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Reliving Memories: Spyro Year of the Dragon

Spyro Year of the Dragon

Spyro Year of the Dragon is the third Spyro game I enjoyed during my childhood. Released in 2000, it is a platform, gem collecting game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

The story of Spyro Year of the Dragon focuses on an evil sorceress stealing the dragon eggs in Spyro’s world and bringing them to the Forgotten Realm where magic no longer exists. Spyro must now go to the Forgotten Realm to collect as many of the eggs as you can and defeat the Sorceress.

Spyro Year of the Dragon continues adding more of the abilities you gain while playing Spyro in the previous game. This is one of the best things about this Spyro game. Not only can you swim, hover and many other abilities, but Spyro also gains four new allies in his journey to collect all the dragon eggs. Each of the allies you obtain in the main worlds you go to by paying Moneybags for their release. You then play as each of these allies in order to collect more eggs and progress further into the game. I enjoy this aspect of the game because it introduces you to more characters and allows you to play as someone else for a little while.

Spyro Year of the Dragon 2

Spyro Year of the Dragon also allows you to play as Sparx, Spyro’s dragonfly throughout the game. The game considers these levels as bonus levels that are unlocked after defeating the boss you have to face before going to the next world. These levels are considerably different from the rest of the game because Sparx has his own unique moves that involve shooting in order for Sparx to defeat nearby enemies. But once you clear these levels, Sparx gains a new ability that will help Spyro on his journey.

Spyro Year of the Dragon 3

These levels are quite a bit of fun, but also challenging at the same time. Controlling Sparx is difficult at times as you try the best you can not to let your health sink. But they are rewarding because the abilities you gain after you clear these levels are worth the trouble.

I also enjoy playing this game because the levels are a lot of fun to go through. As a child, I remember playing this game and having a lot of fun with it as I tried the best I could to get all of the eggs in each of the levels. I still enjoy it now as much as I did then, trying to remember where all of the eggs have been placed.

One of my favorite things about Spyro Year of the Dragon is the things you have to do in order to get the eggs. In some levels, you have to carefully maneuver on the platforms to reach them while other levels you have to overcome races or different games, such as skateboarding. I find these challenges to get the eggs to be pretty enjoyable because they are a lot of fun to do. I enjoy the skateboard ones in particular to be enjoyable because I enjoy seeing a dragon on a skateboard and being in control of his movements.

Spyro Year of the Dragon 4

However, there is one aspect in Spyro Year of the Dragon I’m not particularly fond of. Even though they are a little bit easier, I still don’t enjoy the speedway levels all too much. While they are easier in this Spyro game, they’ve also added races and challenges with Hunter you have to overcome to get more of the eggs. I don’t mind doing these things all too much other than I feel like it puts too much into the game. I do enjoy them because they can be fun, but whenever they are too challenging to me, they can be irritating to put up with. I’d rather just have one of the three in order to get an egg instead of having to do all three things.

But overall, I’m still enjoying this game as much as I did as a child. While Spyro Year of the Dragon isn’t my favorite out of these three Spyro games, I still get a lot of enjoyment out of it and will be sad once I clear it.

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Reliving Memories: Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage

Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage 1

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, the second game in the Spyro series, is my favorite Spyro video game. Released in 1999, it is a platform, item collecting video game developed by Insomniac Games. The plot of this Spyro video game centers around the world of Avalar, where Spyro accidently travels while entering a portal for Dragon Shores. He was summoned there by some of the inhabitants of Avalar in order to defeat Ripto, an evil tyrant who’s using his minions Crush and Gulp to take over the world. As you travel the worlds in Avalar, you collect talismans which can be used to defeat Ripto as well as orbs which you need to open a portal back home.

This Spyro video game is my favorite from my childhood for a number of reasons. For one, I found Ripto and his lackeys Crush and Gulp to be my favorite villains in the series. I enjoy fighting against them and find their interactions in the series to be entertaining.

Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage Ripto Crush Gulp

Another aspect of Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage I love is the amount of abilities this game gives you that wasn’t in the first Spyro game. In the first game, you weren’t able to climb walls, hover when flying, and swim. However, in this game, Spyro gains all three of these abilities throughout that become useful to you in all of the levels. Having these abilities is nice because they allow you to better get through the worlds to collect gems, orbs and talismans.

Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage Aquaria Tower

I also love this game because of the story behind each of the worlds you visit. Each world you go into for talisman, orbs and gems has a unique story with characters you have to help in order to obtain that world’s talisman. This is refreshing to me because each of these worlds have their own challenges you have to overcome. It makes the game that much more enjoyable because it feels like you have an objective you have to complete. But at the same time, it allows Spyro to use some of his new abilities to make it through these worlds.

Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage Crystal Glacier

I remember as a child the amount of times I played this game. I love it so much because of the characters and story that I couldn’t help it. I also loved the different things you did in order to get orbs such as playing hockey and returning the snow leopard in the picture above to his owner. Playing this Spyro game gives me so much nostalgia that I enjoy every minute I play it, making sure I do everything I can to complete each world. This game is one of my favorites from my childhood and I hope others who’ve played it feel exactly the same.

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If We Were Having Coffee: A New Style

If We Were Having Coffee Image Six

Good morning everyone! I hope you all have had a lovely week and are having a wonderful weekend. My week has been pretty good so I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I’ve been busy playing video games lately. I saw one of my favorite YouTubers playing Spyro Year of the Dragon, which really made me interested in replaying the first three games in the Spyro series. So on Sunday last weekend, I started playing Spyro the Dragon and even wrote a post about it, which can be seen here. I played it so much that I’ve beaten it now and am continuing with the Spyro series by playing Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, my favorite in the series. I plan on doing a blog post about this Spyro game too in the near future whenever I get the chance. As for now though, I’m deeply enjoying reliving my childhood and can’t wait to see how much progress I make in these games.

Speaking of games, I’ve been listening to these Dungeons & Dragons podcasts by Geek & Sundry called Critical Role. Each one of these podcasts are about two to three hours in length, and is a game of D&D done by a wonderful group of voice actors. So far, their gameplay of D&D has been wonderful to watch, seeing them struggle to overcome enemies while also watching the Dungeon Master weave a wonderful story that captivates the audience to see what’s going to happen next. I look forward to listening to each episode posted on YouTube because it reminds me of when I played Dungeons & Dragons for the first time and makes me really happy to listen to. I plan on listening to more podcasts in the future, just need to find some more soon.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I have some good news! After recovering from strep throat and talking to my mom, I finally got the hair cut I’ve been wanting for some time now. And it turned out really good, better than I expected.

Raney Photo New Hair

I love it! I love the way it looks from the front and back, and the way my new bangs hang across my forehead. I have a rather large forehead so these bangs hang across just right in a way that I feel works for me. This hair cut just works for me way better than all of the other haircuts I’ve had in the past. I like having short hair because of the way it looks on me and this just works because I feel like it fits me. I feel like it makes me feel younger, but also more mature at the same time. Makes me feel more ready to take on the world and whatever obstacles are heading my way. I feel more confident in myself than ever before, like I’m seeing my true self for the first time. I’m just so happy with this hair cut that I can’t see my hair looking any other way.

Then after getting my hair cut, Mom and I went to Panera for dinner because I’ve been wanting to eat their soup for some time. Since before I’d gotten sick with strep throat. So I felt like it was about time we went there to get some food before heading home from my hair appointment. And it was just as good as my taste buds hoped it would be. Both the bread and soup were just right and it was a nice treat to have their delicious broccoli and cheese soup with bread the perfect size to dip it in.

If we were having coffee, I would just like to quickly let you know we won’t be having coffee next weekend. We are moving my older sister into her new place in Nashville next weekend and will be spending our 4th of July there so I will be so busy with family that I won’t be able to make coffee. Before she’d gotten the job in Nashville, we were originally supposed to go to Pennsylvania for a friend’s wedding. Once there, we were going to spend time with my grandmother, visiting Philadelphia and spending a day in New York as well as enjoy our 4th of July Pennsylvania style. But now that my sister has her new job and will be moving into her new place that weekend, our plans have had to change. Mom isn’t exactly pleased about this because it was her friend’s wedding we were going to and we’d already made a commitment to go months ago. So now, we’ll be spending our weekend in Nashville instead and our grandmother will be flying down so we’ll still get to see her. While we still don’t have everything planned out, I’m hoping it’ll still be an enjoyable weekend and that our 4th of July will still turn out fine.

Other than that, I haven’t been up to much. I’m happy because I was able to post one of the fictional pieces I’ve been wanting to write for a little while now. I still have other works I want to post onto my blog. But will just have to wait and see how all of that goes and whether I’ll actually post those on my blog soon. I promise though that if they don’t end up on my blog this upcoming week, they’ll be up as soon as I feel like writing them.

Now that I’ve talked about my week, what all have you been up to?

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Reliving Memories: Spyro the Dragon

Spyro the Dragon PS1

Spyro the Dragon is one of many favorite video games from my childhood. A platform, item collecting video game, Spyro the Dragon was released in 1998 by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. While this game was initially released to be played on PlayStation, I didn’t get this game until PlayStation 2, which allows video gamers to play games released on the original PlayStation. Along with this video game, I acquired Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage and Spyro Year of the Dragon with it in a Spyro Collectors’ Edition case.

Spyro the Dragon is the first game in the series, which introduces you to the character Spyro, a small purple dragon. He must save his dragon elders from Gnasty Gnorc, who turned all of the dragon elders in the land into stone along with collect all the gems and eggs in the various worlds you travel to defeat this nasty villain. As Spyro, you fly from platform to platform, charge and flame your enemies as you travel across all of these worlds.

As a child, this video game made me fall in love with the Spyro series. It was one of many video games from my childhood that introduced me to platforming in video games. I remember many moments as a child traversing through the different worlds, flaming and charging enemies while releasing the elder dragons from their statue prisons.

Spyro the Dragon PS1 Peace Keepers World

I enjoy Spyro the Dragon because of its unique charm. As a child, most aspects in the game didn’t catch my eye as being cheesy. However, now that I’m older, they catch my attention and cause me to giggle in childish glee. One good example has to do with the enemies in the image above. Whenever these enemies go to hide from Spyro in these tents, they either cower in fear or moon you when you flame their hiding spot. As a child, I didn’t see the humor in this, but now that I’m older, I find it funny.

I also enjoy playing this game from my childhood because I love playing as Spyro and the challenges each world brings. I love getting to play as a small dragon who can flame as well as charge at his enemies. He is also able to fly, which allows you as the player to get to platforms you couldn’t otherwise reach. I also enjoy the worlds you get to go through because each one of them is unique and presents their own different challenges to the game. Some levels in the game have really high platforms that if you aren’t able to fly across will cause Spyro to fall into the abyss while others have water or some other obstacle that if you land in will cause Spyro’s health to deplete. And other worlds have super charge boosts, which are usually useful when getting to difficult platforms that flying won’t help you reach.

Spyro the Dragon PS1 Tree Tops

Images from one of the most difficult levels in the game Tree Tops.

Spyro the Dragon is also enjoyable because of the challenge it presents to the player. Some of the platforms you have to get onto are really high up or very difficult to reach to where you have to use other platforms to get onto them. This presents a challenge for the player especially if you are trying to clear the game by getting all of the gems, dragons, and eggs. Part of this challenge can be seen in the timed flying levels where you have to go through obstacles before the timer runs out. While you don’t gain anything unique from completing these levels, by doing so you collect all the gems in those levels and get closer to completing the game.

Spyro the Dragon PS1 Flying Level

Now that I’m older and playing Spyro the Dragon, I remember a lot of my recent experiences playing this game. I remember playing it last summer the amount of fun I had and now try the best I can to completely clear the game and having fun doing so, which is why I’m playing it again. I look forward to continue playing this series and continue reliving memories from my childhood.

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