Ending Stories Part II: Jak

In case you guys weren't aware, Larom and I will be at Connecticon this weekend. We'll be a part of two pannels at this con, Pannel 1 running from 1-2pm on friday, and the Uber Webcomic pannel the same evening at 6. For those of you attending, do stop by and say hello.

I also finally got that wallpaper done (see your imediate left) I think it looks pretty sweet.

For the last three years I've played this series of games. The first one was a cute little jumpy, leapy 3rd person game that played exactly like all the Crash Bandicoot games. Except this game had obviously learned from all the mistakes of the Crash games and perfected the genre, and to top it all off it had really great character interactions. This, of course made for a highly addictive game despite my inability to play 3rd person jumpy leapy games. And thus the game Jak and Daxter became near and dear to me. As well as Larom, as we'd trade off as the game progressed. While the game play was fun, and often addictive, it was the characters I enjoyed most. Jak and Daxter had a wonderful Pen and Teller routine going for them. Daxter was the loud-mouth little varmant that was always getting them into trouble, and Jak was the silent hero who did all the getting out of trouble and saving the world biz. The rest of the cast was a great deal of fun too, the various sages, the random people you'd find in town, Keira the very cute mechanic and vague love interest of Jak, all of them were unique and memorable. The Keira/Jak realationship as ill defined as it was, was fun to watch mostly because Jak never said anything throughout the game. Except "ahhhhhhhhhhh!" when I'd hit the wrong buttons and dive-bomb off a cliff.

Then came the sequel, Jak II which broke all the rules, and ventured into unclaimed territory. Having perfected the jumpy leapy thing, they desided to go into the jumpy-leapy-obstaclecourse-with-guns thing. The game was dark and angsty, and the characters evolved and the character interactions became even more complex and intriguing. Again Larom and I would tag team the game, I'd do most of the shooting, and he'd do all the racing, jumpy, hoverboarding bits. I just don't have athletic abilities, not even in videogames. Truth be told, Larom played most of the game, and I watched mostly; somehow he had more time durring the semester than I did to play. But that didn't stop me from being utterly enthralled with the game. To be more precise I was enthralled with the characters and the plot more than the actual game play. Jak learned to speak! He gained many neat dark-powers, weapons, and craft that mad him a true bad-ass angsty hero. His backstory (which was barely touched on in the first game) deepened to the point of not knowing where it ended. What originally seemed like luck and happenstance, turned out to be carefully planned manipulation of destiny. Suddenly Jak, who was cool to begin with, was a real character and not just a fun silloutte of a hero. The angst simply dribbled out of the screen it was so thick. And I like angst. Honest! I may run a funny, lighthearted comic, but I do enjoy the angsty story. Again, the character designs were fantastic, and they developed a lot of new and interesting people that you got to shoot! The Jak/Keira thing continued, but with the added complication that Jak was no longer the same person. He was dark, and angry, and violent; hardly the light-hearted hero of the first game. And that'll strain anyone's relationship. Again, fun relationship to watch. The gameplay was good too, very challenging and frustrating (for me) at times, but good. Though I'd have loved to have more cut-scenes and less game play.

And finally, last fall, they released the end of the series, Jak III. And the story continued. It deepened, and Jak expanded even more. This time he gained light-powers, to counterballance the dark. He became the proverbial ying-yang. Which was really cool. He also gained a small mountain of new and interesting guns (many of which I never used). His backstory was further explored and explained, but left open enough for plenty of imagination (or other games) to fill. I don't think they'll make any more Jak games, as this one had great closure to it, even though there's technically more story. There were new characters too, perhaps not quite as interesting, but good none-the-less. Keria's voice actress must have either died or failed to sign on for this game as her character was by-and-large ignored, which was quite odd. She was there, and she had a few lines, but she didn't play an important role. But since the hero needs a love interest and someone to care about him despite his angsty self, they stepped up Ashelin who was introduced in the second game and was as sexy and leathal as Keira was cute. I think the angst got even thicker in this game, and as I said, I like the angst.

There's always been something about the Jak saga that I connected with. Perhaps it was the hero trying to manage his darker side. Perhaps it was the coming-of-age aspect of the story. I've always enjoyed that genre; two of my favorite books today are still Starship Troopers and Tunnel in the Sky (both of which are very fine Heinlein young adult books). Maybe it was just the sheer fun of the characters and how they interacted with eachother. I don't know, but I loved this series. And now it's over. I doubt they'll make another game, there's no need. The story has been explored as far as it should. To continue would be superfluous. But I would dearly love to see the story binding these three games together redone as a book or a movie. Not that they every will do such a thing, or that if they did it'd be any good. They'd focus on all the wrong things. They'd focus on the fights and the boss sequences, not on what made the games great for me. They wouldn't focus on what it was to be Jak, what his abilities meant and did to him. They wouldn't focus on the characters, or their relationships. Which is a crying shame, 'cause they could probably make a right tidy profit if they did.

But the reality of the matter is that the story is over now. And when good stories end I always go through a short bout of depression. Ending a good book (which is where I find most of the good stories) is like loosing a good friend for me. Yeah, I can go back and re-read it, or re-play it, or re-watch the story, but it's not the same. It's done, it's over. There will be no more story. I don't think a movie has ever been so good a story it's done that to me. And very few if any video game has had enough of a story and characters good enough, but Jak was one of them. Damn fine series.

Welcome to the Comedity. Don't step on the Penguin.
Garth (Monday - July 11, 2005) -01:01:15