I listened to a podcast that had the lead writer talk about Rift Apart and heard that the story was largely catered to new audiences and wanted to catch them up on what they missed so mentioning characters like Azimuth and Orvus would confuse new folks a lot more. That and the writers have mentioned that the series lore scares them. Remember that these writers never wrote for Ratchet.
I think that they should stop thinking about newcomers because it's almost feeling like waste of money for long-time fans we are. You don't know who Orvus and Alister are? Dude, just go play the older games or watch cutscenes which are able to watch on YT. Excuse me, Endgame added so many references from older movies and MCU stuff and no one was crying. Explanation that newcomers wouldn't get it is bullshit.
@@REDRatchet I had talked to The Golden Bolt about the story of Rift Apart and he had this much to say on it; "From the bits I've put together already, Rift's story was supposed to take place with both characters in the opposite universe, and was super overcomplicated, so the other part of that is that the story from day one had female Ratchet, whose name for a while was in the script as "Ratchet" which made it easy to understand clearly then it became Ratchette which I actually hate and then I think Maggs came up with the name Rivet and Mee wrote the character of Rivet, she had been gone since the start of 2020 from the game so that's probably exactly when they had to change everything up hence why she left maybe."
@@bandana. yeah I found it totally understandable but also sorta frustrating as a long time fan because we essentially got two “newcomer” games in a row. (Even though RA is leagues better than the 2016 entry and is at least a good step in the right direction for a next entry lol)
Great analysis, very insightful! I did always think a followup to the Future Series would eventually appear, I just didn't expect the writing to be good. I do agree with your criticisms and am a bit let down having reflected more on the missed opportunities as time has passed, but I'm still quite satisfied with the game, because it's just a major step up from any R&C since ACIT. Hopefully the next R&C will deal more with loose ends from the Future Series.
Thanks! Totally agree, I still find this game to be so incredible and it’s a major step in the right direction in where it can go! It’s I think most fan’s (including myself) favorite entry for the past decade or so, I just hope that whenever they decide to make that sequel it goes a little more bolder and riskier :D
The biggest issue with this game can be boiled down to one thing. Game Length. The story felt rushed in the later half and I truly believe more cutscenes, planets, and character interaction was needed. A few more Easter eggs or shout outs to old characters would have been nice, but I’m mainly talking about the story of Rivet and Kit and Emperor Nefarious. More importantly the game just felt short. ACiT had the same problem. This game felt like it was told in two acts, where there should have been a third.
That’s true as well, I think at least in regards to acit it handled it a little better with its pacing but 100% agree that that probably would have helped with the pacing issues for RA. It felt sorta like the game didn’t want to waste any more of our time which is just like really weird??
@@drelovestats6715 Care to elaborate any further? How many acts would you say this game had? I’d say it was Pre-meeting the emperor and Post-Meeting the Emperor.
Here's my theory; all of the R&C cameos in the other playstation games help flesh out the mythos. All jokes aside; I personally think the 6 Minute Rewind caused a Quantum Parodox, where the main timeline doubled .
Great video the only things really holding this game back is for me is relatively lacking side content compared some past games (still solid though), overall enemy variety (the upped challenge and very diverse battlefield design sort of balance this out) and the story not going as far as it could've (still overall enjoyable and it's understandable considering the position this game was in). Other than those everything else ranges between very good to amazing and the game is visually and mechanically flawless.
I feel like Rift Apart is a great step in the right direction, and if they truly make a sequel (pls do Insomniac, I’m beggin u) they got everything set up with newcomers, have the dimensionator at free use and if they do it right they could make one of the best games in the franchise, cuz I really feel Rift Apart’s ending left us with A LOT of potential :)))
I’m gonna wait before I get a PS5 cause aside from this and playing last of us 2 in 60FPS there isn’t really much reason for me to grab it rn lol. I really wanna play rift apart though, looks absolutely stellar.
The game is really great but I agree that it held back a bit too much of the important stuff from the current timeline for new fans. It would have been nice to bring these things up so new fans can quickly catch up, especially if the next game is going to be about what I think it is going to happen while the heroes are in the Lombax Dimension. I feel like the game needed at least 2 more levels which could have been good for gameplay and story as along with explaining things more like the history of the Dimensionator, it could have allowed others characters to be in it like Talwyn Apogee and Big Al and in turn there AU counterparts.
I’m sure the newcomer well understand how the story began Rivet are just friends she’s a female version of ratchet and she like sister to Ratchet some people got all wrong Ratchet has Talwyn forever I really wish to see her again
11:12 you missed the part saying that Abby is better written character than Rivet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Beside I have nothing to argue with you about. Even the talk about Alister's & Talwyn's missing was on point & it had to be mentioned. That's why I will always say that this game needs DLC. Where Ratchet confess his real fear about meeting the Lombaxes to Rivet & Kit (because he's literally lying in RA, which is noticible in his eyes). Seeing Talwyn meeting Rivet with a little distance (she's a girl lombax lol, don't even think about stealing Ratchet from her xD).
In regards to Abby that’s yeah- very complicated… but I definitely agree on that RA feels like it was missing some elements and some sort of DLC could solve complaints a lot of older fans sorta have with it
So as for my stance on the game in general; GRAPHICS - Not really something I genuinely care about as much as the fact that this is the first game we've seen since Quest For Booty that runs at 60FPS which is already enough for me to enjoy the visuals. I hope this becomes the standard for video games in general from this point on. Heck they even made all the cutscenes in-engine which I absolutely appreciated, I also like how when you wear helmets for either Lombaxes, the helmets come off when you enter a cutscene which is a nice way to see how well the animations are. GAMEPLAY - Almost the same as what we've seen in the last several games which had it's ups but also it's downs. In terms of all the new stuff I can recall; the controls are pretty decent, like the phantom dash and sprinting. But rift tethers within are incredibly janky as you have no control over where they are so the rifts dictate where you'll be instead, in addition to the fact that it takes quite a bit to grapple on to the next point which leaves you open to enemy fire in combat which leads to me not really using this mechanic as much as I'd have wanted. Outside of the game reusing a few weapons(a couple of which we've seen too many times already like the Buzz Blades and Warmonger) and the few duds we do get in the new line up of weapons here; the weapons overall all feel great and fresh and unique which is a pretty great godsend. Wished we got more Clank sections because the ones in this game are all pretty fun to play through, not so much Glitch sections however, it's just mindless gun combat like with Ratchet sections only without the diversity in weapons(doesn't help that Glitch herself adds basically nothing to the overall plot at hand). Dimensional pockets are all fun platforming challenges the game could've really done with more of. I do like levels such as Sargasso and Savali for their open-endedness, and Blizar Prime and Cordelion for the Blizon mechanic which once again, makes me wish we got a whole lot more of in this game. Certain points can drag on for a bit like the pirate trials on Ardolis but not many of if which I guess is fine. Unfortunately issues from the more recent games like the Raritanium upgrade system and the in-game dialogue haven't been addressed whatsoever, and in the case of the latter I honestly hate it more here than in the reboot. Though I guess I could give a point or two to them for trying to make the former a bit better by letting us buy all available upgrades for a weapon with one button but still, I wished they had done something to improve upon this. MUSIC - Not as great as the classics but there are definitely some bangers here worth enjoying when it gets intense or exciting! STORY - It's fine. That's all I can genuinely say about it in general. They wanted to tell a simple, straightforward story and I guess in that respect they succeeded? But like you've said; when digging deeper into a lot of the details here and there, it really is baffling how much of the past games they want to acknowledge. Like not bringing in Tallwyn, not even telling Rivet or Kit about Alister or Orvus, and so on and so on. But you know my biggest gripe with this entire story in general? That the start of the game pretty much has it planned between the main duo that we're finally going to visit the Lombax dimension(which basically means the ending of A Crack In Time was completely invalidated, especially when Clank is the one who rebuilds the Dimensionator as a surprise gift for Ratchet, meaning everything Clank had fought for morally in the Future series was all just thrown out in the trash), and then once you beat the final boss, the game ends ... with that still being the plan ... only now I guess Rivet and Kit are tagging along. It just feels like not much of the plot itself was accomplished in the grand scheme of things. The Emperor we see here is a great new version of Nefarious but we don't even get enough screen time for him, same for Quantum too in fact, we just don't see much of him. When Clank speaks of the dangers of the Emperor using the device; his first thought is how miserable all dimensions will become rather than the dimensional crisis taking place which I don't know, would've ranked higher as a threat if you ask me. Although if there's really much to say to the story's credit; it's not poorly written overall? Some jokes and characters were humorous, others fell flat for me but I did find myself laughing quiet a bit so I guess that's nice. There were some emotional character scenes here and there which I bought and enjoyed, Rivet being pissed at Kit was a really great idea, reflecting on how different she was to Ratchet, which is another big issue I have though, that they should've done a lot more with that idea, it just felt like something the writers wanted to do but got scared at the last minute to commit to that idea. I would go on but I think you get the point. CONCLUSION - So my overall final score for this game as a whole package is a 6/10. One thing I've noticed when stating everything here is that even with all the good I've praised with this game, they all seem to share the exact same issue; they're all great new ideas that the game is too afraid to flesh out or make a lot more out of. Like everywhere I turn, there's just not enough time given to any of the new Gameplay mechanics or story elements that what you get is a game that plays things safe but too safe to stand out. So as it sits; I'd personally rank this above Size Matters, Secret Agent Clank, Tools Of Destruction, Quest For Booty, All 4 One, Q-Force, Nexus and the 2016 reboot. I'd still rank the PS2 games over it and even A Crack In Time but for what it's worth, it was dangerously close to outranking A Crack In Time which shows how close this game was to being even better. This game does seem more comparable to TOD though, both games being the first ones to come out for their respective consoles very early on, both playing it pretty safe and standard outside of a few new mechanics and story elements, and with that said, it wouldn't surprise me if we did end up with a sequel that capitalises on all these missed opportunities, maybe these are just teases for what's to come, maybe they did have plans with these and still do to follow them all up with pretty big payoffs. Who can say? I can only hope that's the case. This still is a good game overall however and if you liked what we've seen in the past for the series or are new to the series having owned a PS5, this is definitely the kind of game I have no issue recommending. 👍
@@tabreezsiddique oh yeah no that was completely intentional because in all honesty I feel like many other reviewers dived deep with the other topics in a much more meaningful way and said some of the things I already brought up. The story was the main thing I wanted to discuss due to not really seeing as many people discuss the criticism I at least had with it!
@@REDRatchet That seems a bit fair to think about. I know of a few people like Cvit and Version Gamma have brought up their fair share of criticisms towards the story in their reviews if you're ever interested.