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ladala99 · 5 years

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Spyro Reignited Countdown - A Hero’s Tail

And finally we get... I guess it’s not really a return to form but it is a return to greatness.

A Hero’s Tail uses the Spyro characters and basic mechanics and makes it a modern (for the time) platformer. This does eliminate one of the franchise’s core features (finite gems), but ultimately, it did a good job and did the franchise justice.

And it also officially introduces Ember, who Spyro fanficcers liked to ship with Spyro, especially as a rival ship versus Cynder of later titles. Yes, that was a part of the fanbase I frequented. I am not sorry.

Gameplay

Spyro’s controls are brought to the modern (again, for the time) age, with a much more responsive camera and really that’s the only major difference. Spyro feels like Spyro. He flames, he charges, and he glides.

...Well, aside from the fact that they swapped the Flame and Charge buttons, and now you have to hold X to glide rather than just press it. I first played this game as a demo and legitimately thought the change was a mistake, but nope. Not entirely sure why it was made, but it was. Perhaps it aligns with other PS2 platformers better?

Mini rant, courtesy of how 3-year-old me remembered the controls: Circle is flame because it’s red and the mouth makes an O. Square is Charge because the sides are pointy. X is jump because the X is blue like air and you are in the air while jumping. Triangle is zoom in because the bottom represents a really wide view and the top represents a really narrow view. Why would you change this?

But anyway, it works for the game. Aside from not matching previous games, it’s easy to adapt to and the controls are very responsive. They’re not quite as tight as in the originals, but they’re very close.

Additional Playable Characters

We’ve got a few this time. There’s Hunter, Sparx, Sgt. Byrd and the new character Blink. Totally new. What are you talking about with the “but he appeared in a GBA game”?

While Hunter was technically playable before, this is the first time you can platform with him. His moveset’s pretty similar to Spyro’s, aside from one of his main attacks being very ranged. Aside from his arrows, he’s basically Spyro, but not as maneuverable. Yeah, he can scale walls and Spyro doesn’t in this game, but that ability originally belonged to Spyro, so it doesn’t feel unique.

What is unique is that one section that you’re forced to play as him as part of the story. That was neat. And frustrating because he does not platform as well as Spyro does, since his movements are floaty and you can’t correct them with gliding like you can Spyro’s, and this area has a lot of small platforms.

Sparx has a completely different gameplay style this time: rail-shooter. It’s honestly not that bad, especially in comparison to Season of Ice’s Speedways. I just prefer the other Sparx gameplay.

Sgt. Byrd, speaking of Speedways, takes over for Spyro during them. And his levels are definitely not designed in the same way the old Speedways were designed. It used to be that there was a clear linear path to take from one object to the next, but that is not the case here. I like these Speedways better than Season of Ice’s, but I don’t like them much.

As far as actual controls go, Sgt. Byrd does just fine. Sometimes his turning is a little difficult, but it works for how wide open the areas are.

Blink controls very similarly to Hunter, with the main difference being how the level is designed. Blink’s levels are all underground, having a specific set of enemies and such, and they’re all considered minigames with the goal of destroying Dark Gems. He suffers from the same floatiness as Hunter, and there’s certainly a lot of platforms. Somehow, though, his levels never got me stuck like Hunter’s did in that one section.

Sometimes I feel that Eurocom wanted to make a Blink game, not a Spyro game. While Blink’s levels are minigames, they’re really fleshed out and well-designed. They have plenty of variety, if not in appearance.

Collectables

Gems are not just currency to be used at Moneybags’ shop. They’re found everywhere, and can be collected from enemies multiple times. At the beginning you’ll be hurting for them, but by the end of the game you’ll have much more than you know what to do with. At least, that’s my experience.

Dragon Eggs return, with a twist. They’re pretty much optional, and much less valuable than the other main collectable. This time, dragon eggs come in different patterns and if you collect a set, you unlock a thing. A lot of those things are just the ability to play minigames from the main menu.

The things that I care about are the concept art gallery (as that’s always cool) and the Ember and Flame skins. Mostly Ember since I like playing as female characters. It’s just a skin, though, and it changes back to Spyro in cutscenes plus uses his sound effects. Still: first time skins are in the game, unless you count the color cheats!

Finally we get Light Gems. They’re used to power up gadgets and open doors. They’re required for progress in certain places, but not always. They’re always rewarded on the second round of minigames, which means everybody talks about how worthless Dragon Eggs are in comparison. We don’t want these unborn children, give us the shiny thing!

Oh, and Dark Gems. They aren’t collected, but destroyed. You need to smash all of them to continue. They’re just scattered around the levels. You’ll come across them.

Powerups

Supercharge returns! Sort of! It’s one of the powerups that the Professor unlocks for you when you collect enough Light Gems. It really doesn’t feel the same, and it’s used for a few doors, some of which you can’t just charge to from the pad.

There’s also invincibility which works like it did in Lost Fleet, allowing you to travel through acid. Just with a stricter time limit and now it makes Spyro metal rather than red.

Finally I’ll mention the orb-thingys that let you use a ranged version of your breath abilities. I literally have never used them, but they’re there. I can’t say one way or the other how useful they are, but they definitely are not necessary.

Other Modes

The other minigames, as all minigames repeat, are turrets and ball gadgets.

Turrets aren’t hard, but they are stressful. You need to protect the thing while other things try to steal/eat/whatever it. Or you need to protect yourself and hit a huge number of enemies. I don’t like this minigame. Especially the baby turtle one.

Ball Gadgets are much more fun to watch than they are to play. The controls work, but it takes a bit to stop. There’s also a couple of on-rails ones that are really trial-and-error. Even knowing what to do, you’re going to fast to react so you need to memorize every action.

Breath Abilities

This game continues the trend of having them! And acts like it’s the first time at the same time. Enter the Dragonfly is apparently not canon.

Fire acts like it always has. They didn’t do the particle effect thing like Enter the Dragonfly did so it moves forward with you as it should.

Electricity starts out as a weaker Fire and then ends up being much more useful. It takes longer to defeat enemies, but there are certain enemies that are immune to Fire but not Electricity. After a point, it’s not worth it to switch back, since Fire just isn’t universally useful like Electricity is.

Water is just used for puzzles. Nothing else. This is also the only time Water is an element in the series.

Ice freezes certain things (like steam vents so you can use them to pole spin), and enemies of course. There are certain enemies in the final area that are only weak to Ice. (Maybe Water too, but I haven’t tried) Otherwise it freezes enemies so you can charge them like in other games.

Bosses

Finally, we get some new ones!

Gnasty Gnorc returns as the first boss. He’s actually far stronger than he was in Spyro 1, ironically enough. The fight itself is a pretty fun platformer boss fight, but his personality... it’s so childish. It’s like they didn’t know who he really was before.

Ineptune is a new character. The fight itself is, again, great for this style of game. Her character is kind of forgettable, though.

And then we get Red, who we fight twice. The first time is actually harder if only for the fact that you’re in an icy arena and thus the controls are more slippery. He’s not a very complex villain, but his fights are pretty fun, but very similar to the other two.

Special mention to the mammoth, who wins via being in a cutscene. You never see him again, having no chance to best him. He is truly Spyro’s greatest foe.

Levels

Continuing from Attack of the Rhynocs, the levels are much more seamless. They’re still very distinct, but in a lot of cases (moreso early-on than later) they feel like the same level as you begin in.

And again like Attack of the Rhynocs, the levels don’t have concrete ends. You can check your map and see how many Dark Gems are left, but it doesn’t really feel like you’ve finished even after you smash them all.

There’s no main conflict to defeat or anything, it’s just exploring and smashing Dark Gems, and occasionally finding a Dragon Elder to give you new skills. You get a checklist, but it’s not the same.

The theming is fine, if generic. Older Spyro games tended to have an irony to them, but not this one. Everything is played straight. Which, of course, makes it so this game doesn’t stand out very much.

Story

I don’t even know if I fully understand it. So Red’s an evil dragon who mined some Dark Gems to spread evil throughout the lands. And the Elders are very hesitant to tell you more.

Eventually it comes out that Red used to be an Elder, but he betrayed them. I really don’t understand why they couldn’t just tell Spyro that. Do the Elders just have a reputation that they don’t want to sully or something?

We get no motivation on Red’s part, and normally I’d be fine with that, but with all the secrets I expect a bit more. Also: who’s Ineptune in all this?

There’s parts where I feel I missed a game. Ember knows Spyro, and Spyro appears to know Ember. I feel like I should know who Ineptune is just because of how little introduction she gets.

I read that there was going to be a TV show that got cancelled but the games didn’t, but it was literally one forum post and it may have just been someone making things up. It would certainly explain things, though.

Unique in the Series?

Yes and no. It definitely has a unique feel as far as the series goes, but it’s very generic at the same time.

A lot of what it introduces is used again in later games, even though that part of the series is very different.

But yeah, Water Breath, Pole Spinning, and Wall Kicking are unique to this game in the series. They aren’t unique in general (See: Mario. Yes, even Water Breath. See: Sunshine), but for the series, definitely.

It’s at that weird awkward part in which it’s not anything groundbreaking, but it’s still really good.

Conclusion

Best post-Insomniac Classic Spyro, if only by default. It’s generic for its time, bringing Spyro fully into said time. It works, it’s fun, and I wish there were more to this part of the series that weren’t... well, Orange.

#spyro #a hero's tail #video game review #spyro reignited

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kittypatra-zosan · 7 years

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If you like our work, please consider supporting @cyriusli on ko-fi and myself, @mossybrows-draws on patreon!

Character: Sora Vinsmoke (Sola Vinsmoke) Role: Bastet!Sora / Sekhmet!Sola Pet-Name: Sanji-Mama

Mossy: I was the one who wanted Sola in the fic, honestly. If we were going to have Sanji be the son of Bastet, it had to be Sora/Sola. Even if Cyriusli had said no, I would’ve insisted, I swear I wanted it to be Sola so badly. She seriously doesn’t get enough screen or panel-time. Most of our concept development happened because of the problem we encountered with Bastet/Sekhmet cat-god Sora. I like to headcanon that Sanji takes after his mama, so I used that idea in creating a little more of Sora’s design.

Cyriusli: I admit, I was a little skeptical at first, but she grew on me and I was able to find a way to incorporate her into the plot of the story. Both parent gods make appearances, but this is more about Sanji and Zoro so their roles are minor in the main story.

Mossy: Same reason I don’t really have a lot of development sketches for her. I got distracted and drew in a little baby Sanji just for interaction concept reasons...and then ended up making Zoro and Sanji baby chibis. But more on that later. XD

Cyriusli: The chibis are freaking adorable. You keep getting sidetracked and making new things and I am just sitting here like… you have 5 other things to finish first! What are you doing?!

Mossy: I’m sorry! But his wittle buttt butt wa so nyaa nyaa and I just HAD to! Besides, I’d already drawn the child!versions of them both anyway! So I was like ‘why not baby versions’!?? Ayway. I did have a little more trouble with Sola/Sora. I was like Bastet? Sekhmet? Bastet? Sekhmet? Like we mentioned before, we decided to make 2 different versions of Sola/Sora because of the differences between Egyptian North and South Kingdom cultures.

Cyriusli: Incorporating all the different points in the Egyptian lore is a little hard to juggle, but I think we are handling it fairly well at this point. And besides, we are completely inserting two beings that never even existed, combining Bastet and Sekhmet into one momma god probably isn’t the worst thing we could be doing.

Mossy: True, but I am having a little more trouble with her armor than I expected. Have one design up now ( could be another design up by the time I post this text on my character sheet for her.)

Cyriusli: Yeah and then I get to write her when we pretty much know nothing about how her character operated. I think our little twist of her “ignoring” Sanji a good portion of the time is good though because that plays into the part of Sanji missing her so much.

Mossy: I was thinking about the story Oda had about the Germa 66, where the hero, Sora, who has a telltale similar name to Sora/Sola, Sanji’s mom and how this hero defied the Germa 66 and saved North Blue. With Sekhmet being the goddess of war, I thought it was fitting she was Sanji’s mom. She could be waging war to fight for her babies back from Jaji of another culture or something, being an Egyptian god, maybe fight with the Roman or Greek god she had an affair with? LOL. Not that I’m being serious.

Cyriusli: Yeah, I don’t think that would really work and it would get too complicated. I do however see Sola fighting a lot of wars. Like maybe this is a time where Old Kingdom is crumbling and Unification is on the horizon. Sanji is located in the deep southern part of the Nile but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of fighting. There has to be… Zoro’s place at the scales tells us there is.

Mossy: Ahh, I love having Sola/Sora get to be here and be an active character! The possibilities are endless! I do love the lion look she ended up with being a fire-illusion instead of an actual lion face.

Cyriusli: Yeah! That’s pretty cool!

Mossy: It also helped with Nebit’s design, because...I mean, I’m not against anyone who’s into it, but I can’t exactly fall for anyone who has a lion for a face and a human body. Not into that. So I thought if Nebit was going to ‘take after Sola’ because of Sanji, then having her be a nekomimi would be ideal.

Cyriusli: I know that was my plan for Nebit all along. We cover her background a bit more in her sketch, but my plan for her was to look like Sanji and his mama, different than the rest of the attendants and guards that live in the palace and temple.

Mossy: As for Mama Sola/Sora (I still dunno which one to call her), I finally got my act together after moving houses and countries again and finished her design up. Though I did have a bit of trouble with the colors. Since Sanji’s got a lot of orange to his character (fire and all), I thought it was fitting to keep it in the golds and yellows. Though I did accidentally color part of her armor green at some point. The designs of her armor made me rethink the designs of her Bastet!form dress.

Cyriusli: I think her Bastet dress looks fine and I think her armor does as well. I really love the helm you made for her and her tail is pretty awesome as well, even if that isn’t exactly armor. I’m glad we got the color thing figured out though, you sent me those pics and my instant reaction was, gods, I know we are moss, but please not that. Slight color change made all the difference for badass warrior momma.

Mossy: Haha! I can’t wait to have her in the Chopper’s Comic Corner! I have a lot of Monster Hunter history under my belt (not that I was a good player, but I did manage to collect a lot of armor, so I did have to kill a lot of monsters). It’s mostly that stuff that helped me design her armor.

Cyriusli: This whole process is cool for me because I may think up armor, but I never get to see how it looks outside my head, so to see Mossy bring this stuff to life is just such a great thing to me. She makes it seem so simple, despite the hours we spend in skype screaming at one another over things lol

Mossy: Ahh yes, the screaming. There be plenty screaming. I was screaming about using turtle shells as armor for Sola’s/Sora’s skirt because well...shit forgot my reasons. But yeah, I was screaming about that but then I realized Cyriusli was offline and I couldn’t call her about it and then I was sad.

Cyriusli: Oh no! I’m sorry. You didn’t tell me about that.

Mossy: LOL yeah I forgot. But I should ask now; did they have turtles in the nile? I mean...Sekhmet!Sola kinda has a turtle shell skirt.

Cyriusli: Yeah, they had turtles. The Nile used to be a huge ecosystem, not that it isn’t now, but it used to be bigger, I guess. So there were all sorts of animals that are typical of a water environment, including ibis, egret and the DEATH PELICANS.

Mossy: Oh thank god...they’re very orange though. Is that kinda weird? Ah. I’ll change it to the shell color. XDD I think this is about it for Sora/Sola-sama. Man I love her! I wish she showed up more in the manga, like many other women, we clearly don’t get enough of what kind of person she is other than the fact that she’s a good mother.

Please look forward to her appearance in Chopper’s Comic Corner, coming soon!

#sola #sora #vinsmoke sola #sola vinsmoke #sora vinsmoke #zosan egyptian au #zosan #kittypatra zosan #kittypatra sanji #zosan kittypatra au #zosan kittypatra #double moss combo #cyriusli #mossybrows #mossybrows-draws

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galacticbugman · 5 years

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Recent Reptile and Amphibian encounters

I am not much of a herper I am more of a bug person more than anything now and days. However I fancy myself as a generalist when it comes to nature. No matter if it flies, creeps, crawls, leaps, gallops, slithers, swims; I will photograph it. I love to keep a diverse life list and love to keep a track of all that I see in the natural world. It is just something fun to do; it is like a game of hide and seek but when you seek out a new creature you log it and then keep it to a list. It can often jog fond memories of the places you saw the creatures and sometimes the people you were with. For me even the old wild friends you see with often lead to more memories and sometime you learn something new about the creatures when you encounter them over and over again. This occurred just over a few weeks. I went out to River Legacy to try and get a boost in observations for my iNaturalist account. I have been going out there a lot more because it has been really rainy and great for fungus and bugs. Here are a few old friends that I took photos.

Okay in the photo above it is kind of hard to see. What you are looking at is one of the most common of the snakes at River Legacy. This one I have posted all too often but I got this Copperhead in a position I have never photographed before. This guy was pointed out by one of my friends who works at the science center. She saw it right off the bat but I had a hard time trying to spot it. You will notice in some of the other photos they are more of a tan and orange color and sleeker. This one was much more brown and dulled out. This guy is gong to shed soon but he had not quite gone into blue yet. Okay what does that mean going into blue? Well when snakes shed the skin is solid and even covers the eyes for it makes a scale over the eyes when it is time to grow. They gain a bluish tint on the eyes and when they are like that Look Out! They will strike at anything and everything. You just have to make sure to give it it’s space. I fed a couple that had gone into blue; they may have been non-venomous but still they are more alert to everything since they are practically blind. This guy was all coiled up by this tree waiting for a meal to pass by. I think that the Copperhead is one of the most beautiful snakes in the state of Texas. They are a very attractive snake in my opinion. There skin when freshly shed is so beautiful. Before I get on one of my long winded speeches let us look at another herp that I found recently.

A couple of weekends ago I went out on the longer trails at River Legacy one Sunday on one of my weekend nature hikes. A lady on the trail was with her family and pointed this guy out to me. This little cutie may look cute but he will grow up to be one of the kings of the pond. This is the Common Snapping Turtle. Now there are two kinds of Snapper in our area. We have the Common which is this guy and we have the Alligator and both have two different feeding habits. I used to feed animals at the Fort Worth Nature Center as one of my volunteer jobs and I had the pleasure to feed both species of turtle. This one is the active hunter. That neck may look small but don’t let size fool you this guy can extend it and it will whip around and try to get you if you pick this one up. I learned that babies are not as ready to bite but when they get a few years old they become more bite happy. They will go out of their way to chase down a meal but; The Alligator Snapper (which I don’t have a photo of) that guy is more of a ambush predator. On their tongues are made like a fishing lure and when a fish comes into close...WACKO! I love snapping turtles. I used to love it when kids would come into the reptile room. I would teach them the feeding behavior of the turtles. I loved their reactions when they would snag a fish or bite one in half. They are the true meat cleavers of the of the pond.

Here is another one that was pretty cool. It was found just this weekend right when the Copperhead was found. This guy is one of the hardest lizards to photograph. This is the Little Brown Skink. Not a snake although he is snake like. He is long and slender and pretty small. This guy is about the size he will remain forever. These guys normally are on the move. You will hear them rustling in the leaf litter and most of the time they are gone before you see them. You have to sneak up them but they are quick to run. This guy was the exception however. My dad and my friend both pointed this out to me. It is good to always have extra pair of eyes on the trail. I do have pretty sharp vision but even I miss things that are hiding in plain sight. This guy was sitting as still as could be not moving a muscle. You had to watch him very closely because his head would twitch every so often. These are one of my favorite lizards. I have managed to catch a much larger skink at River Legacy but the thing with skinks is they can be pretty bitey and boy did I get it the day I wrangled a Common Five-lined Skink. I was showing it to a few kids and it had enough and bit the base of my ring finger on my left hand. It didn’t draw blood but he told he that he had enough of that. The bit isn’t that bad in some cases normally a quick release. They may pinch and you can feel their needle sharp teeth but it depends on the size if they will draw blood. There are some huge skinks in the world that can take a plug out of you but the ones we have here are small potatoes compared to some and are nothing to worry about in terms of getting bit. You just have to understand that it is their only way to tell you; you crossed the line and it is time to go or to PUT ME DOWN!” Still I love skinks they are cute little lizards. Lets look at another one sshhhallll wee

Okay so not my best shot but still a really good one. This is known as a Southern Leopard Frog. This is a fairly large species we get here in Texas though is considerably smaller than our giant Bullfrogs. This guy was on a bit of refuse down near the Red Bridge where most of the shots were taken in these slides. This guy was sitting as still as could be; possibly looking for a nearby snack. I don’t always see these kinds of frogs. I mostly see Bullfrogs and Blanchard’s Cricket Frogs along with their cousins the Green Tree Frog, and the Gulf Coast Toad. I have not seen a new species of frog to add to my list. I don’t see these all too often because they blend in so well with their environment. This is my second one to photograph in recent years which is kind of odd. Frogs and other herps are not my strong suit but I do carry around a make shift herping tool. It is a BBQ skewer that I converted into a double pronged herp stick. I don’t use it too often by I have been known to use it. I use it mainly to flip over logs and if you dare do this in person be warned and wear some snake proof boots or your best pair of hikers for it is pretty risky business sometimes. The thing is when out in the wilderness you want to wear a pair of jeans and a good pair of boots. You never want to be out in shorts. It is the one thing that I was taught early on before I signed up to be a Texas Master Naturalist. It is just something to take head of because there are plants like Bull Nettle that will get you and not to mention the mosquitoes.

Here is my last observation for this herp post. This guy was found as it was being swept down stream in a current near where the Leopard Frog was. This guy is not venomous even though its name might conjure up another master predator of North America. This guy is called the Diamond-backed Watersnake. this guy was a big one. These guys are known to get pretty good sized around and in length. These are said to be more common than another species of Watersnake we get called the Plain-bellied Watersnake also known as the Yellow-bellied Watersnake. In the herp world there have been quite a few changes to the Taxanomic Nomenclature which is kind of causing a lot of mixed feelings and causing a few upsets in the science community. Some of the snakes have been hit hard by this. I have seen quite a few of these on my travels to many North Texas parks. These guys are quite fun to look for. I don’t mind snakes they don’t bother me at all. They used to bother me something fierce but after years of learning to better understand the beauty of the reptile world mainly from watching Steve Irwin tapes and things I have since changed my attitude toward these misunderstood creatures. For some reason I love the misunderstood animals. I guess I have always been one to stand up for the little guys. To better appreciate these creatures is to learn how they live and what they do to survive. Their is beauty in the ways in which these creatures live. Sure they may not have fur or make pleasing sounds but the world of herps is a special one. They are an indicator in our ecosystems that tell if it is healthy or not. If you have these guys the area is a good one. If you don’t see many of these then you don’t have such a good ecosystem. Many species are known as indicator species and this goes hand in hand with many of the insects and even with the fungi. Everything is connected one way or another. For this is the way of nature and the connection it makes with us. It calls to us for we came from it.

In closing remarks:

Remember being a naturalist may not cost too much to get started but when you start working you way up the ladder you might want to invest in better equipment. Learning about nature in the field is fun but field investigations are only part of the equation. In the iNaturalist gig you have to go out and get your observations but then you have to go back home and study your findings just like in a lab situation. Learning about nature is fun and very rewarding. If you have an interest in wildlife or nature don’t be afraid to let that small spark start a life time of wonder and self discovery. Being an wildlife photographer and a hiker and a naturalist has helped me find my voice, my strengths, and my weaknesses. I always had a hard time conveying natural ideals to people but now that I have been out more and have spent time with people who are like minded and people who share some of the same ideals I have been able to speak more on the things I love the most. Nature is a wonderful thing on this planet. There is no other place I would rather be than losing myself in a forest, mountain crest, or oceanic area, or heck a dark cave studying the beauty and the majesty of Mother Nature. I often see this quote that really speaks to me “Not all who wander are lost.” This is something I have really taken to heart. Nature is something I really connect with and love. I love it so much and it makes me sad just how far away we have driven ourselves from it. It is something that we can’t replace and must be protect for our future generations to appreciate and enjoy. Making contributions by volunteering for your local nature park or nature center or heck even donating is a great thing. Nature was made for us to lose ourselves and explore. So until we meet again I am Zachary Chapman AKA Galactic_Bug_Man and I will see you on the trail.

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