| t3mporary_126 said: All content in Nintendo games that could be accessed by Amiibo scan does not magically write new codes into the game. The games already have the code for the Amiibo feature but Nintendo is forcefully locking the content away unless you buy their $10-$13 amiibo. Initially, this wasn't really a big deal. The game that launched the Amiibo was Super Smash Bros 4 Wii U. It allowed Amiibo collectors to scan in their toys to have a tag team computer that you could fight and train with you. This was a pretty cool feature that was locked away and some people were upset about it but it didn't really impact the game in significant way. You could still unlock all the characters and play against your friends and even forget this was a feature at all. Mario Kart 8 continued this trend by only locking away special costumes. While this did impact the game aesthetically, the fundamental part of driving around courses was not locked away. But then we get to games like Mario Party 10 and Splatoon where entire modes and a few selection of weapons were already programmed in the game but could only be unlocked by Amiibo. In Splatoon's defense, although weapons are fundamental part in Splatoon's online gameplay, the game offered a bunch of free weapons from its launch to this month and the locked challenge levels weren't that great either. But in Mario Party 10's case, a whole different game mode already programmed into the game could only be unlocked with an Amiibo. How is this not on disc dlc? Nintendo may have noticed this so they decided to give the title a budget $50 price but the bundle with the Amiibo is $60. But the biggest offender of Amiibo has to do with Nintendo's latest Zelda remaster. And I'm not upset about the Wolf-Link amiibo functionality. I'm upset about another Amiibo locking a funadmental part of the game. The Ganondorf Amiibo:
Fans that love Amiibo will be thrilled to see that this game gives them the option to engage in a masochist difficult setting where any game mode from normal or Hero will let you take 2x more damage from enemies. That's great! For amiibo collectors.... What about us conservative gamers who only care about buying games and not plastic figures? Nintendo is locking a difficulty setting, a fundamental aspect of gameplay, already programmed into the game with this Amiibo! Why is this allowed? I think it's at this point we can safely say Amiibo is as a bad as on disc dlc. What do you guys think? Do recent and past Amiibo functionality show that Nintendo is using them as on disc dlc? |
Let me see if I'm understanding correctly.
You're upset because they added features to a game (Mario Party 10) that wouldn't have existed if not for Amiibo, specifically to give amiibo more functionality, because it means you don't automatically get access to that mode?
And you're upset because an amiibo unlocks a tiny bit of code that basically just says "double the amount of damage taken" for all damage, a bit of code that took little if any work to add, but that they only thought to add because of the amiibo?
The problem with on-disc dlc is that the content was ready for launch, but they only gave you access to it through an online shop. That locks out people who don't have an internet connection, as well as future access to the content once the shop servers go down. Amiibo has neither of these problems. The point of paid dlc is to provide people with additional content developed after launch (or rather, after the game "goes gold").
Nintendo has been quite consistent with their attitude to amiibo - either the game unlocks little bonuses that are just little gifts for having the amiibo (eg/ Mario Kart 8 Mii outfits, free weapons/rupees/etc in Hyrule Warriors, Mario Maker's quick unlock of outfits, or Splatoon having a 'remix' version of the single player with a few little rewards that are just variations on existing weapons/clothes), the game has post-release dlc that is unlocked by amiibo (Hyrule Warriors spinner weapon), or the amiibo actually has a function built into the game (Smash Bros, Mario Party 10, Zelda Twilight Princess). In that last case, there is often additional functionality for an amiibo beyond the one that needs an amiibo to work as intended - so Wolf Link unlocks a special challenge dungeon thing, and also will store some data that will be usable with Zelda U, and Mario Party 10 has data that gets stored in the amiibo and also unlocks the extra game board content in the amiibo mode.
It would be different if they hid an actual story, basic mode, etc behind an amiibo (and no, Mario Party 10's special mode isn't a 'basic mode' - it functions the same as the regular party mode, except for the semi-customisable board). But Nintendo has yet to do that, to my knowledge.
And you can bet that Nintendo will start releasing Amiibo Cards of many of the characters that unlock things in various games, for a fraction of the cost of an amiibo figure - they're just not in a rush to do so, since it'll eat into the profitability of amiibo.
