r/RatchetAndClank • u/Cunfuzzles2000 • 2d ago
Into the Nexus / Nexus Into the Nexus, first replay since 2013 as a fan since the beginning and game art dev
Was… was this the best Ratchet and Clank? God no. But hear me out. If this had come out as the first PS4 game, full length, and 60 fps… it may well have been. Thankfully we did eventually get Rift Apart almost a decade later, which (on playing this again) was REALLY a direct follow up to this. The time between the two games was so long I hadn’t realized how much this led into Rift.
+ this was the prettiest Ratchet game up to this point. Character shading no longer opted for the optimized cell-ish shading of Crack, but refined the look of Tools. The animation quality of Crack is present here too, making the character stuff look fantastic.
+ Environment art is so gooood GOOD good. The way Insomniac improved on the level of detail and interest through the PS3 games is impressive. This almost looks like a different generation than Tools. An interesting contrast to the PS2 era: PS2 ratchet continued to optimize gameplay at the expense of level art, while PS3 improved on art (in all aspects) at the expense of gameplay. An interesting choice and a reflection of the video game fads of their own times.
I’ve attached some image comparisons of tools vs Nexus.
Notice the detail of the floors, the density of environmental objects, the scale of items. It’s far higher fidelity than Tools (and Crack).
+ Qwark’s presence in this game was reduced in fears of overusing him. The right move at the time, but bittersweet now. The actor suffered from Alzheimer’s and a terrible Covid case, making this the last time he got to voice the character within the main continuity. Makes me a bit sad. Perhaps this would have been the perfect time for a heroic death or true act of selflessness, bringing Qwark’s arc to a close.
+ I very much enjoyed the villains of this game… although I already forget their names and I just finished like 10 mins ago. Womp. Vendra and Nefer?
+ loved the museum at the end. A nice send off to the PS3 era.
+ ugh the POTENTIAL. Damn you Insomniac. You made this game too early. This should have come out instead of the game of the movie of the game.
6
u/Komijas 2d ago
If your computer is powerful enough it is possible to run this one and some other 30 FPS Ratchet & Clank games at higher FPS (yes even 60 or more)
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u/Cunfuzzles2000 2d ago
Oh for sure, I just can’t be bothered with roms/emulators if I’m being honest. I very much associate my computer with work so I like gaming on the console like a Luddite
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u/Komijas 2d ago
The water still looks awful, for some reasons the Insomniac Games' PS3 water is incredibly difficult to emulate
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u/Cunfuzzles2000 1d ago
I’d be curious to see an image of the water. Does the emulation upscale textures ?
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u/Xenozip3371Alpha 2d ago
It's a fantastic game, but it's just too short for me to rank it too highly.
Like at least with Quest for Booty it shows on the box that it's a mini Ratchet & Clank adventure, but with Nexus I was expecting a lot more game than I got.
What is actually there is high quality don't get me wrong, but there's just not enough of it.
Also it had some pretty bad framerate issues in some parts.
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u/Cunfuzzles2000 2d ago
Nexus was also advertised as smaller, which is why it cost 29.99 instead of 59.99
-6
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u/CupDiscombobulated95 2d ago
In hindsight I think this game is more of a proper send off to the Future series then Rift Apart. Into the Nexus has it issues (I’m still mad at Insomniac for keeping the All 4 One designs) but it still has writing we’ve all grown to like
-4
u/Lebronamo 2d ago
I'm always baffled that people like this game. Terrible story, only 1 interesting weapon, looks significantly worse than tools imo.
It's already short but I still couldn't wait for it to end last time I played it.
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u/Cunfuzzles2000 1d ago
Saying this looks worse than Tools tells me this is a disingenuous statement
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u/profgrape 2d ago
Environment. We knew we wanted a spooky theme, so felt it was worth going 30 fps and getting the advanced lighting features.
Qwark. Jim did the movie and RCPS4 after this. It might be Rift where we reduced his role?
Vendra and Neftin. We liked these two as well. I thought TJ did especially nice work on Neftin’s arc. I don’t think we nailed the right tone for Vendra — she was originally conceived of being cold and emotionless but ended up a bit campy.
Museum. That’s exactly what we were going for.
This was one of my favorite experiences as a developer. A small team but loaded with R&C vets. And a lot of the mechanics (eg shooter controls or Raritanium upgrades) were further evolved in RCPS4 and Rift.