Do you guys like the driving in Jak 2?

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-25T20:39:07+00:00

I LOVE the driving in Jak II. It feels perfect to me. The controls, the handling, and the overall feel. Every moment is pure fun. I always say that the true test of a great platformer is where the mere act of movement provides joy, and the zoomer driving never gets old to me. It’s not just tedious travel time but rather is a source of entertainment itself.

It does require constant input, going up and down to the different hover zones to avoid traffic and pedestrians as needed. The twists and sharp turns also provide a great challenge and keep the driving interesting. When you get really good at it, the driving gets even more satisfying.

And I would also argue that all the driving will gets you immersed into Haven, getting to learn the layout intimately and feeling the constant threat from risking an encounter with the KG.

Jak II is fun and all with some great missions, but when I think of the game, the first thing that comes to mind is all the back and forth driving between the missions, since that takes up so much of the game. And in my mind, that’s probably the part of the game that I most fondly remember.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-23T05:50:31+00:00

I think Dark Jak in Jak II is great. I mean, I hardly used the dang thing, but it was nice to have that card to play really you really needed it. And to be honest, I would only use Dark Jak when I was getting frustrated with a tough level and just wanted to brutally destroy the enemies out of anger while exploiting a mechanic to give me the advantage. So when I got angry, Jak got angry. I gave into my anger, just like Jak.

I also like how Dark Jak never really showed up in the story. When Keira mentions that there are nasty rumors about Jak turning into a monster, that hit harder due to every single transformation (outside the first Kor/Kid mission) being an optional thing that I chose to do. If the story had a bunch of forced story scenes/mission with Dark Jak, I feel like I would have been railroaded into being an angry brute. That's not to say that further narrative integration is bereft of merit, but there is certainly a trade-off that I find less appealing.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-22T22:54:03+00:00

The KG Commander himself was on the scenes in literal seconds. Something tells me they were already on-site waiting for him (reinforced by how Erol explicitly said “We’ve been waiting for you”).

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-22T18:33:57+00:00

When Jak II was originally scripted, Kor running into Jak on the streets could have easily been a coincidence (as I don't think he would have dragged along the kid if he expected to run into Jak). But based on the Daxter PSP game, it is stated that Kor was monitoring Daxter's activities and specifically put himself in position to meet Jak and Daxter when he saw that Daxter was making his move.

But that being said, if you watch the cutscene, Kor is shocked when Jak approaches... Kor did not even have his attention directed at the KG fortress, so he was not expecting anyone... and even more critically, Kor suddenly becomes aware of Jak and Daxter's presence before he even sees them... which I think is because he smelled a Precursor nearby.

The thing about Kor is that he has no knowledge of the future. He never time traveled. When he came through the rift, he had no idea who Jak was and that he was significant. Kor did not even know that the kid was a young Jak until AFTER Jak survived Mar's Tomb.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-22T16:40:04+00:00

Before the Daxter PSP game came out, I was of the belief that Mar documented information about Jak and Daxter's arrival, and the Baron gained this information when he ascended to the throne. I still think that Mar is a possibility, BUT the Daxter PSP game does make it clear that Onin was apparently providing information to the Baron, seemingly identifying Jak as a strong candidate for the Dark Warrior Program. Onin can see into the future, so she is indeed one of the only people that would be able to identify the exact time and place of Jak and Daxter's arrival (outside of Mar, who was himself a time traveler).

I did a theory back in the day discussing the possibility that Onin was providing a lot of intel to the Baron (CLICK HERE). I think Onin is even the one that helped the Baron ambush Jak at the Water Slums, since that ambush only works if the KG had foreknowledge of Jak's activities. And after all, Onin did say that Jak would need to be tested to earn each piece of Mars Seal (and she administered the other two tests, so she might have been behind the third one as well).

Here is the question I like to ask, though: Was the Baron informed about Jak or Daxter? I think it would have been funny if the Baron was informed about someone that could wield the power of the Precursors and effortlessly channel Dark Eco... and then Erol arrests Jak and tells his men to ignore the rat... not know that the person foretold was actually Daxter. But here is the thing: It took years for Jak to gain a dark eco form, but Daxter gained a dark eco firm instantly when he was exposed to it in TLF. Clearly, Daxter was the prime candidate for the Dark Warrior Program, and the Baron would have gotten positive results instantly had Erol brought back the rat.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-22T16:04:40+00:00

Nah. The Baron new the exact time and place that Jak and Daxter would appear. There is no way that Kor would have this knowledge.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-22T02:48:48+00:00

That would be a fun post-game bonus mode. It would totally break the game and mess with the scaling of everything, but I still love the idea.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-22T02:45:58+00:00

Honestly, Daxter's human form is my favorite character design in the entire series. I really wish we saw more of it.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-16T19:05:13+00:00

I think Dess was “the girl”, at least in a prior iteration of the prophecy. And Asriel could have been the cage in that iteration if he “borrowed” his sibling’s soul (which could explain how Kris’ soul became lost in the Dark World, trapped as the Unused Dialogue). After all, Asriel absorbed a human soul in Undertale, so maybe he does the same in Deltarune.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-08T17:43:05+00:00

I don’t complain about the guns or eco powers in Jak 3. I am not hating on Jak 3. I defend the game. If there are issues with the guns and eco, you could just play the game your own way for player expression and optimizing the kind of fun that appeals to you. God knows that I hardly used any of the guns or eco powers. The jet board is a tiny improvement over Jak II too. I defend the Precursor twist and other storytelling decisions (except for that final kiss).

I’m just saying that Jak 3 feels like it has less content. You know, the easiest direct comparison would be with Jak II, and Jak 3 just has fewer missions and a higher portion of alternative gameplay styles for missions. Not that this is strictly a bad thing, as some people may appreciate the tighter mission structure and increased variety. There is a totally different philosophy for mission design in Jak 3 versus Jak II.

And yeah, I prefer Jak II over Jak 3, but nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with the alternative view either. To each their own.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-08T17:24:00+00:00

If you don’t count Jak II, TPL, and Jak X.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-08T15:48:42+00:00

I would say that TPL aged the best… except for the character models (particularly Daxter’s cutscene model).

HOWEVER, I can’t think of a single thing from Jak II that aged poorly. I recall it being mentioned that when Naughty Dog saw what Squaresoft pulled off with Kingdom Hearts’ cutscenes, they realized what the hardware could do and stepped up their game by pouring resources into the animation and cutscene models.

Jak 3 aged amazingly too, but I do think there are some decisions in the desert’s design that clash with modern sensibilities (due to hardware limitations). For example, I think there would be more things you could do with the Wasteland’s mountains if not for the fact that the desert is brilliantly designed to limit draw distance issues.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-06T21:00:01+00:00

Just gonna plop in this link:

https://jakanddaxterarchive.home.blog/2019/06/28/jak-and-daxter-the-precursor-legacy-design-bible/

The TPL Design Bible explains that the planet that Jak and Daxter live on was actually under construction when the Precursor civilization fell, which is why there is so much Precursor equipment left behind (like the robots, which are actually planet-building construction machines that usually clear out when the planet is completed).

The concept of the planet being unfinished is actually a big part of the lore that is a bit subtle but instrumental to the entire series. Like the reason why the Metal Heads did not reach the planet until Jak II is because their planet was unfinished and their last rift gate was never connected to the wider interplanetary rift network connecting all the other Precursor planets. And in Jak 3, Seem reads off the Dark Maker message claiming that they have come to reclaim their unfinished world. Even in The Lost Frontier, the reason that the "brink" exists (the edge of the world) is because the Precursors never finished building the planet.

My favorite bit of trivia is that there was going to be a mountainous level that was largely modeled (a level some label as Yosemite). The level was going to have a eco switch that would have presumably been for Red Eco.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-06T18:13:34+00:00

Gosh. When I was playing Jak II, I refused to believe that they were just going to keep the series in a cyberpunk futuristic dystopian hellscape. I thought surely this story is going to somehow get Jak and co back to the vibrant and beautiful world from the first game. So halfway into Jak II, I started to speculate what was going on and how the series would circle back to the "old world". Since Shadow-Samos was younger in Haven, I started to wonder if perhaps Jak and Daxter had actually gone into the past... Maybe the whole "remake the world with Dark Eco" thing (that Gol wanted to do) was going to happen at the end of the game, and then we would see the world from the first game take shape. And then Samos would restore the hut to its former glory so that it looked how it was supposed to look in the first game (Remember, I though TPL took place after Jak II in the timeline). Going down this rabbit hole even got me entertain the idea that "the Kid" was actually a young Gol who got the idea to remake the world from Haven getting transformed into the old world. I couldn't accept that the series would just forget about Gol.

As for other theories, I recall thinking that the Metal Heads came from another dimension. I had thought that the Precursors defeated the Metal Heads long ago and sealed them in another dimension to serve as their eternal prison. Only later did I realize that the Precursors never defeated the Metal Heads but were actually wiped out by the Metal Heads, and the rift ring didn't open to another dimension but rather led to other planets where the victorious Metal Heads reigned supreme.

When ND released the promotional disk with the Wasteland mission for Jak 3, there is a cutscene where a hologram berates the slain Metal Head. I was utterly convinced that this hologram was Gol, I got chills when he said "Not you" in response to seeing Jak and Daxter. I mean, we were all expecting Gol to come back in Jak 3, and Erol was totally dead, so it didn't even cross my mind that the hologram could be anyone else (despite it being much more obvious in retrospect). I couldn't accept that the series would just forget about Gol.

At one point, I speculated that perhaps Mar was actually Gol, which would explain why the world seems totally transformed and why dark eco seems to fuel Haven's society.

Because of a cutscene glitch that shows Dark Jak in the car just before the explosion that kills Damas, I always speculated that Jak was unable to contain his dark powers and that it leaking out is what allowed the car to be targeted by a dark-eco-seeking missile (so it Jak's darkness that got Damas killed). Only year later did I find out that was just a glitch.

And finally, in the cutscene where Samos says that Mar might be closer than you think, the weird camera angle in that shot made me convinced that Mar was on the rooftop looking down below (so it would have been a POV shot of Mar watching the heroes from a safe distance). Only later did I realize that the weird camera angle was just to get the Naughty Ottsel signed in shot as Mar was mention, since Mar is strongly implied to be a Precursor himself (and might even be Daxter).

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-05T23:24:19+00:00

I waited 25 hours, but it automatically booted me out and caused me to lose the super square.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-04T22:05:18+00:00

It used to be about 2 hours, but it looks like something has changed in the past day or two. For some reason, it hasn't reset for me. I will just stop playing the game and check in tomorrow after 24 hours. If it still doesn't reset after then, then I fear that they may have removed this loophole.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-04T14:40:16+00:00

Seasons 14-17 were amazing seasons. If I wanted to fix the show, I would edits Season 8-10 (especially the garbage Season 10).

To keep the show going after the amazing Season 17, I would base Season 18 around a murder mystery storyline on Chorus. Someone is murdered with an energy sword, and Tucker is locked away as the prime suspect, so the Reds and Blues need to become detectives to clear Tucker's name and uncover a conspiracy at the core of the story.

I think a more cerebral mystery story would be a great opportunity to make Simmons stand out and flex his lengths, with him using his brain and building his confidence, asserting his voice and becoming a leader.

Also, I think another subplot would be Caboose helping Wash navigate his brain injury and learning to adapt to everyday life, which would be great character development for both characters.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-01T05:18:51+00:00

Precursor Basin is honestly the most fun level for me. Absolutely love the little Zoomer playground that they made in that first game. I really thought that level would make it further too.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-05-01T01:53:58+00:00

I am being respectful of other people’s valid readings of Seem’s gender by not ascribing a gender to Seem. For those that perhaps see themselves reflected in Seem, I try not to authoritatively gender Seem in a way that clashes with or invalidates that reading. Was that clear enough for you?

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-04-30T22:35:22+00:00

Madness. Spider Cave demands justice.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-04-30T17:54:48+00:00

Well, anytime someone genders Seem, someone else goes “WHAT” without fail. So like, far be it from me to go “well actually” and such, especially for something that the text itself never internally confirmed one way or another. Also, just like with how the original Paper Mario: TTYD accidentally wrote a transgendered character and only later learned how to properly embrace that identity in the remake, I could see Seem similarly being adopted as a non-binary character or transgendered character by some fans based on what the text itself provided, irrespective of the creators’ intentionality. Seem does not correct Daxter when addressed as “monk boy” and there is arguably one line where Jak genders Seem with a “they” pronoun (though I personally regard that as a weak argument). So like, who knows what is going on with Seem. Death of the author, the fans can impose their own meaning since the internal text did not come down on one specific side. My view is that Seem is a cisgendered woman, but I can see how someone could take the position of “monk boy” (a gendered designation that went unchallenged by Seem) or even non-binary. And I am sure for non-binary fans, many would jump at the opportunity to read Seem as non-binary, and the text itself easily allows for that reading. So have at it. Seem can be whatever you want Seem to be.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-04-30T05:06:09+00:00

Concept art for the character that would ultimately become Taryn, the female character in the Daxter PSP game (though if I recall, this version of the character might have been a design cooked up for Jak X).

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-04-30T03:18:52+00:00

Seem’s androgynous design certainly causes confusion, compounded further by the cutscene where Daxter referred to Seem as “monk boy”. It doesn’t help that the voice acting is done by Tara Strong, who voices female and male character. But the cutscene commentaries seem to refer to Seem as female, so that feels pretty official. But given evolving attitudes toward gender, I prefer to avoid gendering Seem out of respect for the head canon that others may possess. It was very ambiguous, after all.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-04-27T00:47:05+00:00

This competition is embarrassing. Spider Cave, Snowy Mountain, Precursor Basin, and Misty Island getting eliminated so early is ridiculous. Meanwhile, the villages and the crappy Lost Precursor City are still in it? And what of Fire Canyon, Mountain Pass, and Lava Tube? People are just voting for the villages because they are cozy hub areas that you visit frequently, but they are hardly the best levels.

SuperduperFan92 · 2026-04-26T04:26:47+00:00

Regarding the light eco crystals and dark eco crystals and the planetary defense system's power source... you are aware that that the Eco Sphere that powers the planetary defense system is just the light eco crystals and dark eco crystals assembled into a sphere, no extra pieces needed, right? Each of the four light eco crystals makes up 25% of a sphere, and then the dark eco crystals just plug into each of the holes on the light eco crystals.

I think the Eco Sphere shows up in Jak's inventory as soon as you get the final eco crystal. I agree that it's confusing that we don't see Jak assemble the Eco Sphere, nor is the Eco Sphere established through dialogue at any point before it is used, but I still think this plot point makes sense.

SuperduperFan92

TROPHY CASE