Thread: Missed RaC Opportunities

So you all probably have expectations from Insomniac, right? And i think we all got to a point where we were expecting something really good, but then it turned out to be just a small part of how good it could've been.

I want to know if you guys ever thought "They could've used that concept for so much more.." in any Ratchet and Clank game of the series.

I'll make an example:

The gliding feature was always present in Ratchet and Clank games, and whenever i couldn't use it (Because Clank was gone) i felt so much less agile and just "weirder".
So when All 4 One was announced i was wondering if they would be able to glide, since Clank is no longer on Ratchet's back, and i wasn't surprised to see that they actually took that feature away.
But after replaying ACiT, i realized that Ratchet was able to glide without having Clank on his back at all.

So i thought, actually, every character in A4O could've been able to glide:

Ratchet could use his boots
Clank would use his heli-pack obviously
Nefarious could use his wings OR his boots
Qwark would have something like a presidential jetpack or i don't know, i mean.. they gave Nefarious razor claws, Clank shoots heli blades.. they could've came up with SOMETHING..

Yea, so let me hear about your thoughts on "missed opportunities", or discuss someone elses.

Expanding upon the PS2 era characters a bit, or maybe even re introducing them back into the games. Don't get me wrong, I really like the new characters but it would be awesome to meet up with Big Al, Helga, Skidd etc. Also the Angela Cross thing….if Insomniac truly wanted Ratchet to be the last Lombax I think they could have brought her back for ToD and we could have seen her choose to return to the Lombax Dimension or killed by Tachyon. The "escaped with Max Apogee" thing didn't really satisfy me. Her and Ratchet having differant ideas about the future of their race could have been interesting…

Into the Nexus was going to have so much more content it it: B1 Brawler, Thug Raiders, 0-G cup–I would've loved to see it all, but now I'm thinking that it was for the better that they didn't add it. The ps4 game was their primary goal…

…now making changes to ITN's plot line, yeah, that's a missed opportunity :/

Missed RaC opportunity? Hmm… I do agree on changing ItN's plot. I don't think it should be the Future Saga's epilogue - I mean, what kind of epilogue that ends on a cliffhanger?! It should be a different game, so we don't get unsatisfying ending and maybe plot holes. Besides, maybe it's time they move on to a new main story.

Can I just say FFA?
I think I can just say FFA.

It's okay if you enjoy the game, but it could've been so much more…

Can I just say FFA?
I think I can just say FFA.

It's okay if you enjoy the game, but it could've been so much more…

I had the same thing in my head, but I decided not to write it. Good point, though.

It's okay if you enjoy the game, but it could've been so much more…

Given how little time (and budget too probably) IG had to make it, it's not a missed opportunity to me - it seems to have been doomed from the start. In my opinion IG should've just let the 10th Anniversary go and make a bigger ItN with 'planet defense' levels and competetive mode addition.

Considering most of the assets in FFA are ripped straight from A4O, I sincerely doubt that IG only had the time and budget for a 3 hour campaign and a fairly limited multiplayer mode.

It's okay if you enjoy the game, but it could've been so much more…

Given how little time (and budget too probably) IG had to make it, it's not a missed opportunity to me - it seems to have been doomed from the start. In my opinion IG should've just let the 10th Anniversary go and make a bigger ItN with 'planet defense' levels and competetive mode addition.

I agree: The HD collection was all the 10th-anniversary needed :oui:

not even deadlocked!

i would say the whole future series were bad because Insomniac tried changing to much and then kinda forgot about the old details they used to add, sure they were good games to play but they were thinking to much ahead. luckily they restarted the seies

anyway opinons

I've tried to hate the future series, but it never works–all 3 are wonderful in their own ways, and ACIT is flawless!

I'm going to agree with Animovie here, I absolutely love the Future series and, as you say, ACIT is flawless. As much as I love the old games, I like how the PS3 era titles brought in stronger themes of friendship and loss without compromising the humour, creating what I believe to be an ultimately deeper product

I'm going to agree with Animovie here, I absolutely love the Future series and, as you say, ACIT is flawless. As much as I love the old games, I like how the PS3 era titles brought in stronger themes of friendship and loss without compromising the humour

And this is where we'll have to disagree, my friend.
ACiT isn't flawless by any stretch of the imagination, especially when it comes to the writing, and it really did compromise humour. Whether or not this happened because they wanted to tell a more compelling story is up to you, but the fact still remains that Azimuth, a main character, never said or did anything that could be classified as a "joke". Then there's the fact that they constantly repeat the same jokes over and over again.

Oh, Terachnoids are being nerds. Haha.
Oh, Qwark's bein an idiot. Haha.
Oh, Sigmund hates the computer. Haha.

Is the whole point of those characters' existence to make sure there's always something "funny" to lighten up the mood? If so, what are they doing here?

The only character who I think is funny in this game is Nefarious, which is a shame, because he's probably the most useless character in the game too. He does nothing but sit on his couch throughout the entire game and he sends the other villains to do all of his work for him.

And even then, Nefarious simply manages to make me chuckle. The only time I actually laughed out loud while playing ACiT was when one Fongoid said he couldn't wait to see his wife and another Fongoid said "Me too".
It's subtle, there's no weird looks, no "I don't think that's a good idea/What?!" from Ratchet and it's clever.
Although part of me can't help but feel like it was most likely unintentional.

And that's not even addressing the fact that it's kinda hard to take Ratchet & Clank as seriously as ACiT wants us to. We're talking about the same guys that would air guitar and watch science shows in the middle of a space battle. The same guys that were enjoying being prisoners because it meant they could be in the biggest reality show in the galaxy and get a lot of money doing so. The same guys that would be willing to collect sewer poop.
I think it's kinda hard to take them seriously, even if the story was in ACiT as good as TLoU or MGS.

Sorry for ranting about ACiT again, I swear it's the last time.

"compromise humor?" I disagree!

Maybe your version of humor is dirty jokes, which the 1st 3 had (oh and DL, 'shudders'
But I loved Nefarious in the game! You could literally pause any given frame of Nefarious, and find something to laugh about.

One other thing: since I'm a character animator, I take great pleasure in re-watching ACIT's cutscenes. I mean, admit it–they were the best of any RaC game! (Ps4 might have it beat though)

One other–other thing: humor isn't all that makes the game: visually, ACIT was the best in graphics, and the gameplay was super enjoyable! ACIT also had the most satisfying ending. I hardly consider ACIT a missed opportunity!

I think jokes should be clever.
Yes, the PS2 games had a lot of dirty jokes, but they wouldn't be nearly as funny if they weren't clever.
There were plenty of harmless jokes that worked because they were clever ("Actually, I build robots.
I'm not exactly a robot guy"

Anyway, let me compare two jokes that are almost exactly the same. One from UYA and one from ACiT.

So in UYA, there's this one part where Big Al starts rambling on about some random tech stuff and he starts off with "Let's see…". Ratchet's response is "You lost me at let's see…". That was quick, clever, original and it didn't unnecessarily drag.

In ACiT, there's a Terachnoid rambling about some random tech stuff too. Ratchet's response? "Usually I have Clank to translate this. Can you repeat that in non-geek speak?" It drags, it's generic (seriously, how many times has a character in a movie or a game said "Can you say that in English" after someone says something complicated?) and it was already done much better in UYA ("Clank, you speak… nerd…

And I'm talking more about the writing, not necessarily the visual humour. It's obvious ACiT would win here, it's a PS3 game with tons of CGI cutscenes.

And I never said ACiT was a missed opportunity. I'd say there were tons of missed opportunities in ACiT for a cooler and more engaging storyline, but I've already made a whole thread about that.