darkSpyro

So Trap Teams out and it is almost Christmas so what will the 5th game be? Skylanders mind squad? Custom team? What?

Hmm probably dinosaurs

Actually, this is always on my mind when a new game comes out. Toys for Bob kind of painted everyone into a corner with the Trap Team gimmick. Yeah, an argument could be made that Swap Force was a gimmick, but only insomuch as the portal needed to be able to read more RFID tags simultaneously. With Trap Team, going forward, any new portal will have to have a Traptanium slot in it to be backward compatible, and I could see them ditching the speaker to lower costs or make room for something else. For that reason, Trap Team may hinder innovation for future games.

With that said, I have had three different ideas. First, a sort of "all-star" game, in which we get the prerequisite 16-32 new Skylanders, but all series' figures are from the gimmick price points, reposes of Giants, Swap Force, and Trap Team. That allows them to continue the $14.99 price point, even if they don't have something new to occupy it.

Second, would be to make the figures poseable, and in turn removable from the base. That way, children could play with the outside of the game as well.

Idea three is sort of like number two, but instead of them being sort of like action figures, integrate something like Hero Clix, so that even those that have no interest in playing the games but be interested enough in playing Skylanders as a tabletop to buy them.

I also just had a fourth idea while typing this. Include 3-5 Giants version Skystones cards with each figure, so that kids can phyically play Skystones. Or, as an evolution of that idea, include a camera and base, so that kids can physically play Skystones in the game like the PS3 game Eye of Judgement. Feel free to look up Eye of Judgement on YouTube, as you have likely never heard of it, but please, for the love of all things, NEVER try to actually play it. First, it isn't good, but second, the first time I turned it on, the updates took almost TWO HOURS.

I do have a new idea that I'm gonna post to DeviantArt. But I'm not tellin' right now.

its to early discussing this yet, another similar thread was just closed last week, at least give it 5 months...

HD Remake of SAS & Giants (w/ SF) with newer characters and figures able to play in them (So Gearshift in SAS).

The first two games felt a bit magical, and from a new game perspective I would somehow like to revisit that. Yes the first game wsa nothing but fetch quest, but it was fun and felt diverse. I won't sit here and pretend to be the idea pitch man *beyond the HD remake*, so I won't present a gimmick. If anything - that would be the gimmick, SAS2...no giants or traps, just cores. Instead of using gimmicks as paywalls, use figure counts...think of the door on flynn's ship in Giants for instance. Then I'd rejigger the plot styling to be closer to "Super Mario World", and make the game more 'open' to make Skylands feel more like a place than a group of levels.
- Unreall

Introduce a famous character from another franchise to reinvigorate it. "Skylanders: Kratos' Adventure"

Or Skylanders Crash Force

@LordElohim: those are great ideas!

There are strong reasons to take a break from Skylanders this year, mostly surrounding the two gimmicks' lack of value. This is Activision, let's not kid ourselves; using two companies to make these games guarantees a new portal every year, so chances are very slim that traps will be compatible in the next installment. Is there anything for swappers to do in Trap Team? There's barely anything for the Trap Masters to do in Trap Team! They're not jailors, they're janitors, for crying out loud! They open doors, clean up piles of traptanium, and are better at forcing out vagrants. The suits at Activision are laughing all the way to the bank; no one has ever made so much money selling clear chunks of plastic.

The scary thing is, Toys for Bob's first two Skylander games are excellent; surely, they had no say in these money-grubbing, lackluster design choices. Will Vicarious Visions be forced to do the same next year?

Quote: Plordigian

@LordElohim: those are great ideas!

There are strong reasons to take a break from Skylanders this year, mostly surrounding the two gimmicks' lack of value. This is Activision, let's not kid ourselves; using two companies to make these games guarantees a new portal every year, so chances are very slim that traps will be compatible in the next installment. Is there anything for swappers to do in Trap Team? There's barely anything for the Trap Masters to do in Trap Team! They're not jailors, they're janitors, for crying out loud! They open doors, clean up piles of traptanium, and are better at forcing out vagrants. The suits at Activision are laughing all the way to the bank; no one has ever made so much money selling clear chunks of plastic.

The scary thing is, Toys for Bob's first two Skylander games are excellent; surely, they had no say in these money-grubbing, lackluster design choices. Will Vicarious Visions be forced to do the same next year?

Aaaaahhh...

1) Just because they will make a new Portal doesn't mean it won't have a place to store traps in.
And Giants kinda proved that they can use older Portals, if the game idea works with them.

2) So Trap Masters for you are just "clear chunks of plastic", right?
That's interesting.
Sure, they could have handled them better, but they are still stronger, against trappable villains, they still can open up new areas, and reveal collectibles and, guess what? They are still upgreadable Skylanders.
May not be worth THAT price, but, that's another thing.

3) This game (game, not characters, those are opinables, and so are other choices) is as great, if not better, compared to SA and Giants.
The "black sheep" of Skylanders is SWAP Force.

It just didn't felt like a Skylanders game, for most of the time.
I'd say "a game WITH Skylanders, not a Skylanders game".