Ratchet & Clank appreciation thread

[Berserker]

The best game series of its kind this side of Mario. Heck, perhaps even better than Mario...

[Wselfwulf]

Heck, perhaps even better than Mario...

Blasphemy

[Berserker]

Mwahaha Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal was both more fun and had tighter gameplay and graphics than Mario Sunshine, just as R&C: Future Tools of Destruction was better than Mario Galaxy.

[Vagrant]

I'm with Berserker, here.

I loved the first Ratchet & Clank, just as I loved Future. I can't say much for the games in between though, because Insomniac toned down Ratchet's irritable attitude in 2 and 3, which turned me off a bit. It was grand to see him back to himself though in Future, a bit of an outcast, rough around the edges, and cutting wit that could slice through adamantine walls.

The gameplay has always been wonderful in every game, but too often a game like that will overlook the story and the characters in order to work with just the gameplay mechanics. Mario and Sonic both do that, so have many other platformers. But with Insomniac games, they tend to have it all there.

And with Quest for Booty, they've begun to really flesh out their formula aswell, and make something really special of it. Ratchet & Clank is iconic as far as action-biased platformers go, and the closest thihng to perfection I've seen.

[Berserker]

I'm surprised that you didn't like Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal. The first game's writing, story, and voice acting just seems so... primitive... in comparison to those two.

Imo the Ratchet in Ratchet 1 acted like an annoying little kid. I prefer the more adult acting Starfox-ish Ratchet.

[Vagrant]

Imo the Ratchet in Ratchet 1 acted like an annoying little kid.

It's true, he does! And to a large extent, he does in Future as well. I suppose it's just my personal preference, I've seen so many genial heroes, it's nice to see the occasional hero who perhaps shouldn't have been a hero. I believe the term colloquially is anti-hero, though Ratchet wasn't quite bad enough to have earned that label, he comes close.

Usually though, anti-heroes within games tend to be Angsty Angst-anxious McMoodyPants and little else, I've rarely seen one who was just a brat, generally annoying, antisocial, or whatnot. Ratchet was a break from the norm.

So I liked that Ratchet was a brat, and I was sorry to see him grow up, and turn into a bit of an obedient soldier-boy in the latter games.

[lycanthropeful]

Ugh, THANK YOU. Ratchet and Clank is hands-down one of the best game series on PS2 and beyond. Though I'll warn you: if you don't have a PSP like me, do NOT spend $30 on Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters. It was a PSP to PS2 import, and it's so awful/hard to play that I can't even finish the game (it only plays for about a measly 9 or 10 hours anyway, from things I've read). The camera control is by far the worst I've seen in ANY game, let alone one of the series (which is normally great).

But that aside, Ratchet and Clank (the whole series) is like my ideal game. Fantastic characters, drop dead gorgeous atmospheres, futuristic and creative weaponry/armor, crude humor, and impeccable gameplay. I've always liked Ratchet as the "anti-hero," like Vagrant said, though sometimes I thought it was a little forced (like in Deadlocked, for example).

Maybe one of these days I'll save up for a PS3 so that I can play Tools of Destruction and the others, but for right now, I'm content with restarting my game saves for Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal and having just as much fun as the first time. Ahhhh, there's nothing like spending a blustery winter day on your couch searching for Crystals in the Tabora Desert, fending off Sand Beetles with a RYNOII...

[Wselfwulf]

Fair points, but I've not played tools of destruction and to say it's a superior platformer to mario galaxy...a reasonable call. I mean mario sunshine, good as it was, I can understand. Shine Get!

[Vagrant]

do NOT spend $30 on Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters.

Size Matters was High Impact's first game, and it was pretty awful. They did much better on Secret Agent Clank. It's still amazingly short, but it just plays better overall. Also: Qwark sings about chaos theory to the tune of classic opera, which may just well be worth the entry fee alone.

(like in Deadlocked, for example).

Deadlocked did strike me as pretty poor in that regard, I just couldn't get enough interest to complete that one.

[lycanthropeful]

Deadlocked did strike me as pretty poor in that regard, I just couldn't get enough interest to complete that one.

Oh, I definitely think it's worth completing to get the unlockables and such, but I really missed the straight "adventure platformer" aspect. Instead it was more of modifed "beat-em-up," only with overly huge weapons.

I even toyed around with the online capabilities, despite me not having PS2 online ability, and it seemed pretty good. If only i could have played online.

[Baphnedia]

God, I absolutely loved R&C! I only own the first three titles, and one really nifty thing about the series is that previous successes help out future games... so I was always happy about that.

[Moss27]

I think this is one of the best game series. The other one I like is the Jak series. XD They are both dear to my hearts.

What I like about Ratchet and Clank are the controls. I'm a very "What does [some button] do again??" type of player, but I can easily memorize the controls for R&C for some reason. Plus, I like the camera movements and the turning motions within the game.

[Scott Gardener]

What are the odds?!? I was browsing The Pack, but I have stuck in my head the pirate swashbuckling anthem of the new "Quest for Booty" mini-game. I just played it over the last two weeks, and it's quite awesome!

It struck me as an obvious marketing ploy to leave R&C Future: Tools of Destruction on a cliffhanger and then have us go to the online store to get the next installment. The annoyance wore off, though, when I got to resume the game storyline where it left off. Note to any casual gamers wanting to know what happens next: the downloadable game does not resolve the hanging storyline. It provides additional story about what happens in between, but it finishes without resolving any of the cliffhanging elements, so it's conceivable that a full-sized regular game (i.e. $60 game on a Blu-Ray disc out of a brick-and-mortar store) could be presented as the sequel to Tools of Destruction without having to play Quest for Booty to connect the two storylines.

Still, I recommend Quest for anyone who liked Tools, because it feels very much like a continuation (except for the twenty million bolts worth of weapons and armor you may have accumulated). But, it also introduces some interesting new twists that take good advantage of the PS3's incredible processing power--most notably the use of lighting and darkness. There's a lot of cave and cavern scenes in which the only way to get through is to grab, carry, and occasionally toss these cute, googly-eyed glowing blob creatures, for instance. They've also added a tech feature to the wrench; it can now drag and pull obstacles around. Granted, I found having to use the right-sided joystick on top of the R2 and square buttons a bit wonky, being a left-hander, but it was still fun. There's also a lot of the favorite familiar stuff; the available weapons and gadgets were severely truncated--you do get to throw tornadoes, but life leeches, the ever popular groovetron, and other hiney-saving gadgets aren't available.

You'll get to battle plenty of pirate ghosts--or, are they ghost pirates? No sign of the Cragmites this time, since events of Tools of Destruction already dealt with them. Captain Qwark is also absent, but our favorite elf-cat lady with a tail, Apogee, gets plenty of screen time, as does Pete.

I loved Tools of Destruction; I've found the whispered "...need more Zoni!" on the road to becoming my version of "needs more cowbell!"

Total game time runs maybe six hours.

[Figarou]

Here is a trick I did in "Tools of Destruction."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x-eV-DwUIg

[Vagrant]

I remember seeing that vid of yours in another thread a time ago, fig! Along with one of being able to stand on top of certain critters without getting harmed, I believe.

That one was quite funny though, and I have to say that finding exploits like that is grand. I'm no stranger to breaking games either, and I gather your drive is like mine, it's not initially to actually try and break the game, but more a desire to explore.

"What's over there? Hrm, looks like I just fell out of the World."

[lycanthropeful]

Haha, awesome video, Figarou! That reminds me of the glitch you can pull in Going Commando to get to the Insomniac Museum: you ride the grind rails in Silver City, leap off onto a part of the gaming atmosphere you can't jump onto, then fall underground, leap magically through the ground up into a warehouse, and kill the enemies, only to find a one-way transporter to the best collection of Easter eggs ever.

I love finding crap like that. Now just to find a PS3...

[Vagrant]

Despite the PS3 being my favourite console, I'd have to say ... wait until there's been a few price cuts.

LittleBigPlanet (which I love, so much) and Insomniac developing exclusively for it was enough for me to bag one, and I found a deal for one so I got really lucky (left over stock after last Christmas). But at full price, what most places charge for it... it's almost criminal. There are no monthly fees attached to it though, which is nice, but that still doesn't make up for the entry fee.

I hope you get one, but as I said, waiting until Sony snap themselves out of their delusion that the current price-point is reasonable would be wise. It'll happen sooner or later, probably sooner with current sales being what they are.

[Figarou]

That one was quite funny though, and I have to say that finding exploits like that is grand.

It sure is. I found a neat little trick to do in Super Mario 64 when it was still new. Sure wish Youtube existed back then. I could've posted it.

I found 2 tricks to do in Super Smash bros Brawl. BUT....I made the mistake of showing it online during game play instead of posting at Youtube 1st. When I made the claim that I discovered it, no one believes me.

Haha, awesome video, Figarou!

Thanks!!

[Vagrant]

Oh, I'd believe you, Fig. I'd believe you because I know that there are just some people who have the knack for it.

One of my favourites (by way of proof of the knack) is Joseph Morris, I really couldn't get over his gallery of crazy breakages, the Ultima additions were especially wonderful.

[Figarou]

Oh, I'd believe you, Fig. I'd believe you because I know that there are just some people who have the knack for it.

That's not always the case.

Some people are lucky enough to find it by mistake. It depends on the type of trick/glitch.

[wolfward]

The problem I find with R&C, is that I finish the campaign too quickly, so the only thing to do is to find all the extras and get all the skill points. After I do that ,I don't know what else to do, then I get bored and look for glitches. The best glitch I think is in Going Commando because of the wall-climbing glitch. That basicly made my day when I started using that to get to places where you can say"Hm, I wonder where the map went." But Deadlocked is not the best game if you want to find glitches and funny things, because as people have said, you just blow stuff up the whole time. Nothing really special about it(Except that you can modify your weapons)and the multiplayer maps are just too small. But overall, I love R&C seeing as you can play it for hours on end, and never really get board of it, despite the fact you just do the dame thing for ages(Which is destroying stuff, because it's trying to either bite you, slice you, or shoot you.)