darkSpyro

I'm new to Skylanders. I had never played the game until Thanksgiving, when my nephew asked me to play with him. I enjoyed the game a lot, so I bought myself a Starter Pack. But due to my busy work schedule, the holidays, and having a 2 year old, I haven't been able to play much. Interestingly enough, that didn't stop me from building my collection of figures. I have close to 30 figures, and I haven't even completed the first stage.

After the holidays are over, I'm hoping to finally have some time to play. But the thing is, having all those figures is kinda overwhelming. They all play differently, and it'd be arduous to try to master them all at once. I'm wondering how I should approach it. I've come up with 2 possible ways to ease me into the game. If you know of a better way, let me know.

1) Pick one of each element. Play whichever character is strong in the current zone. Change characters only when entering a new zone, or to unlock an area.
2) Pick one character. Play him until I've maxed him out, then move onto the next. Don't worry about unlocking all areas or elemental boosts until after I've maxed all my characters.

What do you think?

Good so far. Here are some characters I suggest.

S2 Spyro (Magic), Anchors Away Gill Grunt (Water), Hot Dog (Fire), Fire Kracken(Fire), A Swap Skylander and is ability is bounce) , Magna Charge Tech, A Swapper and the Speed ability), Stealth Elf (Life), Warnado (Air), Jet-Vac (Air), Free Ranger(Air, a swapper and the spin ability) Scorp (Earth), Dino- Rang (Earth, very rare since he doesn't have a series 2 or 3, he's at Toys R Us) and for the Giant, Swarm (Air)

Welcome to the addiction, er... I mean game. There really isn't an easy way to dig into this, especially if you have 30 Skylanders and are still on level one. This game is not like Infinity where most characters are the same. There is a lot of gameplay variety in the Skylanders themselves. Don't play a figure based on elemental affinity, just keep switching. Try them all then start making an elemental/Swap Zone team based on your favorites...then have fun. There's no rush. We have until October until the next episode so take your time and have fun.

How much time do you think I should invest in each figure before trying the next?

Not so much time as it is unlocking their abilities. Try and unlock all of a characters abilities before you move on. For some characters it's all about the abilities you choose. If you have the Tower of Time adventure pack it comes with an item called the Sky Diamond. You can use this item on the dummies (while attacking them) in Wood Burrow (the Hub) to generate tons of money to buy the upgrades. Once you know their potential you should be able to make a decision but I strongly suggest you try them all. It shouldn't take you long to decide if your love the way a Skylander plays.

I'm like you Donatron, only getting Skylanders this Christmas. I had 10 figures on my playthrough of Swap Force and all I can tell you is that you'll probably have to try them all out for a few minutes, just to see what grabs your attention and go with whatever Skylander sparks your interest.

I tried getting one of each element too, but found to my surprise that I really disliked Cynder's playstyle (an undead character that I thought I would love, based on Youtube reviews etc) so I rarely ended up using her. It's good that you've got 30 characters though, because you'll have something to fall back on if you find yourself disliking a character.

Thanks for the advice guys! And thanks for the tip about the Sky Diamond. I do have the Tower of Time, so that'll help me out a ton!

Donatron - welcome to the game!!!

I play the game the way you have option one setup. It give you some variety in the game and you get to know the character game play. Having several Skylanders gives you the opportunity to play the game again with a different "team" set up.

Enjoy.

I've been doing this game for a while. I only play with my son, very rarely otherwise. Every time I play I pick a different character. If that character gets killed I choose another, then play with them until the end of the session or they go down. We sometimes switch for gates, I may or may not switch back afterwards.

Don't focus on getting the most powerful character, focus on the ones you enjoy playing after having tried several. The game isn't hard enough that you need to min/max everything, or play the best. The variety is what makes it fun. If you are playing two player, there are many characters that might not be great alone that actually rock when paired with another one that complements them well. For example, have a melee, tank like character gather up bad guys and Prism Break stands back creating a web of death or Shroomboom (which many dislike solo) rains down the pain. We don't pick the "best" path, we do the one that focuses on the abilities we enjoy - and try the other one if we have a repose for that character.

Also, we focus on going through the story once, then move on and replay levels we enjoy or missed things to collect.

In the end, play for fun and don't power game the levels. Play a few at a time. Play the characters that are fun and not necessarily the ones that are most effective.

Quote: Baron Sharpfin

I'm like you Donatron, only getting Skylanders this Christmas. I had 10 figures on my playthrough of Swap Force and all I can tell you is that you'll probably have to try them all out for a few minutes, just to see what grabs your attention and go with whatever Skylander sparks your interest.

I tried getting one of each element too, but found to my surprise that I really disliked Cynder's playstyle (an undead character that I thought I would love, based on Youtube reviews etc) so I rarely ended up using her. It's good that you've got 30 characters though, because you'll have something to fall back on if you find yourself disliking a character.

Bottom line---whatever figure you THINK you'll LIKE and the one's you end up liking can be hit and miss. It's worked out that way for every game. IMO...I'd pick at least two from every element as a backup plan.

Also, there's no WRONG WAY to approach this game. Some people love to do the upgrading / quest grind...some like to 100% the game...there's lots of ways to approach it. Sometimes simply getting a friend and having a blast works best