Lego Dimensions

cheshirecat

We haven't touched Dimensions in ages, not helped by the fact we seem to have massive updates to download every time we do play it. Its an OK game, no better, but frankly its main problem (aside from the cost structure) is that its beaten by its own competition - the standard Tt games. They're cheaper and feel more complete.

Steve_J_OM

cheshirecat said:

We haven't touched Dimensions in ages, not helped by the fact we seem to have massive updates to download every time we do play it. Its an OK game, no better, but frankly its main problem (aside from the cost structure) is that its beaten by its own competition - the standard Tt games. They're cheaper and feel more complete.

I dunno, I haven't enjoyed a 'traditional' Tt game in some time, I thought they really lost their charm. LEGO Avengers was particularly guilty, and also just one of the most phoned-in games I've played in some time. I understand where you're coming from in terms of feeling more complete (it took me a while to come around to the idea that I couldn't unlock characters in Dimensions without my wallet) but in terms of story and playability I think it's a huge return to form.

Re: Infinity, it seems that the folk at Tt are already thinking about what might be...

https://twitter.com/JonTt/status/730152301059395584

Shib

cheshirecat said:

We haven't touched Dimensions in ages, not helped by the fact we seem to have massive updates to download every time we do play it. Its an OK game, no better, but frankly its main problem (aside from the cost structure) is that its beaten by its own competition - the standard Tt games. They're cheaper and feel more complete.

completely agree on this, also the standard games are so much easier to pick up and play rather than having to set up the portal/discs in a ready to use way. Personally I'd probably play it more if there was a way to play it by using the discs to unlock characters without having to keep them on the portal - so allowing for gameplay in a way that's more like traditional LEGO games.

sonatine01

Value for money is still the main issue for me. Although I had problems with the standard games crashing at crucial points the cost for the amount of game playing hours was well worth it, can't say that about Dimensions personally. Strangely my 6yr old still has no interest in dimensions and still plays Lego lotr, The Hobbit and Marvel Avengers.

Xefan

I've not had any problems at all with crashing on Dimensions on the XBox One, it's been pretty flawless (which given the quality of games released nowadays is pretty rare), but I agree with the above, it's harder to pick up and put down than the other TT games. I feel like I have to plan to have a time where I can be bothered to wire off half the living room forcing the dogs a choice between the sofa or their toybox because they're apparently unable to navigate past a small cable position at head height as it trails across the living room to reach my sofa. It all just feels like too much hassle when all I want to do is slam my ass down on the sofa and veg whilst escaping into a digital world without being brought back to reality by a dog crying at the apparently impossible to pass cable every 5 seconds.

Still the fact Disney has now explicitly said they're cancelling DI and going to focus on licensing the IPs out is surely their way of saying "We've realised given how much Dimensions sets are selling for that we can make just as much money from licensing to those guys and doing absolutely nothing as we did putting all the effort in ourselves". I suspect Star Wars, Marvel et. al. are now on their way to Dimensions over the next few years.

Steve_J_OM

Xefan said:

I suspect Star Wars, Marvel et. al. are now on their way to Dimensions over the next few years.

That's the hope for all us Dimensions fans, but I'm not getting carried away with optimism. Will Disney want Marvel and DC mixing? Having TLG produce both properties concurrently and have them share shelf-space is one thing, but giving Tt developers the freedom to mash Marvel and DC in a narrative is another. They would be giving at least some creative control of Disney IP to a company owned by Warner Bros.

From what I understand, even in Disney Infinity interaction between Marvel and Star Wars characters was limited because of studio edict. 

cheshirecat

^ this. 

dannyrww

I don't have a lot of hope for Marvel, and even if they do use them my guess is they would be playable with limited interaction with other characters (which is a shame because the dialog triggered by characters being together is part of the games charm).

CCC

I'm waiting for a cross-over between SW and Guitar Hero. Just for Derek and the Dominos doing Princess Layla.


Star Wars would never sell out like that would they ...?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6-eId8rgyc

Thoughtsonblocks

Now that Disney Infinity is dead, I think that should free up Star Wars for sure as that was the main licensing issue for their sets.  But Marvel probably will be more complicated.  What I will say is that I work for a very large retailer that sells all the "toys to life" stuff (Infinity, Dimensions, Skylanders and Amiibo) and I have genuine worries that the market has been saturated for a while now, and even with one of the big four exiting the field, it might still be be too late.  There are always crazy sales on the sets and there seems to be very little product movement.  The Skylander stuff has the longest history and we will sit on clearance items from them for years that doesn't sell till its 80% plus off (an then mostly to ship to home/online buyers).  I rarely see the Dimensions sets moving at any speed even when they are routinely on sale for 33%-50% off.  So my only worry for new licenses showing up in Dimensions is whether it has been enough of a success for Lego to justify the cost and reduced margins of introducing sets from expensive licensed IPs like Marvel and Star Wars.

Shib

While I wouldn't mind Star Wars and Marvel to be included in future I actually appreciated the game a bit more for not falling back on Star Wars, I think some people still view the franchise as a holy grail, which frankly it isn't - it's good sci-fi/fantasy escapism.

what I think could be far more interesting is the potential for wider Disney crossover - of course there is still potentially a problem with that in the way of Kingdom Hearts, but having if TT could get Square Enix onboard that could be insanely good for Disney and Final Fantasy fans.

richl

Bringing Star Wars (and possibly Marvel) may be the only thing that could save Dimensions at this point. Sales have not been good.

Steve_J_OM

richl said:

Bringing Star Wars (and possibly Marvel) may be the only thing that could save Dimensions at this point. Sales have not been good.

I've seen a couple of comments to that effect on the front page, but haven't seen anything to support the claim. What makes you say that?

richl

My better half works for TW corporate. I don't know detailed numbers as that would be confidential but my general understanding is that it is seriously underperforming against corporate expectations. That's borne out on a retail front by the fact that most expansion packs and figures are almost permanently reduced in price - it's a sign of demand being less than production. 

Personally I love it, but if it doesn't do something to bring in new players I worry about it's longevity.

NeilJam

The entire toys-to-life fad is dying out already. Playmation was DOA, Infinity cancelled, and Skylanders will be transitioning into an app based card game. All that's left is Dimensions and Amiibo.

chrisalddin

NeilJam said:

The entire toys-to-life fad is dying out already. Playmation was DOA, Infinity cancelled, and Skylanders will be transitioning into an app based card game. All that's left is Dimensions and Amiibo.

as far as i know skylanders is good for 1 more game this year.
we will know more at E3.
i believe the app based card game to be a side project started in 2015, but is slow to get of the ground.
i dont see a toy line that is always sold out in my sainsbury's is going to just stop.
not when as far as i know the 2016 game is in production.
after all "The sixth game was confirmed by Activision on February 12, 2016"

Picopirate

From what I understand, disney infinity was profitable but was cut because it was not profitable enough. It probably would have survived if disney had not not seen such high losses elsewhere (espn, disney hong kong, and the over budget disney shanhai).  Normally companies redirect resources to more profitable ventures but disney just let everybody go.  The only explanation I can think of is that disney intends to just license their themes.  This is likely good news for lego dimensions.

I think the circumstances around dimensions is a little different.  Lego is doing very well and I think they would be willing to stick it out even if the sales were lower than expected.  The cost is probably much lower too.  They don't have to farm out the work to some toy maker that makes custom figures.  Instead, they just need to throw existing lego bricks in box.  Sure there are some unique minifigs and printed pieces but I would be surprised if that costs lego that much more given all the collectable minifigs that they turn out these days.  Unless they are loosing tons of cash, I don't see dimensions going away anytime soon, especially if competitors are leaving the market.

Legopassion8

I hope Disney and Warner Bros can find a way to team up like they once did for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It's not like DC and Marvel haven't teamed up before in comics. I dunno, I got faith in Disney and Lego. Warner Bros I don't know. Carry on....

Picopirate

I think warner bros plays well with others. Heck simsons are fox, jurassic world and bttf are universal, ghostbusters is columbia (owned by sony), wizzard of oz is MGM, and dr who is BBC.  

cheshirecat

And of course Tt, which is owned by WB, has made the force awakens lego game, marvel etc

dannyrww

I think the biggest problem would be marvel characters being in a game where Batman is the main character

datsunrobbie

Not having played Dimensions, it seems there would not necessarily have to be crossovers between Marvel, DC, and Star Wars even if they all were available in Dimensions. Crossovers would probably be a lot of fun, but if licensing is a problem they should be able to have separate branches for themes that don't play well with others.

Shib

Except Dimensions was really being sold for the fact that every character crosses over with every world, something that Disney Infinity was criticised a lot for not doing.

Legopassion8

Do you think Fox would have to go to get Marvel on board? Looks like the Simpsons have finished their Lego run out for now anyways. Classic Disney stages look like a guarantee and Star Wars but Marvel....I really want Spider-Man lol. I'll be hoping

Legopassion8

These guys need to go have a nice steak and some fine wine and work something out ! Alotta wine and tequila!

dannyrww

No wine and tequila.....we might wind up with something like this

Legopassion8

I never read that back in the day. I didn't like the premise. To some that's classic lore though. Don't see the Iron Lantern on that cover.

dannyrww

I liked the DC vs. Marvel part....the Amalgam part not so much...they did create a character that was shared between the universes however. I think his name was Access or something and only made a couple appearances after this.

richl

dannyrww said:

I liked the DC vs. Marvel part....the Amalgam part not so much...they did create a character that was shared between the universes however. I think his name was Access or something and only made a couple appearances after this.

It was Access, you're right. He turned up in the All Access DC/Marvel crossover series which had a few more team-ups between the universes, an issue of Green Lantern, then that's pretty much it, I think. Some Amalgams were pretty good. Others, not so much.

dragon114

green arrow is now conformed a promotional character http://www.brickstolife.com/first-look-lego-dimensions-green-arrow-promo-bag/?fb_ref=Default

dannyrww

Awww no...I don't like the idea of those being hard to get....my daughter is obsessed with Supergirl and she really wants her for the game.

gmonkey76

As long as the gold base is the limited edition part I'm fine with that, as long as we get a blue base version in wide release. Hopefully these are not for Comic Con and will be out of the price range of most people.

Legopassion8

Promos? 

I'm gonna have to kill.... again!

chrisalddin

oh great!
this is going to suck.
ok so what are the odd's that this will be a V2 promo?

dannyrww

The poloybag part is promising as convention exclusives are often something a little more than that....maybe these will also be Gamestop with purchase promotions.

Xefan

If it's a limited exclusive with no chance of getting it in the UK I think I'll just call it quits with Dimensions. Have collected it all to date but if it jumps into the realm of comic con absurdity to start getting things I'm out.

dannyrww

I sure hope it is just the Gold color base or this is an easier to get exclusive than having to be  a convention. The fact it is a polybag seems promising for a wider availability than just E3.

Shib

I wouldn't be surprised if the gold base is actually used on all the new set, to denote series two.

i doubt that there will be any dimensions stuff that's limited in a SDCC Exclusive type way, it's not impossible, but seems unlikely to me.

I also wonder if Supergirl and Green Arrow are testing the water for a new style of character pack, without a minibuild. I know from a conversation wia TT employee that the minibuilds were the hardest part of developement for them, so it makes sense to me that they might want to try to do some releases without them.

dannyrww

I like the idea of some releases without the minibuilds, but wouldn't want to see them disappear altogether though...they are kind of fun. Maybe just make ones that make sense (the Tardis or the Ecto 1 for instance)

Shib

That's what I had in mind, aquaman was a prime example of a character who didn't really need a build with him.

for the most part I use character skills over vehicle skills so I only really tend to keep vehicles with unique skills at the top of the pile while playing.

bandit778

It will be interesting to see if they do start making figure only packs, especially for licensed products.
Maybe having the game disc sold with the minifig is enough to get round the no action figures restrictions they have had in the past. 

obi_g

@shib that's more or less how i play too. most of the vehicles aren't unique enough to use. hopefully single figures might be available but they'd need to be priced properly - i can see them having a round the £10 price point and i think, personally, that's too much!

dannyrww

TARDIS, Delorean, I just got the portal pack and I think you need the companion cube for some things, but yeah most vehicles have skills you can get with a figure. You need to have a car to pull down walls and to run on the treadmills. Other than that no real use.

Legopassion8

I didn't know the Supergirl in Dimensions could turn into a Red Lantern. That's really cool.

bea

I just picked up the starter set and I have to say, this is just not for me.

In one of the levels, I ran into one of those "go buy another character" boxes that listed which characters would unlock the next part. One of them was slimer, which I also bought but I just couldn't be bothered to go to the other room to get the pack. When I play a game, I want to be immersed in the game experience and not run around my house.

I also didn't bother building the little toys and just played with the bases. They didn't seem interesting enough to build and didn't add anything to the game.

chrisalddin

bea said:

I just picked up the starter set and I have to say, this is just not for me.

In one of the levels, I ran into one of those "go buy another character" boxes that listed which characters would unlock the next part. One of them was slimer, which I also bought but I just couldn't be bothered to go to the other room to get the pack. When I play a game, I want to be immersed in the game experience and not run around my house.

I also didn't bother building the little toys and just played with the bases. They didn't seem interesting enough to build and didn't add anything to the game.

the core of the game can be played with just the starterpack.
and you can win the game with just the starterpack.

ok so you can not unlock all bonus parts of the game with just the starterpack.
but then if you could do that then it would not be a TOYS TO LIFE game.
it would be like the lego star wars or lego harry potter game.
who levels have stuff you have to come back later to unlock as well.

me thinks you have not quite understood the point of the game. 

Legopassion8

bea said:

I just picked up the starter set and I have to say, this is just not for me.

In one of the levels, I ran into one of those "go buy another character" boxes that listed which characters would unlock the next part. One of them was slimer, which I also bought but I just couldn't be bothered to go to the other room to get the pack. When I play a game, I want to be immersed in the game experience and not run around my house.

I also didn't bother building the little toys and just played with the bases. They didn't seem interesting enough to build and didn't add anything to the game.

What the .... seriously why did you even bother buying the game?

PatsyWalker

Legopassion8 said:

Promos? 

I'm gonna have to kill.... again!

Promos and chase figures are the worst part of being a comics fan. Hard enough finding the Marvel Legends. Hard enough with LEGO sets packing characters you'd like and not stockpiling up on jets. The worst part is missing out on Phoenix and Spider-Woman at SDCC because SDCC is always an adventure to even attend.

I've still not understood why LEGO hasn't reissued the figures at least in variant costumes to differentiate them from the exclusives.

Aanchir

PatsyWalker said:

Legopassion8 said:

Promos? 

I'm gonna have to kill.... again!

Promos and chase figures are the worst part of being a comics fan. Hard enough finding the Marvel Legends. Hard enough with LEGO sets packing characters you'd like and not stockpiling up on jets. The worst part is missing out on Phoenix and Spider-Woman at SDCC because SDCC is always an adventure to even attend.

I've still not understood why LEGO hasn't reissued the figures at least in variant costumes to differentiate them from the exclusives.

It wouldn't surprise me if they do eventually, for some of them at least. After all, they had Green Arrow as an exclusive, then put him in a set in a slightly altered costume. Both costumes were even based on his New 52 appearance, so it's not even like one was based on the Arrow TV series and one on the comics.

But I think there's a difference between who they have on a "short list" to appear in sets and who they have on a "short list" for exclusives. I don't know if there'll EVER be a Batman of Zur-En-Arrh figure in a retail set — that character/variant is just too obscure compared to all the other Batman characters they could include. And we might have already had a retail version of Phoenix by now if not for the fact that there have been so few X-Men sets in the first place!

Shib

Urh, seems like since the last time I updated Dimensions it crashes every time I play it, normally at the last phase of the level...