Ratchet & Clank Future Retrospective & Development Deep Dive

[@TheGoldenBolt]

*A CRACK IN TIME RETROSPECTIVE:* kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZPdqoengc-lqdE Thank you so much for sharing your time with me today! Hopefully you've enjoyed this deep dive as much as I've enjoyed making it - if you have, do the KZbin things and make sure to subscribe for future videos, share it around, give me validation. If you're feeling especially kind, you can support at www.patreon.com/TheGoldenBolt and get access to early videos and updates, the exclusive Golden Bolt Discord server, you can help me decide on future topics to cover, and so on! But if you can't or you'd rather not, that's cool too! And as a reminder, my follow-up to this on A Crack in Time will be a short bit off! I have another project I want to put out first. (And fun fact, while the I've had the gameplay recorded for the first 5 Ratchet games since around the start of 2021 or sooner...I haven't started Crack in Time's gameplay process yet!)

[@tytris203]

Angela Cross was being hunted by tachyon before tools of destruction. She joined up with the treasure hunter (Talwyn's father) and together they mysteriously disappeared after landing on Jasindu(Where the dimensionator was). Likely both she and Mr. Apogee escaped to the lombax dimension in an attempt to avoid tachyon. There, now you know what happened with that plot hole. It bothered me alot until it was off-handedly explained in a news story in a crack in time.

[@woody4077]

as for angela....... with rift apart being released insomaniac has pretty much said "angela cross is NOT a lombax" edited : if angela is a lombax then why does insomaniac refer to rivet "as the first female lombax in the series"

[@logankerr7836]

@The Golden Bolt. Your videos are always awesome. But I I was was curious as to why you skipped the other ratchet games that came out between deadlocked and tod? As I recall size matters and secret agent clank are a part of the timeline if I’m not mistaken. If not please explain to me. Can’t wait to see your next video.

[@XraviaEdge]

I thought the entire point behind the emperor being bufoonish is because it leads people to underestimate him leading him to get away with alot more because he doesn't pose a significant threat. Like how Qwark subverts the typical hero, the emperor acts as the chosen one villain.

[@tylerdunnan5059]

I like to think Sunset overdrive was a threat to Sony that insomniac could work with Microsoft after the nightmare that was ratchet and clank future.

[@weirdotzero7065]

Not gonna lie, that line "And suddenly some pirates arrived" gave me the same energy as "Somehow Palpatine Returned".

[@TheGoldenBolt]

Oh dear God, you're right

[@Brindlebrother]

Writers: "I don't know, should we really bring uncy Palps back this far into the saga? Palps: "ᵈᵉʷ ᶦᵗ"

[@Zzzlol94]

Except they didn’t have to resurrect a character that should’ve definitely died. Twice.

[@JohnSmith-ox3gy]

"Rocks fall, everyone dies."

[@civilwarfare101]

Metal Gear resurrected a major villain through an attached limb and then retconned it to be nanomachines but of course, no one is allowed to insult MGS.

[@personwholovesailorm]

"I'm sad the gelinator never returned after tools" --goes into a small tangent about how the gelinator can be used to go out of bounds or break the game which is Sony's biggest no-no when it comes to releasing games--

[@TheGoldenBolt]

I never said I didn't _understand_ why it didn't come back! I just enjoy breaking things

[@Debatra.]

@@PlebNC Hold my Razor Claws.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

I miss when games actually let you play the game instead of force out any kind of emergent gameplay for the sake of "polish"

[@thesun5275]

@@PlebNC there are plenty of games that arent RPG loot grinds, but a lot of people enjoy those games and it is why the market is skewed to them. But if you look for 5 seconds you will see plenty of games that arent that. Your bitching is stupid and pointless and just shows you're too lazy to actually look around for games.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

@@PlebNC I'll take an actual video game over shitty fucking padded always online experiences or completely hollow roller coaster ride/movie style 2 hour experiences Any and every day of the week. I don't play games to watch movies, that's what movies are for.

[@henfjo]

No matter what opinion one might have of the future games. it's still incredible to see the effort that went into creating these games. It's always a massive challenge to create a game. And it is still amazing to see all the work that went into this.

[@Cykelpump33]

AcIT is GOAT material, idc what anyone says.

[@triledink]

@@Cykelpump33 A Crack In Time is in my opinion the greatest Ratchet and Clank game of all time and even one of the best games of all time.

[@fillerbunnyninjashark271]

But none of the future games felt like a complete ratchet and clank game... The music sucked too

[@Cykelpump33]

@@fillerbunnyninjashark271 Ok elitist

[@fillerbunnyninjashark271]

@@Cykelpump33 🥴

[@jakehorvitz]

My dad does the voice of the Zoni in this game, and so I was asked (as a then 10 year old) to come in for a beta test run of Quest for Booty. Among the focus group I was the only one who was highly critical of the game -- expressing shock at its length and honestly just general inferiority to normal Ratchet products. I still remember the Insomniac staff's near total shock at my criticisms -- idk why they thought gamers would be so oblivious to the flaws on this title, but I think that was sort of their whole approach as a studio at that time i.e. "distract them with enough cool stuff that they won't notice the plot holes, glitches, weak mechanics, etc.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

Huh, what a small world! I haven't had the chance to chat with many of the series' focus testers since...well as you know, a lot of the focus groups were the children of those involved in the projects already, so thanks for sharing this story with us! I have heard a couple similar comments from folks involved in production - that a few of the upper brass types at the time were perhaps too insulated and didn't immediately grasp or accept critical feedback.

[@coreylineberry8557]

No way. You're Richard Steven Horvitz' son? That's awesome! Love your dad's work.

[@BBWahoo]

I'm going to hazard a guess and say they ultimately took your critique to heart, it's not often you have someone give a take so candid, so out of left field, that it leaves the production staff in a state of temporary shock. I love your dads work btw, zim, billy and raz all wouldn't leave as strong an impression without your old mans signature raspy voice, very unique. 👏

[@jeferodriguez7136]

Your dad is one of my voice acting idols

[@ProsecutorZekrom]

I liked the game personally. It was a short one, but not that expensive to balance it out. The pirates were one of the best parts of TOD imo. There was a lot of variety here, with the standouts being hoolefar island, which put the focus on platforming and puzzles, and the dark morrow caverns with those walkways over bottomless pits. I would have been about that age (10) when I first played it. Didn’t notice any glitches, and I thought the new mechanics were good as they returned in CIT (the wrench’s ability to move things, and pick things up). Were there plot holes? I don’t remember any.

[@siphillis]

It's interesting to view Insomniac functioning like every other poorly-run AAA studio knowing how they've become the gold-standard today. I'd like to know what caused them to change, and how they pulled it off.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

The one thing I've tried to hammer in throughout this retrospective saga (and now that I'm thinking about it, I didn't exactly hammer it as well this time, oops), is that there's been a constantly evolving process at Insomniac to become better project managers. I know I used Ted Price's comment a bit snarkily as a joke at one point, but it seems unanimous that Tools was their smoothest production yet in spite of its issues, and that Resistance was the smoothest yet before that, and that (probably with the exception of QfB and CiT) every major project after that was handled better and more healthily than the one before it. It's why I try to present that info as more of a statement than a critique, because the studio has seemingly proven time and again that they're always trying to get better, even if they fall into some of the same pitfalls a couple times before it sticks.

[@javiergimenez40]

I think you are mistaken. if you check what was said, most of the things that were said was not that they were poorly managed(we don't have time, let's remove it even before we start. anyone who has worked as a programmer knows that's the opposite of poorly managed), but instead a hole in the writting department that broke anything. THESE GUYS WERE CONCURRENTLY MAKING 4 GAMES A YEAR!!!!! would you be even able to IMAGINE Naughty Dog doing something like that???? in fact, most of the gameplay seems to be just fine in the own video. Ok, the armor sucks, so what? all games have defects. also they still allowed for creativity, the starfox missions, even if they are starfox missions, would be unthinkable nowadays for example. You can point fingers in every project of everything, that doesn't mean that it's a bad game. the poor writter just had an insane task without enough people behind it. Never forget what happens when a writter changes mid history. Even loving the last jedi as myself, I cannot deny that not having a planned trilogy was a f*cking stupid idea, AND THIS GUY HAD TO DO IT. Give them a break

[@thenewmev.2077]

@@javiergimenez40insomniac has always been one of the best developers calm down bro

[@Jacob.Snyder]

Honey, it's time for the really enjoyable monthly Ratchet and Clank video essay!

[@jamesbrincefield9879]

This will always be my favorite Ratchet and Clank game. I totally understand the issues people have with it and it’s far from a perfect game, I just don’t care. It’s a lot of fun and I’ve beaten it more times than I can count. I remember playing it for the first time like two years after the PS3 launched and I had played a ton of other games and it was still the best looking PS3 game I had ever seen. It still looks amazing in my opinion and it’s just as fun as it was the first time I played it.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

At the end of the day, _that's_ what matters! I can talk about development or break down stuff critically, but the point universally remains that I'm giving these breakdowns because I like all of the games - and my no-frills analytical take doesn't always align with what my deep-down lizard brain thinks (which is usually "game good yay").

[@jamesbrincefield9879]

@@TheGoldenBolt when looking at them with an analytical eye you can poke massive holes in most games. Nothing’s perfect (besides Spelunky), but the sum of a game’s parts generally outweigh most singular problems for me. Even “bad” games usually have some unique and interesting ideas, they were just too ambitious for the hardware or the team making it. It’s only when those problems start to really stack up that games lose that sense of fun. If every game was a masterpiece we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the ones that really knock it out of the park.

[@vicedm1145]

Music is among the best I’ve ever heard also tbh. Paul fucking Hardcastle is a legend

[@aninfinitemindofmusicandreams]

@@vicedm1145 The ending song for ToD, the one that sounds like a Daft Punk song gives me all the feels. I can't listen to it these days without immediately feeling nostalgia for the days I had my PS3. This was among the first couple of games I bought for it after I got my PS3 in 07.

[@Rachebart]

When i played the trilogie first i cant like tools of destruction that much. It felt to me like a soft reboot. Where is the Phoenix where are the other characters ? Ratchets Design looks so ugly to me. The Story i liked it.

[@DJDarkDarsi]

I adore the lines of "When aren't they heavily armed" and "*clank giggle* Laser Grids"

[@hwelse]

The iconic Clank giggle.

[@Dr._Orange]

I find the balancing in this game to be very fascinating. The enemies actually do deal a fixed amount of damage for each planet in the game, it's just that it's way higher than it probably should be. For instance, the cragmites in the final level on challenge mode do almost 900 points of damage. I think the reason it feels like they do a percentage of your health is that the balance in this game seems to be a lot more tightly designed to make sure the player stays as close to the intended difficulty curve as much as possible. Where the previous games let you diverge a bit from the intended balance if you didn't go for all crates in a level, kill all enemies, or do all the optional challenges, or if you did some extra grinding for bolts/experience making you overleveled, this game tries to keep you as close to the expected nanotech/weapon levels as possible, usually by giving out a bit more experience and bolts if you missed some in the earlier levels. It's just that the game is designed to make you die in 2-3 hits, even with the best armor available, which I must admit can feel quite cheap sometimes. Also, the game does hint at Talwyn getting captured on Sargasso. It's just that it's done through mid-gameplay dialogue that sometimes gets cut off by other mid-gameplay dialouge. :/

[@redpandarampage2191]

Nice pfp

[@dmas7749]

well that's a little better at least

[@xero1048]

I actually loved the cliff hanger as a kid. I remember going back and playing the game over and over again to try and figure out what happened to clank.

[@iranoutofusernameideas7438]

Lol I did the exact same thing

[@Rachebart]

Lol i wasnt a kid anymore 😂

[@bobbichn6629]

I've wondered for so long what the deal with the PS3 Ratchet games was. Interesting to see the struggles that went along with production. You say it well, every Ratchet game hits maybe not the bullseye youre expecting but neverless a bullseye somewhere. Keep up the retrospectives!

[@ZeroDividesByYOU]

Love these long reviews and criticisms. I played all the original games on my friend's consoles at his house UNTIL Tools of Destruction and Crack in Time. I THOROUGHLY LOVED these games as a kid and even now. I truly love this game series but never even played Quest for Booty. I appreciate going back through all of these, and even though I was never going to get a PS4 or PS5, I'm very happy that the series is still going and that Rift Apart seems to be SO AWESOME and looks SO PRETTY. Thanks for all your hard work and effort making these! Can't wait to see more!

[@Ratchetti]

Quest for Booty was amazing imo, just wanted it to be longer xd

[@crispyjelly2485]

Did you end up playing the PC port?

[@ZeroDividesByYOU]

@@crispyjelly2485 I didn't know there was one! I did get the chance to play a little bit of Rift Apart on my friend's PS5 though

[@crispyjelly2485]

@@ZeroDividesByYOU right? It's on steam, a PS4/5 controller and a copy is probably better value then buying the whole console for one game. I'm going through and playing the PS3 games I didn't have a chance to play at the time so I can play rift apart, and I'm pretty excited for when I hit it

[@DisturbedBroski]

What I really like about your videos is its not just an examination of the game and its mechanics, but all its development history and all that. Great video, keep it up!

[@Dzzy123]

I really want Insomniac to wrap up Talwyn's character arc soon. If we find her father, Max Apogee, we could finally wrap up the entire "find the Lombaxes" saga. Max was last seen with Angela Cross so if we find him, we might find her as well.

[@MasterKombatBro]

100% no lie that song for some reason at the credit start makes me tear up everytime. Maybe it's the dissonance or something. But it has a weird power over me

[@BAIGAMING]

1:08:00 THANK YOU. That was an atrocious decision. Why have enemies deal a percentage of damage to you? What's the point of upgrading?

[@raze2012_]

Definitely sounds like a) a last minute scamble for endgame "balance" or b) a micommunication between the level and battle designers.

[@mrlowkey4187]

So fun fact, apparently when the Smuggler said he got the Gyro-sphere from a Lombax, he actually got it from Kayden, Ratchet’s father. The game does absolutely nothing with this.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

That was an angle I originally had scripted out, too! I ended up cutting it with a couple other side points since they're random dropped opportunities of little substance, and I didn't want to go COMPLETELY in the weeds when my point was already more than made by that point. I'm sure there are even others like this that you and I have both missed or forgotten, too! I love the Future saga but man, if you dig into it at all, it's Swiss cheese sometimes

[@aphelion7075]

I don't understand how you continue to pump out videos of this quality at such pace. Every single one if these retrospectives has managed to be thoroughly entertaining, and teach me things about games that I thought I knew everything about. These will be regular re-watches for me for years hahaha

[@TheGoldenBolt]

You're far too kind, my fr- Aphelion...huh, well, that's fitting! You're fat too kind, Aphelion, I really appreciate the nice words!

[@aphelion7075]

@@TheGoldenBolt I actually had forgotten that my username was named after Aphelion from this game. I miss that character in Rift Apart :( lol

[@aphelion7075]

It's actually quite interesting, as a kid I fell in love with the idea of Aphelion as a character, and just kept hoping they'd do something with it, and they never did. Kind of a shame now that you mention it.

[@giannigrand4928]

I check every few days to see if a new retrospective of one of my childhood games has been uploaded, really love how you go indepth and to see another fan of ratchet, keep going with this awesome content!

[@TheRealFTA]

2 hours? Damn, guess I’m skipping my son’s birthday party today!

[@TheGoldenBolt]

That's so weird, my dad didn't come to my birthday party today... d-dad?

[@mr.sunshine9295]

@@TheGoldenBolt that's weird, my dad also didn't come to my brother's birthday party today... B-brother

[@MrJayson204]

Fuck dem kids, me and the homies playing Ratchet and Clank all night.

[@Metalton95]

And he said he’d never make such a long video again in Ratchet 3’s Retrospective. So predictable 😎

[@AnarchyFoxMusic]

These are honestly my favourite videos on youtube, thank you so much for so much hard work going into a project that I never knew I always wanted

[@TheGoldenBolt]

Thanks so much for the kind words, my friend!

[@thomasrincones4612]

The only 2 hour video essay on KZbin I will ever watch because I know you will deliver a well researched and fair assessment of a franchise that shaped my childhood. Thank you for sharing your love and passion for these games. I remember being 10 years old asking my parents to buy me the Japanese physical version of Quest for Booty (at that age I liked having the box/still do) because I needed something to hold me over till Crack in Time. The Future Saga (although not perfect) is still my favorite replays of the franchise, and seeing the dimensionator return in Rift Apart brought back some of my best memories. Abandoning Angela hurt, but as a kid I just moved on because I thought ghost pirates were the coolest.

[@MrMarioschannel]

Your videos and retrospectives are criminally underrated and deserve so much praise, attention, and credit for all the hard work and research you strive to do for all of it man. Generally get excited when I see a new video of yours in my subscription box, found your channel sometime during 2020 quarantine and glad I did keep up the great work man I'll be rooting for you!

[@corytricker7422]

As someone who grew up with the Ratchet games and has such fond memories of replaying them over and over, I really appreciate the amount of hard work and detail you put into these retrospectives. You definitely deserve way more subs on this channel.

[@Drumpizza]

My excitement that you're almost to my favorite game in the series "A Crack In Time" cannot be understated. I have loved all of your videos in this series and I can't wait to watch all future ones.

[@GaaraN64]

I literally watched all your Ratchet and Clank videos in the last 2 days and i have to say you convinced me to play all of them again in order ^^ keep up the good work.

[@claytondykstra3301]

RAC1 was my first ps2 game and it became the first franchise of anything that I truly loved. Today, I'm a journalist who loves good research and behind the scenes content, so that probably puts me pretty close to the bullseye of your intended audience. And I so LOVE and appreciate these videos. To put my reaction to this video short: I think you're right but I don't like it. I 100% share your contention and fiery disappointment that Insomniac and the Future Saga took on this huge lore stories and then failed to do them justice or actually wrap them up. And it really stuck me painfully (as a writer) in the GC video that the studio plotted out the game without an actual writer. Gosh, so often I'm just left wondering...why?! Why did the games soften and lose their edge, why did the series waste away in the latter ps3 years and in the ps4 years, why does it seem like Insomniac gradually went with a younger intended audience as their fan base grew older (RAC2016 vs RAC1)?! And even after these videos and understanding the problems behind the scenes, they seem that much more avoidable. At the end of the day, though, I choose the 'better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all' approach. And a perspective change can do a lot. Story gaps can either be plot holes or space to apply some imagination. A huge story with no ending can mean years of fun dreams and conversations about what possible endings could look like. Extremely misplaced disco music credits can mean we get a good laugh about it a few years later. I sure got a laugh out of that mention! Regardless of how it all turned out, it was good enough (and also not good enough) for you and others to make videos like this and for people like me to watch them and simply enjoy seeing the thing we love getting talked about.. that it's still relevant.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

Spot-on, my friend. As critical as I am of specifically _how Future failed to achieve its own goals that it set,_ a lot of folks ended up missing that...y'know, I still really love these games for what they achieve anyway! But "game good" alone doesn't tell the whole story; we don't look at Mass Effect the same way after 3, or Game of Thrones the same way after Season 8, and I think there's a valuable perspective in acknowledging that hey, these games missed the very mark they were trying to set, despite being good anyway. After all, the fanbase just absolutely *trashes* the PS4 game for failing at its chief goals, despite that game otherwise being great fun too - if we're gonna do it in one spot, let's be fair and acknowledge that these games are _all_ great, but not A+ masterpieces.

[@Bordpie]

@@TheGoldenBolt I dunno, the way this video was put together made me feel like it was a terrible game with lots of shortcomings half the time, while I know for a fact that it's a good game from playing it several times (and plan to play it again on a plat marathon even though there are no trophies in this game) and that is general opinion of the reviewer anyway. It was kind of hard to watch the nitpicking for much of the video, which drowns out the positive elements. Talking about the knock on effects of the series ambitious and rushed development probably should have been explored fully in a separate video, rather than mixed into this retrospective, even if it is particularly relevent to this game, since it affected the whole future trilogy and beyond. This is the sort of thing which would be really interesting as a one off topic explored thoroughly in itself. What did go wrong and what are the key takeaways for game development in general. What *could* have been the full fleshed out games if they had time. *How* could it have been better than they are already, rather than just pointing out the holes in what was made. Perhaps Insomniac has taken on board many of its past mistakes which is why they are doing so well recently. I'm surprised they managed to produce what they did given the circumstances, every game seemed to have some hiccup along the way, and that is commendable in itself. If the situation were perfect then I'm sure we would have had better games, but that wasn't and rarely is the case. I think it's better to build anew, including repairing the old, rather than tearing it down. I have my own headcannon figured out for a lot of the inconsistencies in the lore, a lot introduced in the future series and the difficulty in tieing all the games together. Not yet having a conclusion to the future series set up is not a problem for me, just an unfortunate side effect of the poor performance of the late PS3 games and the 2016 game being hamstrung by the movie (I wouldn't be surprised if they just wanted to start over given all the issues); look now you made me nitpicky and critical of the series. Plot holes are opportunities to fill with new imagination. How satisfying will it be when it finally is tied up in a nice bow?

[@kwk-r7x]

I really hate Tachyon.... When you're trying to do a more serious epic story, you can't have a joke villain. He's supposed to be the guy who single-handedly orchestrated the defeat of the whole lombax race and killed Ratchet's father. Make him scary, portray him as a formidable threat. The "comedy" of Tachyon is so awkward because the story framing doesn't support it, and the jokes aren't even funny. Personally I don't even need Ratchet & Clank to be funny. If they want a more serious story, then I'd prefer it played straight without a bunch of forced random jokes.

[@BoydTheMilkmanX]

Yeah. That's how I found it. In Jak and Daxter for example I think they hit this balance pretty well: the story had lots of comedy but the core of the story remained serious and characters took it seriously. The entirity of Ratchet and Clank feels too much like a long poorly written excuse to tell bad jokes every two seconds and the jokes are all predictable. I don't think the games got me to laugh a single time; I just remember being bored watching the cutscenes whereas other games (J&D is an easy parallel purely because the pedigree of when both games came out etc) I can watch the cutscenes and be engaged every time./

[@ZanicaKnight]

I couldn't agree more

[@kirbytheartist3318]

I actually wouldn't mind Insomniac pulling A Crack in Time Nefarious and have Tachyon make a comeback, there's seriously alot of potential with him. Not to mention that Tachyon will have a excuse to be a total beast in a round 2 against Ratchet and Clank knowing that he has been stranded on another dimension for nearly 10 years now.

[@FlameOfUdun96]

@@BoydTheMilkmanX I disagree, the PS2 games were very funny

[@Slater2113]

I see I’ve found the no fun zone

[@Valtekken]

Honestly, for all its flaws and quirks and for all its differences compared to the OG quadrilogy...I still love the Future saga and wish we got a complete remastered package of ToD, QfB, ACiT and ITN. I haven't played those games in a long time and I'd love to have a reason to go back to them (that reason being trophies for the first two games and improvements for the other two). Next year is the 20th anniversary of the series, so maybe I'll get my wish then.

[@chimpmasterflex]

Crack in time is one of my favorites, if not my actual favorite, so eagerly looking forward to that video.

[@Gorophorge]

Boy I can't wait for the likely painful yet promising retrospective of my favorite game in the series, A Crack In Time. Especially since after seeing this my feeling for quest for booty went from "meh" to "I fucking hate you". I wish Insomniac would dabble with the space exploration of ACIT again, because the moon's are my favorite part of that game.

[@graydentucci1463]

I’m so surprised you never mentioned that Emperor Tachyon as a whole was in fact the 3rd recipient of the the “Snow Beast” Award

[@PuNkY-fr]

AAA video. Thank you for this very cool retrospective I love to follow.

[@raymanien]

Oh hey Punky, didn't know you loved Ratchet and Clank.

[@TayTheNeonNeko]

Amazing video as always, your videos always give me a greater appreciation for these games I love and I love learning about the developing of each one. This video does make me wonder what could have been for the Ratchet story had everything gone as originally planned.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

If I have any say, we'll find out _exactly_ what the Future saga was meant to look like initially! Whether I get a say is a different story lol

[@xcv625]

This whole series has been a spectacular watch, thank you for putting these together! The whole story behind Tools of Destruction and the Future series is so fascinating, I had no idea the production ran into so many unusual problems.

[@IsaqueReynaLuar]

I cannot believe I watched 2 hours of a guy talking about a game I've never even played... and enjoyed it. +1 sub

[@TheGoldenBolt]

I'm glad to have you on board, friend! But also, I do wanna say that if you have the means you should absolutely give the game(s) a shot yourself - as thorough as I try to be, nothing can replace experiencing something firsthand! (Especially when there are so many solid levels that I didn't discuss play by play, for the sake of avoiding repetition!)

[@IsaqueReynaLuar]

@@TheGoldenBolt Oh yeah, absolutely. I'm well aware that hearing about it and experiencing it are two different things, but it's gonna take a while before I get my hands on a copy of it. But I am watching a let's play of it, and so far I can say it looks pretty fun (And really pretty for the PS3)

[@maestrofeli4259]

The thing about the grummelnet vendor was kinda funny, I never knew about that little detail lol Also consider putting a link to this video in the top comment of the deadlocked retrospective, it'll help some people find it more easily!

[@TheGoldenBolt]

I knew I forgot something during my pre-publish checklist, good shout!

[@maestrofeli4259]

@@TheGoldenBolt you're welcome!

[@CantusTropus]

This is the first part of the Retrospective series where I never played the game in question as a child and thus have no nostalgia for it. I've always been curious about what happened to R&C between the games I loved as a kid and now, so I'm really looking forward to it!

[@erikfinki949]

I only watched the intro and I can't bring my head around. You deserve so much more praise for your videos.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

I appreciate the kind words, my friend!

[@jumponeverything]

I was waiting for the usual "I'm a little tea pot" and I was not disappointed

[@atpyro7920]

Every time I hear it I die laughing.

[@ChristianFrates1997]

Tip me over and I’ll smash everything!

[@Vinman1509]

@@ChristianFrates1997 “he’s all twitchy and bug eyed”

[@Alexjep93]

This retrospective series is so well researched, thought out and put together. 👏 keep up the good work, I'm waiting eagerly for a crack in time

[@MrDegan2]

another fantastic installment, the level of detail you go into is commendable. out of curiosity will you be covering the PSP games? I know they are very much the red-headed step child of ratchet and clank but would love to know the background on them

[@TheGoldenBolt]

The PSP games are on the docket, although not right away! I skipped over them specifically to give myself time to get the full development story. Doing it with the Insomniac games was an incredible amount of work, but I at least had ideas of where to start. The only starting points I have for interviews and research with the PSP games...are actually a result of some of the interviews I did for Ratchets 2 and 3, funnily enough, so I've got a lot of work cut out for me!

[@senorbill374]

​@@TheGoldenBolt yo that's epic looking forward to that Keep up the good work and take all the time you need :^)

[@melaniemisa2577]

Thank you so much for making these retrospectives. This background info is incredibly interesting and you present your opinions in such an engaging way that I didn't care that the video was 2 hours long! There's so many little things that make me see these games in a different light and give me a lot to reflect on. I'm really looking forward to the Crack in Time retrospective!

[@superspyjim]

TOD was my first ratchet and clank game and I loved it, I bought a crack in time and thats probably my favourite RaC game ever, nexus was alittle weaker but I still loved it. I grew up with the futer saga and dispite its flaws It will still be one of my favourite game series.

[@Hiihtopipa]

You can hear it even in the name ”nexus” every other has some sort of pun in the name ”up in arsenal” ”going commando” which is interesting to me. Like yeah lets not bother with the title coz we did not with the game.

[@marvelanddcretrospective]

@@Hiihtopipa tools of destruction and gladiator didn't have an innuendoes

[@Hiihtopipa]

@@marvelanddcretrospective tools of destruction? C'mon :D

[@Hiihtopipa]

@@marvelanddcretrospective you can't be that simple

[@marvelanddcretrospective]

@@Hiihtopipa eh it's kind of there if you really stretch it

[@scotty2hotty415]

I absolutely love these types of videos, and I love your videos specifically because they break my favorite gaming franchise down to atoms! It's super interesting to see since I was just a kid playing these games and never looked at them deeper than "this game is super pretty and fun!" Keep up the great work man! Thank you again!!

[@goldensun03]

Love these retrospective videos. Honestly i just wish insomniac would just acknowledge in game lore wise that angela cross isnt a true lombax that shes a genetic hybrid in an attempt to bring back lombaxes.

[@raze2012_]

I don't mind either way lorewise. Leaving only 1 or 2 lombaxes left doesn't diminish what happened. Idk why Insomniac never just outright said "we forgot, we're sorry". Even the "we're sorry" line doesn't seem to have them admitting the real reason behind it. They seem so upforth about so many other worse things that happened back in the days.

[@trajectory7235]

Love ur detailed retrospectives. This might possibly be the longest YT video I've watched in one go, and I have a short attention span. Great work

[@DominoPivot]

This was a harsh but fair look at the series. Thanks for the ambitious video ;P

[@shisuko3112]

Your channel has revived my love for the series. Repaired a PS3 a while ago and am currently replaying all of the R&C games. As a kid I've always wanted to play next gen Ratchet and Clank on the PS3 and now, even though it's a bit late, I am still enjoying the games. I do see the cracks you're talking about and the shattered potential of a Crack in Time.

[@TheLetsPlayBaseballCurse]

Hi! I'm new to the channel and recently watched the retrospectives on the Ratchet series, culminating in this one. I've learned a LOT about the development of the franchise I love, and while a lot of it hasn't been fun to hear about, it's been necessary to hear. Thank you for this video and series, and I can't wait to learn more.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

To that end, it's not always fun to write or record, either, but like you said it's necessary! Plus, sometimes I've got to put aside my own personal stances too, in the name of taking a fair stance at points - so in another world I'd very much be the guy in the comments pointing out that a lot of it can be nitpicky lol. I'm glad to have you along for the journey, my friend!

[@Hengagenga]

I just wanna say I really like watching these long in depth videos about games I like and I appreciate you doing these in the high quality you do

[@flowerthencrranger3854]

Ah yes, a 2 hour analysis of the first game I ever played, time to get popcorn :)

[@oxdaman1]

Honestly, the main takeaway I get from this is that the reason Tools of Destruction wasn't as good as it could have been is because all the higher-ups cared about was money. It wasn't the project made with love that most creators want to make, it was simply a rush job that most likely stressed the hell out of all involved. I didn't hate the ToD game, though I barely remember it, with the only thing I do remember being the crappy ending and dlc game. Still, this was an interesting watch. Great vid.

[@HipnikDragomir]

37:25 brilliant connection/pacing here. Your essays are fantastic, even if I don't agree 100% of the time

[@johnnybacklog]

I don't love Tools of Destruction, but I actually liked the cliff hanger. At the time it was mysterious and added a layer to the Zoni. A layer that I wanted to peel back in the next game. One thing I like about this video is the general hyperbolic description of the fan base's opinions or thoughts. Perhaps we were just in different circles, but no one even cared about Ratchet in mine after UYA. Good game, bad game, bad cliffhanger, good cliffhanger, whatever. There was a general lack of care about the entire franchise from the "fans" I knew. I think most fans jumped off board with the tonal change here and didn't even care if the next game followed up a cliffhanger or not. I kind of like how this video makes it seem like the world cared about Ratchet as much as I did. Looking forward to the ACiT video. I consider it my favorite game in the series after UYA. Excited to hear your thoughts on it.

[@thebrodator]

My favorite Ratchet and Clank game, though it was interesting to hear your criticisms

[@BlueMagicite]

Wow, thanks for these retrospectives. I'm really glad you put in the effort to get to know the development history of these games. The stories that make these games are often tied to the dev teams that work on them, so hearing about the development history helps in reminding people of the human element that goes into making all these games. And honestly, it's just fascinating getting to know the struggles, and ultimately the achievement, of seeing a group of people get a project out. The 90s and 2000s platformer boom may have saturated the market, but it'd be a bit of lie to say that there weren't some ambitious and earnest creative attempts by many eager dev teams. Platformers are such an odd yet great opportunity to allow for a game's world to be explored and the attempts of that era, at least in retrospect, were admirable.

[@abdallahali2]

I was literally playing tool of destruction just 30mins ago but your vids are AWESOME

[@Wolfstarzan]

I hate so much that ToD is the only Ratchet and Clank game from PS3 that's not on PSNow and I don't have a PS3 here. Hope so much for a port or something for the 20th anniversary 😢

[@abdallahali2]

@@Wolfstarzan play it on ps3 emulator if you have a powerful pc

[@ReesetYT]

Enjoying these giant uploads. Nice work.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

Thank you my friend, I'm glad you're enjoying 'em!

[@BlueTurn]

I just be thus game last month. I like it quite alot. It was my first playthrough of it. I really liked it compared to all the other ratchets I had played. Im currently playing through crack in time. Cant wait for your video on that

[@sminb.3144]

This videos series is like a dive back into my childhood! I grew up with this video game series (up until PSP games) and your series gives me so much for my happy little nerd heart. Thank you, I certainly subscribed (your whole channel is just my childhood summoned up)!

[@ryanharris9210]

"We see him fumbling or falling over under the weight of his big.. fucking head." That line had me actually spit out coffee the way you sunk it to the video, well done. Super well done video, amazing research. Really glad someone like you spends the time to make quality videos on my favourite childhood gaming series.

[@Dirvinator]

I made the mistake of playing Tools of Destruction (and A Crack in Time) right before Rift Apart came out... probably wasn't the best idea playing 2 magnum opus' before a new entry in the series. FANTASTIC VIDEO AS EVER!!!

[@TheGoldenBolt]

I'm really glad, in my case, that I played Tools _before_ Rift Apart, because Rift's gameplay has spoiled me just a smidge. I'm more than able to get past that of course, when it comes to looking at each game in its own historical context, but I'm glad I got through one big run of most of the games first before seeing where the gameplay is going to evolve next!

[@triledink]

People have mixed opinions on Tools of destruction and its leadup to the legendary game A crack in time. I have never had any problems with Tools of destruction. The switch between the ''seriousness'' in the lore of the future game made the game a bit more mature in my opinion, not saying that the ps2 games did not have it, but TJ fixman did such a great job giving the game a proper story compared to the group of people making up the story for the ps2 games, Though the switch between the lore of the ps2 games to ps3 games came with a bit of retconning, but I still appreciate all the hard work Insomniac put in to the future games. A crack in time is one of my favorite game of all time and Ratchet and Clank is my favorite playstation series ever made.

[@aerostrafe1075]

I don't know. I never really like to say adding "seriousness" makes anything more mature. It really just depends on whats done with that serious context. Tools doesn't do much with its serious aspects outside of have them there.

[@AD-nv7nw]

Thank you for putting so much love into my favorite video game franchise of all time

[@BensyBens]

Tools Of Destruction is not only my favorite game in the franchise it’s also one of my top 3 favorite games. I know the flaws of ToD and the rest of the future saga but i got good memories from this franchise from the first games on ps2 to the future era games to today with rift apart. ToD is the game that’s make me stay with Playstation, since i was a little kid i was a Playstation guy my first video game was spyro 2 on the ps1 and my first ps2 game was ratchet 2 but I’ve played the first game at friends before i got my console back in 2003 and i got my ps3 back in march 2009 on my birthday with street fighter 4, metal gear solid 4 and ratchet & clank tools of destruction. The first game i ever got physically with my own money was quest for booty (and a physical copy because sie europe published games in my country). Yeah i know tj fixman made a lot of bs but i think ToD is one of his best work after mess like A4O or the movie and the movie tie-in game. There are some of stuff you didn’t mention in this video like the connection of this game with extreme makeover: home edition with a Captain James cheat skin for mr zurkon or the secret skin of prisoner ratchet from SAC that’s you unlock by a cheat code. And i know quest for booty is not a fan favorite but i like it just recently i beat it in hard mode and that’s was challenging. Maybe we can disagree with stuff on the video but I’m glad you did this retrospective for my favorite video game franchise and talk about this game because when people talking about ratchet & clank people always gonna talk about the ps2 games, ps4 movie tie-in or rift apart. Without tools of destruction we didn’t got a crack in time (people still calling it the best in the franchise) we didn’t got nexus and we didn’t got rift apart. All i want to say thank you Golden Bolt. Your content always make me happy and appreciate the good of the community of the ratchet fandom.

[@rreemmllii]

just found one of your ratchet and clank videos by chance in my recommended and god i was blown away, Amazing production, editing, narration etc. Your channel deserves so much more recognition

[@blu3ntv]

id like it if the ark after ratchet finding the lombaxes is complete, we get a story ark about finding apogie and finding out what happened to angela, they can fix all their past mistakes, mention how ratchet thought female lombaxes had no tail, since the pirate radio said so, and then giving a backstory to how angela just lost her tail, they can say that forgetting angela was just a coping mechanism for ratchet. it wouldn't have to be a long story ark, even just one game would be fine, but i'd like to see angela back, and for talwin to accomplish her mission, and i?d like to see what those 2 went through even if its lust illustration like the cutcene where rivet lost her arm

[@tomlambert4841]

Great video ! alot of background information about what was going during the creation of tools I had no idea about. Look forward to the crack in time video!!

[@arijan-itanmuratovic7495]

I´m certain this WILL be your best video essey so far and all of them have been bangers!

[@slimcognito5327]

Amazing video as always! I never knew about the behind the scenes issues. That's why I love these retrospectives of yours, they give me insight on the development of these games. I haven't played ToD in 9 years now so this video brought back alot of memories, thank you for that.

[@NoName-tt9ye]

I actually bought Quest for Booty not knowing that it is only 2hours long. You can imagine my disapointment when the end credits rolled :C

[@motherlove8366]

I got it for Christmas.

[@AlfheimGames]

I'm so excited for your next video. These have reminded me of my childhood playing the first 4 games with my brother. It gives me such a feel good sensation and nostalgia. I've learned so much about the games I've played and now about one I didn't. I love what your doing with this series on ratchet and clank so much that I immediately had to subscribe. Ps please keep doing the "say it with me" bits I love them.

[@Diphenhydra]

Took a break from youtube for a few weeks and come back to this. Couldn’t have been uploaded at a better time. Before I watch this I wanna say, even though I grew up with the ps2 games, I’ve always been more fond of the future series and really liked the direction they took the story. Crack in time is still my favourite game I’ve ever played, can’t wait to see that retrospective. Also, I’ve always been disappointed that this game never got an update for a trophy list. And a question. Do you plan on making a video for quest for booty?

[@TheGoldenBolt]

Quest for Booty is probably coming sooner than you think! 😉

[@Diphenhydra]

@@TheGoldenBolt I see, it happens in this video. Might I say, I am always impressed by the amount of research you do for these videos and laying out as much of the development timeline as you can. It’s also interesting how troubled this series has seemed to be but continues to sell playstations and hold a place in players hearts. Though, having played rift apart myself, it does seem that the charm is starting to wear off.

[@P1NKPVNK_]

Great retrospective! Cant wait for the 8 month long A4O/FFA retrospective after the 5 hour long A Crack in Time retrospective!

[@waldevv]

I absolutely loved the PS3 ratchet and clank games, even the weird ones like all4one. A Crack in Time is an absolute masterpiece, nostalgia aside I think it's my favorite of the whole series. The controls in these games are just so smooth but they refined them to perfection in CiT and story-wise it's my favorite. Whenever I have more time I am definitely completing the entire series starting from the first game all the way to the PS4 version since I don't have a PS5

[@Xorat]

Really loved this video. 2 hours flew by. I am replaying all of the games currently in the emulators and it is so nice so have your commentary and your resaerch while i play the games game by game. Thank you for this gem and the ones from before.

[@austinskywalker92]

Whew, this was A LOT to take in and damn, I had no idea that such things happened behind the scenes. Now I understand why the title of this is the cost of ambition. I am in no rush to see a Crack in time, though you said your working on another project. I Honestly thought it's ghost of Tsushima again but doubtful really, since that didn't work out as you said it yourself. Still I could be wrong, whatever it is, we shall see soon enough.

[@TheGoldenBolt]

I'll at least confirm that it's not Ghost yet - I haven't even had the chance to start Iki Island, thanks to this project taking a bit longer than I hoped! I do wanna come back to Ghost, but I anticipate it'll be another while off. It's not gonna be a "next up" project because of that creative block, I'll just chip at it on the side until it's ready to record, and then I'll surprise everybody with it - myself included!

[@austinskywalker92]

@@TheGoldenBolt happy to hear it! I can wait on it, I haven't started the expansion yet myself so it makes two of us.

[@felman87]

Totally agree with you on there being kind of a tonal whiplash with Future's ending. Granted, my suggested fix isn't as grand as yours. So, right now the ending goes from Happy at Ratchet succeeding, Sadness from Clank being abducted and back to Happy again with the credits. My fix would just combine the two Happy sections together and then finish things up with a Sad. So you have the jubilation at having defeated Tachyon, credits, then at the end of the credits, you have Clank being abducted. That way you go Happy, Happy Sad and it flows better. That's essentially what Marvel movies do (though Future came out in 2007, before any of them would come out). Finish the plot, run credits, then you're free to set up any sequels through some teasers that only the dedicated who bothered to watch the credits would get.

[@Liam-g9i2l]

This could have easily been solved by making just one game, instead of seven.

[@aidenburgess217]

just realised you only have 34k subs and my jaw litterally dropped, I thought you were atleast over 100k, nearing 1mil

[@littlebigx1106]

What I do like throughout the game is that Diaper Boy Tachyon is established through his legions of Drophyds and the announcer voice over the intercoms listing yet another weird dictatorship/authoritarian rule the citizens of that world must follow. It happens to almost all the planets you go to that Tachyon established his rule. That alone always gave me the sense, that while Tachyon was comical in his size and strenght, he was a strategical genius that pulled the strings behind the scenes (apart from the mustachio furioso thing, which was stupid yet hilarious) xD But yeah, while his encounters with the duo leave something to be desired, the effects he has on the locations you visit in these games is incredibly prevalent and it adds a lot to the character and the worldbuilding in my opinion.

[@TheWordPlay]

Another great analysis! When I was younger I remember being enamored by an HD Ratchet and Clank, so when TOD came out I was floored by the visuals. But with each playthrough I felt something was off but couldn't put my finger on it til this video (the slower run speed compared to the PS2 games, the lack of multiplayer, back to back cliffhangers, etc) It blows my mind how Insomniac was able to release anything after hearing these behind the scenes development stories. It does leave me wondering what they could make without having to face crunch

[@TheGoldenBolt]

First, thank you! And second, the short answer to what Insomniac could make without crunch is Spider-Man (presumably) and Rift Apart! Based on the developers that spoke out a few months back, we know with relative confidence that Rift Apart was crunch-free (at least, unless and until somebody speaks out saying otherwise, which you would anticipate would've happened given how some former team members spoke out about upper Insomniac staff wanting to make Rivet a bit more...let's say "eye candy" initially). I'd think that Spidey would likely be in the same boat, since it feels and seems like they've finally gotten their production process down to the science they wanted years ago, but obviously we can't confirm that without more research.

[@aerostrafe1075]

My issue with the future series is a personal one. I just don't care for the "special one" type of story in any genre. Its hard for me to find someone who is selected by the universe at birth to do great things interesting. Its why I started to fall off from Naruto closer to the end since he pretty much became the person reincarnated from greatness with the crap thrown in about Asura and Indra. The same thing happened with Ichigo in Bleach since by the end he has every single thing a person can be in that world in his powerset. Ratchet is the last of his race of a super race of super good people who were all amazing heroes fighting to destroy the most evil beings that were evil. That is not that interesting. It might be for some but it is not for me.

[@Ireallywouldrathernot]

If it helps, I think the series is looking to move away from that again. I also hate that kind of story line, but other stuff in the games kept me going with it anyway. Anyway, after playing Rift Apart I think they might be looking to get away from the "last of his kind" + "chosen one" narrative".

[@kokorogensou]

yeah that always bugged me too like. ratchet doesn't need a hokey origin story tacked onto him to explain why he's the protag who saves the galaxy, he's just a guy who just happens to be one of the only competent people in the galaxy (alongside his buddy clank) because everyone else is either jerks or weirdos. describing ratchet like that makes him a hell of a lot more interesting than "he's the super special last of his kind and his dad died protecting him"

[@RussRobo]

Played the first four games as a kid, loved em. I couldn't play the ps3 era because by that time I had to start helping with the bills. So it's really nice to see how that decade of gaming that I really wasn't around for turned out. Thank You.

[@danrosalina]

Oh no, this is the first I'm hearing of Crack in Time being cut down and now I'm a little bit sad. One of my favourite games could've been even better? Hopefully Rift Apart's selling well enough to give the franchise a second wind.

[@christiangottsacker6932]

I had to sub. This is honest journalism. The presentation was a triumph. Im going to watch your whole collection.

[@ekimmak]

23:54 The problem with devices, I personally think, is that they just were less efficient to use. I could kill an enemy and get weapon experience, and easily restock it with crates around the level... or I could use a device, that has no benefit to being used except ending the enemy in front of me. Easy to see why they got axed.

[@Toksyuryel]

Not to mention extremely limited ammo that is hard to find. It's fitting that Zirkon and Groovatron are the only ones they kept going forward, because those were also the only ones I ever used.

[@SDsliphrix32]

i love these retrospectives, the effort put into them is amazing. not much more to say on the future saga except i got so much whiplash from it switching between stupid and goofy to cool and interesting back when i first played it that i still feel the tension in my neck and pain in my heart

[@gregorywilkinson5731]

Had no idea cronk and zephyr represented the xbox and the ps3. Gonna pay way more attention to their dialogue now

[@damocles7406]

Half the dialogue? In exchange for Quest For Booty? Wow. I felt that pain in my soul.

[@MajaEmilieWinkler]

Personally this is where the franchise loses me, with the drastic change in tone, style and writing. However it is really really cool to see the development from your videos and certainly gives me respect for this game! Thank you for all the effort you put into these theyre currently my favourite youtube series to follow :)

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

"Personally this is where the franchise loses me, with the drastic change in tone, style and writing." Same, this was the last one I played before the reboot came out and that was even worse.

[@Rachebart]

@@KaiserMattTygore927 yeah same later when the reboot comes out i played the whole series again. First ps2 games and than i started the future saga with tools of destruction. I enjoyed it. But i dont like the future saga as much i love the ps2 games. And bruhhhh the ratchet design gots worse and worse. Crack in time for me have the best design.

[@offeryoursoul]

I’m glad to hear the contextualized background story to why I had always felt something was a tad off with this game. I loved it even as an adult, but did have some of these moments seem weird to me. Always love to learn these things as I’m moving forward in the playlist.

[@hattoripool1533]

I really hope they give us enhanced remastered versions of the ps2 and ps3 ratchet and clank games for the ps5

[@waspywasp451]

I would love that so much. Some kind of port for the PS4 and PS5 will finally let me play these games lol

[@Qardo]

Well, you kind of play these games on PS4 and PS5 (if you have one as they are rarer than a Lombax) with PS Now. A streaming service that is rather robust and extremely worth the money. Just need to make sure you have some good internet. As most games may need to stream than just download and play.

[@BensyBens]

@@Qardo the problem is the ps2 games and tools of destruction are not on ps now

[@Qardo]

@@BensyBens Well, that is true. As the version on PS Now is the PS3 port.......and we all know now it was a rather terrible port.

[@BensyBens]

@@Qardo the 20th anniversary of the franchise is next year everything can happen. We can get re-releases of the ps2 era and the future saga on ps4/ps5 as a collection or get the jak & daxter treatment with digital emulated ps2 titles with limited run games physical copies or nothing. The ps2 hd collection thats released on ps3 and vita will never gonna come to ps now.

[@EngineEconomics]

This game will always have a special place in my heart as my favorite ratchet game. Perhaps purely on nostalgia alone. Christmas vacation of 2007, all I did was play this game! It was my biggest dream to get a PS3 at that time and this game was absolutely euphoric especially after I had played Up Your Arsenal at least 100 times. All things considered I think it’s an amazing ratchet experience. I love your series on this by the way, I’ve been waiting so long for this one to drop!

[@Ulraspider]

Loved the music of the groovitron but it would’ve been a crime if I didn’t hear your theme in the intro XD.

[@pummelweed784]

In defense of Tools of Destruction, Ratchet and Clank honestly never took itself too seriously, it was always about wise cracking humor and characters designed around exaggerated stereo types. The main villain turning out to be a big baby with bug guns is completely on point for this franchise.

[@SecretlyZero]

When it comes to Angela, I just pretend that Ratchet acted like he's never met another Lombax to keep her safe. I mean, He's in a unexplored territory in a new Galaxy, surrounded by people that wouldn't think twice before luring him to Tachyon for their own personal gain (the Smuggler ejected him into space just to save himself). I mean, he didn't even trust Clank in that game, so I think it'd make a lot of sense.

[@redpandarampage2191]

As a fan of the franchise (mainly the ps2 era) I appreciate the effort this channel puts into these videos. Great commentary and researching of the behind the scenes. Pretty interesting stuff how much ToD actually impacted the trajectory of the series to this day.