Poll: The (Many) Problems with Skylanders

[Stenalik]

I personally hate Skylanders and for more reasons than one. Now I'm not saying It's bad and evil because it's gameplay is actually pretty good. The moral ideals of the game is why I hate it. The game itself is sixty dollars, right, well it doesn't come with all the playable characters which means if you got stuck at a certain part which requires a certain character that you don't have, you have to run your little butt to the store and TRY to find that specific character. I emphasize try because its not always certain that character will be available which means you might have to buy one off Ebay. Not only is this a nightmare for gamers but it is also a problem for collectors and completionists. But what about the "lucky" poor kid who got it for christmas or his/her birthday. Ain't he/she gonna be dissapointed when they have to buy more characters. I remember a time when characters could be unlocked by pure skill and achievement but now, I just dont know anymore. I mean imagine having to buy Raiden or Scorpion for Mortal Kombat. Now people could argue that many games do this with their DLC's but a DLC is at least a whole giant extension and bug fixes to the game, Not just new characters. Lastly, I have recently seen the extended commercial for the trap masters extension to Skylanders. That drew the line. I mean, what it is is a slap to the face. You now can "unlock" characters by beating them BUT you have to buy the corresponding trap for that character. You have to pay money to prove that you beat that guy/ugly slime creature that looks a lot like BOB from Monsters vs Aliens. That's basically paying for five dollars to unlock an achievement. It's a lot worse than Disney Infinity which is almost the same thing. At least that has a lot more customization to excuse some of it's problems though. Some, not all of them.

I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm hating on the game but this is how I feel towards it and I thought I should share it with you gamer guys/gals.

 

[krazykidd]

Skylanders is and has always been a cash grabs for kids. From day 1 when i saw you could buy extra characters for 10$ i knew it was so kids could ask their parents to buy it for them. I can't reall fault them for it though because it's painfully obvious. Anyone could look at that game and deduce in 5 seconds flat that they want you to buy all the characters.

The smart thing is to avoid the game altogether

 

[Mezahmay]

It's basically the newest Pokemon. People acknowledge it's a cash grab, but it is something parents can do with kids and enjoy it for different or the same reasons, or the kid can enjoy it themselves or with like-minded friends and the parent doesn't have to deal with them for a few hours. I don't really see a problem with this from the perspective of a childless college student since no one is really getting tricked by this.

 

[Asclepion]

OP, I'd be more angry about whatever the fuck happened to Spyro from the glorious PS1 trilogy.

 

[Smooth Operator]

The game is fine in the very limited child level of play, but it's also amazingly cheap. I would never put down more then 10$ for this level of content.
But having all the heroes locked by a pay wall on a full priced game of all things is just the dirtiest shit possible, no actually they go one better and lock loot caves behind walls that can only be broken by specific heroes... and just so your kid doesn't miss what parents need to buy it specifically reminds them in the game.

The only dirty practice they haven't tried yet with Skylanders is sending complementary heroin with every purchase.

 

[Spider RedNight]

I think the aspect that frustrates me most is that it started with Spyro's name tacked onto the title, which kind of excited ME at first because of my love for Spyro.

I was... disappointed, to say in the least and the fact that it comes with a "starter pack" then you have to buy MORE characters to actually progress through the game.

I'm reminded of the DLC Dorkly video only; it's just absurd that they give the bare bones then make each one cost extra and there's like DOZENS of them. We aren't talking skins or little playable characters that are like two bucks for a fun little extra.

 

[Scarecrow1001]

Skylanders pisses me off so much, because of the same reasons as people above me. I grew up on Spyro's original trilogy. Now I must ask what in the shit happened to him, just like Crash Bandicoot. Oh, and it's like Happy Meals. They are a cash grab, and that is insanely frustrating to me.

 

[Story]

Spyro aside, I'm gonna play Devil's Advocate here:
The thing is, from what I've played from Skylanders, you don't need all of the characters to enjoy the game. You might want what? One of each element perhaps. But even then you are only granted a small boost in certain areas, extra lives on a level, or access to a bonus stage to obtain new status boosting clothing. It in no way impedes you from progressing in the main game in any significant way. Skylanders really shouldn't be a game for completionsists, if you have that urge I highly recommend just not playing it. But hey some people like to just collect things. I would be a bit of a hypocrite to criticize kids that do because I grew up collecting Pokemon Cards/Toys and Beanie Babies knowing full well I'll never get them all.

I'm surprised you feel that Disney Infinity isn't worse than Skylanders. Which I think it is. That game, at least the 1.0 version, does impede content for not having more figures. (At least in the sandbox mode) And advertises old and upcoming figurines directly as you play the game.

 

[klaynexas3]

I hate what it stands for. It's basically on-disc DLC in the highest degree. It looks like a throw-back to the games that I loved in my childhood and still play to this day, and yet it's just a greedy cash-grab. Disney Infinity is worse, I'm skeptical about Nintendo's thing, but Skylanders started this whole mess and is the leader in it, so I blame it most of all. It's irksome to say the least.

 

[Darth Marsden]

For the record, the first game was entirely completable with the characters it came with. If you wanted to access all the secret areas, then that requires more characters, yeah - but only one for each element, meaning you'd only NEED to buy 6 other characters.

If you have those 8 characters, then that's all you really need for the first game, and Giants just needed ONE Giant character - which all the different versions of the game came with (there was the regular one with three characters and the Booster pack which just came with the Giant one) - so that one was covered as well.

I'm unsure if any extra characters were required for Swap Force, but I doubt it.

So... yeah, it's a bit of an investment, but if you're willing to go the pre-owned route (which I most definitely am) then it's not going to cost you the earth to get almost everything.

THAT SAID...

Yeah, it's a cash grab. It's a blatant cash grab. But given how it's still a decent game underneath it all, and that most of the characters are completely optional, I can't hate it TOO much.

Disney Infinity, on the other hand, is just awful when it comes to this sort of thing, and I reserve most of my scorn for that - especially since it can't even be bothered to give us a half-decent game to play though, instead relying on people to make their own. And even then, they lock the best stuff behind walls - want to put Captain Marvel in your level? Tough - gotta play through the Avengers playset to unlock her!

 

[Stenalik]

OP, I'd be more angry about whatever the fuck happened to Spyro from the glorious PS1 trilogy.

I was trying to avoid mentioning it but yes. The fact that they used Spyro to draw people in was an abomination. It pisses me off that the one of the more known PS1 platformers has been turned into this. I wish that a company would buy it from Toys-for-Bob and turn it back into the glorious platformer we all know and love.

 

[Tanis]

4) Having barely played the games, I can't say either way.

I'm not 10, nor do I know any 10 year old kids, so it's kind of out my realm.

Also: I don't care about 'action figures', so I have no interest in that either.