Bromance: This is Real

It's the small details that really flesh things out. I think it's all too easy for people to ignore or forget this. Now that right there is some wisdom you can carry with you to the bank, but let me take a moment to contextualize it.

I recently played and beat Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (only recently got a PS3 so still have a lot of catching up to do). It's the first RnC game I've played and I found the gameplay to be a solid and fun mix of third person action, shooting, and equipment tweaking. But in this business, that by itself is usually not enough to extend the life of a series beyond a sequel and handheld spinoff. How has Insomniac managed to sustain the life of this series and cultivate a strong and dedicated fanbase? Probably with scenes like this (skip to 3:10):



If you missed it, there was a short yet ever so strong brofist between and Ratchet and Clank after they reunited. Insomniac manages to convey real world feelings and behavior in their characters that goes a long way towards making the world feel more believeable. We've all seen how other games try to convey genuine emotion (e.g. Final Fantasy): deep emotional one liners("What is your focus?!"), an increase in volume for voice actors/music, and when all else fails, kill someone off. Epic fail.

I must give a huge thumbs up to whoever does the writing and story work for RnC games. They manage to bridge themes, feelings, and actions from the fleshy, non-polygonal world and infuse their characters with a genuine charm that other games so often miss. Here's hoping FFXIII includes at least one brofist.