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

goldenpp72

goldenpp72

Member
How exactly was it great? The characters are about as horrible as you can get. 360 version is what I played so I don't know if it differs somehow.

Hugo: Come on, this is about as kiddy/dumb as a character can be.

Balloonist guy: Oh hey it's joe swanson and he says boom and cake a lot.

Cali: These challenges are tough.. like me, even though the only thing I did in this game was be captured.

Eon: Most generic 'wizard' character possible.

Tree stump thing: Hey I have a long tongue.

Kaos was probably the only good character in my mind, the story itself? I mean, nothing happens in the story aside it being a marketing ploy to push you to more figures, otherwise, everything just conveniently occurs the second it needs to, it's about as lazy as a script can be. We need this element, oh new character arrives on small island telling us exactly where to go, would you like to play this level, Yes! Oh no what do we do next, oh actually I know exactly where to go next. I could have written the story design in minutes and I certainly do not pride myself on my writing ability, heh. I guess i'm just curious how someone could deem this aspect good, not trying to be an ass.

Of course, I know I'm making fun of a story that was designed for kids, I get that, but it's still not exactly captivating in execution or in characters I think.
 
W

Wolves Evolve

Member
goldenpp72 said:
Of course, I know I'm making fun of a story that was designed for kids, I get that, but it's still not exactly captivating in execution or in characters I think.
Click to expand...

Precisely. Disney is for kids. Pixar is for kids. Great games are made for kids all the damn time. I think kids are smart and they can detect a fake. Thankfully, the game is solid and the characters lively and fun. Lots of great animation, too. But it lacks a bit of polish that could have made it a phenomenon. Not Pokemon-big, but bigger than it is. Certainly it has the hallmarks of a lasting trend, but its on the threshold of more. Pokemon didn't have a BUNCH of world and story but what was there was super carefully put together. Did it hurt the bottom line? Did it fuck.

The game needed a more coherent world; Kaos could have been a corrupt boy wizard with a little elf helper, a short little Gargamel. But there's no sense of being thwarted or anything, just a rote pattern. Why doesn't he have one type of basic minion? (which is cheaper to make in a game, ffs). They were never going to make an epic RPG, but everything else is wonderful or at least solid. Music and animation quality is super.

Bottom line, this sort of quality in design is not expensive and it would motivate a broader range of kids to buy more toys. And it would feel like its more worth it to buy them - already there's a great sense of value to the toys even though you know logically its nuts. So the hard part is done already, they should be congratulated. The fact I bought darklight crypt and knew it was just plastic DLC, but then realised putting on the Crypt during normal gameplay acts as a kind of smart bomb, well that was just dandy. The sense of value is there.

If there's a second game, it would be nice to establish that Skylands is some sort of place. That there's both good people to protect and bad people to outgun and outsmart. Then, why are the Skylanders different and how does a portal master fit into it? Of course kids don't need it to have fun. But MORE kids have BETTER fun if that stuff is done properly. Have Skylanders visit different elemental planets a la Galaxy, etc. More bonuses for having different types, etc.

The difference between Pokemon and its imitators is not that it came first. Polish matters.

I also think that with all the other mixed-peripheral games like Eye of Judgement, they were just reaching for too much. This is a nice elegant mix of easy tech and solid gameplay.

I should stop now, shouldn't I?
 
P

PeteZaTheHutt

Member
Crap. We went back to Toys'R'Us to grab one of those "plentiful" Boomers that were overflowing the shelves a few days ago and... BOOM! Gone. All of them. You know that there is a supply shortage when even the Boomers are sold out...
 
goldenpp72

goldenpp72

Member
You can't possibly compare skylanders to a disney or pixar film, it's more like a low level dream works film that only made it to dvd in comparison, in fact an average nickolodeon or cartoon network show is still vastly more coherent and in depth than what can be found here. Skylanders has no depth, poor character design, crappy plot, no morals, no twist, no.. anything. The story is indeed merely a mechanism that gives you an excuse to be doing what you're doing. The characters exist soley for no purpose than to tell you that you need to find yet another part of the machine, and they only interact with each other a couple times during that very conversation. The characters are literally as generic as they can be, you'd be easier pressed to find character depth in child of eden than you can here.

Let's compare directly.

Toy story: A movie that on the surface, is a movie about toys, not only do these toys have more personality in one of their characters than all of skylanders combined X100, but the intricacies in their character actually exist. You have a character that is afraid of being replaced (common among humans), a character that has to come to grips with a reality, friendships being established, and over the course of that series, more interesting undertones can be found the more you want to dig.

Skylanders: The skylanders used to be here and now they're on earth, go buy toys and be a portal master. The story is that you have a bunch of poorly executed characters that all so happen to meet you right when they need to, share no relationship to you directly and barely any to the rest of the cast, thin on dialog and depth, and when they do speak it's almost entirely pointless that they did. The only character that made me feel there was even some sort of persistent plot was again, kaos, but even his intent was nothing more than being an asshole who wants to rule the world. In fact, the spyro the dragon series on the playstation 1 was infinitely more enjoyable from a story perspective, in that it had legitimately funny humor, characters that interacted with each other and did shit, skylanders really is about the most hollow game story I can recall off hand, and that really says a lot considering how poor game stories usually are.

Pokemon isn't even a good comparison, it's designs were much better than skylanders, and in recent times the writing in pokemon games is actually pretty clever and funny for adults at times, inside jokes that are subtle and references that aren't in your face obvious. Pokemon is more similar to the humor found in something like breaking bad compared to skylanders being the worst you find in family guy (not literal comparisons of course, but you get the idea). I guess my issue between skylanders is that it seems more like the writing is designed for a 3 year old that gets amazed by wacky things and colors, where as other kid movies or content, like disney movies or even games, have a more distinct appeal for an older crowd, while still being tone friendly to a younger era. Almost to the point where i'd more likely compare skylanders to dora the explorer than Wall E based on the fact that skylanders has to reaffirm the child (assumed player, the website even says what is your parents email address) a lot by talking directly to them, saying they're great and wonderful, etc.

Someone more articulate than I could probably break this down better, but skylanders has among the worst types of tones a game can have for an adult, it's to a point of embarrassing on some level because there is hardly anything there really for an adult to appreciate, and really, if that's the demographic the company wants that's fine. In fact, the character designs and story of viva pinata manage to be 10x more interesting than something like skylanders, which is pretty sad if you consider the source in those areas.

Again, I just consider skylanders story to be more teletubby than aladdin, and the game manages to succeed despite the story and in no part because of it, megaman 2 had more story in it's opening scene than what you can really find in skylanders, and this wouldn't bother me if not for the fact the 'story' is shoved down your throat constantly with often seemingly unskippable scenes.
 
Z

Zing

Banned
Activision has stated that the new batch will be "including Cynder and Whirlwind". That sounds like it will not even remotely be a complete release of the 10 missing figures.
 
Z

Zing

Banned
goldenpp72 said:
You can't possibly compare skylanders to a disney or pixar film
Click to expand...
You realize that the script was actually written by Pixar employees?

goldenpp72 said:
there is hardly anything there really for an adult to appreciate
Click to expand...
I guess the fact that my girlfriend and I, both in our 30's, greatly enjoyed the game, story, and script is just a delusion. Thank you for showing us the light.

Based on your comments and attitude, how did you even manage to get your hands on a game so able to provide joy to human beings?
 
goldenpp72

goldenpp72

Member
Yeah, that's why the story being so crap is depressing, you really can't argue that it's even remotely comparable, nor that just because someone wrote something good before doesn't mean they can't fuck up later (The matrix).

How about this, explain to me literally why the story is good to you, talk about the plot, the character depth, the morals, the intricacies and nuances of the plot. I would be legitimately curious to hear the thoughts of someone who could reveal what I could not see. It's understandable why the skylanders are silent protagonist considering the toy aspect, but the rest of the characters could have had more than 1 or 2 devices to fuel their lines. Keep in mind, I loved the game, I already 1000/1000 the 360 version having only had it opened on Christmas by my fiancee, and am about half way done collecting all the gems in the 3ds version. The reason I feel confident enough to say the story is shit, is that I don't believe a person could break down hugo and make him sound more interesting as a character than Woody, this argument in fact comes off as impossible, but I take pride in being open minded enough to see interpretations I might not understand. I just find it funny that this forum will berate something like mass effect 2, but some posters will claim skylanders has a good story, heh.

CAKE, BOOM! 100 references to how handsome I am.
 
Z

Zing

Banned
I don't think anyone is saying Hugo is a great character, he is just there to move the plot. Flynn is over the top, but that's fine, because kids do not understand the nuances of flirting anyway.

Kaos is clearly the star of the show. He triggered genuine laughter out of me during every one of his sequences from the moment he said "K, A, O, S".
 
goldenpp72

goldenpp72

Member
I'm saying all the characters are pure shit, not just hugo, aside kaos and maybe a couple others.

Flynn: At first I was amused because I recognize the VA from so many things, but after awhile you realize his personality never changes, he doesn't say anything different, he just says, we need to do that, BOOM. We need to do that, CAKE! Clearly this Cali loves me, next time he talks, clearly this cali girls loves me, repeat.

Cali: She says I think.. maybe 5-10 lines of dialog in the game, her character is meant to be interpreted as strong, tough, yet the only time she is in the game you rescue her and the rest of her device is to let you do missions, tough indeed.

Hugo: Nerd, weak pussy, not funny, he tells you what to do.

General robot guy: Whoa it's a robot but he talks like a military man and says nothing funny or anything.

Retarded tree stump thing: Whoa it's a talking tree stump with a long tongue and he sounds goofy! lulz

What other characters were in this game.. oh yeah the statue that had the most generic 'I am teh epic' tone possible, and you had the bone guy who could be kinda funny sometimes since at least his humor and tone were designed to be self defeating literally. Kaos as a character was only good in the context of being compared to such a shitty cast, he did have a few genuinely good moments and I enjoyed his VA being (or at least, sounding a lot like) the VA for billy from billy and mandy, but he was only an average character among a lot of characters that have no real depth, and even his motivations were as generic as villians can be, you would actually be more likely to see a more interesting villian in that billy and mandy show than you would see in kaos, but he was fine.

The story itself as I said before, is hardly even there. Convert skylanders to their world, fetch quest items (that are only there as an excuse to have X amount of levels) and then beat the last boss. If you feel i'm being unfair or am factually wrong, by all means you can refute any point and we can have a discussion. To me, a person who just says something is good without being able to back up why it's good (or in your case actually designed for adults on any level) would have an invalid argument. I can mention why I think the matrix is a clever, thought provoking movie because there is a lot of awesome things to find, with or without digging, if someone held a gun to my head and said make the plot of skylanders sound good through your interpretation, I think i'd be a goner.

I'm not saying if you're an adult that enjoys the games story that you're an idiot, but that the story has almost nothing that only an adult would really get and then think 'haha I get that but my son won't' moments, which is still a generic way to make something adult compared to mixing morals and context that may be too complex to a child, but still. Fact is, kids can enjoy almost anything because they're typically stupid, adults are usually not as easily amused by something merely because it's silly and wacky, it's why movies like spy kids are probably detested by most adults.
 
Z

Zing

Banned
HP_Wuvcraft said:
This is where I think I need to fight you mercilessly. With swords.
Click to expand...
…Ghost Swords? :D

But seriously, give me names like Flameslinger, Stealth Elf, and Prism Break any day over shoehorned crap like Spyro and Cynder. No matter how badly the execs want it, this is not a Spyro game. The targeted audience wasn't even alive when Spyro was popular.
 
3

3rdamention

Member
Went to Toys R Us today with my 7 year old daughter looking for some figures. This is an everyday thing for us, stopping by at least one store a day.


I have really built these searches up, saying "One of these days we will go in here and they will have a bunch of them, Wont that be awesome? "


Well, today was that day. Toys R Us had just restocked, had about 6 different figures. I picked up Hex since that was the only element we really needed. Then went to Wal Mart and they had a bunch too, just NO Drill Sergeants. At Wal Mart we got VooDood, Drobot, Sonic Boom and Zap.


This should keep us from having to look around every day for a while. So go check your Toys R Us and Walmarts, mine haven't had any since Christmas but both had them today.
 
C

Cheska

Member
Oh my God, the prices some of these are going for are insane :mad:


Since they're releasing more of these later this month, is that supposed to mean that Whirlwind will be available outside of Target too?
 
Z

Zing

Banned
Yes, the company has explicitly stated that Whirlwind will be available worldwide with this next batch. Based on Walmart and Target computer inventory information, the exclusivity has ended.
 
Z

Zing

Banned
The new Facebook update suggests that Empire of Ice is the adventure pack to be released this batch.

I have a bad feeling that Double Trouble and Cynder will be the only new figures this time. I was hoping the final 10 would be dumped at once so I could play through the campaign in single player with fresh characters from each type.
 
D

Double D

Member
Zing said:
The new Facebook update suggests that Empire of Ice is the adventure pack to be released this batch.

I have a bad feeling that Double Trouble and Cynder will be the only new figures this time. I was hoping the final 10 would be dumped at once so I could play through the campaign in single player with fresh characters from each type.
Click to expand...

Slam-Bam is going to be with Empire of Ice. It's just not on Amazon US yet.
 
R

RobbieNick

Junior Member
Man, these toys post-Christmas are huge sellers. I walked into work today and we had two pegfulls of Terrafin sets. I'd say about 8-10 of them all together. Four hours later, they were all gone.
 
C

Chromax

Member
I'm sort of interested in this. Besides the starter pack with the portal thing and the game, what else would you guys recommend I pick up?
 
H

hitmon

Member
Chromax said:
I'm sort of interested in this. Besides the starter pack with the portal thing and the game, what else would you guys recommend I pick up?
Click to expand...

You don't really need anything else. If you are willing to spend, try to get at least one character per element so you can unlock the different areas. Note if you have more than one of the same element (it just has to scan the character once), there is some type of stat boost.
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
RobbieNick said:
Man, these toys post-Christmas are huge sellers. I walked into work today and we had two pegfulls of Terrafin sets. I'd say about 8-10 of them all together. Four hours later, they were all gone.
Click to expand...

Yup, our store sold a couple of hundred packs the first few days after Christmas and the subsequent small restock of 10-12 triple packs were sold within the hour. As much as I'm looking forward to new figures I wish they'd sort out stock levels of the old figures first.
 
C

Chiaroscuro

Member
RobbieNick said:
Man, these toys post-Christmas are huge sellers. I walked into work today and we had two pegfulls of Terrafin sets. I'd say about 8-10 of them all together. Four hours later, they were all gone.
Click to expand...

kids got game for xmas, ask parents for more figures later.

or.... adult gamers looking for completing their huge collection.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Chiaroscuro said:
kids got game for xmas, ask parents for more figures later.

or.... adult gamers looking for completing their huge collection.
Click to expand...

I think its more that the toys were priced low enough that kids can pretty easily buy them themselves. They don't need to beg mom and dad.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Looking forward to Hex, Zap, and Dino Rang arriving this week.
 
Z

Zing

Banned
While other stores had low or no stock, Toys R Us always had something, even if it was a dozen Boomers and the useless Legendary pack. I was at the mall so I decided to stop in to see what they had.

 
D

Double D

Member
That's what my TRU has looked like for about 2 weeks straight. They haven't had any since about 2 days after Xmas. Supposed to be getting a shipment this Thursday, although I don't need any of the current figures except for the Legendary pack. Speaking of the Legendary pack, will TRU even get more of them?

I've tried to use the various store's online in-store locators, but they must all be deactivated for Skylanders. The only one that works decent is Gamestop's. Online, they have the option to buy a 'Random 3 pack'. Well, if you do the in-store locator thingy with that, it at least will tell you if a store has some sort of stock.

Another thing I'll say is this; I tried using Target.com's in-store locator for Whirlwind for a couple weeks. It never changed. I would always get a bunch of stores that said 'out of stock', while the same three would say 'limited stock'. I had gone to the closest one, which was always showing 'limited stock', but never had any on the shelves. Finally the one day I called them (see my post a page back or so), the guy checked in the back and said he found one Whirlwind. He held it for me. Immediately after I bought it, I checked the website on my phone. It had changed to 'Out of Stock'. Moral of the story, call the Targets that say 'limited stock' and make them check in the back.
 
Miggytronz

Miggytronz

Member
I work for GS and we're being told that dont expect any til middle of this month to the end of the month. Though we got shipment last week (without notice) and 1 guy came in when we opened and bought all of them. Then went to walmart because they had supposedly a shipment where he said he was gonna buy all of them too.
 
C

Chromax

Member
So I went to Bestbuy today to pick this game up and the Skylanders shelf looked very similar to that Toys R Us photo above.

All they had were the starter packs and a Mega Pack that went for $99.99 so I grabbed the Mega Pack instead since there was only 1 left.

It seems to come with the Pirate Seas thing and Chop Chop/Eruptor/Bash. Did I pick up the right one?
 
goldenpp72

goldenpp72

Member
Chromax said:
So I went to Bestbuy today to pick this game up and the Skylanders shelf looked very similar to that Toys R Us photo above.

All they had were the starter packs and a Mega Pack that went for $99.99 so I grabbed the Mega Pack instead since there was only 1 left.

It seems to come with the Pirate Seas thing and Chop Chop/Eruptor/Bash. Did I pick up the right one?
Click to expand...

Might be of some interest but sams club was selling the mega pack over here for 78 bucks. We just bought that and resold the base game pack on ebay since we had it already.
 
CaptainABAB

CaptainABAB

Member
Anecdote:

I got the 3DS starter pack so that my son can get a few more characters (he doesn't have many) as I got tired of constantly checking stores and just finding empty shelves.

Thing is, we don't have a 3DS. My plan is to get him one in April on his birthday. I figure that by then he will have built up a collection and can re-use them for the 3DS game.

Anyone else do something similar?
 
C

chiQ

Member
I seriously considered getting a 3DS, just for this game, and then sanity returned...and I just went out and bought some new characters instead.

I may see if anyone is willing to lend me a 3DS at some stage and get it then, but I don't really want to own the console.
 
Liberty4all

Liberty4all

Banned
Zing said:
While other stores had low or no stock, Toys R Us always had something, even if it was a dozen Boomers and the useless Legendary pack. I was at the mall so I decided to stop in to see what they had.

Click to expand...


I kind of regret now not getting the legendary pack. I have the entire collection that's been released. I wonder if they are worth anything out of the box?

Also I've heard that the vulchers are out in full force on this game. A quick look at ebay confirms this with some singles going for as much as 80 bucks!

insanity!
 
budkin

budkin

Neo Member
Bamelin said:
I kind of regret now not getting the legendary pack. I have the entire collection that's been released. I wonder if they are worth anything out of the box?

Also I've heard that the vulchers are out in full force on this game. A quick look at ebay confirms this with some singles going for as much as 80 bucks!

insanity!
Click to expand...

Activision has realized the popularity of the game has way exceeded expectations and would rather be making money o the figures than scalpers. Those a-holes are going to get burned soon when they are restocked en masse.
 
Liberty4all

Liberty4all

Banned
Chromax said:
What are some highly sought after character/adventure packs/etc that I should be on the lookout for?
Click to expand...

At this point? Almost everything !


The really rare stuff though includes stealth elf, whirlwind (single, Target exclusive), the drill bit (walmart exclusive), any figure covered in silver, I think Drobot may be starting to get rare ...

Alot of the first wave stuff was getting harder to find right before Christmas ... now it's basically impossible to find first wave stuff at all. At best you might get lucky grabbing second wave stuff as they restock (second wave being wrecking ball, dino rang, and Hex.
 
Liberty4all

Liberty4all

Banned
DrForester said:
Any wind elemental character.
Click to expand...

I think the wind/air characters are so hard to get because only two are out so far (whirlwind and Sonic Boom. Even before Christmas when they were available Sonic Boom was hard to find. Whirlwind I had to ebay from the States as it wasn't available in Canada (no Targets here)
 
N

n8NMONSTER

Member
Whirlwind, Double Trouble, Drill Sergeant 3-Pak now available at my local Fry's.

6686326035_f0e7059979_z.jpg
 
Z

Zing

Banned
I'll check my TRU tomorrow, maybe. At this point, I may as well just wait it out until all of the figures are released. I don't want to start playing again until I get the full set.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Great news in the NPD thread about Skylanders--about the 10th highest selling game last year.

That's fantastic and probably guarantees at least one sequel.
 
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