#spyro 2018

[spyro-ashes]

Here is another design that badly suffered from additional details added without any thought put into them. The original dragon statue was supposed to be a stylised representation of a dragon, any dragon, so it’s pretty abstract and undefined. In the new one, you can clearly see it has a specific face and it also has four horns, but in the original, four horns were characteristic of magic crafters. Also some of the dragons in the original walked on four legs, but in this version, none of them do except Spyro, which makes the statue seem even less connected to the actual dragons.

[chezzepticon]

For Media Expert [PL] contest --> Link 🐉 Unfortunately, I didn’t win this one.. because the winner just redrew the cover of the original game :|

Character: Spyro from Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018) game

[karissycloud]

I heard a certian dragon is getting a HD remaster?? I LOVE SPYRO. A LOT. PLEASE LET IT BE TRUE. Here's my contribution to the Spyro hype train. ;V; enjoy 💖

[spyro-ashes]

These pandas were so adorable in the original, so of course they had to be “fixed” for the remaster. Now they look like raccoons. And wear pants. Because I guess they have something to hide? (also somethingsomething Kung fu Panda). And instead of a wide head with a big nose and tiny eyes, almost like a bull terrier, we get a boring pear-shaped head with generic facial proportions. Why was it so difficult to just follow what the original did well, especially when they’re incapable of making a new design that’s appealing?

After what they did to Sheila I wouldn’t be surprised if those buckteeth were there for stereotypical reasons.

[spyro-ashes]

Not mine, but does a pretty good job of explaining why this “remaster” sucks.

[spyro-ashes]

The original level, Summer forest, has a very calm colour palette and actual textures, which is something the remaster really doesn’t like, so of course it had to make some changes. The colour palette is messed up, the original colours had a blueish tint to provide a sense of calm, the new one is way too yellow with all the contrasts ramped up for the kiddies.

The level of detail is completely inconsistent. You have walls with no texture but then you have the lesenes made of bricks and very detailed stairs where every pebble is shown. Some walls are textureless, some have a few bricks on them disappearing through a gradient, half of the grass is detailed, but then half of the grass is made of play-doh. I honestly thought that grass was unfinished, but no, it’s actually supposed to look like this. And then you have those plastic golden parts that don’t fit anywhere. Look at the platforms: the original is so simple and pleasant to look at. The new one has a textureless bottom part, a plastic golden ring around it, then a bunch of rocks (that of course look like they were thrown onto it rather than put in with any care), and of course, no mosaic present like in the original.

The architecture makes no sense. The new version has bizarre shallow pools of water on top of the platforms (because I guess putting detailed textures would be too much for the PS4 to handle) and waterfalls that are pouring directly onto the grass. Why would anyone have a waterfall flooding their garden? It’s ridiculous! Someone just slapped a random waterfall there because the level needed more detail and they didn’t think even for a bit if that makes any sense. There’s also a bunch of icepicks now just randomly standing around because I guess buttresses are way too architectural. The buttresses instead got replaced with lesenes because apparently that’s the only architectural element Reignited artists know of. And I have no idea what purpose those yellow dots on the walls of the castle serve. Oh right, it’s just the the laziest possible way to break up space.

Notice how claustrophobic the new game is. Everything seems more cramped.

[spyro-ashes]

I came across some concept art for Spyro Reignited on Artstation and this was in the description:

That moment when you understand that it is your style project and you have total freedom of creation. that was hard to understand and I was like "really?! I can draw in my style? the prophecy came true! elders were right!"

Your style project? Hey, sure, why would you try to be faithful to the original and respect its aesthetic? Yay, now the artists have a chance to play with their own style and it’s a guaranteed success because it’s piggybacking off the original that actually put effort into standing out with its aesthetic!

So much for “being faithful to the originals”. God I hate this “remaster” and the whole attitude surrounding it, the attitude that it’s now a playground for any artist to do as they wish because the original aesthetic is worthless just for being low-poly.

[spyro-ashes]

When you market your kids game that had guns removed for not being child friendly with drugged-up embarrassment known as Snoop Dogg. I wonder how his charges of gun possession by a convicted criminal play into this.