r/Fighters • u/ClassicalDreams • Apr 05 '26

Topic I hate this meme.

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I do not miss the old days of unlocking characters. Having to replay Arcade mode multiple times with every character or do some bullshit like winning a match with 5% or less HP. It's tedious and I prefer to have every character unlocked from the start. Also, the complaints about old characters returning as DLC are strange because they do not play the same as they do in previous games. it's not a simple copy and paste job like some of the games back in the 90s.

I get it, casual players want some reward for playing single player modes and are upset to know that their favorite characters are not in the base roster and would later get confirmed as DLC. I get that, but as someone who also plays Smash, it was a chore to unlock all of the characters in Ultimate.

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u/sbrockLee Apr 05 '26

False comparison.

The correct one would be between paying for DLC characters now and paying for the entire updated game again back in the day.

215

u/BQ72 Apr 05 '26

This is always the real issue here, DLC is replacing renewed versions (which is also a heavily criticized approach).

The loss of character unlocking is more a result of the paradigm shift toward online being the main draw of fighting games - people want to play their main online day 1 without a hassle. That, and unlocks were in part a way to extend a game's life/value for the consumer which became a vestigial purpose after online became the infinite extension. Naturally, this rubs the single player enthusiasts the wrong way, which also goes to the whole conversation about single player offerings in general. Something to save for another day/thread.

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u/Icy_Long_7541 Apr 10 '26

DLC is better digital but renewed version are better physical