• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure |OT| This Is Not Your Father's Spyro

Zing

Banned
I was able to register all of my Skylanders on the online site using my portal. I use a MacBook, and the "driver" is just an app that you run while you play the game. I had a little fun playing the mini-games. However, the last time I played, the app locked up on me after playing for about 20 minutes. I say "the last time" because after I re-logged in, my character had been rolled back as if those 20 minutes hadn't existed. This made me lose two levels and I quit, never to return.
 

Zing

Banned
Azure Phoenix said:
That can't be right, surely? I doubt Activision would be stupid enough to wait until the craze has died before bringing out new figures.

No, it is not right. Hex is currently available in a triple pack (along with Dino-Rang and Zap) in the US. This is just a matter of the UK import lag time.
 

BooJoh

Member
Wal-Mart.com has most of the figures listed now, and some of the new ones (as well as some of the old ones, and Dino-Rang...) are listed with a Dec 4th release date. Not sure how accurate that is, but it gives us a possible date for the rest.
 

Zing

Banned
BooJoh said:
Wal-Mart.com has most of the figures listed now, and some of the new ones (as well as some of the old ones, and Dino-Rang...) are listed with a Dec 4th release date. Not sure how accurate that is, but it gives us a possible date for the rest.

Where do you see the date? For me it just says "Preorder this item today and it should ship on", but no date is given.

It's also weird that many of the old figures are listed as "Pack II" (Fireslinger and such).

I do hope they come out that week at the latest. I'll probably have finished the game by then and be working on the extra adventure packs. It will be good to re-play through the levels again to get 100% complete with the new figures.

Who the hell is going to buy the silver figures other than to sell to the next fool? Craziness.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Was in Target today. Saw some Whirlwind figures without the "Target Exclusive" sticker. Wonder if the exclusive thing was temporary.
 

BooJoh

Member
Zing said:
Where do you see the date? For me it just says "Preorder this item today and it should ship on", but no date is given.
Some of them (Cynder for example) say 12/4, some don't list a date.
 
did you see this?

TlQ7j.jpg


this HAS to be like a coloring-error right? or will they now sell random silver skylanders alongside the legendary ones? whats next? shiny skylanders? :D

EDIT: oops didnt see the other post about this .. sorry
 

Zing

Banned
DrForester said:
Was in Target today. Saw some Whirlwind figures without the "Target Exclusive" sticker. Wonder if the exclusive thing was temporary.
The exclusivity was only to last until "wave 2", which is apparently only a few weeks away.
 

Zing

Banned
BooJoh said:
Some of them (Cynder for example) say 12/4, some don't list a date.
It must have been a database error. As of this morning, all the figures say 12/4. I can't wait!
 
I've been checking the Target and Toys R Us stores around me every day and I still haven't found any Wave 2 figures. Toys R Us has been selling out and restocking on these things at an amazing rate. Target isn't as good at restocking though.
 

Milla

Neo Member
New Zealand seems to be completely lacking undead characters, but on a more positive note we're getting the next wave November 25.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
For those seeking at places like WalMart and Target (and maybe more but unconfirmed) make sure to ask. Apparently, with the exception of their exclusive figure, the single packs all ring up (or cross reference) to a common UPC number. They can't search fro specific figures at store level, so make sure to ask if they have more in back.
 

Zing

Banned
DrForester said:
For those seeking at places like WalMart and Target (and maybe more but unconfirmed) make sure to ask. Apparently, with the exception of their exclusive figure, the single packs all ring up (or cross reference) to a common UPC number. They can't search fro specific figures at store level, so make sure to ask if they have more in back.
I noticed this at Toys R Us as well. All of the figures had the same SKU on my receipt. The adventure packs were unique, though.
 

Hobbun

Member
Has anyone had any defective figures? My Terrafin does not read on the Portal of Power. I basically get an error message that the figure cannot be seen and to contact Activision. I am going to go through all my figures tonight and see if there are any others.
 

NavNucST3

Member
Finally got to rip this open on Monday for my sons birthday, 360 version. Wife and kid played this for a good three hours straight until all their characters had to rest...why do I want my own set of characters :-/ this is going to be a nightmare. We can't get the portal driver/script to install properly, install process seems to work fine but the browser just isn't recognizing that the portal is plugged in "portal not installed" (Lion 10.7.2) but my son is using the cards now so I guess it isn't such a loss (or is it?).
 

Zing

Banned
NavNucST3 said:
Finally got to rip this open on Monday for my sons birthday, 360 version. Wife and kid played this for a good three hours straight until all their characters had to rest...why do I want my own set of characters :-/ this is going to be a nightmare. We can't get the portal driver/script to install properly, install process seems to work fine but the browser just isn't recognizing that the portal is plugged in "portal not installed" (Lion 10.7.2) but my son is using the cards now so I guess it isn't such a loss (or is it?).
I have Lion as well. The driver "install" just copies the files to your Applications folder with the name "SpyroPortal". You only need to run the install once.

Connect and power on your portal. Quit Safari. Run "SpyroPortal" from the SpyroPortal folder I mentioned above. You will see it running in your dock. Load up Safari and the website. It should work.

The benefit of using the portal for the online game is you can more easily "update" your figure. It appears the online game bases your stats there on your stats from the console game. You can manually "update" from the console game by going into the menu there and copying down the online code, entering that code into the website, but what a pain.

The other thing the portal "update" does is change your "Hero" level in the console game. As far as I can tell, this value affects absolutely nothing. It's just for show.

NavNucST3 said:
why do I want my own set of characters :-/
Because this game is helluva fun and when playing co-op you want at least two of each element type. Sometimes two isn't even enough, due to knock-outs.
 

Zing

Banned
We have reached what appears to be the final battle with Kaos. I feel like I don't want to proceed any further because then the game will be over. We still plan on "three starring" every level and of course there are the Adventure packs, but I know I am going to want more.

Someone earlier in this thread suggested that the heroic challenges scaled to your level. My experience shows otherwise. I played through a few of them with a level 7/8 character and he was able to one-shot even the large enemies. It was far too easy to blaze through and destroy everything. Zero challenge. This is quite the opposite of when I tried them with a level 1 character, or even level 3/4. It seems these heroic challenges are exactly what Cali calls them: training. They give you zero coins and plenty of exp. They truly are training grounds intended to give you an interesting method of power levelling your low level characters.

Now I feel like sharing thoughts about some of the characters.

Chop Chop: Initially he was very weak. A melee sword attack and a shield? Compared to any of the ranged characters, he was virtually useless. However, after a few upgrades, he is one of the most powerful characters. Sword does a lot of damage. Shield Bash and absorb ability means he is interesting to play and can plow through small enemies. The Brambles are hard to aim, though.

Terrafin: I've given this guy many chances. Brass knuckles, the mini-sharks… it doesn't make him any more fun to play. He seems powerful enough, but is just boring as hell.

Stealth Elf: I don't know the point of the scarecrows, as the enemies usually die before they matter. It's also thematically odd. The stealth ability felt right, but having a scarecrow suddenly appear is very strange.

Eruptor: Once you get into the eruption upgrades, he gets very busy graphically. The eruption becomes very large and throws fireballs around. The game screen can already be confusing during large battles, and this doesn't help.

Voodood: Between his very strong melee attack and his trip wires, he is a powerhouse.

Boomer: Another character that starts very weak, but becomes extremely strong with upgrades. Triple dynamite and troll bombs are nuts. He also has interesting game play in that you can either attack slowly from long-range or quickly from short-range.

Sonic Boom: As I mentioned in a previous post, this has to be the easiest character to play. Wide area attack with decent range that hits multiple enemies. AI-controlled chicks. Flying.

Ghost Roaster: I'm not sure about the utility of his ectoplasm mode, as his skull attack does pretty much the same thing, but deals big damage. I think you have to go for the ectoplasm upgrade path, otherwise it is a pointless ability.

Gill Grunt: Top tier like Sonic Boom. Unlimited water upgrade means you can infinitely hover around in any direction while spraying groups of enemies with water. When fighting against single or very strong enemies, his extremely powerful harpoon gets the job done quickly. The fact that he can access many of the hidden items and areas across water is a bonus.

The rest of the characters are all good in their own way, but don't really stick out in terms of power level or utility.
 

NavNucST3

Member
Zing said:
I have Lion as well. The driver "install" just copies the files to your Applications folder with the name "SpyroPortal". You only need to run the install once.

Connect and power on your portal. Quit Safari. Run "SpyroPortal" from the SpyroPortal folder I mentioned above. You will see it running in your dock. Load up Safari and the website. It should work.

The benefit of using the portal for the online game is you can more easily "update" your figure. It appears the online game bases your stats there on your stats from the console game. You can manually "update" from the console game by going into the menu there and copying down the online code, entering that code into the website, but what a pain.

The other thing the portal "update" does is change your "Hero" level in the console game. As far as I can tell, this value affects absolutely nothing. It's just for show.


Because this game is helluva fun and when playing co-op you want at least two of each element type. Sometimes two isn't even enough, due to knock-outs.

This worked for me! Well, actually, I had to unlock the folder first since it was only allowing my admin account (I have parental controls turned on) access. After that though smooth sailing though I did actually think it had not worked because prior to running the portaldriver the lights on the portal were doing their normal color changing thing but once I ran the driver the lights went out and I thought it had failed. But, placing a skylander on the portal worked immediately in the browser. As an aside, why is there no "Remember Password" option? It also isn't lost on me that BETA is in the title bar. Double aside...heaven help me if my wife also wants her own set...
 

Briarios

Member
Just found Wrecking Ball and Hex here at a Walmart in Florida, although they only had one of each out. The last two I really want are Cynder and Warnado, although I also think they will be the most popular. The hunt begins!
 

Zing

Banned
NavNucST3 said:
heaven help me if my wife also wants her own set...
Well, getting one of each figure should provide enough for three people to have their "own". :D

Something else to talk about, I acquired the strategy guide today. I ordered it for two reasons: I wanted free shipping and needed one more item to qualify, and I wanted to be able to research the upgrades before committing.

I only glanced through the guide, as I don't want to spoil anything. I'm even hesitant to look at the upgrade stuff now, since part of the fun for me has been being surprised at the upgrades as they become available.

The guide contains descriptions of every upgrade for every character. It has full maps and walkthroughs to get 100% on every level. It also has full maps and item locations for the arenas. The last few pages of the guide have overhead maps of the Adventure Packs, but not full walkthroughs. It also reveals what items and characters are included with the packs.

And finally, there is a sheet of stickers. A sticker of each of the "wave 1" figures and other assorted stuff. It seems odd that the guide only has stickers for the wave 1 figures. The art obviously existed for wave 2 when the guide was created.

Another weird thing is the guide treats Dark Spyro as a separate character. He has his own entry in the character descriptions, and has two pages dedicated to him despite the fact that he is functionally identical to regular Spyro. Also, this guide is for the console versions, not the 3DS version. People with the console version and no 3DS would normally barely even know Dark Spyro exists. Why have an entry for him when he isn't even in the game? He even gets his own set of stickers.
 

Hobbun

Member
I was going to try and keep away from getting the guide this time, but there are some things that are puzzling about the game and the 'detailed' manual doesn't really address them. I'm hoping the guide will do so.

I spoke with Activision on my Terrafin that did not work. I wanted to confirm that it was actually defective and just did not read the figure because I hadn't gotten to the pirate boat expansion, yet. He confirmed it is defective. No biggie, will just exchange it.

I also asked the Activision rep what the life of these figures are. He said he did not have any numbers, but since they are basically memory cards they should last a long time.

I also asked him how many figures total were planned to be released. He indicated he couldn't (i.e., wouldn't) tell me, but that it is planned to release them throughout 2012. He used the example in that it will be very much like Pokemon.

I really hope another game is planned. Because however much I love to switch out and try new characters, it will get old playing the same campaign over and over.
 

BooJoh

Member
I tried out Wrecking Ball and Dino-Rang last night. Wrecking Ball is slow-moving, and does okay damage mainly from his burps and the speed of his tongue attacks. His roll attack feels pretty limited at first, but the upgrades for it seem nice. I'm not sure which upgrade path I'll be taking him on because both seem to have potential.

Dino-Rang feels incredibly strong. His attack where the boomerangs spin around him can dish out a ton of damage fast. He can also lay earth traps, with one of his upgrade options allowing you to spawn traps wherever an enemy dies to his boomerangs. I'm having a lot of fun with him.

I didn't try Hex beyond a few moments in the hub area, but she seems pretty straightforward. Projectile spamming and slow-cast skull rain, and bone shields later.
 

Hobbun

Member
I don’t have any sales figures, but from what I am seeing, this game is really taking off, which is great. But one thing a friend of mine and I were talking about, is I hope Activision doesn’t come out with a sequel where they give you a ‘new and improved’ Portal of Power that is larger and allow 4 players, however, it no longer can play your original figures. But no worries, we (Activision) will be rereleasing all your old figures that are compatible with the new PoP!

However much I love the idea of this game and I am enjoying it a great deal, I think this is where I would bow out. It is something I hope Activision does not do, but with our ‘good friend’ Bobby at the helm, would it really be that unreasonable to see it?
 

chiQ

Member
Hobbun said:
I also asked him how many figures total were planned to be released. He indicated he couldn't (i.e., wouldn't) tell me, but that it is planned to release them throughout 2012. He used the example in that it will be very much like Pokemon.

Uh-oh
 

BooJoh

Member
I really hope they don't prolong the figure releases too much, but given that the 3DS game lets you see every character including legendary variants, even before you've used the figures within the game, I think it's safe to assume there will be 37 figures not counting silver/other variants that are identical ingame to their normal counterparts.

32 characters
+ 4 legendary characters
+ Dark Spyro

in addition to those are 4 expansion levels (also all revealed in the 3DS game)


Regarding a sequel, I really hope they just make a new set of figures for it and make it backward compatible with the existing figures. I also hope they'd release an SKU without the portal for people who own the original.
 

chiQ

Member
If they don't make figures cross-compatible I'll stop. I'm loving Skylanders, but not enough to start from scratch with a sequel.

Edit: Wired article with information about the Skylanders. Some highlights:

Wired said:
Character Str Def Agl Lck Total
Legendary Spyro 75 55 90 60 280
Legendary Chop Chop 65 100 60 40 265
Legendary Spyro 60 50 90 60 260
Stealth Elf 60 30 100 70 260
Ignitor 100 65 40 50 255
Chop Chop 65 100 60 20 245
Legendary Bash 85 100 30 25 240
Flame Slinger 40 25 90 80 235
Boomer 70 50 40 75 235
Whirlwind 65 65 30 75 235
Zap 30 70 65 65 230
Eruptor 80 85 25 35 225
Bash 85 90 30 20 225
Terrafin 70 80 25 50 225
Ghost Roaster 60 85 40 40 225
Sonic Boom 50 60 60 55 225
Trigger Happy 40 20 60 100 220
Gill Grunt 70 60 40 50 220
Drobot 40 75 60 45 220
Stump Smash 90 70 20 40 220
Prsim Break 75 90 10 45 220
Voodood 75 50 60 35 220

...Here’s the current availability list:

Terrafin Availability: Only as part of Pirate Adventure Pack.
Prism Break Availability: As part of Triple Pack or Single Pack.
Bash Availability: As part of Triple Pack or Single Pack.
Legendary Bash Availability: As part of Legendary Pack (Toys R Us Exclusive).
Ignitor Availability: In 3DS Starter Pack.
Eruptor Availability: As part of Triple Pack or Single Pack.
Flameslinger Availability: As part of Triple Pack or Single Pack.
Sunburn Availability: Coming soon.
Sonic Boom Availability: As part of Single Pack.
Lightening Rod Availability: Coming soon.
Whilrwind Availability: Available in Single pack.
Warnado Availability: Coming soon. Not in the Triple pack that Amazon returns for “Warnado”.
Gill Grunt Availability: In 360, PS3 and Wii Starter Pack.
Zap Availability: As part of Single Pack.
Spyro: Availability: In 360, PS3 and Wii Starter Pack.
Dark Spyro Availability: In 3DS Starter Pack.
Legendary Spyro Availability: As part of Legendary Pack (Toys R Us Exclusive).
Voodood Availability: As part of Triple Pack and Single Pack.
Trigger Happy Availability: In 360, PS3 and Wii Starter Pack.
Drobot Availability: As part of Single Pack and Triple Pack.
Drill Sergeant Availability: Exclusive to Sams Club in US.
Stealth Elf Availability: In 3DS Starter Pack and Single Pack.
Stump Smash Availability: As part of Triple Pack and Single Pack.
Chop-Chop Availability: As part of Single Pack.
Legendary Chop-Chop Availability: As part of Legendary Pack (Toys R Us Exclusive).
Ghost Roaster Availability: In the Darklight Crypt Pack.

The following figures are not yet available:

Dino-rang Availability: Coming soon.
Slam Bam Availability: Coming soon.
Wham Shell Availability: Coming soon.
Double Trouble Availability: Coming soon.
Wrecking Ball Availability: Coming soon.
Zook Availability: Coming soon.
Camo Availability: Coming soon.
Hex Availability: Coming soon.
Cynder Availability: Coming soon.
 

Zing

Banned
Hobbun said:
I also asked him how many figures total were planned to be released. He indicated he couldn't (i.e., wouldn't) tell me, but that it is planned to release them throughout 2012. He used the example in that it will be very much like Pokemon.
His statement doesn't even make sense. We already know how many figures there are. We already know when they are being released. They will all be on shelves by mid-December. He has no idea what he is talking about. "very much like Pokemon"? That doesn't even relate. Pokemon doesn't have some sort of time-release system where they release different characters over time.

I am hoping that since the game is "done", they are already working on some sort of expansion disc or sequel. There is no DLC to distract them from taking my money the old fashioned way.

Those numbers from Wired are from the character cards. I'm still not sure how they related to in-game stats. The legendary stat boosts, even if you just go by the cards (the numbers are hyper-inflated), the difference is practically meaningless. For example, I get a +8 boost to speed from a heroic and I don't even notice the difference. I'm sure the guy goes a few pixels faster than he used to, but it doesn't mean much.

Also, that article forgot Legendary Trigger Happy.

I'll have to sit down and compare my in-game numbers to the cards sometime.

from the comments on the article:
"One thing I don't like in any of my games (father of 4) is cleavage. Does Stealth Elf keep it covered up or should I avoid her for more than the midriff showing?"

2a2k37.jpg


One interesting thing from the comments is someone claiming they bought an individual Ignitor from Target a few days ago.
 

Zing

Banned
Spamming this thread, but I don't care, this game rocks my socks.

I stopped at Walmart and saw they had restocked. Plenty of Stealth Elf and other figures I don't usually see. It was suggested that I ask the employee directly to check in the back for unopened cases, so I could hopefully snag some of the newly added figures. There were three employees standing around doing nothing, so I did. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was at least familiar with the game and the figures, unlike most store clerks I ask. She said that it had just been restocked with everything they had. Too bad.

My girlfriend is headed to the USA next week and she had her mom pick up a Whirlwind for us from Target. She will check the stores for any other new ones while she is there. I was considering going with her on her trip, but the flights would cost $4000 round trip for my daughter and I, so forget it! That would be the most expensive Skylanders shopping trip, ever.
 

Hobbun

Member
Zing said:
Spamming this thread, but I don't care, this game rocks my socks.

I stopped at Walmart and saw they had restocked. Plenty of Stealth Elf and other figures I don't usually see. It was suggested that I ask the employee directly to check in the back for unopened cases, so I could hopefully snag some of the newly added figures. There were three employees standing around doing nothing, so I did. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was at least familiar with the game and the figures, unlike most store clerks I ask. She said that it had just been restocked with everything they had. Too bad.

I wish my experience at Wal-mart was as favorable as yours. It was actually quite the opposite. They did not have their exclusive, Drill Sargeant, in stock (which I need). All they had was Zap, Eruptor, Voodood and a ton of copies of the Pirates expansion. All of which I already have.

When I checked with the sales associate for more in back, I got the default "We always bring our stock out on the floor. So what we have is already out here." And it's possible, but I just got the impression he didn't want to go look in back.

However, I will be stopping at Wal-mart tomorrow at another location and probably over the weekend as well. Hope those trips are more successful.
 

Zing

Banned
For what it's worth, I find Drill Sergeant to be the weakest character overall. His charge attack is super weak and slow. His rocket attack is slow. He is physically huge and crowds the hallways. I just got his cannon attack and you can literally hold down the button and just shoot everything while you go through the level, but it only deals 2 damage per hit. :D

Worst exclusive ever. Actually no, the legendary figures are worse. I wish we had Whirlwind in Canada and the Americans can stick with Drill Sergeant.
 

chiQ

Member
New Zealand doesn't get any of these special characters at all. For this kind of thing be thankful you're not in a tiny little country with fewer people than a North American city :)
 

fernoca

Member
Kiwi said:
Does the console version of this game have subtitles?
Nope. In-game when characters speak, there's a frame with the character's portrait that appear..and the text of whatever the character is saying.

But in CG movies, or stuff narrated in the game or tips/advice given to you while you play; no subtitles. There's no option for them neither.
 

Kiwi

Member
fernoca said:
Nope. In-game when characters speak, there's a frame with the character's portrait that appear..and the text of whatever the character is saying.

But in CG movies, or stuff narrated in the game or tips/advice given to you while you play; no subtitles. There's no option for them neither.

Thanks. Kinda disappointing that there's still games still don't add subtitles option. The 3DS version is the same. There's only spoken words in the CG, and rest are portrait text.

However, the 3DS version is pretty fun to play and I'm on my second playthrough after I beat it with the 3 starter charactors(Ignitor, Stealth Elf, and Dark Spyro) before buying 3 more figures, Bash, Chop Chop, and Sonic Boom. I need 2 more figure to get all the elemental challenges. It impressed me that Activision went with this idea and published this game. It makes great use of the 3DS's IR port. I really enjoy the graphics in this game since it has great textures and shader in it to make it look great on the 3DS screen.

The game's fairly short. The choppy FMV(10 frames per seconds?) bothers me and out of place in this age since most videos are 15 fps or more. The Portal of Power seems to work very odd, but I got it to work for a few seconds before it freeze and have to pull the battery to reset it. I'm just glad that I figure out how to make it work without throwing it across the room.

This game is so much fun. I need 2 more figures and an adventure pack. I'll probably buy the console version later.
 

Hobbun

Member
Picked up all three today as well!

Does anyone know what the release schedule will be for the remaining figures?
 

Amir0x

Banned
I had to come into this thread to see what this was all about since I've seen these weird toys everywhere. I purchased one for my nephew and then I read the box and found out apparently it is supposed to be played with a game.

Anyway he seems to like the toy in any event
 

Zing

Banned
Amir0x said:
Anyway he seems to like the toy in any event
They do work well as toys also. My daughter plays with them like a toy and we build towers and mazes out of wooden blocks for them.

Anyway, the three "new" figures have finally come north of the border! They are available at EB Games, of all places. Who would have guessed? My local EB has the world's smallest Skylanders display. I picked up Hex there, called the EB in the next town, and had them hold the other two for me.

So, I am up to 21 figures now. That means there are a total of 22 in the wild, 23 if you fork out the cash for the 3DS version or pay $30 for Ignitor on Ebay (hell no).

I only tested Hex for about 10 seconds, but she seems very interesting. I like the delayed secondary attack.
 

Zing

Banned
Hobbun said:
Does anyone know what the release schedule will be for the remaining figures?
This has been discussed, on this very page, even.

Walmart is listing the rest of the figures for a December 4 release. I haven't seen any indication anywhere else.

*edit* I just noticed that the official Skylanders website has been updated, filling in the details for all of the wave 2 figures. That probably indicates that they will be shipping soon.
 

Hobbun

Member
Zing said:
This has been discussed, on this very page, even.

Walmart is listing the rest of the figures for a December 4 release. I haven't seen any indication anywhere else.

*edit* I just noticed that the official Skylanders website has been updated, filling in the details for all of the wave 2 figures. That probably indicates that they will be shipping soon.

Well, I apologize.

But thank you.
 

Zing

Banned
I didn't mean to sound that snarky. I am really enjoying this game and think other people would, too, so I am all for any sort of expressed anticipation.

I tested out the three new figures by doing their respective heroic challenges. Dino-Rang does seem strong. It is particularly odd that he can throw his two boomerangs, yet still miraculously pull out two more to do his boomerang shield if you perform it before the thrown boomerangs return. Maybe if there was some sort of delay.

I also just noticed that Hex can move while charging the "skull rain".

Aaaand my batteries just became empty for only the third time. I was expecting them to drain faster, actually. But if you do play this more than occasionally, you will probably want rechargeables. I also just realized that the light near the portal's power switch blinks when the batteries are low.

One last thing… the stats shown on the cards definitely do not correspond to the stats shown in-game. The in-game stat screen even shows you their max levels and the numbers aren't even close. I have to assume that the cards are either showing the online "Spyro's Universe" stats, or they are just arbitrary numbers to show the relative power of the characters.
 

fernoca

Member
A nice interview was posted at Gamasutra on the 16th.

Basically covers, how:
  • They had to choose a franchise from Vivendi to reinvent, so they chose Spyro.
  • Considered/worked on it playing like the original ones, or it been a gritty/dark remake...but none were promising
  • They made the toys/original concept internally..even with no knowledge of toy-making.
  • They did the best they could with the resources and time given (there were no promises of even it been made; just Activision trusting in them and pushing them into making some unique)
  • Bobby Kotick said that "the way this will win is if it's high quality", so more time and resources were given.


As noted earlier, originally the Syro game was knwn as 'Spyro's Kingdom" and:
"Let's blow Spyro out," Reiche said at the time. "Let's raise up the age range for him, let's appeal to the kids over 16 up into young adults, let's make it tough and bloody. And we did all of this concept work and just lost our enthusiasm. That wasn't Spyro. That isn't what our passion was about. It was much more joyous and active, and so we sort of stepped back from that."
"We spent about six months on a variety of different directions with Spyro," says Reiche, "and to Activision's credit, they just kept saying more innovative, do something new, more innovative, and they gave us the time and the budget to really seek out what was our dream."
It was then they started working on it and the toy concept...for the Wii. (original interview from June)
 

Zing

Banned
I like how they "reinvented" the Spyro franchise by almost completely leaving him out of the game. :D

It's like calling my kitchen a "McDonald's franchise" because I have a stack of McD's napkins on the table.

On a side note, I wonder how any articles like this receive comments. People actually sign up for accounts on these sites? I would have literally dozens of one-shot accounts if I were to always sign up to leave a comment after reading an article. Instead, I just never bother. I have to assume that these "news" sites don't actually want people to leave comments, and the feature is just there to fill a "web 2.0" checkbox on the marketing team's list.
 

Hobbun

Member
Zing said:
I didn't mean to sound that snarky. I am really enjoying this game and think other people would, too, so I am all for any sort of expressed anticipation.

No worries. And yes, really enjoying the game, as well.

Zing said:
I tested out the three new figures by doing their respective heroic challenges. Dino-Rang does seem strong. It is particularly odd that he can throw his two boomerangs, yet still miraculously pull out two more to do his boomerang shield if you perform it before the thrown boomerangs return. Maybe if there was some sort of delay.

I also just noticed that Hex can move while charging the "skull rain".

Aaaand my batteries just became empty for only the third time. I was expecting them to drain faster, actually. But if you do play this more than occasionally, you will probably want rechargeables. I also just realized that the light near the portal's power switch blinks when the batteries are low.

One last thing… the stats shown on the cards definitely do not correspond to the stats shown in-game. The in-game stat screen even shows you their max levels and the numbers aren't even close. I have to assume that the cards are either showing the online "Spyro's Universe" stats, or they are just arbitrary numbers to show the relative power of the characters.

I picked up the last 5 figures for what is currently out, so I believe it brings my total up to 25, with the Legendary figures. Although my Terrafin is defective, so I will be exchanging him today.

I will have to try out Dino-Rang, he looks like a lot of fun from the videos of his gameplay and what others have said (including yourself).

Had to replace the batteries last night for the first time. I would say I got about 8-10 hours out of them, but it's hard to say as my friend/roommate has been playing during the day, as well.

I plan to put some time during my single player campaign, which I am using Zap, and am finding him a lot of fun so far.
 

Zing

Banned
Hobbun said:
I picked up the last 5 figures for what is currently out, so I believe it brings my total up to 25, with the Legendary figures.
I am thankful that the console versions don't factor the special figures in the awards or it would probably drive me crazy enough to buy them. If you add in Dark Spyro and the Legendaries, there are a total of 27 figures currently available.

If the 3DS version at Best Buy included the "Volcanic Vault", I would have bought it just for Ignitor. The vault plus all of the other non-Ignitor stuff sells on Ebay for the entire retail price or more. But without the vault, it would end up costing me around $20 just for Ignitor. I'm determined to not pay more than retail on anything, so forget that.

Once all the figures are released, I will probably go through the game for a third time in single-player.
 

Hobbun

Member
Well, I will admit that I did pick up the 3DS version the other day, so I guess I have all 27. I was guessing on my amount as I don’t have my figures or ‘list’ in front of me. I do know the characters I do not have, all have not been released as of yet.

I tried the 3DS version last night, and where the game was fun, I was not a fan of how well the PoP interacted with the IR of my 3DS, which was not well at all. I had to put the IR port of my 3DS right up to the IR port on my PoP before the game recognized it.

Fortunately you don’t need constant connection once you have a figure ‘established’ with the PoP, but it does make it difficult if you want to switch out a figure to open up another elemental area. There is a fire area in the first map, and try as I might, I could not get the PoP to read my Ignitor.

Quite a far cry from my PS3 version, where figures are easily able to switch on the fly.
 
Top Bottom