darkSpyro

I will literally slowly go insane from spending $15 on one vehicle because I have like 10 or 11

You took the risk, not them.

Quote: PwnageFTW

I will literally slowly go insane from spending $15 on one vehicle because I have like 10 or 11

Go ahead and prepare for that. It will have barely any use if anything at all. Gimmicks don't carry over in significant fashion.

Quote: Bifrost

You took the risk, not them.

I know. But I want to collect them all, so they better have some use.

I'm one of those "I take the responsibility for my acts", so, if they have a good use or not for vehicles next game, I still will collect then all. Obviously I hope for a good use in the next game, but still. They never promised good use for gimmicks in future games. They only promised that you can use it in future games.

I don't think they'll become like 100% useless in SKy6. I mean, the traps still had use in Superchargers. It wasn't the use we wanted them to have but at least it was better than nothing.

And besides, even if they are, they're still usable in this game, so it's not like it was a totally wasted purchase.

That was exactly how I felt about the Crystal Traps. But then I started thinking. Maybe the Vehicles will be placed as either Legendary Treasures, Magic Items, or simply to provide super high Elemental Powers or 50+ more health in all Skylanders of their specific elements. I'm gonna keep holding onto my favorite Vehicles until Sky 6 arrives. There is no real hurry anyway. If, however, the Vehicles won't be functional in the next game, I'll have the option of selling them or keeping them. So far, my most favorite Vehicles are as followed:

Power Blue Splatter Splasher
Sky Slicer
Jet Stream
E3 Hot Streak
Burn-Cycle
Reef Ripper
Buzz Wing
Tomb Buggy
Dark Sea Shadow
Legendary Sun Runner

If they announce no vehicle stuff in sky 6... I'm putting mine in a box with a note that says "THESE DAMN THINGS RUINED SKYLANDERS" and bury the box underground.

I'm placing bets that they'll keep online (and local) racing as a side thing to do for fun.

My bet is that they'll introduce an entire new set of elements and retire the old ones. Thus making all prior toys unusable, including traps, vehicles, magic, etc.

I'm joking of course. Obviously that'll happen someday but I think if they do that for Sky 6 that it would cause such an outrage that the series will end up with even worse sales than Sky 5 and the entire series will completely die.

My wish for the vehicles is that they'll have mini-games where you control these things as RC racers against someone else. Boats goes around a small pond, cars on a race track and planes in the sky. Nothing like what you had experienced in SC, but something quite like RC Pro-Am for the NES.

Honestly that's the only satisfying but fairly cheap way out of this dilemma. They cannot do something moronic like unlock in game Battlecast cards or worst yet, a power blast on the screen. That's gotten really old now and it's such a cheap blow to the people who had invested hundreds into these things.

Sadly I feel they'll just shove Battlecast electronic cards at us and expect that we'll somehow be influenced to buy the actual paper things because of their frequent in game use. Obviously it won't work, but they'll try nevertheless.

The vehicles won't have the protagonism they had with SSC.

They'll probably have some kind of use, but wether is a minimal use like the traps in this game or a broader one like an online side racing mode is not known yet.

Quote: AdamGregory03

I don't think they'll become like 100% useless in SKy6. I mean, the traps still had use in Superchargers. It wasn't the use we wanted them to have but at least it was better than nothing.

And besides, even if they are, they're still usable in this game, so it's not like it was a totally wasted purchase.

I agree, no figure will be useless per se if we can still use it in at least one game.
That being said not supporting vehicles at least for being still playable somehow (maybe simply in racing mode) would be just as disrespectful as nerfing traps.

But I would like to remind yet again that SuperChargers is the first game where a gimmick has been dropped and that's because it was the first one to deal with a previous non-character set of figures which weren't Magic Items or such (and frankly because they probably thought it would have been stupid to waste time for coding villains when the game is mostly focused on vehicle action) so I'd wait at least the next game to see if it was a one time thing or something normal from now on.

I'm positive about vehicles being usabile again in a decent way.
Don't know how exactly... But I'm confident TfB will find a way if Activision won't stop them.

Throw them away never to be seen again. Skylanders is not a racing game, if you want a racing game go buy something else.

Quote: kaosmumishot

Throw them away never to be seen again. Skylanders is not a racing game, if you want a racing game go buy something else.

SC Racing?

Quote: defpally

Quote: PwnageFTW

I will literally slowly go insane from spending $15 on one vehicle because I have like 10 or 11

Go ahead and prepare for that. It will have barely any use if anything at all. Gimmicks don't carry over in significant fashion.

Non-skylander gimmicks to be specific. They started this trend with Trap Team.

Quote: Bifrost

You took the risk, not them.

Oh trust me, there's a risk to their sales by pulling this stunt.

let's look at this from another angle.

I am Activision and I just took a large studio and invested literally two years (maybe more) in developing the driving tech, the water racing tech and the flying tech in my engine. I then make it a massive focus on my billion dollar gaming franchise. Literally HALF of the figures I sell are vehicles, not cheap plastic traps that cost $0.30 to make, but vehicles with moving parts. Do I simply discard all that tech and all the manufacturing infrastructure for the next years game? Or do I make sure the future edition use it as well.

TFB/VV/Activision made a big bet on vehicles well before the launch of Superchargers. My guess is this element is baked into Sky 6 as well (but likely not the focus). I very much doubt even half way through the dev cycle for Skylanders 6 will have time to change much of anything. Remember it takes nearly 12 months just to develop one figure. Sky 6 has been set in stone a LONG time already and I VERY much doubt they would have invested as much money into the racing end of things just to use in one title.

While I believe Skylanders 6 will have it's own gimmick and likely be more traditional in it's focus on action rpg combat, I would be shocked if they simply decided racing was going to be abandoned altogether. Remember racing brings with it a ton of repeatable gameplay something TFB/VV desperately need in order to keep kids engaged in the series after Christmas. And with things like Boom 5000 they can pay for the online servers through microtransactions (similar to PVZ Garden Warfare, Destiny, Halo, etc are doing).

In fact I wonder if Superchargers was the test balloon before they announced a standalone racing game. Whatever the case may be for them to simply abandoned vehicles would abandoned their long standing practice of supporting every piece of plastic you buy in retail.

With the lower sales figures this year it will only push Activision to offer more value to customers to regain their market lead. Vehicles aren't going anywhere.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Quote: Bifrost

You took the risk, not them.

Oh trust me, there's a risk to their sales by pulling this stunt.

I mean they said 'we don't know if the vehicles will have functionality in the future' waaaay at the beginning. They're not telling you to buy every car and it's totally going to be worth it, people took the risk that not even 3 might.

One could make the point that only three vehicles are really needed to do almost all of the game. They cut back to the bare minimum "required".

They started ditching gimmicks all the way back in Swap Force (there really wasn't a gimmick to be jettisoned from SSA, given the gimmick for that is the basis for the whole franchise). Starting with Swap Force, old Adventure Packs were made obsolete and Giants did little more than open special boxes. In Trap Team, dual element gates were no where to be found or Swap zones - movement type is completely disregarded. And now Superchargers completely got rid of the concept of trapping enemies.

I'd say the very, VERY most we get in 6 is a small track for each element - just mostly to say they did it. More than likely it will be a Skystone or something for registering a vehicle. There is even a chance that vehicles will have no function at all, TfB has shown in the past they have little regard for VV's additions to the series.

Only three vehicles and any Skylander, though of course supercharging or Giants/Elite are good to make the experience less frustrating. But they still only give you stars for Portal Master Rank that ain't carrying over and mods that you can get from Pandergast anyway; you're getting the choice if it's worth it or not.

Adventure Packs were never obsolete until SC, cash aside. They all worked as a stronger Lightcore blast so if you were feeling like giving a boss heck it's 999 damage four times from a full collection.
Giants still acted like portable bombs until TT and stomp chompies and breakables to this day, I think.
Swap Force can swap but their movement thing is the same as any skylander with a gimmicky tertiary. Nightfall on the same level as Hoot Loop,etc.
Trap Team don't do anything, not that they did anything but paywalls there. We've been to the discussion before; should've been lightcores or had another ok bonus? I don't know,but that'd at least have chance to carry over.

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: kaosmumishot

Throw them away never to be seen again. Skylanders is not a racing game, if you want a racing game go buy something else.

SC Racing?

Yes SC Racing for example.

I won't repeat again what Bifrost already said, since I myself have already said it a billion times and wouldn't want to sound like a broken record.

But one thing is stuff for characters to do (Feats of Strenght, SWAP Zones and Traptanium Elemental Gates) and the other is specific abilities tied to them (smashing walls and small enemies, swapping and dealing more damages to trappable villains); the formers are tied to games and the latter should be tied to the figures.
I'm sure we can have a game made out entirely of character's specific abilities which tie naturally to the gameplay without making it feel gimmicky and filled with pay-walls.

And... Do I really have to say anything about TfB having little regards for V.V....?
I mean... Were they the ones creating a game which almost entirely forgot the previous two entrie's characters, settings and lore?
Were they the ones reducing old Adventure Pieces to simple bombs?
Were they the ones turning the other's team gimmick into something basically ininfluent?
I sincerely would like to know if anyone could answer "yes" to a single one of those answers.

I don't like to constantly bash V.V. but please let's at least try to be objective.

Quote: Drek95

I won't repeat again what Bifrost already said, since I myself have already said it a billion times and wouldn't want to sound like a broken record.

But one thing is stuff for characters to do (Feats of Strenght, SWAP Zones and Traptanium Elemental Gates) and the other is specific abilities tied to them (smashing walls and small enemies, swapping and dealing more damages to trappable villains); the formers are tied to games and the latter should be tied to the figures.
I'm sure we can have a game made out entirely of character's specific abilities which tie naturally to the gameplay without making it feel gimmicky and filled with pay-walls.

And... Do I really have to say anything about TfB having little regards for V.V....?
I mean... Were they the ones creating a game which almost entirely forgot the previous two entrie's characters, settings and lore?
Were they the ones reducing old Adventure Pieces to simple bombs?
Were they the ones turning the other's team gimmick into something basically ininfluent?
I sincerely would like to know if anyone could answer "yes" to a single one of those answers.

I don't like to constantly bash V.V. but please let's at least try to be objective.

I agree on the first one, but I feel like it either was a lack of communication between both Devs or TfB was contacted a ton, but was satisfied with the lore. TBFH the lore in SF is actually pretty cool. The story is meh.

I am curious about why they didnt use any of the previous NPCs besides Flynn though.

I'm sure they wanted to but didn't due to time constraints. You see the same thing in TT with the SF AP. I'm sure TfB wanted to add them but obviously it wasn't going t be a priority and it shouldn't have to be.

I assume you mean just the TT, as Giants, minus the boulders and walls, still played the exact same way. The TT had such a poor extra power that there wasn't much a point adding it into SSC.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Quote: Drek95

I won't repeat again what Bifrost already said, since I myself have already said it a billion times and wouldn't want to sound like a broken record.

But one thing is stuff for characters to do (Feats of Strenght, SWAP Zones and Traptanium Elemental Gates) and the other is specific abilities tied to them (smashing walls and small enemies, swapping and dealing more damages to trappable villains); the formers are tied to games and the latter should be tied to the figures.
I'm sure we can have a game made out entirely of character's specific abilities which tie naturally to the gameplay without making it feel gimmicky and filled with pay-walls.

And... Do I really have to say anything about TfB having little regards for V.V....?
I mean... Were they the ones creating a game which almost entirely forgot the previous two entrie's characters, settings and lore?
Were they the ones reducing old Adventure Pieces to simple bombs?
Were they the ones turning the other's team gimmick into something basically ininfluent?
I sincerely would like to know if anyone could answer "yes" to a single one of those answers.

I don't like to constantly bash V.V. but please let's at least try to be objective.

I agree on the first one, but I feel like it either was a lack of communication between both Devs or TfB was contacted a ton, but was satisfied with the lore. TBFH the lore in SF is actually pretty cool. The story is meh.

I am curious about why they didnt use any of the previous NPCs besides Flynn though.

I'm sure they wanted to but didn't due to time constraints. You see the same thing in TT with the SF AP. I'm sure TfB wanted to add them but obviously it wasn't going t be a priority and it shouldn't have to be.

I assume you mean just the TT, as Giants, minus the boulders and walls, still played the exact same way. The TT had such a poor extra power that there wasn't much a point adding it into SSC.

I was actually talking about traps: I know they are still useful but you can't turn playable characters into cards and limited weapons and think it was a good way to port them in the new game.
Trap Masters are a weak concept in terms of gimmick characters but would have made much more sense if they added new trappable villains but of course they didn't and the rest followed.

I agree with what you said.
My point is that usually when we talk about TfB and their mistakes the general opinion is "they are too afraid to leave their comfort zone" while when V.V.'s are taken into account a lot of people tend to say "it's not their fault, it was Activision to force them to do X".

That's what I don't like.
TfB indeed likes to keep a very classic feel but this doesn't make them worse and doesn't mean they haven't done good things.
Exactly like V.V.'s preference to change the experience as much as they can doesn't necessarily make them better or excuses them for their mistakes.

Both teams have their strenghts and their weaknesses but we cannot accuse Activision every time our favorite one makes a wrong move.
They do have a lot of decisional power over the games themselves, even with the Big Brother watching over them.

TFB is creative and has a great style and lore, but is stubborn and has a huuuge lack of grasp of power creep. VV now has a great writer and masters the technical side of the graphics, but falls flat on some NPCs and has a very intrusive way of adding their mark - Dreamworks expying designs, tendency to shove the existing lore out of the window with little care and sticking Tech-y stuff even where it doesn't belong(like the UI).
At least that's what they seem from the outside, minus what's Acti's doing.

Quote: Bifrost

TFB is creative and has a great style and lore, but is stubborn and has a huuuge lack of grasp of power creep. VV now has a great writer and masters the technical side of the graphics, but falls flat on some NPCs and has a very intrusive way of adding their mark - Dreamworks expying designs, tendency to shove the existing lore out of the window with little care and sticking Tech-y stuff even where it doesn't belong(like the UI).
At least that's what they seem from the outside, minus what's Acti's doing.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Apt summary from my perspective as well.

My view on it:

TFB are the original developers of the series, they're the more creative in terms of level and character concepts, and have a great understanding of the series lore, but they're not too good with balancing their characters, and their levels feel too short.

V.V. seems to be better at balancing characters and now are better at storytelling, as well as have the better combat system, but they aren't as creative, they focus a little too much on making things "new and exciting", and their levels feel too long.

I still say that we need to get these two working together in order to create everyone's ideal Skylanders game.

I would be entirely shocked if Vehicles do *nothing* in the next game.
I would be entirely shocked if Vehicles act as Vehicles in the next game.

Vehicles will do "something". But it will be trivial and insulting to someone who's spent 14.99 per vehicle. Guar-an-teed.

Quote: AdamGregory03

I still say that we need to get these two working together in order to create everyone's ideal Skylanders game.

Everyone's been saying it since SF; if they work together and not bicker we could get the greatest game - given more time,of course,it'll be as rushed as ACUnity if they decide to have double the manpower in a single year.

Superchargers was the first in the series to ditch the previous gimmick. I personally hope TFB brings back support for Traps and ditches the vehicles.

Two wrongs don't make a right; it's fair to be mad at VV for removing the useful part of Trap support but doing it back to them will only keep the bickering going.

The only thing that can guarantee gimmick use beyond the current game is to make sure it's tied to the skylander itself. In my opinion, moving the gimmick to specialized toys is inviting the drop of support (which I also disagree with and agree with at the same time) which is probably making loyalists believe Activision has gone against their word of continued support for the toys. Yes I'm ignoring their spotty record on Adventure / Battle packs.

They won't everyone knows, maybe skystones. Even if we ignore the fact that gimmnicks don't carry over games, nobody liked the game specialy the driving sections so skylanders karting is dead.

Activision/TfB will have no big possibilities. To ignore the vehicles or reduce them to a magic item is no option. My hope is, that they bring either Pandergast back with a few challenges/races (like Noodles in TT) or the levels will be more open and it will give small vehicle zones like the swap zones from Swap Force, where we can use our SC vehicles and for all others it will give standard vehicles.

Quote: Jeriba

Activision/TfB will have no big possibilities. To ignore the vehicles or reduce them to a magic item is no option. My hope is, that they bring either Pandergast back with a few challenges/races (like Noodles in TT) or the levels will be more open and it will give small vehicle zones like the swap zones from Swap Force, where we can use our SC vehicles and for all others it will give standard vehicles.

That would make sense, but the name of the next game won't have "superchargers" in it the same way suprechargers didn't have the word "trap" in the name. It's probelmatic to make the gimmick non skylander-based. It adds something unique to the game it was developed for, but leaves us high and dry on the next installment.

This is why I resisted the temptation of buying more. They probably won't do much next game.

I expect the vehicles will continue to be used in multiplayer racing, which I think will be continued in the next game, but not used as the core concept in the adventure.

Guys

I just had the best idea


Get ready for..

^Oh, what should we call that game...Skylanders: 5 S's? (YGH Reference)