Lego Dimensions

Aanchir

I've been on Brickset long enough to know that FB stands for Fire Brigade. That's right, Fire Brigade is being re-released as a LEGO Dimensions pack. Start reducing the prices on your Fire Brigade stockpile now! :P

Nah, in all seriousness, most of these theories seem pretty good. I think AT is more likely to be Adventure Time than A-Team. It's a very popular all-ages cartoon. The A-Team may have a lot of nostalgia for children of the 80s, but I'm not used to seeing reruns of it on major networks like I am with Ghostbusters, the Back to the Future trilogy, and other "old-school brands" we've seen LEGO Dimensions tackle. In fact, as a child of the 90s it's a series I wouldn't have even been aware of if not for the Internet.

dragon114

here another unboxing dimensions 

Shib

Although I've been quite vocally anti-Dimensions so far, I will admit to having seen a big display at a local game shop which I did spend quite a bit of time looking over.

Still logic prevails and £100 just for the starter pack is just way too much for me...really hope it hits some sensible discounts pretty quick or I'll just pass.

CCC

^^ Boogie doesn't do capes.

Xefan

Aanchir said:

Nah, in all seriousness, most of these theories seem pretty good. I think AT is more likely to be Adventure Time than A-Team. It's a very popular all-ages cartoon. The A-Team may have a lot of nostalgia for children of the 80s, but I'm not used to seeing reruns of it on major networks like I am with Ghostbusters, the Back to the Future trilogy, and other "old-school brands" we've seen LEGO Dimensions tackle. In fact, as a child of the 90s it's a series I wouldn't have even been aware of if not for the Internet.

Well there was an A-Team film a few years ago, and I regularly see the A-Team DVD collection pop up as one of their top selling items on Amazon in that section when I'm passing through. The lack of it being on TV may simply be because the current IP owners are making more money off of it on DVD than they could ever hope to make by re-licensing it to a TV network.

As a child of the 80s I can tell you that the A-Team was as easily a big deal as Ghostbusters and Back to the Future, along with shows like Knight Rider and Airwolf also.

There's a lot of money in nostalgia for the 80s and early 90s lately, and I think part of Lego's growth in recent years itself has been a major part of this. That's why I believe TLG has been happy to jump on IPs like Ghostbusters and BTTF in the first place - it fits in precisely with one of their growing markets. The A-Team would fit perfectly with that trend, and it's easily as ripe to cash in on that resurgence. I doubt 90s kids are their target right now, because most 90s kids are too busy being shafted by unemployment, record high university costs and loans, and a terrible housing market.

Part the reason Jurassic World did so well at the box office was precisely because kids of the 80s and early 90s have become one of the most important consumer demographics right now. They're reaching a point where their student loans are getting paid off, they're settling in to their mortgage payments, and their careers will be by and large beginning to really take off. Jurassic World couldn't have achieved the success it did without cashing in on nostalgic 30-somethings. As such you can be rest assured that every chance to cash in on that nostalgia will be taken up, and it'd be silly for any company to pass up IPs like the A-Team, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Ghostbusters, BTTF et. al. if they're there for the taking.

I don't see the A-Team being prohibitive in terms of violence, part of their charm was the fact that they typically won the day by not shooting people, and instead by outwitting them even when the bad guys had guns. That seems to fit in with TLG's message very well - certainly it's no worse than the sort of violence you see in Indiana Jones and such.

Besides, we were all caught off guard by Portal, with most people expecting that the rumours couldn't possibly be even remotely true, so the A-Team certainly seems quite plausible, especially if the Mr T one is correct - and Mr T is probably the minifig most ripe for singling out, being probably the most prominent fan favourite character from the series, so that makes a lot of sense that they would single him out and give him his own pack too.

VorpalRyu

^ Personally, I was a bigger fan of Murdock & Faceman, especially Faceman, cause Dirk was also Starbuck... :)

bricktuary

A-Team would work perfectly. They tended to build their way out of problems, it was funny, it has the nostalgia factor (they are clearly targeting kids and their parents), it has instantly recognisable figures and vehicles AND it pre-empts a load of Ideas submissions ;) 

Besides I ALWAYS thought the crocodile man collectable minifig was a tribute to Hannibal.

VorpalRyu

If they're doing 80 series as Dimensions packs, my wife has said she'll consider getting it if they do a MacGyver pack (think it would have to be a Creator 3-in-1 & it would have to have a Lego Duct tape roll as a minifig accessory).

Xefan

bricktuary said:

A-Team would work perfectly. They tended to build their way out of problems, it was funny

Actually that's a good point, I'd completely forgotten that one of the A-Team's key abilities was to build epic vehicles and traps from random objects. That would indeed make it even more suitable for a transition into the world of Lego.

Hmm, I think some A-Team watching might be in order this evening :)

brumey

a whole "GLEN A LARSON" deluxe series ....

if we are getting mac gyver and a-team, then we need to get THE FALL GUY too.

Xefan

Just noticed that they've added achievements for each level pack, so if you're an achievement/trophy completionist you'll have to buy all the level packs.

Gooker1

Looks like FBTB has got the Back to the Future Pack and it's a full blown review!  Pretty interesting about the lack of instrux:

http://www.fbtb.net/2015/09/22/previewing-the-lego-dimensions-71201-back-to-the-future-level-pack/#more-34794

khmellymel

Xefan said:

Just noticed that they've added achievements for each level pack, so if you're an achievement/trophy completionist you'll have to buy all the level packs.

Actually,  I used to be somewhat (especially for Lego games because really all you have to do is play them long enough) but stopped once I realised that pretty much every game I owned was releasing DLC after DLC... It just got to be too much spend wise and really,  I haven't the time... but it does still bug me and will probably bug me a lot for Dimensions because I want fewer than half of the packs.  Disappointing,  but I understand why they do it.

Ray1204

Any day 1 deals for the starter kit and packs etc?

otherwise it's going to be expensive Sunday..

chuxtoybox

Those of you who are going to buy this, or have bought it, are you really going to keep the portal on your console all the time? It seems to me that it's merely cosmetic and it doesn't really do anything to run the game. It also seems like it would probably get knocked over  and shatter into a billion LEGO elements, closing the portal forever!

That unboxing with the big dude didn't show much. The two kids showed more of the gameplay.

Lyichir

chuxtoybox said:

Those of you who are going to buy this, or have bought it, are you really going to keep the portal on your console all the time? It seems to me that it's merely cosmetic and it doesn't really do anything to run the game. It also seems like it would probably get knocked over  and shatter into a billion LEGO elements, closing the portal forever!

That unboxing with the big dude didn't show much. The two kids showed more of the gameplay.

One of the things that I'm still not sure about is where exactly I'll keep the portal. The way our den/living room is laid out, our TV is raised up above the fireplace while the Wii U console is off to the side. But based on how much this game seems to need you to interact with the Toy Pad, I feel like I'll need it to be centrally located. The situation might just call for a USB extender just to have the portal able to be moved to where the current player is sitting (assuming the length of the built in USB cable isn't long enough on its own).

I don't think the portal getting knocked over will be too much of a problem, though. Based on how it's constructed it should be decently stable, and if need be the vertical "portal" section can be removed from the base and laid flat when not in use.

cheshirecat

Given how often we change character playing lego star wars etc with just a press of a button having to manually change character could get really old really quickly.

dannyrww

Keep in mind you can have up to 7 figures or vehicles on their at a time that should help.

Xefan

khmellymel said:

Actually,  I used to be somewhat (especially for Lego games because really all you have to do is play them long enough) but stopped once I realised that pretty much every game I owned was releasing DLC after DLC... It just got to be too much spend wise and really,  I haven't the time... but it does still bug me and will probably bug me a lot for Dimensions because I want fewer than half of the packs.  Disappointing,  but I understand why they do it.

I had this affliction for a long while in that I wanted to complete 100% of every game, but I eventually got over it, making a few exceptions for my favourite franchises. Unfortunately Lego games were one of those franchises I'd consistently get 100% completion on. Damn you Dimensions, damn you, either my list has to change or their evil plan has worked :)

Fauch

that could make sense for older games, where getting 100% was basically beating the hardest difficulty, and not a billion of achievements, most of them being totally anecdotic.

TheUltimateTFOL

I feel like other games have tried to cash in on Lego's success without multiplayer by adding reasons for you to play levels over and over again. I was just playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and to get 100% on that game, you have to beat every single level on three different difficulties and collect 45 pieces of intel. For those of you who don't know, intel are random little laptops which are stored in the most RANDOM places that pretty much guarantee that you will be looking up cheats.

Aside from that little rant, I don't know about this game yet. I preordered it and I have a little money left over so I will get one DLC pack. As for the DLC selling out, I am predicting that it will be all gone by the first day or two of release but Lego will hopefully make some more by Black Friday to cash in on those sales.

TheUltimateTFOL

Dang it just missed the edit time. I just remembered my question. Are you only going to be able to play as the original three starter pack characters? There seem to be quite a few main characters from these franchises not represented in DLC. There's Velma, Daphne, and Fred from Scooby Doo, Jennifer from BTTF, Vitruvius from TLG, and most of the Fellowship from LOTR plus many more.

Lyichir

TheUltimateTFOL said:

Dang it just missed the edit time. I just remembered my question. Are you only going to be able to play as the original three starter pack characters? There seem to be quite a few main characters from these franchises not represented in DLC. There's Velma, Daphne, and Fred from Scooby Doo, Jennifer from BTTF, Vitruvius from TLG, and most of the Fellowship from LOTR plus many more.

You can play as any character featured in a Level Pack, Team Pack, or Fun Pack as well. I don't think you can play as any others—but keep in mind that even then, there are going to be more packs released through next year and possibly beyond. Just because a character isn't available in a pack yet doesn't mean they won't ever become available.

chuxtoybox

In the video with the kids, one of them mentions that Batman has stealth, which tells me that different characters must have different powers, but how many different powers can different characters have to really alter the gameplay.

 Seems to me that eventually it has to come  to a point where "I'm using Scooby Doo because he's my favorite, not because I really need him specifically to play the game."

Unless this is going to be the most sophisticated game ever created. 

yuffie

Having taken the plunge and pre-ordered the starter set and the three level packs (Amazon was my friend cost-wise but it still set me back £155) I am curious if anyone knows whether to complete the game you need all the other characters?

I tend to be a bit OCD about getting 100% on Lego games and, whilst I will probably buy other character packs, hope you don't need every single one to get everything from the game.

(Sorry if this has been answered before in this thread but I couldn't wade back through nine pages!)

benbacardi

yuffie said:

(Sorry if this has been answered before in this thread but I couldn't wade back through nine pages!)

It was answered just above on this page of the thread:

Xefan said:

Just noticed that they've added achievements for each level pack, so if you're an achievement/trophy completionist you'll have to buy all the level packs.

yuffie

I have no real issue with buying all the level packs, as they are effectively new games each time. It was more whether you need every Fun and Team pack as well.

cheshirecat

Wow, £155 for a game. For a bit more I could get an 8GB Wii-U and Mario Kart 8. And there's no way LEGO dimensions will come close to that game.

Shib

^ I actually know three people who bought a Wii U specifically for Mario Kart and all three said it was worth it. It is good fun.

yuffie

^Isn't that about the total number who have bought a Wii U?

Well, it is what it is. Given I will spend about £80 going to watch Bodmin Town v Bath City in the FA Cup tomorrow, which I imagine a lot of people would think mad, it is all relative.

cheshirecat

@Shib A good lightening sale from Amazon and I might be joining them.

@yuffie, for sure that is mad! But you're right it is all relative.

Shib

yuffie said:

it is all relative.

Truer words never spoken. I have a Wii U and an Xbox One - 90% of my gaming time is spent on the Wii U, the games available on it are far more appealing to me personally, generally cheaper and a the majority of what I play are the Nintendo games - so exclusive to the console.

I do keep looking at the price of Dimensions and the lower cost on the Wii U does make it slightly more tempting, but I still think that the starter pack will need to be half price at least before I'll bite.

cheshirecat said:

@Shib A good lightening sale from Amazon and I might be joining them.

@yuffie, for sure that is mad! But you're right it is all relative.

I got mine on a good deal (not an Amazon lightening deal but a very good deal) and it's well worth it for Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros and Splatoon - add in Starfox and Zelda next year and that's enough games to keep me going for a long while theses days

Shib

@cheshirecat - it also has a few really great, family friendly multi-player games....highly recommend Nintendoland as a fun multiplayer - basically a collection of mini games, some of the solo ones are a bit weak but all the multiplayer are good fun.

cheshirecat

^ Thats what I'm thinking - a family present at christmas. I don't have the time to play to make it worth buying a PS4/Xbox One so the PS3 suffices for the more grown up games, at least until GTA6 is released whenever that will be.

VorpalRyu

@Shib, you're not alone there. I'm a big gamer & FPS games were my biggest draw, but over the last five years, every FPS out has gone the direction of COD (including Halo with H4), so more & more, the WiiU has proven to be a worthwhile purchase. MarioKart 8 is awesome, I can recommend Super Mario Maker, Yoshi's Wooly World & Splatoon.

Shib

@VorpalRyu - my other half got Wooly World for her birthday, it is good fun. Mario Maker doesn't seem worth the money for me. The one thing I respect about Nintendo over all other game developers is that they aren't afraid to delay a game rather than release something unfinished then release a plethora of patches to try and fix it (see Arkham Knight for reference ;-) )

It would have been interesting if Chase McCain from Lego City undercover made it into Dimensions, but don't know how the character rights fit with that (with LCU being Nintendo exclusive)

The one thing that really might make me jump on Dimensions is if they did some console exclusive characters - with the Wii ones doubling as Amiibo (like the DK and Bowser Skylanders) - it's not something I actually see happening but would be great. I know that Mario would probably be impossible due to k'nex having the licence but maybe a Link or a Samus....heck even a Fox McCloud using a Chima Furty head with a different print would be amazing.

cheshirecat

Right that's it, I've got my price alert set up, purchased my £40 amazon vouchers to get £10 free, now just wait for a decent price.

TheUltimateTFOL

Is anyone else outraged over the way they market this stuff? First, they overdo it and release 30+ DLC packs. Then they stuff them full of exclusive minifigures and parts. Then they make the instructions only available by opening them on the game. Then they lock half of the content.

VorpalRyu

@Shib, I'm currently building a couple of levels in Super Mario Maker, should really be building #11910, since Great Lego Sets arrived this afternoon.

Link & Samus, with the double duty as Amiibo, that could potentially make me give Dimensions a shot.....especially Samus (would also love another Samus Amiibo in the Light Suit)...

@TheUltimateTFOL, that is the way of gaming these days... Make a game, then turn 60% of the game into locked-on-disc content, more commonly called DLC. Step two, then rake in the cash as every gamer pays out an extra $200-300 just so they can play the game they were promised by all the trailers & interviews on the company website.

Fauch

I know there are free mario level editors on the net, and I think they offer more possibiity than that super mario maker, if that's the game I read about a while ago on a video game site. but I'm rather casual at super mario (I'm more into Rayman) so didn't bother much with the editor.

Xefan

yuffie said:

I tend to be a bit OCD about getting 100% on Lego games and, whilst I will probably buy other character packs, hope you don't need every single one to get everything from the game.

Right now, to get all achievements, it looks like you need:

- The base game
- Simpsons Level Pack
- Back to the Future Level Pack
- Portal Level Pack

You shouldn't need anything else to get 100% (1225 Gamerscore) on Xbox as it stands.

This will change however when the other level packs get released I've no doubt.

I have all current (and last gen for that matter) consoles, the Xbox One gets the most attention, in large part because any cross platform games I buy for Xbox as that's where most my friends are - the PS4 is used largely only for PS4 exclusives. However, I have to agree with the above, the WiiU deserves far more respect than it gets, it's an excellent console, and few consoles see the consistent high quality games the WiiU does.

Mario Kart 8 is good, but Mario Kart has never been a console seller for me. I've always loved the Pikmin games, so Pikmin 3 and Lego City Undercover are the games I bought the system for. Since then though I've had a load of fun with Captain Toad and Mario 3D World. I still have Splatoon and Mario Maker shrink wrapped, not had time to play yet but plan to this weekend! Mario Party and Smash Bros. are always fun when people are over too.

Xefan

Just looked at my pre-order on Amazon, looks like it's dropped to £79.99 on Xbox One for the base game, so Amazon's price matching has obviously kicked in somewhere. Still quite expensive though really.

Aanchir

Just in case anyone's interested, the official LEGO Dimensions website was updated today. The most interesting new info for me is that the product pages for the Wave 1 packs now has names and pictures for all the alternate builds for each model. We'd seen some of them via social media but this is the first time seeing others like the alternate builds for Emmet's Excavator or the Companion Cube.

Rakul

BestBuy just shipped mine yesterday/  Luckily I only live an hour from that warehouse so unless UPS folds it I should have the starter pack and BTF pack in hand later today!  Personally I am looking to these more for the minifigures but though my daughter might like to play the game as well so I ended up buying it.  If you have GamersClub unlocked at BestBuy it was only $80.00 for that.

suprajames

Xefan said:

Just looked at my pre-order on Amazon, looks like it's dropped to £79.99 on Xbox One for the base game, so Amazon's price matching has obviously kicked in somewhere. Still quite expensive though really.

Still beats the £95 from Game, looked today as do want this, but so expensive, 360 version is cheaper but was planning on getting a One around Xmas time.

Ray1204

The game looks like it lacks enemies.. It's puzzle after puzzle.. Also the free roam levels look so empty.. Back to the future town looks dead..

TheUltimateTFOL

VorpalRyu said:

@TheUltimateTFOL, that is the way of gaming these days... Make a game, then turn 60% of the game into locked-on-disc content, more commonly called DLC. Step two, then rake in the cash as every gamer pays out an extra $200-300 just so they can play the game they were promised by all the trailers & interviews on the company website.

 

I know but it seems to be worse with this game. I play FPS games all the time and they seem to be the worst with DLC but this goes to a whole new level. With multiplayer-heavy FPS games DLC is something that you want but don't have to have. You can still have just as much fun with the original content. With Dimensions, you can barely play a third of the game with the starter pack and, with no multiplayer, there isn't as much replay value once you finish the starter pack.

Aanchir

TheUltimateTFOL said:

VorpalRyu said:

@TheUltimateTFOL, that is the way of gaming these days... Make a game, then turn 60% of the game into locked-on-disc content, more commonly called DLC. Step two, then rake in the cash as every gamer pays out an extra $200-300 just so they can play the game they were promised by all the trailers & interviews on the company website.

I know but it seems to be worse with this game. I play FPS games all the time and they seem to be the worst with DLC but this goes to a whole new level. With multiplayer-heavy FPS games DLC is something that you want but don't have to have. You can still have just as much fun with the original content. With Dimensions, you can barely play a third of the game with the starter pack and, with no multiplayer, there isn't as much replay value once you finish the starter pack.

"Barely a third of the game"? I don't understand this estimate. The Starter Pack comes with 14 gameplay levels and 3 adventure worlds (corresponding to the game's three characters). There are only 14 franchises currently announced (meaning 14 adventure worlds total) and six level packs that each unlock just a single bonus level. This means that there are 34 levels/worlds available from now through next May, and the Starter Pack comes with exactly half of them.

Now, beyond Wave 5 in May 2016, I'm sure there'll be new franchises added (meaning more adventure worlds) and new level packs added (meaning more bonus levels). But for now I'm not sure what yardstick you're using to determine that the Starter Pack content is barely a third of the game.

Also, according to this article, you can get 100% completion with just the starter pack. I believe there ARE obstacles that you can only pass with certain characters, but it's possible those obstacles block off things that are not needed for 100% completion, like vehicle upgrades for those specific characters' respective vehicles.

Ray1204 said:

The game looks like it lacks enemies.. It's puzzle after puzzle.. Also the free roam levels look so empty.. Back to the future town looks dead..

There are definitely enemies. I don't know how many different kinds of enemies there are, but I've seen screenshots and videos that include grunt enemies like Winkie soldiers, Anubis statues, orcs, Robo-SWATs, Nindroids, etc. Not to mention boss characters like the Riddler.

TheUltimateTFOL

Sorry, I should've been clearer. What I meant was that even though the Starter Pack comes with at least 1/2 of the levels/worlds, it also only includes three of something like 40 plus characters and and one of about 50 vehicles. Sure, these don't affect gameplay as much but it will probably get old playing as the same characters if you don't spend a little.

Aanchir

TheUltimateTFOL said:

Sorry, I should've been clearer. What I meant was that even though the Starter Pack comes with at least 1/2 of the levels/worlds, it also only includes three of something like 40 plus characters and and one of about 50 vehicles. Sure, these don't affect gameplay as much but it will probably get old playing as the same characters if you don't spend a little.

Hmm, maybe. I guess it'll sort of depend what gameplay is like.

When my brother played LEGO City Undercover (which has "costumes" instead of characters), he pretty much never swapped out the default costumes for any of the new ones he unlocked, up until the post-game when he was able to swap the default robber disguise for a Rex Fury disguise that offered the only power none of the other costumes offered (being able to manipulate heavy objects). The costumes getting "boring" didn't really become an issue.

He never really used any of the alternate characters in LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin either. I guess the novelty of the characters/costumes could be more important in the more pop-culture-driven games, though. It's been quite a while since either of us have played any of those.