My daughter is the same way, I think a lot of the dragons from Giants are female. Flashwing, Whirlwind and Cyndar, and you have stealth elf, Ninjini, Hex and Sprocket. I think the new games has 5 or 6 female characters.
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Skylanders Swap-Force |OT|
- Thread starter fernoca
- Start date
My daughter is the same way, I think a lot of the dragons from Giants are female. Flashwing, Whirlwind and Cyndar, and you have stealth elf, Ninjini, Hex and Sprocket. I think the new games has 5 or 6 female characters.
Really? I'm in the US, but I'm gonna hit up Wal-Mart tomorrow morning and test my luck. I got it for Xbox One and my son loves the Xbox Record that feature. I imagine he'll be doing it a lot with this game.
I got this for my son for xmas. After getting it for my nephew and saw my son play it with ease. Looked like a fun game to get into. Anyways I got all 3 series. I let him open the first two for his birthday a few days ago. He finished the first one, and was working on the giants one. I really dig the figures for the giants one btw.
Anyways after he opened swap force, and thanks to the best buy deal, quite a few of the swap figures. He was dying to try it out. Wow the swap version plays so much better. I was having a fun time with him. We end up playing on and off for most of the day. I even end up missing the nba actions due to it lol.
I really like blast zone. I also like putting in Trigger Happy. He on the other hand kept switching it up every 2 min. He finally settle on Magna Charge. Looking forward to playing the game with my son when I get home from work.
Anyways after he opened swap force, and thanks to the best buy deal, quite a few of the swap figures. He was dying to try it out. Wow the swap version plays so much better. I was having a fun time with him. We end up playing on and off for most of the day. I even end up missing the nba actions due to it lol.
I really like blast zone. I also like putting in Trigger Happy. He on the other hand kept switching it up every 2 min. He finally settle on Magna Charge. Looking forward to playing the game with my son when I get home from work.
bumpkin
Member
My wife got me Swap-Force XB1 for Christmas, finally got to crack it open and play some last night. I used the Ninja Stealth Elf that came with the game for a few mins before switching to my ol' go-to, Dark Spyro. Much to my surprise, I was actually able to convince her to play the game with me; never got her to bite on the first two. She must have been feeling extra cooperative in the midst of all the Christmas spirit in the air. Her character of choice -- I'd guess largely based on appearance -- was Flashwing.
We played it for a couple of hours at least
. I'm really liking the look and feel of this new entry. It could just be the coat of next-gen paint, but it actually looks and plays more polished than Giants and Spyro's Adventure did. Being able to jump (finally) was a welcome change, and I really like the way everything looks. They chose wisely with whatever sort of shader they use on the characters.
At any rate, I used some leftover coin from a GS gift card I got as well and picked up two more swappable characters, Fire Kraken and Hoot Loop. Can't wait to sit down and give them a whirl tonight.
We played it for a couple of hours at least
or long enough to rescue the first elemental beast from Kaos' plan to "evilize" it
At any rate, I used some leftover coin from a GS gift card I got as well and picked up two more swappable characters, Fire Kraken and Hoot Loop. Can't wait to sit down and give them a whirl tonight.
Before this week, I had never really paid attention to Skylanders at all. Then out of the blue, my nearly four year old daughter suddenly *really* wanted Skylanders for some reason. After getting a good deal on Swap Force for Xbox One, we dove in to play together (she's in love with the "lava barf" character for some reason).
I cannot believe how much fun I've been having with this game. It really is addictive. Unfortunately, buying more characters is also really addictive. (though the character she really wants is Stink Bomb and I can't find him anywhere. Amazon sellers have him listed for anywhere from 50-90 bucks. Is he just new or are some of the characters that rare?)
Anyway, just had to chime in as a new fan of the game who is far past its intended age range and very very late to the party. Are the earlier titles worth checking out? (I assume the newer characters don't work in the older games...)
I cannot believe how much fun I've been having with this game. It really is addictive. Unfortunately, buying more characters is also really addictive. (though the character she really wants is Stink Bomb and I can't find him anywhere. Amazon sellers have him listed for anywhere from 50-90 bucks. Is he just new or are some of the characters that rare?)
Anyway, just had to chime in as a new fan of the game who is far past its intended age range and very very late to the party. Are the earlier titles worth checking out? (I assume the newer characters don't work in the older games...)
RobbieNick
Junior Member
Stink Bomb is brand new and very hard to find. Give him a month and he'll be everywhere.
antiquegamer
Member
Stink Bomb is new, should be available soon, people report finding new stuffs at Target. I enjoy Giants, but I feel Swap Force is more polish. I don't really like that there are so many variation of the same characters but I understand why.
I am having a blast by myself, my kids said they are too old for this game...
twilitesparklemotion
Member
So what's a good place to step into this? And do I need to buy walls and walls of figures to play, or could I get by with just one or two if I wanted?
st1nk nuts
Member
Oh man swap force is so much better than giants. My son and I got about half way through giants 3 staring every level and I'm so glad they got rid of the timed runs from the game.
Since i haven't seen it mention, it looks like the coop 2nd player does not receive trophies, which sucks. I know this was an issue with giants on 360.
Does anyone else know how to add the characters to your digital collection? We own around 20 characters, but if i go into the game it only shows as having 9 in my collection.
Since i haven't seen it mention, it looks like the coop 2nd player does not receive trophies, which sucks. I know this was an issue with giants on 360.
Does anyone else know how to add the characters to your digital collection? We own around 20 characters, but if i go into the game it only shows as having 9 in my collection.
antiquegamer
Member
I suggest go with Swap Force, the starter set come with 3 figures, enough to get you going and you can pick up figures that you want. You really don't need to get wall and wall of figures, I have about 6 or 7 and I find that they are plenty. Swap Force figures are nice as they give you a lot of variety and combination. I picked up most of my figures and set from various holidays sale.
spyroflame0487
Member
You could probably do just fine playing with Swap Force although the other games are pretty fun. Essentially to unlock everything in every game, you'd need:
One character of each element (Fire, Water, Magic, Life, Tech, Air, Undead, and Earth). If you get ones from the first game, they can be used in the next two games, so those are probably most beneficial to get. (S3 are what the reposes are called in Swap Force). With the first game pack, you have 3 already (Magic, Tech and Water) and it should be easy to nab the rest from other triple packs and such.
One Giant character (Giants pack comes with Tree Rex, also of the Life Element)
One of each of the 8 Swapper "Abilites". With Swap Force, each of the Swappers bottom half has an ability. Wash Buckler and Blast Zone are Climb and Fly respectively. Currently, all should be available although the Stealth one (Stink Bomb) just came out and will probably be super hard to find.
You'll also either need one of each element Swapper or a second controller for whatever system you buy the game on. There are "Dual Element" gates that you can either pass through with a swapper of that element or if you have 2 individual characters playing at the same time.
That'll ensure that you can get 100% in the game and unlock every single area. Now, you don't need to in order to progress but I enjoy going back and hunting down stuff im missing. You can easily just keep your starter pack characters and just never buy another one. It's also beneficial to just pick out your favorites unless you intend to collect them all. I had picked up one of all the characters from SSA and Giants (Giants was mostly assisted by JC Penney's giveaway stuff last year so I got a huge chunk of my collection completely free) and for Swap Force I figured Im not gonna do that and just collect the ones I really like.
The characters I believe should be auto added to your collection (since in Giants you had to manually take ownership of them). You might have to go into the individual character and select manage and see if you can take ownership from there. If you have multiple save files, that could also be the problem.
I dunno if you might be talking about this one instead, but I had registered about 100 characters and they all up and disappeared from getting stars in the Portal Master Rank. They're still visibly there but the game doesn't recognize anything that I had registered, and bumped my rank down almost 9 levels. (because I just had so dang many lol) Not that it's a big deal because you can earn stars in other ways (and now new characters register just fine) but i feels bad that huge chunk of my collection is like not anything.
You can beat the entire game with only one Skylander, as long as you don't care about elemental gates or SWAP gates.
Elemental gates require Skylanders of a certain element, and give you a small bonus, such as a hat.
SWAP gates give similar rewards, but require a SWAP skylander with a certain 'travel' ability. These areas are entertaining once or twice, but are basically minigames you unlock as you acquire swap forcers. You don't need to buy walls of figurines just to unlock these.
Just buy your two favorites and beat the game with those. You might be annoyed at missing out on some of the better hats, but 90%+ of the content can be unlocked with the figurines that come with the game.
....Then again, my partner and I started out thinking we'd only buy one or two, but ended up with an embarrassing amount. Swap Force is one of the most fun couch co-op games we've ever played.
As far as a good place to step into the series -- go with Swap Force. It added jumping, removed a lot of unnecessary grinding, and made PVP way more fun/balanced.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Considering that additional figures are how you get extra lives (extra being more than one) that could be quite a handicap.
twilitesparklemotion
Member
It's a ton of fun, just make sure you don't accidentally pick a character that makes the challenge trivial.
Characters are, for the most part, very different. Hard mode 1-stock with Fright Rider -- a character with mediocre but fun charge attacks -- might be damn near impossible, and would be a ton of fun. Enemies do a lot of damage in harder difficulties, and the game is pretty challenging with 'average' Skylanders, even in co-op mode.
Hard mode 1-stock with spy rise, a character who can make himself temporarily invincible while moving around, summoning allies, and shooting giant DPS cannons from the sky.... There's no challenge to that, because the character is broken.
Same with Star Strike, because she basically turns Skylanders into a rhythm game. You don't have to pay too much attention to your enemies -- just make sure you're timing everything correctly, and nothing can touch you.
The devs don't really balance the new characters (for obvious reasons), so the ones you choose determine how hard the game will be. Pretty much every gen1 skylander -- coincidentally the cheapest ones -- has been balanced by now. You can get lots of them on ebay for $2-4 each. I'd recommend that route if you want to build a collection of balanced characters without breaking the bank.
antiquegamer
Member
My only complain about this game is the lack of checkpoint or save anywhere. It's quite annoying to have to replay the entire half of the game is you for some reason have to turn the game off. I guess I could put it on quick resume on Xbox One, still there should really be more check points.
spyroflame0487
Member
Actually, If I remember right, the Upgrade...uh..flower..thingies..are actually checkpoints in the levels. That's one more than in Giants and SSA so it's kind of good.
It does kind of stink but then if you do have to leave or reset, you can go back and look for more things now that you know where to go!
GamerKingFaiz
Member
I'm thinking about getting my lil' brother (age 6) into this series. Should I start off with this game? It seems that this portal works with all the other games, so would it be advisable to just pick up the starter pack for this game and then can you like buy the other games individually, or is that not advisable because you'd be missing out on the old characters that are bundles into the old packages?
What is the difference between this Giants Starter Pack and this Giants Starter Kit?
It seems like there are some sort of "catch-up" products available, as well?
Where should I get him started? I'm not even sure if he'll like the game to begin with, so should I just start out with the cheapest one available?
What is the difference between this Giants Starter Pack and this Giants Starter Kit?
It seems like there are some sort of "catch-up" products available, as well?
Where should I get him started? I'm not even sure if he'll like the game to begin with, so should I just start out with the cheapest one available?
Here goes nothing? More like, here goes your wallet. Game is great.
Update on Wii version:
I bought it yesterday for my son who, within 15 minutes, was extremely disappointed with it. Comments about it looking rubbish and sounding poor. This is from someone who has played the previous Wii versions to death on a SD TV so he's no graphics whore.
He was back on Giants within 40 minutes trying out the new characters.
I encouraged him to accept it was going to be different and not an exact copy of the previous versions, and would need to get used to it. He tired it later and it froze at the hub area. There is meant to be a patch but I've no idea how you actually get it.
Swapped it for the 360 version this morning.
Result: one happy son playing a version that looks more like the previous Wii versions (on the SD TV).
He's now accepted he'll listen to me in the future as I wanted him to get the 360 version all along
.
I bought it yesterday for my son who, within 15 minutes, was extremely disappointed with it. Comments about it looking rubbish and sounding poor. This is from someone who has played the previous Wii versions to death on a SD TV so he's no graphics whore.
He was back on Giants within 40 minutes trying out the new characters.
I encouraged him to accept it was going to be different and not an exact copy of the previous versions, and would need to get used to it. He tired it later and it froze at the hub area. There is meant to be a patch but I've no idea how you actually get it.
Swapped it for the 360 version this morning.
Result: one happy son playing a version that looks more like the previous Wii versions (on the SD TV).
He's now accepted he'll listen to me in the future as I wanted him to get the 360 version all along
.As of yesterday My PS4 version has been crashing. This morning it crashed then brought up the system crash report which then hardlocked. Anyone know what's going on? Is it a PS4 problem or an issue on all platforms? Maybe it has something to do with busy servers after the holidays?
Also, it's crazy how this game isn't more popular on GAF. As a super hardcore gamer since I got an NES way back I think this is one of the most fun games I've played in years. It makes me feel like a kid again and it's a great local co-op game, which I'm playing with my wife (who really enjoys it and she's super picky herself.)
I never played the previous two games but the art direction in this one is so much better than those. It's a really pretty game and looks fantastic on the PS4.
Also, it's crazy how this game isn't more popular on GAF. As a super hardcore gamer since I got an NES way back I think this is one of the most fun games I've played in years. It makes me feel like a kid again and it's a great local co-op game, which I'm playing with my wife (who really enjoys it and she's super picky herself.)
I never played the previous two games but the art direction in this one is so much better than those. It's a really pretty game and looks fantastic on the PS4.
I have no idea, and I don't know if anyone here has the PS4 version of this game. You might have more luck on the skylanders subreddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/skylanders
I have absolutely no idea how this game doesn't get the love it deserves on GAF. The $350+ in on-disk DLC via the figurines might make people upset, but even if you just have the starter pack, Swap Force is a legitimately fantastic game.
It's embarrassing as hell for a college student to buy the figurines in store, though. I don't have the luxury of saying they're for my kids.
Outtrigger888
Member
How's the xbox one version? I have the ps4 version unopened because my disc drive failed on me and I'm thinking of grabbing the x1 version?
Opus Angelorum
Member
Just bought it, runs really smooth and looks great!
bumpkin
Member
I popped into my local Target like a half hour after they opened today and came up empty-handed; any/all of the new swappable characters were gone. All they had left for singles was a bunch of Boom Jet and a few of the Drilla guy. Apparently I had to have been waiting the moment they opened to get one. Lame.
Opus Angelorum
Member
Game is fantastic, fun to play and looks really impressive. Highly recommended.
spyroflame0487
Member
I'm not 100% sure if the new portal will work with the old games, but it might. Someone might be able to help you out with that one. You can easily find the older characters as all of them got reposes for Swap Force with the exception of Tree Rex. (Spyro, Trigger Happy, Gill Grunt, Cynder, and Jet Vac will all have reposes. I think all of them are out now besides Jet Vac though.
The Giants Starter Pack includes the game, portal, Tree Rex, S2 Cynder and Jet Vac. I'm not sure why they have "Kit" for the other one, but there's a "Portal Owner's Pack" which includes just Tree Rex and the game with no new portal or the characters. It's made for people who already own the first game although the price difference is enough that I (and probably a lot of other people) just figured to buy the Starter Kit.
Ah here's the Portal Owner's Pack. It's a little cheaper but considering you're paying $10 a figure, that's 2 more and a portal for about $15-$20 more.
Cheapest Option would probably be to find the original game (for Wii, 360, PS3 or PC) and try it out. I've seen it pretty cheap recently with stores trying to get rid of them so you could probably score it for around $20-$30. You could definitely try the new game though. Worse comes to worse you could probably resell it with everything if he turns out not liking it but you'll probably have to eat $20 or so of the cost. Actually, I believe Toys R Us has the game pretty cheap right now (like $59.99 I think?) that's about $20 down from the normal price.
Yeah those two look really rad. Thought I wasnt going to buy any more figures (I dont really play it often enough to warrant a large collection, but its fun in short bursts here and there), but I might pick up those two.
Opus Angelorum
Member
I'm picking up Mega Ram Spyro, Blizzard Chill and Zoo Lou today. Any good?
spyroflame0487
Member
Spyro is always good and as long as they haven't nerfed Chill, you can spam her ...icicle thingies.
Zoo Lou is actually pretty fun but I haven't had a whole lot of time to try out his different moves in an arena type setting. You can just kind of spawn things to go out at attack in front of you which is good I guess. He feels kind of slow though.
Got the Xbox One version today for $50 at Walmart, a much easier to swallow price than the $75 it was initially. I had to check with an employee that the 'Skylanders starter packs - $49' applied to the Xbox One version as well, since it was still stickered at $75, and they had to use the till to check it but it applies to it as well.
antiquegamer
Member
This game has been constantly at $49.00 price point for holidays season, I think all the stores are using it as a loss leader. I also pick mine up for $49.00 from Amazon ( I try for $39 Black Friday at Wal-Mart but they said that was only for Wii, PS3 and 360 and were all sold out). I know the game is selling well as but man they sure produced a lot of these. Only one I see plenty of are the PS4 versions and Xbox One (naturally).
I've been told I have to get Scratch and Punk Shock since they are girls and we have too many boys. If Ninjini taught me anything, its patience (and her dual wield swords can break the game)
spyroflame0487
Member
I think if we had online multiplayer, you'd definitely see this game become a competitive fighter. In fact, the felllas over at DarkSpyro have made a PvP Tier list for Giants.
I think we'd see a small scene develop and characters divided into tiers, but characters are way too unbalanced for Skylanders to become a competitive fighter. The poor selection of arena stages stinks too, especially when many of them have easily exploited gimmicks.
If the next installment in the series makes an effort to balance the characters, adds a ton more stages, implements falling damage, and adds online play.... then I'll get way more excited.
Tier lists right now aren't really going to serve a purpose, especially when the testing involved would be so time-consuming. It seems like people in the thread you linked are just saying which characters they like and they're getting ranked arbitrarily, lol. Still nice that people are interested in a competitive scene, because arena is mad fun.
GamerKingFaiz
Member
Starter set just came in today and my lil' bro was super excited about it. I feel like he's going to have a blast with it. I'm also having quite fun playing with him as well.
I ordered him a Free Ranger off Amazon, but it's used, so that sucks knowing that the stat card/web code is most likely not going to come in. It's odd to see that Amazon doesn't really have these individual characters in abundantly in stock.
Also I have a list of characters in order to get all swap types and elements:
- Wash Buckler (climb/Water) *Starter
- Blast Zone (Rocket/Fire) *Starter
-Rattle Shake (undead/Bounce)
- Stink Bomb (Life/Sneak)
- Hoot Loop (Magic/Teleport)
- Magna Charge (Speed/ Tech)
- Rubble Rouser (Dig /Earth)
- Free Ranger (Spin/ Air)
Are there any packs that contain multiple of these together for cheaper?
I ordered him a Free Ranger off Amazon, but it's used, so that sucks knowing that the stat card/web code is most likely not going to come in. It's odd to see that Amazon doesn't really have these individual characters in abundantly in stock.
Also I have a list of characters in order to get all swap types and elements:
- Wash Buckler (climb/Water) *Starter
- Blast Zone (Rocket/Fire) *Starter
-Rattle Shake (undead/Bounce)
- Stink Bomb (Life/Sneak)
- Hoot Loop (Magic/Teleport)
- Magna Charge (Speed/ Tech)
- Rubble Rouser (Dig /Earth)
- Free Ranger (Spin/ Air)
Are there any packs that contain multiple of these together for cheaper?
RobbieNick
Junior Member
Nice to know all I really need now are Stink Bomb and Rabble Rouser.I'll still pick up ones I fun to have character to them or have some good moves just for fun.
Fired up the Xbox One version tonight with the kids while waiting for the countdown and was surprised to find a bunch of the figures (15-16 of them) didn't work with the portal. Tried again now that the kids are in bed and noticed they'll work inconsistently if it's right side up, will read them in one section but not in others, but they'll work 100% of the time if I flip the portal and put them on the bottom of it.
Looking more at the portal, it seems like the top is bumpier than the 360 one. I wonder if it needs to be clicked in to slots inside or something, because it doesn't seem to be sitting properly. Must be out enough to hold the figures far enough from the reader to not register?
Got them all to work though, and playing with the portal upside down isn't that bad. It's a throwback to my original Playstation I guess.
Now to find some kind of serious storage for these things, something the kids can both get into and that can hold them all - currently something like 86 figures plus accessories.
Really tempted to get this to use until they don't play it anymore and then move it to the garage...
Looking more at the portal, it seems like the top is bumpier than the 360 one. I wonder if it needs to be clicked in to slots inside or something, because it doesn't seem to be sitting properly. Must be out enough to hold the figures far enough from the reader to not register?
Got them all to work though, and playing with the portal upside down isn't that bad. It's a throwback to my original Playstation I guess.
Now to find some kind of serious storage for these things, something the kids can both get into and that can hold them all - currently something like 86 figures plus accessories.
Really tempted to get this to use until they don't play it anymore and then move it to the garage...
360 -> 360 only.
PC -> PC, PS3, Wii, but I think they stopped releasing them after the first game?
3DS -> PS3, Wii, 3DS, Wii U?, it's smaller than the others, though, so it can be uncomfortable for co-op.
PS3, Wii and I think Wii U are all compatible with each other, but not with 3DS, which needs an IR port, and not with PC either. So in theory they should also work with the PS4 version but not with the Xbox One. You can also use the Swap Force portal to play the previous games, but not the other way around.