darkSpyro

Hi all - Apologies if this has been asked / answered elsewhere (this is my first post...).

The stats from Heroic Challenges in SSA carried into SG, and (although I've not achieved this part), it's said that if you have completed all 50 challenges across the two games (with a specific character), then in Swap Force you see 'a small stats boost in Skylanders: Swap Force (Speed: +3, Armor: +5, Crit: + 3%, Elemental Power: +6)' (sourced from http://skylanders.wikia.com/wiki/Heroic_Challenges).

So, my question is: Does any of this have any relevance in STT? Or do all figures go back to their baseline stats?

only elemental powers carries over to stt i think...

Elemental powers? How do you mean? Just boosted elemental stats? Or something else?

Technically I haven't seen an official answer here. Looking forward to the answer.

i did go back to giants then did some heroics with treerex, and when i did go to stt only elemental powers had gotten higher.

Quote: CountMoneyBone

i did go back to giants then did some heroics with treerex, and when i did go to stt only elemental powers had gotten higher.

% and is it consistent regardless of character? Did you only have to do 32 SSA Heroics? 50 SG Heroics? or 50 SG + SF Heroics?

Btw, they chose the absolute weakest stat to carry over. It's a net punishment. Not surprised, they set this bad idea in stone in SF.

i only tried with treerex. i am missing 4 heroics in giants before i have all the heroics, i will see if i get the 4 last one somewhere...

All 200 of mine are already to the max. I can confirm the "max" percentage once I get the game and load 'em up...also curious if its based on heroics or quests. I think someone actually upgraded one and checked every "n" number to give us the exact number. Might be slightly amusing to try this, since there's nothing else to do once you beat story mode.

I just compared my S2 Gill Grunt @ Lv. 15 (who finished all heroics from Giants) to my newly opened S4 Gill Grunt @Lv. 1. Armor, speed and critical hit were all the same. Elemental for the S2 was at 81 while the S4 was at 53. Sadly, that was the only difference, so not only did they take away any indication that these characters completed quests in the old games, but totally wiped out all our effort from heroics on armor, speed and critical hit. So, way to take all of my effort and flush it down the toilet. Bravo, Activision. Bravo.

And the elemental "boost" is for buying all of those characters. It seems SSA and SG were the only two games that actually recognized and gave you credit for heroics--which makes sense since the word Heroics has been banned from the games for the last two entries.

Quote: GhostRoaster

And the elemental "boost" is for buying all of those characters. It seems SSA and SG were the only two games that actually recognized and gave you credit for h€£#ics--which makes sense since the word H€£#ics has been banned from the games for the last two entries.

Careful GhostRoaster, you know the people from Activision actually read these forums - they might suspend your YouTube account if you mention that word again.

Quote: ShaneK

Quote: GhostRoaster

And the elemental "boost" is for buying all of those characters. It seems SSA and SG were the only two games that actually recognized and gave you credit for h€£#ics--which makes sense since the word H€£#ics has been banned from the games for the last two entries.

Careful GhostRoaster, you know the people from Activision actually read these forums - they might suspend your YouTube account if you mention that word again.

What word? What youtube account? Don't confuse me with ghostroaster.com.

Took advantage of $10 swappers today and spent my TRU Rewards at TRU today. And to top it off I get to see someone speeding at 100mph with their tires stripped in hot pursuit from a State Trooper. And I saw the new Star Wars trailer. I'd say I had a good day.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: ShaneK

Quote: GhostRoaster

And the elemental "boost" is for buying all of those characters. It seems SSA and SG were the only two games that actually recognized and gave you credit for h€£#ics--which makes sense since the word H€£#ics has been banned from the games for the last two entries.

Careful GhostRoaster, you know the people from Activision actually read these forums - they might suspend your YouTube account if you mention that word again.

What word? What youtube account? Don't confuse me with ghostroaster.com.

Took advantage of $10 swappers today and spent my TRU Rewards at TRU today. And to top it off I get to see someone speeding at 100mph with their tires stripped in hot pursuit from a State Trooper. And I saw the new Star Wars trailer. I'd say I had a good day.

Completely off-topic, but...

WHAT?! A trailer for the new Star Wars movie...?!

*immediately launches YouTube*

Lots of scams out there. This is the one.

Completley off topic,but: I'm guessing if this is successful, we can expect the total of Star Wars movies to jump up to 9. Let's see, we have original trilogy, pre quels, and then I'm guessing The force awakens, and two others, just to keep up with "the movies come in threes" thing going.

Disney owns it, so expect an "Activision treatment" to the franchise (forever until the last drop of blood is drained).

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: ShaneK

Quote: GhostRoaster

And the elemental "boost" is for buying all of those characters. It seems SSA and SG were the only two games that actually recognized and gave you credit for h€£#ics--which makes sense since the word H€£#ics has been banned from the games for the last two entries.

Careful GhostRoaster, you know the people from Activision actually read these forums - they might suspend your YouTube account if you mention that word again.

What word? What youtube account? Don't confuse me with ghostroaster.com.

Took advantage of $10 swappers today and spent my TRU Rewards at TRU today. And to top it off I get to see someone speeding at 100mph with their tires stripped in hot pursuit from a State Trooper. And I saw the new Star Wars trailer. I'd say I had a good day.

I, too, spent my TRU rewards yesterday. Cashed them in for $20 even though I was a few points away from $25. Earned a good bit of them from Skylanders but didn't waste my time down the Skylander aisle. I used it to buy the two new Pokemon games, so with the sale and TRU rewards, I basically got the other game for free. I looked at the legendary traps and briefly considered getting the undead skull one, but then I realized tthat with Acti killing heroics and quests on me... basically taking the things I loved from me, I can't see paying for this stuff anymore. No heroics, now I'm stuck with giant slow characters that even their best hat can't help, and all the bonuses from my past efforts are gone. Quests? I enjoyed those (much like I enjoy doing the achievements for the games on the Xbox) and they tossed those out at well. I even enjoyed the online comparisons I could do with Swap Force that made bonus missions something to keep replaying. All of that is out the window as well. Here's the way I see it: Activision took all the things I loved and replaced them with a giant middle finger.

Quote: Eggers

I, too, spent my TRU rewards yesterday. Cashed them in for $20 even though I was a few points away from $25. Earned a good bit of them from Skylanders but didn't waste my time down the Skylander aisle. I used it to buy the two new Pokemon games, so with the sale and TRU rewards, I basically got the other game for free. I looked at the legendary traps and briefly considered getting the undead skull one, but then I realized tthat with Acti killing heroics and quests on me... basically taking the things I loved from me, I can't see paying for this stuff anymore. No heroics, now I'm stuck with giant slow characters that even their best hat can't help, and all the bonuses from my past efforts are gone. Quests? I enjoyed those (much like I enjoy doing the achievements for the games on the Xbox) and they tossed those out at well. I even enjoyed the online comparisons I could do with Swap Force that made bonus missions something to keep replaying. All of that is out the window as well. Here's the way I see it: Activision took all the things I loved and replaced them with a giant middle finger.

I keep wanting it to work, but maybe we use this game to come to terms with it all, and be ready for a possible goodbye.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: Eggers

I, too, spent my TRU rewards yesterday. Cashed them in for $20 even though I was a few points away from $25. Earned a good bit of them from Skylanders but didn't waste my time down the Skylander aisle. I used it to buy the two new Pokemon games, so with the sale and TRU rewards, I basically got the other game for free. I looked at the legendary traps and briefly considered getting the undead skull one, but then I realized tthat with Acti killing heroics and quests on me... basically taking the things I loved from me, I can't see paying for this stuff anymore. No heroics, now I'm stuck with giant slow characters that even their best hat can't help, and all the bonuses from my past efforts are gone. Quests? I enjoyed those (much like I enjoy doing the achievements for the games on the Xbox) and they tossed those out at well. I even enjoyed the online comparisons I could do with Swap Force that made bonus missions something to keep replaying. All of that is out the window as well. Here's the way I see it: Activision took all the things I loved and replaced them with a giant middle finger.

I keep wanting it to work, but maybe we use this game to come to terms with it all, and be ready for a possible goodbye.

I'm starting to think so. I haven't even gone to get the trigger happy I preordered. It's a shame considering how much I loved the series when I came in during Giants, but knowing what the series was compared to what they've been producing the last two years, it's hard to keep going. If I had come in on this game where you didn't have the good stuff like heroics and quests, maybe it would be totally different and my ignorance would be the direct cause of the bliss I'd feel with the game. I guess Giants and SSA ruined me for all other Skylander titles that have less character improvements offered.

Those features are very much part of the "toys to life" experience. It would be extremely awesome to see the same level being adhered to on subsequent games, and have that player "feel" like the same one you've traveled so far with. I find it odd they are in fact killing the "to life" part of "toys to life". Very odd. I personally think it's too much work with alternate studios keeping track of it all, and are taking the easy way out.

I was very upset when Heroics didn't make a come back in Swap Force, but they still had quests and had LOTS of re playability for me to pursue. It seems this year they scaled back even further. I remembered all of the great battle mode sessions early in the game's series. Now, just a shell of its former self.

Who gets a sequel and expects to get less? Apparently, Activision thinks we are fine with that. Even youtube's biggest Skyfans are vocal on this front...as much as they can tolerate to give without "slamming the suits". I think they put all of their eggs into the villain basket and didn't balance it everywhere else.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Those features are very much part of the "toys to life" experience. It would be extremely awesome to see the same level being adhered to on subsequent games, and have that player "feel" like the same one you've traveled so far with. I find it odd they are in fact killing the "to life" part of "toys to life". Very odd. I personally think it's too much work with alternate studios keeping track of it all, and are taking the easy way out.

It's a shame too. I spent my TRU rewards on the Pokemon games instead of Skylanders for this exact reason. I get a group of Pokemon that I give nicknames to, teach them exactly the moves I want, travel with them and continue to improve them in both level and skills throughout. Heck, the X and Y games that Pokemon put out last year allowed users to directly train your Pokemon in areas of speed or attack or defense. I used to do that with all of the Skylanders through their upgrades, quests and heroics. Now, they are just toys and, as for the older ones still sitting on the shelf collecting dust, useless toys anymore. No new level caps, no heroics to improve them, no quests to earn them a medal at the very least. Just nothing, and now they don't even acknowledge any of the past efforts we put into these characters.

It does seem a big waste of energy that all the heroic challenges one did on a character are really only useful if those characters go back into the prior games. The same could be said of the 9 quests a character does in Swap Force, those do not carry over into Trap Team.

So basically the only things that carry over are level and gold and maybe nicknames and of course your hats.

Personally I do think its a big waste of all that work but am kinda glad they did away with all those things. To get all the challenges done on any character was staggering. However, it would be nice if the characters had at least something, a glow, or some record of something if they completed all the heroic challenges for the first 2 games and the Swap Force 9 quests.

People here are so ungrateful. In the past you would have to spend hours upgrading your Skylanders by doing Heroic Challenges and Quests. Coming back to the game time and time again to improve your toys and make them more powerful. But our Activision overlords have spared us from that now. They have shown us there is an easier way.

Just take those old trusty Skylanders that you've spent so long bonding with and throw them in the bin because for the one low price of $29.95 (in Australia at least) you can buy EON'S ELITE. Yes that's right you can buy the same character all over again, but instead of needing to play with it for hours, just run around and level it up to level 20 and BAM you have enormous new stats that your old, tired earlier versions could only dream of.

What's that I hear you say - 'But there's only 8 of them?'

Well don't worry your gullible little heads about that, because Activision will eventually make ALL previous Skylanders Elite. That's right, you will be able to throw all those old wasted characters in the bin and pay even more to buy them all over again, but this time with even less reason to use them. And yes, even though EVERY Skylander will be part of the Elite team, they will still be called Elite. Right up until the launch of Eon's Really, Truly, Elite, Elite, which - retailing for the super fair price of $145 each - will have stats so powerful they will complete the entire game just by placing them on the portal.

So stop your whining and praise your Activision overlords and their enormous generosity and worry about game play and replayability no more.

Hehe---Love the sarcasm...except you speak truth. They took that away to experiment letting us "pay more" for already upgraded skylanders--elites. Ya know, that makes total sense too.

The pay for newer versions of characters we already have 8 of and don't honor the work I did by not supporting my character stats in new games is very discouraging for me continuing on. To your point they'd rather have me just store all of this Trap Team crap away when #5 comes around, so I can pay for a new team ALL OVER AGAIN...and again....and again.

I don't reall think that we will have elites for every skylander. Pobably on Skylanders 5 or 6 the old figures will not be supported anymore. If the franchise lasts this long, that is. Sooner or later they will have to update the engine and change the way figures work, luckily with a major overhaul tp the series.

On the topic, the elemental power heroic challenges does carry over. Elemental power for characters with no heroics cap at 60 (with 6 skylanders of a given element added to collection). Skylanders with heroics goes up to 81 elemental power.

Not all skylanders, but the simply money grab of taking away a feature day one and replace it with a concept that costs more money and his thought is still VERY MUCH valid, even though slathered with delicious evilness.

The franchise has maybe 1 or if lucky, 2 more games left. We will see a gradual decline in interest and sales until the death. If we see the stop in forwards compatibility at any point, you will see the flames as the franchise crashes and burns.

Quote: mastermc54

The franchise has maybe 1 or if lucky, 2 more games left. We will see a gradual decline in interest and sales until the death. If we see the stop in forwards compatibility at any point, you will see the flames as the franchise crashes and burns.

Introducing all of these characters is a double edged sword for them...as it increases their game development time for all of these characters and reduces the focus they need to give the GAME ITSELF. I think this game was the start of that trend that is very noticeable.

Quote: mastermc54

The franchise has maybe 1 or if lucky, 2 more games left. We will see a gradual decline in interest and sales until the death. If we see the stop in forwards compatibility at any point, you will see the flames as the franchise crashes and burns.

On the other side, trying to maintain that much characters on a yearly release will just make the franchise go to ruin either. This game already has more bugs than the previous ones (not saying is a bad game, just that it has more bugs than the previous ones). It surely will be hard to pull the "no more compatibility with previous figures" move, but if done right, it could work. If for a REALLY major overhaul in the series.

I don't see it happening though. Just the franchise withering after one or two games. Thats how activion hadle its franchises generally. Suck all the money they can till the franchise die.

In reality I don't think there is a lot to carry over from game to game with the characters. Each have a few attacks and voice lines. That's not a lot. Plus you figure how many actual figures look exactly the same on screen from different series.. With the lack of extras in this game and the enormous amount of glitches, it's obvious they don't care or completely blew it.

Yes, I would agree that I think the game is in need of a reboot and doing away with all the characters or at least the vast majorty for a new game. Perhaps starting over with a more manageable # of characters in doing so would be nice too. Its getting a bit ridiculous with each game having more characters than a person should be able to afford and yes, bringing all those old characters back every game probably takes a lot of the memory, cost, and energy they are going to put into a game. Maybe its time for a fresh start but of course with the central theme about each character is a figurine, that is where the money comes from. My 2 cents.

Quote: lamoracke

Yes, I would agree that I think the game is in need of a reboot and doing away with all the characters or at least the vast majorty for a new game. Perhaps starting over with a more manageable # of characters in doing so would be nice too. Its getting a bit ridiculous with each game having more characters than a person should be able to afford and yes, bringing all those old characters back every game probably takes a lot of the memory, cost, and energy they are going to put into a game. Maybe its time for a fresh start but of course with the central theme about each character is a figurine, that is where the money comes from. My 2 cents.

That's exactly what I think too.

I'm tired about hearing all this garbage about a reboot. The franchise will die and very quickly if they stop the support of the old figures we have and start all over. Read the thread in the toys and merchandise forum about passing on Skylanders at the store...the series is taking it's toll on the wallets of hardcore and casual Skylanders fans alike. A stop in forwards compatibility of figures will alienate even more people. Activision needs to stop the shenanigans and move to the next generation consoles exclusively. They need to dump support for the Nintendo Wii and preferably PS3 and Xbox 360 as well. The Wii is 1.5 generations behind what we have and the other two are one full generation behind. With the added specs, hardware, and amazing graphical capabilities of the new systems, there's no reason why the game can't support even over a thousand different Skylander characters. I understand Trap Team has been very glitchy, but a total move to next generation consoles and some elbow grease in testing the game out before release can provide a vastly superior Skylanders product without worrying if the dumb game disc can support the data for 250 or more Skylanders. Those are limitations of the almost 10 year old Nintendo Wii game disc and hardware. If you've seen some of the best PS4, XBox One, and Wii U have put out in their games, there is absolutely no reason why Activision can't put out a game with double or triple the game content and support an ever expanding roster of Skylanders. They just don't to put in the extra effort and want to keep bleeding out wallets dry by peddling their toys and gimmicks to us. We don't need a reboot, cause quite frankly, I don't trust that Activision can bring a better product or gaming experience if they did try to reboot Skylanders. It's going to be the same lackluster 15-20 levels and tons of extra characters, traps, and whatever other plastic junk they can peddle to us.

Quote: mastermc54

I'm tired about hearing all this garbage about a reboot. The franchise will die and very quickly if they stop the support of the old figures we have and start all over. Read the thread in the toys and merchandise forum about passing on Skylanders at the store...the series is taking it's toll on the wallets of hardcore and casual Skylanders fans alike. A stop in forwards compatibility of figures will alienate even more people. Activision needs to stop the shenanigans and move to the next generation consoles exclusively. They need to dump support for the Nintendo Wii and preferably PS3 and Xbox 360 as well. The Wii is 1.5 generations behind what we have and the other two are one full generation behind. With the added specs, hardware, and amazing graphical capabilities of the new systems, there's no reason why the game can't support even over a thousand different Skylander characters. I understand Trap Team has been very glitchy, but a total move to next generation consoles and some elbow grease in testing the game out before release can provide a vastly superior Skylanders product without worrying if the dumb game disc can support the data for 250 or more Skylanders. Those are limitations of the almost 10 year old Nintendo Wii game disc and hardware. If you've seen some of the best PS4, XBox One, and Wii U have put out in their games, there is absolutely no reason why Activision can't put out a game with double or triple the game content and support an ever expanding roster of Skylanders. They just don't to put in the extra effort and want to keep bleeding out wallets dry by peddling their toys and gimmicks to us. We don't need a reboot, cause quite frankly, I don't trust that Activision can bring a better product or gaming experience if they did try to reboot Skylanders. It's going to be the same lackluster 15-20 levels and tons of extra characters, traps, and whatever other plastic junk they can peddle to us.

Droping the 360, PS3 and Wii U would alienate a LOT of people. More people than the drop in forward compatibility. And I dont think the problem is hardware. The problem is time. As long as Activision insist on annual releases, the increasing number of characters will be a issue, And thinking of what have been said by activision/tpys for bob this year, prior to the release of trap team, it seemed clear that they were confident on attracting new people to the game, and not that much bothered with us, the old fans.

Quote: Psychomancer

Quote: mastermc54

I'm tired about hearing all this garbage about a reboot. The franchise will die and very quickly if they stop the support of the old figures we have and start all over. Read the thread in the toys and merchandise forum about passing on Skylanders at the store...the series is taking it's toll on the wallets of hardcore and casual Skylanders fans alike. A stop in forwards compatibility of figures will alienate even more people. Activision needs to stop the shenanigans and move to the next generation consoles exclusively. They need to dump support for the Nintendo Wii and preferably PS3 and Xbox 360 as well. The Wii is 1.5 generations behind what we have and the other two are one full generation behind. With the added specs, hardware, and amazing graphical capabilities of the new systems, there's no reason why the game can't support even over a thousand different Skylander characters. I understand Trap Team has been very glitchy, but a total move to next generation consoles and some elbow grease in testing the game out before release can provide a vastly superior Skylanders product without worrying if the dumb game disc can support the data for 250 or more Skylanders. Those are limitations of the almost 10 year old Nintendo Wii game disc and hardware. If you've seen some of the best PS4, XBox One, and Wii U have put out in their games, there is absolutely no reason why Activision can't put out a game with double or triple the game content and support an ever expanding roster of Skylanders. They just don't to put in the extra effort and want to keep bleeding out wallets dry by peddling their toys and gimmicks to us. We don't need a reboot, cause quite frankly, I don't trust that Activision can bring a better product or gaming experience if they did try to reboot Skylanders. It's going to be the same lackluster 15-20 levels and tons of extra characters, traps, and whatever other plastic junk they can peddle to us.

Droping the 360, PS3 and Wii U would alienate a LOT of people. More people than the drop in forward compatibility. And I dont think the problem is hardware. The problem is time. As long as Activision insist on annual releases, the increasing number of characters will be a issue, And thinking of what have been said by activision/tpys for bob this year, prior to the release of trap team, it seemed clear that they were confident on attracting new people to the game, and not that much bothered with us, the old fans.

Dropping the Wii is a must (not the Wii U). Face it, most kid friendly families have upgraded to the Wii U with the release of Mario Kart and Smash Bros. If Activision wishes to attract new fans to the game, the purchasing base will evolve as older kids (age 8+) "graduate" into other games or get bored of Skylanders. Are you saying all these new younger fans aged 3-8 (the target demographic for Skylanders) will be introduced to video games on an almost 10 year old console? Say you're a parent with a 1 year old kid...you wish to introduce the kid to Skylanders when he turns 3. In 2 years, you probably won't even be able to buy a Wii in stores...that kid will have to be introduced on a newer console. Maybe if the kid has a sibling a few years older, you might still have a Wii lying around the house. We're still at a turning point in changing console generations, but in a few years there will be zero to very few games being released for the old systems you are implying that Activision should clutch onto for years to come.

As for the older fan base for Skylanders, it would be an interesting poll question about how long we will continue to support this cash drain of a game and if we would continue to support it with a complete reboot. The results will be slightly skewed as this is a fan site, but the data of such a poll would be interesting nonetheless. I currently play with a 5 year old and share in his enjoyment of the game, but the second he grows out of Skylanders, I'm definitely not throwing any more money into the chase of figures. It's simply a poor investment in toys/video game where you can get more bang for your buck with other forms of entertainment.

The Wii version must die. 360/PS3 still has a few years left...mainly because software developers haven't given consumers a reason to upgrade with. IMO, the next Batman game TRULY is one of the first examples I've seen where next gen consoles are required, and will be giving me a reason to upgrade then. When I do, I'll opt for next gen for this series. Given Wii sales to date, I totally understand Activision's reluctance to drop the platform. I hope the numbers clear the air for them and make them feel better about dropping the platform. The fewer they support, the better experience I feel we'll get from what they have to support.

All of this malarky about too many figures is amusing. It has nothing to do with space or memory...any issues primarily is on testing, as these patterns are already in both developer's games now. The REAL problem is the distraction away from bringing a MEATY game to the table. The few hours I've played with the game today tells me this game is a shell of what it was content wise, although I'll admit I like Kaos Doom Challenge. However I'm not even trying on Hard with non-upgraded skylanders and I'm already halfway done....sigh....

In short, and once again...the characters are great but can't be justified given content. I'm glad I have what I need to 100% the game to limit replays, because I really won't see much enjoyment from that given what I've played thus far. If they made it every other year and had 30% more content or even downloadable content over time to keep us "roped in" and paying for it would be better for consumers but bad for Activsion's bottom line. I guess it's a choice between short term gains and franchise longevity. Right now, they're burning both ends of the candle.

mastermc54: Agreed toys aren't a great investment. I might see if I can try just "buying the game" next time just with current skylanders and see if I can have a better time.

Quote:

mastermc54: Agreed toys aren't a great investment. I might see if I can try just "buying the game" next time just with current skylanders and see if I can have a better time.

Sorry but that makes sense, therefore Activision will no doubt release more of the 'You must buy these new gimmicks to open 30% or more of the available content' type of figures like we've seen with Trap Masters. We all know they don't want you buying their games, they want you buying their toys.

So now that you've played a bit you can see the problem with the content vs. figures firsthand. The least amount of content of any of the 4 games, but the greatest number of new characters. Activision really are just grabbing for cash.

Quote: kaosmumishot

Quote:

mastermc54: Agreed toys aren't a great investment. I might see if I can try just "buying the game" next time just with current skylanders and see if I can have a better time.

Sorry but that makes sense, therefore Activision will no doubt release more of the 'You must buy these new gimmicks to open 30% or more of the available content' type of figures like we've seen with Trap Masters. We all know they don't want you buying their games, they want you buying their toys.

So now that you've played a bit you can see the problem with the content vs. figures firsthand. The least amount of content of any of the 4 games, but the greatest number of new characters. Activision really are just grabbing for cash.

Yeah, I didn't just fall off the tomato truck yesterday. Clearly obvious it's all about the toys, the game is a veiled attempt to keep you buying the toys. It was mildly annoying last year with just the characters (but at least you could experiment with swapping even though the content wasn't there.) There's absolutely no reason to buy a ton of extra traps...villains are barely fleshed out and the level design feels rushed to me. It's fun, but feels too meh in areas to me. I totally feel like the characters I have now are about 50% too many (doing the math...we still have ~20 figures left to go right?) so yeah. The quality of the game doesn't seem too bad, but level design feels like "more of the same" and villains appear to appear in "clumps" along paths whereas last game it felt more strategic. It definitely feels like a button masher now.

Last game, after my negativity I shut up after starting to play the game and seeing the quality...this year feels much more different to me. On the plus side the loading and avoiding of dialogue is great.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: kaosmumishot

Quote:

mastermc54: Agreed toys aren't a great investment. I might see if I can try just "buying the game" next time just with current skylanders and see if I can have a better time.

Sorry but that makes sense, therefore Activision will no doubt release more of the 'You must buy these new gimmicks to open 30% or more of the available content' type of figures like we've seen with Trap Masters. We all know they don't want you buying their games, they want you buying their toys.

So now that you've played a bit you can see the problem with the content vs. figures firsthand. The least amount of content of any of the 4 games, but the greatest number of new characters. Activision really are just grabbing for cash.

Yeah, I didn't just fall off the tomato truck yesterday. Clearly obvious it's all about the toys, the game is a veiled attempt to keep you buying the toys. It was mildly annoying last year with just the characters (but at least you could experiment with swapping even though the content wasn't there.) There's absolutely no reason to buy a ton of extra traps...villains are barely fleshed out and the level design feels rushed to me. It's fun, but feels too meh in areas to me. I totally feel like the characters I have now are about 50% too many (doing the math...we still have ~20 figures left to go right?) so yeah. The quality of the game doesn't seem too bad, but level design feels like "more of the same" and villains appear to appear in "clumps" along paths whereas last game it felt more strategic. It definitely feels like a button masher now.

Last game, after my negativity I shut up after starting to play the game and seeing the quality...this year feels much more different to me. On the plus side the loading and avoiding of dialogue is great.

Yeah parts of it are good. I actually like it a lot more than last years, but they really haven't given a valid reason to buy so many characters this year. For the length of the games 20 characters seems about right, but allowing for the fact that people like variety I could get them releasing 30+, but the roughly 60 this year is way over the top. There really is a lack of content and you're right about the villains appearing in clumps. As for the traps, well I had intended to eventually try to but one of each if I could find enough cheap enough at the end of this games life cycle. But I find the villains boring to play with so I can't see me buying any more than the one of each element plus Kaos that I already have.

I'm torn between being a bit angry that the HC's are gone because I like that choice to customize the stats of my skylanders and I WANT my skylanders to be faster and overpowered but also at being happy that the HC are gone because if you have more then a full set of skylanders like I do it was frustrating to go through those boring HC over and over and over and over again! they were so darn boring after the first few plays. The only ones that remained fun were the ones you complete in a matter of seconds.

But now it's also wow all the time I wasted on those HC makes me angry.

Quote: mastermc54

Quote: Psychomancer

Quote: mastermc54

I'm tired about hearing all this garbage about a reboot. The franchise will die and very quickly if they stop the support of the old figures we have and start all over. Read the thread in the toys and merchandise forum about passing on Skylanders at the store...the series is taking it's toll on the wallets of hardcore and casual Skylanders fans alike. A stop in forwards compatibility of figures will alienate even more people. Activision needs to stop the shenanigans and move to the next generation consoles exclusively. They need to dump support for the Nintendo Wii and preferably PS3 and Xbox 360 as well. The Wii is 1.5 generations behind what we have and the other two are one full generation behind. With the added specs, hardware, and amazing graphical capabilities of the new systems, there's no reason why the game can't support even over a thousand different Skylander characters. I understand Trap Team has been very glitchy, but a total move to next generation consoles and some elbow grease in testing the game out before release can provide a vastly superior Skylanders product without worrying if the dumb game disc can support the data for 250 or more Skylanders. Those are limitations of the almost 10 year old Nintendo Wii game disc and hardware. If you've seen some of the best PS4, XBox One, and Wii U have put out in their games, there is absolutely no reason why Activision can't put out a game with double or triple the game content and support an ever expanding roster of Skylanders. They just don't to put in the extra effort and want to keep bleeding out wallets dry by peddling their toys and gimmicks to us. We don't need a reboot, cause quite frankly, I don't trust that Activision can bring a better product or gaming experience if they did try to reboot Skylanders. It's going to be the same lackluster 15-20 levels and tons of extra characters, traps, and whatever other plastic junk they can peddle to us.

Droping the 360, PS3 and Wii U would alienate a LOT of people. More people than the drop in forward compatibility. And I dont think the problem is hardware. The problem is time. As long as Activision insist on annual releases, the increasing number of characters will be a issue, And thinking of what have been said by activision/tpys for bob this year, prior to the release of trap team, it seemed clear that they were confident on attracting new people to the game, and not that much bothered with us, the old fans.

Dropping the Wii is a must (not the Wii U). Face it, most kid friendly families have upgraded to the Wii U with the release of Mario Kart and Smash Bros. If Activision wishes to attract new fans to the game, the purchasing base will evolve as older kids (age 8+) "graduate" into other games or get bored of Skylanders. Are you saying all these new younger fans aged 3-8 (the target demographic for Skylanders) will be introduced to video games on an almost 10 year old console? Say you're a parent with a 1 year old kid...you wish to introduce the kid to Skylanders when he turns 3. In 2 years, you probably won't even be able to buy a Wii in stores...that kid will have to be introduced on a newer console. Maybe if the kid has a sibling a few years older, you might still have a Wii lying around the house. We're still at a turning point in changing console generations, but in a few years there will be zero to very few games being released for the old systems you are implying that Activision should clutch onto for years to come.

As for the older fan base for Skylanders, it would be an interesting poll question about how long we will continue to support this cash drain of a game and if we would continue to support it with a complete reboot. The results will be slightly skewed as this is a fan site, but the data of such a poll would be interesting nonetheless. I currently play with a 5 year old and share in his enjoyment of the game, but the second he grows out of Skylanders, I'm definitely not throwing any more money into the chase of figures. It's simply a poor investment in toys/video game where you can get more bang for your buck with other forms of entertainment.

I agree on the wii. The wii's lifecycle has ended. Right now the wii is some sort of undead console. It should be dead, its lifecycle
has ended, but for some odd reason it continues going on. And for an odder reason it seems it is still the best selling skylanders plataform. I just don't think its time to stop with the PS3, 360 and wii u yet.

And I also think that this would be a very interesting poll.

Quote: Street50

I'm torn between being a bit angry that the HC's are gone because I like that choice to customize the stats of my skylanders and I WANT my skylanders to be faster and overpowered but also at being happy that the HC are gone because if you have more then a full set of skylanders like I do it was frustrating to go through those boring HC over and over and over and over again! they were so darn boring after the first few plays. The only ones that remained fun were the ones you complete in a matter of seconds.

But now it's also wow all the time I wasted on those HC makes me angry.

I don't think anyone will argue (even the HC/Quests enthusiasts like myself) that re-shaping the skylander customization process HAD TO BE RE-ENGINEERED SO IT WORKS ACROSS MULTIPLE GAMES CONSISTENTLY. What I and everyone else is complaining about is that INSTEAD OF DOING THAT, THEY SIMPLY DROPPED IT.

VERY BAD MOVE.

I would've voted for removal of hats to be replaced with a very comprehensive skylander customization process that they would bring in and it would work consistently in every game. This would bring something in that someone would have to invest in for the figures THEY LIKE, and in turn have stats that would make their FAVORITE SKYLANDER even more powerful...and CONSISTENTLY MORE POWERFUL...once the next game appears. I guess they figured that would hurt sales, which is bollocks. I guess it would hurt their Elite business...but then again...those are for collectors only. I'm talking about gameplay that gives the CONSUMER CHOICES and REWARDS and TRULY BRINGS THE "TO LIFE" TO TOYS TO LIFE. Imagine no longer needing series x characters...and simply reward in the current game ANY wow pow (or multi select if there are more than one) once stats reach a certain level? Lots of potential to reward for EXISTING collections and HARD work.

I know the previous paragraph was as fantastical as Skylands itself.