Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy (2017)

[Ratcicle King]

Yeah, friendly reminder Stormy Ascent was the original final level of the game.

[JaidynReiman]

Fucking hell. I forgot to grab the lives from Castle Machinery and I was only down to about 33 or so before going into it. I swear I Game Over'd on the last checkpoint, I can see the top of the castle. There's this section of EXTREMELY fast disappearing platforms where you have to jump on two of them before they go back in. I can never make this one. I had to instead rely on Uka Uka and just jump on the next platform after that.

[Jango]

Well, I've tried the time trial, and I got to the highest part of the level once, but the first obj_motherfocker got me. Never again. Wonder if it only unlocks the trophy. That would be lame...

 

[Nintendoga]

Man, that section where you're going down the stairs with all the spikes and then proceed to climb back up the incredibly fast moving platforms. Too much. This level would've actually been impossible if it was a colored gem level. Can't even imagine getting a platinum relic on this.

Still fun tho.

[PickleBrows]

Looks like it's all but proven now that the final trophy IS indeed unlocked from a Gold Relic run of Stormy Ascent.

Hahaha this one's definitely gonna take a while but the time limit's generally generous enough to allow a little room to pause here and there.

[JaidynReiman]

48 minutes ago, Joy said:

Looks like it's all but proven now that the final trophy IS indeed unlocked from a Gold Relic run of Stormy Ascent.

Hahaha this one's definitely gonna take a while but the time limit's generally generous enough to allow a little room to pause here and there.

The main thing you need to do is just not die. The time definitely looks pretty generous.

And yeah, I was right. I died RIGHT before the fucking end. God damnit. I'll try again this weekend.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

7 hours ago, JaidynReiman said:

The main thing you need to do is just not die. The time definitely looks pretty generous.

And yeah, I was right. I died RIGHT before the fucking end. God damnit. I'll try again this weekend.

I just decided to grind Castle Machinery a few times to max out my life count,

Unfortunately, it seems like my Crash 1 won't be a 100%, because simply surviving Stormy Ascent without dying is a joke.

[TheOcelot]

JUST GOT THE SAPPHIRE RELIC IN STORMY ASCENT! 

Just 13 seconds shy of the Gold relic target time.

Here's my playthrough:

 

[TheOcelot]

#PERSISTENCE

Got the gold relic & unlocked the final PSN trophy. Stays at 104%.

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/6245-crash-bandicoot/StonecoldSAS1mgs

My playthrough!

 

[Jango]

Holy shit dude! Congratz.

104, huh? Could it mean that more unused levels are on the way? Damn I wish!

[JaidynReiman]

7 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I just decided to grind Castle Machinery a few times to max out my life count,

Unfortunately, it seems like my Crash 1 won't be a 100%, because simply surviving Stormy Ascent without dying is a joke.

Yeah, you missed my previous posts. I stated there that I forgot to run into Castle Machinery before doing Stormy Ascent. After I Game Over'd I went ahead and maxed myself out so next time I do it I'm prepared to just go straight in.

[Your Vest Friend]

I actually haven't used Castle Machinery to grind at all in Crash 1 and it's weird because it's such an easy thing to do and I just keep forgetting. 

[E-122-Psi]

11 minutes ago, VEDJ-F said:

I actually haven't used Castle Machinery to grind at all in Crash 1 and it's weird because it's such an easy thing to do and I just keep forgetting. 

Yeah, lives are pretty plentiful in Crash 1, which is a saving grace in it's difficulty. Crash 2 actually gave me more trouble because extra lives are more sparse so I got more Game Overs and had to start all over.

Concerning more DLC, it would be cool, though technically even this one wasn't DLC, there didn't seem to be any downloading or installing involved when purchasing it, it was pretty much just an unlock button on the PS Store for already existing data. No more trophies in the game suggests no more levels to unlock.

Seems odd they kept it at 104% though rather than playing on the same gag Warped had.

[JaidynReiman]

I ran out of lives a lot in Crash 1 until I started replaying levels to get colored gems. Because I quit every time, I got better at the level and died less often, and I made a net gain on lives. I actually hit 99 lives before ever reaching Castle Machinery. Then I got there, saw the colored gem at the start and used it right away. "Wait, that's it? I already won? Dang... interesting way to have a level shortcut for one level."

Of course later I beat it the proper way for the Clear Gem.

[E-122-Psi]

If anyone missed out on the article, here's a Youtube upload of a prototype build of N Sane Trilogy's mechanics (which seems to be more blatantly build from Skylanders).

 

 

I have to say, ignoring the crudeness, I like the level structure used in this test level. Still kind of has that linear 'corridor' style iconic to Crash, but more dynamic and wide open with a variation of pathways. If VV used this direction for a new game, it could work rather well.

[Jango]

Plat'd all 3 games. Still need to work on that Stormy Ascent relic hehe

What can I say now that the game is out for almost a whole month? Vicarious Visions did an insane job. It's easy to forgive some flaws here and there when you think about all the hard work and love put on these remakes. It's remarkable and should serve as an example to other studios when it comes to remastering old games. This could have gone really wrong, but Vicarious Visions proved themselves not only as huge devs, but huge fans too. All three games are well-constructed, well-animated, colorful and true to the Naughty Dog's visuals and aesthetics, for like 95% of the time. All textures, colors and effects are pretty much on point, with a few "odd" things here and there that look a bit iffy. But it's rare to spot that stuff when most of the surroundings are simply outstanding. I guess there's no denying tha this is a beautiful game front and back. Never a dull moment in Crash N. Sane Trilogy.

The sound design is generally a subjective matter and by the end of the day it all comes to people's tastes. I for one ended up liking the new soundtrack a lot more than I thought I would. There are a bunch of tracks that are incredible, while a selected few are just lacking, most of them simply because the composer decided to remove a sample or invert the audio channels (the background melody becomes the main melody), God knows why... This happens throughout the whole game. The SFX can be too quiet in places, whereas in the original they were really loud and explosive, it was kind of a stamp for Crash. The sound design is good, but could be great. The voice acting tho' is great, but one character didn't grown on me: Crash! Yeah, I did not liked the new "woah", or his other grunts haha. IDK why, I simply didn't liked it. BUT COCO. She is too pure for this world. I loved Debby's take on Coco here, same goes to Lex's Cortex.

The gameplay is always difficult to talk about, I'll tell you what I felt: starts kinda weird. Especially the animal/vehicle levels. For all three games. None of them are perfect copies of the original, which was confirmed a week ago by VV. But in no way, shape or form they're unplayable messes or "anti-Crash". I never felt like I wasn't playing a classic Crash game. And once you get the hang of the new controls, it's like you've never had problems before.

All in all, this is a great collection of three great games and it's easy to see why it's selling like hot cakes, eventhought they aren't actually "new games". VV put so much effort into them, that they practically are. And I can only hope they get the green light from Activision to make a full new game, or something like Sonic Mania (new levels with revisited ones).

I just wish my experience with the game could've been better, bad shit happened to me IRL the day the game got released, so I could barely turn off, dive in and enjoy the experience...

I still love this game, I can never thank Vicarious Visions enough for this, it was a long and hard (don't start) wait, full of disappointment and let downs. I was almost losing hope. But they did what many thought it was impossible, they brought Crash back. And we're ready to love him again. Keep it up!

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Is it just me, or are a few of the death animations from Crash 1 and for Coco herself missing/replaced with "angel death"?

[E-122-Psi]

20 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Ace Joranvexeon said:

Is it just me, or are a few of the death animations from Crash 1 and for Coco herself missing/replaced with "angel death"?

Quite a few (though she still has a much bigger variety than in Wrath of Cortex).

I'm tempted to think they didn't quite have all the time to make all the animations for her, which might also explain an excess amount of levels she can't play (some make sense due to story and character progression, others seem totally random and more simply because she doesn't have the animation made for a certain gimmick).

I do admit this is probably the only glaring flaw I can find with the remakes, as in ones that aren't just based on personal preference, nostalgia clinging, or wanting 'MOAR!'. The game feels like it could have used a month or so longer to give it some more polish, take out the glitches, add the odd missing effect and what not. In fairness there isn't a whole lot there, it's still a complete game with or without, but all the more reason a patch seems like a good way to rectify it.

In VV's defence, they were remaking THREE games that have still aged majestically to this day and put detail into every damn polygon. Their level of effort would be amazing put into a new game or even remaking one of the less quality titles like Wrath of Cortex that could use a modern day polish, hence why I trust them to make a great follow up title, since they already did a commendable job with what was probably the toughest choice.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

It is kinda a shame.

And yeah, stuff like Crash getting squashed or the famous spinning in the dark to drop dead animation...they all seem to be gone.

Missing death animations, and jarringly as well, missing lines from bosses, do kinda rub one the wrong way. A shame with most other stuff (the music I'll be dedicating posts to comparing with its hit-or-miss status) being ramped up quite well.

Does leave me with the stigma to hold onto those original versions for reasons outside of nostalgia, especially with Crash 1 remake's gimped jump among other things.

[E-122-Psi]

1 hour ago, Jango said:

The voice acting tho' is great, but one character didn't grown on me: Crash! Yeah, I did not liked the new "woah", or his other grunts haha. IDK why, I simply didn't liked it. BUT COCO. She is too pure for this world. I loved Debby's take on Coco here, same goes to Lex's Cortex.

The gameplay is always difficult to talk about, I'll tell you what I felt: starts kinda weird. Especially the animal/vehicle levels. For all three games. None of them are perfect copies of the original, which was confirmed a week ago by VV. But in no way, shape or form they're unplayable messes or "anti-Crash". I never felt like I wasn't playing a classic Crash game. And once you get the hang of the new controls, it's like you've never had problems before.

Really I thought Harnell's Crash was pretty good, especially considering his very divisive take in the Radical games. The villains were the ones I was more uneasy about since their delivery though out the cutscenes fluctuates compared to the originals (especially Cortex). But yeah I love Coco in this one, animations plus voice acting gives her tons of life that wasn't there before. As a fun note, this remake means retroactively Debi Derryberry has voiced Coco throughout practically the whole series.

I noticed that too. The jet ski felt REALLY off when I first played Warped, but now I can run it pretty smoothly (well you know, relatively, even in the original, those last few levels were a ball buster).

[StaticMania]

Doesn't Crash 1 have only 6 death animations...the only one that's actually missing is the spinning around and falling one. Since they're not individual games and none of the Crash 1 enemies have unique death animations...it's just angel now.

 

Though, the death animation for getting shot by the plants in Crash 2 is actually gone...just being angel now.

[JaidynReiman]

Btw I did beat Stormy Ascent. After having 93 or so lives I was only down to about 80 this time. Not even trying for the relic lol, I'm focusing on Crash 2 right now (when I get a chance to play, that is).

[Dejimon11]

So Activision just shared this on their twitter 

 

[JaidynReiman]

I was laughing the whole way through, but I fucking absolutely LOST it when it mentioned

Spoiler

Sonic and Mario

 

[KHCast]

Okay 1. That song is actually genuinely awesome and catchy, can't wait to hear the inevitable remixes.

and 2. HOLY SHIT THOSE BURNS