darkSpyro

All throughout this games history there have been many things that have remained constant, and some things have varied from game to game. For example every game has had elemental zones and areas that can only be accessed by certain characters. While each game has had a different type of end game.

SSA had practically no endgame other than PvP.
SG had PvP and Arenas.
SSF had PvP, Time Attack, Score Mode (Forget the actual name), Arena, and Swap Force challenges.
STT had Skallatones, Skystones Smash, and arenas.
SSC has racing, Skystones Overdrive, quests, and Supercharger challenges.

My question is; Should each game vary in large ways in terms of content or stay similar?

I personally welcome both. In order to survive, each game needs to do something new, but at the same time it needs to build on what there used to be. The franchise is essentially building a house, deciding they don't like it, tearing it down, and building a new one each and every year. When, IMHO, what they should be doing is building a small house and constantly expanding on it. PvP was great but they removed it and replaced it with racing. Skallatones was awesome but it is nowhere to be found. Arenas were wonderful but they were done away with. I feel as if this .gif represents my standpoint.


TFB is the pink panther and VV is the painter, ie. The Pro. (Could my VV preference be anymore obvious?)

Even though VV varies a lot of things they are the superior designer, and I think that if the amateur {TFB} listened to the Pro (VV), and the Pro acknowledged the amateur and taught him how to do things this series would be more consistent while still varying things up. Each company is practically ignoring each other. STT doesn't even reference the fact that Kaos and Glumshanks were Swapped. SSC doesn't even acknowledge the Traping mechanic. This isn't even mentioning the fact that Superchargers should have come before Trap Team. Think about it if we defeat the darkness Kaos is going to need new allies, so he logically blows up a prison on a quest to gain new allies. Then he is traped for good and a new villain, Malefor, can come in a attack the Skylanders. But that's for another time.

Anyways, I want to here you guy's opinions.

I definitely agree. VV dominates TfB IMO.

What you are proposing is similar to how Disney chose to address their franchise--incremental changes to the game. It's very consistent, and being consistent has its adv and disadv. I like the artistical differences between our devs, and they have kept "some concept" remotely familiar enough that we get at least "something" from the past--albeit not envisioned fully. I do think they should collaborate on a bigger future for the franchise and leverage their bits to consolidate, but only to build on areas that truly need both developers working on those bits year after year. There's no "toybox" area per se, but I really think PvP online should be a staple both houses adopt and keep in the franchise. How they introduce that in each game can be "spun" differently. IMO having a true Heroics system that works consistently WITHOUT FAIL YEAR END AND OUT would REALLY get us BACK TO OUR ROOTS on what toys to life means....it seems the gimmicks are becoming less sophisticated and the overall system too "lazy"...then again perhaps that's Activision asking me to exit stage left (hi Snagglepuss).

My main concern with how they are handling the franchise is that they in fact do build the house every time...it's clear that each dev re-uses their character models etc...and make small changes.

As I've said before, the franchise does in fact need both...I term it with my own catch phrase "something old, something new"...I'm all about taking risk....part of mitigating some of the risk with new is to include some of the old. SC did this btw, and in fact attempted to make it better. The card game is in my opinion the best version thus far. However, where they bet big only on the vehicles, they did not push any of the other platforming aspects this time around, and it shows. It was more about "taking away of the old" and less about "creative new approaches"....short of the level specific mechanics.

What I think is that, at this point, could remake the first three games in a compilation with changes that would address the consistency issues. They could even have an alternate story for these in which we have to revisit past events, and new levels that fill the gaps in-between games. I like how VV manages to add many end-game challenges.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

My main concern with how they are handling the franchise is that they in fact do build the house every time...it's clear that each dev re-uses their character models etc...and make small changes.

As I've said before, the franchise does in fact need both...I term it with my own catch phrase "something old, something new"...I'm all about taking risk....part of mitigating some of the risk with new is to include some of the old. SC did this btw, and in fact attempted to make it better. The card game is in my opinion the best version thus far.

SuperChargers made very large changes and while I welcome that, my chief concern is the fact that they added a new sub-genera to the game.

SSA & SG was action, RPG, dungeon crawler.
SSF & STT was action, RPG, dungeon crawler, platformer.
SCC is action, RPG, dungeon crawler, platformer, racing.

My main current concern is that kids will get this game for the racing aspect and the Skylanders 6 comes out and has no racing whatsoever. The other thing I'm wondering about is how the Wii version will work going forwards. If they do away with racing, what can be done on the Wii, their top seller?

I absolutely believe Activision is on a critical path decision.

No one is going to support this franchise (for long) if they find out their toy "investments" no longer work. I called it on Traps. Although I think they'll bring a "trinket/reduced" value....I fully expect racing to be absent on the next game. Trap Team was their "test bed" for the "disposable gimmick". I think Trap Team turned away people for this reason...and honestly I expect further degradation on this entry in terms of longterm mindshare support.

I honestly believe (and to which I do not agree) Activision thinks they are helping themselves with a 1 and out gimmick. Sure, there's work you're doing you don't need to "port" to the next game. It makes for each game being truly unique, but also VERY disruptive and divisive among the players. People are rightfully upset that the gimmicks move you AWAY of the power of the skylander, where it needs to move you TOWARD the skylander even further.

As I and others have said...the gimmick should "flow with the franchise" and the ideas should be able to be incorporated into EVERY game-much like Swappers.

The ideas need to be built with the SKYLANDER in mind, and perpetual support. I'd rather have 10 or 20 characters per game and a new gimmick TIED TO THE SKYLANDERS that will be perpetually supported myself and they concentrate on GAMEPLAY modes. The simplistic level design is an area where it's getting worse not better.

I'm of course am glad they took chances on these "1 and out", but I think we need to get back to some basics. An idea is why limit some of these gimmicks to one entry? I know quite a few would love more swappers, more racing play, etc. Perfecting the formula and offer more content and options can't be a bad thing, but I know the devs need more time for this.

I think the only way this series is going to get better (even though I know this is pretty unlikely) is if they say "All right, both TFB and VV are gonna be working on these games together, and we're going to start making gimmicks based around our games, not the other way around". And honestly, what we need is for the series to go back to it's roots. They need to listen to the fanbase that's over the intended audience's age. Bring back PvP, and heroic challenges, and arenas, and whatever else people say needs to come back, and focus more on actually innovating your franchise. Because toys to life or not, these are still video games, and you can't just bank on the popularity of Gill Grunt or Stealth Elf to sell your game.

That was a nice succinct restating of my babble with the correct focus. Nicely done.

I pretty much agree with the comments here, and it's nice to see constructive criticism. Superchargers is a pretty good game, but is there going to be a reason to have the vehicles going forward? Swap Force's gimmick will be usable forever without much more effort on any developer's part. The traps and vehicles, well, its going to take more work for them to continue to make these things worth having. I would like to see another gimmick tied to the Skylanders themselves, or a gimmick that won't go away completely in the next game. I feel bad for TFB now, too, because they have to either make more race courses or come up with some other reason to use the vehicles in their next game, when they should be able to focus on what their new idea is 100%. I will say that if TFB puts in some great arena modes in Skylanders 6, my opinion of them compared to VV will go up a lot.

This is what's sad and why I roll my eyes at folks saying "there is no end game/value in Superchargers". This couldn't be further from the truth. It's not their PREFERRED end game. It's not their PREFERRED value.

"Trap Team was superior with all the guys I could play". Yet there was very little to actually do with those guys. They cut content for masses of playable characters. Thus, actual value for money spent was abysmal.

I can't stress this enough: I want arenas as well. I want interesting gameplay. I want PvP. But this game is actually taking the series in the right direction, not the wrong one, in more ways then not.

Supercharger gates vs elemental gates is mostly a wash. They are fun little side levels where you need a specific FOOT BASED model that actually posed not only a puzzle but combat challange. Much more versatile and accessible then the lacking traptanium gates in trap team. You just need any new model to unlock all 12 or so. Yes, they are unlocked in a similar manner to Giant areas, but the content is the exact same as pre-trap.

Another annoying aspect is how large the toys seemingly need to be. There was no reason to make trap asters and Superchargers as large as they are. Reduce the size to something more reasonable and youd be able to ship smaller packages at lighter weight and reduce the cost to the end user. If the trap master cost people $12 versus $15, complaints are down and more people would buy all 18 vs just one per element. Even if figures sales only marginally go up or even stagnate, your production and shipping costs go down. I used to buy a lot more variants plus originals, but lately I've bought either the variant or the original. And with these gross holiday alts lately, it's been mostly originals for me. Reduce the size, reduce the cost, reduce how much shelf space I need, and I may go back to completionist status on all in-game variants. (Polar Whirlwind and Granite Crusher are the gold standard on what variants should look like).

Enemy fights are far more engaging in VV games. I understand people thought they were too few, but I'm pretty sure the actual enemy count is higher then trap team in the main campaign. Stuns, freezes, Knockdown/back/up, dragging enemies......this is all stuff TfB struggles with.

Even though my favorite in the series is a TFB game, it's absurd for me to not admit that VV is, in fact, the better overall designer. I can only hope that TfB brings back the PvP arenas and doesn't attempt this insulting approach of layered toy sales versus actual game content. At least racing offers PvP in a variety of tracks (brilliant and simple addition with the mirrored tracks as well). Again, this adds longevity to a game where there is always something to tinker with and counter. PvE alone doesn't hold the same level of interest as it can't deviate from the program while players can come up with new strategies for months, if not years.

I have a lot more to say, but will add to this later.

My growing disappointment with Skylanders is the brand doesn't know how to stay consistent.

Skylanders should value some core fundamentals -

- All Skylanders are important
- All Skylanders should be allowed to achieve stat boosts (cause slow Skylanders make me want to throw them in the trash) without the need for goofy looking hats
- All games should allow your magic items to function the same way as they did in previous games
- All games should offer Adventure Packs so it extends the life of each game
- All games should contain Elemental Zones, accessed by ALL Skylanders of the respective
- All games should promote exploration
- All games should have collectibles to find THAT ARE NOT RANDOMIZED!

All the while, they can introduce the current years gimmick.

However, they removed each and every single thing I listed above. I didn't spend thousands of dollars, only for my Skylanders to be given the finger by a stupid vehicle every level.

To be honest, if I were the planner for each game, I would make sure the value of your Giants, Swap Force, and Trap Masters would never be flushed down the drain. It's not hard to develop levels that give to those fans who've been loyal to every game before the current game, while tailoring to new adopters.

By giving back to the fans, I mean optional areas tailored to Giants, Swap Force and Trap Masters, that don't have to be played, but are there for length, exploration, and additional gameplay purposes. So much untapped potential awaits for those brand of figures, but they're thrown on the back burner every year for the current gimmick.

Know what I like about Lego Dimensions? NONE of my characters will ever be obsolete. They will - TRULY - always matter. TFB/VV keeps saying they value everyone's past collection, but take a big pee on all the past Skylanders with each new game. It's really ticking me off.

But, let's say they will never listen to us like they say they do, and keep developing levels that ignore past gimmicklanders, then at least keep the core fundamentals I listed above.

TFB/VV, SLOW SKYLANDERS SUCK! They have speed stats for a reason. Give us ways to boost speed to 35, like Superchargers offers without the need for wearing the god awful hats the game hands out. I don't like my cool looking Skylanders wearing a dorky looking melting ice cream on my head, just to speed up Skylanders that used to be able to add to their speed stat via Heroic Challenges. This is something I never have to worry about in both Infinity and Dimensions. All characters move fast in some form. Get with the times. Characters have stats, allow us to boost said stats outside of wearing hats.

Ugh, it's stressing me out just typing this. I love this brand, so that's why I'm mad. Superchargers only did two things right. Skylanders Tutor and Speed rewards... That's it... Nuff said.

Quit removing things. Past staples aren't broke, so don't take it away. Add to it.

I won't quote your post Earth-Dragon, but in a way I agree. This game had a lot more end game content, it just isn't the right kind. I honestly want racing to stay, and I think it is a good step for the franchise, but at the same time, online PvP is needed. I personally don't think we need heroic challenges back like they used to be, but I think that every characters should unlock some types of exclusive content.

As far as the vehicle compatability is concerened, they better not end up like the traps. $7 for a Skystone in this game is already bad enough, but if I have to pay $15 for a vehicle that gives me a legendary treasure or Skystone in the next game, I may very well stop buying all of the figures and just get the starter pack plus a few extra figs. I just can't justify spending $500-$700 on having a complete set of I game trinkets. I could by a nice laptop with that, or something like that.

Honestly I would love for someone to give me money so I could fly to TFB's headquarters, compliment them on their toy design, then yell at them about what we need in Sky 6 as far as content is concerned.

Just a quick question on the side... Activision monitors these forums, right? So... What're the chances of them coming across this topic and hearing what we have to say?

Quote: AdamGregory03

Just a quick question on the side... Activision monitors these forums, right? So... What're the chances of them coming across this topic and hearing what we have to say?

I know there is a TFB employe on here.

Quote: AdamGregory03

Just a quick question on the side... Activision monitors these forums, right? So... What're the chances of them coming across this topic and hearing what we have to say?

There is a chance....

I feel there should be "elemental Challanges" that get unlocked much in the way the elemental vehicle gate works combined with how heroics work. Let's say the next game releases 36 figures (4 per elements, 2 light and dark). For every character you put in you collection a challange unlocks. 50% must be from the current line-up and the others can be from any game. These are Challanges that can only be completed by members of that element, but give rewards similar to heroics. This is 4 Challanges for EVERY character you own that can get done that create quite a bit of unique content yet still encourages the purchase of new characters And rewards those with large collections with earlier access to the Challanges.

THEN, have a challange for each category: Core, Giant, Swap, Trap, Charger. You might combine some of these if needed. This creates a 5th challange for every character to complete.

And game master, who the devil made you the declarer of what all Skylanders games need. I can't disagree with you more on having all items in fixed locations. It naturally adds value in you doing sections over again if it offers you new rewards.

You are wrong to the nth degree on some of your complaints. Out of as many complaints I've seen, yours leave the least amount of wiggle room, and your vision outright ignores problems the series faces. At no place on your SSA Adventure packs did it say all magic items will work Forever in the series with their initial use. And since you are so willing to throw them all away and give Lego hundreds of dollars, I'm not sure why you think you're entitled to every toy being programmed forward as it was working several games earlier.

Anyone with sense KNEW eventually something was gonna give.

Quote: AdamGregory03

Just a quick question on the side... Activision monitors these forums, right? So... What're the chances of them coming across this topic and hearing what we have to say?

There's a TFB employer and Activision Assist,but devs and creators in general are advised to lurk forums at the very most occasionally or someone'll claim their idea was stolen because you forgot a user and not you thought of it. But they haven't listened in 5 years,would they now?

I just want the games to stay nice and BOTH devs to improve, or work together and have to face the conflicting ideas. Acti won't remove the cash cow yearly release model anytime soon,and we've seen with,I think Call of Duty, that they'll kick out and harass any team that speaks up against that or does a poor job. Unless they BOTH keep up,all of the bad decisions will come back to bite,and bite hard.

Quote: ninja9351

All throughout this games history there have been many things that have remained constant, and some things have varied from game to game. For example every game has had elemental zones and areas that can only be accessed by certain characters. While each game has had a different type of end game.

SSA had practically no endgame other than PvP.
SG had PvP and Arenas.
SSF had PvP, Time Attack, Score Mode (Forget the actual name), Arena, and Swap Force challenges.
STT had Skallatones, Skystones Smash, and arenas.
SSC has racing, Skystones Overdrive, quests, and Supercharger challenges.

My question is; Should each game vary in large ways in terms of content or stay similar?

I personally welcome both. In order to survive, each game needs to do something new, but at the same time it needs to build on what there used to be. The franchise is essentially building a house, deciding they don't like it, tearing it down, and building a new one each and every year. When, IMHO, what they should be doing is building a small house and constantly expanding on it. PvP was great but they removed it and replaced it with racing. Skallatones was awesome but it is nowhere to be found. Arenas were wonderful but they were done away with. I feel as if this .gif represents my standpoint.


TFB is the pink panther and VV is the painter, ie. The Pro. (Could my VV preference be anymore obvious?)

Even though VV varies a lot of things they are the superior designer, and I think that if the amateur {TFB} listened to the Pro (VV), and the Pro acknowledged the amateur and taught him how to do things this series would be more consistent while still varying things up. Each company is practically ignoring each other. STT doesn't even reference the fact that Kaos and Glumshanks were Swapped. SSC doesn't even acknowledge the Traping mechanic. This isn't even mentioning the fact that Superchargers should have come before Trap Team. Think about it if we defeat the darkness Kaos is going to need new allies, so he logically blows up a prison on a quest to gain new allies. Then he is traped for good and a new villain, Malefor, can come in a attack the Skylanders. But that's for another time.

Anyways, I want to here you guy's opinions.

Why are you making the bumbling bafoon the pro... owait you're doing it ironically, Good One!
And, no, superchargers should NOT come before Trap Team... He needed his POWERS to get his hands on the Fork of Infinite Resonance to break the prison (I don't think his trolls would listen to him if they saw the mark gone), and they made a whole Graphic Novel to explain how Kaos escaped, built the Sky-Eater, and conquered skylands!

Also, I've been told that Kaos mentions being swapped in passing, in TT, but only during a CERTAIN chapter, in the Academy, while he's helping you in the story, after that, you'll never hear him say it, you missed it, you're done...

I don't think there's anything wrong with not continuing gimics completely into the next game.
it keeps each game from getting stale. I definayely didn't want to play as villains again... We can just replay trap team if you want to do that.
There's no need for vehicles to have a decent purpose in the next game iether. They were made for this 1 . And you only needed to buy 1 of each vehicle so it's not even a big investment to complete the entire story mode.

I really like almost every aspect of SC, but I hope the next game takes another direction into incorporating multiplayer more , hopefully towards competitive battling or more of a party game. Racing is a good starting point. But only being 2 player locally doesn't promote multiplayer much, especially for a racing game. Should've been capable of local 4 player races.

Quote: B-BOB358

I don't think there's anything wrong with not continuing gimics completely into the next game.
it keeps each game from getting stale. I definayely didn't want to play as villains again... We can just replay trap team if you want to do that.
There's no need for vehicles to have a decent purpose in the next game iether. They were made for this 1 . And you only needed to buy 1 of each vehicle so it's not even a big investment to complete the entire story mode.

I really like almost every aspect of SC, but I hope the next game takes another direction into incorporating multiplayer more , hopefully towards competitive battling or more of a party game. Racing is a good starting point. But only being 2 player locally doesn't promote multiplayer much, especially for a racing game. Should've been capable of local 4 player races.

I couldn't disagree any more. Maybe it's just me, but I payed $7 per trap, and I'm paying $15 per vehicle. $15 for 18 vehicles is $270. Would you pay $270 for something that provides use for a little while, then just become a cosmetic thing if you were on a budget? I.e a $270 watch?

Quote: ninja9351

Quote: B-BOB358

I don't think there's anything wrong with not continuing gimics completely into the next game.
it keeps each game from getting stale. I definayely didn't want to play as villains again... We can just replay trap team if you want to do that.
There's no need for vehicles to have a decent purpose in the next game iether. They were made for this 1 . And you only needed to buy 1 of each vehicle so it's not even a big investment to complete the entire story mode.

I really like almost every aspect of SC, but I hope the next game takes another direction into incorporating multiplayer more , hopefully towards competitive battling or more of a party game. Racing is a good starting point. But only being 2 player locally doesn't promote multiplayer much, especially for a racing game. Should've been capable of local 4 player races.

I couldn't disagree any more. Maybe it's just me, but I payed $7 per trap, and I'm paying $15 per vehicle. $15 for 18 vehicles is $270. Would you pay $270 for something that provides use for a little while, then just become a cosmetic thing if you were on a budget? I.e a $270 watch?

Then be happy with table scraps of content in every game. The developers are already stretch for time as is. Trap Team limits future stories by eliminating certain Villians from narrative if they were indefinitely carried forward. People complained about the vehicles period, and if you are gonna spend the time to put vehicles in the game, one levels isn't worth your time. So now we have a chunk of content for others to complain about every game. What SC did with traps was more then I thought was ever gonna happen, but it also came at the cost of porting all the magical items forward.

Plain and simple, there are WAY too many toys and extras to bring everything forward, plus improve graphics, plus re-balance, plus invent new limiting non-sense gimmicks that some keep asking for.......it just needs to be realized not every toy is gonna be as valuable moving forward as it was originally and a certain amount of marginalization should be expected.

It's better to beg for an SC 2 in 3 years where they REALLY let you get some more mileage out of the vehicles versus have them half arse include them and waste developmental time that could have gone to giving us 4 player battle arenas.

I understand yours and others desires here, but it's unfortunately a short-sited stance.

I think vehicles should eventually function like Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions vehicles: You just pop them into any level any time you want and drive them around. Essentially like Fryno's motorcycle. They don't need to go through the trouble of making race courses and other zones specifically tailored to vehicles, just let us use vehicles in the normal gameplay.

Quote: Muffin Man

I think vehicles should eventually function like Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions vehicles: You just pop them into any level any time you want and drive them around. Essentially like Fryno's motorcycle. They don't need to go through the trouble of making race courses and other zones specifically tailored to vehicles, just let us use vehicles in the normal gameplay.

.

This would require a complete rewrite and rework of the system.

Review my previous posts about programming burden. Many of the fans that hate vehicles now would still despise that direction as it would destroy the play style they were complaining was tainted by the vehicles in the first place.

People don't seem to understand by what we mean when we say we don't want Giants 3.0. What we mean is that the game plays EXACTLY like the past TfB Lander games. Slow moving characters, overuse lock puzzles practically unchanged with no new puzzles, overuse cannon sequences that take forever to do, and overuse sky stone to progress through the level. That's what we mean. The characters, story and levels could be amazing, but the fact that it has the same puzzle types and other things I listed would make it a huge bother for me. VV has the right idea when it comes to puzzles. ALWAYS INTRODUCE NEW ONES. Using the same assets doesn't look good at all. It makes you look lazy (Or in TfB's case, unwilling to try new things) and that's not good. People will get tired of the same thing over and over again. TfB has to do what VV does and incorporate new puzzles and gameplay mechanics to make things feel fresh and new.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

People don't seem to understand by what we mean when we say we don't want Giants 3.0. What we mean is that the game plays EXACTLY like the past TfB Lander games. Slow moving characters, overuse lock puzzles practically unchanged with no new puzzles, overuse cannon sequences that take forever to do, and overuse sky stone to progress through the level. That's what we mean. The characters, story and levels could be amazing, but the fact that it has the same puzzle types and other things I listed would make it a huge bother for me. VV has the right idea when it comes to puzzles. ALWAYS INTRODUCE NEW ONES. Using the same assets doesn't look good at all. It makes you look lazy (Or in TfB's case, unwilling to try new things) and that's not good. People will get tired of the same thing over and over again. TfB has to do what VV does and incorporate new puzzles and gameplay mechanics to make things feel fresh and new.

It isn't so much that I want the same type of puzzles in every level, because I love what VV did with having every level have a unique mechanic. It's that I want arena, time attack, score mode, Kaos doom challange, and unique character challenges in every game. How they go about these modes, I don't really care, I just want consistent bonus modes. And while we're at it racing in some form should be in every game because I find it fun, and I gives the vehicles use.

Quote: ninja9351

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

People don't seem to understand by what we mean when we say we don't want Giants 3.0. What we mean is that the game plays EXACTLY like the past TfB Lander games. Slow moving characters, overuse lock puzzles practically unchanged with no new puzzles, overuse cannon sequences that take forever to do, and overuse sky stone to progress through the level. That's what we mean. The characters, story and levels could be amazing, but the fact that it has the same puzzle types and other things I listed would make it a huge bother for me. VV has the right idea when it comes to puzzles. ALWAYS INTRODUCE NEW ONES. Using the same assets doesn't look good at all. It makes you look lazy (Or in TfB's case, unwilling to try new things) and that's not good. People will get tired of the same thing over and over again. TfB has to do what VV does and incorporate new puzzles and gameplay mechanics to make things feel fresh and new.

It isn't so much that I want the same type of puzzles in every level, because I love what VV did with having every level have a unique mechanic. It's that I want arena, time attack, score mode, Kaos doom challange, and unique character challenges in every game. How they go about these modes, I don't really care, I just want consistent bonus modes. And while we're at it racing in some form should be in every game because I find it fun, and I gives the vehicles use.

And now you're back to the hippy pipe dream. There just isn't enough time to put everything in. saying you want everything everytime just isn't pratical OR possible unless the franchise goes into a 2 year hiatus, at which time, it might be too late.

Quote: Earth-Dragon

Quote: ninja9351

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

People don't seem to understand by what we mean when we say we don't want Giants 3.0. What we mean is that the game plays EXACTLY like the past TfB Lander games. Slow moving characters, overuse lock puzzles practically unchanged with no new puzzles, overuse cannon sequences that take forever to do, and overuse sky stone to progress through the level. That's what we mean. The characters, story and levels could be amazing, but the fact that it has the same puzzle types and other things I listed would make it a huge bother for me. VV has the right idea when it comes to puzzles. ALWAYS INTRODUCE NEW ONES. Using the same assets doesn't look good at all. It makes you look lazy (Or in TfB's case, unwilling to try new things) and that's not good. People will get tired of the same thing over and over again. TfB has to do what VV does and incorporate new puzzles and gameplay mechanics to make things feel fresh and new.

It isn't so much that I want the same type of puzzles in every level, because I love what VV did with having every level have a unique mechanic. It's that I want arena, time attack, score mode, Kaos doom challange, and unique character challenges in every game. How they go about these modes, I don't really care, I just want consistent bonus modes. And while we're at it racing in some form should be in every game because I find it fun, and I gives the vehicles use.

And now you're back to the hippy pipe dream. There just isn't enough time to put everything in. saying you want everything everytime just isn't pratical OR possible unless the franchise goes into a 2 year hiatus, at which time, it might be too late.

And you know there isn't enough time to do so how? The lack of an arena as well as PvP just seems like sheer laziness on VV's part.

Quote: ninja9351

And you know there isn't enough time to do so how? The lack of an arena as well as PvP just seems like sheer laziness on VV's part.

ninja, we don't know for sure, but we know they had to take time away from level design to build online. Given the length and number of levels are impacted kinda spells it for me without anyone saying it.

Quote: Earth-Dragon

Quote: Muffin Man

I think vehicles should eventually function like Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions vehicles: You just pop them into any level any time you want and drive them around. Essentially like Fryno's motorcycle. They don't need to go through the trouble of making race courses and other zones specifically tailored to vehicles, just let us use vehicles in the normal gameplay.

.

This would require a complete rewrite and rework of the system.

Review my previous posts about programming burden. Many of the fans that hate vehicles now would still despise that direction as it would destroy the play style they were complaining was tainted by the vehicles in the first place.

It's not too much of a burden for Disney Infinity. It always carries over its vehicles while adding new ones.


As for requiring a complete rewrite and rework of the system...why? I don't recall Fryno's motorcycle, Sprocket's tank, Slam Bam's sleigh, or Tread Head's tread vehicle requiring a reworking of the system. SuperCharger vehicles just need to be shrunken and simplified so that they function like the vehicle gameplay we already had before SuperChargers. Alternatively, we could have an open world Skylanders game. I'd be down for that.

I have two kids who played STT well, but they have struggled with the vehicle controls in SSC, especially the sky vehicles. I must say that I'm now a bit regret about not buying Lego Dimensions instead since they love Legos and it would probably give them more hours of fun instead of frustrations with the controls.

Variety > Consistency. I don't want to play a game that is the same than the previous one but with more of the same stuff...

Quote: Solaris

I have two kids who played STT well, but they have struggled with the vehicle controls in SSC, especially the sky vehicles. I must say that I'm now a bit regret about not buying Lego Dimensions instead since they love Legos and it would probably give them more hours of fun instead of frustrations with the controls.

Invert the controls or make them button and stick like a Skylander, there are options for it in the menu.

Quote: AdamGregory03

Just a quick question on the side... Activision monitors these forums, right? So... What're the chances of them coming across this topic and hearing what we have to say?

Huge.

Quote: Muffin Man

Quote: Earth-Dragon

Quote: Muffin Man

I think vehicles should eventually function like Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions vehicles: You just pop them into any level any time you want and drive them around. Essentially like Fryno's motorcycle. They don't need to go through the trouble of making race courses and other zones specifically tailored to vehicles, just let us use vehicles in the normal gameplay.

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This would require a complete rewrite and rework of the system.

Review my previous posts about programming burden. Many of the fans that hate vehicles now would still despise that direction as it would destroy the play style they were complaining was tainted by the vehicles in the first place.

It's not too much of a burden for Disney Infinity. It always carries over its vehicles while adding new ones.


As for requiring a complete rewrite and rework of the system...why? I don't recall Fryno's motorcycle, Sprocket's tank, Slam Bam's sleigh, or Tread Head's tread vehicle requiring a reworking of the system. SuperCharger vehicles just need to be shrunken and simplified so that they function like the vehicle gameplay we already had before SuperChargers. Alternatively, we could have an open world Skylanders game. I'd be down for that.

Of course there's a burden. The bigger problem I see is the fact that it forces certain design decisions in story mode to accomodate, and there was a lot of critique about how it was designed.

I will write my full opinion later on but I really want to say how I think devs really listened to us a lot more than with previous games, with SuperChargers.

I'm talking about designs, gameplay, extra features, mood and many many other things.
Sure, they made their objective (not fully supporting traps was a bad decision, period) and subjective (I will never forgive them for the revamps idea) mistakes but they can't make everyone happy.

In my opinion V.V., which I think was assisted a lot more than we think by TfB, has truly developed a Skylanders game which adds new, fresh and original twists to a classic approach to the series.
Maybe they focused a bit toooo much on vehicles but still, they tried to shake things up a bit and to me it worked better than I would ever expected.

Oh and variety also comes with characters, in this series.
A pont I think V.V. missed is the toys aspect: just 10 brand new Skylanders, lazy reposes which acts as Gimmicklanders, no cards, revamps inside Racing Action Packs, console exclusive figures, tons of variants...
And the designs of this 10 new SuperChargers themselves aren't that creative compared to last year's roster (even if the two I tried so far, Spitfire and Dive-Clops, have an amazing moveset just like all the V.V.'s characters).
Slow characters ARE an important part of what makes characters different: sure, let's make a giant solid golden lion as fast as flaming horse...

I know some characters suffered from that problem in the past, the worst I remember being Prism Break in SWAP Force but I never experienced frustration while playing as Trap Masters.
But yeah, opinions are opinions after all.

Quote: Drek95

Slow characters ARE an important part of what makes characters different: sure, let's make a giant solid golden lion as fast as flaming horse...

I completely agree with this.

I like different types of characters, and if we ever get online PvP the variety in movement speed will only help with variety.

Spitfire is kind of a melee assassin.
Stormblade is a ranged assassin.
Dive Bomber is a heavy ranged character.
Fiesta is a summoner.
DK is a bruiser.

I've not used SS Terrafin yet but he appears to be a balanced character, with a bit of ranged and melee attacks.

Variety in characters is key, consistency with characters would spell the end of the franchise as a whole.

Exactly.
Giants are generally slow because they are tough and can deliver devastating attacks.
Trap Master are slightly bigger than Cores in this game but still aren't as fast and that's because they can resist more hits before needing to rest and because they still are stronger than the average Core.

Dive-Clops wouldn't be the same character if he was also fast and would probably lack a lot of what makes himself so unique.

Slow characters are slow for a reason and that's why one of the less resistant Trap Masters, Short Cut, is also one of the fastest.

I think we need consistency with games, in terms of series and also in terms of content of a single entry but we absolutely need variety both for characters and inside of a single game.
Keep what make Skylanders Skylanders, change the rest and continue coming up with crazy and original heroes.

To me it all depends on how much the gimmick will regard the classic gameplay or if it will be a parallel one like vehicles.

So far we've had three types of gimmick:
- gimmick Skylanders (Gimmicklanders) which have special abilities tied directly to their figures or characters.
Giants and Swappers fall in this cathegory; Trap Masters could too but their special ability is now gone and even their size is no more (if only they could reduce the toys as well...) so I wouldn't count them.

- gimmick which improve the regular gameplay, like traps.

- gimmick which is parallel to the classic experience, like vehicles.

I could accept a gimmick as prominent as the vehicles one but only if it will be of the first two types.
Vehicles didn't took too much away from the main adventure but the extra modes, the Elemental Challenges and many other daily quests revolve almost entirely around them.
The focus of this series is Skylanders and yes, in SuperChargers I'm not that sure characters are the true stars...