darkSpyro

Swap Force complement:

Our son gets to Easter Skylanders swap Force.
It will be the first part for him.

I have found a list of which characters the game is fully playable.
Quote:

Included are already Ninja Stealth Elf, and the two characters swap Force Blast Zone and Wash Buckler. If you buy additional Hoot Loop, Battle Shake, Magna Charge, Stink Bomb, Rubble Rouser and Freeranger, one has covered all element types and all abilities. It finally missing is a Giant. Since you have already covered all element types and all abilities, it is now completely no matter what you buy Giant. With these figures and the game itself a complete exploration of the game world already in the single player mode is possible and it is also possible to achieve the highest score in each level.

If we buy from Parts 1 and 2, only the game (without characters and Portal), which figures must be purchased at least, so that these two parts are playable?

If possible a list separated by parts.

Thank you

You mean for Skylanders Spyro's Adventure (Game 1) and Skylanders Giants (Game 2)? Fortunately you only need to buy 7 characters to fully play both parts 1 and 2. You only need 1 character from each element type that is compatible in both games. Here is the simple list (pick 1 character from each section):

Magic:
Spyro*
Wrecking Ball*
Double Trouble
Voodood

Undead:
Cynder*
Chop Chop
Hex

Tech:
Drill Sergeant
Drobot*
Trigger Happy*

Air:
Sonic Boom*
Whirlwind
Lightning Rod
Warnado*

Earth:
Terrafin*
Prism Break
Bash*
Dino Rang

Water:
Slam Bam
Gill Grunt
Zap*
Wham Shell

Fire:
Eruptor
Flameslinger*
Ignitor*

For the Life element you already have Ninja Stealth Elf included in the Skylanders Swap Force starter pack. So you do not need to buy a life element character. It will work in both parts 1 and 2.

If you pick 1 character from each of those 7 categories above, you will be able to fully play both parts 1 and 2. This is assuming you already have the Skylanders Swap Force starter pack (NOT the 3DS starter pack) and 1 Giant character from the list you already had.

I also wanted to mention that if you live near a Toys R Us this week their sale on Skylanders is Buy One Get One Free on the Giant characters and ALL Skylanders Spyro's Adventure characters. Which means you could buy 8 characters from the lists I gave you for the price of 4 if you can find them in the Spyro's Adenture packaging.

^ Ghost Roaster, Boomer and Sunburn also work.

Anyway, even then, buying all those toys is optional- you can use any one figure you want to beat the first two games, however, in order to get 100% progress and unlock all Element Gates (which are bonus areas with things like hats) you need a character from each element, and for Giants you need any Giant to do the Feats of Strength(just stuff like hats and treasure). You could even use the Giant to unlock Element Gates, but you won't be able to use them in Spyro's Adventure so you can't use them to unlock Element Gates there.

There's also Heroics, but that's just for us completionists. They have no effect on the actual game, but can boost your Skylanders' stats a bit. However, you can't unlock them all unless you buy a lot of the toys. They're just timed little mini-dungeons. I wouldn't worry about those. They're completely gone in SF and the stat boost for them in SF is stupidly small anyway, unless you'll play the older games a lot, not worth it.

Quote: Arc of Archives

^ Ghost Roaster, Boomer and Sunburn also work.

Anyway, even then, buying all those toys is optional- you can use any one figure you want to beat the first two games, however, in order to get 100% progress and unlock all Element Gates (which are bonus areas with things like hats) you need a character from each element, and for Giants you need any Giant to do the Feats of Strength(just stuff like hats and treasure). You could even use the Giant to unlock Element Gates, but you won't be able to use them in Spyro's Adventure so you can't use them to unlock Element Gates there.

There's also Heroics, but that's just for us completionists. They have no effect on the actual game, but can boost your Skylanders' stats a bit. However, you can't unlock them all unless you buy a lot of the toys. They're just timed little mini-dungeons. I wouldn't worry about those. They're completely gone in SF and the stat boost for them in SF is stupidly small anyway, unless you'll play the older games a lot, not worth it.

Yeah I kinda figured this was a confused parent who just wanted to know what they needed to walk into the store and buy in order for their child to not complain that they "cannot access part of a level" LOL! I didn't mention Ghost Roaster, Boomer, and Sunburn because they are very hard to find and two of them only come in adventure packs, so I gave the simple list LOL! Too much detail on the collector's and completionist's part of the game just confuses parents haha.

thanx a lot. this was very helpful for me.

can you put a recomendation-star * after the character-name above, please?
witch one woud you buy...?

also thanx a lot for the Toys-r-Us tip - i will have a look if there is a sale here in germany, too.

Which one to buy is entirely based on what your son likes. Does he like male characters? female characters? dragons? swords? The characters children pick out is usually just which types of characters they like or which ones they think looks the coolest. I personally like the dragon characters, but I know a friend who only likes the female characters, while my brother likes any of the characters with swords or guns. You know your son best, so just pick ones that are similar to the types of fictional characters he's drawn to, or the types of action figures he likes. I'll put a recommendation star * next to my favorites from the list, but it's really just my preference. In addition, most of the guys I know that play seem to like Chop Chop. Drill Sargeant is neat if you like robots/tanks. I dunno.

if I have understood your answer correctly, each character has the same strength within a group.

so there are only preferences regarding the look.

and yes, I am a confused parent;-)

The statistics that each character comes with is slightly different. If you look at the trading card located behind the figure in the box, you'll see the different stat numbers for each category like defense, speed, attack, etc. But honestly, your son isn't going to care about that because you can strengthen any character in the game and that's the fun part. He'll just be drawn to the characters he likes the look and weapons of the most. Some of the most popular ones are Trigger Happy, Drobot, Cynder, Spyro, Bash, Zap, Terrafin. Just pick based on the look and you'll be fine. I'm sure he'll love it no matter which ones he gets. good luck!

Also remember that Toys R Us (if it's the same policy in Germany) price matches almost all competitors, even Amazon if it's sold by Amazon (which often has $6-7 older figures).

No Toys R Us Sale here in Germany. Sometimes 3 for 2, but more expensive than amazon.

Thank U for all your knowledge. Now i know what i have to look for.

additional question:

do i - or "why" do i need the lightcore characters?

is it just a nice special - not really needed - or is it urgent for something in the game?

Quote: wolast

additional question:

do i - or "why" do i need the lightcore characters?

is it just a nice special - not really needed - or is it urgent for something in the game?

You do not "need" lightcores. It's all personal preference. The major disadvantage to them is that they have no wow pows that series 2 of a character has. The advantage is that they have a flash bomb effect when placed on the portal, and of course neato lights. Unless your child wants them, I'd generally stick away from them. They also cost a bit more too.

Lightcores do nothing in the games materially.

Lightcores serve NO function but to look 'pretty'.

With regards to 'what to get'. There's been some good advice posted already, but I'd sum it up like

1. To play everything, you need (1) from each (8) elements.
2. To keep the price low, stick with characters from Spyro's Adventure - they will work on all games.
3. Are you buying figures from eBay or a store? If you buy second hand like eBay, you can get REAL good deals.
4. When picking figures, think about what your kid may think is cool. For instance, you can try and get all 8 'dragons'

a) Air - Whirlwind
b) Earth - Bash
c) Fire - Sunburn
d) Life - Camo
e) Magic - Spyro
f) Tech - Drobot
g) Undead - Cynder
h) Water - Zap

Or you could go with 'weapons'
a) Air - Lightning Rod
b) Earth - Dino Rang
c) Fire - Ignitor
d) Life - Stealth Elf
e) Magic - Voodood
f) Tech - Boomer ($$$) or Trigger Happy
g) Undead - Chop Chop
h) Water - Whamshell (get the new Lightcore version, it will be cheaper)

5. When looking for figures for the first game, look for ones with orange bottoms (series 2), if they have them. These will have an additional power. Not all figures have a series 2. You can go to SkylandersCharacters.com for a reference.
6. When looking at the second game, you'll want at least one Giant, maybe two. Eye-Brawl would be first pick due to flexibility, he can be a shooter or a puncher. He looks cool too. Swarm is similar in flexibility.

If you're not against it, I'd HIGHLY recommend looking at eBay for "Skylanders Lot", sort by ending soonest, and put the price range to something low. You can get 10+ characters for 1/3 of retail value.
- Unreall

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: wolast

additional question:

do i - or "why" do i need the lightcore characters?

is it just a nice special - not really needed - or is it urgent for something in the game?

You do not "need" lightcores. It's all personal preference. The major disadvantage to them is that they have no wow pows that series 2 of a character has. The advantage is that they have a flash bomb effect when placed on the portal, and of course neato lights. Unless your child wants them, I'd generally stick away from them. They also cost a bit more too.

Lightcores do nothing in the games materially.

Yep. That's pretty much it. But to put it in "parent" words: Lightcore figures have a built in light feature and "bomb" the enemies when you use it (and cost more). The regular figures from Giants or Swap Force packaging have extra bonus powers you can earn that the lightcores do not. The older cheaper figures from Spyro's Adventure work just fine for a budget. I've got a lot of experience with "parent understanding" of this crazy game lol! It took me forever to understand the lingo "wow pow" and series numbers haha.

Also, no you don't need lightcores to play any part of the game. They are just an extra commodity.

Quote: Unreallystic

Lightcores serve NO function but to look 'pretty'.

With regards to 'what to get'. There's been some good advice posted already, but I'd sum it up like

1. To play everything, you need (1) from each (8) elements.
2. To keep the price low, stick with characters from Spyro's Adventure - they will work on all games.
3. Are you buying figures from eBay or a store? If you buy second hand like eBay, you can get REAL good deals.
4. When picking figures, think about what your kid may think is cool. For instance, you can try and get all 8 'dragons'

a) Air - Whirlwind
b) Earth - Bash
c) Fire - Sunburn
d) Life - Camo
e) Magic - Spyro
f) Tech - Drobot
g) Undead - Cynder
h) Water - Zap

Or you could go with 'weapons'
a) Air - Lightning Rod
b) Earth - Dino Rang
c) Fire - Ignitor
d) Life - Stealth Elf
e) Magic - Voodood
f) Tech - Boomer ($$$) or Trigger Happy
g) Undead - Chop Chop
h) Water - Whamshell (get the new Lightcore version, it will be cheaper)

5. When looking for figures for the first game, look for ones with orange bottoms (series 2), if they have them. These will have an additional power. Not all figures have a series 2. You can go to SkylandersCharacters.com for a reference.
6. When looking at the second game, you'll want at least one Giant, maybe two. Eye-Brawl would be first pick due to flexibility, he can be a shooter or a puncher. He looks cool too. Swarm is similar in flexibility.

If you're not against it, I'd HIGHLY recommend looking at eBay for "Skylanders Lot", sort by ending soonest, and put the price range to something low. You can get 10+ characters for 1/3 of retail value.
- Unreall

Great advice if you have the time and patience to deal with eBay and sellers. It often takes awhile for shipping from sellers so keep that in mind if you must have it soon, especially if you purchase outside of Germany where you're located, but you can win an auction that nobody else is bidding on dirt cheap. I just won a mega bloks set for $0.99 because nobody else bid LOL!

Lightcore Figures are worth it for Nightmare Mode.

Are Lightcore Figures playable with all 3 Parts of Skylanders...?

That's a complicated question unfortunately. If it's a Lightcore version of one of the characters I listed for you earlier then yes the character will work in all 3 parts. HOWEVER, Lightcore was not introduced until Part 2 so if you use a Lightcore character in Part 1 it will not have the special "bomb" attack in the game (It will still light up on the portal and look pretty, but in game it will only function as a standard character). Be careful because if you buy any Lightcore characters that I did not list (newer characters) then they will not work in all 3 Parts.

For characters in general:
If a character was introduced in Part 1, it will work in Parts 1, 2, and 3.
If a character was introduced in Part 2, then it won't work in Part 1 but will work in Part 3.
If a character was introduced in Part 3, then it won't work in Part 1 or 2.