Strike suits unlock requirements should be indicated

[Selena]

I guess I'm not alone out there thinking it would be great if the requirements for the additional strike suits (Raptor, Marauder and Revenant) would be indicated.

Having no clue at all is just irritating, with some of the strike suits unlocking only in the last missions leaving the player to wonder what the heck is needed, if it was missed or if it's in the historic missions ?...

The problem is not that they unlock too late in the game, it's really just that the player is left in the dark all along. Even if it's made this way so these additional suits be surprise rewards at some point in the story, there is actualy little surprise since I guess most players end up losing patience and checking up on the internet for the anwser.

At this point, it would just be better if the requirements were indicated ingame.

[Darkrex]

yes i agree, i unlucked every planed exept the new one and have finished the game twice

[Rainbow Dash]

no. it should be unexpected as it is right now just like in old games where you didn't know the entire content of a game even before starting to play it

[attackmuffin]

but its not really unexpected if we already know we can unlock them. we know the content is there just not how to access it.

[Lobo_CK]

It's not that it's expected or unexpected, it's that there's just not any kind of info about it. I mean it does say what you need to unlock upgrades, why not ships? Furthermore the unlocking makes no sense other than, "You almost beat the game, have these ships ;)".

I feel that there's no actual content about that and the ships kinda come out of nowhere, you don't really get as much of a sense of accomplishment, instead you get kinda surprised, then you get bummed out a bit cause you know, new ships, but you can only use them in the already completed missions. What goes through my head? "Why did I unlock this ship if I still have to use the same old one for the missions I have ahead of me?" Of course I have the non DC version and already know the end, and have infinity and already played all the ships, but still if I was new to this game, this would be a huge bummer.

[Selena]

Originally posted by Wolfhyrr:

It's not that it's expected or unexpected, it's that there's just not any kind of info about it. I mean it does say what you need to unlock upgrades, why not ships? Furthermore the unlocking makes no sense other than, "You almost beat the game, have these ships ;)".

I feel that there's no actual content about that and the ships kinda come out of nowhere, you don't really get as much of a sense of accomplishment, instead you get kinda surprised, then you get bummed out a bit cause you know, new ships, but you can only use them in the already completed missions. What goes through my head? "Why did I unlock this ship if I still have to use the same old one for the missions I have ahead of me?" Of course I have the non DC version and already know the end, and have infinity and already played all the ships, but still if I was new to this game, this would be a huge bummer.

I couldn't explain it more perfectly than you did !

You're right when you say it's a huge bummer to unlock them only in the last missions and yet being forced to use the old ships to continue. I guess it was intended as an incentive to replay missions but still, it feels wrong. My expectation after unlocking the Raptor was to be able to use it afterward to complete the game but... nope, not possible... Maybe it could rip the fabric of reality, who knows :p

Now for the argument that it's ''like in the old games''...
It would be quite inconsistent since, as Wolfhyrr said, the game clearly indicates how to unlock the upgrades already.
Now, I'm sorry if I sound harsh here, but I dont even think the comparison with old games is valid since this game has nothing vintage or oldschool about it. We're talking about additional/downloadable contents(a concept almost inexistant before the 2000's) included in a reshaped version of an already existing game. Many players used to fly these additional strike suits must now contend with having no clues how to unlock something they might have paid twice for.

I'm also old enough to tell that not every games in the 80's/90's were completely obscure concerning unlocks or progression requirements. Many games displayed the score or objectives you had to reach to unlock a new level or character, giving incentives for the player to try again until reached. One game that I remember had ''upgrades'' for weapons is Commando in 1985, how to upgrade your weapons was obvious even for a child, yet it was still explained in the manual(as it was often the case back then).

We also have to keep in mind that game mechanics back then were often so simplistic as to be totally obvious or intuitive. Games that were not at least a little bit intuitive were unpopular. Things that were secrets were not contents you paid for. They were either easter eggs, humorous content or things so powerful as to be gamebreaking(of course I'm not talking about secret items or treasures in games like Zelda, that's a totally different matter). I wont write a multi-page thesis on videogames history here to further explain this point.

It's not like I'm saying they should indicate the whole walkthrough, just having vague clues would still be better than nothing. It could be anything from ''Unlock after mission 9'' to ''Locked until you raid a colonial research facility'' ;)

[Lobo_CK]

Im gonna quote myself on this, just hoping the devs could see it.

"thanks for the quick response =)

Just for the record, i REALLY think it would be better if you could unlock them earlier, but harder.

For instance, marauder is more like a bomber type strike suit, so say a platinum badge in the taranto mission would unlock it.

And the raptor is more like an interceptor, so it would make sense to unlock it with a platinum badge in the nebula mission (the one with the mines)."

What i posted in a thread similar to this.

[JaminEatWorld]

Thanks for the feedback and ideas all -- some very good points raised here, I think.

While the team is now in full development of our next game, we'll bear everything said in this thread in mind for future updates to SSZ.

Cheers!

[Akira49]

Wait, Strike Suit Zero 2? :D It'd be beautiful xD

Seriously though, isnt playing the game on all difficulties key factor in unlocking all suits?

[Lobo_CK]

Originally posted by Jamin:

Thanks for the feedback and ideas all -- some very good points raised here, I think.

While the team is now in full development of our next game, we'll bear everything said in this thread in mind for future updates to SSZ.

Cheers!

It's good to see the devs actually reading the forums and listening to what the players have to say about it.

if by ANY CHANCE that "next game" is also a space dogfight genre, (although it could be just about anything really :P) may i suggest that since SSZ and SSZI had such a success gameplay-wise, you could expand to a deeper experience? I may be going for a really long shot here. But the combat mechanics paired with an open world Freelancer like universe would be just SICK, keeping the simple mind that characterizes SSZ combat system, but with everything an open world space sim would need.

I dunno, nowadays space sims ( X series and such) just seem far too complicated for the really enjoyable stuff most of the space sim community like, which is lots of ships, lots of weapons, lots of things to discover, trading, customizing, fighting, and some roleplaying. And let's face it, mecha-style ships? Heck you've got a TON of material to work with content wise there =)

[Rainbow Dash]

thought about that too.. for some days now i watch quite a lot of stuffs about space sim/arcade games and it'd be very good to have a game mixed between freelancer and SSZ. as said above just SSZ but with an rpg-like dimension where we can fly deep in space. but with the background of SSZ where we are a pilot in an army with very precise objectives that'd be akward so, let's say it could be an after-story

now if you're actually building some cooking games.. well..

[Selena]

Originally posted by Jamin:

Thanks for the feedback and ideas all -- some very good points raised here, I think.

While the team is now in full development of our next game, we'll bear everything said in this thread in mind for future updates to SSZ.

Cheers!

Thank you very much !!!
It's really great to see devs taking players feedbacks into account like this :3

And I cant wait to see that next game ^^