I hate what they did to the dragons.

[FRIENDLY MAN]

In the original spyro the dragons had dumb wacky voices, but the dragons you rescue at least looked like actual dragons. In the new game each dragon is an over the top cartoonish caricature and I honestly don't understand who the target audience is for this visual change.

Spyro was one of the first games I ever played and as a kid it wouldn't have been any more appealing to make each of the dragons overly childish. Dragons are cool, everyone likes dragons, they don't need to be overly silly looking to be appealing. So who thought it was necessary to detract from an otherwise solid effort at an HD remaster with such horrendous replacements for the petrified dragons? I feel like if I pick this game up, those new dragons will constantly take me out of the experience.

[InevitableCheese]

Honestly my favorite thing about the remake is the redesign of the dragons. Each one feels hand-crafted so far, with their own personality, and I love it!

[FRIENDLY MAN]

Originally posted by InevitableCheese:

Honestly my favorite thing about the remake is the redesign of the dragons. Each one feels hand-crafted so far, with their own personality, and I love it!

I do agree that they have more of an identity. I just feel the designs are overly exaggerated.

[FaeFish]

Yeah, I'm with Inevitable on this one. The original dragons were limited by the tech of the time, generally copy/pasted. The remaster made each one feel and look unique, which was a very welcome change for me.
Edit: I'd rather them be overly exaggerated than overly bland. But that's just my own opinion.

[InevitableCheese]

The original game always had me wondering what lines the dragons would deliver, but now I find myself wondering what the design will be, while having the nostalgia of the old lines I remember, it's great.

[FRIENDLY MAN]

Originally posted by Vinterro:

Yeah, I'm with Inevitable on this one. The original dragons were limited by the tech of the time, generally copy/pasted. The remaster made each one feel and look unique, which was a very welcome change for me.

You are right, they were copy pasted, that's why they were so reliant on different voices to break up the repetition. In saying that, can't the dragons have their own identities without having to be overly silly and cartoonish?

In my opinion later Spyro games have some of the ugliest character designs of any game series I have ever seen. I have particularly bad memories of Enter the Dragonfly whereas Spyro 1, despite being old is extremely visually appealing. Specifically the use of colors, the design of the skyboxes, and the games portrayal of varied environments without visual overload.

To me a change like this to Spyro 1 feels like a regression and a misunderstanding in part of what made the first game so appealing. Sometimes more can be less, especially visually.

[HighLanderPony]

I prefer the new ones.

[Killtacular]

A thread where people can disagree and still be polite. Color me impressed!

[FRIENDLY MAN]

Originally posted by onlyone:

but on ps1 the dragons were like that due to technology limitation, not because they wanted

You could argue that the limitations forced designers to think creatively and carefully about how to work within a boundary. How do you make a game visually appealing when you can't rely heavily on polycount and assets by proxy? I'm not saying that makes everything about the visuals of the first game inherently better, but lifting some of those limitations and making the dragons overly cartoonish also wouldn't be inherently better.

[Shark Drake]

yeah nah, new dragons are immensely better, some are husband materials

[InevitableCheese]

Every new dragon I save is bursting with personality like they were their own character with more than two seconds of dialogue, I'm honestly surprised how much they put into them

[Charu]

I can see how one wouldn't like the over the top characterizations of each dragon.

But I'm with the side that this is a welcome change and the dragon's look so much better with the redesigned look.

[Tripas]

Originally posted by InevitableCheese:

Every new dragon I save is bursting with personality like they were their own character with more than two seconds of dialogue, I'm honestly surprised how much they put into them

And they also have so many details in their animation. Like they might wink at you when the give you a hint, they'll grab their belly, do a "sword-banging-the-shield" animation... for something that you only see for a few seconds and most people will never watch again, there really is a ton of care and attention put into these.

[InevitableCheese]

Originally posted by Xi Jin-Pooh:

Originally posted by InevitableCheese:

Every new dragon I save is bursting with personality like they were their own character with more than two seconds of dialogue, I'm honestly surprised how much they put into them

And they also have so many details in their animation. Like they might wink at you when the give you a hint, they'll grab their belly, do a "sword-banging-the-shield" animation... for something that you only see for a few seconds and most people will never watch again, there really is a ton of care and attention put into these.

It's insane the amount of love they put into this. The animations and design put into a character that only says "Thank you for releasing me!" and disappears forever is nuts.

[erinaceous]

Are you sure that it's not just nostalgia speaking? I LOVED Spyro game when I was a kid but looking at it today I see that objectively the visuals and designs pale in comparison to the remastered version.

New dragons are breathtaking! Every dragon is so interesting and unique, they have so much personality it makes you want to know the story behind each of them. Not to mention their designs are themed and actually represent the land where you rescue them.

[Tripas]

Originally posted by InevitableCheese:

Originally posted by Xi Jin-Pooh:

And they also have so many details in their animation. Like they might wink at you when the give you a hint, they'll grab their belly, do a "sword-banging-the-shield" animation... for something that you only see for a few seconds and most people will never watch again, there really is a ton of care and attention put into these.

It's insane the amount of love they put into this. The animations and design put into a character that only says "Thank you for releasing me!" and disappears forever is nuts.

Also, they'll fit the setting they're in. Like in Peace Keepers the look like warriors, (bonus points in Ice Cavern, where they'll look very Viking-like), Magic Crafters is filled with Wizard dragons, Artisan's has all kinds of artist-looking dragons...