darkSpyro

With vehicles now added, this could have been the perfect chance for an open world game. They could have made the main storyline just involve the Land vehicle, and add side quests like "Defeat the underwater lab" or something that wouldn't prevent you from finishing the main story, but that's how Sea and Sky vehicles would be used. I mean, I might be crazy, considering I'm almost done with Batman Arkham Knight, and that's what gave me the idea.

That would have been cool.

That's what I always asked myself xD an open world is awesome

I hope they go in that direction in the future. Maybe if the vehicle figures are successful then they will move on to an open word concept that uses them in a more integrated way.

Absolutely agree.

Imagine freely roaming the skies, seas and lands of the Skylands with you vehicles finding hidden collectables and sidequests.
I could see that being the function of vehicles in Skylanders 6, if they decide to create an open world.

Not to mention that would have been the first true step towards an actual innovation inside the game.
Getting rid of chapters in order to create a fully explorable world with just a simple Main Story to follow.

But never say never, the SuperChargers' hub may be along these lines.

I wouldn't mind if they made the hub open world, similar to lego games that way you can free roam and train and then have the storyline missions more linear, maybe give us access to flyns ship and sharktooths so those who don't have a vehicle can still play easily.

Another idea would be have an open world skylanders as a spin off, maybe something like a multiverse setting, which would allow us story wise to have more then one portal master in the game(online),this could also play along as why they're are so many versions or some characters, making earth the collecting point of all the universes of skylands, culd make that each game is its own universe like what pokemon did with episode delta.

Like not completely open world, but make all the levels interconnected so they physically exist on the same map, even if they can't be rendered at the same time. So levels would end by flying back to hub, or maybe straight into another level with a checkpoint and a Airplane to hub, but the levels could be explorable and backtrackable

Quote: Blink182Bouncer

Like not completely open world, but make all the levels interconnected so they physically exist on the same map, even if they can't be rendered at the same time. So levels would end by flying back to hub, or maybe straight into another level with a checkpoint and a Airplane to hub, but the levels could be explorable and backtrackable

Would be a perfect soluction.

A great mix between open world and levels.

I think it just needs to be an Opener world like the first two skylander games where Fire elements can walk on fire, water elements can swim, Life Skylanders can sometimes open a path within the level.
BUT all in all just make the levels really really really long without the added fluff elemental doors.

I think the plus about open world games/areas is that you don't feel a longevity of any kind.

Sure, the Story may end but there will still be sidequests, collectables scattered all over the map and secrets to uncover and there will still be fun to be had even after all those are gone.
Levels begin and end and you get a strong temporal restriction.

Open worlds are always there.

LEGO games have a lot of levels in them but always have an open world component of some sort (the most prominent being the whole Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings trilogy game) with little to no loading times.

A big map completely explorable from the start.
Couple it with all (and more) the elemental features from SA and... BOOM!
Skylanders' killer app created.

Quote: Drek95

I think the plus about open world games/areas is that you don't feel a longevity of any kind.

Sure, the Story may end but there will still be sidequests, collectables scattered all over the map and secrets to uncover and there will still be fun to be had even after all those are gone.
Levels begin and end and you get a strong temporal restriction.

Open worlds are always there.

LEGO games have a lot of levels in them but always have an open world component of some sort (the most prominent being the whole Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings trilogy game) with little to no loading times.

A big map completely explorable from the start.
Couple it with all (and more) the elemental features from SA and... BOOM!
Skylanders' killer app created.

That would be mind blowing. Or should I say mind BOOMING!

That would've been amazing. I hope the vehicles add a real experience, I think VV didn't take things far enough with the swap zones so we will see how they do with the vehicles.

i would like an open world game, but clearly none of the skylanders developers like my idea.

Yeah, sure they'll read this thread someday and say it's your idea instead of the OP's.

Or read this thread at all, since it's an unwritten rule to not go after fandom ideas too much lest someone yell 'OMG THEY COPIED MY GREAT IDEA!!!1!'.

Open world is cool, but several games have put that in so high priority the rest suffers a bit. I'd have to be part of the year's gimmick to be given proper attention and not just shoved in.

The gimmick concept itself is old. They can no longer re-heat the literally same game with a gimmick and call it new. They have to take more risks with the gameplay, otherwise I don't see this going in another game or two. Open world concepts even if not implemented fully would make things FAR MORE interesting and will extend the life of the fraonchise imo. Not in its current state of a one-path chapter. It's clear to me they are not interested in taking risks, so I guess the slide will continue. SC gimmick is literally firewalled content that depends on the gimmick, just like TT and every game before it. It should be more interesting than that. It's one of the reasons I like the Swappers because the innovation DID do more than that (although it did have firewalled Swap Zones, the game play possibilities of the character was WAY more interesting).

I didn't mean gimmick on the meaning Skylanders uses, I meant gimmick on the usual video game sense of the world - like SF had the in-engine cutscenes as its big thing, and it actually worked because they didn't do like a lot of AAA games out there that have the cutscenes even more lifeless than the gameplay because 'OMG the engine is so powerful the quality stays the same', they focused on that.

Ahh ok. Yeah, you could absolutely tell when they used cutscenes.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

The gimmick concept itself is old. They can no longer re-heat the literally same game with a gimmick and call it new. They have to take more risks with the gameplay, otherwise I don't see this going in another game or two. Open world concepts even if not implemented fully would make things FAR MORE interesting and will extend the life of the fraonchise imo. Not in its current state of a one-path chapter. It's clear to me they are not interested in taking risks, so I guess the slide will continue. SC gimmick is literally firewalled content that depends on the gimmick, just like TT and every game before it. It should be more interesting than that. It's one of the reasons I like the Swappers because the innovation DID do more than that (although it did have firewalled Swap Zones, the game play possibilities of the character was WAY more interesting).

if this gimmick thing keeps on going, they will just have to add more to buy. the thing isnt about making a good game anymore its about selling more and more plastic. but everything has its limits, last year trap team was the beginning of the end of troubles to come i think. there was a huge backlash of none happy customers. and we can already see of the activity in the super chargers forum at darkspyro that there aint that much activity as it was for the earlier games. but they can only blam them self, customers have said they want more game content and less plastic, but they are not heard. so inventively everything skylanders will end some day.

I strongly disagree on the "they just want to sell more plastic they don't care about the games" opinion.
You know what I see in this games?
Passion.

Mistakes, sure, bad choices, ok, a thirst for money obviously (that's not exclusive to Activision)... But I see love, dedication and passion.
Each time I see a new Skylander come to life, each time I hear his/her voice, each time I get to know his/her powers, abilities, personality... I cannot help but think about all the effort they put in just that single character.
Then there are NPCs, levels, lore... All treated with an admirable care.
For kids' games standards of course.

You can get the same feeling by playing a LEGO game and probably by playing Infinity too.
From SA to SuperChargers, based on what I've seen so far, that passion has never died.
Again, bad mistakes and decisions were made but I cannot honestly look at my Skylanders games and say "wow, what a huge robbery".

Ok, uuuuuh... THAT aside, I have seen some interesting branching which will most likely lead to tons and tons of hours of fun backtracking.
Definitely a great idea (loved it in Giants' Oracle level) and maybe a concrete step towards some bigger changes in level design.

It's a mixed bag for me Drek. I've seen passion from both devs. I've also seen greed. Seriously, 80 characters AND over 40 unique trap shapes? Give me a break. Now they're swinging all the way on the "we're not giving you anything" this year. It's nuts. I never would've thought I would have a year where I get less characters than the first game, but here it is--immediately subsequent to the worst game (financially) for those "getting it all". And let's not forget the incremental charge increases. IMO Superchargers should be 9.99 and the vehicles 12.99. They haven't earned the 14.99 price since swappers.

So, all of this talk is just that until I make a vote with my bucks.

The Oracle level is EXACTLY what Im talking about---promotes re playability and changes the outcome (somewhat). Not sure why they haven't tried that since then.

Quote: MetaVolca

With vehicles now added, this could have been the perfect chance for an open world game. They could have made the main storyline just involve the Land vehicle, and add side quests like "Defeat the underwater lab" or something that wouldn't prevent you from finishing the main story, but that's how Sea and Sky vehicles would be used. I mean, I might be crazy, considering I'm almost done with Batman Arkham Knight, and that's what gave me the idea.

I just want to say, platforming collect-athon series meets openworld vehicle simulator is a recipe for disaster. [See Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts]

Nuts and Bolts was good on what it tried to do - building vehicles worked fine, the game wasn't short but up until the Terrarium didn't drag,and the artificial lands actually looked real nice. Its mistake was trying to be part of the BK franchise by saying that the previous games surely sucked and people don't care about them anymore.
No,really, just try reading whatever the Lord of Games says in the game.

Yes, it should have been open world.

Just saying 'open world' does not win any points from me. Maybe I am pessimistic, but an open world in the format they choose to run the franchise would lose a lot of its excitement quickly.

Taking a look at something like the Batman: Arkham series or the Legend of Zelda series, they work because you have a main character growing and acquiring new tools as they progress. The choses you make, whether it is to stay on course with the story or try your hand at a side-quest, can influence things in a lot of ways. Even if it just for some story telling, exploring your options can be fun when it is not trivial.

But what of Skylanders? Once a Skylander is fully upgraded, which does not always take long, it becomes a game of "Was this character worth the ten dollars spent?". Though, I myself usually find a way to appreciate each one I buy, I cannot deny that I only rely on a select few for really anything I am doing in the games. So what would there be to do after you have upgraded your skylanders? Find more Legendary Treasures? Find more Hats?
There needs to be something--a reason, a reward--worth running around for. But more than that, I need some incentive to use my entire collection.

I am not saying they cannot make it work; I am saying that the open world would have to come first above everything. Which would be a risky endeavor that could change the series--for better or for worse--as a whole.

Again, I am not against it; I am just doubtful in the idea.

ya know...they could lock down certain abilities (if it was a gimmick) until later in the game...not to trivilaize your post b/c I definitely agree when we say "open world" we know there's all sorts of challenges (and opportunities) for them to solve.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Give me a break. Now they're swinging all the way on the "we're not giving you anything" this year. It's nuts. I never would've thought I would have a year where I get less characters than the first game, but here it is--immediately subsequent to the worst game (financially) for those "getting it all".

I don't understand this particular stance. Why does it matter if more characters come out one year and less in the next if it all averages out in the end? If they released 50 characters in TT and 50 in SC, you'd end up with the same amount as 80 in TT and 20 in SC.


Also, I feel like if someone is a "collect them all" type of player then it's kind of expected that you have to take whatever lumps come your way. The game isn't designed so that you have to buy everything, and they certainly don't expect most parents to buy everything for their kids. Just like any toyline, the game is designed for kids to pick and choose from among their favorite characters. If you are a completionist, you are putting that burden onto yourself and you don't have a right to complain when it gets harder for you.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

ya know...they could lock down certain abilities (if it was a gimmick) until later in the game...not to trivilaize your post b/c I definitely agree when we say "open world" we know there's all sorts of challenges (and opportunities) for them to solve.

Yeah, I was sort of thinking that way in favor of the open world concept. Like if they incorporated a new quest system for each element/character, make soul gems only obtainable by the corresponding Skylander, updated Heroic Challenges, mini-games, Bonus Missions... I could go on and on. And I almost did, but decided against contradicting my point of view at the time.

Side-bar, thanks for not stepping on my opinion. I know I can ramble and rant more often than not.

That was not a ramble at all just pure personal and motivated opinions.

I'm not going to write again what I already wrote a lot of times (don't want to stretch the page too much ) but there are actually quite a few ways to encourage using different Elements or even specific Skylanders/Gimmicklanders by keeping the open-world structure.

I'll just make one example.
Let's say all the winged characters or any Skylanders with some kind of propeller (Jet-Vac, Chopper, Boom Jet) can fly in this game absolutely freely.
But at the same time not all the characters would fly in the same way.

Boom Jet would move super fast but wouldn't be that much controllable and so would Jet-Vac even if a little slower and a bit more maneuverable.
So they would be perfect to quickly reach distant locations but not that much for more precise tasks.
Chopper would lift-off vertically very rapidly but wouldn't be as fast moving horizontally.
The ideal to quickly reach high areas right above you.
Spyro, Whirlwind, Sonic Boom, Cynder, Sunburn and other similar character would have the most balanced flight, not that fast but quite controllable, good for flying among islands or trees.
And then we would have High Five with his quick and extremely maneuverable dashes, perfect to move inside narrow spaces quickly.

And that's only for flying characters, not even all of them.
Now extend that concept to swimming, running, charging, jumping, going underground, walking on different hazards... And so on.

If another kids' friendly franchise such as LEGO can take advantage of its kinda "limited" character uniqueness in a not-so-gimmicky way imagine what we could get with all the 116 different Skylanders released so far.

Would buy that game in a heartbeat.

There is many way such a game could be made working and really fun. There could be features based on ability/design types (characters with wings/flying devices like Drek mentionned) or characters that use explosives (a bit like some villain quests in TT) or even character-specific secrets. Plus, there could be upgrades that could be found that allow all characters of a same element to use some entry points (surf on water/dive/activate geysers/walk on lave/go through fire walls, etc.)

Exactly.

The key is making each character unique and encourage you to play as him/her... Without making him strictly needed.

You could fly or swim faster with, say, Jet-Vac and Flip Wreck but you could do the same just fine with any other Air (or winged) or Water Skylander.

A good way to do so is release at least one character per Element with those specific features inside the game.
For example release at least a winged Skylander or even put him/her inside the Starter Pack.
This way anyone could try the basic flying experience and may feel intrigued by experimenting with other characters.

I shouldn't need to use a certain character I should want it.

Quote: Muffin Man

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Give me a break. Now they're swinging all the way on the "we're not giving you anything" this year. It's nuts. I never would've thought I would have a year where I get less characters than the first game, but here it is--immediately subsequent to the worst game (financially) for those "getting it all".

I don't understand this particular stance. Why does it matter if more characters come out one year and less in the next if it all averages out in the end? If they released 50 characters in TT and 50 in SC, you'd end up with the same amount as 80 in TT and 20 in SC.


Also, I feel like if someone is a "collect them all" type of player then it's kind of expected that you have to take whatever lumps come your way. The game isn't designed so that you have to buy everything, and they certainly don't expect most parents to buy everything for their kids. Just like any toyline, the game is designed for kids to pick and choose from among their favorite characters. If you are a completionist, you are putting that burden onto yourself and you don't have a right to complain when it gets harder for you.

Some people have a range to spend. I'd argue the completionist collector/player broke the bank last year, and NEED this year to recover. I'd rather keep it reasonable. 32-40 characters is fine. My pet peeve is the vehicles don't count as much as a skylander...and we know its functionality is shut down after this year so it's one and out.

My concern is they've given us so many characters so fast, that not only have they burned the candle at both ends, but the stick itself is dynamite and not a candle.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Quote: Muffin Man

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Give me a break. Now they're swinging all the way on the "we're not giving you anything" this year. It's nuts. I never would've thought I would have a year where I get less characters than the first game, but here it is--immediately subsequent to the worst game (financially) for those "getting it all".

I don't understand this particular stance. Why does it matter if more characters come out one year and less in the next if it all averages out in the end? If they released 50 characters in TT and 50 in SC, you'd end up with the same amount as 80 in TT and 20 in SC.


Also, I feel like if someone is a "collect them all" type of player then it's kind of expected that you have to take whatever lumps come your way. The game isn't designed so that you have to buy everything, and they certainly don't expect most parents to buy everything for their kids. Just like any toyline, the game is designed for kids to pick and choose from among their favorite characters. If you are a completionist, you are putting that burden onto yourself and you don't have a right to complain when it gets harder for you.

Some people have a range to spend. I'd argue the completionist collector/player broke the bank last year, and NEED this year to recover. I'd rather keep it reasonable. 32-40 characters is fine. My pet peeve is the vehicles don't count as much as a skylander...and we know its functionality is shut down after this year so it's one and out.

My concern is they've given us so many characters so fast, that not only have they burned the candle at both ends, but the stick itself is dynamite and not a candle.

Well, I'm just saying that if you choose to be a completionist you should know what you're getting into before diving in. No one is forced to be a completionist. You could've chosen to completely ignore half the figures last year and the game would be no different to you than if it had actually had only 40 characters.

I do really hope that vehicles maintain their functionality, though. And not an artificial functionality like traps, either. They should be made usable throughout the core game just as how vehicles are usable throughout Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions.

The "no one is forcing u" argument is old and contrived. Btw, it's hard to know what you're getting into since the game changes every time. I will concede that no one is forcing me to spend my money, but that doesn't mean I have to shut up about my complaints about it. I'm pretty decent about articulating my points. If you don't like it, well...not my problem.

Re: forward compatibility of vehicles....the precedent has been set with traps. You're setting yourself up for disappointment to presume vehicles will move forward...that's one of the reasons why my value or utility for 20 vehicles isn't high. Keep in mind that traps last game was only $5.99. Now they want us to spend $14.99 for a vehicle that will work. for. one. game. I saw this before the launch of Trap Team...not sure why people are ignoring the cold hard facts. Skylanders are provided forward compatibility. That's it. So, make sure you know what you're getting yourself into, ok buddy?

Hopefully, three vehicles is the minimum purchase in order to 100% the areas...but I have a sneaking suspicion they want us to buy at least half of them.

I think there are three reasons why they are actually giving us so few Skylanders this year:

- they are truly considering revamps and vehicles to be brand new characters.
I might understand it with vehicles since they seem to be unique and are indeed new (even if I fear for forward compatibility as TakeYourLemons remembered) but definitely won't accept that idea for revamps.
I will most likely buy all the vehicles because they intrigue me but the fact they will probably not be fully functional in the sixth game is enough to not consider them as Skylanders;

- they thought last year's roster was too much.
There must be some other option between 36 brand new Skylanders and 10, right...?

- they actually put so much effort designing and creating all the other parts of this game they ended up not having enought time to think about a lot of new Skylanders.
This game looks huge and if they did came up with creative and fun driving animations for all the 116 old characters then I can only wonder how much difficult and "stressing" it must have been... But if you don't make Skylanders come first in a game called after them... Well... You may be missing some important point.

As you can see those options aren't conflicting so the answer might be a mix of them rather than a specific one.

You may be wondering why I didn't talked about the Skymiibos.
Easy.
They are not proper Skylanders since they don't work on all the platforms but the devs probably counted them as brand new characters too (which they are, definitely more than all the revamps) so I thought I would have to at least mention them.

My honest opinion: there's quite a few already designed skylanders that were left on the cutting room floor after last year's sales decline (be it lack of interest, port problem etc) -- and I do think VV is trying to bring a game of depth. My perception may be shot all to hell when we know what we will end up getting, but that's where I am now. Granted I have no reason to believe that based on what I've seen so far...so for now I wait.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

The "no one is forcing u" argument is old and contrived. Btw, it's hard to know what you're getting into since the game changes every time. I will concede that no one is forcing me to spend my money, but that doesn't mean I have to shut up about my complaints about it. I'm pretty decent about articulating my points. If you don't like it, well...not my problem.

I never said you have to shut up about anything. Just that it's illogical to expect them to change their methods to cater to completionists, when they aren't selling the game with completionists in mind in the first place. They have no obligation to cater to completionists and it will not benefit them to do so, since most people are non-completionists and non-completionists naturally have certain buying habits that Activision will do everything in its power to cater to and/or exploit.

I don't recall asking that they change their methods. Their methods are inconsistent. It is what it is. You may or may not be new here but that statement "no one is forcing" has been uttered so many times it's an automatic defensive trigger for me now. If they can copy and paste the game every time the least they can do is do the same in terms of toy availability. I fully understand that uttering the wish does not make it happen. Hey, if they want to cater to the person that buys one toy over someone who buys them all that's their prerogative. I wouldn't be surprised if things end badly, but that's their problem, not mine.

Speaking of which, the gameplay mechanics in the Lego Portal video looks awesome. And innovative. And fresh. Yet familiar. Gotta love GLADOS and Wheatley. Three vehicles in one? Wow.

I would have loved it to be open world. But I don't kow if that will ever happen. Muchto my displeasure the continue to focus skylanders to a very young audience, which may found a bit complex a open world type of game. Damn..

There are some open world games with kids in mind out there. Just triple the amount of handholding and tutorial and they don't have that much chance to get lost... Of course, at the cost of the patience of any older fan that WANTS to get lost and find new things.

Lego games are aimed at the same demographic and there have been several open world Lego games.