User blog:Sunshineandravioli/Stuff Sunshine Likes, Issue III



Welcome one and all, wikians, to yet another issue of “Stuff Sunshine Likes”! My apologies for the lack of a real review the past couple of weeks – I made the mistake of trying to pre-plan the subjects of my reviews, which basically ground my productivity to a halt, as the subjects I planned to review weren’t necessarily what I’d recently seen/read/played and subsequently it was hard to write about and discuss it. From now on I’ll select reviews based more on what I’m into at the time of writing, so that should keep me from missing any more deadlines. :)

Now then, this past week I’ve spent a good amount of my free time playing a recent PS3 release, or rather re-release – the Jak and Daxter Collection, which contains Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II, and Jak 3, all remastered in HD on a single disc and able to be played in stereoscopic 3D. It’s been a while since I visited the series, and I’ve never actually played the games myself before now (majorly because I’m absolutely horrible at platformer games, which I’ve learned the hard way playing through the trilogy – I came quite close to biting my controller in frustration on a few missions o_o;), so I’ve really been enjoying the collection. Now, in celebration of the re-release, I bring you my analysis and evaluation of My Top 10 Jak and Daxter Characters! I’ve tried to avoid SPOILERS for the series in this list, but be warned that some minor ones might follow. Hope you enjoy!

10. Tess – the Jak and Daxter series’ resident blond bombshell, Jak II and Jak 3’s Tess is, I feel, an entirely underappreciated character. While she does, of course, fill the standard criteria for eye-candy and perkiness, her character rounds itself out a bit with her status as an evidently skilled member of the Underground rebellion during Jak II (for which she fearlessly stops the very dangerous looking-and-acting Jak in his tracks when he first arrives, and embarks on evidently risky spy work by posing as a barmaid at a saloon run by the city’s resident mob boss), as well as her remarkable talent and intelligence while designing new gun mods in Jak 3. Furthermore, her affection for Daxter throughout the series is hilarious (ie. Squealing, “Oh, my little hero!!” when Daxter – and Jak, who he claims he let “tag along” – rescues her from prison, scooping him up and huggling him half to death). I only wish she showed up more often… with more screentime, she probably wouldn’t be as forgettable.

9. Jak – on one hand, I can’t really make a list of top Jak and Daxter characters without putting Jak on the list, but on the other, it’s extremely difficult to evaluate and rank him. After all, he’s the player character, and is not only entirely silent in The Precursor Legacy but only speaks in cutscenes during the rest of the trilogy. Still, Jak’s angst-ridden, conflicted character, plus the subtle development he goes through during the end of Jak II and throughout Jak 3, is engaging enough to keep you connected to the character. However, sometimes the buckets-of-angry-angst become a little too melodramatic to be believable, particularly in the early parts of Jak II. A good player character nonetheless, though, and one who has just enough personality to keep you interested, while still allowing the player to step into his head and fill in the silences during gameplay.

8. Pecker – I can actually feel the confused stares as people go “wait, who?” XD Introduced in Jak II, Pecker is a moncaw (combination monkey and macaw) with a Hispanic accent and a big attitude who frequently clashes with the equally-egotistical Daxter. And I love him. His frequent butting-heads with Daxter is always hilarious, as is his unusually common bouncing between shoulders of the games’ resident positions of power – he acts as a translator to the blind and mute soothsayer Onin in Jak II, jumps ship to Spargus king Damas at the beginning of Jak 3, appears to affiliate himself with Jak and Daxter later on, then goes right back to Onin when the group returns to Haven City (to the point that even Daxter exclaims, “That’s it! Who’s his agent? Pecker always gets the sweet gigs in these adventures!”). Like Tess, unfortunately, he doesn’t appear too often, but the times when he does are more than enough to make up for his frequent absences.

'7. Daxter – fans of the series have always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with our resident ottsel sidekick – you either love him, or you hate him. Personally, I tend to lean towards the former. In my humble pixie opinion, Daxter’s unapologetically brash, bawdy, self-interested wisecracks light up the cutscenes. Call me easily amused, but I can’t help but laugh at Daxter’s constant longing for pants and unerring (and completely unfounded) belief that every single woman is desperately attracted to him. Furthermore, the voice work done for him by actor Max Casella is excellent and infectious. His tutorial and hint dialogue during gameplay, conversely, gets old fast; you’d get tired of it, too, if you spent your time hearing, over and over, “Hit the switch, Jak!” “You gotta shoot the Metal Head Eggs, Jak!” “Can I have your insect collection, Jak?” (Real lines, I swear. XD) He’d be much higher on the list if it wasn’t for that.

6. Damas – how can I best sum up Damas without spoilers…? Basically, if his gruff compassion doesn’t get you to like him and his character’s peak doesn’t, at the very least, make your eyes water, then either A) you have no soul, or B) you’re really not a Jak and Daxter fan. Seriously, Damas’ character background and development during his appearance in Jak 3 is probably among the best of the series’, along with providing perhaps the strongest and most realistic motivation for Jak (and the player) out of anyone. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s a pretty badass dude, and not bad looking for his age (he’s implied to be an older guy). I’ll never, ever be able to get used to his voice, though – in spite of his intimidating appearance and muscular physique, he speaks in a fairly weak, raspy tone. It’s never how I imagine his voice when I’m writing for him, and never what I expect when he shows up in cutscenes, which is always weird…

5. Vin – yet another massively underappreciated character, Jak II’s Vin is kind of like a more intelligent, less corruptible Wheatley – which, of course, means I love ‘im. Jumpy, twitchy, frantic and incredibly paranoid, Vin’s work (foreman of Baron Praxis’ dig operation, as well as an undercover informant for the Underground) does nothing to help soothe his eternally-frayed nerves. Which is a good thing for us players, as it gives us the enjoyment of watching this frazzled, bespectacled, snowy-haired man flit around in desperate search of “friendlies” while the various threats his occupation(s) present leave him constantly on the verge of a heart attack. Just the first cutscene he appears was enough to land him on this list – “Where’s the army?” He asks Jak and Daxter upon being rescued from a Metal Head attack at the dig site, then upon being told that they are the “army” he was promised, “What? *depressed headdesk* What do they think I’m worth?” Unfortunately, his role in the third game was greatly reduced, to the point that he only really appeared in one or two scenes – a sad fate for a hilarious character.

4. Brutter – oh, Brutter. Brutter, Brutter, Brutter. So underappreciated it’s painful. A bit of background to start you off – in The Precursor Legacy, the general enemies you face are Lurkers, primarily a gorilla-like species of animals who seem to live in an extremely primitive tribal community. By the time of Jak II, however, their numbers have dwindled and they’ve been forced into slavery by the humans. That is, with the exception of Brutter, a Lurker who’s learned to walk on two legs, talk in a humorously Yoda-like voice, and do math just well enough to run a fish cannery (though humorously, during one mission he asks the player to rescue six lurkers, while holding up eight fingers). In the few scenes he appears, he’s unerringly loyal and undyingly hilarious, making me quite upset that he didn’t reappear in Jak 3. Probably the most underappreciated character of all.

3. Torn – originally number two on the list, only one of the most awesome and well-done of characters managed to dethrone him, which is a testament to just how incredible Torn is. Introduced in Jak II, Torn is an ex-Krimzon Guard commander who jumped ship to join the Underground rebellion. Gruff and untrusting at first glance, Torn proves to be a valuable ally, a surprisingly devoted and compassionate guy, and above all, one of Jak and Daxter’s greatest characters. Also to be mentioned is the excellent voice acting done for him, with a raspy, world-weary, yet authoritative voice (done by Cutter Mitchell, who remains in obscurity in spite of his evident talent) that is one of the series better ones (save for Daxter’s, thanks to Max Casella’s instantly recognizable and infectious voice). Ultimately, I never get tired of Torn, which is more than what I can say for many of the other characters, and he ends up seeming far more compelling and real than many of his companions.

2. “The Kid” – every single scene this little boy is in, he steals, an extremely impressive feat considering he never says a word. The character designers and animators did an absolutely stellar job with the child only referred to as “the Kid”, one of Jak II’s most important characters – discovered and protected by the Underground in the midst of a seemingly-endless war, the silent little boy, almost always accompanied by his loyal crocadog (a crocodile-dog, obviously), is thought to be the real heir to the city. Caught in the midst of conflict he doesn’t understand and can’t directly affect, “the Kid” spends his appearances acting remarkably like a real little boy would in his situation – glancing around fearful and perplexed as the adults around him frantically discuss the ongoing war, chasing his crocadog in circles on one of the rare occasions he’s allowed outside, and, upon Torn asking Jak why KG forces are searching for a young man with a “rabid orange rat on his shoulder”, grins widely in recognition and proudly points to Daxter. It’s these little acts that help make him ever-so-real as a character, enough to knock the excellent Torn out of his previous spot at number 2.

And, finally…

1. Ashelin – at first glance, Ashelin is exactly the kind of character I should hate – a tough-talking, voluptuous dame with a fiery temper and almost no outfit, something I’ve complained about quite often in the past. And yet… I can’t quite bring myself to dislike Ashelin. Why? Because she also happens to be a badass. An awesome badass. Seriously, the gal is more capable of kicking butt than any of the men in the game, and is the only woman we see within the KG ranks throughout Jak II. But she also has a wonderful character backstory – she’s the daughter of the city’s unjust ruler Baron Praxis, but gave up her birthright in favor of joining the Krimzon Guard and now works as an undercover agent for the Underground – and a notably complex, well-rounded character. Throughout the game, she struggles with people’s beliefs that she is exactly like her corrupt father, fights in two endless wars (one the battle against the Metal Heads, the other the conflict between the KG and the Underground), and faces the conflict between her clear devotion towards the Underground and her somewhat forced allegiance to her father. It’s a delight to watch, and it makes her a character far more well-rounded than many of the others, enough to set her as my favorite character well into the foreseeable future. Plus, her “friendship” with Torn is one of my favorite shippings in any game (in fact, the one issue I have with her character is the arbitrary creation of a brief relationship between her and Jak in the third game, something that apparently came about due to issues with his former love interest’s voice actress during production of the game).

Honorable Mentions – Jinx (a fun character who rose from minor partner on a mission in Jak II to actually appearing in cutscenes during Jak 3); Sig (just an all-around awesome dude); Baron Praxis (Jak II’s surprisingly effective and well-rounded villain)