@@evozor5874 I am still baffled how that video got so viral in the first place. I'll just chalk it up to the UA-cam algorithm being drunk on the day I uploaded that video or just dumb luck Either way, I'm really glad more people found out about Spark 3 and get to play it.
I think the reason for the jacket was mainly because lake found that spark’s original design didn’t Translate to 3d very well due to its simplicity, so the jacket is there to give him a bit more definition(and also apparently it was originally meant to be for a scrapped character who was meant to be the main character of spark 3 before lake decided to bring back spark.
He really kind of grew on me. Over the course of the game and some digging through his past designs, I appreciate the little jacket and scarf combo he's got going on, and if you notice sometimes his... hair? will flow through the wind or with the way he's speeding around, I think the design is solid. I mean, it's solid enough as a foundation for Fark to also work as a character design, akin to the way Metal is an imperfect copy of Sonic, yknow?
Fun fact, in spark 2 for the score medals you had to get to the score threshold and beat the level before 4 minutes or else the score will start dropping quickly witch made the score missions way harder and in my opinion more fun
@@UltimaJack417yeah, it seems he cut it pretty close to release, since you could see the mechanic in the pacific abyss gameplay video on his channel, along with the fall damage timer being absent, the warning would still show up, but the death timer wouldn’t.
@@N1M2077 yeah, ⚠️ symbol would show up, and it would turn red to tell you that you would take damage on landing, but the death timer wouldn’t show up, and what’s more interesting is that lake would act like the death timer was there, as he would fall damage cancel like you would in the final game, stopping your momentum multiple times in the air.
im a speedrunner and spark 3 is honestly my favorite speedrun of all time. there's so many unique and challenging strats, some wild glitches, and a great community behind it. we're small but its so amazing also, fun fact: those "mandatory combat" sequences can be skipped by moving around them! we actually dont do a single one of the mandatory combat sections in non-combat stages
As someone who played the first two games before Spark 3, I thought the story was crazy. One of the harder to explain things I loved about Adventure 1 and 2 was that the story takes itself way too seriously. Like Shadow's dramatic death in SA2, and sonic saying "sayonara, shadow the hedgehog" is just so campy, yet it still feels like a heartfelt moment, I love it. It sorta reminds me of Happy Tree Friends, where the joke is they are cute adorable animals, but horrible things happen to them. I feel like Lake Fepard really nailed that "tells a surprisingly dark story that takes itself way too seriously" vibe, but I'm sure it's not for everyone. I kind of wish that the story wasn't all condensed into the last hour of the game. The rest of the cutscenes felt more like a patch to flesh out spark 2's characters. I also felt that you fight The Guardian one too many times. Overall, Spark 3 is a game that refuses to be boring even for 1 minute, even if it means going full NieR:Automata at the end.
Sorry for the necro but "even if it means going full NieR:Automata at the end" Holy hell, I couldn't have summarized it any better myself. The finale lore drops really felt like Automata. And, well, it's true that it's too condensed, but DAMN if it isn't the sickest plot twist ever.
Gotta say, this game controls like a dream, I can’t tell you how many times I fell down a pit because I’m bad at the game, but saved myself with a double wall jump and a charged dash, make me feel awesome for doing it
Hell yeah, Spark 3! I never minded the forced combat sections really as they make both thematic and mechanical sense. They only exist on specific side stages (and in the final stage, which is meant to challenge all your skills) and never in the main primary stages (to my memory). As a result in order to get your speed medals you have to show a mastery of both movement and combat speed rather than simply one or the other (or as people have pointed out be clever enough to dodge around the traps). By having required combat mixed with platforming between segements it makes it so the player cant just stack platforming or combat powers and is incentivized to use both (or just be really good) energy dash doesnt do anything on the combat wave levels and you wont use attack boosters during a platforming stage but a mixed stage means its optimal to mix them! Thematically, it works because the FF is trying to stop you, and locking the hero in a room with an ambush works for that (even if we know how it ends for those poor bots 😅) As for the score medals, the issue is for a lot of stages the overabundance of available points! The game DOES actually punish you for going slow/taking hits/dying by decreasing your score multiplier (it drops when you get hit/die, and it slowly decreases over time). Its most noticable when trying for diamond score medals in the Spark 2 throwback stages where if you arent fast enough or take too many hits you can actually get 100% of the available points on a level and not have enough for the medal! Im glad you mentioned the level design because i think Spark 3 genuinely has some of the BEST level design of any 3D platformer ive ever played. Levels manage to properly convey the scope of areas without being litteral 1 to 1s the way stages can be sprawling but you almost never get lost because the stages signpost themselves so well and funnel the player to the goal. The way you can take alternate paths or even take the same path in a different way (wall walking is so good) to more quickly get around obstacles or enemies. Protest City feels like im running through a massive downtown metropolis even with the games' simplistic artstyle and graphics! Its so good!
Super glad you enjoyed this underrated gem!! I also made a video about it and thought it was funny that we found the game in the exact same way. I enjoyed your analysis and commentary of the game, keep up the great work!!
10:31 you can get around those, too. Just go through a route that prevents you from entering the area that spawns the red wall. If you build up enough speed and chain enough of your movement options, you can avoid the red wall shown here in the video by never setting foot on the floor before the wall.
The medals & radar give me mad Rodea the Sky Soldier vibes. I was on the fence about getting this before but I'm grabbing it now lol, I love that collectathon shit.
does it help to contextualize spark's design if i mention that spark is a member of an ant-based alien species called the formies (after the genetic family formicidae, which contains all ants)? this is after all of humanity has died out btw
On your point about mandatory combat, most of them are able to be skipped with clever movement and understanding of the stages. For instance at the end of the side stage endless hall, with enough speed you can jump off the ramp and go to the side to avoid being locked in the arena.
I've learned a few of these skips after making this video and I do appreciate their inclusion. I still wish combat sections (where the walls come up) weren't a thing though, even if just for casual players who will never know about the skips.
@Evozor I get that perspective, but it also feels within the spirit of the game to have walled arenas that can be skipped with clever thinking and mastery of the mechanics. The whole game is built on learning the levels and improving your skills to get a better score or time. So to me, it seems to fit right in.
4:33 this here is exactly why i think classic sonic puritans (speaking as a classic sonic fan myself) are misguided when singing the praises of the momentum system in those games. like, its miles better than how a lot of modern sonic games fake the momentum, but the punishing aspect of retaining momentum in classes sonic is just _such_ a flow breaker for me. I've struggled to understand how people can find a sense of flow in classic sonic if youre playing anything less than perfect. and i dont wanna play perfectly, i dont wanna memorize the level layouts like rehearsing for a stageplay, that sucks the fun out of a highspeed thrill ride for me personally. So yeah, thanks for helping to put into words why i love Spark's take on momentum so much lol
Playing classic sonic is kind of like playing 3d Mario where if you know how the physics works you have an expressive set of movement options at your disposal to navigate levels
In case of score runs, in the demos, there was a score lock that locks your score after 7 mins which was removed in the final game because the developer felt the stages were to long but if you can code it back ingame which is simple, it can be adjusted to whatever time you want to encourage being fast while score running. On combat, I agree it can be a pace breaker but I find the explorative play to be a middle child between combat and speed that merges these 2 and skipping the combat segments does feel like a hazard to encourage skips in speed running. Otherwise, pretty good video
That would definitely explain why the score medals feel so pointless compared to everything else lol. The combat might be there to encourage skips but I'm still not a fan as I think it does more harm than good, but its still really minor. And thanks!
But also wanna update that helix made a mod that restores the score lock, but key difference is that it doesnt affect canyon zero nor utopia shelter. Now you dont need to bother going into the game's code to change stuff for yourself.
10:50 you can skip alot of combat encounters if you know certain routes. Also, in all of the vehicle sections, besides the first level, you can just decide not to get in the vehicle. From what I've played, the levels are all perfectly completeable without the vehicles, including the rockets in protest prison.
The mastery mode mod is also worth checking out. It's still being worked on, but it rebalances the combat to be even more engaging as well as adding back score lock and rearranging all of the exploration medal locations.
I've started figuring out some of the enemy skipping routes. I appreciate their addition a lot, still think it would be better if those skips were a little more obvious for regular players but I'll take it.
@@averyshepherd5902 Where would one find this mod? I regret buying spark 3 on sale but buying that game sent me on a rabbit hole of playing every game in the series, and after all is said and done I just want more of the polish that is spark 3. Literally peak content here.
I've already left a few comments in replies here (oops) but I'm glad to see someone else's interpretation of the game be so highly positive as well! I uh... Had not played ANY of the Spark games until about 10 days ago and having played Spark 3 -> Spark 1 -> Spark 2 I think that Spark 3 is the biggest love child of the series so far. I can see basically where all the inspiration came from for the series and I think Spark 2 might be the odd man out here as I sped through that game and didn't really dig it, but 3 may have stolen my game of the year for 2022 in a fashionably late sense. I'm trying to work on my own review of the game as well; so I'm kinda trying to see what other people think of the game since literally next to NO ONE seems to be talking about this masterpiece of game design.
Very interesting, you're the first person I've seen who actually likes the control of 2 better. I feel like everything is just way more precise in 3 so it works better for most situations. I even love the fall damage because it's more engaging to me.
Idk this doesn't really scratch the Adventure itch for me at all. It feels way too different, but I think that's a good thing because the game can stand on its own. I still can't decide if I like it, but I'm glad it exists nonetheless.
Spark the Electric Jester 3 is a fun speed running game, but if you want challenging and engaging platforming, you won't find that here. Most levels are identical to each other ie. Lack of unique stage gimmicks. The platforming challenger is the same from front to back and the only difference in difficulty is the enemy placement. And the combat is ...serviceable. it's nothing amazing. All enemy ai isn't very engaging other than Flint (Guardian). Id say, this game is fun but it does get boring on repeat playthrough unless youre speed running it, which is fun, but ONLY for speedrunning
Struggling to see how you consider this to be a masterpiece when you have issues with the combat and entire levels. That sounds like a decent chunk of the game.
0:21 Look Gary, there I am
Thanks for making that video! I probably wouldn't have found the game if it wasn't for that video.
@@evozor5874 I am still baffled how that video got so viral in the first place. I'll just chalk it up to the UA-cam algorithm being drunk on the day I uploaded that video or just dumb luck
Either way, I'm really glad more people found out about Spark 3 and get to play it.
hiii
I think the jacket on spark looks better than running around naked, it’s just an opinion
100%, I think the jacket is a good edition for 3d but personally I still don't really like his design
I think the reason for the jacket was mainly because lake found that spark’s original design didn’t Translate to 3d very well due to its simplicity, so the jacket is there to give him a bit more definition(and also apparently it was originally meant to be for a scrapped character who was meant to be the main character of spark 3 before lake decided to bring back spark.
I think spark looks cute
Haha fair. His design just isn't for me.
He really kind of grew on me. Over the course of the game and some digging through his past designs, I appreciate the little jacket and scarf combo he's got going on, and if you notice sometimes his... hair? will flow through the wind or with the way he's speeding around, I think the design is solid. I mean, it's solid enough as a foundation for Fark to also work as a character design, akin to the way Metal is an imperfect copy of Sonic, yknow?
“Not sure what you want from this guy, but he’s read to help you out, so go ahead I guess.”
This game is so satisfying to play. Genuinely the best purchase I've made in 2022. I regret buying it on sale, I should've bought it at full price.
Fun fact, in spark 2 for the score medals you had to get to the score threshold and beat the level before 4 minutes or else the score will start dropping quickly witch made the score missions way harder and in my opinion more fun
Five minutes, actually. Also, in the demo for Spark 3, the score would lock after 7 minutes. Not sure why Lake removed it.
@@UltimaJack417yeah, it seems he cut it pretty close to release, since you could see the mechanic in the pacific abyss gameplay video on his channel, along with the fall damage timer being absent, the warning would still show up, but the death timer wouldn’t.
@@jackhumphries1087 really?
@@N1M2077 yeah, ⚠️ symbol would show up, and it would turn red to tell you that you would take damage on landing, but the death timer wouldn’t show up, and what’s more interesting is that lake would act like the death timer was there, as he would fall damage cancel like you would in the final game, stopping your momentum multiple times in the air.
im a speedrunner and spark 3 is honestly my favorite speedrun of all time. there's so many unique and challenging strats, some wild glitches, and a great community behind it. we're small but its so amazing
also, fun fact: those "mandatory combat" sequences can be skipped by moving around them! we actually dont do a single one of the mandatory combat sections in non-combat stages
I feel like that video of Hyperath Fleet was a lot of our gateway drug into this series. Absolutely phenomenal games.
Ok, terrible joke time. We all NEED to drink from whatever lake Fepard drank from to design games THIS amazing.
I honestly love Spark’s design in Spark 3. Super cute and cool looking, not to mention sexy as fuck
what?
I’m bewildered Bruddha what????
Dang.
Always happy to see more love for this masterpiece
As someone who played the first two games before Spark 3, I thought the story was crazy. One of the harder to explain things I loved about Adventure 1 and 2 was that the story takes itself way too seriously. Like Shadow's dramatic death in SA2, and sonic saying "sayonara, shadow the hedgehog" is just so campy, yet it still feels like a heartfelt moment, I love it. It sorta reminds me of Happy Tree Friends, where the joke is they are cute adorable animals, but horrible things happen to them. I feel like Lake Fepard really nailed that "tells a surprisingly dark story that takes itself way too seriously" vibe, but I'm sure it's not for everyone. I kind of wish that the story wasn't all condensed into the last hour of the game. The rest of the cutscenes felt more like a patch to flesh out spark 2's characters. I also felt that you fight The Guardian one too many times. Overall, Spark 3 is a game that refuses to be boring even for 1 minute, even if it means going full NieR:Automata at the end.
Sorry for the necro but
"even if it means going full NieR:Automata at the end"
Holy hell, I couldn't have summarized it any better myself. The finale lore drops really felt like Automata. And, well, it's true that it's too condensed, but DAMN if it isn't the sickest plot twist ever.
Gotta say, this game controls like a dream, I can’t tell you how many times I fell down a pit because I’m bad at the game, but saved myself with a double wall jump and a charged dash, make me feel awesome for doing it
Hell yeah, Spark 3!
I never minded the forced combat sections really as they make both thematic and mechanical sense. They only exist on specific side stages (and in the final stage, which is meant to challenge all your skills) and never in the main primary stages (to my memory). As a result in order to get your speed medals you have to show a mastery of both movement and combat speed rather than simply one or the other (or as people have pointed out be clever enough to dodge around the traps). By having required combat mixed with platforming between segements it makes it so the player cant just stack platforming or combat powers and is incentivized to use both (or just be really good) energy dash doesnt do anything on the combat wave levels and you wont use attack boosters during a platforming stage but a mixed stage means its optimal to mix them! Thematically, it works because the FF is trying to stop you, and locking the hero in a room with an ambush works for that (even if we know how it ends for those poor bots 😅)
As for the score medals, the issue is for a lot of stages the overabundance of available points! The game DOES actually punish you for going slow/taking hits/dying by decreasing your score multiplier (it drops when you get hit/die, and it slowly decreases over time). Its most noticable when trying for diamond score medals in the Spark 2 throwback stages where if you arent fast enough or take too many hits you can actually get 100% of the available points on a level and not have enough for the medal!
Im glad you mentioned the level design because i think Spark 3 genuinely has some of the BEST level design of any 3D platformer ive ever played. Levels manage to properly convey the scope of areas without being litteral 1 to 1s the way stages can be sprawling but you almost never get lost because the stages signpost themselves so well and funnel the player to the goal. The way you can take alternate paths or even take the same path in a different way (wall walking is so good) to more quickly get around obstacles or enemies. Protest City feels like im running through a massive downtown metropolis even with the games' simplistic artstyle and graphics! Its so good!
I personaly loved to hunt the Hidden Coins, I did them with enjoying exploring the stage and get the Platinium medal of points at the same time
I did the same thing haha
Super glad you enjoyed this underrated gem!! I also made a video about it and thought it was funny that we found the game in the exact same way. I enjoyed your analysis and commentary of the game, keep up the great work!!
spark 3 game of the Decade , ithink ! more people need to be saying this !
Couldn't agree more!
A bit soon to declare that methinks
10:31 you can get around those, too. Just go through a route that prevents you from entering the area that spawns the red wall. If you build up enough speed and chain enough of your movement options, you can avoid the red wall shown here in the video by never setting foot on the floor before the wall.
The beat em up areas have a potential to be even better lowkey
The medals & radar give me mad Rodea the Sky Soldier vibes. I was on the fence about getting this before but I'm grabbing it now lol, I love that collectathon shit.
does it help to contextualize spark's design if i mention that spark is a member of an ant-based alien species called the formies (after the genetic family formicidae, which contains all ants)? this is after all of humanity has died out btw
Random thing I realised recently was that historia hysteria reminds me of virtual enemies from forces
I can see it
Look up the mansion level in sonic heroes. There’s that bit in historia with the tunnel eye trick that’s a reference to Sonic heroes
On your point about mandatory combat, most of them are able to be skipped with clever movement and understanding of the stages. For instance at the end of the side stage endless hall, with enough speed you can jump off the ramp and go to the side to avoid being locked in the arena.
I've learned a few of these skips after making this video and I do appreciate their inclusion. I still wish combat sections (where the walls come up) weren't a thing though, even if just for casual players who will never know about the skips.
@Evozor I get that perspective, but it also feels within the spirit of the game to have walled arenas that can be skipped with clever thinking and mastery of the mechanics.
The whole game is built on learning the levels and improving your skills to get a better score or time. So to me, it seems to fit right in.
Spark, the game Sega doesn't want to make
4:33 this here is exactly why i think classic sonic puritans (speaking as a classic sonic fan myself) are misguided when singing the praises of the momentum system in those games. like, its miles better than how a lot of modern sonic games fake the momentum, but the punishing aspect of retaining momentum in classes sonic is just _such_ a flow breaker for me.
I've struggled to understand how people can find a sense of flow in classic sonic if youre playing anything less than perfect. and i dont wanna play perfectly, i dont wanna memorize the level layouts like rehearsing for a stageplay, that sucks the fun out of a highspeed thrill ride for me personally.
So yeah, thanks for helping to put into words why i love Spark's take on momentum so much lol
So skill issues, damn sucks 4 you homie
Playing classic sonic is kind of like playing 3d Mario where if you know how the physics works you have an expressive set of movement options at your disposal to navigate levels
In case of score runs, in the demos, there was a score lock that locks your score after 7 mins which was removed in the final game because the developer felt the stages were to long but if you can code it back ingame which is simple, it can be adjusted to whatever time you want to encourage being fast while score running.
On combat, I agree it can be a pace breaker but I find the explorative play to be a middle child between combat and speed that merges these 2 and skipping the combat segments does feel like a hazard to encourage skips in speed running.
Otherwise, pretty good video
That would definitely explain why the score medals feel so pointless compared to everything else lol. The combat might be there to encourage skips but I'm still not a fan as I think it does more harm than good, but its still really minor. And thanks!
@@evozor5874 You can find guides in jester central's pinned stuff in modding channel.
But also wanna update that helix made a mod that restores the score lock, but key difference is that it doesnt affect canyon zero nor utopia shelter.
Now you dont need to bother going into the game's code to change stuff for yourself.
10:50
you can skip alot of combat encounters if you know certain routes.
Also, in all of the vehicle sections, besides the first level, you can just decide not to get in the vehicle. From what I've played, the levels are all perfectly completeable without the vehicles, including the rockets in protest prison.
The mastery mode mod is also worth checking out. It's still being worked on, but it rebalances the combat to be even more engaging as well as adding back score lock and rearranging all of the exploration medal locations.
I've started figuring out some of the enemy skipping routes. I appreciate their addition a lot, still think it would be better if those skips were a little more obvious for regular players but I'll take it.
@@averyshepherd5902 Where would one find this mod? I regret buying spark 3 on sale but buying that game sent me on a rabbit hole of playing every game in the series, and after all is said and done I just want more of the polish that is spark 3. Literally peak content here.
@@ArizAmuuru ua-cam.com/video/fjwZJcbGCTA/v-deo.html you can find the link to the mod in the description of this video
Reaper-Spark is by far his best design.
Yeah, I really like him and Fark. I'm slowly coming around to Float too.
I've already left a few comments in replies here (oops) but I'm glad to see someone else's interpretation of the game be so highly positive as well! I uh... Had not played ANY of the Spark games until about 10 days ago and having played Spark 3 -> Spark 1 -> Spark 2 I think that Spark 3 is the biggest love child of the series so far. I can see basically where all the inspiration came from for the series and I think Spark 2 might be the odd man out here as I sped through that game and didn't really dig it, but 3 may have stolen my game of the year for 2022 in a fashionably late sense. I'm trying to work on my own review of the game as well; so I'm kinda trying to see what other people think of the game since literally next to NO ONE seems to be talking about this masterpiece of game design.
The game really is slept on. Good luck with your review!
Spark is faster than the car. There is no need to drive.
spark can't drift :3
@@N1M2077 you don't need to. I am a car hater myself
I litterly found out this game the same way, but I have to wait a week to get it :(
Funny how the same youtube recommendation lead me here and buying the whole trilogy
I can second this game is amazing!
Where's the video Box!?
If you don't mind saying, what was your favourite level in the game?
Is this game ever going to come to microsoft store?
It got a switch port recently, maybe more people are looking into it now
I think the level design is better in spark 3 but I prefer the way spark controls and feels in spark 2
Huh, maybe I'll give it another chance then. I did play it right after 100%ing Spark 3, so I was very used to the 3rd game at that point.
@@evozor5874 spark jumps higher in 2 and his shield doesn’t stop all momentum. He also takes no fall damage so you can do more creative skips
Very interesting, you're the first person I've seen who actually likes the control of 2 better. I feel like everything is just way more precise in 3 so it works better for most situations. I even love the fall damage because it's more engaging to me.
Idk this doesn't really scratch the Adventure itch for me at all. It feels way too different, but I think that's a good thing because the game can stand on its own. I still can't decide if I like it, but I'm glad it exists nonetheless.
Spark the Electric Jester 3 is a fun speed running game, but if you want challenging and engaging platforming, you won't find that here.
Most levels are identical to each other ie. Lack of unique stage gimmicks. The platforming challenger is the same from front to back and the only difference in difficulty is the enemy placement.
And the combat is ...serviceable. it's nothing amazing. All enemy ai isn't very engaging other than Flint (Guardian).
Id say, this game is fun but it does get boring on repeat playthrough unless youre speed running it, which is fun, but ONLY for speedrunning
Clown take
13:28 ... So we really just gonna ignore Sfarx and Float? Your only real option for better designs are reaper jester and fark lmaooo
The main character looks like a Macdonald’s character 😂
How did I know you were going to leave this as a comment lol
No he looks like Marx from Kirby
Struggling to see how you consider this to be a masterpiece when you have issues with the combat and entire levels. That sounds like a decent chunk of the game.
Because the combat isn’t nearly as much the focus of the game as the platforming. And the weakest levels are often really short.
I just want, what was done for the sonic formula here in the spark games, to be done for PSO.