darkSpyro

Well, we have a discussion about the biggest issues, why not the biggest improvements?
I don't mean 'oh, the level with the thing was really cool',I mean features that can carry over to 6 and foward. UI, puzzles, enemy gimmicks,that kind of stuff.

I probably can't remember all of them off the top of my head, still a game away in my replaying project, but here are some that I really would like TFB to at least consider:

1.Portal Master Powers: They don't need to stay exactly the same, but the bonuses they offer are so nice and would add so much given the right time. Elemental abilities are a nice bonus but also are great to show the Skylander's magical influence without having to rely on a gimmicky area or Gate, and some of the joke options are a nice laugh like hats on NPCs. Juust wish they'd have a 'choose none' option because you don't always want bonus everything.
2.Dynamic cutscenes: Yes please, every game from now. People standing around talking might be cheaper,but leave that for small talk and postgame/adventure pack stuff, it just breaks the pace otherwise. More emotion in cutscenes also made me feel immersed a lot more,too.
3.Tracks using violins: More violin. The After Party is good violin.
4.Minor gimmick level changes: As long as it's not required, seeing Vault of the Ancients become a beautiful shade of yellow when you do the zones is quite a sight, because the blue is already quite pretty as well. Small changes like that really encourage replays, and though this time the means aren't as fun, I can probably think of a few ways to make the changes gimmicks only but not so must-see.

I agree on keeping the Portal Master Powers - ended up using them more than I expected. The elemental 'quirks' were especially fun, and I also liked the 'pointless' ones such as making NPCs wear hats.

Ditto on the dynamic cutscenes, but I'm including it in my first point:

1. Better storyline: I really liked Superchargers' story. I think it was partly due to the delivery - such as the cutscenes - but also the extra effort put into the plot itself. It felt more like a story designed for the storytelling's sake, instead of a story designed to justify the gameplay. Previous games' stories were fine, but SCs was so much better.

2. Chests not disappearing after you find them the first time: I should clarify here - I don't like the completely random treasure system, as I liked the encouragement to explore that fixed item locations gave. But I do like how if you return to the spot of a chest in a second playthrough of the level, you'll get a small reward such as treasure or gearbits. Previous game's levels felt quite empty after I'd gone through and found all the items; this is not a problem in Superchargers.

3. Optional streamlining of exp and treasure grinding: I liked how I could play through the game with new Skylanders and have them slowly level up and gain abilities as you play through, allowing you time to explore each new move before saving up enough treasure for the next one. But after I finished the story, I also liked how I could then crank the difficulty up to nightmare, turn on all the exp/treasure Portal Master Powers and train up a bunch of my old favourites that I never managed to max in my old games. Being able to have some control on how easy or hard it was to grind was great.

That's all I can think of for now, might have more ideas when I'm not super duper tired.

Portal Master Powers definitely, very cool addition but as we said in the other topic, there's not enough on-foot combats to test most of them. At the very least, keep the upgrade path switching.

Although I'm a solo player, Online modes were nice.

Dialogues between the Superchargers and Buzz when doing Quests.

Random daily Quests, but make them more challenging and less repetitive. Like completing a level under a time limit, completing a level on Nightmare without losing a Skylander, etc.

Story levels having small gimmicks that make them unique (titan form in Monstrous Isles, magnetic powers in Vault of the Ancients, shrink/grow in Cap'n Cluck HQ, etc.)

3D animated character portraits in the interface.

Random collectible loot but not for all items. Soul Gems and Winged Sapphire should have fixed locations.

Good idea, Bifrost, there are definitely some good things in SSC that should stay. IMO:

1) Online Capabilities:

I have always say there is a lot of potential in here. This addition was great, however a few minor improvements should be performed in order to maximize its profits (pvp online, co op with random players, better server pairing, etc)

2) Portal Masters Powers:

This kept me hooked and motivated to reach level 75. New portal master powers are very welcome for the next installments.

3) The way storyline was presented and performed overall.

Don't know how they did it, but for the first time skylands felt very real, it manage to inmerse the player into the story like never before. PLease continue with this tendency.

4) Possibility of customizing the skylanders as with vehicles

This wasn't a feature which was implemented in SCC; however they open door to be able to customize for the first time (apart form hats and amulets) our figurines. They should go a step forward and extedn this feature to skylanders.

5) Adding instant characters for free

Great feature for those who didn't care about vehicles figures and wanted to enjoy the game.

6) A lot of stuff to do at the hub, on the first playthrough, at least:

The academy is full of corners where something can be done (playing online, side missions with hugo and tessa, vehicle training, watching cinematics, etc). It felt like a true and enjoyable hub. I miss a beach like in SSA, but well, that's already very personal.

7) Diary of Kaos

I woud like this feature extended to Skylanders themselves, getting a deeper insight at their bios and personalities would be great.

8) Releasing videos of characters sketches:

It was done before, but this time VV has made it for every single released character. Would be cool if they kept doing this and even if they do it with past characters.

9) Good graphics and certain levels artwork

This may sound obvious, but the graphics were very good, they should really keep performing better and better in this aspect like they usually do. As for the levels, certain of them, like the cloud kingdom were visually gorgeus, both technically and artistically. The library was the runner up in this sense. Both feel really fantasy inspiring and beautiful.

10) Path Switching

Of all my skylanders collection I only reseted Knight light to be able to experience his two paths and I even bought a second one later on which I upgraded to the not chosen path on the first place. Apart from that all the others were only half enjoyed in this sense, so the possibility SSC brought of switching paths kind of increased my skylander experience a lot.

11) Dialogues with Buzz

It was cool to see personal conversations which gave a deeper insight to Skylanders personalities.

Oh yeah,forgot entirely about the Quests and co-op. The former might be hard to carry over, but they give so much insight on the skylander without resorting to books or comics, and the co-op speaks for itself when it isn't glitching - found even more uses for it since I'm still saving up for a WiiU pro controller to play with neighbors :U

SuperChargers definitely added some truly interesting features.
Not going to mention again what others already said (great plot, level gimmicks, Portal Master powers, online functionalities...) but I absolutely agree with most of them.

One thing I absolutely want to see in all the games from now on is path switching.
I know, it's still part of the Portal Masters powers but that doesn't mean it cannot become a regular function maybe unlocked once you purchased all the upgrades for a specific Skylander.
It's a shame you really aren't encouraged to play with your characters and experiment their other paths but it was still a fantastic feature.

I personally feel like V.V. has great and truly innovative ideas but they don't really make them shine in their games; think about jumping, nice feature which changed the regular gameplay a lot which became even better once TfB added jump attacks in Trap Team.
We know TfB are looking for developers to work on online functionalities and that makes me think they will provide something absolutely outstanding now that V.V. introduced them.

Would like to list more things that I liked (because there are lots of them) but they have already been said.

Quote: Drek95

SuperChargers definitely added some truly interesting features.
Not going to mention again what others already said (great plot, level gimmicks, Portal Master powers, online functionalities...) but I absolutely agree with most of them.

One thing I absolutely want to see in all the games from now on is path switching.
I know, it's still part of the Portal Masters powers but that doesn't mean it cannot become a regular function maybe unlocked once you purchased all the upgrades for a specific Skylander.
It's a shame you really aren't encouraged to play with your characters and experiment their other paths but it was still a fantastic feature.

I personally feel like V.V. has great and truly innovative ideas but they don't really make them shine in their games; think about jumping, nice feature which changed the regular gameplay a lot which became even better once TfB added jump attacks in Trap Team.
We know TfB are looking for developers to work on online functionalities and that makes me think they will provide something absolutely outstanding now that V.V. introduced them.

Would like to list more things that I liked (because there are lots of them) but they have already been said.

I'm not expecting anything absolutely outstanding from TfB online wise I expect more of the same, along with maybe something new focused on the next game's gimmick.


And I pretty much want the same things everyone else wants, lol.

Ill make a full list later on but one thing I really liked was the fact that "this element is stronger in this zone" was mostly random this time. It chose randomly from a list of about 3-5 elements, but I still like how it added to the replayability (I'm the kind of dude who uses a skylander element based on which is strongest in that area so it may just be me thinking this lol)

4 main things I'd like them to keep:

1) Portal Master powers
2) Skylanders having dialogue with at least Buzz
3) path switching for all!
4) legacy hats appearing as random rewards and in shop ( new hats as well as Winged Sapphires & Soul gems should be in set locations like before )

as a side thing, I'd also like future reposes to be more like those in Superchargers with a totally new play style rather than just tweaked stats and a Wow-Pow...

the 10min walk/brawling/jumping in between the racing... thats the only thing i want to keep.

Quote: ChillStealthElf

4 main things I'd like them to keep:

1) Portal Master powers
2) Skylanders having dialogue with at least Buzz
3) path switching for all!
4) legacy hats appearing as random rewards and in shop ( new hats as well as Winged Sapphires & Soul gems should be in set locations like before )

as a side thing, I'd also like future reposes to be more like those in Superchargers with a totally new play style rather than just tweaked stats and a Wow-Pow...

You are right about the dialogue with Buzz and the path switching, I'll add those to my list above.

-Online Co-op
-Skylander/NPC interactions
-Randomized collectibles (though only for hats)
-Path switching
-Portal Master ranks and powers
-Elemental zones are random

Online Capabilities
Talking to Buzz
Instant Skylander for free
Chest not disappearing if you collected them

Online
Talking To Buzz
Quests

Portal master powers

The decent store

Quests

Some form of vehicle use

The academy

I would agree with my fellow Portal Masters, especially path switching.

1. path switching
2. a story mode better or at least on par with SC
3. talking buzz
4. quests
5. portal ranks and powers
6. random elemental zones

On, finally remembered the one that I liked from the start! Outfit(not full) redesigns.

Don't get me wrong, I still hate rubber duck Chompies with a passion, I mean the NPC's clothing. Before, everyone had pretty meh single texture jackets or didn't change at all throught these years; having them change outfits and not too harshly makes them feel like actual characters and almost friends that you finally see buy new clothes after they've worn the same thing every school day.

Kaos' is amazing, it's simple, keeps the same colors, and the elaborate borders make him stand out way more than the old robe. Flynn doesn't change much but the new model makes it much prettier, same for Hugo who finally looks like he's trying to wear it. Cali could change the gloves because the green is an eyesore,but other than that, really looks like an explorer's gear over the yellow shirt. Persephone's the best keep it forever, also makes her actually look like the Fairy Queen she is.
Would be honestly a bummer if TFB put everyone back in what they had, because I'd get why, but if it's easy to port I see no reason to not at least change them again into something similar.

To be honest reposes are now officially obsolete and pointless now, even for the wow pow. See as long as characters are not made like the Superchargers, any character even gimmick guys, can now switch paths from Super chargers if one has the game and got to the rank to unlock Skylanders Tutor. This could mean the end of reposes unless they do like they did with Superchargers and reinvent characters.