This is HARD

[MMDE]

1 hour ago, Elliot - Pie said:

Between your points of what's bad, you listed about 95% of the game. The only part that's not listed there are the scarce few actual platforming sections. I agree with a large part about what you said is bad, it's just that I think what's bad is extremely bad and there's so little good that's left.

 

I'd agree with you that a lot of the game isn't that hard - the checkpointing is really bad, the controls are bad but you can at least work around it. I do think that the section I talked about is legitimately ridiculous though, I can only imagine how insanely lucky you'd have to be to not be shot in the back repeatedly by the infinitely respawning guards or the dropships. I definitely don't think I'm alone here given this topic's existence!

 

Yeah, I'm aware of the debug menu, I could have used it here to fly over the guards, you're right, but as I can't debug the collectables I'm trying to do a legit playthrough (except for the orb glitch, because the shooting galleries can burn in hellfire), and after the first hour of bullshit I wanted to see how bad it actually got. The answer is really bad. Once I've beaten the game, I can at least talk authoritatively about it, which is something I like to be able to do and something I can't since I last played the game when it came out and I was 10.

 

 

 

Yeah, removal of the platforming stuff was bad too, and yeah, it's most of the game. I just don't think the difficulty was the issue with this game, that I think was fine. However, lots of stuff was luck based, which is balls. I kinda liked the sewer and the portion with all the guards. They were a bit different, but they were however too trial and error and luck based.

 

The shooting range might not be super difficult with enough tries, but it just shows the shooting gameplay at it's very worst and how dysfunctional it is. It takes way too long, requires way too much effort, is too frustrating and just trial and error to the point where you just give up. It just isn't fun. The rest of the game, I can do it just fine. Last boss is sort of a mess too, especially if you're going to get a decent shot at it, you'll have to grind back ammo for a while between each try. I'm sure someone will tell me I don't need that, but well, I did.

Edited July 7, 2018 by MMDE

[RevengeancePrime]

One of my favourite games to play as a kid. I don't remember much of it now, but I don't recall ever being frustrated with the game.

[iLL-Mortick]

Even tho I love the Jak-series, Jak II is by far the worst most tedious one. 

Don´t feel bad for not wanting to complete it if you didn´t play the PS2 version. 
I think most of the plat achievers is either bugmoders or for nostalgia.

[AJ_Radio]

Jak 2 gets a bad reputation because most people played the first game, it’s a huge departure for this one. 

 

The story and characters are witty, funny and good. The city map design and lack of checkpoints, not so great. 

 

You will have to force yourself to play through the Vita version. I tested this game out before I could earn any trophies for it and it runs like absolute shit. There is no excuse to run such shitty frames per second and have buttons assigned to the rear touchpad. 

 

If you’re going to abuse the debug exploit, do so on the Vita versions.

[DitztheViking]

I played Jak & Daxter back in the PS2 days and loved it so much I left my PS2 running constantly because I didn't have a Memory Card and I still beat it 100%. I never got to play 2 or 3 but always wanted too.

 

When I got my Vita the first game I bought was the Jak & Daxter collection and Jak & Daxter became the first(and 100th game I platinumed, the moment I was done I jumped into Jak 2 and...

 

I have bounced of this game so many times I've lost count and its always at the point where I try the first gun course and the shitty controls make it ridiculously hard. I have gone so far as try the dubug but I can never get it to work. This game is a oldest stain on my trophy collection and i want it gone.

 

So here I am, I'm going to beat this damn game even if I have to buy some overexpensive R3/L3 grips or something.

 

 

 

[DaivRules]

7 minutes ago, Ditz42 said:

So here I am, I'm going to beat this damn game even if I have to buy some overexpensive R3/L3 grips or something.

 

HA HA, I know exactly how you feel! This is the game that actually pushed me to buy the L3/R3 grips. I cannot reliably and repeatedly manage to hit those spots on the back touchscreen during race without a grip.

[Bizurke2003]

I love the Jak series but from what I remember the checkpoint system is pretty bad just like other people mentioned. I think that's one of the reasons why I didn't play Jak 3 after I got platinum in Jak 2.  I had just had enough.

[PatinumNumemon]

Jak 2 was my first ND game (back on PS2) and as hard as it was when I was little, as I got older I always thought it was because I was just a little kid and now that I'm much better at video games getting the platinum would be easy...

 

Yeah, I got the PS4 version platinum, but that shit was rage inducing. I still love the game because of childhood memories, but to the lowest circle of Hell with that checkpoint system and the final boss. I will get the platinum trophies for the PS3 and Vita versions of all the Jak games someday, but I'm dreading playing Jak 2 on Vita...

[DitztheViking]

I just check the version of each game and every Vita version Plat has a lower percentage with Jak 2 being the lowest.

[AK-1138]

It wouldn't be one of the worst sequels of all time if it weren't broken and hard, friend.

[SoapMacTavish222]

I did this on PS3 with absolutely no issues, but the Vita version has been absolute garbage for some reason. A few trophies have been popping randomly out of order. Half tempted to just say screw it and use debugging mode to finish this and just have to worry about collecting orbs and skulls.

[SuperSaiyan3985]

Yup, that's Jak 2 for ya. Worst checkpoints in any game (that I know of at least).

[Flamingknux]

Jak II is just an unbalanced mess. I have gotten the Plat for Jak I twice and I think that game is fine. If Jak II just stuck with the formula of simple action plat-former, it honestly would've been better. But the fact it's just a GTA clone makes the game not unique anymore. Raging quitting this mess of a game is totally understandable.

[SuperSaiyan3985]

On 10/10/2020 at 9:32 PM, Flamingknux said:

Jak II is just an unbalanced mess. I have gotten the Plat for Jak I twice and I think that game is fine. If Jak II just stuck with the formula of simple action plat-former, it honestly would've been better. But the fact it's just a GTA clone makes the game not unique anymore. Raging quitting this mess of a game is totally understandable.

Woah now, Jak 2 is not a "GTA clone." Just because it's open world and has vehicles does not make it a GTA clone, not in the least. Plenty of games use that formula. The problem isn't that it's a departure from its predecessor, the problem is how ridiculous its checkpoint system is. Personally, I didn't like Jak 1 but loved Jak 2 and 3.

Edited October 12, 2020 by SuperSaiyan3985

[Jelly Soup]

Jak 2 does have major difficulty spikes, but it's all manageable with enough practice. Funny thing, I found Jak3 too easy by comparison.

[AJ_Radio]

On 10/10/2020 at 6:13 PM, SoapMacTavish222 said:

I did this on PS3 with absolutely no issues, but the Vita version has been absolute garbage for some reason. A few trophies have been popping randomly out of order. Half tempted to just say screw it and use debugging mode to finish this and just have to worry about collecting orbs and skulls.

 

Yeah I played the very first section before I could unlock any trophies story wise and it runs terrible. Even worse than Jak 1 which was already pretty annoying especially going after all those Blue Rings and failing constantly because the controls were just that bad.

 

I don't want to even think about escaping the Slums, that was pretty bad on the PS3.

[ZachBoardyHD]

I personally don't think the game is hard tbh, I can beat any of the levels no problem and usually on the first try apart from that stupid race with Erol which took me multiple attempts to win! But then again I did play the game multiple times as a kid ?

[Flamingknux]

On 10/11/2020 at 8:09 PM, SuperSaiyan3985 said:

Woah now, Jak 2 is not a "GTA clone." Just because it's open world and has vehicles does not make it a GTA clone, not in the least. Plenty of games use that formula. The problem isn't that it's a departure from its predecessor, the problem is how ridiculous its checkpoint system is. Personally, I didn't like Jak 1 but loved Jak 2 and 3.

I'm not saying that the departure is the sole reason why the game is ridiculous. I was more so saying, if they stuck with the the original formula then it would not have been so annoying. Might've been annoying, but we will never know. And the first game has different objective gameplay, so it might have not been that noticeable in terms of bad checkpoints. I know Jak 1 had some weird checkpoints towards the end.

 

And if you google "Jak II GTA clone", you will get a ton of articles saying that. Also at the time, Grand Theft Auto 3 was doing very well and won the praise and attention from a lot of people. If you go to the Jak II wikia you can find this statement

 

Quote

The impact of Grand Theft Auto III considerably changed the perceptions of the gaming industry, with action adventure platformers falling out of favor. A focus group conducted by Naughty Dog during the development of Jak II revealed that many gamers, including eight year olds, preferred to play more mature games such as Grand Theft Auto III. This caused Naughty Dog to question whether to continue the series at all, but Sony persuaded them due to how many within Sony and Naughty Dog loved the character, leading to Naughty Dog making Jak and Daxter more mature as a compromise.

 

(Also I might be blowing smoke, misremembering, making it up, etc. But I could've sworn I say an interview somewhere that a Naughty Dog employee said they were playing GTA3, and they liked the game and decided to use that formula for Jak II. They also said something along the lines of it was hard to compete in a world of pre-established platform collectathons and they were also on the downfall at the time in gaming. Do not quote me on any of this.)

[AJ_Radio]

I finished this game on the Vita just a couple days ago and it truly is a massive stinker. Easily the worst game in the Jak and Daxter series for reasons you all know.

 

Guess it makes sense that the platinum rarity here on PSNP is over 50 percent on the PS4 version, while Jak & Daxter and Jak 3 are below 50 percent. Don't blame people from using the debug menu to bypass Jak II due to the difficulty spikes and wonky game mechanics.