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Amiibo Wolf Link to unlock a new dungeon in Twilight Princess HD ?

Nintendo fan here that does not care at all about Amiibo's.
It's fine that they unlock a skin, but not gameplay.

If Nintendo is going down the locking gameplay unless you get an amiibo path.
I think I might be on the road to not supporting Nintendo.

They have to make money somehow.

The Wii U sold 2 units.
 

papo

Member
15 page thread out of a one sentence unofficial announcement.

office_space_kit_mat-213x325.jpg
 
I'll preface this by saying I dislike their use in STEAM (or any Amiibo implementation that blocks a character/maps) but, having used them, I can't see them actually being sold as DLC without a good bit more work done to them to make them actually useful. They are absolutely terrible after the first handful of chapters as they lack basically everything the rest of the cast brings (nor do they have any story related dialogue or existence), and are simply strictly inferior to any member of the cast after a few backpack upgrades (and completely useless against the best characters like Fox). At least with the figure (and being able to trade them around at Uni), its gives that mental illusion of "oh its just a side bonus to this toy".

Now, as just free unlockables? Ya I could see them being in there as easter eggs. Their only redeeming value is their voice work and weapon animations. This is probably where you could question if they'd ever be greenlit, though, as an addition since its not just a re-skin, they did make models and voice overs for them at least.

Its a mess, and a rock and a hard place for Nintendo in what to do with the things now that they became inexplicably popular but effectively useless. I'd prefer if every implementation were Yoshi/SMM, rather than STEAM/Splatoon and certainly not MP10 or AC:AF.

Yeah, the conversations around Amiibo content often gets weird in that -- in their caution not to go overboard with what they do -- there's this weird back and forth about the implications of Amiibo. Here's where I'm at: I don't mind DLC, but I don't want to have to buy toys to get it due to the fact that you're paying a markup to get the figure. I don't want the Amiibo. I care about game content. But then the conversation often goes something like this:

"It's bullshit that they're locking content behind the Amiibo."

"Don't worry, the content is actually not great anyway. The real hook is the toy."

Which is fine. But I think there's a real threat that as Amiibos continue to be popular, Nintendo is going to feel pressure to make them more worthwhile. As I noted earlier, they've already publicly signaled this would be the case.

What would I like to see? I think it's fine to use Amiibos as DLC unlocks so long as there's a traditional alternative for those of us that aren't Amiibo collectors. Imagine being able to buy the Cloud Amiibo to unlock Cloud in Smash, but still being able to pay only $6 on the eShop if you have no desire to own the Amiibo. That's the best compromise I think.
 

TheChaos

Member
I highly doubt this unlockable is going to be a full-length dungeon, people. It's probably some enemy gauntlet cave that's like three rooms long. Not worth the 10 dollars or whatever for the Amiibo.
 

geordiemp

Member
There were several people in this thread who were complaining but admitted they don't own Wii Us. .

I played the game on Wii, but dont own a WiiU. So what.

However, I will make a noise to who ever starts the damn disgusting practice of content on Disk that unlocks when you show us the money.

Dont care who that is, Nintendo, EA, MS, Sony, Ubisoft, and i dont care if I am buying that game or not.

As gamers we need to stamp it out before it comes common place...If Nintendo gets away with it, then I am scared stiff what Activision or EA will consider next if the market allows this shit.

And if, as gamers, its accepted, then we know where it started...the ugly times are coming...Maybe in 5 years a disk will have the first level, and we have to play for each level with a key...Yuk

And posters referring to this as DLC, its not DLC, its coded on the disk. DLC is OK if its done post release. Goodness, giving Nintendo a pass here is nuts, if this was EA the world would be on fire right now.
 

Diffense

Member
"Wanting to collect figurines" strikes me as a terrible criterion for gating video game content in a video game.

Look, if this were a one time thing, for a specific video game, I'd turn my nose at it but I'd move on. But Amiibo is a company-wide initiative for Nintendo. They're clearly still experimenting with the best way to leverage it into their intellectual property. And because so much of the remaining Nintendo audience is the hardest of the hardcore, they're having a lot of success pushing Amiibos. I'm not even mad about Twilight Princess in particular, to be honest. I don't even know if I plan to buy it. But this won't be the last time Nintendo does something like this, and it certainly won't be the most egregious case.

Nintendo's business model appears to be shifting in a direction far fucking away from my interests. I think I have a right to express my concern about that.

Well, I think it's a bit early to assume that "it certainly won't be the most egregious". All amiibo unockables have been minor bonus content so far. TBH, I understand that Nintendo wants to create value for amiibo owners. I doubt that the (millions of) people who love the figures are complaining that they unlock some extras in games.

I played the game on Wii, but dont own a WiiU. So what.

However, I will make a noise to who ever starts the damn disgusting practice of content on Disk that unlocks when you show us the money.

Dont care who that is, Nintendo, EA, MS, Sony, Ubisoft, and i dont care if I am buying that game or not.

As gamers we need to stamp it out before it comes common place...If Nintendo gets away with it, then I am scared stiff what Activision or EA will consider next if the market allows this shit.

And if, as gamers, its accepted, then we know where it started...the ugly times are coming...Maybe in 5 years a disk will have the first level, and we have to play for each level with a key...Yuk

Yeah, they'll start asking for organ donations to play the final boss.
 

BriGuy

Member
Yeah, the conversations around Amiibo content often gets weird in that -- in their caution not to go overboard with what they do -- there's this weird back and forth about the implications of Amiibo. Here's where I'm at: I don't mind DLC, but I don't want to have to buy toys to get it due to the fact that you're paying a markup to get the figure. I don't want the Amiibo. I care about game content. But then the conversation often goes something like this:

"It's bullshit that they're locking content behind the Amiibo."

"Don't worry, the content is actually not great anyway. The real hook is the toy."

Which is fine. But I think there's a real threat that as Amiibos continue to be popular, Nintendo is going to feel pressure to make them more worthwhile. As I noted earlier, they've already publicly signaled this would be the case.

What would I like to see? I think it's fine to use Amiibos as DLC unlocks so long as there's a traditional alternative for those of us that aren't Amiibo collectors. Imagine being able to buy the Cloud Amiibo to unlock Cloud in Smash, but still being able to pay only $6 on the eShop if you have no desire to own the Amiibo. That's the best compromise I think.
I agree wholeheartedly. I wouldn't mind paying for worthwhile DLC the traditional route, but tying it to a figurine would make me think twice. I don't want the extra clutter.
 
Well, I think it's a bit early to assume that "it certainly won't be the most egregious". All amiibo unockables have been minor bonus content so far. TBH, I understand that Nintendo wants to create value for amiibo owners. I doubt that the people who love the figures are complaining that they unlock some extras in games.

I stand by that statement. They have to find out what the market can bear.

And to that last statement, like...duh. People who like Amiibos like getting stuff from their Amiibos. I don't like Amiibos, and I feel like Nintendo, at least in some small way, is leaving me behind in pursuit of another audience.
 
I think instead of doing this shit in their games it would be better to make a game centered around all their amiibo like skylanders or Disney infinity and just keep most the unlockable stuff there outside of cosmetic stuff
Well, I think it's a bit early to assume that "it certainly won't be the most egregious". All amiibo unockables have been minor bonus content so far. TBH, I understand that Nintendo wants to create value for amiibo owners. I doubt that the people who love the figures are complaining that they unlock some extras in games.
The shovel knight amiibo unlocked co op mode. I don't think that's very minor.
 

Camjo-Z

Member
Honestly, and I say this as someone who likes (and owns a shameful amount of) amiibo, Nintendo should really consider selling these kinds of bonuses through amiibo and as DLC on the eShop at a slight discount. It's clear that they're only going to be doing more of this in the future, and it's pretty silly for people to be blocked from accessing bonus content they want to play just because they don't want to clutter up their house with figurines or because they can't even find the figure they need at a reasonable price.
 
I don't think the bundles are going to be hard to get at all. I'm still seeing Wooly world + Yarn yoshi bundles everywhere, in addition to mario party + mario bundles. If you'll have the amiibo anyway, what's the issue?
 
I played the game on Wii, but dont own a WiiU. So what.

However, I will make a noise to who ever starts the damn disgusting practice of content on Disk that unlocks when you show us the money.

Dont care who that is, Nintendo, EA, MS, Sony, Ubisoft, and i dont care if I am buying that game or not.

As gamers we need to stamp it out before it comes common place...If Nintendo gets away with it, then I am scared stiff what Activision or EA will consider next if the market allows this shit.

And if, as gamers, its accepted, then we know where it started...the ugly times are coming...Maybe in 5 years a disk will have the first level, and we have to play for each level with a key...Yuk
It's an amiibo thing, don't think you have to worry about it if you aren't planning on getting the game nor the platform it's on.
And it's content tied to a figure that's bundled in with the release and I don't think there's another way to get it.
 

Vena

Member
Yeah, the conversations around Amiibo content often gets weird in that -- in their caution not to go overboard with what they do -- there's this weird back and forth about the implications of Amiibo. Here's where I'm at: I don't mind DLC, but I don't want to have to buy toys to get it due to the fact that you're paying a markup to get the figure. I don't want the Amiibo. I care about game content. But then the conversation often goes something like this:

"It's bullshit that they're locking content behind the Amiibo."

"Don't worry, the content is actually not great anyway. The real hook is the toy."

Which is fine. But I think there's a real threat that as Amiibos continue to be popular, Nintendo is going to feel pressure to make them more worthwhile. As I noted earlier, they've already publicly signaled this would be the case.

I don't think they're unaware of the discussion at Nintendo, either. I think that's why we get these almost shotgun sprays of approaches. It feels like, unless the game is basically tailor made for easy inclusion or excuses like skins in SMM, Yoshi, or Mario Kart (or the Picross and Style Savvy additions), they have a hard time coming up with something useless yet useful. This leads to things like the STEAM FE characters who are useless but "want to haves", Splatoon's stages which are... effectively nothing but the skins are desirable, or the AI inclusions in Smash or Ultra Smash.

There's no consistency as a lot of it feels like a "try and see" approach. The biggest locks have all failed (MP10, AC:AF), at least.

What would I like to see? I think it's fine to use Amiibos as DLC unlocks so long as there's a traditional alternative for those of us that aren't Amiibo collectors. Imagine being able to buy the Cloud Amiibo to unlock Cloud in Smash, but still being able to pay only $6 on the eShop if you have no desire to own the Amiibo. That's the best compromise I think.

I agree with this but then I think they are afraid of the perceived value of owners of amiibo being undercut.

The shovel knight amiibo unlocked co op mode. I don't think that's very minor.

Take that one up with YCG.
 
I'm of the opinion that most amiibo content wouldn't have been made without the existent of amiibos, but I feel the easy solution would be just to make the amiibo content available for purchase digitally at a reduced price. I honestly don't see many downsides to this route.
 

NeonZ

Member
And I'll note that I'm not waving the giant rallying flag of anti-consumerism here. It just seems kind of weird to me the ways in which we can sometimes try to draw lines in the sand in terms of which paid DLC is and isn't bullshit. It's odd to think that they'd have never have considered Fire Emblem guest stars in their game if not to incentivize the purchase of $13 toys.

Well, it's probably not "never", but I'd say it'd be pretty unlikely. FE itself never had past character guests before Awakening, and in that case it was because it was planned as a celebration of the series as a whole and possibly final game. Come Fates, and there are
three returning characters from Awakening integrated into the main story
but the only extra guests are the four Amiibo and three Cipher (card game) tie ins.

Also, paradoxically, although the guests in Fates have significantly higher production value than the Awakening guests, they were deliberately crippled in some ways compared to the real cast - to the point that they miss one of the gameplay mechanics of the Awakening ones. They also implemented 3 Awakening characters as npcs for one free DLC chapter (including the most popular male and one of the most popular females), and yet the player can't recruit them. There were also never guest FE appearances in Paper Mario or Advance Wars, for example.

I think if you look at Nintendo's line up overall - they're much more guest and crossover happy now that they have the Amiibos to market than they ever were in the past. Of course, that attitude change isn't mechanically connected to the Amiibos and could happen without them, like Monster Hunter or Bayonetta show, but I don't think there's anything indicating that they would do it if it weren't for the Amiibo push.

Of course, this case here is a completely different matter, since the dungeon is an extra TP dungeon with a TP Amiibo, so it's likely just TP based content that might have existed or not with or without Amiibo.

This leads to things like the STEAM FE characters who are useless but "want to haves", Splatoon's stages which are... effectively nothing but the skins are desirable, or the

I think they were just a very rushed addition, which is why they're very unbalanced. Marth goes from useless to game breaking depending on the level design due to his special ability but being limited to melee, Ike is just useless all the time, but Robin is pretty decent and Lucina is actually great.
 
I'm of the opinion that most amiibo content wouldn't have been made without the existent of amiibos, but I feel the easy solution would be just to make the amiibo content available for purchase digitally at a reduced price. I honestly don't see many downsides to this route.
I guess the issue would be how the amiibo works. You read/write date off of the figure, and we don't know what it does in this game but we know it ties into Zelda U.
 
It's Nintendo, so they'll get a pass while the people who criticise DLC like this will be told it's not the same thing. But it is. In fact it's worse, because it's more expensive and the resell value of an Amiibo will never add up.
 

Somnid

Member
I played the game on Wii, but dont own a WiiU. So what.

However, I will make a noise to who ever starts the damn disgusting practice of content on Disk that unlocks when you show us the money.

Dont care who that is, Nintendo, EA, MS, Sony, Ubisoft, and i dont care if I am buying that game or not.

As gamers we need to stamp it out before it comes common place...If Nintendo gets away with it, then I am scared stiff what Activision or EA will consider next if the market allows this shit.

And if, as gamers, its accepted, then we know where it started...the ugly times are coming...Maybe in 5 years a disk will have the first level, and we have to play for each level with a key...Yuk

And posters referring to this as DLC, its not DLC, its coded on the disk. DLC is OK if its done post release.

This whole scenario wouldn't change with or without Amiibo, you'll be lucky to still have any physical media next gen.
 

Draxal

Member
Well, it's probably not "never", but I'd say it'd be pretty unlikely. FE itself never had past character guests before Awakening, and in that case it was because it was planned as a celebration of the series as a whole.

Come Fates, and there are
three returning characters from Awakening integrated into the main story
but the only extra guests are the four Amiibo and three Cipher (card game) tie ins. They even implemented 3 Awakening characters as npcs for one DLC chapter (including the most popular male and one of the most popular females), and yet the player can't recruit them.

Also, paradoxically, although the guests in Fates have significantly higher production value than the Awakening guests, they were deliberately crippled in some ways compared to the real cast - to the point that they miss one of the gameplay mechanics of the Awakening ones. There were also never guest FE appearances in Paper Mario or Advance Wars, for example.

I think if you look at Nintendo's line up overall - they're much more guest and crossover happy now that they have the Amiibos to market than they ever were in the past. Of course, that attitude change isn't mechanically connected to the Amiibos and could happen without them, like Monster Hunter or Bayonetta show, but I don't think there's anything indicating that they would do it if it weren't for the Amiibo push.

Gaiden had 4, and it depends on what you considered guest characters for Thracia.
 
I guess the issue would be how the amiibo works. You read/write date off of the figure, and we don't know what it does in this game but we know it ties into Zelda U.
This is a good point, but unless it's something like Smash Bros. where every person's Wolf Link amiibo is meant to be unique, Nintendo could offer a separate purchase for Zelda Wii U that unlocks whatever the amiibo was meant to unlock in the same way an online purchase could unlock this dungeon in Twilight Princess.

But as you said, we don't know how it works in these two particular games yet, so it remains to be seen whether the content is something that depends on amiibo and could not have a workaround without it.
 

Diffense

Member
And to that last statement, like...duh. People who like Amiibos like getting stuff from their Amiibos. I don't like Amiibos, and I feel like Nintendo, at least in some small way, is leaving me behind in pursuit of another audience.

Listen, I could imagine a scenario where amiibo use becomes excessive but I don't think it's necessarily inevitable because that would ultimately damage business. Perhaps Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival's bomba is a canary in the coalmine that Nintendo will be wise to heed.

However,as someone who doesn't collect amiibos, I can't be upset with the general approach they've been taking with major games. I don't take the view that NO CONTENT should require amiibos because I understand that Nintendo wants the figures to seem valuable to those who have them.
 

benjammin

Member
Yikes. I really, really shouldn't have to buy gaggles of shitty action figures to play 100% of a game. Not liking this trend at all, especially with a brand new console around the corner.
 

NeonZ

Member
Gaiden had 4, and it depends on what you considered guest characters for Thracia.

I'd place the Gaiden ones in the same category as spoilered characters above. They're part of the main story, even if they aren't protagonists, not optional guests. They were also all originally supporting characters too, rather than previous protagonists, and their selection is at least partially tied to that - so you have the 3 pegasus sisters returning in Gaiden and
3 second gen characters in Fates.
The 4th returning character in Gaiden is pretty random though, but he was technically even more integrated into the game's story.

FE5 definitely isn't comparable at all, considering how its whole point is being a side-story and prequel to a specific chapter of FE4, and FE4 characters are the only ones from other FEs making appearances there. Obviously, a prequel, side-story or sequel would have returning characters. But you didn't get Ephraim randomly popping up in Path of Radiance or Eliwood in Sacred Stones. The old FE characters in Awakening (aside from Tiki and Anna) and the Amiibo or Cipher characters in Fates are a whole different matter, since their appearance is there just for their inclusion itself, without any ties to the actual plot.
 

Mory Dunz

Member
Yeah, the conversations around Amiibo content often gets weird in that -- in their caution not to go overboard with what they do -- there's this weird back and forth about the implications of Amiibo. Here's where I'm at: I don't mind DLC, but I don't want to have to buy toys to get it due to the fact that you're paying a markup to get the figure. I don't want the Amiibo. I care about game content. But then the conversation often goes something like this:

"It's bullshit that they're locking content behind the Amiibo."

"Don't worry, the content is actually not great anyway. The real hook is the toy."

Which is fine. But I think there's a real threat that as Amiibos continue to be popular, Nintendo is going to feel pressure to make them more worthwhile. As I noted earlier, they've already publicly signaled this would be the case.

What would I like to see? I think it's fine to use Amiibos as DLC unlocks so long as there's a traditional alternative for those of us that aren't Amiibo collectors. Imagine being able to buy the Cloud Amiibo to unlock Cloud in Smash, but still being able to pay only $6 on the eShop if you have no desire to own the Amiibo. That's the best compromise I think.

I honestly think they're "forcing" amiibo (as in not having an alternate for the content) to expand the userbase, whether it's unwilling buyers or not.
...To eventually release a amiibo centric game when enough people already have amiibo. People said this should've existed at launch, but maybe the inital pricepoint would've been too steep and that "game" would've bombed. So they're trying to get people to buy amiibo through all sorts of things like this, so that when that amii game exists (maybe on the next console), the toys will already be in consumers hands. That's why I think they're not letting people just buy and download the DLC. For future amiibo centric projects. Not saying it's good or bad, just my opinion.
 
Nice extras for the amiibo this time. I personally love extra content courtesy of amiibos, as I buy them first as a collectible; additional unlockable content is just icing on the cake.

The only thing Nintendo might do to appease those who deem amiibo as evil, is sell the amiibo content separately. Then everyone would be happy.
 

Vena

Member
I honestly think they're "forcing" amiibo (as in not having an alternate for the content) to expand the userbase, whether it's unwilling buyers or not.
...To eventually release a amiibo centric game when enough people already have amiibo. People said this should've existed at launch, but maybe the inital pricepoint would've been too steep and that "game" would've bombed. So they're trying to get people to buy amiibo through all sorts of things like this, so that when that amii game exists (maybe on the next console), the toys will already be in consumers hands. That's why I think they're not letting people just buy and download the DLC. For future amiibo centric projects. Not saying it's good or bad, just my opinion.

I doubt it. I think you'll just start seeing more things like Tap, or the new Mario & Friends games, which will be free-to-play additions that work to "enrich" the library for owners of Amiibo. The Tap one has seemingly been popular with kids/families and Amiibos as it gives them little demo-chunks of old games.
 
It's Nintendo, so they'll get a pass while the people who criticise DLC like this will be told it's not the same thing. But it is. In fact it's worse, because it's more expensive and the resell value of an Amiibo will never add up.

And you can count on the content not being worth the value. 15 dollar gated plastic dlc that might be used in less then a handful of games. A lot of the DLC is akin to pre-order bonus dlcs, just sold behind a figure.
 

NFLO

Neo Member
I. Wow. Any progress on hacking the Wii U?. Haha. If the whole locking on disc DLC thing is going to happen then I'd rather get around and not support dumb practices like this if it is indeed true. Hopefully not though cause I don't think Nintendo would stoop to a crappy level like this and If it is true then I'm expecting a lot of talk on youtube about it.
 
I. Wow. Any progress on hacking the Wii U?. Haha. If the whole locking on disc DLC thing is going to happen then I'd rather get around and not support dumb practices like this if it is indeed true. Hopefully not though cause I don't think Nintendo would stoop to a crappy level like this and If it is true then I'm expecting a lot of talk on youtube about it.

So you're suggesting on pirating the content because you don't agree with Nintendo rewarding amiibo collectors?
 

shauntu

Member
I stand by that statement. They have to find out what the market can bear.

And to that last statement, like...duh. People who like Amiibos like getting stuff from their Amiibos. I don't like Amiibos, and I feel like Nintendo, at least in some small way, is leaving me behind in pursuit of another audience.

I think that's a pretty fair statement.

One thing I haven't seen mention of, is that people could still buy the game with the amiibo, unlock the dungeon, and then sell the amiibo. Or borrow the amiibo from a friend and unlock the dungeon, then return it to the friend. Kind of makes it different from traditional DLC, doesn't it.
 
I couldn't care less about the Amiibo stuff. I'm just glad there's a Hero Mode.

Twilight Princess is so pathetically easy that it is actually to its detriment. Didn't the final boss only damage like a quarter of a heart or something?
 

PtM

Banned
I couldn't care less about the Amiibo stuff. I'm just glad there's a Hero Mode.

Twilight Princess is so pathetically easy that it is actually to its detriment. Didn't the final boss only damage like a quarter of a heart or something?
Yeah, it needs Martyr Mode, not Hero Mode.
 

Vena

Member
I couldn't care less about the Amiibo stuff. I'm just glad there's a Hero Mode.

Twilight Princess is so pathetically easy that it is actually to its detriment. Didn't the final boss only damage like a quarter of a heart or something?

Yes, haha.
 

NFLO

Neo Member
So you're suggesting on pirating the content because you don't agree with Nintendo rewarding amiibo collectors?

If by "pirating" you mean unlocking content that's already on the disc but locked away even though I payed for it then absolutely!. I'll gladly unlock content that's already on the disc I bought :). This is of course only if this turns out to be true though which I hope not. It'd be pretty disappointing if true.
 

L.O.R.D

Member
I bet the dungeon was already there in the original game, but got sealed because it was not complete, now it's completed , the amiibo will unlock that dungeon.
 

methodman

Banned
Probably already mentioned, but NintendoEverything updated their article with this:

Update: The paragraph containing the amiibo info has been removed from the product listing. Looks like Nintendo gave Amazon a slap on the wrist.
 
Yeah, it needs Martyr Mode, not Hero Mode.

No it needs a secondary mode option:

  • Amiibo Compatible Mode
  • This practice upsets me deeply and I feel that I should have access to this content despite being unkown in it's length, complexity, design etc. so I am going to act like a whole game is hidden behind it Nintendo always get away with this bullshit Mode

In the latter mode the game starts up and when you're meant to transform into Wolf Link for the first time you instead turn into a Wolf Link Amiibo and the game crashes.
 
I couldn't care less about the Amiibo stuff. I'm just glad there's a Hero Mode.

Twilight Princess is so pathetically easy that it is actually to its detriment. Didn't the final boss only damage like a quarter of a heart or something?

TP was such an underwhelming game because of how freakishly easy it was. Both in enemy/boss encounters and in puzzle design. I think it needs more than just a Hero Mode to help it. It needs a Master Quest.
 
TP was such an underwhelming game because of how freakishly easy it was. Both in enemy/boss encounters and in puzzle design. I think it needs more than just a Hero Mode to help it.

I very highly recommend people try to beat Twilight Princess without unlocking any of the Hidden Skills apart from the mandatory one. It by no means becomes a challenging game, but it at least adds a bit of edge that's missing if you use all the Hidden Skills.
 
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