its mostly for different reasons its not a bad game just a very rushed game feels more like a knee jerk response to the criticisms of jak 2 instead of evolving things u could say this game feels more like dlc for jak 2
@@Yarharsuperpirate I beat Jak II in hero mode a couple of years ago. That was hell. The on-rails ship-shooting mission was easily the most difficult and took me, I kid you not, around 4 dozen tries.
Jak 3 is most replayable game of the bunch. Jak and daxter is just plain boring/repetitive collecting all the power cells and trying to replay it. Jak 2 is the best game out of the 3 for so many reasons but trying to replay it(hero mode) and finishing it is hard due to the game being the hardest to beat and replay again.
@@ProjectRedfoot My big bro was the reason I was a fan too! He bought Jak 3, and played it but then he never touched it for years. That’s when I decided to play it out of boredom. After that we both became hooked and I bought Jak 2 then TPL, and then Jak X. That’s why I say Jak 3 is my favorite because it brought me and my bro into the series. It holds a special place in my heart.
I loved jak 3....1 and 2 were polar opposites and were amazing in their own way, 3 merged the mystical side of 1 into 2, and narratively tied it together. Theyre all perfect to me.
I think some of the weird plot points came from Keira’s voice actor change. Perhaps Anna left and they couldn’t find a replacement in time, so they just cut Keira from the story entirely. But then they decided to put her back in at the last second with Tara as Anna’s replacement. This is why Keira doesn’t say much (or is just there like the first scene when you enter Haven City) and why they chose to have Jak and Ashelin as a romance instead. Not saying it’s true but it’s my theory.
@@greylithwolf Keira and Jak kiss at the end of the game cutscene but it cuts to daxter before they kiss, not sure why they went that route but yeah that's what I can think of at the top of my head
Well, I mean, Damas doesn’t come completely out of nowhere. Prior to the mission’s actual start, Daxter has the bright idea to use the beacon they got as a Mark of their citizenship to Spargus to call for back up. The two never really picked up on how it works however and didn’t realize it was just a beacon sending out a signal to the city. Hence, Damas shows up at that point.
Yeah, I mean it's not like the Wastelanders were just going to show up the moment Jak pressed the button. Plus, I'm sure it took awhile for Damas to get from Spargus to the Palace Ruins in Haven City. All Jak & Daxter had to do was hold out until then.
The Precursors being ottsel is easily one of the best twists I've ever seen in a video game. It ties the series together in a really satisfying way that gives you this incredible eureka moment that I rarely ever get in games these days. Plus Veger is so hateable that seeing him get what he deserves is so satisfying
Kind of a kick to the nuts though. I get the message, and if the second and third games were more in tone with Precursor Legacy, then I think the twist would’ve had a more positive reception.
@@UnifiedEntity I have a theory that they chose this because Keira’s original voice actor left and they couldn’t find a replacement in time until it was too late. It explains her absence in the story and why in some scenes she just stands there with no lines.
@@RhapsodyHC then just don’t do the scene. I do know why they thought having that kiss wouldn’t piss off fans. It’s like if in Sly 2, Sucker Punch had Sly make out with Neyla.
Jak 3 definitely felt like a "More is better" kind of game in every sense of the word. At first I would say it was my favorite game in the series since it was essentially more Jak 2 with new weapons, an expanded world to explore and just an overall bigger game than it's predecessors. After replaying the game after Jak 2 a couple of years back though, I started seeing a lot of holes in the design that I never noticed beforehand. For instance, I forget who said it but someone else I watched noted that the new weapons introduced in this game seemed to be made with the express purpose of making sure the player didn't have to do much aiming since near every one of them serves as a way to nuke things without having to actually turn and face them. One thing that i've come to appreciate more and more about Jak 2 is how much mileage you get out of the basic 4. It makes the game more tactical in a way and when jumping over to Jak 3 I just felt like they gave you too much with very little improvements to the enemies to make up for it.
I agree, except when you're forced to use the Dune Hopper for that one mission when you chase down the four Marauder cars. I rage quit at how the Hopper would flip over because of the tiniest desert slope. 😭
@@Agent-yw1kj Even so, i would argue that it was much more polished than Banjo Kazooie or other collectathons at the time since the camera in those games is very outdated and i dont like how you have to collect all in one go.
I always thought the Mar reveal was just that the gang didn’t know kid Jack’s real name. But Jak traveling back in time and founding Haven City, while fighting off ancient Metal Heads, sounds intriguing. And yeah, fuck that AshelinxJak scene.
Instead of Erol being the main protagonist they had the perfect opportunity to bring back Gol and Maia since their fate was left ambiguous at the end of TPL and with the plot point of the Precursor Catacombs it would have been the perfect way to bring them in.
That's an ideal for a Jak 4. Devs has stated that they are still alive down in the Precursor Catacombs. They hinted that being down there for years would've caused some warping to their physical bodies. So we probably get something far more than a "Dark" transformation for them as what happened with Jak when he was infused with Dar Eco.
@kidprime6863 That would make a lot of sense, actually. Gol and Maia were shown to have some skills in technology, considering they got a Precursor robot working again in the first game. Maybe them reviving Errol would also be a Dark Warrior 2.0, with Errol's cybernetics stabilizing and giving him his own Dark Eco powers? That way Gol and Maia would have their own counter to Jak.
I still think they should have continued off the end of three with jak (and friends) going into space with the precursors to help fight the dark makers. Like come on, Jak with space vehicles sounds badass.
My idea was to time travel back before Jak 1 when the sages were using light eco and all sorts of eco but bring all the guns and things they used in jak 3 to the past.
I feel the opposite about 3, I feel it's far more polished than 2. That said I do agree that it does feel off somehow, it feels like a more technically impressive game than 2 but the elements don't make a cohesive whole like they did in 1 and 2. 3 is my favorite but I absolutely see why plenty feel otherwise about it. As a game I find it to offer the most content and with a decent variety, feeling more polished and well put together than 2. However 3's structure and overall design is a lot messier, as J says the pacing is all over the place. I'd call Jak 3 a better game than 2 from a purely gameplay perspective but as a story and an adventure it's kind of a mess. I think Precursor Legacy is so different from 2 and 3 it's very hard to judge it against the sequels so I don't even try.
I feel like it is a more enjoyable and thought-out game in comparison to 2. Felt like they sucked the life out of the series just to capitalize on GTA.
Love Jak 3, but I agree. Story is main reason for me why going into 3 felt off (like WHO the hell is Veger?). We could go into a long tangent of reasons.
Jak 3 was my favorite, had some crazy plot twists and felt like a great mix of the first 2 games styles. Also Light Jak was so much fun to use, I loved slowing time to fight and flying was fun.
The plot twist that the Ottsels are the precursors was foreshadowed way back in the first game when Daxter tried to describe what the precursors would have been like in person, it’s not totally for comedic effect though it was surely played off that way
You’re one of the few people to articulate exactly how I feel as well. Despite their differences, Jak 1 and 2 are both masterpieces and I love replaying them 20 years later. Even when I played Jak 3 as a kid in 2004, it felt…less (?) than the first two. Less exciting, more bland? I always replay the first two games but seldom touch the third nowadays. Edit: amazing Herman Melville reference at the end there
I think it's mostly because it lacked challenge. Jak 2 had missions where it was hard af and could take multiple retries, also most enemies could kill you within just a few hits which meant you had to becareful. In 3 though after a few hours of progressing in the story you practically become a God with all the abilities, extra guns, and extra health that you don't really have to sorry about anything other than falling.
@@CerealKiller I honestly don't know what you mean. The gameplay is the most varied of the series. The combat is basic just like jak 2 which really wasn't noticeably more difficult outside of the couple difficulty spikes that everybody used to criticize the game over. And jak 1 is literally one of the easiest games I've ever played and an extremely basic platformer that is mostly bolstered by its charm and advanced animations for the time. Jak 3 had the most to see and do and the most varied gameplay and environments, and toned down the jak edginess slightly from jak 2 where it got a bit embarrassing, while building on that games dark turn of the story in a really interesting way. The vehicles are best and most varied. The game is challenging enough, I don't find any of the sly or ratchet games on ps2 any more challenging and those are the main peers of the jak series from that era to compare it to
Jak 3 has its flaws with balance and storytelling but it's still my favorite in the series. I just find it the most fun to play out of all of them. Going through the nice variety of levels with the absolute banger of a soundtrack playing in the background never seems to get old.
3rd installments in a series always have the toughest time, they have to end a story in a way that's satisfying. That's not an easy task for anyone. You could end up with a Rise of Skywalker if you do it poorly. No one wants a Rise of Skywalker.
Looking at this game overall; I feel like the goal they had intended with this one was to make it a perfect middle ground of sorts between the first two games. Like everything in terms of combat and puzzle solving remains the same mechanically from Jak II but than you have shit like herding lizards and chasing rats that are just herding animals like in some of the 1st game's missions, stuff like turret sections, ring races that also feel more so in line with that game, hell, the very first mission in Haven Forest is spreading green eco to some plants infected by dark eco which is what you did in the Precursor Basin in the 1st game. All of that combined with the tone of this game trying to strike the middle ground between being light hearted and being serious in tone and that best sums up what I see in the game; an attempt to appeal to fans of the 1st game and the 2nd game alike.
As a child, I really, really didn't like Jak 2 for going so different from Jak 1's tone and gameplay, so that would explain a lot why I still liked 3 enough to still have fond memories of it today - made for me in particular as a middle-ground between the two.
@@ralpbeez8414 but how is it a middle ground? It's more like a mad max style of game. Lost frontier and Daxter are more like middle grounds between Jak 1 and 2
I remember watching a video saying Errol could have been much better if he remained Jak's opposite/rival, so instead of becoming of robot from the dark eco crash he should have remained relatively intact but scarred and had a darker form like Dark Jak and so the two opposites clash again.
The Dark Eco is destructive and kills, you're forgetting that and he TRIGGERED AN EXPLOSION, there's no way you're staying intact after that but we see he is mutated, not just wrecked badly.
@@artistanthony1007You're not wrong. They could've just made him a Dark Eco mutant instead of a cyborg. Or maybe both. Why not? The Dark Makers are corrupted Precursors who turned themselves into cyborg mutants, so make him a Dark Maker.
3 is personally my favorite story wise. The whole Haven City at War bit was great. Honestly Jak 2 is my least favorite out of the trilogy. The difficulty got on my freaking nerves and made me rage quit for weeks until I got interested again. Plus, I played The Precursor Legacy first both at 13 years of age when they were newer titles. So going in blind to Jak 2 and finding out the HUGE difference between the two was jarring at first it took me awhile to be actually okay with it. Like hearing Jak speak blew my mind and how dark the story was. Eventually I grew to love it. Then I accepted it for what it was. Jak 3 holds a special place in my heart. It got me through my freshman year of high school haha. Jak X I just consider as a spin-off but I loved it for what it was. I never played the Last Frontier because by the time it came out I was college aged. So I was too busy to actually play it. Jak 2 though I felt they changed the element because shooters were a big thing at the time. Like Ratchet and Clank it had to adapt or die. I loved the Adventure elements of Jak and Daxter but the genre was dying out because of Shooters. If Jak and Daxter came out today it wouldn't sale well because these kids just don't have the attention span for it. They like games like Cuphead fast paced and all over the place. It's a shame honestly but you either truly have to adapt or die in today's Gaming industry.
I like the theory that Jak is actually the grandson of the orignial Mar. That there was Mar who created Haven City, then he had a son, Damos, (which would make sense that Damos would be able to become King of the city as well), and then he named his son Mar after his legendary father, whom we know as Jak.
When Jak 3 eventually gets decompiled, I hope by that point the modding community will have made tons of platforming levels. In my opinion because of how fluid Jak's moveset is, the platforming in these games have always been the best in 3d platformers.
What I find fun about the Jak and Daxter trilogy are the different tones that make them distinctive from one another, not unlike the Evil Dead trilogy. The first one is a light-hearted adventure, the second is a darker and edgier dystopian tale, while the third is Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
OMG Me too! My brother bought it and I’m so glad he did because I instantly became a fan of this series. Jak 3 holds a special place in my heart for that alone.
It is so weird to watch two retrospectives in one day and say almost the opposites about the same game. You thought the story was all over the place, while the other video said that it was the best in the series. I know this doesn't matter because of "opinions are opinions stupid", but nonetheless it intrigues me.
I may disagree with alot of what you said in this video but I respect your opinion on it. The one thing we can both agree on though, is that the mini-games are annoying and kind of suck at times lol 😆. Also I like being OP, that's what I play games for. You should see some of the mods I install 😏
Jak 3 is actually my favorite of the series, mostly for the quality of life improvements you mentioned. I especially like the refinements they made to traversal. No longer are you forced to go through massive congestion to get to the next mission, and I love the buggies (the race near the beginning of the game was dull, but at least there's only one). However, I will agree aspects of the plot were messy. I find it odd how the game seems to completely abandon Keira to make Ashelin Jak's love interest (who, in turn, appears to have forgotten about Torn), and the council being too powerful for Ashelin to stop is completely disproven when she dissolves them on a whim later on.
Okay so honestly i can say one thing: Jak 3 uses dark jak more than jak 2 the advertising mascot for jak 2 is used in jak 3 more than jak 2. The entire series can be analagous for growing up. Jak 1. hopeful optimistic child Jak 2. Dark brooding teen Jak 3. a bit of both growing out of the dark phase. Also i feel as if jak and daxter got more addicted to vehicles as it went on. consider the next game is literally a racing game.
I'd rather Jak 4 (if it does happen) to be "mature adultish". Jak and Daxter head to Kras City, Haven (or the rebuilt New Haven), Spargus, and others to stop Rayn from building an empire now that the Metal Heads have retreated to the mainland wastes and find out she is planning to bring back Gol and Maia in a new Lovecraftian form after stewing in dark eco for centuries
I haven't played Jak 3,I've only played Jak 2 and 1 and I liked Jak 2 more than Jak 1,maybe Jak 3 becomes my favorite like Sly 3 became my favorite in the Sly trilogy.
One thing I wish you mentioned is that even when taking the OP-ness into account and imposing self-challenges and rules, such as banning the Beam Reflexor or only using the four weapons from Jak II, the combat still fails. Enemy placement in TPL and Jak II was intentional, and that intentionality could be felt in every single combat encounter in each game. Naughty Dog knew which strategy you would employ to take them down. In Jak 3 however, enemy placement feels so arbitrary and random (no doubt a consequence of it being developed in only a year) that no encounter felt designed around a specific Eco or specific weapon, which also adds to breaking the balance of the game given how this compounds every other flaw in the action-platforming flow channel.
Jak 3 proves ND had no further goal with combat after Jak 2, they just tacked on more OP weapons without the proper balancing, shooting mechanics, precision and an upgrade system that actively plays an active role in character progression like RaC.
I agree with you mostly but I still recommend avoiding the OP weapons when you replay the game. It's just less brainless gameplay to actually have to aim your guns LOL and they already give you too much health.
you hit the nail on the head there. last time i played jak 3 i put on the self restrictions of only using the base 4 weapons and not using any healing or shield from light jak and well, it was harder, not that much harder and the difficulty was less consistent, but it also wasn’t fun. enemies are just thrown into an area without care, they aren’t animated like at all when they are idle from a distance, and every encounter just feels like a shooting gallery instead of unique situations that you have to approach tactically and use all of your tools on hand. it’s just fucking sad, every level feels so much more hollow and lacks the memorability of jak 2, especially since there isn’t even dynamic combat music anymore, not a single encounter feels intense
27:30 I think that the main villains of Jak 3 should have been Gol and Maia seeking revenge and to continue their plan to cover the planet in Darkness by working with the Darkmakers, Samos teased their return in Jak 1 so it would have been perfect
Yeah, the Dark Makers are kinda lame. And the Metal Heads were already the Precursors' arch enemies. Should've just been Gol & Maia with the Dark Makers as their minions made out of dark eco. Call them the Dark Spawn. I mean, hey - Dragon Age Origins wasn't out yet! :P
@@ThePreciseClimberYeah that could've worked. But I think the Dark Makers can still work as ancient enemies of the Precursors. Nobody said the Precursors can't have more than one enemy. Besides, not everyone is immune to Dark Eco mutation or corruption. Not even the Precursors.
Jak 1 is the best. I think the magic was lost in the sequels, which i still loved, but as I reflect... there was just something so perfect about the world of the first game that I think "grungifying" ultimately destroyed.
Agreed. I didn’t get into Jak 2 as a kid as was way too big a shift for me. I wish Jak 2 was a sequel like the sequels were in Crash and Spyro (same gameplay and world base but just building on it). Respect the fact that a lot of people love the sequels though maybe I wasn’t old enough for them when they came out.
@3rd Way the problem is hero mode is still easy in jak 3. the guns themselves just break the game and making the enemies a little spongier doesn’t fundamentally change this. the balancing is far too broken for just some stat adjustments to fix, especially compared to jak 2’s fantastic balancing
@@sebastiankulche jak 2’s hero mode isn’t all that difficult ya, enemies just take a little longer to kill (but ya fuck that one turret mission) but that’s not my point. the difficulty is well balanced both on normal mode and hero, it encourages you to play well but it’s not brutal or anything. jak 3 is a joke whether it’s on normal mode or hero mode
@@CerealKiller the enemies are generally tankier, as in they just take more hits to kill, usually just one or two more hits for normal enemies. for example, the infamous turret mission everyone talks about is only so hard in hero mode because it the crimson guards fly in faster than you can kill them due to their increased health. the players health is the same tho Source: I've played a lot of Jak 2
I grew up with all three games at once, and I think Jak 3 was my favorite out of the the three just because of how accessible it was to me. The relatively low difficulty let me enjoy it to the fullest extent, whereas Jak 2 just kicked the shit outta my 8 year old ass and the OG just didn’t have enough stuff in it to excite me. Still probably my favorite, for nostalgia purposes, but I can 100% agree that story was on some crackhead shit.
I had such warm memories of the Light Jak mode. I would go to Spargus, find the big light eco well they have there, and then park on the well. I’d time stop, slap three people in the face, go back to the light well, and just turn on the shield. Because I was on the light well, I had infinite light eco and could shield forever. Meanwhile, everyone else just shoots each other by accident and a giant civil war brews up, all while I watch from the comfort of my bubble.
Alot of the reasons J listed is why I always preferred 2 to 3. I will say I do enjoy 3 over the Precursors legacy because I enjoy the setting and characters of the future more. To Jak 3's credit I do think the vehicles handle the best of the entire trilogy. The precursors twist actually was genius in my opinion a nod to the wizard of Oz.
For me, Jak 3 is the most replayable of the series. Because the actual difficulty curve is alot more fair. While Jak 2 had difficulty spikes all over the place in seemingly random places. While Jak 3 is far more consistant in its curve even with how broken the beam reflexer is
Just finished Jak 2, so very interested to see if I agree with you when I replay 3! I've only played it once when I was 9, so I have fond memories for now.
Btw Jak left in the end.. time travel lol.. oh and the part where Pecker says Mar wore this armor in his battle to defend this planet from the Dark Makers Jak was the one who did that so its a full circle effect 🤝🏽
I think it would have been really cool if Gol returned as the Big Bad of the last game of the trilogy. These videos have been very informative and entertaining! Despite only having played the first game in the series, this is still an IP I am very nostalgic towards, and still respect and admire the games after all these years!
Jak 3 isn't bad but MAN did it feel very disappointing to Jak 2, very rushed and sloppy story, horrible weapon and difficulty balancing, and so many stupid driving and gimmicky missions that felt like they just expanded on the worst parts of 2 and made that most of the game.
every shadow has a light source also the hillarious thing is the sequel to this one isn't the lost frontier it's the car game jak combat racing which has ratchet as a playable character.
Jak and daxter and the precursor legacy was my childhood. I remember playing this game everyday restarting the whole thing every time I beat it. The snowy mountain is my favorite area.
Jak 3 is probably my favorite, I’d say the only thing that’s even remotely disappointing about it is that it wasn’t longer. Maybe I’m wrong but Jak 2 felt longer, 3 is a fun ass game and loved the universe and story.
The last few times I've replayed the trilogy, I end up dropping Jak 3 in the middle of it. I always it just burnout from completing the other two games right before it, but a lot of your points make a lot of sense and help explain why it's a hard game for me to finish.
Man, 2022 has really been the year of the Jak renaissance. I'm hearing so many channels talk about the series lately. I hope they do a full re-release with upgraded graphics like they're doing for Last of Us Part 1.
Listening to your analysis it was wild how all your criticism sounds like my complaints with Crash 3 (too many mini games, not enough dope Crash platforming, Crash is too powerful) Yet I’ve never thought that about Jak 3. I guess I like the mini games better in Jak 3? And I never had a problem with the difficulty of Jak 2; I felt OP as shit in that game too once I got the standard blaster. So being more OP just meant I got to do more things in the sequel if I felt like it. Jak 2 for sure had the cleanest story that do be right 😎💯
The part where you talk about this game really taking it out of you is so true for me. The long missions of the same monotonous stuff is the reason this game has so fewer replays for me than the other 2
I think Jack 3 being my favorite really shows what my taste in games and story is showing how my brain works. I love games with variety in mini games added on to great main gameplay making the charachters and story bigger because the charachter can do a variety of things and not just known for 1 style of gameplay. I allways saw Jack 3 as the victory lap after all he had been through in 1 and 2 and in my head it makes sense that a hero like him would of course be op in 3. He perfected his platforming and acrobatics in 1 and his more darker side and marksmanship in 2 but in 3 he learns balance, inner peace, and shows he can do more then jump and shoot. Ik that doesn't make the best game or sequel but I just gravitate towards games like these, I guess that's why I also love Conker's Bad Fur Day. Fun short variety minigames are like candy to my ADHD brain lol.
It's a decent game but IMO it was boring mostly because it lacked challenge. Jak basically becomes an overpowered God from all the extra guns, light abilities, extra health from armor etc where it practically breaks the game; most of your deaths will be from falling. Also it lacked the wanted system that Jak 2 had which was a huge highlight of fun from that game. When you shot a guard in 2, the whole city would be chasing after you with guards shooting from the ground and vehicles trying to ram you, but in this one it's completely gone. A huge part of the mayhem in Jak 2 was getting the guards after you
Maybe, but it was also very annoying. The game always punish you when driving in the ground, despite that is the only reliable way of driving without crashing with something. Always when i play this game the guards are constantly chasing me.
Kinda surprised you didn't mention that depending on if you max out your Dark Powers completely by the end of the game, you actually get a different ending, though not sure what that entails cause... I didn't find enough of the things to do that
I thoroughly enjoyed Jak 3 more than Jak 2 and Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy. For me it was the trailer that hooked me in and in terms of enjoyment I had much more fun completing Jak 3 than i did in the previous games.
The only problem for me is the ending. There are still other worlds to save from the Dark Makers. Gol and Maia are still in the Precursor catacombs. If we ever get a new Jak game I hope it's a huge open world.
i liked jak 3, but when i played, I thought the ammo count sorta balanced the OP weapons, as they would eat through your ammo really quick, and ran out of ammo a lot from just freeroaming.
For a long time Jak 3 was my favorite of the series, but when I look back I do notice some of the cracks in the design. The game is still one of my favorites and I always enjoy revisiting it, about as much as Jak 2, but nowadays my favorite for the series goes to X. Really fantastic, that one.
I personally love this trilogy as a whole, flaws even withstanding. For one thing, I think 3 had much better balancing in the difficulty department than 2 did. Jak 2 can be one of the most obnoxiously difficult games I've played for what feels like some very wrong reasons. I still like it and think it was a great sequel to its predecessor, but 3 feels far more accommodating/fair with its difficulty. Not necessarily because of how broken in the player's favor the new powers and weapon upgrades are, but rather because of little things like the more frequent health pickups and such. I loved the gun upgrades despite how redundant most of them felt once you got the first and second Blaster upgrades. I liked the idea of traversing the desert with the use of exaggeratedly large and weaponized dune buggies, even if the drives did often feel vapid and time consuming when you weren't doing a mission. Light Eco powers and the new Dark Eco Powers were cool additions. The story had its issues but overall was a good time, though I do agree that the whiplash they give you with how indecisive they seemed in regards to who the star love interest was does NOT sit well with me. It sure ain't perfect but I'd rather play 3 than 2 based solely on how dickheaded 2 gets in places. 3 had a lot of cool ideas but their execution left some things to be desired. Not unlike Megaman X3, ironically enough. Maybe the reason I liked 3 more than 2 was because after how burnt the hell out I was from how relentlessly shitheaded 2 is in many places, 3 felt like a satisfying reprieve. That could also partially be my fault though since the last time I played this trilogy I played them all in rapid succession.
It’s literally impossible for Jak to be the Mar who founded Haven City and for the timeline to not have gone insanely off the rails. How can I know? Because the Butterfly Effect is a thing. Ya know, that theory that if you go back in time do something as insignificant as killing a butterfly, you can completely screw over time.
I like to believe Jak was just the descendant of and named after Mar and leave it at that. Saying they're one and the same just screws everything up. I'm not big on the whole "Grandfather Paradox" thing.
J someday, could you review Star Wars Bounty Hunter? It's not only one of the Best tie in games that avoids it's genre's usual pitfalls, so well done it's like canon, but also just a great one!
Yea, jak 3 was kinda mid tbh it had memorable moments but it had such an identity crisis that half of them didn't even materialize properly. Im hyped for that jak x review man, don't forget to talk about the osts on that, those songs on it are LEGENDARY.
I found your Jak retrospective videos randomly on YT yesterday and I'm glad I did. It's my personal favorite game series ever soooo this was my favorite thing to watch within the last day. Saw you just uploaded the Jak 3 vid and got excited lol This was fun If you've played the Kingdom Hearts series, that would be a really fun (yet extremely tough) series to tackle.
I played each game as they came out, and still Jak 3 is my favorite of the main trilogy. But I get the points you make, and I can agree with a good chunk of them, I just personally prefer it over the others
I have a great fondness for Jak 3 because I finished it before 2, given it's much easier. In retrospect some of the weird ending twists are just baffling and the ricochet gun alone invalidates combat, not to mention the other guns and the massively increased health pool. So now I believe 2 to be much better as a game, but I still love 3 a ton still and I'll play both to death when the OpenGOAL project gets to them. The driving is mega jank, but I like it still (maybe a little stockholm syndrome) and I also remember really liking most of the mini-game stuff. Playing as the giant death robot not-so-much, doing the top-down perspective segment a whole lot. Oh and the Daxter segments too.
“i only play jak 3 because i played one and two so i might as well” lmfao i completely feel that. jak 1 was the first game i ever played and the trilogy holds a special place for me as well. anytime im waiting for a new game to come out i play 1 and 2 but jak 3 feels like a chore around the halfway point. i just wanna say i love your reviews of these games and thanks for keeping me entertained until i get off work to go actually play them lol.
19:37 The gameplay of that minigame is actually based off a game called Head On; it was like a simplified version of Pac-man, with the maze just being a rectangle with a few lanes, while the player is only capable of going forward and switching lanes. The weird thing is that despite the gameplay being taken from Head On, the visuals _are_ a homage to Pac-man, which has a VERY different look from Head On, most notably in how you play as a car in the latter game. It's as if Naughty Dog made the minigame as a reference to Pac-man, but were concerned over copyright from Namco and decided to take the gameplay from a similar enough game or something.
Jak 3 is probably my favourite, it probably goes Jak 3, Jak and Dax Precursor, then finally Jak 2. I really like the play-ability through both city and the wasteland. I feel like the combat is really fun and the cars are an awesome addition.
Im actually one of those people who were upset with Jak and daxter 2. I initially really loved the first and how it captivates the beauty of nature and interactions. I understand that the game needed diversity for being different from the first but to me it just felt like playing GTA.
Honestly the original story of the game was supposed to be way darker with the precursors being malevolent and rather have the different factions fight each other in order to be save rather than be helpful beings we see at the end of jak 3
haven't watched yet but i love jak 3 firs tone of the trilogy that i 100% but am totally down to hear why you were disappointed by it. I love hearing opposing opinions on games
I have this winter demo disc with Jak 3 on it and everytime you play Jak 3, it deletes your entire ps2 memory card. Ha. I remember playing that demo a lot.
Even though I did like Jak 3.....it wasn't until we reach Haven City and the atmosphere with Samos and ESPECIALLY Keira....felt off. The Jak and Ashlein romance, I wasn't against but I was like "waaaiit but Keira!!!! They never even get to kiss!!! And Wasn't she into Torn!!!!"
Yeah Jak 3 felt very dissapointing back in 2004, particularly considering I got 1 christmas gift and this game was it. I had a lot of hype going into Jak 3 and then it never really felt as impactful as jak II. Which is odd becuse a lot of things were improved, but Jak II just had this wow factor. I felt like a total badass. Jak 3 I got way more weapons and vehicles and always felt like.....just a person wandering aimlessly. I didn't know it at the time, but it turns out I was a huge fan of high difficulty action platforming. Jak 3 had less platforming, less difficulty and the story was amazing, it felt like some huge pre planned "bigger than you" story and the new story was just...bet up a councilmn for being mean to you, find out some dude is randomly your dad and the big villain is a C tier villain form the last game.
When I was a kid, I played some games from a video rental store near where I grow up and one of them I remember was Jak 3 but for some reason I could never get past the tutorial level. Maybe I was too young to understand how the game works or maybe there was a lot that happened that just was too much to follow. Now that I’m older and have the PS4 collection, I’ve been tempted to give it another chance along with the other main games
Heh, this is the only Jak game I played, and immediatly made me lose interest in the series. Tutorial level was pretty good and felt nice, but then it's just weird time wasting driving missions that were boring and frustrated. Yeah, turned it off and never went back. Alas.
How dare you talk so lowly of that metalhead mission, that one is memorable af and basically your only down side is there's no difficulty setting, other then that it's still not disappointing at all. Your title sounds like a massacre happened when it was a papercut. Disliked for false clickbait.
J, if you consider revisiting Lost frontier please do not play the PS2 port but consider playing it on real hardware, it's a way better game than people make it believe, yes it still have some incredibly stupid things like Dark Daxter but the PS2 port is just atrocious and this applies for "Ratchet Size Matters" and "Secret agent Clank" as well. Played on a real PSP or on a psvita they hold up much better. I never tried them on an emulator but again, in my opinion playing those on real hardware makes you enjoy them way more
Anyone else see this video from an ad under the video you were watching? Weird but ig you gotta run those numbers up so no hate, just new to me seeing a UA-camr I already watch be an ad.
Yeah but what do ya guys expect for a 2004 game? It's not like they can go back and fix Jak3 and all the criticism when they had a dead line rushing to get the hold Jak and daxter trilogy done, and to be honest I kind of like what they did with Jak3, How Haven city doesn't feel like it's tight area to drive on, and how they improve the game play and how the story actually take some stakes, and improve on dark Jak as in Jak2 you had to keep on grinding to get dark Jak which a lot of people do not give Jak3 credit for, They fix the hold difficulty on Jak3 which every one that had play Jak2 has been complaining about.... Sure it's not 100 percents perfect but it's still enjoyable to go back and play the hold trilogy there are other games out there that's 10 times worst than people complaints on Jak3 that people don't talk about or too blind to see but thats just my thoughts about the hold thing and my point of view of things.
People didn't like Jak 3? Thats a huge surprise. I love Jak 3.
Jak 3 is awesome. I think most people like it, they just seem to like 2 more
its mostly for different reasons its not a bad game just a very rushed game feels more like a knee jerk response to the criticisms of jak 2 instead of evolving things u could say this game feels more like dlc for jak 2
I loved jak 3 was and still is my favorite
I don’t hate Jak 3 but after finishing it recently, you can really tell this game was rushed
@@TheBlackSamurai2708 it really feels like an admittidly dated response trying to gimp itself because people complained jak 2 was too hard
Jak 3 is actually the most replayed game of the three for me.
Same for me, Jak 2 is just hard for me to want to go back to due to its all over the place difficulty curve.
@@Yarharsuperpirate I beat Jak II in hero mode a couple of years ago. That was hell. The on-rails ship-shooting mission was easily the most difficult and took me, I kid you not, around 4 dozen tries.
@@Yarharsuperpirate well the story is shorter. Maybe that's why? It ended to soon.
Jak 3 is most replayable game of the bunch. Jak and daxter is just plain boring/repetitive collecting all the power cells and trying to replay it. Jak 2 is the best game out of the 3 for so many reasons but trying to replay it(hero mode) and finishing it is hard due to the game being the hardest to beat and replay again.
same. its very well balanced and the missions have so much variety. Great game!
This was my favorite of the trilogy personally.
Me too! I mean I’m biased because it was the first I played.
@@RhapsodyHC that's understandable.
I respect both opinions, honestly. [I grew-up watching my big bro play Jak 1]
@@ProjectRedfoot My big bro was the reason I was a fan too! He bought Jak 3, and played it but then he never touched it for years. That’s when I decided to play it out of boredom. After that we both became hooked and I bought Jak 2 then TPL, and then Jak X.
That’s why I say Jak 3 is my favorite because it brought me and my bro into the series. It holds a special place in my heart.
@@ProjectRedfoot yeah that one is great too.
For me the Jak 3 was the perfect game in the trilogy. In fact it’s one of my top 3 games of all time
I did grow up with this series, but especially 3, adored Jak X Racing, i played the hell out of it.
Same goes for me. Jak 3 is the best
What are the other 2 games, if you don't mind me asking?
It's forsure in my top 10 games
its #6 on my list, genuinely impressed as the other ones are more modern. 6th best game of all time for me came out on the PS2? thats impressive
I loved jak 3....1 and 2 were polar opposites and were amazing in their own way, 3 merged the mystical side of 1 into 2, and narratively tied it together. Theyre all perfect to me.
You get it !
I think some of the weird plot points came from Keira’s voice actor change. Perhaps Anna left and they couldn’t find a replacement in time, so they just cut Keira from the story entirely. But then they decided to put her back in at the last second with Tara as Anna’s replacement.
This is why Keira doesn’t say much (or is just there like the first scene when you enter Haven City) and why they chose to have Jak and Ashelin as a romance instead.
Not saying it’s true but it’s my theory.
I genuinely don't remember the romance in Jak 3. The twist of Jak's true identity and ripping around in a dune buggy are what sticks out in my mind.
I knew she sounded different
@@greylithwolf Keira and Jak kiss at the end of the game cutscene but it cuts to daxter before they kiss, not sure why they went that route but yeah that's what I can think of at the top of my head
@@1KQ_ Thats Ashelin not Keira
YOUR GAME THEORY!
Well, I mean, Damas doesn’t come completely out of nowhere. Prior to the mission’s actual start, Daxter has the bright idea to use the beacon they got as a Mark of their citizenship to Spargus to call for back up. The two never really picked up on how it works however and didn’t realize it was just a beacon sending out a signal to the city. Hence, Damas shows up at that point.
Yeah, I mean it's not like the Wastelanders were just going to show up the moment Jak pressed the button. Plus, I'm sure it took awhile for Damas to get from Spargus to the Palace Ruins in Haven City. All Jak & Daxter had to do was hold out until then.
The Precursors being ottsel is easily one of the best twists I've ever seen in a video game. It ties the series together in a really satisfying way that gives you this incredible eureka moment that I rarely ever get in games these days. Plus Veger is so hateable that seeing him get what he deserves is so satisfying
Kind of a kick to the nuts though. I get the message, and if the second and third games were more in tone with Precursor Legacy, then I think the twist would’ve had a more positive reception.
Well ..... They did Jak and Ashlein which was random as hell.
@@UnifiedEntity I have a theory that they chose this because Keira’s original voice actor left and they couldn’t find a replacement in time until it was too late. It explains her absence in the story and why in some scenes she just stands there with no lines.
@@UnifiedEntity Yeah, that was random as heck.
@@RhapsodyHC then just don’t do the scene. I do know why they thought having that kiss wouldn’t piss off fans. It’s like if in Sly 2, Sucker Punch had Sly make out with Neyla.
Jak 3 definitely felt like a "More is better" kind of game in every sense of the word. At first I would say it was my favorite game in the series since it was essentially more Jak 2 with new weapons, an expanded world to explore and just an overall bigger game than it's predecessors. After replaying the game after Jak 2 a couple of years back though, I started seeing a lot of holes in the design that I never noticed beforehand.
For instance, I forget who said it but someone else I watched noted that the new weapons introduced in this game seemed to be made with the express purpose of making sure the player didn't have to do much aiming since near every one of them serves as a way to nuke things without having to actually turn and face them. One thing that i've come to appreciate more and more about Jak 2 is how much mileage you get out of the basic 4. It makes the game more tactical in a way and when jumping over to Jak 3 I just felt like they gave you too much with very little improvements to the enemies to make up for it.
The Dune Hopper was (and quite possibly still is) my favorite vehicle to drive in any game ever!
Pressing your turbo at the same time you leap to the sky is so satisfying
Dune hopper on full blast is amazing
@@The810kid I was just about to comment this lmao I loved doing this too. Especially if you did it on a hill or ramp you got major air 😂
I agree, except when you're forced to use the Dune Hopper for that one mission when you chase down the four Marauder cars. I rage quit at how the Hopper would flip over because of the tiniest desert slope. 😭
Boost + super jump + those grenades = orbital bombardment
Jak 1 was so revolutionary: day/night, no loading screens, beautiful graphics, and a script with layers for all audiences. Amazing.
@@CerealKiller Is ok to be wrong.
@@CerealKiller It was another 3D platformer, so? 3D platformers aren't bad
In fact, they are great, depending on the game
@@Agent-yw1kj Even so, i would argue that it was much more polished than Banjo Kazooie or other collectathons at the time since the camera in those games is very outdated and i dont like how you have to collect all in one go.
@@sebastiankulche The game it's a masterpiece, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. I really don't like the sequels
I always thought the Mar reveal was just that the gang didn’t know kid Jack’s real name. But Jak traveling back in time and founding Haven City, while fighting off ancient Metal Heads, sounds intriguing.
And yeah, fuck that AshelinxJak scene.
It's the better ship
Yeah, if Jak travelled to the past he'd be too powerful for the metal heads to stop, he'd just go and stomp the metal head leader.
@@JAYDOG1337A yeah, and Kor would’ve recognized Jak as Mar. But it would explain how he knew about Jak in the opening of Jak II
@@zhitchcresttail3387 I disagree
jak x ashlen doesn't happen thankfully jak x sets things back in order keira gets more screentime there and better used so jak x keira forever baby
Instead of Erol being the main protagonist they had the perfect opportunity to bring back Gol and Maia since their fate was left ambiguous at the end of TPL and with the plot point of the Precursor Catacombs it would have been the perfect way to bring them in.
That's an ideal for a Jak 4. Devs has stated that they are still alive down in the Precursor Catacombs. They hinted that being down there for years would've caused some warping to their physical bodies. So we probably get something far more than a "Dark" transformation for them as what happened with Jak when he was infused with Dar Eco.
Yeah, Erol is not all that great a villain. They really should have brought back Gol and Maia as the Dark Maker leader or something.
@@NRF3703 Or at least have Erol brought back as their second-in-command or something
@kidprime6863
That would make a lot of sense, actually. Gol and Maia were shown to have some skills in technology, considering they got a Precursor robot working again in the first game. Maybe them reviving Errol would also be a Dark Warrior 2.0, with Errol's cybernetics stabilizing and giving him his own Dark Eco powers? That way Gol and Maia would have their own counter to Jak.
I still think they should have continued off the end of three with jak (and friends) going into space with the precursors to help fight the dark makers. Like come on, Jak with space vehicles sounds badass.
I guess they were afraid that the franchise would become more like Ratchet & Clank if they did that.
My idea was to time travel back before Jak 1 when the sages were using light eco and all sorts of eco but bring all the guns and things they used in jak 3 to the past.
@@kidprime6863butt see if they did that. They could’ve planned for a colab sequel
Absolutely love all 3. But 3 has something a tad bit off. I feel it was rushed at some parts. Less polish
I feel the opposite about 3, I feel it's far more polished than 2. That said I do agree that it does feel off somehow, it feels like a more technically impressive game than 2 but the elements don't make a cohesive whole like they did in 1 and 2.
3 is my favorite but I absolutely see why plenty feel otherwise about it. As a game I find it to offer the most content and with a decent variety, feeling more polished and well put together than 2. However 3's structure and overall design is a lot messier, as J says the pacing is all over the place.
I'd call Jak 3 a better game than 2 from a purely gameplay perspective but as a story and an adventure it's kind of a mess. I think Precursor Legacy is so different from 2 and 3 it's very hard to judge it against the sequels so I don't even try.
I feel like it is a more enjoyable and thought-out game in comparison to 2. Felt like they sucked the life out of the series just to capitalize on GTA.
Love Jak 3, but I agree. Story is main reason for me why going into 3 felt off (like WHO the hell is Veger?). We could go into a long tangent of reasons.
Ok
@@zeroattentiongaming820 Even though I disagree with you, I can see where you're coming from and understand how you would prefer Jak 3 over 2
Jak 3 was my favorite, had some crazy plot twists and felt like a great mix of the first 2 games styles. Also Light Jak was so much fun to use, I loved slowing time to fight and flying was fun.
Man flying with Light Eco feels amazing. Jak 3 is the best, no doubts
The plot twist that the Ottsels are the precursors was foreshadowed way back in the first game when Daxter tried to describe what the precursors would have been like in person, it’s not totally for comedic effect though it was surely played off that way
To me? Hilarious reveal.
You’re one of the few people to articulate exactly how I feel as well. Despite their differences, Jak 1 and 2 are both masterpieces and I love replaying them 20 years later. Even when I played Jak 3 as a kid in 2004, it felt…less (?) than the first two. Less exciting, more bland? I always replay the first two games but seldom touch the third nowadays.
Edit: amazing Herman Melville reference at the end there
I think it's mostly because it lacked challenge. Jak 2 had missions where it was hard af and could take multiple retries, also most enemies could kill you within just a few hits which meant you had to becareful. In 3 though after a few hours of progressing in the story you practically become a God with all the abilities, extra guns, and extra health that you don't really have to sorry about anything other than falling.
You guys are weird
@@CerealKiller I honestly don't know what you mean. The gameplay is the most varied of the series. The combat is basic just like jak 2 which really wasn't noticeably more difficult outside of the couple difficulty spikes that everybody used to criticize the game over. And jak 1 is literally one of the easiest games I've ever played and an extremely basic platformer that is mostly bolstered by its charm and advanced animations for the time. Jak 3 had the most to see and do and the most varied gameplay and environments, and toned down the jak edginess slightly from jak 2 where it got a bit embarrassing, while building on that games dark turn of the story in a really interesting way. The vehicles are best and most varied. The game is challenging enough, I don't find any of the sly or ratchet games on ps2 any more challenging and those are the main peers of the jak series from that era to compare it to
Jak 3 has its flaws with balance and storytelling but it's still my favorite in the series. I just find it the most fun to play out of all of them. Going through the nice variety of levels with the absolute banger of a soundtrack playing in the background never seems to get old.
3rd installments in a series always have the toughest time, they have to end a story in a way that's satisfying. That's not an easy task for anyone. You could end up with a Rise of Skywalker if you do it poorly. No one wants a Rise of Skywalker.
You could also end up with a complicated plot twist like in Mass Effect 3
Looking at this game overall; I feel like the goal they had intended with this one was to make it a perfect middle ground of sorts between the first two games. Like everything in terms of combat and puzzle solving remains the same mechanically from Jak II but than you have shit like herding lizards and chasing rats that are just herding animals like in some of the 1st game's missions, stuff like turret sections, ring races that also feel more so in line with that game, hell, the very first mission in Haven Forest is spreading green eco to some plants infected by dark eco which is what you did in the Precursor Basin in the 1st game. All of that combined with the tone of this game trying to strike the middle ground between being light hearted and being serious in tone and that best sums up what I see in the game; an attempt to appeal to fans of the 1st game and the 2nd game alike.
Lost Froentier feels more like a mide ground between Jak 1 and 2
It’s also synonymous with Jak balancing his dark eco with light eco.
As a child, I really, really didn't like Jak 2 for going so different from Jak 1's tone and gameplay, so that would explain a lot why I still liked 3 enough to still have fond memories of it today - made for me in particular as a middle-ground between the two.
@@ralpbeez8414 but how is it a middle ground? It's more like a mad max style of game. Lost frontier and Daxter are more like middle grounds between Jak 1 and 2
I remember watching a video saying Errol could have been much better if he remained Jak's opposite/rival, so instead of becoming of robot from the dark eco crash he should have remained relatively intact but scarred and had a darker form like Dark Jak and so the two opposites clash again.
@@skibot9974 I would've brought them back too and maybe make Errol their second-in-command
The Dark Eco is destructive and kills, you're forgetting that and he TRIGGERED AN EXPLOSION, there's no way you're staying intact after that but we see he is mutated, not just wrecked badly.
@@artistanthony1007You're not wrong. They could've just made him a Dark Eco mutant instead of a cyborg. Or maybe both. Why not? The Dark Makers are corrupted Precursors who turned themselves into cyborg mutants, so make him a Dark Maker.
It’s weird how I was just playing this game for the past 3 days on the PS4 and told myself “I wonder if J’s made a video on Jak3.”
3 is personally my favorite story wise. The whole Haven City at War bit was great. Honestly Jak 2 is my least favorite out of the trilogy. The difficulty got on my freaking nerves and made me rage quit for weeks until I got interested again. Plus, I played The Precursor Legacy first both at 13 years of age when they were newer titles. So going in blind to Jak 2 and finding out the HUGE difference between the two was jarring at first it took me awhile to be actually okay with it. Like hearing Jak speak blew my mind and how dark the story was. Eventually I grew to love it. Then I accepted it for what it was.
Jak 3 holds a special place in my heart. It got me through my freshman year of high school haha. Jak X I just consider as a spin-off but I loved it for what it was. I never played the Last Frontier because by the time it came out I was college aged. So I was too busy to actually play it. Jak 2 though I felt they changed the element because shooters were a big thing at the time. Like Ratchet and Clank it had to adapt or die. I loved the Adventure elements of Jak and Daxter but the genre was dying out because of Shooters. If Jak and Daxter came out today it wouldn't sale well because these kids just don't have the attention span for it. They like games like Cuphead fast paced and all over the place. It's a shame honestly but you either truly have to adapt or die in today's Gaming industry.
I like the theory that Jak is actually the grandson of the orignial Mar. That there was Mar who created Haven City, then he had a son, Damos, (which would make sense that Damos would be able to become King of the city as well), and then he named his son Mar after his legendary father, whom we know as Jak.
Except Jak's cited as "the Mar" by Ashelin herself which make all of this a little weird.
When Jak 3 eventually gets decompiled, I hope by that point the modding community will have made tons of platforming levels. In my opinion because of how fluid Jak's moveset is, the platforming in these games have always been the best in 3d platformers.
What I find fun about the Jak and Daxter trilogy are the different tones that make them distinctive from one another, not unlike the Evil Dead trilogy. The first one is a light-hearted adventure, the second is a darker and edgier dystopian tale, while the third is Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
Jak 3 was my introduction into the franchise. I remember buying it at a TJ Maxx and I don’t regret it since I put countless hours into playing it.
OMG Me too! My brother bought it and I’m so glad he did because I instantly became a fan of this series. Jak 3 holds a special place in my heart for that alone.
It is so weird to watch two retrospectives in one day and say almost the opposites about the same game. You thought the story was all over the place, while the other video said that it was the best in the series. I know this doesn't matter because of "opinions are opinions stupid", but nonetheless it intrigues me.
whos the other retrospective? sounds intresting
I may disagree with alot of what you said in this video but I respect your opinion on it. The one thing we can both agree on though, is that the mini-games are annoying and kind of suck at times lol 😆. Also I like being OP, that's what I play games for. You should see some of the mods I install 😏
Jak 3 is actually my favorite of the series, mostly for the quality of life improvements you mentioned. I especially like the refinements they made to traversal. No longer are you forced to go through massive congestion to get to the next mission, and I love the buggies (the race near the beginning of the game was dull, but at least there's only one). However, I will agree aspects of the plot were messy. I find it odd how the game seems to completely abandon Keira to make Ashelin Jak's love interest (who, in turn, appears to have forgotten about Torn), and the council being too powerful for Ashelin to stop is completely disproven when she dissolves them on a whim later on.
Okay so honestly i can say one thing: Jak 3 uses dark jak more than jak 2 the advertising mascot for jak 2 is used in jak 3 more than jak 2.
The entire series can be analagous for growing up.
Jak 1. hopeful optimistic child
Jak 2. Dark brooding teen
Jak 3. a bit of both growing out of the dark phase.
Also i feel as if jak and daxter got more addicted to vehicles as it went on. consider the next game is literally a racing game.
I'd rather Jak 4 (if it does happen) to be "mature adultish".
Jak and Daxter head to Kras City, Haven (or the rebuilt New Haven), Spargus, and others to stop Rayn from building an empire now that the Metal Heads have retreated to the mainland wastes and find out she is planning to bring back Gol and Maia in a new Lovecraftian form after stewing in dark eco for centuries
I haven't played Jak 3,I've only played Jak 2 and 1 and I liked Jak 2 more than Jak 1,maybe Jak 3 becomes my favorite like Sly 3 became my favorite in the Sly trilogy.
I actually enjoyed Jak 3
One thing I wish you mentioned is that even when taking the OP-ness into account and imposing self-challenges and rules, such as banning the Beam Reflexor or only using the four weapons from Jak II, the combat still fails. Enemy placement in TPL and Jak II was intentional, and that intentionality could be felt in every single combat encounter in each game. Naughty Dog knew which strategy you would employ to take them down. In Jak 3 however, enemy placement feels so arbitrary and random (no doubt a consequence of it being developed in only a year) that no encounter felt designed around a specific Eco or specific weapon, which also adds to breaking the balance of the game given how this compounds every other flaw in the action-platforming flow channel.
Jak 3 proves ND had no further goal with combat after Jak 2, they just tacked on more OP weapons without the proper balancing, shooting mechanics, precision and an upgrade system that actively plays an active role in character progression like RaC.
It literally doesn't
I agree with you mostly but I still recommend avoiding the OP weapons when you replay the game. It's just less brainless gameplay to actually have to aim your guns LOL and they already give you too much health.
you hit the nail on the head there. last time i played jak 3 i put on the self restrictions of only using the base 4 weapons and not using any healing or shield from light jak and well, it was harder, not that much harder and the difficulty was less consistent, but it also wasn’t fun. enemies are just thrown into an area without care, they aren’t animated like at all when they are idle from a distance, and every encounter just feels like a shooting gallery instead of unique situations that you have to approach tactically and use all of your tools on hand. it’s just fucking sad, every level feels so much more hollow and lacks the memorability of jak 2, especially since there isn’t even dynamic combat music anymore, not a single encounter feels intense
@@RomanCzachor Jak 2 had worse mission design and had the same "problem" as Jak 3 when it comes to enemy placement. You're a clown
27:30 I think that the main villains of Jak 3 should have been Gol and Maia seeking revenge and to continue their plan to cover the planet in Darkness by working with the Darkmakers, Samos teased their return in Jak 1 so it would have been perfect
Exactly, this was a perfect opportunity to bring them back.
Yeah, the Dark Makers are kinda lame. And the Metal Heads were already the Precursors' arch enemies.
Should've just been Gol & Maia with the Dark Makers as their minions made out of dark eco. Call them the Dark Spawn. I mean, hey - Dragon Age Origins wasn't out yet! :P
@@ThePreciseClimberYeah that could've worked. But I think the Dark Makers can still work as ancient enemies of the Precursors. Nobody said the Precursors can't have more than one enemy. Besides, not everyone is immune to Dark Eco mutation or corruption. Not even the Precursors.
Jak 1 is the best. I think the magic was lost in the sequels, which i still loved, but as I reflect... there was just something so perfect about the world of the first game that I think "grungifying" ultimately destroyed.
Agreed. I didn’t get into Jak 2 as a kid as was way too big a shift for me. I wish Jak 2 was a sequel like the sequels were in Crash and Spyro (same gameplay and world base but just building on it). Respect the fact that a lot of people love the sequels though maybe I wasn’t old enough for them when they came out.
Agreed as well. Jak and Daxter was special.
I love the whole series, but I’d rather play 3 than 2. I’m gonna have to go back and try them both again
@3rd Way the problem is hero mode is still easy in jak 3. the guns themselves just break the game and making the enemies a little spongier doesn’t fundamentally change this. the balancing is far too broken for just some stat adjustments to fix, especially compared to jak 2’s fantastic balancing
@@RomanCzachor Like if Jak 2 hero mode wasnt easy. Literally the only hard part is the turret section.
@@sebastiankulche jak 2’s hero mode isn’t all that difficult ya, enemies just take a little longer to kill (but ya fuck that one turret mission) but that’s not my point. the difficulty is well balanced both on normal mode and hero, it encourages you to play well but it’s not brutal or anything. jak 3 is a joke whether it’s on normal mode or hero mode
@@CerealKiller the enemies are generally tankier, as in they just take more hits to kill, usually just one or two more hits for normal enemies. for example, the infamous turret mission everyone talks about is only so hard in hero mode because it the crimson guards fly in faster than you can kill them due to their increased health. the players health is the same tho
Source: I've played a lot of Jak 2
I grew up with all three games at once, and I think Jak 3 was my favorite out of the the three just because of how accessible it was to me. The relatively low difficulty let me enjoy it to the fullest extent, whereas Jak 2 just kicked the shit outta my 8 year old ass and the OG just didn’t have enough stuff in it to excite me. Still probably my favorite, for nostalgia purposes, but I can 100% agree that story was on some crackhead shit.
I had such warm memories of the Light Jak mode. I would go to Spargus, find the big light eco well they have there, and then park on the well. I’d time stop, slap three people in the face, go back to the light well, and just turn on the shield. Because I was on the light well, I had infinite light eco and could shield forever. Meanwhile, everyone else just shoots each other by accident and a giant civil war brews up, all while I watch from the comfort of my bubble.
I personally liked jak 3 it was a really interesting game
Alot of the reasons J listed is why I always preferred 2 to 3. I will say I do enjoy 3 over the Precursors legacy because I enjoy the setting and characters of the future more. To Jak 3's credit I do think the vehicles handle the best of the entire trilogy. The precursors twist actually was genius in my opinion a nod to the wizard of Oz.
For me, Jak 3 is the most replayable of the series. Because the actual difficulty curve is alot more fair. While Jak 2 had difficulty spikes all over the place in seemingly random places. While Jak 3 is far more consistant in its curve even with how broken the beam reflexer is
Okay but like can we talk about how cool that render at 14:11 is?
Just finished Jak 2, so very interested to see if I agree with you when I replay 3! I've only played it once when I was 9, so I have fond memories for now.
Can I just say, the design of light Jak, especially with the wings, gorgeous
Btw Jak left in the end.. time travel lol.. oh and the part where Pecker says Mar wore this armor in his battle to defend this planet from the Dark Makers Jak was the one who did that so its a full circle effect 🤝🏽
I think it would have been really cool if Gol returned as the Big Bad of the last game of the trilogy.
These videos have been very informative and entertaining! Despite only having played the first game in the series, this is still an IP I am very nostalgic towards, and still respect and admire the games after all these years!
Jak 3 isn't bad but MAN did it feel very disappointing to Jak 2, very rushed and sloppy story, horrible weapon and difficulty balancing, and so many stupid driving and gimmicky missions that felt like they just expanded on the worst parts of 2 and made that most of the game.
Agreed
Jak 3 is good but the story is all over the place and the vehicle missions feel like unwanted padding.
"Erol and Veger have nothing to do with each other."
You obviously have not played Daxter.
every shadow has a light source also the hillarious thing is the sequel to this one isn't the lost frontier it's the car game jak combat racing which has ratchet as a playable character.
Congratulations! Your the 666th comment!.....Devil
Jak and daxter and the precursor legacy was my childhood. I remember playing this game everyday restarting the whole thing every time I beat it. The snowy mountain is my favorite area.
I loved the whole series but even as a kid i replayed two the most.
Jak 3 is probably my favorite, I’d say the only thing that’s even remotely disappointing about it is that it wasn’t longer. Maybe I’m wrong but Jak 2 felt longer, 3 is a fun ass game and loved the universe and story.
The last few times I've replayed the trilogy, I end up dropping Jak 3 in the middle of it. I always it just burnout from completing the other two games right before it, but a lot of your points make a lot of sense and help explain why it's a hard game for me to finish.
Man, 2022 has really been the year of the Jak renaissance. I'm hearing so many channels talk about the series lately. I hope they do a full re-release with upgraded graphics like they're doing for Last of Us Part 1.
Or Jak 4. That would be really awesome.
Listening to your analysis it was wild how all your criticism sounds like my complaints with Crash 3 (too many mini games, not enough dope Crash platforming, Crash is too powerful)
Yet I’ve never thought that about Jak 3. I guess I like the mini games better in Jak 3? And I never had a problem with the difficulty of Jak 2; I felt OP as shit in that game too once I got the standard blaster. So being more OP just meant I got to do more things in the sequel if I felt like it.
Jak 2 for sure had the cleanest story that do be right 😎💯
The part where you talk about this game really taking it out of you is so true for me. The long missions of the same monotonous stuff is the reason this game has so fewer replays for me than the other 2
I think Jack 3 being my favorite really shows what my taste in games and story is showing how my brain works. I love games with variety in mini games added on to great main gameplay making the charachters and story bigger because the charachter can do a variety of things and not just known for 1 style of gameplay. I allways saw Jack 3 as the victory lap after all he had been through in 1 and 2 and in my head it makes sense that a hero like him would of course be op in 3. He perfected his platforming and acrobatics in 1 and his more darker side and marksmanship in 2 but in 3 he learns balance, inner peace, and shows he can do more then jump and shoot. Ik that doesn't make the best game or sequel but I just gravitate towards games like these, I guess that's why I also love Conker's Bad Fur Day. Fun short variety minigames are like candy to my ADHD brain lol.
Still can't wait for the native fanmade PC port to finish decompilation
It's a decent game but IMO it was boring mostly because it lacked challenge. Jak basically becomes an overpowered God from all the extra guns, light abilities, extra health from armor etc where it practically breaks the game; most of your deaths will be from falling.
Also it lacked the wanted system that Jak 2 had which was a huge highlight of fun from that game. When you shot a guard in 2, the whole city would be chasing after you with guards shooting from the ground and vehicles trying to ram you, but in this one it's completely gone. A huge part of the mayhem in Jak 2 was getting the guards after you
Agreed the Metal heads and deathbots weren't as fun in the overworld
Maybe, but it was also very annoying. The game always punish you when driving in the ground, despite that is the only reliable way of driving without crashing with something. Always when i play this game the guards are constantly chasing me.
Kinda surprised you didn't mention that depending on if you max out your Dark Powers completely by the end of the game, you actually get a different ending, though not sure what that entails cause... I didn't find enough of the things to do that
I thoroughly enjoyed Jak 3 more than Jak 2 and Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy. For me it was the trailer that hooked me in and in terms of enjoyment I had much more fun completing Jak 3 than i did in the previous games.
Jak 3 was good, but having only 2 peaceful areas was a bit boring. Then again I like the grimdark constant war areas too, but it got boring fast.
The only problem for me is the ending. There are still other worlds to save from the Dark Makers. Gol and Maia are still in the Precursor catacombs. If we ever get a new Jak game I hope it's a huge open world.
Not to mention there could also be more Metal Heads in the Cosmos too.
i liked jak 3, but when i played, I thought the ammo count sorta balanced the OP weapons, as they would eat through your ammo really quick, and ran out of ammo a lot from just freeroaming.
For a long time Jak 3 was my favorite of the series, but when I look back I do notice some of the cracks in the design. The game is still one of my favorites and I always enjoy revisiting it, about as much as Jak 2, but nowadays my favorite for the series goes to X. Really fantastic, that one.
OMG finally someone acknowledges Jak X! Me and my brother spend hours playing it together in 2 player.
I love jak 3
And didn't mind all the weapons I never found the enemy challenging even when I was a kid
I personally love this trilogy as a whole, flaws even withstanding. For one thing, I think 3 had much better balancing in the difficulty department than 2 did. Jak 2 can be one of the most obnoxiously difficult games I've played for what feels like some very wrong reasons. I still like it and think it was a great sequel to its predecessor, but 3 feels far more accommodating/fair with its difficulty. Not necessarily because of how broken in the player's favor the new powers and weapon upgrades are, but rather because of little things like the more frequent health pickups and such. I loved the gun upgrades despite how redundant most of them felt once you got the first and second Blaster upgrades. I liked the idea of traversing the desert with the use of exaggeratedly large and weaponized dune buggies, even if the drives did often feel vapid and time consuming when you weren't doing a mission. Light Eco powers and the new Dark Eco Powers were cool additions. The story had its issues but overall was a good time, though I do agree that the whiplash they give you with how indecisive they seemed in regards to who the star love interest was does NOT sit well with me. It sure ain't perfect but I'd rather play 3 than 2 based solely on how dickheaded 2 gets in places. 3 had a lot of cool ideas but their execution left some things to be desired. Not unlike Megaman X3, ironically enough. Maybe the reason I liked 3 more than 2 was because after how burnt the hell out I was from how relentlessly shitheaded 2 is in many places, 3 felt like a satisfying reprieve. That could also partially be my fault though since the last time I played this trilogy I played them all in rapid succession.
3 has gotta be my favorite out of the trilogy to be honest. It took little kid me like 4 years to beat it though
It’s literally impossible for Jak to be the Mar who founded Haven City and for the timeline to not have gone insanely off the rails. How can I know? Because the Butterfly Effect is a thing.
Ya know, that theory that if you go back in time do something as insignificant as killing a butterfly, you can completely screw over time.
I like to believe Jak was just the descendant of and named after Mar and leave it at that. Saying they're one and the same just screws everything up. I'm not big on the whole "Grandfather Paradox" thing.
J someday, could you review Star Wars Bounty Hunter? It's not only one of the Best tie in games that avoids it's genre's usual pitfalls, so well done it's like canon, but also just a great one!
Yea, jak 3 was kinda mid tbh it had memorable moments but it had such an identity crisis that half of them didn't even materialize properly. Im hyped for that jak x review man, don't forget to talk about the osts on that, those songs on it are LEGENDARY.
I found your Jak retrospective videos randomly on YT yesterday and I'm glad I did. It's my personal favorite game series ever soooo this was my favorite thing to watch within the last day. Saw you just uploaded the Jak 3 vid and got excited lol This was fun
If you've played the Kingdom Hearts series, that would be a really fun (yet extremely tough) series to tackle.
I played each game as they came out, and still Jak 3 is my favorite of the main trilogy. But I get the points you make, and I can agree with a good chunk of them, I just personally prefer it over the others
This was a half hour of saying the game sucks followed by “I’m not saying the game sucks”
I have a great fondness for Jak 3 because I finished it before 2, given it's much easier. In retrospect some of the weird ending twists are just baffling and the ricochet gun alone invalidates combat, not to mention the other guns and the massively increased health pool. So now I believe 2 to be much better as a game, but I still love 3 a ton still and I'll play both to death when the OpenGOAL project gets to them.
The driving is mega jank, but I like it still (maybe a little stockholm syndrome) and I also remember really liking most of the mini-game stuff. Playing as the giant death robot not-so-much, doing the top-down perspective segment a whole lot. Oh and the Daxter segments too.
Lot of good points. Jak 3 was always my favorite but now I’m inspired to do a run where I only use the base 4 guns. Sounds like it’s be fun 😁
“i only play jak 3 because i played one and two so i might as well” lmfao i completely feel that. jak 1 was the first game i ever played and the trilogy holds a special place for me as well. anytime im waiting for a new game to come out i play 1 and 2 but jak 3 feels like a chore around the halfway point. i just wanna say i love your reviews of these games and thanks for keeping me entertained until i get off work to go actually play them lol.
Loved Jak 2 & 3 was disappointed when the next game was a racing game.
They could be made the Story characters levels longer.
19:37 The gameplay of that minigame is actually based off a game called Head On; it was like a simplified version of Pac-man, with the maze just being a rectangle with a few lanes, while the player is only capable of going forward and switching lanes. The weird thing is that despite the gameplay being taken from Head On, the visuals _are_ a homage to Pac-man, which has a VERY different look from Head On, most notably in how you play as a car in the latter game. It's as if Naughty Dog made the minigame as a reference to Pac-man, but were concerned over copyright from Namco and decided to take the gameplay from a similar enough game or something.
I see what you mean, I looked it up and it is 100% Head On. But with Pac-Man visuals...very weird.
I always called it Daxman as a kid lol
Really good video, actually made me reassess my own feelings on the game (though I already shared your sentiments about the plot being a mess)
Jak 3 is probably my favourite, it probably goes Jak 3, Jak and Dax Precursor, then finally Jak 2. I really like the play-ability through both city and the wasteland. I feel like the combat is really fun and the cars are an awesome addition.
Im actually one of those people who were upset with Jak and daxter 2. I initially really loved the first and how it captivates the beauty of nature and interactions. I understand that the game needed diversity for being different from the first but to me it just felt like playing GTA.
Honestly the original story of the game was supposed to be way darker with the precursors being malevolent and rather have the different factions fight each other in order to be save rather than be helpful beings we see at the end of jak 3
haven't watched yet but i love jak 3 firs tone of the trilogy that i 100% but am totally down to hear why you were disappointed by it. I love hearing opposing opinions on games
Jak 3 is my favorite game in the series . I replayed it very often
I have this winter demo disc with Jak 3 on it and everytime you play Jak 3, it deletes your entire ps2 memory card. Ha. I remember playing that demo a lot.
Personally Jak 3 is my favorite in the series.
Even though I did like Jak 3.....it wasn't until we reach Haven City and the atmosphere with Samos and ESPECIALLY Keira....felt off. The Jak and Ashlein romance, I wasn't against but I was like "waaaiit but Keira!!!! They never even get to kiss!!! And Wasn't she into Torn!!!!"
Yeah Jak 3 felt very dissapointing back in 2004, particularly considering I got 1 christmas gift and this game was it. I had a lot of hype going into Jak 3 and then it never really felt as impactful as jak II.
Which is odd becuse a lot of things were improved, but Jak II just had this wow factor. I felt like a total badass. Jak 3 I got way more weapons and vehicles and always felt like.....just a person wandering aimlessly.
I didn't know it at the time, but it turns out I was a huge fan of high difficulty action platforming. Jak 3 had less platforming, less difficulty and the story was amazing, it felt like some huge pre planned "bigger than you" story and the new story was just...bet up a councilmn for being mean to you, find out some dude is randomly your dad and the big villain is a C tier villain form the last game.
When I was a kid, I played some games from a video rental store near where I grow up and one of them I remember was Jak 3 but for some reason I could never get past the tutorial level. Maybe I was too young to understand how the game works or maybe there was a lot that happened that just was too much to follow. Now that I’m older and have the PS4 collection, I’ve been tempted to give it another chance along with the other main games
Heh, this is the only Jak game I played, and immediatly made me lose interest in the series.
Tutorial level was pretty good and felt nice, but then it's just weird time wasting driving missions that were boring and frustrated. Yeah, turned it off and never went back. Alas.
Please don't let that deter you from playing jak 1 or 2 at the very least
Disappointing? Nope. One of the all time greats? 🤨 It’s balls hard, but man oh man, the atmosphere, the variety and the intensity are second to none.
How dare you talk so lowly of that metalhead mission, that one is memorable af
and basically your only down side is there's no difficulty setting, other then that it's still not disappointing at all. Your title sounds like a massacre happened when it was a papercut. Disliked for false clickbait.
Me personally, i love the variety of driving, platforming and mini games jak 3
J, if you consider revisiting Lost frontier please do not play the PS2 port but consider playing it on real hardware, it's a way better game than people make it believe, yes it still have some incredibly stupid things like Dark Daxter but the PS2 port is just atrocious and this applies for "Ratchet Size Matters" and "Secret agent Clank" as well.
Played on a real PSP or on a psvita they hold up much better.
I never tried them on an emulator but again, in my opinion playing those on real hardware makes you enjoy them way more
Anyone else see this video from an ad under the video you were watching? Weird but ig you gotta run those numbers up so no hate, just new to me seeing a UA-camr I already watch be an ad.
Yeah but what do ya guys expect for a 2004 game? It's not like they can go back and fix Jak3 and all the criticism when they had a dead line rushing to get the hold Jak and daxter trilogy done, and to be honest I kind of like what they did with Jak3, How Haven city doesn't feel like it's tight area to drive on, and how they improve the game play and how the story actually take some stakes, and improve on dark Jak as in Jak2 you had to keep on grinding to get dark Jak which a lot of people do not give Jak3 credit for, They fix the hold difficulty on Jak3 which every one that had play Jak2 has been complaining about.... Sure it's not 100 percents perfect but it's still enjoyable to go back and play the hold trilogy there are other games out there that's 10 times worst than people complaints on Jak3 that people don't talk about or too blind to see but thats just my thoughts about the hold thing and my point of view of things.