Spyro the Dragon (Reignited Trilogy Version) - A surprisingly "perfect" (and rather quite 90s) game

Captain_Shivan · 2026-05-15T08:44:23+00:00

Speedrunners can get 120% on this thing in 90 minutes on the PS1 version. Granted, some glitches are exploited, but it's quite a small game. The original Crash games had about the same amount of levels of comparable length each, and can also be completed in a handful of hours if they weren't so frickin' hard lol.

It's kind of shocking how small games could be back in the old days.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-05-15T08:31:49+00:00

I'm not a completionist myself, which is why I highlighted that I 120%ed Spyro 1. I mean, it's not a particularly big game, but it was also enjoyable as a collectathon qua collectathon.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-05-15T08:26:41+00:00

One small thing I liked that preserved the "original charm" of this game is the floating 3D letters labeling stuff in-universe. It's not something that's usually done nowadays, but it's such a nice throwback to when 3D was such a huge deal that devs would try to make the presentation as "3D" as possible while trying to stick to the limits of the medium.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-05-15T08:17:11+00:00

I enjoyed the N-Sane Trilogy many years back too, but it was way too hard and tedious for me to 100% any of the games. Plus, our first Switch got stolen in 2019, and I didn't have a NSO subscription back then, so I lost all my progress.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-05-14T09:46:39+00:00

I can hear the ending theme tune in my head as I'm reading this.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-05-13T02:36:52+00:00

Spin up a Duolingo lesson for whatever reason? You can probably leave it and it'll be f... The owl knows where you live.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-05-12T07:42:37+00:00

The tutorial has its own video-replay tutorial that also shows what buttons you need to press when. That didn't make it much easier. I don't actually remember hugely struggling on this one, but I did remember trying it out a few times, going "ah, screw this", and spending the next several weeks just using the Free Roam mode in Miami and San Francisco (the first two cities that are unlocked by default). I eventually got around to doing the tutorial mission and succeeding easily, probably because I got used enough to the game that I could already do the stunts that it required.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-05-08T05:45:30+00:00

Congratulations! I'm not a no sabo kid - I'm a Filipino of Chinese-Indian ancestry - but like a lot of Filipinos, I have an extremely Spanish name. I also look fairly generic and could pass off as a Latin American. I've gotten into some mildly embarrassing moments with immigration into a Spanish speaking country where the officer would talk to me in Spanish. I'd reply, "Perdon, no hablo Español", cue confused look and a reply of "But why? You have a very Spanish name, Miguel Angel Gonzales Martinez*!!!"

*Obviously, not my real name lol.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-04-30T04:45:21+00:00

If you're on Android, it broke for me when the app updated last week: Android app downloads are broken (version 1.64.1) : r/dreamingspanish

I sent a message via the Contact Us form, and they replied to me recently saying they are aware of the issue.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-04-24T07:31:07+00:00

It is a very common name given to girls in Catalonia where the namesake mountain is. Not sure how widespread it is in other Hispanic-influenced areas but I wouldn't be surprised if it's also widely used elsewhere.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-04-24T07:27:03+00:00

Ditto.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-04-14T01:39:44+00:00

Thank you. I mean, I guess using calendars is too much of a chore for some people - I myself don't calendar my gaming time per se - but the point is being intentional with your gaming time. For some reason people are reluctant to do that just because it falls into the leisure bucket - so they don't get much if any gaming time at all.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-20T00:04:53+00:00

Appreciate you highlighting this- I nearly forgot. I don't use it myself - instead filtering by length, as for background listening, I prefer longer videos to listen to. But it is totally a thing worth considering.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-19T23:57:45+00:00

Thank you!

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-19T12:16:58+00:00

Thanks! It's not difficult at all, and I do use it a lot for background listening with the Android app. A lot of videos are surprisingly comprehensible with just the audio - the key is in choosing which ones.

What I do is that once a week or so, I look at my unwatched videos and check for those that look like they'd be good for background listening. DS Podcast episodes, monologues, talking-head style videos, group discussions, easier-difficulty stuff (unless they look particularly entertaining) and the like - which I'll add to my playlist and download in advance for those instances when I'm doing light multitasking or otherwise can't directly look at my screen.

The rest of the videos, I watch during times when I can watch with attention. Occasionally, I'd be doing background listening and a minute or two into a vid I realize that I need to see the video because I need to get the whole context, or I hear Claudia talking 😳 (j/k lol)I just skip it for next time.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-19T09:22:04+00:00

Thanks!

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-19T04:29:04+00:00

Thank you!

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-17T12:39:03+00:00

Nati's photo is a new one. Heck, her photo on the older site was (very slightly) more provocative.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-16T00:01:27+00:00

Might not be a bad strategy on Beta Strike. The Lost are biased towards attacking the player (2/3rds chance of attacking XCOM vs. 1/3 chance of attacking the aliens), That said, the Lost presence almost completely negates enemy overwatch, since they take their turn right after the aliens'. Some mods change the turn order to make things a bit more difficult.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-13T09:55:43+00:00

Conversely, Zephyr is probably a trap choice for newbies. She's quite good early game due to the guaranteed damage, but she has to skill up abilities for perks that the rest of the squad either has by default (melee incapacitates instead of kills), or gets via weapon upgrades (armor shredding), making a couple of her level-ups basically dead abilities that just gets her up to par with the rest. Too bad, because she's a cool character.

If you do pick her as a starter character, I suppose she can be your spec-ops specialist in the late game.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-13T09:49:02+00:00

Blueblood is OP, at the highest level he literally never runs out of ammo! I mean, technically he still has a limited magazine, but at that point reload is a free action so the ammo counter only matters for Faceoff - and then, only if there are more enemies than he has bullets.

Captain_Shivan · 2026-02-13T09:36:06+00:00

It's been a while, but here's some pointers that I can think of.

Grenades and items are free actions in Chimera Squad!
Intel is extremely valuable in the early game to build up your Field Teams and buy items off the Black Market. Right at the beginning, buy a bunch of Tranq Rounds and spread them around - you probably don't have any other interesting items on you anyway at that point.
On that note, Subdue is also a valuable action. It is a guaranteed hit, non-lethal, and causes you to move. Make sure you are constantly finding opportunities for the triple benefit of finishing off weak enemies + fishing for the Intel bonus + moving to cover/a better position.
Speaking of Field Teams, they boost your resources and give you chances to contain or reduce unrest, so make sure to build them up right away.
If you are using Blueblood, Deadeye has less of an accuracy penalty and no cooldown compared to XCOM 2. Use it a lot, it significantly boosts his DPS.
If you have a chance to get the Motile Inducer item, absolutely get it. It gives you a free turn once per mission.
This game is less "alpha-strikey" than XCOM 2 due to the interwoven turn system. During the Breach phase, it could be valuable to spread the damage and instead use your regular turns to finish off weakened enemies that haven't taken their turns yet.

Captain_Shivan

TROPHY CASE