Ratchet & Clank Series Thread

[ExKizuna]

Either Deadlocked or Size Matters, depending on if we're counting side-games. I've yet to play All for One so I can't pass judgment on that, but I think that'd be close to my least favorite if I ever did play it.

Size Matters, eh? I still have yet to play it, all i know is it was on the PSP first. Well judging by the name i can tell its not your standard Ratchet and Clank adventure. Was the gimmick too forced, story horrible, or both?

[terminoob]

Size Matters, eh? I still have yet to play it, all i know is it was on the PSP first. Well judging by the name i can tell its not your standard Ratchet and Clank adventure. Was the gimmick too forced, story horrible, or both?

Eh, I'm just not a fan of side games.

[crushingmayhem]

Eh, I'm just not a fan of side games.

Normally I don't get into spinoffs even if they're good. Although the RC downloadable games are pretty good from what I hear.

[Jane]

Surprised that there hasn't been a thread for this yet, or even the games as a whole. Ratchet & Clank is one of my favorite game series and I've been waiting for the movie/PS4 reimagining since it got announced a few years back.

A theatrical trailer is supposed to debut with Goosebumps on Friday.

Edit 10/17/15: Here's the trailer below

Ratchet and Clank tells the story of two unlikely heroes as they struggle to stop a vile alien named Chairman Drek from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy. When the two stumble upon a dangerous weapon capable of destroying entire planets, they must join forces with a team of colorful heroes called The Galactic Rangers in order to save the galaxy. Along the way they'll learn about heroism, friendship, and the importance of discovering one's own identity.
 

The movie stars the normal video game cast as Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark & Dr. Nefarious. Celebrity voice talents will be John Goodman as Ratchet's mechanic mentor Grimroth, Sylvester Stallone as Chairman Drek's second-in command Victor von Ion, Paul Giamatti as Chairman Drek himself, Rosario Dawson as Elaris and Bella Thorne as Cora. It releases April 29th, 2016 in the US and April 13th in France. A re-imagining of the original game is also set to release on April 12th, and will also take cues from the movie. It will be developed by Insomniac Games per usual for the PS4.

Here's some gameplay for that too:

Edited December 5, 2015 by Teamwork

[CyanideFishbone]

Has it been announced who's playing who in the voices?

[Jane]

Has it been announced who's playing who in the voices?

• Paul Giamatti as Chairman Drek, the leader of the Blarg.
• John Goodman as Grimroth, Ratchet's mechanic mentor.
• Bella Thorne as Cora, one of the Galactic Rangers.
• Rosario Dawson as Elaris, a member of the Galactic Rangers' support team.
• Sylvester Stallone as Victor Von Ion, Chairman Drek's villainous lieutenant.

The rest are the normal video game cast. 

Edited October 14, 2015 by Teamwork

[illiniguy34]

Hopefully this isn't run by monkeys and thus ba-bombs :P.

[terminoob]

There wasn't a thread for this? I didn't make a thread for this? I'm surprised.

I'll be first in line.

Edited October 14, 2015 by terminoob

[Jane]

On 10/14/2015 at 6:26 PM, terminoob said:

There wasn't a thread for this? I didn't make a thread for this? I'm surprised.

I'll be first in line.

Me too.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Teamwork

[SG19]

Is Ratchet & Clank that game with the blonde haired dude and his furry sidekick or am I thinking of a different game?

[Jane]

Is Ratchet & Clank that game with the blonde haired dude and his furry sidekick or am I thinking of a different game?

It's about a cat like alien and a robot on his back. Known for wacky weapons and sci fi setting.

[NegiSpongie]

Is Ratchet & Clank that game with the blonde haired dude and his furry sidekick or am I thinking of a different game?

You're thinking of Jak and Dexter.

[terminoob]

Is Ratchet & Clank that game with the blonde haired dude and his furry sidekick or am I thinking of a different game?

If you're thinking of the game that I think you're thinking of then you're thinking of Jak and Daxter. Also a good series - brilliant writing and plotting, in my opinion - but I don't think it's as fun as Ratchet and Clank.

Definitely get your hands on Ratchet and Clank if you can. They did the collection for PS3 which is the first three games and then the whole Future series is also on PS3.

[Jane]

If you're thinking of the game that I think you're thinking of then you're thinking of Jak and Daxter. Also a good series - brilliant writing and plotting, in my opinion - but I don't think it's as fun as Ratchet and Clank.

Definitely get your hands on Ratchet and Clank if you can. They did the collection for PS3 which is the first three games and then the whole Future series is also on PS3.

The collection is kinda iffy in my opinion. It has random framerate drops and a bevy of visual glitches. I'd reccomend getting it on PS2 over the PS3.

 

[terminoob]

The collection is kinda iffy in my opinion. It has random framerate drops and a bevy of visual glitches. I'd reccomend getting it on PS2 over the PS3.

 

I figure it's easier to come by a PS3 than a PS2 these days.

[Jane]

I figure it's easier to come by a PS3 than a PS2 these days.

The PS2 sold 150 million units though. I find at least one or two whenever I go to a Goodwill or Flea Market. I guess it depends on if you'd rather play it on the PS3 for convinence sake though.

And even then, I think with the Ps4 reboot/movie coming out soon, it's arguably a better time to jump into R&C with them. The movieverse seems to fill a lot of the plot holes the original R&C's had (who took care of Ratchet, more of a reason for Ratchet to want to be a hero, where Dr. Nefarious was in R&C1, galactic rangers, etc.)

[terminoob]

The PS2 sold 150 million units though. I find at least one or two whenever I go to a Goodwill or Flea Market. I guess it depends on if you'd rather play it on the PS3 for convinence sake though.

And even then, I think with the Ps4 reboot/movie coming out soon, it's arguably a better time to jump into R&C with them. The movieverse seems to fill a lot of the plot holes the original R&C's had (who took care of Ratchet, more of a reason for Ratchet to want to be a hero, where Dr. Nefarious was in R&C1, galactic rangers, etc.)

See, I hate Ratchet wanting to be a hero. He had really good character development, going from not wanting anything to do with anything to being the hero of multiple galaxies. Ratchet looking up to the Galactic Rangers and always wanting to be a hero is so much less compelling as a character arc because there really isn't anywhere for him to go and there isn't anything for him to think about. I'm sure there's gonna be a moment in the movie where he realizes he's in over his head, and that's gonna be a lot less interesting to me to watch because there's no suspense and you as the audience member don't connect with him. He was a great audience-insert character because he was getting roped into this ridiculous plot that involved destroying a whole galaxy and he had no idea what to do or even why he cared about doing it. I love how he became a hero pretty much by accident. He didn't think of Clank giving him a mission as his big moment. He just wanted to get rid of Clank, and then things started to get more complicated and more personal and he realized that he needed to be a hero because no one else could be. He didn't even really get true "hero" status until the third game because in Going Commando it mostly just seemed like he was doing it for the ego boost and he loved that and I loved that he was a totally vain character that was just doing heroics because he loved the publicity, and then in the third game he was more the typical hero and he had his team and he was more organized and cared more about the people and whatnot.

As for the other things, I don't really care. The third game took place on different planets so I just assume Nefarious and the Rangers were off doing things elsewhere; and I never cared about who took care of him. I like the idea of him having to take care of himself after the Lombaxes left because it makes him a much more interesting character because he has the side of him that's jaded because no one did anything for him - in fact everyone he ever knew just up and abandoned him - so he sees no reason to do anything for anyone else because everything he's ever had in his life he got himself so if he could do it so should everyone else. If you give him any kind of caretakers then you just kind of make him into a Clark Kent-esque character except he's much less compelling because there's no second side to Ratchet.

[Jane]

See, I hate Ratchet wanting to be a hero. He had really good character development, going from not wanting anything to do with anything to being the hero of multiple galaxies. Ratchet looking up to the Galactic Rangers and always wanting to be a hero is so much less compelling as a character arc because there really isn't anywhere for him to go and there isn't anything for him to think about. I'm sure there's gonna be a moment in the movie where he realizes he's in over his head, and that's gonna be a lot less interesting to me to watch because there's no suspense and you as the audience member don't connect with him. He was a great audience-insert character because he was getting roped into this ridiculous plot that involved destroying a whole galaxy and he had no idea what to do or even why he cared about doing it. I love how he became a hero pretty much by accident. He didn't think of Clank giving him a mission as his big moment. He just wanted to get rid of Clank, and then things started to get more complicated and more personal and he realized that he needed to be a hero because no one else could be. He didn't even really get true "hero" status until the third game because in Going Commando it mostly just seemed like he was doing it for the ego boost and he loved that and I loved that he was a totally vain character that was just doing heroics because he loved the publicity, and then in the third game he was more the typical hero and he had his team and he was more organized and cared more about the people and whatnot.
As for the other things, I don't really care. The third game took place on different planets so I just assume Nefarious and the Rangers were off doing things elsewhere; and I never cared about who took care of him. I like the idea of him having to take care of himself after the Lombaxes left because it makes him a much more interesting character because he has the side of him that's jaded because no one did anything for him - in fact everyone he ever knew just up and abandoned him - so he sees no reason to do anything for anyone else because everything he's ever had in his life he got himself so if he could do it so should everyone else. If you give him any kind of caretakers then you just kind of make him into a Clark Kent-esque character except he's much less compelling because there's no second side to Ratchet.

I think they want to make it an easier sell to audiences and make it more condensed and easier to digest for the general movie audience. Of course there are gonna be changes to make it more mainsteam, which kinda sucks. Other primary reasons for the changes I assume are generally just trying to make it fit in more with the Future trilogy and fix the main complaint of a lot of people that Ratchet's a dick to Clank. While some, like you, liked that, to others it was a huge turn off.  I still hope this does well because the series arguably hasn't been relevant in years and the tepid reception of All 4 One and Full Frontal Assault really hurt it IMHO. Without those, you wouldn't be seeing Greg Miller say they should stop making Ratchet games. And towards the end of the Ps3, the series got relegated to short $30 titles that no one outside of Ratchet fans really bought.

That being said, I've read the full plot summary and it seems promising. I've heard good things even from people who've seen early screenings of it. http://hannibalclassics.com/films/ratchet-clank

Edited October 15, 2015 by Teamwork

[terminoob]

I think they want to make it an easier sell to audiences and make it more condensed and easier to digest for the general movie audience. Of course there are gonna be changes to make it more mainsteam, which kinda sucks. Other primary reasons for the changes I assume are generally just trying to make it fit in more with the Future trilogy and fix the main complaint of a lot of people that Ratchet's a dick to Clank. While some, like you, liked that, to others it was a huge turn off.  I still hope this does well because the series arguably hasn't been relevant in years and the tepid reception of All 4 One and Full Frontal Assault really hurt it IMHO. Without those, you wouldn't be seeing Greg Miller say they should stop making Ratchet games. And towards the end of the Ps3, the series got relegated to short $30 titles that no one outside of Ratchet fans really bought.

That being said, I've read the full plot summary and it seems promising. I've heard good things even from people who've seen early screenings of it. http://hannibalclassics.com/films/ratchet-clank

To be fair, the Future series was really plot-heavy and no one but Ratchet fans would really buy them. Tools of Destruction was a great jumping-on point for new players, but if you didn't buy that then Quest For Booty, A Crack in Time, and Into the Nexus would make no sense. It wasn't like the PS2 games where you could kind of just jump in and not miss too much. If you jumped in at A Crack in Time then you'd have so many questions you'd probably just put the game down. While the Future series was by far my favorite set of games because I love plot, I think it'd benefit Insomniac more in the future to do more self-contained games like what they did in the beginning so people could just jump in at any time and not be lost. Like I played Going Commando first and then Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked and then the first game and even though the first game kind of helped tie things together I didn't really need it to understand the characters or the general plot.

But yeah, I agree that they're doing it for the mainstream audience and because it's an easier sell. I just wish they wouldn't have to do that and have faith that the writing is strong enough to make people care about Ratchet from the get-go regardless of how he behaves. I still feel having him do something nice for selfish reasons is more relatable than having him do something nice because it's the moment he's been waiting for all his life, because then you can develop him into a character that's doing these things for selfless reasons but I guess you need a lot of time for that and it'd be easier to just start off with him already at the tail end of his development.

[Jane]

 

The trailer has been released early. Thoughts?