#game levels

Spyro 3's Homeworld Hub's are a bit strange. I say that not as some kind of an insult or put down to the four, time of day based, levels that serve as the hubs in the game. More as an observation of the hub worlds in this game wanting to have it both ways in the senses of the hub worlds from Spyro The Dragon, and Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage. Spyro The Dragon, notably, had enemies in the hub worlds. Even though they ultimately only there to facilitate travel to the normal levels, the fact threats existed changed the feel of those hub worlds in a big way, largely by making them feel dangerous. Spyro 2 went very far in the other direction, not only taking out the enemies out of the hubs, but going as far as having Stewart Copeland compose some borderline mediation chic music to let everyone playing know that nothing could, or would, hurt you in these areas. So why do I think Spyro Year Of The Dragon wants to have it both ways? It all comes down to the music. Copeland returned to compose the soundtrack for Year Of The Dragon, but when it came time to score the home worlds, "relaxing" is obviously not the musical feeling he went for. The music is upbeat, fast, and based largely around short loops. It feels like it resets just as soon as it begins, and as a result, keeps up an energetic pace that the calming sounds of, say, Summer Forest in Spyro 2, did not facilitate.

It wouldn't be a Spyro Hub World without a big body of water somewhere in the mix!

But enough about that table setting and music, what is Sunrise Spring really like? To that question I say, without an ounce of irony or double meaning, it's pleasant. Like the time of day it's intending to evoke, Sunrise Spring has a sort of slower paced vibe to it's design and visual sensibilities compared to the other home worlds in Spyro 3. For instance, there's still snow on the castle roofs and the little mountain peaks that enclose the area. Imparting the feeling that the day hasn't yet begun enough for the snow to fully melt. you can also take note that the trees are autumnal, almost seeming as if they themselves have not quite woken up for the day, let alone the season.

Maybe I just need to double check what a valley is, but I recall a lot more flat space, less water and at least four more large shopping malls being in the valley’s I know.  I kid, but really The Nibenay Valley is a pretty small space in the grand scheme of The Elder Scrolls Oblivion. Like it’s closest neighbor, the aforementioned by this blog Blackwood, Nibenay Valley is dominated by the large river running through it and the way that shapes both the environments and the things you can find there! 

I was unfair to the concept of a “valley” earlier.  Even though Nibenay Valley doesn’t really fit the description of one I expect, it doesn’t make it any less of a well defined environment in the context of the game.  Bordered by foothills and focused around the Niben river down the middle Nibenay Valley has a personality all it’s own through the things you can find within it.  Though castle ruins and light signs of civilization are nothing new for someone exploring Cyrodiil, they remain effective mood setters.  I like to imagine that so frequently dot the river were once critically important in less peaceful times to defend an important shipping route. they may be disused ruins now but, they once had a purpose to the valley.

I gotta be honest on this one, kinda seems like you guys were trying to run aground here.

Along the river itself you can find sights ranging from quaint bridges (check for trolls), shipwrecks (check for the ghosts of trolls) and even a magical grove with a unicorn in it (check for a surprisingly large amount of Minotaur’s).  Not even making that last one up!  When Oblivion wanted to lean into being a bit of a generic fairy tale environment they didn’t hesitate!  As I said before, The Nibenay Valley is a pretty small area.  It’s dwarfed by it’s next door region “The Nibenay Basin” but it manages to pack in more than enough personality in the limited space it has.  Just, again, check for Trolls and Minotaurs, because maybe that’s the reason all those forts were abandoned?  The hordes of Trolls and Minotaurs specifically.

The Precursor Basin is a gloomy, mysterious ruin done right.  From a gameplay perspective it’s may honestly be my least favorite part of Jak and Daxter, but on a pure aesthetic level I can’t get enough of this area.  Spinning out of the second hub world, Rock Village, and serving as the only Zoomer only zone in the game, Precursor Basin is an odd experiment in game play, but a triumph in environmental aesthetic.

The basin is cold and gloomy, not as much as the ridiculous levels of misery the Jak series would come to hit in the future, but assuredly the grimmest seeming place in the original game(And there’s a place called only “Lava Tube” later on).  But that grim outward look belies how the mysterious vibes this place gives off always bring a smile to my face.  In the center of the grassy valley is one of the bigger examples of the strange, seemingly unlivable by traditional means, Precursor Architecture in the game, looming over the rest of the zone like it was somehow keeping watch.

Did anyone else think the idea they were giving off at the time was that the Precursors were being incorporeal beings rather than....well what they ended up being?

Though this area is a far cry from the sunny beaches and exotic environments of the rest of the game, it’s always stuck with me due to my own personal preference about things like the weather and environmental aesthetic. Dark Eco plants, a subject that would never be revisited in the series(unless they come up in Daxter, which is still an odd blind spot for me in the franchise), grow in abundance in a field on the basin, contrasting their strange purple glow to the mostly bright green grass even among the gloom.  A small pond flows through the middle of the towering structure at the center of the zone, making the architecture of the place seem even weirder than it already is, did the tower get built around the pond? Was the pond formed under the tower? It's unclear.

Ha ha! Plot twist! You thought I was done writing about the cities of Cyrodiil, and that’s because I technically am!  New Sheoth may not be anywhere near Cyrodiil, not even being in the same dimension really, but it’s a city from my favorite Elder Scrolls game nonetheless, and boy is it a weird one.  New Sheoth is the capital city of the Shivering Isles, Shegoraths realms of madness consisting of the bright and unpredictable Mania and the dark and dreary Dementia.  New Sheoth straddles the line between these two wildly different worlds and as a result, is essentially two cities in one.  

Ah yes, that famous street: Dementia Raven Way

Dementia's side of the city is known as Crucible and it’s uh....well let’s say rustic.  Frankly, Crucible looks like something out of Fallout 3, bathed in sickly green and looking like nobody’s bothered to take care of the infrastructure since the day it was built, if you could call it “built”.  Gnarled trees grow in and out of buildings unimpeded, the citizenry is dreary and depressed and there’s at least one opportunity to push a dude off a steep flight of stares after he asks you to do just that.  Crucible probably isn’t a place anybody would really want to live, but I guess try telling that to the people spending all their time wallowing in the mud and loving it!

Is it crazy? Is it just late autumn?  Who can say?!

The Mania side of the city is known as the pretty self explanatory “Bliss”.  Though the name sounds like a teenagers Sonic OC, it does it’s job well enough in getting the vibe of the place out in one word.  Everyone in Bliss is the same level of weirdo you find down in Crucible, but surrounded by a generally nicer setting.  Fittingly it’s the polar opposite of the other side of town, with clean streets, happy people and no trees winding their way into the local inn.  It stands in stark contrast to the sights of crucible, and when taking some time exploring this wacky berg I always tend to gravitate towards the vibrant colors and more interesting locations to be found in Bliss.