@@skibot9974 I mean lets face it, they truly did forget about her when the story wanted to go with "he's the last lombax" angle, which they tried to retcon with "well she wasn't a true lombax, she didn't have a tail!" thing which made things even more confusing later on.
If it means anything, Johnny, one of All-4-One's alternate names was "Bros before Foes" and Into the Nexus also had the alternate name of "Into the Nether Regions". Sony probably cracked down on the main-line Ratchet game names after they did so well on the PS2, and didn't want to upset parents buying the games for their younger children.
I say this all the time, but one time at a panel, somebody asked James Arnold Taylor how he got the role of Ratchet, and he said that Mikey Kelley knew they were going to recast him, so he told James that he should audition to be the new voice, and put in a good word for him to the casting director. The two are still close friends to this day.
@@SerialK1986 He doesn't bring it up much, but I distinctly remember James Arnold Taylor once saying that Mikey Kelley told him that he should audition to take over the role. And the two are still close friends. They have even been in projects together since then.
i love how johnny is tackling this from the perspective of a first time player who knows nothing about the franchise. it's really cool seeing him fall in love with the series in real-time
Into the Nexus was originally supposed to be called “into the netherregions” and All4One had multiple names which were rejected. 4Play, Bros b4 foes, Multiple organisms and Fiends with benefits are the ones I can remember.
Wow, they really were trying with innuendos for All 4 One, weren't they? Did they not care about all the other games and just went "We tried for one innuendo name, they rejected it. Fuck it, give them a friendlier name.", yet All 4 One was just "KEEP TRYING UNTIL ONE WORKS, DAMMIT!!!"?
8:44 - that line followed by the "Tom and Jerry" laugh was both gold and too real to not be painful. RIP Angela Cross, Insomniac's biggest thorn in their side.
In terms of the Qwark reveal at the end, he was shoehorned in at the last minute by the writers because they missed him and really wanted to put him in the game somehow. Fizz Widget was supposed to be the main Antagonist until some of the rewrites which explains the muddled and unfocused plot.
I'm assuming that's why we also don't get a stage where we deal with the planetary defences that Angela mentions? I don't think the whole game is unfocused but the climax definitely is.
Even so, I’m surprised the whole thing about Fizzwidget continually acting suspicious and seeing just how ruthless his company is went over Johnny head like that. I get that some of the details are messy but I wouldn’t say it’s as aimless as he kinda alludes the story is in this video. But eh, I ain’t gonna kill him for not taking ratchet and clank story seriously. It’s a fun game either way.
@@vinnythewebsurfer That is a fair point like even the way Fizwidget shows up and kidnaps R&C to give them a job and training at the start is super suspicious and now I think of it Qwark would have no reason whatsoever to want to do. Although remembering what Johnny said about Mad Scientists in the last video makes me look forward to the next one. Interestingly Dr N is voiced by Armin Shimmerman who also played Qwark in ST: Deep Space Nine.
The Golden Bolt did great documentaries on each of the Ratchet games and their development - the reason the story feels so thin and unfocused was due to both rushed development and Insomniac realizing too late "Oh shit, maybe we should have hired some dedicated writers". They addressed the latter in the third game, which has one of the strongest plots and villains, so I'm excited to see how you respond to it.
Theres also developer commentaries here on RU-vid from two of the devs on the games. They're pretty cool and talk about a lot of the technical/development aspects that went into making the PS2 games. For example they had to arrange the way the data was printed on the disc so the laser wouldn't have to move as much and therefore make the load screens faster. Or the whole occlusion culling system which made the rendering extremely efficient for the time. Making these large open levels possible at 60fps in the first place.
Going Commando is my favorite Ratchet and Clank game gameplay wise, but the story is a very incoherent mess. In particular, I was kind of disappointed in the final boss.
Funny thing is, Johnny is FRIENDS with golden bolt, you can even see him he mentioned in the new up you're arsenal review. He probably didn't want the game spoiled so he didn't mention any of that to him.
I love seeing Johnny go back and take a look at older games franchises that had their time in the light back in the day. It’s always nice to see the opinion of someone who didn’t grow up with these games, and how they hold up to them. :)
Double fun fact, not 3 normal days, 3 sleepless days and a small zerg rush like enemy that was supposed to go along side the yeti's (like those sandfly's things next to the dune crawlers on the desert planet) was removed on the last day so he said FUCK IT and made the Yeti's the zerg rush enemies without reducing anything.
Honestly the level itself wasn't even bad either. If the snowbeasts were tweaked to control their spawning and give them more of a windup for their attacks, they wouldn't nearly be as much of an issue as they are.
I like how even in Rift Apart they're like... "You know what we need? A female lombax." And someone at the office must've been like "Holy Sh** that's genius! Why didn't anyone else think of that?".
There's even one radio broadcast in A Crack in Time which pokes fun at this. Basically talking about how she's disappeared and whether she's even a real lombax or not.
So what's the real reason she didn't come back? Did the devs completely forget about her, did they not like her, why didn't they include her in the new games?
@@doclouis4236 in the ps3 trilogy it was supposed to be made out that ratchet is last of his kind ( well in that dimension anyways) and that it was meant to be a character arc for ratchet and half the reason the Dimensionator was important
@Star Wolf 128 I don't get why they would miss the opportunity to have her in another game? How do you intentionally ignore something you created and act as if it doesn't exist. Even then why do they not like her, she's the least offensive character they ever had in a Ratchet game and I still don't understand how you could forget another character that shares the same species with the main character.
Something to note going forward in the series: simply tapping the triangle button will allow you to cycle through the last few weapons/gadgets equipped without having to open up the quick select. I hope this helps.
For the first two games it's a double tap, but after that it's just a single tap, and it cycles through three weapons compared to previously when it was just two.
2:11 All 4 One WAS originally called 4-Play (with earlier working titles being Bros Before Foes, Multiple Organisms and Friends with Benefits, out of apparently over 100 possible names) and Nexus was originally called Into the Nether Regions. So...
also I always took Quark's butchering of the words he was spewing as a way of trying to sound smart and all important while disguised as Fizzwidget, so he just makes up smart sounding words to play up his disguise and none-the-wiser viewers can probably take it as he's this bumbling old CEO who's a bit on the cuckoo side that's how I took it anyway
From what I understand, the devs said "wouldn't it be funny if Quark was the bad guy?" and then actually did it, which is why it's only in the last 10 minutes
This game basically fixes almost everything that was wrong with the the first game and dials it up to 11, pretty much the perfect sequel imo Btw Johnny, in case you forgot or didn’t notice, this game introduced strafing! Very useful mechanic going forward
And also removes most things that were good in the first one like good atmosphere, planets, story, development, OST and becoming a more generic third-person shooter overall. Solid DLC though.
This game is in my opinion one of the best sequels made, as they improved on everything from the original where I find it amazing this was made in less than a year later after the first Ratchet and Clank.
7:55 I can't believe Insomniac managed to predict modern gaming Also, given how much you enjoy the additional mechanics this game adds, you're in for a treat with future titles, as they improve the formula in various ways going forward. As for critiques with story and certain bits of gameplay, you aren't too far off on the time constraints. It's pretty well documented that Insomniac had to go through a lot of crunch to get the games out because of short launch windows between each release, resulting in stuff being scrapped or watered down. The lifter bot in the Clank section is a good example, as they DID plan to have more puzzles revolving around said bot, but they had to get cut because of a lack of time. This was a continuing trend even going into the PS3 era, and I think the PS4 remake of the first game had similar issues of crunch as well. Thankfully, with Insomniac being purchased by Sony and the release of the newest game, Rift Apart, alongside their work on the Spiderman games, these crunch issues seem to have become a thing of the past for the studio, or at the very least nowhere near as bad as it was for the early years of the series.
You're absolutely right on how the widescreen worked. That's how Standard Definition widescreen worked back in the day. The actual resolution of the image doesn't change. You either had widescreen for 4:3 TVs which was simply a smaller image with black added at the top and bottom to make it fit a 4:3 frame, or anamorphic widescreen which used more of the vertical resolution and relied on the display to stretch it out. This would have looked squashed side-to-side if viewed on a regular 4:3 TV.
I was always annoyed by that back then. I only turned on wide-screen to remove the black bars in cutscenes, but I definitely noticed how much closer to the bottom of the TV Ratchet got whenever I did that.
14:09 Johnny.. In so happy you used the bouncers sound from the title screen. Thank you so much. It literally brought me to tears seeing someone else cares about that game.
Okay, this was the first time I've even heard of someone dissing the Lava Gun and not the fact that it sucks once it evolves to the Meteor Gun (which it does until you buy the Lock-On function for it, then it becomes deadly).
20:13 Killing the boss’s minions with punches restores health every time. This applies to both fights & I don’t think the game tells you this Also no Minirocket Tube Johnny? That & the Bouncer & Plasma Coil are the 3 main weapons to use all the way to the end Fun fact: The Minirocket Tube deals splash damage to foes yet the upgrade, the Megarocket Cannon does not
This and Jak 2 are probably my most nostalgic games ever. Man I remember replaying the first level to both over and over because I was just that kind of kid
2:18 Actually, what’s hilarious about All 4 One, though I haven’t played it since 2011, I think there was a trophy achievement for one of the co-op missions where it’s name IS in fact “4-Play.” 😂
4:32 this is because for the first two games they didn't have a writer until Up Your Arsenal where they start adding lore and background stories for some of the character.
“James Arnold Taylor isn’t flaring a lightsaber in this scene” (DING!) “Jim Ward isn’t being Captain Qwark this scene (I guess he is technically, but you’re not supposed to know that yet.)” (DING!) “Steve Blum isn’t being a terrifying homosexual in this scene. What?” (DING!)
My first Ratchet and Clank game, such a great time. It's nuts how years later this sequel introduced so many things that are staples in the franchise now.
If you ever read this Johnny, this is just a tip for your gameplay. Use the triggers, primarily holding the L2 button while moving Ratchet, makes it easier to focus on aiming your weapons on enemies. Also great review btw, looking forward to Up Your Arsenal. 👍🏽
@@Robbie_Haruna Up Your Arsenal was the first to have a dedicated twin stick control scheme. This game kinda has it with the unlockable first person mode, but you need to actually finish the game to get it.
It can be funny where you hear some of these VAs pop up. Like I was surprised to discover that Clank is voiced by David Kaye, who I know as Sesshomaru from Inuyasha or Professor X from X-Men: Evolution.
Gotta say, I love that he’s reviewing these games, and these reviews are great watches, but I’m kinda sad that he hasn’t brought up the music yet, even in just a passing mention. I feel like all the Ratchet games (composed by David Bergeaud) have some of the most underrated soundtracks in gaming.
Am I the only one that got the feeling that Johnny doesn’t how to strafe? He never used it in the gameplay footage by him, I can’t play R&C without strafing, it was weird to watch :)))
The story here never really bothered me, but I think in hindsight, with this game only taking a year to come out? Story was probably the last thing they really focused on. As i do remember reading game articals at the time where they seemed mostly focused on tightening up game play and making the game more balanced and friendly to all players; such as the RPG mechanics upgrading your gun and health; so that if you sucked or had a hard time in an area... just replaying it, meant you'd eventually get more health or better weapons. Story seems to wait til the next game to level up.
Going commando just means not wearing underwear, regardless of whether you're wearing pants or not. So for all we know, Ratchet could very well be going commando.
Yeah Ratchet original shirtless in the old game up until tool of destruction where they modernised Ratchet and that the design going forward in the the series
This Johnny is why we’ve all been looking forward to the day you finally took on Ratchet & Clank. This is the game where Ratchet & Clank really established its core foundation and knowing how much you love Metroidvania it’s so awesome seeing you enjoy it. I cannot wait to see you play Up Your Arsenal that one is my personal favourite and I think will address at least one of the issues you mentioned.
A couple of little things I particularly like of R&C Going Commando: -The title screen right before the "Press Start" prompt: a short but somewhat "epic" music track during which the Insomniac logo and the title show up, all ending up in a loud KA-BOOM!!!, as if to say "Oh yeah, we mean business!" So good. - Any cutscene on board the Star Explorer ship: they made me feel like I was on a road trip, only, you know, IN SPACE! -
Although it turns into one when you level it up. So many people complained about that which is why Insomniac changed it to a freeze gun with the function in 3. Also the Yeti are really not good enemies to use that gun on.
Fun fact, the innuendo for Rift Apart is "Ripped a Fart", as if Clank has eaten one too many mecha enchiladas and now has created a wormhole in space-time.
Fun fact, if I remember the developer commentary I watched a few years back correctly Tony Garcia is the man behind both Snivelak and Grelbin, and Grelbin was built from scratch from the ground up as Tony was given it half done and considered it easier to just redo all the work than to figure out someone else' code. Tony also admits he isn't good with Swarmer Enemies which is what they Y.E.T.I's were meant to be and why they come in such high quantities.
When I was like three or four my dad got me this for my first video game ever I’ve played this game at least 50 times fully throughout my life. I’ve played every ratchet and clank since it’s my favorite video game series ever
A real pity Angela didn't spper later on In later games, not even In the reboot. Though I do see her with Alister for the movie's sequel with Deadlock thrown Into the mix.
YES Ratchet games! Really interesting how the series evolved but also stayed the same as the consoles went ps2-ps5 EDIT: HOW DID I MISS THE FIRST EPISODE!!!
For the record, Fizzwidget was originally meant to be the main villain, as evident by the game painting Megacorp as objectively evil. Furthermore, it was confirmed in an old interview that the inclusion of Qwark was a last-minute decision, hence why his appearance is so jarring.
So glad to see Johnny getting to the sequels, they are some of the best there is in a franchise where they build upon the foundation they made themselves with the first entry.
Rift Apart could POSSIBLY be an innuendo. Swap the "F" and "P" and it becomes "Rip a fart" ... ....Or maybe my sense of humor is just painfully immature.
if this is already info my bad for being redundant but double tapping the triangle button can quick swap between the last 2 weapons you used so if using the bouncer and want to switch back to plasma coil just double tap triangle works in all games and in up your arsenal case it can be used for 3 weapons/gadgets at a time i think
Ratchet character being sort of rewrite and changed VA is because how poor the feedback on his character was in the first game as a result they decided to change his personality and change VA to reflect that which is become a problem later in the series to some people
Watching all the footage in this video… did Johnny play the whole game without strafing?! God, that must’ve been a nightmare at parts. I know for me, that was one of my favorite additions to this game
Yeah the plot in the series doesn't get too deep until we get to up your Arsenal and much much later on but the game play is a huge improvement and it becomes the basis for the rest of the series. Nice to hear that you enjoyed this one!
An interesting fact: If you look up "Ratchet and Clank 2 Developer Commentary" on RU-vid, you'll see two developers from Ratchet and Clank 2 replaying through their own game, and giving lots of commentary on the game elements, such the Snowbeast Award and telegraphing attacks, tuning level difficulty through ACT (if you die often, enemies start having less health and do less damage), how enemy bodies and legs are actually two distinct assets working together, how enemies are not supposed to shoot you from off-screen (and when they do, blame the developer), and all kinds of little tidbits and easter eggs.
Johnny I’m shocked after all these years you’ve never done a God Of War marathon. One of the best video games series of all time and honestly it needs to be on ur list for future reviews!
I am so glad Johnny did not show that clip of Tyrus laughing. Then say that Final Fantasy 10 has bad voice acting. I hate when people make that joke. Good VS Video, Johnny.
tidus laugh wasn't even bad voice acting lol. people just love to take it out of context and ignore the fact that it was supposed to be very awkward and forced.
Sort of. It's a great crowd control wep just like the flamethrower was in the first game. Problem is when it evolves it completely changes the way it works. Thankfully when it returned in the third game they redeemed themselves by retaining the weapon's purpose when it evolved. It's definitely one of the best there.
This is the first game I ever seen of the franchise. I was with my cousins house in Mexico with his ps2 where he showed me the game. Didn’t play much but it really got my furry side growing thanks to that and Renamon when I was a kid. Bet you didn’t see that part coming, well that’s life :P it’s just how things happen
I don't know what pushed you to cover this series, but I'm honestly grateful you did. This series (especially this game) is what got me into gaming ever since I was young. Commando was my favorite game for the longest time, and even a decade and a half later, I'm still in love with everything about commando. Thank you for giving these games coverage, I hope you've been enjoying them as much as I did back in the mid-2000s (and looking forward to seeing the deadlocked review).
Given how much he likes this game, I'm super curious to see how he feels about Up Your Arsenal, which is widely considered to be the best in the series. A Crack in Time is my favorite, but damn if UYA isn't a close second (Deadlocked is also super fun too).
There's some rumors and theories going around that the story of the game was actually supposed to focus on how Fizzwidget / Megacorp _was_ the badguy, but the anti-corporate angle of the rough draft was too on-the-nose, especially for execs. So, bringing back Quark was done as a very last minute stitch-up of the plot, thus why the ending feels so incredibly rushed.
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando is like the Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back of sequels, improving upon the first in almost every way, and yet, there are still a feel things that needs ironing out, but it's not too distracting (except for the Yetis), and the reworked Challenge Mode is a fun way to replay the game, with more content on top of that. Side note: When I played Going Commando for the very first time, I did a "No Armor" playthrough, and while I got through it eventually, I wouldn't recommend it to newcomers, but hey, it does make for a good streaming challenge.
So awesome you loved these games! I really am curious about if you genuinely will come back to these or not like you say. I feel like these 3D platformers scratch an itch that no other games really offer, and I find myself coming back to them every year. In two years or so it would be interesting to note if you actually DO end up keep coming back to these, maybe for a then and now segment Really appreciate the video, I think your gripes are spot on, it's certainly not perfect by modern standards but I think these games truly offer something unique. Awesome review!
6:55 Johnny you’re giving Qwark too much credit. It’s far more likely he has no idea what he’s even saying given his “Steve” alias in the first game and how quickly his scheme here goes south Though fun fact: Qwark being the mastermind was a late addition to the game with the team only deciding to add him and the documentary scenes because they missed him. I wonder if they always had Jim Ward playing Fizzwidget or if they had to recast after the rewrite
I would imagine that was a re-write for Jim's take on the character. I think Fizwidget still would've been an eccentric business man only playing of as a tool but I don't think you would've heard all the broken grammar.
The lava gun is not a bad investment in rac 2. The upgraded version slaps with the lock on mod and is one of the most efficient weapons in the game in terms of kills per ammo capacity. It also remains great in the late game as well.
Agreed but the Meteor Gun :'( It bums me out man. I suppose in UYA it does get the Liquid Nitrogen upgrade and I'm not going to lie I always loved the stream the Lava Gun fires.
Going Commando was the first real game I ever played, back when I was 5, and to this day it's still my favourite even with its flaws. I always get a nostalgic feeling flying to different planets, seeing the layouts and backgrounds. It really makes me feel like I'm exploring an alien planet, and being the sci-fi fan that I am, I love the idea of exploring new planets and experiencing the extraterrestrial environments, and this game really does it for me. Also the lava gun is actually pretty good for crowd control, and while its upgrade, the meteor gun, changes to a different firing mode (which they fixed in UYA with the liquid nitrogen gun upgrade), the meteor gun is still really broken and absolutely shreds through the final boss's health. also RYNO II is best RYNO and you can't change my mind
Rather than going on about how this was my first Ratchet & Clank game, how much I loved the humor as an adult but found the story to be a never ending limbo I couldn't escape on replays and threw me off game stories for a while, I'd like to talk about my thoughts about the title changes as a European. I learnt about these games through Wikipedia, which used the American titles. When I got them off Ebay, I was confused why they were simply titled Rachet & Clank 2 and 3. I liked 'Going Commando' because it sounded so bad ass and fitted latter parts of the story. But I particularly loved 'Up Your Arsenal'. My older brothers were fans of the football club (soccer for you silly Americans) Arsenal FC. And I already read about the origins of their name, so knew Arsenal meant weapons, which is what everyone loves about this series. As I grew older and looked back at these titles, I not only picked on the capitalist humor but also what these titles were intended to mean. I applaud Insomniac Games at hiding these innuendos, but I also want ports or re-releases on current gen so I can finally see the original titles and laugh about them!
I'm really happy you're going through this series! Going commando is one of my top 5 games all time and while I don't think up your arsenal is as good a lot of people think it's the best and I think you'll enjoy it! Although the lack of strafing in this gave me anxiety haha
Johnny's Energy over time has evolved from knowledgeable school/neighborhood friend that knows cool stuff about games and introduces you to games you've maybe never heard of, to awesome older brother that you look up to and love watching play games, and now to amazingly fun uncle that you look forward to coming around (maybe at a family gathering, maybe he calls just to hangout with you) so that you can talk/play/watch video games and cartoons and comics and anime with because, even though he's gotten older and more responsibilities, he's never lost his passion for any of it!
This is one of favorite games ever. It improves on everything the original introduces and introduces staples to the franchise such as upgrading weapons and nanotech. This is my favorite of the entire series. Up your Arsenal is great too but I think Going Commando is better overall.
@@TerrorOfTalos while 3 has the better combat and story, the overall experience is inferior compared to 2. The gunplay ends up dragging on because of the shitty forced "armada" levels like in Meridia and Rilgar and just playing in hallways for the most part. Still a great game and definitely top 3 for me with Going Commando and Tools of Destruction
@@hwanniggles187 The majority of combat sections definitely weren't in hallways (unless you spent *that* much time in the sewers lol). Also the Qwark minigames were honestly a lot more polished and genuinely fun than a lot of side stuff in GC. So in general outside of GC having superior gadget usage, more platforming sections and better general exploration I feel UYA is just a more focused game and Deadlocked is the logical conclusion to it.
The series that introduced a character that would become a continuity nightmare for future entries Angela Cross. Which probably became more complex now that Rivet is a thing.
