darkSpyro

Introduction

So hey, I'm one of those people who grew up with Spyro (the first three games) and liked him, and after almost 10 years of silence I found out about the LoS series through watching some cutscenes of ANB on youtube. Suffice to say that I was deeply moved by the story, and proceeded to some lengths to get all three games. I played them through in about a week flat, and after experiencing the entire story (I didn't notice any plotholes that would've decidedly disturbed my experience), and finding out about the future Spyro game, I had the huge urge to discuss about it, hence I registered here (hi!).


Thoughts on the Spyro games I've played

I guess I might as well give my opinions on the games I played to add to some of the more recent threads I skimmed through here.

First 3 Spyro games in general - Great platforming fun, nice background stories (at least in #3), fun gameplay etc. YES I LIKED THESE GAMES TOO, SO I'M NOT (just) A TLoS FAN

ANB - Has a very immersive way of making the player relate deeply to Spyro, the most legit feeling storytelling I've ever experienced in a game, nice graphics, fun, if a little repetitive gameplay (but it didn't bother as much since it felt like the work you had to do in order to achieve the story's goals).

TEN - The most difficult game in the series, I died countless times but eventually found the best approach: more tactical thinking, more usage of your abilities (not just melee), and I played the game through in a matter of days. Pretty much the same as ANB but a darker, more troubled feel to it throughout the game, but honestly it felt more than approppriate for the second part of a dark trilogy.

DotD - The new way of fighting felt vague at first, but I quickly got used to it, and it made for less repetitive gameplay. The almost-free flying coupled with less linear environments made the game that much more fun and refreshing. Spyro and Cynder growing up by 3 years and changing in appereance accordingly also felt approppriate after the first half an hour of getting used to.

TLoS in general: Immersive story, and touching, awesome music. Witnessing the story of Spyro being narrowly saved from death while he still was in his egg, watching him grow and save Cynder, endeavor through lots of difficulties and finally facing Cynder's nightmare together with her... After playing the last game and seeing the ending cutscenes I'm filled with grief that this seems to pretty much be the end for the more mature Spyro.

(There's one thing about the plot that was strange, and that was Cynder being so... sane and normal, without too bad mental scars after being rescued from Malefor's influence. Wasn't she raised all the way by Malefor's forces and as such driven evil and lacking the sense of empathy? Or perhaps these attributes are genetic instead of being learned from your environment as you grow up? Perhaps she was given loving care while she was still an egg (just like human babies learn to recognize the voices of close people before they've even born) and drew those characteristics from there? Go figure.)


Spyro's future

Then finally regarding the upcoming Skylanders game... Well, I think it goes without saying to you all that the "Spyro" (or Elroy, thanks whoever here came up with that) in that series is hardly the one we've known and loved... He looks totally different, more like a dog or a rat, there's no Sparx, and my god what they did to Cynder, ripper her from a completely different story (and even changed something in her appereance in a way very disturbing and foreign to dragons/lizards, look at the figurine and you get what I mean o_o) to promote this very pokemon-esque creation (Gotta catch 'em all?) that is geared towards little kids (unlike TLoS which with its story also fits well for more mature people like me, you know, the people who played the first Spyro games when they were kids).

To sum up my feelings about the new game, it feels so... soulless. The beautiful story being scrapped in favour of a toy-related story that encourages people to spend more money. Elroy looks like his soul has been sucked away, deformed both physically and mentally, deep inside. Comparing the mood of DotD's last cutscene's end and this game... Well, I hope you get my point.

So here's hoping that Activision's new direction for the franchise isn't permanent, and that this game truly is only a spinoff of the series, with the LoS story also getting continuation (what Spyro and Cynder did after the end cutscenes). But alas, it feels very depressing since if they even went to such lengths as to cancel the LoS movie only due to this game, it means Elroy will be used to get little kids to enjoy the franchise even though, ironically, Elroy's isn't even the same franchise for what I'm concerned, only the name and the purple colour remain. Even the background world that connected both the first Spyro games and the LoS series (with Avalar and everything) is gone, and replaced with a place called "Skylands".

Sorry for the essay, and props for reading it (I hope)! But yeah, I think I covered most of the things on my mind. Discuss!

Urm? Fair enough.

*clap clap clap*

You have summed up the truth.

I kinda expected more. Buuut I guess this forum is kinda slow-paced

(Now if you reply then please reply to the OP and not to how I said "this forum's slow-paced", I know you'd do that otherwise ~_~)

Quote: Silvery

Introduction

So hey, I'm one of those people who grew up with Spyro (the first three games) and liked him, and after almost 10 years of silence I found out about the LoS series through watching some cutscenes of ANB on youtube. Suffice to say that I was deeply moved by the story, and proceeded to some lengths to get all three games. I played them through in about a week flat, and after experiencing the entire story (I didn't notice any plotholes that would've decidedly disturbed my experience), and finding out about the future Spyro game, I had the huge urge to discuss about it, hence I registered here (hi!).


Thoughts on the Spyro games I've played

I guess I might as well give my opinions on the games I played to add to some of the more recent threads I skimmed through here.

First 3 Spyro games in general - Great platforming fun, nice background stories (at least in #3), fun gameplay etc. YES I LIKED THESE GAMES TOO, SO I'M NOT (just) A TLoS FAN

ANB - Has a very immersive way of making the player relate deeply to Spyro, the most legit feeling storytelling I've ever experienced in a game, nice graphics, fun, if a little repetitive gameplay (but it didn't bother as much since it felt like the work you had to do in order to achieve the story's goals).

TEN - The most difficult game in the series, I died countless times but eventually found the best approach: more tactical thinking, more usage of your abilities (not just melee), and I played the game through in a matter of days. Pretty much the same as ANB but a darker, more troubled feel to it throughout the game, but honestly it felt more than approppriate for the second part of a dark trilogy.

DotD - The new way of fighting felt vague at first, but I quickly got used to it, and it made for less repetitive gameplay. The almost-free flying coupled with less linear environments made the game that much more fun and refreshing. Spyro and Cynder growing up by 3 years and changing in appereance accordingly also felt approppriate after the first half an hour of getting used to.

TLoS in general: Immersive story, and touching, awesome music. Witnessing the story of Spyro being narrowly saved from death while he still was in his egg, watching him grow and save Cynder, endeavor through lots of difficulties and finally facing Cynder's nightmare together with her... After playing the last game and seeing the ending cutscenes I'm filled with grief that this seems to pretty much be the end for the more mature Spyro.

(There's one thing about the plot that was strange, and that was Cynder being so... sane and normal, without too bad mental scars after being rescued from Malefor's influence. Wasn't she raised all the way by Malefor's forces and as such driven evil and lacking the sense of empathy? Or perhaps these attributes are genetic instead of being learned from your environment as you grow up? Perhaps she was given loving care while she was still an egg (just like human babies learn to recognize the voices of close people before they've even born) and drew those characteristics from there? Go figure.)


Spyro's future

Then finally regarding the upcoming Skylanders game... Well, I think it goes without saying to you all that the "Spyro" (or Elroy, thanks whoever here came up with that) in that series is hardly the one we've known and loved... He looks totally different, more like a dog or a rat, there's no Sparx, and my god what they did to Cynder, ripper her from a completely different story (and even changed something in her appereance in a way very disturbing and foreign to dragons/lizards, look at the figurine and you get what I mean o_o) to promote this very pokemon-esque creation (Gotta catch 'em all?) that is geared towards little kids (unlike TLoS which with its story also fits well for more mature people like me, you know, the people who played the first Spyro games when they were kids).

To sum up my feelings about the new game, it feels so... soulless. The beautiful story being scrapped in favour of a toy-related story that encourages people to spend more money. Elroy looks like his soul has been sucked away, deformed both physically and mentally, deep inside. Comparing the mood of DotD's last cutscene's end and this game... Well, I hope you get my point.

So here's hoping that Activision's new direction for the franchise isn't permanent, and that this game truly is only a spinoff of the series, with the LoS story also getting continuation (what Spyro and Cynder did after the end cutscenes). But alas, it feels very depressing since if they even went to such lengths as to cancel the LoS movie only due to this game, it means Elroy will be used to get little kids to enjoy the franchise even though, ironically, Elroy's isn't even the same franchise for what I'm concerned, only the name and the purple colour remain. Even the background world that connected both the first Spyro games and the LoS series (with Avalar and everything) is gone, and replaced with a place called "Skylands".

Sorry for the essay, and props for reading it (I hope)! But yeah, I think I covered most of the things on my mind. Discuss!

You erm, made my day?

Quote: SuperSpyroFan

Urm? Fair enough.

Quote: SpyroFanatic101

You erm, made my day?

Bold lines coming from you two, seeing your forum names. :-)
________________________________

Now, regarding the topic (the future of Spyro):

From the Nintendo-Difference review (link):

Quote:

Nintendo-Difference: Can we hope for more mature adventures of Spyro in the near future?

Jared Yeager: You know, you approach the next step smartly and do what you think is right to the characters’ storyline, the gameplay and its audience. You don’t just do something because you can. You see what we’re able to do with a lot of other games within Activition itself. I don’t think giving Spyro a mature title because we can is a good thing as it wouldn’t fit the universe, the style, the gameplay, the audience that you want to reach. We’re always investigating new ways of playing, hence how we came up with this. [...] We’re still trying to power through this game, we’re at alpha right now and we’re targeting that fall release. There’s plenty more work to get done in the meantime. As we get close to wrapping things up and look at the future then, of course we’ll be able to provide more details at that time.

Wish he would've listened/read more carefully when ND said: "more mature". Doesn't have to be a blood and gore game, just a decent storyline that takes advantage of the stories woven in LoS, since they are partly also based on the old Spyro games. This new game only has Spyro in it as a hollow namesake to make the game more known, as far as most observant people are concerned. Sure, it might be a nice game and all but it's still a Skylanders game, not a Spyro game. Spyro is only in it as a projection, with the story only existing as an optional-to-read addition.

Sooo yeah, let's really hope they will continue the Spyro storyline where it left off before this Skylanders (!) game, when said game has been finished. Agreed? Yes? No?

Is he implying that they will continue making games in that universe, vise versa?

By beautiful story, are you referring to LoS?

That story was really predictable and cliche, and full of plotholes (especially DotD). I can't think of a Spyro game with a great, beautiful, mature story.

Quote: SpyroFanatic101

Is he implying that they will continue making games in that universe, vise versa?

From what I could decipher, he tried to find a nice way of saying "No, we have no plans for that, but after we've finished our work with Skylanders, anything could happen next." Ergo, "It's possible, but unlikely."

Quote: CAV

By beautiful story, are you referring to LoS?

That story was really predictable and cliche, and full of plotholes (especially DotD). I can't think of a Spyro game with a great, beautiful, mature story.

Of course an epic story about a teenager male and female dragon, casted by Hollywood stars, is going to be predictable and cliche in some amount. And as I said, I didn't feel the plotholes disturbing my experience in any noticable amount; I could even explain pretty much all of the ones I happened to notice more or less rationally to myself, without too much effort.
What I'm saying is that personally I didn't have any problem with those facts, I was still more than able to enjoy the story. And from what I've read around the net, so have countless others. Read stories about people literally crying after watching the ending cutscene (and the strong feelings I experienced weren't far from that tbh, it made me compulsively take a big breath), even though they claim to "quite simply NOT cry" usually. So there has to be SOMETHING that was done right in the storytelling, if no-one of those people never experienced those emotions before when enjoying a story.

Quote:

So there has to be SOMETHING that was done right in the storytelling, if no-one of those people never experienced those emotions before when enjoying a story.

That's actually not a bad observation.

A little update...
My newfound and sudden love for the story compelled me to read Spartan-029's entire damn AoH trilogy (a total of 130 chapters and some 300,000 words) while listening to DotD's music in youtube (Guide you home is still ringing in my ears)... I think I'm going insane... :S

I mean, I'm the sort of person who can get very emotional over some things (especially for a male... err... guy), and this story somehow hit the exact spot for me... I came here to share feelings with others who felt the same, but then again I guess you all have played the games through 3 years ago already and moved on with your lives... Where can I find someone I can relate to? :s

Quote: Silvery

A little update...
My newfound and sudden love for the story compelled me to read Spartan-029's entire damn AoH trilogy (a total of 130 chapters and some 300,000 words) while listening to DotD's music in youtube (Guide you home is still ringing in my ears)... I think I'm going insane... :S

I mean, I'm the sort of person who can get very emotional over some things (especially for a male... err... guy), and this story somehow hit the exact spot for me... I came here to share feelings with others who felt the same, but then again I guess you all have played the games through 3 years ago already and moved on with your lives... Where can I find someone I can relate to? :s

Try me? :S

I thought TLOS was decent but Krome had that spark and when ES took over the only thing holding it was the characters themselves (which were badly done in that case expect for sparx who remained the same)

It's lost potential the rest to me and find it sad it could of been more, heck there was even a deleted scene for DOTD of Volteer and Cyril ranting on with each other and arguing amongst themselves

I thought it was EL that took over...

And lol at the ranting.

The producers took the project away from Krome due to the budget, and assigned the game development to EL, who apparently didn't have enough time to fully complete the game to add more things in it, which explained the many plotholes in the game. They should've stuck with Krome despite the low budget, but they wanted to do something special on Spyro's 10th anniversary.

Quote: Prysom

*clap clap clap*

You have summed up the truth.

Opinion?

Quote: Silvery

Of course an epic story about a teenager male and female dragon, casted by Hollywood stars, is going to be predictable and cliche in some amount. And as I said, I didn't feel the plotholes disturbing my experience in any noticable amount; I could even explain pretty much all of the ones I happened to notice more or less rationally to myself, without too much effort.
What I'm saying is that personally I didn't have any problem with those facts, I was still more than able to enjoy the story. And from what I've read around the net, so have countless others. Read stories about people literally crying after watching the ending cutscene (and the strong feelings I experienced weren't far from that tbh, it made me compulsively take a big breath), even though they claim to "quite simply NOT cry" usually. So there has to be SOMETHING that was done right in the storytelling, if no-one of those people never experienced those emotions before when enjoying a story.

The plotholes in DotD completely killed the story for me, and I ended up playing simply to end the game. LoS was alright, but the story was lackluster at best up until DotD, in which it became a complete mess. I didn't find it epic. I didn't find it amazing. I didn't find it emotional. It was simply paper thin to me. I know of games that have much better stories.

I "daaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwed" at the ending, but then got over it really quickly. It was really no different than the millions of animated films that have the two protagonists falling in love at the end.

Sometimes it's not that something is done right. Sometimes it's just that someone wants something to be really good, and end up deluding themselves into thinking so. That's how I was back then with Sonic games, and that's how I was with LoS and DotD. I wanted it to be epic and fantastic, and I ended up forcing myself into thinking so. After a while I sat down and realized that the game isn't that special.

Some fans think DotD is the best Spyro game ever.

^His 11th just passed seven days ago.

Quote: Fireball

^His 11th just passed seven days ago.

ARE YOU SERIOUS!

I should've celebrated!

I didn't know his first birthday was on September 10, either!

Happy late birthday, Spyro!

I would've bought him a gift if I knew that, although, I don't think he'd like my idea of a gift.

Quote: Aura24

Some fans think DotD is the best Spyro game ever.

Some psychologists think this is an opinion.

Well, to me DotD was the most enjoyable game out of those three, mostly due to the non-linear maps and the (limited-in-a-good-way) ability to fly. I played it in co-op with my friend and it was definitely a fun experience, even though I had to guide him at first (he picked it up quickly).

That doesn't mean the other 2 games sucked though. TEN was difficult mostly because of the lack of true 3D vision which hurts most platformers in that you can't measure depths and thus keep falling down lots of times when trying to jump on small platforms and/or over large gaps. And then there was the huge amount of monsters to kill, though that too was manageable if you knew how to use your breath attacks and dragon time. ANB was nice overall with especially good cutscenes, but was too short imo, that and the end battle with Cynder should've been more difficult.

The music was done very well in all three of the games, something which for me is really important, so I guess that at least partially explains my fondness. Especially songs like the main menu music of ANB and TEN as well as various songs in DotD really hit the homerun.

To me the fact alone that so much good quality fanfic has been created (AoH, ToaO, ...) continuing the storyline where DotD ended says that the LoS series definitely had an impact on at least some people.

Oh, LORD.

Quote: ElectricDragons

Oh, LORD.

Agreed.

Quoting long posts and replying to them with short, snide remarks doesn't make you look cool, in case you didn't know. Yes, it's easy to do and is a good way of self-assuring yourself not to have to read the posts you're quoting, but no-one thinks you're cool for it.

Kid, when you become my age, length of posts is a waste of time.

Silvery I'm going to just think your a troll or insane

Quote: Prysom

Kid, when you become my age, length of posts is a waste of time.

Here, here.

What future is there for Spyro in that universe anyway? Go back and be dragged into more wars, nagged by Elders and train yourself into some SSJ

Quote: Prysom

Kid, when you become my age, length of posts is a waste of time.

I don't have a time machine I'm afraid, so no can do.

Then wait until you NATURALLY get to my age.

Quote: CAV

By beautiful story, are you referring to LoS?

That story was really predictable and cliche, and full of plotholes (especially DotD). I can't think of a Spyro game with a great, beautiful, mature story.

for the record, that isn't exactly *fact* more or less it's your opinion, and others, *including myself* disagree, i

n my first play through of DOTD i didn't notice many plot holes, sure there are some but they didn't bother me enough to ruin the story, i thought the LOS series did a good job for what it tried to be, instead of being exactly like the old games, it tried to do its own thing, i could go on about what i liked and didn't like, but that's a different discussion for a different time.

Actually, LoS IS predicable and cliche. That is a bit of a fact. The opinion part is if you like it or not.

How could you not notice the giant plotholes in DotD? My 7 year old brother noticed them.

I thought the plotholes made the cliche story worse. Everything in LoS I've seen before. Except for Cynder's Corruption (the only time I thought she was pretty cool).

Quote: LevanJess

Actually, LoS IS predicable and cliche. That is a bit of a fact. The opinion part is if you like it or not.

How could you not notice the giant plotholes in DotD? My 7 year old brother noticed them.

I thought the plotholes made the cliche story worse. Everything in LoS I've seen before. Except for Cynder's Corruption (the only time I thought she was pretty cool).

becuase i don't focus on finding plotholes, that's simply how i am, if i wanted to try and ruin the experience for myself, i would do so, that's my opinion,

the only thing plotholes do is ruin the experience, i try to avoid noticing them and just pay attention to the story, if i where to play the game and pay attention to every little detail in all the events and dialog, i could probably find every single plothole within the game if i truly wanted, but that's not how i am, i focus on enjoying the story and gameplay, meaning, in terms of potential plotholes, i don't pay attention.

^If you pay attention to the story, you would notice at least a couple of plotholes.

Quote: InsaneAlphaBeta

Quote: CAV

By beautiful story, are you referring to LoS?

That story was really predictable and cliche, and full of plotholes (especially DotD). I can't think of a Spyro game with a great, beautiful, mature story.

for the record, that isn't exactly *fact* more or less it's your opinion, and others, *including myself* disagree, i

n my first play through of DOTD i didn't notice many plot holes, sure there are some but they didn't bother me enough to ruin the story, i thought the LOS series did a good job for what it tried to be, instead of being exactly like the old games, it tried to do its own thing, i could go on about what i liked and didn't like, but that's a different discussion for a different time.

Well of course it's just an opinion. I never treated it like fact, or "THE TRUTH" like someone else did.

I didn't notice many of them my first time playing. But later on they would become more obvious. I still think the game is alright. But the story is an absolute mess to me, and I ignore it entirely.

Quote: CAV

^If you pay attention to the story, you would notice at least a couple of plotholes.

Well of course it's just an opinion. I never treated it like fact, or "THE TRUTH" like someone else did.

i usually put that in my post in the event that the poster im replying to meant it as fact, sense i didn't know for sure i put it there anyway, no offense intended.

Quote:

I didn't notice many of them my first time playing. But later on they would become more obvious. I still think the game is alright. But the story is an absolute mess to me, and I ignore it entirely.

i enjoyed the story the first time around, but mainly now i play it for the gameplay, so i would have to agree to some extent.

No offense taken.

The only real bit of the story I enjoyed the first time around is the ending, which for some reason made me daaawww.

Quote: CAV

No offense taken.

The only real bit of the story I enjoyed the first time around is the ending, which for some reason made me daaawww.

i thought it was ok, it was decent story wise in my opinion, i thought they did a good job of ending the trilogy.

Quote: InsaneAlphaBeta

becuase i don't focus on finding plotholes, that's simply how i am, if i wanted to try and ruin the experience for myself, i would do so, that's my opinion,

the only thing plotholes do is ruin the experience, i try to avoid noticing them and just pay attention to the story, if i where to play the game and pay attention to every little detail in all the events and dialog, i could probably find every single plothole within the game if i truly wanted, but that's not how i am, i focus on enjoying the story and gameplay, meaning, in terms of potential plotholes, i don't pay attention.

Yes, I understand the opinion part, but if you did pay attention to the story, you could notice some plotholes.
But if you didn't pay attention or anything to it, then true, you probably shouldn't have noticed.

I see it as, if you don't pay attention to the story, you don't know what it is going on, and if you are paying attention, you'll know what is going on and notice the plotholes.

Quote: LevanJess

Quote: InsaneAlphaBeta

becuase i don't focus on finding plotholes, that's simply how i am, if i wanted to try and ruin the experience for myself, i would do so, that's my opinion,

the only thing plotholes do is ruin the experience, i try to avoid noticing them and just pay attention to the story, if i where to play the game and pay attention to every little detail in all the events and dialog, i could probably find every single plothole within the game if i truly wanted, but that's not how i am, i focus on enjoying the story and gameplay, meaning, in terms of potential plotholes, i don't pay attention.

Yes, I understand the opinion part, but if you did pay attention to the story, you could notice some plotholes.

i didn't say i didn't notice any plotholes at all, i noticed some on my first play through, but not alot.

Finally i got to the bottom of the comments lol any way i started out playing TLoS The Eternal night and i got hooked, not much a fan of the old ones i just happened to like how things played and how they looked i guess

I prefer the old ones myself, but LoS is okay. Its gameplay isn't bad.

finallly some one you likes peace with all the games! they are all different yet special! there is no need for fighting!