darkSpyro

Kaos' mom is probably the worst villain the series has(including the kiddy big bads from the books,and that's being nice),but for each their own.
SF doesn't only recycle VAing,though,they also repeated VAs for the majority of the new 'landers and overused songs from Giants when they have Lorne Balfe sticking around do stuff like Iron Jaw Gulch.

Kaos' mom is probably the worst villain the series has(including the kiddy big bads from the books,and that's being nice),but to each their own.
SF doesn't only recycle VAing,though,they also repeated VAs for the majority of the new 'landers and overused songs from Giants when they have Lorne Balfe sticking around do stuff like Iron Jaw Gulch.

^ Not sure wether to laugh or facepalm at your post pretty much ignoring good points about bad writing.

LAUGHPALM!

I completely agree with Bifrost. I wouldn't be so bothered by Kaos' Mom "overtaking" Kaos and making him look like a bumbling fool IF SHE ACTUALLY WAS AS CLEVER AS SHE WAS MADE OUT TO BE. And the thing were she jumps into your Portal is not clever. It would be clever if there were some reason behind it, if it were built around some previous lore, but not only is that not the case but it directly contradicts the whole "Portal Masters shouldn't use Portals on themselves" thing that was directly addressed in cutscenes in Giants and was mentioned in a Story Scroll in Spyro's Adventure.

Good writing revisits past plot points, good writing explains and goes in-depth with lore, good writing fleshes out characters beyond stereotypes and makes them things besides just plot devices, good writing gives proper reason to introduce new stuff and doesn't just abandon it, good writing in the case of a sequel will expand on previous plot and not just abandon it- SWAP Force just fails all of those, while it does have some spots of good writing, it doesn't outweigh all the bad stuff. SWAP Force contradicts established canon, the lore behind Cloudbreak is shallow and vague more than anything, pretty much all the characters are flat (Glumshanks is the only exception I can think of) and many appear just once to push you through their designated level, it constantly introduces new plot points and has moments that are never properly expanded on or mentioned again such as all the one-time characters, old characters besides three are all abandoned and pretty much never mentioned and those who do appear are Flanderized(Flynn isn't showing the least concern about his old friends Cali and Hugo...)... I could go on and on and on.

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing. And all these things are pretty noticeable if you've invested yourself in the story the previous games established, like good story, then pick up SF. What if I'm not in this supposed target range of "kids"? Is my opinion about this suddenly invalid because of it?

And, sure. It's impossible to get perfect writing and I could nitpick stories I LOVED(Wreck-It Ralph, so many problems you notice after having watched it twelve times), but at least they tried hiding their flaws and they weren't so downright dumb.
That's exactly it- SWAP Force's story is, in a word, dumb. It just keeps screwing up and doesn't really even notice that it screwed up so much. The flip is up with Flynn forgetting about all his old friends, what's with all the one-time stuff, this over-simplification...? You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out. I am dead serious, I was tired of the story not mentioning the Portal Masters and new characters just getting tossed on to a bonfire pile to sacrifice for the great Character Count God and nothing was entertaining me, besides the lore which was never properly expanded upon.

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth or character, a-la those cheap, uninspired products/movies/horrible CGI cartoons made "for kids" to distract them for a little while.

It just makes me worried for the next installments, afraid that they may just have gone cheap and decided to go down that CGI-cartoon story route. I don't care if in a game like Mario which doesn't really establish that much canon- even though I do appreciate when they make little nods to it in Mario, that's more of a bonus Easter egg type thing- but it is annoying when I'm playing Skylanders, where story is a large part of the experience. Of course, the gameplay is still great(even though it has frustrating flaws), but usually you don't separate story and gameplay but focus on the thing as a whole, and in this case that'd mean seeing how all this integrates together. I'm just going on a rant now so I'll stop and I'm re-using my Mario argument lol but SF's story does have massive flaws and it's annoying because story is a big part of this series. And like I said it's just worrying because they can't really "fix" this stuff unless they make some direct in depth thing to explain it or they may just keep doing this and stop caring abou--- *sock'd*

Bifrost I put it to you that you feel yourself attracted to Kaos' mum in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, particularly knowing that she is just an animation and it can never be.

No need to feel embarrassed, I understand your attraction completely. And I too hope that she will be released from her mirror prison in some future installment to once again set our hearts racing.

Quote: kaosmumishot

Bifrost I put it to you that you feel yourself attracted to Kaos' mum in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, particularly knowing that she is just an animation and it can never be.

No need to feel embarrassed, I understand your attraction completely. And I too hope that she will be released from her mirror prison in some future installment to once again set our hearts racing.

What is this I don't even.
I'm not sure if this is harrassing or just tl;dr,so I'll just forget I ever read it.

Quote: Arc of Archives

^ Not sure wether to laugh or facepalm at your post pretty much ignoring good points about bad writing.

LAUGHPALM!

I completely agree with Bifrost. I wouldn't be so bothered by Kaos' Mom "overtaking" Kaos and making him look like a bumbling fool IF SHE ACTUALLY WAS AS CLEVER AS SHE WAS MADE OUT TO BE. And the thing were she jumps into your Portal is not clever. It would be clever if there were some reason behind it, if it were built around some previous lore, but not only is that not the case but it directly contradicts the whole "Portal Masters shouldn't use Portals on themselves" thing that was directly addressed in cutscenes in Giants and was mentioned in a Story Scroll in Spyro's Adventure.

Good writing revisits past plot points, good writing explains and goes in-depth with lore, good writing fleshes out characters beyond stereotypes and makes them things besides just plot devices, good writing gives proper reason to introduce new stuff and doesn't just abandon it, good writing in the case of a sequel will expand on previous plot and not just abandon it- SWAP Force just fails all of those, while it does have some spots of good writing, it doesn't outweigh all the bad stuff. SWAP Force contradicts established canon, the lore behind Cloudbreak is shallow and vague more than anything, pretty much all the characters are flat (Glumshanks is the only exception I can think of) and many appear just once to push you through their designated level, it constantly introduces new plot points and has moments that are never properly expanded on or mentioned again such as all the one-time characters, old characters besides three are all abandoned and pretty much never mentioned and those who do appear are Flanderized(Flynn isn't showing the least concern about his old friends Cali and Hugo...)... I could go on and on and on.

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing. And all these things are pretty noticeable if you've invested yourself in the story the previous games established, like good story, then pick up SF. What if I'm not in this supposed target range of "kids"? Is my opinion about this suddenly invalid because of it?

And, sure. It's impossible to get perfect writing and I could nitpick stories I LOVED(Wreck-It Ralph, so many problems you notice after having watched it twelve times), but at least they tried hiding their flaws and they weren't so downright dumb.
That's exactly it- SWAP Force's story is, in a word, dumb. It just keeps screwing up and doesn't really even notice that it screwed up so much. The flip is up with Flynn forgetting about all his old friends, what's with all the one-time stuff, this over-simplification...? You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out. I am dead serious, I was tired of the story not mentioning the Portal Masters and new characters just getting tossed on to a bonfire pile to sacrifice for the great Character Count God and nothing was entertaining me, besides the lore which was never properly expanded upon.

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth or character, a-la those cheap, uninspired products/movies/horrible CGI cartoons made "for kids" to distract them for a little while.

It just makes me worried for the next installments, afraid that they may just have gone cheap and decided to go down that CGI-cartoon story route. I don't care if in a game like Mario which doesn't really establish that much canon- even though I do appreciate when they make little nods to it in Mario, that's more of a bonus Easter egg type thing- but it is annoying when I'm playing Skylanders, where story is a large part of the experience. Of course, the gameplay is still great(even though it has frustrating flaws), but usually you don't separate story and gameplay but focus on the thing as a whole, and in this case that'd mean seeing how all this integrates together. I'm just going on a rant now so I'll stop and I'm re-using my Mario argument lol but SF's story does have massive flaws and it's annoying because story is a big part of this series. And like I said it's just worrying because they can't really "fix" this stuff unless they make some direct in depth thing to explain it or they may just keep doing this and stop caring abou--- *sock'd*

You are right on so many levels. VV did indeed to a mediocre job when it's comes to the story of Swap Force. The contradiction that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves (Which I think is a great idea) despite Kaos' Mom going into a Portal. They were doing a great job when it comes to continuity until VV came around. TfB brought characters back from earlier in the game and gave them a new role or stated that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves multiple times. Characters like Mesmerelda just appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast. TfB (To my knowledge) is making Skylanders 4, hopefully we'll get that near perfect mix or story and gameplay again. TfB really sees the Skylanders Series as their baby (They say so on their website) and want it to be perfect in every way. VV was like a baby sitter, didn't know how to raise it, so it focused on on playing with they baby than telling it a good story.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Quote: Arc of Archives

^ Not sure wether to laugh or facepalm at your post pretty much ignoring good points about bad writing.

LAUGHPALM!

I completely agree with Bifrost. I wouldn't be so bothered by Kaos' Mom "overtaking" Kaos and making him look like a bumbling fool IF SHE ACTUALLY WAS AS CLEVER AS SHE WAS MADE OUT TO BE. And the thing were she jumps into your Portal is not clever. It would be clever if there were some reason behind it, if it were built around some previous lore, but not only is that not the case but it directly contradicts the whole "Portal Masters shouldn't use Portals on themselves" thing that was directly addressed in cutscenes in Giants and was mentioned in a Story Scroll in Spyro's Adventure.

Good writing revisits past plot points, good writing explains and goes in-depth with lore, good writing fleshes out characters beyond stereotypes and makes them things besides just plot devices, good writing gives proper reason to introduce new stuff and doesn't just abandon it, good writing in the case of a sequel will expand on previous plot and not just abandon it- SWAP Force just fails all of those, while it does have some spots of good writing, it doesn't outweigh all the bad stuff. SWAP Force contradicts established canon, the lore behind Cloudbreak is shallow and vague more than anything, pretty much all the characters are flat (Glumshanks is the only exception I can think of) and many appear just once to push you through their designated level, it constantly introduces new plot points and has moments that are never properly expanded on or mentioned again such as all the one-time characters, old characters besides three are all abandoned and pretty much never mentioned and those who do appear are Flanderized(Flynn isn't showing the least concern about his old friends Cali and Hugo...)... I could go on and on and on.

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing. And all these things are pretty noticeable if you've invested yourself in the story the previous games established, like good story, then pick up SF. What if I'm not in this supposed target range of "kids"? Is my opinion about this suddenly invalid because of it?

And, sure. It's impossible to get perfect writing and I could nitpick stories I LOVED(Wreck-It Ralph, so many problems you notice after having watched it twelve times), but at least they tried hiding their flaws and they weren't so downright dumb.
That's exactly it- SWAP Force's story is, in a word, dumb. It just keeps screwing up and doesn't really even notice that it screwed up so much. The flip is up with Flynn forgetting about all his old friends, what's with all the one-time stuff, this over-simplification...? You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out. I am dead serious, I was tired of the story not mentioning the Portal Masters and new characters just getting tossed on to a bonfire pile to sacrifice for the great Character Count God and nothing was entertaining me, besides the lore which was never properly expanded upon.

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth or character, a-la those cheap, uninspired products/movies/horrible CGI cartoons made "for kids" to distract them for a little while.

It just makes me worried for the next installments, afraid that they may just have gone cheap and decided to go down that CGI-cartoon story route. I don't care if in a game like Mario which doesn't really establish that much canon- even though I do appreciate when they make little nods to it in Mario, that's more of a bonus Easter egg type thing- but it is annoying when I'm playing Skylanders, where story is a large part of the experience. Of course, the gameplay is still great(even though it has frustrating flaws), but usually you don't separate story and gameplay but focus on the thing as a whole, and in this case that'd mean seeing how all this integrates together. I'm just going on a rant now so I'll stop and I'm re-using my Mario argument lol but SF's story does have massive flaws and it's annoying because story is a big part of this series. And like I said it's just worrying because they can't really "fix" this stuff unless they make some direct in depth thing to explain it or they may just keep doing this and stop caring abou--- *sock'd*

You are right on so many levels. VV did indeed to a mediocre job when it's comes to the story of Swap Force. The contradiction that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves (Which I think is a great idea) despite Kaos' Mom going into a Portal. They were doing a great job when it comes to continuity until VV came around. TfB brought characters back from earlier in the game and gave them a new role or stated that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves multiple times. Characters like Mesmerelda just appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast. TfB (To my knowledge) is making Skylanders 4, hopefully we'll get that near perfect mix or story and gameplay again. TfB really sees the Skylanders Series as their baby (They say so on their website) and want it to be perfect in every way. VV was like a baby sitter, didn't know how to raise it, so it focused on on playing with they baby than telling it a good story.

That analogy is great! However, I seriously doubt that TFB will be able to undo the damage that VV has done. They won't be able to retain the new (e.g., Cloudbreak). This would lead to yet more inconsistency. Honestly, unless if S4 is really great, I'm done with Skylanders. Like most of you here, I loved the lore of Skylanders. If the lore is gone, there's nothing left for me.

Three words:

Skylanders...
Were...
Dreaming.

Quote: sustainablspyro

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

You are right on so many levels. VV did indeed to a mediocre job when it's comes to the story of Swap Force. The contradiction that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves (Which I think is a great idea) despite Kaos' Mom going into a Portal. They were doing a great job when it comes to continuity until VV came around. TfB brought characters back from earlier in the game and gave them a new role or stated that Portal Masters can't use Portals on themselves multiple times. Characters like Mesmerelda just appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast. TfB (To my knowledge) is making Skylanders 4, hopefully we'll get that near perfect mix or story and gameplay again. TfB really sees the Skylanders Series as their baby (They say so on their website) and want it to be perfect in every way. VV was like a baby sitter, didn't know how to raise it, so it focused on on playing with they baby than telling it a good story.

That analogy is great! However, I seriously doubt that TFB will be able to undo the damage that VV has done. They won't be able to retain the new (e.g., Cloudbreak). This would lead to yet more inconsistency. Honestly, unless if S4 is really great, I'm done with Skylanders. Like most of you here, I loved the lore of Skylanders. If the lore is gone, there's nothing left for me.

Three words:

Skylanders...
Were...
Dreaming.

Quote: MugoUrth

Three words:

Skylanders...
Were...
Dreaming.

Ahh, the let's nullify the entire previous year due to an event...the Dream Mages are at work here!!!

Think it's too late to start a petition in the hopes that TFB will make Swap Force's story non-canon?

Some may say, "Stop being such a nitpick! It's made for kids and they won't notice this stuff/It's just a flipping video game!", and those are valid to a point- but bad writing is bad writing.

You stop caring for the story if it screws up so many times. I actually got bored of the story by the time I hit Twisty Tunnels and started tuning it out.

There's a reason people say SF feels more "kiddy"... It's not because of the silly, cartoony animation and graphics- those have always been there- it's because of the story, a major point from the previous games, is now filled with obvious lazy writing and lack of real depth

(I always kind of wished for a Star Control inspired Skylander, but they say there are Star Control references in the Skylanders franchise. ...But this isn't a Star Control topic, so I'll just leave it at this.)

Frankly I was never a huge fan of the story… I mean the pretext is great, but SSA was one long fetch quest and the SG story was just a mess.
I’m not sure why you’d get upset with portal-masters using their own portals when Kaos managed it in SG – and his mum wasn’t even transporting in SSF, just hiding inside the network, so to speak.