What in the name of all things holy was up with that game? I don't know how Naughty Dog (ND) managed to screw up what could have been the most perfect game ever, but they did!!
The had the most amazing base to work off! Jak II was one of the greatest games I have played in a long time, and it left just the right things unexplained for its sequel to deal with!
I don't know what caused it to go wrong, but I know what went wrong...

The gameplay and the story.

First off, let’s discuss the gameplay.
…Now, it’s not that the gameplay itself was bad as a whole, but was it necessary for Jak 3 to be so cursed short!? I finished that game in under ten hours on my first play through.
Jak II took me over twenty.
For the forty dollars I shelled out for it, I expected Jak 3 to be a lot longer. I gave forty bucks for Jak II too, but it was worth all that money and even more. For Jak 3 to end that quickly… I was amazed, but it wasn’t anywhere near in a good way.
When a gamer spends that kind of money, she wants something that will keep her engaged for hours upon hours upon hours. Jak 3… Done the day after I bought it. Not what I wanted at all.
… Although I though it was really good from a pure play point of view, I did find the gameplay to be a slight bit lacking in one small areas.
The dune buggies, did they have to be so hard to control? I understand that they are different from zoomers, and therefore pilot differently, but still, come on. I’m no slouch when it comes to diving in video games, but damn, those things were hard to steer!
I know what ND was trying to do. They were trying to stimulate the actual conditions you would find in a wasteland. But Jak 3 isn’t a simulator, it’s an action/adventure game. Because of that, I would prefer the driving be a bit more sane.
There is almost nothing that upsets a gamer like me more than having my vehicle flip over because of something stupid. Examples… If you come over the crest of a hill, and hit the other side of it at even the tiniest wrong angle, flip. Run through a stream and hit one single rock, flip. Half the time, get shot by Marauders, and flip! Even in the bigger vehicles like the Slam Dozer!
I hate that.
I love driving the buggies, don’t get me wrong, it’s so much fun, but I wish it wasn’t so annoying.

And now, we come to discussing the story… Swear words will ensue, most defiantly.
I have three major issues with the story, and a whole bunch of smaller ones.
… Major issues…
1.) Erol as the main villain! What the freak is up with that?! I don’t know if ND noticed or not, but during Jak II, he ran in to about a dozen barrels of eco on a zoomer! It was purple eco! That’s means it was Dark Eco! Dark! As in the same stuff that made Daxter an ottsel and gave Jak his dark side!!
Did they not see the explosion that occurred after he ran into the barrels? They should have, after all, they were the ones that wrote and programmed that explosion. Explosion. That means something blew up. Something like that blows up, whoever was within range, they blow up too. (Like Krew) Erol was in range, he was right in the middle of it…
He should have died and stayed dead, not been resurrected as some three-quarter metal dumbass of a Krimson Guard leader. Come on now, that was just a stupid plot line on ND’s part.
Immensely stupid, and totally lacking in any sense whatsoever. Not to mention ND spelled “Erol” wrong the second time around. As “Errol”… Honestly.
I wanted someone new to fight, someone actually worth fighting. If they had wanted to resurrect someone, they should have brought Gol and Maia from “Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy” (TPL) back. Now, those two would have made amazing villains for Jak 3. Not only that, but it would have been so cool to see them in Jak II/3 style graphics!
2.) Ashelin and Jak!! Holy shit! Who in their bloody right mind would have come up with that harebrained, dumbass idea? Who?! It was a total disregard for the first two games! That particular plot line completely screwed up the foundation that had been laid for the most perfect relationship there could have been!
Get real! What happened to what went on between Jak and Keira in both TPL and Jak II? At the end of both games, they were this close to kissing! This close!! If it wasn’t for Daxter, they would have kissed both times! What, please, tell me what poor dumb frigger decided to throw all that away and put Jak with the slut governess of Haven City?
I just, I really can’t even think of anything to say… I am that disgusted with that decision. I think it was the worst decision ND could make for the entire game, but they did it anyway.
I don’t even have anything against Ashelin, really. I mean, Jak is hot, what girl wouldn’t want to be with him? But I am dead set against her and Jak being together. From the get go, especially in TPL, you could tell that Jak and Keira had something special, something meaningful. That was completely ignored in Jak 3, and it pissed me off.
This is what upset me more than anything. This is the one section in the plot I want to destroy with my entire being. This is the part that made me drop my controller in sheer, angry and stunned disbelief.
3.) The Precursors are ottsels. Ottsels. You can’t be serious. Ottsels. Honestly. That was a dumbass idea too. I can’t even talk about my disgust with this, because I don’t think I can put it into words.
…Smaller Issues…
4.) Damus (I won’t spell it Damas) being Jak’s father. Actually, I don’t mind that, but I really dislike how right after Jak found out, Damus dies. I mean, come on. That’s the most melodramatic thing ND could have done.
5.) Jak’s real name being Mar. Honestly… For one, Jak is just a hot name, and that’s how he was known for two and a half games. Two, this whole “Jak is Mar” thing is confusing. Is he THE Mar, or is he just A Mar? I hate it when something like that isn’t fully explained.
6.) Keira’s lack of lines, and her new voice. I wanted to shoot the person who decided that she would get a total of three lines through the entire game. I couldn’t believe that! She was such a pivotal character in TPL and Jak II, and in Jak 3 she was just, there like twice. She deserved so much more than that. There is only one reason I was glad she had so few lines. Her voice acting sucked royally.
7.) For the love of God, will someone please tell me if Seem is male or female! Actually, I know she’s a girl, but ND could have tried to make that a bit more clear.
8.) The Dark Makers. They were suppose to be so scary, and a big part of the game, but they weren’t. ND tried too put to much in, with Veger, and Erol, and the Dark Makers. They couldn’t give enough substance to all of them.
9.) Torn was such a wimp in Jak 3. In Jak II he was cool, a hard ass, but now… That was disappointing too.
10.) The ending cut-scene! That was so lame! Lame! Boring, unimaginative, lame. They could have done something better.

I think I can finally end my rant now. Mind you, that was just a quick overview. If I really wanted too, I could go on all day about how it upset me, but I won’t. I feel better now.

Now, my closing statement.
It was almost as though TPL and Jak II never existed, after all, nothing in Jak 3 really went along with the established plot lines from those two games…

 

 

/rant