darkSpyro

Quote: FaboulousFab

Well, we don't share the same point of view but here your answer is only sarcasms towards me,
I'm glad you have all the truth but just be a little more respectful with others, good luck with that.

Sorry, I'm a software developer as well and I'm not really fond of people that demand things that take a great deal of work for free simply because they chose the most convenient method of delivery for content. I have ZERO respect for that. If you want respect, try and be a little less flippant with other people's hard work.

Quote: defpally

Quote: FaboulousFab

Well, we don't share the same point of view but here your answer is only sarcasms towards me,
I'm glad you have all the truth but just be a little more respectful with others, good luck with that.

Sorry, I'm a software developer as well and I'm not really fond of people that demand things that take a great deal of work for free simply because they chose the most convenient method of delivery for content. I have ZERO respect for that. If you want respect, try and be a little less flippant with other people's hard work.

I'm applauding you, good sir. Sure, we all have things we want in a game that weren't put in, but really, after how much it takes to even make a single level, I have nothing but respect for game developers. Now if they lie about things to hype up the game, latest example being Bungie lying about a number of things about Destiny, that's when I lose respect for gme developers. But when it's all said and done, I play the games I buy for what they are, not what I want them to be, and I love all the teams and people that spend so much time and effort on the things I enjoy, be it a 15 minute level or hour long one.

Quote: defpally

People diss the long length of Swap Force levels, but man they were meaty. My son and I typically would play through 2 to 3 levels at a time on Giants and SSA, but we found our sessions tended to be a single level at a time on Swap Force. I can't say how many times we were like "wow, this thing is huge" (and not in a bad way) as we went through the Adventure Packs for Swap Force.

I know it was a pain on the Wii since they had mid level load points, but the level length was yet another way VV nailed it that TfB should have embraced. I hope TfB is paying attention.

Sure, the SWAP Force's levels were longer, but... Were they also "meaty"...?
Were they full of content?

They were mostly fight based and really linear levels, where you just had to defeated enemies, and look for a Gate or a chest to open, and occasionally for a pushing-stores or a lock puzzle.

It didn't really encouraged you to explore, and there were also a lot of dead times.
The first levels were PERFECT, they had enough uniqueness and were really branched, at times, but then... They started to became sort of a "copy and paste", in terms of environments and activities (not to mention that the alleged lenght could also be a result of the unskippable dialogues and cutscenes), and just felt quite boring, to replay, after the second time.

Trap Team levels ARE as long as the SWAP Force ones, but only the first Time you play them; they give so much for you to do, and incourage you to explore and search for hidden collectibles and such. And I also missed a lot of content, after my first play-through! It's just huge!

Then, it shortens, in terms of time requested to complete it, so you can look for what you miss, and quickly finish it.

In my opinion (the ones above are mostly personal too), SWAP Force was "slow", not long, while Trap Team is meaty, but not repetitive.
V.V. surely did an amazing job with Quests, Bonus Missions, Extra Modes and such, but the main Story just seems "flat", compared to the Trap Team one. If only they could combine the two things, for Skylanders 5...

In the end, the more I think on it, the more I just feel like SWAP Force was a necessary step to reach the creation of Trap Team.
The graphics were enhanced for the first time in this franchise, the animations were too, but Trap Team really managed to capture the true essence of a Skylanders title, with a perfect balance between fights sections, explorations and puzzles.

Quote: Zauron

I agree Adventure Pack levels should be Swap Force length since you pay for them. I disagree with the normal levels being that length though, I hated how long they were in Swap Force. My wife and I played the games together, but she stopped wanting to play any more with Swap Force because we would only play one level at a time, and SF's levels took too long for a single play session. Not only that but SF's levels also had similar themes for multiple levels in a row (desert, ice/snow, etc), whereas in Trap Team every level feels like a totally new area, so in SF I was very bored of the levels by the 3rd super-long desert level or ice level. I like TT's levels and their lengths MUCH better than SF's, in general.

BUT, that said, I agree that Mirror of Mystery did feel like a ripoff compared to most other Adventure Packs due to it being even shorter than a lot of normal TT levels. Heck, the figure you get with it isn't even exclusive this time around, unlike the adventure packs in the past games, so can't even say "well it was worth it for the exclusive character!".

One thing though... What is the deal with Mab Lobs' name? I can usually figure out what the pun or reference or whatever for Skylander and Villain names, but this one I just don't get it. What is a 'Mab'? And when he talks he seems to say he's throwing "blobs" instead of "bombs". Is it just making fun of the way Mabu's talk or something?

I would rather have more, shorter levels, personally. When my son and I would play, sometimes he would want to play and only have 30 minutes to play (usually before bedtime or something). 30 minutes in, and we'd still be playing the same level. Sometimes we would play just to find a soul gem, hat, etc., so the length of time to get there was annoying. One time we played to find a soul gem and got 3/4 of the way through it and realized we messed something up (moving blocks in the wrong way) and couldn't get to it. We had to start all over again, which since we had already played longer than his allotted time, we didn't have time for.

I do agree, though, that adventure packs should have more content, since we are paying so much more. I know part of the price is a Skylander and the magic items, but at most that should only be about $15 of content. That leaves $10 for the level.

And as for Mab Lobs, I thought it was a reference to Mad Libs with Mab being short for Mabu and Lobs being a reference to him lobbing/throwing bombs.

Quote: CountMoneyBone

Quote:

I don't disagree about the cost of making games either, its why the next gen systems have so few games, the more advance we get, the more work has to go into making things look as good as possible.

swap force was for the new gen too and all older gens.... it got more content,less bugs/glitches, online features, the adventure packs are great. and guess what it was made in the same time period as trap team. so the logic that the more advanced the harder it get don't really hold water.

No.

Swap force was NOT a next gen game. It wasn't designed with the 'Wii' in mind - so it wasn't 'last gen' like Giants was.

Swap Force was designed with the PS3 and 360 in mind - it was current gen, and they then brought it up to the PS4 when that came out. Compare that to Trap Team, where from Day ONE they showed what the game looked like on the PS4 - I'd put up a $5 bill that the game was developed on the PS4, and then brought 'down' to the other systems, making it a REAL next gen game.

And comparing the two - SF and TT, don't let the really long levels fool you into thinking there was really more 'content'. I'd wager the two actually have pretty close to the same amount.

I will say SF was less buggy, and that is most likely tied to (1) being developed on a new console (PS4), and (2) being ported to so many consoles, PS4-> Wii, 360, PS3, Tablet, XBOne. I'll tip my hat to you on that. As well, those bugs don't seem to stem from the effort spent on the additional villains or anything...just flat out unrecognized issues.
- Unreall

Personally I thought swap forces levels were too long, they were good when my son and I had time but mostly we would need to stop at checkpoints and play another day. I would have prefered if they were cut up and were like level 1a, lvl 1b etc.

Trap team so far seems closer to giants in level content/length. As for mirror and nightmare I can't comment on as I haven't played either yet as they are xmas gifts. As for street fighter..man the jokes we use to make about how they would never get to SF3. I would like to see DLC for skylanders, this not everyone has online crap needs to stop holding the game back, release a DLC if you cant go online then activsion should just sell a CD online to you or package the adventure packs with a cd and add $5 to the cost if its need to cover the cd's cost etc.

Just to throw in my two cents since I haven't posted for a while, I actually prefer the "meaty"ness of Trap Team and the overall play, castle expansion, villains, etc etc versus just the longer levels in SwapForce which felt to me and my boys as "things put there to slow you down" versus actually adding content. We also adored the Nightmare Express expansion very much and thought it was well done!

Mirror of Mystery remains our only "real" big disappointment in Trap Team*

*the verdict is still out on the "Mystery Elements" ...