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You’re tasked with implementing loot boxes into Super Mario Odyssey. What do you do?

vern

Member
Ya’ll do know that Nintendo selling Amiibos to unlock “DLC” is already one of the most anti-consumer practices in the industry right? I wonder how the reaction here would be if I described locking content behind spottily stocked cheap $13 plastic that may be discontinued at some point and is the only means of activating content on a disc you already paid for to you guys.

Don't buy cheap plastic toys. I don't need the dlc. Nintendo puts everything in the game that you need and want already.
 

plank

Member
You’re better off not knowing. The world will seem like a colder, emptier place when you find out...

This is a lootbox (from Overwatch.) It's essentially an in-game card pack. I don't think there's much wrong with lootbox mechanics per say, but it has created a lot of controversy on neogaf recently for some good reasons.

With Overwatch, it is a good way for Blizzard to get income while being committed to the free-update model.

Isn't that like amiibo but setup differently?
 
Lmao at the guys who are super against lootboxes but all of a sudden amiibos are a fucking gray area.

Hey you want all of this extra shit in your game like outfits and even a companion? You need an amiibo. No other way to unlock it. The excuses are even similar. How many times was I told "well you can play the game without it".
 

Fat4all

Banned
I would make one gigantic loot box, the one to top them all!

The customer would pay roughly $10-20 just for one box, and they would know exactly what they were getting inside of it. It would have a new set of zones to explore, new quests and characters, and brand new assets (or remixes on old assets). Included would also be new clothing options, and a few new bosses full designed just for the loot box!

Also, you can only buy the loot box once.
 
Isn’t that why they sell Amiibo cards?
Great so now I need to maintain and pull out a bunch of cards to access said content on disc. Which still suffers from the same stock, availability and convenience issues inherent with Amiibos.

I’m happy there are people that love buying that stuff. But understand just because you happen to love the vessel they’re packaging this heinous practice in, doesn’t make it okay.
 
Isn't that like amiibo but setup differently?

Not really no, because with Amiibo you know exactly what you’re getting. The currently popular loot box systems implement a lottery of sort in which you get randomized items which may or may not be useful, that you may or may not already have, that may or may not be rare. You pay for a chance at something. And you keep paying, and paying, and paying until you get what you’re after.
 
Lmao at the guys who are super against lootboxes but all of a sudden amiibos are a fucking gray area.

Hey you want all of this extra shit in your game like outfits and even a companion? You need an amiibo. No other way to unlock it. The excuses are even similar. How many times was I told "well you can play the game without it".
Yep
Fuck loot boxes
Fuck Amiibos
Always and forever
 
You're insane. Most amiibos are usable over multiple games. Name me one DLC that does that. You also get a physical, official toy for a reasonable price. There IS an issue of stock, but other than that, Amiibos are amazing.

That said, weren't they planning to release like cards to do the same thing that amiibo do anyway?
Amiibo can be cool depending on the execution, but I wouldn't call the fact that getting all armor in BotW will cost... what are we at now, 15 amiibo with exclusive gear? Multiply by $13 and that's $195 (if you were lucky enough to get all of them at MSRP) in amiibo. I wouldn't call that amazing if all you wanted was the gear.

As for the cards, those already exist for Animal Crossing, since that party game requires more amiibo than it would be feasible to make figures. They're not releasing cards for every figure amiibo that exists, that'd be too nice of them.
 

Ogodei

Member
Stamps, decals, stickers. Like getting monograms for Mario's outfits and caps, or posters you can post around the Odyssey ship. Basically more swag like the game already has.

I mean, Nintendo's already got the Badge Arcade for Gatcha style stuff.
 
Lmao at the guys who are super against lootboxes but all of a sudden amiibos are a fucking gray area.

Amiibo aren't microtransactions. It's "physical" DLC. There is a difference.

If you're against the concept of Amiibo, that's fine (I'm not really a fan of them either), but it's not hypocritical to accept one and not the other.
 

Yarbskoo

Member
what

If

I

Dont

Want

More

Plastic

Shit

But I just want the content?

Funny how amiibo defenders never address this, always defaulting to ”but I wanted the toy anyway!" ”Or it's a cool toy for my shelf!"

Buy it for the content, then throw the plastic shit in the trash? Or you could sell it on eBay.
 

SalvaPot

Member
Ya'll do know that Nintendo selling Amiibos to unlock ”DLC" is already one of the most anti-consumer practices in the industry right? I wonder how the reaction here would be if I described locking content behind spottily stocked cheap $13 plastic that may be discontinued at some point and is the only means of activating content on a disc you already paid for to you guys.

Amiibos are toys first, DLC second. At least for me.

But yeah if you don't like the toys, but you want the unlocks they have you are pretty much screwed... unless you buy the cheap NFC chips, but again, another gray area.
 

Giever

Member
Buy it for the content, then throw the plastic shit in the trash? Or you could sell it on eBay.

That's super unnecessary and sucks for the environment. Plus, in a number of cases you need to keep the amiibo to keep the functionality (tap it in on occasion).
 

vern

Member
Ah so now the solution is simply “just hope you don’t want the dlc!”

Problem solved!

If you want useless crap then more power to you. Don't be surprised or complain when companies take advantage of it though.

Why people buy cosmetic changes is beyond me.
 

Yarbskoo

Member
That's super unnecessary and sucks for the environment. Plus, in a number of cases you need to keep the amiibo to keep the functionality (tap it in on occasion).

Treat it like a microtransaction and buy a new one every time you need to reuse it. Hand the extras out to the neighborhood kids to play with for five minutes.
 
I've got it: Amiibo Lootboxes. You get a loot box but to open it you have to scan a Amiibo, and the quality/contents differ depending on which Amiibo you use.

If you try anything funny your console gets locked until you purchase a unique Amiibo of Apology to unlock it.
 

massoluk

Banned
What a shitty job, they can't possibly be paying me that much if they assign that task to me. I'll prepare resume and change my job
 

Col.Asher

Member
Amiibo aren't microtransactions. It's "physical" DLC. There is a difference.

If you're against the concept of Amiibo, that's fine (I'm not really a fan of them either), but it's not hypocritical to accept one and not the other.
At least amiibos are a one time purchase, you don't have to buy it again each scan.
 

Crayon

Member
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Came to post this.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
I mean it wouldn't be difficult at all. Keep the costume shop, but every set has a piece exclusive to lootboxes. So you can't buy a full Chef costume because the Chef hat is only available in lootboxes. Every 10 moons you collect you get a lootbox, but make sure that there are more items than total lootboxes you can get for free, not including dupes. this forces players to purchase boxes if they want to 100% their collection. Also players will support this because they will just say "its cosmetic just ignore it if you don't like it"
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
Different coloured hats.

Different hat abilities for a set price.

God mode for 1,000,000 shines (99.99 $ € or £)
 

Ludens

Banned
I know/hope some of those answers are sarcastic, but I think some people here really don't live in the real world or they are so good in their jobs to have the option to quit and start all over in a new place the day after (and this excluding the countries with a very high unemployed population, like Italy). When you have a family to feed, when you need to pay bills each month and you are asked to do something by a superior, you do it. It's not that you are killing someone, you are implementing loot boxes. If you don't buy loot-boxes, software house receive the message there's no market for them. If you buy loot-boxes, they will give you more loot-boxes. The message is simple.

I never bought a loot-box (well, I honestly I never played games with loot-boxes in), but I never spent a single dollar in a microtransaction (MGSV time-saving) or to get "fast completion" dlcs like the ones you can buy in Mortal Kombat, AC etc.
It's against my will. If there's something to obtain worth playing for, I'll get it by playing. If not, I'll stop playing. I saw the "real" ending of Batman Arkham Knight on Youtube because for me it was pointless wasting 20 hours of my life on collectibles, and that's not even a thing you need to spend money on like microtransactions.
 

Piscus

Member
what

If

I

Dont

Want

More

Plastic

Shit

But I just want the content?

Funny how amiibo defenders never address this, always defaulting to ”but I wanted the toy anyway!" ”Or it's a cool toy for my shelf!"

I guess you just don't get the extra content, then. We all have to make choices in life. For you, "not having plastic" > getting the extra content. That's your choice, given the situation's parameters.

Unrelated note: I'm not sure amiibo can be equated to loot boxes. At least with amiibo, you pretty much know what you are getting, not what you might get. And even then, you buy it once and are done. You don't have to keep getting amiibo and rescanning in hopes that you might get something you want like you have to with loot boxes.
 

Mexen

Member
Digital Amiibos, use your physical ones to unlock them and once you do, choose and pre-order rare physical Amiibos in game! Use those to unlock rare digital Amiibos that unlock pre order codes for rare physical Amiibos Nintendo will manufacture only for you. Once in a while, you will come across a different colour for your hat. For free!!!
 

Caramello

Member
Mario Question Blocks would be stuff related to photo mode only. Filters and locations and stuff if I had to do it.

I wouldn't want that shit anywhere near the actual game play.
 

Pooya

Member
I'd implement them right into levels, that's the most organic way for them since you already hit and open boxes in the game anyway. Let's say you could have these boxes in the level that either take a bunch of in game currency to open like some of the stuff in Galaxy games with the stars or of course you can open the wallet. You jump and hit them with your head, they open and can include mushrooms of various colors, 1ups and so on or rare skins.
 

Lingitiz

Member
At least amiibos are a one time purchase, you don't have to buy it again each scan.

Plus currently there is no set in stone formula or policy regarding Amiibo. Nintendo have tried a bunch of different content ideas and there doesn't seem to be any prevailing pattern.

I don't think locking content strictly behind the physical items is okay, but for the most part up to this point it's been fairly inconsequential and not crazy aggressive. It doesn't look like it'll be a problem in Odyssey either.

And yeah as others have said, it can't be equated to loot boxes which are so different from paid DLC. Especially in cases like Shadow of War where it seems tuned in the late game to push people towards paying for shortcuts, or in Halo 5 and Gears 4 where the in-game economy pays out so little that the non-paid progression is super unsatisfying and unrewarding. Loot boxes present an entirely different problem.
 

eXistor

Member
Lol, no you guys wouldn't quit a job at Nintendo and you know it, even if it meant selling your soul to Satan himself (which admittedly this would be).
 

Stop It

Perfectly able to grasp the inherent value of the fishing game.
Cappy is now a lootbox dependant power up.

Usage is based on the lootbox contents. Not enough uses to get through a level? £10 for 10 loot boxes to give you more cappy throws.
 

Chindogg

Member
Oh hey another thread shit up by Amiibo whining.

They're a one time purchase and not gambling. They're not loot boxes. You may hate them for whatever reason but don't equate the two because clearly they're not the same.
 
Amiibo tied content is not random and it doesn't affect others players chances to win or lose.
Also one Amiibo can be used on many games (of course the biggest franchises ones).

https://www.nintendo.com/amiibo/compatibility


I'm not saying Amiibos are perfect but loot boxes is just the worst thing ever. It's f*cking random !!!!

DLC, Season Passes are a bad thing but at least you know what you're paying for.

So yeah I just quit.
 

Polk

Member
Do I need to make them money from lootboxes or do I need lootboxes because all game has to have them?
If latter, I would put concept art, 3d models and music in them.
 
Lmao at the guys who are super against lootboxes but all of a sudden amiibos are a fucking gray area.

Hey you want all of this extra shit in your game like outfits and even a companion? You need an amiibo. No other way to unlock it. The excuses are even similar. How many times was I told "well you can play the game without it".

Amiibos work differently though. You buy one and you're done it works across multiple games plus you get a cool toy.
 
Amiibos work differently though. You buy one and you're done it works across multiple games plus you get a cool toy.

And it's not f*cking random !!!

Really people can't understand that it's the biggest difference here. Amiibos are sh*t but random is just a big middle finger to the gaming community.

You purchase a car but for the color you get to pay for loot boxes until you have a color you like. How's that?
Next car finally cost 5 000$ more just because you wanted red while someone had a red from start but had to spend 3 000$ to get the blue color they preferred.
Yeah totally something you can defend.

So just put Amiibos aside or make another thread about them, we know the mechanic is bad, we know some don't like this but at least we know what's tied behind. Imagine having to scan like 10 Amiibos to have the chance to unlock one thing? And once used you just throw the Amiibo into the trash since it can't be used more than once... think about a "lootboxe like mechanic" Amiibo and you'll understand.
 
Chû Totoro;251216588 said:
And it's not f*cking random !!!

Really people can't understand that it's the biggest difference here. Amiibos are sh*t but random is just a big middle finger to the gaming community.

You purchase a car but for the color you get to pay for loot boxes until you have a color you like. How's that?
Next car finally cost 5 000$ more just because you wanted red while someone had a red from start but had to spend 3 000$ to get the blue color they preferred.
Yeah totally something you can defend.

So just put Amiibos aside or make another thread about them, we know the mechanic is bad, we know some don't like this but at least we know what's tied behind. Imagine having to scan like 10 Amiibos to have the chance to unlock one thing? And once used you just can throw the Amiibo into the trash since it can't be used more than once... think about a lootboxes like Amiibo and you'll understand.
Don't amiibos on Breath of the wild give you random chests with a chance at Epona/armor?
 

SalvaPot

Member
Don't amiibos on Breath of the wild give you random chests with a chance at Epona/armor?

Yeah, but you just have to keep tapping it until its unlocked. I think it was implemented to avoid people just borrowing the toys for a moment.

I have them and I never bothered to tap them... because I just like to have them. But again, I totally understand why that is annoying, but still in the "Neat little extra" territory for me, other than removing features from a choke full of content game.
 
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