ROR: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (PS1 Vs. PC & Xbox One X) | One Step Forward, One Step Back
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
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It's Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (or Gateway to Glimmer for my PAL viewers)! Exo returns for another exhaustive review of a beloved PlayStation classic, while comparing it to it's HD remake in the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Can Toys for Bob and company recapture the excellence of its remake of the first game? How well does the Reignited Trilogy address flaws in the original game? All these questions and more, answered today.
CHAPTERS:
00:00:00 - Video Start
00:00:41 - Intro
00:02:06 - PS1 Graphics
00:05:27 - Reignited Trilogy Graphics
00:07:48 - Xbox One X Version Graphics
00:12:01 - PS1 Soundtrack
00:13:46 - Reignited Soundtrack
00:16:51 - New Mechanics
00:25:47 - Basic Level Design, Exploration, and Combat
00:29:27 - Stage Routing
00:36:41 - Backtracking Between Levels
00:42:52 - Reignited Trilogy Backtracking
00:44:07 - PS1 Minigames
00:50:26 - Reignited Minigames
00:52:39 - Reignited Load Times
00:54:09 - The 100% Experience
00:55:46 - New Game + and Glitches
01:00:49 - Pacing and Variety
01:03:27 - The Story
01:05:27 - The Characters and Production Value
01:08:42 - The Problem with Ripto
01:12:52 - Level B Plots
01:18:29 - Plot Contrivances
01:22:03 - Reignited Story
01:27:04 - Final Thoughts on Spyro 2
01:34:34 - ROR Verdict on Spyro 2 Reignited
01:38:21 - Outro
01:40:12 - Credits and Attributions
Note: So that I don't have to play each of these games five times, I've decided to focus primarily on Reignited Trilogy on PC. However, I'll still be covering ONE of the three console versions in each review. For Spyro 1, we're looking at the PS4 Pro version. For Spyro 2, we're looking at the Xbox One X version. For Spyro 3, we're looking at the Nintendo Switch version.
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/ exoparadigmgmr - Hry
4 weeks.
That's gotta be the shortest wait between videos we've ever had.
When he started this series with the 2D Mario remakes there was only a week or two between videos if I recall.
However 2D Mario is a much more simple game
Dude's bored as hell, must live in a state that hasn't started opening up until the past couple weeks
Seriously. Last time this happened we were doing the Sonic reviews
@@kylecampbell565 Plus, The Videos Were Shorter
@@averytubestudios Or Klonoa reviews.
Is nobody going to mention Exo's glorious attempts at rewriting and voicing a couple pieces of dialogue from the game?
His voice acting was way better than it had any right to be, I was honestly shocked.
Beautiful
Whoever did the Moneybags impression was very spot on. It was for lack of a better word glorious!
"The hub themes are mediocre"
God I cannot disagree more, it gives contrast to the music in the game between levels.
The hub themes are fuckin beautiful
Absolutely agree. They exist as beautiful calm platforming spaces to prepare you for the high energy of every level.
They are peaceful for sure, but are indistinguishable
In comparsion to the Spyro 1 hub worlds I much prefer those. While the Spyro 2 hub worlds are okay at best with maybe a few good exploratory elements, Spyro 1's hub worlds has almost every single aspect of them beat. Exploration, engaging level design, and music.
The calmer, more serene nature of the hub worlds with its lack of exploration makes them mediocre in comparison.
@@williammiller4093 Come on.. Summer Forrest and Autumn Plains have way more to explore and uncover than any of Spyro 1's home worlds, they're large with hidden rooms and areas, all of S1's are small with nothing that isn't immediately found just by looking.
The only thing that makes S1's hub worlds have "engaging level design" is maybe the hazards that you can die on?
And the calm music and nature of the S2 homeworlds is not a negative at all, the S2 homeworlds are definitely some of the most beautifully relaxing levels I've ever seen in gaming but still have exploration and things to find.
I can instantly think of every single little area in every level in the entire trilogy, they're engraved into my mind from playing them non stop for 20 years and definitely I feel that Spyro 2 has the best home worlds.
But that being said I still love Spyro 1's homeworlds, it's nice to have some that have hazards and enemies in but at the same time I prefer it to be like Spyro 2 and 3 where the homeworlds are somewhere to relax and catch your breath.
As for the music, yes Spyro 1's home worlds definitely have more variety but at the same time the music in the S2 ones are beautiful and soothing and also just very unique for the series, no other levels in the Spyro games have music like that.
While a lot of those gripes you had with the plot are pretty solid arguements, there is one thing that wasn't a contrivance. The Avalar Gang getting Spyro to Avalar. The Professor actually mentions that they could intercept a dragon using a portal and that Glimmer was a better suited location for that, hence why they needed the power crystal for the Super Portal to take Spyro to Dragon Shores later on in Winter Tundra. It doesn't clear up all the problems with the story you mentioned, but it does explain at least two things in the plot.
Agreed. Kind of odd that Exo didn't pick up on those as much as I agree with the story flaws, but humans are flawed so mistakes happen.
Oddly enough I read a comment somewhere that said despite Ripto losing his scepter in the beginning, he's shown to be holding it in the Gulp fight, as well as falling to his supposed death. I don't know what to say about that except that it reminds me of the Season 10 premiere of the Fairly Oddparents.
"Despite all my Rage I am still just a Ripto in a cage !!!"
The world is Avalar,
Sent to reign...
I miss dead space
Whoa, that was fast. Didn’t expect this to come out so soon after the first game’s review
Same haha
He probably recorded all of them right after eachother
Me Niether
I'm glad they came out *relatively* close, any longer and I'd have likely forgotten everything from the first vid entirely.
To be honest 4 weeks isn’t THAT soon. But considering the gap between uploads he usually has, and quarantine, I get what you’re saying
"Why did they put hover on triangle and not cross?" this confused me for a while too, but I think I know the answer. In the first game, pressing triangle during a glide would stop spyro in midair and he'd drop straight down. This function is actually what became hover. Hover does the same thing, except you get a tiny boost of height before you stop and fall. Why can't that be on cross? Because in in free-flight (speedways), tapping cross gives you a small speed/height boost, so a separate button is needed anyway to drop, for example, to quickly get to a supercharge path.
Why weren't you at elf practice?
That makes sense yeah. I do want to point out the GBA games has it mapped to the jump button, but then they don't include standard speedway levels.
@@toadrules4658 "Hermie doesn't want to make toys."
"so a separate button is needed anyway to drop, for example, to quickly get to a supercharge path"
That's the square button though.
@@mjc0961 charging midair doesn't stop your forward momentum. With hover/drop you'll fall straight down.
I was waiting for the rant about the plot. I was not disappointed.
Hard disagree on the hub world music, though. :(
I like ambient tracks but from the 15 second loops with not much in them for 2 minutes (for summer forest and autumn plains can be hard to enjoy sometimes I've found) I see what he and others that dislike them mean and I have felt it not being that interesting due to preferring more going on (adding/removing or manipulating) more than peaceful but still somewhat use of multiple instruments or samples. Winter Tundra's lasts much longer and has more going on but I've not been too big on it at times. Thats my thoughts though, I'm on the fence really.
I’m with you on the hub worlds. The first time I loaded back into Summer Forest was a trip down memory lane, so comforting.
huge agree, i love the hub themes
Guess EXO wasn’t bothered by how hunter was withholding some of the orbs until Spyro won his mini games
Thank you for reminding me, this was the most annoying detail I could think of in terms of plot. Why does Hunter have so many of these orbs? Why not give them to Spyro?
@@williammiller4093 it's Mario Sunshine all over again. Don't care that your own island chain is dying, gotta withhold the collectible from the player
I subscribe to Charri5's theory that Hunter is secretly working for Ripto. There's no explanation as to how someone could be THAT incompetent. Presumably, after Ripto failed Hunter cut his losses and ended the partnership
It was just as bad as the raccoon from Mario Sunshine.
@@williammiller4093 Probably for the same reason as dragging Spyro to Avalar in the first place, the denizens of Avalar are aspiring dragon tamers who see dragons as livestock to be harnessed, not people to treat as equals, and so Hunter is keeping Spyro under the servitude in Avalar by making him work for the orbs he needs to escape to freedom in his homeland.
I believe, and this is all speculation, mind, that Ripto wasn't ever meant to be threatening to *Spyro* but for whatever reason, the main quartet of Avalar residents can't get rid of him (Hunter is too incompetent and cowardly, Elora and the Professor lack a means of effectively fighting him, and of course Moneybags can't be arsed.) and the residents of Avalar are so tied up in their own problems that they wouldn't lift a finger to help either, so it's less that they needed Spyro specifically, but their only clue was that Ripto did not like dragons, and given his own general incompetence it can be gathered that against a dragon, he's nothing worth a damn, as implied in the manual (It's a snap if you're a dragon.) it's more that Avalar was already having enough problems (Since Elora implies during the post-Gulp fight cutscene that the creatures of Avalar are "finally starting to get along" and Ripto and his goons may have just been enough of a tipping point to send the whole place to hell if left unchecked, even a tiny, unimposing wizard and his monsters can take over if nobody's going to bother to stop them, so they jumped immediately to outside help because it was all they could do. Also, even if just Crush went through the portal and got trapped on the other end, it still leaves the fireball-spewing wizard and his blaster-toting pet to cause havoc, and as the final battle shows us, Ripto *is* a very powerful wizard on his own, able to create monstrous creatures and use powerful spells all by himself, while the story doesn't show us how threatening he is, in gameplay he's every bit Spyro's match, which could owe more to that Spyro is a young dragon that isn't nearly as strong as one fully-grown. The mistake the dragons made in the first game was underestimating Gnasty and believing he couldn't harm them, when a tiny dinosaur wizard appears with two giant monsters and says he's going to take over the world, it's probably not a good idea to just sit around and wait for him to do it, don't you think?
I like to headcanon that Ripto wasn't the main cause of most of Avalar's problems, but his presence and all the governing body focusing on him allowed the more criminal elements of Avalar to get a free pass to do their own plans. We know Ripto caused the Tikis to come to life in Idol Springs and summoned the evil spirit in Colossus which made the Yeti, Yaks and Goats become violent. But stuff like Zephyr and Breeze Harbor going to war with each other seemed like an inevitable outcome, Ripto's arrival and manhunt was just an easy excuse to start the war. That's why I like Avalar more then the Dragon Realms and Forgotten Realms, it seems more like an actual society rather then a game hub.
@@heartless2147 That's the annoying thing tho, that it isn't in the game, so you gotta come up with a way to excuse it, which the reignited version could've easily fixed by adding more dialog by Elora or the NPCs.
This one is your best yet man. Great job :)
Of course you would say that buddy boy
"I persuaded that fat bear Moneybags to sell me a few BOMB" 😂
Ripto wanted bombs, and had enough rupe... I mean gems, so it was his, my friend.
Lamp oil? Rope? Bombs? It's yours my friend, as long as you have enough gems.
Apparently the prototype of Spyro 2 actually has some unused intro and outro lines for each level from Elora, basically explaining What ripto did before you got there and what happened after you left. All I have to say about these are... WHY WERE THEY CUT?!? THIS WOULD HAVE MADE THE STORY BETTER
And yet Ripto is still a fan-favorite to everyone 🤷♂️
They were clunky as hell and ruined the comedy of the cutscenes. Felt more like a riff track than a monologue. It was a good idea on paper, but I think cutting them for the final game was for the better.
@@Jekuma How do they "ruin" The comedy of the cutscenes?
@@connorplays6263 Way too much talking during it that sometimes weirdly overexplains what is going on before your eyes, it was just not very well executed
@@Jekuma and yet nowhere does it ever hint at its Ripto that's causing it, for all we know these are just unrelated situations
Not sure if I'm missing something here, but to your question of why remaster the soundtrack if they weren't going to change anything, you fail to mention that Copeland himself was brought on to oversee the remaster of the songs which is a partial answer as to why the songs sound so similar while still being changed and updated.
It's also of note that while some songs loose some of their oomph in some cases, a lot of them sound even better and now have proper loopoints instead of just fading out.
Chad Daddy in some tracks like Idol Springs I agree, but tracks like Colossus, Hurricos, Fracture Hills, and all of the Hub world themes sound miles better with the changes they made and the updated samples.
@@Duskool plus, they're actually in stereo instead of mono.
Wait really? Wow
What makes Spyro 2 so great to me. It would have to be the fact that each world is having their own issues separate from Ripto. It makes the worlds themselves feel like actual places that is lived in. The stories in those worlds will continue way after Ripto is defeated.
Gonna be honest, the first time I played Spyro 2, when I was like, 5, I didn't realize I was supposed to take Ripto seriously as a threat, especially to the same level as Gnasty Gnorc. I just figured he was this little annoyance we'd be done with by the end of the first world. Then he took over the castle and I thought "Okay, he is the main villain." I was pleased with him by game's end and that dramatic final battle, but as far as a first impression, he certainly left a lot to be desired.
I really liked the muppet-like designs of Insomniac's Spyro 2. I was pretty disappointed that they changed that, it was *the* Spyro style.
The "muppet designs" are only a thing due to technological limitations, it's not this special style. Even Spyro 1 didn't have ugly muppet animations nearly as much.
@@Robbie_Haruna Thank you, I'm glad someone said it. It's one thing to find the muppety graphics of the originals to be charming and part of the fun, like bad special effects in a B-movie, but people need to learn to take off their nostalgia goggles before talking about what is or is not good character design. One glance at the concept art for Spyro 2 debunks any notion of "muppet style" being intentional; the game's artists simply were not able to reproduce the intended designs on the PS1. (And as for the intended designs themselves, this is a bit of a hot take, but personally I feel that Oliver Wade's character designs for 2 and 3 were kind of... not very good to begin with. He's certainly no Charles Zembillas.)
I just hope to God that they could finally go back to the Muppet-sequel character animation for the Spyro franchise!
#CrashBandicootandSpyroTheDragon That’s just YOUR opinion, okay? XD
@@kieranstark7213 I second this notion.
I liked how Spyro 1 Hubs were actual dangerous levels in their own, with enemies. I'd love the next game to have hostile hubworlds again.
I really liked that too. Really gave the impression that Gnasty is putting in actual effort to take over the dragon kingdom, which makes him more of a genuine threat.
I love how Exo uses High Max’s boss theme from X6 to describe tedious or boring segments.
Sums up High Max pretty well.
Except all the games in the original/Reignited Spyro trilogy (mainly the PS1 games, especially Spyro 3, coming from a retro gamer) are tons better than Mega Man X6 (the only worse Mega Man games would have to be the DOS hexalogy and Mega Man X7, otherwise, Mega Man FTW!).
I know this is off topic but I thought Megaman X6 was better then X7 because in theory plays like the ps1 megaman X games, X7 on the other hand is insufferable to play no efence to anyone who like x7 if you do more power to you but for me the gameplay feels clunky the graphics don't hold up anymore now to give X7 credit I think it looks better then X8s graphics but that's not saying much since the characters don't move there lips when they speak now before you say it there is no excuse to why the character models don't have moving lips that game came out in 2003 when Jak and Daxter 2 and rachet and clank 2 came out and they had moving lips if those games can have moving lips then why couldn't this. Also that God awful voice acting now I love the voice actor for X but his performance in that game was really bad and out right cringe-worthy at points zero sounds alright but he kinda sounds like Batman if it was his 1st day on the job and I know this one is controversial but I actually like Axls voice in this game I know some of his lines are cringy yes but for some reason I don't get annoyed bye them and red sounds badass love that guy's voice and sigma sounds like Dr claw if he was a smoker. Now I know this whole commant has nothing to do with Spyro but you guys mentioned Megaman so I thought I would give my own take on the subject yes X6 is not perfect I am aware of that but still I play the X Legacy collections with rookie hunter mode on and it was so easier to play anyways
This has been smirky Starscream86 calling out and remember stay cool
Regarding how Spyro gets to Glimmer, I thought it was pretty well implied that the Professor intercepted Spyro when he went through the portal, and pulled him into another one. We don't actually have a full explanation for how portals in Spyro work, so it's not unreasonable to believe that in this world an interception of that nature could be possible.
Speaking about the backtracking in levels with say the teleporting bottles and so on, I always thought those bottles were for helping younger players backtrack through a stage and find any gems/routes that they might have missed. For example in the 3rd Spyro game on the panda level (Bamboo Terrace I believe?), the bottles take you back through the level like normal, leading you to see the cliff and then figure out a way to get the egg inside, while going forward you might miss the trail of platforms leading up to the cliff as they are obscured by those buildings that scatter the levels.
As a kid I always found the bottles exciting as I saw the next area appear on screen once I broke the bottle being like "Oh I know where that place is!!" and rushing over as fast as I could to find it. So I guess you could call that as me liking those segments.
Also I always found it weird that in the PAL version of the remake they don't call it Gateway to Glimmer, just seems like an odd choice. Yes that does mean the names are consistent now, just odd seeing a name I am not familiar with in the remake.
Gateway to Glimmer is kind of a dumb name to begin with IMO. Glimmer's only relevance to the plot is that you happen to get taken to that level first because it's "the most well suited" or whatever the character says. Something like "Gateway to Avalar" would make more sense, albeit without the alliteration, which I'm guessing is why they chose GtG to begin with.
1:20:10 Also this is explained in the game, in the literal cutscene you are showing at this point in the video. The Professor uses orbs to change the destination of the portal Spyro takes to Dragon Shores, essentially portaljacking him and spitting him out in Glimmer instead of at the beach. It's very similar to how the giant portal in Winter Tundra pulls Ripto, Crush, and Gulp to Avalar. How did you completely miss this?
And so many of the Orbs that Spyro needs to get home are held hostage by Hunter, who's supposed to be on Spyro's team but ropes him into helping Hunter with his chores or playing sports with him in exchange for paying Spyro in orbs, that it seems like the denizens of Avalar intend to enslave Spyro for their own ends beyond disposing of Ripto for them.
In one cutscene, Elora says "Since you've been around, the creatures of Avalar are finally starting to get along!" This implies that all the problems in the levels were happening since long before Ripto showed up.
You know Exo's review is harsh when it uses Megaman X6 music.
That's like a stock music except way more fitting
He did the same thing when criticizing the Sonic Unleashed Day stages
I've never really felt like 2 was this universal favorite. I've seen polls where all 3 games are fairly even, and I think it speaks to the strength of the series that each game has something different to offer while still maintaining the strength of the foundation. That said, I'm also in the camp that 3 is my favorite because it takes a lot of the best things about 1 and 2. From 1 it goes back to enemies dropping gems, the uniform distribution of levels, and having the main collectible stay throughout the whole thing. From 2 it gets the variety with minigames and sidequests, and actual decent bosses, I will say 2 does have some unique strengths like having the mingames be part of the world instead of off in their own zones, or having all the bosses be actual characters and not random monsters that don't exist until right before you encounter them and (IMO) being more interesting fights.
Even though I disagree with a lot of what you said, I still found it very refreshing to hear another perspective on this game.
I have always thought Spyro 3 Year of the Dragon is the best one in the series by far due to all the diverse mini-games, character mechanics, and the story
Thank you!!!! (Though to be fair, all Spyro games kick ass with the exception of Season of Ice, Enter the Dragonfly, Spyro Orange/Crash Purple, Shadow Legacy, the handheld versions of A New Beginning, the home console version of The Eternal Night and the DS version of Dawn of the Dragon)
@@kieranstark7213 in other words, most spyro games do not kick ass.
48:11 “Play any FIFA game”
(shows Super Mario Strikers Footage)
sigh, if only...
Since they were busy with Luigi's Mansion 3 (and 2/Dark Moon too), they could go on in making another one. I think they even referenced Mario Strikers in their latest game, so they haven't forgotten it or anything. On the other hand Mario Sports is in a bit of crisis right now, the games' quality are merely mediocre compared to the heights on the Gamecube and Next Level Games may be a bit sick of the Mario Franchise and might want to take on another Punch Out project or an entirely new IP.
Am I the only one who wants a Mario Strikers Charged sequel?!
Well...
I love the Reignited Trilogy for doing a great job with bringing three classics to the fore again, but I hope that you can talk about the Reignited Lost Fleet skateboarding race in Spyro 3's ROR. It is extremely glitchy and doesn't seem like it was tested properly. From my experience and from reading the opinions of others, there are multiple problems.
1. Sometimes the Rhynocs do not have proper collision and cannot be hit.
2. Falling off the board near the end of the track can bring you half a lap backwards when you regain control.
3. It seems that some players can increase Spyro's speed significantly.
4. The margin for error with the tricks is pretty tight. Sometimes it can seem like the board is mostly flat, and in reality, would land flat on the ground, but Spyro can often fall off the board if it is not practically parallel with the ground at times.
5. There appear to be some flat sections of the track where Spyro will just fall off the board for no discernible reason. This seems to happen a bit on the right branch of the path near the end of the lap.
6. Multiple restarts of the race (on PS4 at least) can cause the frame rate to drop massively, making the race go incredibly slowly. This can be fixed by exiting the game completely, but this should not be necessary.
7. Sometimes the lap counter does not increment after completing a lap. It is unclear why this is, but it may also have something to do with travelling along the right branch of the path near the end of the lap. Not having a lap count is obviously quite frustrating when going for the skill point, as you can achieve the required time, but it won't count as the game thinks that you have another lap to go.
Lost Fleet is bugged to be too hard, and Super bonus round is bugged to be extremely easy, from what i've experienced. I fell off once there, and got immediatly put in first place
ah I see, just casually dropping a feature-length review a few weeks after the last hour-long one
Do RoR: Battle for Bikini Bottom when Rehydrated comes out.
Yes! I'm not the only one that wants it!
I think he would either rate it a remaster or reprise
No both those games suck and only make money if the all mighty master of cartoons. Spongebob. The modern Mickey mouse
@@ryanmcwilliams8784 ok
I think the issue is that he would also review every version of the original release as well as every version of the remake, meaning that he would have to play the game about nine times.
spyro's arrival is explained, elora and them went to glimmer because it's alignment was the most suitable to intercept a dragon mid portal, which just so happened to be spyro.
31:09 - "Back and forward...back and forward...AND I'M SICK OF IT! Well, I'm not gonna do it no more!"
Tash Candicoot Bwinsanity
Probably the most viseral ripping of Ripto's Rage I've seen, and yet honestly I can agree for most of it.
For the record, I never did get how Ripto became the villain to come out with the most impact in the Spyro games afterwards. Your take here was about the same take 10-to-12 year old me had, going on confusion about how come this loser was the big bad when really Crush did more active damage in the entire dang plot.
Key word being most.
@Gratuitous Lurking
Think about how many villains Spyro held a conversation with.
...
See? Ripto is the only villain with any character dynamic with the hero.
People liked them trash talking each other, but The Sorceress and Gnasty Gnorc don’t even speak a *word* to Spyro.
The Sorceress and Gnasty Gnorc are *villains,* but they do nothing to *antagonize* the hero directly; they are not true antagonists.
It’s not that Ripto is an especially great at being a villain, but he is a fun *antagonist* and that is what people latch onto.
"The Sorceress and Gnasty Gnorc are villains, but they do nothing to antagonize the hero directly;"
So the Sorceress using magic to create the bosses and sending them out to take on Spyro is apparently not antagonising the main character? Also, the Sorceress having genocidal intentions is probably the closest Spyro has ever felt like as if I'm watching a Don Bluth film.
Irrelevant BMB
You missed the term “DIRECTLY.”
Sending your minion out to kill is an INDIRECT act to “antagonize” Spyro.
Please look up the definition of “antagonize” to understand where I’m coming from.
Mass genocide, on the other hand, is a generic villainous act that she doesn’t even succeed in; it was only her intent.
Even then, Spyro himself isn’t *personally* associated with her plans.
You could replace Spyro with literally any other dragon and the feeling of opposition is the same.
The Sorceress does NOTHING to Spyro DIRECTLY.
Even her trap that she set for him is set off by Hunter and Spyro doesn’t even care.
He just continues his quest as if nothing happened; he doesn’t immediately go rescue his friend, nothing.
The ONLY time when the Sorceress get personal is when Spyro jumps through the boss portal to kill her and they say NOTHING to each other.
There is no character dynamic between them, not banter, no closure to their relationship even after the secret fight because they HAD NO relationship.
The Sorceress has nothing going on, except purely selfish motivations and the generic villain “kill anyone who gets in my way.”
Spyro just wants the eggs back until he attacks her via the player’s command.
If anything, it’s the *Rhynocs* that are the true antagonists of the game.
They are in every level. They are always out to cause trouble for you. They are always in the way.
Just like the Gnorcs, actually.
The Sorceress just sits on her big, fat, ugly butt and shouts orders until the end.
At least Ripto is *there* in Crush’s and Gulp’s arenas... *antagonizing* Spyro as he enters and takes damage.
With regards to the soundtrack, I get the feeling that it was a pretty late decision to add the original music into the game, for people like me who were on Reddit screaming "WHERE IS THE BASS"
Everything you've complained about it actually what I love about the game. I love backtracking and revisiting levels. I like the idea of giving you a point to go back and revisit other levels again even if the challenge is minimal or something you've already dine. Although in Glimmer, I was adamant about bypassing the ladder when I was a kid and discovered you could skip climbing and fly from the outside powerup and still make it to the ledge that the inside powerup is on. I love the mystery jars and I loved the cowlegs orbs too. I also think the overhead camera is what makes turtle soup so hard, as well as the ox. I'd prefer not to have it, and prefer not having it in crystal popcorn and the lava lizards orb. The bombo orb is fun to me imo, and the lamp thieves are a good throwback to the egg thieves in the first game since they aren't included in Spyro 2. Well the alchemist orb sucks, and doing it again sucks; I think that's the beauty of Spyro. A game we love will always have something frustrating we remember about it, it adds to it, and it adds an annoying challenge to our main objective, collect everything. And I like the subplots and little before and after scenes in levels. Many levels are brother/sister levels. I also loved the spirit particles aspect and having to kill a certain amount to unlock a powerup. It also helped me know how many were still left if I was looking for lost gems. 2 was a huge improvement from 1 overall because of the added challenges, NPCs in levels, new characters, atmosphere of home worlds, and overall design of gameplay. 1 had no objectives, you didn't even have to "complete" the levels and just in the "return home" and you didn't even have to fight the bosses until Gnasty. Only exiting one level properly was needed to face Toasty, and you just needed to properly exit the 2 levels in Gnasty's World and that was it. 3 had nice new additions, but a bit overwhelming when I was younger. So 2 was always my favorite.
The reason Elora scattered the gems in the beginning was to prevent Ripto from trying to bring reinforcements to help conquer Avalar, if I recall.
Why she couldn't have just waited until he left and THEN disabled the portal, I have no idea.
One he was sending Crush back through to "get his things" or in other words sending him to get more minions in to help the invasion. Even if she disabled it once Crush went back in they still would have Crush and Ripto who are a lot bigger problem than Crush.
Definitely enjoyed your review despite Spyro 2 being my favorite in the series. Regarding your comments on the plot of Spyro 2, I agree that it's not a good plot for the overall motivation of the player but to me the cutscenes and story has this "so bad it's good" vibe that I enjoy about it similar to how I feel about sonic adventures 1 & 2's plot and cutscenes. It's just so dumb that I can't help but quote it on every subsequent playthrough.
I agree, it was and always will be my favorite childhood game and my favorite in the trilogy, but I didn't ever see the story as explicily bad even, it just feels intentionally goofy. It feels like an intentional romp with spyro dragged alonge cause no one else can be assed to defeat the little bastard in the big cape 😂
I always felt like the odd one out for not enjoying Ripto's Rage. I'd always thought my dislike for 2 was due to my original copy breaking before I could form a nostalgic love for it, and I could never quite differentiate my issues with it from the reasons I love the other two games, but your emphasis on the egregious backtracking, often uninteresting minigames, and meaningless plot put my thought into words almost perfectly.
Actually, it happens more often than you'll think that someone like Spyro 2 the least. I am one of those people. I didn't know Spyro 2 was the most popular until that review.
They could’ve even just re ordered the stages to avoid back tracking as, like you said, these moves aren’t required for every single level
And there's no consistency with level themes from each hubworld.
There are literally no negatives.
8:35 Spyro is a faaaaar more demanding game than Crash is, Crash is resumed to tiny corridors and spyro have open levels to explore, I can run Crash N. Sane Trilogy at 60fps 1080p on my PC but if I want 60fps on Spyro I need to go down to 900p
Lol I gotta go to 400p
I was so frustrated when I completed the three challenges minigame in Idol Springs, only to be sent back to the start of the stage.
They did the Ice graphics dirty in this game. In the og it reflected the skybox and spyro and it looked amazing. Now it does neither of those things.
You did forget about the biggest flaw with the plot in the original. Even though Gulp eats Ripto's scepter in the first cutscene, he's holding it in the Gulp bossfight in the background, and in the cutscene when he's falling lmao
I'm glad to see this in my feed. You're honestly one of my favorite youtubers, thank you for every video that you have put out, it at least helps me.
As usual, you've made a very well-produced, comprehensive video! While Spyro 2 will always be my favorite game in the series, you've definitely highlighted some issues that I never really paid much mind to before.
While I'm not typically bothered by backtracking in games (unless it's particularly egregious -- Banjo-Tooie springs to mind) I can definitely see why that'd bring the overall experience down if you're put off by having to revisit old levels or retrace your steps. You're also 100% on the money regarding the story. The older I get, the more holes I notice in it.
That said, badmouthing the hub music is pure heresy.
Thank you ! I was just looking for something to listen to while I draw. I love your videos so much you put so much work into them ! Keep it up man
1:20:10 The professor redirected the portal
Lava Lizards actually do show up on the PAL cover of Spyro 2 for PS1
I now realize why Spyro 3 felt better... much less backtracking nonsense, restricted to only one animal section in each of the first three worlds. Well, that and going back to each hub immediately after beating its boss...
Spyro 1 was one of my favorite PS1 games as a kid. I've been trying to find my Spyro disc for years now.
Currently, I'm in the middle of my first playthrough of Spyro 3 Reignited and liking it better than Spyro 2 so far. Spyro 1 will forever be my favorite though.
I was never that big of a fan of Spyro 2... Spyro 3 was always my fave
I discovered this channel a few days ago, great content, just subbed
This is one of my favorite videos you've put out so far it was extremely well presented in every way
Exo thank you so much for releasing this video on the day I finished high school it really means a lot dude.
Congrats on getting into college. Have fun with debt
@@kimgkomg Will do.
I practically agree with you. I always felt like Spyro 2 was slow paced compared to the rest of the trilogy.
I always preferred the 3rd and 1 spyro games over the 2nd one. But I still enjoy all of them nonetheless.
39:23 Great timing with that "May I ask?", syncs almost perfectly with the level complete icons
Think you really worded my thoughts into a video here, everytime i say spyro 2 is my least favourite people act like im insane glad its not just me, still love it though.
You definitely made me think about Spyro 2 in a whole new way. Though, Spyro 2 is my second favorite game in the series, I'm looking forward to seeing you try and convince me Spyro 3 is better than the other two games.
Hub themes are mediocre?
Do you have ears connected to your head?
Then I bet you'll want to kill me if I say that even though I respect Copeland a lot, non of the Spyro soundtrack would be in my top 50 favorite soundtrack of all time, and I don't care that much about those.
@@Eclipsmon8421 Yeah, compared to the Crash Bandicoot OST (PSX and Remaster), Spyro doesn't have any song I like.
The boss themes are kinda good, but absolutely nothing stands out in any way or shape.
"Yeah, compared to the Crash Bandicoot OST (PSX and Remaster), Spyro doesn't have any song I like."
Funny because they're both tied for me. One thing I like about both trilogies is how each specific entry has their own music style that separates them from each other. I can't really critique music since that's one of the most subjective things imaginable. I just enjoy simply what my ears find pleasing.
Ripto wanted to take over Avalor because there are no dragons, dragons being something he obviously hates.
It's pretty clear why Ripto would hate dragons, that being that dragons would actually be able to stand up to him and stop him from taking over.
Also as someone else explained, Spyro getting to Avalar makes sense too, being that the Professor mentions that they could intercept a dragon using a portal and that Glimmer was a better suited location for that, hence why they needed the power crystal for the Super Portal to take Spyro to Dragon Shores later on in Winter Tundra.
The professor didn't need a power crystal at the start since Glimmer would be easier to use as a portal and wouldn't require using a power crystal.
That item doesn't only exist so Ripto could steal to make a new scepter.
While the plot has contrivance issues, it's not all as much as you think and it doesn't quite go overboard with them.
The story doesn't fall apart when you think about it.
IT'S HERE! And now for the grand and epic novel you all have been waiting for.
Chapter 1. I love Spyro 1 and 3, but not so much 2. The end.
Seriously, i never seen an ASSHOLE Video about insulting Spyro 2 with that Power like this One...
And the Worst Part of this, is the fact than he is attacking Spyro 2, When Most of that ^Problems^ he Criticizes, Are equal or Worst in Spyro 3...
Actually no. 3 addresses and fixes practically every issue that was present in Spyro 2.
@@920316player it's his opinion, and he gives good arguments. I'm glad he is able to have a different opinion from others and adds to the community
Grovy Sparky Uhhh....it’s his opinion dude. You can’t expect everyone to instantly think Spyro 2 is as great as you think it is
3 has its treasure pots, minigame additions that are still spyro running through areas (which I assume will be addressed in his video on 3) from 2 but adds mechanics like skateboarding, new characters that feel different. It has a mix of 2 very much in there for sure along with 1 & its own. It has what many sequels fix and take from, some take a bit to move on from them, others embrace them still, it depends what the devs take from. I see both sides but yeah I was fine enough with this review as I never thought too deep into some areas so... and the realisation of aspects in some games over others is too back and forth that it opened my eyes.
Spyro 1 - 1 hour 6 minutes
Spyro 2 - 1 hour 40 minutes
in before
Spyro 3 - 2 hours 16 minutes
:D
Always amazed the amount of work you put into making these videos.
Exo never ceases to surprise me on how long his videos get, welp better get the popcorn and drinks!!!
This is my fifth time watching this Spyro series... Your analysis is spot on, and your voice is so calming to listen to
Great video dude, keep up the good work!
I played all three Spyro games for the first time ever via the Switch Reignited Trilogy at the beginning of this year. I found 2 to be my least favorite of them but I remember having a difficult time figuring out what it was about it that just wasn't clicking with me. It was certainly good and I had a fun time playing it, but it didn't grasp me the same way the other two games did. I'm glad you were able to articulate many of my grievances in a way that I couldn't, helped me solidify my own opinion on the game
Enemies drop spirit particles for ‘whatever reason’? Dude it’s to power the power ups...
So it turns out that the reason the final game barely mentions Ripto during the levels is because Elora was supposed to explain what evil Ripto was doing throughout the game (as well as other lore), but for some reason her commentary was cut out from the level intros/outros.
Here it is, if you want to check it out:
czcams.com/video/Xmp3HxtQGIs/video.html
Thank you for uploading on my birthday!
You seem like a smart guy, I'm surprised you didn't figure out the 3rd foreman puzzle.
The new elora has something called the "uncanny valley effect' and the reason the old slightly had this was because eyes NEVER really blinked. But that's alot minor than new elora....
It might be because Elora’s eyes in the remake are FREAKIN HUGE
@@blackhoggaming that, and they are nearly solid black, DARK GREEN. And she is no longer a red head. I mean I figured the red head part because media has been replacing redheads with brown & black heads for awhile;
But why the eye color though?
Blue eyed red heads are the rarest type of of red head in the world, and red heads themselves are a minority IRL. Shame that Activision/blizzard like the rest of sold out hollywood to china, hates normal red heads, UNLESS it's a stereotype.
Zion The Dragon Whoa dude! I think you might be making a mountain out of a molehill here
@@blackhoggaming because I said they changed elora from a blue eyes red head to a green eyes brown head?
I don't see how, as it is a think hollywood does, but to each their own I guess.
Did not expect that so quickly when it just sort of popped on my recommended tab. Not that I’m complaining
I played this game before you released this video and I share every single one of your criticisms. Everyone I talked to weeks before you released this video said I was crazy and out of my mind for thinking about the game this way. Thank you for making this video so that there's a well articulated argument against the common consensus, this was an excellent review.
Getting those raw unencoded frames is very hard. It's why most show a frame time graph along with footage because even if you tell the software to stop averaging out the frames it still sometimes does. Usually it's to cut down on file size but some will outright duplicate frames during a drop. It's super frustrating.
Been really excited to see this after the first video, definitely gonna be a great listen for the next couple hours, and can't wait till the third one as well
I find the reviews quite relaxing. You and King K are the only people I'd like to listen to talking about games at length like this. And I love that they're long! That's how I enjoy CZcams videos. I'd love to hear you shit on The Legend Of Spyro in a standalone review after you finish this RoR trilogy.
Backtracking actually made the game more fun for me. Made the world feel bigger and more immersive
strongly agree.
fundamentally, the fundamentally fundamentals of the fundamental fundamentals, fundamentally founded the foundation of the fundamental fundamentals.
Say what?
The video quality just gets me every time!
Didn't even know this was up... luckily caught it when looking in the sub feed. For the best experience I watched it in 144p.
I was just watching one of you remake or rebreak videos when I got this notification.
Dude, you make some great points. I played Spyro 2 when I was young enough that all the plot problems slipped under the radar. I think you nailed it. The personality of the game came through so much in the original voice acting, and I felt like the newer actors and new choices were fresh but lacking (except in the remake of Spyro the Dragon).
Fantastic, top-tier video as always. Can't wait for you to talk about the switch version for Spyro 3 lol
Good work on the series so far 👍
Will be looking out for your Spyro 3 video.
21:50 The hover isn't unlockable. You have it from the start of the game, it just takes until Hunter's tutorial for the game to explain it to you
He was referring to the ladder climb when he said he questioned why it was unlockable
@@galfinsp7216 Actually it looks like we're both wrong. He's actually talking about the head bash. (He's comparing it to hovering, and then says both the head bash and the ladder climb shouldn't be unlockable.)
In regards to all of the comments about the Reignited version of Spyro 2 trying to "stay loyal to the originals", as a moderator of the Spyro subreddit's Discord server I can 100% confirm that, unfortunately, if they *HAD* changed more than they did, people would have thrown an absolute fit. Toys for Bob had a couple of people going around scouting out various Spyro communities to try to gauge what everyone was looking for in regards to the remakes. There were a TON of really nasty fights over almost every aspect of these remakes as things were being revealed, and I'm pretty sure that they just decided in the end to stick as closely as they could to the source material while just giving it a facelift, and not much more. After speaking to a couple of those scouts, it sounded like there *were* people who wanted to make a couple of adjustments for an overall better experience, but unfortunately, when it comes to popular classic series like Spyro and even Crash, even the slightest change can have people screaming and crying. I remember one specific fight that was over something as simple as the *GRASS* in the Artisans Home in the first game. Some people obviously said it made it feel more lush and alive, but there were quite a number of people complaining simply because it "wasn't faithful to the originals", or that it cluttered up the screen or some other flimsy argument. People will complain about almost anything, and after seeing how potentially volatile the communities surrounding these games could become, I don't blame them for sticking close to the source material, especially since those people were likely their biggest target for sales. It's unfortunate, but I'm quite certain that the community was part of the reason that they decided to stick so close to the originals. Doesn't excuse the flaws, of course, and this isn't 100% confirmed to be the case, but I do firmly believe that it was likely to have had an impact on the direction they were going with the remakes.
EDIT: Also, I just wanted to say, this is a fantastic analysis of the game. Seriously well thought-out and structured, and I'm seriously glad that someone else shares my opinion on the hub music lol
great review. one more complaint about the narrative: the collectables in spyro 1 made sense--you were saving dragons that got stuck in crystal and collecting gems to regain your tribe's treasure. in spyro 2 various tribes are giving you their cherished talismans like they are nothing, and you collect more gems because hey its a spyro game and that's what you do. am i wrong in noticing they dont even tell you what the green gems really even do until that cutscene 2/3 of the way through the game? arbitrary collectables, like the arbitrary story beats and arbitrary tasks, dont help motivate the player through the game.
Elora is surprised by the talisman you bring back from Glimmer, they are a nice way of showing the you helped the people living in the levels you visited, why do they open doors though? No reason given except "they're magical".
As a kid and even when I reaplyed the games, the illusion to visit real places and to help the inhabitants was enough to give much more motivation than in Spyro 1, I think the cutscenes help a lot.
Spyro 2 was always my fave as a kid. Only things that really didn't make sense to me about the actual world building was a) where is the Spring themed homeworld and b) why do you get Talismans for completing the first 14 levels but after that you get an orb (the same reward as a mini game)?
I really appreciate these deep dissected reviews that give real honest opinions on the flaws overall, enough to watch the entire video through. I often hear reviewers praise this game and set it so high up without talking about its true flaws. It made me realize just how ridiculous the game can be especially the backtracking issue and pointless mini games. I just finished playing spyro 2 remastered and something about it was off. I just thought that maybe it's because I didnt initially grow up with this game as a kid as I did with spyro 1 and 3. But it's definitely these flaws that were diminishing my enjoyment throughout the game. I just dealt with it for the time of being, but replaying the game again would be a pain. I always did like spyro 3 the best and super nostalgic for spyro 1. Antdude on the other hand says bad things about spyro 3 and rates spyro 2 higher. Your review is much more honest and thought out.
Agreed.
The backtracking in Spyro 2 isn’t nearly as bad as some games which is why I tend to prolly forgive it a bit more. I enjoyed the mini games and found ways to learn them as time went on. I think it was more of a challenging but fun way to keep the game going longer.
This brutal review reopened my eyes to many of Spyro 2's problems that I, perhaps, might have chosen to ignore all these years.
However it is still my go-to Spyro to replay for some reason... Maybe my nostalgia goggles are glued to my face this time.
Oh well.
Also, I respect everything you've done here and I can leave this video satisfied and it's totally not because you said you'd rather play this game over Super Mario 64. 😊
I prefer Mario 64, but I'm fine being completely wrong.
I love Super Mario 64, especially DS, and that is despite not growing up with any of those, but it's still a big mess.
I wouldn't call it a big mess. Despite it being the first video game I've ever played, I still love it even from a critical view. I love the intricate and replayable levels, I love being able to skip some of them similar to Spyro 1, I love the over the top acrobatics that allows for boundless opportunities on how to play stages, etc.
Oh and I play these games at 50Hz, so I can't say I found Mario's movement "slippery" but that's just me.
Spyro 1 was the first game I ever played, so I hold this trilogy in a very high regard. You have certainly opened my eyes to the issues in this trilogy, though. Admittedly, it’s difficult for me to see the games not being beloved by someone because these games are a big part of my life, but that’s more of a me issue. I certainly respect your opinion and found myself agreeing with you more than I thought I would. We all like different things, so I still love them no matter what, and I certainly won’t ever judge someone for disagreeing because there are many games that others absolutely adore that just aren’t my cup of tea. Thank you for being very detail-oriented in your great content!
Boy he sure do have opinions. Particularly relating to speedrunning.
It’s why I take speedrunners’ “objective” opinions with a grain of salt.
Being part of a community that bases itself around the sole purpose of being the best (fastest) is going to cultivate elitism; by its own very strict and competitive nature.
It warps your mindset (perspective) in a way where it becomes hard to differentiate between ‘objectivity’ and ‘optimization.’
Think Pokémon if you’ve ever tried to be even semi-competitive:
I used to not care about what I caught as a kid, but once I learned about natures, I now actively grind and breed for HOURS trying to get ‘perfect’ Pokémon.
Garchomp is an objectively strong Pokémon, but if you’ve got a nature that ISN’T Adamant or Jolly, it might as well be garbage.
It sucks and I’ll never look at Pokémon the same ever again.
Hunter and the Professor are the two characters that look the least like I expected them to. What are you talking about? they're almost completely different. Actually just about the only characters they got right in Spyro 2 were Spyro himself and (almost) Ripto. Ripto's head shrunk quite a bit for some reason, though.
I also hate that Hunter is now a ‘Surfer-bro’ instead of a cowardly idiot.
I loved his old voice to death.
@@Deoxys_Used_Mimic I agree. I'm confused as to why they recast Hunter, his original VA is in Reignited. In the original version, Greg Berger voiced both Hunter and Ripto. In Reignited, he only voices Ripto!
What do you expect them to look like? Muppets?
@@godofwar234regi5 Actually, yes.
@@ErdrickHero Well this the eighth gen, so there's no excuse of making them muppets anymore.
46:40 you just have to press a button with something related to the previous one is not that hard, color, shape or symbol
I was thinking the same thing. I figured that out when I was ten years old.
The Master of Minutia has returned!!!!!
Can agree spyro 2 was always the least favorite of mine from original trilogy. had all three as a kid on my playstation but remember playing mostly 1st and 3rd. 2nd was like - yes i've played a few levels, but it felt boring. And that feeling remained untill now. Even now with Reignited trilogy on my switchi've replayed only 1st and 3rd, skipping 2nd completely.