darkSpyro

I've played the first three levels. Here are my thoughts so far.

+ I like a lot of the new characters. Zoo Lou's abilities are fun, Roller Brawl is super fast and great at getting outta the way, Magna Charge's attack reminds me of Drobot's (without being OP / broken by being able to spam the button, for better or worse), Hoot Loop's teleport ability is handy... Plus I really like the art direction and how neat seeing some of my favorite old characters is in the new graphics engine.

+ Long levels with tons of stuff to do. I like how the different gates or a treasure to find pops up at just the right time to break up the fighting. I also like the variety of stuff. The swap based mini games are a great change of pace and the new lock puzzles are awesome.

+ The idea of having a rank in the game as Portal Master is a neat idea (wow I'm half asleep. I almost typed newt idea, lol!). I'm glad it covers a lot of things, not just how many Skylanders someone has. They certainly *deserve* to be part of it (and they are) but the variety of things that affect it are great.

+/- I think that jumping is a great idea and that it adds to the game. (I particularly love the bounce mini game for Rattle Shake). At the same time, I have *always* sucked at jumping in video games and Skylanders is no exception.

+/- The series 3 Skylanders lineup has some totally awesome new characters, but it also has a ton of variants and reposes. I realize these help new players. And I realize that whether or not I buy them is my own choice. But the catch 'em all mentality, at least for the main ones, is so tempting. For me deciding to buy or not has nothing to do with whether those reposes / variants are cute. It has to do with space and with whether I have extra cash. Even in Skylanders there has to be priorities, as far as I'm concerned. For me, priority #1 is getting the characters I don't own any versions of yet. The rest can wait.

- The loss of heroics. Did I suck at them? Yeah. But they were another option that was there, they were integral to building stats in the games leading up to Swap Force, and the idea that we have just lost them without an acceptable replacement doesn't seem right. There are some people who found they added more value / gameplay to the games in a long term standpoint, and while I wasn't really one of them, my boyfriend *was* and I can get where he's coming from.

- No Skystones. Yes, I realize people are saying that was a "Giants" thing, but I loved it. *laughs* Now I will say there's tons of great new stuff in Swap Force to enjoy so this isn't a deal breaker for me. But having to go back to Giants to enjoy this mini game is a minor pain.

- No Cali. I like Tessa, I do. But Cali and Flynn go so well together that her absence leaves a really big void for me. The dynamic between their characters, vs. his and Tessa's, just seems much more interesting to me. (Good grief, I need to go work on my novel. I'm analyzing character relations in a kids game. *shakes head*)

Overall I'm totally thrilled with my purchase and (provided it's after November starts) I can't wait for them to bring out wave 2!

Some of the things I am disappointed about this game:

1) The new Accolades are ridiculous. Some say that we have to get 8 Giants, 32 green based figures, etc. (I don't have all of them)
2) I cannot find anyway to raise the stats of my Skylanders without hats and Legendary Treasures.
3) The Portal Masters Ranks are based on how many stars I have gained. I really don't think I could reach up to 40 or higher.

Really i've only got 2 things I find annoying.

1) New button layout. While pressing the trigger instead of Y is fine... but I'm used to the old button layout that I find it myself jumping instead of attacking or using one move instead of the move I wanted. It'll probally just take some getting used too... but i know if I do go back to playing Giants (after I'm used to it) It'll be a pain to go back.

2) The old adventure packs don't unlock levels.... i mean i get why... cuz like they'd have to redo them in terms of graphs wise and in terms of the jump mechanic... but still... it's sad.

Quote: Kung Fu Man

Not making a troll topic here, but seriously asking something. The game is okay at best, I'll give it that much, but a lot of the "fun" in the original Skylanders or Giants isn't here.
-The game doesn't read all toys correctly. We know there's a check for the Platinum Chest, but the item itself shows up as Hidden Treasure; there was no proper test to make sure it'd count properly and as a result, you're stuck with an item on your inventory screen you can never have.
-Graphical polish. There just seems some parts where the game could've used more touchup, but didn't get it. It looks pretty for the most part, but things like the Volcanic Vault appearing silver sticks out like a sore thumb in my mind all too readily.
-Lip Synching. If we're going to focus on the characters' faces, can the movements and their lips at least match the words coming out of their mouths instead of using an animation loop?
-The swap character feel like a gimmick because they are. That's pretty much the truth, they're bigger skylanders that lose a lot of their identity as a character because they're designed to swap parts around, not be their own character. It sounds really weird for Wash Buckler to exclaim having "eight legs and no pegs" when he has Blast Zone for a posterior.

I ended up just having to stop because...this wasn't fun. Yeah we have jumping now, YAY...but a lot of the puzzle elements are gone because of that. The game feels less cerebral as a result, and more a "go from point A to point B, defeat enemies in way" than Gauntlet. It doesn't feel like it has the same amount of heart even...am I the only one feeling any of this?

1. Missing the platinum chest from the collection does not affect the gameplay in any way.
2. The game is graphically the best in the series by a very large margin because it was developed to run in HD from the ground up.
3. Lip synching does not affect gameplay in any way.
4. Swapping is not all that interesting, I agree, but if you don't want to swap, you don't have to swap. Complaining about the swappers is like complaining that the giants are a gimmick because they're just larger Skylanders. Well, they are. They're just big Skylanders that cost more money, but you're not going to complain about that too? Is it not nice that if you really love the Wash Buckler legs but dislike his skills, you can give the legs to a swapper you like better?
5. What puzzles elements are gone because of jumping? I haven't been able to bypass any puzzles through jumping. As for going from point A to point B, what about the challenge maps, survival challenges and Swapper challenges? What about online scoreboards? Are you playing the Wii version? On my Wii U version I can compete for high scores on a lot of the modes. That's something I couldn't do in the past games.

This was a high def game made for high def systems. Unfortunately you cheated yourself if you got it for the Wii. Looks fantastic on every other system.

By far the best installment of the series. Biggest thing I miss from the first game is water/swimming portions. I wish they would bring "level functionality" back into the series, but I suppose they wanted to emphasize the swappers. Here's to hoping Skylander's has walkable lava, swimmable water, Giants are more useful and breakable Prisms.

Quote: Earth-Dragon

This was a high def game made for high def systems. Unfortunately you cheated yourself if you got it for the Wii. Looks fantastic on every other system.

By far the best installment of the series. Biggest thing I miss from the first game is water/swimming portions. I wish they would bring "level functionality" back into the series, but I suppose they wanted to emphasize the swappers. Here's to hoping Skylander's has walkable lava, swimmable water, Giants are more useful and breakable Prisms.

Not all people can afford a new system kiddo. Also, such irony you people that don't play on the Wii say that as the 1st and 2nd game were made mainly on the Wii and then ported to other consoles.

Quote: TheShadowDragon

The new Accolades are ridiculous. Some say that we have to get 8 Giants, 32 green based figures, etc. (I don't have all of them)

It's safe to say this is pretty much a game that NOBODY out there is going to 100%. (Well, maybe a select few just because they own every Skylander and feel obligated to be the person to prove it CAN be done.)

At least when it comes to the Collection accolades they're nice enough to not show ALL of them at the very beginning. For instance, someone with no Lightcore figures will just see the one that says to collect a single figure, without ever knowing that eventually the game will ask for you to have sixteen Lightcore figures in your collection.


Quote: TheShadowDragon

I cannot find anyway to raise the stats of my Skylanders without hats and Legendary Treasures.

Looking at it from the other side, though, if they made you go through the same Heroic Challenges for the THIRD time, I think players would start to say "enough is enough."


Myself, I'm a little disappointed at how the Giants seem to be largely cast aside. You just keep one by the Portal to switch in for ten seconds, open that Giant-only treasure chest, then switch them out. They're little more than a "Hidden Treasure" magic item anymore.

Quote: Peridot Weapon

Quote: TheShadowDragon

The new Accolades are ridiculous. Some say that we have to get 8 Giants, 32 green based figures, etc. (I don't have all of them)

It's safe to say this is pretty much a game that NOBODY out there is going to 100%. (Well, maybe a select few just because they own every Skylander and feel obligated to be the person to prove it CAN be done.)

At least when it comes to the Collection accolades they're nice enough to not show ALL of them at the very beginning. For instance, someone with no Lightcore figures will just see the one that says to collect a single figure, without ever knowing that eventually the game will ask for you to have sixteen Lightcore figures in your collection.


Quote: TheShadowDragon

I cannot find anyway to raise the stats of my Skylanders without hats and Legendary Treasures.

Looking at it from the other side, though, if they made you go through the same Heroic Challenges for the THIRD time, I think players would start to say "enough is enough."


Myself, I'm a little disappointed at how the Giants seem to be largely cast aside. You just keep one by the Portal to switch in for ten seconds, open that Giant-only treasure chest, then switch them out. They're little more than a "Hidden Treasure" magic item anymore.

What do you mean about the giants? The ones I've used functioned the same as they did in the last game.

I think that what he meant is that there's no point in using giants except the Giant Treasure Chest, there's no Feat of Strength, for instance.

Quote: SkylandersBoy

Quote: Earth-Dragon

This was a high def game made for high def systems. Unfortunately you cheated yourself if you got it for the Wii. Looks fantastic on every other system.

By far the best installment of the series. Biggest thing I miss from the first game is water/swimming portions. I wish they would bring "level functionality" back into the series, but I suppose they wanted to emphasize the swappers. Here's to hoping Skylander's has walkable lava, swimmable water, Giants are more useful and breakable Prisms.

Not all people can afford a new system kiddo. Also, such irony you people that don't play on the Wii say that as the 1st and 2nd game were made mainly on the Wii and then ported to other consoles.

Looking past the condescending comment from someone with "boy" in the title, to think the series would indefinitely stay built from the Wii going to the better systems is short sighted. TfB/Activision would have been fools to not move forward with PS4 and Xbox360 coming out.

Quote: Earth-Dragon

Quote: SkylandersBoy

Quote: Earth-Dragon

This was a high def game made for high def systems. Unfortunately you cheated yourself if you got it for the Wii. Looks fantastic on every other system.

By far the best installment of the series. Biggest thing I miss from the first game is water/swimming portions. I wish they would bring "level functionality" back into the series, but I suppose they wanted to emphasize the swappers. Here's to hoping Skylander's has walkable lava, swimmable water, Giants are more useful and breakable Prisms.

Not all people can afford a new system kiddo. Also, such irony you people that don't play on the Wii say that as the 1st and 2nd game were made mainly on the Wii and then ported to other consoles.

Looking past the condescending comment from someone with "boy" in the title, to think the series would indefinitely stay built from the Wii going to the better systems is short sighted. TfB/Activision would have been fools to not move forward with PS4 and Xbox360 coming out.

First, look when I made this account. Second, you base a person out of their nicknames? You're funny.

Okay, so others are having problems with the new Portal. On my Xbox360, after plugging it in the screen went black. We have to keep it at a certain angle so it will read it and not turn the screen black, as it still randomly does occasionally. We have tried everything else and we know it's the Portal. Kinda annoying....

The HD graphics do look weird on some chars, but it looks amazing on some of the others. Just depends on your opinion, and how you saw the character in the first games. If you always thought Trigger Happy was fuzzy and furry, and now you can see that he is, then the new graphics and style really won't bother you.

The levels seem to be a lot longer, definitely a plus. Jumping imo is cool, and I have noticed the Wash Zone thing. I find it funny with a char like Free Charge to "Whip up a Storm," even though he can't without Ranger. It might have some slight errors, but it's not that big of a problem.

Lip syncing? Sure, it might be annoying but SG and SSA were the same way, so...

Also, sometimes I feel like it's hard to see some of the old chars... It might be me, but they seem smaller... Although that's probably just the HD messing with me.

Having to re-learn the old characters is annoying, it was the one thing I wanted to avoid, but with that jump button...

So all in all, although this game does have it's flaws, it's still fun and the swapping, especially with Skylanders' signature figures (detailed and really just cool to look at) is fresh and fun to play around with. (Especially with the weird looking chars. ) I didn't get to say everything here, but gosh you really could go for hours talking about this game. It's fun, although some things are weird, it's not horrid, and if the game gets better after the first chapters then I'm more excited to finish 'em.

Quote: SkylandersBoy

Quote: Earth-Dragon

Quote: SkylandersBoy

Not all people can afford a new system kiddo. Also, such irony you people that don't play on the Wii say that as the 1st and 2nd game were made mainly on the Wii and then ported to other consoles.

Looking past the condescending comment from someone with "boy" in the title, to think the series would indefinitely stay built from the Wii going to the better systems is short sighted. TfB/Activision would have been fools to not move forward with PS4 and Xbox360 coming out.

First, look when I made this account. Second, you base a person out of their nicknames? You're funny.

Since you seem to be unaware, calling someone "kiddo" like that is generally considered an insult. Yes, it's funny that you chose to insult someone with that word when your forum name labels you as a boy. I thought the exact same thing. I'm also confused how a Skylanders fan can speak of not being able to afford a better system. You can get a Xbox 360 now for about as much as a Swap Force starter pack. I understand you may not WANT to buy another system because you'd rather save the money, but if you truly can't afford to upgrade the Wii I don't think you should be playing Skylanders in the first place, as it's about the most expensive game you could possibly play. His comment about cheating yourself if you're still buying the Wii version isn't worth being a jerk over. It's a perfectly valid comment for a game that was downgraded and ported to the Wii. We're talking about Swap Force here, not Giants or Spyro's Adventure.

I never liked heroic challenges, the only way you could play them was if you bought most of the toys for that game (pasts ones didn't unlock heroic challenges) luckily for me I had a ton of orange S2 skylanders since I joined on giants but for people who started before that....

and then if they ever added a battle online mode people with the most figures would have tons of heroic challenges and be OP, maybe they plan on bring Battle mode online next game so they decided to kill off the heroic challenges now so they don't have to remake them all in the new engine.

Quote: Earth-Dragon

Quote: SkylandersBoy

Quote: Earth-Dragon

This was a high def game made for high def systems. Unfortunately you cheated yourself if you got it for the Wii. Looks fantastic on every other system.

By far the best installment of the series. Biggest thing I miss from the first game is water/swimming portions. I wish they would bring "level functionality" back into the series, but I suppose they wanted to emphasize the swappers. Here's to hoping Skylander's has walkable lava, swimmable water, Giants are more useful and breakable Prisms.

Not all people can afford a new system kiddo. Also, such irony you people that don't play on the Wii say that as the 1st and 2nd game were made mainly on the Wii and then ported to other consoles.

Looking past the condescending comment from someone with "boy" in the title, to think the series would indefinitely stay built from the Wii going to the better systems is short sighted. TfB/Activision would have been fools to not move forward with PS4 and Xbox360 coming out.

It isn't a matter of being "built" for one system or another. It is a matter of being able to put out a quality product. For me, if the quality is on par with previous iterations (and so far it appears that it is), then it meets my expectations. People shouldn't and (for the most part) don't expect muscle-car performance from a sport sedan... conversely, they don't expect Yugo performance from the sport sedan either.

And TBH, you were the one that started out snarky... just saying.

Why is everyone complaining saying how lame the Giants are? They still hit like a truck and have the largest HP pools in the game...They are still the heavy hitter they always were. So Giant feats of strength are gone...big whoop. Swap Zones have taken their place. The Giants LOOK amazing in the new engine and they can JUMP!!!! Has anyone tried Gnarly Tree Rex? His Eye are glowing blue....it's sick.

Sooo.....I haven't received the game yet. My wife pre-ordered from amazon for me. Should be here tomorrow.

Quick question....

Is the game longer than Giants? The brevity of Giants was really dissappointing to me. How does it compare in length to Spyro's Adventure?

Quote: gamecocksc17

Sooo.....I haven't received the game yet. My wife pre-ordered from amazon for me. Should be here tomorrow.

Quick question....

Is the game longer than Giants? The brevity of Giants was really dissappointing to me. How does it compare in length to Spyro's Adventure?

the game is slightyl longer, but the amound of chapters is lower
still it takes around 45(AVERAGE) to complete a level

Some things to note:
-Many of the filenames indicate that Swap Force, like it's predecessors, was made for the Wii first. This makes sense, make it for the lightest console and build up from there.
-The problem with Giants being reduced to chest items is that in effect they no longer interact with anything: they may as well be a hidden treasure item. In the first game you had plenty of small things they could do in levels with things they could lift and whatnot outside of the feats of strength, like eliminating enemy huts with stones or tearing through barriers that would otherwise need an explosive...which do occur in this game.
-The swap force characters are for nothing more than a mini-game. While some abilities increase mobility, there's nothing to interact in the stage with other than those games. One of the bits that made Adventure and Giants charming was that besides the fixed path, you could shave some time by letting your characters interact with a bit of the level to go farther, or some ability they had would simplify the problem for you (i.e. the earlier example with the giants and explosive walls). That's lost here, you're on a rail and that's that.

And I think that's the game's biggest problem: it was dumbed down. Kaos goes from a villain that killed someone outright to one 'evilizing' his enemies. We get closeups on enemy faces because children have short attention spans, and almost everyone's...kinda a stereotype (in fact I'm pretty sure most these people are incapable of helping themselves given how much running around they ask you to do). I'll admit I'm playing through at this point less to play it, and more to see where things go with Kaos and his mom.

That and I already have some achievements so if I don't get this to at least 50% I'll be bugged by it

Ok. I got to play the game for about a hour. Still in the first level because i stopped to scan in all

my characters, items etc. Overall the game is a lot funner than giants, there is definately more to

do. I think they should have left the Spyros adventure stuff out all together of the collection part.

I know of at least three of them that are going to be impossible to find for scanning unless you buy

them on ebay or amazon etc. The graphics are better in ways, and worse in ways (playing on the

Wii U). I feel like the person above that posted this:

Quote:

Also, sometimes I feel like it's hard to see some of the old chars... It might be me, but they seem smaller... Although that's probably just the HD messing with me.

Except for just the older characters i feel like its all of them, to me it looks like your zoomed out

from the action. But the cut scenes etc. are a lot more higher quality than giants. One thing that is

kind of a shocker for a parent though. In the very beggining when you are on Flynns ship Fighting

off those few chompies. The chick is yelling in the background "Die, Die, Die!" I felt like that was a

little morbid for a kids game.

She's yelling "Dive! Dive! Dive!", not die.

Quote: Kung Fu Man

And I think that's the game's biggest problem: it was dumbed down. Kaos goes from a villain that killed someone outright to one 'evilizing' his enemies. We get closeups on enemy faces because children have short attention spans, and almost everyone's...kinda a stereotype (in fact I'm pretty sure most these people are incapable of helping themselves given how much running around they ask you to do). I'll admit I'm playing through at this point less to play it, and more to see where things go with Kaos and his mom.

(massive spoilers ahead,just saying)

Though,watching some LPs,it's worse than just the NPCs; Kaos himself was dumbed down for SWAP Force. Before he had a kind of 'accidental genius' personality,since his plans worked even if they never helped in the long run,and he was a worthy opponent since he had no hesitation in causing damage even if he wasn't getting an advantage with it. Now,he's clearly shown as a bumbling fool who can't do anything right and his mother has to fill the dangerous foe role(yet she's also dumb as a brick,tell me how getting into our side of the portal,regardless of how Giants had shown it's dangerous and causes some pain, is smart and cunning). Hopefully they'll fix it by the next game,because I'm almost thinking Kaos is harmless.

Won't get into the amount of plot holes the game caused too.The story made it seem like they watched one or two LPs of the previous games and decided they could do better.(Though some are questionable,like the Guidebook saying that Kaos' mother hates Portal Masters,yet she's one...?)

Quote:

She's yelling "Dive! Dive! Dive!", not die.

Hmm sure sounds like Die to me. But thanks for clearing that up.

I finished up to Jungle Rumble, and here are my impressions so far.

+Everything is beautiful. While there are a couple of nicks from an artistic standpoint(sheep...), the backgrounds and polygons in this game are filled to the brim with detail. They've used this to create beautiful environments which give the adventure a feel of much grander scale and are full of life.
+The story is a lot better than Giants. I'm not sure if I'd say it tops Spyro's Adventure, but I actually want to see where this story is going. There's more new lore in it again, and the lore is interesting, and the environments I mentioned earlier are mysterious and add atmosphere. I'd just love to run around the worlds in this game all day because it's such an interesting place. I'll miss it when the next game comes around.
+The level design is also better because of a combination of the above. And they don't use the jumping as much as I'd like, but they still use it fairly well. You get more vivid worlds than ever here. And there's more variety in these levels, with stuff like fishing mini games, that don't really get in the way of the action. This game doesn't have as obnoxiously many puzzles as Giants did- it's got the right mix of figuring things out, platforming, and action. It's more exciting again because of it.
+The SWAP Force. I don't know if they'll ever be able to top this gimmick. It's fun, it's got a great effect on the gameplay, and it's just cool. Awesome, in fact. This gimmick is also going to encourage me to play with each of the SWAP Force Skylanders and combos to find out which I like best. It's just truly marvellous, and it's just fun to try in the same way the whole figure gimmick was in the original game.
+Speaking of Skylanders, they have much deeper move sets this game. They've manganese to give them more moves and variety without needing more buttons. Wash Buckler's tentacle combos and Slobber Tooth's attacking and charging using one button are things you wouldn't see often in the past two games. Now, a lot more characters have that kind of thing. A bunch of them have attacks which complement each other and can be used together better than those you'd see in Giants or Adventure, as well.
+They've streamlined things a lot. Selecting menus are faster, and the addition of having your entire collection under your Gamertag/PSN/NNID was a long, long time coming. It just makes things more pleasant. There's even a pad that will let you jump right across the (very large) hub world from one side to the other.
?Less figure customisation. By which I mean: Heroic Challenges are now gone. They were challenges you unlocked by taking ownership of toys in the last two games, there were 50 in total, and you could play each one with every Skylander toy to upgrade their stats. It encouraged one to play with every single character, not just the ones that they favoured. On the other hand- they were a lot of a grind and took quite a bit of time, so this does mean you're able to focus on the core game (which now has a lot more variety) and replay that using all the Skylanders, instead of constantly repeating the same challenges with them. The core game was always more fun than Heroics. But this is a hard thing to get over because it gave the Skylanders themselves a lot more replayability.
-The boss battle was a disappointment. It was very generic, not really doing anything outstanding or interesting. They each have their own level and it's clear that they needed to rush that in just to say that they had more chapters. Jungle Rumble isn't broken or anything, but it's just a totally average boss battle. I keep hearing that none of the boss battles here are really that special. In an otherwise so interesting game, the plainness of this chapter stands out like a sore thumb. If these battles were more entertaining, they would be pretty good levels to return to when you just want action. They do have a "No damage taken" objective, which I really like, though- I'm sure getting that on each boss battle will take a while...

So overall, I think it's a keeper, but I do sorely miss upgrading each figure by hand with Heroics. I guess I'll live with it... Sigh...

Would I say it's as good as SA? I feel like SA does a better job making you feel like part of the story and that its story has a bit more interesting, mysterious stuff, but SF has better gameplay because that gameplay has so much more variety (including the new characters) and improves a lot of things from the last games. Overall, I prefer SF somewhat just because it's better designed and it's got more, better Skylanders to use- however, I think that with just a bit more attention and a few more tweaks, it could have been the real definitive Skylanders game. It's still my favourite so far, though. I can't wait to see what it looks like on the Wii U once I'm done with the 360 version.

Quote: Arc of Archives

-The boss battle was a disappointment. It was very generic, not really doing anything outstanding or interesting. They each have their own level and it's clear that they needed to rush that in just to say that they had more chapters. Jungle Rumble isn't broken or anything, but it's just a totally average boss battle. I keep hearing that none of the boss battles here are really that special. In an otherwise so interesting game, the plainness of this chapter stands out like a sore thumb. If these battles were more entertaining, they would be pretty good levels to return to when you just want action. They do have a "No damage taken" objective, which I really like, though- I'm sure getting that on each boss battle will take a while...

Talking about boss battles: How long does it take to beat a boss level?

What I absolutely cannot stand on the Wii is skipping dialogue. You have to listen to like half of what the character is saying before you can skip it, no matter how many times you've heard it

Quote: awesomerockets

What I absolutely cannot stand on the Wii is skipping dialogue. You have to listen to like half of what the character is saying before you can skip it, no matter how many times you've heard it

They should've fixed crap like this by now. I should make the developers listen to 20 iterations of all of the dialogue in the game as punishment.

Quote: Madara Uchiha

Quote:

She's yelling "Dive! Dive! Dive!", not die.

Hmm sure sounds like Die to me. But thanks for clearing that up.

Turn off all the sounds but the voice over, you'll hear it more clearly then, it's really "dive"

Quote:

Turn off all the sounds but the voice over, you'll hear it more clearly then, it's really "dive"

Yeah i caught it the third time around, i couldnt hear over all the noise, then i also realized after she

says it is when the ship dips down.

I want to add another +: They've buffed a lot of old characters. I won't go into specifics because I've only tried about four of them, but I like all the tweaks they got so far because it makes some more moves viable against enemies. It also makes me want to re-play everyone to see how they've changed.
Quote: Takadox360

Talking about boss battles: How long does it take to beat a boss level?

I didn't really have a timer but Jungle Rumble felt like it took about the same time and a bit more as the Drill-X fight. Fortunately, the boss battles don't drag on too long, but if you just want to fight them they aren't horribly short either.

Also, there's a mini-boss which appears within a level a couple of times. During the level. At the start and the middle. There's another (different) boss at the end. I really enjoyed playing that level just because of how they handled the boss battles in it. It's not really related to your question, but I thought I would share this because I found it really cool.
Quote: awesomerockets

What I absolutely cannot stand on the Wii is skipping dialogue. You have to listen to like half of what the character is saying before you can skip it, no matter how many times you've heard it

I rebooted my 360 five times yesterday! Had to watch Sharpfin talking about the Illuminator and his ship every time before I could skip it and play the hub. >.> At least it's loading the level at the same time, you have something pretty to look at instead of clouds floating by and you can just press the mute button if it gets on your nerves. That's what I do. Still, I'm used to this because all the games in the series had this, so eh...

Protip: Double-tap the skip button during regular (boxed) dialog. It works.

This game has it's own Heroic System.... It's just no longer in a state of being a Heroic unlocks +3 to Armor.

If I am disappointed about anything, it's that I CAN'T STAND how zoomed out everything is. And all the characters have a ...blur? to them. Seems hazy. Compared to Giants, which has a much sharper and zoomed-in image, it sadly almost makes Swap Force look worse even though the graphics in Swap Force are better and more detailed.


Sometimes I feel like I have to squint just to make out the Skylander.

Quote: WickedRogue

This game has it's own Heroic System.... It's just no longer in a state of being a Heroic unlocks +3 to Armor.

Personally, I'm not upset about the nerf of stats... But the fact we've lost customisation the figure had. The new stat changes affect the in-game. And this is a toys to life game, the toys should be a little more important and have more content on them than just upgrades and half-baked "Quests" that gift you with an outclassed hat. Going through Heroics with each figure really made it feel like you earned it with them. It made them feel more alive. The figures feel somewhat less alive now.

Quote: TOlofter

If I am disappointed about anything, it's that I CAN'T STAND how zoomed out everything is. And all the characters have a ...blur? to them. Seems hazy. Compared to Giants, which has a much sharper and zoomed-in image, it sadly almost makes Swap Force look worse even though the graphics in Swap Force are better and more detailed.


Sometimes I feel like I have to squint just to make out the Skylander.

I don't know why many are saying that graphics is awesome/fantastic. Have you seen 5 years old Ratchet and Clank games on PS3? There graphics is way better than in SwapForce.
SwapForce runs in 1280x720@60Hz and is blurred everywhere when Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction runs in 1920x1080@60Hz and is sharp and crystal clear. The complexity of graphics in both these games is comparable.

@Arc of Archives - I agree that completely neglecting the figure customization is amongst my largest disappointments with Swap Force. I just really feels like a step backwards.

I also agree with the hat issue/reward. In Giants the only hat that was 'overall' better than the Gold Tophat was the Knight's Helm. Sure, there were hats better for individual stats, but if Nightmare Mode wasn't your 'thing', it was a nice consolation. I was hoping that the new reward would have been a comparable reward considering the new hats in Swap Force. As it currently stands, it seems a pointless addition/adjustment.

I plan to take my Series 2/3 characters back into Giants and Spyro's Adventure and heroic them out as best as I can. I admit that a four-hour escapade per character gets monotonous, but I got used to it as a means of blowing off steam. Still, I like the Bonus Mission/Charm concept. I just think Vicarious Visions should have instituted SOMETHING that allowed for individual character buffs. Ignoring it altogether, in my opinion, was a mistake.

As a person who completely fell in love with Spyro's Adventure, but didn't really care for Giants, I can tell you that Swap Force has really drawn me back in. My kids enjoyed both previous games, but they would tell you that Swap Force is the best.

The swappable characters, longer levels with a slight difficulty bump and the new graphics/game engine make this an amazing PS3 title.

Skylanders is right back to being the most popular leisure activity in our home.

Not to mention I am so glad we waited to see how Swap Force turned out before choosing between it and Disney Infinity. Every new Skylanders game makes the amount we've spent in characters well worth it.

NOPE! While the game is different, it makes up for its lack of stats with a greater amount of variety in gameplay per level. There is simply so much variety in each level and elemental zones this time.

I am digging the swapability element to the game. Rip Tide is freakin' awesome. First two games didn't have him.

Sure, I miss a couple of aspects, but I applaud them for trying to mix up the variety of gameplay elements in each level.

Getting 3 stars and tasks done on some of the challenges is quite the chore in this game. The whole multiplier thing up to 10x is ok, but I'm finding it insanely difficult to get to the point levels of the 3rd star even with my best Skylanders. Is there a trick to getting more points?

The swap mini-games are fine with the exception of the spin one (Free Ranger). There doesn't seem to be much skill involved and you can just as easily spin off the course regardless of how coordinated you are...I guess it's just luck?

I was having fun with it... until it wouldnt play anymore. I have no idea what is going on, but it hard locks now about 2 minutes into the game. it is the only game that I have that does that. I wiped the Wii and started over... still no good.

*sigh*

I must admit that yes, it looks pretty, but some parts really should've been touched up more. I can see my tv without glasses - I use them just for comfort - but for this I actually preferred not to wear them because when I do the pixel-lated cutscenes and some other parts become glaring clear on a HD tv. I have it beaten now and I must admit, I preferred Giants a lot more. For some reason the Swap Force chars haven't amused me, and I am sort of disappointed with the bog standard guys I got in the Dark Edition pack. I hope this might change as I go back to trophy hunting for the plat and as I buy the new chars in time, but who knows. Still, I'm convinced enough to also get this for PS4, so yeah.

I have the Wii version and I must say I'm really disappointed with the graphics.
As it is an older generation console I was not expecting it to be way better than Giants was but it's actually worse than Giants.

Maybe it's the different style that causes it or the fact that it was not natively designed for the Wii as the previous games were but it looks very undetailed and the cut scenes have noticeable square compression artefacts which I did not see with Giants.

Overall my feelings on the graphics are that it is a step back.

Another gripe I have is with the controls. I'm so used to the old layout it's difficult to adjust and sadly there is no way to define your own button layout.
I have also found my index finger considerably less resistant to the continuous attack button presses than my thumb was.

As others have mentioned I also regret the removal of the individual stat boosting per Skylanders. Not that I was a huge fan of heroics, I found them tedious, but I had hoped for a better replacement and not a removal.

On the positive side I do like the gameplay and enjoying myself while playing Swap Force.

Love the games the characters the graphics are awesome, it's funny and encourages you to explore with its new jump functions and the swappers are awesome too, god I love this game so much, I'm really happy with it.

I really love this game, the only thing I dont like is that you cant view old characters soul gems

I'm starting to feel disappointment now. I love the game, but for everything they improved I just can't get over the lack of "Portal Master Magic".

I thought that they would improve this over Giants and that Giants would be the slump in that regard. Instead, it feels like they've ignored it almost more than Giants.

Being a Portal Master is a thankless job... The citizens you are saving give the Skylanders all the credit.

Drinking game: Take a shot each time NPCs thank your Skylander when they could/should have thanked you and/or each time Kaos complains about "Skylosers" instead of his rival Portal Master.

Edit: Okay, I should have beat the game before saying this :x *eatmywords* It was pretty cool how they used it in Chapter 16.
Still, if they would just make characters shout you out a bit more often, the adventure would be much more magical from that alone. And it doesn't really excuse the game not really mentioning it 90% of the rest of the time. Sigh.

Well... Because, technically in the lore of the series, it is the Skylanders. For the sake of convenience for a video game, you control the character but in the lore of the series the job of a Portal Master is just to have a collection of Skylanders and tell them to go and do stuff (take a look at Eon in the first cutscene of SSA, or any of the books).

But that would be a pretty boring game - watching characters do things out of your control and just sending them on their way.

I like it because of this:
Quote: Tel Prydain

Something that I liked in SSA that was less of a thing in SG, is that you are the hero of the game, sending your allies into help and the forth wall was never really there to be broken. It drew you into the fiction a little, and if I was a kid I'd totally be into the idea that *I* am the hero of the story.

It's really disappointing how they tossed that out later on... And Eon is kind of different, anyway, because when he had a body the Skylanders were in Skylands, so they could just move around and happen to pop up anywhere. Remember, in the games, you need to summon them in because they're frozen into toys and banished here. That's not just the kind of thing that one whole part of Skylands wouldn't know about(that would be a funny thing to see lampshaded...). It's annoying how inconsistent the game goes between breaking the fourth wall and becoming totally gamey.

The way the story is going, I'd rather just watch it be a movie... The thing games do best are to let the player be part of the experience and go around the world. I think that they should move back into that direction with the story. It just doesn't feel so interactive now.

Love it so much.
I like the swappers well enough, but the new cores are the real heroes. I thought I'd be digging on Roller Blade and Spellstrike - but while they are neat, the real winners are Smolderdash, Popthorn and Grimm Reaper. Really they just look great and are really fun to play.

My only complaints:
Jumping is too hard for very young kids. The critical path could have kept jump pads with no issues.
Some levels are just too long and should have been split apart.

That's it. Everything else so far is awesome. Really, really loving it.

I heard dive. Sometimes some voice overs don't come through clearly and it sounds like something else. Happens everywhere. Toys, cartoons, etc. Don't worry.

I am not disappointed it is way better than SSA or SG!

There is just a lot more to do and it is harder!

I am not disappointed, because even though I picked up the game the day after it came out (U.S.), I still haven't played it yet. Darn you parents who grounded me! Ur from watching people like aw drums, or SkylanderBoyandGirl, and, some other guy I can't remember, who totally owned Super Evil Kaos in about 15 minutes. On hard mode.