darkSpyro

Ok, these are my observations of "Swap Force."

I made it completely through the game with my Series 1 Spyro.
(I do have "Mega Ram Spyro" too.)

The Swap Force characters I find to be simply not needed, unless I want to get all the goodies.

The voice acting just recycles the voice acting in "Giants."

I enjoy Kaos' Mom, she delightfully evil.

Kaos is just annoying, as usual.
As is Flynn.

Tessa is well, sexy!

Not enough Hugo or Cali!
(Like to see them meet.)

How long until Flynn demolishes his souped-up ship?

Kaos' mom is probably the worst villain the series has(including the kiddy big bads from the books,and that's being nice),but to each their own.
SF doesn't only recycle VAing,though,they also repeated VAs for the majority of the new 'landers and overused songs from Giants when they have Lorne Balfe sticking around do stuff like Iron Jaw Gulch.

We do have review threads....usually a review has a grade...what's yours?

Quote: Bifrost

Kaos' mom is probably the worst villain the series has(including the kiddy big bads from the books,and that's being nice),but for each their own.
SF doesn't only recycle VAing,though,they also repeated VAs for the majority of the new 'landers and overused songs from Giants when they have Lorne Balfe sticking around do stuff like Iron Jaw Gulch.

I kinda liked some of the retro themes in places...use of the intro of AutoGyro Adventure was nicely done as well. A bit of glue between games is fine. I really don't expect new voice acting for each and every game for every skylander...but I would appreciate that they record a few more sayings so at least "something" for a character is new instead 100% recycle.

Quote: Bifrost

Kaos' mom is probably the worst villain the series has(including the kiddy big bads from the books,and that's being nice),but to each their own.
SF doesn't only recycle VAing,though,they also repeated VAs for the majority of the new 'landers and overused songs from Giants when they have Lorne Balfe sticking around do stuff like Iron Jaw Gulch.

Why don't you Kaos' Mom?

Kaos is like Wile E. Coyote, obsessed with ruling Skylands no matter how many times he fails.

Kaos' Mom delights in being evil, and loves giving Kaos a hard time.

Even Flynn says to Kaos she's rather harsh.

My favorite thing with Swap Force is Woodburrow, I haven't played Giants but I love Woodburrow as a hub compared to the first Skylanders. Also the online features with the 10% bonus everyday and the 2 chests are great.

Quote: Archae

Because all that character is fake and nearly a Villain Sue attempt?

For starters,she's introduced out of nowhere as the oh so better villain - good,we have one of those,called Kaos,who dropped a nuke on the center of Skylands three years ago or so. Kaos turns into a bumbling fool whenever she is around,for no reason whatsoever,killing his 'accidental genius' character from SSA and Giants.And,to 'compensate', she's portrayed as a thousand times better,smarter,stronger,more resourceful...And it goes on and on,not for one second stopping to tell anyone how the heck no one knew about her already even with the events 100 years before the game.
She's also one huge hypocrite and dumber than Kaos' current portrayal,which the writer somehow decided to gloss over for the sake of making Kaos even less important. Sure,she likes burning down villages over petty arguments. Sure,she decided to take over Kaos' plan,cool plot twist,that. But one has to wonder when her whole argument of how Kaos is less competent is how he's violent and only thinks about attacking,when she DOES THAT HERSELF. And it's not even taken into account,no,when she does it,it's an example of her power and cruelty.
And when you get to fight her,what's her great plan B when things go wrong? Freaking jump into YOUR portal.How is that even smart and cunning?! Again,it's not taken into account how dumb it is and how Portal Masters have these things called fists that every human can use and she's just a hit away from being smashed flat by the Skylander toys. I don't care if little kids have the only moment of immersion the game ever offers,it's dumb and written in like it's some great idea and plot twist.Surprise,it isn't and I can think of a thousand ways she could've used her Portal Master powers better.

And no,before someone counter arguments that this was VV's intention,it wasn't. For the whole game,the writing reeks of pushing the older characters away just to introduce their new cool ones(except for Flynn,which is immune due to being the devs' favorite thing ever),including how they redesigned the Dread-Yacht or pushed Tessa into being a new love interest(though,like Cali they never really took it all the way through). Kaos' mom is just the flagship of that,and to add insult to injury,they didn't even bother giving her a name. It's not the new threat that could open new possibilities for future games after Kaos' attempts get old,it's just someone that they shoehorned in to have a cool new guy for villains as well. It's implemented badly,she's not well written,and just isn't a Villan Sue because she gets bitten back by karma in the end.

Oh,and if I need to add more,Mesmerelda is the most disappointing minion the series might ever have.Drill-X and Hydra are implied to exist long before they're around,and when they're introduced,they don't fool around. She comes out of nowhere and just disappears with no explanation.At least that Kaos' mom does better.

Bifrost I put it to you that you feel yourself attracted to Kaos' mum in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, particularly knowing that she is just an animation and it can never be.

No need to feel embarrassed, I understand your attraction completely. And I too hope that she will be released from her mirror prison in some future installment to once again set our hearts racing.

^ Not sure wether to laugh or facepalm at your post pretty much ignoring good points about bad writing.

LAUGHPALM!

I completely agree with Bifrost. I wouldn't be so bothered by Kaos' Mom "overtaking" Kaos and making him look like a bumbling fool IF SHE ACTUALLY WAS AS CLEVER AS SHE WAS MADE OUT TO BE. And the thing were she jumps into your Portal is not clever. It would be clever if there were some reason behind it, if it were built around some previous lore, but not only is that not the case but it directly contradicts the whole "Portal Masters shouldn't use Portals on themselves" thing that was directly addressed in cutscenes in Giants and was mentioned in a Story Scroll in Spyro's Adventure.

Good writing revisits past plot points, good writing explains and goes in-depth with lore, good writing fleshes out characters beyond stereotypes and makes them things besides just plot devices, good writing gives proper reason to introduce new stuff and doesn't just abandon it, good writing in the case of a sequel will expand on previous plot and not just abandon it- SWAP Force just fails all of those, while it does have some spots of good writing, it doesn't outweigh all the bad stuff. SWAP Force contradicts established canon, the lore behind Cloudbreak is shallow and vague more than anything, pretty much all the characters are flat (Glumshanks is the only exception I can think of) and many appear just once to push you through their designated level, it constantly introduces new plot points and has moments that are never properly expanded on or mentioned again such as all the one-time characters, old characters besides three are all abandoned and pretty much never mentioned and those who do appear are Flanderized(Flynn isn't showing the least concern about his old friends Cali and Hugo...)... I could go on and on and on.

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing. And all these things are pretty noticeable if you've invested yourself in the story the previous games established, like good story, then pick up SF. What if I'm not in this supposed target range of "kids"? Is my opinion about this suddenly invalid because of it?

And, sure. It's impossible to get perfect writing and I could nitpick stories I LOVED(Wreck-It Ralph, so many problems you notice after having watched it twelve times), but at least they tried hiding their flaws and they weren't so downright dumb.
That's exactly it- SWAP Force's story is, in a word, dumb. It just keeps screwing up and doesn't really even notice that it screwed up so much. The flip is up with Flynn forgetting about all his old friends, what's with all the one-time stuff, this over-simplification...? You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out. I am dead serious, I was tired of the story not mentioning the Portal Masters and new characters just getting tossed on to a bonfire pile to sacrifice for the great Character Count God and nothing was entertaining me, besides the lore which was never properly expanded upon.

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth or character, a-la those cheap, uninspired products/movies/horrible CGI cartoons made "for kids" to distract them for a little while.

It just makes me worried for the next installments, afraid that they may just have gone cheap and decided to go down that CGI-cartoon story route. I don't care if in a game like Mario which doesn't really establish that much canon- even though I do appreciate when they make little nods to it in Mario, that's more of a bonus Easter egg type thing- but it is annoying when I'm playing Skylanders, where story is a large part of the experience. Of course, the gameplay is still great(even though it has frustrating flaws), but usually you don't separate story and gameplay but focus on the thing as a whole, and in this case that'd mean seeing how all this integrates together. I'm just going on a rant now so I'll stop and I'm re-using my Mario argument lol but SF's story does have massive flaws and it's annoying because story is a big part of this series. And like I said it's just worrying because they can't really "fix" this stuff unless they make some direct in depth thing to explain it or they may just keep doing this and stop caring abou--- *sock'd*

Quote: Arc of Archives

^ Not sure wether to laugh or facepalm at your post pretty much ignoring good points about bad writing.

LAUGHPALM!

I completely agree with Bifrost. I wouldn't be so bothered by Kaos' Mom "overtaking" Kaos and making him look like a bumbling fool IF SHE ACTUALLY WAS AS CLEVER AS SHE WAS MADE OUT TO BE. And the thing were she jumps into your Portal is not clever. It would be clever if there were some reason behind it, if it were built around some previous lore, but not only is that not the case but it directly contradicts the whole "Portal Masters shouldn't use Portals on themselves" thing that was directly addressed in cutscenes in Giants and was mentioned in a Story Scroll in Spyro's Adventure.

Good writing revisits past plot points, good writing explains and goes in-depth with lore, good writing fleshes out characters beyond stereotypes and makes them things besides just plot devices, good writing gives proper reason to introduce new stuff and doesn't just abandon it, good writing in the case of a sequel will expand on previous plot and not just abandon it- SWAP Force just fails all of those, while it does have some spots of good writing, it doesn't outweigh all the bad stuff. SWAP Force contradicts established canon, the lore behind Cloudbreak is shallow and vague more than anything, pretty much all the characters are flat (Glumshanks is the only exception I can think of) and many appear just once to push you through their designated level, it constantly introduces new plot points and has moments that are never properly expanded on or mentioned again such as all the one-time characters, old characters besides three are all abandoned and pretty much never mentioned and those who do appear are Flanderized(Flynn isn't showing the least concern about his old friends Cali and Hugo...)... I could go on and on and on.

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing. And all these things are pretty noticeable if you've invested yourself in the story the previous games established, like good story, then pick up SF. What if I'm not in this supposed target range of "kids"? Is my opinion about this suddenly invalid because of it?

And, sure. It's impossible to get perfect writing and I could nitpick stories I LOVED(Wreck-It Ralph, so many problems you notice after having watched it twelve times), but at least they tried hiding their flaws and they weren't so downright dumb.
That's exactly it- SWAP Force's story is, in a word, dumb. It just keeps screwing up and doesn't really even notice that it screwed up so much. The flip is up with Flynn forgetting about all his old friends, what's with all the one-time stuff, this over-simplification...? You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out. I am dead serious, I was tired of the story not mentioning the Portal Masters and new characters just getting tossed on to a bonfire pile to sacrifice for the great Character Count God and nothing was entertaining me, besides the lore which was never properly expanded upon.

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth or character, a-la those cheap, uninspired products/movies/horrible CGI cartoons made "for kids" to distract them for a little while.

It just makes me worried for the next installments, afraid that they may just have gone cheap and decided to go down that CGI-cartoon story route. I don't care if in a game like Mario which doesn't really establish that much canon- even though I do appreciate when they make little nods to it in Mario, that's more of a bonus Easter egg type thing- but it is annoying when I'm playing Skylanders, where story is a large part of the experience. Of course, the gameplay is still great(even though it has frustrating flaws), but usually you don't separate story and gameplay but focus on the thing as a whole, and in this case that'd mean seeing how all this integrates together. I'm just going on a rant now so I'll stop and I'm re-using my Mario argument lol but SF's story does have massive flaws and it's annoying because story is a big part of this series. And like I said it's just worrying because they can't really "fix" this stuff unless they make some direct in depth thing to explain it or they may just keep doing this and stop caring abou--- *sock'd*

You are right on so many levels. VV did indeed to a mediocre job when it's comes to the story of Swap Force. The contradiction that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves (Which I think is a great idea) despite Kaos' Mom going into a Portal. They were doing a great job when it comes to continuity until VV came around. TfB brought characters back from earlier in the game and gave them a new role or stated that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves multiple times. Characters like Mesmerelda just appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast. TfB (To my knowledge) is making Skylanders 4, hopefully we'll get that near perfect mix or story and gameplay again. TfB really sees the Skylanders Series as their baby (They say so on their website) and want it to be perfect in every way. VV was like a baby sitter, didn't know how to raise it, so it focused on on playing with they baby than telling it a good story.

I would've liked the game better if Kaos mom's face had melted when she used the portal. Or turned into a big mega beast. Or something.

Quote: kaosmumishot

Bifrost I put it to you that you feel yourself attracted to Kaos' mum in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, particularly knowing that she is just an animation and it can never be.

No need to feel embarrassed, I understand your attraction completely. And I too hope that she will be released from her mirror prison in some future installment to once again set our hearts racing.

What is this I don't even.
I'm not sure if this is harrassing or just tl;dr,so I'll just forget I ever read it.


As for one of the ideas of what Kaos' mom could've done better than 'lul gonna jump into your portal',didn't she have all those evil minions all over her fortress? Considering a Portal Master's minion is still a Skylander of sort(much like Kaos' shadowlanders),would've been a pretty intense part of the battle if she turned the Portal to the Skylander's general direction and started shooting them out of it. If I was an evil Portal Master with mooks to spare,I'd summon my inner Chompy Bot 9000 and use them as ammo instead of having them try to fight and get defeated without landing a scratch.

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: kaosmumishot

Bifrost I put it to you that you feel yourself attracted to Kaos' mum in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, particularly knowing that she is just an animation and it can never be.

No need to feel embarrassed, I understand your attraction completely. And I too hope that she will be released from her mirror prison in some future installment to once again set our hearts racing.

What is this I don't even.
I'm not sure if this is harrassing or just tl;dr,so I'll just forget I ever read it.

Seriously? Seriously you ask if this is harassing???

Couple of things - firstly it was a joke, tongue in cheek which I thought would be evident. In particular I thought my username would have given away that it was a joke. Seriously Kaos' mum is hot? Didn't give you a clue that I might be joking?

Secondly it was a single post and from memory the only one I have ever made in response to a post of yours. So it can't be 'harassing' because the definition of harassing is:

1. to disturb persistently; torment, as with troubles or cares; bother continually; pester; persecute.
2. to trouble by repeated attacks, incursions, etc., as in war or hostilities; harry; raid.

As this was one post it can't really be considered to be 'persistent', 'continual' or 'repeated'.

But perhaps you thought I was attempting to 'insult' you? Which brings me to my final point - I have never, and would never, try to insult, abuse or intentionally offend anyone on any forum. I find that type of 'keyboard warrior' behaviour cowardly and distasteful. I don't know you, you might be a really nice guy, kid, girl etc. So no, I wasn't trying to offend or upset you, I was just having a joke. I actually found your post to be insightful and well considered. I don't agree 100% with it, but I liked the thought you had put into it.

Hope this clears it up.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Quote: Arc of Archives

^ Not sure wether to laugh or facepalm at your post pretty much ignoring good points about bad writing.

LAUGHPALM!

I completely agree with Bifrost. I wouldn't be so bothered by Kaos' Mom "overtaking" Kaos and making him look like a bumbling fool IF SHE ACTUALLY WAS AS CLEVER AS SHE WAS MADE OUT TO BE. And the thing were she jumps into your Portal is not clever. It would be clever if there were some reason behind it, if it were built around some previous lore, but not only is that not the case but it directly contradicts the whole "Portal Masters shouldn't use Portals on themselves" thing that was directly addressed in cutscenes in Giants and was mentioned in a Story Scroll in Spyro's Adventure.

Good writing revisits past plot points, good writing explains and goes in-depth with lore, good writing fleshes out characters beyond stereotypes and makes them things besides just plot devices, good writing gives proper reason to introduce new stuff and doesn't just abandon it, good writing in the case of a sequel will expand on previous plot and not just abandon it- SWAP Force just fails all of those, while it does have some spots of good writing, it doesn't outweigh all the bad stuff. SWAP Force contradicts established canon, the lore behind Cloudbreak is shallow and vague more than anything, pretty much all the characters are flat (Glumshanks is the only exception I can think of) and many appear just once to push you through their designated level, it constantly introduces new plot points and has moments that are never properly expanded on or mentioned again such as all the one-time characters, old characters besides three are all abandoned and pretty much never mentioned and those who do appear are Flanderized(Flynn isn't showing the least concern about his old friends Cali and Hugo...)... I could go on and on and on.

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing. And all these things are pretty noticeable if you've invested yourself in the story the previous games established, like good story, then pick up SF. What if I'm not in this supposed target range of "kids"? Is my opinion about this suddenly invalid because of it?

And, sure. It's impossible to get perfect writing and I could nitpick stories I LOVED(Wreck-It Ralph, so many problems you notice after having watched it twelve times), but at least they tried hiding their flaws and they weren't so downright dumb.
That's exactly it- SWAP Force's story is, in a word, dumb. It just keeps screwing up and doesn't really even notice that it screwed up so much. The flip is up with Flynn forgetting about all his old friends, what's with all the one-time stuff, this over-simplification...? You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out. I am dead serious, I was tired of the story not mentioning the Portal Masters and new characters just getting tossed on to a bonfire pile to sacrifice for the great Character Count God and nothing was entertaining me, besides the lore which was never properly expanded upon.

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth or character, a-la those cheap, uninspired products/movies/horrible CGI cartoons made "for kids" to distract them for a little while.

It just makes me worried for the next installments, afraid that they may just have gone cheap and decided to go down that CGI-cartoon story route. I don't care if in a game like Mario which doesn't really establish that much canon- even though I do appreciate when they make little nods to it in Mario, that's more of a bonus Easter egg type thing- but it is annoying when I'm playing Skylanders, where story is a large part of the experience. Of course, the gameplay is still great(even though it has frustrating flaws), but usually you don't separate story and gameplay but focus on the thing as a whole, and in this case that'd mean seeing how all this integrates together. I'm just going on a rant now so I'll stop and I'm re-using my Mario argument lol but SF's story does have massive flaws and it's annoying because story is a big part of this series. And like I said it's just worrying because they can't really "fix" this stuff unless they make some direct in depth thing to explain it or they may just keep doing this and stop caring abou--- *sock'd*

You are right on so many levels. VV did indeed to a mediocre job when it's comes to the story of Swap Force. The contradiction that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves (Which I think is a great idea) despite Kaos' Mom going into a Portal. They were doing a great job when it comes to continuity until VV came around. TfB brought characters back from earlier in the game and gave them a new role or stated that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves multiple times. Characters like Mesmerelda just appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast. TfB (To my knowledge) is making Skylanders 4, hopefully we'll get that near perfect mix or story and gameplay again. TfB really sees the Skylanders Series as their baby (They say so on their website) and want it to be perfect in every way. VV was like a baby sitter, didn't know how to raise it, so it focused on on playing with they baby than telling it a good story.

That analogy is great! However, I seriously doubt that TFB will be able to undo the damage that VV has done. They won't be able to retain the new (e.g., Cloudbreak). This would lead to yet more inconsistency. Honestly, unless if S4 is really great, I'm done with Skylanders. Like most of you here, I loved the lore of Skylanders. If the lore is gone, there's nothing left for me.

Quote: sustainablspyro

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Quote: Arc of Archives

^ Not sure wether to laugh or facepalm at your post pretty much ignoring good points about bad writing.

LAUGHPALM!

I completely agree with Bifrost. I wouldn't be so bothered by Kaos' Mom "overtaking" Kaos and making him look like a bumbling fool IF SHE ACTUALLY WAS AS CLEVER AS SHE WAS MADE OUT TO BE. And the thing were she jumps into your Portal is not clever. It would be clever if there were some reason behind it, if it were built around some previous lore, but not only is that not the case but it directly contradicts the whole "Portal Masters shouldn't use Portals on themselves" thing that was directly addressed in cutscenes in Giants and was mentioned in a Story Scroll in Spyro's Adventure.

Good writing revisits past plot points, good writing explains and goes in-depth with lore, good writing fleshes out characters beyond stereotypes and makes them things besides just plot devices, good writing gives proper reason to introduce new stuff and doesn't just abandon it, good writing in the case of a sequel will expand on previous plot and not just abandon it- SWAP Force just fails all of those, while it does have some spots of good writing, it doesn't outweigh all the bad stuff. SWAP Force contradicts established canon, the lore behind Cloudbreak is shallow and vague more than anything, pretty much all the characters are flat (Glumshanks is the only exception I can think of) and many appear just once to push you through their designated level, it constantly introduces new plot points and has moments that are never properly expanded on or mentioned again such as all the one-time characters, old characters besides three are all abandoned and pretty much never mentioned and those who do appear are Flanderized(Flynn isn't showing the least concern about his old friends Cali and Hugo...)... I could go on and on and on.

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing. And all these things are pretty noticeable if you've invested yourself in the story the previous games established, like good story, then pick up SF. What if I'm not in this supposed target range of "kids"? Is my opinion about this suddenly invalid because of it?

And, sure. It's impossible to get perfect writing and I could nitpick stories I LOVED(Wreck-It Ralph, so many problems you notice after having watched it twelve times), but at least they tried hiding their flaws and they weren't so downright dumb.
That's exactly it- SWAP Force's story is, in a word, dumb. It just keeps screwing up and doesn't really even notice that it screwed up so much. The flip is up with Flynn forgetting about all his old friends, what's with all the one-time stuff, this over-simplification...? You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out. I am dead serious, I was tired of the story not mentioning the Portal Masters and new characters just getting tossed on to a bonfire pile to sacrifice for the great Character Count God and nothing was entertaining me, besides the lore which was never properly expanded upon.

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth or character, a-la those cheap, uninspired products/movies/horrible CGI cartoons made "for kids" to distract them for a little while.

It just makes me worried for the next installments, afraid that they may just have gone cheap and decided to go down that CGI-cartoon story route. I don't care if in a game like Mario which doesn't really establish that much canon- even though I do appreciate when they make little nods to it in Mario, that's more of a bonus Easter egg type thing- but it is annoying when I'm playing Skylanders, where story is a large part of the experience. Of course, the gameplay is still great(even though it has frustrating flaws), but usually you don't separate story and gameplay but focus on the thing as a whole, and in this case that'd mean seeing how all this integrates together. I'm just going on a rant now so I'll stop and I'm re-using my Mario argument lol but SF's story does have massive flaws and it's annoying because story is a big part of this series. And like I said it's just worrying because they can't really "fix" this stuff unless they make some direct in depth thing to explain it or they may just keep doing this and stop caring abou--- *sock'd*

You are right on so many levels. VV did indeed to a mediocre job when it's comes to the story of Swap Force. The contradiction that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves (Which I think is a great idea) despite Kaos' Mom going into a Portal. They were doing a great job when it comes to continuity until VV came around. TfB brought characters back from earlier in the game and gave them a new role or stated that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves multiple times. Characters like Mesmerelda just appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast. TfB (To my knowledge) is making Skylanders 4, hopefully we'll get that near perfect mix or story and gameplay again. TfB really sees the Skylanders Series as their baby (They say so on their website) and want it to be perfect in every way. VV was like a baby sitter, didn't know how to raise it, so it focused on on playing with they baby than telling it a good story.

That analogy is great! However, I seriously doubt that TFB will be able to undo the damage that VV has done. They won't be able to retain the new (e.g., Cloudbreak). This would lead to yet more inconsistency. Honestly, unless if S4 is really great, I'm done with Skylanders. Like most of you here, I loved the lore of Skylanders. If the lore is gone, there's nothing left for me.

Three words:

Skylanders...
Were...
Dreaming.

Quote: MugoUrth

Three words:

Skylanders...
Were...
Dreaming.

Ahh, the let's nullify the entire previous year due to an event...the Dream Mages are at work here!!!

Quote: kaosmumishot

Well,you can't really guess someone is joking in text.I'm very slow to notice that kind of thing,but if you didn't mean it,it's fine :3

Removing SF out of the canon fixes so many things it's not even funny.It would give TFB a chance at doing their own Kaos' mom(and considering how they did side villains on the other two games,we could expect something really over the top as it should be),fix the ridiculous amount of plot holes,and forget Primary Colors Dread-Yacht ever existed.

Quote: MugoUrth

Quote: sustainablspyro

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

You are right on so many levels. VV did indeed to a mediocre job when it's comes to the story of Swap Force. The contradiction that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves (Which I think is a great idea) despite Kaos' Mom going into a Portal. They were doing a great job when it comes to continuity until VV came around. TfB brought characters back from earlier in the game and gave them a new role or stated that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves multiple times. Characters like Mesmerelda just appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast. TfB (To my knowledge) is making Skylanders 4, hopefully we'll get that near perfect mix or story and gameplay again. TfB really sees the Skylanders Series as their baby (They say so on their website) and want it to be perfect in every way. VV was like a baby sitter, didn't know how to raise it, so it focused on on playing with they baby than telling it a good story.

That analogy is great! However, I seriously doubt that TFB will be able to undo the damage that VV has done. They won't be able to retain the new (e.g., Cloudbreak). This would lead to yet more inconsistency. Honestly, unless if S4 is really great, I'm done with Skylanders. Like most of you here, I loved the lore of Skylanders. If the lore is gone, there's nothing left for me.

Three words:

Skylanders...
Were...
Dreaming.

All of these.I have yet to still beat swap force as I have gotten bored.Swap force is my last skylanders game as one too much money has been spent on them,I don't have anymore space to put them and I highly doubt tfb will be able o fix the damage VV done.Acto should have stuck with tfb for the console games and left VV to the 3ds version.Unless skylanders 4 is extremely amazing I am done.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: MugoUrth

Three words:

Skylanders...
Were...
Dreaming.

Ahh, the let's nullify the entire previous year due to an event...the Dream Mages are at work here!!!

I actually like this idea as silly as it may be to some!

Think it's too late to start a petition in the hopes that TFB will make Swap Force's story non-canon?

Quote: MugoUrth

Think it's too late to start a petition in the hopes that TFB will make Swap Force's story non-canon?

They're probably in alpha already,but definately not that far in production since Giants was only ready to be shown in March iirc,and the Beenox engine being different will probably slow them down. But we can always bring up one thing - if Vicarious Visions said our older characters would have speed scaled to the bigger levels and went back in that statement for the final game,why can't we say Swap Force happened then change our minds?

But if we wanted to void Swap Force's story, how would we get Toys For Bob, creators of the legendary cult classic Star Control (Which is actually kind of debatable how good the game was, but I had it for the genesis as a child), to agree? (I always kind of wished for a Star Control inspired Skylander, but they say there are Star Control references in the Skylanders franchise. ...But this isn't a Star Control topic, so I'll just leave it at this.)

Petitions(seems to get Nintendo's attention every now and then though they said publicy that they never get them to choose to do a thing or not),uproar in the forums(Acti support reads this,and the dev teams from VV and TFB probably lurk),but a more realistic approach would be making the famous Skylander fans at least suggest that in interviews.Sure,hard to do that when the majority won't dare to speak ill of what's giving the pageviews,but after some podcasts with Alex Ness that happened in the other games I'm pretty sure their opinions seem to be more 'loud'(specially since some requested questions here) than simply posting around in forums.

Quote: Arc of Archives

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing.

Totally disagree that it's a valid point - Being a kids game is no reason to be sloppy. There are plenty of kids franchises that have put a lot of work into good writing and been transformed from 'good kids shows' into just plain 'good shows'. Adventure Time, Harry Potter, The Last Airbender... all kids shows with serious adult followings because the writing was good.
Heck, half the reasons that Skylanders took off in the first place is that it was a good game, not just a good kids game.
There is never a good excuse for sloppy writing.

Quote: Arc of Archives

You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out.

Frankly I was never a huge fan of the story… I mean the pretext is great, but SSA was one long fetch quest and the SG story was just a mess.
I’m not sure why you’d get upset with portal-masters using their own portals when Kaos managed it in SG – and his mum wasn’t even transporting in SSF, just hiding inside the network, so to speak.

Quote: Arc of Archives

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth

Actually, I think the kiddie part really kicked in during Giants. I loved the gibberish of SSA, and the addition of voices instantly transformed them from awesome fantasy creatures into goofy kid’s cartoons. Poor Sunburn, Sonic Boom and co suddenly reduced from awesome beasts to dorky kid’s characters. I’d give almost anything to give the crew back their awesome SSA voices rather than their terra-bad SG/SSF voices.

Quote: MugoUrth

(I always kind of wished for a Star Control inspired Skylander, but they say there are Star Control references in the Skylanders franchise. ...But this isn't a Star Control topic, so I'll just leave it at this.)

The way the fairy talks in SSA is clearly based on the Ors from Star Control 2... only in Star Control 'dancing' was battle. Better not make them *frumple*

I like games with story. Especially convoluted lore. As long as it's not contradictory, anyway. Like Kingdom Hearts.

I haven't played SF and haven't read the full story yet, so I can't offer my full comments here, but I hope Skylanders 4 has an enjoyable, whimsical story that's fun but not overly childish.

Lol, you know what'd work nicely? A more serious book/manga series, preferably a bit more mature than the games or other novels (not like inappropriate, but just in style). Especially if it becomes a cult classic :P

Quote: Tel Prydain

Frankly I was never a huge fan of the story… I mean the pretext is great, but SSA was one long fetch quest and the SG story was just a mess.
I’m not sure why you’d get upset with portal-masters using their own portals when Kaos managed it in SG – and his mum wasn’t even transporting in SSF, just hiding inside the network, so to speak.

The intro for Giants clearly shows that the Portal reacts even before they're transported - just because Kaos' mom is so better than anyone means she isn't affected at all? If that's the excuse,it shouldn't be.
And again,there's no problem in a Portal Master showing how it's done - as long as said done isn't dumb as it could possibly be. There's no hiding if you're one toy smashing your face in away from your enemies,and shooting magic balls from it is incredibly unpratical if you can't even see a target properly(looking from footage,she seems to fire randomly). It was just a cheap way to make the players feel like they're part of the story which most would gloss over if the rest of the plot wasn't as bad(heck,as you said,SSA and Giants aren't deep or complicated - but they work so well with the elements given that some of the sillier points of the story can be forgotten in favor of enjoying the whole thing).