darkSpyro

Quote: Earth-Dragon

And I think it absurd PvP Arenas seem to have permanently gotten cut.

I'd like to see it back, but I think it's unlikely. Most low-budget fighting games have 20 or so characters. High end games might have around 50 inique(ish) characters.

We're at something like 150 or so unique characters in Skylanders, each with two braching paths, Wow Pows, etc. Rounding out all of the attacks so that a few stand-out characters aren't just crazy over-powered... that would take a *lot* of work (/money). Also, you run into issues like Eon's Elite - are you just charging $25 so folks could have a chance at winning in an online PvP Mode? Or, do you nerf the Elite in PvP so much that it makes owning the Elite worthless if you already own the base figure?

The only way we're going to see a return of PvP is if Activision farms it out to a second party and launches it as a second title in the same year... I don't know if it'd sell enough to be worth it, but when folks are spending $1,000+/year on figures, it'd be awesome if they gave us more than 1.5 games/year to play with them.

I wanted a Skylanders racing game since the first title and still feel it was a good choice for the series - but sincerely think it would have been better to split this game, making the vehicles the focus in the spin-off and the characters the focus in a new title in the same vein of previous entries.

Similarly, I think it'd be a wise move for Activision to expand so that we get more types of games/year that use the figures. Imagine a Mario-Party-esque Skylanders game - where the figures themselves serve as unlocks (new board, new mini-games, whatever) so that having 150+ characters doesn't require detailed balancing. Think of a sports game where using the figure just allows you to play as that character in the game (maybe with a "power move" based on the character being used).

Just my two cents.

As for the topic at hand, not so much the game, but I'm annoyed that the backs of the packages explain Supercharging, but all use Hot Streak/Spitfire. If you don't have the characters memorized, you have to go out of your way to fetermine who goes with what vehicle. athe *only* reason to not have this is laziness/cheapness. Insted of recycling the same Spitfire/Hot Streak art on each box, they could have taken 18 or so alternate images for that spce.

I'm disappointed that all of the rehashed Superchargers were ones that have been done two to three times before, it means there's a lack of brand new, interesting characters to collect and that made me rather upset.

The lack of replayability aside from Tessa and Hugo's challenges means that later Waves of figures are obsolete, at least in my opinion, as I'll get bored just playing the same things over and over.

I'm also disappointed that traps, although can be placed in the portal, only unlock a Skystone (most of which aren't even good) and a weapon for a limited time on the vehicle. The weapons aren't too bad in offline play, but in races they run out quickly and can't be conserved.

I'm also disappointed that, the main gimmick of the game, the Superchaer vehicles and specifically, racing, was locked until you purchased the race packs (with the sea/land/sky trophies, etc), which in Australia, are the most expensive ones here, going for 40 dollars each. I bought the game for 65. Why lock away one of the most fun parts of the game just to get more money? It's really upsetting.

My son just complains and complains about the "racing parts". He thinks that the whole Skylanders formula has been destroyed. I am of the mindset that it needed a kick-in-the-pants to move it forward somewhat and not just repeat itself over and over. I've been replaying Giants recently and going back to game #2 gives you new perspective on how things have improved over the games that came after SG. (especially the jumping mechanism to name one. Oh how I wish I could jump in Giants!) The games will continue to press forward I am sure and there will be new gimmicks and I do like the low # of purchasable figures/things. They need to keep that up for future games.

Oh and let's just DUMP these dumb dark versions. Makes us have to buy too many starter kits to get all figs (directed at collectors). Also dump variants on other starter figures. Too hard to get.

Regarding my son, his complaints about the racing parts is odd since Mario Kart (all versions) are some of his most favorite games. Maybe when we get around to the actual "racing" online he'll come around.

sigh.

-vm

Quote: checkerchairs

I'm also disappointed that, the main gimmick of the game, the Superchaer vehicles and specifically, racing, was locked until you purchased the race packs (with the sea/land/sky trophies, etc), which in Australia, are the most expensive ones here, going for 40 dollars each. I bought the game for 65. Why lock away one of the most fun parts of the game just to get more money? It's really upsetting.

Just to clarify, it does unlock 2 water and two land races. What they should've done, in my opinion, is to make all 4 land races FREE WITH THE GAME (or include the RACING CUP) since they've already included the one car and figure...that way you can experience it all AT LEAST for one area. I would've been fine with one racing cup, Spitfire and the car vehicle. Now THAT would've been a great marketing move instead of the Dark starter fiasco.

Competitive online PvP with matchmaking would be a very tough balance, and require a ton of work. But, this game could have offered it "as it is" and it would have been fine among friends (who can set personal rules). Handle it like my son deals with his friend that only plays the most over-powered characters (or ones he has powered up on his own well beyond others) in games, just don't play them. I don't see why that would have been a heavy lift.

The main issue I see with Superchargers right now (I haven't played the game, won't get it until Black Friday and for Christmas) is less about the game and more about the toys. They killed the collecting aspect with the Starter nonsense (good for me, eliminates the urge to get variants, but bad for the franchise). The first night at TRU, there were a bunch of people (about as many as Swap Force) and took a good bite out of stock. But, in the two weeks since they have restocked at most stores and even the new Wave 2 stuff doesn't appear to be moving. That's a much faster drop off than previous years. After last year's collect-a-thon (32 figures, 16 minis, 50+ traps, loads of variants), have people reached their tipping point?

Quote: defpally

Competitive online PvP with matchmaking would be a very tough balance, and require a ton of work. But, this game could have offered it "as it is" and it would have been fine among friends (who can set personal rules). Handle it like my son deals with his friend that only plays the most over-powered characters (or ones he has powered up on his own well beyond others) in games, just don't play them. I don't see why that would have been a heavy lift.

The main issue I see with Superchargers right now (I haven't played the game, won't get it until Black Friday and for Christmas) is less about the game and more about the toys. They killed the collecting aspect with the Starter nonsense (good for me, eliminates the urge to get variants, but bad for the franchise). The first night at TRU, there were a bunch of people (about as many as Swap Force) and took a good bite out of stock. But, in the two weeks since they have restocked at most stores and even the new Wave 2 stuff doesn't appear to be moving. That's a much faster drop off than previous years. After last year's collect-a-thon (32 figures, 16 minis, 50+ traps, loads of variants), have people reached their tipping point?

I'd say they have burned a lot of bridges with the sheer number last time, and I'd suggest to you others are going one step further than you and simply opted out due to the marketing mis-steps with the exclusiveness and starter purchase situation. I'd argue these two things will impact the game itself this time, but sure as I'm standing they'll somehow blame the quality of the game itself as the reason.

The only thing really else to note that the game is 30 days early. My Best Buy is wiped out on SuperCharger stock, and the Dark Starters are already gone (then again, they didn't get a lot).

My Best Buy was wiped out the previous weekend, but they have restocked, yours probably hasn't put them out yet. They have a full selection of shelf warmers now (which appears to be everything). They never got in many Darks, so no surprise there.

I'm surprised at some of the comments I've read in this post and in other threads talking about how Skylanders needed to make a change to keep in fresh and moving forward and how SSC is heading in the right direction. I'm surprised because it seems like more of a racing game now than the explore/fight kind of game it used to be.

I fail to see how making SSC more like Mario Karts - that from what I can tell lots of you have already played a lot of - makes the game 'new' or 'innovative'.

Oh and UncleBob I have taken your suggestion and imagined a Mario-Party-esque Skylanders game. Perhaps we could call it Mario Party? Or if we go down the sports path like you suggest perhaps we could call it Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games?

Seriously I don't get why so many people seem so keen to turn Skylanders into a copy of games that already exist. How is that new or innovative?

SuperChargers is definitely a step in the right direction in terms of content, variety, Story, design and other smaller things but yes, it would have been much better with less focus on vehicles.

Land sections can become rather annoying when replaying a level and extra modes almost entirely revolve around racing.
I generally think a gimmick should be created around a game not the opposite; vehicles are not only too much prominent but also act as a parallel to on-foot action instead of improving it.

Yes I agree Drek95 it's trying to keep the core of the game the same and improving on it through the gimmicks, instead of turning the game into a copy of another game.

I'm a TFB fan, even though I was disappointed in a lot of things about STT, so I might be biased, but it seems like VV focus on making games and gimmicks and not that much on the things that make the game so unique and fun. But I'm trying to keep an open mind because I hated the idea of jumping when SSF came out, but like ViDeOmAnCiNi I've just finished replaying Giants and now I find that not being able to jump sucks.

Quote: kaosmumishot

Oh and UncleBob I have taken your suggestion and imagined a Mario-Party-esque Skylanders game. Perhaps we could call it Mario Party? Or if we go down the sports path like you suggest perhaps we could call it Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games?

Seriously I don't get why so many people seem so keen to turn Skylanders into a copy of games that already exist. How is that new or innovative?

Not every single game has to be brand new or innovative.

New Super Mario Bros. was one of the top selling games on the Nintendo DS.
Call of Duty outsells virtually every other game with each new iteration.
Hell, the actual gameplay in the original Skylanders game was basically a Diablo-esque dungeon crawler.

If Activision can pull out the next big game-changer that's full of brand-new gameplay mechanics, awesome!

But you know what I want most of all out of any game I'm going to drop $60 on (or, in the case of Skylanders, $1,000+)? I want it to be FUN. I bought Link's Awakening when it was released for the original GameBoy. Bought it again when they re-released the color version on the GameBoy Color. And again, Day 1, when they re-released it for the 3DS virtual console. Hell, Nintendo could re-release the B&W version for the 3DS and I'd throw down another $5 for it. Because it's the absolute most funnest game ever created.

You can create the most innovative game ever, but if it isn't fun to play, I don't want to spend $60 on it.

If Activision cannot create a brand-new, totally innovative game, but can churn out a couple of fun games instead, that's great to me. :D

And to be fair in this day and age with so many games having been released it's hard to have something truly unique and I agree that it's all about fun. But for me SSA was fun, SG was fun, the whilst other Skylanders games haven't been as much fun but they are still fun games.

What I am struggling with is to see the link between Skylanders and sports and Skylanders and racing etc. I mean driving cars to fight bad guys is ridiculous to me. Boss fights where Skylanders get to use their attacks makes sense. Boss fights where those Skylanders sit in the car while the car does the fighting is just completely lame. I'm also not interested in Skylanders having foot races, or shooting hoops or anything like that.

So personally I think Skylanders should get back to the explore/battle model and move away from the 'Let's copy Mario' model. Just my opinion.

You want innovation, but want them to go back to the same formula they've used for four other games? ;)

I'm not saying they should take Mario Party or random Mario Sports game and dump Skylanders characters in place of Mario universe characters... But Mario Sports games don't just take an existing sport and dump Mario characters in them (well, some of the earlier games did...) They take the existing sport and add a Mario twist. Why can't we take an existing sport and add a Skylanders twist?

Firstly, I want them to innovate based around the original formula. For example, and this isn't my suggestion it's one that Ghost Roaster made in the Trap Team forum, they could have random enemy generators, so instead of each chapter playing exactly the same each time you might be ambushed in different places at different times each time you play through. A wider world with more exploration would be a welcome addition as well. Within that framework different gimmicks could be added but those that fit within the existing style of the game. Not having Skylanders sitting in cars while the cars do the fighting.

Secondly, yes they could add a Skylander twist to existing sports, they could probably do a bunch of dumb stuff, I'm just hoping they don't.

Quote: kaosmumishot

And to be fair in this day and age with so many games having been released it's hard to have something truly unique and I agree that it's all about fun. But for me SSA was fun, SG was fun, the whilst other Skylanders games haven't been as much fun but they are still fun games.

What I am struggling with is to see the link between Skylanders and sports and Skylanders and racing etc. I mean driving cars to fight bad guys is ridiculous to me. Boss fights where Skylanders get to use their attacks makes sense. Boss fights where those Skylanders sit in the car while the car does the fighting is just completely lame. I'm also not interested in Skylanders having foot races, or shooting hoops or anything like that.

So personally I think Skylanders should get back to the explore/battle model and move away from the 'Let's copy Mario' model. Just my opinion.

i agree on this one and im very disappointed with ssc, thats why i am not gonna buy ssc... . i just hope tfb goes back to what really is skylanders. then vv can do what ever they want. i will stick to the tfb skylanders version.

You can stop the back and forth now, we know by Black Friday you'll pretend someone gave it to you but you totally definately didn't buy it.

Not even all boss battles are on vehicles, but of course you're ignoring that.

Quote: defpally

My Best Buy was wiped out the previous weekend, but they have restocked, yours probably hasn't put them out yet. They have a full selection of shelf warmers now (which appears to be everything). They never got in many Darks, so no surprise there.

Well that's probably true, however I bet if I asked they'd say "they're all out".

Quote: kaosmumishot

Firstly, I want them to innovate based around the original formula. For example, and this isn't my suggestion it's one that Ghost Roaster made in the Trap Team forum, they could have random enemy generators, so instead of each chapter playing exactly the same each time you might be ambushed in different places at different times each time you play through. A wider world with more exploration would be a welcome addition as well. Within that framework different gimmicks could be added but those that fit within the existing style of the game. Not having Skylanders sitting in cars while the cars do the fighting.

Am I the only one who remembers the parts of SSA where you jump into a cannon and blow up enemies flying around or what not?

If Activision had just made the vehicles into Skylanders themselves, the whole "Skylanders sitting around in cars" thing would go away. No one complained with Tread Head rolled around the screen fighting enemies. But Tread Head, in a car, rolling around fighting enemies is bad...?

And if Random Enemy Generators is your idea of "innovation"... I'm not saying it wouldn't be a nice change to add to the series (perhaps, depending on the skill level you're playing at), but it's far, far from innovative.

Quote:

Secondly, yes they could add a Skylander twist to existing sports, they could probably do a bunch of dumb stuff, I'm just hoping they don't.

If I bought a Wii U and only got one new game to play on it each year, I'd feel like I wasted my money. Meanwhile, I spend more than I spent on my Wii U on *launch* day alone for Superchargers. I spend more than the cost of the Wii U every year on Skylanders and get two games to play each year (counting the DS games separately, as they are wholly different games). I'm not saying they have to do sports games (hell, why not create a brand new sport, something just played in Skylands, the way Quidditch was created for the Harry Potter universe) or party games - any additional games that allow me to use my thousands of dollars in video game accessories towards playing video games is welcome. I thought a 2D platformer where each character you load into the game opens an additional level (that can be played through by all characters) would be great fun (although developing such a game now would be complete hell, since there are now hundreds of figures that they'd have to create levels for). Hell, give us Cloud Patrol on the 3DS - no reason not to - the game is developed, balanced, and ready to go.

Hell, make a full-fledged RPG where you stop in town, edit your Skylander party at the Inn by adding new figures in, before you go out questing.

Fully develop a Skystones collection where every time you add a figure, you unlock more cards and you can play online or vs. the character you have on the portal (imagine getting kid-friendly trash-talked by your favorite Skylander when you challenge them to a game of Skystones).

Make a puzzle game where you have multi-colored falling block(-like objects) and scanning a Skylander in gives you some kind of special powerup based on their element or such.

There are worlds of ideas that Activision could build off of - and probably totally new experiences waiting to be designed by low-level employees just looking for their chance to speak up and say "Hey, what if we did this..." - there's no good reason to stick to a single game (or two, with the 3DS iteration) every year.

*YOU* don't want a Skylanders themed sports game or party game collection. Awesome. Then *YOU* could stick with the main-line installment each year. But the rest of us could have the *option* to play multiple games - and that's all I'm proposing.

I'm of the opinion that * I * think resources are already too stretched and that multiple offerings will make * MY * main game already worse than it needs to be. I'm pretty sure Activision isn't going to put the apple before the cart on this. I'd love more offerings as long as quality isn't sacrificied...and I'm already pretty leery on their current execution.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

I'm of the opinion that * I * think resources are already too stretched and that multiple offerings will make * MY * main game already worse than it needs to be. I'm pretty sure Activision isn't going to put the apple before the cart on this. I'd love more offerings as long as quality isn't sacrificied...and I'm already pretty leery on their current execution.

I can agree on this concern - which is why I suggested farming the PvP fighting game out to another 2nd party.

I wouldn't have TFB or VV work on the spin-offs - there are plenty of smaller studios out there that could take up these projects. n-Space did an amazing job with the 3DS iterations (outside of that nasty 100+ Glitch in Giants 3DS), if they weren't so wrapped up with the insanely amazing looking Swordcoast Legends, I'd say they could make some fun titles. If there was something like the 2DS platformer with downloadable levels for each character, different studios could even get involved in making different levels.

I'd recommend a "Skylanders Board of Directors" that consists of Activision reps and TFB reps (maybe a person or two from VV) to help judge ideas, give the go or no-go on project proposals, to seek out developers interested in working with the brand, etc - something to give the entire line-up a cohesiveness that is missing *now* (like the villians escaping between Trap Team and SuperChargers... something *that* major should be explained within the games. Trap Team should have hinted at some way for the villains to escape and SuperChargers should have been able to use it. Also, storyline wise, why can't I use my traptanium crystals to trap villains now? Why was it so poweful last year and now it's a temporary vehicle enchancement this year? Real-world-wise, I get it - but there should be an in-game explanation for this... and a Skylanders Board could work as a liaison between teams working on games to make sure stuff like this is addressed. Maybe there should be a 12 year old on the board to point out issues like this...)

I don't know how long Activision plans to keep the brand going, but spinning it off into its own thing would be a plus for the brand and us fans.

Random ambushes is probably no less lacking in innovation than sports games for Skylanders, but let's leave that for a moment and focus on something we agree on and that is available content for our collective investment in Skylanders figures.

Having additional chapters/side stories/mini-games etc would in theory be a fantastic idea and I agree entirely that if some of those games were completely lame crap like party games or sports, I could just ignore them and everyone else could buy them. And I think they would sell pretty well. I think I'm in the minority in hating the thought of Skylanders going in that direction. But I agree with TakeYourLemons that it could adversely affect the main game. Unless as you say they introduce a smaller studio, but I can't see them doing that because Activision seem to be far more focused on creating and selling toys and gimmicks than they are on creating quality game play. So it would be more likely that these ideas would become part of their annual offerings rather than a spin-off.

I might be being a bit unfair on Activision, maybe they feel that they are producing quality game play and besides it's obvious that's what is quality to me is not necessarily the same as what you might think quality game play is. And SSC if nothing else is a way, way better balance between the number of characters / amount of game play ratio than STT that had sooooo many characters for such a short game. But even though SSC is better I would still like a heap more content/chapters/adventures for all my Skylanders than what I'm currently getting. But I can't see Activision giving me more content without forcing me to buy new characters and gimmicks as well.

Quote: UncleBob

I don't know how long Activision plans to keep the brand going, but spinning it off into its own thing would be a plus for the brand and us fans.

I can get on board with this, it's simply the question of execution.

How the accedemy is considered a levels

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Quote: UncleBob

I don't know how long Activision plans to keep the brand going, but spinning it off into its own thing would be a plus for the brand and us fans.

I can get on board with this, it's simply the question of execution.

Agreed. That's the key to everything. ;)

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Quote: UncleBob

I don't know how long Activision plans to keep the brand going, but spinning it off into its own thing would be a plus for the brand and us fans.

I can get on board with this, it's simply the question of execution.

Agreed. That's the key to everything.

I've elevated my senses. 42.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: TakeYourLemons

I can get on board with this, it's simply the question of execution.

Agreed. That's the key to everything.

I've elevated my senses. 42.

So you know the Answer... But what's the Question...?

I don't like how the Traptanium Crystal just plays music from TT. I was hoping it would give me more information about the enemies and bosses.

Quote: Derp99

I don't like how the Traptanium Crystal just plays music from TT. I was hoping it would give me more information about the enemies and bosses.

Several treasures just play music. Why were you expecting a crystal to talk, anyway?

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: Derp99

I don't like how the Traptanium Crystal just plays music from TT. I was hoping it would give me more information about the enemies and bosses.

Several treasures just play music. Why were you expecting a crystal to talk, anyway?

Actually I was hoping it would be like a enemy gallery with information about them, kinda like The Munchables.

The vault last game had a whole cluster below it, one crystal wouldn't do much.
And it is weird, the comic never showed damage done to the vault. It just disappeared from its spot in the hub, but the hole is still there.