Any updates on your journey through this beautiful game after 5 1/2 years of hiatus?

dude hasn't been here since 2018. i doubt he's going to update the thread at this point

NOTE: This blog is NOT cancelled, just on hiatus...hopefully...

I also like to thank everyone for sticking with me through this, you guys and gals rock!!

UpDownLeftWrite wrote:

I'm sorry about the delay, I've been playing other games lately (mostly Jak and Daxter), and doing a class for astronomy. I kind of owe the Spyro games for getting me into space and such. The background designs for these games are probably my favorite thing about them. I'm going to get back to this terrific game tomorrow and hopefully finish off Monkey Monasteries. Thank you all for your patience.

P.S. Enter the Dragonfly's backgrounds are...bleh...

In my opinion(And my opinion on this game is always 100% opposite of the popular one, EtD is my 2nd favorite game of all time), the backgrounds in EtD are really great. They may look a bit less detailed than the older games due to the method they used to make the skies(The older Vertex Paint vs. EtD's small Gradient Texture with other 3D gradient objects). IMO, EtD made the backgrounds less static. Instead of making a static sky, they added a background and 3D objects to allow moving clouds, real Depth of Field on the clouds, Lightning, and overall easy dynamic manipulation with the skys. I think the way they do the gradients makes it look pretty close to the old PS1 look. As for Monkey Monastery, that's my favorite level in the game. I'd say if you don't enjoy that level, you probably won't really enjoy any more afterwards.

Oh yeah, also everyone else who says the game is horrible to beat 100%, I've beaten it 100% probably 7 or 8 times. It's a great game to me and it's really sad that people don't like it.

Different stokes for different folks. We all have different tastes when it comes to games. If there's a game you really like, more power to you. In regards to the backgrounds, they are nice, I'm just used to the static kind I guess. Like I said, the original games gave me a sense of wonder. What is over the horizon, or what's on that one red star over there, you know. As a kid, it just gave me that feeling.

Yeah, I remember that. If anyone wants this game, the GameCube version is the way to go. I believe it even has widescreen settings.

Jeez sorry guys. I got an insane stomach bug over the weekend and I got nothing done these past few days. I'm going to plow though the rest of this game tonight so I can freaking finish it off and go into A Hero's Tail. I can't get distracted by others things too. (Silently looks over to the PS4). So I should have the rest of the game finished tonight and I'll post my thoughts on everything tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

I have actually heard that the Gamecube version is a lot better for some reason. I don't even want to know how bad the PS2 version is if that's true. o.O

About it being harder to find gems in ETD, I think I do remember having that problem, and now that I know the reason is that you can't see them from far away, it just makes me appreciate the small details in the original games that made them good even more.

I've got both the PS2 and GameCube versions and it's true - GameCube is better than PS2. It loads faster and isn't quite as much of a glitchfest as PS2.

I'm sorry about the delay, I've been playing other games lately (mostly Jak and Daxter), and doing a class for astronomy. I kind of owe the Spyro games for getting me into space and such. The background designs for these games are probably my favorite thing about them. I'm going to get back to this terrific game tomorrow and hopefully finish off Monkey Monasteries. Thank you all for your patience.

P.S. Enter the Dragonfly's backgrounds are...bleh...

In my opinion(And my opinion on this game is always 100% opposite of the popular one, EtD is my 2nd favorite game of all time), the backgrounds in EtD are really great. They may look a bit less detailed than the older games due to the method they used to make the skies(The older Vertex Paint vs. EtD's small Gradient Texture with other 3D gradient objects). IMO, EtD made the backgrounds less static. Instead of making a static sky, they added a background and 3D objects to allow moving clouds, real Depth of Field on the clouds, Lightning, and overall easy dynamic manipulation with the skys. I think the way they do the gradients makes it look pretty close to the old PS1 look. As for Monkey Monastery, that's my favorite level in the game. I'd say if you don't enjoy that level, you probably won't really enjoy any more afterwards.

Oh yeah, also everyone else who says the game is horrible to beat 100%, I've beaten it 100% probably 7 or 8 times. It's a great game to me and it's really sad that people don't like it.

P.S. Enter the Dragonfly's backgrounds are...bleh...

100% in Enter the Dragonfly...Godspeed my friend, and good luck. I got pretty close back in the day, but don't think I ever completed the game. Just look at it this way: A Hero's Tail will just be that much better since you had to deal with this game. AHT is a far superior game that is functional, so look forward to that.

I can't imagine how the PS2 version could be worse than the Gamecube one...I played on Gamecube and the loading, framerate, and glitches were all really bad. I remember a glitch in the farm level where everything in the background turned lime green and the only things you could see were Spyro and the enemies.

I'll be checking back in this thread to hear your suffering ;-;

Thanks for the luck. In regards to the PS2 version being worse, I guess the big factor would be the lock-ups. A lot of early PS2 games did this. It hasn't happened to me yet for this game, but I think I've might have jinxed myself. The same graphical glitch happened to me too, but it was in Luau Island. I have more experience with Hero's Tail so I should be fine with that one, it's MUCH better than this.

Yeah, it really makes you appreciate the extra mile Insomniac went for the PS1 games.

Ok, so I found those 20 gems I was missing in Cloud 9. Thank God.

Dragon Realm

I used the Ice Breath on the gate, ADVENTURE HO!! I got all the dragonflies in the hubworld so yay! I decided to go to the Monkey Monasteries next...I think that's what it's called.

Monkey Monasteries Part 1/2

Icy Peak/Frozen Altar we meet again. First of all, that elephant enemy from Frozen Altars is back, just like how that Tiki enemy in Luau Island was taken directly from Idol Springs. Secondly, the ice physics are just chaos. You move so quickly and chaotically all over the ice, there is no control over Spyro. Fortunately, you can jump unlike previous games, so you are less likely to fall off the cliff. The enemies are annoying here. Ice is the only breath that kills them 100% of the time. Fire works sometimes, and sometimes not...UUUUGHHH!! We have the return of Bartholomew who looks freaking scary. he looks like he's on a caffeine high. the Yeti that need to be freed are also...SCARY!! The slide minigame is pretty fun, but it doesn't really have anything interesting in it. I'm just so sick of this game. I said I was going to do 2 to 3 levels today, and I'm sorry, but I'm burned out. I'm going to return to this game tomorrow and see where I go from there. Don't worry, I'm getting 100%, but I need a day away from this...thing!

About it being harder to find gems in ETD, I think I do remember having that problem, and now that I know the reason is that you can't see them from far away, it just makes me appreciate the small details in the original games that made them good even more.

I can't imagine how the PS2 version could be worse than the Gamecube one...I played on Gamecube and the loading, framerate, and glitches were all really bad. I remember a glitch in the farm level where everything in the background turned lime green and the only things you could see were Spyro and the enemies.

I'll be checking back in this thread to hear your suffering ;-;

but overall the controls could have been a lot better, yeah.

Haha, good luck! Make sure you save often in case you run into any infinite loading screens or other game-breaking glitches.

Thanks! I usually only save after I completely finish a level, but I guess I should be more cautious...

I'm playing the PS2 version, but the game actually hasn't locked on me yet. It used to lock up a lot on my old fat PS2, but I recently purchased a slim and no lock ups have occurred, so maybe it was my disc reader that was the problem, who knows. I did play the Gamecube version at a friend's house and I remember the framerate being much smoother. When I went back on PS2, it was like a complete difference, although my memory could be fuzzy. Thanks for the luck. I'm going to need it, badly...

Ha, I guess. If that's the case they should put Moneybags with them. This is going to be a 100% run even if it kills me. And it will kill me...

Yeah, I was going to mention that in a post, but decided not to because I thought that shouldn't be a complaint towards the game because of people's preferences (People who like big levels or people who like small levels) but yeah, they are pretty big. I'm still looking for 20 gems in Cloud 9. It doesn't help that the framerate keeps chugging the whole time. The platform minigame is cool, but I don't think the controls are tight enough for something like this. I feel Spyro's jump is a bit too floaty and I tend to slip off platforms quite often. Maybe I suck, oh well. It's not a big deal to me. I have to admit, that space tower thing is probably the coolest thing I've seen in the game so far. That's not really saying much though

Thanks to everyone for reading these posts. I really appreciate it. I'm currently at 50% completion, so the game is halfway done. I think I can get a level in tonight and 2 or 3 tomorrow morning. Thanks again everyone!

i always liked the platform minigame, too.