Just about to finish the first game, as Reignited has me finally trying the Spyro series.
So far a very enjoyable and comfortable platformer, with satisfying attacks and a good balance between a quick pace and rewarding exploration.
...The Tree Tops stage however can burn in the deepest fires of hell.
Tree Tops is an adquired taste.
I am playing through the trilogy with a rule of not backtracking nor doing speedways until after the final boss. So far, 1 went down in 4 hours 50 minutes (55 of those minutes being postgame Flights), and 2, well, Ripto is down, but my inner child is back at deeming the alchemist an utter moron...
I feel like people porting in LoS areas into Reignited is gonna be one of the more common mods the game is going to get. Personally, I'd like to see someone try to restore the Aquarian world that was planned to be in the first game but got cut because of time.
Edit: WIP video
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Edited by TokoWH on Sep 8th 2019 at 5:17:13 AM
Speaking of The Legend of Spyro, I hope that they add Hunter's design in that series
as an Alternate Skin for him in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
Considering they added Dark Spyro, it is definitely a possibility.
I am rather happy that they don't seem to be afraid of adding Legend series elements into the Classic series reboot. That was one thing I was worried about the Classic reboot; them trying to pretend like the games post-Insomniac never existed, despite a number of those games still having a very active (and talented, given someone made the Cynder model from the Cynder mod from scratch in the span of two days) fan bases.
A bit of reasoning as to why Gnasty Gnorc is a turn character.
About 2/3 done with Spyro 2; I do enjoy the more lived in world and while not without its frustrating execution at times, the hover move is a nice touch and has made gliding a bit more natural.
I am a bit bemused that much like Tree Tops, the Gulp boss fight feels like an inexplicable spike in difficulty that I suspect will not be matched again outside the final boss battle.
The fun part about Gulp is how much he got buffed compared to the original game. In the original, his attacks were still rough but had much, much more margin for error when it comes to dodging them. In Reignited for whatever reason they made his hitboxes much larger or something meaning you near to play near flawlessly to dodge most of his attacks.
As for Flame and Ember, was Spyro: A Hero's Tail published by Activision? If so, I don't see why they wouldn't still have the rights to them. The question is if Toys for Bob even remembers that they exist, considering they didn't even show up in Skylanders despite both of them still being Ensemble Darkhorses in the Spyro fanbase.
Edited by TokoWH on Sep 15th 2019 at 9:33:58 AM
Ugh, the Spanish localization is even worse in the Reignited as it was in the original: In the original, Sunrise Spring was translated as, pretty much, "spring sunrises", as in the season, but the Reignited Trilogy just went with "Sunny Spring", again, as in the season, and called it a day.
Between that and the unspired voices that were the exact same as in both Crash remasters, I'll just forego nostalgic names and use English. Dubbed videogames are nowadays plain soulless shit.
Just finished Ripto's Rage and I think I've finally hit upon why I've enjoyed the trilogy so much thus far: they're collectathons with a real sense of energy and pace to them. You can constantly move fast, there's enough treasure that going everywhere feels rewarding, and the level design is just large enough to allow for quick exploration, but not so vast that excessive backtracking or getting lost is an issue.
Its an odd comparison but it reminds me a bit of certain levels in the Mario Galaxy games; ones that avoided the collectathon trap of being too big for its own sake and rarely ever felt repetitive in task or setting. They and the Spyro titles also share some inconsistent quality in the mini-games, but overall they're both examples of series that do platforming well while still scratching the exploration itch just enough.
Edited by BorneAgain on Sep 17th 2019 at 3:43:39 PM
The first three Spyro games were really ahead of their time in that regard. Having replayed them, I notice a lot of things people tend to praise about A Hat in Time and Super Mario Odyssey can actually be traced back to the very first Spyro game. Platformers thrive on the movement just being fun; which is something a shocking amount of platformers don't seem to get.
The mini-games and alternative play styles are the main things I find the weakest about Spyro, and a major reason why I feel Spyro 3 is the weakest of the trilogy and why the first one is easily my favorite. It's also why I really hope that whatever Toys for Bob's 'Spyro 4' ends up being will focus more on the first game instead of trying to emulate the third game.
There's definitely an elegance in the simplicity of the moves. The basic attacks are pretty much charge and flame, but both are so satisfying and the variety of enemies is such that I never got sick of using them. The latter especially has such an ease of use against say, baddies running at you, that I never felt impeded when it came to most enemies. Even the spit mechanic works to shake things up a bit, albeit as somewhat of a pacebreaker (especially when it feels like the hitbox at picking things up never quite feels right).
Its funny that around the time of the original trilogy Rare turned Donkey Kong into a mega-collectathon with multiple characters and varied moves as the Country games effectively went into hibernation for over a decade. Yet elements of the DKC trilogy felt like they really lived on in 3D via Crash and Spyro; the former as the successor in tricky platforming and animal buddies while the latter embodied the energetic explorative pace and depth via enemy variety.
Edited by BorneAgain on Sep 17th 2019 at 4:16:27 AM
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Just go with 2 then? Because the first one... eh, it makes sense to be going across an empty lifeless world, because that's what Gnasty Gnorc has done, but, wouldn't want to repeat that after 2.
The alternate characters in 3 are quite fine by me. Sheila and Agent 9 are the most entertaining ones and play quite similar to Spyro anyway, while Sargeant Byrd is a bit slow but VERY open ended and quite rewarding, and Bentley can be a fine mindless fun. Still far better than a Hero's Tail approach.
Spyro 1 is a cozy little game, while 2 and 3 get a larger world and cast.
Platformers always seem to suffer bad rule of threes
The first game is solid, it has a lot of ideas that could be fleshed out a bit more but it's loved.
The second sees those ideas brought to the forefront, more additions are made that settle well with the gameplay formula, what was charming about the first is maintained.
The third sees a degradation by trying to tack on mechanics to keep It's the Same, So It Sucks away, for platformers this usually involves an excess of minigames and temporary Unexpected Gameplay Change that goes over poorly, new mechanics may either actively bog down the gameplay or feel pointless because the second solidified their kit.
Spyro was a victim of this, I would technically say so was Banjo-Kazooie (I basically count Donkey Kong 64 as Banjo 3, it pretty much is), Mario hit it a bit earlier with Sunshine but pulled itself back. Crash barely avoided it because 2 had no static upgrades while 3 did, but also had vehicle levels, it really hit that point with Crash 4.
Spyro 2 and 3 are my favorite platformers. I can understand why 3 could be disappointing, but to me it has always been where the series should have expanded from. They had good mechanics and a new cast, but almost all future games push everyone aside. Bianca was saved but was watered down so badly that she wasn't the same character at all.
Hopefully future games can expand upon where 3 ended but add some elements that fans like from future games. As much as I dislike Cinder, I wouldn't mind her if they revised her character (and didn't make her a Love Interest).

Vast majority of character swap mods never go that far. They usually just change the model, maybe adjust some of the animations, and call it a day.