darkSpyro

What do we all think about the randomness of the game?

Personally, I kind of feel like it's forcible replayability. However, it is a step in the right direction in terms of providing variety.

It's OK for the skystones & all, but I prefer to know where at least SOME hats are....and Soul Gems should ALWAYS be found in specific spots IMO

the randomness probably bugs me more than it should on account of the obnoxious RNG in the WII U & 3DS Smash Bros games ( been playing since day 1 a year ago and still need 4 out of 376 custom moves for 100% on 3DS... )

i think the random-ness is okay, and lessened by all the collectables that are in the random chests being in available in the store.

there are still some that are gotten at specific places, the sky stones for winning games in the levels seem to the same for everyone at least the first you get for winning each match one is, and some hats and sapphires for doing the daily quests.

It gives your game experience personalization. The stuff you are finding or seeing in stores is what happens in YOUR game.

I've heard it suggested it takes from exploration, but that is absurd. You still have it marked you need to find x amount of chests or supercharger gates. This could be expanded on and finding Flynns items and rubber ducks or whatever nonsense could still be present. It also holds the possibility of allowing for "unmarked" presents and chests that you are forced to keep exploring levels to find true hidden treasure caches.

On top of everything, it allows players to play the game they want to play. In future installments, when you have the arena or what have you, players who want to play more PvP can be afforded the opportunity to find hats, soul stones, cards, or any other goodies. Racing....same thing. Story.....same thing. Your able to play the content YOU prefer and still get rewarded. It increases playability by just opening things up and players replay what they want to replay.

Right direction plain and simple. Now the game just needs a wider variety of readily accessible content.

To be honest, 266 hats? I thought TfB was preparing us for retirement. I sure as heck prefer randomness to forcing my skylanders to wear the hat to bring it in like TT did...or did everyone forget that? If they have to keep all of these dumb hat collectibles around, VV did the right thing....it HAS to be less on their part to introduce it this way....I like not knowing what I'll be getting.

If anything is going to go, I'd say the hats need to. It's literally out of control. Make enough hats to support the number of skylanders and make them obsolete after the game I say. Quests/Heroics are king and come up with a long term stat upgrade system. I say a new evil genius called the "Mad Hatter" has taken all the hats in skylands...

I kinda laugh at the concept of exploration in this game. All I do is test all boundaries and locations....it's more of an easter egg find 10 steps away from the main path as opposed to real "exploration". You REALLY want exploration? Make multiple paths and find ways to progress using your brain and solving REAL puzzles.

the randomness i like. also like that there are not elemental gate, i found them annoying. its kind of replaced by vehicle zones but thats 3 figure i swap out not 8 or 10. the store was nice too as it gave you several ways to earn the items, chest/boxes, wishing well and the store. right now my issue is i have 265/266 hats, im guessing its locked up in the daily missions but still no luck. also i have an issue with the hats in general. mainly i hate them, i love the stat boosts but most of them are just 100% ugly. nothing worse that making a hat have the stats you want but have it be some giant sheep. thank god the rainbow hat dosent really stand out. would love invisible hats, you get the stats and your skylanders dosent look like a dork, everyone wins. also importing hats from other games? why???? they must really want me to spend the next few hours loading up games and swapping hats to load up another game. just dumb if you ask me, each game have there own hat set, thats it, hats from other games do nothing.

but anyways, keep the randomness of the rewards and drop the ugly hats. also the few items that are not random, maybe give us a hint where we can get them? this last hat im missing better be good lol

Hmm, I'm kind of torn. I like exploring every nook and cranny of the levels, and in previous games used the objectives screen to see if there were any areas left to find. I also want to come across soul gems and winged sapphires instead of legacy hats when I'm playing for the first time. But I do love how randomised items means that the levels aren't all barren when replaying them.

If it was up to me, I'd like to have fixed items at first which, once found, are replaced with randomised chests. The fixed items would be soul gems, winged sapphires, new hats and legendary treasures. The randomised items would be legacy hats, skystones, gearbits, star whatever-they're-called, and treasure.

I think it works for the OLD hats - but for future games,if you really want us to rebuy everything,please make a 'hat lottery' or something SPECIFICALLY for them. Story Scrolls,Soul Gems,Sapphires and Legendary Treasures really shouldn't be included, and it's hard to tell what hats are new when they're mixed up with every other one. It's ok if they had their specific randomized thing(though you can't randomize 10 sapphires so just make those fixed somewhere), but everything mixed together just makes searching for one type or a soul gem you have money to pay for a chore.

I do like the cycling Academy Store though. It's a great money sink, and could probably stay that way if they kept them hat only... Though iirc didn't a 3DS game do the exact same thing?

Honestly, I like it. I have every hat (except Kickoff Hat) And I've never had them all before! I hope it comes back in the next game.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

To be honest, 266 hats? I thought TfB was preparing us for retirement. I sure as heck prefer randomness to forcing my skylanders to wear the hat to bring it in like TT did...or did everyone forget that? If they have to keep all of these dumb hat collectibles around, VV did the right thing....it HAS to be less on their part to introduce it this way....I like not knowing what I'll be getting.

If anything is going to go, I'd say the hats need to. It's literally out of control. Make enough hats to support the number of skylanders and make them obsolete after the game I say. Quests/Heroics are king and come up with a long term stat upgrade system. I say a new evil genius called the "Mad Hatter" has taken all the hats in skylands...

I kinda laugh at the concept of exploration in this game. All I do is test all boundaries and locations....it's more of an easter egg find 10 steps away from the main path as opposed to real "exploration". You REALLY want exploration? Make multiple paths and find ways to progress using your brain and solving REAL puzzles.

I'm right with ya Lemons. Exploration in this game was a downright laughable joke. Not being able to fall off in areas also takes away from the dread factor. I never worried about my landers dying whereas I used caution in the past. They definitely dumbed down the game in that regard.

Oh and Lemons, if you've found my information on Dimensions useful or entertaining, I'm about to post a review on the gaming section of this site. There's a lot to say and I'm already 40 hours in and nowhere near 100% complete. Look forward to it, if you want to read what the competition offers this year.

Fall damage was never a thing in the games. You just come back,no damage taken,with invisible walls or not. It was never an actual dread.

Quote: GameMaster78

Quote: TakeYourLemons

To be honest, 266 hats? I thought TfB was preparing us for retirement. I sure as heck prefer randomness to forcing my skylanders to wear the hat to bring it in like TT did...or did everyone forget that? If they have to keep all of these dumb hat collectibles around, VV did the right thing....it HAS to be less on their part to introduce it this way....I like not knowing what I'll be getting.

If anything is going to go, I'd say the hats need to. It's literally out of control. Make enough hats to support the number of skylanders and make them obsolete after the game I say. Quests/Heroics are king and come up with a long term stat upgrade system. I say a new evil genius called the "Mad Hatter" has taken all the hats in skylands...

I kinda laugh at the concept of exploration in this game. All I do is test all boundaries and locations....it's more of an easter egg find 10 steps away from the main path as opposed to real "exploration". You REALLY want exploration? Make multiple paths and find ways to progress using your brain and solving REAL puzzles.

I'm right with ya Lemons. Exploration in this game was a downright laughable joke. Not being able to fall off in areas also takes away from the dread factor. I never worried about my landers dying whereas I used caution in the past. They definitely dumbed down the game in that regard.

Oh and Lemons, if you've found my information on Dimensions useful or entertaining, I'm about to post a review on the gaming section of this site. There's a lot to say and I'm already 40 hours in and nowhere near 100% complete. Look forward to it, if you want to read what the competition offers this year.

I can't wait for that review! Your answers to my questions made my heavily consider the game. I plan on getting it soon!

Hot dog, trust me it's the TTL game you want this year. I support all 4 brands of TTL, but I'll buy Dimensions stuff before (meaning it comes first for doing everything right) Skylanders this year, easily, and this coming from the worlds official Skylanders super fan.

It's what I wanted Skylanders to be, but with so much more icing on the cake. When you're going through the Ghostbusters story level, every vocal song from the original movie plays. The story missions have great puzzles and every level has a great pace, where other Lego games are kind of slow paced. It doesn't cut into exploration at all, which Dimensions has a huge emphasis on exploration. Boss fights are fun, but I'll explain more in are in depth review.

Trust me, it's downright addicting to buy each figure as well, as you get to actually build stuff on top of play with them.

Stay tuned to the video gaming section of this site for a full run down.

I would love to at least buy Dimensions' Starter Pack... But it won't be distributed in my country (at least as of now)... Soooo...

Let's hope this year's competitor (in my opinion the first true one) will motivate V.V. to create an even better game since I guess Skylanders 6 is already well into development.
SuperChargers does lack classic exploration and what's there is incredibly reduced compared to previous games... BUT the open areas make me hope for future on-foot open world actions... Fingers crossed!

For stuff like hats, and skystones, I thought it was okay, but for other things like legendary treasures and soul gems, I think collecting those would've been a bit more special if they were in a designated level.

Quote: Drek95

I would love to at least buy Dimensions' Starter Pack... But it won't be distributed in my country (at least as of now)... Soooo...

Let's hope this year's competitor (in my opinion the first true one) will motivate V.V. to create an even better game since I guess Skylanders 6 is already well into development.
SuperChargers does lack classic exploration and what's there is incredibly reduced compared to previous games... BUT the open areas make me hope for future on-foot open world actions... Fingers crossed!

Skylanders needs competition or else they will get sloppy and know they can cause they're the only TTL game out there.

As I said, Dimensions curb stomps Superchargers. Not to say Skylanders as a whole, sucks, just Superchargers... massively. Every boss fight in Dimensions so far has been unique in some way, whether mechanic wise or from the sheer epicness of the fight due to who you're fighting and what all is going on during the fight.

Dimensions made really good use of the properties. I like how during levels elements from other properties are invading each world giving each level a neat twist.

Despite taking breaks during levels for exploration, the action and grandness of each level makes for a fast pace not found in other Lego games.

At the same time 11 open worlds offer plenty of exploration. Telling you, it's all I want from TTL games. Fast pace, plenty of exploration and collecting (not randomized collecting), figures that don't feel alienated, fast running figures, immersive levels and story, constant expansions to last me until next years game, and Dimensions offered it all.

I bought the Starter at first, but the game was so epic and the real life immersion of being asked to build real life stuff at certain times just adds to ingame immersion made it so I wanted to buy and build more packs, just for the sake of building.

Again, even Andy with FGTV said Dimensions was the best TTL game this year and he's not lying. Not that I go off of reviews, as I form my own opinions, but it's good to see others acknowledge the clear winner, at least for this year.

Competition is very good, as it only benefits the customer in the end. Even Madden used to be good when it had competition from 2K and it's NFL games. When it got the monopoly, they ask for 60 for a glorified roster update.

Edit: and I agree with Adam. With random rewards from chests, it gave me no reason to go back through levels. All I had to do was load up chapter 42 and walk backwards to a chest until it stopped giving me Soul Gems, Hats, And Skystones. Then all I had to do was go back to the academy over and over and the store would refresh it's stock and viola, no need for exploration, which wasn't there to begin with. I can see why... random rewards and forced driving sections.

I really don't like that soul gems are random. I currently have 19 and the game refuses to give me the 20th. The well and chests have stopped giving me anything but EXP, gears, stardust, and gold, and the store has stopped selling me things. I guess I've just got to randomly find it in a chest but I've had no luck so far. To make things worse it's the soul gem for a character I already have.

You know gamemaster, I have everything I need for collectibles except for the rest of the mods and three Skystones, and I used no exploit, I just visited the Academy Store every time I returned to the Academy, and use my 65000 Gold Tree Rex to buy everything currently available. I used Wish Stones whenever I could to attain items, and completed the Quests when I finished the story. I had no need for any exploits, because I simply didn't see getting all of the collectibles at one time necessary at that moment. I'm going to continue buying Superchargers, and while doing so getting the rest of the Mods and more Gearbits for the new vehicles I attain. And I'm not even at the maximum rank, just rank 61. You may not enjoy the gimmick, which I respect. But Superchargers is a great game, better than Swap-Force even with the lack of Arenas and things like Score Mode. You may hate the Story, but you really locked yourself out of getting your money's worth by using an exploit to get everything right then and now. I just barely started Nightmare mode, because aside from my Tree Rex (which I only used to buy items), I used only my Superchargers characters. I wanted them to be as powerful as they could be before I went on to Nightmare.

I am sorry if it sounds like I am insulting you, but there is lots to do, even if the exploration isn't quite as good this year. I don't mind you sharing your opinion, but constantly stating it all around the forums, and advertising the fact that you think that Lego Dimensions is better really makes me think of you like CountMoneyBone. Not in the sense that he is just insulting it outright without even playing it, but in a sense that 'This entry wasn't great, buy this other game instead'. Again, sorry if I an offending you, but I want to make my point. I really like you as a person and the fact that you have achieved things unlike any other person here on darkSpyro (All the individual 256 combos, who could beat that?).

So far, I've gotten all 265 of the 266 hats in SSC. The only hat missing from my collection is the Kickoff Hat, which somehow can only be acquired by placing Kickoff Countdown on the portal. But the thing is that I don't have him.

Quote: zookinator

You know gamemaster, I have everything I need for collectibles except for the rest of the mods and three Skystones, and I used no exploit, I just visited the Academy Store every time I returned to the Academy, and use my 65000 Gold Tree Rex to buy everything currently available. I used Wish Stones whenever I could to attain items, and completed the Quests when I finished the story. I had no need for any exploits, because I simply didn't see getting all of the collectibles at one time necessary at that moment. I'm going to continue buying Superchargers, and while doing so getting the rest of the Mods and more Gearbits for the new vehicles I attain. And I'm not even at the maximum rank, just rank 61. You may not enjoy the gimmick, which I respect. But Superchargers is a great game, better than Swap-Force even with the lack of Arenas and things like Score Mode. You may hate the Story, but you really locked yourself out of getting your money's worth by using an exploit to get everything right then and now. I just barely started Nightmare mode, because aside from my Tree Rex (which I only used to buy items), I used only my Superchargers characters. I wanted them to be as powerful as they could be before I went on to Nightmare.

I am sorry if it sounds like I am insulting you, but there is lots to do, even if the exploration isn't quite as good this year. I don't mind you sharing your opinion, but constantly stating it all around the forums, and advertising the fact that you think that Lego Dimensions is better really makes me think of you like CountMoneyBone. Not in the sense that he is just insulting it outright without even playing it, but in a sense that 'This entry wasn't great, buy this other game instead'. Again, sorry if I an offending you, but I want to make my point. I really like you as a person and the fact that you have achieved things unlike any other person here on darkSpyro (All the individual 256 combos, who could beat that?).

Never apologize. GM's a big boy.

When I get to criticizing something, I really get vocal about it. It happens. I was OBNOXIOUSLY vocal about lack of Heroics in Swap Force and how Legendary Treasures were used. I get a lot of the criticisms of the game...and guess what? We have them every year at this time. I'd venture to say we can make a date for this time next year and do the same.

Everything across the board is better for me this time...even if the gimmick feels forced and contrived at times. Exploration is an issue. Length of game is a problem for me personally. I'm having loads of fun playing with those who shared their id. Tonight I was shown where 4-5 mod chests were that I didn't even know. How cool was that? The co-op operation of the vehicle is great. The online is going to help extend my fun this year. I have quite a list of things I'd have done differently or whatever, but I'm just one voice. I'm sure they're assembling feedback and we'll see tweaks in the next game.

Anyway, the randomness is perfect. It's in line with the almost 300 hats we have now. And it sounds like certain items have to be obtained in very specific ways, so randomness is not 100% of the game.

I have a feeling those chests are random.. Believe it or not, just my two cents

Awesome run though takeyourlemons been working toward the coop emblem

Thanks TakeYourLemons. It's nice to see you enjoying it, along with everyone else here. I do have my own gripes, such as the difficulty of getting nearly 1000 Gearbits just to get the last upgrades for Land Vehicles, while for Sea vehicles its 480, and Sky it's only a little over 300. But I still like the game, and I want to get all of the different mods so I can customize all my future vehicles just the way I want them. It would be nice to know where the rest of the hidden mod chests are though. At most I can get about five every level if I go through all the zones.

I did the exploit, because almost every single level of Sueprchargers was boring. Live wire locks were more fun (had good music too) than The campaign, so I just kept spamming them for 2-3 hours.

Again, the land segments in every... single... level, but two super super super super short levels, were very tedious and wore thin on me. At least in Swap Force, you were never required to do Swap Zones if you didn't want to, and it had exploration to boot.

Trust me. No one is insulting me due to my massive dislike of Superchargers. I'm an adult. It's easy to handle the opinions of others.

Had the levels been fun to play, I could've seen myself going back for randomized chests, but the levels were too boring outside of walking on different walls in the undead place or being a magnet. That was about as unique as the game got, while cutting out everything that made Skylanders fun.

I praise the lord for Lego Dimensions, because after my disappointment, I longed for a lengthy game that I could explore. I'm at 43 hours into Lego Dimensions, and I still have two more story levels left, and I've only managed to get max studs on the Back to the Future and Wizard of Oz open worlds, and Max studs on all but about 3 story levels. There's 11 open worlds, 14 story levels, and 3 expansion levels to still get 100% in. After everything has released for Dimensions, I could see the game easily being over 100 hours long, and did I mention it has... open world levels? Something I've wanted in Skylanders for a very long time.

I hope against hope that TFB can make a better Skylander game next year, and I hope VV gets back to form on Sky 7. I won't give up on the brand until I'm met with disappointment after disappointment. Only time will tell. If that's the case, I have three years worth of releases for Dimensions lone starter pack to keep me entertained.

^I'm in agreement that the GAME MECHANICS ITSELF needs to be re-invented. They need to go for it with a new "semi" open world environment with rails for #6--with online of course. They don't mind nagging us now for the small quest stuff...they can simply use that to remind the young player what their objectives are and LET THEM CHOOSE where and when to solve...which impacts what worlds open up for them to play and continue. Replayability? How about decisions made in game that prevent certain worlds/paths from opening up, and replay is required to do it all. I think they can pull this off on a JR level.

Quote: zookinator

Thanks TakeYourLemons. It's nice to see you enjoying it, along with everyone else here. I do have my own gripes, such as the difficulty of getting nearly 1000 Gearbits just to get the last upgrades for Land Vehicles, while for Sea vehicles its 480, and Sky it's only a little over 300. But I still like the game, and I want to get all of the different mods so I can customize all my future vehicles just the way I want them. It would be nice to know where the rest of the hidden mod chests are though. At most I can get about five every level if I go through all the zones.

Ya know, I did vaguely see a price difference and initially thought it was the lack of Winged Sapphires...glad to know I wasn't dreaming.

Wow, you really are laying it on thick for LEGO Dimensions, which has a MUCH greedier business model than any Skylanders iteration has had. If they follow through with not releasing a new game every year, that means that the 14 levels you have completed will be the entirety of a unified experience. You will have played any other once and done LEGO game. But, with their 3 years of support, you will get to pay $30 for ONE new level, that COULD be as good as Portal, or that COULD be as disappointing as Back to the Future. If your shiny new $30 level is a new franchise, you get a new hub world, with new glorified fetch quests. However, if your new $30 level is an existing franchise, you will get no new hub world, and 20 gold bricks tacked on to the existing hub world. But again, you will not get a new, 14+ level unified experience every year like we get from Skylanders, you are JUST getting hub worlds and fetch quests, for the most part. There are things in Dimensions that require a specific character, which Skylanders has never done. How mad would someone be if they found an elemental gate that required Lava Barf Eruptor to open? And no, I am not counting the light and dark expansions, because they were always intended to expand. If they don't release subsequent Dimensions games, full games, it is going to seriously diminish it's longevity.

Elohim, they said there will be releases up,until at least 2018 for Dimensions, keeping it fresh.

This approach could work too,maps you can see they put a lot of effort into Dimensions' story and levels. It feels like a more grand Lego game. A new starter every three years means small teams can work on additional content for game 1 while the team who made game 1 can come up with more awesome ideas like they did in game 1. Time does allow for better ideas.

And I am mad at Superchargers for alienating my thousands of dollars worth of Skylanders more than they were alienated in Trap Team (only Trap Masters could open elemental gates). I mean, why do I own them if they can no longer open gates, or the gates aren't there anymore, only to be replaced by being forced to drive a car with minimal combat between each section?

And Back to the future is an excellent example that each open world isn't only fetch quests. Gold bricks were gotten in various ways, and some ways involved altering 1885 so changes would be made to 1985 and 2015. What game allows you to travel to the past instantly by the way? That made that adventure world worth it alone. And altering the future from the past didn't require a single NPC to give me any fetch quest. It was just there to be solved.

And let's not forget that Skylanders took that route. Every day Tessa and Hugo give fetch quests. Both games do it, Dimensions does it better, because I like both linear and non linear gameplay and Dimensions gives both.

Since this has strangely transferred into the "Official Lego Dimensions thread" I want to give my 2 cents: I hate legos, that is all.

But in all seriousness, I really do. I have never liked any kind of building things like that, I am horrible at them, and having played a couple lego games (don't remember which ones...I know it was batman related) I found myself bored with them. The only thing Dimensions offers me is BTTF and Jurassic Park. I have had a ton of fun playing SSC, just going through and fighting enemies and upgrading characters. While the game is in no way perfect it is a lot of fun and I love it.

Quote: TheShadowDragon

So far, I've gotten all 265 of the 266 hats in SSC. The only hat missing from my collection is the Kickoff Hat, which somehow can only be acquired by placing Kickoff Countdown on the portal. But the thing is that I don't have him.

is that the last hat we are all missing? ive been doing all the daily challenges hoping for the last hat. but why would they make it so all but 1 hat is earned in the game?

Can we please stay on topic. This thread wasn't to discuss lego dimensions. mechanics of that game can be discussed elsewhere.

Quote: Snap Shot

Can we please stay on topic. This thread wasn't to discuss lego dimensions. mechanics of that game can be discussed elsewhere.

But haven't you heard? Dimensions is the superior game,so it's totally fine to derail to talk about the competitor. (/s)

Quote: TheShadowDragon

So far, I've gotten all 265 of the 266 hats in SSC. The only hat missing from my collection is the Kickoff Hat, which somehow can only be acquired by placing Kickoff Countdown on the portal. But the thing is that I don't have him.

Kickoff Countdown is still readily available. He's listed on Walmart's website, both new and pre-owned, and at Best Buy.com.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

To be honest, 266 hats? I thought TfB was preparing us for retirement. I sure as heck prefer randomness to forcing my skylanders to wear the hat to bring it in like TT did...or did everyone forget that? If they have to keep all of these dumb hat collectibles around, VV did the right thing....it HAS to be less on their part to introduce it this way....I like not knowing what I'll be getting.

If anything is going to go, I'd say the hats need to. It's literally out of control. Make enough hats to support the number of skylanders and make them obsolete after the game I say. Quests/Heroics are king and come up with a long term stat upgrade system. I say a new evil genius called the "Mad Hatter" has taken all the hats in skylands...

I kinda laugh at the concept of exploration in this game. All I do is test all boundaries and locations....it's more of an easter egg find 10 steps away from the main path as opposed to real "exploration". You REALLY want exploration? Make multiple paths and find ways to progress using your brain and solving REAL puzzles.

Do you mean to tell me you can ACTUALLY get all 266 hats spanning the series in this game? I thought it was only going to show if your character brings it into the game from a previous game.

That's what Trap Team did. SuperChargers does not follow suit. I haven't tried bringing in hats on my skylander's head to see if it adds to the collection...

I'll be testing it once my light & dark expansions arrive, but would hats like the UFO hat and the ones from the likes of Kickoff Countdown or Jolly Bumble Blast unlock in TT if given to a character through Superchargers? My S1 Flameslinger is wearing the UFO hat since I got it in SSC ( only have 3 or 4 hats left there... ), so I'll test it via him if nobody has an answer....

UFO Hat can be obtained in the game, it was shown several times in press footage.

I think it's pretty cool. Adds a bit of "praise RNGesus!" To the game

Can someone update me on how to get the winged sapphires in this game? I've only gone through the first 2 levels at this point but I don't like to buy upgrades without having all the winged sapphires. Are they apart of the random draw as well?

Quote: swanylyn

Can someone update me on how to get the winged sapphires in this game? I've only gone through the first 2 levels at this point but I don't like to buy upgrades without having all the winged sapphires. Are they apart of the random draw as well?

Part of the random draw, be it store,chests or well.

i need to repeat the same level

Is it possible to wear a hat in SSC, and then use that Skylander in a previous game and they still retain the hat?..

Quote: Bifrost

UFO Hat can be obtained in the game, it was shown several times in press footage.

I know it can be obtained in the game, that's how I got it. I was asking of it would unlock in TT as a legacy hat.....

welp i just looked in my game and yea 265 of the 266 hats are unlocked normally that last one is unlocked my kickoff countdown, it even said it on the missing hat circle lol. the thing you learn from reading *que the "now you know" star*

It gives your game experience personalization. The stuff you are finding or seeing in stores is what happens in YOUR game.

I've heard it suggested it takes from exploration, but that is absurd. You still have it marked you need to find x amount of chests or supercharger gates. This could be expanded on and finding Flynns items and rubber ducks or whatever nonsense could still be present. It also holds the possibility of allowing for "unmarked" presents and chests that you are forced to keep exploring levels to find true hidden treasure caches.

On top of everything, it allows players to play the game they want to play. In future installments, when you have the arena or what have you, players who want to play more PvP can be afforded the opportunity to find hats, soul stones, cards, or any other goodies. Racing....same thing. Story.....same thing. Your able to play the content YOU prefer and still get rewarded. It increases playability by just opening things up and players replay what they want to replay.

Right direction plain and simple. Now the game just needs a wider variety of readily accessible content.