darkSpyro

"The secret to our success has always been our commitment to bringing new magic and innovation to each and every Skylanders game, and we can't wait to unveil what's coming up next. The popularity of the Skylanders franchise has been unmatched even with new entrants."

http://www.gamespot.com/articl...t/1100-6426517/

Activision brings small innovations to each new game and their characters are all unique, that's what I like about them. Of course, having competitors means some fans will prefer dropping Skylanders to buy Disney, Amiibo or Lego figures, and this might give the impression that the franchise is dying, but it is still very popular at this point. Some people on this forum may not realize it, but young kids (the target audience) really enjoyed the Traps gimmick, so Trap Team was still a success despite some of the bad things you can say about it.

I believe Toys for Bob, Vicarious Visions and any studio involved in the creation of Skylanders games will continue to amaze me with the high quality of their unique character designs, implementation of innovative gimmicks and fun gameplay overall. I will keep supporting them for at least the next 5 years.

Quote:

this might give the impression that the franchise is dying

the shops also maybe not taking in so much of the not so popular game, that will for sure help on that impression too, sadly..

ive always thought about this but never posted it, amiibo and disney have a finite life. They make toys based off there characters, they each got limited characters unless they start producing more games or movies with new characters. I mean how many mario's cant they make? But lego and skylanders is only limited by there imaginations. They can freely make as many characters as they want with no restrictions other than trying not to repeat themselves. So i look at disney and nintendo as a passing fad to get some cash for this toys to life stuff going on now. Legos and skylanders will probably be the only ones so to last and skylanders have already shown that they got what it takes to last. If anything this is good news for us because the more people wanting toys to life stuff means more figures, games and everything else we all want.

Plus who dosent like legos? so many childhood memories.

Quote: CountMoneyBone

Quote:

this might give the impression that the franchise is dying

the shops also maybe not taking in so much of the not so popular game, that will for sure help on that impression too, sadly..

I agree with this. We already have some instances of Walmart doing away with carrying of Skylanders altogether. I have never seen wave 3 or 4 of Trap Team at any of the central NJ Walmart stores (ok...maybe one dark element expansion pack at the North Brunswick, NJ Walmart back in January). Trap Team is a solid entry into the series...us fans do realize that and the fact that kids go nuts with the trap gimmick and playing as Kaos especially. Activision seriously needs to stop increasing the amount of plastic they throw at us each year...I don't know the exact numbers, but it needs to decrease...maybe not down to Spyros Adventure and Giants level, but the upward trend can't be sustained and there needs to be a cap at which enough new product is enough. Of the Toys for Life franchises, the Skylanders section is always the messiest and disorganized...my local Target has only water traps and I see them restocking the Outlaw Brawl & Chain trap even today. It's a sign of retailer fatigue in maintaining and reordering the product. I barely ever see new wave 3 or 4 product except at TRU and Best Buy...I'm sure some of you guys might be seeing different things on your local hunts. Activision might not be worried about the competition, but internally, they have to be concerned about their own product and need to do some retooling based on these retailer fatigue issues. I can definitely see Walmart and/or Target dropping out of carrying Skylanders completely after Sky 5.

The greed will get them eventually. We need one new gimmick character from each element...no more! They have 10 elements to work with now. If we get another set of 2 gimmick-landers for each element, that's another 20 characters priced at $15-17...and quite frankly, I don't have faith in Activision to keep coming up with that many creative and unique Skylander characters. I'd rather have some more expansion packs...with Vicarious Visions helming this next game, I am expecting meaty content-filled levels like we got in Swap Force.

Quote: mastermc54

Quote: CountMoneyBone

Quote:

this might give the impression that the franchise is dying

the shops also maybe not taking in so much of the not so popular game, that will for sure help on that impression too, sadly..

I agree with this. We already have some instances of Walmart doing away with carrying of Skylanders altogether. I have never seen wave 3 or 4 of Trap Team at any of the central NJ Walmart stores (ok...maybe one dark element expansion pack at the North Brunswick, NJ TRU back in January). Trap Team is a solid entry into the series...us fans do realize that and the fact that kids go nuts with the trap gimmick and playing as Kaos especially. Activision seriously needs to stop increasing the amount of plastic they throw at us each year...I don't know the exact numbers, but it needs to decrease...maybe not down to Spyros Adventure and Giants level, but the upward trend can't be sustained and there needs to be a cap at which enough new product is enough. Of the Toys for Life franchises, the Skylanders section is always the messiest and disorganized...my local Target has only water traps and I see them restocking the Outlaw Brawl & Chain trap even today. It's a sign of retailer fatigue in maintaining and reordering the product. I barely ever see new wave 3 or 4 product except at TRU and Best Buy...I'm sure some of you guys might be seeing different things on your local hunts. Activision might not be worried about the competition, but internally, they have to be concerned about their own product and need to do some retooling based on these retailer fatigue issues. I can definitely see Walmart and/or Target dropping out of carrying Skylanders completely after Sky 5.

8 new cores, 8 new gimmick ones, a total of 16 new to buy should be the limith.. the other 16+ they can make variants of. then they have 4 adventure packs... that is more than enough if you ask me. and if they go on with the traps. the traps should just be a bonus if you want a new sculpt, as long you have one of each trap elements you should be good.

They are, I would imagine, concerned about the competition but they arn't quaking in fear. And even if they were, they wouldn't admit it. Don't take this as 100% true, becuase I can almost guarantee anything Acti ever says isn't completely true.

Quote: wgeorge111

"The secret to our success has always been our commitment to bringing new magic and innovation to each and every Skylanders game, and we can't wait to unveil what's coming up next. The popularity of the Skylanders franchise has been unmatched even with new entrants."

http://www.gamespot.com/articl...t/1100-6426517/

So I guess it's not a secret anymore...

Activision's comment reminds me of the last time they had a popular franchise with accessories. I still remember the picture of Bobby Kotick grinning ear to ear holding a Guitar Hero controller in an article explaining how the large number of music games wasn't a problem because Guitar Hero brought new "innovation" with every new release. That interview was a few months before their last Guitar Hero game.

The truth is Activision's "secret" is they keep saturating the market with more stuff to buy on the market until the market says "no more". They might last longer if they focused more on gameplay than selling more plastic, which is what Trap Team should have done.

Quote: mastermc54

Quote: CountMoneyBone

Quote:

this might give the impression that the franchise is dying

the shops also maybe not taking in so much of the not so popular game, that will for sure help on that impression too, sadly..

I agree with this. We already have some instances of Walmart doing away with carrying of Skylanders altogether. I have never seen wave 3 or 4 of Trap Team at any of the central NJ Walmart stores (ok...maybe one dark element expansion pack at the North Brunswick, NJ TRU back in January). Trap Team is a solid entry into the series...us fans do realize that and the fact that kids go nuts with the trap gimmick and playing as Kaos especially. Activision seriously needs to stop increasing the amount of plastic they throw at us each year...I don't know the exact numbers, but it needs to decrease...maybe not down to Spyros Adventure and Giants level, but the upward trend can't be sustained and there needs to be a cap at which enough new product is enough. Of the Toys for Life franchises, the Skylanders section is always the messiest and disorganized...my local Target has only water traps and I see them restocking the Outlaw Brawl & Chain trap even today. It's a sign of retailer fatigue in maintaining and reordering the product. I barely ever see new wave 3 or 4 product except at TRU and Best Buy...I'm sure some of you guys might be seeing different things on your local hunts. Activision might not be worried about the competition, but internally, they have to be concerned about their own product and need to do some retooling based on these retailer fatigue issues. I can definitely see Walmart and/or Target dropping out of carrying Skylanders completely after Sky 5.

I don't know of Walmart getting rid of Skylanders. I know some people have wondered or speculated that based on the lack of inventory, but now that the dock workers strike is over and inventory has started to flow, Walmart has been restocking. Has there really been any confirmation other than some employee speculating that (remember how they also said that the element packs were discontinued)?

Quote: defpally

Activision's comment reminds me of the last time they had a popular franchise with accessories. I still remember the picture of Bobby Kotick grinning ear to ear holding a Guitar Hero controller in an article explaining how the large number of music games wasn't a problem because Guitar Hero brought new "innovation" with every new release. That interview was a few months before their last Guitar Hero game.

I don't think your example is really an apt comparison simply due to the fact that Guitar Hero didn't fail because Activision introduced an ever increasing number of guitars (and later drums, mics, etc.). If you're going to blame Activision rushing too much into the marketplace, it would be the large number of spinoffs where were essentially DLC packs which were usually priced as high as the original game. Seeing as we're waiting for our 5th iteration of the Skylanders franchise in 5 years and Guitar Hero produced 6 main games plus 8 spinoff titles (14 total games) in that same timeframe, your comparison between the two as presented kind of falls apart. If you add in Rock Band, you add another 3 main games plus 2 band specific games (The Beatles & Green Day), 2 spin off titles (Lego Rock Band & Rock Band Blitz) as well as who knows how much actual DLC. That pushes the total number of mainstream music games released by two publishers to 21 games in the same span as Skylanders 4 released games and the upcoming sequel.

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The truth is Activision's "secret" is they keep saturating the market with more stuff to buy on the market until the market says "no more". They might last longer if they focused more on gameplay than selling more plastic, which is what Trap Team should have done.

This really doesn't bring much support to your argument, in my opinion, as there were lots of third party accessories available for Guitar Hero (and its sequels & spinoffs and Rock Band, etc.), but those weren't the reason that people got sick of that franchise. It was the total saturation of the marketplace for a few years of basically nothing BUT those types of games. At present, from Activision, we have 4 Skylanders titles and another in the pipe. Until this fall, we only have two competing "Toys to Life" titles, DI 1 & 2; I discount the Amiibos here due to the fact that they are simply accessories for games Nintendo already intended to offer which will function 100% without Amiibos ever being used with them. So in 5 years, from two publishers, we'll have 7 games versus 21 from the Guitar Hero & Rock Band franchises. The problem wasn't so much "too much stuff to buy" as you always have a say in what you do and don't buy, it was too many games in too little time which did little, if anything, to differentiate each from one another. No matter how you feel about the gimmicks, each Skylanders release has attempted to be different from the previous version but similar enough to keep fans coming back. Guitar Hero & Rock Band really didn't do that outside of reskinning subsequent titles/releases, meaning that fans essentially bought the same game several times and ended up upset enough when they realized it to tank the genre.

-Doug

But it did fail because of ever increasing numbers of plastic and lack of real innovation. They kept filling the stores up with those full band kits. Stores responded to having a bunch of $175 kits they had to clearance out by telling them they wouldn't stock the franchise like that anymore and the games themselves didn't do much more than earlier games. Activision got greedy.

Music games aren't dead. The most recent Rock Band didn't even use instruments, and there is quite a bit of buzz about a new one. The thing though is that Activision's business model for those games IS dead. When the public slow down their consumption of accessories, the software has to pick up the slack by being compelling.

Yes, Skylanders have less games, but WAY more pieces of plastic up to the point where the last game was pretty much all about stuff to buy. Trap Team is almost indistinguishable from Swap Force unless you know what you are looking for. So what you are saying is that they have had just four games - and in those four games they have already reached the point where the are "phoning it in" on the software. At least with Guitar Hero it took them almost double that.

What competition ? I am playing DI and skylanders beats it by a mile . Your DI toy only levels up , has two "abilities. If you lucky its an adventure toy or its stuck in toybox realm and thats pretty boring if you dont like building . Adventures are only about 5 - 8 hours long each . You stuck doing same ol challenges .

I understand Amiibo gives you even less for your toy .

Quote: defpally

But it did fail because of ever increasing numbers of plastic and lack of real innovation. They kept filling the stores up with those full band kits. Stores responded to having a bunch of $175 kits they had to clearance out by telling them they wouldn't stock the franchise like that anymore and the games themselves didn't do much more than earlier games. Activision got greedy.

Nope. I never saw more than a couple of those in a store at any one time across dozens of stores I visited within a 1500-2000 mile range during the genre's active period. It's not like there were aisles and aisles of nothing but Rock Band and Band Hero kits. Plastic didn't kill the music genre. People didn't get sick of them because there were too many plastic instruments to collect and play, it was oversaturation and underdevelopment of the enormous number of games that hammered consumers over the course of 5 years. If this were an apples to apples situation like you keep indicating, Skylanders and all other Toys to Life franchises would already be collapsing since the number of Skylanders and DI characters released far exceed the number of different plastic instruments released via first or third party during the heyday of Guitar Hero & Rock Band.

Quote:

Music games aren't dead. The most recent Rock Band didn't even use instruments, and there is quite a bit of buzz about a new one. The thing though is that Activision's business model for those games IS dead.

The last Rock Band game released, Rock Band Blitz, was basically a rehash of Harmonix's games Frequency & Amplitude which lead to the creation of Guitar hero and the whole "let's use plastic instruments to 'play' music" game genre. It wasn't a huge success, just like Frequency & Amplitude weren't. As for music games being dead, you're right, they're not. But were they? That term is arguable, but I'd say that yes, after 2010 they were, much like video game consoles were after the Atari crash of 1983; Atari inadvertently crashed the video game industry and it didn't pick up again until 1984-1985 when Nintendo pretty much single handedly revived it. At this point we're seeing one of those "Nintendo" moments, people have had enough time away from those types of games to forget why they got sick of them and get nostalgic.

Quote:

When the public slow down their consumption of accessories, the software has to pick up the slack by being compelling.

People didn't stop playing music games because there were too many plastic guitars to collect! Accessories had ZERO to do with the failure of the music game genre! Guitar Hero had, what, FIVE officially released guitars? Gibson SGs (black & red), Gibson Explorer (white), Gibson Les Paul (flat black) & the "Genericaster" from World Tour. If that's enough to crash a franchise, SSA should have lit up brighter than the 4th of July when it was supposed to crash and burn.

Quote:

Yes, Skylanders have less games, but WAY more pieces of plastic up to the point where the last game was pretty much all about stuff to buy. Trap Team is almost indistinguishable from Swap Force unless you know what you are looking for. So what you are saying is that they have had just four games - and in those four games they have already reached the point where the are "phoning it in" on the software. At least with Guitar Hero it took them almost double that.

Apples to oranges. Again. You don't have to buy any more pieces of plastic to play a Skylanders game than what come with the starter. And Trap Team and Swap Force being indistinguishable? Really? Ok, I guess SSA & Giants were indistinguishable from one another as well since they're both Skylanders games and neither feature the jump mechanic. In that vein, if you pulled the jump mechanic out of the last two releases, I guess people wouldn't be able to tell any of them apart at all.

People got sick of music games because each new release was solely an excuse to pick up new songs. That's it. The gameplay never changed outside of the introduction of a couple of new instruments and a mic (which showed up really late in the release cycle). Other than that? You're buying each new main game, each new spinoff solely to be able to play a "tour" and unlock all of the new music that's not available elsewhere. While you get new Skylanders in each game which can only be played in their respective games, you can at least bring the old ones with you, something the Guitar Hero franchise never managed to accomplish (but was targeted as a selling point for Rock Band). Each new Skylanders game has its own gimmick and features similar gameplay but offers a different story, new characters, new levels and parts of the Skylands world to explore. Guitar Hero featured a few new (literal) stages, a handful of new character skins and the occasional new "fan" popping up in the crowd. If you can't see there's a world of differences between the two franchises you're trying to cram together in your flawed analogy, there's not really any further point in responding to you.

If you're going to complain about Trap Team being a money grab, do it, but stop trying to tie Guitar Hero & Rock Band's crash and burn onto it because it's not the same situation. Perhaps the end result will be the same, people get sick of the genre and everything within its sphere crashes and burns. But right now? We're on the same timeline for both of the aforementioned music franchises and the Toys to Life sphere is still expanding and growing every year. I guess it's impossible to think that Activision learned something from the last time they handled a huge, original IP?

-Doug

Quote: Dark fhoenix

What competition ? I am playing DI and skylanders beats it by a mile . Your DI toy only levels up , has two "abilities. If you lucky its an adventure toy or its stuck in toybox realm and thats pretty boring if you dont like building . Adventures are only about 5 - 8 hours long each . You stuck doing same ol challenges .

I understand Amiibo gives you even less for your toy .

Infinity just doesn't suit your playstyle. It is much more interesting to the crowd that wants to build things and run around in an open world with a little bit of story. GTA5 is a great game, but some people just don't like the freedom it provides to create your own fun. People that like tight, story directed games don't like it as much. Similar to RPGs, some like JRPGs like Final Fantasy that have a clear path, others prefer Skyrim that has more of a "do what you want in the order you want" style. It might be boring if you don't like building, but Minecraft shows there is a significant audience that does like building.

And Amiibos don't do that much in any single game. Their value lies in the wide array of different games they do things in and the fact that they will almost certainly be usable in many future games. I would pretty much expect any future Nintendo published game for the foreseeable future for the WiiU/3DS to do something with Amiibos.

Quote: darkchylde28

blah blah blah ...

And no, people didn't stop playing music games, they just stopped buying them. You keep forgetting that what kills a franchise is stock not moving from the shelves, particularly stock that takes up a lot of room. People were still downloaded songs up until they de-listed them. Activision could not make money off that model because the disc itself was a loss leader due to royalty costs.

Just because YOU didn't see stock on the shelves is not evidence it didn't exist. But it did exist, stores were running clearance of old Rock Band and Guitar Hero kits out like crazy. You must not pay attention to the gaming deal sites like CAG.

Back to Skylanders, look at your local TRU. They have pegs full of figures all the way back to SSA. They don't sell, and run sales on them all the time. The only thing that really moves is when new stuff comes out, and the line is smaller and smaller every time that happens. Recently they were practically giving some older ones away. Best Buy's Deal of the Day today is a clearance on TRAP TEAM figures. Physical stock takes up a lot of shelf space. Even if people still like Skylanders, if they are not buying enough figures shelf space gets cut because stores need that space for things that do move. And when they have to sell things at a loss or close to it, they remember that the next time a new entry in the franchise comes out.

And no, Activision hasn't learned their lesson. Because they keep doing the same thing. They wring all the money they can out of games until they are no longer viable, and Guitar Hero isn't the only franchise they have killed. They say that they "innovate" to stay on top, but Trap Team wasn't innovation, it was just more plastic to sell. If Sky 5 really goes somewhere new, then ok, maybe they have learned - but TfB and Activison seem to be just fine with releasing a new story every year and increasing the number of figures to buy.

Quote: defpally

Quote: darkchylde28

blah blah blah ...

With the maturity level of an overripe avacado displayed here, I think we're done.

-Doug

@defpally

Quote:

what kills a franchise is stock not moving from the shelves, particularly stock that takes up a lot of room.

Quote:

it did fail because of ever increasing numbers of plastic and lack of real innovation.

Quote:

The truth is Activision's "secret" is they keep saturating the market with more stuff to buy on the market until the market says "no more".

...and now with 3 other figures games out on the market something will have to give. i hope it isnt skylanders that will be losing the fight, but i fear it..

Quote: CountMoneyBone

@defpally

Quote:

what kills a franchise is stock not moving from the shelves, particularly stock that takes up a lot of room.

Quote:

it did fail because of ever increasing numbers of plastic and lack of real innovation.

Quote:

The truth is Activision's "secret" is they keep saturating the market with more stuff to buy on the market until the market says "no more".

...and this we have seen the beginning of with skylanders trap team.

You could apply this with any of the Skylanders games. They've all had more and more stuff for you to buy, with each successive game being more guilty than the last. Why is Trap Team supposedly the guilty party here? Because people got miffed that Trap Masters weren't some mythical, magical thing? Activision's been doing business with this franchise in the same way for years and nobody pipes up with anything until the last few months. Honestly, it sounds like bitter grapes moreso than anything else to me.

-Doug

I'm pretty sure some of the posters here haven't started on the critiques since 30 days ago... (ahem)....

I love the franchise....would like some changes...some more than others....the number of figures / stuff to buy has gone up every game...this one I think deserves more criticism than past entries for this... my .02. Flipside: not as many reposes, literally threw a lot of different types of toys, but nothing that stands out for me like swappers did. And, if this was "the best" then they darn better get working on the game itself to make up for it...in #5. I'm personally questioning if toy purchases can be justified if it's more or less the same game as before. I love the chase, love the figures themselves...it's tough for me personally to come to terms/grips with some of it.

Trap Team is the worst offender because it's "innovation" was to sell people more plastic. This time we had molds for traps that pretty much behave like a generic figure. We got Trap Masters, but they weren't giant size in game and their purpose was just to unlock stuff, and were cheaper to make due to no lightcore - but oh they are still the same price as a "premium" character. The is no reason for Trap Masters to be considered "premium" - plenty of figures in the past had clear parts.

With Swap Force we had a significant new engine, much higher quality graphics, much longer levels and a really cool mechanic that is fun. Who here hasn't just played with swappers without even using the game? The swapping mechanic was clearly worth more than a regular figure.

Giants can be excused because it was a sophomore effort pushed out in a year of development, not to mention the premium figures had lightcore in addition to being larger. They also only had eight of them.

Quote: defpally

But it did exist, stores were running clearance of old Rock Band and Guitar Hero kits out like crazy.

I still see stores running clearance of old Rock Band/Guitar Hero kits. I was at the Walmart the other day and saw a DJ Hero kit for the Wii for $10. Every so often, I find an old bundle for one of these games. Sometimes, it's still regular price even. ;)

My husband is switching us to Lego this year :'-( I've had free reign to buy Skylanders for the last 3 years and tried DI but didn't like it. DH loves Legos and our oldest does too so he's left Skylanders and me for Legos. So sad, just had to say it somewhere.

This whole thread has made me think that Activision will never announce when they release their final Skylanders game as the final game. They care about their bottom line of pushing plastic and any announcement of a final game will theoretically have less people buying the new characters/traps/plastic junk since they know their new stuff is not forwards compatible to any additional games (one and done investment). Sure it'll leave fans angry, but Activision will have made their money before bailing out.

Quote: defpally

Trap Team is the worst offender because it's "innovation" was to sell people more plastic. This time we had molds for traps that pretty much behave like a generic figure. We got Trap Masters, but they weren't giant size in game and their purpose was just to unlock stuff, and were cheaper to make due to no lightcore - but oh they are still the same price as a "premium" character. The is no reason for Trap Masters to be considered "premium" - plenty of figures in the past had clear parts.

With Swap Force we had a significant new engine, much higher quality graphics, much longer levels and a really cool mechanic that is fun. Who here hasn't just played with swappers without even using the game? The swapping mechanic was clearly worth more than a regular figure.

Giants can be excused because it was a sophomore effort pushed out in a year of development, not to mention the premium figures had lightcore in addition to being larger. They also only had eight of them.

Ok let me tell you where I agree and where I do not.

Agree on what you said about the Trap Masters.
They had potential but TfB didn't take full advantage of it.

I would like to point out a small thing about Giants: you can also buy 8 Trap Masters (and the two Elemental Expansions Packs) but the point is you only needed one Giant to access all the Feats of Strenght.
However I do remember a lot of users complaining about the fact that "only Snap Shot is needed, so why would I want to buy other Trap Masters?" when Trap Team was announced and then complaining again because "great, now I need at least one per Element".
I guess it's the human nature to never be completely satisfied.

Just buy the characters you like and don't focus on what they unlock: that's my way with the Skylanders series.

Now, I don't agree about the traps.
Seeing them as mere "sculpted transparent plastic chunks" is reductive in my opinion.
Not only does a trap unlock ALL the villain from that Element but a lot of them are more than simple playable characters.
Many villains have abilities that remain active even when you switch back to your Skylander, actually changing the playstyle quite a bit. It's almost like your character got an extra power!
And of course some Skylander/villain combinations may work better than others.

It's all about experimenting the different teams.

It isn't the whole "playing as a bad guy" I'm not fond of, it's how you have to buy all these generic items to "hold them".

Quote: defpally

It isn't the whole "playing as a bad guy" I'm not fond of, it's how you have to buy all these generic items to "hold them".

Oooooh well that's absolutely a pure matter of personal tastes (traps honestly don't cost that much even if you would want one per Element, to say they are a particularly big cash grab) then.

Quote: defpally

It isn't the whole "playing as a bad guy" I'm not fond of, it's how you have to buy all these generic items to "hold them".

If you don't like them. Don't get them.

We have to stop shoving that line in someone's face when they're expressing an opinion. If anyone knows the power of being a consumer, it's defpally.

But he said that you have to buy them. You don't have to buy them. Have, want, and need are all very different.

LOL. He meant it as a general "all of these items" to mean the traps in general. Trust me, he only owns 11 traps.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

LOL. He meant it as a general "all of these items" to mean the traps in general. Trust me, he only owns 11 traps.

Oh ok. Sorry misunderstood.

Of course their not worried when you just REHASH you still have suckers wiling to pay for overpriced plastic. Look how many have finished every series before half of the characters even came out, I know I did. Just like the last post here did we really need over 40 or so traps no but we keep on buy them right! I got all of wave 4 for whatever reason and their still sitting unopened on the floor. In my opinion its getting old and you can see it at retailers because they are not flying off the shelves like they use to in the beginning!

If we had the expectations of figures flying off the shelves for every franchise the AAA industry would collapse faster than it's looking like now. Not that they don't lay off people with that excuse, but it's VERY unrealistic to think people will be buying in a frenzy -or can AFFORD that to begin with - for an entire collection. DS might have a big collector fandom but it's not reflecting the rest of the world.

You hit the nail right on the head, but when you keep pushing new characters in which we don't need anymore of why now just make a game that would use what we have already.

So wickedrunt you bought Wave 4 and didn't open them just because... They don't unlock anything new in the game?
I hope you played as them unsealed and simply didn't liked them, because if you simply bought them for the sake of a complete collection without even trying them out... Well I have no right to judge but I don't think that's what Skylanders are for...

What you call "rehash" I call "a gameplay I like and wouldn't want to change to the point I don't recognize it anymore".
As for more overpriced plastic... I don't think it's overpriced at all (Trap Master's figure aren't worth 15€/$ but as characters they are unique enough to justify the price) since with that plastic you also get a new character to upgrade and play as, maybe even finding out it's a favorite.

Sure I would like to have something for my characters to do such as Heroics, Quests, Bonus Missions but I still cannot really complain on how the characters have been developed and introduced so far.
Maybe I'm the only one but I still enjoy the game even if just walking around the levels, killing enemies and gathering experience and treasure to level up my Skylanders while getting more used to them and leading their weak points and strenghts... But that's just me...

Oh and Skylanders are the heart of this franchise.
Don't expect less characters in the future.

With kind respect
- Drek the sucker

Didn't Eon say that the adventure with our skylanders is just beginning at the end of the game? Other than the 4th star on the levels, you could theoretically wipe everything else up before end of story mode. I like random traveling through existing levels...but I think people are weighing in that a little more in the game is appreciated. Again, people buy the characters for their own personal reasons, no need to judge how many, why etc. And frankly any criticism on content has been legitimate throughout the series, but decisively so in the latest entry.

Quote: Drek95

So wickedrunt you bought Wave 4 and didn't open them just because... They don't unlock anything new in the game?
I hope you played as them unsealed and simply didn't liked them, because if you simply bought them for the sake of a complete collection without even trying them out... Well I have no right to judge but I don't think that's what Skylanders are for...

What you call "rehash" I call "a gameplay I like and wouldn't want to change to the point I don't recognize it anymore".
As for more overpriced plastic... I don't think it's overpriced at all (Trap Master's figure aren't worth 15€/$ but as characters they are unique enough to justify the price) since with that plastic you also get a new character to upgrade and play as, maybe even finding out it's a favorite.

Sure I would like to have something for my characters to do such as Heroics, Quests, Bonus Missions but I still cannot really complain on how the characters have been developed and introduced so far.
Maybe I'm the only one but I still enjoy the game even if just walking around the levels, killing enemies and gathering experience and treasure to level up my Skylanders while getting more used to them and leading their weak points and strenghts... But that's just me...

Oh and Skylanders are the heart of this franchise.
Don't expect less characters in the future. ;)

With kind respect
- Drek the sucker

Were not saying that we want the gameplay changed entirely, all we want it for TfB/VV to spice it up. Maybe have the camera closer to the Skylander and have control over it as well (Think the Classic Spyro games, Lego games or any of the Mario 3D platformers)

And what we mean by rehashing is getting a hat at the end of a elemental zone. I like hats but it's getting old. Or Lock Puzzles/Spark Locks, cannon sequences and of course, the dreaded Sky Stones.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Didn't Eon say that the adventure with our skylanders is just beginning at the end of the game? Other than the 4th star on the levels, you could theoretically wipe everything else up before end of story mode. I like random traveling through existing levels...but I think people are weighing in that a little more in the game is appreciated. Again, people buy the characters for their own personal reasons, no need to judge how many, why etc. And frankly any criticism on content has been legitimate throughout the series, but decisively so in the latest entry.

I honestly always thought that Eon was referring to the next game...

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Quote: Drek95

So wickedrunt you bought Wave 4 and didn't open them just because... They don't unlock anything new in the game?
I hope you played as them unsealed and simply didn't liked them, because if you simply bought them for the sake of a complete collection without even trying them out... Well I have no right to judge but I don't think that's what Skylanders are for...

What you call "rehash" I call "a gameplay I like and wouldn't want to change to the point I don't recognize it anymore".
As for more overpriced plastic... I don't think it's overpriced at all (Trap Master's figure aren't worth 15€/$ but as characters they are unique enough to justify the price) since with that plastic you also get a new character to upgrade and play as, maybe even finding out it's a favorite.

Sure I would like to have something for my characters to do such as Heroics, Quests, Bonus Missions but I still cannot really complain on how the characters have been developed and introduced so far.
Maybe I'm the only one but I still enjoy the game even if just walking around the levels, killing enemies and gathering experience and treasure to level up my Skylanders while getting more used to them and leading their weak points and strenghts... But that's just me...

Oh and Skylanders are the heart of this franchise.
Don't expect less characters in the future.

With kind respect
- Drek the sucker

Were not saying that we want the gameplay changed entirely, all we want it for TfB/VV to spice it up. Maybe have the camera closer to the Skylander and have control over it as well (Think the Classic Spyro games, Lego games or any of the Mario 3D platformers)

And what we mean by rehashing is getting a hat at the end of a elemental zone. I like hats but it's getting old. Or Lock Puzzles/Spark Locks, cannon sequences and of course, the dreaded Sky Stones.

Absolutely agree they should really introduce something truly "game-changing" like an open world, a third person controllabe camera closer to the Skylander (would love it) and maybe a system of Quests (villains' ones were a start but we need more and a little more meaty).

But still I like what you listed and don't consider it "rehashed" at all.
Except maybe hats past Elemental Gates since I don't use them often.
Of course it's just a personal opinion I don't by any mean intend to say it IS great, just that I like it a lot.

I'm confident V.V. will introduce a lot of interesting innovations with Skylanders 5 just like they did with SWAP Force; I just hope they will be more in line with my tastes this time.

I have feeling a first person shooter could be on the cards

Quote: Snap Shot

I have feeling a first person shooter could be on the cards

The Battlecast screenshot we have shows third person but seemingly shooter, but again, no one knows if it's a main game or side game, just that it exists.

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: Snap Shot

I have feeling a first person shooter could be on the cards

The Battlecast screenshot we have shows third person but seemingly shooter, but again, no one knows if it's a main game or side game, just that it exists.

While a side game might be nice, I'd be happier if it was a new mode for multiplayer arenas. Here's hoping VV again tries to please all of the fans all of the time!

-Doug

If they keep making stupid marketing choices they should be worried...

Activision seems like they should be worried

Quote: wgeorge111

Activision seems like they should be worried

Ok, so it's well known that the largest segment of Skylanders players play on the Wii. At this point, most kids will admit and it's commonly accepted that that's basically because parents decide that the Wii is good enough and their kids don't need a new console. So, with that penny pinching in mind, Activision should be worried about a game that costs at least $25 more out of the gate and seems to offer more than it's actually delivering? Since Lego Dimensions isn't announced for the Wii, that means that all of those parents will not only have to shell out more for the starter, each expansion/"adventure" pack, each new character, etc. and a new $350+ console? Nope, nope, nope.

-Doug

^ I assume you are one of the few people that believe Skylanders 5 will be availble for the Wii.

Quote: wgeorge111

^ I assume you are one of the few people that believe Skylanders 5 will be availble for the Wii.

As much as I don't want it on the Wii since it is only holding the game back, imagine the parrental outrage..,

How ever if you have an investment in Skylanders already, upgrading to a new console has probably been on your radar as a parent for a while knowing the old one will lose support soon. But it doesn't make your old wii unusable you can keep your data, all your figures everything.

To switch from skylanders you abandon the console you have WHILE any investment in the franchise already. And didn't trap team and swap force wii u versions come with the wii one? That's a sign already it's ending.

Quote: OnionCakes

How ever if you have an investment in Skylanders already, upgrading to a new console has probably been on your radar as a parent for a while knowing the old one will lose support soon. But it doesn't make your old wii unusable you can keep your data, all your figures everything.

To switch from skylanders you abandon the console you have WHILE any investment in the franchise already. And didn't trap team and swap force wii u versions come with the wii one? That's a sign already it's ending.

Actually a lot of parents are a bit naïve when it comes to marketing. My parrents understand that console won't be supported forever but some parrents don't understand.

Quote: darkchylde28

Quote: wgeorge111

Activision seems like they should be worried

Ok, so it's well known that the largest segment of Skylanders players play on the Wii. At this point, most kids will admit and it's commonly accepted that that's basically because parents decide that the Wii is good enough and their kids don't need a new console. So, with that penny pinching in mind, Activision should be worried about a game that costs at least $25 more out of the gate and seems to offer more than it's actually delivering? Since Lego Dimensions isn't announced for the Wii, that means that all of those parents will not only have to shell out more for the starter, each expansion/"adventure" pack, each new character, etc. and a new $350+ console? Nope, nope, nope.

-Doug

Quote: wgeorge111

^ I assume you are one of the few people that believe Skylanders 5 will be availble for the Wii.

Nope, I'm hoping and praying that they don't put it out for the Wii. But, the numbers are undeniable. If parents have been steadfast for three years, with each successive Wii release leading to more and more problematic, buggy, truncated (missing content) releases, it's hard to see them suddenly going, "Oh, ok, we'll buy you a PS4 now."

Quote: ninja9351

As much as I don't want it on the Wii since it is only holding the game back, imagine the parrental outrage..,

Exactly. I'm crossing my fingers that the Wii version goes in the dumpster but have serious doubts about that happening given parents' refusal to adopt even Nintendo's Wii replacement, the Wii U.

Quote: OnionCakes

How ever if you have an investment in Skylanders already, upgrading to a new console has probably been on your radar as a parent for a while knowing the old one will lose support soon. But it doesn't make your old wii unusable you can keep your data, all your figures everything.

To switch from skylanders you abandon the console you have WHILE any investment in the franchise already. And didn't trap team and swap force wii u versions come with the wii one? That's a sign already it's ending.

Yes, there are signs that Activision is "hint hinting" parents to switch consoles, but as to whether they're actually abandoning the Wii? Until Sky 5 gets announced, or heck, even released, there's no way to tell if it will ever actually happen.

Quote: ninja9351

Actually a lot of parents are a bit naïve when it comes to marketing. My parrents understand that console won't be supported forever but some parrents don't understand.

Yep, exactly. There's also the money factor to consider, as a lot of parents don't use their kids' consoles and thus don't have any personal investment in them, they just see it as an expensive toy. Being a gamer and a parent, when the time comes that my son wants/needs a console upgrade, chances are I will have already realized what was coming for a while and had plans in place to make it happen. Do most parents act like me? Not in my experience, and certainly not in my region.

-Doug