darkSpyro

Don't get me wrong, I love this game, but honestly it feels 'empty' in a way. I personally feel like there could have been more mini games that were more involved. I don't know that's just what I think.

Well, that's what the critics felt like at the time, which is why the game has such a low review score despite being so polished. And,to be fair, the collect-a-thon aspect really is empty - Dark Gems are incredibly easy to find, meanwhile everything else only unlocks new areas you probably don't care about anymore or extra things that most people will gloss over. It's not like, say, Banjo-Kazooie, where everything goes hand in hand to make the game more fun as a whole.

I feel the exact same way about the game feeling "empty", but for me it only applies to the last half of the game. The first part of the game actually feels perfect in my opinion, but something changes as soon as you reach Volcanic Isle- it feels almost rushed. I think what really made me see this was talking with Teena the Hyena and fighting the enemies in Molten Mount. It didn't seem like as much time had been put in this part of the game as earlier sections.

It really needed about 4 more levels to pad things out a bit. Then they could reduce the amount of challenges you had to do twice. It artificially extended the game without making it anymore fun. Definitely felt rushed in some respects, but that's big companies for ya! Look at EtD and what that could have been.

I think part of it was that it was definitely lacking in collectibles. They tried to give Spyro a more open world feel, and I appreciate that, but the big collectibles up until now - gems - are used as currency rather than a collectible. Light gems feel kinda pointless and dark gems are ridiculously easy to find, plus you need both (tho especially dark gems) to progress in the game so they feel more mandatory? And eggs just... don't actually matter... they unlock bonuses but they don't really.. mean anything in-game.

Plus light gems and eggs worked exactly the same way: Find them in chests, find them in secret areas, win them in minigames. Gems were a fun collectible because they were EVERYWHERE, you just had to find them.

Idk if I'm making sense, it's really late, but I do see what you mean and I feel like adding another collectible element and possibly making the minigames a little more interesting and engaging (I think the AMOUNT was fine, but they were all very similar and got repetitive quickly, unlike the minigames in YotD and RR which actually varied by level) would have really improved the game and taken away the "emptiness" of it.

It kinda ends up feeling like you're playing without a point (other than the main storyline but hey, who cares about that, right? haha)

I don't know, I like how the focus shifts away from collecting in this game. I think that's what made AHT successful (at least when comparing it to ETD). It makes this game feel a lot different that ETD, which I think was the purpose. After playing ETD I realized that a newer Spyro game that tries to imitate the original games would most likely fail (of course, it didn't help that Insomniac didn't make that game).

I agree that the light gems and eggs feel the same, which is too bad because they're the only real collectables since dark gems are put right in the middle of your path. I guess eggs are supposed to be harder to find, since they don't really have a big impact in-game, but I don't know if they actually are.

Quote: madison-dwrd

I don't know, I like how the focus shifts away from collecting in this game. I think that's what made AHT successful (at least when comparing it to ETD). It makes this game feel a lot different that ETD, which I think was the purpose. After playing ETD I realized that a newer Spyro game that tries to imitate the original games would most likely fail (of course, it didn't help that Insomniac didn't make that game).

"A newer spyro game that tries to imitate the original games would most likely fail"?

Not trying to sound rude, but had Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly been fully polished and the original ideas set in motion, it would have turned out to be a really great game, maybe even better than Spyro: Year of the Dragon. That's where most of the dissapointment comes from.
Than again, Spyro: A Hero's Tail would've never happened. And i'm glad it did happen. I'm also glad the TLoS is a seperate series. I just want SkyLanders to stop, Spyro returning to the spotlight, and the collect-a-thon type of platforming that is so beloved to return to the series.

See the first 3 games has do much charm to them, so much love and appeal, even the fourth game showed a little of what the originals had. But this game was just so, I dont know, bland I guess. Like the characters felt so uninvolved and the story was not that long or interesting. But the game itself is really cool, I personally really enjoy it, I just wish it had more love put into it, more interaction and involvement. Half of it feels rushed and it is plain sad because I really do think people would rather have a late and great game over a early and rushed game.

Quote: etherealspyro

See the first 3 games has so much charm to them, so much love and appeal, even the fourth game showed a little of what the originals had. But this game was just so, I dont know, bland I guess. Like the characters felt so uninvolved and the story was not that long or interesting. But the game itself is really cool, I personally really enjoy it, I just wish it had more love put into it, more interaction and involvement. Half of it feels rushed and it is plain sad because I really do think people would rather have a late and great game over a early and rushed game.

Indeed etherealspyro, to many games have been ruined and tarnished by rushed developement, when many fans agree it would've been better that the game had been fully developed. And playing through it now, I see what you mean about the characters being so uninvolved and the story not being that interesting.

I enjoy AHT, largely because it's a mediocre game that understands that fact and takes full advantage of it for comedy, but it could definitely have been better. I despise most of the minigames: they control weirdly, they're confusing, half of them are just outright broken... I get what the devs were going for with them, but it was like half the game is these really tedious, often unrelated minigames that aren't any fun at all. I 100% completed it once and that was the most frustrating Spyro gaming experience I've had next to 100% completing EtD.

Reminder that AHT was only slightly less rushed than EtD.

^ And yet, it's so much better. I did a recent replay and the level of detail in the game is really impressive. Good music, fun story, really pretty and well done levels... The only thing I still hate about the game is the minigames, none of which are fun. Even so, they're fairly well polished.

The minigames feel like doing a terrible chore to be honest.

Yeah they do. D: The game where you're playing Spyro is pretty fun and very well done, but I think I almost threw a PS2 controller through my tv trying to get those dang eggs/light gems in the ball gadget race in Cloudy Domain. D: I like the ball gadget as a transport, but whenever it becomes a race or is on a set track, it's just the worst (next to every Sgt. Byrd level).

Quote: Razz

Yeah they do. D: The game where you're playing Spyro is pretty fun and very well done, but I think I almost threw a PS2 controller through my tv trying to get those dang eggs/light gems in the ball gadget race in Cloudy Domain. D: I like the ball gadget as a transport, but whenever it becomes a race or is on a set track, it's just the worst (next to every Sgt. Byrd level).

Oh I loved the ball gadget in Cloudy Domain personally! I quite liked the first Sgt Byrd level but the ones after that were infuriating. The shooter challenges for the most part were pretty fun and I love the music but Blink. D: He was not fun. Hunter was great as well.

I was so bad at ball gadget races and Sgt. Byrd missions that I couldn't help but to hate them. XD Blink was so tedious, too. But Hunter is fun to play as, I agree.

Blink is awfully baaaaaaaaaad. It's a very dumbed down and bad version of Spyro (not to mention the spiders).

This game should have had more Hunter and less Blink.

Or just no Blink at all. Sheila was always fun to play; I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have been able to mess up her gameplay as badly.

To be honest it used to be my favourite Spyro game. It's now my fav now, but still. What I liked about it was the design, the new gameplay style and overall it seemed pretty fun, but it got boring with those mini games IMO. I mean, I always hated mini games, so maybe that's the biggest reason, but I found them a bit repetitive. If some of those were cut down and the levels expanded/added more levels in general, I'd be happier.

The things that threw me off at first, though were the change of the flame/charge buttons and Spyro's voice. But it was pretty easy to get used to them. I just really wish the game had less mini-games. Like, really.

I think it could have been much better (Even though it's already GREAT) if it had the level variety of the first three games, while also keeping the open world-esqe gameplay. Maybe even revisiting older level from the previous games would have been cool too.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

I think it could have been much better (Even though it's already GREAT) if it had the level variety of the first three games, while also keeping the open world-esqe gameplay. Maybe even revisiting older level from the previous games would have been cool too.

Yeah I agree! The final world especially felt rather lacking to me with the exception of Red's Laboratory at the end.

I think they should've just removed Blink altogether. Sheila is also just a more gimmicky version of Spyro (you jump high but that's completely useless, plus you move slower and the attacks are worse). Unless they changed how she worked.

Blink was most certainly the character I despised the most. The minigame was awful, and those spiders...

To be honest I would be really happy if they put Sheila in-game instead of Blink.

I must be the only person in the world who liked the Blink levels, but I understand why other people just don't like those sections at all. The only part that really bothered me about the Blink sections (and every other mini game) was the fact that I had to play them twice every time just to complete the game 100%. Once is more than enough, especially in the case of the turret and sgt byrd sections (the two worst parts of the game, in my opinion).

I would have loved sheila too.

I haven't played the game in ages, but when I did play it years ago, I certainly thought of it as my favourite Spyro game and I didn't think it was bland.

However, looking back on it now, I certainly prefer the first three. My main peeve with A Hero Tail is not the level design or the placement of collectibles or whatever; it was what they did to all the reoccurring characters. I pretty much hated all the personalities that the reoccurring characters were given. Spyro's cocky teenager attitude was really annoying and made me dislike his AHT version, Moneybags changes from someone who forces you to pay him to let you go further into the game to a simple salesman with an accent, and Hunter, Bentley and Sgt. Byrd were all really out of character. Bentley I was especially furious about. I'm positive the Bentley from YotD would have pulverized those enemies with his club that he should have on him. And he should be having a smart vocabulary. And I didn't get why they left out Bianca, or even Sheila, Elora and Agent 9 for that matter.

Another thing I didn't like about it was the atmosphere, the fact that they changed the layout and didn't use portals or ETD's use of transportation, the music and the general design of a lot of the characters. I also didn't like how the gems were changed from collectibles to the game's currency. I especially hated the mini games; Sgt Byrd's mini games were a step down from the speedways in past games and were the reason why I could never get 100% and the shooting ones were you're on a cannon were terrible. The ones where Spyro is in a ball were stupid too. Sparx's mini games were okay and were probably one of the better ones. And I hated how you had to go through them twice. I much prefer the previous speedway's method; go through it once, and the other one is a race.

Also, I've actually seen a lot of criticism over Blink's mini games, but they're actually one of the few things I like about the game. Blink's mini games are the only ones worth playing through and make sense. I understand that dark gems can be underground and hence Blink's perfect for getting them (Sheila can't replace him since Blink's a mole; moles are underground animals. Sheila or any other Spyro character can't go underground like a mole. That is why Blink is essential for this mission), but I don't see why they would be in tiny cracks, or why Spyro can't fly around in Sgt Byrd's speedways himself since he's done it multiple times before. The one criticism I do give is that Blink's move set is terrible, and how you have to go through the mini game twice to get 100%. It's fine for the first dungeon since it's easy, but it was horrid going through it again in the last one. Blink's mini games are the worse for going through twice since the later ones take so long to the point I find myself getting too used to Blink's controls and hence it becomes awkward playing as Spyro again.

So yes the game could have been better. However I'd definitely play this game over a Legend of Spyro game any day. I do think it's a good game, but there's just a lot of issues I have with it.
I do understand that it's a step up from Enter the Dragonfly and that ETD was a **** game, but I do realize that ETD is the only game post Year of the Dragon to actually stay true to what Spyro really is, from characters to gameplay to music, and because of that I appreciate it. And that game started the whole Spyro having multiple elements thing, which I thought was really cool.

I really enjoyed yotd's minigames especially in the first hubworld but yeah. Also i totally agree with DarkCynder_543, you made some great points.

The one downfall Year of the Dragon had for me was the mini games. I hated all of Agent 9's mini games except for his own world, and the yeti boxing one was terrible because of it's gameplay. A few of the mini games with Sheila was also annoying, and I hated the Sparx mini games. Sgt Byrd was the only one where I enjoyed all of his playthroughs and mini games, and he was my favourite character to play as.

I hate agent 9 as a character in general, he was so out of place and the gameplay was bad and the whole vibe just felt wrong. Sheila was one of my favorites and sgt byrd too, sparx was okay but later it gets meh.

I love Agent 9's character. He was funny. xD

My only issue with him was his combat, which was probably limited because of the console.

I agree with DarkCynder about Bentley, it was a shame how he changed (this was even more infuriating in Attack of the Rynocs, though...). I don't think the other returning characters are as different compared to past games; I think that their personalities fit with the humor of the game, which I just love for some reason.

Quote: DarkCynder_543

Another thing I didn't like about it was the atmosphere, the fact that they changed the layout and didn't use portals or ETD's use of transportation, the music and the general design of a lot of the characters. I also didn't like how the gems were changed from collectibles to the game's currency. I especially hated the mini games; Sgt Byrd's mini games were a step down from the speedways in past games and were the reason why I could never get 100% and the shooting ones were you're on a cannon were terrible.

I much prefer the previous speedway's method; go through it once, and the other one is a race.


I do understand that it's a step up from Enter the Dragonfly and that ETD was a **** game, but I do realize that ETD is the only game post Year of the Dragon to actually stay true to what Spyro really is, from characters to gameplay to music, and because of that I appreciate it.

I can understand this point of view, but I think that the fact that AHT deviated from the traditional Spyro formula was what made it better than ETD. Even if ETD was a finished, polished game, I don't think that a newer "traditional" Spyro made by someone other than Insomniac would have ended up as a good game. To be honest, I didn't accept AHT too well when it was new, though to be fair I hadn't yet played ETD by this point (lucky me ) so I was comparing it to the originals. Only after playing ETD, I realized that copying and pasting the original Spyro formula wasn't a sure-fire solution.

You're totally right about speedways. I haven't really thought about it before, but now I wish that was in the game. Except maybe Spyro 2 style speedways, not Spyro 3. I personally hate those races (so boring after the first lap...), but I absolutely adore the secret orbs. I think it would have benefited AHT a lot more than Sgt. Byrd, but then again they wanted "5 heroes" and all that so he's our obligatory fifth playable character.

And I agree: the turret minigames are awful