DVD Talk Forum - Skylanders, Anyone?

DVD Talk Forum (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/)

- Video Game Talk (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-talk-15/)

- - Skylanders, Anyone? (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-talk/596168-skylanders-anyone.html)

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

The sword is some kind of toy. I would rather have a free trap master than that. Now, the free trap and villain is nice but not enough to offset the 16 bucks or so that I will save with my GCU. I am considering getting the Dark Edition but still not sure just yet.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Took a box of figures to trade at Gamestop and was able to pay for the Dark Edition Starter set. I purged the collection of most of the reposed/multi series figs.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

If you get the Dark edition, how do you get the normal starters, are they going to be sold separately?

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Once you go Dark, you don't go back.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dadaluholla (Post 12252970)

Took a box of figures to trade at Gamestop and was able to pay for the Dark Edition Starter set. I purged the collection of most of the reposed/multi series figs.

How much did they trade-in for?

I went in and talked to a manager today to see if he had heard anything else about the portal trade-in for Punch Pop Fizz, and to see if they were opening early Sunday. Unfortunately the answer to both was no.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fujishig (Post 12252991)

If you get the Dark edition, how do you get the normal starters, are they going to be sold separately?

They are usually not sold separately, unless there is a variant (Gnarly Tree Rex). The only way would be to purchase a regular set also, or hope you can find them used.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

According to Best Buy's 10/5 ad you get Volcanic Eruptor free when you buy 2 or more Skylanders: Trap Team products.

and the Walmart Buddy pack.
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/81...00_500X500.jpg

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

I went to Target yesterday and they've cleaned away all the Swap Force figures from the main area in anticipation of the new game (there are still some figures on the end cap). I wonder where they all went. I would be delighted to see them on Clearance or in Big Lots some day soon.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Joystiq's http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.c...half-stars.jpg review

Spoiler:

Skylanders Trap Team review: Broccoli Guy's unjust desert

by Danny Cowan @db_cowan (2 days ago)
Share:
45261
25
Skylanders' success is borne of equal parts solid game design and marketing savvy. Its central conceit – buy small plastic figurines in order to summon in-game characters – is instantly appealing for kids, and its Gauntlet-styled action-RPG gameplay makes it a guilty pleasure for adults.

The franchise's "toys to life" mantra, despite its potential for audience exploitation, rewards dedicated fans with bonus content and unlockables that mirror the size of their toy collections. There are now hundreds of Skylanders toys to collect, but to date, the series has maintained a delicate balance that ensures a fun experience both for hardcore collectors and for casual fans.

Skylanders Trap Team, the fourth major entry in the series, is the first Skylanders game to upset this balance. Trap Team still offers a fun journey at its core, but longtime fans will be disappointed to find out that they need to purchase several new figures in addition to an expensive starter set in order to explore the game to its fullest.
Skylanders Trap Team (10/1/14)

Skylanders Trap Team introduces a new trapping mechanic, allowing players to capture and play as villains for the first time in the series' history. Trap Team is bundled with a redesigned Portal of Power platform that accepts Trap accessories in addition to legacy figures. Insert a Trap after you've beaten a boss and you can capture them and later summon your enemies to fight at your side. It comes at a cost, though – Trap Team is only available in figure-bundled Starter Packs starting at $75, and it's not compatible with any Portal of Power from previous games.

Villains are a great addition to Skylanders' playable cast, though, and the new Portal hardware makes them incredibly charming. Once you've got a villain trapped and at the ready, they'll offer running commentary on your quest via a speaker on the new Portal platform. It's a simple addition, but it makes the quest incredibly engaging.

Each of the 55 villains that can be trapped has a lot to say once captured, and their dialog often ties directly to the on-screen action. If you're getting low on health, for instance, your villain partner may chime in with something along the lines of "Hey, tag me in, coach!" They'll often pipe up after cutscenes, too, providing a sort of surreal metatextuality. It's a real treat to groan at a lame cutscene joke and then have your dim-witted villain companion follow up with a sarcastic "Ha ha! Now that's comedy!" It successfully bridges the gap between the game's world and your own living room, and the running commentary ends up defining the Trap Team's tone thanks to the exceptional quality (and quantity) of its writing.

Villains also play a crucial role in Trap Team's gameplay, which otherwise sticks closely to the formula established in previous games. Your Skylanders wander expansive levels in search of loot and equipment, leveling up and earning new abilities as they defeat enemies. At any point, you can swap your Skylander for a trapped villain; you'll want to swap often in order to minimize damage between health refills, and some areas award attack boosts to villains specifically. Villains are only active for a limited time before control reverts to your Skylanders, however, and they need to recharge between uses.

Gameplay in Trap Team feels distinct from previous series entries as a result. The trap-and-swap mechanic works well, and it makes combat more eventful and strategic than before. Villains bring their unique themed abilities into battle – Broccoli Guy, for instance, can heal your Skylanders, while the werewolf Wolfgang wields a massive guitar and plays sweet licks that damage faraway enemies. Since they don't have to strictly adhere to the standard moveset common to core Skylanders characters (ie, fast attack, strong attack, special ability), villains can serve supplemental roles in battle, making combat more interesting and varied.

It's obvious that combat was Trap Team's focus, as other returning gameplay elements are weaker compared to last year's Skylanders Swap Force. Swap Force kept up a breakneck pace throughout, bridging battles with on-rails sequences, puzzles, and freeform exploration. Trap Team feels much more rote. The game introduces interesting physics-based puzzles in its early levels, challenging players to roll boulders over rugged terrain to fill holes and unlock new areas. These sort of puzzles don't appear often, however, and gameplay feels much more action-oriented overall.

Level design takes a hit, too, reverting to the basic layouts established in Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure and Skylanders Giants. At their worst, levels can feel like a series of straightforward pathways leading from arena battle to arena battle, with little of the inventive flair found in Skylanders Swap Force. Combat is more fun than before thanks to the trapping mechanic, but I can only stomach so many battle scenes in a row before they start to become monotonous.

Trap Team is also glitchier than its predecessors. Large Skylanders frequently get stuck on level geometry, and I found myself falling off platforms a lot more often than in previous games. At one point, my partner and I managed to break the game entirely as our Skylanders fell off a ledge and into an endless void. We needed to reseat our figures on the Portal of Power several times before the problem corrected itself and gameplay resumed.

In a disappointing move for the series, Trap Team blocks off access to a large chunk of its included content unless players invest heavily in its new figures. In previous games, players could access branching paths within each level by unlocking Elemental Gates with matching Skylanders. These are a smart inclusion, rewarding longtime players with bonus content for their existing collections. I unlocked the majority of content in Skylanders Swap Force, for instance, using figures from previous Skylanders games, rather than Swap Force-specific toys.

Trap Team's Elemental Gates, on the other hand, can only be unlocked with Trap Masters – large figures that are priced at $16 apiece and are only compatible with Trap Team. Unlike in previous games, regular Skylanders, Giants, or Swap Force figures won't work; you'll need at least eight Trap Masters of different elemental affinities to unlock all of Trap Team's optional content. The single Trap Master included with the Starter Pack can only unlock a fraction of Trap Team's bonus content. Joystiq was provided with several Trap Masters for the sake of this review, and I can tell you that many of the game's most interesting platforming sequences are locked behind Elemental Gates, meaning that players with incomplete figure collections will miss out on some of the game's best moments.

Trap Masters also break Trap Team's combat balance. Perhaps as a way to justify their added cost, Trap Masters are more powerful than Skylanders from previous games – so much so that legacy Skylanders are less viable in combat. Legacy characters often cap their stats quickly, can take fewer hits, and deal less damage than newer figures, giving players little reason to stick with their favorites over Trap Team's exponentially stronger cast, especially in the difficult later levels.

Despite its many worthy additions, Skylanders Trap Team is the first game in the series to disappoint me. The new villain characters are charming - seriously, who could hate a floating, magical vegetable named Broccoli Guy? - and the talking portal accessory puts a fun spin on traditional series elements, but the uninspired level design really drags down the overall experience. Furthermore, the game's reliance on new figures is also a downer, especially for series veterans who already own a large collection of toys. You and your kids will still have plenty of fun with Trap Team, but it's weaker than last year's Swap Force, and its costly locked content sets an unfortunate precedent for future sequels. Broccoli Guy deserves better.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

I read that review a couple of days ago.

I don't get why he is disappointed that "you'll need at least eight Trap Masters of different elemental affinities to unlock all of Trap Team's optional content." Did he not play SwapForce where you had multi-element gates, and ability gates that needed to be unlocked? I guess you could have completed Giants with just the starter pack (1 giant, 3 elements), and the other 5 elements from Spyro's Adventure.

My gripe with SwapForce was you didn't get an Earth SwapForce character, or one with the sneak ability until 3 months later. I hope Trap Team isn't like that, but it looks like there isn't Trap masters for Life, and Magic (in wave 1).

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edison (Post 12257048)

I heard the second wave will be out about a week later. Now, I am not sure which figures are supposed to be in Wave 2. Also, unless Best Buy gets them I will wait so I can use my GCU to save a few bucks per figure. I plan on saving around 40 dollars or so this weekend when picking up the game and a few figure packs and trap packs.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Looks like some Toys R Us will be open at midnight and the rest at 8 in the morning. This was posted on darkspyro in regards to Toys R Us sales prices for a few hours.

Not sure about stores who open at midnight but if 8 AM...

From 8 am to 10 am
Rewards Members Only.get...
Buy 1 Get 1 $1 trap single packs
Buy 1 Get 1 50% off All Starter kits, accessories and figures.

If not rewards members and after 10 Am
Sales the same with traps
Buy 1 get 1 40% off starters kits, accessories and figures!!!

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Anyone in the Tulsa area getting a starter pack and wanting to split a buy 1 get 1 50% off on the starter packs to save a few bucks? I am really considering the Dark Starter Pack and by doing it this way they would be 75 plus tax apiece rather than 99 plus tax.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Just got back from Toys R Us midnight launch. There were 10 of us in line when they opened the doors @ 12am, and 4-6 more showed up shortly after.

We bought some of the Trap crystals plus ended up getting Legendary Jawbreaker, Wallop, Krypt King, and Bushwack (who wasn't on the wave 1 list I had). They had no Dark editions of the game out at all, even all of the pre-orders behind the register were regular editions. They also had no legendary adventure packs out just the regular one. It was funny that out of the groups that went in with us only 1 bought the game, everyone else was buying just figures and traps.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edison (Post 12258349)

Considering the very low prices on the previously released Skylanders games during BF week I'd be surprised if many sets are sold before then. Waiting for Swap Force paid off big time for me as I got it for ~$28 that week. I'll do the same for this one as well.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

I'll probaly grab the Wii U version soon. I hope someone sells the Wii U download code cheap at some point. I really hate swapping the disks.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

My daughter will be pumped when she gets home in a bit after my early morning shopping spree. I was able to get the Dark Starter set for PS4 for 80 and several traps, all of the Trap Masters, all 3 of the packs of figures and the collectors box for the traps. I'll post a couple of pics in a bit. Saving 20% off each and every item at Best Buy made this round much easier to swallow.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsa_shea (Post 12258594)

:up: Can't wait to see the pics.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Here are the Trap Masters

Spoiler:

Here are the Cores and 3-Packs

Spoiler:

Here are the Traps and Case

Spoiler:

Enjoy! We are skipping out on the minis and will likely skip out on some of the traps but we'll see. Supposedly, Wave 2 will be released on Tuesday and there are supposedly some stores that already have it out. Lob Star looks especially cool.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

We finally got around to opening everything including the traps. I have to say that they are nice and sturdy and cool looking. They are also not very big so they will not hog up a lot of space. Here is our collectors box with all 16 traps that we have including Kaos large trap for the Dark Edition. Check it out!

Spoiler:

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsa_shea (Post 12259148)

Spoiler:

I picked up a few things (mainly to get the Legandary figures) on the TRU B1G40% off sale and saw the case. What is its construction? In your photo it appears to be a thicker paperboard affair.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobO'Link (Post 12259206)

I picked up a few things (mainly to get the Legandary figures) on the TRU B1G40% off sale and saw the case. What is its construction? In your photo it appears to be a thicker paperboard affair.

It is a very sturdy, thick like board you would get in a good boxed set. It is also nicely covered with pics of the baddies that you can trap. It holds 46 traps. I have heard that there will be more than 46 of them you can get.

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Wow dsa_shea... I'd like to see your receipt and the total (or amount) that you saved. ;):up:

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

I thought teachers were supposed to be underpaid! ;)

re: Skylanders, Anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Decker (Post 12259333)

I thought teachers were supposed to be underpaid! ;)

Underpaid but not dead broke. If I had to guess how much I saved today off of what I would have paid without sales and my GCU discount then it would be around 80-100 bucks. That is just a guess but it has to be somewhere close.