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NO, this is not about the wing shape (which you already know i hate viciously because i'm an anatomy nerd).
It's about the fact that even though you're a dragon who is obviously capable of flying, you just can't do it at free will.
Oh and you can fall off of shit and die, because THE GAME.
It's for platforming benefit, i know, but even though i don't much care for DotD, i will say the greatest and most unique feature of it is free-form flight.
Which makes sense, too, because it deals with creatures THAT CAN FLY.
That'd be like making a game about a bluejay and the bluejay can't fucking fly, even though there's nothing wrong with its wings, and it isn't retarded, or has a birth defect, or is sick, OR NEVER LEARNED HOW.
PERFECTLY NORMAL EVERYDAY BLUEJAY AND IT CAN'T FUCKING FLY BECAUSE THE GAME NEEDS YOU TO PLATFORM.
IT'S THE SAME THING.
And then there's the Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'Hoole game (holy ridiculously long title, Batman), where you fly constantly but YOU CAN'T LAND OR STOP.
OMFG THE FRUSTRATION.

TLoS: ANB is my favorite video game of all time and that's something that's simply never going to change.
The way i see it, controlled, free-form flight appears to be a completely new element in gaming, and one that i actually haven't seen outside of DotD.
And obviously it requires specific design and functionality to work right, but how amazing is it to guide your character through that virtual world, and you choose when it stops, goes, and where it lands/takes off from?
You don't need power boosts, special gates or anything fancy/crazy -- you just GO.
It's literally the only reason i even still play DotD from time to time, because i can fucking fly.
That's it.
Thing of it is, being able to fly aimlessly takes away an element of platforming, which is pretty essential in games that aren't solely based on combat.
In order to compensate for the loss of platforms, DotD introduced different concepts such as puzzle and problem solving, harder fights and time-related challenges.
To be honest i despise time-fixated sequences because the stress kills me, but they had to make up for the loss somehow.
Not to mention there were occasional obstacles in which strong wind coming downward would prevent the player from being able to fly, and force them to climb to get somewhere.
This put a damper on the convenience of flight, without permanently taking flight away, and managed to integrate a new and impressive form of platforming.
...Yes, i am complimenting the ever-loving shit out of Dawn of the Dragon right now.
Soak it in, because it may never happen again.

So i love the first game to bits, and i LOVE Spyro, and i understand the intentions of the game and why it's made the way it is.
In the old Spyro games i really don't care that he couldn't fly freely, because he seemed like he was less able to anyway.
But in TLoS, in the first game we literally fly TWICE for a long ass period of time to first, get to an island and then next, get away from Cynder.
So he can fly, but in the game we are bound to the earth.
We can glide (yay), but when you think about convenience or logic, it can be a frustrating concept.
Like when you're in Tall Planes and Spyro surveys the area, and then is like "We're going to have to use the water wheels to move ahead."
OR, and -- this is just a thought, and i know it's kind of ridiculous, but why don't you just FUCKING FLY?!?!?!
YOU CAN STILL FIGHT AND GET RID OF ALL THE APES, AND MORE CONVENIENTLY SO WITH THE ADVANTAGE OF HOVERING OVER YOUR OPPONENT, AND THEN COMING DOWN ON THEM LIKE A CUTE LITTLE PURPLE MISSILE!!!

*sighs and leans back in my chair, exasperated* I get it...
I really do, it's just a thorn in logic's side that can be humorously frustrating, and i do mean humorous.
Sparx says "It's never easy, is it," almost as if the developers knew what they were doing, and were making fun of it!
I honestly loved that!

A final problem that couldn't be fixed with DotD was that while they did manage to fill in the blanks, the levels themselves felt relatively shorts or extremely limited.
In A New Beginning, there were many twists and turns to the areas that seemed to stretch the level out, combined with very repetitive fight sequences that took time to get through.
As a person with Asperger's, i will confess that i find the repetition soothing in ANB, hence why it's one of my favorite games.
I've been playing that game over and over again for so many years i can waltz right through it in just a couple of hours if i'm dedicated, and half of why i play it so much is because i know it so well that it's too easy, but still takes me some time to get through.
Obviously, not everyone thinks the same as i do and that's fine, and so there is yet another flaw.
But imagine this...
Imagine a Spyro game with the combined free-form, well controlled flight of Dawn of the Dragon with long, bendy, stretched out levels filled with well-spaced puzzles and intriguing problem solving necessities -- that aren't too hard and require elements, and are actually fun (like some of the ones in DotD), and a decent amount of non-overbearing combat and small boss fights, and then naturally, big boss fights.
But no timed puzzles or routines, because fuck those.
In a perfect world, i would also envision this game done in Krome's style because i have a visual boner for their look, and am too jarred by Activision's take on the game.
In a PERFECTLY perfect world, the dragons would also have functional wings, but this is getting off the subject.
Spyro and Cynder, together, in a VERY LARGE world, and you can fly at will and do everything you could in DotD and in ANB and TEN, but more.
If a game like this ever happened, i would buy a whole new console if that's what it took to get it, hot damn...
Also kind of off subject, the part of me that wants to be immortal and wacky like Goat Simulator would also love to put them in that sort of world, and be indestructible.
Indestructible ragdoll Spyro and Cynder would be AWESOME.

Anyway, i just have a lot of complaints on the brain lately and you know how much i love to bitch about things, so i chose to bitch about my favorite franchise.
Hope you enjoyed or if this managed to serve as food for thought.
What's your vision of the perfect game, according to your own standards?
I'd love to hear about it!

---DO NOT STEAL MY CONCEPTS, ART OR IDEAS!!! I DO NOT OWN TLOS OR THE SPYRO IMAGE, AND FAE BELONGS TO ME!!!---

Description
NO, this is not about the wing shape (which you already know i hate viciously because i'm an anatomy nerd).
It's about the fact that even though you're a dragon who is obviously capable of flying, you just can't do it at free will.
Oh and you can fall off of shit and die, because THE GAME.
It's for platforming benefit, i know, but even though i don't much care for DotD, i will say the greatest and most unique feature of it is free-form flight.
Which makes sense, too, because it deals with creatures THAT CAN FLY.
That'd be like making a game about a bluejay and the bluejay can't fucking fly, even though there's nothing wrong with its wings, and it isn't retarded, or has a birth defect, or is sick, OR NEVER LEARNED HOW.
PERFECTLY NORMAL EVERYDAY BLUEJAY AND IT CAN'T FUCKING FLY BECAUSE THE GAME NEEDS YOU TO PLATFORM.
IT'S THE SAME THING.
And then there's the Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'Hoole game (holy ridiculously long title, Batman), where you fly constantly but YOU CAN'T LAND OR STOP.
OMFG THE FRUSTRATION.

TLoS: ANB is my favorite video game of all time and that's something that's simply never going to change.
The way i see it, controlled, free-form flight appears to be a completely new element in gaming, and one that i actually haven't seen outside of DotD.
And obviously it requires specific design and functionality to work right, but how amazing is it to guide your character through that virtual world, and you choose when it stops, goes, and where it lands/takes off from?
You don't need power boosts, special gates or anything fancy/crazy -- you just GO.
It's literally the only reason i even still play DotD from time to time, because i can fucking fly.
That's it.
Thing of it is, being able to fly aimlessly takes away an element of platforming, which is pretty essential in games that aren't solely based on combat.
In order to compensate for the loss of platforms, DotD introduced different concepts such as puzzle and problem solving, harder fights and time-related challenges.
To be honest i despise time-fixated sequences because the stress kills me, but they had to make up for the loss somehow.
Not to mention there were occasional obstacles in which strong wind coming downward would prevent the player from being able to fly, and force them to climb to get somewhere.
This put a damper on the convenience of flight, without permanently taking flight away, and managed to integrate a new and impressive form of platforming.
...Yes, i am complimenting the ever-loving shit out of Dawn of the Dragon right now.
Soak it in, because it may never happen again.

So i love the first game to bits, and i LOVE Spyro, and i understand the intentions of the game and why it's made the way it is.
In the old Spyro games i really don't care that he couldn't fly freely, because he seemed like he was less able to anyway.
But in TLoS, in the first game we literally fly TWICE for a long ass period of time to first, get to an island and then next, get away from Cynder.
So he can fly, but in the game we are bound to the earth.
We can glide (yay), but when you think about convenience or logic, it can be a frustrating concept.
Like when you're in Tall Planes and Spyro surveys the area, and then is like "We're going to have to use the water wheels to move ahead."
OR, and -- this is just a thought, and i know it's kind of ridiculous, but why don't you just FUCKING FLY?!?!?!
YOU CAN STILL FIGHT AND GET RID OF ALL THE APES, AND MORE CONVENIENTLY SO WITH THE ADVANTAGE OF HOVERING OVER YOUR OPPONENT, AND THEN COMING DOWN ON THEM LIKE A CUTE LITTLE PURPLE MISSILE!!!

*sighs and leans back in my chair, exasperated* I get it...
I really do, it's just a thorn in logic's side that can be humorously frustrating, and i do mean humorous.
Sparx says "It's never easy, is it," almost as if the developers knew what they were doing, and were making fun of it!
I honestly loved that!

A final problem that couldn't be fixed with DotD was that while they did manage to fill in the blanks, the levels themselves felt relatively shorts or extremely limited.
In A New Beginning, there were many twists and turns to the areas that seemed to stretch the level out, combined with very repetitive fight sequences that took time to get through.
As a person with Asperger's, i will confess that i find the repetition soothing in ANB, hence why it's one of my favorite games.
I've been playing that game over and over again for so many years i can waltz right through it in just a couple of hours if i'm dedicated, and half of why i play it so much is because i know it so well that it's too easy, but still takes me some time to get through.
Obviously, not everyone thinks the same as i do and that's fine, and so there is yet another flaw.
But imagine this...
Imagine a Spyro game with the combined free-form, well controlled flight of Dawn of the Dragon with long, bendy, stretched out levels filled with well-spaced puzzles and intriguing problem solving necessities -- that aren't too hard and require elements, and are actually fun (like some of the ones in DotD), and a decent amount of non-overbearing combat and small boss fights, and then naturally, big boss fights.
But no timed puzzles or routines, because fuck those.
In a perfect world, i would also envision this game done in Krome's style because i have a visual boner for their look, and am too jarred by Activision's take on the game.
In a PERFECTLY perfect world, the dragons would also have functional wings, but this is getting off the subject.
Spyro and Cynder, together, in a VERY LARGE world, and you can fly at will and do everything you could in DotD and in ANB and TEN, but more.
If a game like this ever happened, i would buy a whole new console if that's what it took to get it, hot damn...
Also kind of off subject, the part of me that wants to be immortal and wacky like Goat Simulator would also love to put them in that sort of world, and be indestructible.
Indestructible ragdoll Spyro and Cynder would be AWESOME.

Anyway, i just have a lot of complaints on the brain lately and you know how much i love to bitch about things, so i chose to bitch about my favorite franchise.
Hope you enjoyed or if this managed to serve as food for thought.
What's your vision of the perfect game, according to your own standards?
I'd love to hear about it!

---DO NOT STEAL MY CONCEPTS, ART OR IDEAS!!! I DO NOT OWN TLOS OR THE SPYRO IMAGE, AND FAE BELONGS TO ME!!!---