Best third in a series ever…
Didn't you say ACiT was your favourite game of all time? It just doesn't add up.
My favorite Ratchet, yes. It's my 3rd favorite if all time.
But Underworld was the perfect number 3 in a trilogy. Every part of the plot from Legend and Anniversary together in one big epilogue. That right; epilogue. They didn't ask questions, they answered them. Where ACiT makes you wonder about where the Lombaxes are, Uncharted 3 wether Elena and Drake will grow back together, Metroid Prime 3 if the bad guy comes back for another round, Sly 3 has the time machine. Underworld simply doesn't do that. It's an ending, not a bridge to a sequel.
As a number 3 it's great. As a game it's great too, but that's not what I was talking about in the last post.
My experiences with Metal Gear and Resitance have helped me understand more about open endings and closing endings. Mostly Metal Gear, in that every single game was Kojima's last. To say that about Metal Gear Solid 2 might drive a person insane though, because it appeared to have such an open ending, and our main man was not under our control for the majority of the game, which made a lot of people get pissed off.
But that game wasn't about wrapping up a neat little story. No it was about more than what was going on with Olga, The Patriots and our Snakes. It had a lot of underlying messages that were cleverly planted there, which gave the game a depth unlike many other games available at the time. Of course most people weren't prepared to dig that deep, and I get the slightest feeling that was the case when Kojima turned around and gave us MGS3. The sequel everyone was hoping for. MGS3 was along the lines of MGS. We play as Snake. It's consistent with the universe. It answers a few questions. It has a main focus on a more simple straightforward story. And it even gets really emotional for some players.
But MGS3 was missing the deeper meaning MGS2 had. And then we have the fourth. MGS4 was just there to tie up everything from MGS3 (which was pretty self-contained to start with) and MGS2. It was great having Kojima finnish off where MGS2 left off, so he could play with Big Boss some more, but did like MGS3, it does what the fans want, it does what they'd expect. So it keeps the underlying theme contained within a nice and (reasonably) simple story. Never again should that director experiment with the core formula!
I'm getting sidetracked again. The point is, that some games don't have to tie up every loose end. Maybe I'm just being a bit ridiculous here, but like MGS2, maybe some games are trying to tell a different story? A story that has more to do with reality than fiction… but then again, this doesn't really answer why games can't tie up loose ends does it? I suppose it has more to do with the fans of the series, and what they want. It just so happens everyone wants all stories to come to a close, so I guess the writers can just get stuffed, and end their plots!
I like to think that's what MGSV is. Bridging the gap between the two snakes, father and son. This is a true ending to the series, given we've seen Solid Snakes last adventure, and Big Bosses first.
Very much agreed.
Going back to R&C, why do we care about hat happened to Orvus? It doesn't affect anything in terms of the plot. He's gone, as far as everyone knows that's all that happened and that's all we need.
We don't need to know what's going on with the Lombaxes, we don't need to know if Dante and Nero ever met again, we don't need to know Jak and Daxter's adventures after 3, but God damn it we need to know if MegaMan got out of that moon! CAPCOM YOU BASTARDS WHY DID YOU CANCEL MEGAMAN LEGENDS 3!!!
So yeah, we dont always need to know what happens and sometimes the stuff we know the least about is what interests us the most. Just like in horror movies where the least you know about the monster the scariest it is.
Nicely said.
I agree. Having a whole new adventure covering what happened to Orvus and the Lombaxes (which we know already) would kind of defeat the point of the future series. It may not have been that clear, but the main purpose of the Future series was to get Ratchet & Clank a bit of back-story and give them a designated destiny, of which they refuse (well Ratchet doesn't really refuse his destiny does he?), due to them knowing that all along what they need most is each other.
Ratchet kinda refuses his destiny, well, he refuses and offer that if we were in that situation, we'd accpet it immediately and you probably wanted him to accpet it.
Honestly, I think a game focused on Ratchet's ACTUAL past would be interesting though. Like what he did in Veldin before he met Clank. I was alwayys interested in that for some reason.
I think that Ratchet both fulfilled his destiny, and didn't at the same time. He defeated Tachyon, which was no doubt something the Lombaxes would be proud of him for, but didn't bring them back. But I like think the Lombaxes would have preferred he defeat Tachyon any day, over joining them.
Tacyhoyn rambling on about him not truly knowing his destiny probably had more to do with him using the Dimensionator to bring them back. But as Clank weighs Ratchet down to reality, Ratchet realises using the Dimensionator is extremely risky. It is the Lombaxes nature to take risks, and prioritise "reward over consequence", but Clank is more grounded by reality, and knows that using the Dimensionator is just far too risky. And due to Clank's hunches being right so many times, Ratchet can agree with him on that.
But a few years in, and another threat come in out of nowhere! Once again the Dimensionator is being seriously abused, and the fabric of their precious dimension is being ripped to bits to allow massive creatures through! But after sending them all back through to the other side… nothing. There are no consequences, and yet again the universe seems pretty intact! The dimensions have been jumped across so many times now, that what's the harm in one more little dip between realities? I guess that's what Clank figures at that point anyway.
It's pretty obvious that Clank's going to fix up the Dimensionator and they will bridge the gap between the Lombax dimension and theirs! What else could they possibly be implying? And does it deserve a new game? I don't think so. I mean there always needs to be some sort of big enemy with a diabolical new plot that calls Ratchet & Clank into hero-mode to warrant a new adventure. And do we really want a villain spoiling such a nice and happy reunion? I wouldn't. So as long as there is no new game, we can assume that it was a great success.
I will tell you this, we will not sacrifice visuals just to hit a number. Our goal is to make it one of the best looking games out there regardless of resolution and fps. I can't tell you what the final game will run at, since we haven't fully explored that yet.
Am I the only one not happy about that?
REALLY?!
I guess you might aswell say "We'll deliver the best looking game possible, regardless of glitches and gameplay quality".
I just hope it will be at least STABLE 30 FPS. Those framedrops in past three games…
Maybe we're the only people who don't want to count every individual hair on Ratchet's body…
The FPS will be fine. I think they´re just reminding the crowd that graphics aren´t everything. They never were.
I think they´re just reminding the crowd that graphics aren´t everything. They never were.
Yet they're sacrificing performance for graphics… 'kay…
The FPS will be fine. I think they´re just reminding the crowd that graphics aren´t everything. They never were.
I thought they were doing the opposite thing 
Oh, wait. I read it wrong… I also though that Kubak said "Am I the only one that does like it".
In that case, I will side with you both. But upgrading the looks over playability isn't Insomniac's way.