darkSpyro

So now that the news from E3 has died down let's start a dialog about what we've seen. Now that we know we will only need one of each vehicle type and any Super Charger to access 100% of the content in the core game, how does that make you feel? I'm ecstatic!!!! While playing Trap Team I felt "forced" to put a stinkin Trap Master on the portal to open Gates and break up Traptanium clusters. This KILLED the flow of the game for me. I would sit down and play the Skylander of my choice (I tend to gravitate towards the cores) and BAM "You need a Trap Master of the Blah Blah Element". It got old fast. It seems like we will actually be able to play what ever Skylander we want. We'll simply need one of each vehicle type and one Super Charger of any elemental type!!!! This will help with the flow of the game to no end. I mean clearly speed and flow are important to Super Chargers. The Super Charging bonus isn't all that important to me since it's just extra pixels and a small power boost. It's like actively switching the the proper element in elemental bonus zones...who does that lol? This is such a big deal (to me anyway) and I feel it will really give the game that since of speed and flow the game appears to be going for. Anyone else feel the same way?

I agree 100% on both your points. I love that I only need to get two extra vehicles for the 100%. And the same about TT it wasn't fun having to get 9 extra trap masters just to finish the game.

Quote: Chef peeper

I agree 100% on both your points. I love that I only need to get two extra vehicles for the 100%. And the same about TT it wasn't fun having to get 9 extra trap masters just to finish the game.

Don't forget your 8 extra traps.

Yeah they totally pulled a 180 with all the crap you needed in Trap Team to what you need in Super Chargers. Hopefully we never see the like again. We all know there will be additional purchases needed to full enjoy a Skylanders game but it needs to be within reason. I also think this is one example of how they are trying to woo players and keep them here. Lego Dimensions is touting that their starter will last people years and Infinity got rid of blind bags and added more refined play experience with separate development teams for the different aspects of 3.0. Don't get me wrong the vehicle modes look amazingly fun by themselves but it helps that they are making a serious effort by not requiring us to drop a lot of $$$ to fully enjoy their game.

Forcing less purchases is a godsend. May TT be remembered as the pay wall game.

Are you 100% sure we only need 3 Vehicles? I am expecting we'll need a Vehicle of each Element to access absolutely everything, like with Trap Team.

Quote: newkill

Are you 100% sure we only need 3 Vehicles? I am expecting we'll need a Vehicle of each Element to access absolutely everything, like with Trap Team.

According to Lou from Activision there are no elemental requirements of any kind in Super Chargers. There are Vehicle Zones and Super Charger gates but both are non-elemental.

I have to say, the change is certainly welcomed in my house. Though, my heart aches that there will be no new core characters. But, at the very least, I will not be forced to use the new gimmicklanders during major level exploration. Though, TT was fun, especially when I was enjoying the story and trapping villains. That being said, I agree that Trap Masters brought the whole thing down a bit. If I liked gimmicks more--and did not 'secretly' resent them for costing extra--I would have found more use for them other than unnecessary 'door keys'.



Whoops, got carried away again, and forgot the topic at hand. There is nothing to see here. ;

I personally intend to buy Skylanders games up to SWAP Force, but decided not to. SWAP Force generally had the best ratings by game reviewers. Activision was said to be going the right direction, but not since Trap Team - why should we buy characters that are said the "most awesome" instead of just the best out of it? Why should we pay for the self-proclaimed ultimate characters to allow access to other areas? I realized the reasons of dropping the greatest features like PvP, and Elemental Gates of any characters: as Activision were funding too much for the games' features, this company decided to narrow down to minimum possible in development of Trap Team - this time with higher prices of the new characters.

Skylanders over the years can be compared with an average human's lifecycle. It's great if you're a baby; child; and a teen, but isn't at maturity. The franchise thrived for its quality characters but milky as of now - That's what I could manage to conclude.

Quote: ninja9351

Quote: Chef peeper

I agree 100% on both your points. I love that I only need to get two extra vehicles for the 100%. And the same about TT it wasn't fun having to get 9 extra trap masters just to finish the game.

Don't forget your 8 extra traps.

Don't forget a 9th trap for Kaos.

One of the videos said you would need the loiter aircraft like the helicopter for certain missions.

What I remember from SwapForce, in opposition to TT, is that I actually WANTED to get all the characters because the accolades were an incentive to do so. It was optional, but nice motivation.

i think we all agree that if the game is worth it we'll spend it, i didnt like the Trap Master doors, i like the elemental gates but not specific to a Trap Master gate, even swap force if you had 2 of the different elemental cores those worked to open gates. I love the simplicity of Superchargers (or so it seems) My kid is stoked and so am i.

Supercharger gates are cool and all to my wallet, but taking the space of Elemental Gates is still a bit iffy - the big thing about Skylands is how element magic altered areas beyond recognition, and now this is just a small rift that happens to take you to some goodies. In the E3 builds elemental zones didn't even get names, now it just feels like match symbol A to Skylander B; not a mysterious windy street being a source of Air energy for a hero to channel for more power and XP, or an unnerving room being a source of Undead energy.

The magic, where is the magic of it all.

Comments posted here was worth pondering over.

The only complaint I have so far is the dumb rulet wheel. I wouldn't mind if it was just gold,hats, and legndary treasuers. But when you say now I have to play a level over and over again just to get a soul gem!!!! No I don't think so. I like my soul gems in places I can get to and not repetition and luck bassed wheel.

There pushing a little to hard for repet game play.

Quote: Nightmoon

Quote: ninja9351

Quote: Chef peeper

I agree 100% on both your points. I love that I only need to get two extra vehicles for the 100%. And the same about TT it wasn't fun having to get 9 extra trap masters just to finish the game.

Don't forget your 8 extra traps.

Don't forget a 9th trap for Kaos.

and 2 more for light and dark

Quote: SkylanderDude9

Quote: Nightmoon

Quote: ninja9351

Don't forget your 8 extra traps.

Don't forget a 9th trap for Kaos.

and 2 more for light and dark

Nah, those were included in the original 8; "extra" = outside of the starter pack.

Quote: Chef peeper

The only complaint I have so far is the dumb rulet wheel. I wouldn't mind if it was just gold,hats, and legndary treasuers. But when you say now I have to play a level over and over again just to get a soul gem!!!! No I don't think so. I like my soul gems in places I can get to and not repetition and luck bassed wheel.

There pushing a little to hard for repet game play.

I have to agree. I am not a fan of relying on luck for prizes. Maybe if it was something more controllable like Skystone Solitaire or something, then I could see the strategy in gambling for your Soul Gems. Hopefully, the roulette wheel will only be a way to transport the Soul Gems from preset locations, giving you more of a bonus than a necessity in using them.

Quote: ToySoldierMafia

Quote: Chef peeper

The only complaint I have so far is the dumb rulet wheel. I wouldn't mind if it was just gold,hats, and legndary treasuers. But when you say now I have to play a level over and over again just to get a soul gem!!!! No I don't think so. I like my soul gems in places I can get to and not repetition and luck bassed wheel.

There pushing a little to hard for repet game play.

I have to agree. I am not a fan of relying on luck for prizes. Maybe if it was something more controllable like Skystone Solitaire or something, then I could see the strategy in gambling for your Soul Gems. Hopefully, the roulette wheel will only be a way to transport the Soul Gems from preset locations, giving you more of a bonus than a necessity in using them.

Yeah that is a really good idea but I really think its just going to be "spin" you get a... and you would have to replay the level if you didn't get what you wanted.

The only saving grace this has is that the levels are shorter. Because let me tell you if I had to play a level like mudwater hollow in SF or chaos layer in TT I would say good by to Skylanders and hello to Disney infinity.
(Sorry if that sounds drastic but when you play with little kids then you would know what I mean when I refer to those two levels)

Wait, do vehicles even have actual Elements? I thought they only had Terrains.

Quote: DeadPortal

Wait, do vehicles even have actual Elements? I thought they only had Terrains.

They have terrain and element, but it's not been explained what they have elements for, since Supercharging is already how you raise their damage.

Quote: DeadPortal

Wait, do vehicles even have actual Elements? I thought they only had Terrains.

Just like Swap Force's movement types, Vehicles have both.

Evidence

Ah. I see. I wonder if there'd be a bonus for using what I call "complementary" Elements in conjunction. For example, Life grows stronger when used with/against Water, so say I put Dive-Clops in a Life vehicle... It'd be neat if the vehicle grew a little stronger, though obviously that won't happen.

Since there's vehicle combat sections, maybe the "this element is strong in this zone" applies to the vehicles rather than the drivers?

^Interesting thought. And maybe a dual powerup when driver and vehicle match?

Quote: Bifrost

Supercharger gates are cool and all to my wallet, but taking the space of Elemental Gates is still a bit iffy - the big thing about Skylands is how element magic altered areas beyond recognition, and now this is just a small rift that happens to take you to some goodies. In the E3 builds elemental zones didn't even get names, now it just feels like match symbol A to Skylander B; not a mysterious windy street being a source of Air energy for a hero to channel for more power and XP, or an unnerving room being a source of Undead energy.

Wait... So Elemental themed areas aren't back... too?
Now we have a simple rift which opens up and simply take us in another place...?

Great.
This is what I call improvement: taking something 4 games kept and ditching it.
V.V. never ceases to amaze me with it's "innovations".

Quote: TakeYourLemons

The magic, where is the magic of it all.

Comments posted here was worth pondering over.

Yes.
Good point.

I felt a bit (not all) of the magic back with SWAP Force, and even a little more with Trap Team.
I consciously spent my money buying only what I wanted to but and not what I needed.

A Mini to unlock a special collectible?
Nah, thanks.

A trap to play with 3 or more villains?
SURE!

The point is I know I will have to spend money for this series.
It's part of the game.
The question is... Am I getting something worth my money, in return?
With Trap Team I spent more but I also personally felt I got more.
Awesome Adventure Packs, funny villains, 40 new Skylanders... All great stuffs which I enjoyed a lot.

With this game I will indeed spend less but I feel I will also get less.
Only 10 true new characters (maybe 12) a couple vehicles (maybe even all if I'll like the mechanic), and a lot of various major and minor disappoitments.
Maybe a couple Adventure Packs... And that's it.

Game-wise I'm sure I will love this entry but regarding the whole collection element... I'm not that happy, this year.

Not feeling the magic this time.

HOWEVER I'll be honest: I honestly think they are trying to hide Vehicle Elemental Gates just like they kinda did with the Traptanium ones last year.
Only one interview confirmed it and then no one talk ed about them again.

We'll see...

^Would make sense. Lower variation of products, they need to increase demand for them, otherwise a lot of people who just want to complete the game by exploring (like myself) will only buy a Sea and Sky vehicle. Although, while i'm not a huge fan of Fiesta, I do like Crypt Crusher. Also, does anyone think they will do those double packs with vehicle/driver kinda like the Buddy Packs from TT?

Quote: Chef peeper

The only complaint I have so far is the dumb rulet wheel. I wouldn't mind if it was just gold,hats, and legndary treasuers. But when you say now I have to play a level over and over again just to get a soul gem!!!! No I don't think so. I like my soul gems in places I can get to and not repetition and luck bassed wheel.

There pushing a little to hard for repet game play.

Yeah this will be interesting. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. It seems like a pain but it also gives a legit reason to replay levels. Plus multiple paths in some of the vehicle modes will make things interesting as well. I guess it adds to the chaos that Kaos has inflicted to Skylands.


Quote: TakeYourLemons

The magic, where is the magic of it all.

Comments posted here was worth pondering over.

Apparently in the vehicles. They are the portals now and have all the magic...and they look awesome. I think you and I (as well as many other) had the same philosophy to pace ourselves in Trap Team. Even knowing Trap Masters were needed for progression we still were collecting at a slow and steady pace. Now that we know we only need two purchases beyond the box I'm literately in shock. This has to be a "we hear you" customer appeasement after the spend-feast that was Trap Team. I personally don't care about Super Charging my vehicle but I am interested in some of the Super Chargers. What's surprising me is that I'm actually excited for the Old Schoolers like Terrafin, Gill Grunt and Stealth Elf. They seem to have their signature moves, like Stealth Elf stealthing and Terrafin digging, but adding ranged attacks to melee and visa versa. I don't typically do the re-posed series Skylanders but these actually look interesting and fun to play.

Trap Masters weren't needed for progression, unless you don't mean "progression to reach 100%".
Then yes, they were needed and it was objectively a bad choice.

But this time I do required at least a land vehicle to play this game.
What if it dies?
I will need to buy a figure to finish the Main Story for the first time in the series.
Worse choice in my opinion.

Not to mention Trap Team had 2 traps inside the game, so why not add at least Stealth Elf's helicopter inside the Starter Pack too?
As it is we only have 1 and a half gimmick inside it.

Well if people only focus on getting 1 of each type of terrain vehicle, that will make my life a lot easier.

I hate having to hunt around of things, because everywhere sells out as soon as the stock arrives.

@ Drek:

Traptanium gates had all sorts of thing locked behind them. They had Treasure, Winged Sapphires, Soul Gems, Hats, etc. I really hated how some Soul Gems were locked up. If you wanted to 100% the game they were required. I personally have never really cared to 100% a game but it Trap Team felt the most "restrictive" with Eon stating I need a Trap Master of the blah blah element to open this gate almost every few minutes.

Not sure what you mean by "What if it dies?" Are you talking about too much damage in game? Or the actual toy breaking? If it's the first, the vehicles don't take the damage. Instead it's the Skylander inside that is damaged and ultimately knocked out. The vehicles never take damage. If the driver gets knocked out just replace it with any from your collection.

Here's the vid. for confirmation:



I'd rather only need to make two additional purchases than Trap Team including 6-8 traps. I'd still need the Trap Masters wouldn't I? Super Chargers is undeniably the BEST deal when it comes to the Starter than ANY previously released Skylanders game...even SSA.

Quote: Tigorus

@ Drek:

Traptanium gates had all sorts of thing locked behind them. They had Treasure, Winged Sapphires, Soul Gems, Hats, etc. I really hated how some Soul Gems were locked up. If you wanted to 100% the game they were required. I personally have never really cared to 100% a game but it Trap Team felt the most "restrictive" with Eon stating I need a Trap Master of the blah blah element to open this gate almost every few minutes.

Not sure what you mean by "What if it dies?" Are you talking about too much damage in game? Or the actual toy breaking? If it's the first, the vehicles don't take the damage. Instead it's the Skylander inside that is damaged and ultimately knocked out. The vehicles never take damage. If the driver gets knocked out just replace it with any from your collection.

I'd rather only need to make two additional purchases than Trap Team including 6-8 traps. I'd still need the Trap Masters wouldn't I? Super Chargers is undeniably the BEST deal when it comes to the Starter than ANY previously released Skylanders game...even SSA.

No, it is not.
Not "undeniably" at least.
It's very debatable.

I'll be objective: Trap Team not only had a lot of important collectibles hidden behind them (the Soul Gems being the most important) but also replace a really important concept which resisted until then, the Regular Elemental Gates.
If Traptanium Elemental Gates only contained treasure chests and then we could have Regular Gates locking important thing, I feel it would have been a lot better.
No doubt that was a BAD, BAD decision, even if personally it didn't bothered me too much.

Personally I'm not that happy about how they are dealing with collectibles this time (I want to grab my Soul Gem the first time I play a level, if I see it) but I haven't seen any video nor want to, so I'll just assume I misunderstood how it works.
But as it is it sounds like a really forced way to add replayability.
I like branches I will miss if I take other paths, because I will genuinely feel intrigued about what I missed; really reminds me of Octavius' trials.
Not having to replay the level 5+ times hoping I will finally get what I want...

But even with all of that said, Trap Masters and traps were never required to progress with the Main Story.
And nor have been Swappers and Giants.
If my physical Hot Streak toy dies before I finish the game, or just before I purchase any other land vehicle I will be forced to buy a figure to complete it for the very first time in the series.
Unless all your Spyro, Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt from the SA Starter Pack suffered the same fate, but at least they were three so higher chances for at least one of them to survive.

This Starter Pack isn't anything different from Giants (a sigle gimmick character required to 100% the game) maybe even less convenient considering you would still need a sky and sea vehicle but that's really nipticking.
But speaking about Starter Packs I cannot mention how undeniably bad the two Skymiibos were handled.
Again, if they are not released as singles, I would technically have to buy at least another Starter Pack to get the other character, and then hope Hot Streak and Spitfire get sold separately.
And I know eBay exists, but not everyone wants to/can access it; not to mention Activision will loose a lot of money.

Let's just say it could have been worse (could have had Gill Grunt and Hot Streak, so you would technically "need" to buy both Spitfire and Reef Ripper) but could also have been much, much better (the new Life SuperCharger and her/his vehicle instead of Stealth Elf, or at least another land one since they are mandatory to complete the game).

@ Drek:

O.k. so you're talking about a hypothetically scenario in which the Ground vehicle physically breaks or stops working? It's hard to have a conversation based on hypotheticals. My point was that the Super Chargers Starter is the best deal requiring only 2 additional purchases to 100% the core game. Yes that's also assuming your vehicle works but it's really the only way to have the conversation. I also still maintain that it IS the best deal when talking about additional purchasers needed to unlock everything in the core game. Just beating the story has always been built into every starter so it's not worth mentioning. The conversion involving what the Starter gives you access to is what I was going for and nothing you've said changes that. Also considering I've never had ANY Skylander stop working (I know it can happen though) it's hard for me to have that conversation. But let's look at it your way and someone's Hot Streak does physically break...oh snap they'd need to make a third purchase. That would still make it the lowest purchase point to 100% the entire game...ever.

It's not a good thing.
No one should have to buy anything outside of the Starter Pack to finish the main game.
It is not a good choice because some customers may not want to buy things outside of the Starter Pack.
I know it might be difficult to imagine for us hardcore collectors but it can happen and I cannot ignore it.

I may agree with you on Starter Pack convenience, however, if you could specify what do you mean by "what the Starter Pack given you access to".
If I interpreted it correctly you mean that we can access all the SuperChargers Gates and all the land areas right from the start which IS convenient since apparently there is a lot of content inside this entry.
And yes, Giants still had Elemental Gates so you wouldn't be able to access Fire, Tech, Air, Water and Earth ones, coversely to SuperChargers where you would only need 2 extra vehicles to access the entire game.

In that case, I absolutely agree, and apologize since I was taking for granted a player would already own one character per Element from SA.

Quote: Drek95

It's not a good thing.
No one should have to buy anything outside of the Starter Pack to finish the main game.
It is not a good choice because some customers may not want to buy things outside of the Starter Pack.
I know it might be difficult to imagine for us hardcore collectors but it can happen and I cannot ignore it.

I may agree with you on Starter Pack convenience, however, if you could specify what do you mean by "what the Starter Pack given you access to".
If I interpreted it correctly you mean that we can access all the SuperChargers Gates and all the land areas right from the start which IS convenient since apparently there is a lot of content inside this entry.
And yes, Giants still had Elemental Gates so you wouldn't be able to access Fire, Tech, Air, Water and Earth ones, coversely to SuperChargers where you would only need 2 extra vehicles to access the entire game.

In that case, I absolutely agree, and apologize since I was taking for granted a player would already own one character per Element from SA.

You don't seem to understand, everything you need to beat the game, you get in the starter pack. Just like in the previous games. If you want to get everything in the game, then you need to get some more toys. Just like in the previous games, but even less this time.

If Superchargers is your very first Skylanders game ever, you can complete the game with the starter pack. You'll also have access to all Supercharger gates. Only Sea and Sky vehicle sections are locked out, only requiring 2 additional purchases.

If a complete newcomer can complete the game with just the starter pack, why is it such a ridiculously gargantuan deal for someone with all 116 standard characters (guessing based on your figure count) from the previous games?

@ Drek:

Yes to your second paragraph in that I was specifically talking to what you can do with the Starter. In the case of Story completion, you've always been able to do so with the Starter. Additional purchases are only required if you are trying to unlock all content and side collectibles. I'm also based Starter value as it would be viewed by new comer to the franchise based on their entry point of a specific Starter. Let me break down my understanding of the Starer box values and additional purchases required to do everything:

Spyro's Adventure:

Starter (Water, Magic & Tech)
4 Adventure Packs (Water, Earth, Undead & Fire)
2 Additional Cores (Life and Air)

Giants:

Starter (Life (Giant), Undead & Air)
2 Battle Packs (Life and Undead & Fire and Water)
3 Additional Cores (Tech, Magic & Earth)

Swap Force:

Starter (Life Core, Fire Swapper (Rocket) and Water Swapper (Climb)
2 Adventure Packs (Tech & Air)
2 Battle Packs (Undead and Life and Earth & Life)
**Missing Magic Element but could be picked in an the additional Movement Type Swappers needed**
6 Swapper Movement Types (Teleport, Dig, Speed, Spin, Stealth & Bounce)

Trap Team

Starter (Water Trap Master, Life Core & Two Trap (Water & Life)
2 Adventure Packs (Magic & Air)
1 Light Adventure Pack (Light Trap Master & Light Trap)
1 Dark Adventure Pack (Dark Trap Master & Dark Trap)
7 Additional Trap Masters
7 Additional Traps (includes Kaos)
1 Mini **Access to something in the Academy?**
1 Giant **Access to something in the Academy?**

Super Chargers

Starter (Ground Vehicle, Life Super Charger & Fire Super Charger
2 Additional Vehicles (Sky & Sea)
**We can safely assume there will be Adventure Packs but hard to add them at this point without knowing what they are**

That's my understanding of the additional purchases that are required to 100% the game in each applicable series. Not the story though...that's in the box.

All these requirements aside I feel that the low purchase point in Super Chargers (for everything content wise) will help keep the flow of the game going since Eon won't constantly be saying "You need blah blah blah to access this area". It's going to be so strange to be able to fully complete the core game on day one again. I don't think we've been able to do that since Giants. This time I'll be able to make purchases based on what I want and not what I need to unlock an area.

Quote: Tigorus

6 Additional Traps

7 additional traps, don't forget Kaos ;3

Quote: Nightmoon

Quote: Tigorus

6 Additional Traps

7 additional traps, don't forget Kaos ;3

Fixed .

That was such a pain too. If it wasn't for Badwolfmichael I would have had to wait a lot longer than I did. We were able to buy them from Walmart.com for the 30 seconds they were available.

30 seconds, that's brutal O.o I got lucky and found my single Kaos trap in a retail store, so I didn't have to deal with online retailers or ebay (and I didn't have to get him in a pack with traps that I didn't want).

It'll be a nice change of pace in Superchargers, glad to get a break after Trap Team's insanity. I can access everything, but still missing wave 5 for the collection (come soon, please). Hopefully, both a Sea and Sky Vehicle will be available on day 1 (not counting the Clown Cruiser).

Quote: Nightmoon

30 seconds, that's brutal O.o I got lucky and found my single Kaos trap in a retail store, so I didn't have to deal with online retailers or ebay (and I didn't have to get him in a pack with traps that I didn't want).

It'll be a nice change of pace in Superchargers, glad to get a break after Trap Team's insanity. I can access everything, but still missing wave 5 for the collection (come soon, please). Hopefully, both a Sea and Sky Vehicle will be available on day 1 (not counting the Clown Cruiser).

Yeah typically things that they show us for reveals like E3 and Gamescom are out for launch. It would be awesome if Stealth Elf's Chopper is out at launch but I'm fairly certain Sky Slicer and Dive Bomber are day one releases. I can't imagine holding them back after they were playable in the demo builds.