Afro Republican
Banned
The Jak and Daxter series started out really strong. ND took what they learned from Crash Bandicoot, a franchise that their previous owners kept due to Sony not paying for that IP (big mistake in hindsight) and dialed it up to 1000. They also added elements of some of the PC platformers, Legacy of Kain, and Banjo. All of this combined with a new open world engine with seamless transitions without loading screens.
The first game was a big hit selling over 5 million units and reported to have shipped up to 6 million. It was a major game for the PS2, and had handily beaten it's rival Ratchet and Clank in sales, which went a more Hybrid/TPS/Platformer route which would ultimately end up being more popular ironically
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This reversed permanently when both series put out their second games, and this would be beginning of the downfall for Jak.
Jak 2 would sell just under 3 million units, and Jak 3 would sell just under 2 million units. Daxter itself sold over 1 million.
So what happened to Jak? Why did the series lose players so fast? What made the anticipated Lost Frontier become the game that killed the franchise?
The story of Jak II was praised, so the change to a more gritty tone wasn't the issue. Even the GTA elements weren't really a big deal to most gamers and journalists. So what actually happened?
Well imo it was the gameplay that hurt Jak overtime. Naughty Dog never really seemed to get what clicked with the series and kept changing things without reason and here's why:
Jak and Daxter 1 was an open platformer with melee combat and magical powers called Eco, which could enhance abilities including throwing projectiles, healing, or moving fast among other abilities.
Jak II took these elements and decided to replace Eco abilities with a gun, with some exceptions. They added a lively city and vehicle transit as well as a story with more depth than the first.
However the gameplay took a massive hit.
It's clear Jak II was ND wanting to make a GTA styled game but wanted to rush out a game in time to capitalize on Jak 1.
- Jak II's platforming level design is bad, it gets worse as you progress the game, and outside later temples seems to be a mishmash of assets and objects. They clearly aren't made with polish and can cause some frustration. But they aren't that bad.
- Jak II's difficulty jumps very high not far into the game, and never really dropping back down until the end. Especially since several of the most difficult missions are required to complete the game.
- Jak II's missions include objectives that were clearly not tested very well or are only there to waste your time in order to lengthen the game. Both of these are very frustrating for many players. It's one of the reasons several players don't go back to play it too often. Curiously, the game Daxter, which serves as a prequel to the start of Jak II, does not have this problem but has similar ideas.
This would turn off many players who brought the first Jak, but all Naughty Dog would have to do is fix these problems for the 3rd game right? No, in fact they went in an entirely different direction.
For some strange reason the vehicular missions in Jak II were considered so necessary by Naughty dog that Jak 3 would make around half the game based on vehicles, likely due to the (in?)famous Erol race mission. All they had to do is take all those elements of the second game that were good and give it the attention and polish of the first game, but instead they go off the deep end, which is ashame because Jak 3 had good ideas.
Jak 3 has an in-depth story compared to the first game just like Jak II, however it's not as well done as Jak II, elements are clearly rushed or unexplained, the twist ending is never really explained either, especially in relation to all those oracles seen across the games, there's a "family" moment that doesn't make much sense. Heck, the actual reason the game happens at the start is pretty poorly written and erases the previous games ending plot points, and there are several elements from Jak II that are just ignored for convenience. Then you have environmental plot that's done lazily like "it gets closer everyday" when talking about the purple doomsday "sun" which stays in the same place the whole game, they could have made it seem like it was getting closer as you progress, instead of implying a fake time limit. The Light/Dark powers could have been implemented better as well.
- Jak 3 is a vehicular shooter for half the game. You explore a large portion of the game in an armed buggy and that's also what several missions are based on. I don't know why ND though this was a good idea but they went with it. The rest of the game includes some of the city from Jak II and some side areas/ruins. Explorations is heavily cut down unless driving around empty desert is "exploration" to you.
- Jak 3 does improve the gun from Jak II, but the combat and platforming elements fall flat here.
- The city part of the game, the part that doesn't involve vehicles, is mostly cosmetic this time. There's not much to explore, and your interaction with the city is mostly enemy wave missions.
- Daxter Pac-Man. Not an issue for me, but a reason cited by many for disliking the game.
The ending of Jak 3 felt like we were missing some extra entry and felt incomplete. What I find funny is Jak X, the racing Spin-off had the right Idea, make the vehicle nonsense a spin-off game, don't make over half your platforming action title about them. Jak X itself is also a pretty decent racing game, though several tracks are designed poorly. Having a side-story with Krews daughter was interesting, though the twist was bad.
So that leaves us with the Lost Frontier, the mixed sales and reception from Jak 3 did nothing to change how Jak would move forward. While duties would be given to another developer(So was Daxter), ND still called many shots for Jak: The Lost Frontier, which went down the same route as 3 and then some.
Jak: The lost Frontier, basically finished off the franchise, and what a waste since it had some nice ideas.
- JakTF decided to make 75% of the game based on gimmicks or flying planes.
- JakTF looks nice for a PSP game but there's almost nothing to explore.
- JAKTF replaced the guns with a Staff thing that can shoot and it's terrible and barely works.
- JAKTF had bad stage design and pretty bad plane controls.
- Bug and glitches everywhere.
JAKTF would eventually be poorly stretched and ported to the PS2 with faster loading times but more gameplay issues. Some will say that JakTF isn't that bad, especially when you compare it to the PSP Ratchet and clank cousin, Secret Agent Clank.
I would agree to that but SAC was a spin-off game that was marketed as a spin-off game while other major titles were released. Jak TF was marketed as a 4th mainline Jak game, as a major entry into the series, and sadly was the last game released.
Sony still owns the IP and it can make a comeback. Regardless of who the developers is, a new Jak would just have to take all the elements that were good post Jak 1, like the story, some action elements, the world, etc, and then fuse it with the first games platforming and melee polish. With todays gaming tech you can create an amazing modern Haven City while still having the humor and blowing &(@ up everyone liked.
At this point though Sony seems to be moving more toward set-pieces and experiences. That's what hurt Ratchet and Clanks popularity when they moved toward that after Ratchet Deadlocked, even to the point of retconning previous games so they can have a movie-esque plot for Crack in time, eventually leading to the very very bad remake (stage design and gameplay were good, though a bit stale.) released in 2016.
But if they do get a dev to make another Jak this would be the formula for success. In fact, the first new Jak game could be a remake of the first game (or second game) so that a developer can start safe and get their foot in the door before making a major new sequel.
Imo.
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