darkSpyro

(Announcer Voice)
Hello there, my fellow DarkSpyroers and Portal Masters. Today I would like to present you-a What we Want, what we don't thread for Skylanders 5 (Sky 5). Also my first thread, so...yeah.
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So, based on what I've seen on other threads (I'm not exactly a new user, I just created an account recently) I think I can compile somewhat of what people want here for Sky 5, and what they don't. Feel free to add more things and leave your thoughts about this thread.

-What We Want
-Less Reposes. Considering the smaller amount of reposes in Trap Team, (TT) many have said that that's "the right direction" the devs are going in. Personally, I think that the max amount of reposes I can tolerate are 2 reposes for each element except for Light and Dark. They can just make new Cores for them.

-More Light/Dark
-Seriously? We only have 2 Skylanders for each of those elements. 'Nuff said, really, but it would be great to add support to them in Sky 5, maybe even in Wave 5 for TT.

-Bring back Normal Elemental Gates-and Traptanium Gates.
-Normal Gates actually gives the Skylanders, that we, your loyal customers bought another true use. Bringing back Traptanium Gates gives our Trap Masters that we are now buying a use too, devs, in Sky 5, because we will never forget what you did to the Swap Force. Never.


-What We Don't Want
-A crap ton of reposes
-Yeah...pretty much what I just said above...

-Unskippable dialogue
-Ok, so don't get me wrong here. Us more experienced players don't really need to listen to the tutorial, so not being able to skip it just gets on our nerves. A small amount of unskippable talk, like during important cutscenes, is perfectly fine. Just don't put too much in there, Vicarous Visions (VV).

-Another Kaos Trap/Exclusive Trap/Light/Dark Expansion Pack-like thing
-Alright Activision. If you haven't seen what a mess you've, made, then I lose all trust in you. Making such a small amount of ~3in. pieces that are usually worth $6~8 has led scalpers to sell them...for $50~60. Seriously? And the expansion packs. A $25 dollar item has jumped to $60~$100. It may not be your fault for delaying them (if anyone knows when they will finally come, please reply to this and tell me) but Activision, if you don't learn from your mistakes, all of us here will be very angry with you...and you don't like it when your customers are angry do you...Chomp Chest Activision.

So that's it for now. It would be great if this was stickied for all to see...once again, feel free to add your thoughts, and I will also be updating this thread occaisionally.

Nice one, Bone Chompy, but here's what I would like

What the Insane01 wants
-Further usage of traps. Not just #5, but possibly future games.
There were more traps for the main 8 elements, with only 3 (Tech, Life & Water) using all of them. The other elements had leftovers. Light and Dark each had four villains, but only 3 traps each.
-New villains, or use villains from previous games, that can be trapped.
There are so many villains out there that could be made into trapped villains. Mesmeralda, Cluck, Baron Von Shellshock, Cluck, and so on. Could also delve into the list of possible minor villains like the Drow, Gear Golems, Spell Punks, and so on.
-New final villain.
After four games, it's time to retire Kaos as the final villain. The final villain needs someone more challenging, even on easy. Plus Kaos got caught in TT. Either a past villain, like Malefor (who has a previous connection to Cynder and Hex) or someone new.
-Long levels, bonus missions and additional content.
Trap Team was great except for one thing......too short.
Would love to see a return to the Mirror of Mystery, but longer and better. Especially if you have to battle more mirror versions of your allies.

What the Insane01 Doesn't Want
-Kaos back as the main villain. (See new villain)
Kaos was fine after four games, but any more of him is like riding a horse that needs to be put out of its misery. Every time he thinks he has won, he gets defeated by us players because of his overconfidence and ego. Now if you had a main villain that ACTUALLY conquered Skylands, then you can have the Skylanders figure a way to defeat the final villain and free Skylands. That would be cool
-Short levels.
Though I enjoyed NE & MoM, Sunscraper Spire & Midnight Museum were better. Longer, bit more challenging. The previous two were too short, too much dead space between battles.
-More reposes. Bone Chompy said it all. I don't mind exclusive traps, if they different from normal traps (TRU's Legendary Traps or the Easter Earth Trap). If there are villain variants, the traps should be different than the normal ones so they would get mixed up in our collection. Plus there are 7 SA cores that have never been reposed, so I say, "Shame to Activision!"

Can't think of anything else at the moment.
The Insane01 has spoken

What The Ghost With The Most Wants:
1. A spin on story levels. Monolithic chapter based stories in interesting worlds you can't truly interact in is a bummer. More open world.
2. Quest based management of events that move the story along across a wider Skylands landscape...these quests add to powers and soul gem capabilities This in my opinion may make up for lack of Heroics and Quests and spin current upgrade methodology in an interesting way.
3. More added content in game that can also be played as additional content outside of the main story (aka Swap Zone Challenges)
4. Additional modes outside of story to make it a bigger bang for buck (along the lines of Time Attack, Score mode etc)...
5. A challenging and frightening villain. Goofballs need not apply.
6. Villain Figurines
7. An environmental or game device that makes use of all previous "guest star" skylanders.
8. Bring back PvP.
9. Bring online.
10. Series 2 Forgotten Skylanders
11. Boss only levels or a special mode where you can fight all bosses in game

Shall I Engrave These Features?:
1. Collectibles, Story Scrolls, Soul Gems...
2. Adventure Pack levels that were as short as Mirror of Mystery and Nightmare Express. Swap Force Adventure Packs and Dark/Light Villain Expansion Packs were spot on.
3. Battle Packs
4. Use of traps that don't fit in with story.
5. More than 32 new characters, 4 reposes
6. Unskippable sequences (Dufus, I'm looking at you)

All I want is trap support for the portal, perhaps a portal owners back. I especially want a villain other than kaos, but we all know they'll just make glumshanks make a kaos clone or something. What I don't want: Long, boring levels with long, unskippable dialogue.

Yay:

Fowards compatibility, good and consistent story/ character development, more online and/or multiplayer features, Kaos sitting this one out, balanced repose number(less popular(and Gill Grunt) character spam,more give tweaks to who needs them), being hopeful but more useful lore(I don't want to know who invented whatever,tell us about the world,the skylanders, or even get some stuff from the books). For the last one,don't care if you keep them in readable signs( I can't believe we don't have that yet!) or story scrolls,as long as it's there.

Nay:

No fowards compatibility(sorry guys gameplay over gimmick,even for me), dumbed down plot once again, Kaos or Kaos' Mom to the maximum rehash, more than one Gill Grunt,pulling a good-looking part of the story out of a place I won't mention just because it's eyecatching - Mesmerelda and Woflgang will be thankful if you actually use this thing called character development and interactions-, unskippable dialogue, publishing Flynn's outright lies any longer like we give a hoot about him when he's not being properly used.

People can speak for themselves, but this is what I want -

- Long levels like Vicarious Visions made with Swap Force.
- As many story chapters as Spyro's Adventure had.
- No chapters being nothing but boss fights like Swap Force had.
- 4 new Adventure Packs, with all 4 having Magic Items included (unlike Trap Team)
- Continued Trap support, with new enemies to trap.
- Graphics quality of Swap Force (game seriously looks better than Trap Team did). Fur on creatures with fur actually looked like fur.
- New Bonus Missions (Trap Team didn't have any) and or Heroics
- New Survival Arenas (Trap Team didn't have). Brocks Arena has always been boring in comparison.
- Time Attack Mode like Swap Force had.
- Score Attack Mode like Swap Force had.
- Leaderboards like Swap Force had.

Oh and for icing on the cake, I wish to God TFB or VV would make a Skylanders collection containing the first 4 games on one disc. Spyro's Adventure and Giants would include graphics akin to Swap Force, and we can use all 254 Skylanders (as of Trap Team).

Thanks for posting a lot, guys! Everything I was going to say,has already been taken, so I'll just post when I think of something. It's great to see my first thread doing so well!

Don't worry,as long as you're nice and think of things that people weren't talking about the last few days,usually people will be willing to talk on the topics. There are exceptions but there isn't much about the future game compared to the Wave 4 threads.

What would make me do doggone wild with excitement.
1. EVERYTHING gamemaster78 listed (Except Boss only levels)
2. More open levels.
3. Villains playable and maybe even new ones.
4. Better story. Maybe a bit darker with good character development.
5. Malefor as the main villain, and make him AWESOME.
6. Boss Rush Mode (Akin to Kid Icarus Uprising's Boss Mode)
7. Knock Mechanics
8. Kaos and his mom have roles (Not mandatory, but appreciated)
9. Reposes of the forgotten 5.
10. Some way to increase an individual Skylanders stats.
11. All Skylanders can open a gate of their respective element.


What I don't want

Basically the opposite of what I do want.

Ive been reading old forums of what people were missing and wanted after swap force was released for Sky 4 , as it was probably the feedback VV was listening too when they started Sky 5.

So I think some realistic things are ..... A decent multiplayer system , reposes of charscters that haven't been reposed and some way to make your skylanders individual with stats and aesthetics ( maybe not all 3 , but at least 1 is very likely I think) .

Wants
-online or just a more active / interesting part of the game with up to 4 players and the ability to verse CPU's .
I always thought it was weird TT dropped 2 player Vs battles as skylanders prided it self on family lounge room fun ( y would cut half of that ? ). but maybe it was because they were letting VV take the lead on it to design a proper multiplayer system.
And I think this is the best place to maintain villain/ trap use in the next game, just upload villains from tha traps to use in a battle arena system where you could verse villains or play as villains versing Skylanders

-reposing the forgotten charscters, dino rang etc I think is more likely then ever now coz they are several years old, they could release them and they'd sell pretty decent just because they haven't been in circulation recently. And I think VV learned they're lesson from reposing the exact same characters that Giants did ( stupid idea !) .

- I REALLY WANT HEROIC CHALLENGES OR SOMETHING SIMILAR BACK. It adds so much playability to the game trying to max out stats on your favourite characters.
It hasn't been the same since they got rid of them, all arena challenges and minigame things just give money ( too easy to get anyway ) or portal masters stars( relatively pointless ). Heroic challenges actually had a purpose e.g. Maxing up speed on slow charscters like giants to make them heaps better.


Dont want

I don't really wanna see trappable villains again in story mode coz then it'll just be trap team 2 , instead of skylanders 5 . Making the same game gimic again isn very interesting and it wouldn't be as prophitable coz everyone will already have traps to use.

-unlikely, but I really don't want 4 new charscters for each element, I think it's too much. 3 is enough, especially with the light and dark elements now. They're up to like 150 charscters now, they need to slow down.

They can't really make less characters and not use traps at the same time and still go for maximum profit. Gotta milk that gimmick,whichever one it may be,even a returning one.

Quote: Bifrost

They can't really make less characters and not use traps at the same time and still go for maximum profit. Gotta milk that gimmick,whichever one it may be,even a returning one.

Yah I'm too hopeful for my " less figures, but high quality " dreams lol.

Wants
only 16 new landers (the 16 rest can be variants) and online gameplay..

Dont want
48+ new landers to buy and no more traps.

Quote: wild_defender

Quote: Bifrost

They can't really make less characters and not use traps at the same time and still go for maximum profit. Gotta milk that gimmick,whichever one it may be,even a returning one.

Yah I'm too hopeful for my " less figures, but high quality " dreams lol.

I think we're going to need to simply "say no" to all of these extra items (Legendaries, Nitros, Darks etc)...when sales tank they'll get the point. It was cool for a while but I'd actually like to look at my bottomless pit of skylanders and not have 8+ of the same skylander and endless variants. I'm going from want it all to simplicity.

You guys know that if traps are in they'll come up with a way to make the mold a requirement to trap something, right? It's going to be the next logical "add on" to traps, much like what they did to trap masters.

I agree on the "say no" to variants. Though I don't have a single one (yet), The prices always go too high for some of them and they're just too many. I'd want 1 Clear Tuff Luck equivalent for Sky 5, no more doing things like how Bat Spin and High Five are being released, and less variants. Give some variants to thise who haven't gotten them before, Activision, and make it so that for every ~10 Brand New (Series 1) Skylanders, ther's one variant. Also off topic, do/don't make Gill Grunt the only Series 5 like you did for him being the only Series 4. Do if you make Spyro a Series 4, and don't if you're not going to. Please.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: wild_defender

Quote: Bifrost

They can't really make less characters and not use traps at the same time and still go for maximum profit. Gotta milk that gimmick,whichever one it may be,even a returning one.

Yah I'm too hopeful for my " less figures, but high quality " dreams lol.

I think we're going to need to simply "say no" to all of these extra items (Legendaries, Nitros, Darks etc)...when sales tank they'll get the point. It was cool for a while but I'd actually like to look at my bottomless pit of skylanders and not have 8+ of the same skylander and endless variants. I'm going from want it all to simplicity.

You guys know that if traps are in they'll come up with a way to make the mold a requirement to trap something, right? It's going to be the next logical "add on" to traps, much like what they did to trap masters.

with giant they did 16... the rest was variants and no need to buy.. 16 is a good number, 8 normal and 8 whatever the new thing is skylanders... stt is a overkill with the traps..

Quote: The Bone Chompy

I agree on the "say no" to variants. Though I don't have a single one (yet), The prices always go too high for some of them and they're just too many. I'd want 1 Clear Tuff Luck equivalent for Sky 5, no more doing things like how Bat Spin and High Five are being released, and less variants. Give some variants to thise who haven't gotten them before, Activision, and make it so that for every ~10 Brand New (Series 1) Skylanders, ther's one variant. Also off topic, do/don't make Gill Grunt the only Series 5 like you did for him being the only Series 4. Do if you make Spyro a Series 4, and don't if you're not going to. Please.

Btw, my context was the in game variants that are widely available. Chase variants are truly for those that "need them all" and wasn't part of my conversation.

Quote: CountMoneyBone

with giant they did 16... the rest was variants and no need to buy.. 16 is a good number, 8 normal and 8 whatever the new thing is skylanders... stt is a overkill with the traps..

If they could do it over I think 24 ish villains with 3 per element would've been just fine (could've concentrated more on the epic nature of the boss battle instead of just having an arena)... 4 molds max per element should've been what they did.

Always a proponent of quality over quantity. It's one of the reasons why 5 villains of Swap Force are soooo much better than 40+ villains of Trap Team. Because the battles are so unique. They did do well on the Doom Raider battles though.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: wild_defender

Quote: Bifrost

They can't really make less characters and not use traps at the same time and still go for maximum profit. Gotta milk that gimmick,whichever one it may be,even a returning one.

Yah I'm too hopeful for my " less figures, but high quality " dreams lol.

I think we're going to need to simply "say no" to all of these extra items (Legendaries, Nitros, Darks etc)...when sales tank they'll get the point. It was cool for a while but I'd actually like to look at my bottomless pit of skylanders and not have 8+ of the same skylander and endless variants. I'm going from want it all to simplicity.

You guys know that if traps are in they'll come up with a way to make the mold a requirement to trap something, right? It's going to be the next logical "add on" to traps, much like what they did to trap masters.

Agree on the first part.
I have no problem with palette swaps, Lightcores, S2/3/4 or Minis, I simply don't buy them; but If they'll have to spend too much time, money and resources on them, not to mention the space they take up, inside the game... No, thanks.

But, why would they make specific trap's molds mandatory, to capture certain villains...?
The point of molds is the possibility of choosing the ones you prefer, and the point of traps is letting you capture every villain from a certain Element with a single one.
Why would they ruin this concept...?

The Traptanium Elemental Gates idea was horrible, but I think won't repeat the mistake again.
Simply re-release older molds, and new ones, and add a bunch of new trappable villains.

Easy side-gimmick.

^Why did they ruin the concept of elemental gates to require trap masters? I'm only guessing their future trajectory by looking at their current trajectory. And what better way to have people go back into the stores again for stock they've already produced and scarf it up? Activision isn't in this for the players.

And, having the trap mechanic will be invasive to the story-line in general. Not sure if I can warm up to the idea. I mean, feats of strength and other gimmicks were not implemented in future games...not sure if this is any different.

Specific molds is iffy not because of milking the gimmick, not everyone is going to agree that Gulper fits the Water Tiki or something. It's like they told us that doing customs is illegal because obviously the original colors were the best. If it was like that in TT it wouldn't be a problem,but now everyone has their tastes - and they obviously won't do voting for each mold and each villain because it's time and effort that could be spent making another palette swap - which I really like,but more because I prefer it over a regular figure's palette and not really because it's different. It'd be just as good if we could choose the palette in PVP, like good old fighting games.

^ Don't disagree, and I agree the chance of this happening is minimal. But you have to admit it's right there in front of us. I mean, it HAD to come up as a what-if scenario of requiring specific trap molds for villains. Though not implemented in Trap Team, who's to say they won't do this in the future?

And I agree, palette swaps is something they should do and not tie it to more physical characters. Make quests/in game activities what you have to do to earn the reward.

Quote: GhostRoaster

^Why did they ruin the concept of elemental gates to require trap masters? I'm only guessing their future trajectory by looking at their current trajectory. And what better way to have people go back into the stores again for stock they've already produced and scarf it up? Activision isn't in this for the players.

And, having the trap mechanic will be invasive to the story-line in general. Not sure if I can warm up to the idea. I mean, feats of strength and other gimmicks were not implemented in future games...not sure if this is any different.

It would indeed be a logical assumption, seeing how they dealt with Elemental Gates in Trap Team, but I strongly think (and hope) it has just been a bad idea resulting in a terrible mistake.
No problem with Traptanium Elemental Gates, but give us some regular ones too, al least!

Like the removal of some kind of Bonus Missions/Heroic, and PvP, I'm confident they will come back.

Think about the trap gimmick like this.
Giants had Feats of Strengh only in Giants, but they still have what makes them... Giants (sorry for the triple repetition): they are big, they can crush small enemies by simply walking towards them, can lift boulders and they are really strong and tough.
Swappers had SWAP Zones (and Dual Elemental Gates) only in SWAP Force, but they still can swap.
Trap Masters will probably not have specific Traptanium Gates again, nor Traptanium clusters to destroy, but they should retain what makes them unique: a damage boost against trappable villains.

How would they do that, without villains to trap...?
And this bring us to the trappable villains themself (thus traps): they probably won't have Villain Stashes, and most likely Villain Elemental Areas, but they should still be playable, like every single gimmick has been, so far.
And if they are, why not adding a bunch new ones, to encourage Trap Team players to use their traps again, and maybe buy some more?

Of course, if they won't be able to make Trap Masters unique again, in the fifth game, then this would probably mean it was a bad thought gimmick, and it actually felt like a half-made one, honestly...

But, again, I have faith.

^ Did I miss the part in story mode where a Giant could lift a boulder and throw it at enemies? I must've missed the dual elemental gates. Now, don't get me wrong...ten games in if every game "piled it on" it would be a literal mess. That's kinda what I'm afraid about of trap support being in #5. I already got that sense of being spread too thin with 40+ villains to capture....the adventure didn't have time to breathe....

I guess we'll see soon enough. I still think that in general trap support will be VERY minimized...perhaps to the point that you can PLAY with trapped villains but won't be doing anything else with them. They "may" have a nod to villains like having the villain chest or something...something easy for them to implement. I mean...we survived without boulders or dual elemental gates for our guest star skylanders in Trap Team...I think we'll do just fine without having to trap villains in #5. I personally think it's unfair for VV to have to support all of those villain models in #5 in addition to the plethora of TT content before even considering the new stuff. It's getting top heavy....and fast.

And as a sidebar comment, I do think there will be some serious repercussions for them for NOT supporting traps if that's the route they go. I think not having them will fit best for the story and allowing the new game to concentrate on the new gimmick...but since they did this as a toy they are boxing themselves in for customer dissatisfaction without adding it in. If they are not going to support traps in #5 the time to let us know was this time last year when the question was asked.

One thing's for sure...I'm appreciating VV's efforts on Swap Force even more after playing trap team.

Gold Chests did exist in Swap Force and Lost Islands way after Giants came out. They could always have some sort of call back collectible,maybe instead of elemental stairs and 2D Sections in the Academy in TT,we could have a special chest for every previous gimmick. Gold Chests for Giants again, Traptanium Chests for trappers,Villain Stashes for villains, Swap..Boxes for Swappers? I've got nothing for that last one.

Quote: GhostRoaster

^ Did I miss the part in story mode where a Giant could lift a boulder and throw it at enemies? I must've missed the dual elemental gates. Now, don't get me wrong...ten games in if every game "piled it on" it would be a literal mess. That's kinda what I'm afraid about of trap support being in #5. I already got that sense of being spread too thin with 40+ villains to capture....the adventure didn't have time to breathe....

I guess we'll see soon enough. I still think that in general trap support will be VERY minimized...perhaps to the point that you can PLAY with trapped villains but won't be doing anything else with them. They "may" have a nod to villains like having the villain chest or something...something easy for them to implement. I mean...we survived without boulders or dual elemental gates for our guest star skylanders in Trap Team...I think we'll do just fine without having to trap villains in #5. I personally think it's unfair for VV to have to support all of those villain models in #5 in addition to the plethora of TT content before even considering the new stuff. It's getting top heavy....and fast.

One thing's for sure...I'm appreciating VV's efforts on Swap Force even more after playing trap team.

There are a few boulders scattered through some levels (I remember one at the beginning of Rainfish Riviera) and some are also inside the Kaos Doom Challenges.
No Dual Elemental Gate, though, that's why I included them in the "one time features" category.

Sure, I wouldn't mind not having new villains to trap, but it seems like a really easy way to make money... I would be surprised if they didn't take the opportunity.

Regarding game sizes... Well, no doubt they will have to keep making the game bigger and bigger, that's the route they decided to take.
More effort will mean more money, and , most likely, more satisfaction for the customers.

Sure, they will reach a point were they'll have to drop forward compatibility, for a matter of size, but I won't accept a lazy excuse like "we have too many characters to code".
These games are meant to be big, and if Skylanders 5 (or 6 or 7) will actually be an world, that's the least I'm expecting from whoever will be in charge for making it.

(Oh, and, you are right, V.V. indeed put A LOT efforts in SWAP Force, that's undeniable)

To get back on topic, and speaking about developing, one thing I don't want is Beenox being in charge of ANY console version again.
They are not mature enough to hande a game this big.
Aesthetically it is amazing, but has too many bugs, glitches and other technical issues.

Oh and on top of what I listed above, I will add what someone here already did -

- Skylanders to get stat increases like they used to, and not only by way of hats.

Problem with the last two Skylanders games, is that Skylanders feel slower than they did in Giants and SA. No one likes slow moving characters in games. I want stat increases to come back so all of my Skylanders can move really fast. This also helps my kids avoid enemies better when playing, which they play all the time again, seeing as a person named Stampy Long-something on Youtube plays Skylanders.

Speed stat increases at least, on top of what I listed above, please.

^I agree. In Spyro's Adventure so many characters were just so slow that I just did multiple Heroic Challenges for speed before anything else.
The best thing that they did about Trap Team is that they made a tablet version. More little kids without actual gaming consoles could finally play Skylanders, and on Amazon I found it to be the cheapest one, so I am actually playing the tablet version of Trap Team. Make another one of those for Sky 5, Activision!

Drek, cool...I'll replay those levels again on my Nightmare run and see ....

GM78, yep...I think not having a stat improvement system really killed a ton of hours from the game...yes it was mindless grinding...but would've been nice. A nice alternative would be for them to engineer a long term stat system that would be honored in every game. Having to basically have your skylanders "reset" on the hard work is a big drag.

Bone Chompy...tablet version was a GREAT idea. Move to where the players are, not where you want them to be. Interestingly enough the Tablet version wasn't in the 3million sales mark on vgchartz. I'm really interested to see how successful that version was this go around. Another great engineering effort by VV. I don't see the tablet version go away. I'm hoping they will eradicate the 3DS version and simply have the tablet version to augment that work. Along with no Wii support. The one thing I am reading about the tablet version is that it's not simple to use sometimes as people don't read the requirements for the game and/or don't know how to do simple admin functions to get their tablet up to snuff to meet the requirements for the game. Maybe they can build an update tool that will help do this work for the customer.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Drek, cool...I'll replay those levels again on my Nightmare run and see ....

GM78, yep...I think not having a stat improvement system really killed a ton of hours from the game...yes it was mindless grinding...but would've been nice. A nice alternative would be for them to engineer a long term stat system that would be honored in every game. Having to basically have your skylanders "reset" on the hard work is a big drag.

Abosolutely agree.

I still can't believe reaching a new level simply gives more health...

They could make experience also improve a couple more stats each time you reach a new level, or even give you the option to decide which stats to increase.

Quote: GhostRoaster

^Why did they ruin the concept of elemental gates to require trap masters? I'm only guessing their future trajectory by looking at their current trajectory. And what better way to have people go back into the stores again for stock they've already produced and scarf it up? Activision isn't in this for the players.

And, having the trap mechanic will be invasive to the story-line in general. Not sure if I can warm up to the idea. I mean, feats of strength and other gimmicks were not implemented in future games...not sure if this is any different.

if we look back to the older games and their gimmicks, the traptanium and the traps will be dropped in the next new game. hopefully we get a new better gimmick in sky5...

Drek, good idea on the stats---I think I commented favorably on that idea before. And limit what stats you could update in a given game, and have this same system in place from game to game. That way, it would take several games to "truly" max out skylander---AND those stats are honored in every game. That way, there would be a ceiling on these stats so they wouldn't become omnipotent but at the same time allow you to craft the skills you need to specific skylanders. I was really interested in the many stats VV had in Swap Force that TfB ignores...imagine a huge a la cart menu of this stuff? It would mean that the dev teams would have to get on the same page on what these stats are and make them work consistently--which has been problematic in terms of how we the fans interpret each dev teams results.

If the RFID chip doesn't have space or a field to store this it would mean having to read the previous game information for this. In any event, more of the same ain't going to cut it. It's time for them to recommit to the idea of toys to life and get more serious about it. Back to basics, as they say.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Drek, good idea on the stats---I think I commented favorably on that idea before. And limit what stats you could update in a given game, and have this same system in place from game to game. That way, it would take several games to "truly" max out skylander---AND those stats are honored in every game. It would mean that the dev teams would have to get on the same page on what these stats are and make them work consistently--which has been problematic in terms of how we the fans interpret each dev teams results.

Thanks, and absolutely, just like the level cap, they should keep increasing the cap for those stats too, with each game, to keep a certain balance.
No one world probably a Shroomboom one-shooting a Giant.

And this world also make the developer work closely, so there won't be more unecessary nerfs/buffs, in the future, and we'll truly play with the Skylanders we trained.

^ Yeah, I added additional detail about capping these levels to keep the upgrade system in "checks and balances" to ensure they wouldn't become god like. Having scarcity in upgrading the characters too would provide an opportunity and requirement for the player to truly know the skylander's skill and weaknesses and be very selective on which stats make sense to upgrade.

And why tie these upgrades just to gold all the time? Imagine upgrades unlocking based on how you play the character and stats of in game stats or quests? It would definitely get rid of us taking advantage of each game's gold cheat to quickly get our guys up to snuff.

Quote: GhostRoaster

^ Yeah, I added additional detail about capping these levels to keep the upgrade system in "checks and balances" to ensure they wouldn't become god like. Having scarcity in upgrading the characters too would provide an opportunity and requirement for the player to truly know the skylander's skill and weaknesses and be very selective on which stats make sense to upgrade.

And why tie these upgrades just to gold all the time? Imagine upgrades unlocking based on how you play the character and stats of in game events or quests?

Exactly, you could really create some unique and personal Skylanders, like a fast Prism Break or an extremely tough Stealth Elf, but you would have to make an important decision.

Sure, like in the 3DS version, where you unlock new moves when you level up.
Maybe not brand new moves, but I could easily see all those "increased attack rate/ armor/ damage output" upgrades gone, to make room for more variety among the abilities you can purchase with gold.

I'm looking at other games, like in Dying Light, where based on HOW you use the character determines which stats can be automatically upgraded through play. Other more powerful moves would require gold and/or achieving certain game statistics/goals. I can see all of the upgrades up to selecting the path as being unlocked through game play, and the others through gold or in game criteria. It would definitely give a sense you are in fact "training" the skylander with OJT.

Come to think of it, I wish a skylander's upgrade path could be more of a skill tree.

Quote: GhostRoaster

I'm looking at other games, like in Dying Light, where based on HOW you use the character determines which stats can be automatically upgraded through play. Other more powerful moves would require gold and/or achieving certain game statistics/goals. I can see all of the upgrades up to selecting the path as being unlocked through game play, and the others through gold or in game criteria. It would definitely give a sense you are in fact "training" the skylander with OJT.

Come to think of it, I wish a skylander's upgrade path could be more of a skill tree.

Something a la Skyrim, right?
Were, the more you use a skill, the faster it gets better.

I would totally love it.
It would also solve the "which path should I take?" problem.
The game would keep upgrading certain stats, basing on how often we rely on them, and the other skills could still be bought with gold, or unlocked in yet another way.

I don't mind as much when variants come out for characters that aren't likely to have any other reposes or further series releases - like Swappers or Trap Masters or even Giants. For someone who plays these games a lot, having 2 of one Skylander is totally fine. Sometimes it's worth having one on each path, and it allows for co-op using the same character. I just don't want to see more Jet Vacs and Gill Grunts and reposes with no new skills. Lightcores and minis, I'm looking at you. In fact, the mini Drobot is the worst version of him due to the seriously reduced width on his lasers.

^Yep, in certain cases it makes sense. In others, where there are 8 version available and then they release a legendary or elite version---not so much.

Quote: Friendzie

I don't mind as much when variants come out for characters that aren't likely to have any other reposes or further series releases - like Swappers or Trap Masters or even Giants. For someone who plays these games a lot, having 2 of one Skylander is totally fine. Sometimes it's worth having one on each path, and it allows for co-op using the same character. I just don't want to see more Jet Vacs and Gill Grunts and reposes with no new skills. Lightcores and minis, I'm looking at you. In fact, the mini Drobot is the worst version of him due to the seriously reduced width on his lasers.

As for the minis, I've heard that some areas can only be accessed by them in Trap Team...not that I've seen any, but is this true?

Quote: The Bone Chompy

Quote: Friendzie

I don't mind as much when variants come out for characters that aren't likely to have any other reposes or further series releases - like Swappers or Trap Masters or even Giants. For someone who plays these games a lot, having 2 of one Skylander is totally fine. Sometimes it's worth having one on each path, and it allows for co-op using the same character. I just don't want to see more Jet Vacs and Gill Grunts and reposes with no new skills. Lightcores and minis, I'm looking at you. In fact, the mini Drobot is the worst version of him due to the seriously reduced width on his lasers.

As for the minis, I've heard that some areas can only be accessed by them in Trap Team...not that I've seen any, but is this true?

The library is the only place I can think of. Talk to Quigley and you'll appear in a special area.

That's the only place, which nets you a legendary treasure. So if you're shooting for 100%, a mini is needed.

yay:
SSA level sizes
more new characters (gotta love , , and )
areas only usable through element e.g. Fire Skylanders can walk on lava while Tech Skylanders can't
mood-fitting music
previous adventure packs having new plots in-game
trap compatibility
Malefor as the new villain w a gang of minions
nay:
lopsided reposes
BAD PRODUCTION RATES!!!! e.g. Kaos trap
glitches by the ton

What I would like to see

• David Rodriguez to write the story
  
• The gameplay of Swap Force
  
• Cutscenes being the loading screens
  
• Less dub step music
  
• Spark locks
  
• Regular elemental gates
  
• Bonus Missions and score mode
  
• A few more villains to capture to even out the roster from Trap Team
  
• Nightmare mode being like the one in Swap Force
  
• Boss battles being their own chapter or a Boss rush mode
  

Would not like to see

• Sky stones as an obstacle
  
• Online Co-Op (battle mode is okay though)
  
• A new portal (unless it is necessary)
  

Quote: Drek95

Quote: GhostRoaster

Drek, cool...I'll replay those levels again on my Nightmare run and see ....

GM78, yep...I think not having a stat improvement system really killed a ton of hours from the game...yes it was mindless grinding...but would've been nice. A nice alternative would be for them to engineer a long term stat system that would be honored in every game. Having to basically have your skylanders "reset" on the hard work is a big drag.

Abosolutely agree.

I still can't believe reaching a new level simply gives more health...

They could make experience also improve a couple more stats each time you reach a new level, or even give you the option to decide which stats to increase.

Most deffenetly agree with you both Drek an GhostRoaster....and yes the level stat upgrade is a great idea...all stats should be raised a little with each level up...not just the health. Also the putting the Traps in the next game would be a matter of money...Activision is in this to make money(some like the Traps ...some don't, those are the ones they are after) Besides they made 6 Traps of each Element(i have said this before) Only 3 Elements use all 6 Traps, the others only use 4....that leaves 10 villian's that can be put in the left over Traps. And thats just the standard Elements not the Light & Dark if they chose to make 3 more for each of them to bring them up to 6 like the other Elements. That would 16 more villian's to trap...seems like a good villian number to me for Skylanders 5.
Making there gimmicky main figures(Giants, Swappers, Trap Masters) you know theres going to be one...making 10 of them do to the adding of the Light an Dark to the mix. Maybe 1 or 2 new cores...and 1 repose(PLEASE let them be Ghost Roaster, Sunburn, Boomer, Dino-Rang an Voodood) and since the Light an Dark are new they shouldn't get reposes so they might give them a Mini...
So the roster would be: 10 new Main's(or 20 if each element gets 2...witch i dought...but it is Vicarious Visions and they did do 2 Swappers) 10 or 20 Core's, 8 or less reposes, 2 new Mini's and 16 Villian's...coming to a total of 46 and that making just one of the Main's & Core's not two them up.
Thats more then enough figures for the new Skylanders *what ever there going to call it* ....Skylanders 5 will work for now till we find out at the next E3 Expo.

And the only place The Bone Chompy i found in the whole game that only the Mini's could go, is at the Academy in the library like HeyitsHotDog stated above.

Quote: Drek95

Quote: GhostRoaster

^Why did they ruin the concept of elemental gates to require trap masters? I'm only guessing their future trajectory by looking at their current trajectory. And what better way to have people go back into the stores again for stock they've already produced and scarf it up? Activision isn't in this for the players.

And, having the trap mechanic will be invasive to the story-line in general. Not sure if I can warm up to the idea. I mean, feats of strength and other gimmicks were not implemented in future games...not sure if this is any different.

It would indeed be a logical assumption, seeing how they dealt with Elemental Gates in Trap Team, but I strongly think (and hope) it has just been a bad idea resulting in a terrible mistake.
No problem with Traptanium Elemental Gates, but give us some regular ones too, al least!

Like the removal of some kind of Bonus Missions/Heroic, and PvP, I'm confident they will come back.

Think about the trap gimmick like this.
Giants had Feats of Strengh only in Giants, but they still have what makes them... Giants (sorry for the triple repetition): they are big, they can crush small enemies by simply walking towards them, can lift boulders and they are really strong and tough.
Swappers had SWAP Zones (and Dual Elemental Gates) only in SWAP Force, but they still can swap.
Trap Masters will probably not have specific Traptanium Gates again, nor Traptanium clusters to destroy, but they should retain what makes them unique: a damage boost against trappable villains.

How would they do that, without villains to trap...?
And this bring us to the trappable villains themself (thus traps): they probably won't have Villain Stashes, and most likely Villain Elemental Areas, but they should still be playable, like every single gimmick has been, so far.
And if they are, why not adding a bunch new ones, to encourage Trap Team players to use their traps again, and maybe buy some more?

Of course, if they won't be able to make Trap Masters unique again, in the fifth game, then this would probably mean it was a bad thought gimmick, and it actually felt like a half-made one, honestly...

But, again, I have faith.

I don't think they need traps continued to make the trap masters still relevant. They could simply just make trap masters have their damage increase against any villains, as their special ability. I assumed they'd do this from the start just for future continuation anyway.

Actually, if you want to buy a Mini only for that Treasure (or was it a trinket...?), I would recommend you to try a glitch.

Just go there with Chill Bill, jump under the lowest wooden platform and then use his jet pack attack.
You'll find yourself in the same area, without having to use a Mini.
It can be tricky, but shouldn't require more than a couple tries.

wild_defender, but it would just be a higher damage output, nothing different from Giants.
Don't think it would make them truly unique...

The problem with the premise of doing any more villains and trap masters above is that this game will sound a lot like Trap Team 2...which I don't want. It's an interesting problem to solve--that is to try and keep the toys from TT relevant but not overshadow what I hope to be some very cool tech. VV did do the swappers, and so far they have been the coolest toy innovation yet. I'd like to see a variant of that if they don't have anything new---but something tells me they do.

No game is Spyro's Adventure 2 because it has more cores. If they only fill in the blanks with villains(have as many as we have molds on elements, which is at most a bunch of Magic and Undead villains and a few others), it couldn't possibly overshadow the shiny new gimmick considering VV's habit of giving their entire attention to their own concepts.

True, but I don't see TfB spending extra cycles to make VV's stuff shine either. No Golems or Greebles nowhere to be find, but there sure as heck were plenty of trolls!

And since this pushes money into the coffers, I'm sure it will happen...although it will make for a very confusing experience. And I'm concerned the precendent will mean everyone will expect this for every game--I say nip it...nip it in the bud.

Quote: GhostRoaster

True, but I don't see TfB spending extra cycles to make VV's stuff shine either. No Golems or Greebles nowhere to be find, but there sure as heck were plenty of trolls!

And since this pushes money into the coffers, I'm sure it will happen...although it will make for a very confusing experience. And I'm concerned the precendent will mean everyone will expect this for every game--I say nip it...nip it in the bud.

What do you mean it'd be a confusing experience? Crossing TfB and VV's ideas into one?