darkSpyro

Magic items were always next-to-pointless, and they were equally useless in SuperChargers--only good for money in a game where it was ridiculously easy to come by anyway. It's just that Imaginators made the cash infusion a one-time thing rather than every time you visit the hub.

Quote: SkyFan91

I'm surprised no one talked about how terrible imaginators was. My god that story was horrendous....

"Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important.”
―John Carmack

I know this quote is quite old, but honestly... It's still true to a lot of people. You can't say the entire game is terrible because the story sucks. And frankly, SC's story is worse than people give it credit for and muddles up lore and suffers from poor pacing and some really dumb atmosphere-breaking moments. I'm stunned I never see them discussed. I don't think the story is bad, but really stunned people say it's amazing or by far the best.

To get back on topic: nowadays I don't think Skylanders was "ruined" by one point. My ranking of the games is SI > SA > SF > TT > Giants > Big Rigs > SC, so you can see I don't think it just went downhill after some game. If I had to say where I think it started going downhill, like as in if you paid me to pick a point, I would say TT (as I feel it and especially SC were designed too heavily around their gimmick, even if I like TT's)... But then my love for SI is an anomaly. I feel like the game itself finally started heading in a direction I like again with SI, plot aside, but now it's over for me anyway because even if there is another game I don't expect it to continue going in that direction and any game just isn't worth this price tag for me anymore.

But seriously, don't deny that SC was the darkest age. Regardless of what you think about the game, the fandom was at its worst then out of any of the games overall, many people hated it (while SI was at least initially well recieved), and I would say it was a nail in the coffin. There's been complaining during every age but the worst parts of the fandom just shone during SC and activity took a nosedive. It was already waning during TT- and I'm going to guess that's because TT didn't recapture the entire crowd that was disappointed in SF as well as many people feeling it had too much to collect and a lot of people just wanted to finish during that game for various reasons- but I think SC actively drove away people and the only new adopters it attracted are people who wanted to collect Skymiibo or play as them. Not a feature that keeps you in the game.
And I should know something about the fandom activity since I used to be a moderator on a Skylanders fansite. We wouldn't even get random comments on old articles or even anyone asking what happened with our lack of activity and news during SC. None of us on the site cared about doing that news. Another point I remember is that the Skylanders Subreddit pretty much just became people trying to trade off and sell figurines and there were less posts about news between that. We also now have Academy which a lot of people like and that keeps the fandom from being at least complete **** these days (I suppose there were comics during SC, but a lot fewer people read them).

Regardless, it's sad to see the end of my time in the fandom still has similar feeling to old arguments and the feeling of a lot of people trying to force their opinions... But alas, that includes myself. I wish I could speak more open-mindedly here, but I feel the fandom nowadays does not appreciate that or the critical discussion I remember joining in SF and many people are already set on what games they like and have heavily clashing opinions and just scoff at others. Again, includes myself. I guess I just wish that the fandom could have ended more maturely, but in retrospect, I never should have expected that.

TL ; DR - imo, the games didn't suddenly nosedive at some point, but the fandom did from TT-onwards. Critical discussions before then, while you would get users insistent on their opinions, generally were more open than TT-onwards where it feels a lot more people started to "pick sides" (something that was a thing even since Giants, with people arguing the first game was better and Giants was underwhelming, but that particularly started hurting discussions during TT). That's my final word on the subject.

Come to think of it, the main reason Imaginators failed was probably because they didn't repose Gill Grunt. We need to realize this.

SF - developer trust lost from poor-quality ports (Beenox), unbearably long loading times and almost-unskippable dialog made replay a drag
TT - trap masters don't really "do" anything unique in comparison to past "premium" characters, the yawn trap "fiasco", removal of battle mode
SC - core gameplay constantly set aside for vehicle segments (like SF, faults overshadowed gameplay improvements), made variants in support of fraudulent "charity"
IG - no Gill Grunt, if you never noticed the power creep idk how to help you

But yea, the true reason is that Skylanders just got old, expensive as hell and the overal quality of the games got lower and lower.

Quote: Okaps

SF - developer trust lost from poor-quality ports (Beenox), unbearably long loading times and almost-unskippable dialog made replay a drag
TT - trap masters don't really "do" anything unique in comparison to past "premium" characters, the yawn trap "fiasco", removal of battle mode
SC - core gameplay constantly set aside for vehicle segments (like SF, faults overshadowed gameplay improvements), made variants in support of fraudulent "charity"
IG - no Gill Grunt, if you never noticed the power creep idk how to help you

you know swap force loading times was probably to hide how short the game was

>oversaturation of the TTL franchise with DI and LD
>DI's cancellation making people fear that SL would do the same, thus turning off potential buyers for imaginators
>releasing the abomination that was superchargers after two stellar games, turning off potential buyers and fans for imaginators
>people just getting tired of microtransactions in general
>the original fans who got SSA growing out of it

that's all i can think of.

i've proven multiple times that superchargers is the worst of the six games regarding gameplay, mechanics, product distribution, and plot.

you're entitled to your own opinion, matt-just not your own facts.

i've proven multiple times that superchargers is the worst of the six games regarding gameplay, mechanics, product distribution, and plot.

you're entitled to your own opinion, matt-just not your own facts.

i'd rather have a game with an average plot and good gameplay mechanics than a game with good plot and god-awful vehicle zone gameplay.

Quote: ZapNorris

i'd rather have a game with an average plot and good gameplay mechanics than a game with good plot and god-awful vehicle zone gameplay.

Then why mention the plot of Superchargers was a problem or was bad earlier?

Quote: ZapNorris

i've proven multiple times that superchargers is the worst of the six games regarding gameplay, mechanics, product distribution, and plot.

you're entitled to your own opinion, matt-just not your own facts.

Sure sure the game that has the best plot in the series (and was the closest to having dark moments) is totally the worst and the embarrassment of a plot known as imaginators is toootally better /s

Quote: SkyFan91

Quote: ZapNorris

i've proven multiple times that superchargers is the worst of the six games regarding gameplay, mechanics, product distribution, and plot.

you're entitled to your own opinion, matt-just not your own facts.

Sure sure the game that has the best plot in the series (and was the closest to having dark moments) is totally the worst and the embarrassment of a plot known as imaginators is toootally better /s

Translation:You're opinion is different than mine, so suck it

I find it ironic that having racing as a gimmick was wanted for so long, but when we finally got it, we hated it. I can understand why though. Because when people said they wanted racing, I doubt what they meant was this. It was so terribly implemented compared to what many of us (presumably) hoped for - instead, all our Skylanders became useless for half the game, the gimmick toys costed as much as a regular Skylander (which themselves were more expensive than before with no good reason for it), vehicle combat sections, etc..

There were so many better ways it could have been done. Like, for example, just make racing a side mode instead of being forced into almost every level. And not making them cost as much as a regular Skylander.

instead of looking at the closure of skylanders in an negative way, you could also look at it as positive. it was good it ended when it ended... after the star wars loot boxes scandal we can see clearly what direction the skylanders game would have ended up if it was still going on today. it already had to much figures as dlc and to little content, then the microtransactions was added after the game supercharged was released. it continues with chests for skins and also sold as digital as microtransactions. coming next is pretty clear, loot boxes..

then you have..

game characters sold as physical dlc
game level sold as physical dlc
chest sold as skin for characters as physical dlc
chest sold as skin for characters as digital

then there was also mobile version of trap team and superchargers where they sold digital characters etc...

greed pretty much killed this game, no doubt and had it continued it would have become even worse.

Guess SuperChargers compares better to Nuts and Bolts (though I’m not entirely sure if was a main Banjo-Kazooie title).

If only they offered us vast open areas where we could use our favorite vehicle freely but were’t forced to if we preferred to keep using the Skylander.
And if only the Skylanders, and I mean all of them, actually still mattered while driving.
What a blast it could have been...

I don't know about other families, but the reason we stopped buying the games was because of the price. We only got up to Giants until we stopped because we just didn't want to pay for the games + all the figures you need. I personally got tired of the games after Giants because I just found them boring and tedious, but my family won't buy the games for my little siblings anymore soley because of the cost. I think it scares a lot of parents away because ultimately they are the ones who make the decision whether or not to buy the games, not the kids, and they don't want to be spending thousands on a game series that comes out every year (or used to).
Speaking of, I'm not too involved in the Skylanders side of the fandom so I have no idea, but are we going to be getting another game at all?

Quote: Bolt

I don't know about other families, but the reason we stopped buying the games was because of the price. We only got up to Giants until we stopped because we just didn't want to pay for the games + all the figures you need. I personally got tired of the games after Giants because I just found them boring and tedious, but my family won't buy the games for my little siblings anymore soley because of the cost. I think it scares a lot of parents away because ultimately they are the ones who make the decision whether or not to buy the games, not the kids, and they don't want to be spending thousands on a game series that comes out every year (or used to).
Speaking of, I'm not too involved in the Skylanders side of the fandom so I have no idea, but are we going to be getting another game at all?

yeah, that's why the whole annualization aspect of it was a bad idea from the get-go. Activision assumed everyone into it would have a crapload of money to get the game ( or games if you get multiple editions or even just both a console version & the 3DS game ) plus 20+ new toys every year...nevermind the difficulty many of us have had simply FINDING the toys...

I thought Toysrus had gotten bailed out by someone? Are they still shutting down after all? That sucks.

Watch for store closing sales!

Quote: ViDeOmAnCiNi

Watch for store closing sales!

That's ironic, considering how they normally have excessively high prices. I once did not buy a LEGO set there because it was priced 17% higher than MSRP.