KYHO Ranks The Original Trilogy's 74 Levels! DUN.

KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 16, 2013 7:17 PM

Thanks! And I have to say that I love that rainbow cat in your signature.. I don't know what it is or if you made it or what, but it looks really cool and pretty. So. Yeah.

61. Bentley's Outpost
(Game 3 Rank: 20/24)
(Evening Lake Rank: 6/6)

Bentley's Outpost places low because it ultimately suffers from the same fatal flaw that Agent 9's Lab does -- it feels like a tutorial more than anything else. You progress through it and learn the basic controls of the character in an incredibly structured way, and then you're done. Bentley's little brother specifically tells you how to use Circle to smash stuff, Square to deflect stuff, and the D-Pad to push boxes out of your way, and then... you're completely done. It leaves me wondering what the actual point of the level is -- you basically are just guided through a few basic mechanics that are pointless to learn because you never use them again outside of some optional egg challenges.

That said, Bentley's Outpost outranks Agent 9's Lab by over ten places and makes it into the tier of levels I enjoy, so clearly there's a reason for that. First of all, it's not quite as much of a tutorial as Agent 9's Lab is. In the Lab, literally all you do throughout the entire level is get talked to about how to do various things with the new character; at the Outpost, that's probably about 75-80% of the level, but it also has some hidden passageways and tunnels along the side of the level. Those give you an actual practical application for what you learn how to do in the rest of the level, and I think the addition of new characters in Game 3 would have been much more fun if there were more things like that that made the tutorials worthwhile.

Second, while Agent 9's Lab hardly has a general atmosphere at all -- half of it is on a beach indistinguishable from Dragon Shores, and the other half is inside of artificial and boring buildings -- Bentley's Outpost has one that's very clear and fitting. Bentley's level takes place in the snowy mountains, which is incredibly fitting for a yeti (in contrast to Agent 9, who would feel more at home in a jungle-based level than on some random island.) Although there are a lot of snowy, mountainous levels in the game (as I said in the hint for this pair of eliminations, this level looks pretty similar to Colossus), it's still done very well here. The whole level is constructed to fit with the theme of rugged, frigid mountains where a yeti would live and it does so very effectively. The music also adds to this appeal; although I don't love the sound of it, it's a rough, harsh theme that goes really well with the rest of the level.

If this level's gameplay were different and it had felt less like a tutorial -- had it consisted, for example, of simply traversing rugged, snowy cliffs without Bartholomew telling you what to do every single step of the way -- then it would have placed much higher, probably even in the top 25. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and the end result is a level that is far too structured to do well in this ranking, even though it has an incredibly unique atmosphere that was pulled off very well.

60. Sheila's Alp
(Game 3 Rank: 19/24)
(Sunrise Spring Rank: 5/6)

Sheila's Alp is basically the opposite of Bentley's Outpost. While the Outpost has weak gameplay but an engaging atmosphere, the Alp has solid gameplay for a non-Spyro level but a bland and forgettable atmosphere. I give it credit and put it this high because while the Outpost and Lab feel like simple tutorials (as I have lamented already), the Alp doesn't feel that way at all. You learn to play as Sheila naturally through the navigation of a believable level, which makes it feel much more like a Spyro level and much less like a gimmick. The mountains and the enemies all feel like something from any other level rather than like something specifically put in to teach you a certain skill, but at the same time you have to use all of Sheila's skills (high-jumping, kicking, and headbashing) in order to complete the level. That ability to teach all of the new techniques without blatantly telling you "This is the new technique" is what makes Sheila's Alp a fun level that outclasses two of the other three non-Spyro levels in this ranking.

Despite this, however, I still put it low, because it really doesn't pull me in. The generic look of it combined with the slow musical track that is virtually duplicated in another level make it feel like a very sleepy and forgettable level in a series whose most memorable levels tend to be colorful and exciting. I applaud Sheila's Alp on being fun and managing to teach a new character without falling into the easy trap of being a structure tutorial, but it's still ultimately a short, early level without a particularly exciting layout, so I can't put it higher than this.

But wait! There's more Sheila's Alp!

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The next level out is from

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Remaining levels:

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Sheep · Nov 16, 2013 10:25 PM

KeepYourHornsOn wrote:

[snip]
Sheila's Alp is basically the opposite of Bentley's Outpost. While the Outpost has weak gameplay but an engaging atmosphere, the Alp has solid gameplay for a non-Spyro level but a bland and forgettable atmosphere.
[snip]
The generic look of it combined with the slow musical track that is virtually duplicated in another level make it feel like a very sleepy and forgettable level in a series whose most memorable levels tend to be colorful and exciting.
[snip]

Hey, this is one of my favorite levels you're talking about! It simply has a really nice colourful - yet relaxed - atmosphere. And it has some great stylistic trees.

Also, you should try to fix your emulator's video settings, you can't properly judge this beautiful level without it's proper colours tongue
Try to enable advanced blending(thanks to Blako who told me how to fix this in a different thread).

I also think Breeze Harbour has a pretty neat and unique design, combining the industrial airy harbour with it's green hills and lava. That and the combination of dark blue, grey, yellow/orange and green has a strange appeal to me, as just a slight change to it could really put me off. It has some of that industrial feel, but without the "dirty" feeling that usually comes with it.

Hwd45 · Nov 17, 2013 12:18 AM

Sheep wrote:

Also, you should try to fix your emulator's video settings, you can't properly judge this beautiful level without it's proper colours
Try to enable advanced blending(thanks to Blako who told me how to fix this in a different thread).

On the topic of the game's colours... I play with this incredible shader, it really enhances all the colours in the game...

Um, anyway, back on topic... I can pretty much agree with everything in this so far. These are pretty much all the 'meh' levels that get forgotten about.

Prism · Nov 17, 2013 3:48 PM

I agree with what you've rated the levels so far too. Just give Aquaria Towers a decent rating. As a 6 or 7 year old, it was my favorite Spyro level ever. It's still one of my favorite levels to this day.

Swaffy · Nov 17, 2013 10:32 PM

I think Sheep is on to something. You might want to amplify your video
settings. I feel like they're really lacking the colors and textures and details
that make quite a few levels stand out.

KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 18, 2013 12:36 AM

Whenever I actually play through the games I play them on my actual PlayStation where the colors stand out much more, and that's what the rankings are based off of.. I only went through them on emulators to get screenshots which I'm not gonna go back and do again

Swaffy · Nov 18, 2013 7:15 PM

Okay, that's fine! Actually that works great because you're seeing the original.

KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 19, 2013 2:29 AM

59. Town Square
(Game 1 Rank: 27/29)
(Artisans Rank: 5/5)

First off, I have to point out that the first game is dominating this ranking so far -- only three of its levels have been eliminated, as opposed to seven levels from Game 2 and six from Game 3. We will see whether this continues...

I already eliminated Town Square from this ranking once, on the grounds that it was a totally neutral level with nothing worth mentioning either good or bad. After replaying it, however, I have seen the error of my ways! Town Square's role in the series is that of an introductory level; it's a level in the first world of the first game, when levels can be done in any order. Recognizing this, I can see that the main purpose of Town Square is to help a new player get acclimated to the controls of the game. It's probably the first level in the series that can really be considered challenging at all; it has a lot of glides that can be tricky, put there in order to emphasize the importance of -- as seemingly every single dragon at the start of the game will tell you -- pressing the X button at the top of your jump in order to make long glides. In fact, I just found out while typing this that its Japanese name translates to Glide Town -- a pretty appropriate name that shows that the real purpose of this level is to start challenging the player to do more difficult glides. The egg thief is also probably the most challenging part of Artisans and the first part of the game that really requires you to look at your surroundings in order to figure out what to do. That kind of clever level design that makes you actually think is one of my favorite things to see in a level, and Town Square is probably the first level that requires you to go out of your way and make a non-obvious glide in order to get 100% completion. When I was a kid, I remember how tantalizing I found Thor, visible from the start of the level but seemingly impossible to get.

I essentially bumped this level up because I have to give it credit for its role as the first cleverly designed, legitimately challenging level in the series that serves to really make the player start taking advantage of all of Spyro's controls. Plus the music is really fun. However, the general atmosphere of it is still relatively unextraordinary; I guess it's kind of neat to see an actual civilized town built up by the dragons rather than the natural landscapes of the other levels, but it doesn't look particularly interesting, so this level falls here. I appreciate its role in the series more than I did when I first eliminated it, but there are certainly more captivating levels remaining.

As always, this is subject to change (not that anyone seems to look at these anyway!), but the next two cuts:

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KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 24, 2013 10:06 PM

Alright so I know I'm double posting, buut.. oh well. I mean this isn't just someone being an idiot and spamming a thread, it's just that I've waited a week for someone to respond to that last thread, and it's clear that nobody's going to, so I'm just gonna post two of the four write-ups that I've already had typed up for days during my wait.

58. Peace Keepers Homeworld
(Game 1 Rank: 26/29)
(Peace Keepers Rank: 5/5)

(With this elimination, Magic Crafters and Dream Weavers are the only two worlds left in the series that have not lost a single level in the ranking! Which one will be the last world unscathed? Time will tell..)

Peace Keepers takes its honorary place as my least favorite homeworld in the series. However, although I'm not crazy about it relative to the other homeworld stages, it's still quite a good level. I don't have the same inherent distaste for the canyony levels of the Peace Keepers world that I imagine many other people do -- although they certainly aren't as outright interesting as the more vibrant landscapes (and, as this post illustrates, they will, accordingly, rank lower), they also aren't bad. What I particularly like about the Spyro series is the diversity of its levels: you can traverse a treacherous underwater town or fight soldiers in an arid desert. While desert and canyon-based levels such as the Peace Keepers homeworld are fundamentally less aesthetically pleasing than the kinds of levels we'll see make it to the top stages of this ranking, I certainly don't mind their presence; they add to the diversity of the collection of landscapes in the trilogy, and I thank them for doing so.

Of the relatively similar-looking, arid levels in the Peace Keepers world, however, the homeworld is the one that ranks last. Essentially, I think that it and Dry Canyon look virtually identical, but Dry Canyon did it better, so Peace Keepers naturally ranks lower. That said, Peace Keepers still is a strong and unique level within the series. You can tell as soon as you enter it that you aren't in Artisans anymore: the music, although not a track I really listen to on its own, is filled with revolutionary drumming and horns that immediately set the tone of the level as one of war. The enemies (infamously remembered as the ones that moon you) and their tents add to that atmosphere as well, and the cannons -- which can be used either by or against the enemies, and must be used to reach 100% completion in the level, something that I never quite figured out as a kid despite the giant freaking circular target painted on the huge rock you're supposed to blow up -- are one more unique thing Peace Keepers has that other levels do not. I also really get a kick of burning down the tents of the enemies.

All in all, I appreciate Peace Keepers's unique elements and role as the gateway into its canyon-y world. However, from a sheer aesthetics standpoint, its look is less appealing than that of many other levels, and at the end of the day, Dry Canyon basically did the same thing but much better. Peace Keepers has its strong points and certainly isn't a bad level.. just not as good as 57 others.

But wait! There's more Peace Keepers!

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57. Doctor Shemp
(Game 1 Rank: 25/29)
(Peace Keepers Rank: 4/5)

First off, I have to say that the Doctor Shemp level has freaking awesome music. We're getting into the better levels (already!), which means that I can talk about the fantastic soundtrack and how much better it makes the game. The background music for this level sounds really intimidating and chaotic, which works perfectly for a boss level, especially one in such a precarious position -- enemies knocking you aside and running through you while you're on the narrow edge of a cliff, the boss fight taking place across small islands over deadly liquid, etc. Very strong, very fitting musical track that does a wonderful job of adding to the atmosphere of the level and making it much stronger and more entertaining to play through than it otherwise would have been.

I'm also a very big fan of the enemies in this level themselves: the suicidal tribesmen (or whatever they are) that run right through you off the edge of the cliff kinda scared the heck out of me as a kid and are pretty crazy now. They're definitely among the more fun enemies in the series, and it's incredibly satisfying to charge through multiple of them and then immediately flame one of the red women, killing all of them at once. If I don't manage to kill them right away, the red women in particular can be pretty devastating -- they don't actually hurt you, but they smack you aside, which is pretty laughable in Cliff Town but actually really frustrating here, because they're pretty likely to knock you right off the edge of the level and make you start over. Doctor Shemp himself is a solid boss by Game 1 standards; he isn't incredibly difficult by any means, but a bit more challenging and intimidating than the others, and he himself is probably my favorite of the six bosses from a gameplay standpoint. Also, I recently found out that his name comes from the "Fake Shemp" term -- hence Spyro having to attack his back -- which is pretty entertaining.

The primary problem with this level that lands it so low on the countdown, however, is that being comprised of nothing but precarious cliffs, the whole level does have kind of a claustrophobic, constrained feel, which is not at all ideal compared to some of the more expansive, open levels in the series such as Lofty Castle, Stone Hill, or many of the Homeworlds. Aesthetically, it offers very little that isn't seen in the other Peace Keepers worlds -- the giant purple sun in the backdrop is pretty cool, but hardly enough to impact its placement in this ranking. Doctor Shemp is an exciting and adrenaline-inducing level where you are constantly on the brink of falling off and dying, and for that I appreciate it as a good level in the series, but its claustrophobia and lack of unique visual elements makes it more forgettable than many of those still remaining.

But wait! There's more Doctor Shemp!

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I have a few more write-ups ready to post but first I want to make sure people are reading this still.
And in the future if nobody has commented I'm not going to double post.. I'll just assume nobody is reading and not bother updating until someone has commented.

Stormy · Nov 24, 2013 11:08 PM

Don't worry about double posting too much; that rule is pretty much so people don't make multiple posts in the same thread within minutes of each other when they could just be combined into one. Also, even if no one's commenting, just look at the views this is getting! People are obviously still reading. smile

Despite not looking beautiful aesthetically, I really liked Peace Keepers. I remember thinking it was so cool that I discovered that last part of the level and figured out that the enemies aren't the only ones that can use the cannons. I agree with all your reasons for putting it where it is, though.

Never really liked Dr. Shemp that much.... I remember when I first watched my friend play the game, she walked by the Dr. Shemp portal and her brother was like "OOHH Dr. Shemp is hard!!!" When I got the game I was a little scared to go in that portal. XD But anyways, yeah, it's alright, but not a super exciting level.

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Nov 25, 2013 3:38 AM

i read every new post you make (might have missed the first few, can't remember), but i don't usually comment. i just don't have anything to add. you do make good points with a lot of these.

Swaffy · Nov 25, 2013 6:11 AM

Stormy wrote:

Despite not looking beautiful aesthetically, I really liked Peace Keepers. I remember thinking it was so cool that I discovered that last part of the level and figured out that the enemies aren't the only ones that can use the cannons. I agree with all your reasons for putting it where it is, though.

As a kid, I always got a good laugh out of the mooning frog things. They were
one of the first enemies to really make me laugh. And it was more fun to burn
their tents down and watch them become afraid. Those little troublemakers.

Stormy wrote:

Never really liked Dr. Shemp that much.... I remember when I first watched my friend play the game, she walked by the Dr. Shemp portal and her brother was like "OOHH Dr. Shemp is hard!!!" When I got the game I was a little scared to go in that portal. XD But anyways, yeah, it's alright, but not a super exciting level.

To be honest, I was always annoyed by the Dr. Shemp level. I died so
much on that level, most of my deaths being from falling off the cliffs.

Stormy · Nov 25, 2013 5:17 PM

I couldn't tell they were mooning at first because of how the graphics looked. The instructions talked about enemies that moon you, and I was like "Moon? What does that mean?" tongue

And actually I kind of felt sorry for them when they got scared. Heh.

Prism · Nov 26, 2013 3:03 PM

Stormy wrote:

I couldn't tell they were mooning at first because of how the graphics looked. The instructions talked about enemies that moon you, and I was like "Moon? What does that mean?"

^ I was the exact same way! When I was younger, I couldn't tell either. Then eventually, I was playing it again and I thought, *Wait a minute... are they mooning me?* xD I've never even read the instructions.

s'pyromane · Nov 26, 2013 5:52 PM

They were hilarious indeed !

Just keep goin', we are readin'. smile

KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 27, 2013 12:19 AM

Stormy wrote:

Don't worry about double posting too much; that rule is pretty much so people don't make multiple posts in the same thread within minutes of each other when they could just be combined into one. Also, even if no one's commenting, just look at the views this is getting! People are obviously still reading.

Your moderator button is shiny enough that I will take your word for it!
And wow, I did not see how many views this had! Thanks to all who are following and added to that count, and to those who comment as well. <3

Here are a few more.
I'm typing these up on another website where I'm also posting them, and that website is not exactly strict about naughty words.. I think I cut them all out, but if I accidentally leave any in (in this post or in any other ones) then whoops! Let me know and I will take them out. I try to cut them out if I copypaste a post from there to here, but of course it's always possible I might miss one -- this time I'm copypasting over three write-ups so there's naturally a greater chance I might have slipped up :x

56. Dino Mines
(Game 3 Rank: 18/24)
(Midnight Mountain Rank: 5/6)

Perhaps the greatest evidence I can give of how shamelessly ridiculous this game is is that it features a level in which you, a purple dragon, team up with a monkey in order to fight dinosaurs who have escaped from old-timey prison cells run by rabbits.

Dino Mines is a level whose strength is in its gameplay but whose weakness is in its uninspiring atmosphere. I think this level has, out of all of the levels in the game, the most challenging enemies -- certainly they're are among the most challenging. Not so much the gun-wielding, green dinosaurs -- charging up to them and flaming them is easy -- but escaping from the ones who throw dynamite and the small ones on the turrets without a scratch feels virtually impossible. I have to give this level huge credit for that, and the egg that requires you to swim through the speed tunnel was incredibly challenging for me as a kid; although I beat it on the first try on my most recent playthrough, there's still some nostalgia there. The Agent 9 mission is also a unique one and one of the high points of the series for me in terms of something that's just really, really fun to do (and also fairly challenging), and I also love running around after I've gotten the egg and grabbing the hidden extra treasure and whatnot. That challenge really shows how Agent 9 can be a very fun playable character despite how bad his home level is. Dino Mines certainly has a lot of very fun elements and I have to give it respect for that.

However, the problem is that aesthetically it is simply a boring level. Nothing about how it looks really stands out for me compared to other levels. I mean, the whole old Western theme is unique and all, but just not something that I think looks captivating. It's just sand and some buildings.. yawn. I can't put a level higher that has such an actively "meh" design, but I certainly can't put a level lower that is so freaking fun. Its music is also fun and upbeat to add to that appeal, even if it is just a remix of Sunny Villa's theme.

(Also, I have no idea how to work this into the rest of the write-up, but I also love the hidden portal that you can only find by swimming in the air. It makes me wonder why they didn't just delete the thing instead of trying to hide it.)

But wait! There's more Dino Mines!

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55. Frozen Altars
(Game 3 Rank: 17/24)
(Evening Lake Rank: 5/6)

Poor Frozen Altars. Even as I type this, I am aware that I am robbing it -- it has all the makings of a top 20 level, maybe even top 15. It is, for the most part, freaking awesome. The whole level has an incredibly fun and relaxing atmosphere about it.. snowy levels are virtually always great (as we can see by Icy Peak, Ice Cavern, Crystal Glacier, and the entire Magic Crafters world all still being in this despite many of them filling similar niches) and this one is certainly no exception. Its entire design is so pretty with the snow and the falling flakes all covering the colorful temples. Really, I think that that's what this level's entire atmosphere is meant to be: fun. You have a warm and inviting look including temples that are colorful and look like a toybox, you have a mission with adorable cats, the ducks and enemies are wearing colorful clothes.. the whole thing feels kind of like it is catered to 5 year olds as a cute and fun level, and I love that. In keeping with all of that, it has a musical track that is fairly upbeat but also still subdued enough to blend into the background and set the tone of the level as a happy and fun one. The whole thing really comes together as a masterpiece.

And the gameplay, of course, is very fun and unique here -- the giant lasers are unlike anything you see anywhere else, freaking cat hockey (...what??) is hands down the most ridiculous thing in the game (it even gives you a sheep for an egg, named "Ba'ah".. freaking why?), and - most notably - having breath that freezes instead of flaming is a very creative inclusion. On top of that, I find the NPC ducks in this level inexplicably hilarious when they talk. I really have no reasoning for why; I just find them amusing and they're almost certainly my favorite NPCs in the trilogy. The little mastodons are fun enemies, and of course they just had to introduce freeze-breath in a level where enemies moon you. Moneybags also makes an appearance just for good measure. So with all of this stuff adding up to a seemingly perfect level -- a comically absurd minigame, great characters all around, unique gameplay, and an engaging atmosphere pulled off to perfection; in other words, everything I could want in a level, ever -- how does it land as low as #55?

...The boxing.
The *string of expletives* boxing.

The boxing minigame in Frozen Altars is, point blank, my least favorite thing in the entire trilogy. There is not anything I hate as much as I hate that minigame.
I knew that I always hated it as a kid (I'm pretty sure that it was the last thing I ever got in the entire game when I first unlocked the Super Bonus Round), but going into my replay, I thought that maybe it wouldn't be that bad; after all, as a kid I thought tons of things were hard that I can now do with incredible ease. I just mentioned one of them in Dino Mines, for instance. So I was willing to give the boxing another change -- I was hoping, because it's always more fun to like parts of a game than it is to dislike them, that I wouldn't dislike it as much as I used to.

I was wrong. It is exactly as bad as it always has been.
The boxing minigame isn't challenging in a fun or memorable way like I love to see in a level. The boxing minigame is freaking impossible, and its difficulty comes from your need to master a gimmick that I find impossible to master. It doesn't rely on figuring out how to navigate a cleverly designed level or using Spyro's controls to get through a hard series of enemies; it relies on figuring out how to quickly use a character in a certain way that is not used anywhere else. I'm all for unique challenges, but.. well, not when I'm this horrible at them. When I was replaying the trilogy, that egg was the only one I didn't get. It was the only thing in the series that I skipped just for being too challenging; I didn't bother with the puzzle orb in Idol Springs, but that's just because it was tedious and I wanted to leave. Believe me, I tried to get the egg -- I wanted it to be easy so I could rank Frozen Altars high -- but I failed, and I raged. And I haaate video game rage. It's something that I don't get from any other part of the trilogy. I would love to just ignore the minigame entirely, but I can't do that. Whenever I ordinarily play through a Spyro game, I always feel the need to get 100% on every level before moving on, coming back only when I've unlocked new skills/characters, if necessary. That means that I need to take into consideration 100% of the level in this ranking. Part of the Frozen Altars experience is that horrendous boxing challenge, and the end result of that is that Frozen Altars is knocked down over 35 places in the entire ranking from where it rightfully should be. I hate to rank it so low when I so strongly love like 95% of it, but that other 5% is something I hate more than everything else in the series combined, so despite being an otherwise perfect level, Frozen Altars only ranks as my 55th-favorite level in the trilogy solely because I get really frustrated by how bad I am at one part of it. That's unfortunate but that's the way it goes.

But wait! There's more Frozen Altars!

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54. Sunny Villa
(Game 3 Rank: 16/24)
(Sunrise Spring Rank: 4/6)

Sunny Villa is pretty much just a solidly fun level, and that's all there is to it. Basically it's just a good collection of fun little things: the entire level looks incredibly bright and happy, and it has an accordingly upbeat musical track that helps set the lighthearted and happy mood of the level. The NPCs (comically hedonistic, Greco-Roman lions and gigantic chickens) and the enemies (small Rhynocs that run into each other, fall on the ground, and don't even attempt to attack you; large rhynocs who whack you with giant meaty drumsticks) are all pretty silly. The egg challenges are also fun; climbing high towers with Sheila plays to her strengths (jumping to incredible heights that Spyro could only dream of) in an entertaining way that really maximizes her potential as a playable character, and of course this level introduces the incredibly fun skateboarding that is one of the most memorable parts of Spyro 3. Skateboarding becomes more entertaining and complex in later levels, but it starts here. Every part of this level makes it really fun and welcoming, which is great to have in the first (non-Homeworld) level of the game, because it'll help draw in players right from the start. It's a good and fun level that I can't complain about; I just don't have much of a reason to put it higher, because all it is is a fun early level. There are many other levels that are more fun or have more engaging designs and atmospheres, so this is where Sunny Villa lands.

But wait! There's more Sunny Villa!

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Before I update again I have to play some of the next few levels to decide which order they'll be cut in. I originally had a different level at #54, but bumped it up after doing part of its write-up.. I have to get a much more solid list than I presently have.

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Nov 27, 2013 1:50 AM

i always sucked at the boxing part, too. i always kind of wondered if it was just me, and there was something i wasn't understanding.

KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 27, 2013 2:37 AM

Consensus on the other forum where I am also posting these is that it was hard for everyone.
So that makes me feel better.
Doesn't make me hate it less, but y'know.

Swaffy · Nov 27, 2013 5:53 AM

I normally agree with your ranking, but there is something wrong with you
ranking Frozen Altars so low. After reading your article on it, the ranking
seems to be the result of a rage quit event, which I don't believe should affect
its downranking so much. That level has so much creative stuff in it, I feel like
a lot of good hard work was put into it. From the guys who throw hot embers
at Spyro to the regenerating snowman guy to the weird flipper dude, and the
path throughout the level that Spyro has to run. Its layout is great. And those
LASER turret things are fun to play around with too.

I remember the boxing minigame also. Yes, it was challenging, but it was
unique and I learned it eventually and actually ended up enjoying it.

Stormy · Nov 27, 2013 7:37 AM

KeepYourHornsOn wrote:

I'm typing these up on another website where I'm also posting them, and that website is not exactly strict about naughty words.. I think I cut them all out, but if I accidentally leave any in (in this post or in any other ones) then whoops! Let me know and I will take them out. I try to cut them out if I copypaste a post from there to here, but of course it's always possible I might miss one -- this time I'm copypasting over three write-ups so there's naturally a greater chance I might have slipped up :x

The forum'll just censor the bad words anyway, so, not a problem. No need to even edit them out, unless you really want to. tongue

I actually didn't mind the boxing that much. It could've been better, but in terms of frustrating-ness it's overshadowed by a lot of other levels for me.

Shameless plug because Sunny Villa is in this one: there's a skateboarding contest in that level going on right now! tongue Anyway, Sunny Villa is a good level just because it introduces the skateboarding, and the rest of it is pretty nice as well. The beginning of the level is one of the prettier settings in the game.

Prism · Nov 27, 2013 3:18 PM

Stormy wrote:

I actually didn't mind the boxing that much. It could've been better, but in terms of frustrating-ness it's overshadowed by a lot of other levels for me.

I didn't mind the boxing either. It was not too hard, but not too easy either. I got it over with pretty quickly compared to some levels. (Like Spike in Spike's Arena, he took me such a long time to defeat.)

KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 27, 2013 4:02 PM

Swaffy wrote:

I normally agree with your ranking, but there is something wrong with you
ranking Frozen Altars so low. After reading your article on it, the ranking
seems to be the result of a rage quit event, which I don't believe should affect
its downranking so much. That level has so much creative stuff in it, I feel like
a lot of good hard work was put into it. From the guys who throw hot embers
at Spyro to the regenerating snowman guy to the weird flipper dude, and the
path throughout the level that Spyro has to run. Its layout is great. And those
LASER turret things are fun to play around with too.
I remember the boxing minigame also. Yes, it was challenging, but it was
unique and I learned it eventually and actually ended up enjoying it.

Yeah like I said, I think almost all of the level is fantastic.. but that one part of it I hate so much that it drags the whole level down. Most of Frozen Altars would be top 15-20, but the boxing challenge on its own would be so far below everything else it's crazy.. so it balances out to be here. I can't just ignore the fact that I freaking haaate a part of the level because I like everything else. I didn't like putting Frozen Altars low but I could not put it any higher with how horrendous I think the boxing challenge is.. I've never enjoyed it and never will.

Stormy wrote:

The forum'll just censor the bad words anyway, so, not a problem. No need to even edit them out, unless you really want to.
Shameless plug because Sunny Villa is in this one: there's a skateboarding contest in that level going on right now! Anyway, Sunny Villa is a good level just because it introduces the skateboarding, and the rest of it is pretty nice as well. The beginning of the level is one of the prettier settings in the game.

Well then, I wish I'd known about that! That would have saved me a lot of effort. In the future then I will leave in all of my colorful swears and let the automatic filter do its work!

Skateboarding contest? Ooo, that's intriguing.
Sunny Villa definitely is pretty at the start, and it's a good level -- the other ones are just better at this point.

Will try and update this today if I can because I think I know which level will be out next.

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KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 29, 2013 2:13 AM

Alright, so let's get one more level knocked out of here.

53. Cliff Town
(Game 1 Rank: 24/29)
(Peace Keepers Rank: 3/5)

Cliff Town, I think, is a bit better of a level than it appears at first glance. Aesthetically, it's one of the less interesting levels; the Mesoamerican theme it has is unique and pulled off well, so I give it credit there, but it's still just not particularly interesting.. it's a town situated on a cliff, like the name implies, and nothing more. The main thing that I do give this level credit for is how unique its layout is; in many (but not all) of the other levels in the trilogy, the level's design basically consists of going through some kind of glorified passage to a set endpoint and then leaving. Cliff Town really isn't like that; from the very entrance you can see the site of the Return Home portal, and once you reach it (through progressing up vertically up the building's wall, rather than laterally as in most other levels) you're only about halfway done with the level. You still have to glide across the huge river (which is easily the best part of the level visually) and get to the other side, and then from there you have to glide to various roofs to collect gems and whatnot. I appreciate the level for how it uses vertical progress on buildings -- rather than just running through various passages -- to cram a lot of content into a relatively small space. This level is actually much smaller than it feels like it is if you look at it, and that's because it has a unique and creative design. Gliding from the big building over across the river and then onto the other rooftops is fun and showcases a different sort of design from a lot of the other levels in the trilogy, but at the end of the day it's still a generic-looking Peace Keepers level, so I can't quite put it into the top 50. Still a good and creative level, though.

But wait! There's more Cliff Town!

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Levels still in the ranking:

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Next update brings us to the top 50. In it

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Prism · Nov 29, 2013 2:56 AM

Keep posting! These level reviews are awesome!

KeepYourHornsOn · Nov 29, 2013 6:50 PM

52. Blowhard
(Game 1 Rank: 23/29)
(Magic Crafters Rank: 5/5)

Magic Crafters, the mountainous home of wizards, sorcerers, and druids, has taken its first hit in the ranking, leaving Dream Weavers as the last world untouched in the ranking! Good job, Dream Weavers.

Really, I don't think that Blowhard being last for Magic Crafters is much of a surprise; it's a fairly short and unextraordinary level compared to the others in the world. That said, I think it still stands out enough to warrant its placement above ~20 other levels in the trilogy. The number one thing that makes Blowhard stand out as a level to me is its music. If you want to see the best illustration of how much a musical track can improve the overall quality of a level, then seriously, go to Blowhard. The musical score here is really fast and really intimidating -- excellent for a boss level -- and gets louder as it goes on. A lot of parts of Blowhard are reminiscent of a thunderstorm -- the boss and wizards attacking you with storm clouds, the cloudy backdrop, the brownish hues of the entire level -- and the music really adds to that; the loud, harsh drumbeats almost sound like thunderclaps. I mean, just think of how much different this level would feel if it had had an upbeat theme like that of Crystal Flight or Sunny Villa or something. The music totally sets the tone here and it does it very well. In addition to that, the green druids' "oooOOOoooOO" chanting (they don't laugh in this level) sounds like the wind. The sounds in this level, above all else, give it a really unique and intense atmosphere. Leaving this intense level and entering the pink, happy Magic Crafters Homeworld is striking, but it still feels like a part of the same world through the familiar enemies and snowy, mountainous scenery. Blowhard is a strong level with a solid atmosphere that I enjoy playing, but at the end of the day it kind of sounds better on paper than it is in reality, so I can't quite put it into the top 50. The music is by far the best part of this level and single-handedly carries it probably 10-15 places higher than it would otherwise be.

But wait! There's more Blowhard!

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51. Skelos Badlands
(Game 2 Rank: 14/21)
(Autumn Plains Rank: 7/9)

Shock boot, maybe? I dunno. Skelos Badlands feels like a kind of iconic level since it was on demo discs and is seen at the start of the game or on the Game Over screen -- like Fireworks Factory in the third game -- and I feel like it'd be kind of a popular level, but I'm just not that invested in it. I mean, I still enjoy it, which is why it's this high: Skelos Badlands has a lot of good and unique gameplay elements that other levels don't have: the enemies whose heads come off after you charge them are among the more entertaining and memorable in the series, the orb challenge where you have to kill all of the dinosaurs as they hatch was crazy hard for me as a kid, collecting the bones was a really fun mission, and I love using the invincibility powerup to traverse the lava. Ultimately I guess the reason why it's not higher is that I don't think really find the design that engaging. The bones and scorched ground and whatnot all do a solid job of coming together to create a look that feels distinctly "Skelos Badlands"-esque, so I give it credit for that, but it's not a look that I particularly enjoy -- to me all of the bone scenery just looks kinda awkward -- so this level doesn't quite make it into the top 50. I respect it for what it is but on a totally subjective level there are just fifty other levels that do more for me.

But wait! There's more Skelos Badlands!

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Top fifty levels:

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22 from the first game, 15 from the third, 12 from the second.

The next four out are a level from the first world in its game, a level from the last world in its game, a boss level, and a homeworld.

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