We ride the elevator to the top of the weapons depot, ready to confront Krew and put an end to the Baron’s plan to set off a nuke.
The end draws nigh in Jak II.
One of my biggest pet peeves with Jak 2 is how “loose” a lot of the story beats are. There’s nothing wrong with any individual plot point or character motivation, but if you apply even the slightest bit of scrutiny you realize that a lot of the meat and connective tissue is just missing. It’s emotional payoffs without a sufficient setup to make them feel meaningful.
For a perfect example, we know that Krew sells out the city by ordering Sig to open a gate that’ll make it easier for them to infiltrate. But we don’t know what compelled him to make that deal, or what he got out of it that made it worth the transaction. We just know that he is exactly the kind of person who would make that deal, so it works emotionally. The details we need to fully understand it just aren’t there.
The same is true for the Baron’s deal with the metal heads to give them eco in exchange for controlled attacks against the city. We know that “he needs this war to keep in power, otherwise the city would put the true ruler on the throne”, but we don’t know who makes that decision and what compels them to make it. As far as we can tell, Praxis just controls the city without any form of power to keep him in check.
It’s not that the story is riddled with plot holes. There’s absolutely a way that someone could thread the needle to explain everything in sufficient detail, but it’s not my job to thread that needle. It’s the job of the story to fill in those details to a great enough degree that the emotional payoffs of its plot point feel earned.
I just wish there was more connective tissue here.
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