Bonus Feature Failure: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Imagine, if you will, an anonymous troper. Our new friend likes video games.
You are currently playing through the timeless classic "The Legend of [[Alice and Bob]]: [[Hilarity Ensues]]". Up until the point
"'''You have achieved [[One Hundred Percent Completion]]! [[That Troper]] has been unlocked!'''"
Mildly curious, you go to the character select screen to investigate...
What's this!? He only has three weapons! He can't even do most of the levels! [[Big No|WHYYYY]]!?
That Troper has become a victim of this trope.
At its most basic, this is when an '''extra''' (not necessarily unlockable) feature present in a game or other medium
* Lacks functionality compared to other aspects of the game
* Does not work properly in the context of gameplay, often struggling to complete basic tasks other characters easily do (in the case of an extra character) or not meshing well with the rest of the game (in the case of bonus levels or items)
or
* Is simply a [[Palette Swap]] or [[Underground Monkey]] Clone of an existing object
Note that in this case "bonus" and "extra" refer to something that may not be found in normal gameplay; if you're not sure, a good litmus test would be the question "Could I conceivably play through the entire main game from beginning to end ([[One Hundred Percent Completion]] notwithstanding) and not once find or utilize this feature?"
This most likely occurs due to a [[Cosmic Deadline]]. With the Almighty Deadline looming inexorably in the near future, many sensible developers would probably do the logical thing and make sure the game as a whole works properly and the main playable characters and scenarios are as complete as possible before working on giving [[Awesome McCoolname]] The Unlockable [[Anti-Hero]] Bringer Of Death some toys to play with.
Compare [[Dummied Out]], where the extra stuff was axed entirely. Contrast [[Show Within a Show]], where the extra content is a full-fledged game in and of itself. Characters afflicted with this tend to devolve into [[Spoony Bard
'''Beware! Since the vast majority of examples deal with unlockable rewards and other goodies, spoilers ahoy!'''
----
{{examples}}
== [[Action Adventure]] ==
* The bombchus in ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games|The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons]]'' are only acquired as a bonus after starting a [[New Game+]], are not particularly useful at any point in the game, and cannot be restocked through drops from defeated enemies.
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** Ice Arrows serve no purpose except to freeze enemies, which you can do with other items that don't require depleting your magic meter. However, ''[[Majoras Mask]]'' required you to use them to create platforms at certain points.
** In ''[[Majoras Mask]]'', the final Great Fairy treasure is the [[Awesome but Impractical]] Great Fairy Sword, and you may already have upgraded to the more practical Gilded Sword by this time. And all bets are off if you obtain the Fierce Deity Mask, which gives you a helix-bladed BFS; too bad you can only use it in the final battle.
* {{spoiler|Old Axe Armor}} in ''[[Castlevania]]: [[Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin|Portrait of Ruin]]'' is a solo character instead of a team of two, has only two special moves (one of which is used solely for navigation) and is simply a [[Palette Swap]] of an existing enemy. However, [[Joke Character|it is very likely this was intentional]].
** Almost every [[Metroidvania|Metroid-ish]] ''Castlevania'' has an unlockable mode where you play as another character who can't do most of what the main character can (e.g. can't collect items, can't level up sometimes, and, most idiotically, don't have a pause menu, even for changing controls or sound options). To be perfectly fair, a lot of that is much more in line with the original games that the modes are harkening back to. Sometimes, however, these come with stories of their own. Keep in mind, this is usually to balance them against their [[Game Breaker]] abilities.
*** ''[[Castlevania: Symphony of the Night|Symphony of the Night]]'': Richter mode, Maria mode in the PSP version (she's actually easier to play as than Alucard in the Saturn one)
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*** ''[[Castlevania: Curse of Darkness|Curse of Darkness]]'': Trevor mode
*** ''[[Castlevania: Lament of Innocence|Lament of Innocence]]'': Joachim mode (no item inventory, orbs have no effect, making the reward for defeating the [[Bonus Boss]] a [[Cosmetic Award]]).
*
== [[Action Game]] ==
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* The Piranha ship in ''Wipeout 2097/XL''. It is super fast, super agile, super this and that, only you can't use weapons. It still wins everything, but the game just got a lot more boring. They fixed this in ''Wipeout 64'', though they still gave the Piranha the most useless superweapon.
* The final unlockable course of ''[[F-Zero|F-Zero GX]]'' is Mute City: Sonic Oval, a beginner-level course that consists of a NASCAR-style oval. It's not even used in the AX Cup; you can only play it in Time Attack, Practice, and multiplayer. It's also on the wrong place in the AX Cup course listing; in ''F-Zero AX'', it's the ''first'' course in the list rather than the last.
* Finding all wrecks in an area in ''Test Drive Unlimited 2'' grants you a free car if you have the garage space for it. The first wreck you assemble is a Volkswagen Beetle. A C4-class car (Which means you can actually enter it into some competitions, unlike the B2-class V8 Buggy you find next) with a top speed that can only exceed
* ''[[Mario Kart]] 7'' has a few unlockable gliders you can earn. However, some of them are just a copy of the Super Glider in terms of stats, basically giving no bonus, and the rest are just a copy of the Peach Parasol in its bonus stats.
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== [[First-Person Shooter]] ==
* ''[[Call of Duty]]: Modern Warfare 2'' has "Spec Ops" mode, a series of brief co-op missions unrelated to the main plot or each other. Spec Ops itself isn't the
== [[4X]] ==
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* ''[[Warriors Orochi]] 2''... There's a HUGE roster of officers to unlock, and while several of them have suspiciously similar movesets, each of them is, at least, a BIT original. However, the hardest character to unlock, by an order of magnitude, is Orochi Z - his appearance in your roster basically signifies that you have achieved 100% Completion and then some. (You have to spend DAYS just grinding levels, well after you have finished completing every scenario on every difficulty, to unlock the last Dream Scenario - and then beat that to unlock Orochi Z.)
** Now, Orochi Z is basically the Final Boss, so that's awesome. He's not JUST a [[Palette Swap]] of Orochi either, having different hair. However... firstly, he's doesn't have his own set of weapons, like everybody else does - he just uses the same set as Orochi. Second, his moveset is less than half the size of anybody else, and he never learns new moves - though, granted, those few moves he DOES have, are pretty powerful. Finally, every other character has a series of artwork - various design-sketches, posed character-models, screenshots from cutscenes they're in and the like - that are unlocked as you use them. Orochi Z has none. So effectively, once you've taken him into combat ONCE to check out all 3 of his moves, there's literally no point in ever using him again - especially since, by that point, you've already done basically everything in the game.
* In the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]: Return of the King'' game, completing the game unlocked Merry, Pippin and Faramir as playable characters. However, Faramir was just a skin swap of Aragorn and all four Hobbits were essentially skin swaps of each other.
== [[Platform Game]] ==
* In ''[[Shadow the Hedgehog]]'', there are hidden keys in every level that, once you get them all, unlock a secret door for that level. While most of the doors have powerful weapons or enable shortcuts, the door in Lost Impact gives you an armored car...in a close-walled, cramped space station level. And you can't even take it very far, as there are walls you have to spindash under, and rail segments where the car can't go, almost immediately after you get the prize.
** Most of the unlockable weapons/secret doors are like this in Shadow. Particularly [[Egregious]] are the secret doors for Westopolis (similar to Lost Impact, it gives you a bad-controlling lowrider with no special weapon which you get 75% of the way through the level) and Lethal Highway (a minigun with 80 ammo, which is pathetic if you were hoping for a [[More Dakka]] rampage). Additionally, the weapons you unlock for completing certain endings are ''extremely'' [[Nerf
*** While the Omochao Gun and Vacuum Gun really are laughable, the Samurai Sword [[Difficult but Awesome|is not.]] While its low ammunition would lead you to believe that it cancels out its [[For Massive Damage|outrageous power,]] it's in the level 2 Sword that its potential is revealed: the level 2 Samurai Sword shoots out [[Sword Beam
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]'' lets you play as Tails, who is identical to Sonic in every way except he can't go into super form.
** Tails gained his signature flying ability in ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Sonic 3]]'', as well as lowered jump height and running speed, and you can finally be Super Tails if the game is locked on to ''Sonic and Knuckles'' and you get all the Super Emeralds.
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* In an odd example, ''[[Sonic Advance]] 2'' let you unlock the Tiny Chao Garden by meeting certain conditions in the game... Even though the first [[Sonic Advance]] had the exact same mode available from the start.
* ''[[The Legendary Starfy]]'' has a multiplayer mode that lets another player control Starly. This can only be used in a few specific areas of the game.
**
* ''[[Star Fox Adventures]]'' had Cheat Tokens which did a few things when you dropped them into the well in the maze under the Warpstone. Two of these stand out:
** The Dino subtitle, which allowed you to see the subtitles in Dino, the game's substitution cipher. However, it doesn't replace "[Dino Talk]" with what was actually said, and the subtitles are actually significantly ''wrong'' in spots.
** The part of the [[Sound Test]] where you can listen to tunes. Just about every sound test
*** One
* Getting all 120 stars in ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' results in the grate being taken off that cannon outside the castle, allowing you to blast up to the roof where Yoshi will give you 100 lives. Too bad you've literally done everything the game has to offer already and there's no point to playing anymore.
** You're also given a flashy new triple jump that
*** There's also a Wing Cap block on the roof. To some, the ''real'' prize is getting to fly around the outside area.
** In ''Super Mario 64 DS'', the last minigame rabbit is on the roof instead of Yoshi (due to him being playable), and the game that is unlocked, if you got it last, is nearly identical in every respect to one unlocked beforehand.
* ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]''
** Probably the worst of these is Flying Mario. Getting the Red Star unlocks the ability to use it in the Observatory. The problem is, outside of the initial mission to unlock it, that's all you can do, and it isn't good for anything short of snagging a 1-Up. It's fun, but that's about it.
** ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' adds more NPCs and other stuff as you progress, but few of them really serve any purpose. Sure, they give you hints (that you most likely already know by that point...). The worst part, though, is a duo of NPCs that each give you a 1-Up,
*** There is also a collection of the various powerups Mario found in the machinery room. Can you use these for anything? Nope.
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* The [[True Final Boss]] of ''[[DJMAX]] Technika'''s Heartbeat Set, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I4iCbUBqW8 "Area 7"], obtained by finishing the first 3 stages with at least 95% of your notes being "MAX"es (you get the normal [[Final Boss]], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYBq3tO5jRc "Colours of Sorrow"], if you don't). Not only does it have an [[That One Level|awkward chart]], but it has a lower max combo, meaning that getting this song instead of CoS is actually ''harmful'' to your score. So to get an optimal score on this course, you will need to [[Do Well, But Not Perfect]] on the first 3 stages.
== [[Role
* The unlockable Mission Mode characters in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
** Being able to play as {{spoiler|Mickey Mouse}} makes up for this for many people.
* The two bonus characters in ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]: Director's Cut'' may count. Adray is really just a less capable wizard (a spot already filled by Sophia) with a weapon set nearly identical to Albel's, while Mirage uses effectively the same attack set and play-style as Cliff, but is 40-50 levels lower. The player has the option to gain Adray early into the game when he would be at a similar level to the party, but if you opt to gain him at the next opportunity (much later near the end of the game), he'll still be at that level (lv 19 when the party is roughly 55-70).
** In the original, buggy version of the game sold in Japan, the four "optional" characters (Albel, Nel, Peppita, Roger) were required. Meanwhile in the North American release, only two of them can be chosen while Mirage and Adray are necessary.
* The [[Bonus Dungeon]] in ''[[Dragon Quest VI]]'' is just several levels from normal dungeons stuck onto each other with no rhyme or reason (but with stronger enemies), and no justification.
** Same for ''[[Dragon Quest VII]]'', but at least at the end, you get to <s>[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|punch out Cthulhu]]</s> fight God.
** In the GBC [[Video Game Remake]] of ''[[Dragon Quest III]]'', ''every'' monster in the game [[Randomly Drops]] Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals. Get enough of them, and you can go to Divine Dragon's Castle and gain wishes. Get more, and and you unlock the ultimate [[Bonus Dungeon]] with the Grand Dragon of Everything. Get ''every medal in the game'' and the Grand Dragon...falls asleep.
*** You get the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Rubiss Sword]] if you beat him in a time limit, which is the strongest sword in the game and casts the strongest spell in the game if used as an item. However, given that you've at this point ''done everything there is to do in the game'', it's totally [[Bragging Rights Reward|useless]].
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', defeating optional boss Kaiser Dragon in the Advance release rewards you with the Diabolos Magicite. Its summon and the spells it teaches are all bound by the damage limit so he'll never do more than 9999 damage, a limit you're already pushing against if you're strong enough to beat Kaiser in the first place. The only use Diabolos has is his level up bonus "HP+ 100%", meaning your HP increases twice as much when you level up, which is good but other Espers give "HP+ 50%", so ultimately Diabolos does nothing you can't already do with the other Magicite pieces.
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* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', defeated Ruby Weapon gave you a golden chocobo... Except it's [[Nintendo Hard]] to defeat it ''without'' breeding one in the first place, and this new golden chocobo sucks at races. Averted with Emerald Weapon, where the reward is a set of "Master" Materia. The only other way to get them is to master ''every'' Materia of each type, which will take hours upon hours of training.
** However, in the time spent grinding to be able to defeat Emerald Weapon, you can master most, if not all, of your materia anyway. Still, an extra set of Master Materia is a pretty good reward.
* The main reason most people don't ever bother to completely finish the [[Bonus Dungeon
* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' offered the Blood Dragon armor as a downloadable purchase bonus... that didn't allow any sort of customization, making it useless for combining the various useful pieces of swappable armor, such as the shield power chestplate, extra ammunition legplates and bonus headshot damage visor. You couldn't even take your helmet off to see your customized Shepard face.
** The Cerberus Assault Armor, another set of free<ref>with a new copy of the game, or a used one whose Cerberus Network card wasn't redeemed</ref> DLC armor, has the same problems.
* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' had a similar scenario with the pre-order bonus/''Courier's Stash'' DLC items. Most of them were lackluster to begin with, but were made worse by lack of compatibility with Perks and other DLC. The way the game's engine is written, any given DLC cannot directly act on
* ''[[White Knight Chronicles|White Knight Chronicles II]]'' made a pretty big deal out of the fact that one of its features was that [[An Adventurer Is You|your avatar character]] would gain the ability to transform into a ([[Design
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'', completing the main questline unlocks the Imperial Dragon set of armour, which can't be found anywhere else in the game. You'd expect it to be some of the best equipment available...but it's mid-game quality at best. If you're a high enough level, you can get much better armour from ''shops''.
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== [[Turn-Based Strategy]] ==
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' is a two-in-one combo. It has several unlockable characters; Some of these are unique characters that cannot change classes or learn new abilities, while others are merely normal units with special sprites. One, notoriously, doesn't unlock until after you have nothing you can possibly do with him.
** Of note is Ezel, who gets the short end of the stick. He has only two abilities: Astra, which grants the party immunity to status ailments once, and Azoth, which puts all enemies to sleep. Ezel can also use items, but by the time you get him, you will most likely not even need items. Ezel has absurdly high magic power, but none of his abilities do any damage, making him a complete waste.
*** YMMV, this troper found Azoth extremely useful in many battles, enough so that Ezel became a regular party member in any fight that wasn't a storyline match, and on a second playthrough even those saw Ezel in action, provided there were enough enemies to make Azoth worth it. Having half the enemy team put to sleep with an easily-spammable skill can be a huge weight lifted off your shoulders.
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== MMORPG ==
* In ''[[Champions Online]]'' there are three crafting schools, Weapons, Mysticism, and Science. Each of these used to have a single SPECIAL BONUS "crafted travel power" the player could claim/build. For instance, in Weapons the travel power was called the "R.A.D. Sphere." It required leveling your character's crafting ability up to the 300-400 range, buying the blueprints, crafting a few dozen items, which were each in turn crafted from a dozen other items apiece which you ALSO had to buy the blueprints for, then gathering another dozen or so increasingly rare dropped artifacts, then assembling them all together...with another blueprint. The result for all this running back and forth to the crafting table, spending a fortune in points, and scouring the countryside pummeling various monsters to get them to drop rare items? Your character got the power to crouch down, wrap his arms around his knees, and roll forward. At about running pace. It looks stupid, is ridiculously slow, and if you should actually wish to level this power up, you had to go through the above hunt-and-gather grinding rigamarole all over again to BUILD the next iteration.
** And with the recent (April 2012) complete overhaul, these are now purchaseable outright with in-game resources, at which point they become available as normal powers to any toon you have. The epic grind for them no longer exists.
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[[Category:Video Game Rewards]]
[[Category:Index Failure]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Alice and Bob]]
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