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    Default Locking game-critical content needs to stop.

    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.

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    Mega Man (Level 19) The 1 2 P's Avatar
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    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?
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    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.
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    Cherry (Level 1) Nionel's Avatar
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    Default

    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.


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    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.

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    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*
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    Quote Originally Posted by The 1 2 P View Post
    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.

    Quote Originally Posted by swlovinist View Post
    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.

    Quote Originally Posted by Nionel View Post
    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.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kitsune Sniper View Post
    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.

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    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by G-Boobie View Post
    Word, son. I feel you.
    I don't mind unlockable content. Just don't expect me to figure out how to get a 35 hit combo on my own, when the higihest I've gotten to is 25.

    Rargh.
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    Quote Originally Posted by swlovinist View Post
    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.
    Why would they get flamed? There were no unlockables in the original SNES SFII, and many still think that was the greatest fighter ever, Whoever started this unlockable nonsense is to blame. They got the sheeple used to it, and now they expect it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by White Knight View Post
    They got the sheeple used to it, and now they expect it.
    (rolls eyes)

    Get over yourself.
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    Ok, I'm going to add my opinion on this topic. I think that locking the in-game characters is a good thing. For myself, I enjoy playing through the game with every character and getting rewarded for it. Also, you can just set the difficulty to very easy and destroy this game, so it shouldn't take too long. Also, Seth does not have SNK Boss Syndrome, Gill in SF3: 3rd Strike had SNK Boss Syndrome, Gill is harder on the easiest setting in SF3: 3rd Strike than Seth in SFIV on the easy (not easiest) setting.

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    Quote Originally Posted by heybtbm View Post
    (rolls eyes)

    Get over yourself.
    If the system is suddenly changed and everyone starts doing this, then suddenly go back to the old way, people will complain. My sheeple comment is meant that people are easily blinded by corporations. Corporations got us used to this stupid thing called unlockables, and we blindly followed.

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