All I remember from Jak 3 as a kid. " *SHOOT 'EM ALL NOW, SORT 'EM OUT LATER!* " *Guard gets killed by metal head and does the death scream that sounds like he stepped on a Lego.*
Jak did time travel. It's stated in the first two games. They sent kid Jak back to Sandover Village where he would grow up. At the beginning of Jak 2 when they open the rift gate, Samos comments "So this is how it happened" and "Find yourself, Jak!"
Dude, he meant the possible timetraveling in the finale when precursors asked Jak to join them to a journey and it was implied that Jak maybe traveled back in time and was truly the Mar (Haven Citys original founder) Until coming back to his own time. But I choose not to believe that because that opens many possible plot holes and makes Jak just too important to me.
Actually, it makes sence that the city blame Jak for the invasion of the metal heads because if you recall a mission from the second game. Crew instructed Jak to clear the sewers of security devices in return for a weapon upgrade. The sewers is how the metal heads got into the city. So it makes sence. Also remember that this event takes place a year after the Barons death. Ashelin was the Barons daughter but she is a Governess. Not a Baroness. This could be because Ashelin chose a democracy rather than Dictatorship style of rule. So a city counsil would actually make sence in this case as well. I wandered for ages as well why Ashelin didn't just fire veger in the first place if she had the power to. But then I realised it could be just down to circumstances. She needed a reason to fire him. After Jak returned to the city he told Samos and Keira that Veger is the one who attacked the Palace. Aka Ashelins House. As they were in direct contact with Ashelin they would have told her at some point. Notice Ashelin saying "Were tired of your scheming Veger!" Hinting that she knew about her Palace being destroyed by Veger to try and kill Jak. I think that was the reason she was looking for to fire him.
What you said towards the end is the biggest reason why I let bygones be bygones with the Jak games. Again I don't think they're perfect but I have to give Naughty Dog mad respect for daring to try and experiment with these games and it's why I love the 6th generation of gaming altogether, that companies were more open to taking risks even if it meant they might fail but it was worth it to see what could be done with gaming genres. That said watching this, some memory of this game definitely came back and I actually did enjoy it a lot more than I remembered, I especially liked the livelier color scheme of the world after being locked up in the dreary metallic Haven City for majority of the time in Jak 2. The plot again with its plotholes was still at the very least engaging enough to make you want to see just how the story will end. I do agree with your complaints about Keira muteness and Ashelin's sudden out of nowhere interest in Jak, that bothered me even back when I first played this game lol Oh and the music genre of the Jak games for future reference, it's just called "Ambience", Ambient music is not really meant to stand out but just add to the scenery sorta-speak. Anyway like I said in the Jak II video, I can admit and concede that the Jak games aren't perfect but honestly what game is perfect? All I know is that despite the game's shortcomings, they are still some of my favorite games on the PS2 and I'm glad they exist. Anyway good analysis videos.
Man I remember when I had the physical copies and scratched the disk up on accident. The catacomb tunnels were crazy. It would just stop loading the tunnels and I'd crash and fail the mission. Thank God they released the digital versions
DUDE the Sewers/Haven Forest Theme and Ruined Stadium Theme are bloody MASTERPIECES what are you talking about Jak 3 having no real memorable music 😒 I'll add that you SHOULD do a video on Jak X since it is a direct Sequel to Jak 3 and was developed by Naughty Dog (Daxter was ReadyAtDawn Studios and Jak & Daxter The Lost Frontier, which we don't talk about 🤣 was by High Impact Games) so yeah you SHOULD do a Review of Jak X/Jak X -Combat Racing- (name depending on Region just like Jak II/Jak II Renegade 😁 I'm an Aussie so it's Jak II Renegade and just Jak X for me 👍) and Daxter should also be covered (it is a solid title and a GREAT game in general as well as in addition to the overall Series) Also Jak X would be GREAT to look at since it was the first game that Amy Hennig (who is most known at Naughty Dog for Uncharted) did at Naughty Dog in terms of Story and the lord cuck himself Neil Druckmann I think was also more heavily involved on Jak X (he along with Amy were in the Credits of Jak 3 though to be fair, I think they were fairly New/not that Important Overall in Jak 3s development though)
I love how he trashes the wasteland buggies mechanics even though he's clearly running into things to flip over on purpose. I rarely messed up on my driving and them occasions were because I wanted to be dumb.
I know he sucks I was playing jak 3 last week missing with the open world and the buggies are easy I’m sick I’m tired of normies that suck at ps2 games cause there used to shitty ps4 cinematic games
@@armorwolf7934 I agree, I'm tired of games being 100 gigabytes because of the graphics rather than content. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 might be great the first playthrough, but a 2nd or 3rd playthrough makes you realize that you're just watching a movie that you have to power with button inputs lol
@@bkkersey93 Driving in Jak 3 is better than driving in Cyberpunk2077. Therefore its ahead of its time. Seriously though, I played this when I was 10 or 11 and never had any problems with the driving.
Oh man it feels like only a couple weeks ago I checked back on your channel to see if you uploaded the Jak II retrospective yet but apparently that was a whole month ago! Time flys and now I'm coming back to the channel with 2 whole retrospectives to watch. Noice
I consider Jak X as Jak's last adventure myself. It's generally more laid-back depiction of Jak, the romance between him and Keira being finalized and the overall lower stakes (relatively speaking). All this presents a nice epilogue to the main plot of Jak and Daxter imo.
Pretty sure you can be forgiven for that one! I think i was 11 when I played it and I saw it coming but I didn't want to spoil it for my little brother who was 9. It blew his mind when he saw.
Really enjoyed this much longer look into the game! You really do get to cover a lot in this format and made me rethink my own thoughts. Whilst I still stand by my own thoughts for my own video, but I do think a lot of this games issues is the games only year long development. Not enough ideas had enough time to cook in the oven like the combat vehicles and the wasteland which is a shame because it is such a big part of the game. The marauders are such a horrible design choice I question why they were even in the game, but overall I did have a great time with this game! Great analysis and whatever your next retrospective is on (The Saboteur is a great time along with Dante's Inferno) I look forward to seeing what you come out with next and am keen to learn more about this game of your own!
Thanks man! And yeah, I didn't mention it, but that's a great point about the development time, plus it explains why the new elements are the ones with the most issues. Looking forward to your video!
Jak 3 was the first title I played in the series and I loooved the game, damos being the father twist was completely unexpected although there was some things I questioned about the story until I played the other games
The combat actually has so much more depth than you'd think, but since the game doesnt even teach you the mechanics people never find out and just use spin ricochet
that's not even the correct way to use it. Jak 2 taught you that if you shoot after punching a nearby enemy you could use a rapid bust fire more of the yellow gun. Spinning and shooting is NOT more efficient than rolling closer to enemies and using the red echo gun. It's much better at dealing with large groups and also the yellow gun is waaay more effective for long distance enemies if you just stand still and let the auto aim lock on
I think of it being a bit like ratchet and clank, where the combat is deep for players who want it to be, but there's a couple of hacky moves you can do to cheese it if you're all about platforming and combat is not your thing. Its really kind of clever how well it works at that. If the player identifies the cheese strategies they can easily just avoid them and be rewarded for doing so with a fluid and engaging combat system. Particularly in Jak 2 and 3, playing properly will usually mean spending less ammo and losing less health, but theres a cheesey way out if a certain mission is getting frustrating.
I'd like to chime in here. As mentioned in the video, it's less that the spin and spray is the "best strategy" and more the "dominant strategy". It's a one-size-fits-all that will work in 95% of missions. My complaints about the difficulty don't stem from my inability to do well in combat, just that certain mechanics like ammo\dark Jak not resetting on death and the instant death robot in the docks mission make the game less fun to play while also discouraging experimentation with your limited arsenal. Even the ammo boxes in later missions are usually limited to red and yellow with a smattering of blue here and there. If you enjoy the combat and like experimenting with the game I think that's great, but my point is that the game's design discourages that playstyle. I hope this clears things up.
Honestly. To sum up my feeling about jak 3. What people say about arkham knight and the batmobile is how I feel about jak 3 and the fucking dune buggies.
Honestly, as a kid playing the game, buggys were a lot of fun, and the jumpy one was my favourite, so i didn't complain, but the difficulty of the mini games was high, especially the turet one at the beginning, i replayed it and it was easy but as a kid it was tough
I do still consider 2 to be the best of the trilogy for me- but something great about 3 that it has over 2 is light Jak and dark Jak both have functions you need and will use. I recently replayed 2 and I honestly didn’t use dark Jak that much, it was usually dark bombs when overwhelmed and just one time by mistake. But all in all I think I used it 5 times total. And I love the expanded mythos of precursors and darkmakers etc But I agree with you of its biggest shortcomings- nearly 20 years later I’m still pissed at Kiera being sidelined, I still don’t get how or why jak is THE mar and the writing around the council and whether or not Ashelin as governor has more or less power than them. Plus, i don’t get how the precursors are Ottsels since we saw one emerge from the precursor stone at the end of Jak 2? Like it’s still a funny reveal I just don’t get how those two things coexist.
Jak 3 was rushed and released only 1 year after the last game. While I admit it fell short of its full potential, it was still a great game and a classic no doubt imo
Veger seems like what Frollo was supposed to be. A man who genuinely wants to protect his city and his people, someone who really does care but it’s a classic Road to Hell story. All manner of good intentions but without actually doing anything good.
Jak 3 was my favorite until I got good at jak 2 and realized jak 3 has hardly any combat platforming missions and the combat isn’t as good as the second bc it’s entirely pointless. The game pretty much just feels like a bunch of gimmicks until u finally get a “jak” mission just to blow through it with the beam reflector
Apparently it's ambiguous, but I used to think girl until watching something that said boy, idk, maybe Naughty Dog was being progressive in 2004 and made Seem gender-neutral.
@@MightyNifty I also remember it being a bit ambiguous to the playerbase, although the developer commentary does refer to Seem using female pronouns at 8:26 here: czcams.com/video/Qiu-vtyyiVY/video.html
I actually really like Ashlin and I do like them together... I fell like it COULD make sense considering Damas was/is the King of Havon City and Baron Praxis is clearly close to him/a major part of that hierarchy, I could see in a perfect world Damas having his son Jak (or Mar) betrothed to Praxis's daughter Ashlin and that is why I like them together 🤔 on top of that he is really a different guy after Jak 1 going into Jak 2 and I can totally see him falling for Ashlin 🤷♂️
I played Jak 2 and every time I'd complete a mission for her, it's like "thanks, now fuck off." If I was Jak, I'd say: "Look, maybe if you'd come out from behind those curtains once in your life and lift up that welding helmet, MAYBE PEOPLE WOULDN'T THINK YOU'RE A COMPLETE BITCH!!!!"
I'm done :D I have no remorse for new players struggling... struggle fight suffer and get good it is the rule of gaming so long as the controls aren't ridiculously complicated your hand does not need to be held it told you the controls and combos if you suck after that the tutorial arena will force you to get good
It can't be overlooked that nobody expected you to pay $40 to play "Jak 3" unless you played "Jak 2". Its a bit different for sequels that come out 5 or 6 years later, these games were pretty close in their releases. If you had $40 and saw Jak 3, but had played Jak 2, you'd probably buy Jak 2 instead. You'd probably get it preowned for $10 along with a couple other games you missed the last year. Not to mention gaming magazines (which actually mattered at the time) would critique you pretty harshly for including a tutorial if it felt too much like a tutorial. Thankfully, the stigma around tutorial levels is fading since they're actually useful, especially when you go back to play a game from your childhood and have forgotten that controls.
Thanks! And I don't think so. It's a completely different genre of game and not one I'm personally interested in, so I'll leave that to people more passionate about the game than myself!
The wasteland driving was definitely the worst for me, I would barely turn left and end up doing a whole 180, I get it's sand but come on, the big ass tires are made for that
Jesus Christ please use the Wasteland Move with the blaster and stop constantly spamming the Spin Attack. You'll delete 60% of the frustration that you have with the "difficulty" in certain missions (like the top down mission)
You know, while people have mentioned my overuse of the spin jump, it's usually the driving missions that caused me trouble so I ignored them (the spin move made nearly every shooting mission ridiculously easy), but this comment reminded me that the top down mission also gave me some trouble and with the limited enemy range on screen, you're totally right it's one of the only missions in the game that encourages players to use melee attacks. Good point!
@@MightyNifty The spin attack is powerful in Jak 3 due to the Blaster Upgrade, but the Wasteland punch is still the preferred way of clearinf out enemies. Mostly with the Scattergun if you keep your momentum. Like I said, some of the missions are much easier with the Wasteland Punch since even in Jak 2, the game *wants* you to be aggressive and to use the melee and combo it with the weapons.
@ 38:20 bad idea man. DMC Devil may cry did that whole (use this color weapon for this npc and use the other color for this npc). And people freaking hated it.
weird how you say the missions are way too easy but then any that have challenge you call overly frustrating and too hard. But the missions you reference are all fair and just present a good challenge.
its corny as fuck but "um.. yes.. well... now we are even MORE angry... and um.. " always makes me laugh. also, as an 11 yr old, i think i still remembered being surprised at the damas father reveal lol
Concerning their suspicion of Jak over his involvement in the Metal Head invasion, the worst part is that Count Veger is right. Jak retrieved the Key that Krew used to allow the metal heads into the city, Jak is directly responsible for them getting in. How Count Veger would know that it was specifically Jak who got the key for Krew is still a mystery though.
my guess is that some or maybe all member of the consil have connections whit Krew and this was there way to sweep there problem on jak and then kick him out. And my understanding on why Ash did not use her power at the start was because she needed there support to get anything done. and if she had used her power (the Freedom Ledge ex crimsonguards that remember is now filled whit old underground memmbers in 3). would most ether result in ash death or a full scale civil war. (there appers to have been a lul between jak2 and jak3 where power was moved from 100% praxis to the consil and I this might be my memory actual metal heads attacks. as they rebuild the water slum into a high class district a project was was aburted when they reached the regular slums. yes she could littarly do nothing because yes she could try but then the consuil would revoult (veger been one of the higest ranked there) and maybe why they dont arrest him. just strip him of rank. remember Haven is no longer a Dictatorship but in the process of going democratic of some kind. also I think that during the time when jak away and things does not improve, and he gets back and things improve ash might have won support from the consil and the general populous meaning jak went from guilty to innocent, this would also give ash material to work whit when pushing veger and later striping him of power.
I sat through your Jak 2 review and while I didn’t necessarily agree on your overall view of the game, I respected your opinion on it. But saying that the third game in the franchise isn’t accessible for a new player because they don’t explain Dark Jak and because you suck at the tutorial is quite the take friend. 😐
One common complaint across this series of reviews is the games being too hard, but that's how ps2 games were. Back in those days you expected to have levels that took several attempts to beat. That was how you got your moneys worth, making games that were "technically" 8-10 hours of content last a whole summer if they had to. Things like carefully timed platforming puzzles, fights that go on a little bit too long and extremely punishing mechanics that would appear suddenly in one level with no tutorial and then dissappear for good, these were all staples of this generation. From an objective standpoint, new games are better designed. These days its rare to start a level and not no how to finish it unless you're actively ignoring the tutorials and on screen button prompts. But games are somehow less exciting because of this. You lose the sensation that "anything could be coming" if you know that in fact each level will only be incrementally more difficult than the last. I know that obstensibly I'm complaining that games are too good now, but there's always a feeling that the game knows what you're going to do and its fun to return to "retro" psX, ps2, Xbox and N64 era where games didn't hold your hand unless ut was the very first level.
Jak 3 has the weakest story of the trilogy. The Precursors being Otsels leaves a lot of questions: how powerful are they really? If Daxter was blessed to be turned into one, does he have latent powers? What about Veger? Keira being pushed to the side was a huge disappointment for me.
I still dream of having a "precursor legacy 2" so to speak. or a remake. I loved the whole series, but there's something about the first one that puts it on top for me. The levels feel more unique from each other in that one. Also, I'm not a huge fan of guns in games like these. It feels kinda lazy. The eco powers of the first were actually unique. Replacing those with guns in 2 and 3 wasn't my preference. I own guns IRL, and LOTS of other games have guns in them. Outside of games that are dedicated shooters, I think guns are way overused. That being said, the series as a whole is still probably my favorite of any series.
@@bkkersey93 New games are still getting this wrong pretty often. I think you can forgive it in a game as old as this. I haven't played Jak 3 recently but I never had trouble with it back then.
man. watching you play removes all credibility from your critique of gameplay. You just jump and spaz shoot everything and say the combat is boring, You drive into walls and don't know how to hand brake with the vehicles and you say they are trash to drive. Literally git gud, this game was made for kids and as a kid i didn't struggle to find out the jetboards added effects
It hurts when I see you jump spin shoot, come on man, it takes 2 seconds to assess whats coming at you and change weapons for the appropriate enemies. You said the gameplay doesn’t have depth, but you kind of limit yourself. You see a bunch of 1 hit melee enemies? Switch to red, beefy enemies you need to stun lock to avoid getting hit? Use blue. Ranged enemies or beefy enemies in CQB? Use yellow. If you’re out of all the rest of the ammo then you use purple(i never really found a good reason to use purple) Yes you can just use the ricochet blaster all game, it’s that good, but it’s not great for all situations. Everything else sounds on point, but your takes on the combat is a little small minded.
There's a lot i dont like about this. The Jak 2 slander. And brushing off Ashland's struggle. Veger seized power and had connections. To say Ash should have done more with her power now that the Baron is gone, is part wishful thinking. People in real life have trouble accepting women in positions of power, let alone this world. It implies too much ease, maybe she did speak up or try to change things but was powerless to do so. And I have other problems with this but ya know.
I have to stop getting triggered every time people say Jak 3 has a bland soundtrack but come on, it's a huge step up from the previous two games, to the point where it's easier to list songs that Aren't memorable. I love the eastern feel some of the desert tracks have. Several tracks also have a serenic or sad feel to them like the Calm Wasteland, Eco Mines and Stadium ruins, which fits the war torn world. And the action packed songs can get really epic like Haven City Chase, War Factory, the song for the final boss and many more.
Everything you just said in the first five sentences is destroyed by the fact the game can be completed from start to finish in one sitting it is not bigger than both Jack one and two and scope combined it's just got one really large empty map
19:55 what do you mean with "people who take the game seriously for some reason" ?!?! I take the game seriously, because the producers said, that the Jak games take a serious direction... Thats the reason! Jak 2 and 3 was always serious! Jak got tortured, inprisoned, his father died, many other characters died too...this doesnt sound like a comedy to me! The game is serious! And that part is silly ! thats a dislike from me !
You using that spin Jump strategy for most of the game is definitely not the developers' fault dude and the shield is pretty useful your combat is just one dimensional
Am I the only one who loves the dune hopper? The jump + boost was epic on that thing
I did that for hours!
Yes it was!
Best vehicle in the game, always loved how far of a distance you could get with it
nah the cars were the best part he might of just been bad
Unlocking unlimited boosts + Dune Hopper = FLYING ALL OVER THE WASTELAND
Hey, Vin isn't an AI, he's a Multi-Layered Hyperlinking Digi-nemic Bio-contructed Super Clocked Mega Memory Construct Baby.
Underrated
All I remember from Jak 3 as a kid. " *SHOOT 'EM ALL NOW, SORT 'EM OUT LATER!* " *Guard gets killed by metal head and does the death scream that sounds like he stepped on a Lego.*
Ashelin: There was nothing I could do
Also Ashelin: As supreme leader, I revoke all of your authority
yeah the plot was a bit Shite but it was needed to get to see what happens outside heaven city
Like girl. Girl help please.
Jak did time travel. It's stated in the first two games. They sent kid Jak back to Sandover Village where he would grow up. At the beginning of Jak 2 when they open the rift gate, Samos comments "So this is how it happened" and "Find yourself, Jak!"
Dude, he meant the possible timetraveling in the finale when precursors asked Jak to join them to a journey and it was implied that Jak maybe traveled back in time and was truly the Mar (Haven Citys original founder) Until coming back to his own time. But I choose not to believe that because that opens many possible plot holes and makes Jak just too important to me.
Actually, it makes sence that the city blame Jak for the invasion of the metal heads because if you recall a mission from the second game. Crew instructed Jak to clear the sewers of security devices in return for a weapon upgrade. The sewers is how the metal heads got into the city. So it makes sence.
Also remember that this event takes place a year after the Barons death. Ashelin was the Barons daughter but she is a Governess. Not a Baroness. This could be because Ashelin chose a democracy rather than Dictatorship style of rule. So a city counsil would actually make sence in this case as well.
I wandered for ages as well why Ashelin didn't just fire veger in the first place if she had the power to. But then I realised it could be just down to circumstances. She needed a reason to fire him. After Jak returned to the city he told Samos and Keira that Veger is the one who attacked the Palace. Aka Ashelins House. As they were in direct contact with Ashelin they would have told her at some point. Notice Ashelin saying "Were tired of your scheming Veger!" Hinting that she knew about her Palace being destroyed by Veger to try and kill Jak. I think that was the reason she was looking for to fire him.
sense
Same
Damn, you just made the plot holes non-existent
The blaming is 100% solid and there rest I could see someone still arguing over it but with very little room.
Time stamps are definitely appreciated.
What you said towards the end is the biggest reason why I let bygones be bygones with the Jak games. Again I don't think they're perfect but I have to give Naughty Dog mad respect for daring to try and experiment with these games and it's why I love the 6th generation of gaming altogether, that companies were more open to taking risks even if it meant they might fail but it was worth it to see what could be done with gaming genres. That said watching this, some memory of this game definitely came back and I actually did enjoy it a lot more than I remembered, I especially liked the livelier color scheme of the world after being locked up in the dreary metallic Haven City for majority of the time in Jak 2. The plot again with its plotholes was still at the very least engaging enough to make you want to see just how the story will end. I do agree with your complaints about Keira muteness and Ashelin's sudden out of nowhere interest in Jak, that bothered me even back when I first played this game lol Oh and the music genre of the Jak games for future reference, it's just called "Ambience", Ambient music is not really meant to stand out but just add to the scenery sorta-speak.
Anyway like I said in the Jak II video, I can admit and concede that the Jak games aren't perfect but honestly what game is perfect? All I know is that despite the game's shortcomings, they are still some of my favorite games on the PS2 and I'm glad they exist. Anyway good analysis videos.
I love how he says "there are a lot of issues" while the buggy flips around, lol
I feel like he was doing that on purpose to show what a casual gamer might experience. Any halfway decent gamer could ride that baby smooth.
Man I remember when I had the physical copies and scratched the disk up on accident. The catacomb tunnels were crazy. It would just stop loading the tunnels and I'd crash and fail the mission. Thank God they released the digital versions
DUDE the Sewers/Haven Forest Theme and Ruined Stadium Theme are bloody MASTERPIECES what are you talking about Jak 3 having no real memorable music 😒
I'll add that you SHOULD do a video on Jak X since it is a direct Sequel to Jak 3 and was developed by Naughty Dog (Daxter was ReadyAtDawn Studios and Jak & Daxter The Lost Frontier, which we don't talk about 🤣 was by High Impact Games) so yeah you SHOULD do a Review of Jak X/Jak X -Combat Racing- (name depending on Region just like Jak II/Jak II Renegade 😁 I'm an Aussie so it's Jak II Renegade and just Jak X for me 👍) and Daxter should also be covered (it is a solid title and a GREAT game in general as well as in addition to the overall Series)
Also Jak X would be GREAT to look at since it was the first game that Amy Hennig (who is most known at Naughty Dog for Uncharted) did at Naughty Dog in terms of Story and the lord cuck himself Neil Druckmann I think was also more heavily involved on Jak X (he along with Amy were in the Credits of Jak 3 though to be fair, I think they were fairly New/not that Important Overall in Jak 3s development though)
I love how he trashes the wasteland buggies mechanics even though he's clearly running into things to flip over on purpose. I rarely messed up on my driving and them occasions were because I wanted to be dumb.
I know he sucks I was playing jak 3 last week missing with the open world and the buggies are easy I’m sick I’m tired of normies that suck at ps2 games cause there used to shitty ps4 cinematic games
@@armorwolf7934 I agree, I'm tired of games being 100 gigabytes because of the graphics rather than content. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 might be great the first playthrough, but a 2nd or 3rd playthrough makes you realize that you're just watching a movie that you have to power with button inputs lol
@@armorwolf7934 The driving is trash, end of discussion.
@@bkkersey93 Driving in Jak 3 is better than driving in Cyberpunk2077. Therefore its ahead of its time.
Seriously though, I played this when I was 10 or 11 and never had any problems with the driving.
Oh man it feels like only a couple weeks ago I checked back on your channel to see if you uploaded the Jak II retrospective yet but apparently that was a whole month ago! Time flys and now I'm coming back to the channel with 2 whole retrospectives to watch. Noice
I consider Jak X as Jak's last adventure myself. It's generally more laid-back depiction of Jak, the romance between him and Keira being finalized and the overall lower stakes (relatively speaking). All this presents a nice epilogue to the main plot of Jak and Daxter imo.
Jak 3 did Keira dirty and I forgot how mad I am about that
I might’ve been a slow 6 year old but I never saw damos being jak’s dad
Pretty sure you can be forgiven for that one! I think i was 11 when I played it and I saw it coming but I didn't want to spoil it for my little brother who was 9. It blew his mind when he saw.
Really enjoyed this much longer look into the game! You really do get to cover a lot in this format and made me rethink my own thoughts. Whilst I still stand by my own thoughts for my own video, but I do think a lot of this games issues is the games only year long development. Not enough ideas had enough time to cook in the oven like the combat vehicles and the wasteland which is a shame because it is such a big part of the game. The marauders are such a horrible design choice I question why they were even in the game, but overall I did have a great time with this game! Great analysis and whatever your next retrospective is on (The Saboteur is a great time along with Dante's Inferno) I look forward to seeing what you come out with next and am keen to learn more about this game of your own!
Thanks man! And yeah, I didn't mention it, but that's a great point about the development time, plus it explains why the new elements are the ones with the most issues. Looking forward to your video!
i love jak 3 its really awesome
I'd say that the catacombs theme is the most memorable of all the tracks in the game.
That and probably wasteland run are the ones for me
What I hate about Jak 3 the most is the driving in the desert, the cars feel they are always on ice
Jak 3 was the first title I played in the series and I loooved the game, damos being the father twist was completely unexpected although there was some things I questioned about the story until I played the other games
Jak II was my favorite by far. Even though you have a pretty radical difference of opinion I still really enjoyed this retrospective series.
I think Jak X is worth retrospecting. It’s still Naughty Dog and honestly feels like a sequel. Plus he finally ends up with Keira in that one.
The combat actually has so much more depth than you'd think, but since the game doesnt even teach you the mechanics people never find out and just use spin ricochet
that's not even the correct way to use it. Jak 2 taught you that if you shoot after punching a nearby enemy you could use a rapid bust fire more of the yellow gun. Spinning and shooting is NOT more efficient than rolling closer to enemies and using the red echo gun. It's much better at dealing with large groups and also the yellow gun is waaay more effective for long distance enemies if you just stand still and let the auto aim lock on
I think of it being a bit like ratchet and clank, where the combat is deep for players who want it to be, but there's a couple of hacky moves you can do to cheese it if you're all about platforming and combat is not your thing.
Its really kind of clever how well it works at that. If the player identifies the cheese strategies they can easily just avoid them and be rewarded for doing so with a fluid and engaging combat system. Particularly in Jak 2 and 3, playing properly will usually mean spending less ammo and losing less health, but theres a cheesey way out if a certain mission is getting frustrating.
@@SineN0mine3 I think because most people played it when they were kids and kids are too stupid to do anything other than the easiest strategy
I'd like to chime in here. As mentioned in the video, it's less that the spin and spray is the "best strategy" and more the "dominant strategy". It's a one-size-fits-all that will work in 95% of missions. My complaints about the difficulty don't stem from my inability to do well in combat, just that certain mechanics like ammo\dark Jak not resetting on death and the instant death robot in the docks mission make the game less fun to play while also discouraging experimentation with your limited arsenal. Even the ammo boxes in later missions are usually limited to red and yellow with a smattering of blue here and there. If you enjoy the combat and like experimenting with the game I think that's great, but my point is that the game's design discourages that playstyle. I hope this clears things up.
Why are your videos so underrated?
love this game, Just recently achieved all 600 orbs on the pc emulator !
How does veger realise jak is the kid? Hasn't it been like a year or two at most since he kidnapped the boy?
Honestly. To sum up my feeling about jak 3. What people say about arkham knight and the batmobile is how I feel about jak 3 and the fucking dune buggies.
You know that doesn't really sum anything up to me at all. I have no idea how people feel about arkham night.
legendary video, I find myself coming back and rewatching it again and again
Honestly, as a kid playing the game, buggys were a lot of fun, and the jumpy one was my favourite, so i didn't complain, but the difficulty of the mini games was high, especially the turet one at the beginning, i replayed it and it was easy but as a kid it was tough
The best game is the 1st
This was a relief after playing jak 2 with it's difficulty
Also the dune hopper was my fav car as a kid
I do still consider 2 to be the best of the trilogy for me- but something great about 3 that it has over 2 is light Jak and dark Jak both have functions you need and will use. I recently replayed 2 and I honestly didn’t use dark Jak that much, it was usually dark bombs when overwhelmed and just one time by mistake. But all in all I think I used it 5 times total.
And I love the expanded mythos of precursors and darkmakers etc
But I agree with you of its biggest shortcomings- nearly 20 years later I’m still pissed at Kiera being sidelined, I still don’t get how or why jak is THE mar and the writing around the council and whether or not Ashelin as governor has more or less power than them. Plus, i don’t get how the precursors are Ottsels since we saw one emerge from the precursor stone at the end of Jak 2? Like it’s still a funny reveal I just don’t get how those two things coexist.
What a great video :D
I get the game was frustrating at times but that's what made it so great so many childhood memories
Enjoyed this series quite a bit, keep up the good work!
Jak 3 was rushed and released only 1 year after the last game. While I admit it fell short of its full potential, it was still a great game and a classic no doubt imo
My favourite game of all time, never really listened to the story as a kid, i was just vibing while playing it like GTA
Why do I hear "just hover over your problems" in my head while thinking about getting to the monk temple XD
Veger seems like what Frollo was supposed to be. A man who genuinely wants to protect his city and his people, someone who really does care but it’s a classic Road to Hell story. All manner of good intentions but without actually doing anything good.
i came looking for this last week :D
Nice, I was waiting for this : )
Jak 3 was my favorite until I got good at jak 2 and realized jak 3 has hardly any combat platforming missions and the combat isn’t as good as the second bc it’s entirely pointless. The game pretty much just feels like a bunch of gimmicks until u finally get a “jak” mission just to blow through it with the beam reflector
I agree with you completely. Plus I like the soundtrack better in 2.
Isn't Seem a girl?
Apparently it's ambiguous, but I used to think girl until watching something that said boy, idk, maybe Naughty Dog was being progressive in 2004 and made Seem gender-neutral.
@@MightyNifty I also remember it being a bit ambiguous to the playerbase, although the developer commentary does refer to Seem using female pronouns at 8:26 here: czcams.com/video/Qiu-vtyyiVY/video.html
Yeah Seem is a girl. Idk why folks overthink it lol.
@@maverickay5807 just goes to show how ambiguous gender expression can be at times
I actually really like Ashlin and I do like them together... I fell like it COULD make sense considering Damas was/is the King of Havon City and Baron Praxis is clearly close to him/a major part of that hierarchy, I could see in a perfect world Damas having his son Jak (or Mar) betrothed to Praxis's daughter Ashlin and that is why I like them together 🤔 on top of that he is really a different guy after Jak 1 going into Jak 2 and I can totally see him falling for Ashlin 🤷♂️
Jak should've ended up with Ashlein at the end of this game, Kiera was such a bitch in Jak 2.
@@SWyrick366 I don't really think she was necessarily, regardless Jak & Ashlin make way more sense 🤣
I played Jak 2 and every time I'd complete a mission for her, it's like "thanks, now fuck off." If I was Jak, I'd say: "Look, maybe if you'd come out from behind those curtains once in your life and lift up that welding helmet, MAYBE PEOPLE WOULDN'T THINK YOU'RE A COMPLETE BITCH!!!!"
I'm done :D I have no remorse for new players struggling... struggle fight suffer and get good it is the rule of gaming so long as the controls aren't ridiculously complicated your hand does not need to be held it told you the controls and combos if you suck after that the tutorial arena will force you to get good
It can't be overlooked that nobody expected you to pay $40 to play "Jak 3" unless you played "Jak 2".
Its a bit different for sequels that come out 5 or 6 years later, these games were pretty close in their releases. If you had $40 and saw Jak 3, but had played Jak 2, you'd probably buy Jak 2 instead. You'd probably get it preowned for $10 along with a couple other games you missed the last year.
Not to mention gaming magazines (which actually mattered at the time) would critique you pretty harshly for including a tutorial if it felt too much like a tutorial.
Thankfully, the stigma around tutorial levels is fading since they're actually useful, especially when you go back to play a game from your childhood and have forgotten that controls.
Hard disagree. Jak 2 was better as a whole, 3 just felt like an afterthought
Comment for the algorithm
This vid deserves more views.
why is there no jak 4
I’d be down if you did a let’s play of the Jak games.
I love your retrospectives! They’re extremely enjoyable and well made. Will you be doing Jak X?
Thanks! And I don't think so. It's a completely different genre of game and not one I'm personally interested in, so I'll leave that to people more passionate about the game than myself!
The wasteland driving was definitely the worst for me, I would barely turn left and end up doing a whole 180, I get it's sand but come on, the big ass tires are made for that
Seriously though! Missions where you had to be fast or run out of time were an absolute pain.
Jesus Christ please use the Wasteland Move with the blaster and stop constantly spamming the Spin Attack. You'll delete 60% of the frustration that you have with the "difficulty" in certain missions (like the top down mission)
You know, while people have mentioned my overuse of the spin jump, it's usually the driving missions that caused me trouble so I ignored them (the spin move made nearly every shooting mission ridiculously easy), but this comment reminded me that the top down mission also gave me some trouble and with the limited enemy range on screen, you're totally right it's one of the only missions in the game that encourages players to use melee attacks. Good point!
@@MightyNifty The spin attack is powerful in Jak 3 due to the Blaster Upgrade, but the Wasteland punch is still the preferred way of clearinf out enemies. Mostly with the Scattergun if you keep your momentum.
Like I said, some of the missions are much easier with the Wasteland Punch since even in Jak 2, the game *wants* you to be aggressive and to use the melee and combo it with the weapons.
Good video!
The boss battle at 14:00 was something I had to git gud at to pass. Damn that was hard.
Easy asf you have to use the Vulcan
I vote for The Saboteur.
@ 38:20 bad idea man. DMC Devil may cry did that whole (use this color weapon for this npc and use the other color for this npc). And people freaking hated it.
Um jak X actually adds to the main 3 titles lore u should give it a fair shot lost frontier yay I would stay away for that
36:02 Tell me you don’t watch Dragon Ball Z without telling me you don’t watch Dragon Ball Z….
I played jak 1, 3 and 2. I can't remember anything of the second game. The third was amazing. I don't really understand what the 2 did well...
weird how you say the missions are way too easy but then any that have challenge you call overly frustrating and too hard. But the missions you reference are all fair and just present a good challenge.
its corny as fuck but "um.. yes.. well... now we are even MORE angry... and um.. " always makes me laugh.
also, as an 11 yr old, i think i still remembered being surprised at the damas father reveal lol
I love Jak 3!
Is there an uncharted retrospective on this channel? I'd love to see that after watching this
Concerning their suspicion of Jak over his involvement in the Metal Head invasion, the worst part is that Count Veger is right. Jak retrieved the Key that Krew used to allow the metal heads into the city, Jak is directly responsible for them getting in. How Count Veger would know that it was specifically Jak who got the key for Krew is still a mystery though.
my guess is that some or maybe all member of the consil have connections whit Krew and this was there way to sweep there problem on jak and then kick him out.
And my understanding on why Ash did not use her power at the start was because she needed there support to get anything done.
and if she had used her power (the Freedom Ledge ex crimsonguards that remember is now filled whit old underground memmbers in 3).
would most ether result in ash death or a full scale civil war.
(there appers to have been a lul between jak2 and jak3 where power was moved from 100% praxis to the consil and I this might be my memory actual metal heads attacks.
as they rebuild the water slum into a high class district a project was was aburted when they reached the regular slums.
yes she could littarly do nothing because yes she could try but then the consuil would revoult (veger been one of the higest ranked there) and maybe why they dont arrest him.
just strip him of rank.
remember Haven is no longer a Dictatorship but in the process of going democratic of some kind.
also I think that during the time when jak away and things does not improve, and he gets back and things improve ash might have won support from the consil and the general populous meaning jak went from guilty to innocent, this would also give ash material to work whit when pushing veger and later striping him of power.
I have never heard about travel time being an issue. It's like saying its an issue in San Andreas.
I sat through your Jak 2 review and while I didn’t necessarily agree on your overall view of the game, I respected your opinion on it. But saying that the third game in the franchise isn’t accessible for a new player because they don’t explain Dark Jak and because you suck at the tutorial is quite the take friend. 😐
❤ this game
One common complaint across this series of reviews is the games being too hard, but that's how ps2 games were. Back in those days you expected to have levels that took several attempts to beat. That was how you got your moneys worth, making games that were "technically" 8-10 hours of content last a whole summer if they had to.
Things like carefully timed platforming puzzles, fights that go on a little bit too long and extremely punishing mechanics that would appear suddenly in one level with no tutorial and then dissappear for good, these were all staples of this generation.
From an objective standpoint, new games are better designed. These days its rare to start a level and not no how to finish it unless you're actively ignoring the tutorials and on screen button prompts. But games are somehow less exciting because of this. You lose the sensation that "anything could be coming" if you know that in fact each level will only be incrementally more difficult than the last. I know that obstensibly I'm complaining that games are too good now, but there's always a feeling that the game knows what you're going to do and its fun to return to "retro" psX, ps2, Xbox and N64 era where games didn't hold your hand unless ut was the very first level.
Hur Dur Blaster still go Brrr
Dude the combat in this game is dirt easy are you kidding me?
Isn't Seem a woman?
I was thinking the same thing
The one problem I have with the Jak games are the checkpoints. They have absolute garbage positioning.
Jak 3 has the weakest story of the trilogy. The Precursors being Otsels leaves a lot of questions: how powerful are they really? If Daxter was blessed to be turned into one, does he have latent powers? What about Veger? Keira being pushed to the side was a huge disappointment for me.
22:33 Samus* & kira
I still dream of having a "precursor legacy 2" so to speak. or a remake. I loved the whole series, but there's something about the first one that puts it on top for me. The levels feel more unique from each other in that one. Also, I'm not a huge fan of guns in games like these. It feels kinda lazy. The eco powers of the first were actually unique. Replacing those with guns in 2 and 3 wasn't my preference. I own guns IRL, and LOTS of other games have guns in them. Outside of games that are dedicated shooters, I think guns are way overused. That being said, the series as a whole is still probably my favorite of any series.
37:17 You said Jak4 instead of 3 lol
Jak 3 is second best game
Man… they are dark makers not metal heads bro
I don’t see why the handling of the cars is bad. It really isn’t. You have to realize you’re driving on sand, not on concrete.
Wrong, it is bad. They should have done better.
@@bkkersey93 New games are still getting this wrong pretty often. I think you can forgive it in a game as old as this. I haven't played Jak 3 recently but I never had trouble with it back then.
man. watching you play removes all credibility from your critique of gameplay. You just jump and spaz shoot everything and say the combat is boring, You drive into walls and don't know how to hand brake with the vehicles and you say they are trash to drive. Literally git gud, this game was made for kids and as a kid i didn't struggle to find out the jetboards added effects
Seem is actually female, just informing
Dude, Seem is a girl 😆
In the Spanish dub, Seem has a male voice actor.
It hurts when I see you jump spin shoot, come on man, it takes 2 seconds to assess whats coming at you and change weapons for the appropriate enemies. You said the gameplay doesn’t have depth, but you kind of limit yourself. You see a bunch of 1 hit melee enemies? Switch to red, beefy enemies you need to stun lock to avoid getting hit? Use blue. Ranged enemies or beefy enemies in CQB? Use yellow. If you’re out of all the rest of the ammo then you use purple(i never really found a good reason to use purple)
Yes you can just use the ricochet blaster all game, it’s that good, but it’s not great for all situations. Everything else sounds on point, but your takes on the combat is a little small minded.
The buggy's are by far the best part of the game
Not even! They slide all over the damn place and make them a pain to control during missions where speed is of the essence.
@@bkkersey93 sliding is fun though
There's a lot i dont like about this. The Jak 2 slander. And brushing off Ashland's struggle. Veger seized power and had connections. To say Ash should have done more with her power now that the Baron is gone, is part wishful thinking. People in real life have trouble accepting women in positions of power, let alone this world. It implies too much ease, maybe she did speak up or try to change things but was powerless to do so. And I have other problems with this but ya know.
I have to stop getting triggered every time people say Jak 3 has a bland soundtrack but come on, it's a huge step up from the previous two games, to the point where it's easier to list songs that Aren't memorable.
I love the eastern feel some of the desert tracks have. Several tracks also have a serenic or sad feel to them like the Calm Wasteland, Eco Mines and Stadium ruins, which fits the war torn world. And the action packed songs can get really epic like Haven City Chase, War Factory, the song for the final boss and many more.
23:37
Until Last of Us Part 2…
Agreed, that's when they went from masters to absolutely unrivaled.
Everything you just said in the first five sentences is destroyed by the fact the game can be completed from start to finish in one sitting it is not bigger than both Jack one and two and scope combined it's just got one really large empty map
I actually think this is the worst story in the trilogy lol
19:55 what do you mean with "people who take the game seriously for some reason" ?!?!
I take the game seriously, because the producers said, that the Jak games take a serious direction... Thats the reason! Jak 2 and 3 was always serious! Jak got tortured, inprisoned, his father died, many other characters died too...this doesnt sound like a comedy to me! The game is serious! And that part is silly !
thats a dislike from me !
Yeeeah writing in Jak 3 was just sub par all over
You using that spin Jump strategy for most of the game is definitely not the developers' fault dude and the shield is pretty useful your combat is just one dimensional
Stop calling the Darkmakers metal heads
My least favorite of the trilogy
All your complains are easy for me
Seem is actually a woman I think
Seem is a female
Jak 4 was scratched because The Last of Shit???
Even more reasons to hate the overhyped game...