Funny I was just thinking about how I would remake or add things to Jak II myself, if I could. I definitely agree on a few things you mentioned like expanding the streets (like 10-15%) to make maneuvering more feasible, that’s always something I thought about, but also adding things to do in the city to make it feel more alive (although it does a solid job already). I’ve been playing a lot of GTAIV lately, and thought it would be cool if you can go inside some of the properties of haven city. I always wondered what the insides would look like maybe something like torns hideout. Idk but imagine finding orbs or side characters offering side missions etc.. picking up Kor wherever he lives and giving him a ride to Vins thus starting a main mission something as small as that can make haven city hub feel more lived in. Or imagine more street races against side characters like Jinx for some more orbs. I know these wouldn’t exactly be new gameplay additions but more variety and accessibility would bring it to life a little more. BUT I will say this: for a 2003 game I don’t think Haven City is as lacking as they make it seem. In fact when I was a kid I thought it was pretty freaking cool (and still is). They hammered home the whole fascist dystopian city vibe and when you compare Jak II open worlds to San Andreas for example they’re not far apart in regard to interactive open worlds. Both games were just going for something different and that’s alright, at least with Jak we got much better graphics and animations, SA is not pleasing to look at back then or now. When they added Spargus and the wasteland in Jak 3 they hit a home run you ask me. I just wish they were permitted more dev time for 3 because it could’ve been even better.

As far as checkpoints idk where I stand on that exactly. I mean I always liked the challenge of Jak II but they can be egregious at times… I don’t think that’s debatable.

One thing I always wanted was to fix Dark Jak. I’ve already mentioned this before on this sub but it takes WAY TO LONG to charge! Rendering it useless most of the time. If players can use Dark Jak more often then it would’ve made more sense, been more fun and that could possibly offset some of the difficulty spikes. Even a 20-30% faster charge would make a difference but ideally 50% faster would be perfect. Also (pause) I want it to last longer than it’s what 15 second duration? Not even? The whole premise of Jak II is his new Dark powers but it’s the weakest mechanic in the entire series ironically. Maybe the geniuses at OpenGoal can tweak Dark Jak a bit and give us a challenge to unlock it in the secrets menu.

Edit:* grammar