You can use the Portal of Power that comes with the Skylanders SWAP Force Starter Pack to play either Skylanders Spyro's Adventure or Skylanders Giants. All you need to do is sync the Portal of Power to your console. However, you cannot use the Portal of Power from previous games with Skylanders SWAP Force.
Great. So, the old portals can be dumped. Really, I wish they had the foresight to make the old portals have a plug in for the new tech. They need to be more environmentally conscious.
I grabbed Swap Force on a whim after skipping Giants ( my series 1 Skylanders were feeling lonely on my shelf ) and I have to say the game feels really good. Really good. Not going to dump any more money on it apart from the starter pack but I am having a great time.
And I'm 30 frickin' years old.
I'm a lot older then you. Just means we don't swallow a marketing line. Fun is fun.
Swap Force so far is easily the best game is the series. Jumping is a god send. The only drawbacks is the Swap Force characters themselves are really poorly designed and boring, the series 3 characters, if repeats, are no different then their series 2 counterparts and the initial release of figures doesn't actually give you enough Swap feet to access all the areas yet. Otherwise these levels are huge. They easily take me over an hour each.
Yeah, the size of each level so far has been impressive and there are 17 of them too! Plus Nightmare difficulty afterwards, challenges, bonus missions.
Sure, I won't see it all with just the starter pack swappers but the content you get seems pretty good.
Yeah, the size of each level so far has been impressive and there are 17 of them too! Plus Nightmare difficulty afterwards, challenges, bonus missions.
Sure, I won't see it all with just the starter pack swappers but the content you get seems pretty good.
The Swap locked areas are just mini games, tho. As long as you have one of each element, everything is still good.
Also I will say the game looks hella nice on Wii U at least. Kinda hoping they do a game only version for the PS4 as I hear that version looks amazing.
So I was playing Swap Force with my step son yesterday. He's totally ADHD in an adorable way and generally feels compelled to constantly, constantly, constantly switch out skylanders, sometimes as often as 15 times per level. Part of the fun for him is swapping, and all he wants to do is unlock the character videos.
However, we kept getting an error saying that the new, swap force skylanders got "tired" after like, 2 or 3 minutes of play. It would either be the legs or the head, but one part or the other was tired. No other figures had this issue. He was VERY disappointed; of course, the swap guys are the new hotness and he wants to use them the most. Is there any other solution to this other than asking him not to swap them out? Because that's not likely.
My 6yo son is way too much like me. We went to Toys R Us to look at the new Skylanders, and when he learned that you can put 2 swappers on the portal at the same time and it'll show you the videos for both combinations, he absolutely felt compelled to work out each possible combination so that he'd see all the videos (just like I would).
"OK, I just did Blast Zone and Wash Buckler, now I need to do him and Magna Charge and then I'll be done with Blast Zone. Then after that, I'll move onto Rattle Shake. Now, I don't need to do Rattle Shake with Blast Zone since I saw those videos when I did all the Blast Zone ones, but I need someone to reach another Free Ranger because that other kid just took mine so he could buy it."
When we actually get the game and he sees the orderly grid I saw in the Quick Look that shows all possible combinations? He'll be in heaven.
We spent the weekend watching all the character videos on the youtube channel on a loop and singing "Weapon of Choice" from the E3 teaser trailer.
So I was playing Swap Force with my step son yesterday. He's totally ADHD in an adorable way and generally feels compelled to constantly, constantly, constantly switch out skylanders, sometimes as often as 15 times per level. Part of the fun for him is swapping, and all he wants to do is unlock the character videos.
However, we kept getting an error saying that the new, swap force skylanders got "tired" after like, 2 or 3 minutes of play. It would either be the legs or the head, but one part or the other was tired. No other figures had this issue. He was VERY disappointed; of course, the swap guys are the new hotness and he wants to use them the most. Is there any other solution to this other than asking him not to swap them out? Because that's not likely.
I think that means one of the swap parts lost all it's hp.
So the kids will have a fine christmas. Picked up a WiiU, the Swap Force starter pack, and ALMOST all the new guys (not the series 3 repeats of older releases) including the battle and adventure packs.
When i picked up the preorder at gamestop, i tried to upgrade to the dark edition starter, but they didnt have any for the WiiU. Any reason I should feel compelled to go out of my way to pick up the Dark Edition and return the regular? The kids are already deep into skylanders and even they are of the opinion they dont need duplicates of any character (they wont get a legendary character they already have the regular of kinda thing).
sweet mother of god ive spent way too much money on this already.
Yeah, the size of each level so far has been impressive and there are 17 of them too! Plus Nightmare difficulty afterwards, challenges, bonus missions.
Sure, I won't see it all with just the starter pack swappers but the content you get seems pretty good.
Unfortunately my son is only 4 and has a short attention span. He loved the first 8 or so levels of GIANTS, but the other levels took too long. He wants this for XMAS, but I might hold off and try to get a Wii copy of the original game for cheap.
Is there a way to save progress in the middle of a level in Swap Force? It sounds like the game has a decent length to it, but I'd rather it be a bunch of smaller levels than 17 massive ones. I know all the gold and experience will certainly save since that's saved in the character... I'm thinking more of the legendary treasures/scrolls/etc. If we collect those in a level but don't finish the level, will we have to get them again? Adding checkpoints places to quit in LEGO Batman 2 was a very welcome addition for me and my 6 year old.
Is there a way to save progress in the middle of a level in Swap Force? It sounds like the game has a decent length to it, but I'd rather it be a bunch of smaller levels than 17 massive ones. I know all the gold and experience will certainly save since that's saved in the character... I'm thinking more of the legendary treasures/scrolls/etc. If we collect those in a level but don't finish the level, will we have to get them again? Adding checkpoints places to quit in LEGO Batman 2 was a very welcome addition for me and my 6 year old.
Dunno, look to see if it autosaves when you pick up the level items; if it does then it should be saving the fact you got them. You still have to sit through all the unskippable cutscenes when you load the game up again. /rage
Is there a way to save progress in the middle of a level in Swap Force? It sounds like the game has a decent length to it, but I'd rather it be a bunch of smaller levels than 17 massive ones. I know all the gold and experience will certainly save since that's saved in the character... I'm thinking more of the legendary treasures/scrolls/etc. If we collect those in a level but don't finish the level, will we have to get them again? Adding checkpoints places to quit in LEGO Batman 2 was a very welcome addition for me and my 6 year old.
Dunno, look to see if it autosaves when you pick up the level items; if it does then it should be saving the fact you got them. You still have to sit through all the unskippable cutscenes when you load the game up again. /rage
Yuck, they made them unskippable? I'm replaying through Giants on Nightmare mode for the trophy, and it's nice that the majority of cutscenes and exposition are skippable... it seems like I only have to sit through the tutorial ones.
i gave up on nightmare in giants. it would have been doable i just really didnt want to spend the time necessary to grind my 4 other dudes up to max level. that whole difficulty is BS.
Looks like Giants is getting clearanced by me. Saw it for ~$35. They've also got the original for that price...of course, they were selling the PS3 version for $21. For fifteen bucks, I can wait...they've still got 4 copies.
Where are you seeing those? I wouldnt mind picking them up just for the figure packs, just got swap force for the kids (and of course proceeded to play more of it than they did)
i gave up on nightmare in giants. it would have been doable i just really didnt want to spend the time necessary to grind my 4 other dudes up to max level. that whole difficulty is BS.
I'm about halfway through, and it hasn't been too terrible so far, though I'm sure it'll get bad later. We have about 10 dudes that are level 10+, and my son is playing a lot on easy (which levels up people better), so I'll see if I can stomach the later levels.
Is there a way to save progress in the middle of a level in Swap Force? It sounds like the game has a decent length to it, but I'd rather it be a bunch of smaller levels than 17 massive ones. I know all the gold and experience will certainly save since that's saved in the character... I'm thinking more of the legendary treasures/scrolls/etc. If we collect those in a level but don't finish the level, will we have to get them again? Adding checkpoints places to quit in LEGO Batman 2 was a very welcome addition for me and my 6 year old.
Dunno, look to see if it autosaves when you pick up the level items; if it does then it should be saving the fact you got them. You still have to sit through all the unskippable cutscenes when you load the game up again. /rage
Yuck, they made them unskippable? I'm replaying through Giants on Nightmare mode for the trophy, and it's nice that the majority of cutscenes and exposition are skippable... it seems like I only have to sit through the tutorial ones.
They double as loading screens so when you first turn on the game you can't skip them. You can hammer the Y button and it'll skip when it can but that's still about 80% of them.
i gave up on nightmare in giants. it would have been doable i just really didnt want to spend the time necessary to grind my 4 other dudes up to max level. that whole difficulty is BS.
Try doing two player in the arenas with one maxed level and one level 1. You can power level pretty dang fast.
Where are you seeing those? I wouldnt mind picking them up just for the figure packs, just got swap force for the kids (and of course proceeded to play more of it than they did)
I picked up Giants early this year only because the game was discounted to $25-30. We've since bought all the Giants and a few of the other Series 2 figures. Don't really want to do that again with Swap Force but my boy is already asking how much he'll need to save up to get it and the figures.
I am having fun with giants. My three year old son likes to swap the characters out and watch me play. Sadly he is too young to play the game, but old enough to know if I give him a controller that is turned off. So I slowly make my way through the game usually swapping characters a ton thanks to him. I am hoping the price of the giants and other series 2 figures drop in price a bit before I buy too many more. Not sure if I will pick up swap force or maybe just skip it and wait on the next iteration. I assume most of them will make it back for series 4 anyways.
Ugh. Somehow i ended up with waaaay more skylanders than the kids need. After dumping a pile of cash into giants, i need to cull this new herd and just keep one of every element. Ill let the kids save their money to buy new ones they want.
i gave up on nightmare in giants. it would have been doable i just really didnt want to spend the time necessary to grind my 4 other dudes up to max level. that whole difficulty is BS.
Try doing two player in the arenas with one maxed level and one level 1. You can power level pretty dang fast.
also i sold all the games and figures at this point, so yknow.
i had to force myself not to buy the awesome halloween eyebrawl variant at target the other day. i dont even have the game any more but its pull is still strong!
If they actually changed appearance in game I'd be all over those things. As is, they're just stupid. Hell, even the Season 3 revamped standards for Swap Force didn't change appearance in game and absolutely should have. That's just lazy.
If they actually changed appearance in game I'd be all over those things. As is, they're just stupid. Hell, even the Season 3 revamped standards for Swap Force didn't change appearance in game and absolutely should have. That's just lazy.
Wait, so "Thorn Horn" Camo looks just like regular ass Camo in S:SF? Yeah, that's really bad. We don't bother with any of the Series 2/3 reissues or any of the variants, so I'm not sure how any of them actually work, but that really does seem lazy.
If they actually changed appearance in game I'd be all over those things. As is, they're just stupid. Hell, even the Season 3 revamped standards for Swap Force didn't change appearance in game and absolutely should have. That's just lazy.
Wait, so "Thorn Horn" Camo looks just like regular ass Camo in S:SF? Yeah, that's really bad. We don't bother with any of the Series 2/3 reissues or any of the variants, so I'm not sure how any of them actually work, but that really does seem lazy.
A series 2 is worth getting because they add a power at the end of the tree. But that's it.
What about series 3? Any differences between them and series 2?
And with the Swappers, is there any advantage to being able to shift to any possible element/movement combo?
The Adventure packs..are they worth it? Do they just add the same level to all 3 games? The Battle packs are just arenas to fight in, right?
My older daughter likes the look of Stealth Elf and Ninjini, so I'm trying to figure out if there's any way to get some stuff at a decent price. I suppose the best bet is to go straight for Swap Force, since it comes with one that she wants, and everything that's out will work with it. My younger daughter likes to put things on the portal at the store and watch the video. Of course, she tries to put the Infinity figs on the Skylanders Portal (or vice versa).
What about series 3? Any differences between them and series 2?
And with the Swappers, is there any advantage to being able to shift to any possible element/movement combo?
The Adventure packs..are they worth it? Do they just add the same level to all 3 games? The Battle packs are just arenas to fight in, right?
My older daughter likes the look of Stealth Elf and Ninjini, so I'm trying to figure out if there's any way to get some stuff at a decent price. I suppose the best bet is to go straight for Swap Force, since it comes with one that she wants, and everything that's out will work with it. My younger daughter likes to put things on the portal at the store and watch the video. Of course, she tries to put the Infinity figs on the Skylanders Portal (or vice versa).
Yeah, my kids love the store kiosks that show the video when a character is put on the portal. I really think it's a missed opportunity that you can't do that at home. You can watch the videos from the collections menu (at least in SSA and SG), but when SSA first came out, my kids were too young to navigate to the videos themselves.
My 4 year old daughter certainly gravitates to the girl Skylanders (similar to your girls it sounds like), and she was upset to find out that there does not appear to be a single female swapper, only the regular Skylanders and Ninjini. If you want to focus on a more "girl power" collection, you should be good for all 8 elements.
I know the adventure pack levels were the same when used in SSA and SG. I hope that they are different in SSF but I'm guessing they won't be.
What about series 3? Any differences between them and series 2?
And with the Swappers, is there any advantage to being able to shift to any possible element/movement combo?
The Adventure packs..are they worth it? Do they just add the same level to all 3 games? The Battle packs are just arenas to fight in, right?
My older daughter likes the look of Stealth Elf and Ninjini, so I'm trying to figure out if there's any way to get some stuff at a decent price. I suppose the best bet is to go straight for Swap Force, since it comes with one that she wants, and everything that's out will work with it. My younger daughter likes to put things on the portal at the store and watch the video. Of course, she tries to put the Infinity figs on the Skylanders Portal (or vice versa).
So far no difference between series 2 and series 3 other then the figure itself. Skip 'em.
If you're playing alone, then yes you will want to have every possible element combo if you want to open all the Dual Gates which require two elements to open. If you play with someone, you don't need them at all, just use two appropriate elemental Skylanders. Otherwise you will want one of each Movement type Swap Skylander.
The adventure packs are sort of worth it since you get an exclsuive Skylander as well as the new level. But the old adventure packs do nothing in Swap Force, no extra levels from them. They just act as a smart bomb. The only one that works in Swap Force is Tower of Time.
Sorry, I wasn't clear on that...I understand that you need each element and each movement to unlock everything...but is it necessary to have every possible swap combo (fire/climb, fire/speed, fire teleport, etc.)? Or can that be worked around with 2 figures?
They re-released some of those adventure pack exclusives, which means it's probably better to just grab the newer version of the figure for the extra power.
I wonder if they are afraid of introducing female swappers due to transgender issues? :P
Sorry, I wasn't clear on that...I understand that you need each element and each movement to unlock everything...but is it necessary to have every possible swap combo (fire/climb, fire/speed, fire teleport, etc.)? Or can that be worked around with 2 figures?
They re-released some of those adventure pack exclusives, which means it's probably better to just grab the newer version of the figure for the extra power.
I wonder if they are afraid of introducing female swappers due to transgender issues? :P
Uh...no.
No, you don't need any specific elemental/travel combos at all.
Snagged the last Giants starter at Meijer...was down to $18. Now to plan out some inexpensive figure purchases to get some Girl Power going for my daughter. Looks like TRU is going B1G1 free on non Swap Force branded characters for Black Friday, might be the best bet.
So, after yearning after this but never justifying it, someone gave me a spare portal they had. Is there an effective way to leverage the spare portal to get a couple minis and the software for the 360 on the cheap?
Posts
I'm a lot older then you. Just means we don't swallow a marketing line. Fun is fun.
Swap Force so far is easily the best game is the series. Jumping is a god send. The only drawbacks is the Swap Force characters themselves are really poorly designed and boring, the series 3 characters, if repeats, are no different then their series 2 counterparts and the initial release of figures doesn't actually give you enough Swap feet to access all the areas yet. Otherwise these levels are huge. They easily take me over an hour each.
Sure, I won't see it all with just the starter pack swappers but the content you get seems pretty good.
The Swap locked areas are just mini games, tho. As long as you have one of each element, everything is still good.
Still, kind of annoying.
However, we kept getting an error saying that the new, swap force skylanders got "tired" after like, 2 or 3 minutes of play. It would either be the legs or the head, but one part or the other was tired. No other figures had this issue. He was VERY disappointed; of course, the swap guys are the new hotness and he wants to use them the most. Is there any other solution to this other than asking him not to swap them out? Because that's not likely.
Massive Crystal Cavern!
"OK, I just did Blast Zone and Wash Buckler, now I need to do him and Magna Charge and then I'll be done with Blast Zone. Then after that, I'll move onto Rattle Shake. Now, I don't need to do Rattle Shake with Blast Zone since I saw those videos when I did all the Blast Zone ones, but I need someone to reach another Free Ranger because that other kid just took mine so he could buy it."
When we actually get the game and he sees the orderly grid I saw in the Quick Look that shows all possible combinations? He'll be in heaven.
We spent the weekend watching all the character videos on the youtube channel on a loop and singing "Weapon of Choice" from the E3 teaser trailer.
I think that means one of the swap parts lost all it's hp.
When i picked up the preorder at gamestop, i tried to upgrade to the dark edition starter, but they didnt have any for the WiiU. Any reason I should feel compelled to go out of my way to pick up the Dark Edition and return the regular? The kids are already deep into skylanders and even they are of the opinion they dont need duplicates of any character (they wont get a legendary character they already have the regular of kinda thing).
sweet mother of god ive spent way too much money on this already.
None at all. They're just color swaps.
Unfortunately my son is only 4 and has a short attention span. He loved the first 8 or so levels of GIANTS, but the other levels took too long. He wants this for XMAS, but I might hold off and try to get a Wii copy of the original game for cheap.
Dunno, look to see if it autosaves when you pick up the level items; if it does then it should be saving the fact you got them. You still have to sit through all the unskippable cutscenes when you load the game up again. /rage
Yuck, they made them unskippable? I'm replaying through Giants on Nightmare mode for the trophy, and it's nice that the majority of cutscenes and exposition are skippable... it seems like I only have to sit through the tutorial ones.
I'm about halfway through, and it hasn't been too terrible so far, though I'm sure it'll get bad later. We have about 10 dudes that are level 10+, and my son is playing a lot on easy (which levels up people better), so I'll see if I can stomach the later levels.
They double as loading screens so when you first turn on the game you can't skip them. You can hammer the Y button and it'll skip when it can but that's still about 80% of them.
Try doing two player in the arenas with one maxed level and one level 1. You can power level pretty dang fast.
Meijer. Which is midwest only, I think.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
PSN:Furlion
ITS SO HARD NOT TO GET EVERY ONE OF THEM!
also i sold all the games and figures at this point, so yknow.
i had to force myself not to buy the awesome halloween eyebrawl variant at target the other day. i dont even have the game any more but its pull is still strong!
Wait, so "Thorn Horn" Camo looks just like regular ass Camo in S:SF? Yeah, that's really bad. We don't bother with any of the Series 2/3 reissues or any of the variants, so I'm not sure how any of them actually work, but that really does seem lazy.
A series 2 is worth getting because they add a power at the end of the tree. But that's it.
And with the Swappers, is there any advantage to being able to shift to any possible element/movement combo?
The Adventure packs..are they worth it? Do they just add the same level to all 3 games? The Battle packs are just arenas to fight in, right?
My older daughter likes the look of Stealth Elf and Ninjini, so I'm trying to figure out if there's any way to get some stuff at a decent price. I suppose the best bet is to go straight for Swap Force, since it comes with one that she wants, and everything that's out will work with it. My younger daughter likes to put things on the portal at the store and watch the video. Of course, she tries to put the Infinity figs on the Skylanders Portal (or vice versa).
Yeah, my kids love the store kiosks that show the video when a character is put on the portal. I really think it's a missed opportunity that you can't do that at home. You can watch the videos from the collections menu (at least in SSA and SG), but when SSA first came out, my kids were too young to navigate to the videos themselves.
My 4 year old daughter certainly gravitates to the girl Skylanders (similar to your girls it sounds like), and she was upset to find out that there does not appear to be a single female swapper, only the regular Skylanders and Ninjini. If you want to focus on a more "girl power" collection, you should be good for all 8 elements.
I know the adventure pack levels were the same when used in SSA and SG. I hope that they are different in SSF but I'm guessing they won't be.
So far no difference between series 2 and series 3 other then the figure itself. Skip 'em.
If you're playing alone, then yes you will want to have every possible element combo if you want to open all the Dual Gates which require two elements to open. If you play with someone, you don't need them at all, just use two appropriate elemental Skylanders. Otherwise you will want one of each Movement type Swap Skylander.
The adventure packs are sort of worth it since you get an exclsuive Skylander as well as the new level. But the old adventure packs do nothing in Swap Force, no extra levels from them. They just act as a smart bomb. The only one that works in Swap Force is Tower of Time.
They re-released some of those adventure pack exclusives, which means it's probably better to just grab the newer version of the figure for the extra power.
I wonder if they are afraid of introducing female swappers due to transgender issues? :P
Uh...no.
No, you don't need any specific elemental/travel combos at all.