Naughty Dog Teasing Jak And Daxter?

[DivinePaladin]

the-pi-guy said:

DivinePaladin said:

Broken hitboxes,  Haven't had this problem.

a bad and nonsensical story that's also somehow predictable, I'm not sure why predictability would be an issue.  Not sure how it would be considered nonsensical.  

a lack of checkpoints  Kind of an issue.  I felt there were only really a handful parts that probably need more checkpoints.  

missions designed around poor mechanics

 a linear overworld with only one path from A to B  Yes, or 2 later on.  Don't agree that linearity is an issue.  

8 hit points despite every enemy but one doing two hit points of damage,

horrible handling on cars within the linear paths leading to unnecessary crashes  Only if you're going at the max speed.  If you're going slower it's usually not a problem.  

auto-aim on weapons  Don't agree that it's a problem.  It's needed to some extent.  

 Jak's character development  Well he's got pumped with Dark Eco.  Which has some nasty effects.  Plus he's been in there for a long time.  His character development is definitely not going to be typical.  

 the escort mission that I believe is in Act 2

the pointlessness of the overworld to do anything but waste the player's time  I had fun with it.  

Edit: I forgot the big one, no invincibility frames when getting hit, leading to you losing half your health within a second because of poor design. Fun!  

Was barely a problem, imo.  

Regardless of that, is there something intrinsically wrong with the game that has to do with Jak?

If you've enjoyed the first one, why can't they make another one?  

I'm telling you, play it again. Firstly, you shouldn't have to adjust your playstyle to fit the flaws of a game - that's bad game design. 

 

When everything about the plot is predictable in a game that pretends to have depth, it's a problem. When Jak as a character suddenly goes right at Torn's throat and then right after does his bidding, and then goes at his throat later for no discernible reason but because edge, it's a problem.

 

The hitbox thing happens consistently. If it wasn't a problem you weren't paying attention. I've tested it just to see how broken it is, and if you EVER get hit by an enemy and Castlevania knockback hits you into another enemy, you take two sets of damage. Sometimes three. 

 

The hovercars had consistent handling in 3, so don't pretend that driving as slow as possible is a solution when the developers themselves directly acknowledged the issue in the sequel. Again, you shouldn't have to tailor your experience in a linear hallway overworld because they designed the cars to have ice-on-butter handling that doesn't befit narrow corridors. Bad game design. They also botched wheeled vehicle handling in 3, but that's neither here nor there for this discussion. 

 

The fact that you're being an apologist for auto aim of all things sort of shows me the rose goggles here. Either you haven't played the game in a long time or your experience is being blocked by fond memories  as a child. Other contemporary games were able to either do auto-aim better or give you a choice in who to lock on to and when. 

 

Going back to Jak's development again, play Jak II again. It's jarring at first, then fine for the shortest of bits, and then back to jarring. He continually shifts back and forth between realistic, understandable development where he's quietly coping with Dark Eco, and randomly choosing somebody to swear at because he's edgy. It's not done in a good, well-written way, it's just thrown back and forth. Jak 3 handles that issue a Hell of a lot better. 

 

The above is the main problem with Jak as a character, but a bad game is a bad game. I don't have to give Jak II a pass because I enjoyed 1, 3, and X, and I don't have to give II a pass to hope they'd make a fourth one. That's ridiculous reasoning. I never said anywhere I had a problem with a Jak 4, I said that Jak is an average series. It's one I enjoy very much at times but each game has a glaring flaw that kills it in some way. With 1 it's that it's short; with II it's that it's a bad game; with 3, it's that it's playing off of the horrid story from II and that they had no clue where to take it by the end and they threw something together for the finale; with X it's that the discs don't like to work for more than the first Cup. I'd be fine if a Sanzaru type company made a Jak 4, so long as they modernized it a good chunk. Problem is the fans don't want modern, they want more Jak on PS2 but prettier.