thoughts on ratatan and what we know about it / 7/17/2023

when i had first made this website, it was very much themed around patapons games. two of my first blogposts are very much /about/ patapon, and the fancontent that people have created of it. now patapons spiritual successor, once called project jabberwocky, has revealed itself and the official name with it.

but people who read my blogposts already know about this fact, because its all over the fanbase. patapon has been sort of a dead series, only getting merchandise once at some pop-up stores to celebrate playstation ip. although i would want to dissect a bit of ratatan first, i just want to discuss (or ramble) my personal feelings on patapon as a whole.

its only been a year and a half since i got into this series, and i feel like compared to most its weird to say i have a sort of distain for it. even if i enjoyed my time playing the games, everytime i think about it for waaay too much? eh, hah.. yeah.

i consider myself a bit passionate for the series, with me bothering to pay for a custom plush of one of the characters. but if youve followed my tumblr, theres a clear change of mood of how i just feel about this series.. its kind of sad, and admittingly these feelings arent making me enjoy and hyped up for ratatan. i sort of feel nothing, and its always easy to just dunk on patapon.

and for ratatan i feel a lot of people are going to dislike me for what i actually feel about patapon. it feels like everyone goes ahead and praises the game, and ignores some of the obvious problems (although a lot of people talk about the transphobia, which good on them), but things like this make me feel left out, as i argued pointlessly about this game and its lore regarding other things.

but i do like patapon, only just a little. i do not think the story is good, but the artstyle (except for pata3) is unique alongside the designs (except for pata3 x2). it can be agreed that its a one of a kind trilogy, with the second game being my favorite.

and then we're back to ratatan, of what was a decade after the final third game. the unique thing about ratatan right now is that its gonna be a kickstarter soon as im typing this. its not even a released game, but perhaps when it comes out in full.. il blog about it.

ratatan is marketed as a spiritual successor, and even in an article once the teaser was shown kotani had said he wanted to make a game like patapon, except for this generation. it makes sense, and in the same article kotani mentioned pata4 could be possible down in the future.. which i have my own, complex thoughts on.

but im here to ramble for my thoughts, and as i said im.. not so sure. its lovely to see the devs come back for another game, with even more better designs and a new style, however the game ratatan doesnt seem like it might stand on its own? its complex for me to say, but ratatan being seen as a spiritual successor to patapon is off. even the name itself, ratatan, and the chanting in the intro is overly simple to patapon. even a dinosaur very similar to dodonga appears in the logo of ratata arts.

even someone who has only heard of the game might recognize this as one of the most iconic bosses in the series, appearing in all three games and as the first boss. even if i can understand it being a spiritual successor, i dont want to see the same old designs in ratatan in patapon. one of the appeals for ratatan is seeing new designs, and it has proved that with the concept art.

despite the clear eyeball theme with the smaller creatures and the vibe of a uberhero in the more humanoid characters, theyre able to stand on their own. the designs have a much different vibe to patapon itself, even the little guys in the intro only have one similarity to patapon- just the eyeball. they have actual bodies that are spikey. even the boat, brenelli, couldnt be captured the way its designed if it were in the original patapon series.

theres the argument that can be raised is that its simply just the intro of ratata arts, the studio(?? take this with a grain of salt) and wont appear in the game. this pretty much means my entire own criticism are pointless, which i actually dont mind. the intro announces that ratata studios created patapon and telling the legacy it had.

one of the second and final problems i have though is this single mention within the article discussing ratatan. over one hundred characters. one hundred. we dont know if its referring to what im assuming are the humanoid ingame avatars, but wouldnt designing and creating unique abilities (assumingly) for one hundred characters take more time than it should?

although i cant say more on the one hundred characters detail, i think the humanoid designs are incredible already. they stand out with their own unique designs, even the porcupine being my icon on discord. and with ratatan being said to have multiplayer, it wouldnt be surprising if these designs were meant to parallel the uberheroes in some way. with the moment the concept art released before the teaser, people were already drawing designs inmind with these concepts.

some of them also have a more clear music-themed weapons, as with patapon just had normal weapons throughout outside of horns. even the drums arent shown ingame and are just the controls of it, but with ratatan being a rhythm(?) game it makes sense to make plenty of weapons that are instruments. its just the most obvious choice to pick, yknow?

with ratatan coming around the horizon with its kickstarter, it seems to be a new era for patapon and its fans. we probably wont get any actual new official content for patapon for a while whilst ratatan is active, but ive already been content with patapon being dead and only referenced for its legacy. theres the possibility theres a revivial of patapon coming later on once ratatan releases, but this something i sort of.. dread.

but for ratatan, its better to think positively for it and hope it succeeds. it very much isnt a cashgrab unlike the remasters and an act of a developer wanting to return for the scene, and its exciting to see what happens later on.

my final words is that i really like this porcupine. i dont think anything in ratatan can top it, except for brenelli (the boat).. two of the best!