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Skylanders Swap-Force |OT|

Slermy

Member
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.

Wow, thanks for the fast reply!
 

RobbieNick

Junior Member
Just beat this on the Wii U. My first Skylanders game, and I had a blast!

Quick question, and I apologize if it's already been answered here, but are the Portal of Powers platform locked? As in, if I could find a stand alone copy of the PS4 version, could I use my Wii U portal?

Yes. Definitely.

I had the WiiU version and upgraded to the PS4 version and kept the same portal. Works just fine.
 

splattered

Member
I've had a blast playing this with my son and wife since Christmas and we've already amassed a decent sized collection of characters. I think my wife is addicted to buying the figures more than my son is haha

Giant figures (Ninjini, Eye Brawl, Crusher, etc) were on sale for $8 each at Toys R Us on Wednesday in-store only. I have been wanting to buy Thumpback really badly but they were sold out so I settled for the Eye Brawl Halloween Special (headache-inducing lazily painted) figure instead. Man I opened the package and nearly passed out from crappy black paint fumes. Wish I had bought the normal version instead. It doesn't even change his appearance in-game which seems extra pointless to me.

We've run all over town numerous times checking Target, Toys R Us, Wal Mart, Gamestop... NOBODY has the Wave 3 characters. I've called Stink Bomb as my own already haha looking forward to when i'll actually be able to walk into a store and buy him.
 
It doesn't even change his appearance in-game which seems extra pointless to me.

We've run all over town numerous times checking Target, Toys R Us, Wal Mart, Gamestop... NOBODY has the Wave 3 characters. I've called Stink Bomb as my own already haha looking forward to when i'll actually be able to walk into a store and buy him.

Ah yes. There's technically 2 kinds of variants. "Chase Variants" are ones that are colored differently, usually a solid color, and are inserted randomly into wave cases and sometimes through retailers (like Pumpkin Eye Brawl).
The other are the "Alt Deco" figures. These are ones like Polar Whirlwind or Gnarly Tree Rex are usually different in game. A good tell is if the character image on the package is different, the character will usually show up different in game.

As for Wave 3, from what I understand,Target has a bit of exclusivity on the group until mid January. After that, it should be easier to find the characters. I dunno why they thought this was gonna be a good idea considering literally every single player NEEDS Stink Bomb in order to 100% the game.
 

Lucario

Member
Stink Bomb is regularly hitting $55+ on ebay, sometimes up to 80

.... Scalpers for this game are ruthless, holy crap.
 

Orca

Member
My son (3) and daughter (7) were playing last night and I couldn't figure out why he was dying so much. I mean he dies a lot normally because he stops fighting and tries conversing with the enemies but he was having to get up every 20 seconds or so to change characters. Turns out they had bumped it up to Nightmare difficulty at some point, which - given his penchant for resetting characters - is a bad idea for them.
 

RobbieNick

Junior Member
Stink Bomb is regularly hitting $55+ on ebay, sometimes up to 80

.... Scalpers for this game are ruthless, holy crap.

Tell that to the folks selling Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey for $200 back in September. Available everywhere in about a week or two.

Same thing happened with Ninjini. Give it a month and Stink Bomb will be everywhere.
 

Lucario

Member
Tell that to the folks selling Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey for $200 back in September. Available everywhere in about a week or two.

Same thing happened with Ninjini. Give it a month and Stink Bomb will be everywhere.

Yeah, I know the supply issues won't be as bad in a short time -- got mine a couple days before release anyway -- but the scalpers save their receipts. Even when it becomes unprofitable to sell on ebay, they can just get their money back.

Would really like to see stores put limits on newly released figurines, or at least prevent people form returning cases of the same figurine.
 
Is there any trick to enhance the stability of the connection to the portal? It loses signal constantly and it doesn't matter how far away or close to the receiver I place it :(

PS3 version of the first game it is so far.
 

Tusk

Member
My Quickdraw Rattleshake came in the mail last week. :p My favorite skylander/Variant.
Also got the Halloween Fright Rider a while back. Those probably go for alot on ebay.
Never bothered posting in this thread before, though I love this series. Loved playing it with my lil bro, but been playing swap force on my own this time.
 

bumpkin

Member
Stink Bomb is regularly hitting $55+ on ebay, sometimes up to 80

.... Scalpers for this game are assholes, holy crap.
Fixed.

I might wander out today and see who I can find. Seems like stores around here are keeping figures stocked fairly well. Maybe I'll hit pay dirt.
 

rcl66

Member
Seems like since Christmas the stores don't have many swap force chars at all and very few have chars like s2 sprocket. Hopefully they get replenished and wave 3 chars soon. Lightcores seem rare as well.
 

bumpkin

Member
Checked Target and Best Buy yesterday to little or no avail. The only Swap Force characters that I saw were Free Ranger, Grilla Drilla, Magna Charge, and Boom Jet. That would have been great except that the ones I'm actually looking for at the moment are Rattle Shake and Stink Bomb.

Have any of you folks spotted either one at your local retail outlets? Would you consider picking one up for me if I'd pay for shipping? I have PayPal.
 

Slermy

Member
Funny, I always see the Rattle Shake / Nitro Magna Charge bundles at my local Targets, but I've not seen a regular Magna Charge in a while.
 
Since Christmas, most of the stores around me have been entirely sold out of Swappers. There's plenty of the core figures left though (ie, Series 1/2/3 and Lightcores). Kind of funny actually, since the Swappers are needed for certain areas, you'd think they'd have those in higher supply. I have however seen a few Boom Jets as of late. I can't tell if its people returning them or if its just extra ones that have leaked out or been uncovered on random aisles though hahaha

I was very lucky as I finally found Fire Kraken yesterday. He's a pretty fun character to play as, and I needed a Bounce character. Now I just need a Dig and Stealth and I'll be set. I was gonna go for Grilla Drilla, but honestly, both of the Dig guys are uninteresting to me and I might as well get Rubble Rouser for Dig so I don't have any element overlaps. (although I've already done this with Kraken and Blast Zone lol )

My Quickdraw should hopefully be coming soon. I'll end up having both of the 3DS pack guys in boxes (I decided to keep my Nitro Magna/Free Ranger and L-Free ranger in their boxes) so I still need to pick up the 3DS game sometime soon. I'm hoping that some store will have it marked down low again although I can wait till much later on to get them because I'm not really assed to get many of the other Swappers.
 

Apenheul

Member
I've just placed an order for both Skylanders Swap Force and Skylanders Giants.. what have I done..

No but seriously, I've always ignored this series until a colleague of mine invited me over to play the game (Swap Force) in coop and it actually happened to be really well made.
 

DJ_Lae

Member
My son (3) and daughter (7) were playing last night and I couldn't figure out why he was dying so much. I mean he dies a lot normally because he stops fighting and tries conversing with the enemies but he was having to get up every 20 seconds or so to change characters. Turns out they had bumped it up to Nightmare difficulty at some point, which - given his penchant for resetting characters - is a bad idea for them.

Haha, I did the same thing recently when playing arenas with my daughter - we were wondering why it seemed so hard, and then I remember I had bumped the difficulty to nightmare to do levels the week or so before.
 

Slermy

Member
So if I wanted to get more use out of my figures having only bought Swap-Force, which is the better game? Swap-Force 3DS or Skylanders Giants? I understand my Swappers and Star Strike wouldn't work in the older games, but I did acquire some Series 2 figures.
 

bumpkin

Member
So if I wanted to get more use out of my figures having only bought Swap-Force, which is the better game? Swap-Force 3DS or Skylanders Giants? I understand my Swappers and Star Strike wouldn't work in the older games, but I did acquire some Series 2 figures.
I've heard that Giants on 3DS is kind of a mess, but I'm not sure if that's just from the perspective of a comparison against 360/PS3 or in general. I'm not sure how Swap Force is on 3DS quality-wise, but I do believe it has a different story than the console version.
 

Rafterman

Banned
I've just placed an order for both Skylanders Swap Force and Skylanders Giants.. what have I done..

No but seriously, I've always ignored this series until a colleague of mine invited me over to play the game (Swap Force) in coop and it actually happened to be really well made.

If you're anything like me you've created a monster. I bought Swap Force for the PS4 without really thinking it through and since then I have Spyro and Giants for the PS3 and all the (non variant) figures for all three games. I don't even want to know how much I've spent on this series at this point, but it's a ton. It's a surprisingly well done series and all the characters appeal to the collector in me.
 

closer013

Member
Just got back from Toys R Us and got Lightcore Countdown & Whamshell plus the Sheep Wreck Island and Arkeyan Crossbow packs.
 

rcl66

Member
Toys R Us got the new wave 3 figures in today and has a buy 3 for $35 on the swap figures. Which is basically 2 for 1. And the new sheep adventure level also. The sale on original sky lander figures for $5 is today only.
 

bumpkin

Member
Toys R Us got the new wave 3 figures in today and has a buy 3 for $35 on the swap figures. Which is basically 2 for 1. And the new sheep adventure level also. The sale on original sky lander figures for $5 is today only.
Damn... Wish I saw this post like two hours ago when they were still open. :(
 
1601220_10102041705507654_1058333589_n.jpg


1551769_10102041705547574_759056605_n.jpg


Was able to pick up all of the latest wave. :D
 
What does the Arkeyan Crossbow do in terms of gameplay?

Picked up the Sheep Wreck pack at Toys R Us today - it was a good job I looked on every shelf since it was hidden behind other spyro/adventure packs in that section (vs the new swap force section)

Also got the lightcore Wham since I never got the original. Man annoyed I bought Countdown since the lightcore looks a lot better, but I am not buying the same character twice.
 

NZNova

Member
This game is pretty good! It took a month for Amazon to get it to me but I'm enjoying it. It's the most entertaining game on my Xbox One so far, haha.
 

RobbieNick

Junior Member
Went by TRU today. Sadly, they had all the new ones BUT Stink Bomb (Super Popular that fella). I did get the last Wind Up with Sheep Wreck Island.
 
Went by TRU today. Sadly, they had all the new ones BUT Stink Bomb (Super Popular that fella). I did get the last Wind Up with Sheep Wreck Island.

That is because he is from the movement type that was missing to complete the game. Activision sort of drop the ball with Swap force cause you cannot access all areas of the game without characters that were not out for months after the game release. In previous games, all elements you need were available day one.
 

bumpkin

Member
Went by TRU today. Sadly, they had all the new ones BUT Stink Bomb (Super Popular that fella). I did get the last Wind Up with Sheep Wreck Island.
I made an impulsive stop at TRU and completely lucked out; they had a Stink Bomb! They also had Rubble Rouser, but I had literally just bought Rattle Shake -- another I've been searching for -- at Target 10 minutes prior. I got them (TRU) to price match Target's online price on Stink Bomb which was nice. Of course it occurred to me after the fact that if I had gone to TRU first and they had Rattle Shake, I could have gotten a third character for only $5 more than I paid for two at different stores. :(

I probably could (should...) have looked at TRU and went back to Target and returned the Rattle Shake, but I was already running behind; the wife was expecting me home with ingredients she needed for dinner that I got at Target.
 

satori

Member
Damn I think I am gonna swing by TRU then. Be a nice surprise for my son on a good payday Friday. Gonna hope they have it!
 

Kelegacy

XBOX - RECORD ME LOVING DOWN MY WOMAN GOOD
Upgraded from the Wii U version to the PS4 and my gosh the game looks much better. I thought the Wii U would look comparable but it just is not sharp and looks blurred and "vaseliney" on my set, probably due to upscaling. Not so with the PS4. It's for my kids, but I hated playing the game alongside them knowing it could look so much better! Everything pops nicely now, and I can see details I couldn't previously.
 

sith ewok

Member
Ordered Stink Bomb from Amazon. Now my daughter can stop asking for him every day. (And I can access the rest of the swap zones. ha.)
 

Krixeus

Member
Beat Swap Force on Nightmare recently. Blast Ranger is defnitely the best character for that difficulty by far. Great cc and AoE dps makes him the best to deal with just about any enemy in that game.
 
Spy Rise, Rubble Rouser and the elusive Stink Bomb are available on Amazon.

Ordered Rubble Rouser, Stink Bomb, and Magna charge. My lil' bro will now have every element/swap ability.

- Wash Buckler (climb/Water) *Starter
- Blast Zone (Rocket/Fire) *Starter
- Free Ranger (Spin/ Air)
- Hoot Loop (Magic/Teleport)
- Rattle Shake (undead/Bounce)
- Stink Bomb (Life/Sneak)
- Magna Charge (Speed/ Tech)
- Rubble Rouser (Dig /Earth)

I'll eventually need to get him the Giants Portal Owner Pack and the Tower of Time/Sheep Wreck Island.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
- Wash Buckler (climb/Water) *Starter
- Blast Zone (Rocket/Fire) *Starter
- Free Ranger (Spin/ Air)
- Hoot Loop (Magic/Teleport)
- Rattle Shake (undead/Bounce)
- Stink Bomb (Life/Sneak)
- Magna Charge (Speed/ Tech)
- Rubble Rouser (Dig /Earth)

That's exactly the mix I decided to go after in November because I wanted to minimize buys and really wanted Rattle Shake to be one of them.
Of that list, I still haven't picked up Rubble Rouser and Stink Bomb.
 

Slermy

Member
I've heard that Giants on 3DS is kind of a mess, but I'm not sure if that's just from the perspective of a comparison against 360/PS3 or in general. I'm not sure how Swap Force is on 3DS quality-wise, but I do believe it has a different story than the console version.

Thanks, I guess I'll just hold off for this year's title.

Speaking of Skylanders 4, I know it's not likely, but I'd love them to make more swappers (or even Giants for that matter). Ever expanding combinations would be great, and probably boost sales of older (current) figures.
 

RobbieNick

Junior Member
Finally! I got Stink Bomb and Rubble Rouser today to complete my necessary collection to 100% the game. I also got Lightcore Countdown for $4 after $10 savings for going over $40 in Skylanders purchases (I didn't have a regular countdown yet).

Now that I have the necessary set, I might give Drill Sargent to my neighbor's kid (I'm not a big fan of the character and only got him for the dig ability).

Wait....I just realized there may be more playsets so 100% the game may not be possible without them, but really, who cares? They're just extra levels in an already large game.
 

Sioen

Member
My order has been shipped it's here in a few days. Got the starter pack, are there any other packs so I can enjoy the complete game?
 

BuzzJive

Member
I just wanted to say that this game is so much better than Giants was. They really did a good job making this one feel fresh. I hope it doesn't turn in to an "every other year is good" type of scenario. Then again, buying 32 of these characters for my kid every year isn't exactly what I want either.
 
My order has been shipped it's here in a few days. Got the starter pack, are there any other packs so I can enjoy the complete game?

Sheep Wreck Island and Tower of Time both come with an expansion piece that gives you a new level. (and they come with 2 magic items and a new character each).

Other than that, you'll need a character of each element. Right now, you have Fire (Blast Zone), Water (Wash Buckler) and Life (Ninja Stealth Elf). There's 5 more, Undead, Magic, Tech, Air, and Earth. To save you the trouble, you may as well try to hit the other elements by getting the other Swappers where you can, who you'll also need to access all areas. I'd say your best bet is to get:

Rattle Shake (Undead, Bounce)
Hoot Loop (Magic, Teleport)
Magna Charge (Tech, Speed)
Free Ranger (Air, Spin)
Rubble Rouser (Earth, Dig)
Stink Bomb (Life, Sneak)

Blast Zone has the Fly ability and Washy has Climb so if you got the guys I listed, you'd be set, although you can get whatever you want. To kind of quickly tl;dr it:

There's gates in the game that are locked away requiring one of three things: Either an Swap ability, a single element, or a dual element. Dual Element gates can be activated if you have a swapper with both elements, or if you have a second player. For Wii U players, this is easy; just turn on a wii mote and put another character on the portal, and get close to the gate to open it. after that you can turn off the wiimote and go back to playing. Swap Zones require a particular abilty, which you can see hovering above the area. Single element gates are easy enough, just have that element and go through.

Rubble and Stink are both brand new and may not be as common, but stores are starting to restock. I saw a bunch at my TRU and I ended up nabbing a Stink Bomb (they had like 20 of each of the new guys there!)

Target actually has a double pack with their own exclusive Nitro Magna Charge (same character, just a different color) that's paired with either Free Ranger or Rattle Shake. That could shave off a few bucks for you if you plan to go out and purchase this stuff. It definitely adds up, but if you play your cards right and buy during sales you can save a lot. From the stuff that I've gotten so far on sales and what not, I've actually saved almost $100 compared to if I bought the stuff regularly.

--------------------------------------
My Quick Draw Rattle Shake came this week. He's pretty awesome.

z9Y4mz9.png


The final upgrade is the same as normal Rattle Shake, so it turns him that dumb purple color.
Also, TRU members, if you spent $100 at TRU since launch and going till Dec. 31st, you should have got your code to get Metallic Gilly.
MetallicGreenGillGrunt.png


I REALLY hope TRU doesn't screw everyone over and mail it out in a bubble envelope. I know they probably will too.......
 

RobbieNick

Junior Member
Also, TRU members, if you spent $100 at TRU since launch and going till Dec. 31st, you should have got your code to get Metallic Gilly.
MetallicGreenGillGrunt.png


I REALLY hope TRU doesn't screw everyone over and mail it out in a bubble envelope. I know they probably will too.......

Yet at the same time, totally appropriate. XD
 

bumpkin

Member
Today's the day... Expecting my Rubble Rouser to arrive. It's been a week or two since I played the game -- since I beat the story basically -- so I think it's about time to dive back in. Maybe I can convince the wife to give it another play-through (we did it co-op). Either that or replay specific stages/chapters to try and get all of the hats/treasures/etc.
 
I just got into the series because I saw a new SSA starter set, at GameStop, for $40. I purchased it and then started gathering some figures from Toys R Us, to fill in the 8 elemental types.

The first game in 3DS is really great and VV did a fantastic job on that game. I love the fast paced and hectic gameplay nature - as well as - the graphical touches (shaders and such).

I picked up the first 4 Adventure packs, as well.

Moving on, I just got Swap Force (early Valentines gift) a couple days ago on PS4.

My gosh, the game is gorgeous. Fantastic visuals! Looks so bright and crisp. It's also developed by VV; it's a prefect companion to the first game, which was apparently best on 3DS (believe it or not).

So I have questions:

Swap Force 3DS:

Do the new Swap Force specific expansions open new worlds in the game (Tower of Time/sheep)?

Are the graphics in Swap Force 3DS better than SSA (one of the best looking 3DS games)?

Giants 3DS:

I'm set on also picking this up. How many Giants do I need?

Do the first games' expansion sets unlock worlds in this: (Darklight/Dragons/Ice/Pirate)?

I am falling in love with the series and refuse to go super figure crazy. Im just grabbing the figures I like and the ones that are necessary (Swap/elemental/Adventure expansions).

I also spend so much time on 3DS I'd like to have all three games - I just would like to know how much has changed and progressed (series wise), on the handheld (visuals/gameplay).
 

hitmon

Member
Sheep Wreck Island and Tower of Time both come with an expansion piece that gives you a new level. (and they come with 2 magic items and a new character each).

Other than that, you'll need a character of each element. Right now, you have Fire (Blast Zone), Water (Wash Buckler) and Life (Ninja Stealth Elf). There's 5 more, Undead, Magic, Tech, Air, and Earth. To save you the trouble, you may as well try to hit the other elements by getting the other Swappers where you can, who you'll also need to access all areas. I'd say your best bet is to get:

Rattle Shake (Undead, Bounce)
Hoot Loop (Magic, Teleport)
Magna Charge (Tech, Speed)
Free Ranger (Air, Spin)
Rubble Rouser (Earth, Dig)
Stink Bomb (Life, Sneak)

Blast Zone has the Fly ability and Washy has Climb so if you got the guys I listed, you'd be set, although you can get whatever you want. To kind of quickly tl;dr it:

There's gates in the game that are locked away requiring one of three things: Either an Swap ability, a single element, or a dual element. Dual Element gates can be activated if you have a swapper with both elements, or if you have a second player. For Wii U players, this is easy; just turn on a wii mote and put another character on the portal, and get close to the gate to open it. after that you can turn off the wiimote and go back to playing. Swap Zones require a particular abilty, which you can see hovering above the area. Single element gates are easy enough, just have that element and go through.

Rubble and Stink are both brand new and may not be as common, but stores are starting to restock. I saw a bunch at my TRU and I ended up nabbing a Stink Bomb (they had like 20 of each of the new guys there!)

Target actually has a double pack with their own exclusive Nitro Magna Charge (same character, just a different color) that's paired with either Free Ranger or Rattle Shake. That could shave off a few bucks for you if you plan to go out and purchase this stuff. It definitely adds up, but if you play your cards right and buy during sales you can save a lot. From the stuff that I've gotten so far on sales and what not, I've actually saved almost $100 compared to if I bought the stuff regularly.

--------------------------------------
My Quick Draw Rattle Shake came this week. He's pretty awesome.

z9Y4mz9.png


The final upgrade is the same as normal Rattle Shake, so it turns him that dumb purple color.
Also, TRU members, if you spent $100 at TRU since launch and going till Dec. 31st, you should have got your code to get Metallic Gilly.
MetallicGreenGillGrunt.png


I REALLY hope TRU doesn't screw everyone over and mail it out in a bubble envelope. I know they probably will too.......

Where did you get the glow in the dark one from?
 
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