darkSpyro

Quote: Bifrost

The guy who gives Brawl and Chain's villain quest in Telescope Towers. He has a prototype figure and kinda resembles Wallop,so it's very possible he used to be a Skylander at one point.

Got any links to this?

Here -

From Aura's channel, at 3:23. Get ready for the slowest quest in the game, that's how low Hawk got from playable.

Quote: GaiaMemories

Quote: Gentleman Brawl

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Please elaborate. that sounds like a random pot shot.

Well they brought back a bunch of characters and character model from Swap Force that weren't in Trap Masters because Toys for Bob made them, not Vicarious Visions.

And since VV made Superchargers, it seems like they used they're characters from Swap Force more then the Trap Master ones.

I don't want to be that guy but Trap Team is the game. Trap Masters was the characters with big weapons. They brought back 2 SF characters, 2 TFB charachters and Cali, Flynn and Hugo. Pretty good balance.

I thought so to. The other things folks need to remember is that VV is already working on Sky 7. So a lot of the charcaters being introduced in Sky 6 aren't gonna have their time to shine with the audience by the time their wrapping up storyline points and the like. So while you might want certain characters to show up, there is a good chance they won't unless written in as a main part of the over-arching story.

I think the series is definitely headed in the right direction. The storyline is by far the best the series has so far offered. Sure the vehicle zones can be tedious if you traditionally love the hack n slash but at least this game has taken risks. Must needed risks in a time where toys to life has some serious competition. I just hope that TFB don't try to release a Giants 3 (Trap Team being the second), as what VV has offered is the direction the game needs to go. Obviously there is room for some improvement but what this game has done is made me excited for what gimmick/theme the next skyander will bring next.

Each to there own really. I just can't see skylanders lasting if they don't innovate but even what that is is rather subjective.

Quote: Insane01

Honestly, I think it has a better future than Infinity.
Lego Dimensions is going to be Skylanders' main competition.

After getting Infinity 2.0, I would have agreed with you. I really wasn't into that and my son didn't really care for it either. However, that being said, 3.0 Star Wars is freakin' AWESOME. My son and I play that almost as much as Skylanders. If Disney learns from this and goes forward they will be solid competition for years. Planning on getting Dimensions for Christmas this year as it's a really cool concept. Time will tell how Lego does with this. Reviews are good so far, so there is hope. Competition is a good thing and should force all to either become better in future editions or they will simply go away.

Quote: Snap Shot

Each to there own really. I just can't see skylanders lasting if they don't innovate but even what that is is rather subjective.

In my mind, an skylanders innovation has to have a technology and a "never seen here before" playable component to it that is RELATED TO THE SKYLANDER.

Giants are just bigger. The innovation was really a marketing test bed to see if we'll pay more for figures.
Traps are just plastic...the real innovation on Trap Team was the speaker...and HOW it was used. Somewhat innovative and somewhat changes gameplay, but wasn't tied to the skylander itself.
SC are just additional figures that act as vehicles that forces gameplay mechanic changes that are disruptive and divisive.

Without a doubt, Swappers is the only thing they've released that fits the description--both innovative and changes play of the figure (but doesn't force gameplay changes to the game itself). If they do MORE LIKE THAT, and TIE IT TO SKYLANDERS, they'll have a hit.

Swapping could've been innovative,but good isn't always new. The mechanic was weird then,it's weird now,to me. Even if I had any I'd probably never switch except for those whose bottom and tops actually match(Shift's bottom for everyone with a belt, Rattle Kraken/Fire Shake,etc) because the colors and outfits just clash and look dumb. If it has to change the skylander,it should be aesthetically pleasing,not just shovel in the cool thing with the changing powers and call it a day.

Quote: Bifrost

Swapping could've been innovative,but good isn't always new. The mechanic was weird then,it's weird now,to me. Even if I had any I'd probably never switch except for those whose bottom and tops actually match(Shift's bottom for everyone with a belt, Rattle Kraken/Fire Shake,etc) because the colors and outfits just clash and look dumb. If it has to change the skylander,it should be aesthetically pleasing,not just shovel in the cool thing with the changing powers and call it a day.

Yeah, it was a bit jarring...it was fun though. To your point not all of the innovation has to be in the toy. I've been arguing for two years that they simply work on improving simple game mechanics (much like in the way jump was added). Commit to it and say every team will support it, for every skylander, moving forward. THAT would just about be enough for me, really. It's all just plastic until you play the game anyway.

Btw, sorry I've been calling you Bitfrost instead of Bifrost for all these years. Not sure why I wanted to add the T.

I'm not a fan of how most combos look either (though Freeze Zone is pretty badass), but the actual gameplay mechanic of mixing up characters' powers is so fun that I don't really care how they look.

I agree that gimmicklanders should have the gimmick fully contained within themselves. It really irritates me that Trap Masters don't have any integration with the traps whatsoever. At the very least they could've made it so matching a trap and Trap Master of the same element powers up the Trap Master and makes their weapon glow all cool and shiny like. And with lightcore integration they could've made this happen on the figure as well.

I type the T in sometimes too, no problem :U

Well, it could involve the Skylander as well,I just mean that if you'll do something great with it,awesome,but if you'll just do whatever, a separate gimmick has at least more room for polish and integration.

But here's something that's been a great step in making them blend in better - the Buzz quests are amazing. It MIGHT be a voice acting nightmare to make everyone have actual dialogue at least for 3-4 lines, but we've seen in this and the previous game that Acti can call in everyone at any time(the racing grunts and Skaletones words); the quests show so much personality and actually have them banter with their coach. Some might say that small talk is a waste of resources but it adds a lot more than exposition if well used.

I don't buy Skylanders games for the story as much as I do lengthy gameplay and innovation.

I see lots here saying Skylanders is going in the right direction cause of the story, but I guess what got sacrificed is gameplay. If I'm spending thousands on games and figures, I want a lengthy adventure and loads of gameplay (not tedious gameplay) per game.

One thing Dimensions is offering me, so far in the 15+ hours I've been playing is a metric wealth of gameplay, and I've only been through 3 of the 14 story mode worlds, and 1 out of 11 open worlds.

It's pricier but you get quality and quantity with your money for Dimensions.

Here's hoping the next Skylanders game offers more variety in gameplay and lots of modes that mix things up. As of now, though, Superchargers left a really bad taste in my mouth. I'll buy and register new figures, but the next time I'm putting in serious playtime with this franchise, is when the next game comes out, or I decide to go back through Swap Force.

Well, I'm not dropping thousands, so I'd like more bang for my buck than something that plays well but looks ugly. I'd love a balance but both TFB and VV have shown that they only have time for/only know extremes of a mechanic.
Story has become a big thing for me since being always short on money means I'm looking more at the Wiki, books/comic scans and videos than playing, and as pathetic as that sounds I enjoy that.

I can't say whether or not I think the sixth game will be an improvement. From the looks of it, Superchargers had pointed a sequel in the right direction, but having said that, the devs (does anyone know if it will be VV or TfB?) will need to be extremely careful with a handful of things, such as the gimmick. It's also about time they start fresh and make a Skylanders spin-off or just reboot their own series, I'm not saying just yet, but it's getting there. Every game, every twenty or so characters added to that game, probably means more bugs we'll be seeing.

Me personally, as far as gimmicks so, I am hoping they kind of stick with what we already have. We have plenty of gimmick figures that can be worked with, although the vehicles are a must. Those vehicles were introduced and are treated as their own characters, and it would be a major disappointment if it got thrown out like the trap mechanic did.

I think as long as the next game focuses on the vehicles again, while also focusing on the Skylanders, we should be fine. Have in bonus missions again and arena so we can play as the character more. I'd also like to see the Kaos challenge and maybe a new one where you just fight till you lose? Of course though, online PVP would absolutely save the series from just about any mess up.

Again, my opinion, but I want to add on the gimmick part of this. To me, the best idea here would be one of two. Go Swap Force with the vehicles, allow change-able parts. Maybe every vehicle could have a few physical add-ons, acting similar to how the vehicle mods were in Superchargers, but being able to go on any vehicle? The other option, while keeping the vehicles in, maybe making a few new vehicles too, would be a tag-team gimmick. Have two Skylanders on the base, press a button to switch to the other causing an attack or buff while doing so, and maybe support attacks. Iunno, the ideas clearly would need to be improved. lol

I think the vehicles role in the next game, if any, will be less important. That's the way it has always been with the gimmicks: a lot of focus on one game and partly/mostly forgotten on the next one. One could argue that if the vehicles are considered as "Skylanders" they should still be supported on the following installments, but the same could be said about traps and we all now what happened. Not only that, but the inclusion of vehicles is not as simple as a core character, it implies a modification in the level design, so if they didn't do it with the villains which were simplier to be continued, I don't think they'll do it with the vehicles.

Personally I don't want to have vehicles in the next one, however if they finally decide to give them a share of the gameplay, I hope it won't be compulsory and not as much as a 50%. For all of those who don't like racing, this is quite an unexplanaible decision. I mean, if you want to include this kind of gameplay do it, but don't make it in such a way that everyone is forced to go through it. Giants, swappers, trapmasters and villains weren't compulsory, you could go the whole game without losing a sec in these if you didn't like them, so I don't understand why the did this. Not only that, but even the off story modes are all racing related, which makings things worst for all that part of the audience who was looking for more "Skylanderish" gameplay.

On the other hand, I'm very curious as to what TfB willl be bringing in sky6. A few ideas have already crossed my mind:

1) A crossover with a very famous franchise: Pokemon, sonic, nickelodeon, more amiibos

2) Inclusion of weapons, armor and gadgets which can be worn by skylanderrs and add them a couple of skills.

3) Inclusion of new modes of gameplay such as "first person shooter" or "moba". The same way vehicles areas work, you would go into an shoting area, which would switch to first person view and use whatever shooting device you have bought and placed on the portal.

4) "Superskylanders": Gems or whatver artifact would turn your regular sylander into a super version of himself (herself) nd boost his/her skills.

My point is that the gimmick's balance to future games has to be considered. I do not subscribe to "1 and out gimmicks"...and btw....not every game "threw out" their gimmick. Everything up to Trap Team let you use 100% of the gimmick in the next game---mainly because the gimmick was skylander related. I think when they had to code the swappers they tried to rethink how the gimmick can be "one and out" to save having to drag that code around in the next game.

My point is...the toy side gimmick needs to be complementary and supported long term. I'm ok with the game itself being the gimmick. VV tried to pull that off in a way with level related gimmicks--not sure if anyone noticed. I actually think that's a decent way to introduce variety into the standard brawler we have today.

In short, less plastic for me...content doesn't justify it. Since I'm no longer needing them all that makes my decision to rightsize my spending with what I'm getting out.

@angelg Except the traps in Trap Team weren't really treated like characters, and were more given the middle finger by TfB, who came up with such a great idea, and did nothing with it. If the traps were treated like characters, we would have seen far more segments intended for the villains, as well as things like "Villainous Challenge"... the trap form of Heroic Challenge. We would have seen villain survival arenas, or maybe even fun villain-only levels where all of the enemies are those "evil minion Skylanders" seen as boss fights in Spyro's Adventure. Instead, the traps were treated as a simple accessory and nothing else. It didn't hurt to remove them when making Superchargers because TfB did nothing with them in their own game anyway.

I don't like Giants anyway, but while they didn't really go all out with the Giants, sure, they felt like fully fleshed out Skylanders, and they were. Swap Force took their gimmick to a much higher level, by working in things that encouraged you to constantly use swappers, without you even knowing it (I'm not talking about the minigames). Those double element gates, for example? Sure, they can be opened with two controllers and two normal figures of those elements, but it's encouraging you to mix the swappers around, then giving you a challenge within that gate, and you begin to see possibilities within that swapping.

I'd say Superchargers clearly respected their gimmick the most, by making the vehicles act as characters, and they pretty much are characters now. They need to stay within the series, because those vehicles are just as important as your Spyro or Wash Buckler. This is why I suggested using a tag team gimmick for the next game. It would be cool to find out combos with your Skylanders and see who works the best as a team, but most importantly, they could use this as well with the vehicles, allowing them to work a little differently now that your two selected characters would pilot the vehicle together. They could introduce a new gimmick, while still being creative with those vehicles, and I think that's what the developers need to do.

I think it would be awesome if "some form of racing" continued in the series as additional content moving forward (it will never be part of the game)...but given how they treated traps, I'm not encouraged. Maybe your vehicles will unlock skystones in the next game Wouldn't that be enough? roflmao.

Quote: Bifrost

I type the T in sometimes too, no problem :U

Well, it could involve the Skylander as well,I just mean that if you'll do something great with it,awesome,but if you'll just do whatever, a separate gimmick has at least more room for polish and integration.

But here's something that's been a great step in making them blend in better - the Buzz quests are amazing. It MIGHT be a voice acting nightmare to make everyone have actual dialogue at least for 3-4 lines, but we've seen in this and the previous game that Acti can call in everyone at any time(the racing grunts and Skaletones words); the quests show so much personality and actually have them banter with their coach. Some might say that small talk is a waste of resources but it adds a lot more than exposition if well used.

Yeah, the Buzz quests are a good way forward. If only the dialogues didn't sound like the Skylanders are speaking to a talk-show host '

Villain-only levels were in the 3DS version, the Bootcamps,which are kinda half-heroic challenges half-big villain quests. Just putting that out there since CelesteInk knows about the 3DS versions iirc.

Well, Spitfire's quest kiiinda implies that the fire spirit sees Buzz's requests as below him,which is either a bit jerkish or a great character flaw. Dunno about the others.

Yep, he does seem a bit jerkish. DK and Bowser don't speak, but the dialogues are funny nonetheless. The others I did were nice too, Gill Grunt even mentions some details from his backstory. It's just that they have to say "Buzz" every time they address him, so it's a bit annoying.

Well I know one thing is for sure. Unless they get rid of that amazing new feature the Skylanders Tutor, reposes have now become obsolete and no longer need to be made ever again. Apparently when you get your portal master rank to 74, a brand new feature called Skylanders Tutor will be unlocked and Persephone will now be able to switch every single character's paths regardless of which game they came from. This truly is the most generous gift from TFB and amazing we even get such a thing. The only reason for reposes now would be for cool new poses, completists and that new Wow Pow which can still help certain characters out.

I've been stating this for 2 years with skylanders. They need to go to an MMO style game. dungeons rewards, etc. give us guilds or teams or whatever. Have a fire dungeon that only Water Charcters can be used, let us use all the skylanders our there aka you have a group of 5 they have to be 5 different landers. I'm just saying let me use all my characters, add to the game each year it could be great, it could be a flop but collecting for the sake of collecting is fun for a while, but we have almost 350 different skylanders. some have never been used we want too but never get to them.

I still think the next game will be a space game which is why I think vehicles will feature a lot more then people think.

Perhaps it will be open world where we will be able to explore the Skylanders Cosmos or something like that.

I thought it was kind of cool how they referenced the people here on the forums in Gadfly Glades.
Now they just need to listen to us.

I think one good step forward in adding on-foot replay that hasn't been added yet would be randomly-generated (Diablo) or custom-made levels.

Quote: Earth-Dragon

Quote: Gentleman Brawl

Quote: Earth-Dragon

And this is the exact wrong direction. Too many gimmicks and complex characters cause programming problems in the future. They need to focus on things like bringing back PvP, 4-player play, and recycling gimmicks, not adding to the programming burden.

So basically keep Skylanders the same way it's been since Spyro Adventures.

That would get dull real quick. That's why gimmicks became a thing.

Yeah, cause that's what I said.......

Look at all the "Looks like I'll be playing DI/Lego this year" players. TfB seem to be right in the fact they need yearly editions to stay relevant or people bail immediately. So they are on a time crunch.

With that time crunch they need to STOP over extending themselves with adding to the hefty backlog of unique and time intensive toys. Even though traps just add munitions, it's still time they had eaten up. Having swappable weapons and armor is just more obnoxious programming they are FORCED to have to deal with, no matter how small a part it takes and how few people utilize it in the future.

Instead, evolve the actual gameplay. Concentrate on changing the level designs. Zoom out a little more. Add in 4 player capability. Do 2v2 And 4 player free for all PvP. Do a Superchargers 2 in 3-4 years recycling all this content and adding to it instead of just throwing it all out for good (2 more racing track per race type could allow for 9+ set circuits and random circuits). Make a game that focuses on all the individual Skylanders stories: Gill Grunt hunting down his mermaid and flashback missions of him scouting out talent and the like.

again, it's comcentrating more on game features that you can bring forward with you easily versus giving yourself more work in the future because you can't keep the gimmicks under control. Swap Force and Trap Team have added a ridiculous amount of programming work, and it's gotta stop if we want great, jam packed with content games.

Since the first game I have wanted an origins story so bad. What they shouldve doen with eons's elite is have you play as these original characters doing what caught Eon's eye. Seeing Eon as a human instead of a blown spirit would be cool. Going back to linking with spyro a bit seeing what was the first time they saw Kaos. So much was eluded to as far as lore in SSA but we still don't know what happened. Skylanders needs to build lore and story that is their advantage over the others because everything they have is new and original. So gimmicks need to end and storyline needs to GROW!

For Sky 6 I actually want to see if Acti will make TFB stick to few new toys again. They can handle a TON with ease,but I wonder if given the chance to polish a small number will make the design quality even greater?

Quote: Bifrost

...I don't know if this is rude or anything,but that's asking a lot.

For Sky 6 I actually want to see if Acti will make TFB stick to few new toys again. They can handle a TON with ease,but I wonder if given the chance to polish a small number will make the design quality even greater?

I thin it's possible, but not as likely. We know both TfB and VV can handle a HUGE cast while still making them fun and feel polished. SSC's cast is great and shows a smaller cast can be just as good as a big SF/TT sized one.

Nah,I was quoting someone whose post got removed(context: pretty much a fangame idea and dank memes). The ideas above are pretty good.

After looking at lego dimensions I think the next game must include some form of playability outside the game that matches the same playability as lego dimensions. More add ons like traps and vehicles would be the wrong direction. Perhaps transforming skylanders would be a good way to go.