Tashiji
Yellow Sparx
Gems: 1453
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#77 Posted: 22:58:58 31/03/2012
I really doubt that you will be unable to level old Skylanders in the new game. There's no reason to believe that this is the case. The only source for this doesn't cite Activision at all, and can ONLY be called conjecture at this point until we hear an OFFICIAL word otherwise. Let's not over-invest in speculation until at least E3. Activision can't be unaware of the backlash that this would create. People are interested in the re-posed characters, but no one wants to HAVE TO buy them for the sake of being able to play their favorite character fully in the new game.
People might say that we've yet to see characters hacked past L:10 in-game, despite numerous hackings of Skylanders in general. In reality, this is more likely to be a software limitation, with the highest that a level can read in the game being 10. Similarly, when we do bring a L:20 (or whatever) re-posed character back to the original Skylanders, it will in all likelihood appear at L:10 anyway, regardless of its level being 20 in the sequel. If levels greater than 10 existed in the original Skylanders, like we've all been saying, we'd be seeing hacks of them at L:255 or whatever, REGARDLESS OF IF THE FIGURES THEMSELVES CAN SUPPORT THAT LEVEL. Case in point: Much of the hacking involves altering how Spyro appears in game to unreleased characters, such as Camo and Warnado. Inside of the game, given the hacks, they do appear as and play like those characters. However, the second the game goes off, you still have whatever Spyro you did before. What this means is that the limitation on levels is likely only in the software, because even if the characters can't handle levels over 10, hackers would have still adjusted them to whatever the real (and unattainable) cap was in-game, IF there was such a cap past 10. There's not.
Comparably little research has been done with regards to the RFID chips in the Skylanders themselves. We truly do not have detailed accounts of how they work, what they can store, or what their parameters are, because we are limited by A ) a lack of research and B ) software limitations in the game itself. The level "switch" inside of these toys could go up to L:500 for all we know, and we'd have no way of figuring this out, because the game itself can only display L:10 no matter what.
Supporting evidence to this theory is the characters' webgame levels, which extend well beyond 10. What this means: THERE IS A COUNTER IN THESE TOYS, FOR CHARACTER LEVEL, THAT EXTENDS BEYOND 10. Bold for emphasis. Answer me this, if you believe that you will not be able to level figures past 10 in Giants. Why, despite including a level counter that exceeds 10 in these characters already for Webgame purposes, would they completely lack the foresight to avoid in-game counters hard-coded at a maximum of 10? Why would they not use exactly the same algorithm they use in the "webgame" section of the character for the "console game" section, and just leave it sealed by the software itself at level 10? It just doesn't make any sense to hard-code that one level into the figures.
And it wouldn't be at all difficult from a coding perspective to have it be this way, either. When a Skylander levels, the only thing that changes is its HP, which is calculated by the console presumably. Console detects character > console detects character level/Heroics/paths > console creates in-game representation of character using software-side formula for that character's HP at their given level > character appears in game. Why would it be unthinkable that this simple process of adding X amount of HP per level couldn't work in Giants? Especially when, in all existing interviews of actual Activision reps, no one has brought up a single limitation of 1st Gen Skylanders and their compatibility with Giants.
So then, why are there re-poses? Well, those familiar with toys and the toy industry are already familiar with re-poses. There are about twelve billion versions of Snake Eyes that are perfectly compatible with all other G.I. Joes. Re-poses are common, and I don't understand the skepticism. Even if the two work in exactly the same fashion inside both games (and I'm 90% certain they will), yearly editions of popular toys are not uncommon. Personally, I suspect that the G1 characters will be "retired" over the summer for 2012's G2 Skylanders, leaving those who already have the original figures free to buy the new ones... or not. No pressure. No part of the game saying that your old figures are suddenly useless and you have to quit playing--because really, that will be the average response. Those who seriously go re-buy every figure because the game says they have to for max levels will be in the minority compared to those who quit playing or just leave theirs at L:10, trust me. The franchise is still new, the fanbase still tenuous, and this kind of decision is far too destructive to the brand to actually make.
Personally, I find it way more believable that the cap for console levels on the RFID is exactly the same as the cap for webgame levels, and the reason we can't level beyond 10 already is a hard cap in the game itself. Activision invested a LOT of money in the first Skylanders to ensure that there would be a sequel. They spent "franchise" cash on it, and I sincerely doubt that Giants wasn't already at least in the preliminary stages of development before the first Skylanders even hit the shelves. Frankly, they would have had the foresight for this. Does anyone here really think Activision, the same people who have marketed and planned this franchise brilliantly to this point, would make such a colossal blunder as to invalidate older figures (in any way--even levels) in the new game, and give the whole series a premature burial in the process? I don't think so.
The re-poses are just re-poses. The same exact characters we already have, in a new position. They're doing it to make money, not replace the ones we have. That's the only way a move like this makes any level of sense, and that's how it's going to be.
I'd say you can rub this post in my face if what I'm saying turns out not to be true, but I suspect that we all will have quit the game by then anyway and there'll be no place in which to do it. I guess you'll just have to trust me.
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