Jak II Retrospective
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- Опубліковано 29 чер 2024
- It took far too long, but here's my full analysis of Jak 2. Thanks so much for waiting. I know a lot of this video is negative so I wanted time to collect my thoughts and be fair to the game. That said, Jak 3 is incredibly similar, so that video should be a lot shorter and quicker to make. Thanks again for sticking with me and I hope you enjoy the video!
Time Stamps:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:02:40 - Development History
00:04:31 - Opening Sequence
00:13:19 - Story
00:27:18 - Characterization
00:36:14 - Presentation
00:41:55 - Gameplay
00:56:38 - Level Design
01:04:22 - Mission Design
01:13:02 - Bosses
01:22:16 - World Design
01:27:01 - Conclusion
Website: www.mightynifty.com/
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Outro Song: / adhesivewombat - Ігри
Stop criticizing the combat/difficulty if you're unironically saying the jump spin shoot method is the winning strategy.
Agreed each gun can be used in specific scenarios. The blasters waste lander move is far superior to the skin move. No in Jak 3 the spin move with the reflex blaster is pretty OP
I am now 65 I played all the Jax and Dax games as an adult. Right now I'm replaying all three. All the games are great but Jax 2 remains a stand-out. I have never found another game equal to the entire concept. The reason why there is no teleport is because you need to learn how to drive around the city. There are several challenges in including one notable one that needs expert knowledge of the city. Jax 2 blew me away when I first played it and remains a firm favourite of mine.
It was straight up an alien world grand theft auto game with a skate mini game throughout the Map so fuckin cool, if naughty dog made a new gen proper sequel or reboot it could be one of the greatest games ever made comparable with breath of the wild and elden ring and grand theft auto and Mario, but naughty Dogg will probably just make a last of us 3 or a prequel or some shit
Whether you love or hate Jak II, you've gotta admit, Naughty Dog had some serious balls to pull such a drastic move after the first game was such a success. This could have absolutely killed the franchise, but it didn't. That's pretty impressive.
I personally love Jak2 and think it's best game in the trilogy
They did kill the franchise. It died after Jak 3.
@@eatanotherzio6811I think people just lost interest in platformers.
It did kill the franchise tho
While I disagree with a lot of your points in this video, it was still a great watch! I always love to hear different perspectives on games I love. A couple things though. The music cutting out suddenly in the opening is a PS3 exclusive glitch, as well as Kor's black face. The PS3 version has quite a few audio and graphical glitches that weren't present in the original.
I think it's a bit unfair to criticize the game because of it's tone. The game is trying to be more mature and dark , but also a game for younger players, and players who enjoyed the first game. I get that having the tone shift so frequently can be a problem for some, but the game not going all in on the dark tone isn't really a fair thing to bash the game for. One of my favourite things about this series is the ambiguity when it comes to the world and lore. Jak and Daxter introduces the idea of the Precursors who built the world and all that cool stuff. Jak II introduces the mystery of Mar, and builds on the Precursors. Jak 3 obviously takes both further, and is really devisive among the fans, which I guess I'll give my thoughts on when you cover Jak 3, but like I said, I love the mystery this world holds, and it really gets the imagination going.
The gameplay is where I disagree with a lot of people, specifically the gun play. Yes, the dominant strategy is to jump spin and shoot, but if you're aware of it and realise it breaks the game, you should make an effort not to do it. I understand that Naughty Dog should have balanced the game better so this isn't the dominant strategy, but if it breaks the game as much as everyone says, maybe try to play it as intended. The blaster isn't the only useful weapon either. The scatter gun, while slow when first acquired, is incredibly useful. It's a great way to take out the smaller enemies, and groups of them. Not only does it damage all enemies in its radius, but it stun locks them a lot more than the blaster does. The game also rewards players for being more aggressive and using melee during gun fights. This is only briefly touched upon in game, but when you get the blaster, it teaches you the "wastelander move", where by hitting a target with melee, then firing, shoots multiple bullets in quick succession. This is a very useful move, which I would argue is more useful than the jump spin shoot move, because you're actually controlling which targets are being hit. And every gun, except the peace maker, has a variation of the move. When hitting an enemy then firing the scatter gun, it fires straight away and skips the reloading animation, and when hitting then firing with the vulcan fury, it starts firing at full speed without the need for the gun to warmup. When it comes to criticism of the gun play, I've seen a lot of people say it's bad or the game is hard because it controls bad, and using the jump spin shoot is the best way to play, when it really isn't. When playing with intent, and trying to learn the ins and outs of the gun mechanics and when each gun is necessary for each situation, it becomes a lot of fun. Sure, you might still die a lot, but learning how to use the guns correctly is infinitely more satisfying then pressing X, Circle, R1 for the entire game.
Just a quick thing about the jet board, it's not that Jak loses balance like in THPS, it's that you need to push the stick in the direction he's grinding, which is weird and the game doesn't tell you that, but I thought you should know.
There are a lot of other small things I disagree with in this video that I can't remember now, but there's also a lot I agree with. For instance, I love the idea of Dark Jak, but its implementation leaves a lot to be desired. The suggestions you gave to fix it I agree with completely, and have been thinking the same thing for years.
Overall, I enjoyed the video, but disagreed with a lot. Jak and Daxter is my favourite series, but I'm not blind to the flaws of the series, especially Jak 3. The first game is my favourite in the series, so don't think this comment is just me fanboying or defending my favourite game, but I think counter criticism is always beneficial
Thanks for the feedback. I wish I'd known about the PS3 issues earlier, but nothing I can do now. As far as the gameplay issues go, I can see where you're coming from even if we disagree. My biggest issue is that the game should be much better than it ended up being, with a ton of cool elements that had small issues preventing the game from being truly exemplary (to me). Although I'd love to see something like a bluepoint remake of the game that fixes the minor issues, explains concepts more, balances the combat, and makes the tone a bit more consistent. All in all, I'm pretty mixed on the game, but I can totally see how someone could have a great time if they came at it with a different perspective.
His complaints about the tone make no sense to me. Its tone is perfect, by his logic batman the animated series and gargoyles are terrible cartoons because they are serious shows with a lot of silly and funny moments.
@@MightyNifty The complaint about a lot of missions having nothing to do with the core story is technically true but that's an issue that happens in almost open world games. If every mission pushed the plot forward then the game would be over much quicker. It is much worse in GTA.
@@ash9280 True. The difference is that in other open world games those are usually side missions, not mandatory to complete the game.
@@MightyNifty Look at GTA4, tons of main missions have little to do with the story.
gta.fandom.com/wiki/Missions_in_GTA_IV#Broker-Dukes-Bohan_Missions
Jumping and kicking and shooting. Makes the game extra hard.
When I was 13 Jak II was the fucking greatest thing since sliced bread, I coudnt get enough of playing it...it was perfect in my eyes
Same
Very real sentiment.
I still prefer the style of Jak 1 but this was such a cool and different sequel you gotta appreciate it. Jak 3, however, was very much in the style of Jak 2 but with more vehicles and Mad Max influences.
I like how Jak 3 brought back the adventure theme of Jak 1 but built on the gameplay and world of Jak 2. Really cool game
I player jack x before jack 3 so for me It Easy the fusion of Teo Greta games
@@floridaman0219 the desert missions were trash
I dunno jak 2 was my favorite jak game. I dunno why.
@@wozthescott2804 Just because you cant drive the sand shark, doesn't make the desert levels trash.
The awkward tone of it is something I actually like.
I feel Jak's edgyness is justified if he went through two years straight of torture with dark eco.
Thankfully he mellows out by Jack 3 and is back to about normal
It's his aaaarrrccc!
I love jak 2 it was such a awesome and badass game
If you calm down with the spin blaster move in the sewer escort mission; and use the scatter gun it’s not that bad
i know right, you’re mean to use different guns for different enemy types, the spin blaster move is actually not that useful as it drains your ammo and most of the shots miss anyway
As someone whose intro to the franchise was jak 2, I'm so glad they went with the darker tone.
Same
It's funny, I never even played TPL until several years after beating II and even 3. I played through II and 3 so many times (like Spider-Man 2) for years on end as a kid that it really influenced me a lot and planted some seeds of genuine growth and maturity, even spirituality. Jak was my go-to through almost all of my school years.
Facts it’s not a generic platformer, jak 1 was good af, but jak 2 was 🔥
I really feel like you missed the point of Jak in this one. He’s not doing what he’s doing to be a ‘hero’, it’s revenge. The resistance is called ‘the Underground’ and I think that fits what Jak does in this game. It’s underground work, violent and messy.
that title music cut only seems to happen in the remaster o.o
Happened on my PS2 version way back in 2004
@@ZeDitto3 i always thought it was how the game was designed, why the music should keep going if there's no demo video?
That was my thought as a kid.
30:13 "....have the baron kill Daxter in this first scene."
yeah, fuck no.
I think they did very good storytelling to explain the drastic change of tone, that’s why i loved it so much because EVERY change all made sense
Where you have to fight infinite guards at the docks. All you need to do is ride your jet board through the docks on the correct track. Only took me 3 tries and finished it in less than 20 seconds
I loved hunting the invisible metalheads in the forest because recently I played it really really slowly, ducking behind trees and tracking their movements and where they shot from, and it felt great. I was in a weird mood that day.
Weird is good
It’s great to see you uploading another video. I’ve been waiting for this one a long time. Your Jak and Daxter critique is how I found your channel in the first place.
Alright all the guns are useful and heres why
Scatter Gun- Good for dealing with large groups of small enemies and knocking back bigger enemies.
Blaster Mod- Good for shooting long range, and taking out enemies fast by punching the enemy and shooting it.
Vulcan Fury- Good for Keeping distance and Stunning large enemies to take them out.
Peacemaker-Blowing Shit up.
Play the game using all of the weapons like this, and It becomes much easier and most importantly FUN. I recommend checking Powercell Freak's video about it
I PROMISE the jump spin combo isn’t the winning strategy and that’s why yall thought the game was so hard back in the day. If you actually use the other modes for their intended uses, it becomes a lot easier. Use the punch, shoot combos with the blaster especially that fires 3 rapid shots and things like stunlock with the Vulcan blaster. Trust me. That 3 shot blaster combo will ruin anything short of a boss, and you’re not wasting ammo shooting nothing.
I think some of the questioned "glossed over" are a little unfair to the game, if I'm being honest - they're either later explained, or fair questions that are meant to be theorycrafted by fans. There's nothing wrong with leaving your fans to do some exposition of their own.
Since Jak (whose real name is Mar) sticks around after the end of Jak 3, and the city was founded by Mar, it's clear that Jak went back in time once more and founded Haven City after the events of Jak 3. Haven City isn't actually built over Sandover Village - it's built to the left of it and off-map from anywhere that was shown in Precursor Legacy. Something clearly happened to the area inbetween Haven City and Sandover Village during the time after the metal heads invaded through the portal, but understanding that the metal heads destroyed the world and caused irreversible damage isn't necessarily a plot hole.
As for how Mar came into contact with the precursors, we see this happen in Jak 3. It's not necessarily known if there *has* to be a sage for all eco types at all times, it's just known that at the time of the Precursor Legacy there were sages of each eco type. The wasteland outside the city appears to have a giant ocean, so it's not like the ocean disappeared - the landscape has just shifted. Some of the city is even built over water, further showing this point.
I think it's not very fair to say that these are all overlooked elements and examples of poor writing - leaving your audience with questions about the game that you can answer in the future is good writing, if anything.
1:14:16 If I’m gonna criticize the first Baron fight it’s not because it’s too easy lol
When I saw this video I was a little suspicious when I saw 400 views. But this video has insane quality for a channel of this size. Good shit bro, nice edits and good takes are all you need. Keep it up
Great job! I love that you address your personal view, and are able to give (to your best knowledge at the time) an objective retrospective on a well beloved game.
really nice retrospective. Was hoping someone made a video like this
A great watch to be sure. However a point I should make is that some of the visual/audio issues you point out are issues with ports/emulators, not it’s the original game on the ps2. Examples I noticed were Kor’s black face and the cut music on the title screen
Yeah and the haven city walking theme seems to be missing some instruments
just the kind of video i needed today. thanks
Love how much time and effort you put into this video
I get all of your points, but to me I preferred Jak2 to any of the other games, the story I would say is by far the best, all the different gameplay types I think is a huge plus. Moving away from one of the major points being collecting items is also good for me because I think that distracts from progressing attention to the story.
and when you said to keep a level in mind I remembered which one, the one where you have to find the precursor relics, where theres really good platforming challenges, puzzels like the blocks that you have to unfold to get across the pools of dark eco, those rhino metal heads which have always been one of my favorite enemies, those cascades of the little hopping ones you have to take out which remind me of that one section in gol and maya's citadel in the first game.
I also think the environmental design of different areas are alot more distinct than you made them out to be, such as haven forest being a green and lush area with rivers and fallen logs, the area I mentioned with the precursor ruins cliffs and rocky outcroppings, the pumping station area with the sandy beaches and color palate reminiscent of the first game but with the new metallic structures and darker tones of the new game covering it. The ruined section of the city, the desolate wasteland near the metalhead nest ect are all very different and memorable for me.
10 mins of “it’s an okay game” 15 mins of valide complaints and and hour of “how could this 2003 game not be more to 2020 standards”
One of my biggest issues with this game are the travel times between missions. Especially when you have to use hover cars in the crowded ass city. It becomes a chore and it’s crazy how people barely acknowledge that issue.
Baron Praxis is a great Character and is performed so well by the legend himself Clancy Brown which also is a welcome return for long time Naughty Dog fans since he was the Voice of Neo Cortex in their own Crash Bandicoot games back on PS1 (well except in Crash 1, that wasn't Clancy Brown)
You bring up excellent points throughout the video, although I feel like I need to defend one of my favorite games from my childhood.
That being said, I am completely biased. I view Jak II through rose tinted glasses, mainly due to nostalgia, but also because, for better or for worse, I wasn't really exposed to the original Jak and Dater before seeing Jak II, therefore the sharp contrast between games and tone didn't really register for me.
From that framing, I loved Jak II. The story was well thought out, with fun gameplay that was more adult, with aesthetics that invited younger players to dive in, although the difficulty caused much frustration, but I enjoyed the challenge and actually prefer it over the handholding you see in modern games. Speaking of modern games, I think one of the best aspects of Jak II is that it is so unique. Time travel, sci fi, distopia, guns, crime, revolution, eco, metal heads. The sheet number of ideas in this world make it feel completely new and alien, encouraging exploration, even if you had played the first game, so much had changed that you couldn't help getting sucked into this place. I miss games like this. Developers weren't afraid to think outside the box and focus more on fun, something games seem to lack these days. Uncharted and Last of Us have their pros, but they're so generic and familiar. Uncharted is a watered down Indiana Jones and Last of Us includes typical zombie tropes seen in every tv show, movie, or book that we've seen a hundred times before. Both games are executed well, but they're so tired and obvious, like dozens of other games. There is only one Jak II. Even GTA, an obviously heavy influence, has only surface level similarities.
Bad checkpoints and technical issues are inexcusable and I have no defense, but these are small issues compared with the overall presentation, gameplay, and fun that the game exhibits.
Jak II is definitely not everybody's cup of tea, but it did a ton with what was available and offers so much that games choose not to these days. It's not as tight story wise as today's games, or books and movies, but it didn't need to be. Games used to be games, fun above all and if there was a decent story, that was just a bonus. I would take a fun, crazy, and unique game like Jak II over a well executed story centric game with boring tropes and gameplay like the Last of Us any day. But I'm a biased old man, willfully ignorant or indifferent to the glaring issues you have rightfully brought up.
Excellent video that really took me back! I appreciate your insight into something that many of us have fond memories of!
i don’t know how i ever beat this game as a 9-10 year old kid. it took me like over a year and i played it constantly, but god damn is this game difficult
Jaks uncle isn’t his blood uncle. It’s simply someone who took care of jak while Samos wasn’t.
I adored everything about Jak 1, namely the lore and themes such as the Eco Sages.
Jak 2 is not a bad game but the vastly different tone, GTA like overworld, focus on guns and edgyness... It never clicked with me.
I wanted more of Jak 1, more of that world, of the lore, to continue what it set up and see Jak became a Sage.
I mean really. Imagine if Spyro 2 was a first person shooter with a gritty world war tone and vibe. Would feel out of place right?
Naughty Dog heard your request to kill off a fan favorite character and RAN with it
Personally I think Ashlynn is the coolest character design I've seen.
I hope they make a game for her. Honestly.
She’s tattoo worthy haha always thought she was hot, and her voice ughh
Kor and Vin also gave you conflicting missions from the Power Room. Vin was concerned about having enough eco for the shield walls and Kor wanted you to disrupt the Barron's eco drilling operations because they might be used against the Underground.
Which is it? Does Jak want to disrupt the Barron's eco drilling operations so the eco is not used against the Underground OR help the eco operation by killing metals heads and metal head eggs to have enough eco for the city shields?
Did you ever consider that maybe Kor was giving you those missions because he was secretly the Metal Head leader the whole time? Or did you forget that part of the game.
@@keshonhend2047 Reread my comment. I'm asking why Jak is accepting mission that contradict each other.
@@HairOnScreen Because Jak doesn't give a shit. His single motive in the game is spelled out clearly from the get go. "I'm gonna kill Praxis!" If a job sounds like it's going to hurt him, he's gonna do it.
@@keshonhend2047 Does Jak only have a single motive? Destroying the metal head eggs at the Drill Platform helps Praxis.
great review
Congrats on what has got to be the most in-depth Jak video on UA-cam!
I love these games all of them I was just streaming Jak 2 the other day
Its not often I find a retrospective where I agree with every point! Regardless whether or not I agree, this is extremely well done and written! Thank you for making these!
Personally I’d love to see a remake of the whole series at least jak 2 rather than a jak 4 game, similar to how resident evil’s been, to flush out plot holes, and give this amazing story more to it, etc. this series holds a spot in my heart forever, I cannot wait for another game
man the remastered collection has alot of bugs.
I like these retrospectives though man, very in depth and well opinionated. Great job!
This is why you're really just better off with the originals because for some reason they just always seem to mess up something in these HD collections. I remember hearing the Ratchet & Clank HD set had some issues as well as the HD Sly Cooper trilogy.
Jak II is one of my favourite games of all time and arguably the best by Naughtydog.
This was a great time as a kid. My mom always had me do the hoverboard slum docks part because it was so hard, lol.
Fun game.
Edit: 1:10:45 Oh, you did it that way? The reason I called it the hoverboard docks part is because that's how I used to beat it. Just hoverboard to the end, shooting no one.
kinda disagree with a lot of this but really well made video,Wish I was as articulate
The Driving is fine but the Haven's City traffic and roads with maze-like design is terrible for casual players it just needed a bug to make it impossible to evade the traffic.
I've never agreed more with any other video review, thank you.
I remembered Jak II as the best game in the series, like many others, but couldn't remember a single mission. Only that awesome yellow blaster! But as I replayed it 15 years later, I slowly remembered eveything that pissed me off about it when I was 13. Then I thought, maybe Jak 3 was the best? I'm playing through them now, so we'll see!
Lots of great and terrible takes in this video. I like hearing a different perspective on a lot of things like the story, but there are some awful takes in here too. Watching your gameplay it blows my mind that you managed to beat the game eventually. The spin move is not even close to the best way to shoot or fight. (Edit: Watching further into the video it's both amusing and frustrating watching you repeatedly level criticism at the game for the spin move being the "best strategy" while you repeatedly die from using it and having no semblance of aim or skilled movement. If you get good at playing the right way, it'll solve 90% of your frustrations.) You don't have to touch enemies to use the scatter gun. The vulcan fury doesn't use that much ammo, you're holding the trigger too long. The enemies are dead despite continuing to react to bullets. The skill comes with trigger discipline. Grinding is so easy it's hard to mess up; you just jump and hold square, and Jak will be magnetically pulled 8' to the side to land on a rail. The vehicles control well if you know how to use them, and the tradeoffs are a feature, not a bug.
Anyway, I appreciate the effort put into this video, but it's a great example of how a game being challenging can sour someone with less mechanical skill on the entire experience. This is the first video of yours I've seen, and I look forward to watching more!
“ We’re all Wrong from time to time.”😂😂🤣
Great vid man. I will say when I was 12 playing this for the first time I noticed none of the obvious plot holes you laid out I thought the game was awesome! I think naught dog knew the target audience wasn’t gonna think that hard about the story and just rolled it out! Sad thing, I replay these games about every year and as a grown ass man I didn’t see the plot holes until you pointed me out in this vid lol great job man really enjoyed hearing a fresh perspective on this series
I played Jak 2 not long ago and I agree with some of your points. The beginning in the game was very quick for example. But I still enjoyed the game and thought your video was great!
Seems appropriate that the series took the turn to a more mature story, considering that light hearted game was more like our innocent youth. We grow up and get all corrupted and shit
To be honest the first 2 Jak and Daxter games essentially had the exact same health system because you could only take a maximum of 4 hits before you were dead. In the first game you had 3 heart pieces plus a 50 counter for extra collected green eco We're essentially meant that Jak could take 4 hits. In Jak 2, almost every hit from an enemy would take 2 pieces away from the 8 pieces on your health bar meaning that you could only ever take 4 hits in Jak 2 in most cases
Would it be safe to conclude that in Jak and Daxter, Jak is about 16 years old, and in Jak 2, Jak is about 18 and a half years old ?
What's up with the menu music and Korr's black face? It isn't like that on PS2 and on PS4 (Which uses the PS2 version).
HD collection on PS3. The only version I like to play now although the PS5 version is really solid compared to PS4 upscale
Those are bugs on the PS3 version.
Gotta love how everyone is saying that the spin2win tactic is super broken, but yet in the video, it is shown very clearly that it's not a one trick pony.
You can clearly see it in the mission where you have to escort Young and Old Samos (1:07:00). Doing a wasteland move would be a much better tactic than just spamming the Beyblade strategy;
The blaster is amazing and "nuking" enemies with a lot of burst damage
The Scattergun is amazing at giving you some time and room to move in.
The Vulcan is amazing at stunlocking in general, but doing a wasteland move instantly revs it up to 100%.
The Peacemaker is just an end-game high damage weapon.
The game incentivizes you to use risky and melee focused combat. Spamming the Aerial Wasteland move (spin2win) is 90% a dumb idea and you'd be better off with actually doing the other combos.
The time travel isn’t full of plot holes, it just has long gaps. Long gaps that I’m pretty sure would’ve been filled by a 4th game that looped the first 3
i feel like plot lines dont need to go anywhere necessarily, they can serve as red herrings or to set a variety in tone and experiences
I loved Jak 2 growing up but it definitely didn't age well. Jak and Daxter TPL has stood the test of time for me though.
It aged just fine.
@@bkkersey93no it didn’t lol
Dude I LOVE the Haven soundtrack, its my favourite one and I think his slowlyness is perfect for the depressing world its representing.
Honestly Jak 2 Is my favourite In the entire series, Jak 3 Introduced a lot of new weapon mods and the waste land but that’s about it, and It’s much easier then 2.
The Title Music DID cut a little prematurely but it is SILENT after that until you hear that "bing-boong" when hitting the Start Button... It's intentional.
My thing about this game is that why is it called Jak 2? Why isn't it called Jak & Daxter 2? The first game wasn't even called Jak 1. How are they gonna take my favorite character in the entire series out of the title like that. Daxter deserves more credit.
"Jak and Daxter 2" was probably just seen as too long of a title to pronounce, I guess. I suppose they figured that everyone would just shorten it to "Jak 2" anyway, so they just called it that, themselves.
Apparently, according to an old trailer, the game was supposed to be called "Jak and Daxter: A New Legacy Begins" but, for some reason, it was later changed into Jak II/Jak II: Renegade.
I couldnt disagree more with almost everything you said haha. Great video nonetheless.
The combat in this game is great imo once you start using meele combos together with your firearms. You also need to play more aggresively. I think that not being able to strafe was a design choice to make players rush head on into enemies instead of sitting back and killing from affar like you did in most of your gameplay. I dont really think you had a good understanding of the combat system and that soured your experiance. Great video anyways.
Edit: And btw the jump spin move sucks ass and it isn't a dominant strat at all. The blaster punch combo is alot better
The truth is never heard on UA-cam, as the sheep now have a place to be sheep.
there's actually more than 2 types of bonus missions. i remember having to collect green eco at least once
Well done, and entirely fair.
This game came with my PlayStation, and I played it before Jak 1. It had the opposite effect for me as it did a lot of people. I adored this game, and when I went back to play Jak 1 I was really disappointed at how light-hearted it was.
Jak 2 is a oddball of a game. There are a lot of problems like the difficulty, travel time, the rather empty city or some truly awful missions. It's definitely messily designed and has a lot of unrealized potential. And yet, at the same time, it's my favourite game in the series, even though it really shouldn't be.
On one hand, unlike Jak 3, I see more things in common between Jak II and The Precursor Legacy. While some of the missions are trash, a decent amount of them have an odd sense of similarity to Jak 1, most of them being outside in Haven City. (It's where the game's at its most enjoyable, that's for sure.) The gunplay, while a mixed bag overall, works rather well in combination with the melee attacks. The spinning trick, or shooting three rapid bullets at once after hitting an enemy with Jak's fist, Jak actually being able to (sort of) position himself correctly by shooting quicky while using the rotating kick or Jak being able to shoot the Scatter Gun upwards if you use the upward fist move. Hell, you can even attack the guards with the Jetboard by using one of the tricks. Stuff like is why I still see something great in Jak II.
The game has aged and it shows, especially nowadays. The other games in the series arguably hold up better than Jak 2 from a more critical standpoint (TLF included, massive hot take right here!). Jak II is a very flawed game, one where it's very easy to see why someone would hate it. But all things considered, I'd still call Jak 2 a good game despite it's many issues. I guess it is better than the sum of its parts.
Head up, the ocean is still their. A lot of the water is lower level now as you can see in jak 2 but the ocean is still their. Theirs a map you can get online that’s very accurate. The desert was always there as well. We just didn’t explore it in jak 1
All story and gameplay stripped away, the art style and creative design are special, and will always be the greatest thing about the entire Jak and Daxter franchise.
P.S. Tess 💛🦊
I agree the default camera controls choice is baffling
I'm thankful you used footage of AssAssins creed as reference to games staying the same. Most people like to shit on Cod for always staying the same when to everyone with half a brain cell it's clear as day there are major changes in every installment and it's every ubisoft game ever that's just rehash of previous titles, R6 Siege being the exception
Cod yes,you're right. But ac also has changes in every instalment. Sometime for worse rather than better,example Syndicate.
52:35 if you jump just prior to a turn, the turning radius decreases.
The music cutting out on the title screen is a bug only in the HD re-release.
I might have agreed until I got good, my most recent play through I hardly died most of the hard levels I got through, and in the races the other drivers are coded to be slower than you so unless u want gold u can drive kinda slow
How could anyone not want to have Daxter!
My very first PS2 game, love it to death. Although on my first playthrough i locked myself out from the last few missions by setting the stadium to a race instead of the jetboard thing and not being able to approach a mission there.
Naughty dog should have done make the Metalhead Kor the same height as Godzilla so that way he'll crush the city with his bare hands and squashing the people too like insects.
And have more powers too.
I think it was a success and the story was way more deep then need be and I enjoyed that. Of course though, I always wondered what would have been if they stayed in the way of the first game
In fact, I rarely used dark jak, very rarely. It wasn't technically needed
I do love Jak's immediate reaction to a gun; >=0
Mystified by this magical fire stick!
With openGOAL finally starting work on jak 2 I feel like a lot of people are gonna have a better appreciation for this part of the jak trilogy
“Jump, spin, shoot is the dominant strategy.” No wonder you don’t like the combat. You’re bad. You’re relying on a strategy that’s not even in the top 10. Aside from obviously the Peace Maker, each gun has its own set of strengths that all synergise wonderfully with Jak’s melee attacks. I remember when I was 10 and thought jump, spin, shoot was the only way to play. Replaying this game recently without limiting myself to an objectively bad strategy makes the “hard” missions in this game so much easier.
Scattershot: works perfectly against low health enemies who try to swarm you in larger groups. It also can knock enemies off ledges for a free one hit kill.
Blaster: Effective for picking off enemies at range as well as the punch, shoot “wastelander move” which can destroy a high health enemies that get too close.
Vulcan: Stun locks tougher enemies like Metal Spiders and Metal Slingers for easy kills. You can also spin kick and then shoot to cancel the spool up and start shooting at max rate of fire immediately. This gun in particular is massively overlooked and seems like it was handcrafted to make the ambush at the end of the sewer escort trivial.
Jump, spin, shoot is a terrible strategy in Jak 2. It works with the Beam Reflexor in Jak 3 but even then you’re better off taking a second to think about the encounter and which weapons to use.
I had to search too long to find someone pointing this out. Later in the video he says something along the lines of "the winning strategy didn't work well for these missions" (referring to the escort missions). One could draw the conclusion that perhaps it isn't a winning strategy after all then, no?
It's a good video overall, but things like this bring it down.
So Jak II isn't flawless but I think that most of us realized that as the gaming generation continued on but the reason why the game was so revered back in 2003-2004 was because of how it changed the game of the classic 3D platformer even if it didn't do it perfectly. It was an experimental time and there weren't very many 3D Platformers that were doing what Jak II did which was mixing up 3rd person shooting with Platforming and telling a more engaging narrative compared to the simplistic ones that were the standard of the 3D Platforming genre at the time. Jak II was essentially the guinea pig for this experiment and mistakes were gonna be made regardless because there was not much of a reference to go with and I feel like for what it was, the meshing of 3D Platforming and 3rd Person shooting worked for the most part and only got better for other games that eventually started doing the same thing.
This also extends to the story which okay fine, it did have plot holes (which are pretty easy to make with Time Travel plots unfortunately), some of which that I remember questioning back in 2004 when I first played the game like how did Sandover Village get in such a horrible state. and why Jak wasn't visually dealing with the Dark eco aside from his bad mood which yeah I will agree that Jak is pretty unlikable until the mid-end with how confrontational he was to everyone who came around him. I don't disagree with all of what you said on how they could've fixed this but maybe the reason why they didn't go into too much depth was because they were possibly going to uncover more of it in future games? That or they forgot lol Either way I don't disagree that the plot could've been done better because it did end up leaving questions unanswered. But despite that, the story is pretty much a test of how much you're willing to deal with because despite this, I still found it enjoyable enough to keep pushing on with the game.
Perhaps Jak 2's problem is that it was full of ambition and that the developers may have gotten a little too carried away with adding in many different gameplay styles but forgot to tweak them. And yes, the game in hindsight should've been better than what it is but despite all that, I'm just one of the people who still enjoyed the game and am thankful for it's sacrificial existence. How it was a part of the 6th Gen Platformer explosion and was one of the influential platformers that attempted a long, engaging narrative. I can admit the game isn't perfect but it truly does fall into the "You either like it or you don't" category as it again, comes down to what your limits are when it comes to game structure. And I guess the reason why I think so fondly of Jak despite the series' hiccups was that it was Naughty Dog's last cartoony-style game. Personally I don't like Uncharted nor care for the Last Of Us but that's just me, I'm not the biggest fan of games trying to be hyper realistic in style but again, that's just personal taste.
Do I consider Jak II the best in the Jak series? Very hard to say because Jak III was a mixed bag for me. There were elements I liked and elements I didn't like in that game but I probably wouldn't say Jak II is the best. I can't honestly answer that at this time as I haven't played the games in quite awhile now lol.
Playing this again has made me realise that its a good game but not a good sequel. I definitely prefer the original Jak and Daxter but what really stood out is the complete abandoning of blue, yellow, green, red and light eko for just dark eko! Wasted opportunity to expand on those great concepts!
As for the starting music, the composer of the game actually has a soundcloud and posted the full version of it which for some reason, they decided to only play the intro part.
In fact, now that the full soundtrack is out, there's tons of music pieces and different renditions of music from the game that were never actually used in the game. In fact, if someone wanted to make a Jak and Daxter iceberg, there would be a LOT to go through.
EDIT: also, that dark kor face glitch at the end was NOT in the original game, it was a glitch exclusive to the PS3 remaster. So yeah in the original version, the presentation was nearly flawless outside of the weapons factory having no music and the title screen music cutting out.
Second Edit: Okay I just finished the video and i'm surprised you never mentioned the weapons factory having absolutely no music. And no, from what i've heard, that wasn't intentional.
I just played through this game for the first time since I was a child and the game is good but frustrating. At first I wondered if it was modern gamer not having the quality of life improvements you'd expect but his game pales in comparison to the first Ratchet and Clank, a similar third person shooter platformer. In that game you can actually aim rather than just firing like a madman hoping you hit something and most importantly has a strafe ability!
The only good part about jump spin shoot is the damage avoidance because you're in the air and spinning. Unless you are completely surrounded you'll miss all but one to two shots with that strategy. Much better, besides just aiming, is doing the punch shoot strategy. That amount of damage will put down most enemies, you don't need to aim the shots since they'll hit the enemy you punched, and it can be used more quickly than the jump spin shoot technique. Great video though
Wow. I disagree with 90% of the negativity for this game. But that’s okay:) keep on keeping on
So to answer your question. Mar, THE MAR, did indeed know the precursors and they were Allies it’s safe to assume mar used the rift rider to travel further into the future. Which I’ve predicted to be close to when jak leaves into the future in the beginning of jak 2. Jak goes 500 years into the future. Assuming Mar had precursor technology he could easily build and terra form an entire city pretty decently.
Mar used the rift rider to go into the precursor legacy timeframe, built the city and then vanished.
I can’t say you’re wrong about much of your critiques. It is full of coincidences and plot holes but I love this game regardless. The third one is my favourite though.
Love this game but it suffers from what is called Greek Drama. Too much of the story happens off screen and behind the scenes.
15:00 I had zero clue that this was Keira until the reveal when I was a kid.
Spin blaster is not a winning strategy. It is in fact the way to make your gameplay harder and unfunny. You just dont know how to use the guns properly
In what universe is a pit to demonstrate the consequences of failing parkour bad game design? Its simple sure, but far from bad.
Also, I thought the entire point was that the baron knew jak would arrive thanks to the time travel shenanigans. Maybe im wrong?
5:00 i believe this is an issue on the PS3/4 remasters
It's a bug on PS3, not PS4.