darkSpyro

Is it me, or is this game a lot slower feeling to play than the first one was?

I got the Platinum in SA within a few days I was having so much fun, but for Giants, it just feels so... slow. Has anyone else gotten this feeling?

Well, as you may have noticed, it's fewer levels (16 compared to 22), so it has been my impression that they made the levels longer to compensate for the loss of 6 levels. And it had to be 16 because of having Soul Gems for 16 new characters, one per level. Then there's new content. Arenas, Quests, Turret challenges. More things to find in each level...

Generally, yes. LOL!

I have to agree. I just wish that there weren't so much NPC chatter- you can press the skip button on it, but it gets tiring to do so.
Also, there are too many block-pushing segments. Why the HECK do they keep putting these in?!?! They aren't challenging, they aren't fun, and they do nothing but clog up the gameplay because of those two reasons.

I preferred the more fast paced levels in SA. Something about it... Just feels draggy in Giants. In theory it should feel right, but it doesn't.

But I can forgive Giants for it slightly, because combat is fun in Nightmare mode, even though it's horridly scarce.

However the combat was definitely worse on the 3DS version. There were no redeeming values to it there. I am not kidding you, some of the hardest enemies have a whopping 40 HP... Just pathetic. And of course the only characters who bring any level of fun, difficulty or challenge to the battles are fundamentally broken ones, like Shroomboom who just cannot aim correctly. Even then, nobody has trouble at Level 15, but I don't see why you'd even want to play the game if you aren't levelling up or getting stars. If enemies are easy, it can go hand in hand to make a fun and fast-paced game, but the rest of the game literally lags anyway.

@SPARXisAWESOME But what about the combat? That's a big part of what makes Skylanders good, and if the game is full of puzzles more than combat(which Giants nearly is), it isn't nessicarily good if it drags out the game to be longer.

In my mind, the levels in SSA were sometimes a bit shorter in some while others were a bit longer. Giants had a consistent feel in terms of length/complexity to the levels, so on the whole it's comporable. I believe the speed run time requirements more or less speak to the length of the levels.

The characters themselves are a bit "tweaked" in Giants; Cynder doing a Shadow Dash in Giants is much different than SSA in terms of speed and length. Same for Drobot's firing speed, as well as quite a few others.

Quote: SkylandFollower

I have to agree. I just wish that there weren't so much NPC chatter- you can press the skip button on it, but it gets tiring to do so.

At least you can skip it in Giants. Replaying SSA it's soul crushing to have to sit through the NPC chatter.

the NPC chatter is like water torture in ssa for sure... thank god i have most of the heroics in sg so not many to repeat in ssa any moar.

In some ways the chatter in SSA is better. At least you can speed it up. It feels like you can speed up EVERYTHING in SSA, while in Giants there's stuff you can't skip (listening to Blobbers whine in Blobbers' Folly comes to mind)

Quote: niceguy1

In some ways the chatter in SSA is better. At least you can speed it up. It feels like you can speed up EVERYTHING in SSA, while in Giants there's stuff you can't skip (listening to Blobbers whine in Blobbers' Folly comes to mind)

you can speed it up and skip it in sg... thank god for that option.

Well in SSA the characters certainly move faster

I've tried every button, I haven't found any that speed up the text in Giants, especially in cases where I can't skip it. In SSA I just press and hold Attack 1. But that does nothing in Giants.

Apparently, when there is text you can't speed through in SG, it's because that content was imported from SSA and is using the old speech system.

Quote: SkylandFollower

I have to agree. I just wish that there weren't so much NPC chatter- you can press the skip button on it, but it gets tiring to do so.
Also, there are too many block-pushing segments. Why the HECK do they keep putting these in?!?! They aren't challenging, they aren't fun, and they do nothing but clog up the gameplay because of those two reasons.

I preferred the more fast paced levels in SA. Something about it... Just feels draggy in Giants. In theory it should feel right, but it doesn't.

But I can forgive Giants for it slightly, because combat is fun in Nightmare mode, even though it's horridly scarce.

However the combat was definitely worse on the 3DS version. There were no redeeming values to it there. I am not kidding you, some of the hardest enemies have a whopping 40 HP... Just pathetic. And of course the only characters who bring any level of fun, difficulty or challenge to the battles are fundamentally broken ones, like Shroomboom who just cannot aim correctly. Even then, nobody has trouble at Level 15, but I don't see why you'd even want to play the game if you aren't levelling up or getting stars. If enemies are easy, it can go hand in hand to make a fun and fast-paced game, but the rest of the game literally lags anyway.

@SPARXisAWESOME But what about the combat? That's a big part of what makes Skylanders good, and if the game is full of puzzles more than combat(which Giants nearly is), it isn't nessicarily good if it drags out the game to be longer.

This. I cannot express this enough. I HATE THOSE RIDICULOUS BLOCK PUZZLES! They're irrelevant to the story, they take too long to push, they make me fail my Time Trial Runs, AND THEY JUST RUIN THE LEVELS! Seriously, though, the worst is in Rumbletown. It takes literally minutes to finish that one. You push all of the blocks then you have to unlock the gate, then you have to push some more blocks, then to get 100% you have to go to the stupid Giant Jump. That whole level was Just awful. I would rather have more, smaller levels than a few long ones. And Now Swap Force is even worse! 12 levels is just pathetic.

Quote: wreckingballbob

Well in SSA the characters certainly move faster

Since I'm in the process of completing heroics, I've had to play both SG and SSA and it seems ALL characters were nerfed in terms of speed in SG--they all appear at least +12 faster in SSA as compared to SG.

Also on the talking...on PS3 SSA you HAVE to hear it/see it. Yes, you can hold down X to speed up the text (and at the end of the text the chatter finally stops)...in SG you can press triangle and the chatter immediately ends. As previously noted, there are some sections you cannot skip, and on first playthrough I think you HAVE to hear it.

In my opinion, SG is better at shutting down the chatter. (Also, to the idiot at Activision who FORCES Cali to reannounce how Heroics work after you've gone into it 1,000 times in SSA...YOU'RE FIRED).

You can actually skip most of the text in SSA on the Wii version, if you already beat the level, by pressing C...

Storyline wise I found Giants way longer in some ways. Well it seemed to drag on and on. Part of that reason I believe is because you're allways like stopping every other level to do some side mission before you can continue with the main story. Like, the umpth times you have to get some one to repair your ship. Or even the troll home invasion was short of a side mission.

In S:SA you actually achomplish something just about each level. Sure it might be a minor part to the Core of Light but it's still a part on it.

So in a way that's short of the main reason the story mode in Giants seems to drag on.

i strongly advice people to pick up all the sg figures with the speed heroics and do them in sg... or you will be disappointed with the game.

I DETEST the block puzzles.
They are worthless, unnecessary, and time consumimg...

Hopefully Swap Force doesn't have those anymore.

The thing I loved about SSA was the flow in the levels. I felt like there was a good over arcing plot into what you were trying to do, which was rebuild the machine, and everywhere you went was an attempt to get the pieces you needed and the levels were related based off the different elements. In SG I feel like half the levels are random and have nothing to do with the game's plot at all, so I feel like I lose a little bit there.

Quote: icecube7731

The thing I loved about SSA was the flow in the levels. I felt like there was a good over arcing plot into what you were trying to do, which was rebuild the machine, and everywhere you went was an attempt to get the pieces you needed and the levels were related based off the different elements. In SG I feel like half the levels are random and have nothing to do with the game's plot at all, so I feel like I lose a little bit there.

Exactly this.

That's probably the reason why I enjoyed SSA more than SG.

^Plot wise correct, but for me SG was a bit more fun despite the script problem b/c they had fine tuned a number of things, addeed arena challenge, etc to spread it out a bit. I always felt a bit cheated that some of the SSA levels ARE THE HEROICS.

I'm a little torn between which I prefer, I honestly enjoyed the ruins as a hub world, and I liked watching the Core of Light get built up with each level, and the fact S:SA had more levels gave it a bit more life and sense of progress to the game.

That said, S:G, despite having fewer levels, had more IN the chapters. That said, the storyline felt less coherent and organised, but considering your hub was a ship rather than decidedly stationary ruins. Not to mention arena challenges gave you something to work on aside from the story, the Legendary treasures were slightly more practical, and you had things to buy beyond upgrades...

They've both got their strong points, I'm hoping they'll take the best of both for Swap Force.

Quote: GhostRoaster

^Plot wise correct, but for me SG was a bit more fun despite the script problem b/c they had fine tuned a number of things, addeed arena challenge, etc to spread it out a bit. I always felt a bit cheated that some of the SSA levels ARE THE HEROICS.

True. One of the reasons I believe Giants is better because it has ALOT more replayability.
But I just enjoyed the plot (especially the Hub World) in the first game more.

Quote: spyrothe111

I DETEST the block puzzles.
They are worthless, unnecessary, and time consumimg...

Hopefully Swap Force doesn't have those anymore.

i have seeen you have to do it again........................

Quote: NINJAsk11

Quote: spyrothe111

I DETEST the block puzzles.
They are worthless, unnecessary, and time consumimg...

Hopefully Swap Force doesn't have those anymore.

i have seeen you have to do it again........................

NOOOOOOOOOO!

Quote: spyrothe111

Quote: NINJAsk11

Quote: spyrothe111

I DETEST the block puzzles.
They are worthless, unnecessary, and time consumimg...

Hopefully Swap Force doesn't have those anymore.

i have seeen you have to do it again........................

NOOOOOOOOOO!

yes it is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!