darkSpyro

During my childhood I was a real fan of Spyro games, each and every one of them. The ones I really loved were the PSX ones, but I also liked GBA/PS2 ones. So when I first played A Hero's Tail (maybe this is not the game I'm talking about and this is going to be absolute embarrassment) my first thought was "What the heck happened to gems?" I'm talking about the game in which gems started being used as currency instead of collectibles.
At first I thought "Why did they do this? The old system was perfect, they didn't have to change anything!" But throughout the game I got used to that system and startec actually liking it (being able to buy usable items and stuff, something you couldn't do in the previous games).
So my question is: Which gem system do you people prefer?

I think both styles fit their games perfect. The GBA/PSX games, where gems were collectibles, were collect-a-thon games, but A Hero's Tail was more narrative driven, with more linear levels to boot. I enjoyed the collectable gems more because I'm a bigger fan of adventuring around levels to collect everything (except in Donkey Kong 64 which just took collecting things to an extreme level). <.<;

I like them both, but I do prefer the collect-a-thon style of gem collecting, as I have always been a fan of 100%ing games, and collecting all things necessary to complete the game. Gems were really find to find all of throughout all the Spyro games they were in, finding even single last one...no matter how long it takes...sometimes it takes a full hour to find that one last gem 'cough' Cloud Spires 'cough' IT WAS RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE!

Quote: TorchSheep

I like them both, but I do prefer the collect-a-thon style of gem collecting, as I have always been a fan of 100%ing games, and collecting all things necessary to complete the game. Gems were really find to find all of throughout all the Spyro games they were in, finding even single last one...no matter how long it takes...sometimes it takes a full hour to find that one last gem 'cough' Cloud Spires 'cough' IT WAS RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE!

Totally know that feeling. When I was a kid I didn't know about the R1+R2+L1+L2 Sparx cheat, and some gems would take forever to find. Now I try not to abuse it, since it kind of ruins the fun.

I really love the collectible style because its a challenge to find and collect them in every area, just like an Orb, Eggs, Dragonflies, etc...

The company of A Hero's Tail obviously took that idea from Insomniac Games off of their Ratchet & Clank franchise; those games do it in a similar way, just that it's bolts instead of gems. So since they kind of took that idea from them, it kind of ruins it for me in a sense, it was way better to have them as collectibles instead of currency; I enjoyed searching for the key to unlock a chest in the older ones; not simply buy a key, and bring it to the chest, it kind of spoils it. It's still a good game though. Then again, there are many other collectibles, like eggs to unlock Ember and Flame as playables; light, and dark gems.