Unlockables - Are they really better than Achievements/Trophies?

There has been a number of "Wii Should Have Achievements" threads. This isn't one of those. I want to focus on in-game unlockables. Many people here have said that they prefer the unlockables in games like SSBB, MP3, and MK over trophies and achievements. I don't really understand why.

My main problem with unlockables is that you're forced to do them in order to fully enjoy the game. I dread games that forces you to unlock playable characters/vehicles/stages/courses/songs etc. My nephew wanted to play Sonic in SSBB. I had to painfully plod through the entire story mode just to unlock Sonic. I still don't have every single character or vechicle in Mario Kart, because I cannot beat 150cc for the life of me. Very frustrating. In MP3, why does the screen shot feature have to be an unlockable? Please give me that feature from the start and award me a "Social Butterfly" trophy for exchanging friend codes with someone.

I don't really care for Achievements and Trophies. I'm not that type of gamer. But, if I had to choose between them, I would actually choose achievements and trophies because, at the very least, they are optional. So, even if I'm not good enough to get every single goal in the game, I still get to enjoy everything that the game has to offer.

Picture if you will...

*Unlocks Sonic*

"YEAHSONICSONISONISONICBLUESTREAKSPEEDZBUY"

* Unlocks Trophy*

"Cool......What do I do with it exactly?

Picture if you will...

*Unlocks Sonic*

"YEAHSONICSONISONISONICBLUESTREAKSPEEDZBUY"

* Unlocks Trophy*

"Cool......What do I do with it exactly?

ChildOfGaming7

Both? I really enjoyed playing Clive Barkers Jericho it was an excellent game and if you beat it on hard you would unlock the bestiary. I really do not care about achievemnts but when you unlock something with it too they become pretty fun to get.

Unlockables are annoying. SSBB for example. I want to make my own map, but until I unlock a ton of stuff the map editor is pretty useless. Rock Band, I got RB2 on release, we took it home and planned on having some fun, but instead we were forced to unlock the songs we wanted to play in the first place... Unlockables are a hinderance to enjoying the full game. It punishes people that want to get to the full experience right out of the box, unless of course the unlockables are as useless as achievements. I prefer the full game to be available right out of the box, then if I really enjoy the game I can try to achieve or unlock the useless crap (like costumes or reskins) just because it's there...raahsnavj

Thats ridiculous. You basically want nothing to be explored. There is something special in unlocking new characters and stages.kardine

*post*raahsnavj

So you would rather play a game of monopoly already owning all the streets?

You'd start a game of draughts (checkers) with all your pieces already kinged?

You'd buy a stamp collectors book already full of stamps?

[QUOTE="raahsnavj"]*post*19061980

So you would rather play a game of monopoly already owning all the streets?

You'd start a game of draughts (checkers) with all your pieces already kinged?

You'd buy a stamp collectors book already full of stamps?

I understand everyone's point.Yes, unlocking Sonic and Unlimited Ammo in RE:UC is definitely more rewarding than getting some random achievement score or trophy. But, I feel unlockables punishes the casuals. Getting Unlimited Ammo in RE:UC is really hard. It takes a lot of time and skill, not everyone can do it. For those who cannot unlock it, RE:UC's multiplayer mode simply isn't as fun as it should be.

For multiplayer games (SSBB, MK, RB2, etc), I believe we should get everything out of the box. We shouldn't be forced to unlock any playable characters or songs. Unlocking Sonic was a pain. I had to do it twice. One for myself. One for my nephew who is not old enough to be great at the game. I didn't have fun at all. It felt more like a chore.

umm... if you havent noticed alot of games have "unlockables" and not just games on the wiibut all consoles have them...

Achivements are great becuase say if theres a really hard one like "kill 10,000 zombies" in dead rising and you get it. That means you can brag about it to your friends who dont have it and you've completed something thATS challenging. In some games like halo, if you get certain achievements you "unlock" armour and crap like that. achievements arent just "numbers"that dont do anything like some Hardcore Nintendo fanboys say they are. Achievements are about pride, selfishness, and braging rights.

Unlockables are good too, dont get me wrong. i'm not a hardcore xbox fanboy were i'm going to tell you the xbox is the best. its just achievements are'nt as useless as some people say the are. they give me motivation to play a game constantly. Unlockables are like that too,motivation to play the game more, but just like achievements, once you get them all are you still going to play?

*post*raahsnavj

So you would rather play a game of monopoly already owning all the streets?

You'd start a game of draughts (checkers) with all your pieces already kinged?

You'd buy a stamp collectors book already full of stamps?

[QUOTE="kardine"]Thats ridiculous. You basically want nothing to be explored. There is something special in unlocking new characters and stages.raahsnavj

Most of the time unlockables are done right. Most gamers do not want everything put on the plate. The reason why most games have these unlockables is because the majority likes a challenge. It encourages people to play hard mode instead of easy. Your portrayal of unloackables is invalid. Most games unlockables are very easy to get and not nearly as burdonesome as you make it.

I am sorry but you are in the minority when it comes to this thinking but there are games where there is nothing to explore.

We need both. Of course in-game unlockables are needed..heck...it's standard in my opinion. However, achievements and trophies let you acrhive what you've done. Achievements and trophies give you something to look back on and add replay value to games with no online. Yes, I want achievents for Wii!!!!

I am sorry but most games that require unlocking a feature do not require grinding. Most unlockables are made by playing the game. In SSBB you simply have to beat the game, you do not have to fight 100 times if you do not want to. I do not know about you but I played Brawl so much and pretty much unlocked all characters in one day.kardine

Most of the time unlockables are done right. Most gamers do not want everything put on the plate. The reason why most games have these unlockables is because the majority likes a challenge. It encourages people to play hard mode instead of easy. Your portrayal of unloackables is invalid. Most games unlockables are very easy to get and not nearly as burdonesome as you make it.

kardine

I am sorry but you are in the minority when it comes to this thinking but there are games where there is nothing to explore.

no one should complain about unlockables, if a game isnt good enough to play or buy when you dont have everything unlocked, then why buy it? unlockables help show what people have done, give an actual reward instead of a number, and let people get more out of waht the game offers. honestly, im completely tired of hearing friends of mine brag about what achievements they've gotten. it's like, ok, so now you wasted your time doing something difficult and dont have anything to show for it but something shiny, all it proves is that you've got way too much time on your hands.it's really, really lame to brag aboutsomething you do in a game anyways, but at least with unlockables you're enriching the experience, not just finding something to do becausethe game wasn't long or big enough. this doesnt include all games with achievements of course, but i think achievements should be unlocked through the course of the game instead of after, its a lame way to lengthen a game.

anyways, i am for unlockables. i love exploring, mybe testing some things in a game, and being rewarded for doing it. i get most of my achievements by accident, cant say ive ever really tried for them. and its cool to push a game a little bit and be rewarded with something new for doing it.

this post wasnt to anyone in particular, just my thoughts on the matter. ive always loved unlockables and im sharing why. ^^^ completely sucks about Cars tho, i completely agree with that, codes are lame, and putting them in each time is even worse. i havent really heard of that much since the N64 days tho

Achivements are great becuase say if theres a really hard one like "kill 10,000 zombies" in dead rising and you get it. That means you can brag about it to your friends who dont have it and you've completed something thATS challenging. In some games like halo, if you get certain achievements you "unlock" armour and crap like that. achievements arent just "numbers"that dont do anything like some Hardcore Nintendo fanboys say they are. Achievements are about pride, selfishness, and braging rights.

Unlockables are good too, dont get me wrong. i'm not a hardcore xbox fanboy were i'm going to tell you the xbox is the best. its just achievements are'nt as useless as some people say the are. they give me motivation to play a game constantly. Unlockables are like that too,motivation to play the game more, but just like achievements, once you get them all are you still going to play?

sonynhater

Some Wii games have acheivements/trophies, they're just not labeled as such. Wario Land: Shake It, for example, has a set of difficult achievements for each level. Punch-Out!! is going to be the same way. Acheivements are nice, but not quite as satisfying as an unlockable. When I unlock dry bones bowser on Mario Kart, or get a star next to my name, I play online and show the world my accomplishments. When I get an acheivement I'm like...cool! Now what?

I like acheivements, don't get me wrong. The acheivements in Mega Man 9, for example, keep me coming back for more after all these months.But if push comes to shove, I'd rather have unlockables any day. What's the point of playing Super Smash Bros if all the characters, levels, and custom-creator pieces are already unlocked? It gives me little reason to come back to the game after the novelty hasworn off.

The unlockables in games are almost always optional, and the ones that aren't are pretty easy to unlock.

Unlockables just give more incentive for those who do want to play the game more fully. Even if it's just a sticker or something, an unlockable is a better reward than just a number or meaningless trophy.

Both? I really enjoyed playing Clive Barkers Jericho it was an excellent game and if you beat it on hard you would unlock the bestiary. I really do not care about achievemnts but when you unlock something with it too they become pretty fun to get.

craigalan23

I thought i was the only person who liked this game?

Relating to the above and the topic, ilike unlockables but agree with how annoying certain ones can be. As for achievement's and trophies or whatever, i do like to unlock things anyway, even if it is as simple as a charactergallery or something like that.

In the end, i prefer unlockables. I like to unlock new features and whatever in games.

[QUOTE="stike22"]Brawl for instance...imagine that without unlockables...would it have been as good? I doubt it. Mario Galaxy when you complete it with Mario you unlock Luigi.Skie7

[QUOTE="stike22"]Brawl for instance...imagine that without unlockables...would it have been as good? I doubt it. Mario Galaxy when you complete it with Mario you unlock Luigi.Skie7

I agree. I'm fine with unlockables if it doesn't affect anybody's enjoyment of the core gameplay. SSBB at its core is a multiplayer fighting game with well-known Nintendo characters. So for people who simply wants to do that (pop in the game after a very long day or play over at a friend's house), it sucks because half the roster is not immediately available. What's worst is that you have to grind through a tedious, drawnout story mode to unlock the characters...which is not what the game is about.

Just so it doesn't sound that I'm completely ragging on SSBB, I really like its VC demo unlockables. They are awesome rewards! But they don't affect the core SSBB gameplay at all. Why not have more of those? So instead of having to unlock Sonic, you unlock Sonic 1 or 2.

-----

SMG is great because it works in so many levels and appeals all sorts of gamers.

If you're a baby and cannot hold the wiimote and nunchuck at the same time, that fine. You can be the co-star!

If you're a casual player or aren't great at platforming, that's fine. You don't have to collect all the stars to finish the game. You can do the easy levels and have a blast at it.

If you're a hardcore player, awesome! You can collect all 240 stars, unlock Luigi, etc...

The unlockables in SMG are optional and doesn't affect the core gameplay.

It was nice that the game usually had two ways to unlock the most important features of the game. But I still would prefer the game to allow me to brawl with my friends with everyone unlocked right out of the box. I'm glad the experience you wanted out of the game was what Nintendo provided though... it was lacking from my perspective. It's ok we can disagree. [QUOTE="kardine"]

Most of the time unlockables are done right. Most gamers do not want everything put on the plate. The reason why most games have these unlockables is because the majority likes a challenge. It encourages people to play hard mode instead of easy. Your portrayal of unloackables is invalid. Most games unlockables are very easy to get and not nearly as burdonesome as you make it.

raahsnavj

I am sorry but you are in the minority when it comes to this thinking but there are games where there is nothing to explore.

kardine

If I said that should not happen I am sorry but I am always pro options. I think a code for younger kids and anyone who overexaggerates how hard it is to unlock something is fine. You said you want games to have nothing to unlock if its a character or a stage.

Really most unlockables are unlocked if you merely play the game so this whole discussion falls at the waist side. A game like Cars should not have a ton of unlockables and if they do they should be simple and intuitive enough for a 5 year old.

I am not saying every game needs unlockables, games geared toward younger crowds should be appropriate for the age, but that does not mean they have to dumb down games that may still apeal to a younger crowd but is not directed at them.

I never said games for that type of gamer should be like that, I said games like SSBB and hardcore racing games benefit alot from challenging you. I am not playing for unlockables but they are a great compliment.

Unlockables actually affect the game and can mostly enhance it.

I can understand what you're saying about being practically forced to unlock something to fully enjoy it, but that's not always the case.

Getting things in games like extra weapons or characters or special skills can make them a lot more fun and unlocking them can be fun too.

When you get an achievement/trophy, you just get an indication that you did something and, that's it.

There's not much satisfaction for that. So I think unlockables are better.

Unlockables are annoying. SSBB for example. I want to make my own map, but until I unlock a ton of stuff the map editor is pretty useless. Rock Band, I got RB2 on release, we took it home and planned on having some fun, but instead we were forced to unlock the songs we wanted to play in the first place... Unlockables are a hinderance to enjoying the full game. It punishes people that want to get to the full experience right out of the box, unless of course the unlockables are as useless as achievements. I prefer the full game to be available right out of the box, then if I really enjoy the game I can try to achieve or unlock the useless crap (like costumes or reskins) just because it's there...raahsnavj

on the other hand, alot of people enjoy unlocking things. if i started SSBB with all 35 characters, and all the stages, doing all the other stuff in the game would have been alot less fun. its the same for mario kart. it really feels like beating 150cc means something when the game rewards you for doing so, not with some "good job" achievment sticker, but with something i actually care about.

Unlockables actually affect the game and can mostly enhance it.

I can understand what you're saying about being practically forced to unlock something to fully enjoy it, but that's not always the case.

Getting things in games like extra weapons or characters or special skills can make them a lot more fun and unlocking them can be fun too.

When you get an achievement/trophy, you just get an indication that you did something and, that's it.

There's not much satisfaction for that. So I think unlockables are better.

So your saying Brawl would have been better if everything would have been unlocked...that would have made single player **** and the game would have died in what? a week, leaving the only worthwhile thing in the game the multiplayer. Honestly why do people care for achievements?stike22

The single player in Brawl really wasn't that fun. It wasn't good from a brawler aspect and was even worse as a platformer. Being forced to play the 10-15 hours to unlock the roster is stupid. If they want to make music, bios, and all the other crap from Brawl as unlockables; that's fine because it doesn't have that big of an impact on the game. That gives you, your unlockables you can grind forever to get. I even suggested having 5 locked characters, they can just require more grinding to get to them.

Also, is there really much gameplay to Brawl beyond the multiplayer? If you and 2-3 buddies aren't beating the snot out of each other then the game gets old really fast.

I don't know why people want achievements. I don't care about them, but they're much less likely to mess with my gaming experience.

[QUOTE="raahsnavj"]Unlockables are annoying. SSBB for example. I want to make my own map, but until I unlock a ton of stuff the map editor is pretty useless. Rock Band, I got RB2 on release, we took it home and planned on having some fun, but instead we were forced to unlock the songs we wanted to play in the first place... Unlockables are a hinderance to enjoying the full game. It punishes people that want to get to the full experience right out of the box, unless of course the unlockables are as useless as achievements. I prefer the full game to be available right out of the box, then if I really enjoy the game I can try to achieve or unlock the useless crap (like costumes or reskins) just because it's there...the_wet_mop

on the other hand, alot of people enjoy unlocking things. if i started SSBB with all 35 characters, and all the stages, doing all the other stuff in the game would have been alot less fun. its the same for mario kart. it really feels like beating 150cc means something when the game rewards you for doing so, not with some "good job" achievment sticker, but with something i actually care about.

I want both dammit :evil:

[QUOTE="the_wet_mop"]

[QUOTE="raahsnavj"]Unlockables are annoying. SSBB for example. I want to make my own map, but until I unlock a ton of stuff the map editor is pretty useless. Rock Band, I got RB2 on release, we took it home and planned on having some fun, but instead we were forced to unlock the songs we wanted to play in the first place... Unlockables are a hinderance to enjoying the full game. It punishes people that want to get to the full experience right out of the box, unless of course the unlockables are as useless as achievements. I prefer the full game to be available right out of the box, then if I really enjoy the game I can try to achieve or unlock the useless crap (like costumes or reskins) just because it's there...Skie7

on the other hand, alot of people enjoy unlocking things. if i started SSBB with all 35 characters, and all the stages, doing all the other stuff in the game would have been alot less fun. its the same for mario kart. it really feels like beating 150cc means something when the game rewards you for doing so, not with some "good job" achievment sticker, but with something i actually care about.

Unless you have a PS3 or 360 and actually play through games with achievements, you are uninformed and therefore should stop arguing.

I used to think achievements were stupid before the PS3 patch (2.40?) that introduced trophies, but since then trophies have actually been one of my favorite parts of the game. Sure you can't do anything with them, but it adds hours of replay value to certain games. Example: Dead Space. Play through the game using only one gun. You don't get anything afterwards for doing it (other than a trophy), but it's still fun while you're doing it. It adds an extra challenge if you want it and if you don't want to do it, don't. Another example from Dead Space (and a few other games) is kill 30 (or so) enemies using each weapon in the game. You get to spend more time getting familiar with the game and the tools the developers put in it. If Dead Space didn't have that trophy I probably never would have used half the guns in the game since just a couple guns are all you need.

I'm not saying trophies/achievements are better than unlockables. I'm just saying that they actually DO increase the amount of gameplay in a game IF you want them to.

Picture if you will...

*Unlocks Sonic*

"YEAHSONICSONISONISONICBLUESTREAKSPEEDZBUY"

* Unlocks Trophy*

"Cool......What do I do with it exactly?

brawls unlocking sucks. melees was so much better, i like actually TRYING to unlock characters, i dont want them handed to me. garrett_duffman

[QUOTE="garrett_duffman"]brawls unlocking sucks. melees was so much better, i like actually TRYING to unlock characters, i dont want them handed to me. Lto_thaG