darkSpyro

Quote: Bifrost

I've been talking spinoffs since the series started. They could've easily made some element or skylander group-focused games(say, 'oh no all guys of the X element/all guys of Y species were transported to this island! Mysterious!' just as an excuse for a plot where only that element will work, no matter who),or even some without TTL but it'll give you a nice bonus if you match. But with the yearly format, either you're throwing that to Beenox who really can't handle what it ALREADY has or taking time from the big two. Really wish they called N-Space back or something just for these small games but it doesn't seem like there's any interest.

I always though of that too. Maybe they can put small stories for each Skylanders/group of Skylanders in one disc and make a good Spin-Off of it.

Quote: Crash10

Great text guy. I just want to say that I personally understand why Battle Mode was deleted:

It's because of balance. As you know, there are many types of Skylanders now. Cores, Giants, "Swappers", Trap Masters, SuperChargers, Elites, Minis. Mainly because of Elites, Battle Mode would be very unbalanced if it comes back. As Giants and Trap Masters have the advantage of being stronger but they are slower, and Minis being the opposite, Elites don't really have then, so they are very unbalanced.

Also, they could need to try to introduce somewhere the side toys in Battle Mode. Traps, Vehicles... And maybe their use can make things even more unbalanced. For example, while a SuperCharger can use a Vehicle to become SuperCharged in Battle Mode, this will make him stronger, but without anything that can balance him compared to other characters.

Maybe they can come with something, but, for now, they need to balance in order to get this mode back.

I've written off toys being used in any other future mode. Unbalanced or not, a simple arena to hack it out with friends (online or otherwise) is still a cool idea that was fun. The excuses I heard from the dev teams on this was laughable from my perspective. Heck, call it the Skylanders Battle Training Arena then.

As almost anyone here should be able to attest to, I've been a vocal proponent of "more games" since year 1.

Take SSA. You could have *easily* dropped $00+ on that game to get everyone. That is literally the price of a brand new system. For two games (Console, 3DS) and one short moble game that *should* have been ported to Wii U/3DS by now (Cloud Patrol). This simply isn't a good investment from a gamer's standpoint.

Throw me some more games that let me use my figures. I'm not even talking as much about my army of 588 existing figures - we got the 20 new figures (plus their vehicles) this year. We got one actual game, got a bit gypped with the 3DS version (racingUsually an entire second adventure we can take our investment into, now, just racing - which isn't bad, but I got that in the main game already) and a mobile spin-off that does *nothing* with all these new figures I'm buying, instead, asks me to buy 270 one-time use cards (that would make on-line trading a pain) that are unlikely to be supported outside of that game.

I'm not sure I (or Activision investors) can get behind the idea of a game-only year... The new characters are such a huge part of what Skylanders is (look at how many threads we get every time new official artwork or figures-in-hand pics show up). Unless the game was so completely knock-it-out-of-the-park awesome that every man, woman, child, and pet on the planet *has* to have it, I think that'd be a mistake.

I would *greatly* jump at the idea of more spin-offs, even downloadable titles (just not mobile titles, as the developers of these don't seem to think they need to integrate any portal support in these outside of iPad...) Give me a quick & dirty 8-bit style platformer where every figure you scan unlocks a new level, each character has one attack (simplify - think NES, one button for jump/swim/fly, one for the attack) and I think you'd *really* extend the vaue of the figures.

I do understand, though, that Activision doesn't really want to give value to the older figures. As a parent, if older figures were as great as the new ones, do you buy your kid every new figure that comes out, or Buy 2, Get 3 free at GameStop (where Activision makes $0)? It's a no-brainer for the parent.

Face fact, Activision *hates* the old stock and will phase it out as soon as they figure out how to do it without completely pissing off the entire fanbase.

I'm not a collector, but obviously a fan and we own a ridiculous number of Skylanders. However, I don't have a problem with anything Activision have done in terms of what figures they release and in what combinations. I'm more concerned about certain figures either being in short supply or never being released in certain territories. Beyond that, everything is fine.

See, Wes, that's something Skylander fans shouldn't even have to worry about. Infinity has always made sure each character is in ample supply, and Dimensions has been great about making sure every figure can be found. Infinity and Dimensions allows for every figure to be preordered.

With Skylanders, if you don't jump on later waves as they release, chances are you're gonna have a hard time finding them. I mean first it was Scratch and then Spotlight, Blackout and Echo. Now who will disappear the fastest in the remaining waves of Superchargers? it shouldn't be an issue, but has since at least Swap Force.

Solid initial post here, Lemons!

You and I both have met in person a few times. I know you are a ravenous collector and a huge booster for the Skylanders series. You're a stalwart of the fan community, and a big time consumer. When you speak, I really think Activision should listen. Maybe they are listening; maybe they are not, but they SHOULD be listening; that much, I know.

You have kids, like myself, that are likely in the "twilight" years of their potential interest age-window for Skylanders toys and games. That alone probably steals a bit of our shared enthusiasm for the ongoing Skylanders series. That should be kept in mind here, BUT that alone does not discredit your opinions on this topic, in my opinion. You have purchased a TON of Skylanders over the years, and even if you were to never buy another from this day forward, Activision should STILL be interested in what you have to say here, because there are other younger adults out there who have children who soon will be entering the "dawn" of their kids' potential interest age-window for "toys to life". And the things that hooked you and your family into Skylanders should (in my opinion) be foremost on Activision's priority list for developing and producing future Skylanders' volumes in the coming years.

The stiff competition from Infinity, Amiibo, and Lego complicates those decisions and priorities for Activision now. That was a non-factor during the SSA/Giants era when Skylanders was "king", and the competitors were merely stuff on drawing boards and in developers' gray matter. Regardless, though, in my opinion, it is CRITICAL that Skylanders gets "back to its roots" (removing Vicarious Visions from the development process would help a ton here, but that is another discussion). When Skylanders (especially VV) tries too hard to be innovative, it has a really bad effect on the quality of its product.

Here is what made Skylanders awesome (to me, but I bet a lot of people agree, and, hey, this is my post):

1. Superb "dungeon crawler" gameplay. Adding jumping to Skylanders really ruined this, in my opinion. The later Skylanders games are really "platformer" style games (for the most part), and while that is also a valid genre of game, the "dungeon crawler" style REALLY fits the Skylanders concept like a glove, and I think the games' developers should consider trying that glove back, to see if it still fits.

2. Difficulty level that is moderately challenging throughout. This allows the game to appeal to both child gamers and adult gamers, and it actively encourages child gamers to seek out their parents for assistance, at least intermittently. Maybe some adults would rather not be bothered by kids, but I suspect those are (generally) the type of parents that let their 7-year-olds play HALO and Black Ops without supervision. They are not the target market for "toys to life". Skylanders gave parents a (way cooler!!) alternative for "family time" gaming -- can you really go back to Wii Tennis/Bowling after playing Skylanders? The issue I have with recent Skylanders entries has been that (even with the adjustable difficulty level feature) the story levels are still ridiculously easy (even on "hard" or "nightmare" mode), but the Boss fights are often absurdly and overwhelmingly difficult, which creates a severely discontinuous feel for the (adult) gamer after breezing through the comparatively simple/easy level. It makes this problem even worse that the difficulty level of the Boss fights almost always has nothing to do with the combat abilities or statistical levels of your Skylanders ... instead the difficulty stems from lame-ass jumping/dodging sequences (over laser beams, fire pits, spikes, etc.). Again, ditch the "jump" button, please! (see #1 above!)

3. Fun collecting!! This is equally important as the gameplay issues above! I think a few others have (correctly) stated in above posts that the whole "secretive" nature of Activision's release dates and patterns for Skylanders is stupid. Collecting is FUN when there are NOT TOO MANY Skylanders to collect, and there is TRANSPARENCY about what will be available for sale on what date. There was a "collect them all!" mentality that drove interest in Skylanders back during the SSA and (especially) Giants era, because collecting them all was a semi-challenging -- but attainable -- goal, even for non-addict/collector families. That driving force has been lost during the last three Skylanders games. I do not know how best to get that "aura" back, but it REALLY should be a priority for Activision and developers, in my opinion.

Nice to see you Bahamut, it's been a while.

My opinion is no more or less important than others. My children have effectively "checked out" of Skylanders, but I still find the game fun for myself, and my oldest child still participates, so that's some consolation. I would like for them to amp up elements on their gameplay to extend current "old" fans, but I understand it may never happen. My youngest son loves to build on Roblox so I'm now into Infinity to see if he would like it.

On the point of dev teams, I do agree with you that TfB adds a certain element of "magic" to the games that is undisputable. I've always claimed VV adds a technical superiority over TfB, but some of that "magic" is lost in translation. I however believe Swap Force is still the best game overall, and that the latest game represents mistakes made at a level beyond the VV team that I feel we are discounting.

I would love the series to go back to non jumping roots, but realistically I think it would be a disaster if they did so. It might be cool to add a "non jump" option in the game, but then level layouts would have to be adjusted to account for. That might be an interesting tradeoff that might extend gameplay if they did this.

From a difficulty perspective, I wish they would also look at it in terms of what villain combinations get spawned at locations instead of just amping up enemy damage requirements and attacks on players. They still haven't addressed that adequately from my perspective.

From the collecting standpoint, they went WAY TOO FAR in Trap Team (The nutsy ~80 count of last game I'm sure burned many a bridge.), and then snapped back too much in SuperChargers. I'd argue the 40 range is the sweet spot they should reach for. Now that we have light/dark, 30 might be a good number....add in 10 Alt Decos for those who may want them for 40. We've come to expect waves and general timeframes, but it would be nice if we had release schedules communicated.

They could do a non jumping mechanics,there's series precedent for this.DOTD had some puzzles where you'd have to hold heavy orbs, so your jumps couldn't even reach the teensiest of ledges. Just have that as a gimmicky key puzzle and done.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

I would love the series to go back to non jumping roots, but realistically I think it would be a disaster if they did so. It might be cool to add a "non jump" option in the game, but then level layouts would have to be adjusted to account for. That might be an interesting tradeoff that might extend gameplay if they did this.

Something slightly like this, I'd like to see some real variation between characters. We have figures with wings, but they can't really fly in any useful way. Quadrupeds have no real advantage/disadvantage over their two-legged counterparts. Right now, it's all about how the characters attack, and, aside from that, there's virtually no useful difference between them. Make it so playing through a level with Spyro really gives you a different experience than playing through with Gill Grunt, aside from whatever the attack you spam the screen with looks like.

Quote:

From a difficulty perspective, I wish they would also look at it in terms of what villain combinations get spawned at locations instead of just amping up enemy damage requirements and attacks on players. They still haven't addressed that adequately from my perspective.

I've considered the idea of "Smart Enemies" - not just for Skylanders, but for any game. On a higher difficultly, the game could "read" the player's actions. Let's say you have a generic wizard enemy. This guy has two basic attacks he uses. One is a spell that shoots a bolt of electricity at you for 50 points of damage. One is a spell that summons tiny minions all around you who bite you and do 20 points of damage each time they bite you. Every time you face this Wizard, the game learns how many points of damage you take from which of his attacks. Say, you're really good at dodging his bolts of electricity and you only get hit twice by level 3 - so 100 points of damage. But, you don't have a good attack for clearing away the tiny minions and those jerks are always biting you - 160 points of damage from them. As the game goes on, every time you face this generic wizard enemy, the game says "Well, player sucks at clearing away minions, so Wizard, use the minion attack more often."

The game can "learn" which attacks that you, specifically you, the player, do a poor job defending against, and tell future enemies (or even current enemies if you're in a boss battle) to increase those types of attacks.

Skylanders are the cool kids that no one likes anymore, Infinity are the Slackers, Lego Dimensions are the cool kids who know about famous movies and TV shows. And Amiibo's are the nerd.

UncleBob, I like that as well on the difficulty. This all ties into the replay ability and randomness of playing the game that make it more fun on subsequent playthroughs.

Quote: UncleBob

I've considered the idea of "Smart Enemies" - not just for Skylanders, but for any game. On a higher difficultly, the game could "read" the player's actions. Let's say you have a generic wizard enemy. This guy has two basic attacks he uses. One is a spell that shoots a bolt of electricity at you for 50 points of damage. One is a spell that summons tiny minions all around you who bite you and do 20 points of damage each time they bite you. Every time you face this Wizard, the game learns how many points of damage you take from which of his attacks. Say, you're really good at dodging his bolts of electricity and you only get hit twice by level 3 - so 100 points of damage. But, you don't have a good attack for clearing away the tiny minions and those jerks are always biting you - 160 points of damage from them. As the game goes on, every time you face this generic wizard enemy, the game says "Well, player sucks at clearing away minions, so Wizard, use the minion attack more often."

I've always loved the idea of smart enemies! I think this would really make the game more interesting for older players. It would be nice if there were more complex enemies with certain attack patterns at least. That way combat would be a little more engaging, and you would actually have to think about the way you fight.

On the topic of waves and toy distribution, I think it's not too big of a deal for most fans. I know for me limited distribution is no problem (though I am a little mad I've never, ever seen Scratch IRL). I think that the average Skylander fan isn't out to collect every single toy (*cough*yawn trap*cough*). Though at the same time I don't think it's too much to ask Activision for better distribution of figures.

-Rov