The Sorceress and her army of rhynocs are still out there, with all of the dragon eggs we have yet to rescue. We can't afford to let them down, so our Egg Hunt continues here in the Forgotten Realms.
We're making progress in Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon.
In the last post, I talked briefly about how this game relies a lot on gimmicks. Although we're still in the early game, this tendency has begun to materialize in the what we've been doing. The actual segments of platforming don't last very long, and once we're gone we spend so much time in very cleanly sectioned off side areas completing challenges that often have their own unique control scheme associated with them. This will only continue to be a pattern as the adventure continues and we unlock more characters to play as.
For me, this is the biggest reason why Year of the Dragon is my least favorite Spyro game in the trilogy. The core platforming is why I keep replying these games over and over again, and for almost every gimmick section that's fun, there's almost always another one that I can't stomach. While Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage had it's own gimmicky side-content ("Trouble with the Trolley, eh?" is the most infamous quote for a reason.), they were rare and most of the game was still focused on the central mechanics.
Another large part of that is the sheer number of challenges the game needs to throw at players to fulfill it's quota of 150 Eggs, almost double the 13 Talismans and 64 Orbs (for a total of 77) in Ripto's Rage. It's why some eggs are just located in pools or on random platformers that barely qualify as off the beaten path.
I don't envy the position Insomniac was in when it developed this game, as they only had a year to develop this game and it was twice the scope of the last one. While playing it, that lack of time can be profoundly felt all throughout. It was a whole different time in game development, and seeing that generational gap made all the more plain, even with a fresh new HD coat of paint.
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