Ratchet & Clank - Megathread

[The Last Stand]

Critics said Ratchet was apparently too mean, but it makes for a great character arc in the midpoint where he's raging at being betrayed by Quark and taking it out on Clank just to straighten up once he becomes aware of the scope of the damage Drek was actually causing.

This guy says that Captain Qwark (RIP Jim Ward, thanks for giving us a lovable buffoon) has a perfect character arc in the R&C franchise. I would say that Ratchet has a better character arc because of the first game.

His selfishness made sense in context because his goals were self-driven from the start: wanting to fix his ship, then discovering entire planets and gadgets to play with. Also, once the gravity of Drek's evil schemes started to weigh on Ratchet, he had a chance of introspection to understand Clank's persistence.

He still has his moments, but ultimately Clank is Ratchet's conscience and best friend to guide him throughout their adventures. (Size Matters not withstanding, that had horrible writing.)

 

[Lone MacReady II]

R&C was originally a parody of a consumeristic galaxy and every bastard wanting a piece of the action. It wasn't afraid to critique hero worship and capitalism (rather corporatism). 2016 dropped the ball for a myriad of reasons, chief among them being the very game itself was consumeristic slop. R&C was now a brand to be sold like it was featured at a Gadgetron kiosk. An amazing thematic fall from grace, sellout shit, especially since it was a movie tie-in game fucking yuck. Anybody with eyes could see the lack of soul.

Original Ratchet was actually my favorite version of the character because he didn't really give a shit, he wasn't a goodie goodie, and was a product of his environment. He was like a surfer dude, much cooler than a goodie goodie.

 

[Strangolapreti]

R&C was originally a parody of a consumeristic galaxy and every bastard wanting a piece of the action. It wasn't afraid to critique hero worship and capitalism (rather corporatism). 2016 dropped the ball for a myriad of reasons, chief among them being the very game itself was consumeristic slop. R&C was now a brand to be sold like it was featured at a Gadgetron kiosk. An amazing thematic fall from grace, sellout shit, especially since it was a movie tie-in game fucking yuck. Anybody with eyes could see the lack of soul.

I con forgive the remake being a tie-in witg a movie so shit it tanked sony's whole plans for a plastation movie series.
I can pretend the remake didn't use the shitty new weapons and brainless combat system instead of the classic ones.
Hell, I can even ignore the story and characters being either a sad parody of their former selves or downright dogshit, cutscenes can be skipped after all.

What I can't and won't forgive is how ass the soundtrack of that remake is.

 

[The Early 2000s]

The 2016 remake is whatever. Sony kinda forced them to do it since PS4 launch was lacking good titles and they had the movie on docket. They were rushed into work and they had to juggle the game development with the movie development (which was at the helm of complete retards). Insomniac made it clear beforehand that Nexus was R&C's goodbye, I can't be too critical of a product that was made due to pressure by their parent company.

If you want a TRVTHNVKE, the soul of R&C left when High Impact Games was founded.

 

[Strangolapreti]

If you want a TRVTHNVKE, the soul of R&C left when High Impact Games was founded.

Played only up to Gladiator, just like Crash and Spyro for the PS1. R&C were the PS2 mascotte for me, It never made sense for me to keep making games after the next console arrived.

 

[Kane Lives]

Played only up to Gladiator, just like Crash and Spyro for the PS1. R&C were the PS2 mascotte for me, It never made sense for me to keep making games after the next console arrived.

I think the Future trilogy were "decent" for what they are, but yeah you can kind of see the "R&C the Brand" syndrome creeping in there.

 

[Strangolapreti]

I think the Future trilogy were "decent" for what they are, but yeah you can kind of see the "R&C the Brand" syndrome creeping in there.

I'd like to think R&C games didn't got bad overtime, the issue is that it standardized itself, so new games follows the same notes and play it safe.
Again, I never played those games after Gladiator, but remake aside, neither I heard of any extremely harsh criticism aimed at them, so I can only assume this is the current state of R&C, mediocrity that isn't particularly good or bad to be worth mentioning,
You could say that Crash and Spyro had it worse, I would add that God of war and a good few other playstation exclusive series ain't better.

 

[The Last Stand]

I think the Future trilogy were "decent" for what they are, but yeah you can kind of see the "R&C the Brand" syndrome creeping in there.

If memory serves, the Future saga's direction towards storytelling revolved around ambition, while being hampered by promise and time restrictions on account of working on newer, sophisticated hardware.

It's still Ratchet & Clank through its core design, but methodically "slower" compared to the PS2 era. Remember how previous games were reported to be rushed? Tools of Destruction spent its majority of development through pre-production. That explains its plot pacing issues and plot holes that needed A Crack in Time to flesh out.

Not bad itself IMO, just different. It's good that they intended the Future saga to be a "soft reboot" to introduce newer players towards the franchise and established characters. However, it tries to ask questions about Ratchet's origin too soon that could be overwhelming from a writer's perspective to fully answer.

 

[Buzz Killington]

Apologies if this has already been posted, but I needed to share this. I was interested in the mod scene for Ratchet and Clank 1 on PS3 since that's apparently the biggest platform for it, so I had to download this program used for most patches called "RaCMan". I didn't realize the program mandates you to suck troon cock in order to even launch the program.

This is the first thing you see when booting this program for the first time. If you answer no, this response is printed and the program closes. Reopening it forces you to answer this question again.

This is beyond parody at this point, it feels like I could write this as a joke. I'm almost half tempted to fork the code just to surgically remove this little present from it and make no other changes. To be fair, this tool is primarily used by speedrunners. That should tell you all you need to know.

 

[Strangolapreti]

This is beyond parody at this point, it feels like I could write this as a joke. I'm almost half tempted to fork the code just to surgically remove this little present from it and make no other changes. To be fair, this tool is primarily used by speedrunners. That should tell you all you need to know.

Have you considered writing a tweet about it and share it around, just for the sake of making a bunch of anti-woke content creators and dudebros raise up and bully the trannies for a game frachise they never ever gave a fuck about?
Not for any particular reason, just for the fun of it.

 

[The Last Stand]

Ratchet & Clank had its own copycat, or copy-DOG, during its PS2 era. Ruff Trigger: The Vanocore Conspiracy.

Make a game out of the similarities from Ratchet & Clank and even Jak II/3. It's TOO obvious to be considered flattery.

 

[The Last Stand]

20 years later, I finally got that logic puzzle/joke. Clank's delivery and Ratchet's bluntness carry the scene.

Spoiler: I get it.

Use rock to break glass to get wrench to break glass to get rock. Basically, it's instructing the player to get a random rock to break the wrench out, then use the wrench to break the glass case with the rock in it. The rock is "supposed" to be the "prize," but it's just a funny subversion.

 

[Metamorpho]

Apologies if this has already been posted, but I needed to share this. I was interested in the mod scene for Ratchet and Clank 1 on PS3 since that's apparently the biggest platform for it, so I had to download this program used for most patches called "RaCMan". I didn't realize the program mandates you to suck troon cock in order to even launch the program.
View attachment 8694824
This is the first thing you see when booting this program for the first time. If you answer no, this response is printed and the program closes. Reopening it forces you to answer this question again.
View attachment 8694827
This is beyond parody at this point, it feels like I could write this as a joke. I'm almost half tempted to fork the code just to surgically remove this little present from it and make no other changes. To be fair, this tool is primarily used by speedrunners. That should tell you all you need to know.

Have you considered writing a tweet about it and share it around, just for the sake of making a bunch of anti-woke content creators and dudebros raise up and bully the trannies for a game frachise they never ever gave a fuck about?
Not for any particular reason, just for the fun of it.

Both would be great.

 

[The Last Stand]

Hell, I can even ignore the story and characters being either a sad parody of their former selves or downright dogshit, cutscenes can be skipped after all.

What I can't and won't forgive is how ass the soundtrack of that remake is.

I say with that, Up Your Arsenal has to be the best Ratchet & Clank entry yet. It blended its bathos better than Going Commando had. Dr. Nefarious is a serious threat, yet there are still moments that make you laugh without detracting away from the stakes. The Galactic Rangers being a prominent example when you do missions with them. They're cowardly, hesitant and prone to freak out, but damn if they're not entertaining to listen to.

I believe Up Your Arsenal dropped the consumerism satire for political satire, which given the mission structure and plot, was for the better. Those Galactic Rangers are essentially robot grunts for whatever military built them. Gameplay has been improved thanks to multiple tiers of upgrading weapons and streamlining health level ups. Only think I do not like with UYA is the orange all over the UI.

 

[The Last Stand]

Glad people are giving OG Ratchet the praise it deserves. I hate it when game devs cave to what people say in reviews.

It was fine at the time given it was the first game. If Ratchet's attitude continued onwards in the series, it would be a turnoff as Ratchet would just be an unlikeable character.

 

[Strangolapreti]

The Galactic Rangers

After witnessing the movie, I don't want them to be mentioned ever again.

t was fine at the time given it was the first game. If Ratchet's attitude continued onwards in the series, it would be a turnoff as Ratchet would just be an unlikeable character.

The idea of having someone starting down as an horrible person and gradualy growing to be someone better It's called a character arc.
You may be novel to the concept because nowadays, writers are completely unable to both understand the concept of such a thing existing and witheld it.

 

[The Last Stand]

After witnessing the movie, I don't want them to be mentioned ever again.

I'm talking about these rangers.



I don't know what they were thinking from the reboot.

The idea of having someone starting down as an horrible person and gradualy growing to be someone better It's called a character arc.
You may be novel to the concept because nowadays, writers are completely unable to both understand the concept of such a thing existing and witheld it.

He did have a character arc from the first game, correct. Then, it was established from the second game onward. Notice that Clank was more dismissive and suspicious of Fitzwidget and the Bogan Galaxy almost like how Ratchet was towards finding Qwark.

 

[The Last Stand]

View attachment 8716202
It looks like the poll is missing a game.

Oh, you're right. This IS a forgotten PS3 title since it was released right before the PS4 launched. It doesn't allow me to add stuff in the poll now.

Since you asked, how is Into the Nexus as a R&C title and a game itself?

 

[The Last Stand]

I actually don't know. I'm still on A Crack in Time myself.

No spoilers please. I still need a PS3, but I have the Future saga waiting for me. Into the Nexus was cheaper than I thought.

I blame Sony for commercializing Ratchet & Clank into a far cry that was established from the PS2 era.

 

[The Last Stand]

I won't spoil anything. Have you considered playing on an emulator? RPCS3 is in a pretty good state now. About a year ago A Crack in Time wouldn't even launch, but now I'm playing through it with minimal crashes.

How powerful is your computer? I would think my Mac may struggle with it.

Thread tax: remember those cutscenes in Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty where you could “choose” your dialogue? Even those animations are more expressive than all of Ratchet & Clank 2016.