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[Gaiff]

Just got my final achievement for the game. Really fun, not as good as the OG or Future series but AAA platformers are practically dead so we'll take what we get.

My only gripe is, WTF happened to Ratchet's personality? He's a doormat. He got no bite or defining trait anymore. This was made even more jarring when I went back to the original game this morning and instantly realized how different he was. He was a bit of an asshole in the first game and apparently, Insomniac rewrote him for Going Commando and forward (as well as recast his voice actor) to be less of a dick. This change was a bit of a shame because looking back, the snarky, sarcastic and mean-spirited original is funny as hell but back then, he was deemed unlikeable by both the players and critics, and Insomniac took the feedback. Still, he had his moments and wasn't just the player's avatar but his own character but in Rift Apart? There's absolutely nothing left. He's just a nice guy who gets along with everyone and nothing more. I thought the 2016 reboot was just a stumble caused by the movie and that they'd go back to him being more colorful but nope. This is the Ratchet we got now.

To be fair, his slow descent into emptiness had begun in the second game (was somewhat halted in Deadlocked) and I suppose this is just a culmination of that but man, he was arguably the worst part of the game. Rivet, Clank, and Kit were all far more interesting. I suppose it's way too late to be complaining now about something that's been happening for over 15 years but I do it anyway because I can and I'm like that.

 

[Zuzu]

There's probably numerous reasons but I think that one reason is that they don't care about him much anymore and they want to make Rivet the main character of the franchise for future games.

 

[T4keD0wN]

My only gripe is, WTF happened to Ratchet's personality? He's a doormat. He got no bite or defining trait anymore. This was made even more jarring when I went back to the original game this morning and instantly realized how different he was. He was a bit of an asshole in the first game

he was deemed unlikeable by both the players and critics, and Insomniac took the feedback.

There's absolutely nothing left. He's just a nice guy who gets along with everyone and nothing more.

Sounds like he went to therapy and got himself sorted out.

 

[diffusionx]

I feel like 2016 was a disaster for the franchise. The game played ok but the story and what they did to the characters was a disaster. IIRC Insomniac even said that's what it is going to be going forward. I didn't even bother with Rift Apart for that reason.

 

[Phase]

This is about the 2016 reboot, but I feel it's bang on.

 

[Gaiff]

There's probably numerous reasons but I think that one reason is that they don't care about him much anymore and they want to make Rivet the main character of the franchise for future games.

The ending is obviously a set-up to bring her back. Also, I thought nothing of it at the time but on the pirate planet during the trials, there's this section where you gotta hit a bunch of robot to make them recite a chanty and one of the things they say is, "Women in respectable positions of power!!!" Now seeing how Insomniac is with the latest Spider-Man, I know it wasn't just a throwaway line but a hint at what was to come.

I feel like 2016 was a disaster for the franchise. The game played ok but the story and what they did to the characters was a disaster. IIRC Insomniac even said that's what it is going to be going forward. I didn't even bother with Rift Apart for that reason.

Agreed but at the time, we all thought it was a reboot but turns out it's not. It was really a reimagining to go along with the movie. I assumed it was a simple footnote but they continued rolling with his non-existent personality.

This is about the 2016 reboot, but I feel it's bang on.

The reboot completely erased Ratchet's character development. He doesn't go from a selfish, slightly dickish kid to a reluctant hero. He's instantly likeable and gets along with Clank right away.

 

[semiconscious]

what happened, op? for me, a fan of the series since the original, the series basically died with rift apart. & you're correct, the 2016 remake was the warning shot that death was immanent. oh, well...

 

[ReBurn]

I liked the game well enough but it felt to me that the main purpose of the game was for Insomniac to get practice with the PS5 hardware and the writing was lower priority. Don't get me wrong; it was the first game I bought when I got my PS5 and I enjoyed it. It's a great showcase for what PS5 is capable of. But it was just an ok Ratchet and Clank game. Ratchet was so serious that it didn't have the same feel to me that past titles did.

 

[Clintizzle]

What does a Robot say after sex?
Nothing. It just nuts and bolts.

 

[Fbh]

I haven't played a lot of their older games but current Insomniac doesn't seem to have particularly good writers.

Modern Ratchet has pretty fun gameplay and awesome visuals but the story and writing is like a bargain bin DreamWorks movie.

Spiderman is pretty bad too. Haven't played 2, but the plot and writing in Miles Morales felt painfully bad when I played it right after finishing Guardians of the Galaxy

 

[Zuzu]

The ending is obviously a set-up to bring her back. Also, I thought nothing of it at the time but on the pirate planet during the trials, there's this section where you gotta hit a bunch of robot to make them recite a chanty and one of the things they say is, "Women in respectable positions of power!!!" Now seeing how Insomniac is with the latest Spider-Man, I know it wasn't just a throwaway line but a hint at what was to come.

Yes, the writing of their games has been expressing the company's progressive moral and political worldview in an increasing manner in their games. Ratchet has bits of it possibly going all the way back to R&C 2016 (I don't know for sure because I've only played a little bit of the beginning of that game). But that segment in Rift Apart demonstrated it, Miles Morales had some of it and Spiderman 2 has it even more. It's likely that Wolverine will have it as well.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

You know like 20 years ago everything needed to be edgy and extreme? So now we have shift into the other direction where everything needs to be tame and soy out of fear of offending someone.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

This is all part of Insomniacs wokeness make no mistake.

 

[LRKD]

They really peaked with the original game, one of my favorite games of all time. The other 3 ps2 games were still alright though, it definitely hurt that they clipped ratchets fangs in the second game. Deadlocked seemed like a great return to the first game from a writing perspective, leaving hope for the future... But then they hired T.J. Fixman, a real 'writer' for the series. The exact moment the series turned to irredeemable shit.

 

[Terenty]

When your goal is to educate people in current events and correct their opinions then you are not making art anymore, you are making propaganda.

Think of Sony's writers, across the board i must add, as social workers hired to make sure their customers get all the right ideas and opinion to build a better future.

Everything starts to make sense then.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Ratchet is a victim of modern "everyone-is-potentially-offended" writing that also has killed numerous TV, film and video game franchises. His character doesn't work with this philosophy applied. He is supposed to be partly offensive but with a good heart. He is made into a non-character now. I bet the writers feel pleased though.

 

[Danjin44]

Basically what happened to modern Disney movies.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Its been set up so that Rivet can be the main lead like how they've set up Spiderman with Miles as the main in the next I've heard. Insomniac is captured by progressivism, the kind where they put political messaging through their games now, whilst also removing it for certain territories like the middle east because they're spineless and its all an empty facade.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Clank was even more hurt in my opinion in the last game. He loose his arm for no good reason and don't even get to use his big form. On top of that he was really important in the PS3 trilogy and we have yet to see the rest of that story. And we will probably never will. Insomniac will continue with spiderman and Wolverine for the PS5 gen, and for the PS6 I sadly think that Sony will probably ask them a new FPS.

 

[rofif]

He is just as bad if not worse in 2016 reboot. He got the woke insomniac treatment and got turned into a bitch

 

[Banjo64]

This is about the 2016 reboot, but I feel it's bang on.

This is a fantastic watch.

 

[Rheon]

I tried playing Rift Apart earlier this year but I honestly found it extremely boring and have yet to finish it.

 

[Senua]

I'm like, SOOOOO excited for the Rivet game coming in the next banger.

Y'all think insomigods are gonna drop a sequel with that duff-ass, OUT-DATED Ratchet character when they have a slaaay queen B at hand? OOF, that SO aint it, chief.

 

[GymWolf]

Insomniac made the game as tame and inoffensive as they possibly could.

Welcome to modern AAA writing.

Great graphic but the game was just decent.

 

[rofif]

Insomniac made the game as tame and inoffensive as they possibly could.

Welcome to modern AAA writing.

Great graphic but the game was just decent.

Yep. Gameplay was fine and graphics great. But insomniac is terrible when it comes to characters and story. It’s all milquetoast woke crap

 

[Three]

There's probably numerous reasons but I think that one reason is that they don't care about him much anymore and they want to make Rivet the main character of the franchise for future games.

Rivet and Kit doesn't quite have the same ring to it and this game and movie is all about the characters Ratchet and Clank so Ratchet isn't going anywhere.

 

[kyussman]

Do people not realize there are literal rules around these days for how to write male characters.If a company signs up for this(and Insomniac most certainly have)then male characters CANNOT be written to have anything approaching traditional masculine traits.There is no masculinity anymore only "toxic masculinity"......and it must be erased!Of course you can choose to ignore this bullshit and write how you want,but in the US devs are uniformly signed up to this nonsense.I hope you are all looking forward to Wolverine,lol.

 

[Ceadeus]

Isn't it about the younger generation being offended at everything. Developers don't know what to write anymore to not hurt these fragile people.

 

[Senua]

.I hope you are all looking forward to Wolverine,lol.

I'm looking forward to the pegging scene

 

[Whitecrow]

What happened to Ratchet? Obviously, being male, that's what happened.

 

[Three]

Do people not realize there are literal rules around these days for how to write male characters.If a company signs up for this(and Insomniac most certainly have)then male characters CANNOT be written to have anything approaching traditional masculine traits.There is no masculinity anymore only "toxic masculinity"......and it must be erased!Of course you can choose to ignore this bullshit and write how you want,but in the US devs are uniformly signed up to this nonsense.I hope you are all looking forward to Wolverine,lol.

I don't think it's related. I've seen the same complaints about Aloy lacking personality. There is often an unwritten rule that the player character needs to be stoic and not respond in a way that may massively diverge from how the player would feel or respond. I think this got more and more popular year after year since Gordon Freeman in half-life.

 

[Flutta]

Just face it. We live in the feminist era in the west, where they influence story telling, laws, corporate enviroments etc. In this era males are the soft ones and females are the strong and brave sex, until real shit hits fan an eveyone has to go to war then those same feminist will run back to the kitchen asap.

 

[rofif]

Do people not realize there are literal rules around these days for how to write male characters.If a company signs up for this(and Insomniac most certainly have)then male characters CANNOT be written to have anything approaching traditional masculine traits.There is no masculinity anymore only "toxic masculinity"......and it must be erased!Of course you can choose to ignore this bullshit and write how you want,but in the US devs are uniformly signed up to this nonsense.I hope you are all looking forward to Wolverine,lol.

Sweet baby inc and esg scores. It’s true

 

[kyussman]

I don't think it's related. I've seen the same complaints about Aloy lacking personality. There is often an unwritten rule that the player character needs to be stoic and not respond in a way that may massively diverge from how the player would feel or respond. I think this got more and more popular year after year since Gordon Freeman in half-life.

You don't think it's related......did you see Spider-Man 2,lol......come on now.

 

[Three]

You don't think it's related......did you see Spider-Man 2,lol......come on now.

What was I meant to see in it? I didn't really see female characters having more character due to some feminist movement if that's what you're asking. Again Aloy was lambasted for having the personality of a plank in HFW too and she's female.

It's more likely related to this in the OP about past games:
"he was deemed unlikeable by both the players and critics, and Insomniac took the feedback"

Games nowadays make stoic, empty and emotionless playable characters so that they are likable by the vast majority of people. Empty vessels that the player controls and sees things happening around him/her.

 

[Mowcno]

Ah I see. We're crying about the state of western society discussing a pegi 7 mascot platformer. You're right that the last two Ratchets have been a little more pacified and most *edgy for a kids game* jokes are gone. But it seems it still managed to get people angry.

 

[Chechack]

What happened?

Ask Sweet Baby Inc

 

[Rheon]

I'm like, SOOOOO excited for the Rivet game coming in the next banger.

Y'all think insomigods are gonna drop a sequel with that duff-ass, OUT-DATED Ratchet character when they have a slaaay queen B at hand? OOF, that SO aint it, chief.

Oh my sweet summer child....

 

[existensmaximum]

I guess they felt that the over the top 'tude hasn't aged well and should be left in the 90's and early 2000's since it's super cringey?

 

[kyussman]

What was I meant to see in it? I didn't really see female characters having more character due to some feminist movement if that's what you're asking. Again Aloy was lambasted for having the personality of a plank in HFW too and she's female.

It's more likely related to this in the OP about past games:
"he was deemed unlikeable by both the players and critics, and Insomniac took the feedback"

Games nowadays make stoic, empty and emotionless playable characters so that they are likable by the vast majority of people. Empty vessels that the player controls and sees things happening around him/her.

You missed the unhinged diatribe MJ went on when she turned into Scream then......that was a female writer doing her feminist thing if ever I saw it.Anyway,this stuff is everywhere in modern media,I'm not gonna argue the fact.....people are still free to engage with and enjoy whatever they want.....it has turned me off to a lot of it though,I've started looking back into the past for more of my entertainment,when things were written without all the woke nonsense.

 

[Hypereides]

Insomniac changed, dude. I really miss when they had a penchant for cheeky wordplay, mild toilet humor with decent storytelling. C'est la vie.

 

[Unknown?]

Uh wasn't he the same in the Future games? I don't see much of a difference, he was still nice guy in those titles.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

This is the design team at Insomniac now, so that is what we're going to have to deal with now. It was obvious too in some of the nonsense in the Spiderman games that this mentality has infiltrated the company.

 

[Gaiff]

This is about the 2016 reboot, but I feel it's bang on.

Alright, so I just watched most of this and a key point he touches upon are the cutscenes. They are awful in the reboot. The game sure looks prettier but is somehow less animated despite having more advanced animations.

The jokes also fall flat a lot of the times.

I guess they felt that the over the top 'tude hasn't aged well and should be left in the 90's and early 2000's since it's super cringey?

The "humor" in the newer entries is even more cringe. Older games had a bunch of hits and misses. Almost nothing lands in the 2016 and Rift Apart. The only time I chuckled was when in the prison, a pirate tells Rivet, "You better not be after me booty."

 

[Gaiff]

So this is what happened to Ratchet...

99% chance they're the ones who changed Rusty Pete's line to, "Women in respectable positions of power."

 

[Moriarty1889]

What happened to Ratchet? Obviously, being male, that's what happened.

Correct 100%. Insomniac and their woke ideology has replaced him pretty much with a female character. He is more of a little male bitch now while Rivet is the perfect strong character to lead the series. Another game character and series gone down the shit tubes due to another woke company aka Insomniac.

 

[hybrid_birth]

Basically what happened to modern Disney movies.

I'll never forgive them for butchering my childhood memories with the recent Aladdin and Lion King

 

[Danjin44]

I'll never forgive them for butchering my childhood memories with the recent Aladdin and Lion King

Disney currently in phase of making their animations movies aimed at not family but instead toddlers and overly politically correct….which makes them absolute borefest even for toddlers they aiming for.

 

[nial]

In terms of narrative, it used to be a kinda-lame 2000's kids cartoon, and now it's a kinda-lame 2020's kids cartoon.
Ape Escape and Knack cutscenes are annoying for that same reason, this is why Astro Bot is Sony's best platformer series.

 

[Loomy]

There's been like 20 Ratchet games. This was going to get stale at some point.