in SCIV.

This is a great point. Give me rewards for playing any day of the week rather than charging me for DLC... That being said, Seth is a HUGE pain in the ass

[Daft Punk]

seth = geese howard pain in the ass.

Why cant we just fight bison or akuma like back in the day .

I think unlocking akuma requirements are a joke. All I can can say is the raging demom best be unblockable if Im going through all this trouble.

[sidnotcrazy]

I appreciate that unlocking characters is standard practice. My problem is purely time. I want to play Gen and Gouken. Getting Gen is easy enough, but Gouken? That's every spare second of free time I'll have for a week. That's on easiest just spamming roundhouse. Between load times, mashing start to skip cut scenes and animations, and the actual fights, it takes between ten and fifteen minutes to get through and defeat Seth.

Yeah, load times suck, and this is the first Street Fighter that has actually annoyed me due to the large amount of them. The game is great! A++++ all around, but I just wanna fight. You sound like an old school fighting fan, and I like many others never really got into the 3d fighters as much as I did the 2d ones. So load times are a difficult beast for me to deal with.

[Chainclaw]

In the past, this wasn't so bad because you could just enter a cheat code, or download a game save off the net. Now with profile locked saves, or even worse, system locked saves, it's complete BS.

Smash Bros Brawl was the worst, and if the gameplay didn't suck for competitive play, the system locked saves might have been a huge hindrance to any sort of competitive play.

Another huge problem with unlocking characters like this is you end up getting too good at the game in the process, then none of your friends can beat you, so no one wants to play the game anymore.

[Iron Draggon]

gee, it's terrible that you're gonna have to spend all your free time this week playing SF4, after spending whatever it cost you to be able to play it!

perhaps you'd rather be waiting a few more months for the PC version to come out, like I am? then you could be complaining about still waiting for it!