Ratchet and Clank [PS4]
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- not uncharted 4
Sigfried1977
Legend
It's definitely bigger than that. Q4B is a three to four hour game no matter how you approach it. It had none of the features which gave the bigger games in the series legs.
I'm not. They should burn for making this 30fps IMO. Yes, I get the euphoria over the graphics (actually I don't), but I just can't warm myself to the whole 30fps gameplay after every.single.previous.mainstory.r&c.was.60.frames.per.second.
Not every single one.
Ah, nevermind.
You should try it. It's glorious.
Ah, nevermind.
You should try it. It's glorious.
Sigfried1977
Legend
The gameplay is really slick and the controls are quite responsive. Really makes me wonder how a lot of games would be perceived if there wasn't always someone analyzing technicalities and obsessing over numbers, only to ultimately draw an arbitrary line in the sand. Usually the numbers are devoid of context too. For example, a Ratchet and Clank or an Arkham Knight at 30 fps both feel significantly more resposive and tactle than a Witcher 3 does, and this doesn't really change with the amount of frames your PC can throw at the problem either. The game's controls are simply sluggish as hell.
I mean there has to be a reason why the framerate of the new R&C has not been mentioned as much as a single goddamn time by critics or the vast majority of the player base. Maybe they're all uneducated and stoopid. Or maybe there's really not that much of a problem. Who knows.
I mean there has to be a reason why the framerate of the new R&C has not been mentioned as much as a single goddamn time by critics or the vast majority of the player base. Maybe they're all uneducated and stoopid. Or maybe there's really not that much of a problem. Who knows.
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Most people don't care significantly about 60 fps smoothness. However, it does feel smoother and some people value it immensely over the pretties. They're just in the minority, as Insomniac found. Folk like Phil are just sadly left as a lonely minority as developers abandon their high ideals in the low pursuit of the common-man values and business.
Sigfried1977
Legend
I get the whole being sad about it part. I don't really get the "I'm not even gonna try out a game from a franchise I love and the company responsible shall forever burn in hell because numbers" part.
It is not about numbers, it is about feeling. With 60 fps you can actually see things clearly while you are spinning the camera and doing other movements. You can't really in this game. You also have slightly lower (in-game) input lag which also helps things feel better.
Finally had some time to finish it this weekend, and starting a challenge game...
If you didn't play the originals/remasters or you don't remember them it's going to be a really great game, one of the best platformers, with a lot a variety in the gameplay. It looks great too despite the 30fps. It's also going to be a great game if you're nostalgic about the original. The graphics, shading, explosions, smoke, particles, are all superb. There's no question the engine is great. I's the undeniable best aspect of the game.
BUT... I'll go against the majority of critics. I was a bit underwhelmed after getting hyped by the good reviews.
I'm a long time fan of R&C and after playing the original on PS2 (with 100% completion) and the remaster on PS3 (with the platinum, which requires a LOT of play-through), I finally got bored playing the same game over and over. It's not a reboot as I hoped, it's a remake with some game mechanics and additional stuff taken from the more recent games. Story changes are relatively important, but it's more about shuffling bad guys, and having a more modern film-like narrative structure. The remasters already fed my nostalgia, I don't have that perk anymore.
The difficulty of the game is a mess for those who already played R&C a lot. I got all gold bolts and the RYNO at the end of my first play-through, I didn't look at any walkthroughs. I played without really thinking, going through the motions of game mechanics that have become too familiar. I.e. you reach the last chapter, go back to all planets with the map-o-matic, get everything. Suddenly the last boss fight gets very long and difficult, and the difficulty was based on how slowly the boss health drops, and running out of ammo constantly.
Ammos in these games are supposed to be limited to penalize the trigger happy, penalize the trick of shooting continuously from very far, it's to reward accuracy, and reward a careful choice of weapon. All of this isn't felt for most of the game. I remember all other R&C I was hoarding my sniper ammo and rockets, being happy to use them for special difficult targets, using blades and blaster in easy segments, and here it never felt satisfying to use powerful weapons anymore, you need like 4 rockets to kill an ordinary mob, aiming the sniper is frustrating and not powerful enough, might as well just use blades or whatever you still have ammo. It's all the same. It really feels like they balanced the weapons for multiplayer or something. All the mini-bosses have way too much health.
There is no reward for playing at any difficulty level other than casual, and there's no additional fun playing on hard, only frustration. Heck you can get the platinum in casual, and once you get all bolts you get invincibility and infinite ammo. No satisfaction trying to get the platinum either.
I didn't understand the point of the cards system, you'll get them all whatever you do and it's completely random, except the RYNO cards which are the same thing as the usual "parts" search of previous games.
The Clank solo sections were incredibly boring compared to the ones in ACiT. It's terrible puzzle design with zero challenge. The hack puzzles are also stupidly simple and they can be skipped entirely anyway with one button. It's modern puzzle design: using your brain is severely discouraged.
The jetpack section is uninspired, there's no difficulty involved, no care about fuel since there's refueling stations everywhere, and you get back to 25% by just touching land. It instantly makes the level too easy. It messed up the sense of scale and the sense of exploration. It's reusing past games mechanics without thinking about what it was supposed to add to the gameplay.
The animation was hit and miss, what annoyed me was Ratchet kept making the same "intense look" expression everywhere in cutscenes and it didn't fit. Music was okay, but not nearly as good as previous games.
The races were almost the same as the original, they were still fun.
Of course the first game didn't age well, so I understand they had to rewrite parts of it, but the characters still have no development, drama barely works, without any form of credible emotional connection. This was not the case with ToD, ACiT, and Nexus trilogy, where characters were introduced correctly and had a proper arc.
If you didn't play the originals/remasters or you don't remember them it's going to be a really great game, one of the best platformers, with a lot a variety in the gameplay. It looks great too despite the 30fps. It's also going to be a great game if you're nostalgic about the original. The graphics, shading, explosions, smoke, particles, are all superb. There's no question the engine is great. I's the undeniable best aspect of the game.
BUT... I'll go against the majority of critics. I was a bit underwhelmed after getting hyped by the good reviews.
I'm a long time fan of R&C and after playing the original on PS2 (with 100% completion) and the remaster on PS3 (with the platinum, which requires a LOT of play-through), I finally got bored playing the same game over and over. It's not a reboot as I hoped, it's a remake with some game mechanics and additional stuff taken from the more recent games. Story changes are relatively important, but it's more about shuffling bad guys, and having a more modern film-like narrative structure. The remasters already fed my nostalgia, I don't have that perk anymore.
The difficulty of the game is a mess for those who already played R&C a lot. I got all gold bolts and the RYNO at the end of my first play-through, I didn't look at any walkthroughs. I played without really thinking, going through the motions of game mechanics that have become too familiar. I.e. you reach the last chapter, go back to all planets with the map-o-matic, get everything. Suddenly the last boss fight gets very long and difficult, and the difficulty was based on how slowly the boss health drops, and running out of ammo constantly.
Ammos in these games are supposed to be limited to penalize the trigger happy, penalize the trick of shooting continuously from very far, it's to reward accuracy, and reward a careful choice of weapon. All of this isn't felt for most of the game. I remember all other R&C I was hoarding my sniper ammo and rockets, being happy to use them for special difficult targets, using blades and blaster in easy segments, and here it never felt satisfying to use powerful weapons anymore, you need like 4 rockets to kill an ordinary mob, aiming the sniper is frustrating and not powerful enough, might as well just use blades or whatever you still have ammo. It's all the same. It really feels like they balanced the weapons for multiplayer or something. All the mini-bosses have way too much health.
There is no reward for playing at any difficulty level other than casual, and there's no additional fun playing on hard, only frustration. Heck you can get the platinum in casual, and once you get all bolts you get invincibility and infinite ammo. No satisfaction trying to get the platinum either.
I didn't understand the point of the cards system, you'll get them all whatever you do and it's completely random, except the RYNO cards which are the same thing as the usual "parts" search of previous games.
The Clank solo sections were incredibly boring compared to the ones in ACiT. It's terrible puzzle design with zero challenge. The hack puzzles are also stupidly simple and they can be skipped entirely anyway with one button. It's modern puzzle design: using your brain is severely discouraged.
The jetpack section is uninspired, there's no difficulty involved, no care about fuel since there's refueling stations everywhere, and you get back to 25% by just touching land. It instantly makes the level too easy. It messed up the sense of scale and the sense of exploration. It's reusing past games mechanics without thinking about what it was supposed to add to the gameplay.
The animation was hit and miss, what annoyed me was Ratchet kept making the same "intense look" expression everywhere in cutscenes and it didn't fit. Music was okay, but not nearly as good as previous games.
The races were almost the same as the original, they were still fun.
Of course the first game didn't age well, so I understand they had to rewrite parts of it, but the characters still have no development, drama barely works, without any form of credible emotional connection. This was not the case with ToD, ACiT, and Nexus trilogy, where characters were introduced correctly and had a proper arc.
They do, they just can't pin point it because they are not as technically minded as some of us. Framerate isn't labeled on the cover and beyond technical forums or PC gamers, it's just a rather large unknown. Some games mask framerate better than others; i.e. slower paced games just don't require 60 fps framerate.
I'll be honest, I bought this game for my sister because she is arguably even the bigger R&C fan than me. I didn't bother with it so far (it's on her PS4, not mine), so I suppose my opinion on the matter is irrelevant for now, but as curious as I was, I did ask her what she thought of the game after playing it (and knowing that she still has a PS3 hooked up and played ToD pretty recently). She basically told me that the loves the graphics and playing this remake brings back a lot of great memories. She also liked the story twist (from Quarks perspective). She did notice that the game feels different though. More sluggish, were her words. Now she is not technical minded, she doesn't know what framerate is (or how it influences the feel of a game) and I never told her a thing about it prior to this game releasing. But she definitely feels that something is off. Does it make her not want to play it? No of course not. She loves the game for what it is, even if she can't pin point what makes this one feel different than the PS3 ones. Her most honest answer after this short Q&A was that she still has to get used to it, but is loving it so far. She couldn't tell me which she prefers (obviously being overwhelmed with all the factors that make a game what it is. This one after all, is new, so always more interesting than the older already played games).
So yes, of course there is more to games than just framerate. It might still be the best R&C ever, because there are million other things that make us see value in games. Why I refuse to buy this? Because IMO I don't like the trend of games opting to go for better graphics over framerate. Makes me feel they are selling us for stupid. Now I don't necessarily blame Insomniac - it is the market after all that is dictating the direction more and more devs are taking. I just wish they would have stuck by their guns back then and stick with 60fps as a means of principality, especially in this particular genre. A sort of holy grail if you like - like it has been for many shooters (Call of Duty), racing games (GT, Forza) and used to be platformers too (Mario, R&C etc). But it seems no matter the genre, exceptions are being made in order to shove better graphics down our throats. And the more people buy it, the more the market will continue to go in that direction.
Sigfried1977
Legend
Can agree with a lot of this, especially the part about the drama. No matter how you slice it, it is still just a very shiny version of the first game. I thought the Clank puzzles were alright. Sure, they weren't the epic mind benders we got in A Crack in Time, but they did a good enough job at providing short breaks between the running and gunning. I thought A Crack in Time put a little too much emphasis on Clank to be honest. At the end of the day, I come to R&C because I wanna shoot stuff.
I had very few issues with weapon balance, though. I actually think it's been improved, especially over A Crack in Time's unstoppable universal solution to everything: the buzzblades. A nicely upgraded Warmonger missile is a lot better at dealing with the bigger enemies now (and at level 10 it one-shots everything except dropships, even on hard challenge mode). I also feel like this is the first game where I'm constantly popping my Mr Zurkons. Probably because enemy numbers are so much greater in this R&C. There's of course a lot of redundancy as your arsenal expands, but that's always been the case. There's very little reason to use the combuster over the buzzblades at medium to long distances, and the Sheepinator is a close range monster that completely outclasses both the pixelator and the flamethrower. Obviously this means very little for your initial playthrough as both are late game weapons. Also worth mentioning that the sheepinator in particular is utterly useless unless you heavily invest into it. My only real gripe is the predator missile launcher. Consumes crazy amounts of ammunition (later on it can lock onto, like, 8 or more targets at once) for what seems like an utterly pitiful amount of damage dealt. Maybe it'll change with the final two levels, though. Most guns seem to get close to a 50% boost once they reach level 10. The Ryno is as overpowered as I expected, and I'm loving it.
Well colour me pleased and satisfied, I finished the game twice already. First time on normal, Challenge on Hard. I have a feeling i'll be coming back to this very often in the future. It would be amazing to get some DLC down the line to keep it going a little bit longer.
Got all the golden bolts and all the cards. Missing a couple of trophies here and there (the races... ugh!). Otherwise I can safely say I sucked this baby dry. Twice.
Got all the golden bolts and all the cards. Missing a couple of trophies here and there (the races... ugh!). Otherwise I can safely say I sucked this baby dry. Twice.
RenegadeRocks
Legend
Wow, I totally feel th eopposite about the difficulty. Bosses died too easily for me, Last boss fight was over before I even knew it. The only boss I took time with was Mrs Zurcon ! The weapons are deadly, in fact, a tad too much. I don't get how this aspect can feel soo different. The Warmonger upgraded is a remedy for all ! And once u get the RYNO and Warmonger upgraded, bosses have no chance. All this in the first playthrough. In my challenge mode playthrough my RYNO was fully u there and Mrs. Zuricon didn't last for 10 seconds.
I wanted enemies to have more health :-/ ! and I always had enough ammo.
RenegadeRocks
Legend
But I agree if u have played the original so many times, it si going to feel the same.
Could be play style, I didn't have the RYNO for the last boss (went back after) and didn't yet upgrade the warmonger, not completely anyway. Focus was on upgrading a little of everything because otherwise the trophy for every weapon at max level is problematic later when you neglected the groovitron or sheepinator, or weapons you get very late in the game, the ones which level up very slowly. Also once a weapon is at lvl 5, using it wastes a lot of opportunities to upgrades the other ones.
Or maybe it's only because the last 20 play-throughs of Ratchet I did were my maxed out saved games and I expect everyone to die exactly when I decide they will die. I can't remember the last time I played a game from the beginning.
Sigfried1977
Legend
It's always been completely broken in every R&C game. I'm quite sure they knew that very well when they designed it. They didn't accidentally create a weapon that carries 2500 rockets, each of them hitting like a Warmonger missile. Being massively op is the whole point of the thing. There's a reason it plays its very own fanfare when you squeeze the trigger. Given the absurd pool of health of the final boss, it almost seemed like they wanted you to abuse it too.
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