darkSpyro

I am going to start this by saying I love skylanders and the game and I have all the figures.

Alright now for the hate, why do so many skylanders have useless moves or "had" potential but then lost that potential based off of what new moves were available. Again I will restate I really do like this game and that is why I am probably so frustrated by how utterly useless they made some characters, or how one sided they made others. They could have easily made all of the characters good and worth playing while still keeping the game even for pvp. Most of my critiques are based off of PVE so don't get offended, because I do understand that somethings may be horrible in pve while amazing in pvp. I enjoy playing levels and killing the NPCs so I am rating this on just PVE.

Lets get started: Sunburn - is one of the characters that I feel falls on this scale. I know everyone loves his teleport I just find the move frustrating and even if you chose his flamethrower path he is just even more frustrating to use. They should have let him fly, the speed could have solved the problem with the flamethrower and he could have become what he was meant to be a flame toting badass with speed.

Wrecking Ball - At first I didn't like him but leveling in the tongue path made him fun. I had a lot of hope for wrecking ball but his charge is just too unreliable and difficult to use. If they would have made his charge simpler or at least given you full control he could have more uses.

Drobot - Drobot's flying is great but a pain to use. You can't fly uphills because it stops him and if you bump into anything you also stop flying. None of the other characters have this problem, even if they wanted to limit his flying since it is so fast they could have done something else. Also his razor blades are very impractical since you can only hit people if you are bouncing them everywhere, how often are you in a corridor where that is appropriate, which means his lasers are his only option.

Double Trouble - I really like double trouble but there is no point to ever using his doubles. They should have made them similar to Sonic Boom but instead of flying and pecking they also use beams to attack. The limited time span of the doubles hardly make them useful and Double Trouble can usually kill most things before they even get to them to blow up. The whole point of this character is that he makes copies of himself and yet they are no where near his purpose, which is silly.

Zap - I know everyone loves him as slime serpent and I went down that path because of all the recommendations and yet I am extremely unhappy. You have to literally dance around everything just to hope they happen to step on your slime to get electrocuted and die. It would be much more effective if the move itself was electrified without going into Slime Serpent and that path having given a different power, like maybe being able to shoot slime straight ahead as well.

Eruptor - I have yet to find a reason to finish leveling this character just because of how frustrated I get playing him. I love elementals, and the thought of a fire elemental was amazing to me and yet Eruptor is the absolute worst fire character in the game. His fireballs don't work as well as they could, the arc doesn't makes things easy to hit, and his vomit is only useful when surrounded, even if you are surrounded it is very easy for you to get hurt bad just to use this move.

Drill Sergeant - Another character that seems interesting at first sight and yet he is horrible when you first use him. He isn't even playable until you get his laser, and then you have practically max his moves out just so he can do damage and not die every five seconds.

Warnado - I really like this character which is also why I am so angry at where he is at. He should have easily been one of the best characters in the game and yet his main move of having tornadoes makes him weak. They should be sucking up everything around them not sitting still until hopefully something walks into them.

Lastly - This is a general dislike of how so many characters have traps or barriers that don't work. Zook is a prime example of a barrier that is actually good and works the way it should, when leveled in that direction. Even with Zook having a good barrier why should any character have a need to just sit and wait for something to come and reach you for them to get hurt by something, when you have the range to just blow everything up before it got to you. For instance Hex, her barrier is worthless they could have easily given her something else that made her more deadly, or given Dino rang something other than a trap. Some of these might be great for pvp but again was the game made for pvp or for pve. Why make a character practically useless in pve, just so they could have an edge in pvp.

My last disclaimer, I made this thread to let off steam about how frustrating it is that so many skylanders could not live up to their potential. This isn't a fighting game this is an adventure game there should have been no reason to not make every character as deadly as Stealth Elf or Terrafin. I mean any character should be able to be put into a middle difficulty stage at level 1 and be able to do some damage, not be level 10 and get murdered by 2 black knights. Even if they are strong enough to kill almost anything like Stealth Elf then the game should just be compensated by having had more enemies and more spawns. Some levels were practically empty and this shouldn't have happened. No need to argue that the game was made for kids, look at the games that were made for kids 20 years ago, they were insanely difficult and yet we handled it. Nowadays there are way more video games, technology is everywhere and kids should easily be able to handle this type of game even if it was more difficult or if every level was crawling with enemies.

Feel free to hate on me, to argue with what I have said or even to agree and state other frustrations you have with other characters.

i agree on most except with wrecking ball. if you choose the rolling path it can be controlled a bit easier

Im actually curious to see what you have to say about the other characters

The only character you listed that I have is Sunburn, and OMG, I agree completely... he is TERRIBLE. By far my worst Skylander... I wish he had flight so much... That flame dash thing is useless...

I disagree with everything.

Everything here is all just a matter of opinions, it's not like it's fact or anything.

I don't remember anyone saying it was a fact.

Quote: shadowfox

Im actually curious to see what you have to say about the other characters

Well in that case I will just start with the magic group that I haven't finished for now. Again I actually do like all of these characters or at least I wanted to "love" all of them.

Spyro - I think Spyro is a good character and very useable within the game itself. It's interesting that they worked his charges into the game, but unlike the original games they just don't really do the damage to be used the same way, I mean most things are not a one hit for the charge. So of course his most reliable move is his fireball, but his charge is still decent, he is just like most characters one sided.

Voodood - Very good character, his zipline is a well thought out move to keep him from being a simple melee character. Again like most characters he also has a move that isn't that useful. He falls into the category of my previous post of having a trap, tripwire, that really isn't necessary especially since this character isn't made to just sit and wait. Now before everyone fights about tripwire yes it has its purposes but there could have been better moves to fit with his style.

Remember my point is that there are few characters in this game where all 3 of their moves serve a purpose, and too many where only one serves a purpose.

you are complaining about double trouble and drobot and not about chop chop?

^ haha I was thinking that too.

Forgot about him, well I guess I will do undead then.

Chop Chop - Well I guess the reason I didn't complain about chop chop is that I can understand why they made him and his moves don't really seem out of place. His biggest problem is that he just isn't strong, and yes there is no point in making moves dedicated to his shield when no one will ever go there. They should have given him an upgrade that increased his overall damage output or maybe even allowed you to combo his shield with his sword. That way he could be more complete by actually being able to use his shield and sword simultaneously.

Hex - As already mentioned her barrier is pointless.

Cynder - Probably the most balanced character in the group her moves all work well together and there isn't much waste to her moves.

Ghost Roaster - Ectoplasm move is not worth using compared to the strength of his skull, especially since you lose health using it. They should have worked more on his mace especially since his background says he was turned into a mace, that makes it seem like it was his purpose. They could have made upgrades that gave his mace longer reach, turned him into a spinning flail or any other moves to make it much more useable. His ectoplasm could have also been different what if instead of it being a prolonged move causing you to lose health, you just have a quick phase shift. So his ectoplasm would be like chop chop's shield a quick defense from an impending attack.

I'm glad that some characters have things like barriers and things, but really, I feel like they're basically useless. I'm sure there's probably some more use for them in PvP, but most of Skylander's story mode is basically all out destruction.

I think the biggest disappointment with characters was Chop Chop and Stump Smash. Chops has a really cool design, but neither path is really that amazing. I really wish they would have given him some better moves than just a basic sword slashing. Stumps is an all-around awful character. Design is pretty cool, but he's outshined in every way by the other members of his Element group.

Exactly why couldn't they make more characters worthwhile and balanced.

If all characters were gods people would still find ways to complain, if characters were all around bad people would have complained. Im wondering if its the game style by this point is the problem. if the game play actually made it neccesairy to switch characters. If one wanted to the could play the entire game with 1 character, even a non flying/swimming character. Both were provided in the console starter pack, and it would have made it really interesting if smaller characters like trigger happy could go into areas that larger characters cant so that would cause a force switch, or only flying here and swimming there. The starter pack gave enough variety so it could have worked. but with the game so linear and with no need to switch characters that had shields that could have been useful for areas where like say a constant bombardment of enemy attack and the only way to move forward without losing an emense amount of health would have been useful, there is as icecube is saying no point.

Now please continue icecube, i love hearing reviews that arent just it was good heres why. everybody says that, i love hearing the the downside so you know what you have to deal with.

Quote: icecube7731

especially since his background says he was turned into a mace, that makes it seem like it was his purpose.

Nowhere does it say that.

It says that was chained to a spike ball as a warning to other ghosts.

Agreed for Eurptor and Drill Sarge, wholeheartedly. They got th' short end of the stick. Maybe the remolds will have new powers...

Quote: D-Rex

Quote: icecube7731

especially since his background says he was turned into a mace, that makes it seem like it was his purpose.

Nowhere does it say that.

It says that was chained to a spike ball as a warning to other ghosts.

You are right sorry, but still I assumed his spike ball would be of more use, and I stick to my guns in that they could have made that much more useful and not tried to make ectoplasm upgrades when no one was planning on going in that direction.

Water is next.

Slam Bam - I like this character more than most people because he is interesting. His surfing could have been way better especially in the water, that is one of his appeals and yet he is very slow using it, even with his soul gem. His ice prison is very difficult to use if you don't go down that upgrade route, but it still is an interesting way of closing the gap in pve, just not as great as Voodood's zipline.

Wham Shell - Another good water character and very interesting to use in melee. I can understand why you would make the starfish move, so a melee character would have something to penetrate range, but it will never be a worthwhile move for this character. I think his Poseidon strike should have been his secondary move and having a dash to close the gap would have been an appropriate tertiary move. With his armor there is no reason not to be right up front whacking everything around you and using two strong melee moves non stop to kill everything.

Gill Grunt - A very balanced character in this group, while in Water Weaver. If he is not in water weaver his secondary and tertiary moves can be very weak and limited. He is still strong because he has a great ranged attack, but the speed from his unlimited jetpack is what he is made for. With that upgrade all his moves become good and useful at the same time without having to rely on just one move and occasionally trying to use the rest.

Disagree completely with all except for Zap! Just reset and go Tesla Dragon. You should like him then.

Honestly though it sounds like you are just terrible at this game if there is anyone you can't use to take out two black knights. It may take a while and you may have to run and shoot to avoid getting hit but that actually makes it more fun than just fighting them standing still...

Sounds like you are standing still with Eruptor... he is not invincible. You have to vomit then run around kicking the lavaball like a soccer ball while you spam fireballs in every direction. He's not a tank like Stump Smash even though he looks like a big beefy guy.

Quote: Toleroh

Disagree completely with all except for Zap! Just reset and go Tesla Dragon. You should like him then.

Honestly though it sounds like you are just terrible at this game if there is anyone you can't use to take out two black knights. It may take a while and you may have to run and shoot to avoid getting hit but that actually makes it more fun than just fighting them standing still...

Sounds like you are standing still with Eruptor... he is not invincible. You have to vomit then run around kicking the lavaball like a soccer ball while you spam fireballs in every direction. He's not a tank like Stump Smash even though he looks like a big beefy guy.

Well honestly you don't understand my point, I was talking about the fact that they should be better. Yes I know how to play these characters and the problem is that some of these characters SHOULD have been better. I am giving examples of how and when they perform badly, and their weaknesses.

Quote: Toleroh

Disagree completely with all except for Zap! Just reset and go Tesla Dragon. You should like him then.

Honestly though it sounds like you are just terrible at this game if there is anyone you can't use to take out two black knights. It may take a while and you may have to run and shoot to avoid getting hit but that actually makes it more fun than just fighting them standing still...

Sounds like you are standing still with Eruptor... he is not invincible. You have to vomit then run around kicking the lavaball like a soccer ball while you spam fireballs in every direction. He's not a tank like Stump Smash even though he looks like a big beefy guy.

Well aren't you nice? It's a matter of opinion man, just because YOU think they're amazing, she may not. Are you going to say i'm terrible at Skylanders simply because I don't think Sunburn's all that good? She's doing it by comparison, in her opinion, a lot of the Skylanders have better skills and abilities then they do. Simply because someone may dislike a skylander you like, doesn't mean you should go around telling them they're terrible at gaming, you don't see me saying that to all the people who bash Flameslinger or Hex, simply because I think they're good. Besides, I'm sure some of the Skylanders she thinks are fantastic, you would think are bad.

I will say this, Sunburn is a beautiful character in everything BUT his moveset. I don't understand why they would nerf him. TfB really did him a disservice.

Zap, you should have picked the other path because he is pretty beastly with it. <3

Quote: Dragons-go-hrr

Quote: Toleroh

Disagree completely with all except for Zap! Just reset and go Tesla Dragon. You should like him then.

Honestly though it sounds like you are just terrible at this game if there is anyone you can't use to take out two black knights. It may take a while and you may have to run and shoot to avoid getting hit but that actually makes it more fun than just fighting them standing still...

Sounds like you are standing still with Eruptor... he is not invincible. You have to vomit then run around kicking the lavaball like a soccer ball while you spam fireballs in every direction. He's not a tank like Stump Smash even though he looks like a big beefy guy.

Well aren't you nice? It's a matter of opinion man, just because YOU think they're amazing, she may not. Are you going to say i'm terrible at Skylanders simply because I don't think Sunburn's all that good? She's doing it by comparison, in her opinion, a lot of the Skylanders have better skills and abilities then they do. Simply because someone may dislike a skylander you like, doesn't mean you should go around telling them they're terrible at gaming, you don't see me saying that to all the people who bash Flameslinger or Hex, simply because I think they're good. Besides, I'm sure some of the Skylanders she thinks are fantastic, you would think are bad.

Thank you for defending me, I haven't been on the forum for a while just due to that post. I just wanted to share my opinions about wishing these characters were more amazing, and too many people are getting offended.

You need to do the bad things about Camo...I see a lot...

Quote: Dragons-go-hrr

The only character you listed that I have is Sunburn, and OMG, I agree completely... he is TERRIBLE. By far my worst Skylander... I wish he had flight so much... That flame dash thing is useless...

He needs flight, MUCH longer teleportation streaks and, no matter what path you choose, infinite flame. The flying would cancel out the slowness, making him beyond broken.

Life is a hard group to try and come up with a lot of negatives.

Stealth Elf - One of the best characters in the game and she is incredibly strong in PVE. The only drawback is that it really isn't worth using her secondary ability, she is just so strong as a Pook Blade Saint that you never really have a need to use her decoy. Now the scarecrows are fun, but just not as good as running in and destroying everything with her blades.

Stump Smash - When I first got him I thought he was great because he could kill everything with his fists with no problem, but as the game went on he never got any stronger and in comparison to other characters and the mobs in the levels he became weak. The smash n bash branch does not help his smash and makes his acorn abilities worthless. As a nut crafter his secondary and tertiary moves finally become decent, and I mean decent, not great. So stump smash who should have been a great melee character was made into a mediocre range character and a slow unimproved melee character.

Zook - As previously mentioned he is probably the only character with a decent barrier, but that is if you take that upgrade route. I know that in pvp he is amazing as floral defender but it is not as easy to ensure that pve mobs will walk into your barrier. He is still good, I just don't see the merit in relying on traps or barriers in pve especially when the amount of mobs in most levels is underwhelming, and a good ranged character can take them out before they even reach your traps/barriers.

Camo - Well I actually like Camo and I think he is well balanced in that he has a straight forward attack, with a good explosive move and a good aoe defense. I am sad though that so much time is spent on upgrading his melons and not his sunburst. While yes I don't see a point in having him turn into another range character where they offer things like triple shot or bouncing shot, but a couple upgrades to sunburst would have been cool. I mean there are 5 firecracker upgrades and only 1 sunburst upgrade. His firecracker vines are great but relying on them to go where you want them to go is annoying since they don't move in a perfect line, which is why his Sunburst is good but who uses it when it was barely upgraded. No I am not talking about his barrier being a sunburst upgrade, again the barrier is not needed that much within the game itself because if a character is as good as they should be nothing should reach you.


OK I know I will have a lot of people complain because I am insulting some of their characters simply due to a barrier. I have said it before and I will say it again the barrier is not necessary for a range character in pve. Even in pvp Zook is probably the only one with a decent barrier. Now as a ranged character who needs a barrier when you are fighting range and if you are fighting melee in this game the good characters can easily kill them before they get close. I shouldn't even have to say the good characters because all of the characters should be able to do this and if they can't it is the failure that has caused me to start this thread. This game is close but not that much like Gauntlet legends where waves and waves of enemies come at you and you need everything you have to stop them and kill them. In this game the powerful enemies will usually get to you but a simple barrier does nothing to protect you. If this game was challenging enough where enemies were always on your doorstep then I could understand having barriers and traps to buy you time, but then those barriers have to be strong enough to actually kill things not just barely slow things down.

i aggree in some is a BIG pain and drill seargent is practically balanced so some i agree on

drobot: his flight is too hard to control and they should have gave him like a claw attack instead and he'd be my second fav instead of second least fav

Quote: icecube7731

Quote: shadowfox

Im actually curious to see what you have to say about the other characters

Well in that case I will just start with the magic group that I haven't finished for now. Again I actually do like all of these characters or at least I wanted to "love" all of them.

Spyro - I think Spyro is a good character and very useable within the game itself. It's interesting that they worked his charges into the game, but unlike the original games they just don't really do the damage to be used the same way, I mean most things are not a one hit for the charge. So of course his most reliable move is his fireball, but his charge is still decent, he is just like most characters one sided.

Voodood - Very good character, his zipline is a well thought out move to keep him from being a simple melee character. Again like most characters he also has a move that isn't that useful. He falls into the category of my previous post of having a trap, tripwire, that really isn't necessary especially since this character isn't made to just sit and wait. Now before everyone fights about tripwire yes it has its purposes but there could have been better moves to fit with his style.

Remember my point is that there are few characters in this game where all 3 of their moves serve a purpose, and too many where only one serves a purpose.

The original Spyro had different gameplay than Skylanders. Besides, what fun would it be if they charge knocked out enemies in one hit?