Jump to content

 

Question for completionists


Vitex
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi. I'm looking to get into the Skylanders series, i love collecting and completing stuff and this game looks to be crafted around it.

 

One thing i want to know is how hard are the achievements. Because if there are some annoying or impossible ones that will prevent me from 100% completion, it would be a big put off for me.

 

I checked the achievements, and there are some that worry me:

 

>speedrun challenges - i hate speedruns, so please tell me getting 3 stars is actually possible for an average player.

>beat the game on nightmare difficulty - please elaborate how hard it is, or maybe compare it to other games like diablo (they both look similiar). Also is it good idea to start on this mode or should i level up my characters first?

>team survival arena - i will play solo, so tell me are those online or local co-op? Or are they possible to solo with dummy controller?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All of the things you mentioned are easily doable solo, but it requires the right skylanders.

 

Speedruns - More like time trials because they are not as challenging as they initially sound. characters like Ghost Roaster, Terrafin, and Roller Brawl all have extremely fast dashes and can avoid most fights. Using them all but guarantees a victory in the trials.

 

Nightmare - What makes it tough is that the enemies do so much damage. If you are not careful you can lose a character in 2 hits. Once a character dies in a level you have to switch characters or restart the level. If you have enough characters you can get through anything in the game. Also if you are smart enough with your characters you can survive.

 

Characters like Chop Chop, Wham Shell, Free Ranger and the giants do a ridiculous amount of damage and are good for dealing with Nightmare mode. Also the item packs help a lot.

 

Team Survival Challenges - Difficulty does not matter so you can put the game on easy for this. There is no online co-op so you have to do it locally. You can have two controllers active to load the challenge up, and then just let one character sit while your other does all the work. It will be tricky but its doable. I recommend characters like Hoot Ranger (Hoot Loop top half and Free Ranger bottom half) for survival challenge murder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For team Survival, it's best to play on Hard or Nightmare, and kill the 2nd player off right away. You won't lose the round until both players are dead, and you won't have to worry about someone attacking the other skylander and messing up your combo meter. Also, playing on the higher difficulties means that enemies are worth more points making the point goals easier to obtain.

 

Now, if you're wanting to be a full completionist (unlock everything in the game), you'll need at minimum 1 character of every element and 1 character of each swap type. You'll also need the two adventure packs, Tower of Time and Sheep Wreck Island. Finally, 3 piddly hats are only unlocked by getting specific skylanders (Jolly Bumble Blast, Springtime Trigger Happy, Kickoff Countdown).

 

If you want to get the bare minimum of skylanders to unlock everything, you'll need to get:

 

Hoot Loop

Magna Charge

Free Ranger

Rubble Rouser

Stink Bomb

Rattle Shake

 

Those, when combined with the starter figures, will give you the full element and swap type spread. There are some giant chests that need a giant figure for, but they do not count for the treasure chests in the level stats.

 

Now, if you do start to expand your collection, there are quite a few different types of figures out there besides the regular ones:

 

Giants - These were primary featured in the previous game, coincidentally also titled Giants. In Giants, they were more prevalent, with certain areas needing a giant to unlock. Also, there were walls that they could take down by attacking them rather than needing to hunt for a bomb. In Swap Force, they just open giant chests. Besides their size, their other defining features are that they are stronger than the smaller skylanders, but less agile. I personally don't care for most of the giants as they become big targets at the higher difficulties.

 

Series 2/3 skylanders - These are reprints of previously issued skylanders. What's different besides the pose is that they can swap between the ability trees without the need to reset and they also get a new "Wow-Pow" power. A series 2 skylander has a different Wow Pow than the series 3 version. I'd suggest getting the series 2/3 if you can, but not if you already have a previous version of them, as the single upgrade is not really worth another $10-15.

 

Lightcore - These are the lighted skylanders, which will have parts light up when placed on the portal. Some look really good (Smolder Dash, Star Strike), others, not so much (Drobot, Eruptor). Also, when first summoned in a stage, they send out a blastwave that damages everything nearby. Statwise, they are the same as the Series 1 versions. Not really worth it overall in my opinion.

 

Color Variants - These skylanders tend to have different names like Enchanted Hoot Loop or Jade Flashwing and have a different paint job. However, they do show up with the different color scheme in the game and are counted as different characters as well. Statwise, they are identical to the base versions.

There are also chase variants like a Crystal Wham Shell or a Flocked Hot Head, but these are just rare repaints (some can fetch several hundred dollars on ebay) and do not show up any differently in game. I personally like these and wind up getting them even if I already have the default version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Wow, thanks for such detailed responses! Really helpful.

 

Now, if you're wanting to be a full completionist (unlock everything in the game), you'll need at minimum 1 character of every element and 1 character of each swap type. You'll also need the two adventure packs, Tower of Time and Sheep Wreck Island. Finally, 3 piddly hats are only unlocked by getting specific skylanders (Jolly Bumble Blast, Springtime Trigger Happy, Kickoff Countdown).

 

I'm only concerned with actual xbox achievements, in-game achievements like the accolades don't interest me. Do I actually need mission packs and special edition skylanders to get 100%?

 

And nah i'm not going for bare minimum. I decided to either go balls deep and buy all the figures i like, or don't bother with the series at all. I chose the former option, despite my wallet's protests. But i regret nothing, because so far i love this series, even got my girlfriend into it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm only concerned with actual xbox achievements, in-game achievements like the accolades don't interest me. Do I actually need mission packs and special edition skylanders to get 100%?

 

No, all achievements can be earned with just what comes in the starter pack (Though nightmare might be a bit tricky with just the starters). All you need beyond the game is a second controller for the 3 team arena achievements.

 

Where you might get tripped up on would be in the 2nd game, Giants, which for one achievement, you need a Life, an Undead, and an Air skylander. You get these in the starter pack, but only get a Life character in the portal owner's pack. This led to a small amount of anger for some people who only bought the starter pack for Adventure and the Portal Owner's pack for Giants.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Let me recap, all XBL achievements can be done with just starters.

For in-game achievements, one would have to buy every single skylander so don't even bother. But to enter all bonus zones you need 1 character of each element, and 1 swap force of each leg type. Plus at least one giant.

 

Now that Trap Team is announced, i wonder if they are going to put something into the game to entice us to buy more Trap Masters and those Traptanium keys. I can already hear Eon's voice in my head, "You need a Magic element Trap Key to unlock this gate"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

This game is really easy, and I just completed it for the second time. Took me four days. Anyway, there are two Skylanders that make all the modes a joke. First, Magna Charge makes the Time Attack a cinch. When you use his fully-leveled Y-button and keep it active, you can just sprint through the level and he'll automatically pick up nearby and hidden time extenders, meaning you don't have to go out of your way for these. It really becomes effortless.

 

For Score Attack and Nightmare difficulty, Bumble Blast is ideal. For Score Attack, his bees will swarm enemies, doing multiple hits of small damage rapidly. This increases your multiplier quickly while keeping the enemy alive enough to get the most out of them. They also home in on enemies, keeping you out of danger. Even better, you can use his honey attack (B) to "mark" targets, like golems and bosses, while you focus on dodging attacks and mashing X to spew bees. This works the same for Nightmare.

 

Also, for Score Attack, I found an exploit during my play through I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere: When you find a 'Spark Lock' (small puzzles in the game that are a bit like the XBLA title Ilomilo) you can enter them, back out immediately, and this increases your multiplier by three. This can be repeated again and again to have a max multiplier very early in most levels.

 

I loved this game. Can't wait to do Trap Team.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
Wow, thanks for such detailed responses! Really helpful.

 

 

 

I'm only concerned with actual xbox achievements, in-game achievements like the accolades don't interest me. Do I actually need mission packs and special edition skylanders to get 100%?

 

And nah i'm not going for bare minimum. I decided to either go balls deep and buy all the figures i like, or don't bother with the series at all. I chose the former option, despite my wallet's protests. But i regret nothing, because so far i love this series, even got my girlfriend into it.

 

I just don't get the whole figures bullshit. I'd enjoy the games a lot more if I could just buy whatever characters I want digitally for a few bucks each and be done with it. It seems like these games will never go digital though because they want to milk collectors more than gamers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
  • Create New...