darkSpyro

Quote: UncleBob

Oh, I get it, all right.

You're complaining about them locking more content behind the requirement of purchasing additional figures.

and

You're saying that they should lock more content behind the requirement of purchasing additional figures, but the ones that you already own, so it's okay.

It makes total sense.

Wow, you might want to switch to decaf.

O.k. since you brought it up with the elemental power boost, do you feel that's "locked content" that's requiring us to buy more figures? Or do you feel it's simply a perk for scanning in your collection? It's a glass half full or empty thing I guess. I don't see why you're stuck on "locked content" when I'm just talking about adding a perk for having a larger collection beyond the ever so useful Elemental Power but at this point I'm will to concede that we won't see eye to eye on this and move on.

Again, regarding the Soul Gems, when have we ever needed to purchase an additional Skylander beyond purchasing the one we're trying to unlock the Soul Gem for? Don't twist what I'm asking or take it out of context. You know the answer is no...at this point I'm starting to think I'm being trolled here. I usually don't feed the trolls so maybe that's on me. I'm not using double speak or twisting anything around and I believe most understand the point I'm trying to make. You can simply say you disagree and move on. I'm fine with furthering the debate as well but at this point we're talking in circles.

Just because you've never had to do it before doesn't mean that's how it is always going to be. No one made any promises of any sort.

Things change. Life moves on.

Quote: UncleBob

Just because you've never had to do it before doesn't mean that's how it is always going to be. No one made any promises of any sort.

Things change. Life moves on.

Yes and we are all o.k. with every change that's made or will be made. I'm voicing my dislike of this NEW policy towards Soul Gems and I'm not the only one that doesn't like it. When something changes in a negative way it's o.k. to disagree. I also never stated once that things would never change so I'm not seeing the necessity of that comment.

It's okay that you don't like it.

Is it okay to commit fraud because you don't like something?

Quote: UncleBob

It's okay that you don't like it.

Is it okay to commit fraud because you don't like something?

No I don't, as I previously pointed out earlier in the thread. I joined the thread when it was discussing the rights and wrongs of returning them after being played in the package. I've done this myself but only after it was determined that I didn't like the Skylander itself after playing it. It wasn't part of some pre-meditated scheme.

That being said I'm not going to get all judgy on those that do as they would be in the extreme minority of the player base and won't affect anything. Maybe there's a new argument here. Maybe Activision should give us actual reasons to own and keep the Skylanders we buy and ditch the reliance on only having the gimmick gates so people don't feel they need to find alternate means to circumvent the games progression blocks. Buying a Skylander should be about your individual connection and draw to a specific toy. It shouldn't be "Oh I need the first Magic Trap Master that comes out because I need him as a key". Blaster Mind was not my cup of tea but I bought him the second he came out just so I could access the Traptanium Magic Elemental Gates spread throughout the game that I had already previously purchased two and a half months prior. Does that seem right? Is that fun? Is that what got you into the hobby to begin with? I get that things change but shouldn't they be for the better in a video game? This is FORCES toy sales and FORCES me to wait until it's released just so I can access something I already paid for...WTF?

Quote:

Maybe there's a new argument here. Maybe Activision should give us actual reasons to own and keep the Skylanders we buy

Perhaps this is a new topic... I'll start it.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote:

Maybe there's a new argument here. Maybe Activision should give us actual reasons to own and keep the Skylanders we buy

Perhaps this is a new topic... I'll start it.

Go for it man...I'll be there.

It's possible to abuse return policies at most stores pretty badly, including online retailers. This is because they would rather take that risk to keep people happy. I don't think that's a good reason to be the person who's abusing it. If the trap master isn't worth the money to you then don't buy it. There's no reason you need any of the hats that are behind those gates or that you need your file to say you got 100% completion. Nothing special happens or will ever happen just because the game says you completed the game at a higher percentage.

Sorry, I'm in the morally ambiguous group on this one. They are 'accessible' in the packaging so that you can test them out at the store, not to buy and return.

Just because you can do something, doesn't make it "OK". I can copy music from streaming sites to have permanent copies of music, doesn't make it right.

You can argue the value "Oh the content is overpriced" yadda yadda yadda - and I'm actually in agreement, but that still doesn't excuse theft.
- Unreall

As for the Spotlight Soul Gem location debacle, it really is nothing new. In fact, we were desensitized to it from the get-go. In SSA Chop Chop's Soul Gem was behind a Magic gate on level 1. Gill Grunt's was behind a Magic gate on level 10. I'm sure we can find more examples if we look in the past games for examples.

Both of those gems require the user to own a Magic Skylander. The maker is assuming they bought a brand new starter kit with all the pieces.

Quote: ShinkenRed

As for the Spotlight Soul Gem location debacle, it really is nothing new. In fact, we were desensitized to it from the get-go. In SSA Chop Chop's Soul Gem was behind a Magic gate on level 1. Gill Grunt's was behind a Magic gate on level 10. I'm sure we can find more examples if we look in the past games for examples.

Both of those gems require the user to own a Magic Skylander. The maker is assuming they bought a brand new starter kit with all the pieces.

Well...yeah. It's not unreasonable to expect people purchasing your game, which you don't sell separately from the starter set, to have all of the pieces required to unlock content. With Giants they introduced the "Portal Owners Pack" which allowed you to skip the larger starter and just pick up a giant (Tree Rex, since he was included in the regular starter and never saw an individual release for his normal paintjob) and the game itself. You were still expected to have at least one Skylander of each elemental type in order to unlock each of the gates available. Activision's market is the "first party" market, folks who are going to go to retailers (physical or otherwise) and purchase goods new, leading to their own profits. They're not in the business of caring first and foremost for folks who purchase their product second- or third-hand. If you bought the game disc and a portal off of someone, it's not Activison's fault for not foreseeing this and providing you with gratification for your used/secondary market purchase.

-Doug

Quote: ShinkenRed

As for the Spotlight Soul Gem location debacle, it really is nothing new. In fact, we were desensitized to it from the get-go. In SSA Chop Chop's Soul Gem was behind a Magic gate on level 1. Gill Grunt's was behind a Magic gate on level 10. I'm sure we can find more examples if we look in the past games for examples.

Both of those gems require the user to own a Magic Skylander. The maker is assuming they bought a brand new starter kit with all the pieces.

As Doug stated above, ALL software manufacturers expect and assume they are selling first party. Ebay, GameStop, Garage Sales, etc. are all third party sellers that the manufacturer doesn't see a dime from so they only care and are planning on you buying new...as well they should. We all know that there is an expectation to buy beyond the box but it got a little ridiculous in Trap Team compared to other expansions. Having plain Elemental Gates gives you options at least, while not forcing you into a select group of figures that have poor availability and circulation at a much higher price.

Just remember, folks, the last time video game publishers got it into their heads that they weren't getting every piece of the pie (ie: losing new sales to used sales), they implemented the dreadful practice of locking up in-game content and features with codes. Codes which only came with new copies of the game and which could only be used once, being linked to a single account/system. As a result, if you bought certain games used, you'd have to pony up $10 or more to get a new code so that you could go online, unlock content that was included in the original box (on-disc DLC before that was a thing), etc. I, for one, don't want any publishers to get this notion again and am happy, for the most part, to pick up all of my stuff new. If I have doubts about a game or franchise, I might pick up a used copy or try it at a friend's house. If it's something I find out I really like? I'm definitely buying the next one new. Just like with musicians, artists, etc., game companies don't owe us anything--they're selling a product. If you're not buying that product (from them, to give them profits), you're not their customer and they don't care about you as their first concern--nor should they.

-Doug

All I'm trying to say is that Skylanders has always had weird ways of marketing things we needed directly or indirectly.

Giants were essentially useless aside from the occasional Feat of Strength.
SWAP Force was useless aside from opening gates (Which could be done simply with two characters of appropriate elements) and SWAP Zone minigames.
And Trap Masters are just Giants with translucent weapons. They don't even technically trap any villains, they just seem to have a bonus in damage to villains.


And I'll be honest guys: I see this as an exercise in futility. If you don't want Spotlight(Or Blackout, or Rocky Roll, or Blades, or <insertnamehere>) in your collection, why would you lose a bit of sleep over not having his/her Soul Gem unlocked? Having your player profile show 96% Completion (Whatever the real number is) should not diminish any amount of joy you had playing the campaign.

To be fair, I think the complaint is if you WANT Spotlight, you would still need the TrapMaster to unlock the elemental gate that the gem is behind.

Quote: ShinkenRed

All I'm trying to say is that Skylanders has always had weird ways of marketing things we needed directly or indirectly.

Giants were essentially useless aside from the occasional Feat of Strength.
SWAP Force was useless aside from opening gates (Which could be done simply with two characters of appropriate elements) and SWAP Zone minigames.
And Trap Masters are just Giants with translucent weapons. They don't even technically trap any villains, they just seem to have a bonus in damage to villains.


And I'll be honest guys: I see this as an exercise in futility. If you don't want Spotlight(Or Blackout, or Rocky Roll, or Blades, or <insertnamehere>) in your collection, why would you lose a bit of sleep over not having his/her Soul Gem unlocked? Having your player profile show 96% Completion (Whatever the real number is) should not diminish any amount of joy you had playing the campaign.

For my part, my discontent comes from things (the figures) I'm purchasing now that I can't fully unlock until later and that thing (another figure) I need to unlock it might not be available and will cost more than the thing I already bought. If you purchased SSA (new) and the remaining 5 elements you could unlock all of the elemental gates in the core game in the game day 1. If you still had all 8 elements from SSA to play in Giants (regardless of which starter you bought), you were able to unlock all of the elemental gates in the core game day 1. Swap Force comes out with duel elemental gates and Swap Zones. Now you could uses a second controller and two different single element core Skylanders to open the Duel Elemental gates but certain Swap Zones weren't available until later due to the Swap Force movement type not being available yet. That being said there weren't ANY Soul Gems locked behind Swap Zones. Now enter Trap Team. ALL Elemental Gates can ONLY be opened with a Trap Master. Also some Soul Gems are now behind those gates. Not to mention the element required to open that gate to retrieve said Soul Gem isn't out yet. There's no launch window or expected e.t.a. either. Now yes Skylanders still function without their Soul Gems abilities but it's both a principal issue as well as a practical one (some of those Soul Gem abilities are pretty damn o.p. man lol). For the life of me I can't understand why we didn't at least get elemental villain gates. That would have at least been something that we had access to day 1. The Light and Dark thing fell on it's face and, for me at least, will always be a negative experience...along with the Kaos Trap. The 100% completion is of little importance to me. I simply want access to the content I've already paid for. I play until I lose interest...for me that's 100%.

Quote: UncleBob

To be fair, I think the complaint is if you WANT Spotlight, you would still need the TrapMaster to unlock the elemental gate that the gem is behind.

Yup. Aren't there other Soul Gems though other than the Light and Dark Cores?

I definitely could have read the actual arguments better before my last comment. I freely admit that. I was just responding to the general tone of the topic which seems to be "I want everything in-game, but not everything on my shelf."

is that magic elemental gate with the pictures spinning possible without Blastermind?

A few people have mentioned that getting 100% completion on your save file is not a big deal. But for me that's one of the main reasons why I play the game.

Sure the main reason why I play is the game is fun. But I keep playing to get to 100%. Activision want me to be driven by that 100% completion I'm sure. But this time around they wanted me to keep buying more and more characters that I wouldn't use again just to get there. But I don't want their new characters I just want to get 100% and then buy and own the handful of characters that I like the look of.

Activision have successfully sucked me into parting with my money for characters I didn't really like in the past. For example to get the Grand Admiral accolade on SSA you needed to have every single character (not counting variants). It was something similar with Giants. I have every character for both those games including reposes which in hindsight were such a waste of money.

But after looking at all the characters I have from those previous games that I no longer use I just couldn't bring myself to give Activision top dollar again this time. Simply put there isn't enough content in Trap Team to warrant buying more and more toys and I can't use them in earlier games. I could use them in future games, but I already have over 100 underused toys to use in those and Activision will almost certainly release another 50+ new ones for Skylanders 5 anyway.

Not that I am trying to justify my actions to any of you. I really couldn't care less what you think. Activision use some pretty slimy marketing techniques to increase their sales. I used some 'interesting' techniques to get around it this time. But I just wanted to share my thoughts with you. Because you all mean so much to me. Not your opinions of course. But your virtual company.

I'll have a laugh when the next game comes out and Activision take a page out of the Nintendo playbook and Block the chip. So you have to open to use.

Quote: mantez

I'll have a laugh when the next game comes out and Activision take a page out of the Nintendo playbook and Block the chip. So you have to open to use.

I don't think this will happen...anytime soon at least. One of the perks for both Skylanders and Infinity (mostly for uninformed muggles ) is the preview station where you can preview a brief video showcasing a figures abilities and play style in game. If Infinity isn't changing their packaging I don't see Skylanders doing it either. Especially with Star Wars coming out this year for Infinity 3.0 (come on we know it's gonna happen). They need to stay in the accessibility game for parents and newcomers. Plus a ton of collectors like to play with their figs. in their package...take that a away and they will/might lose them. The situation that started this thread is in the extreme minority and I doubt these scenarios are affecting Activision's bottom line in any way.

Quote: kaosmumishot

A few people have mentioned that getting 100% completion on your save file is not a big deal. But for me that's one of the main reasons why I play the game.

Sure the main reason why I play is the game is fun. But I keep playing to get to 100%. Activision want me to be driven by that 100% completion I'm sure. But this time around they wanted me to keep buying more and more characters that I wouldn't use again just to get there. But I don't want their new characters I just want to get 100% and then buy and own the handful of characters that I like the look of.

Activision have successfully sucked me into parting with my money for characters I didn't really like in the past. For example to get the Grand Admiral accolade on SSA you needed to have every single character (not counting variants). It was something similar with Giants. I have every character for both those games including reposes which in hindsight were such a waste of money.

But after looking at all the characters I have from those previous games that I no longer use I just couldn't bring myself to give Activision top dollar again this time. Simply put there isn't enough content in Trap Team to warrant buying more and more toys and I can't use them in earlier games. I could use them in future games, but I already have over 100 underused toys to use in those and Activision will almost certainly release another 50+ new ones for Skylanders 5 anyway.

Not that I am trying to justify my actions to any of you. I really couldn't care less what you think. Activision use some pretty slimy marketing techniques to increase their sales. I used some 'interesting' techniques to get around it this time. But I just wanted to share my thoughts with you. Because you all mean so much to me. Not your opinions of course. But your virtual company.

Totally get it. Imagine someone starting on Swap Force, wanted all the stars, and were left with the "Collect 30 Series 2 Orange Base" collection or "Collect 32 Green Base Characters". All for 5 stupid stars.

Yeah, everyone is staring at their collections and saying "do we REALLY need more characters? Content is where they will motivate me next time. Anything less, I'll buy the starter on black friday and call it done.

Quote: Plordigian

Most of us will agree that Trap Team is the first game in the series (since Spyro's Adventure) that has flat-out required buying more product to have access to the whole game.

It's like the expansion packs don't exist.

An SSA gamer had to buy $100 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.
A Giants gamer had to buy $150 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.
SWAP Force requires $100 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.

There's a word running deep in this thread. That word is "entitlement".

Quote: mastermc54

Quote: CountMoneyBone

Quote: procrstntngdrgn

This isnt cheating anyone. The toy is unopened. It will sell to someone else who wont even know it was a return. This is not a big deal at all people

exactly.

Umm...it is hurting the next kid who purchases the toy thinking it is new. The figure will not register automatically in the game since the ownership was initially logged with the first chump who put it on his/her portal. Obviously, us adults know we can simply take ownership of the character and reset it...no harm, no foul...but what about the young kid who doesn't know how to reset a character or take ownership??? He'll miss out on the elemental bonus and will never have the character show up on his collection screen. You people who seem to be ok with testing out or trying a character and returning for a full refund don't seem to understand this and have probably never played the Skylanders game with somebody in the 4-6 age group. Imagine if movies and video games could be viewed without opening the package...the video game and movie industry would go out of business....but according to some of you guys, it's perfectly fine to use for a test run and return since the packaging and it's contents inside haven't been physically touched. I for one, don't ever want to purchase a new Skylander only to get home and see it's already got some upgrades and money on it. Once Enigma comes out, I'll play with it for a week and sell it to one of you guys still in pristine packaging for $14.99...any takers???? I didn't think so.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: Tigorus

Quote: UncleBob

You know, you could just buy the new game and not worry about the new figures at all.

Just like they could stop locking content behind more pay walls than there already are....There's a lot of coulds and shoulds but it all comes down to our individual breaking points. My fear is that they ultimately don't care about making the franchise vets. happy anymore. Which is weird to say considering that older Skylanders work in newer games, but to what end. I'd like to see a benefit in game for owning the older generations. I still plan on making new purchases for whatever release block we're in but it would be nice to be rewarded for my multi-thousand dollar investment in this franchise beyond simply allowing me to play with older figures. Plus incentivizing older purchases would help out retailers as well by clearing out older figures.

Yeah, they keep iterating how it's cute we've kept going, but their target market is their target market. Might have to leave and see how miuch of their target market sustains them in order for them to pay homage to the Skyvets. Definitely agreed that having things both in content and stat system that can keep people going/wanting to go beyond the story and beyond the game would be appreciated, but after seeing 2 or 3 mainstay "after the main course" elements eliminated (heroics, quests, PvP, etc) I leave little hope that our dream will come true.

Good greif I'm actually agreeing with both of you guys. What is the world coming to?!

Congratulations, you've just took a bold step into a bright new world. Well, maybe not bright, but perhaps somber.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: Plordigian

Most of us will agree that Trap Team is the first game in the series (since Spyro's Adventure) that has flat-out required buying more product to have access to the whole game.

It's like the expansion packs don't exist.

An SSA gamer had to buy $100 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.
A Giants gamer had to buy $150 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.
SWAP Force requires $100 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.

There's a word running deep in this thread. That word is "entitlement".

I am entitled. I am entitled to put my foot down and stop being ripped off. I am entitled to expect to 100% the main game without being forced to buy more and more figures with - for me at least - the exception of expansion packs.

Yes they have always been around, representing crap value for money, with the exception of the original ones in my opinion. But I personally accept that I have to buy expansion packs. And I did buy Trap Team expansion packs. I just didn't buy their additional stinking Trap Masters.

Soooo...on a semi-related note, how many of you actually care to 100% a game and have gotten 100% in a Skylanders game??? A valid question because so many use it to argue and/or complain about the game. I'm pretty sure I've left most of my games at between 75 and 90% completion...I'm happily satisfied with my Skylanders gaming experience and feel like I haven't missed out on anything.

Most of mine are complete from a story star perspective. Haven't platnium most of it because I lose the urge to play and complete...doing that now since Trap Team has left such a gap in my post game Heroic/Quest activities. Swap Force is a test of endurance in getting all the stars (congrats to those who have pulled it off), and I'm still trying to get the no damage stars for a couple of boss battles. So I giuess I'm lingering in 90% range. But I've accessed and completed all story and other secondary content. Important distinction I think.

Quote: mastermc54

Soooo...on a semi-related note, how many of you actually care to 100% a game and have gotten 100% in a Skylanders game??? A valid question because so many use it to argue and/or complain about the game. I'm pretty sure I've left most of my games at between 75 and 90% completion...I'm happily satisfied with my Skylanders gaming experience and feel like I haven't missed out on anything.

Well obviously I'm one. It's a major motivator for me. I love the game as a whole and the different chapters etc, but getting 100% completion is important to me personally.

That being said I still have 3 bosses to get through with no damage in Swap Force as well. I just don't like SF as much as the other games so I'm finding it hard to get motivated to go back and finish those. But I will get back to it sometime this year and finish those last 3 off.

Quote:

If you purchased SSA (new) and the remaining 5 elements you could unlock everything in the game day 1. If you still had all 8 elements from SSA to play in Giants (regardless of which starter you bought), you were able to unlock 100% of the game day 1.

Really, how long has it been since you played those games? You need the 4 expansion packs to get 100%, and you needed one of each character to unlock all the heroic challenges. Also, with the way the campaign in Giants is built, if the only giant you have is Tree Rex you're in for a pretty painful experience; you're going to be playing as him constantly. Every other area has a bomb wall or a feat of strength or a cracked floor. I doubt anyone was ever having a lot of fun in Skylanders if they only bought the bare minimum amount of figures.

Quote: Plordigian

Most of us will agree that Trap Team is the first game in the series (since Spyro's Adventure) that has flat-out required buying more product to have access to the whole game.

How could most people agree to something that's not true? Heroic challenges, SWAP zones, expansion levels. Heck, the characters themselves are part of the game you can't access without paying more. I have like 210 Skylanders and I still can't access some content on SWAP Force because I never got the Arkeyan Crossbow.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying this to complain. I'm just saying that Skylanders is a game series which has always required a commitment to buying extra merchandise if you want the full experience.

Quote: Friendzie

Quote:

If you purchased SSA (new) and the remaining 5 elements you could unlock everything in the game day 1. If you still had all 8 elements from SSA to play in Giants (regardless of which starter you bought), you were able to unlock 100% of the game day 1.

Really, how long has it been since you played those games? You need the 4 expansion packs to get 100%, and you needed one of each character to unlock all the heroic challenges. Also, with the way the campaign in Giants is built, if the only giant you have is Tree Rex you're in for a pretty painful experience; you're going to be playing as him constantly. Every other area has a bomb wall or a feat of strength or a cracked floor. I doubt anyone was ever having a lot of fun in Skylanders if they only bought the bare minimum amount of figures.

Quote: Plordigian

Most of us will agree that Trap Team is the first game in the series (since Spyro's Adventure) that has flat-out required buying more product to have access to the whole game.

How could most people agree to something that's not true? Heroic challenges, SWAP zones, expansion levels. Heck, the characters themselves are part of the game you can't access without paying more. I have like 210 Skylanders and I still can't access some content on SWAP Force because I never got the Arkeyan Crossbow.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying this to complain. I'm just saying that Skylanders is a game series which has always required a commitment to buying extra merchandise if you want the full experience.

You're right. I was mainly talking about the soul gems and the elemental gates. Saying 'whole game" was a big fat generalization. My issue was more with the way the Dark/Light elemental gates were handled as well as blocking soul gems behind Trap Master gates. That was my main issue. I personally never care about getting the save file to 100% completion. I simply play until it's no longer fun. Having all of a Skylanders abilities are more important to me the anything else.

Edit:
Fixed previous posts to specify "elemental gate in the core game" instead of everything or 100%.

Quote: Friendzie

How could most people agree to something that's not true? Heroic challenges, SWAP zones, expansion levels. Heck, the characters themselves are part of the game you can't access without paying more. I have like 210 Skylanders and I still can't access some content on SWAP Force because I never got the Arkeyan Crossbow.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying this to complain. I'm just saying that Skylanders is a game series which has always required a commitment to buying extra merchandise if you want the full experience.

More accurately, each game has specific purchase requirement, and the commitment to purchase basically gets reset on each game...in other words, the 210 skylanders mean nothing, the slate is clean, and they want you to start over--if you care about accessing all content.

SSA required all character purchases if you wanted the accolades and access all heroics. In Giants, even though you already have 24 characters in SSA, they made you go buy Series 2 to access the Heroics in that game (although series 2 could do most of them by taking them back into SSA). SSF required all previous character purchases to achieve certain collection stars....all games required battle/adventure packs to access content etc. But what you can be certain, is that the army you have today won't mean squat in the next game from a content perspective, only to play.

I have:
(didn't want)
(best)

Wf
(didn't want)


(didn't want but turned out to be one of my favourites

Me. Blastermind was only bought, til Enigma's out

Quote: kaosmumishot

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: Plordigian

Most of us will agree that Trap Team is the first game in the series (since Spyro's Adventure) that has flat-out required buying more product to have access to the whole game.

It's like the expansion packs don't exist.

An SSA gamer had to buy $100 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.
A Giants gamer had to buy $150 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.
SWAP Force requires $100 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.

There's a word running deep in this thread. That word is "entitlement".

I am entitled. I am entitled to put my foot down and stop being ripped off. I am entitled to expect to 100% the main game without being forced to buy more and more figures with - for me at least - the exception of expansion packs.

Yes they have always been around, representing crap value for money, with the exception of the original ones in my opinion. But I personally accept that I have to buy expansion packs. And I did buy Trap Team expansion packs. I just didn't buy their additional stinking Trap Masters.

if you HAD bought "all the expansions", the trap masters you need for the soul gems in question, wouldn't be "additional purchases" since the Light/dark expansions COME with them... and you wouldn't be complaining about not being able to get them/having to buy them when you already consider their purchase mandatory to get the full experience through the simple fact that you feel that the expansions, which the trap masters you need COME IN, are "obligatory"
I don't consider it obligatory... but I still bought the expansions anyway... (I always love the concept of light/dark elements, especially when added later, besides, the trap masters look cool, and well, dragons speak for themselves... [I got the L/D expansion packs with the starter, back when they were rare-ish, would you believe that I found the Dark at gamestop, but wasn't going to buy because If I couldn't get light, I'd rather buy both at Toysrus.com simultaneously to minimize the odds of a mixup? good thing the Target next door had the Light Expansion/a friend convinced me to nab it and then, the next Wednesday, I went to gamestop to get some EE, that was the day the spring break sale ended, see...? but their label machine was wonky, and showed the old price, so they had to sell the two ee's for $40 instead of $50, also, they were a mess, so they hadn't finished "shelving" their BRAND NEW shipment of Kaos traps... maybe not as lucky as I thought at the time, {there's more of them going around now, right?}, but still kinda lucky, since I planned to go the day before, but had to defer it til that day...])
Then, last week, they had Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 remix, Spotlight, AND blackout ALL in stock [I was NOT going to buy one core w/o the other, and there were plenty of opportunities for one or the other, and I've been waiting for them to stock KH2.5 for MONTHS, {Its pre-owned, but I wasn't expecting a new disc... just hope it has the original label/case... (and that its the "Greatest Hits" version to match my 1.5 mix [do they have one of those for 2.5 yet? D:])}],

Quote: juarmo

Quote: kaosmumishot

Quote: UncleBob

It's like the expansion packs don't exist.

An SSA gamer had to buy $100 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.
A Giants gamer had to buy $150 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.
SWAP Force requires $100 worth of expansion packs to play the entire game.

There's a word running deep in this thread. That word is "entitlement".

I am entitled. I am entitled to put my foot down and stop being ripped off. I am entitled to expect to 100% the main game without being forced to buy more and more figures with - for me at least - the exception of expansion packs.

Yes they have always been around, representing crap value for money, with the exception of the original ones in my opinion. But I personally accept that I have to buy expansion packs. And I did buy Trap Team expansion packs. I just didn't buy their additional stinking Trap Masters.

if you HAD bought "all the expansions", the trap masters you need for the soul gems in question, wouldn't be "additional purchases" since the Light/dark expansions COME with them... and you wouldn't be complaining about not being able to get them/having to buy them when you already consider their purchase mandatory to get the full experience through the simple fact that you feel that the expansions, which the trap masters you need COME IN, are "obligatory"
I don't consider it obligatory... but I still bought the expansions anyway... (I always love the concept of light/dark elements, especially when added later, besides, the trap masters look cool, and well, dragons speak for themselves... [I got the L/D expansion packs with the starter, back when they were rare-ish, would you believe that I found the Dark at gamestop, but wasn't going to buy because If I couldn't get light, I'd rather buy both at Toysrus.com simultaneously to minimize the odds of a mixup? good thing the Target next door had the Light Expansion/a friend convinced me to nab it and then, the next Wednesday, I went to gamestop to get some EE, that was the day the spring break sale ended, see...? but their label machine was wonky, and showed the old price, so they had to sell the two ee's for $40 instead of $50, also, they were a mess, so they hadn't finished "shelving" their BRAND NEW shipment of Kaos traps... maybe not as lucky as I thought at the time, {there's more of them going around now, right?}, but still kinda lucky, since I planned to go the day before, but had to defer it til that day...])
Then, last week, they had Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 remix, Spotlight, AND blackout ALL in stock [I was NOT going to buy one core w/o the other, and there were plenty of opportunities for one or the other, and I've been waiting for them to stock KH2.5 for MONTHS, {Its pre-owned, but I wasn't expecting a new disc... just hope it has the original label/case... (and that its the "Greatest Hits" version to match my 1.5 mix [do they have one of those for 2.5 yet? D:])}],

To 100% the game you need to open all locked gates. So for me it wasn't about getting the extra soul gems. I needed to unlock things like the magic gates etc to get 100%. That's where I brought, exchanged, returned. All that being said I will buy more when they are selling off old stock dirt cheap after S5 comes out. Sure I won't get every character, but I'll get a few of the missing ones.