What is it about the PS2 era of r&c that went so right?
It was way better than the future series we have now.
>characters and story don’t take themselves too seriously, but have their moments
>memorable soundtracks compared to forgettable orchestral songs we have now
>weapons were interesting and had (aside from lava gun) great upgrades that were satisfying to get
>future series replaces it with more either generic guns or le wacky humour weapons that are useless. Upgrades don’t even do much
>characters were practically nobodies in the trilogy, even when famous, and didn’t have some deep backstory, but one that was more heartfelt, e.g clanks mom, no time lord shit
>has its own style, not trying to look like Pixar
Why did insomniac stray away from this formula? People seem to prefer it
Because they had no direction and were just making it all up as they went. Giving the series actual writers, especially a loregay as annoying as TJ Fixman, was a mistake.
The writing in the original game was better then the remaster. The characters were more interesting and better developed. The big twist in the ending for the original game that shattered Clank's world view was just a shit throwaway joke in the remaster that was done in the marvel movie style sarcasm.
I don't know what it is about professional writers but they're actually worse at their job than ordinary people.
Probably because they were following the movie which was 1. trying to do something different from the original game tonally and 2. written to be a movie and not a video game
The original Ratchet game has an atmosphere and characterization that was never seen again in the series. Actually, it sort of reminds me of Toy Story. When I think of the first Toy Story, I think of the darker themes and moments, seeing our hero act like a total butthole and eventually grow a close bond with the Inciting Incident macguffin character that shakes up their boring everyday life.
Ratchet himself became boring pretty much immediately after the events of Ratchet 1 if you ask me. In Ratchet 1, he's a pretty well written character.
In Ratchet 3 he's kinda used to setup jokes for other characters like Quark. I don't remember a single thing about his character from 2.
Personally I sort of view post-Ratchet 1 Ratchet as mostly "you". He exists to be a hero who shoots guns so you can control him. There's characterization in there, but much of his motivation is the fact that you want to keep playing the game. Something more like an avatar than its own character I could really describe. You know. Generic Shonen Hero Guy.
Kinda sucks if true. Never played the series.
I mean, it is subjective, but I come into the games as an actor of sorts. I do not like "you"s, I like actual characters.
The trilogy he still has personality, he has some good moments in 3 with Courtney gears. He’s matured from the first game, not much else you can do with him
It's fine in 1 and 3. In 1 is mostly about Ratchet and Clank so Ratchets the strongest there. In 3 Ratchet is laid back but the side characters all fill in the space, mainly Quark. It's also the plot to 3 that Ratchet gets shoved to the side.
Ratchet 2 doesn't really have strong characters besides the female counter part to ratchet and she kinda sucks
Because video game writing is one of the lower rungs of the writing profession, so writers are generally either newbies or just untalented.
Is Hollywood movies on the low rung too because thats what the game reminds me of. TV shows also. Maybe books too but I refuse to read anything that isn't over 70 years old.
The transition to "HD" was rough for tons of devs.
>Ratchet 1
>best levels
>not the best weapons
>numbers don't go up
>Ratchet 2
>good levels
>good weapons
>numbers kind of go up
>Ratchet 3
>shit levels
>based weapons
>numbers go up a lot
>Deadlocked
>decent levels
>great weapons
>even more numbers go up
I'm torn bros... Ok not really 1 is the best kek
I was really addicted to the R&C3 multiplayer levels that were shoe-horned into the single player. I also liked hunting amoebas in the sewers. They were simple times.
I would not stand either of that shit today.
>numbers go up
What does that mean? Sales?
t.ESL
You can upgrade your guns the more you use them.
In ratchet 1 there's no upgrades but I think you can buy a golden version of each gun, don't remember
In ratchet 2 they upgrade once and it gives a stat bonus.
In ratchet 3 you can upgrade them 5 times which gives it a new attribute, sometimes a unique one, and then there's a final upgrade sometimes can be a different weapon completely.
In ratchet 4 IIRC you could completely customize your weapons when you leveled them up, haven't played that one.
Oh you meant the weapons, thanks for clearing it up.
Guns are the reason why I replay R&C1 the least. all the excellent levels, character moments and story in the world can't save it from its weak guns and lack of upgrades. Hope R&C games get decompiled and people mod guns from the other games to R&C1
>can't save it from its weak guns and lack of upgrades
There are upgrades, the gold weapons. You can get half of them after the space fight with Quark
If you're thinking of combat in R&C1 as being anything like in later games, you're doing it wrong. Think of the weapons as tools you use thoughtfully to navigate through the levels, not as things which are shit if they don't kill everything on screen super efficiently
The gold weapons are too expensive tbh. I'd like it a lot more if you didn't have to spend regular bolts too.
R&C2 did this with the mod system and it was awesome.
>The gold weapons are too expensive
Stop buying useless weapons and you'll have the bolts to get at least two of the gold weapons by the midpoint of the game
It's the other way around, gold weapons are bad value compared to other late game items like the Devastator, Visibomb, Tesla Claw and nanotech upgrades.
They're mostly for NG+, even though I know you can buy them earlier.
Frick the Tesla Claw, overpriced shit. The Gold Bomb Glove is far better.
I already know all this, homie, i'm just saying the truth, guns aren't great and that's the core of the game.
The core of the game is platforming and puzzles. It's not a bro shooter like the other games.
R&C1 didn't need upgrades. The enemies scaled well and even your blaster would work with the enemies in the later levels.
Yeah I was mostly referring to the weapon EXP system, numbers go up with the bolt multiplier introduced in 2 as well (1's version was just giving you the bolts you'd get on the final planet on every planet)
The first game had a great OST and it was the only game in the franchise with one kek
the 2nd one had a great soundtrack
Honestly all post & Clank OSTs just make me think "orchestrashit" and it fades from memory the second I stop listening
This is my favorite track
found the levels to be the weakest in deadlocked, story setting really hurts the variety. I'm not a fan of 3's either but they at least they felt different. Granted, it's been forever since i've replayed deadlocked, and last time it was on the ps3 rerelease, so maybe it's not as bad as I remember it.
The biggest difference in the later games is that seemingly everyone had to be nice. That hurt the characters a lot. The originals are more likeable buttholes which is better. The later games have a softening to everything.
Like, the new girl is so peppy. She could be at least a little battle hardened. Even if she is a mega cutie.
Combination of creative bankruptcy and sony pushing for cinematic gaming. If it weren't for reimagining the series as some pixar epic they would have stopped it altogether rather than continuing to make games like the PS2 games.
They did get obnoxiously lazy with the weapons later on in the series though, holy shit. I think over half of RC2016's weapons are just copied from previous games and only like 2-3 weapons from the original actually got remade.
>What is it about the PS2 era of r&c that went so right?
It wasnt trying to be "The Pixar of games" like the Future series tried to be. God the fricking orchestrated music and lack of any real edge made those games so lame.
I remember the slowly encroaching disappointment when I got my PS2 and started playing Tools of Destruction. Sure, I'm just shooting jelly everywhere and nobody shuts the frick up but this is fine, I said. Looking back, as Churchill said, it was the end of the beginning.
awful series.