@@Kraftium This really hurts to read considering Going Commando is my favourite RC game and Crack in Time is probably the most well rounded and also one of my favourites 🤣
@@joeltheowl3299 its important that while they're my least favourites they're still like 8/10s to me on a bad day Crank for me feels very ... frakensteiny to me? Theres alot of stuff thats all been hastily sewn together, story also feels very rushed for something that was the biggest step in the whole lombax narrative, also i loved the constructo weapons conceptially but impractice they feel kinda meh
Ratchet and Clank 2 is a game I replayed a lot of as a kid, I'm no stranger to challenge mode and your criticisms make sense, I even remember as a kid it being "impossible" to keep up with being able to afford the new weapons the game would throw you but during one of my more recent replays which involved doing all the side content and side missions I noticed I always had enough money to be able to afford them when they became available if not just a wee bit after. Props to the devs for that intricate economy balancing I guess, it something I kind of appreciate about this game given how easy it is to always be able to afford the new weapons as they become available in the newer titles.
Something I also give them props for is that with how busted a 20x bolt multiplier is if you can keep it up on challenge mode between the ryno 2 the zodiac the clank zapper and the challenge mode armour you have 4 ludicriously expensive things to work towards so bolts don't become irrlevent too quickly
I like Going Commando a lot precisely because of the way it exists in-between the platforming soul of the original and the shooter soul of the later games. I was sad to see Third Person controls finally go away in 2016 and RA, leaving strafe lock as the only option.
That is fair, It really doesn't blend well for me but I do realise that for alot of people it does and in many ways is the only game that comes close to capturing the original's charm
Oh man. Ratchet & Clank 2 - It's called Locked and Loaded in my country - has remained generally in a superposition between my first and second favorite game since the day I first laid hands on it, when it came out. I was 7 years old. It was during a time of limbo between Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers and Lord of The Rings: Return of The King. A distant time, now remembered by me almost solely as a year that I mostly spent indoors on lovely days, playing Locked and Loaded. I could talk about this game forever, it's my favorite of the series (Though I would say the first game is objectively the best game in the series) and I went into this video ABSOLUTELY ready to throw hands. My biggest - and, well, only - gripe with this game is the off balancing of the weapons. It feels frustrating to me that in Challenge Mode, the weapons are balanced kinda perfectly. The progression and the buildup and the endgame of having a decked out Ultra inventory with a RYNO II and the useless Zodiac and Clank Zapper all felt well done. Hell, the Ultra Mini Nuke is one of the most powerful single shot weapons in the franchise. But normal mode, bringing the Multi Star or Heavy Lancer to the final level is asking to be laughed at, and that has always rubbed me the wrong way. It's a problem that UYA had in droves as well, and while Deadlocked fixed it, the problem did return in my eyes in Tools of Destruction too. It's a real shame, and I think it takes a huge amount of potential fun out of all three of those games. So, I agree with you there. In the circles I'm in, Going Commando/Locked and Loaded is almost unanimously the best and most replayable of the franchise, to the point that seeing a hot take against it is something I usually shrug off. But I can put aside my pride of 'My childhood favorite is everyone else's too' to absorb a video like this for what it is, and to be honest, I'm really happy this game still gets the attention and actual real criticism and praise that it gets 20 years later. I only just realized at the end of this comment that Ratchet and Clank 2 is 20 years old this year. Excuse me while I go play it.
Funnily enough as a UK person (derogatory) its called locked and loaded hear but ratchet and clank is one of the few series I prefer the american titles for (the other is fatal frame) I do kinda get the idea of "oh these old guns should fall off and be replaced" but it does kinda suck stuff like the lancer becomes kinda usless in the later levels its kinda why nexus is a bit of a favourite for me its so short that can't really happen
@@Kraftium I will eternally feel let down that Nexus is the way that it is. It feels strangely strangled by the time it released in. I feel with a little more time to grow and being released on the PS4, not only would it be longer and more fleshed out, but it would have had stable performance, and would be a solid contender for one of the best titles in the series, as far as gameplay as well as visuals. It's sad how much of a Ferrero Rocher it is.
@@halloumi4959 i imagine my view on the game is quite different since i only discovered it even existed several years after the fact Its funny though given the time it released in i would of thought it would of been a prime target for an episodic type of ratchet game with like a planet or 2 and some new arena challenges releasing ever few months
The only real problem I had with it was the final boss and the change to Ratchet's voice, although I don't actually dislike the new voice I just miss the first games voice.
Yeah the final boss is pretty weak Feels like you could cut its health in half and it would of worked as an arena boss Also yeah i prefer james arnold taylors voice for ratchet but i do think its a shame the original VA only got to do 1 game
Hey just wanted to say, Going Commando is BY FAR my favorite in the series and your video didn't piss me off at all! You were very fair in your criticism and I totally get from your reasoning why it's your least favorite. I thought your video was done very well and I enjoyed watching.
eyyy thank you very much I don't tend to like doing overly negative videos especially when they could be someones first impression of my channel so I always get a tad worried Glad you enjoyed it
The thing I personally never liked about this game was that for some reason every single level was either an industrial complex or a city. Even the ones taking place in the wild were riddled by building complexes. Maybe this would bother me less if the color scheme wasn't so bland. Most of the levels have the same feel, meanwhile you can show me a screenshot from any single level of Ratchet and Clank 1, and I would probably guess which one it is.
That personally never bothered me because I thought it made sense worldbuilding-wise. MegaCorp (or Gadgetron for Barlow, or Thugs-4-Less for Snivelak) had to make its presence known everywhere, and having buildings out the wazoo is absolutely the hallmark of a pseudo-government company.
I'm not actually super well versed in the wipeout series. I played one or 2 of the old ones when I was too young to remember which and the vita game with its DLC which was basically the base for the omega collection on ps4. (burnout 3, revenge, paradise and splitsecond are my go to racing games) Reason I brought it up specfically was because its what RnC2's hovor bike races reminded me of most
@@Player1-up they are neat games tbf I really loved playing the vita one between classes at college it is super sad both it and f-zero are kinda dead :( still there are games like fast RMX and Redout that sorta fill the void
Going Commando is my personal favorite Ratchet and Clank game and my second favorite game ever. So it was a bit of a shock to click on this and hear it's your least favorite. But I do respect your opinion even while I disagree on it being weaker. GC has my favorite weapons, music, comedy, and side character in Angela Cross. Then again, this was my first ever Ratchet and Clank game, so maybe there is a bias. But I've always loved this game. Nonetheless, good video and respectable thoughts on it!
Great video! personally Going Commando is my favorite because it is on the originalTrilogy at a balannce state of shooting and platforming. Small note: watching your footage even you were on challenge mode(new Game+) you do not seem to have acquired the box breaker which is located at the end of Oozla planet where you can use your gravity boots to go to a secret boss and after killing it, you acquire the box breaker which does with one wrench slam break everything around you. (You might have found it later tho so you can ignore this note if you have found it)
eyyy I'm glad you enjoyed it, I definately think going commando will be your fav or least fav of the trilogy based on whether you see it as "a best of both worlds" or a "chase 2 rabbits" kind of ordeal I *think* i got the box breaker at somepoint but I'm not sure if its blended with another game in my mind
I totally agree with the statement “everything it’s done well,done better in is prequel or sequel”. For me,it’s really the middle ground between ratchet 1 and 3,not quite a shooter and not quite a platformer. The story is all over the place and it’s missing some iconic characters and scenes:just think of the NPCs that you remember from the first game compared to the second (no wonder most of them appeared in later games as well). Also the there are a lot of planets that give similar vibes that are pretty blend,I know its part of the of the theme of the game,but again,not quite unique compered to it’s counterparts.
Its definately a game someone loves for being "the best of both worlds" or a game that doesn't quite hit being able to not hit the heights of either aspects as well as its bretheren I do kinda respect them for sticking to the idea of constantly rotating out a cast of 1 off characters but yeah the only super rememberable one for me in 2 was slim and I guess thats why he came back
Even though Up Your Arsenal is my personal favourite Ratchet & Clank game in the series, Going Commando was the start of the franchise going forward. Even though I personally like the platforming of the first game more, Going Commando is a good combination of both platforming and shooting. Not to mention James Arnold Taylor was a good replacement of Michael Kelly. I can't think of Ratchet without hearing James Arnold Taylor voicing him.
The experience problem you mentioned where you are disincentiviced from using fully upgraded guns is even more frustrating considering that 20 years after it still persists on the series. I know they wanna push you to use other weapons but I wish they did something like other action games where you can freely use your experience to upgrade whatever you want. Hell I hate looter shooters but I wouldn't mind it if a ratchet game used that aproach to weapons, just to switch things up a bit
yeah its a system that I feel like has only ever been partially remadied, having multiple level ups means that you'll be less likely to cap out a gun within the first 20% of the game and never use it for the rest of the run, and raritainium upgrades allow you to feel less bad about focusing on a weapon to never use it again cos you can then pour you're reasoruces into a new level 1 gun and have it feel really good right off the bat only for it to have tons of time to get stronger I did have an idea of how they mights be able to fix it but I'll keep it for myself for when I eventually do a video on nexus
The original Ratchet is still my favorite in the series. Going commando improves on the first in almost every way imaginable. I’d say the one thing it is lacking is a strong villain. The humor is great, the satire is even better, there were so much more variety and the universe is way more expensive. It’s just lacking that one thing.
I've always said Going Commando has some of the highest highs but lowest lows of the series. It's overall a great blend of shooting, platforming and puzzles, but things like the blase ship missions, sterile level themes, entire levels that are just long, drawn out treasure hunts, and weak boss fights really drag it down. It's a great game in a vacuum and introduced a lot of things that made the rest of the series so good, but it's the one I'm least compelled to return to cause I know I'll be having fun and every few hours go, "aw fuck it's THIS part." Also the helicopter boss fight. What were they thinking putting the best song in the game behind the shortest, easiest, LOUDEST boss fight?
You made some interesting points, I personally prefer all the sequels over the original game, sure R&C1 might be more of a platformer but I never really found the platforming in it to be so good that it made me reconsider what I thought what I platformer was, plus I found the combat sections in R&C1 to be so frustrating halfway through that it mitigated any fun I could have through the platforming. I also don't find the autoaim in the earlier games to be too bad, it only gets bad when Ratchet has to fight enemies that are above him which means you have to use first person mode and it can be pretty awkward. As for the weapons upgrade system, I have seen some complain about this but I don't really mind, the only time it ever got bad in the whole series was the Dr. Nefarious final boss in R&C3 where he was such a damage sponge that he will chew through the ammo of all your high powered guns meaning then you got to use the weaker ones which will whittle is health very super slowly. Also, maybe ToD but the difficulty of that game was just screwed up in general where enemies hit hard and cut your health in half by getting hit once and they will take 30 rocket launcher shots to die but I don't think that is tied to the levelling system. I never knew challenge mode changed the game to that much of a degree, I want to try it out, but at the same time, with games that have hard modes that are combat driven, I just want to skip past the platforming and puzzles and just want it to be combat, a lot of single player games suffer from this where I want to get to the part on hard mode where the gameplay actually does change rather than do the parts that are static again, I'm guessing this is why some games have endless modes. You do make an interesting case, the problem is, I really did wish R&C2 let's you choose it from the start, I like that A Crack in Time just lets you choose your own difficulty.
The thing about challenge mode is its designed to be a continuation of the end game's difficulty curve, its like an RPG going "ok you can play on NG+ at level 99 but all the enemies are attuned to fight you at max level but now random battles will drop stat boosters so the new even harder end game will still be doable even without increasing that level cap" The mode is designed to be overall harder but have less of a curve so the challenge can stay consistently but not ridculously hard for an experienced player who wants to enjoy the whole game with every tool at their disposal without having to wait for some to unlock, and its the difficult jump is to make the victory lap not get stale. (also yeah ToD's enemy damage is based around percentage so the more health you have the more damage you take, technically getting health upgrades does still help you but you need like 8 health level ups to actually gain an extra hit before dying to certain enemies)
@@Kraftium I never knew challenge mode changed the game up to that much of a degree. I never saw anyone talk about this mode until you did. It is interesting. I'm almost considering playing it. I'm not even sure how many R&C fans played challenge mode. It drives me up a wall when people call ToD an easy game when its easily the hardest R&C with the ability to strafe. The Groovitatron will feel like a lifesaver at times.
@@Kraftium I jjust finished my challenge run and yeah I had quite a load of fun. Beat the game a lot growing up, had super fun this time too. I even beat the Protopet in challenge mode with the Ryno and then finished him off with Clank Zapper for the lulz.
Going Commando is usually hailed as the best of the original games so your comments on it being the worst are completely jarring. Good points made about the weapon level ups though.
I definately wouldn't argue with someone saying its their favourite, to me I just didn't vibe with it as much until my challenge mode run Still probably like it more than crack and tools (tools is close tho)
I have to disagree on the planets having "less going on". I mean, the first game has insanely evocative and atmospheric levels like orxon, pokitaru, blckwater city and ofc metropolis. But boy howdy the second game just knocks it out of the park with its levels, both in terms of crazy set pieces and pure scifi imagination. Like the one city level where you ride the train tracks and cause like a dozen fatal derailments. Or the other city one where you fly through traffic in like the crazy traffic tunnell. Or both of the ones your showed while talking about it. This game has like 8 different city levels and each of them feels completely unique and distinct. The desert level is really cool, altho the sandboxes are a bit flawed to say the least. The megacorp games level is also noteworthy in that they could've just done what the third game did and make it basically a lobby for the arena, but no they just had one more really cool planet design in them. I have also always liked smolg altho I know a lot of people don't. But c'mon a level where you fly through a fleet of space freighters and warehouses in the clouds, when have you ever seen that before, or since. And man, the megacorp hq is so damn imposing. I love how you get teased it many times over the game as a 2d image, and then you finally go there and it makes you feel so tiny.
I should clarify that by less going on I mean more that with 2 and later with 3 more and more planets had less "routes" through them. In 1 I'm pretty sure every planet has atleast 2 directions you can go from the ship to go through a "level" and some of theme even have 3 RnC2 still has that but as a whole the average of routes you can take is slightly lower (RnC3 is even less) its not nessarily a bad thing since less routes per planet can mean more planets but personally I like how stacking levels on top of each other in RnC1 made areas feel a little more "natural" (atleast imo)
@@Kraftium Ah okey sorry for misinterpreting. And thanks for the series btw! Got so caught up arguing against an imagined position I forgot to say how much I'm enjoying the retrospectives :D
Nah don't worry about it, its my fault for being vague in the video in the first place Still not sure if I'll make a RnC3 video since I'm not too sure what I could say that hasn't already been said by other people or me in these first 2 videos, I do have some ideas for nexus tho, and I've still never played size matters and my morbid curiosity tells me I'd like playing it despite its quality and reputation
@@Kraftium Oh I totally get that feeling, 3 is definitely a game who's strengths and flaws have been explored quite a bit. But if I can give my 2 cents, I really enjoyed the more personal stories and anecdotes in these videos and found them quite relatable. Even if the game's "objective qualities" appear to be quite well known it can often still be very enriching to ask: what it was in me in that moment in time that those qualities grabbed such a hold of? And those things are often very personal, or at least accessed from a very personal place. Just something to think about. Btw I also have an anecdote that suddenly came to mind. When playing ratchet (or sometimes even watching it being played), my little brother would always get so excited he'd just start jumping up and down like crazy. And he'd do that for the whole gaming session too, just up and down, up and down. He always had to be told to stop to not annoy the downstairs neighbors, but then a while later he'd just start again. Like it was just so physical to him (and somehow he wasn't the weirdest kid in our family). And our parents very quickly got tired of constantly telling him to stop, and so they tasked us two older brothers to make sure he didn't jump. And then whenever he'd be playing ratchet we'd have to sit by and try to train him to stay on his seat. I think novadays I'd love to have a quirk like that, at least if I lived at ground floor :D Would be in shape in no time!
@@mekelius I get what you mean, and I would like to cover it ... I just think I'd rather ruminate on it quite a bit first also your story reminds me that my brother would always tell me I was breathing really loudly when I used to watch him play games and would constantly tell me to stop
You forgot to mention one thing: once u get the RYNO, theres absolutely no reason to use any other weapon in any situation trough the whole game. Its so broken and fast shooting that eliminates literally any enemy in less than a second, even in challenge mode theres no enemy that stands a chance against it. I understand that its purposedly broken but still it makes it nonsense to get the mega upgrades or to even finish leveling up weapons from the previous run, unless u want to do it just out of completionism, but its a so tiring process that Im sure almost anyone has done it. The problem here is that enemies become absolute tanks compared the ones in the first game, in which every weapon could kill practically any enemie, at least damage wise, and the use of different weapons were more balance due to it being a situational thing rather than a “just pick the weapon that deals more damage”. Heck, even the wrench was useful trough the whole first game, and even satisfying to use cause even later enemies still got flinched by a hit, while in GC (and even more in UYA) the meelee is basically useless since enemies are just designed to be approached from long distance due to increased hostility, faster attacks and tanky nature. The first game ramps up the difficulty as you go by positioning enemies in strategic spots around the levels, the later two entries do that by just spawning hordes of bullet-sponges every 10 seconds (this is a lot more common in UYA tho). At the end of the day it has a lot of flaws, specially balance wise, but still its a gem of a game for me. Idk if its a nostalgia thing but it has so much charm to it and i feel like replaying it from time to time. Great vid my friend!
I like going commando much more than up your arsenal (even through I spended hours playing the multiplayer with my sister) And yeah the ending is bad. but It has the best Spaceshooter of them all
A few folks have asked for a 3 video and I may do if I keep getting requests but I do think I'd like to suffer through size matters first if I do some more ratchet stuff, I've heard so many mixed things about it definately leaning towards bad but I wanna try it out for myself (not touching secret agent clank with a 10 ft pole tho)
Thats fair, I think ratchet 2 is definatly a case of "best of both worlds" for alot of people despite it being the whole "chase 2 rabbits and you'll catch neither" thing it is for me I will conceed that ratchet 3 has alot more lows than 2 tho, those multiplayer map missions are ... not amazing...
@@Kraftium one of things that always rubbed me the wrong way about 3 was how they propped up Secret Agent Clank over Ratchet and some of the celebrity shit was just cringe to me as a kid. I still like them all though, even Size Matters (I had the PS2 version) since it has a superior Ryno to 3's since its not completely braindead to use. Size Matters would make for an interesting video since i've always heard the handheld and console versions are different but i don't know how much that's been covered on TH-cam
@@triplehelix3207 see I love that goofy, hokey cringe shit its so camp and silly Size matters does interest me, I've heard so many bad things and I wanna give it a go, I've pondered on it more since doing this video and I think my next video on ratchet will either be size matters or nexus (i have some thoughts on nexus) alternatively I'd also like to do a sly 1 vid
I really just appricate the future trilogy as its own thing They're basically sequels to RnC3 specfically an not the series as a whole (nexus does bring a few things back)
Surprised not fine wine than cheap wine? Cover whatever you want you don't have to a Ratchet marathon. XD It was a good video and well it's the Ratchet community we watch many people cover the games. XD Also the games have a lot of details to love and hate them others having more single note focus sometimes. The stores has tons of variety you love or hate and well many oh it took a year to make design that's interesting to look at: the minigames, story, combat, platforming, Ratchet & Clank gameplay segment differences and so on. I love 2 but it isn't perfect even if the gameplay wise my favourite I less like 3 too much combat focused moments I hate in 3 of side missions. 2 balances things out more. Give me puzzles, strafing, even if less quality of life than 3 I'd take it if the content is better to me in 2 then 3 onwards. The content in them are fine just not my favourites. Not even nostalgia. Hack n slashes do get fiddly but I get what you mean for lock on having played many of the genre over the years now. I think the experimenting can be a punishment yes. XD I find some levels are suitable to use holoshield in ghe beginning and never again in 3. Some like Synthenoids or shield chargwr suck to level up. While others work better. Ghe single level is awkward. Later games it works but still eh. Infector could be a better weapon but is limited for a brain wash weapon. Yes the situations don't suit later levels I agree. Unless fhe arena for enemies that can. Or early levels that move less I guess. Yeah the ship/bikes can be hit ans miss but I prefer them then not even if had more hours to the game you can skip or beat or suck at. XD Skill points are better than Ratchet 1 I find. The Infiltrator is awkward yes. I love the puzzles I know they do at bad tkmes. XD But I hate 2 hours of combat in 3 and others. Its qhy I don't mind the Defibrillator on Tools but other parts not do much. Its why even if Crack in Time cuts a fair of those elements while still fair ideas. Rift Apart is boring for so much eh and I wanted Glitch/Clank levels over Rathcet and Rivet levels. 2 is finding its footing still yes. But I likes that more. Platinum bolrs I guess maybe for secrets are easy but others need a bit Yeah there was showing off but it was 2002 so I guess still that showing off ghe console more in Rilgar and Metropolis and such back ghen while now the graphics got less detailed in some areas but better in others and some set pieces work orhers not so much. Like if you compare Siberius trucks to the Uncharted 2 train sure they have their similarities but otherwise different scale on where you go and level length. But you could say Ratchet 2's is shorter and leds tedious besides the lacking scale. But do we need more set oieces of trucks or a turret level or whatever maybe. But don't think much of them and rhey are single time the vehicle, or Tabora caves after the crash and so on they aren't fhe worst fhey are memorable but I don't really care. Or Boldan walls, Museum, Aranos prison escape and more yes. I get what you mean for shooter and platforming scale and priorities they wanted a third person shooter themselves Insomniac even for journalists labelling but yeah the things to do got tedious. All kids games aren't platformers anyway cough Knack is an old god of war hack n slash people. Yeah mega/ulgra or AI i don't always notice as much but ghe selection helps even if what you need bolts to buy Mega the Orange/level 2 weapons are still there to use at least any time.
writing dotted notes as bottom number is clearly the better system… otherwise what is the point of using NUMBERS in a seemingly clean cut mathematical time signature… this goes way beyond some dumb convention that caught on & we just still use it as a homage to some historical backdrop… the problem is for 2, 3, & 4 time signatures the rules remain consistent & randomly for 6, 9, & 12 it ARBITRARILY just means something else… like yeah the top & bottom numbers no longer mean what they mean… & let’s just barely explain this inconsistency it in whatever music theory class you’re taking so you feel like YOU’RE the idiot for not getting it destroying your GPA
If you don't have much to say about UYA just make the vid short. The micro second you stop talking about R&C i will erase this channel from my memory 🔫😐
o oo oh g geez... erm i i is it ok if I talk about sly cooper for a bit instead? (fr real tho this comment actually had my burst out laughing thank you)
1 3 and nexus probably (they shift around in what order depending on the mood I'm in) gladiator/deadlock is probably 4th then 2, then tools, then crank
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
Can't wait for "Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal is like Fine China" :D
oh god thats a fun title ... its tempting
@@Kraftium DEWIT...
...I wouldn't mind seeing A Crack in Time too, since that's my favorite game.
Those are my favorite 2 games! Well commando and ratchet 1 is among my favs too!😊
At some point it gonna be like "Rift Apart is like freshy baked bread but it is the exact same recipe as 2000 years ago"
@@alumlovescake pfft I just started rift apart actually, not too far in but it seems good so far
Before watching this I didnt even know going commando could be someone's least favourite in the original series.
I mean this is disregarding all the weird ones like Q-force and all 4 one etc
also I think crank in time might be below it now too
@@Kraftium This really hurts to read considering Going Commando is my favourite RC game and Crack in Time is probably the most well rounded and also one of my favourites 🤣
@@joeltheowl3299 its important that while they're my least favourites they're still like 8/10s to me on a bad day
Crank for me feels very ... frakensteiny to me? Theres alot of stuff thats all been hastily sewn together, story also feels very rushed for something that was the biggest step in the whole lombax narrative, also i loved the constructo weapons conceptially but impractice they feel kinda meh
Ratchet and Clank 2 is a game I replayed a lot of as a kid, I'm no stranger to challenge mode and your criticisms make sense, I even remember as a kid it being "impossible" to keep up with being able to afford the new weapons the game would throw you but during one of my more recent replays which involved doing all the side content and side missions I noticed I always had enough money to be able to afford them when they became available if not just a wee bit after. Props to the devs for that intricate economy balancing I guess, it something I kind of appreciate about this game given how easy it is to always be able to afford the new weapons as they become available in the newer titles.
Something I also give them props for is that with how busted a 20x bolt multiplier is if you can keep it up on challenge mode between the ryno 2 the zodiac the clank zapper and the challenge mode armour you have 4 ludicriously expensive things to work towards so bolts don't become irrlevent too quickly
I like Going Commando a lot precisely because of the way it exists in-between the platforming soul of the original and the shooter soul of the later games.
I was sad to see Third Person controls finally go away in 2016 and RA, leaving strafe lock as the only option.
That is fair, It really doesn't blend well for me but I do realise that for alot of people it does and in many ways is the only game that comes close to capturing the original's charm
This is my favourite, the humour is top notch
Oh man. Ratchet & Clank 2 - It's called Locked and Loaded in my country - has remained generally in a superposition between my first and second favorite game since the day I first laid hands on it, when it came out. I was 7 years old. It was during a time of limbo between Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers and Lord of The Rings: Return of The King. A distant time, now remembered by me almost solely as a year that I mostly spent indoors on lovely days, playing Locked and Loaded. I could talk about this game forever, it's my favorite of the series (Though I would say the first game is objectively the best game in the series) and I went into this video ABSOLUTELY ready to throw hands.
My biggest - and, well, only - gripe with this game is the off balancing of the weapons. It feels frustrating to me that in Challenge Mode, the weapons are balanced kinda perfectly. The progression and the buildup and the endgame of having a decked out Ultra inventory with a RYNO II and the useless Zodiac and Clank Zapper all felt well done. Hell, the Ultra Mini Nuke is one of the most powerful single shot weapons in the franchise. But normal mode, bringing the Multi Star or Heavy Lancer to the final level is asking to be laughed at, and that has always rubbed me the wrong way. It's a problem that UYA had in droves as well, and while Deadlocked fixed it, the problem did return in my eyes in Tools of Destruction too. It's a real shame, and I think it takes a huge amount of potential fun out of all three of those games. So, I agree with you there.
In the circles I'm in, Going Commando/Locked and Loaded is almost unanimously the best and most replayable of the franchise, to the point that seeing a hot take against it is something I usually shrug off. But I can put aside my pride of 'My childhood favorite is everyone else's too' to absorb a video like this for what it is, and to be honest, I'm really happy this game still gets the attention and actual real criticism and praise that it gets 20 years later.
I only just realized at the end of this comment that Ratchet and Clank 2 is 20 years old this year.
Excuse me while I go play it.
Funnily enough as a UK person (derogatory) its called locked and loaded hear but ratchet and clank is one of the few series I prefer the american titles for (the other is fatal frame)
I do kinda get the idea of "oh these old guns should fall off and be replaced" but it does kinda suck stuff like the lancer becomes kinda usless in the later levels its kinda why nexus is a bit of a favourite for me its so short that can't really happen
@@Kraftium I will eternally feel let down that Nexus is the way that it is. It feels strangely strangled by the time it released in. I feel with a little more time to grow and being released on the PS4, not only would it be longer and more fleshed out, but it would have had stable performance, and would be a solid contender for one of the best titles in the series, as far as gameplay as well as visuals. It's sad how much of a Ferrero Rocher it is.
@@halloumi4959 i imagine my view on the game is quite different since i only discovered it even existed several years after the fact
Its funny though given the time it released in i would of thought it would of been a prime target for an episodic type of ratchet game with like a planet or 2 and some new arena challenges releasing ever few months
"...while I like Going Commando..."
-Kraftium, September 2023
Too much information, Kraft.
what can I say?
I'm a menace >:)
Had fun with both those early Ratchet and Clank games, and also with these videos.
The only real problem I had with it was the final boss and the change to Ratchet's voice, although I don't actually dislike the new voice I just miss the first games voice.
Yeah the final boss is pretty weak
Feels like you could cut its health in half and it would of worked as an arena boss
Also yeah i prefer james arnold taylors voice for ratchet but i do think its a shame the original VA only got to do 1 game
@@Kraftium Beat him with the Ryno in the span of like 30 sec
Hey just wanted to say, Going Commando is BY FAR my favorite in the series and your video didn't piss me off at all! You were very fair in your criticism and I totally get from your reasoning why it's your least favorite. I thought your video was done very well and I enjoyed watching.
eyyy thank you very much I don't tend to like doing overly negative videos especially when they could be someones first impression of my channel so I always get a tad worried
Glad you enjoyed it
The thing I personally never liked about this game was that for some reason every single level was either an industrial complex or a city. Even the ones taking place in the wild were riddled by building complexes. Maybe this would bother me less if the color scheme wasn't so bland. Most of the levels have the same feel, meanwhile you can show me a screenshot from any single level of Ratchet and Clank 1, and I would probably guess which one it is.
That was something I noticed when trying to edit together footage that didn't look to simular to the previous clip I showed
That personally never bothered me because I thought it made sense worldbuilding-wise. MegaCorp (or Gadgetron for Barlow, or Thugs-4-Less for Snivelak) had to make its presence known everywhere, and having buildings out the wazoo is absolutely the hallmark of a pseudo-government company.
In theory Bogon is more developed than Solanada, that would explain this lack of naturality
The weapon level up system in R&C is like some grandfather of the scourge that is battle pass challenges for me
thats definately one way of looking at it lol
This is the wackest take I've ever fuckin seen, it's literally just leveling up like in a JRPG what are you talking about dog
Going comando is a huge part of my childhood, i will always have a special place for this game in my heart❤
was not expecting you to specifically use wipeout as an example of a dedicated racing game but i hella respect it cuz GOD i miss that series
I'm not actually super well versed in the wipeout series. I played one or 2 of the old ones when I was too young to remember which and the vita game with its DLC which was basically the base for the omega collection on ps4. (burnout 3, revenge, paradise and splitsecond are my go to racing games)
Reason I brought it up specfically was because its what RnC2's hovor bike races reminded me of most
@@Kraftium nah i getchu its just that nobody ever talks about it anymore which i think is a genuine crime
@@Player1-up they are neat games tbf I really loved playing the vita one between classes at college
it is super sad both it and f-zero are kinda dead :( still there are games like fast RMX and Redout that sorta fill the void
Going Commando is my personal favorite Ratchet and Clank game and my second favorite game ever. So it was a bit of a shock to click on this and hear it's your least favorite. But I do respect your opinion even while I disagree on it being weaker.
GC has my favorite weapons, music, comedy, and side character in Angela Cross. Then again, this was my first ever Ratchet and Clank game, so maybe there is a bias. But I've always loved this game. Nonetheless, good video and respectable thoughts on it!
Great video! personally Going Commando is my favorite because it is on the originalTrilogy at a balannce state of shooting and platforming.
Small note: watching your footage even you were on challenge mode(new Game+) you do not seem to have acquired the box breaker which is located at the end of Oozla planet where you can use your gravity boots to go to a secret boss and after killing it, you acquire the box breaker which does with one wrench slam break everything around you.
(You might have found it later tho so you can ignore this note if you have found it)
eyyy I'm glad you enjoyed it, I definately think going commando will be your fav or least fav of the trilogy based on whether you see it as "a best of both worlds" or a "chase 2 rabbits" kind of ordeal
I *think* i got the box breaker at somepoint but I'm not sure if its blended with another game in my mind
I totally agree with the statement “everything it’s done well,done better in is prequel or sequel”.
For me,it’s really the middle ground between ratchet 1 and 3,not quite a shooter and not quite a platformer.
The story is all over the place and it’s missing some iconic characters and scenes:just think of the NPCs that you remember from the first game compared to the second (no wonder most of them appeared in later games as well).
Also the there are a lot of planets that give similar vibes that are pretty blend,I know its part of the of the theme of the game,but again,not quite unique compered to it’s counterparts.
Its definately a game someone loves for being "the best of both worlds" or a game that doesn't quite hit being able to not hit the heights of either aspects as well as its bretheren
I do kinda respect them for sticking to the idea of constantly rotating out a cast of 1 off characters but yeah the only super rememberable one for me in 2 was slim and I guess thats why he came back
Even though Up Your Arsenal is my personal favourite Ratchet & Clank game in the series, Going Commando was the start of the franchise going forward. Even though I personally like the platforming of the first game more, Going Commando is a good combination of both platforming and shooting. Not to mention James Arnold Taylor was a good replacement of Michael Kelly. I can't think of Ratchet without hearing James Arnold Taylor voicing him.
Thanks for the refreshing take on this classic series!
Hey no problem, I just hit record and force the internet to listen to my opinions
Thank YOU for watching :D
The experience problem you mentioned where you are disincentiviced from using fully upgraded guns is even more frustrating considering that 20 years after it still persists on the series. I know they wanna push you to use other weapons but I wish they did something like other action games where you can freely use your experience to upgrade whatever you want. Hell I hate looter shooters but I wouldn't mind it if a ratchet game used that aproach to weapons, just to switch things up a bit
yeah its a system that I feel like has only ever been partially remadied, having multiple level ups means that you'll be less likely to cap out a gun within the first 20% of the game and never use it for the rest of the run, and raritainium upgrades allow you to feel less bad about focusing on a weapon to never use it again cos you can then pour you're reasoruces into a new level 1 gun and have it feel really good right off the bat only for it to have tons of time to get stronger
I did have an idea of how they mights be able to fix it but I'll keep it for myself for when I eventually do a video on nexus
The original Ratchet is still my favorite in the series. Going commando improves on the first in almost every way imaginable. I’d say the one thing it is lacking is a strong villain. The humor is great, the satire is even better, there were so much more variety and the universe is way more expensive. It’s just lacking that one thing.
Ratched 2 is So good.
0:47 My heart exploded as soon as I heard that
nooooo I'm sorry 😭😭😭 its still really good
I've always said Going Commando has some of the highest highs but lowest lows of the series. It's overall a great blend of shooting, platforming and puzzles, but things like the blase ship missions, sterile level themes, entire levels that are just long, drawn out treasure hunts, and weak boss fights really drag it down. It's a great game in a vacuum and introduced a lot of things that made the rest of the series so good, but it's the one I'm least compelled to return to cause I know I'll be having fun and every few hours go, "aw fuck it's THIS part."
Also the helicopter boss fight. What were they thinking putting the best song in the game behind the shortest, easiest, LOUDEST boss fight?
You made some interesting points, I personally prefer all the sequels over the original game, sure R&C1 might be more of a platformer but I never really found the platforming in it to be so good that it made me reconsider what I thought what I platformer was, plus I found the combat sections in R&C1 to be so frustrating halfway through that it mitigated any fun I could have through the platforming.
I also don't find the autoaim in the earlier games to be too bad, it only gets bad when Ratchet has to fight enemies that are above him which means you have to use first person mode and it can be pretty awkward.
As for the weapons upgrade system, I have seen some complain about this but I don't really mind, the only time it ever got bad in the whole series was the Dr. Nefarious final boss in R&C3 where he was such a damage sponge that he will chew through the ammo of all your high powered guns meaning then you got to use the weaker ones which will whittle is health very super slowly. Also, maybe ToD but the difficulty of that game was just screwed up in general where enemies hit hard and cut your health in half by getting hit once and they will take 30 rocket launcher shots to die but I don't think that is tied to the levelling system.
I never knew challenge mode changed the game to that much of a degree, I want to try it out, but at the same time, with games that have hard modes that are combat driven, I just want to skip past the platforming and puzzles and just want it to be combat, a lot of single player games suffer from this where I want to get to the part on hard mode where the gameplay actually does change rather than do the parts that are static again, I'm guessing this is why some games have endless modes. You do make an interesting case, the problem is, I really did wish R&C2 let's you choose it from the start, I like that A Crack in Time just lets you choose your own difficulty.
The thing about challenge mode is its designed to be a continuation of the end game's difficulty curve, its like an RPG going "ok you can play on NG+ at level 99 but all the enemies are attuned to fight you at max level but now random battles will drop stat boosters so the new even harder end game will still be doable even without increasing that level cap"
The mode is designed to be overall harder but have less of a curve so the challenge can stay consistently but not ridculously hard for an experienced player who wants to enjoy the whole game with every tool at their disposal without having to wait for some to unlock, and its the difficult jump is to make the victory lap not get stale.
(also yeah ToD's enemy damage is based around percentage so the more health you have the more damage you take, technically getting health upgrades does still help you but you need like 8 health level ups to actually gain an extra hit before dying to certain enemies)
@@Kraftium
I never knew challenge mode changed the game up to that much of a degree. I never saw anyone talk about this mode until you did. It is interesting. I'm almost considering playing it. I'm not even sure how many R&C fans played challenge mode.
It drives me up a wall when people call ToD an easy game when its easily the hardest R&C with the ability to strafe. The Groovitatron will feel like a lifesaver at times.
Looking forward to the Gladiator review. The game that breaks the bolt multiplier in half
Dude I literally beat this game last week and in the same day started a challenge mode run.
Eyyy nice haha
Hope your having fun
@@Kraftium I jjust finished my challenge run and yeah I had quite a load of fun. Beat the game a lot growing up, had super fun this time too. I even beat the Protopet in challenge mode with the Ryno and then finished him off with Clank Zapper for the lulz.
@@screamingatstars66 oh nooooo not the clank zapper disrespect
@@Kraftium Yeah I really dunked on him with the Clank Zapper. I might do clank zapper only sometime
Up Your Arsenal is next
noooo don't imprison me on this path aaaaa
it was your choice after all~... just kidding😅 feel free to upload whatever you like!
@@Kraftium
Going Commando is usually hailed as the best of the original games so your comments on it being the worst are completely jarring.
Good points made about the weapon level ups though.
I definately wouldn't argue with someone saying its their favourite, to me I just didn't vibe with it as much until my challenge mode run
Still probably like it more than crack and tools (tools is close tho)
The story was pretty disjointed, though. Qwark originally wasn’t the villain.
Don't know if you just decided to not cover this, but this game does have a secret boss :DDD, nvm just saw someone mention it 8 months ago :DD
I have to disagree on the planets having "less going on". I mean, the first game has insanely evocative and atmospheric levels like orxon, pokitaru, blckwater city and ofc metropolis.
But boy howdy the second game just knocks it out of the park with its levels, both in terms of crazy set pieces and pure scifi imagination. Like the one city level where you ride the train tracks and cause like a dozen fatal derailments. Or the other city one where you fly through traffic in like the crazy traffic tunnell. Or both of the ones your showed while talking about it. This game has like 8 different city levels and each of them feels completely unique and distinct. The desert level is really cool, altho the sandboxes are a bit flawed to say the least. The megacorp games level is also noteworthy in that they could've just done what the third game did and make it basically a lobby for the arena, but no they just had one more really cool planet design in them. I have also always liked smolg altho I know a lot of people don't. But c'mon a level where you fly through a fleet of space freighters and warehouses in the clouds, when have you ever seen that before, or since. And man, the megacorp hq is so damn imposing. I love how you get teased it many times over the game as a 2d image, and then you finally go there and it makes you feel so tiny.
I should clarify that by less going on I mean more that with 2 and later with 3 more and more planets had less "routes" through them. In 1 I'm pretty sure every planet has atleast 2 directions you can go from the ship to go through a "level" and some of theme even have 3
RnC2 still has that but as a whole the average of routes you can take is slightly lower (RnC3 is even less)
its not nessarily a bad thing since less routes per planet can mean more planets but personally I like how stacking levels on top of each other in RnC1 made areas feel a little more "natural" (atleast imo)
@@Kraftium Ah okey sorry for misinterpreting. And thanks for the series btw! Got so caught up arguing against an imagined position I forgot to say how much I'm enjoying the retrospectives :D
Nah don't worry about it, its my fault for being vague in the video in the first place
Still not sure if I'll make a RnC3 video since I'm not too sure what I could say that hasn't already been said by other people or me in these first 2 videos, I do have some ideas for nexus tho, and I've still never played size matters and my morbid curiosity tells me I'd like playing it despite its quality and reputation
@@Kraftium Oh I totally get that feeling, 3 is definitely a game who's strengths and flaws have been explored quite a bit. But if I can give my 2 cents, I really enjoyed the more personal stories and anecdotes in these videos and found them quite relatable. Even if the game's "objective qualities" appear to be quite well known it can often still be very enriching to ask: what it was in me in that moment in time that those qualities grabbed such a hold of? And those things are often very personal, or at least accessed from a very personal place. Just something to think about.
Btw I also have an anecdote that suddenly came to mind. When playing ratchet (or sometimes even watching it being played), my little brother would always get so excited he'd just start jumping up and down like crazy. And he'd do that for the whole gaming session too, just up and down, up and down. He always had to be told to stop to not annoy the downstairs neighbors, but then a while later he'd just start again. Like it was just so physical to him (and somehow he wasn't the weirdest kid in our family). And our parents very quickly got tired of constantly telling him to stop, and so they tasked us two older brothers to make sure he didn't jump. And then whenever he'd be playing ratchet we'd have to sit by and try to train him to stay on his seat. I think novadays I'd love to have a quirk like that, at least if I lived at ground floor :D Would be in shape in no time!
@@mekelius I get what you mean, and I would like to cover it ... I just think I'd rather ruminate on it quite a bit first
also your story reminds me that my brother would always tell me I was breathing really loudly when I used to watch him play games and would constantly tell me to stop
You forgot to mention one thing: once u get the RYNO, theres absolutely no reason to use any other weapon in any situation trough the whole game. Its so broken and fast shooting that eliminates literally any enemy in less than a second, even in challenge mode theres no enemy that stands a chance against it. I understand that its purposedly broken but still it makes it nonsense to get the mega upgrades or to even finish leveling up weapons from the previous run, unless u want to do it just out of completionism, but its a so tiring process that Im sure almost anyone has done it. The problem here is that enemies become absolute tanks compared the ones in the first game, in which every weapon could kill practically any enemie, at least damage wise, and the use of different weapons were more balance due to it being a situational thing rather than a “just pick the weapon that deals more damage”. Heck, even the wrench was useful trough the whole first game, and even satisfying to use cause even later enemies still got flinched by a hit, while in GC (and even more in UYA) the meelee is basically useless since enemies are just designed to be approached from long distance due to increased hostility, faster attacks and tanky nature. The first game ramps up the difficulty as you go by positioning enemies in strategic spots around the levels, the later two entries do that by just spawning hordes of bullet-sponges every 10 seconds (this is a lot more common in UYA tho). At the end of the day it has a lot of flaws, specially balance wise, but still its a gem of a game for me. Idk if its a nostalgia thing but it has so much charm to it and i feel like replaying it from time to time. Great vid my friend!
I like going commando much more than up your arsenal (even through I spended hours playing the multiplayer with my sister) And yeah the ending is bad. but It has the best Spaceshooter of them all
Yeah the space ship missions are the best in the series
I just wish there was more of them and they were a tad more fleshee out
Please I need to see a video on Ratchet and Clank 3 it’s my favourite in the series!
A few folks have asked for a 3 video and I may do if I keep getting requests but I do think I'd like to suffer through size matters first if I do some more ratchet stuff, I've heard so many mixed things about it definately leaning towards bad but I wanna try it out for myself (not touching secret agent clank with a 10 ft pole tho)
I like Ratchet 2 a lot more than 3
Thats fair, I think ratchet 2 is definatly a case of "best of both worlds" for alot of people despite it being the whole "chase 2 rabbits and you'll catch neither" thing it is for me
I will conceed that ratchet 3 has alot more lows than 2 tho, those multiplayer map missions are ... not amazing...
@@Kraftium one of things that always rubbed me the wrong way about 3 was how they propped up Secret Agent Clank over Ratchet and some of the celebrity shit was just cringe to me as a kid. I still like them all though, even Size Matters (I had the PS2 version) since it has a superior Ryno to 3's since its not completely braindead to use.
Size Matters would make for an interesting video since i've always heard the handheld and console versions are different but i don't know how much that's been covered on TH-cam
@@triplehelix3207 see I love that goofy, hokey cringe shit its so camp and silly
Size matters does interest me, I've heard so many bad things and I wanna give it a go, I've pondered on it more since doing this video and I think my next video on ratchet will either be size matters or nexus (i have some thoughts on nexus)
alternatively I'd also like to do a sly 1 vid
Well whole ps2 trilogy are the best rac games tho future ones dont fell that they that good but they still good
I really just appricate the future trilogy as its own thing
They're basically sequels to RnC3 specfically an not the series as a whole (nexus does bring a few things back)
Least favorite? Even less than RC3?
Im very aware that its mostly based of nostalgia but 3 is one of my favs
Surprised not fine wine than cheap wine? Cover whatever you want you don't have to a Ratchet marathon. XD
It was a good video and well it's the Ratchet community we watch many people cover the games. XD Also the games have a lot of details to love and hate them others having more single note focus sometimes. The stores has tons of variety you love or hate and well many oh it took a year to make design that's interesting to look at: the minigames, story, combat, platforming, Ratchet & Clank gameplay segment differences and so on.
I love 2 but it isn't perfect even if the gameplay wise my favourite I less like 3 too much combat focused moments I hate in 3 of side missions.
2 balances things out more. Give me puzzles, strafing, even if less quality of life than 3 I'd take it if the content is better to me in 2 then 3 onwards. The content in them are fine just not my favourites. Not even nostalgia.
Hack n slashes do get fiddly but I get what you mean for lock on having played many of the genre over the years now.
I think the experimenting can be a punishment yes. XD I find some levels are suitable to use holoshield in ghe beginning and never again in 3. Some like Synthenoids or shield chargwr suck to level up. While others work better.
Ghe single level is awkward. Later games it works but still eh. Infector could be a better weapon but is limited for a brain wash weapon.
Yes the situations don't suit later levels I agree.
Unless fhe arena for enemies that can. Or early levels that move less I guess.
Yeah the ship/bikes can be hit ans miss but I prefer them then not even if had more hours to the game you can skip or beat or suck at. XD
Skill points are better than Ratchet 1 I find. The Infiltrator is awkward yes. I love the puzzles I know they do at bad tkmes. XD But I hate 2 hours of combat in 3 and others. Its qhy I don't mind the Defibrillator on Tools but other parts not do much. Its why even if Crack in Time cuts a fair of those elements while still fair ideas. Rift Apart is boring for so much eh and I wanted Glitch/Clank levels over Rathcet and Rivet levels.
2 is finding its footing still yes. But I likes that more.
Platinum bolrs I guess maybe for secrets are easy but others need a bit
Yeah there was showing off but it was 2002 so I guess still that showing off ghe console more in Rilgar and Metropolis and such back ghen while now the graphics got less detailed in some areas but better in others and some set pieces work orhers not so much.
Like if you compare Siberius trucks to the Uncharted 2 train sure they have their similarities but otherwise different scale on where you go and level length. But you could say Ratchet 2's is shorter and leds tedious besides the lacking scale. But do we need more set oieces of trucks or a turret level or whatever maybe. But don't think much of them and rhey are single time the vehicle, or Tabora caves after the crash and so on they aren't fhe worst fhey are memorable but I don't really care. Or Boldan walls, Museum, Aranos prison escape and more yes.
I get what you mean for shooter and platforming scale and priorities they wanted a third person shooter themselves Insomniac even for journalists labelling but yeah the things to do got tedious.
All kids games aren't platformers anyway cough Knack is an old god of war hack n slash people.
Yeah mega/ulgra or AI i don't always notice as much but ghe selection helps even if what you need bolts to buy Mega the Orange/level 2 weapons are still there to use at least any time.
UP
YOUR
ARSENAL
NOW
writing dotted notes as bottom number is clearly the better system… otherwise what is the point of using NUMBERS in a seemingly clean cut mathematical time signature… this goes way beyond some dumb convention that caught on & we just still use it as a homage to some historical backdrop… the problem is for 2, 3, & 4 time signatures the rules remain consistent & randomly for 6, 9, & 12 it ARBITRARILY just means something else… like yeah the top & bottom numbers no longer mean what they mean… & let’s just barely explain this inconsistency it in whatever music theory class you’re taking so you feel like YOU’RE the idiot for not getting it destroying your GPA
If you don't have much to say about UYA just make the vid short.
The micro second you stop talking about R&C i will erase this channel from my memory 🔫😐
o oo oh g geez... erm i i is it ok if I talk about sly cooper for a bit instead?
(fr real tho this comment actually had my burst out laughing thank you)
@@Kraftium it's a mammal with a tool weapon, it'll do👨🦯
...
For now🔫😐
@@Alimem54 actually im currently working on a quick look for a indie game that could be descibed as mammal with a weapom
0:47 You did not just say that. What's your most favorite then?
1 3 and nexus probably (they shift around in what order depending on the mood I'm in)
gladiator/deadlock is probably 4th
then 2, then tools, then crank
@@Kraftium Interesting 🤔