Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

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JaySevenZero
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Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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TheEmailer
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Re: 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by TheEmailer »

Of its time, brilliant in its time.

Having a whole platforming game as one long (if linear) interconnected level was revolutionary in its time. Add to that well handling platforming, diverting 'vehicle' sections and wonderfully vibrant art design; Jak and Daxter was great in its day.
The storytelling is basic and from a modern view things have aged, but we shouldnt overlook how good a game this was on release.
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Jobobonobo
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Re: 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by Jobobonobo »

This was the game that made me stand up and take notice of the PS2. The creators of Crash Bandicoot making a new open world 3D platformer? Sign me up! I remember renting a PS2 with this game and had to play long sessions due to not having a memory card at the time. I got as far as the water temple type level but I did not have the time to actually go through a whole play session. When I got a PS2 from a mate of mine a few years later for just 30 euros, I absolutely wanted to return to this and finish it off.

There are a lot of things to complement with this game. The graphics, especially at the time were gorgeous showcasing a wide variety of lush environments. Jak controlled wonderfully with the jumping and running feeling just right to explore this world. The levels were tightly designed with a nice mixture of Crash-type platforming segments mixed with more Banjo-type exploration and collecting elements to make going through each location a ton of fun. The amount of collectables was just right so collecting was fun and engaging not work. The variety of different animations that played whenever you collected a power cell was one of the elements of Jak and Daxter that made me think this could not be done on a PS1 or N64. But the biggest technical achievement of this game, one which still impresses me to this day and which has rarely been repeated in future platformers is the seamless transition from one world to another. It is done so naturally in how one minute you could be chasing pelicans on the beach and the next you are jumping over spiked pits in the jungle and if you climb this mountain you are now in a completely new world with its own set of objectives and collectables. Helping making this feel even more like a living, breathing world was that you could see many of these future locales in the distance as you are going through the current area which really made this so much more immersive than what came before it.

The game was not perfect though. Ironically, I remember the soundtrack being completely forgettable. It was clearly going for a more atmospheric type of sound but seemed to lack any hook to it that make the soundtracks of the likes of Metroid or Donkey Kong Country be so effective. Jak himself being a silent protagonist I’m fine with but does make him a bit less memorable than other characters. Daxter is easily the most useless platforming sidekick I have ever come across, just an annoying perverted loudmouth who makes you wonder how anyone can stand to be in his company at all. I mean Kazooie is also an arsehole but she gets away with it because she is genuinely funnier and she is vital to your progress in the Banjo games. Clank is also useful and his dry pan manner also makes him a hell of a lot more endearing as a sidekick than this mangy ottsel. However, Daxter being a plonker does not detract from the overall solid gameplay this title has to offer and Jak and Daxter is definitely up there as one of my favourite 3D platformers on the PS2 and there is a lot of competition on that console so I don’t say that easily. I suppose it is my favourite out of the trilogy just by default as I never played the sequels. But even in my teenage years, dark and angsty was not for me so I dismissed them for a long time. Perhaps I should rectify that if they maintain the high standards set by the first game.

Three Word Review: Beautiful, immersive fun
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OldBailey
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Re: 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by OldBailey »

If you'd asked me back in 2001, I would have told you that Jak and Daxter was a better game than Mario 64. Times change however and perspective along with it, and I'd certainly give you a different answer if you asked me today.

Looking at the two games side by side, it's easy to see why I would have come to that conclusion. One a fuzzy, blurry, barely textured thing that was unfamiliar with the concept of a frame rate. The other? Razor sharp movie quality visuals running at 60 frames, a lusciously detailed seamless world with no loading screens, stunningly animated characters with high quality professional voice acting...I could go on.

Coming to this game in 2021 it's easy to under value these aspects given how far the industry has come, but it cannot be overstated just how impressive this game was at the time. It felt expensive, luxurious even, a big budget technological masterpiece with a level of polish we just weren't used to seeing. It was pure production value porn in an era before we started taking it for granted.

It can be difficult to critically evaluate a game like this today. It's still a perfectly solid 3d platformer that controls well, offers plenty of gameplay variety and remains consistently entertaining throughout a pretty lengthy adventure. But the things that really made it special back in 2001 are no longer... well, special.

In the context of its time though, alongside contemporaries like Metal Gear Solid 2, GTA 3, Devil May Cry and Silent Hill 2, it's a reminder of a time when booting up a new game for the first time held the possibility of seeing something unlike anything you'd ever seen before, and when a new console meant a truly mind-blowing generational leap forward. For that reason alone, Jak and Daxter will always be special to me.
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Seph
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Re: 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by Seph »

My introduction to this series was via Jak 2, so I missed out on this first time. It was only when I picked up the collection on PS3 that I finally got to play it, and I think it might be my favourite in the series.

When I was a teenager, the edgy, all guns blazing route the series took was exactly what I wanted; but on reflection the latter games just look a bit too tryhard and the timey-wimey storyline is a bit daft. These days, the more cutesy and innocent a platformer is, the more it appeals to me.

After revisiting the originally trilogy, this one just felt more balanced and fun, and a pure gaming experience with very few gimmicks. It's also a world I enjoy exploring and it has a lot of charm. Sure, the story and setting are a bit basic and cliched, but everything it needs to be and it's a shame we have got another adventure in this world.

While Naughty Dog have definitely moved on and grown up a lot since these days, I really hope they'll one day revisit this series and aim for gameplay and presentation more like this. Leave the gun stuff to Ratchet, I want my happy, silent Jak back.
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matten zwei
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Re: 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by matten zwei »

Being a fan of the Crash Bandicoot series, I was pretty hyped, when I read in a german video-game magazine called "Screenfun", that Naught Dog where developing a new game for the upcoming Playstation 2. It must have been my 14th birthday in february 2002, when I finally got my PlayStation 2 bundled with Jak and Daxter.

As a 14 year old, I kept the game as a secret. My friends at school were playing Tekken Tag Tournament or Resident Evil 3, while I was still playing platformers, like I used to do since I was six.

But Jak and Daxter was so much more, than just a platformer. Without any loadingscreens an seamless transitions from all these areas, the game felt vast and authentic. It combined the exploration of Ocarina of Time and the agile controls of a Super Mario 64. A perfect match for me at the time. Maybe would have wanted some creepier foes, even though the piranha was quite scary. Hearing Jaks heartbeat and the grunt of this predator gives me the creeps, like a drowning sonic or a choking Isaac Clarke.

Another exciting feature was the 60hz-option. I don't think, I could tell the difference at the time, but it sure was something new in the PAL-region. To this day, I think, that Jak and Daxter is a very pretty and polished game and I am pretty sure, that Naughty Dog were pushing the Playstation 2 to its limits.

Despite the lush environment, The game sure has some downsides. The story never felt appealing for me and I can't really remember what it was about. I could never relate to the hatred our protagonists had towards the lurkers. I thought they were cute monkeys, minding their own businesses and felt terrible when I killed them with a roundhouse-kick (Hoo-Hoo-Hah!). And oddly enough, many foes weren't really connected to the story or the main villains either. The Hoover-bike sections felt exciting and fresh for the first 10 minutes and became increasingly more tedious and almost unfair, the further I got. I remember saving the game when I've made it through them and calling it a day, because they were that nerve-wrecking. As exciting the beach and the jungle were in the first level, as dull and lifeless the levels become in the latter levels. Especially the mines in the end. ugh.

Long story short, Jak and Daxter defines the Playstation 2-era for me. Despite all its shortcomings, I still prefer it over the the other entries of the series and have some great memories: Coming home from school, playing Jak and Daxter and listening to Blink-182. Those were the days.
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Re: 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by HaloFandango »

For me, this is a very enjoyable platformer, which holds up pretty well today.

The good: the characters are top-notch and made me laugh every time they were onscreen - especially when Jak and Daxter collected each power cell. Every character is just brimming with personality and charm, ranging from the strange villains (Gol Acheron is actually voiced by Twisted Sisters' Dee Snider - I never knew that!) to the quirky mayor you meet in Sandover Village. The game simply made me smile.

The movement is also great and I was soon rolling and jumping everywhere to reach the harder to access power cells.

The bad: I didn't enjoy the zoomer sections due to the awkward controls and thankfully there weren't that many of them. Some of the more combat focused areas (especially in Boggy Swamp) in order to grab the power cells were a chore to get through.

I never unlocked the door at the end of the game and I was more than happy beating the final boss and stopping there.

If you have a PS3/PS Vita, it is definitely worth seeking out the HD collection (especially now with Sony having recently backtracked on their decision to close those stores).
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Essell37
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Re: 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by Essell37 »

You can’t beat a good cartoony 3D platformer. The perfect sweet-spot is where the world is provides just the right amount of enjoyable challenge to travel through, but also holds secrets and collectibles for a more testing experience if you want to seek it out. When Jak & Daxter was put on the Cane & Rinse slate for this year I saw it as a good opportunity to revisit a piece of my gaming history, and after having recently completed Dark Souls 3 I thought it would be an ideal palate cleanser.

Unfortunately the problems began immediately. I’m an ‘inverted y’ player, so am used to going into a game’s settings menu to change the toggle. Sometimes along with ‘invert y’, there is also an option to ‘invert x’. What kind of sadist would ever want to do that? Well, Jak & Daxter goes a step further than that by not only making Inverted-X the default system, but it also provides no option to change it. I persevered with the game for a while hoping I would get used to it but eventually in desperation I had to resort to Google, and it turns out there is a secret workaround to change this setting - thank goodness, I can’t imagine what the later levels would have been like if my instinct for which way the camera was going to move was actually the opposite.

Inverted-X aside, the camera in general remained a problem throughout the game. Typical of 3D titles of the era it would get stuck in scenery, and leaps of faith would be required as you couldn’t quite move the camera enough to see where to go. When the camera becomes locked to a certain viewpoint for gameplay reasons, judging angles can be tricky - as a result I missed a few jumps that looked like they would be fine, and I found that sometimes when collecting orbs it wasn’t immediately obvious exactly where they were in 3D space in relation to Jak. Couple this with some annoying checkpointing after failures and it might be a case of a bad workman blaming his tools, but this kind of issue was never a problem with Spyro or Ratchet.

Moving away from the controls, in this era of trying to create console mascots the visual character designs for both Jak & Daxter are fine, but when it comes to personality Jak has absolutely nothing and Daxter, while certainly more charismatic, is only tolerable in extremely small doses. And I’m no prude, but the female character designs were a disgrace - Anita Sarkeesian would explode if she saw this game! As for the story - I’ve played the game through twice now and can’t remember what the plot was, or who the antagonists were.

The cherry was well and truly put on the cake when I encountered a bug in the final level which would cause a complete crash when collecting any of the mandatory power cells. Thankfully Google came to the rescue again with another workaround. After slogging through the game up to this point I wasn’t about to let it beat me now!

It is interesting looking back over what I’ve written in that it is all negative. This is for game that I completed 100% and got the platinum trophy for (gaining the pitiful 100% completion “reward” video in the process), so it must have been enjoyable at times, I just can’t quite put my finger on what the good elements were. Perhaps some of the above criticisms are too harsh, it could be me, not Jak - as the problems listed above began to mount up, I got stuck in a feedback loop where my patience with the game got shorter and shorter, and my playing became sloppier. Whatever the reason, the overall taste I was left with from this game was one of frustration and irritation. It is impossible to avoid comparing this title to Ratchet & Clank - that game was a joy from start to finish, the same can definitely not be said for Jak & Daxter.
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Mr Ixolite
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Re: 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by Mr Ixolite »

After 4 consecutive years of receiving Crash Bandicoot games for Christmas, I vividly remember playing Jak And Daxter on December 25th 2001, stopping only so as to not complete this wonderful thing too quickly. The mere fact that the game just let you keep collecting things in this huge world with no loading or returning to a level hub felt revolutionary to me, and Jak And Daxter is still a game I will cane and rinse to 100% completion whenever I pick it up.

Part of the appeal for me is the movement of Jak, which originally felt like my “Mario 64” moment, in that I loved figuring out how to move about most efficiently and discovering all the hidden elements of Jaks moveset. Figuring out that roll jumps count as an attack and that it can be instantly followed by higher-than-normal-jump, or that jumping after a punch triggers an uppercut with increased attacking power provided a type of satisfaction I’d never really experienced in gaming before. I still love that I can tie Jaks moves together into a bone fide combo of “roll-jump- punch-uppercut-divebomb-spin” that cuts through enemy throngs with ease, and will use it constantly whenever I play. Even better is using a combination of divebomb-recoil and spin-attacking to reach higher ledges than you are supposed to. And when you’re juiced up with blue eco, watching boxes break open around you and machinery jolt to life, things get even better. It’s a rare game where the movement has me thinking “Could I maybe speedrun this?”

In terms of presentation, cartoonish visuals always hold up the best over time and this is absolutely the case here. The vibrant colors that makes each location really pop, and the bronze Precursor structures really stand out. The characters may be thin, bit they are spiritedly performed with good designs, and the animation for the leads and enemies is impeccable. This also elevates the threadbare plot.

My main gripes are the music, which while by no means bad feels like Crash Bandicoot B-sides, and with Daxter himself who suffers from major Shrek syndrome. I don’t think he has a single line that isn’t him being cynical, abrasive or crass. The grumpy Samos is toeing the line in terms of being unlikeable, but Daxter is always way across it; taking damage from a hazard is bad enough without Daxter shrieking admonishments at you.

Still, Jak and Daxter is the epitome of a comfort game for me, and having replayed it before the episode, I love it still. The later series entries have their strengths, including a more tolerable Daxter, but I can’t help but bemoan the fact that the colorful platforming-centric template got traded for more grit, guns and minigames.

3 word review: Slam Dunking Collectibles
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Re: Our next podcast recording (22.5.21): 470 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by crownhead55 »

I remember briefly playing this first installment in the Jak and Daxter series when I was very young. The Pretty colors, funny character dialogue, and beautiful world were enough to keep me entertained but not enough to make my 10-year-old self explore it too much depth or even complete it. Fast forward to 2021, I spotted it in CEX for £2 so, I indulged. When revisiting titles of this era I find it's rare a game will truly suck me in as much as current-gen titles but, I played this game from beginning to end and just could not put it down. The platforming is tight, the world is lush and, something my 10-year-old self would have never thought about is how Naughty Dog managed to create a huge sprawling world that the player could explore with NO loading screens - unbelievable! Speaking of the style I love the closeness this game shares with Crash Bandicoot. With the funky tribal music, quirky beach hut-like architecture, and a cheeky cameo from the man-eating flower in the green sage's home. It's a wonder why this IP hasn't been revisited or ported to current consoles such as the Switch. I know Naughty Dog is now associated with much more 'grown-up' themes in their games but surely they could revisit Jak and Daxter!

Three-word review: ORBS ORBS ORBS
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Re: Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Post by Simonsloth »

Quick question but has anyone played the PS4 version of this game on ps5? Whenever I play it it crashes within minutes. Seems it’s happening to a few people but wonder if it’s my console as assassins creed oddysey does the same. All other PS4 games work fine
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