darkSpyro

I've played a lot more Skylanders than classic Spyro, and while some Spyro fans really dislike Skylanders, most of the complaints I've seen came from people who noted they have never played Skylanders and don't know much about it, so presumably they dislike it on principle (rather than because it's not fun(?))

I'd like to know more. I'm genuinely curious.
So if you like Spyro but don't like Skylanders, my question is, what is the reason or feeling for the dislike? And what do you think Skylanders could do that would let you like it? What would it take for a Skylanders game to add to your Spyro experience instead of detract from it?

- I have heard a lot of people complain that Spryo's shorter snout is too ugly. Is that the big problem with Skylanders? If they fixed that, that would be enough?

- I've heard that Skylanders is no good because it's aimed at kids. Is this it? (I actually get the impression it's the other way around - that Classic Spyro was more for kids than Skylanders is, but people who played classic Spyro ten years ago aren't kids anymore, so Skylanders doesn't appeal but they still love Classic Spyro because it was a cool part of their childhood. A player having grown up in the time gap between Classic and Skylanders makes total sense to me as to why Skylanders had no appeal. Comments?)

- I've heard that Skylanders sucks because it's too expensive, but that seems more like an excuse - it does cost more, but I really don't think this can be the source of the dislike because a Spyro fan would try to find the money for more Spyro games, not declare them to be not Spyro simply because of price. So I think something else is the cause of the dislike.

- Is it because Spyro is one character among many Skylanders, instead of the main character? (Even though you can play as much of the game as Spyro as you want, just the knowledge that there's all those others is really bothersome?)

- Is it because you miss Sparx? Or there is some gameplay feature you miss? Is there something missing from Skylanders that if it had it, you would decide that Skylanders was cool too?

My complaints with Skylanders have nothing to do with the gameplay. I think it's a series of fine, fun games. My big problem is Activision's approach to the figurines concept. The fact that a starter pack only nets me a few characters (3, I think) means that A) I only get 3 lives before it's game over and I get kicked back to the start of a chapter, areas of the game and the goodies within them remained sealed off entirely, and C) I don't get to experience a large majority of the "diversity" the games claim to offer unless I'm willing to fork over extra money. Which is not okay in any way my books.

Trap Team (arguably the best game quality wise, to me) is particularly atrocious with the "Traps." Trapping villains is the game's central gimmick, but you'd best be prepared to fork over extra cash if you want to get the full experience and capture villains of different attributes. Otherwise, it doesn't do anything to differentiate itself from Swap Force.

Which is why I will never buy these games or any of the related merchandise, no matter how good they may be. <.<

Well,from the outside it's exactly like that,HIR - but for SSA and SG,the fact that now the figures cost 1 dollar used in the US means that you probably get the full experience for way less than 100 bucks like people who were around from the get go.For those two,you only need to get 6 more characters - 5 other elements, 1 Giant and if you have the Portal Owners pack you get that with the game for cheap.

And with TT, it's not actually the traps that unlock things most of the time; some will give you hats but it's very few - Trap Masters are needed to open the elemental gates this time,and pretty much everyone in the fandom agrees that was stupid. At least in Swap Force,even with Swap areas the gates were still the meat of the extras in levels.
But it doesn't change the fact it's DLC that looks pretty(and if you have the parts can be made into actual toys), and if you don't like that no one can blame you.

And Archvillain, if someone hates Spyro and Cynder's design and uses it as argument to hate on the entire franchise, chances are it's bandwagon. Not too long ago me and others were trying to convince someone that the designs got better but it was obvious that it was just an excuse to not give Skylanders a chance. Heck try going anywhere with a significant amount of Classic/LOS genwunners,they'll just say it looks ugly and it killed Spyro and oh my god it's horrible,but not have anything to say if you show them the new models.

I don't dislike Skylanders, I just don't care for it.

I don't really dislike Skylanders, I'm just not interested in it much nor am I really intersted in investing money on the games. I've played some of Giants with my nephews and nieces before, I had no idea what I was doing, but it wasn't too bad. I haven't really played a game all the way through, and probably won't unless I suddenly have access to any of them again.

I don't have problems with the designs, really, but I haven't really looked at them much.

The best solution I have is to let these non-fans have everything for free, but given most of the fanatics will still refuse, I'd say the Spyro fans are just too hard to crack and that they'll never like it. I mean, I actually don't have the games myself, but only because I want to get a Mac and having to buy $100 worth of progress keys and micro transactions will hinder my savings progress.

I even made another topic regarding the "free" thing: [link]

You can't make everyone happy. It's not solution, it's asking to go bankrupt. If they don't spend money on toys Tuff Luck but Acti isn't here to please them.

I do own Spyro's Adventure and played it a bit, but it just wasn't something I really got into. I don't hate it, I just don't bother with it.

I might go back at some point and play it through entirely, making a decision on if I like/hate it after playing the whole thing, but for now...

Quote: SuperSpyroFan

I don't dislike Skylanders, I just don't care for it.

^Same here.

I just played the first game and I got the platinum trophy and all, but I don't like the game series, that's all.

Honestly, if the games had stuck to actually being Spyro-related, I'd probably have enjoyed them. I don't HATE them as it is (granted, I've only played the very first one, and never bothered with the others as they were too expensive imo). The thing is, after the first three and sort of the fourth games, I stopped playing Spyro games based purely on enjoyment, and started playing them because I just... enjoyed Spyro!

So without Spyro being a focus and with so much of his world completely taken away, leaving him with only rebooted Sparx, Cynder, and sort of maybe Moneybags, there's really not much for me to care about. The gameplay is nice, but it's a little... young for me? I mean, your hand is held through the entire game, there isn't much room for creativity or exploration, the levels are super linear rather than open. That's not necessarily a bad thing! But it's not something I'm interested in really.

I like the characters, I like the music, I think it's a creative idea, but I just don't... care. There's lots of games with good music, characters, and ideas that I haven't bothered to play, because I want REASONS to play them, and Skylanders just doesn't have any good reasons for me. If they were actually Spyro-centric, rather than just use Spyro as an advertiser, I probably would actually have stuck through the entire series.

You don't need to buy everything to get the best time of it. Forever stuck with 31% on TT because I see no reason to get Trap Masters,didn't lose any enjoyment out of it - just funny hats.
Also won't even get into the fact that AHT spyro is the one that looks like a winged dog to me.

Quote: Bifrost

Also won't even get into the fact that AHT spyro is the one that looks like a winged dog to me.

Really? This-



Looks more like a dog to you than this?



I really just don't see it

Look at the features. Skyro has a snake-like snout, even a overbite, and defined scales. AHT Spyro has no defined scales other than the giant eyebrows, and overall just looks mammalian - even his plates look more like stripes.
Also that picture is broken,lemme fix that for you. Don't mind the giant horns that's one of the special upgrades for the Series 3 figure.

AHT Spyro has defined scales, they're just more subtle. And he has even more of an overbite than Skylanders Spyro.

The problem with Skylanders Spyro's snout is that it barely protrudes out from under his eyes at all. Reptiles- yes, even snakes- has a more pointed, elongated head with the eyes set further back from the edge of the snout. Skylanders Spyro's is more pressed in and flat looking, like a pug

Might be just that I've seen way too many dragon designs over the years and a short snout hardly looks like a problem as long as it is reptile-y. And thinking about it, if Skyro had more far apart eyes it'd be just uncanny like some of his S1 mispaints.
I can't distingish a single scale on AHT Spyro though, and I've always played it on big tvs while I had my PS2. Not that anyone else in the game has more detail.

Quote: Bifrost

I can't distingish a single scale on AHT Spyro though, and I've always played it on big tvs while I had my PS2. Not that anyone else in the game has more detail.

I don't have time to find an example myself, but the best thing I could say is to look at AHT's model viewer. The scales are most distinguishable around his crests and on the top of his head.

I passionately hate Skylanders, but mostly for what they did to Spyro as he's practically a childhood hero of mine.

I HAVE played Skylanders though, believe me when I say this but I had hoped till the day I finally got Spyro's adventure (DS version) and played it that it would be at least a decent game despite all the hate for Spyro's design. I very much disliked his looks but I was more than willing to look over that if the gameplay was decent. Sure enough... It was a disappointment. Even for a child's game, it's disappointing.

The game was nothing but a button mashing fest. Sure there's upgrades, but they do nothing to really add to it. Platforming was rather bland. Saying that the challenges and levels were all the same is like an understatement. (Seriously, if they had even just changed the level theme in each set instead of making you go through the same terrain 5 levels straight, that alone would've made it bearable. And I hated how they constantly reused the arena stages.) Hector was a complete pushover and never appeared till the end except when he's hunting you, which did not feel threatening after the first few levels. The game was extremely easy, even to the point where I had completed it with only one character death. Worse part as far as the game itself is concerned is that I had only needed to play it for about 7-8 hours. I was begging hector at the end to give me more, I wanted to beat him even further and charge through more difficult areas. But no, he disapoofed. Congratulations, and credits roll. I know this is a game made for children but seriously, over 60$ for this much gameplay that isn't even that good? Why should I waste all that money when I can get the original Spyro games for more fun and gameplay. hey, I had more fun playing Hamtaro for the game boy color, which is very much a children's game, than this. You could say that playing other characters would change the game abit and make it more fun, but that's also adding to that 60$, and the characters are hardly that interesting and I'd rather they had not focused on so many characters and made the ones they'd keep decently balanced so you can't constantly spam and be fun to play. But they just wanted them monies.

But no... this is just what I think of it as a game. I'll admit, I do wish to try the console version to see if there is any differences, but I'm not motivated to do so.

What REALLY makes me hate this game is what it did to Spyro. All they did is take his name, and slapped it on the cover and the game title. That's it. Sure, he's in the game, but is only one along with 31 other characters which have names I can't help but facepalm to. (Sealth Elf... Really?) None of the previous characters are even in but Cynder (Who is more purple than spyro for some reason!). And now he's faded from Skylanders and is currently a bug eyed pet lizard. No hope of redemption. Just was there for the initial advertizement.

There's another fact that makes me hate this game more, but I'll just say that I don't think I should say it here. I haven't played any of the other skylanders past Spyro's adventure, and don't intend to. I'll admit I'm also a major fan of classical spyro, and I rather liked the legend series minus dawn of the Dragon if that tells that I'm just bias or something, but I'm glad for at least sharing my opinion.

You're playing the 3DS versions of the game,that's the problem. They're never better than console except for story a few times,and that's when they're not horrible in their own right.
You don't need to play the games. Get an LPer(I could recommend someone but not in the thread because I'd be advertising another user), watch the recent games, no one's stopping you. The console versions are SO much better in design and dialogue,even with the obvious kid oriented stuff - it has a happy-go-lucky vibe in a world that if you go around digging you find cannibalism,genocide, fates worse than death,all that good stuff.

Other smaller nitpicks:
Cynder has been purple since DOTD,before she was dark blue. She just got more purple in Skylanders apparently because she's undead and they all get bluer than usual(her true scale color is never mentioned though).
Stealth Elf is a nickname. All but the dragons are implied to use different names ever since they took the job. Though only two have been revealed(Ghost Roaster is named Olav and Ignitor is Ignatius). They're mostly puns to be easier to remember,not because anyone is trying to be dumb.

But hate is really a darn strong word. I really don't like that Spyro got put in pretty much a crossover game, I'm not going to be a saint that loves everything that happens. But Spyro is pretty much the second in command below the Portal Master in the series - of course,because of the gameplay,that actually only shows up in the novels and the comics where he's around all the time. He's not some old shame that's quickly forgotten,he's just as important as the other skylanders; and of course people are asking since day one for more standalone games for all skylanders who have deep personalities of their own. I like Skylanders for what it is,not for what I want to see through nostalgia goggles. It's fun and it's smart most of the time,and though it's expensive, it's a crazy ride especially in co-op.
You really can't hate pixels like they punched your dog without having more problems for yourself than the game. Not liking gameplay or not having spare money is one thing,but nostalgia can't keep you from enjoying a different series.

EDIT:And in case you or anyone else just dives in looking for the console game, keep in mind that the description that someone said in the past of 'Diablo-lite' is very accurate. Until the third game there's no jumping and even then plataforming is mostly to give a better sense of height than actually being challenging. Challenge is in enemy encounters(because some love having tons of armor and punish you for not noticing tells) and SOME puzzles.

Thanks for clearing that up. I've looked through reviews in various places and saw that some people liked the 3DS version better for some reason, and I couldn't believe it for how bad I thought it was. Though I probably won't be able to get into a lets play, at least not a full one, as I get too busy with other stuff. Really, if Skylanders was just it's own thing and never put Spyro in the original game, I wouldn't hate the game and just ignore it, as I'm guessing other classical/legend Spyro fans would agree with. That's why I tried to keep my opinions on the gameplay and spyro's existence separate.

Unfortunately though, Spyro has faded from the games. Sure, he's in the comics and such, and was indeed like second in command during the first game, it seems he faded in that position. Maybe I'm wrong on that, having not played the other games, but that's just what it seems.

(Also, Cynder was very dark purple in DotD, but I personally ignored that as the story has already established as her being a black dragon, and took it as just the designers wanting to give her a slight purple shade for whatever reason. But the change from DotD black-purple to being bright purple, even more purple than spyro is in Skylanders, just really annoys me.)

He's getting as much attention as everyone else in the games,even if that's very little no matter who. In fact people are really just clamoring to stop releasing new figures of him(he got a Mini version instead of a repose this time) since it's taking spots from characters who haven't seen a facelift since the first game. Better him than Gill Grunt or Eruptor though,poster boys for oversaturating the market despite being really easy to find in all incarnations. Other than that the older series get referenced a lot but again, Spyro is treated equal so if they stopped calling new 'landers by name they stop calling everyone altogether.

Dunno about Cynder, a quick look with a color picker on image editing software shows that she's never really black. But she's definately not a real purple dragon unless Malefor says otherwise in the upcoming comic about she,Hex and Spyro's story with him; it's a side effect of being corrupted by undead magic which used to have dark purple as a color theme before the Dark element was announced. Never had an issue with it,had more with her... Chest plates, which got fixed and properly flattened as soon as the second game so all's good.

BUT, if you really don't have time to check out an LP,you can always go for some gameplay on the characters. There's probably some high quality vignettes for Cynder and Spyro on Trap Team and Swap Force where the textures don't get in the way as much. It's usually quick,shows the basic moves on their better path, special upgrades if applicable. Maybe you'll even get interested in seeing it in other characters because well designed/fun ones is something Skylanders doesn't lack.

As someone that generally avoided "cute" games like Spyro, I avoided the franchise altogether when it first appeared onto the scene. I've actually gone BACK to the original Spyro games BECAUSE of Skylanders.

To the critics on the difficulty: I believe games (regardless of target audeince) has gotten DUMBER. I'm afraid folks don't REALLY like difficulty. If it can't be beaten reasonably, then it's a bad game. Since I was on the scene when video games first hit the arcades and home, I know a thing or two about difficulty. Graphics and challenge have appeared to have an inverse relationship--meaning as graphics has gotten better over time, the difficulty of games have been scaled back. I think it's a legitimate complaint, and I keep hoping they would amp it up a bit more in Skylanders.

I'm only in the third homeworld in the first Spyro game and I'm legitimately stuck trying to get all the gems. And to think THAT game was built for kids. Personally, kids need less handholding thee days. It's disingenuous. And to see some of the guards mooning me and making faces? Classic!

What I'm finding out though is that there are cute games and then there are clever games. Spyro and Skylanders happen to be both.

The games have gotten cheap, not dumber. They have a LOOONG way to go until they reach fake difficulty,as in The Eternal Night's knockback "mechanics". Though with the focus on combat,it feels like it in some challenges with the enemy AI being magnetically attracted to your skylanders's face even if they're a giant hulking monster.

Now on plot, we've argued more than enough over it at the Skylanders threads, but it's never involving Spyro since the skylanders just sit around while the things I question happen.

I'll be careful not to go paragraph by paragraph on my "very important" opinion, so I'll say mine simply.

Activision, honestly, ruined him with his looks. Some features are way too apparently (Like the end of his tail, and his eyes.) How you say, he was beat with the ugly stick. But hey, kids now-a-days never knew what he looked like so they don't care. Also the same with Cynder.

Second, story. Activision decided to take everything we ("we is kinda split sadly") loved about Spyro. Took away his brother/best friend from his very conception, Sparx. Then they gave him all these random friends they call "Skylanders."
Oh this peebs me off to the highest extent. And the nerve they have to say that Skylander's is still focused on Spyro?
As Sparx would say, "My tail section."
Skylanders. All of the games you don't even have to play Spyro to truely play. And how about their advertising, eh?
9/10 of their advertisements don't even mingle Spyro into it.
And classic Activision marketing scheme. Create severation variations (Which are pretty much the same anyway) to create the most cash of gullible children to buy each one. And don't get me started on the damn little toys of this portal technology you have to buy.
Several mistakes were made. This is why I hate Skylanders.

Just to point out: Sparx is in Skylanders, as a magic item in one of the old adventure packs.

And while Spyro's role is small in Skylander games, his role is bigger in the novels and comic books.

boop.

Sweet. Sparx went from
HealthBar/BestFriend/"Guardian"
to
Brother
to
Comedic Relief who could not stop changing his voice.
to
Item

Wow, sparx had a good hold of the top of the ladder then he just into the pit of forgotten.

Quote: ViceEmargo

I know how he looked like before(I WAS a fan before), does that mean I don't care?
Spyro is still a hero with a brave heart who scorches bad guys left and right or headbutts if you want to upgrade him like that. They removed the games,not what made him likeable.
Different iterations aren't forcing you to buy crap. It's an extra upgrade or a different toy pose, only collectors are really getting every single one.
Mistakes is different from not agreeing with a decision. They're making money,so definately not a mistake. Read the books and comics if you want Spyro to have the spotlight, in Spyro's Kingdom he wasn't even going to be playable; at least now nor he nor any other skylander is more important than the other ingame.

It's not his appearance that irks me.

They trashed his story and replaced it with something mediocre to Spyro himself.

Skylanders is not about Spyro at all. They did their typical "con scheme" and simply added Spyro to drag in an audience to their new game. That's what really irritates me above anything else. That they have to nerve to call it a Spyro game.
He's not himself anymore.

This is a completely different Spyro, not the same dragon you grew up with. He is part of a much larger team that you will have to get use to. Yes, Skylanders isn't just about Spyro, it's a universe that in a way helped reintroduce him to a new generation of gamers who had no idea who Spyro was.

At least he's not stuck in limbo like Crash.

Quote: ViceEmargo

It's not his appearance that irks me.

They trashed his story and replaced it with something mediocre to Spyro himself.

Skylanders is not about Spyro at all. They did their typical "con scheme" and simply added Spyro to drag in an audience to their new game. That's what really irritates me above anything else. That they have to nerve to call it a Spyro game.
He's not himself anymore.

He IS himself. They didn't trash anything, in fact, it's implied that he was doing things similar to the classic games and he was working on his own way before being recruited in Summer Forest.
Skylanders is not about Spyro,no one is going to fool you into that but yourself. But it's also not about Cynder. It's not about Ignitor,or Drobot,or Enigma,or whoever. It's about none of the Skylanders and all of them at the same time, it's just who you choose to play as. They also don't call them Spyro games,it's Skylanders franchise who happens to have Spyro in it, and he's himself the same way Sonic in Smash Bros. is himself or however else,even if it's not their game.

Yeah, I'm probably coming off as an ego-maniacle original Spyro fan and I'm sorry.
It's just that I feel like Spyro is much better as a character in a smaller environment...than in this, massive group, where his importance is slim to none. In all of his previous games, he plays the hero amongst the odds. Now he's...basically part of like a massive peace keeping army or something.

{ADD NOTE: Never thoroughly played Skylanders. But have seen decent sums of footage }

Kind of how I see a lot of people react to Pac Man in Smash Bros. (Very select few, I don't talk to a lot of people who play the game regularly, so this may be some misinformation.)

Dunno,when Pac-man was announced I didn't hear any people mad that he wasn't X incarnation,more like 'OMG I CAN MAKE MARIO FIGHT PAC-MAN NOW'.

No need to apologize if you don't agree with it, just there's no need to really have this rage over pixels. The classic games are still there, Acti didn't keep people from finding and playing the classics in any place. And I won't pat them in the head for Skylanders, they're still sitting on the IPs of Spyro and Crash waiting for who the heck knows while they could be making Skylanders AND new games for the two, which would please a lot more people probably.
And he has importance in the group, you just can't be given that in the games because kids will be mad if they're told their favorite character matters 1% less. He's said to be the second in command to the Portal Master(the player and Master Eon if he's avaliable) just about everywhere else.
I won't really tell you to get the game or anything if you've seen it and didn't like it, I just don't like misinformation and getting this mad over it. The games from the childhood are still there,and again, I don't agree with what Acti did to begin with but I learned to like the game for what it is and not what it should've been - probably because the devs still care to at least make a darn fun game.

Quote: Bifrost

Well,from the outside it's exactly like that,HIR - but for SSA and SG,the fact that now the figures cost 1 dollar used in the US means that you probably get the full experience for way less than 100 bucks like people who were around from the get go.For those two,you only need to get 6 more characters - 5 other elements, 1 Giant and if you have the Portal Owners pack you get that with the game for cheap.

ONE BUCK PER FIGURE!? ...Wow I've been shopping at the wrong stores. I get my figures for five bucks, even rare ones. (Even then though, that's still pretty cheap).

I've seen someone mention it,but take my word with a grain of salt; in any case there's always used figure auctions on Ebay that start at 1 dollar and have some decent ones like S2s already.

I am a long time spyro fan, I grew up with the series. and when I heard about skylanders I was excited, then disappointed and I hated skylanders for a long time, well last year when trap team came out I decided to give it a try (because I got it for 30$ at black friday plus I had a toys r us discount because I was an employee) and I fell in love with skylanders its fun its innocent, its just a really fun, cute great game, I was surprised when I played it that I liked it. if its money issues keeping people away, I will tell you that you can get skylanders: spyros adventure, giants and swap force pretty cheap and a lot of the figure pretty cheap too, I got 3 adventure packs (retail around 30$) for 10$ by price matching it at toysrus. I would sincerely consider buying it if you are a long time fan of spyro like myself.

Black Friday is like Skylanders Christmas if the US posters aren't exaggerating. Not even a bundle of broken/used figures on Ebay can get as cheap as the figure/game sales on that day.

I haven't posted in forever.

Hi.

I am a long time Spyro fan, since 1998. I played all of Spyro's titles. But of Skylanders, I have played only SA and Giants before I quit altogether. Since I was in my twenties when the Skylanders games dropped, it was easier for me to collect these characters with disposable income. There are lots of reasons why I quit playing the game, but the main one is this:

It's just too expensive. It's completely possible to play the game without throwing money around, but the adventure of buying the pieces during the first two series of the game was more adventurous than the games themselves. I spend lots of time and money hunting down figures to get a complete series 1 and 2. And that, is exactly what Activision wants. I don't necessarily blame them for wanting to make money. It's a successful franchise. But for me, I'm done, and I am just unwilling to put myself through a real life budget of trying to have fun with a game that isn't worth its dime on screen. I don't like spending hundreds of dollars on micro-transactions in a mobile game, and I don't like playing Skylanders. And to me, they are practically the same thing.

I do not play games targeted towards younger audiences in particular, but I do enjoy well crafted material, regardless of the targeted demographic. Heck, I'm a brony. But Skylanders just hasn't been a fun game for me. Because I like to collect things, it's a risk I am unwilling to take to attempt playing the newer Skylanders game to see if the gameplay has gotten any better. I just see it as a huge gimmick at this point.

I am one of those fans of old that patiently wait for Spyro to separate himself and be in his own game again free from all the gimmicks and under the care of a great story-telling video game maker. Until then, I'm taking my entertainment dollars elsewhere.

Quote: ViceEmargo

...I feel like Spyro is much better as a character in a smaller environment...than in this, massive group, where his importance is slim to none. In all of his previous games, he plays the hero amongst the odds. Now he's...basically part of like a massive peace keeping army or something.

Much of my feeling, as well. I remember when Legend of Spyro was a thing, there were lots of Spyro fans that hated that turn as well. Little did the fanbase realize things would change even more, lol. However, I thoroughly enjoyed DotD, a game which had tons of potential for story greatness, but it wasn't executed very well, in my opinion. I can't help but think there is a handful of people behind that game series that really had some big ideas for it, but were outnumbered by the people that just wanted to cash in.

Quote: Bifrost

The classic games are still there, Acti didn't keep people from finding and playing the classics in any place. And I won't pat them in the head for Skylanders, they're still sitting on the IPs of Spyro and Crash waiting for who the heck knows while they could be making Skylanders AND new games for the two, which would please a lot more people probably.

...the devs still care to at least make a darn fun game....

And therein lies the belief I choose to have. That there are tons of game developers that have our best interest at heart. I consider a lot of them artists. Some game designs are beautiful. It's just, in order to appreciate that in this day in age, you have to be willing to hurdle the commercial nonsense and gimmicky playstyle that triple-A game companies have found to be the most profitable.

That's a hurdle? I play games because I like them not because of the mascot they have. If the most recent one(which if you live in the US is actually the least expensive one to 100%) has cool story and just happens to have playable Spyro,nice. I'm not a slave to Acti to collect everything and throw thousands of dollars in this game, I just buy who I want and feel like playing. If you don't want to do exactly what they want, don't act like they never gave you a choice to spend less instead of spending all or nothing.

I grew up with the PS1 Spyro games and loved them. I can still remember how excited I was when I found out Spyro 2 was coming out.

However, after Spyro 3, to this day I've not played any of the other games. I was never all that bothered about getting a PS2 as a kid because there were so many PS1 games I was still collecting, and by the time I did get one, I was into the Driver and GTA series, and the newer Spyro games never appealed to me back then.

It wasn't that I'd "grown out" of platformers, because from age 8 when I got my Playstation 1 to now (24), I still play through my favourite game series (Crash, Spyro, Croc, Oddworld) once a year or so. I think I just knew the new games were made by a different company, and they wouldn't be the same.

I would like to play the newer games, even Skylanders with an open mind. But I'll have to accept they won't live up to my favourites.

Instead, perhaps what I could say is that I tried the Skylanders experiment for two years.

Open mind for the gameplay style.

Didn't feel obligated to buy a lot, but wanted to buy more in enthusiasm for the game. I wanted to come for the dragon and stay for the game.

Spyro not required.

But ultimately, that experiment failed. I like to play fun games, a lot. But Skylanders didn't scratch that itch. It's not Spyro anymore to me. And I'm not talking about the dragon, I'm talking about the level of fun playing an adventure platformer. They just don't make games in this genre that I love playing anymore. That's why projects like this are getting heavily funded. People miss these kinds of games. We want them back.

Well I do want games like Yooka-Laylee back,but that doesn't mean I'm also not playing what's around that's good enough. But if it isn't your gameplay cup of tea, I can't convince you otherwise.

I would love a game where it's just a spin-off adventure of the new Skylanders version of Spyro. That would be awesome. It's more than possible, considering that Activision once said there's a chance they could make a new Spyro game.

What I liked
-Interesting character designs, kind of reminded me of classic and LoS.
-Somewhat okay level designs.
-Good voice acting.
-Somewhat okay villain, played by the same guy who voiced Razputin!

What I hated
-Somewhat okay villan got reused three time, no different motive, it was always to take over skylands. Became bland saturday morning bad guy.
-Redundant game play, level pacing was awful.
-Characters started to look less unique.
-It became clear that Activisons motive was for money.

I don't think skylanders can do anything to win me over at this point.

Dunno, your mileage may vary on the negative points,especially with Superchargers around(spoileeers),but hey,you tried to enjoy it,it's fine.

Quote: Bifrost

Dunno, your mileage may vary on the negative points,especially with Superchargers around(spoileeers),but hey,you tried to enjoy it,it's fine.

Don't get me wrong, I wanted to enjoy Skylanders, but the things I listed made it really hard to enjoy it properly.

I know,and you tried it,which is why I said it's fine. Just meant I find some characters more unique than SSA ones nowadays like say Blastermind,Flip Wreck or Smash Hit; but it's really just how I see it since I don't really collect them and my reference is videos.

Quote: Aura24

This is a completely different Spyro, not the same dragon you grew up with. He is part of a much larger team that you will have to get use to. Yes, Skylanders isn't just about Spyro, it's a universe that in a way helped reintroduce him to a new generation of gamers who had no idea who Spyro was.

At least he's not stuck in limbo like Crash.

Lol I'd rather him be stuck in limbo tbh. Sometimes it's better to just let a character go, something which should have happened to him after YOTD. I honestly think Crash has always been in a better situation than Spyro

Although, if Skylanders didn't come along then Spyro probably would have continued through TLOS, considering there was that Spyro movie, so I guess I'm grateful for that since even though I don't like Skylanders and rather had both Skylanders and TLOS not exist, I'd rather have Skylanders than more TLOS.

I do also love the fact that Skylanders has introduced some of the younger generation to the older Spyro games, since there seems to be quite a few people who have become Spyro fans through Skylanders. The classic Spyro trilogy can be bought on the Playstation Network, so I can imagine a lot of Skylanders fans discovering that Spyro existed before Skylanders through the internet and hence downloading his trilogy on the network. :')