darkSpyro

I have played all three games in the LOS series. And to say each game I enjoyed less and less as it went on. I have many issues with the game series as a whole. And while the games are ok, they are not deserving of a 7/10. To me a 5/10 should be more appropriate to a series that tries to be an action platformer but commits many cardinal sins in terms of both platforming and action.

Many things truly need improvement, music, design, gameplay, and story. Many say the originals cannot be out done but in reality that is a straight up lie. The original trilogy can be one upped. I've seen classics being improved upon in many unique and interesting ways. What makes Spyro so different?

I played these games, and I enjoyed them after turning off my brain and enjoyed them. But when I think back on it I get mad all the failures in basic logic, clunky combat, shotty controls, awkward platforming, horrendous camera, laughable voice acting and script, uninteresting characters, butchering the actually interesting ones, bad implementation of new features, lazy balancing, unsatisfyingly short story, missed opportunities, and a generic, uninspired, empty, claustrophobia inducing world.

There are a couple of interesting bits I guess, the atmosphere is actually pretty immersive, the latest ones graphics are pretty and help to add life to the game, the game can be surprisingly emotional (provided you don't think too much about the story), and sometimes the banter between characters can actually grow on you(Does anyone else notice that Sparx and Cynder get along much better and interact far more than with spyro? He feels more like a third wheel than a main character. Also the guardians have great chemistry particularly when Cyril and Volteer are involved).

Ultimately I left the forums out of disinterest in both the games and the fanbase as a whole. But I decided, "why not?" and come back and ask this question. (The other spyro centric Forums are either dead, or shifted focus to other games).

So...Do you think TLOS needs a redo or is fine the way it is?

A redo would be nice. The story of the LoS wasn't developed by professional story writers, and it was rushed. They had a lot of things that could've been added in the games, but due to time restraints on the projects, those extra content were left out.

They rushed the development of DotD, which left behind a lot of plotholes in the story and character designs. They even planned on doing a comical cutscene with Cyril, Volteer, and Sparx when the Golem was attacking Dragon City, and a scene when Cynder actually puts on her iron jewelry as a way to face her fear of being Malefor's puppet again, but those scenes were scrapped during development due to the producers wanting to game to be made on time.

Quote: Aura24

A redo would be nice. The story of the LoS wasn't developed by professional story writers, and it was rushed. They had a lot of things that could've been added in the games, but due to time restraints on the projects, those extra content were left out.

They rushed the development of DotD, which left behind a lot of plotholes in the story and character designs. They even planned on doing a comical cutscene with Cyril, Volteer, and Sparx when the Golem was attacking Dragon City, and a scene when Cynder actually puts on her iron jewelry as a way to face her fear of being Malefor's puppet again, but those scenes were scrapped during development due to the producers wanting to game to be made on time.

That is and isn't a good excuse. That just means they played it safe, and didn't want to take a risk. Many games had this issue, rushed to the point of no return and realize they have a crap game but release it anyway. I know DOTD suffered from this.

Another victim of this was Sonic 06. In fact so much content was cut that the pre-alpha preview of the game was better than the finished product. And a host of other things were cut, day/night and weather cycles that drastically change the environment, over 15 different levels, a bunch of side-missions, hub worlds, and secrets, every playable character present in the story had an extensive upgrade system from shops, little to no load times, litterally 100s of hours of re-playability.

All cut because the producers wanted a deadline and refused to add more time.

We can't exactly forgive Sega even if the reasons behind it is are valid. It felt like betrayal of the highest order to the fanbase. They played a game of risk and didn't put their all into it, and suffer distrust to this very day from their fans.

Also the professional writers deal is hardly an excuse for a poor story. In fact I think the reason was due to extensively cut content and looming deadline probably forced them into crunch time with the story. An experienced writer for video-games, could have salvaged something from it, but the writers they hired probably never had experience with "crunch time" and generic shortcut their way through and only focused on characters that take little effort to portray (spyro, ignitus, etc), or were forced to cut down on others (i.e EVERYONE).

But the issue of the previous 2 games.

You have to understand that Spyro technically changed hands both in terms of developers AND publisher during the time LoS was being made...

...You know what, on second thought, don't redo it. The series lacked it's own distinctive identity. It wanted to be too much like the Lord of the Rings in terms of story with gameplay far too similar to a really dumbed down God of War or nerfed Devil May Cry. Heck, Malefor is pretty much a complete rip off of Mundus in Devil May Cry 1 (surprised Capcom didn't try anything... maybe they didn't want to take on Activision). <.<;

Quote: wuffser

That is and isn't a good excuse. That just means they played it safe, and didn't want to take a risk. Many games had this issue, rushed to the point of no return and realize they have a crap game but release it anyway. I know DOTD suffered from this.

Another victim of this was Sonic 06. In fact so much content was cut that the pre-alpha preview of the game was better than the finished product. And a host of other things were cut, day/night and weather cycles that drastically change the environment, over 15 different levels, a bunch of side-missions, hub worlds, and secrets, every playable character present in the story had an extensive upgrade system from shops, little to no load times, litterally 100s of hours of re-playability.

All cut because the producers wanted a deadline and refused to add more time.

We can't exactly forgive Sega even if the reasons behind it is are valid. It felt like betrayal of the highest order to the fanbase. They played a game of risk and didn't put their all into it, and suffer distrust to this very day from their fans.

Also the professional writers deal is hardly an excuse for a poor story. In fact I think the reason was due to extensively cut content and looming deadline probably forced them into crunch time with the story. An experienced writer for video-games, could have salvaged something from it, but the writers they hired probably never had experience with "crunch time" and generic shortcut their way through and only focused on characters that take little effort to portray (spyro, ignitus, etc), or were forced to cut down on others (i.e EVERYONE).

But the issue of the previous 2 games.

During the development of DotD, the producers purposely switched game developers for the sake of upgrading Spyro to the next generation consoles, wuff. Krome Studios were already working on DotD, but the producers decided to switch game developers and Estranges Libellules rushed the development of DotD instead of having a year to do it like Krome Studios.

Quote: HIR

You have to understand that Spyro technically changed hands both in terms of developers AND publisher during the time LoS was being made...

...You know what, on second thought, don't redo it. The series lacked it's own distinctive identity. It wanted to be too much like the Lord of the Rings in terms of story with gameplay far too similar to a really dumbed down God of War or nerfed Devil May Cry. Heck, Malefor is pretty much a complete rip off of Mundus in Devil May Cry 1 (surprised Capcom didn't try anything... maybe they didn't want to take on Activision). <.<;

Ahh but this is where the place where magic can happen! Always hope for the best but prepare for the worst, I always say. The games premis can be redeemed if they took the time to care for their ideas, characters, and gameplay. If the game developers where a little more patient....


Quote: Aura24

Quote: wuffser

That is and isn't a good excuse. That just means they played it safe, and didn't want to take a risk. Many games had this issue, rushed to the point of no return and realize they have a crap game but release it anyway. I know DOTD suffered from this.

Another victim of this was Sonic 06. In fact so much content was cut that the pre-alpha preview of the game was better than the finished product. And a host of other things were cut, day/night and weather cycles that drastically change the environment, over 15 different levels, a bunch of side-missions, hub worlds, and secrets, every playable character present in the story had an extensive upgrade system from shops, little to no load times, litterally 100s of hours of re-playability.

All cut because the producers wanted a deadline and refused to add more time.

We can't exactly forgive Sega even if the reasons behind it is are valid. It felt like betrayal of the highest order to the fanbase. They played a game of risk and didn't put their all into it, and suffer distrust to this very day from their fans.

Also the professional writers deal is hardly an excuse for a poor story. In fact I think the reason was due to extensively cut content and looming deadline probably forced them into crunch time with the story. An experienced writer for video-games, could have salvaged something from it, but the writers they hired probably never had experience with "crunch time" and generic shortcut their way through and only focused on characters that take little effort to portray (spyro, ignitus, etc), or were forced to cut down on others (i.e EVERYONE).

But the issue of the previous 2 games.

During the development of DotD, the producers purposely switched game developers for the sake of upgrading Spyro to the next generation consoles, wuff. Krome Studios were already working on DotD, but the producers decided to switch game developers and Estranges Libellules rushed the development of DotD instead of having a year to do it like Krome Studios.

Ahh but that leaves.... even less of an excuse than before! I mean there where plenty of games that switched developers and became practically famous; Okami, Resident evil 4, Devil may cry 1, Bioshock, Conkers bad fur day, sonic CD (well this was more of a conflict of interest between 2 developers, one made sonic 2 the other made this), Crash twinsanity, team fortress 2.

And those are few of the more famous ones. Even if they had switched developers MID-DEVELOPMENT that still wouldn't be a good excuse to rush and cut out practically everything. Sometimes they need to be more understanding of what to cut and what to leave in. A game that tries to add story wouldn't cut out characters fans have explicitly stated to love, or undermine a plot heavy moment by cutting out the explaination a few scenes back.

My point is even with all these drawbacks a game can still come out on top, The developers just need to be more ... tactful in understanding what makes a good game for everyone.

And that's what frustrates me this game could have been THE game to revive spyro, this could have rivaled the classics even out class it in regards to age range. This could have been the first game to incorporate proper flight in a platformer (Much like how sonic incorporated speed). This could have been the game for both kids and adults, a pixar-esque story that could influence many for years to come. Maybe even reinvigorate other franchises (Crash Bandicoot, Jack and Daxter, Banjo Kazooie)

Also Kameo, which switched from GameCube to the XBox, to the XBox360, and had to be totally rebuilt from the ground up at one time. But that ended up being a near-launch title and a fantastic one at that.

The Legend Trilogy itself... I think the first two are fine but Dawn definetly needs to be redone.
If Krome had continued on it and used the Legend of The Guardians flight system I think it would have been fantastic.
Plus. The writing was mediocre, and the elements were incredibly boring(except for Ice Twister).
It just doesn't fit in with the other two in the end.

I actually found DotT better than the other two, the gameplay was FAR more interesting. the 1st 2 were just 'follow the obviously laid out path, and kill enemies that just happen to be on this path'. They were both really linear and boring, very little replay value. DotT was much less like that, it had more exploring, and more insentive to keep playing when you finished, all the collectables and stuff. The 1st 2 didn't have that. It was pretty much a movie with a bit of interactivity, I'd say some of the Homestuck FLASH GAMES were probably more advanced in gameplay, and these are games made over the space of about a month, not a few years... Tho DotD did have a pretty ****ty and inconsistant plot compared to the other two, I still prefered it. And that may have had something to do with the fact Etranges whats-it is a FRENCH company... You can't really expect them to help much with the plot of an english game...

two things that really upset me about the game play was flight and combat.

The game committed a cardinal sin in action games. Never show too much from the get go. When I first started playing the number of moves I had were ridiculous there was nothing really unique about the two other than the elements. And physical attacks where horribly balanced power attacks were too slow and clunky but weak attacks did too little damage. The hit detection and animations where awkward making the games controls and physics the one thing you'll be fighting the most.

Also the flight. the game made no move to make it viable, you flew just as fast as you ran, several parts of the game just straight up forbid you from flying, no vertical control ?! Really? This is the most toted feature of the game the ability to fly whenever I want. Why isn't the game designed to handle that? I honestly do not see how people can defend this game when it's only redeeming feature is hardly ever used in it's game design.

I like the game, I like the concept, I've played games for years and watched countless series die due to incompetent publishers. I really don't want this one to suffer the same fate.

Quote: wuffser

Ahh but that leaves.... even less of an excuse than before! I mean there where plenty of games that switched developers and became practically famous; Okami, Resident evil 4, Devil may cry 1, Bioshock, Conkers bad fur day, sonic CD (well this was more of a conflict of interest between 2 developers, one made sonic 2 the other made this), Crash twinsanity, team fortress 2.

And those are few of the more famous ones.

Wait, wait... what? WHAT?! Hold up for a second...

1. Bioshock didn't switch developers. It was developed for the XBox 360 by 2K Boston. 2K then used a different subsidiary to make a PS3 version due to high demand. They ended up using a collaborating but it never switched developers.

2. Resident Evil 4 underwent multiple stories and concepts and switched from the PlayStation 2 to the Gamecube but was always developed by Capcom Production Studio 4.

3. Okami was always developed by Clover Studios (now Platinum Games)

4. Conker's Bad Fur Day was always developed by Rareware, the CONCEPT was changed from a kid-friendly platform to the bizarre M-rated final product.

5. Sonic CD was developed by a small team in Japan under the helm of Sonic creator Naoto Oshima. Yuji Naka moved to America to make Sonic 2. The developers of CD decided to make it what it is today but it never changed developers.

6. Crash Twinsanity was always developed by Traveller's Tales.

7. Devil May Cry came about from one of Resident Evil 4's failed concepts and the minds behind its development were a part of Capcom Production Studio 4 (who did Resident Evil 4 as noted above)

8. Team Fortress 2 was Valve's brainchild after they bought out the two men who were designing it (John Cook & Robin Walker)

So these games don't prove your point at all! <.>

Ok clarification is needed here. I will admit some of the games didn't change developers. My bad, horridly done research on my part (it was never my strong suit). But I eill say some of them did have some unusual conditions that do warrant some attention.

Sonic CD DID change developers... sort of. It originally Sonic 2 and CD were going to be the same thing, however the original developer Naoto Ōshima (the original creator of sonic) wound up working on sonic CD and Yuji Naka originally lead programmer for sonic CD and sonic 1) wound up producing sonic 2. The idea became split so in a way it did change developers. However alot of the original team for sonic 1 left with Yuji to make what is now known as sonic 2 which is favored as the official equal. The reason behind his (Yuji) leaving was because sega of japan wasn't exactly lenient in it's ideas.

Team fortress 2 took 9 years to develop, having originally been a realistic shooter when it was first announced in 1998. After that it has went through who knows how many ideas. When the game was shown later in 1999 it looked like a realistic shooter. Of course this is more of a case of constant change in what the game should be. And they took their time with it and DIDN'T rush it, but weren't lazy about it either.

Crash twinsanity may not have been an example of developer changes mid-game development. It is an example of a good game being handled properly. Few game developers have managed to give a game franchise open a whole new world for Crash (an later a whole new can of worms when it was handed over too a different developer AGAIN).

Sorry research isn't my forte but thank you for clarifying my screw ups. An intellectual I am Not. Previous statement rendered invalid. (And maybe this one as well because I'm just playing damage control here)

Oh definatly.

LoS does have potential to be good, just the same as the classics having the potential to be better.

Yes, they could be better particularly DotD.

Could anyone offer ways in what exactly to improve on. Or what exactly made you think the game was ... less than perfect.

Edit: For example. The game to me stood well when you didn't think about it and don't play any other game. Which is what I did. I focused solely on this game, and I found myself enjoying it to the very end. Until I played another game, then all of a sudden I couldn't tolerate any of its flaws. The only reason the dark master is such a genius or dangerous to begin with was due entirely to incompetence on the hero's behalf. The ending was ambiguous and may have unintentionally left a downer ending to anyone who applied logic to the situation. The game felt and is rushed (At least with DOTD). The other two games where barely worth mentioning it felt as if it was incompetently trying to appeal to an older audience by simply "darkening" their color scheme and music. The story was just unable to do much in terms of make you feel ... content or at least make you feel like it was worth suffering through. And in my deep thought I felt underwhelmed in hindsight.

And that is not how a "Darker and edgier" game should do. I'm not saying it should be Majora's Mask levels of dark (That game gut punched me until I vomited tears, and it still does to this day). But a game that isn't afraid to harm the players feelings, and linger long after the game is over. A game that appeals to kids as well as adults. A good all-rounder. Fun, deep, engaging, and thought provoking. Something that even the original lacked.

A New Beginning- Replay value, length, Experience was too easy to get. Just needed to have more levels in general. And be less generous with the blue gems. And gems in general. And be somewhat difficult... And have some sort of collectables. I love the theme of the game, I love the script, I love the locations, but I hate how disappointingly short it was and it was simply too easy, with no replay incentive.

The Eternal Night- I'm actually okay with it and I like the challenge. If I had to change anything, it would be to add more replay value, because there isn't as much as there could be. But I think it's the best in the Legend trilogy, by far. Some more NPCs wouldn't have hurt as well, maybe a couple more levels.

Dawn of The Dragon- The writing, Burnt Lands, all bosses, the story, The Dam, The Destroyer, t--- basically, I think this game needed an overhaul: to be scrapped entirely because it's too much of an overhaul, but not very positive in general. It doesn't do a lot particularly wrong, but it does very little notably. At least the replay value is good... Everything else is inconsistent, or boring, or frustrating, or overeasy, or cliche.

Funny thing is my favorite is also Eternal night .... for the GBA. Best music, best combat, best platforming, decent replay value, best story ( even DOTD picked up from where THAT game left off and only continued parts from the PS2 version).

It did absolutely EVERYTHING right. I checked many of the rating sites, and user reviews. It scores on average better than DOTD on the Xbox 360. It was the reason I couldn't play ps2 version. Just coudn't handle the differences in handling. I, and many others, consider it the last of the great GBA games.

In fact the story was IMPROVED in many ways. Most of the plot holes where fixed (With added game content as a bonus) and retroactively put in a decent twist into the plot. Many things I hated about the ps2 version where completely fixed in the GBA version. And it even one upped the NEXT game by incorperating a rudimentary combat system ala devil may cry that encourages variety with a moveset and tight combat to match. The most complex and precise platforming mechanics of the trilogy. Ability to replay levels whenever you want, multiple boss fights, actual exploration involved, a more challenging challenge mode (At least I think it does).

Literally the best in the trilogy. And that is very sad too, it's a very underrated gem, get it you'll love it. It can't do everything however it's rather shallow and really doesn't take advantage of it's superior capabilities. It could easily be as long as kirby and the amazing mirror (Which i still haven't beaten yet).

I've played all the "proper" console versions plus the mobile versions of ANB and TEN, I was talking about the console versions specifically.

I really don't consider the console versions "Proper". Especially if the its peripheral version out does it in terms of pretty much everything. And fixes a number of issues that the "Proper" versions lacked. DOTD feels more like an inferior sequel to the gba version of EN with some elements of the home console version. (I'm only talking about the EN version.)

But this made little sense to me. Why borrow so much from the GBA version in terms of story? (Which BTW outright tells you the main plot twist from DOTD) I also find it curious as to why the sudden burst of effort on the gba version (The DOTD ds version looks better, but plays worse!!!). I mean is it really a one shot thing? The only real effort we'll see in improving TLOS series? I mean a game like EN for gba on a console would be breath taking really.

The spit shine that DOTD got really wasn't necessary, I'm fine with lower end graphics for the sake of a better game. EN-gba proved that.

ANB - Colours needed to be improved upon, every colour in the atmosphere always seemed to be dull to me, the only exception is Tall Plains, and that is basically the only level that I really enjoy in the game. The levels do seem quite bland, nothing really interesting seems to catch your eye, it's just too much of the same combat over and over again. And Spyro having a limited firepower is just plain annoying. I really don't see how that can be an improvement to be honest. Get rid of Elijah Wood as he just sounds like a plank, maybe they should scrap the entire story and think of their own one to go with, instead of trying to copy TLoTR. There's probably more that needs to be improved on, like some of the camera angles that needs to be fixed.

TEN - I honestly think that they went crazy on this game, and just made it too difficult, especially when Spyro seems to get stunned so easily. I think the atmosphere gets even more daunting and horrible, way too dark. The combat still feels bad, it's pretty much ANB all over again, but on a much worse scale, I've never managed to complete this game, I literally had to just watch a walkthrough of it on YouTube, just couldn't beat it for the life of me, and I even found the walkthrough to be boring as well.

DOTD - At least there is one improvement for this one, the colours, they're really eye-catching and are not dull to look at, apart from the Burned Lands, that one is horrible. When Spyro flies across the lava he seems to just blend in with it. I actually think that the combat system has been improved upon, but the hit detection system is very poor. I think that the elements are much better in this one, and the best level is The Valley of Avalar in my opinion, the objectives you have to do in that one seem to be the most interesting. But back to the way the characters are and the way the story is, I think it's really corny, every time a cut-scene starts, I just skip it right away, all the voice-acting in this one seem terrible. There are many furstrating parts to this game though. I'd say in terms of gameplay, this one is probably the best one to play out of the three. I don't like the fact that you can no longer charge at all, and they took the ability out for you to swim, like in the previous two, I know you can charge in the other two, but it seems you can only sort of go in a straight line.

No, I mean I've played all the games on what one would consider actual consoles.
Every single Spyro game on a proper gaming console, including all others, all versions of all of them, on whatever they are on.
STD/GTG/YoTD on PS, SoI/SoF/Adventure/Fusion/ANB/TEN on GBA, ETD/AHT/ANB/TEN/DoTD on PS2, ETD/AHT/ANB on GameCube, AHT/ANB on XBox, TEN/DoTD on Wii, ANB/TEN/DoTD on DS, and DoTD on 360. I have played of them, with the exception of DoTD on the PS3, because I do not own one.
Plus ANB and TEN on mobile phones. Hence, not proper gaming consoles.

I DO own the world's largest Spyro the dragon collection. You'd think I would play all the games by then.

Quote: SuperSpyroFan

ANB - Colours needed to be improved upon, every colour in the atmosphere always seemed to be dull to me, the only exception is Tall Plains, and that is basically the only level that I really enjoy in the game. The levels do seem quite bland, nothing really interesting seems to catch your eye, it's just too much of the same combat over and over again. And Spyro having a limited firepower is just plain annoying. I really don't see how that can be an improvement to be honest. Get rid of Elijah Wood as he just sounds like a plank, maybe they should scrap the entire story and think of their own one to go with, instead of trying to copy TLoTR. There's probably more that needs to be improved on, like some of the camera angles that needs to be fixed.

TEN - I honestly think that they went crazy on this game, and just made it too difficult, especially when Spyro seems to get stunned so easily. I think the atmosphere gets even more daunting and horrible, way too dark. The combat still feels bad, it's pretty much ANB all over again, but on a much worse scale, I've never managed to complete this game, I literally had to just watch a walkthrough of it on YouTube, just couldn't beat it for the life of me, and I even found the walkthrough to be boring as well.

DOTD - At least there is one improvement for this one, the colours, they're really eye-catching and are not dull to look at, apart from the Burned Lands, that one is horrible. When Spyro flies across the lava he seems to just blend in with it. I actually think that the combat system has been improved upon, but the hit detection system is very poor. I think that the elements are much better in this one, and the best level is The Valley of Avalar in my opinion, the objectives you have to do in that one seem to be the most interesting. But back to the way the characters are and the way the story is, I think it's really corny, every time a cut-scene starts, I just skip it right away, all the voice-acting in this one seem terrible. There are many furstrating parts to this game though. I'd say in terms of gameplay, this one is probably the best one to play out of the three. I don't like the fact that you can no longer charge at all, and they took the ability out for you to swim, like in the previous two, I know you can charge in the other two, but it seems you can only sort of go in a straight line.

This made me lol. NONE of the LoS games were diffucult, try playing Okami, Jak 2, or the original crash bandicoot. Then you'll see what difficult is. c:

I think difficult is the wrong term to use in the LOS series. I think "Frustrating" is the correct term. The game isn't difficult by any means. It's not challenging when the main threat is the awkward and overly done animations, lazily done collision detection, horrid controls, and imbalanced, badly implemented mechanics.

I spent a large amount of time just making sure certain animations won't play or else I'm screwed. (The first two are notorious with their agonizingly slow recoil animations with no invincibility frames) And the combat in DOTD is laughably bad, I don't know if it's the animation, models, or hit boxes. But the everything seems ... out of place and slow. Like they didn't speed up and tighten the hit boxes. Most action and/or platform games have very precise hit boxes on just about everything, with fast efficiently flashy animations that tie deeply into the games play style. None of the LOS games (Save for that one GBA game) have this in mind.

@Nibel OHHHHH so that's what you meant. In that case care to share your opinion on some of those games? I haven't played any spyro game on a Mobile phone before I only saw screen shots for the DOTD one, it looked nice.

ANB on the GBA: TEN on the GBA... But strip away replay value, difficulty, reward, replayability, and intrest. It's an incredibly mindless sidescroller with mediocre graphics and bad combat that is just too easy to be worthwhile. And the scripting is weak.
ANB on the DS: The best version of ANB, without a doubt. The script was muddled just a little, however, the CGI cutscenes are still in, and look almost as good, the graphics are pretty good for what it is, and the combat actually needs you to think right to succeed in later levels. The Experience is also more balanced and there are Easy, Normal and Hard difficulties. It's top-view. The bosses are fought while you fly, they're incredibly fun, and it's worth it just to battle them.
TEN on the GBA: Amazing spriting, amazing replay value, amazing art direction, amazing combat, amazing amazing. This game has very few faults. Easily the best thing from the Legend trilogy- probably one of the best things from Spyro himself.
TEN on the DS: It's painful. The platforming is botched, the Light Puzzles are reused from ANB on the DS, the combat is shallow and boring, there are a lot of glitches, and the graphics direction is iffy. The only really good thing about it is the cutscene art. And a few of the bosses are kind of fun I guess.
DoTD on the DS: Meh, it's not as good as TEN on the GBA was, but this sidescroller is... Eh. Not really good or bad. The flight stages and bosses are both awesome though. The flight stages are sort of worth it. But the plainness of the sidescrolling stages balances it out.

...I see. I'm glad we share similar opinion about those games. But I still wanted to know about those mobile games.

But ah well. TEN for the GBA gets a lot of hate. Mostly for simply being a side scrolling spyro game for the GBA. One thing I've noticed about this game though, it is literally the first and last great side scrolling spyro game. Both old and new. It's kind of sad really LOS could have been DMC style combat meets spyro platforming goodness. Oh the possibilities.

LOS can be better. It has a lot of potential, It really could have been something akin to Majoras Mask. Wait! scratch that, I really don't want to get gut punched till my eyes vomit tears like that game did. (Or haunt my nightmares) I mean that game relied on my intellect to further extend my sorrow. But the reason why it had such a lasting impact was because it wasn't afraid to hurt the players feelings. It wasn't afraid to to put up family unfriendly morals. It wasn't afraid to scare and unsettle the player. It wasn't afraid to purposefully have a clearly bittersweet ending.

But most of all it wasn't afraid to grow up. And that is exactly what the LOS games failed to do.


Also anyone else felt disappointed at DOTDs ending? If I had turned off my brain I probably would have been fine (Until later), but my brain Immediately asked the question. "Does spyro really care about anyone other than his close dragon based relations?" the game seems to make no indication that he cares for his family brother or even the world for that matter. They briefly bring up the fact he screwed up (Genuinly upsetting when following the GBA ending, Hilariously deserving when following the PS2 version) and never bring it up again. And in fact imply things are in pretty terrible shape. Sparx is alone, the world is still in shambles, the main villain MAY be dead (which in hind sight might actually be a bad thing), and as far as we know Spyros work as the purple dragon is FAR from over (but hey at least spyro and cynder are still happy!). I freakin' despise esoteric happy endings, doubly bad when it was achieved by a Deus ex Machina of an 11th hour super power.

all games have potential to be better, but they have to stop developing at one time to release it,
but TLOS was alright, the first two were awesome and DOTD waas alright, not best but in terms of game play it was better, not just a straight path, it felt free especially with the flying, mostly in alavar.

Quote: Dragons-go-hrr

Quote: SuperSpyroFan

ANB - Colours needed to be improved upon, every colour in the atmosphere always seemed to be dull to me, the only exception is Tall Plains, and that is basically the only level that I really enjoy in the game. The levels do seem quite bland, nothing really interesting seems to catch your eye, it's just too much of the same combat over and over again. And Spyro having a limited firepower is just plain annoying. I really don't see how that can be an improvement to be honest. Get rid of Elijah Wood as he just sounds like a plank, maybe they should scrap the entire story and think of their own one to go with, instead of trying to copy TLoTR. There's probably more that needs to be improved on, like some of the camera angles that needs to be fixed.

TEN - I honestly think that they went crazy on this game, and just made it too difficult, especially when Spyro seems to get stunned so easily. I think the atmosphere gets even more daunting and horrible, way too dark. The combat still feels bad, it's pretty much ANB all over again, but on a much worse scale, I've never managed to complete this game, I literally had to just watch a walkthrough of it on YouTube, just couldn't beat it for the life of me, and I even found the walkthrough to be boring as well.

DOTD - At least there is one improvement for this one, the colours, they're really eye-catching and are not dull to look at, apart from the Burned Lands, that one is horrible. When Spyro flies across the lava he seems to just blend in with it. I actually think that the combat system has been improved upon, but the hit detection system is very poor. I think that the elements are much better in this one, and the best level is The Valley of Avalar in my opinion, the objectives you have to do in that one seem to be the most interesting. But back to the way the characters are and the way the story is, I think it's really corny, every time a cut-scene starts, I just skip it right away, all the voice-acting in this one seem terrible. There are many furstrating parts to this game though. I'd say in terms of gameplay, this one is probably the best one to play out of the three. I don't like the fact that you can no longer charge at all, and they took the ability out for you to swim, like in the previous two, I know you can charge in the other two, but it seems you can only sort of go in a straight line.

This made me lol. NONE of the LoS games were diffucult, try playing Okami, Jak 2, or the original crash bandicoot. Then you'll see what difficult is. c:

Trust me, I have played difficult games; video games like Red Dead Revolver, Gun & The Godfather, even some of the missions in the GTA games are tough. I just think that TEN beats them all with the difficulty.

ORZ! I forgot.
I agree on Dawn's ending. It was just... Whatever.
ANB is a very bland one, you can unlock the breaths by finishing each section(one platform, one flight, one boss), and collect some powerups to unlock a hidden level, once you beat that, you get a four-element breath, the gameplay is not very unique or interesting, there is no music, only sound effects, and the graphics are boring. It also changes a LOT around BADLY- MUNITION'S FORGE is the first level, Cyril and Terrador mixed eachother's names up.
The Eternal Night is really fun, though. It's certainly not the GBA version but it's good. The levels are quite tricky and actually have PUZZLES! YAY! The bosses are all fun, the graphics are good, and the soundtrack is neat. Plus you can unlock a Boss Rush mode. One thing I'd complain about, though, is the flight levels- they were terrible.

Quote: Nibelilt

ORZ! I forgot.
I agree on Dawn's ending. It was just... Whatever.
ANB is a very bland one, you can unlock the breaths by finishing each section(one platform, one flight, one boss), and collect some powerups to unlock a hidden level, once you beat that, you get a four-element breath, the gameplay is not very unique or interesting, there is no music, only sound effects, and the graphics are boring. It also changes a LOT around BADLY- MUNITION'S FORGE is the first level, Cyril and Terrador mixed eachother's names up.
The Eternal Night is really fun, though. It's certainly not the GBA version but it's good. The levels are quite tricky and actually have PUZZLES! YAY! The bosses are all fun, the graphics are good, and the soundtrack is neat. Plus you can unlock a Boss Rush mode. One thing I'd complain about, though, is the flight levels- they were terrible.

Wow really even the mobile phones seem to favor TEN. I always wondered why that game has such good hand-held releases.

I mean I found it very curious that the sequel borrowed so many parts from TEN for GBA. I mean even the opening cutscene has the chamber where Spyro and Cynder are first seen. The area looks suspiciously like the final room of the GBA version yet explicitly borrowed the line of dialog from the PS2 version that BOTH (GBA and PS2) had the same lines to. Didn't help the GBA ver "spoiled" the "shocking" twist for DOTD. I mean DOTD is ok and all that jazz but It distinctively could have been better. I mean they never took advantage of the fly whenever you feel like it aspect, it tries to LOOK open but never actually plays like that (Plays exactly like the originals except with a slightly widened claustrophobia inducing hallway), the game seemed incoherent like they haven't gotten their ideas together, (And from what learned from it's Development phase I can see why). If they delayed it a couple of months (or years) it could have been a little better, could being the iffy term here as Activision has never been known to treat franchises very well.

Skylanders plays well, A decent, money-grubbing, platformer to say the least. Nothing special, easily out done by more prodigious and less expensive franchises. I mean really if I tried I probably could get 7-10 games to the one Skylanders + toy line. They better come up with world expansions to make those extra characters worth it. Part of me really wants it to get another reboot from the next attempt at a direct smash bros. rival Just like Pit did in SSBB. Kid Icarus Uprising was awesome.

Eh, I accept the Legend series and I don't mind them, but in terms of every Spyro game in existence, they are my least favorite.

ANB I could never get into. I found the levels too plain, the fighting mechanics dull and I found myself drifting away from the game continuously. The story seemed a little too cliché for me. DS version was okay. GBA was bleh. Mobile was okay, I guess.

I absolutely loved TEN. Perhaps because of Dragon Time, I enjoyed the combat system and gameplay a lot more. Story was average, although the pirate ship left me with a 'And the point of this was...?' feeling afterwards. Yes, I know it was part of the storyline, but it felt more like a filler to me. The GBA version was purely amazing, quite possibly my favorite handheld Spyro game. DS version was okay. Mobile was okay too.

DOTD. Oh, this game. Storyline bored me honestly, and I was hugely disappointed with free flight. The good thing was the two player co-op. I'd already played Asterix & Obelix XXL by Estranges Libellules, so I knew co-op would be pretty good if not a little flawed here and there. I enjoyed the levels here much more than previous LOS games. Dragon City was the only level I despised.
DS was okay too. Mobile was... Average. But the mobile one keeps Sparx out of the game entirely. Gameplay is average.


Quote:

Also anyone else felt disappointed at DOTDs ending? If I had turned off my brain I probably would have been fine (Until later), but my brain Immediately asked the question. "Does spyro really care about anyone other than his close dragon based relations?" the game seems to make no indication that he cares for his family brother or even the world for that matter. They briefly bring up the fact he screwed up (Genuinly upsetting when following the GBA ending, Hilariously deserving when following the PS2 version) and never bring it up again. And in fact imply things are in pretty terrible shape. Sparx is alone, the world is still in shambles, the main villain MAY be dead (which in hind sight might actually be a bad thing), and as far as we know Spyros work as the purple dragon is FAR from over (but hey at least spyro and cynder are still happy!). I freakin' despise esoteric happy endings, doubly bad when it was achieved by a Deus ex Machina of an 11th hour super power.

YES. YES. YES. Had Sparx been present with them in the valley, I would have been content with the ending. They seemed to forget his adoptive parents even existed by this point.

TLDR; yes, it could have been better. It's just a shame they decided to rush things.

Quote: SuperSpyroFan

Quote: Dragons-go-hrr

Quote: SuperSpyroFan

ANB - Colours needed to be improved upon, every colour in the atmosphere always seemed to be dull to me, the only exception is Tall Plains, and that is basically the only level that I really enjoy in the game. The levels do seem quite bland, nothing really interesting seems to catch your eye, it's just too much of the same combat over and over again. And Spyro having a limited firepower is just plain annoying. I really don't see how that can be an improvement to be honest. Get rid of Elijah Wood as he just sounds like a plank, maybe they should scrap the entire story and think of their own one to go with, instead of trying to copy TLoTR. There's probably more that needs to be improved on, like some of the camera angles that needs to be fixed.

TEN - I honestly think that they went crazy on this game, and just made it too difficult, especially when Spyro seems to get stunned so easily. I think the atmosphere gets even more daunting and horrible, way too dark. The combat still feels bad, it's pretty much ANB all over again, but on a much worse scale, I've never managed to complete this game, I literally had to just watch a walkthrough of it on YouTube, just couldn't beat it for the life of me, and I even found the walkthrough to be boring as well.

DOTD - At least there is one improvement for this one, the colours, they're really eye-catching and are not dull to look at, apart from the Burned Lands, that one is horrible. When Spyro flies across the lava he seems to just blend in with it. I actually think that the combat system has been improved upon, but the hit detection system is very poor. I think that the elements are much better in this one, and the best level is The Valley of Avalar in my opinion, the objectives you have to do in that one seem to be the most interesting. But back to the way the characters are and the way the story is, I think it's really corny, every time a cut-scene starts, I just skip it right away, all the voice-acting in this one seem terrible. There are many furstrating parts to this game though. I'd say in terms of gameplay, this one is probably the best one to play out of the three. I don't like the fact that you can no longer charge at all, and they took the ability out for you to swim, like in the previous two, I know you can charge in the other two, but it seems you can only sort of go in a straight line.

This made me lol. NONE of the LoS games were diffucult, try playing Okami, Jak 2, or the original crash bandicoot. Then you'll see what difficult is. c:

Trust me, I have played difficult games; video games like Red Dead Revolver, Gun & The Godfather, even some of the missions in the GTA games are tough. I just think that TEN beats them all with the difficulty.

Please explain to me HOW this game is difficult? I can beat it in half a day easy, if I ever actually played video games for that long straight.

For me, the only bad thing "TLOS series" that had few games. I mean, the story could have been longer. Something like so classic Spyro, who were five games. And the story a little better, because it was a bit simple. Add more characters, more and new places, more plot.

But, well, plays settle fanfic side, to give yourself your own story to the continuation of this saga.

Quote: Sesshomaru75

Isn't difficulty a matter of opinion and perspective?

Yep, that's what I've been thinking.

Huh... do I hear TEN for the GBA being brought up? You do know it's just Metroidvania with a Spyro skin on it, right? Yes, it's good, but so's every other Metroidvania I've played on a handheld. But at least it IS good. Maybe Spyro should stick to handhelds? p.o

^ Ha, yeah, many of Spyro's handheld games ended up being much better well received (and, in a couple cases, more commercially successful) than his post-PS1 console experiences.

On topic, though, I agree that The Legend of Spyro could have been much better. It's like with Silent Hill 4: The Room; it had great ideas, poor execution, and even if you like/love the series I think just about everyone agrees that it failed to live up to its full potential.

I disagree. From what I saw, the concept didn't have potential to begin with!

Quote: HIR

I disagree. From what I saw, the concept didn't have potential to begin with!

Trololo

Quote: wuffser

Quote: HIR

I disagree. From what I saw, the concept didn't have potential to begin with!

Trololo

Indeed...