Going to start Jak II...

[AJ_Radio]

I've recently finished the Ratchet and Clank HD Collection for the PS3, both Sly and Ratchet are finished (apart from the games initially released for the PS3). Both enjoyable series that utilize their strengths. Jak and Daxter I feel didn't have the best platforming nor the action of it's peers, but it's the last PS2 platforming series I haven't finished.

 

A lot of people have mixed feelings about Jak II and Jak 3. I'm fairly good at platformers however so I don't feel Jak II will be too overly difficult even though people have stated there is some high difficulty spikes throughout the game. Orb glitch shouldn't be an issue as I used the Bolt glitch in the first Ratchet and Clank. All but SIX trophies seem to be story related which is just fine. My issue is checkpoints, if I have to replay 25 - 30 minutes because I died somewhere I don't find that fun. Jak 3 as far as I've heard is considerably easier but for completionists sake I would like to finish Jak II first before moving on.

 

Is there anything I need to be wary about?

[olimoo101]

Jak II and 3 are fantastic games! I think most of the negativity at the time comes from critics who were dissapointed that Naughty Dog dropped emphasis on open world 3d platforming and went with an open world action game. But I personally love it!

[Evil_Joker88]

My issue is checkpoints, if I have to replay 25 - 30 minutes because I died somewhere I don't find that fun. Jak 3 as far as I've heard is considerably easier but for completionists sake I would like to finish Jak II first before moving on.

 

Is there anything I need to be wary about?

 

Watch out for the abyss ... make every jump count

 

In comparison to Jak 1 this game seemed ridiciously hard because checkpoints were scarce... Jak 3 was definitly easier and i enjoyed there much more... played all games first on ps3 (and only once each)... therefor i think complete Part 2 before moving on or it seems impossible i'm afraid...

Edited August 24, 2016 by Evil_Joker88

[Starrk_01]

My one advice is to be prepared to do some missions over and over again. There are some random difficulty spikes in the game, but they are manageable once you know what you are doing.  I personally didn't have much trouble with either game, but I also played all of them on PS2 so take that experience with a grain of salt.

[Breakingthegreen]

Make sure you grab every metal head skull you come across,they can;t be farmed and you can't go back to some places, You should then get that trophy at the start of the final mission.

[Caesar Clown]

It isn't the platforming that makes Jak 2 difficult, it's the fighting. It can be a pain to get around as well since the handling on the vehicles is rather poor, meaning you end up crashing into other vehicles and getting the guards attention.

[AJ_Radio]

Doesn't really make sense why Naughty Dog decided to make the city a chore to navigate through. I guess they were trying to emulate Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City which were extremely popular at the time Jak II was released. Come to think of it both III and Vice City didn't have a lot going for it apart from the missions, collectibles, a couple minigames and just goofing around.

[darkknightdevil2]

As many people have stated, the checkpoints for 2 are fairly scarce and in some cases dying near the end of an area will set back at the beginning of the mission. My advice is be patient and try to plan ahead so you don't get setback 20-30 min. 3 on the other is more manageable and forgiving. the vehicle controls for 3 are much tighter than 2. 

[MMDE]

For all the complaining about how difficult Jak II is, it really isn't.  The gun system just sucks. The big open world is rather empty. Sure, there are plenty of people walking around, especially those annoying guards that you will so easily hit or something and have on your back, and you got the similar side-missions, but nothing interesting, just a hinder to get to the next main mission. Those side-missions though, some of them are about racing through the city, where you no matter how good you are, you can fail due to bad luck with where the cars in the city are. The shooting range stuff is hard though, that's the hardest part in the entire game, and it's mainly due to how bad the shooting stuff is. But why stop there? They took away the menu that shows what you've collected where. They added a lot of missable collectibles.

 

The checkpoints for Jak II, those are great IMO. Except for like 2 places, most of it should be doable in like 1 or 2 tries.

 

Jak III fixes up some of the issues with Jak II, but introduces new ones, like the shitty kart stuff. Another problem with 3 is that they add too many checkpoints, and if you die often, they will give you even more...

 

But don't let this stop you from playing the game. You got exploits to skip most of the side stuff, and so you don't need to worry about missable collectibles.

Edited August 24, 2016 by MMDE

[AJ_Radio]

For all the complaining about how difficult Jak II is, it really isn't.  The gun system just sucks. The big open world is rather empty. Sure, there are plenty of people walking around, especially those annoying guards that you will so easily hit or something and have on your back, and you got the similar side-missions, but nothing interesting, just a hinder to get to the next main mission. Those side-missions though, some of them are about racing through the city, where you no matter how good you are, you can fail due to bad luck with where the cars in the city are. The shooting range stuff is hard though, that's the hardest part in the entire game, and it's mainly due to how bad the shooting stuff is. But why stop there? They took away the menu that shows what you've collected where. They added a lot of missable collectibles.

 

The checkpoints for Jak II, those are great IMO. Except for like 2 places, most of it should be doable in like 1 or 2 tries.

 

Jak III fixes up some of the issues with Jak II, but introduces new ones, like the shitty kart stuff. Another problem with 3 is that they add too many checkpoints, and if you die often, they will give you even more...

 

But don't let this stop you from playing the game. You got exploits to skip most of the side stuff, and so you don't need to worry about missable collectibles.

 

Thanks for the input.

[Gibbo_0113]

I really like 2 and 3 over the Precursor Legacy. I found the the first one to be more targeted to a younger audience however 2 and 3 had a darker story line and wasn't as "kiddy" (yeah, yeah i'm bad at describing stuff)

 

I loved the vehicles as well. Also yes there are a handful of painful missions. The ones that come to mind are the on rails sections. Have to be very accurate.

 

I recently bought the HD collection so i hope to replay the trilogy soon. Looking forward to it. 

[yellowwindow7]

I believe Jak and Daxter the Precursor Legacy is the only game in the series that was a platformer, Jak 2 & Jak 3 switched from the platforming style and became more of an action adventure open world games with a platforming elements. guess this is what made people to gave Jak 2 and 3 a mixed feelings since everyone back then loved the fast paced platform of the first game, as Jak 2 and 3 focus more on shooting and blowing stuff up.

still need to play Jak 2 and 3 again on the ps3 to plat them, but in my opinion Jak 3 is way much better than 2 on everything, Naughty Dog probably heard the complaints toward Jak 2 and avoid doing them again in Jak 3. I already played all of the Jak and Daxter games back on the ps2 so I know what i'll gonna face on them, when I finally going to purchase Jak 2 and 3 i'll get Jak 3 first, Jak 2 really frustrated me to the bone back then when I was a little younger.

[Jak]

Theres actually a few incorrect details here Ian, especially what MMDE said.

Firstly though, what to be wary of is difficulty spikes and some poorly spaced out checkpoints. Theres actually a third aspect which compliments the checkpoints, and thats Jaks health system, usually only being able to take 4 hits before dying. If he had more health (or if health was more common), the checkpoints would hardly seem like an issue (Jak II).

Also the overly criticized driving is balanced, theres a learning curve (most arent aware about). Switching hover zones about 90% of the time or higher is also useful and almost carries any bad driving, especially if you exploit the middle zone by constantly switching hover zones. Aside from the Hellcat cruisers (big-fat crimzon guard air craft), the 3 seated zoomers are the worst ones overall though; have the worse handling which is crucial in the partially linear open city (Jak II/3).

The shooting mechanics are fine for what they are and can do. Missed opportunities and lack off fully modern shooting mechanics doesnt make what the games actually have, bad. You dont claim something is bad because it lacks modern designs or whatever (could be worded better). No strafing or aiming down the sight doesnt mean the current system is bad. It simply just would have probably been better with it. 'What we have... it works'. It's not broken, its not bad, its not inconsistent. (Jak II/3).
V
Theres also a learning curve with the guns. One of the smarter design decisions in the games was making the useful gun course, instead of giving you these guns and then you having to learn everything about it via npc/cpu fights, as most games did and still do. The course gives you a good idea of how they work and feel, its fair. Its up to you to master it. Theres a slight lock on which helps the aiming targetting to. Once you get that down, your accuracy with the yellow and blue gun should be 90% or higher (Jak II/3).

Haven City all together is a chore to navigate, mostly because of the actual over abundance of filler-progression missions and all story/filler mission distances, and maybe no overall huge shortcuts. The map layout is not that confusing also, if you actually pay attention. Doing side missions inbetween will also support that. If youre just doing story, it might take you a little while longer, thats all. (Jak II).

Theres only 7 missable collectibles and 1 area that cant be revisted. Both of these pertain to the final level, which the 7 orbs are at. I wont spoil you. Jak 3 on the other-hand has no missable collectibles and every area with orbs can be revisted.

The secondary collectibles, metalhead skull gems, are also actually 100% indefinite in drop rate after completing the game (and are not missable mid or post game), one of the post game changes.

The openworld is decently populated with stuff to do like jetboard stadium (JII), gun course, nyfe races (3 difficulties, 3 racing tracks, and mirror mode, which is more variety) (JII) decent lore, some indefinite missions like racing through the port area of Haven and another if you want to re-experience the race against a certain character but replaced by an npc (JII), mini games, etc. Unlike open-world series, inFAMOUS, where there is actually nothing to do.

LASTLY, YOU DO NOT want to exploit the orb glitch if you want the full exp of the games, especially Jak 3 in which doing the orb glitch will prevent you from experiencing other missions and mini games. Youd also have insufficient opinions about the game as you didnt spend a lot of time with it and skipped a good amount of actual (replayvalue) content. Glitch should be last resort. The less time you spend with the game, the more ingenius details and high content you'll miss in the games.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Mar

[MMDE]

Firstly though, what to be wary of is difficulty spikes and some poorly spaced out checkpoints. Theres actually a third aspect which compliments the checkpoints, and thats Jaks health system, usually only being able to take 4 hits before dying. If he had more health, the checkpoints would hardly seem like an issue (Jak II).

 

I don't think the checkpoints are an issue, whatsoever. Sure, it doesn't allow you to just rush through the game and when you die just get back to some few seconds ago. Nope, the game punish you for being careless. One of the two checkpoints I were thinking about was the sewer section, which I think most people hate. Personally, yes, I did die there a couple of times, but that was it. Usually just the first part that is tricky, and the more times you do it, the more you learn about where the enemies spawn etc, which makes it much much easier. In other words, not even that one is an issue, and honestly, the rest is rather easy.

 

Anyway, yes, I'd agree there is some issues with the battle system, but it's not so much about the amount of lives you got, but more about how poorly the guns etc works. Sure, you could make up for this by lazily adding more lives, but it still wouldn't actually fix the issue. As it is, you just gotta take the flaws of the game, especially the battle system into consideration and play more careful and plan ahead etc. Doesn't really matter how many lives you got at that point. Reminds me about NG+ in the Souls games. You really want to learn to not take damage, not let taking damage be a part of your strategy.

 

Jak III just went the lazy route of adding more checkpoints, and even more if you die often, instead of fixing the issues of why people were dying.

 

 

Also the overly criticed driving is balanced, theres a learning curve (most arent aware about). Switching hover zones about 90% of the time or higher is also useful and almost carries any bad driving, especially if you exploit the middle zone by constantly switcing hover zones. Aside from the Hellcat cruisers (big-fat crimzon guard air craft), the 3 seated zoomers are the worst ones overall though; have the worse handling which is crucial in the partially linear open city (Jak II/3).

 

I personally had no issues with the driving in the races etc, but rather the side-missions, where you gotta chase checkpoints through the city. This is completely luck based, because no matter how well you play, if you end up with a civilian driving through a checkpoint, or even worse, a guard, you're pretty much screwed. This happens often.

 

As for the kart in Jak 3, it sucks. So does Jak X. I consider Jak X to be the worst game ND has made since they started making PS games. I think Crash Team Racing is the best kart game ever... In fact, they screwed Jak X up so hard that the early NA copies of the game could literally ruin your PS2 memory card.

 

The shooting mechanics are fine for what they are and can do. Missed opportunities and lack off fully modern shooting mechanics doesnt make what the games actually have, bad. You dont claim something is bad because it lacks modern designs or whatever (could be worded better). No strafing or aiming down the sight doesnt mean the current system is bad. It simply just would have probably been better with it. 'What we have... it works'. It's not broken, its not bad, its not inconsistent. (Jak II/3).

V

Theres also a learning curve with the guns. One of the smarter design decisions in the games was making the useful gun course, instead of giving you these guns and then you having to learn everything about it via npc/cpu fights, as most games did and still do. The course gives you a good idea of how they work and feel, its fair. Its up to you to master it. Theres a slight lock on which helps the aiming targetting to. Once you get that down, your accuracy with the yellow and blue gun should be 90% or higher (Jak II/3).

 

The shooting is rather poor, and is also why you'd want more health, to make up for it. Learning curve??? I've got the games for PS2, and I played them back then, and I played them now. You seemed to have issues with the checkpoints, I didn't. Do you think I can't use the guns? Of course I can. I'm just saying the gun system is rather bad. One of the big flaws has to do with the aiming. One thing that could have made a huge difference was if you could walk backwards and aim forward without pressing some extra buttons etc, like any normal third person shooter these days, like Uncharted for example.

 

Haven City all together is a chore to navigate, mostly because of the actual over abundance of filler-progresssion missions and all story/filler mission distances, and maybe no overall huge shortcuts. The map layout is not that confusing also, if you actually pay attention. Doing side missions inbetween will also support that. If youre just doing story, it might take you a little while longer, thats all. (Jak II).

Theres only 7 missable collectibles and 1 area that cant be revisted. Both of these pertain to the final level, which the 7 orbs are at. I wont spoil you. Jak 3 on the other-hand has no missable collectibles and every area with orbs can be revisted.

The secondary collectibles, metalhead skull gems, are also actually 100% indefinite in drop rate after completing the game (and are not missable mid or post game), one of the post game changes.

The openworld is decently populated with stuff to do like jetboard stadium (JII), gun course, nyfe races (3 difficulties, 3 racing tracks, and mirror mode, which is more variety) (JII) decent lore, some indefinite missions like racing through the port area of Haven and another if you want to reexperience the race against a certain character but replaced by an npc (JII), mini games, etc. Unlike open-world series, inFAMOUS, where there is actually nothing to do.

 

Haven City is a chore to navigate, because you usually find yourself running from one side of the city to the other to get to the next story mission. Sure, you can do the side missions on the way, but not all unlock from beginning, and once you've done the ones you can do, there's nothing there. My biggest issue with it is just to get from one point to the other efficiently, because you will so easily run into guards, either it be you're stealing a vehicle, driving it around and accidentally hitting a guard's vehicle, or just roll jumping on the ground and hit into a guard that came out of nowhere. This ends with walking being the way that is the least amount of hassle to get around. They were just trying to copy GTA3, and didn't actually match it.

 

As I said, Jak 3 fixes a lot of stuff, and the missable stuff is one of them, though you still got issues with the skulls, but it also makes the city more interesting to explore, because orbs are hidden around. The kart made that game worse, and you still don't have the nice collectible menu from the first game, that makes the game a lot more comfortable to play. Loved it in Spyro too.

 

LASTLY, YOU DO NOT want to exploit the orb glitch if you want the full exp of the games, especially Jak 3 in which doing the orb glitch will prevent you from experiencing other missions and mini games. Youd also have insufficient opinions about the game as you didnt spend a lot of time with it and skipped a good amount of actual (replayvalue) content. Glitch should be last resort. The less time you spend with the game, the more ingenius details and high content you'll miss in the games.

 

And I'd say the exact opposite... You don't want to experience a lot of the other stuff found in the games. Much of it is rather poorly done. I'd definitely save some of the side-missions with exploits for last, especially some easy one, in case you don't want to go through the bad side missions.

Edited August 24, 2016 by MMDE

[Leo Leopold Leon III]

Honestly I find the Jak games boring, For some reason the gameplay is just boring and it's a shame cause the characters are pretty cool and the aesthetic is great but the gameplay ugh idk

[M-A-D-R-O-K]

The worst thing about it are the escort missions, the rest is doable

Edited August 24, 2016 by M-A-D-R-O-K

[AJ_Radio]

Theres actually a few incorrect details here Ian, especially what MMDE said.

Firstly though, what to be wary of is difficulty spikes and some poorly spaced out checkpoints. Theres actually a third aspect which compliments the checkpoints, and thats Jaks health system, usually only being able to take 4 hits before dying. If he had more health, the checkpoints would hardly seem like an issue (Jak II).

Also the overly criticed driving is balanced, theres a learning curve (most arent aware about). Switching hover zones about 90% of the time or higher is also useful and almost carries any bad driving, especially if you exploit the middle zone by constantly switcing hover zones. Aside from the Hellcat cruisers (big-fat crimzon guard air craft), the 3 seated zoomers are the worst ones overall though; have the worse handling which is crucial in the partially linear open city (Jak II/3).

The shooting mechanics are fine for what they are and can do. Missed opportunities and lack off fully modern shooting mechanics doesnt make what the games actually have, bad. You dont claim something is bad because it lacks modern designs or whatever (could be worded better). No strafing or aiming down the sight doesnt mean the current system is bad. It simply just would have probably been better with it. 'What we have... it works'. It's not broken, its not bad, its not inconsistent. (Jak II/3).

V

Theres also a learning curve with the guns. One of the smarter design decisions in the games was making the useful gun course, instead of giving you these guns and then you having to learn everything about it via npc/cpu fights, as most games did and still do. The course gives you a good idea of how they work and feel, its fair. Its up to you to master it. Theres a slight lock on which helps the aiming targetting to. Once you get that down, your accuracy with the yellow and blue gun should be 90% or higher (Jak II/3).

Haven City all together is a chore to navigate, mostly because of the actual over abundance of filler-progresssion missions and all story/filler mission distances, and maybe no overall huge shortcuts. The map layout is not that confusing also, if you actually pay attention. Doing side missions inbetween will also support that. If youre just doing story, it might take you a little while longer, thats all. (Jak II).

Theres only 7 missable collectibles and 1 area that cant be revisted. Both of these pertain to the final level, which the 7 orbs are at. I wont spoil you. Jak 3 on the other-hand has no missable collectibles and every area with orbs can be revisted.

The secondary collectibles, metalhead skull gems, are also actually 100% indefinite in drop rate after completing the game (and are not missable mid or post game), one of the post game changes.

The openworld is decently populated with stuff to do like jetboard stadium (JII), gun course, nyfe races (3 difficulties, 3 racing tracks, and mirror mode, which is more variety) (JII) decent lore, some indefinite missions like racing through the port area of Haven and another if you want to reexperience the race against a certain character but replaced by an npc (JII), mini games, etc. Unlike open-world series, inFAMOUS, where there is actually nothing to do.

LASTLY, YOU DO NOT want to exploit the orb glitch if you want the full exp of the games, especially Jak 3 in which doing the orb glitch will prevent you from experiencing other missions and mini games. Youd also have insufficient opinions about the game as you didnt spend a lot of time with it and skipped a good amount of actual (replayvalue) content. Glitch should be last resort. The less time you spend with the game, the more ingenius details and high content you'll miss in the games.

 

 

I don't think the checkpoints are an issue, whatsoever. Sure, it doesn't allow you to just rush through the game and when you die just get back to some few seconds ago. Nope, the game punish you for being careless. One of the two checkpoints I were thinking about was the sewer section, which I think most people hate. Personally, yes, I did die there a couple of times, but that was it. Usually just the first part that is tricky, and the more times you do it, the more you learn about where the enemies spawn etc, which makes it much much easier. In other words, not even that one is an issue, and honestly, the rest is rather easy.

 

Anyway, yes, I'd agree there is some issues with the battle system, but it's not so much about the amount of lives you got, but more about how poorly the guns etc works. Sure, you could make up for this by lazily adding more lives, but it still wouldn't actually fix the issue. As it is, you just gotta take the flaws of the game, especially the battle system into consideration and play more careful and plan ahead etc. Doesn't really matter how many lives you got at that point. Reminds me about NG+ in the Souls games. You really want to learn to not take damage, not let taking damage be a part of your strategy.

 

Jak III just went the lazy route of adding more checkpoints, and even more if you die often, instead of fixing the issues of why people were dying.

 

 

 

I personally had no issues with the driving in the races etc, but rather the side-missions, where you gotta chase checkpoints through the city. This is completely luck based, because no matter how well you play, if you end up with a civilian driving through a checkpoint, or even worse, a guard, you're pretty much screwed. This happens often.

 

As for the kart in Jak 3, it sucks. So does Jak X. I consider Jak X to be the worst game ND has made since they started making PS games. I think Crash Team Racing is the best kart game ever... In fact, they screwed Jak X up so hard that the early NA copies of the game could literally ruin your PS2 memory card.

 

 

The shooting is rather poor, and is also why you'd want more health, to make up for it. Learning curve??? I've got the games for PS2, and I played them back then, and I played them now. You seemed to have issues with the checkpoints, I didn't. Do you think I can't use the guns? Of course I can. I'm just saying the gun system is rather bad. One of the big flaws has to do with the aiming. One thing that could have made a huge difference was if you could walk backwards and aim forward without pressing some extra buttons etc, like any normal third person shooter these days, like Uncharted for example.

 

 

Haven City is a chore to navigate, because you usually find yourself running from one side of the city to the other to get to the next story mission. Sure, you can do the side missions on the way, but not all unlock from beginning, and once you've done the ones you can do, there's nothing there. My biggest issue with it is just to get from one point to the other efficiently, because you will so easily run into guards, either it be you're stealing a vehicle, driving it around and accidentally hitting a guard's vehicle, or just roll jumping on the ground and hit into a guard that came out of nowhere. This ends with walking being the way that is the least amount of hassle to get around. They were just trying to copy GTA3, and didn't actually match it.

 

As I said, Jak 3 fixes a lot of stuff, and the missable stuff is one of them, though you still got issues with the skulls, but it also makes the city more interesting to explore, because orbs are hidden around. The kart made that game worse, and you still don't have the nice collectible menu from the first game, that makes the game a lot more comfortable to play. Loved it in Spyro too.

 

 

And I'd say the exact opposite... You don't want to experience a lot of the other stuff found in the games. Much of it is rather poorly done. I'd definitely save some of the side-missions with exploits for last, especially some easy one, in case you don't want to go through the bad side missions.

 

 

It's funny, I actually listened to BOTH of you in a previous topic on the Jak II boards. Dejavu.

[Dragon-Archon]

Jak II and 3 are fantastic games! I think most of the negativity at the time comes from critics who were dissapointed that Naughty Dog dropped emphasis on open world 3d platforming and went with an open world action game. But I personally love it!

Same here, people also complain a lot about the scarce amount of checkpoints, but that didn't bother me most of the times.

[MMDE]

It's funny, I actually listened to BOTH of you in a previous topic on the Jak II boards. Dejavu.

 

This is probably true.

 

 

people also complain a lot about the scarce amount of checkpoints, but that didn't bother me most of the times.

 

This!

 

 

I think most of the negativity at the time comes from critics who were dissapointed that Naughty Dog dropped emphasis on open world 3d platforming and went with an open world action game.

 

And I still think it is a bummer they went away from platforming with the two last games. The action part of these two games really weren't all that good, even though there's a good foundation for it to be and it is fun and cool at times, but quite a lot fails pretty hard.

 

One thing that really disappoints me about the going away from platforming is that they've improved the controls etc for it, but just do far less of it. This is unfortunate, because it definitely could have been better in the first game and they did so much better with the second and third where there's so little of it.

[Dragon-Archon]

This!

Yay, finally someone who agrees :higfive:. I've seen lots of people saying the game is too hard, because the lack of checkpoints, but I found that refreshing. The only trouble I had was that underwater level at the end with the mecha suit.

[The_Blackout_Kid]

I've recently finished the Ratchet and Clank HD Collection for the PS3, both Sly and Ratchet are finished (apart from the games initially released for the PS3). Both enjoyable series that utilize their strengths. Jak and Daxter I feel didn't have the best platforming nor the action of it's peers, but it's the last PS2 platforming series I haven't finished.

 

A lot of people have mixed feelings about Jak II and Jak 3. I'm fairly good at platformers however so I don't feel Jak II will be too overly difficult even though people have stated there is some high difficulty spikes throughout the game. Orb glitch shouldn't be an issue as I used the Bolt glitch in the first Ratchet and Clank. All but SIX trophies seem to be story related which is just fine. My issue is checkpoints, if I have to replay 25 - 30 minutes because I died somewhere I don't find that fun. Jak 3 as far as I've heard is considerably easier but for completionists sake I would like to finish Jak II first before moving on.

 

Is there anything I need to be wary about?

 

I don't have any strategies to give you, but I applaud you on this since I need to start/finish my playthrough of these (Jak, Sly and Ratchet). Good luck.

[DaivRules]

This game on PS3 or PS2 is pretty enjoyable. However, the Vita experience with Jak II leaves my hand cramped and lack of response when changing hovering height from touching the back pad is an exercise in frustration. I have rage quit for over a year and have contemplated attempting it again but this mission where you have to race some guy through rings is horrible on the Vita.

[Jak]

 

I don't think the checkpoints are an issue, whatsoever. Sure, it doesn't allow you to just rush through the game and when you die just get back to some few seconds ago. Nope, the game punish you for being careless. One of the two checkpoints I were thinking about was the sewer section, which I think most people hate. Personally, yes, I did die there a couple of times, but that was it. Usually just the first part that is tricky, and the more times you do it, the more you learn about where the enemies spawn etc, which makes it much much easier. In other words, not even that one is an issue, and honestly, the rest is rather easy.

 

Anyway, yes, I'd agree there is some issues with the battle system, but it's not so much about the amount of lives you got, but more about how poorly the guns etc works. Sure, you could make up for this by lazily adding more lives, but it still wouldn't actually fix the issue. As it is, you just gotta take the flaws of the game, especially the battle system into consideration and play more careful and plan ahead etc. Doesn't really matter how many lives you got at that point. Reminds me about NG+ in the Souls games. You really want to learn to not take damage, not let taking damage be a part of your strategy.

 

Jak III just went the lazy route of adding more checkpoints, and even more if you die often, instead of fixing the issues of why people were dying.

 

 

 

I personally had no issues with the driving in the races etc, but rather the side-missions, where you gotta chase checkpoints through the city. This is completely luck based, because no matter how well you play, if you end up with a civilian driving through a checkpoint, or even worse, a guard, you're pretty much screwed. This happens often.

 

As for the kart in Jak 3, it sucks. So does Jak X. I consider Jak X to be the worst game ND has made since they started making PS games. I think Crash Team Racing is the best kart game ever... In fact, they screwed Jak X up so hard that the early NA copies of the game could literally ruin your PS2 memory card.

 

 

The shooting is rather poor, and is also why you'd want more health, to make up for it. Learning curve??? I've got the games for PS2, and I played them back then, and I played them now. You seemed to have issues with the checkpoints, I didn't. Do you think I can't use the guns? Of course I can. I'm just saying the gun system is rather bad. One of the big flaws has to do with the aiming. One thing that could have made a huge difference was if you could walk backwards and aim forward without pressing some extra buttons etc, like any normal third person shooter these days, like Uncharted for example.

 

 

Haven City is a chore to navigate, because you usually find yourself running from one side of the city to the other to get to the next story mission. Sure, you can do the side missions on the way, but not all unlock from beginning, and once you've done the ones you can do, there's nothing there. My biggest issue with it is just to get from one point to the other efficiently, because you will so easily run into guards, either it be you're stealing a vehicle, driving it around and accidentally hitting a guard's vehicle, or just roll jumping on the ground and hit into a guard that came out of nowhere. This ends with walking being the way that is the least amount of hassle to get around. They were just trying to copy GTA3, and didn't actually match it.

 

As I said, Jak 3 fixes a lot of stuff, and the missable stuff is one of them, though you still got issues with the skulls, but it also makes the city more interesting to explore, because orbs are hidden around. The kart made that game worse, and you still don't have the nice collectible menu from the first game, that makes the game a lot more comfortable to play. Loved it in Spyro too.

 

 

And I'd say the exact opposite... You don't want to experience a lot of the other stuff found in the games. Much of it is rather poorly done. I'd definitely save some of the side-missions with exploits for last, especially some easy one, in case you don't want to go through the bad side missions.

 

 

There are several, objectively bad checkpoint placements. And no the rest of the game that is manageable is not "easy". Easy means no skill or effort is required at all. Moderate at the very least.

 

The guns are fine. The shotgun's range is great along with the reload, accuracy, hit reaction and so fourth. All of the guns are the same with their own unique aspect. The GUNS themselves are fine. How you use them will determine how useful/non-useful they are to you. They're are clearly some overwhelming enemies like the Metal Heads with the red-electric staffs and the giant 3/4 legged Metal Heads with the purple projectiles that in themselves were programmed to be difficult, making the bad gun point an illusion to you. I didn't say it would fix the issue, just that it'd make it greatly less noticeable, especially when you're playing the game and realize at times that if you had those extra 2 bars of health, you would have made it out of tough sections. More health would do wonders for Jak II's current checkpoint system.

 

Jak 3 also added more health. Oh, so it's lazy whether ND adds more health or more checkpoints, huh? So then what would be the not-lazy way then?

 

It's not luck based because one incident can screw you over, especially when you can actually catch up. And yes, you can catch up, unless you get into an incident that takes you 5+ secs to get out of, but then it also depends on the distance. Major screw ups later in the race (like the literal last area of the race) are where you'll be screwed.

 

The *buggies do not suck. 5/8 have balanced handling (which is the only complaints with the buggies). The other 3 only suck purely due to ONE aspect and that's there troublesome handling. Those buggies are just extra content you can fool around with anyway, the ones that actually pertain to the story and are needed for story missions (Tough Puppy, Sand Shark, Giga Stomper, Dune Hooper, and the blue one) are completely balanced. Now it doesn't seem so bad when you realize the filler/irrelevant vehicles control badly whereas the main and story related ones are completely fine, right? But then again you wouldn't know because you have your own experience whereas I actually tested all 8 vehicles extensively and have more vivid memory, especially since I replay the games every year.

 

Jak X refined the controls of the buggies from Jak 3 and made them appropriate for a (action) racing game. They did not suck, especially since their controls were based on buggy/car physics as opposed to karts. (So stop calling them karts. Karts weren't there concept.) Nice you're comparing a kart game to a game more fixed on buggie aspects. I guess I prefer Mario Kart over Need for Speed because it's the better "kart" game. "Ruin your PS2 memory card?" FIRST time i've heard that, the general complaint was usually that Jak X simply just could not save to your mc. Whether what you said was false information or a rare occurrence, that was not a common complaint.

 

Did I ever say I did? Im not speaking from just experience, im actually considering the design of the games. A lot of what im saying is objective facts. Being good enough to get through something that was poorly design doesn't mean a person who couldn't, suck, or that the game is fine. Millions of people beat CODW@W on Veteran, does that mean its balanced or that the mode was designed fairly because of that fact? No. (You're lucky I couldn't think of a better example, like maybe the original Sonic games, beating them and getting all 6/7 chaos emeralds.) Shooting isn't poor as I just said, and considering more things are to come from behind you in the Jak games (than Uncharted) it wasn't even that bad. Nice way to compare such distantly year released games. Yes learning curve, Ive played the games extensively and literally tested out most of the complained about things just to see if the complaints were justified (like the traffic in Jak II). Come to fine out a lot of irrational complaints come out of people outright sucking at the game/not knowing what they're talking about (such as complaining about majority of the buggies when more than half clearly are balanced, complaining about the aiming when I certainly have no problem aiming and killing targets efficiently and it's never inconsistent, complaining about platforming when Jak II still had plenty of it, and so fourth). When the zoomers, buggies, gun mechanics and so fourth doesn't hold your hand, they suck (general logic). I've tested each aspect of these games and nearly mastered them all (time away from the games makes me rusty). Checkpoints are flawed, guns are reliant on your personal skill level as opposed to being flawed like the checkpoints. That backwards complaint doesn't even make any sense, otherwise I can bash Dead Nation for its similar mechanics to Jak's shooting mechanics. (But that'll be different, somehow.. because it's not Jak, right?)

 

I mean I just said that. The guard complaint is based upon your experience and attentive skills. I have plenty of consistent experiences where hitting a guard or vehicle doesn't happen, because "dodging" is a thing. Switching hover zones is the easiest way to avoid this. See one on ground? Switch hover-zones. Likewise for air. This isn't Sonic the Hedgehog 2 where they are always consistently placed at near impossible angles to dodge them from. There is especially no excuse for this in the more open-styled environments (cause you can see clearly what's coming at you and what's in front or below you). Going full speed and expecting to avoid collision with guards is pretty pathetic. Its like complaining about a racing game having bad racing controls or level design because you cant make every turn at the high-speed you prefer going. For what Jak's games are about, they copied GTA pretty nicely actually. Jak is still part platforming.

 

You're really going to continue to spread that misleading nonsense after I just re-confirmed Jak 3 has no missable collectibles? Like really? The lack of overview menu for seeing how many orbs you got per area is probably a fair complaint, Jak's games stopped being collectathons after the first, so it wouldn't have made too much sense in the sequels. What other open-world games that aren't CTs you know did it like that? inFAMOUS, Just Cause, etc from what I've experienced had you finding out through a separate start/menu option (similar to Jak's Secrets and R3 mechanic where it actually tells you at least how many you have) as opposed to an over-world HUD (or whatever you'd called it). Issues with the skulls? Like what?? There's no total count, there indefinite collectibles and you can see how many you have via the load screen or pressing R3 (same with orbs).

 

Pfft, that's your opinion. A lot of the mini games are actually fun and challenging. Im not going to say anything more here because that opinion just doesn't make any sense. "Poorly done because I find it boring or too hard."

Edited August 24, 2016 by Mar

[MMDE]

Yay, finally someone who agrees :higfive:. I've seen lots of people saying the game is too hard, because the lack of checkpoints, but I found that refreshing. The only trouble I had was that underwater level at the end with the mecha suit.

 

I think that is right after the section I specifically mentioned, the sewer. ;P

[ghostehkins]

I think your worst enemy in Jak II is going to be the hoverboard/vehicles. I found that the controls were could be stupidly unresponsive (on the PS3) at times, causing unnecessary deaths or alerting guards. Jak 3, I can't remember anything to really complain about, but I enjoyed it more than II.