Spyro

[FelixSH]

My favourite dragon.

Also, the first Spyro is one of my favourite games from that time (together with a ton of others, there are a lot of great games in the PSX/N64 era).

I beat the first one 120% half a year ago, and am now playing the second one for the first time. It's fun. More Spyro. Still adorable, still relatively chill levels to run around and collect stuff in. I love that the first game is just this sandbox with nearly nothing to do, but explore it. I really like that, exploring cartoony, colorful worlds is so nice and relaxing, with not much a challenge anywhere.

I do enjoy the second game, but I'm still not sure about buying abilities. I'm in the second world now, and it wasn't a big deal at all, except that I only got the ability to climb now and have to go back to world one, but it's mainly a small annoyance.

The level design feels streamlined, in that there are now specific things to do, to get through a level. Basically, there are gates that will open, when you help the inhabitant of that world, who you find in that specific part of the world. Again, not bad, but I miss the more freeform levels of the first game. The levels here feel way more like the boss levels in the first game. With the boss levels now being just straight-up fights, with no treasures to find.

I do like that you can click a button, and sparks will fly a bit in the direction, where there is still a gem. I found the very last one in the first level that way. It's a great thing to have, if you are stuck with just a few gems left in a big world. Really a great idea, to solve one of the main problems of collectathons.

That you get temporary abilities, after defeating a number of enemies, is a nice idea. But I guess it also means that there are no challenges like in the first game, where you had to build up speed with the speed-up arrows, to make it over big gaps. I mean, these things wil likely still be there, but now they are probably spelled out, instead for you to puzzle them out. We'll see.

Also, gems are great. The look nice and make great sounds when you collect them. It's a joy to get new ones, every time.

Anyway, I have fun with Spyro 2. It's a good game.

 

[Mr. Sensible]

For my money, the original Spyro trilogy of games are still the gold standard for 3D platformers on the PS1. The first one is a breezy romp that encourages poking around every nook and cranny for treasure, and I would posit that it also has the best soundtrack of the three (all composed by the awesome Steward Copeland, former drummer of The Police). Spyro 2 is a good balance between new mechanical gimmicks and exploration, but unfortunately Year of the Dragon doubles-down on the gimmickry/minigames to the point that they become something of a nuisance.

The Reignited HD remake of the original trilogy is also quality, not to mention gorgeous (I will note that the new redesigns for several of the Elder Dragons make me suspect that someone in the art team has a thing for Hot Dragon Dads, and that is A-OK by me!).

Of course Spyro's developer Insomniac would go on to make the Ratchet & Clank games on PS2, which I really need to go back and play some day after having skipped them for some silly reason I can't remember.

 

[Cyrael]

Really considered buying this for my son (almost 9). Is it pretty playable for that age? He's beaten Odyssey w/ Assist mode on and regularly plays games like Minecraft and such.

 

[Mr. Sensible]

The Reignited Trilogy, you mean? If your son has cleared Odyssey by any means, then I'd say he's more than ready to tackle at least the first Spyro game. Reignited obviously adds some QoL features like camera control mapped to the right stick, so I'd grab that version as opposed to the PS1 originals.

 

[FelixSH]

Spyro 1 specifically is 90% "Run through colorful, beautiful looking cartoon worlds, collect gems, jump and glide around". The enemies aren't a big deal, in general, they are more there to be annoying. You might have to help him with a boss, I guess, but I think even they are not too hard.

The last world is a bit more demanding, with more enemies, but again, that is not too much and he might need help there, if he isn't too good. But everything should be doable, with a bit of trying. It's, difficulty wise, very forgiving - you have a small, flying insect-buddy (Sparx, I think) with you. He is golden, when you are at full health, and gets blue after one hit and green after another. One more hit makes him disappear. There are non-aggressive animals around, which you can kill to give Sparx more energy, and get him into the next-higher tear of health. So, you have four hit points, and can relatively easily recover them.

Sparx also helps you collect gems. When you get near a gem, he flys to it and collects it for you.

Honestly, Spyro 1 seems like a perfect game for a young kid. The second game too, at least in the beginning.

 

[madhair60]

I only like Spyro 1 of the PS1 games, really. The other two are just mini game crap. Not entirely, sure, but enough to spoil the perfect first game's lazy charm.

 

[FelixSH]

I only like Spyro 1 of the PS1 games, really. The other two are just mini game crap. Not entirely, sure, but enough to spoil the perfect first game's lazy charm.

While I think that is oversimplifying the games (the levels still offer a lot of simple exploration, without the instant need to get orbs - I think that is the minigame part?), I get you. I think I'm nearing the end already, just started world 3, and I need a good amount of orbs. It's certainly lacking the simple "just collect stuff" pureness of the first game. I can easily see someone not liking 2, even if they enjoy 1.

As just mentioned, I'm in world 3 and went back to do some of the easier levels. World 2 had really annoying enemies, especially one world with chicken-guys and awful bird, both shooting stuff, which actually made this level really obnoxious to play. It happened two or three times, that I entered a place, and was shot from SOMEWHERE. I HATE that about FPS games, and I dislike it here too. Also, the birds had to attack you first, and were never alone, which made the exercise really frustrating, and I nearly died a few times. Another level had flying enemies over lava. Not too bad, but I'd prefer the difficulty to stay as low as possible, instead of increasing to regular levels.

The boss of world 2 was awful. Takes ten hits, which really draws the fight out. He starts by just charging you, and trying to jump on you. Easy enough. Then he starts shooting 2, later 4 and 6 homing shots at you, which fly towards where you will be, if you keep moving in that direction. The also explode a bit, so you need to dodge more than just the shot. With 2, it's easy, but with 4, it gets pretty hard. I died a few times against this jerk.

Problem is, that you can't damage him yourself. You need to wait for birds to carry in eggs, which have stuff you can actually use to attack. But they seem to be bugged, two times, the just flew in without any eggs for a few minutes. I just gave up and died. Annoying. The weapons you get from the eggs are exploding barrels, bombs and little rockets. The rockets are great, because you can simple aim them from far away, and just hit. The barrels are a bit annoying, as you need to ram them. If you are too far away, they will not reach the boss. If you are too far of, you miss. And ramming isn't that easy or precise, I think. I mainly kill monsters with the fire breath, for that reason. Worst are the bombs, which you not only need to throw, but also need to ignite. Igniting them immediately throws them, but the don't explode with contact, but just lie on the floor. Good chance, that the boss will not be hurt by it.

That fight was frustrating, but at least it's done now. And going back to World 1 levels is nice, with very incompetent monsters.

Oh, one thing that's quite annoying is, that the levels get reset, when you re-enter them. For example, there is a temple. You need to defeat monsters in part of an area, and then talk to a monk, who will open a gate for you. Which needs a small sequence, which you have to watch again. When you get to the end of the level, you get an artifact. If you redo the level, you still see the cutscene, and get the item, except with the message that you already got it. This all takes just a few seconds, but it's really irritating and pointless, when I just want to run around and collect the rest of the treasure.

The biggest problem are the minigames, which give you orbs. Some minigames have an easy and a hard mode. If you beat the easy mode, but leave the level without hard mode, you have to redo the easy version before being able to attempt hard mode. Can be quite frustrating, if it is a dumb minigame like the icehockey one, from that temple level.

Oh, and the artifacts you get at the end of the levels? You need them all, from the specific world, to fight the boss of the world. So it's not possible to completely skip a level you don't like. Except for the pure flying levels, they don't count.

I know, these are all complaints, but I still really like the game. It's just that the good parts are all things that the first game had too. The differences are just...I dunno, I dislike them mainly. The mini-games are sometimes fun to me, but I could do without.

Anyway, still great, fun game.

 

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

I like Crash, but Spyro always resonated with me more. That could probably be said of their respective studios and their general output as well.

Also, I feel like this is relevant to the topic.

 

[FelixSH]

Totally relevant, and more angry, grimdark, or whatever Spyro looks like a goblin. Gross.

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I'm done with Spyro 2, 100% completion. Had to look up a handful of orb locations, and I think one rocket, but for the most part, I completed it on my own. Was a really fun experience.

I still think that the changes are, in general, for the worse. At least on a personal, subjective level. But even than, it is still a very fun game with many nice things to collect. Final boss was a bit too annoying for my taste, but eh.

As predicted, there are some hard running challenges, but I think the ones in Spyro 1 were harder. If just for the fact, that you had to find them on your own.

Nice bonus level. I wished the park were a bit bigger, even if it had nothing more in it than it did. Just so it doesn't look like you spend an hour there and are done. But I liked that you actually get to experience Spyros holiday yourself.

Well, that's it. On to Final Fantasy III!

 

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

After the release of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy being followed by Spyro Reignited Trilogy and then Crash 4, I'm curious:

As someone whose first experience with these games at length is the Reignited Trilogy and hasn't beaten the third, would a fourth installment work? Or is there a reason they went for a reboot instead back in the day?

 

[FelixSH]

I always assumed that the games change, because collectathons were dying out. But that's only a guess, if anyone knows more, I would be curious too.