*DEADLOCKED RETROSPECTIVE:* ua-cam.com/video/cHsramwwQfo/v-deo.html Thank you so much for watching! If you enjoyed the video, please consider sharing it around with your friends, family, your community - every bit truly does help with projects as huge as this one! And if you want to watch more long-form retrospectives just like this, I have great news for you: I've got a bunch already on my channel, and many more on the way, so make sure to subscribe and check those out! I also want to give a special thanks to the former Insomniacs that took the time to speak with me about their time at the studio and working on this game - they've been a monumental help in allowing me to tell as full a story as I have today. These developers include Mike Stout, Moo Yu, Tim Trzepacz, Tony Garcia, and those that chose to remain anonymous. These folks and everybody at Insomniac poured their blood, sweat, and tears into these projects, and I'm glad to have a small part in sharing their stories where I can.
Finally another person who has played this game just as much as I did growing up. For years this was my only ratchet and clank game along side deadlocked because my other ones turned up missing. So I perfectly get what you mean when you said just how much you love this game but at times wish it didn't lose some of the older elements in the series.
Its kind of ironic that the arenas, which were originally designed to be bullet hell non-stop combat, ended up having some of the only platforming in the game
Wow these retrospectives are more like expanded documentaries for each game, it's amazing. Good balance between opinion pieces, development history and gameplay/story segments.
@@lukastemberger i have the ps vita too, but the game is impossible to have under 40,50 € in my country (france ), and i cant buy the one on the store because my ps vita is already full...
@@raraforever8770 Well, my Vita is cracked, so I have every game on the PSN store for free... What do you mean your Vita is full? You can delete the games you're not playing right now...
I'm genuinely appreciative of you using part of the review of your favourite game to address the proliferation of game development crunch, even within studios run by well-intentioned people, and even knowing how regarded they are as an employer nowadays; learning first-hand about the kind of stress and overwork that went into a pillar of your childhood must not have been easy to hear. With what I know of Kamiya I doubt I'd be able to stomach having that same level of info about Okami's development.
It's not the most fun to level the art and artist, but at the same time it's something that you always kind of had to expect was a little bit the case. But I'd rather know the most that I can and share that out, because more than anything it showed me here that the passion shined through - even those with little nice to say still loved the work they did.
One of the things that got me, after all these years is how the first person throughout the whole narrative to complement Ratchet is Nefarious nearly 2/3 of the way into the game. It’s both a testament to how crappy everyone in Solana is, and to Ratchet’s development as a character that he manages to do his job without going on a justified tirade about his lack of respect.
"After putting it in slim cognito's slot, Ratchet and Clank split up and work together in one of the coolest sections in this entire game" this is also funny.
We don't know what you're going through right now... But remember, there will be a rainbow after these rainy days when the sun is shining again. I wish you all the best man.
This, and the previous two retrospectives, were phenomenal. Can't wait for the 14 hour retrospective on what is, hands down, my favourite Ratchet game in the entire series (mainly because I DID play the hell out of the multiplayer as a kid)
Hearing about Insomniac performing that level of crunch is pretty heartbreaking to me. Insomniac is one of my favorite developers of all time. And it does hurt to know that they let crunch culture get the better of them. That being said, I am also happy to know that they did learn from this mistake and genuinely made an effort to correct it in future projects.
My opinion on the studio started to shift back and forth a couple times during the research part of this video, but I'm incredibly glad that there's some sort of lesson learned here - especially since these issues end up defining why so many players don't care as much for UYA nowadays versus when it came out.
Don't know when you guys are gonna just have to accept crunch everyone does it even when they say they don't you really think insomniac did almost 3 games at the same time with no crunch to have 2 release with barely any bugs it's a fact sadly
This studio's most recent game was made without crunch. It's literally the reason I highlighted it so heavily here: If this studio can go from horrendous, underreported development crunching, to now shipping 2.5 games in 7 months _without_ crunch, in a pandemic while shifting to work from home suddenly? Guess what, it can be done anywhere, studio heads and project managers just need to do their job ethically. But go ahead, go off!
I know they said it but I don't believe them even though I love insomniac remember when cd project red said they don't do crunch? Everyone does it even if it's a prior little
@@TheGoldenBolt I can expect most game studios were doing some sort of crunch and were doing it on purpose and never got out. This sounds like it was growing pains and tbh you made it sound like they did it on purpose. I loved the retrospective and it made me respect the devs. Just you need to look at every game from that era with that same light.
I'm glad you gave this game so much praise. It's my favorite of the trilogy and maybe in the entire series. I think it's my most played Ratchet and Clank game. I love the game's humor, especially the running gag with Dr. Nefarious's soap opera malfunctions.
The ratchet 3 port is so rushed they forgot to remove the level select/weapon unlock code. Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square. unlocks weapons in the pause menu by hovering above the weapon slot by pressing L3 (left analog stick).
I had no idea about the crunch culture going on behind the scenes. I recall Tim Trzepacz commenting on one of your previous videos; my heart goes out to him for his experiences and I don't blame him for leaving. Crunch is a serious issue in the industry that really needs to be addressed - there have already been cases of developers being hospitalized due to being overworked - and it's important to keep talking about it. The "reverse microtransactions" line definitely made me laugh. Excellent video! I'm looking forward to more.
The worst part about crunch is when it happens, and the game still isn't complete. I'm looking at you, Cyberpunk. I really wish CDProjecktRed had just delayed to 2021 the first time. It needed the delays, more than customers wanted the game released.
I reeeeally want to know what exactly happened with the flying sections of UYA. All the hints point that something spicy happened...but no one wants to tell!
You're entire backstory as a kid. Just coming home and beating the game casually before bed resonates with me so much because I literally did the same thing. I've beaten the game well over a 100 times. And I would literally come home. Beat the game. Then go to bed. 😂Yo I'm just glad I'm not the only one who was that obsessed with this game
I did the same with ratchet gladiator and size matters on psp... that game sucks ass but still just kept playing it over and over again (and still never 100% it)
This was a great video, probably the most detailed and in depth on a much cherished video game from our childhoods. I appreciate all the work that went into it!
Great video, getting to hear about so much behind the scenes work and developer experiences on one of my favourite games of the PS2 era has given me a different type of appreciation for the game and Insomniac as a whole. The fact that those issues with crunch resulted in lessons learned and improvements to how the company handles future projects, instead of being treated as excuses for crunch like "Bioware magic," makes this a much more positive case when talking about crunch culture. Insomniac has also pretty openly touted that Rift Apart actively avoided crunch, and given the game's positive reception, I'd say that they're on their way to setting a strong example in the AAA industry that could contribute to helping reform modern crunch culture and promoting a healthier work environment. That is if they manage to keep up the current company attitude.
This was an excellent look at Ratchet 3! I knew that the game had a pretty rushed development from watching the developer commentary on the game by Useless Podcasts, but I had no idea about the stuff regarding the younger workers. I can only imagine how stressful it would've been believing that they needed to live up to the expectations set by the top employees on the team. I haven't watched your videos on the previous two games as of right now, but I'm going to when I get the chance!
I think the sewer labyrinth is a great improvement over the crystal hunting in Going Commando, not least because the enemies aren't so hard that you'll constantly die and have to start over. That it's so linear was no detriment in my book; I put on some Prodigy and blasted through this labyrinth, allowing me to earn enough bolts for the most costly items in the game.
"She always seemed so sweet and innocent in her videos. WELL except that one with the *unts ts ts- unts ts ts- unts ts- youknowwiththe- uuuhnn!"* Best line in the game.
Thank you for all the hard work you put into this video and the series of retrospectives. I have legit learned so much about one of my favourite ratchet games and have a new appreciation for it and this video is the reason why
Thanks so much for the kind words, my friend! If there's anything I try to do with these, it's bring a little bit of teaching and new info beyond just the usual retrospective/analysis stuff, so I'm always stoked to hear that that extra mile paid off!
The perspective during the Queen bossfight at 52:11, would that count as playing the game in second person? Trying to wrap my head round it haha, great vid as always dude
Think of it as this. You're the camera and the player character is the subject referred to in relation to you who is the camera. 1st person - Me 3rd person - Him/Her 2nd person - You What makes the 3rd and 2nd different is with 3rd person you the camera aren't a person itself therefor technically not present so when addressing the player character It's simply him since it's not directly to them. With 2nd you the camera are now a person that can interact directly and would refer to the player character as "you", because you are there with the player as another person. And of course for 1st person you, the camera and the player are both the same person, which would be called me.
Nick Robinson made a video about this, and concluded Driver: San Francisco was the only game he could think of that had a "2nd person" sort of experience to it, as you were being chased by your pursuer from the pursuer's perspective, but controlling yourself. I guess this game (and probably others) did it earlier.
I gotta make a point on what you mentioned with why Nefarious attacked Veldin. Qwark was at this point nowhere to be found, and Nefarious was bent on revenge before turning everyone into robots. Seeing as Veldin is a remote planet with few inhabitants, it would make sense for him to attack there in case Qwark was hiding there.
I just thought of an interesting way they could have reworked the "Weapon level up" crate. So what if instead, when broken, it *temporarily* leveled up ALL of your weapons? Say for 30 seconds all weapons got +1 levels. That means you could actually put them in a lot more locations than the other two crates. But also, you could make a "Level 6" for over-powering your max level weapons - It could be as simple as a palette swap with a damage boost, but it'd still be awesome and radical to use. Whether using it to make your max level gun OP, or to boost your lowest-level gun's level temporarily to farm XP, it'd be super fun.
Man the amount of work you put into these retrospectives is amazing! It's weird how UYA feels so polished in some areas (gameplay and a strong narrative), yet rushed at the same time. The talk about crunch was hard to hear since I loved everything about the company back then, but I'm glad Insomniac learned from it
My primary issue with this game's combat is enemy types. With such a combat-heavy game that doesn't use platforming that much for pacing and with an already set arsenal and mechanics fully laid out, what you have to do next in order to keep it interesting is just to introduce interesting enemy types that utilize the existing arsenal and mechanics appropriately. Sadly, this didn't do that.
The sewers were my favorite area in the game. I absolutely loved getting lost in the winding tunnels. Finally getting to a crystal but being on the wrong side of the slime wall and having to backtrack. And finally getting the thing that tracks the crystals and clearing out the caves fully.
Its honestly a miracle that despite a rushed deadline by Sony under a year, its amazing how Insomniac was able to deliver a fully functional single and multi player game that looks polished at first sight!
This is my favourite Ratchet game on PS2, and honestly one of the most important reasons is the option of lock-strafe and remapping the fire trigger to R1. It feels soooo much better for me to play that way, compared to the previous games that forced me to shoot with circle.
these have been a delightful watch so far, you're clearly super passionate about the topic and the amount of work you've put in truly shows, got a subscribe form me and I look forward to seeing more from you
I just found your channel a few days ago and finally finished all the Ratchet and Clank retrospectives. These videos are all phenomenal, truly a tour de force. I found them to be remarkably fair and objective, well analyzed, and very in-depth, particularly bringing in details from production that I wasn't always aware of. The original Ratchet and Clank trilogy are games that I've played dozens, if not hundreds, of times since their release, and I think you've done them justice better than any other UA-camr that I've ever seen. I also appreciated how you highlighted the strengths and weaknesses (relatively) of each game, particularly contrasting with the other two in the trilogy. You have earned my sub and I look forward to seeing more of your future work.
I spent a lot of time when I was young playing these games and we came together as a family sharing the series between my older siblings. It was a favourite for us all. I have recently pulled out the old PlayStation for my 8 year old and he is mesmerised by the game. Absolutely loves it!
So, I purchased the R&C collection and Ratchet: Deadlocked on my PS3 many years ago. I haven’t had a PS3 for 6 years. I came across one at a yard sale 2 weeks ago and coincidentally I had just come across your channel. I didn’t hesitate and picked that PS3 up. Luckily, I still have the same PSN account and was able to download those games again. 100 percented the first 2 games in a week and I just started my play through of Up Your Arsenal yesterday. Keep up the great work!
Wow it was pretty heavy to hear all of these truths about one my favorite games in general, but it was incredibly insightful. Thanks to you and mykonosfan for a really good video, looking forward to Deadlocked.
This is honestly one of my favorite games of all time I still think about it all the time. It was the first game I replayed that wasn’t Pokémon. I love it just for nostalgia and and this is the game that truly solidified Ratchet and Clank as my favorite franchise. Good video
This was an amazing series of retrospectives that let me relive the magic I experienced as a teen with my original PS2. Thank you. BUT, I imagine this video alone could have easily been a two-parter. It's Rhino-sized!
I don't know, I played this game a lot back in the day, loved it, then went through the HD remaster. That let me have a chance at Going Commando which I missed initially, as well as replaying Up Your Arsenal, and I have to admit: I still had more fun out of Up Your Arsenal than Going Commando. I still get more kicks out of it and have the most fun from the combat of the three, and I still get the biggest laughs and points that I forgot or didn't get as a kid. I think the gameplay improvements made for huge improvements, I had loads of fun with these gadgets, and I enjoyed that the flying missions weren't as irritating as the Going Commando. To me, this still ranks as my favorite of the franchise.
Absolutely awesome game, my highlights were - Getting extras from carrying over saves from the earlier game - Quark Mini game was actually really well made - Grinding arena for bolts and bigger boss fights - Awesome armor & weapon unlocks/upgrades - Customizing ship - Fun and hectic multiplayer split screen
I love this game, and while I think Going Commando is probably the better one out of the two. I won't say this one didn't have its fair share of advancements. It certainly is more story focused without losing the series signature humor (Something the series struggles with a lot after Deadlocked.) And while you can see the cracks, it manages to cover them up quite well.
While I favour going Commando a little more for having a good balance of exploration in various planet and have, what I think, the greater set of weapons, I now appreciation for what Insomniac Games wanted to deliver in Up Your Arsenal. Though, linearity does benefit more, when making a compelling story in a way. We also got Nefarious, the villain that just keeps coming. Thanks for this awesome documentary, Golden! Must had taken forever.
I've just gone through and watched the original trilogy retrospectives again and my already high opinion of your work has been raised. I really think you identify and articulate the good and the bad for each of the three games - each of which I love in their own way. This is truly a work of art and you should be enormously proud.
What a great video! Watched the three videos back to back, it was very entertaining, I learned a lot of things and it really makes me wanna play those games all over again! Very slight note but I wish you'd have talked about the music! The Starship Phoenix theme for example is absolutely wonderful and the soundtrack as a whole is up there with what made that game so great in my opinion! Also thank you very much for taking the time to highlight the crunch that occurred for this game and how toxic things can be in the IT industry. As a young developer that had to literally take a break after working 3 years in one of those workplaces, it means a lot.
Awesome video, really great retrospective and an extremely thorough analysis of all the areas of the game. Super impressed and can’t wait for the rest of the series :)
I'm glad to have found this channel. The love you have for this series is made apparent by the sheer effort and the quality of your vids. I can soundly sound, im a fan of your content and hope I can properly support in the future.
Just platinum’d Ratchet 3 and despite Up Your Arsenal being mostly combat based with no platforming and sense of exploration, the story absolutely delivers and is really strong, alongside the intense combat. Dr. Nefarious is also very well written, being comical, funny, and actually succeeding somewhat until Ratchet and the Q-Force finally catch up, while Qwark finally found his purpose in becoming the hero he wanted to be. This was a great retrospective and I applaud the developers for the sheer amount of time and dedication put into this game.
This one really does show what it did different then the other 2 platformer trilogies on the PS2. For Jak and Daxter, it was level design. Some of those were polished to a mirror shine, with little details and tricks you could learn on the fly(It also meant those levels without that polish stood out more sadly). However, because of the rush all 3 series had in its final chapter, Jak III was a bit of a mess, with levels that didn't quite fit together, and sometimes even had to jerk control away from you to point you in the right direction. For Sly Cooper, it was the story. That plot was both kind of epic when you listened, and well thought out, with characters and motivations done fantastically. The Rush for 3 hurt it only marginally in this aspect, due to theming(B-Mask's series on this points it out), but they did sadly let gameplay suffer a bit due to the sheer amount of characters and stuff, and even then, the plot had some unstable moments. But for Ratchet and Spank...Clank, the gameplay was king. It wasn't about what a level felt like individually, it was how the weapons felt to use, with each one having their own flair to them, and each giving you some other way to mess with the enemies. Yeah, there was usually one that was overpowered, but after game 1 they never let that happen quite as hard again, and 3 shows off their balance work nicely. The rush still hit them, there's massive re-use of levels, the plot is just silly compared to others(Why do the Tyranoids work with Nefarious when he hates organics for instance), but those weapons are fantastic. Their best balance work of the series, and they made sure to hit the ground running in this respect, the first level throwing you right into the action in a way the first two games actually avoided, giving you simpler combat arenas instead. All in all, I think that's why R&C3 works so well, despite what deficiencies it has. That gameplay still rocks, and it showed in how the weapons balanced around each other...RYNO 3 is still garbage at final level though. Who thought that was a good idea?
Found this series in the middle of me replaying the series. I've already beaten the first game and gotten every weapon (including the RYNO) and Gold Bolt, and started on Going Commando. I have the box basher but not the armor magnetizer yet. I haven't gotten all of the Platinum Bolts of the planets I've gotten to yet, but I plan on going back through them once I've gotten the magnetizer. This is great for learning more about the games I've loved. I love third-person shooters and I love third-person platforming, so learning so much about this game is great! Thank you so much for going so in depth about this!
I've watched your retrospectives on all three games in the trilogy now and after watching through the first and second, it really made me want to play them again, including the third one but after watching this it made me remember how boring the third one is compared to the second. The third one is basically a weapon level-up simulator and doesn't feel as adventurous as the second. The first always has a special place in all of our hearts even though the lack of strafing makes it pretty difficult.
for my first full-time job i also came onto an established team with a successful franchise, and i made sequels. the company was haemorrhaging money chasing the next cash-cow and it was us new hires that felt the greatest responsibility and need to "earn" our places. actual job opportunities in my city were about 1% of the demand so none of us felt like we had advocacy, they'd just re-hire. we crunched from 9am to 9pm+ some months while the managers stepped out to the stripclub & beers. i stayed there for 3 years out of loyalty to my friends, and i am still dealing with some work-related stress issues because of it. i am now no longer working in that industry but i still encounter crunch, fortunately now i am able to push back against it. thanks for making a well researched video and giving a wider audience more of an idea about the reality of the job. R&C3 is still my fav game and i didn't expect this video would make me feel like my experience was seen & heard.
Yessir! I'd intended to get them all done before Rift but then they started being longer than movies... Deadlocked will come after I do a spoiler-free video on Rift Apart at this rate, and then I'll be alternating: one Ratchet video, and then one of the other other projects I'd wanted to do this year like Ghost of Tsushima, Zelda, and repeat!
@@TheGoldenBolt You clearly put a lot of time into these and the quality reflects that. Excellent dedication. I thought I was a RAC expert until I watched these : ). Looking forward to your next one. Now if only I could get a PS5 for rift apart lol
Holy hell, I can’t even put into words the quality of this video, the amount of effort, research and time you have put into this is incredible, respect to you sir well done.
I really appreciate how much legwork you've done to shine a light on the behind the scenes of these games. Insomniac games are the main inspiration to my current indie game project, I've been researching 3D combat platformers and your videos have been invaluable. Thank you!
Top 10 uderrated youtubers 10:the golden bolt 9:the bolt of gold 8:the bolt with yellow color 6:bolt golden the 5:the 4:golden 3:bolt 2:gold 1:the golden rick roll Cool list right?
I only wanted to watch the retrospective on the first game. Now it's past midnight and I'm hearing the word "but" over and over. I'm definitely biased for my nostalgic interest in these games, but you have an amazing ability to keep hours of retrospective entertaining. Hat's off!
great stuff i can never decide wether i prefer Ratchets 2 or 3; 3 has so much charme, but the rushed development gets really apparent after a while because it ends up feeling rather short on subsequent playthroughs without the volume of minigame sections, side stuff and unlockables 1 and 2 had
I'm excited for this, so excited in fact that I'm going to go rewatch your retrospectives of the previous two games before I watch this one. Never played the series myself, so stuff like this is very fascinating to me :) love your work. Be back in 3 hours.
Ah yes. The developers. It still feels like yesterday when I saw them. Ted Price must have certainly earned his gray hair. Up your arsenal certainly had the perfect blend of single player and online multi-player. And what a great online multi-player it was. I still have fond memories of it. And Holy crap a young mark cerny!
I'm loving these retrospective videos. I finished this game the other day since I've been replaying through the games before Rift Apart. Looking forward to your future videos.
I'm gonna be sad once you get to the games beyond tools of destruction, as I never played those (ive never had a ps3 and was lucky enough to play tools of destruction on my uncle's for a little while) I dont want to spoil any gameplay for the titles beyond Tools of Destruction so once you get to that game I'll sadly have to stop watching these retrospectives until I someday save up for a ps3 and the games. But I do have to say, this was one of my favorite videos, possibly on youtube ever. It gave me so much insight to a game I thought I knew inside and out. Your clear level of dedication to providing the entire story about these games, and reigniting a love for the series I thought had died, my imagination once again running wild with possibilites, thank you ❤
Thanks so much for the kind words, my friend, I'm glad I could even do a little bit towards helping you jump back into the series sooner than later. And hey, the videos will always be there later on when you get to play past Tools! (Plus, the good news is that I've got other games on my schedule in July onward, so I'll actually be alternating between Ratchet videos and ones on other games that you might be able to watch!)
*DEADLOCKED RETROSPECTIVE:* ua-cam.com/video/cHsramwwQfo/v-deo.html
Thank you so much for watching! If you enjoyed the video, please consider sharing it around with your friends, family, your community - every bit truly does help with projects as huge as this one! And if you want to watch more long-form retrospectives just like this, I have great news for you: I've got a bunch already on my channel, and many more on the way, so make sure to subscribe and check those out!
I also want to give a special thanks to the former Insomniacs that took the time to speak with me about their time at the studio and working on this game - they've been a monumental help in allowing me to tell as full a story as I have today. These developers include Mike Stout, Moo Yu, Tim Trzepacz, Tony Garcia, and those that chose to remain anonymous. These folks and everybody at Insomniac poured their blood, sweat, and tears into these projects, and I'm glad to have a small part in sharing their stories where I can.
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal is my favorite video game of all time as well.
*Sly Cooper Retrospective!!!*
Im assuming you will do retrospectives on the other titles too? Maybe tie some games together as one vid like QOB/tools
SAC/Size
When you say Douglas Adams, are you sure you are not referring to the author and humorist Douglas Adams of the hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy?
Finally another person who has played this game just as much as I did growing up. For years this was my only ratchet and clank game along side deadlocked because my other ones turned up missing. So I perfectly get what you mean when you said just how much you love this game but at times wish it didn't lose some of the older elements in the series.
Its kind of ironic that the arenas, which were originally designed to be bullet hell non-stop combat, ended up having some of the only platforming in the game
Wow these retrospectives are more like expanded documentaries for each game, it's amazing. Good balance between opinion pieces, development history and gameplay/story segments.
Your series has convinced me to replay these games, and I don’t regret it.
Me too, but sadly the trilogy is not playable on ps4...
@@raraforever8770 I have it on my Vita. It's great to play it on a handheld and you can get it pretty cheap these days ;)
@@lukastemberger i have the ps vita too, but the game is impossible to have under 40,50 € in my country (france ), and i cant buy the one on the store because my ps vita is already full...
@@raraforever8770 Well, my Vita is cracked, so I have every game on the PSN store for free...
What do you mean your Vita is full? You can delete the games you're not playing right now...
@@lukastemberger but Did you know if i delete one game , the save is also delete or not ?
I'm genuinely appreciative of you using part of the review of your favourite game to address the proliferation of game development crunch, even within studios run by well-intentioned people, and even knowing how regarded they are as an employer nowadays; learning first-hand about the kind of stress and overwork that went into a pillar of your childhood must not have been easy to hear. With what I know of Kamiya I doubt I'd be able to stomach having that same level of info about Okami's development.
It's not the most fun to level the art and artist, but at the same time it's something that you always kind of had to expect was a little bit the case. But I'd rather know the most that I can and share that out, because more than anything it showed me here that the passion shined through - even those with little nice to say still loved the work they did.
Snowflake.
@@edddne9604 why do you have a blue haired sjw profile picture
@@edddne9604 go back to 2016 dude you don’t belong in the modern day
@@edddne9604 why the insults man..
One of the things that got me, after all these years is how the first person throughout the whole narrative to complement Ratchet is Nefarious nearly 2/3 of the way into the game. It’s both a testament to how crappy everyone in Solana is, and to Ratchet’s development as a character that he manages to do his job without going on a justified tirade about his lack of respect.
"After putting it in slim cognito's slot, Ratchet and Clank split up and work together in one of the coolest sections in this entire game" this is also funny.
“But, given the games title, there’s always a butt.”
"A French alien brain in a jar controlling a flaming scorpion tank because, Ratchet and Clank" that is the best sentence I've ever heard!
Loved the other two reterospectives. You deserve so much credit for the time and effort you put into these.
Thanks so much for the kind words, I appreciate it more than you know, my friend!
Love that one section of the Tyrranhoid Mother boss fight is one of the very few examples of second-person perspective gameplay I can remember.
Thank you. This means a lot to me right now, more than you will ever know.
Much love, my friend. I'm glad to lend a hand however I can!
Hope your alright man
We don't know what you're going through right now... But remember, there will be a rainbow after these rainy days when the sun is shining again.
I wish you all the best man.
Go Ryan! 💪
This, and the previous two retrospectives, were phenomenal.
Can't wait for the 14 hour retrospective on what is, hands down, my favourite Ratchet game in the entire series (mainly because I DID play the hell out of the multiplayer as a kid)
Hearing about Insomniac performing that level of crunch is pretty heartbreaking to me. Insomniac is one of my favorite developers of all time. And it does hurt to know that they let crunch culture get the better of them.
That being said, I am also happy to know that they did learn from this mistake and genuinely made an effort to correct it in future projects.
My opinion on the studio started to shift back and forth a couple times during the research part of this video, but I'm incredibly glad that there's some sort of lesson learned here - especially since these issues end up defining why so many players don't care as much for UYA nowadays versus when it came out.
Don't know when you guys are gonna just have to accept crunch everyone does it even when they say they don't you really think insomniac did almost 3 games at the same time with no crunch to have 2 release with barely any bugs it's a fact sadly
This studio's most recent game was made without crunch. It's literally the reason I highlighted it so heavily here: If this studio can go from horrendous, underreported development crunching, to now shipping 2.5 games in 7 months _without_ crunch, in a pandemic while shifting to work from home suddenly? Guess what, it can be done anywhere, studio heads and project managers just need to do their job ethically. But go ahead, go off!
I know they said it but I don't believe them even though I love insomniac remember when cd project red said they don't do crunch? Everyone does it even if it's a prior little
@@TheGoldenBolt I can expect most game studios were doing some sort of crunch and were doing it on purpose and never got out. This sounds like it was growing pains and tbh you made it sound like they did it on purpose. I loved the retrospective and it made me respect the devs. Just you need to look at every game from that era with that same light.
I'm glad you gave this game so much praise. It's my favorite of the trilogy and maybe in the entire series. I think it's my most played Ratchet and Clank game. I love the game's humor, especially the running gag with Dr. Nefarious's soap opera malfunctions.
Oh, that reminds me of probably my favourite ever gag, where Lawrence is translating Nefarious' monologue into sign-language. Hysterical! 😂
The Intro says everything I feel about this game.
The ratchet 3 port is so rushed they forgot to remove the level select/weapon unlock code. Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Square. unlocks weapons in the pause menu by hovering above the weapon slot by pressing L3 (left analog stick).
No way. You fuckin with me?
@@Qwark909 To unlock all planets press O at the end of the code instead of square.
@@CocoHikari583 That would have been great to know as a kid. Thanks for letting me know now
@@Qwark909 The code only works on the PS3 version of the game
@@CocoHikari583 Still have ps3 and game. Will try it out sometime
I had no idea about the crunch culture going on behind the scenes. I recall Tim Trzepacz commenting on one of your previous videos; my heart goes out to him for his experiences and I don't blame him for leaving. Crunch is a serious issue in the industry that really needs to be addressed - there have already been cases of developers being hospitalized due to being overworked - and it's important to keep talking about it.
The "reverse microtransactions" line definitely made me laugh. Excellent video! I'm looking forward to more.
The worst part about crunch is when it happens, and the game still isn't complete. I'm looking at you, Cyberpunk. I really wish CDProjecktRed had just delayed to 2021 the first time. It needed the delays, more than customers wanted the game released.
Crunch has even killed people in some places, its truly just a horrible thing
That's why I LOOOOOVE, NESTLE CRUNCH!
I reeeeally want to know what exactly happened with the flying sections of UYA. All the hints point that something spicy happened...but no one wants to tell!
You're entire backstory as a kid. Just coming home and beating the game casually before bed resonates with me so much because I literally did the same thing. I've beaten the game well over a 100 times. And I would literally come home. Beat the game. Then go to bed. 😂Yo I'm just glad I'm not the only one who was that obsessed with this game
There are dozens of us. Dozens!
I did the same with ratchet gladiator and size matters on psp... that game sucks ass but still just kept playing it over and over again (and still never 100% it)
Me to...
I wanted a toy Going Commando Ratchet and Clank with their ship so fucking bad
This was a great video, probably the most detailed and in depth on a much cherished video game from our childhoods. I appreciate all the work that went into it!
Great video, getting to hear about so much behind the scenes work and developer experiences on one of my favourite games of the PS2 era has given me a different type of appreciation for the game and Insomniac as a whole.
The fact that those issues with crunch resulted in lessons learned and improvements to how the company handles future projects, instead of being treated as excuses for crunch like "Bioware magic," makes this a much more positive case when talking about crunch culture. Insomniac has also pretty openly touted that Rift Apart actively avoided crunch, and given the game's positive reception, I'd say that they're on their way to setting a strong example in the AAA industry that could contribute to helping reform modern crunch culture and promoting a healthier work environment. That is if they manage to keep up the current company attitude.
This was an excellent look at Ratchet 3! I knew that the game had a pretty rushed development from watching the developer commentary on the game by Useless Podcasts, but I had no idea about the stuff regarding the younger workers. I can only imagine how stressful it would've been believing that they needed to live up to the expectations set by the top employees on the team. I haven't watched your videos on the previous two games as of right now, but I'm going to when I get the chance!
Two hours of somebody talking about my favourite series, sign me up. I’m gonna have to split this up into a several day watch.
I think the sewer labyrinth is a great improvement over the crystal hunting in Going Commando, not least because the enemies aren't so hard that you'll constantly die and have to start over. That it's so linear was no detriment in my book; I put on some Prodigy and blasted through this labyrinth, allowing me to earn enough bolts for the most costly items in the game.
"She always seemed so sweet and innocent in her videos. WELL except that one with the *unts ts ts- unts ts ts- unts ts- youknowwiththe- uuuhnn!"*
Best line in the game.
Straight Legendary, Shout outs to Courtney Gears
This game was my childhood. Remember playing it in the dark basement on a CRT
This channel is so underrated for all of the hours of work you put into these amazing videos. Keep up the great work man
Upon discovering this series, they have become my favorite videos on UA-cam. I love it, keep em coming, I hope you get to every ratchet game!
Thank you for all the hard work you put into this video and the series of retrospectives. I have legit learned so much about one of my favourite ratchet games and have a new appreciation for it and this video is the reason why
Thanks so much for the kind words, my friend! If there's anything I try to do with these, it's bring a little bit of teaching and new info beyond just the usual retrospective/analysis stuff, so I'm always stoked to hear that that extra mile paid off!
i literally watched all 3 of your R&C retrospectives yesterday and i gotta say, im hugely grateful that they exist 💙
Much love, my friend! (That said, give me some time to get more of the series out, you went through them all so quickly! Lol)
The perspective during the Queen bossfight at 52:11, would that count as playing the game in second person? Trying to wrap my head round it haha, great vid as always dude
Actually, yeah, it totally is! It's one of a select few games that uses second person POV, good shout!
Think of it as this. You're the camera and the player character is the subject referred to in relation to you who is the camera.
1st person - Me
3rd person - Him/Her
2nd person - You
What makes the 3rd and 2nd different is with 3rd person you the camera aren't a person itself therefor technically not present so when addressing the player character It's simply him since it's not directly to them. With 2nd you the camera are now a person that can interact directly and would refer to the player character as "you", because you are there with the player as another person. And of course for 1st person you, the camera and the player are both the same person, which would be called me.
Nick Robinson made a video about this, and concluded Driver: San Francisco was the only game he could think of that had a "2nd person" sort of experience to it, as you were being chased by your pursuer from the pursuer's perspective, but controlling yourself. I guess this game (and probably others) did it earlier.
Battletoads
I HAVE THINGS TO DO TODAY DAMMIT
Correction: NOW you have things to do 😉
i was waiting for this retrospective, i'm, probably gonna watch it in bed until i fall asleep.
Great work, man!
I gotta make a point on what you mentioned with why Nefarious attacked Veldin. Qwark was at this point nowhere to be found, and Nefarious was bent on revenge before turning everyone into robots. Seeing as Veldin is a remote planet with few inhabitants, it would make sense for him to attack there in case Qwark was hiding there.
I just thought of an interesting way they could have reworked the "Weapon level up" crate.
So what if instead, when broken, it *temporarily* leveled up ALL of your weapons? Say for 30 seconds all weapons got +1 levels.
That means you could actually put them in a lot more locations than the other two crates. But also, you could make a "Level 6" for over-powering your max level weapons -
It could be as simple as a palette swap with a damage boost, but it'd still be awesome and radical to use.
Whether using it to make your max level gun OP, or to boost your lowest-level gun's level temporarily to farm XP, it'd be super fun.
Man the amount of work you put into these retrospectives is amazing! It's weird how UYA feels so polished in some areas (gameplay and a strong narrative), yet rushed at the same time. The talk about crunch was hard to hear since I loved everything about the company back then, but I'm glad Insomniac learned from it
My primary issue with this game's combat is enemy types. With such a combat-heavy game that doesn't use platforming that much for pacing and with an already set arsenal and mechanics fully laid out, what you have to do next in order to keep it interesting is just to introduce interesting enemy types that utilize the existing arsenal and mechanics appropriately. Sadly, this didn't do that.
This game is definitely a top 5 for me, but the first Jak and Daxter will always be my #1 game of all time. It's still amazing.
The sewers were my favorite area in the game. I absolutely loved getting lost in the winding tunnels. Finally getting to a crystal but being on the wrong side of the slime wall and having to backtrack. And finally getting the thing that tracks the crystals and clearing out the caves fully.
Love these vids, dude. Looking forward to the Deadlocked one alot!
Its honestly a miracle that despite a rushed deadline by Sony under a year, its amazing how Insomniac was able to deliver a fully functional single and multi player game that looks polished at first sight!
You have clearly put SO much time and work into this video, man. Major respect, hats off
This is my favourite Ratchet game on PS2, and honestly one of the most important reasons is the option of lock-strafe and remapping the fire trigger to R1. It feels soooo much better for me to play that way, compared to the previous games that forced me to shoot with circle.
these have been a delightful watch so far, you're clearly super passionate about the topic and the amount of work you've put in truly shows, got a subscribe form me and I look forward to seeing more from you
I just found your channel a few days ago and finally finished all the Ratchet and Clank retrospectives. These videos are all phenomenal, truly a tour de force. I found them to be remarkably fair and objective, well analyzed, and very in-depth, particularly bringing in details from production that I wasn't always aware of.
The original Ratchet and Clank trilogy are games that I've played dozens, if not hundreds, of times since their release, and I think you've done them justice better than any other UA-camr that I've ever seen. I also appreciated how you highlighted the strengths and weaknesses (relatively) of each game, particularly contrasting with the other two in the trilogy.
You have earned my sub and I look forward to seeing more of your future work.
I spent a lot of time when I was young playing these games and we came together as a family sharing the series between my older siblings. It was a favourite for us all.
I have recently pulled out the old PlayStation for my 8 year old and he is mesmerised by the game. Absolutely loves it!
this one is of my favorite games as well I know the Multiplayer areas were kinda baked in to the story but I still enjoyed everything even today.
So, I purchased the R&C collection and Ratchet: Deadlocked on my PS3 many years ago. I haven’t had a PS3 for 6 years. I came across one at a yard sale 2 weeks ago and coincidentally I had just come across your channel. I didn’t hesitate and picked that PS3 up. Luckily, I still have the same PSN account and was able to download those games again. 100 percented the first 2 games in a week and I just started my play through of Up Your Arsenal yesterday. Keep up the great work!
Up Your Arsenal is one of my favorite Playstation 2 games. It's what got me to try out the rest of the franchise. Also thank you for the Rowlett idea
What is the Roulett idea?
I require information on the rouguelete concept
Finished my late shift at work now I can watch this before bed... So happy rn
Oh boy, I’ve been waiting all evening for this.
One of my favorite videos on the entire platform!
Right up there with A Crack in time as not only my favorite game in the series , but my favorite game period.
Same
A Crack in time is one of my favorites as well, my absolute favorite R&C game is Deadlocked tho
Great video, extremely high quality and awesome that you got dev interviews! Also Courtney Gears’s extermination song is a banger
Wow it was pretty heavy to hear all of these truths about one my favorite games in general, but it was incredibly insightful. Thanks to you and mykonosfan for a really good video, looking forward to Deadlocked.
This is honestly one of my favorite games of all time I still think about it all the time. It was the first game I replayed that wasn’t Pokémon. I love it just for nostalgia and and this is the game that truly solidified Ratchet and Clank as my favorite franchise. Good video
This was an amazing series of retrospectives that let me relive the magic I experienced as a teen with my original PS2. Thank you.
BUT, I imagine this video alone could have easily been a two-parter. It's Rhino-sized!
Just got home after a long day of work. This is the best thing I could have gotten a notification for. Thank you for more quality content!
I don't know, I played this game a lot back in the day, loved it, then went through the HD remaster. That let me have a chance at Going Commando which I missed initially, as well as replaying Up Your Arsenal, and I have to admit: I still had more fun out of Up Your Arsenal than Going Commando.
I still get more kicks out of it and have the most fun from the combat of the three, and I still get the biggest laughs and points that I forgot or didn't get as a kid. I think the gameplay improvements made for huge improvements, I had loads of fun with these gadgets, and I enjoyed that the flying missions weren't as irritating as the Going Commando.
To me, this still ranks as my favorite of the franchise.
Absolutely awesome game, my highlights were
- Getting extras from carrying over saves from the earlier game
- Quark Mini game was actually really well made
- Grinding arena for bolts and bigger boss fights
- Awesome armor & weapon unlocks/upgrades
- Customizing ship
- Fun and hectic multiplayer split screen
"I am never doing a video this long again"
Look-
This was my childhood too, so seeing you reviewing it brings back memories, thanks, golden bolt. 😁
I love this game, and while I think Going Commando is probably the better one out of the two. I won't say this one didn't have its fair share of advancements. It certainly is more story focused without losing the series signature humor (Something the series struggles with a lot after Deadlocked.) And while you can see the cracks, it manages to cover them up quite well.
While I favour going Commando a little more for having a good balance of exploration in various planet and have, what I think, the greater set of weapons, I now appreciation for what Insomniac Games wanted to deliver in Up Your Arsenal. Though, linearity does benefit more, when making a compelling story in a way. We also got Nefarious, the villain that just keeps coming.
Thanks for this awesome documentary, Golden! Must had taken forever.
This is my favorite classic Ratchet title, topped only in the whole series by Crack in Time.
Third place would probably be Going Commando, fourth place would be Into the Nexus, and the movie game would be fifth
@@Scorpionspear77 haha nice joke😂
@@williamkelly5689 Angela Cross wanker...
I've just gone through and watched the original trilogy retrospectives again and my already high opinion of your work has been raised. I really think you identify and articulate the good and the bad for each of the three games - each of which I love in their own way. This is truly a work of art and you should be enormously proud.
I feel like I've been waiting years for this video
What a great video! Watched the three videos back to back, it was very entertaining, I learned a lot of things and it really makes me wanna play those games all over again!
Very slight note but I wish you'd have talked about the music! The Starship Phoenix theme for example is absolutely wonderful and the soundtrack as a whole is up there with what made that game so great in my opinion!
Also thank you very much for taking the time to highlight the crunch that occurred for this game and how toxic things can be in the IT industry. As a young developer that had to literally take a break after working 3 years in one of those workplaces, it means a lot.
Awesome video, really great retrospective and an extremely thorough analysis of all the areas of the game. Super impressed and can’t wait for the rest of the series :)
I'm glad to have found this channel. The love you have for this series is made apparent by the sheer effort and the quality of your vids. I can soundly sound, im a fan of your content and hope I can properly support in the future.
Quark has always been one of my favorite game characters, he's a very well written buffoon.
1:25:33 "yo klunk chill tf out for a moment im going for a skill point" absolute chad moment
I literally finished this game for the first time TODAY so this is perfect timing. Still gotta level up those weapons for the platinum trophy though.
Ah, Whaddya think of it?
I’ve since played through the rest of the mainline games and Up Your Arsenal is my second favorite, beaten only by A Crack in Time.
@@bellespawnlol Alrighty! 👍
Just platinum’d Ratchet 3 and despite Up Your Arsenal being mostly combat based with no platforming and sense of exploration, the story absolutely delivers and is really strong, alongside the intense combat. Dr. Nefarious is also very well written, being comical, funny, and actually succeeding somewhat until Ratchet and the Q-Force finally catch up, while Qwark finally found his purpose in becoming the hero he wanted to be. This was a great retrospective and I applaud the developers for the sheer amount of time and dedication put into this game.
going commando is way better but the combat is 3 is insane very good music too
That base jump part with the rangers was one of my favorite segments and always stuck in my head
This one really does show what it did different then the other 2 platformer trilogies on the PS2.
For Jak and Daxter, it was level design. Some of those were polished to a mirror shine, with little details and tricks you could learn on the fly(It also meant those levels without that polish stood out more sadly). However, because of the rush all 3 series had in its final chapter, Jak III was a bit of a mess, with levels that didn't quite fit together, and sometimes even had to jerk control away from you to point you in the right direction.
For Sly Cooper, it was the story. That plot was both kind of epic when you listened, and well thought out, with characters and motivations done fantastically. The Rush for 3 hurt it only marginally in this aspect, due to theming(B-Mask's series on this points it out), but they did sadly let gameplay suffer a bit due to the sheer amount of characters and stuff, and even then, the plot had some unstable moments.
But for Ratchet and Spank...Clank, the gameplay was king. It wasn't about what a level felt like individually, it was how the weapons felt to use, with each one having their own flair to them, and each giving you some other way to mess with the enemies. Yeah, there was usually one that was overpowered, but after game 1 they never let that happen quite as hard again, and 3 shows off their balance work nicely. The rush still hit them, there's massive re-use of levels, the plot is just silly compared to others(Why do the Tyranoids work with Nefarious when he hates organics for instance), but those weapons are fantastic. Their best balance work of the series, and they made sure to hit the ground running in this respect, the first level throwing you right into the action in a way the first two games actually avoided, giving you simpler combat arenas instead.
All in all, I think that's why R&C3 works so well, despite what deficiencies it has. That gameplay still rocks, and it showed in how the weapons balanced around each other...RYNO 3 is still garbage at final level though. Who thought that was a good idea?
Found this series in the middle of me replaying the series. I've already beaten the first game and gotten every weapon (including the RYNO) and Gold Bolt, and started on Going Commando. I have the box basher but not the armor magnetizer yet. I haven't gotten all of the Platinum Bolts of the planets I've gotten to yet, but I plan on going back through them once I've gotten the magnetizer. This is great for learning more about the games I've loved. I love third-person shooters and I love third-person platforming, so learning so much about this game is great! Thank you so much for going so in depth about this!
You dropped this 👑
Awesome a 2 hour video, very excited to grab some popcorn and sit through this!
Absolutely loved every second of this video!!
Your content is really amazing and I LOVE how deep you get into R&C. I can't wait to see what you do after you're done with the series.
I've watched your retrospectives on all three games in the trilogy now and after watching through the first and second, it really made me want to play them again, including the third one but after watching this it made me remember how boring the third one is compared to the second. The third one is basically a weapon level-up simulator and doesn't feel as adventurous as the second. The first always has a special place in all of our hearts even though the lack of strafing makes it pretty difficult.
for my first full-time job i also came onto an established team with a successful franchise, and i made sequels. the company was haemorrhaging money chasing the next cash-cow and it was us new hires that felt the greatest responsibility and need to "earn" our places. actual job opportunities in my city were about 1% of the demand so none of us felt like we had advocacy, they'd just re-hire. we crunched from 9am to 9pm+ some months while the managers stepped out to the stripclub & beers. i stayed there for 3 years out of loyalty to my friends, and i am still dealing with some work-related stress issues because of it. i am now no longer working in that industry but i still encounter crunch, fortunately now i am able to push back against it.
thanks for making a well researched video and giving a wider audience more of an idea about the reality of the job. R&C3 is still my fav game and i didn't expect this video would make me feel like my experience was seen & heard.
Been waiting for this dude! These are so good and bring back a bunch of nostalgia. Are you doing every game in the series?
Yessir! I'd intended to get them all done before Rift but then they started being longer than movies...
Deadlocked will come after I do a spoiler-free video on Rift Apart at this rate, and then I'll be alternating: one Ratchet video, and then one of the other other projects I'd wanted to do this year like Ghost of Tsushima, Zelda, and repeat!
@@TheGoldenBolt You clearly put a lot of time into these and the quality reflects that. Excellent dedication. I thought I was a RAC expert until I watched these : ). Looking forward to your next one. Now if only I could get a PS5 for rift apart lol
Holy hell, I can’t even put into words the quality of this video, the amount of effort, research and time you have put into this is incredible, respect to you sir well done.
I'm SO GLAD lessons were learned. Crunch culture and not paying overtime is literally, and I'm not censoring here UA-cam be damned, the fucking worst.
I really appreciate how much legwork you've done to shine a light on the behind the scenes of these games. Insomniac games are the main inspiration to my current indie game project, I've been researching 3D combat platformers and your videos have been invaluable. Thank you!
Top 10 uderrated youtubers
10:the golden bolt
9:the bolt of gold
8:the bolt with yellow color
6:bolt golden the
5:the
4:golden
3:bolt
2:gold
1:the golden rick roll
Cool list right?
I'll take 10th place happily
@@TheGoldenBolt hey better then nothing
I only wanted to watch the retrospective on the first game. Now it's past midnight and I'm hearing the word "but" over and over. I'm definitely biased for my nostalgic interest in these games, but you have an amazing ability to keep hours of retrospective entertaining. Hat's off!
On one hand, I'm glad you got so hooked into the videos! On the other hand, I'm so sorry you got so hooked on the videos! lol
great stuff
i can never decide wether i prefer Ratchets 2 or 3; 3 has so much charme, but the rushed development gets really apparent after a while because it ends up feeling rather short on subsequent playthroughs without the volume of minigame sections, side stuff and unlockables 1 and 2 had
I'm excited for this, so excited in fact that I'm going to go rewatch your retrospectives of the previous two games before I watch this one.
Never played the series myself, so stuff like this is very fascinating to me :) love your work. Be back in 3 hours.
The sewer crystal hunt is everything Tabora and Grelbin wished they were.
My man. Greatest video of all time. I just finished playing Up Your Arsenal for the 89th time and can’t stop!
Up Your Arsenal is the GOAT !!! THE GOAT !!!!!!
I can't believe I just watched a 2 hour video on ratchet and clank...
thank you man for all you hard work, you just got a new sub
Much love, Samuel, thanks so much for the kind words!
Ah yes. The developers. It still feels like yesterday when I saw them. Ted Price must have certainly earned his gray hair. Up your arsenal certainly had the perfect blend of single player and online multi-player. And what a great online multi-player it was. I still have fond memories of it. And Holy crap a young mark cerny!
I'm loving these retrospective videos. I finished this game the other day since I've been replaying through the games before Rift Apart. Looking forward to your future videos.
Nice joke on Douglas Adams.
Just as much as they'd be confused on the Number 42.
I'm gonna be sad once you get to the games beyond tools of destruction, as I never played those (ive never had a ps3 and was lucky enough to play tools of destruction on my uncle's for a little while)
I dont want to spoil any gameplay for the titles beyond Tools of Destruction so once you get to that game I'll sadly have to stop watching these retrospectives until I someday save up for a ps3 and the games.
But I do have to say, this was one of my favorite videos, possibly on youtube ever. It gave me so much insight to a game I thought I knew inside and out. Your clear level of dedication to providing the entire story about these games, and reigniting a love for the series I thought had died, my imagination once again running wild with possibilites, thank you ❤
Thanks so much for the kind words, my friend, I'm glad I could even do a little bit towards helping you jump back into the series sooner than later. And hey, the videos will always be there later on when you get to play past Tools! (Plus, the good news is that I've got other games on my schedule in July onward, so I'll actually be alternating between Ratchet videos and ones on other games that you might be able to watch!)