discussion Hot Take: I Can't Stand Hidden Content

[idontexist7825]

Don't get me wrong. Easter eggs are fun. What I'm talking about is when you go through a game making all the choices you want, get to the end, then you look in the gallery and it's like "20/100 scenes unlocked!"

And you realize that in order to access THE MAJORITY OF THE CONTENT, you have to play it over and over and over, making more saves than a goaltender and being super meticulous about which decisions lead to which content. It totally takes me out of the immersion, because it becomes more about scene collection than feeling like you're in the game world.

I would much rather have a (relatively) linear progression with a few easter eggs--maybe three or four playthroughs worth of extra content, where you know "oh, I picked this character rather than that. Next play-through I very obviously pick the other character to fill in the gaps"--rather than this slog of dozens of multiverse-grade splits that would put a marvel plot-line to shame.

If you want me to play through several times to get all the content, make the pathways obvious, not labyrinthine. I play these games to escape and fap, not to collect trophies.

That felt good to get off my chest.

 

[impisi]

At the very least, if they're going to make me decipher some byzantine mess of relationships and paths just so I can get to fucking the best girl then the least they could do is provide a walkthrough or guide.

 

[Aszorath]

I always find this funny. I have never been a person that liked multiple ending or paths in a game maybe two if there is actual content. like first time you play the good person or decisions the next the bad one. In the type of games on this site I full hearty agree it cant be done good, the dev team are just to small for such a hard thing to do good or make it worth it. plus to me either you focus on the sex side of the game or story, cant really do both. I know there are people that just love the story and branching paths and all that but really I feel most of use just want to relax, maybe laugh a little and get to the good stuff. not plan a route through a porn game with a log book to make sure we unlock a few pictures.

 

[AlBetGam]

Eh. Different strokes. Personally I feel like if there's no real variation in what you see- if you're basically guaranteed to get every scene just by playing to the end- it's basically a slideshow.

 

[int13]

I play these games to escape and fap, not to collect trophies.

Yeah sure
I don't open galleries to see how much content I've missed and rarely try to take a different path or get a different ending. I usually play the way I want, make the choices I like. For me it's more interesting than when the game is very linear (or playing with a walkthrough).

 

[SophieTheCutes]

Don't get me wrong. Easter eggs are fun. What I'm talking about is when you go through a game making all the choices you want, get to the end, then you look in the gallery and it's like "20/100 scenes unlocked!"

And you realize that in order to access THE MAJORITY OF THE CONTENT, you have to play it over and over and over, making more saves than a goaltender and being super meticulous about which decisions lead to which content. It totally takes me out of the immersion, because it becomes more about scene collection than feeling like you're in the game world.

I would much rather have a (relatively) linear progression with a few easter eggs--maybe three or four playthroughs worth of extra content, where you know "oh, I picked this character rather than that. Next play-through I very obviously pick the other character to fill in the gaps"--rather than this slog of dozens of multiverse-grade splits that would put a marvel plot-line to shame.

If you want me to play through several times to get all the content, make the pathways obvious, not labyrinthine. I play these games to escape and fap, not to collect trophies.

That felt good to get off my chest.

I'm with you, I see a lot of people asking for meaningful gameplay in porn games and far too often I see devs implement these sorts of systems in place of that. Not sure if they just don't know how to make anything more interesting or think this is just the standard, but either way it's annoying.
Similar is games that require stat grinding. I'm okay with having to work for content, but far too often you need to put hours in to get anything interesting to happen and usually it's not super clear how to get content in the first place. Cheat mods exist, but at that point it doesn't feel meaningful anymore, tough thing to fix.

 

[exerp]

Maybe devs could have an option to unlock gallery once the player completes at least one path?

There was one game where I played and decided I did not want to go to effort for the missed scenes so just opened up the renpy code and twiddled the bits to unlock the gallery so I could enjoy the missed scenes.

But some games where the story paths are really different I do not mind the locked gallery. Summer Scent is the big one for me on that. The story paths are very different and I have liked doing the different play throughs.

Definitely need walkthrough guide for that though. I like the idea of walkthrough being unlocked by completing a play through.

 

[IFF01]

I am with you on that one. I hate missing out on content

 

[idontexist7825]

Maybe devs could have an option to unlock gallery once the player completes at least one path?

There was one game where I played and decided I did not want to go to effort for the missed scenes so just opened up the renpy code and twiddled the bits to unlock the gallery so I could enjoy the missed scenes.

But some games where the story paths are really different I do not mind the locked gallery. Summer Scent is the big one for me on that. The story paths are very different and I have liked doing the different play throughs.

Definitely need walkthrough guide for that though. I like the idea of walkthrough being unlocked by completing a play through.

That's a great idea. It could at least be a toggle switch for people that either want the challenge or not "Unlock full gallery upon completion of game" ON/OFF

 

[User_111574]

I don't feel bad about missing content, it's just that it's rare that a game is exciting enough to go through it multiple times (except when I've missed a few updates and just need to remember exactly where I left off last time, and there are very few games I follow, about a dozen). When given a choice - I never choose the option of playing as a scum, I'd rather skip that particular content. If there is no choice (I always look carefully at reviews of a game before downloading it), then I just don't download such VNs or games. I don't use mods to unlock galleries. In general, I don't take these games seriously, for me they are just a means to relieve stress after work.

 

[mrsmith1212]

Agreed, I much prefer the games with optional in game walkthroughs so I dont have to spend time skipping hours of text in a replay

 

[Hstockton]

Hidden content should be "extras" not entire scenes.

Also every game should have a replay gallery showing every possible scene with blur, along with a note on how to unlock. Give me something...

 

[goons]

Don't get me wrong. Easter eggs are fun. What I'm talking about is when you go through a game making all the choices you want, get to the end, then you look in the gallery and it's like "20/100 scenes unlocked!"

And you realize that in order to access THE MAJORITY OF THE CONTENT, you have to play it over and over and over, making more saves than a goaltender and being super meticulous about which decisions lead to which content. It totally takes me out of the immersion, because it becomes more about scene collection than feeling like you're in the game world.

I would much rather have a (relatively) linear progression with a few easter eggs--maybe three or four playthroughs worth of extra content, where you know "oh, I picked this character rather than that. Next play-through I very obviously pick the other character to fill in the gaps"--rather than this slog of dozens of multiverse-grade splits that would put a marvel plot-line to shame.

If you want me to play through several times to get all the content, make the pathways obvious, not labyrinthine. I play these games to escape and fap, not to collect trophies.

That felt good to get off my chest.

Same feeling, worse is that a lot of the content is the same, so you're just going to be wasting your time replaying a bunch of stuff, yes, you can skip in Ren'Py, but me skipping is still a waste of time, and now your seeing events out of order

 

[LcUser123]

Imo the problem is the fact that (and this is common even for regular games) branches and choices almost never actually matter. They're either for the purpose of flavor text or some variety in the following scene. On a larger scale all it does is lock you out of a potential LI or change the ending which is also a single scene. I'm not willing to replay a game to make different choices if the vast majority of the game stays exactly the same, and I'll always go for a full save or a gallery unlocker after my own playthrough

 

[MattaMus11MattaMus11's icon]

Agreed

 

[SmogJonkler]

I'm not a fan of games with too many branching plots and paths so the moment I complete a playthrough with my favorite LI, I either go online obsessing about how to get 100% completion, delete the thing from my phone and mind or just use a gallery unlocker.
It all depends on mood.

 

[Kekrekt]

Totaly agree with you, i don't like missing out on content.

 

[Renewed6105]

Hidden content is just wasted development time if most people won't see it.

 

[Boberson1234]

I mean as long as its not to hidden!

 

[gabriel4602152]

Agreed. Forced consecutive playthroughs are a drag. Thankfully, we got modders out here giving users the "both" options so we can knock out those galleries in single playthroughs.