YMMV / Jak 3

• Ass Pull:
  • Jak suddenly wanting to return to Haven City. He was given the perfect opportunity to go straight back there thanks to Ashelin, but rejects it and angrily says that he's staying in the Wasteland. Then suddenly the game points you in the direction of the temple to get him back home with no transition whatsoever, nor any scene building up to this.
  • Ashelin says at the beginning of the game that the nebulous and sudden "Grand Council", represented entirely by Veger, was too powerful to overcome their decree on Jak's exile. And then later in the game, she subsequently turns towards him and disbands the Council on the spot, basically telling Veger to shove off. No context or detail is given for how or why this manages to happen, but it subsequently renders the entire subplot moot.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: There's a mission where Daxter gets sucked into a computer and has to play a Pac-Man style game to find a MacGuffin. It evidently wasn't supposed to be that much of a stretch, since the character who put him into the computer was one with the computer himself, but Daxter's whole body getting sucked through the screen?
• Captain Obvious Reveal: It doesn't take a genius to piece together that Damas is Jak's father when you have multiple scenes where Damas laments the loss of his child, Jak mentioning he never knew his father and Damas beginning to act as a Parental Substitute to Jak. Though this doesn't make the scene of Damas' death any less heartbreaking.
• Complete Monster: Count Veger is the power-hungry high councilman of the Grand Council of Haven City. In the past, Veger helped Baron Praxis to overthrow Jak's father Damas and kidnapped a young Jak to experiment on him to harness his eco power. Veger later orchestrates an attack on the Palace that kills countless people and pins it on the Metal Heads, all to gain access to the Catacombs beneath. Veger's most spiteful act comes when he allows Damas to die without knowing Jak is his son, before proceeding to cruelly mock Jak over it.
• Contested Sequel: Downplayed; fans are divided on whether this is the best game in the trilogy, the weakest, or even the middle, but those in the "weakest" camp still generally regard it as a good game in its own right, and a good ending to the trilogy nonetheless.
  • A common complaint by those who think it is the weakest generally cite the plot as being relatively underdeveloped, the tone having constant whiplash in its attempt to achieve a balance between the lighthearted one of The Precursor Legacy and the dark one of Jak II, the gameplay as too similar to Jak II with not enough improvements to make up for it, and the combat being made significantly easier (see Game-Breaker below). A lot of these issues had to do with the very rushed production schedule. Unlike the 2-year development cycle of Jak II, Naughty Dog was given only 13 months to make a complete sequel in time for the 2004 Christmas season (albeit being released in November). While not an Obvious Beta (the game is very polished and had very impressive graphics for the time), the obviously reused Haven City assets (as well as the Scrappy Mechanic Titan Suit from the previous game being given a palette swap with no improvements) and undercooked story make it apparent.
• Fan Nickname: Fans often refer to this game as Jak 3: Wastelander. The nickname was so widespread that even This Very Wiki had the article listed under that name for over a decade — we're not supposed to do that, but that's how long it took for someone to catch on.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Many refuse to treat the cutscene where Jak coldly refuses Ashelin's offer to return to Haven City as canon, as his immediate next actions of returning to Haven City contradict this.
• Game-Breaker: The Beam Reflexor upgrade for the Blaster. The shots bounce off walls and home in on enemies and it can be fired fairly frequently, allowing it to easily clear even very large rooms in under a minute. It's also one of the very first upgrades you get in the game. Using the "jump-spin-fire" move usually destroys anything on your way.
• Harsher in Hindsight: One of the adverts for the game parodied Luke, I Am Your Father, with Daxter attempting to convince Jak he was his father and the announcer assuring the audience that the game wouldn't "end like this". He's right. In the game proper, Jak does meet his father, but it ends tragically, with Damas dying before he would ever know that Jak was his son.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Veger technically is both a jerk and a villain, but if you ask fans why he's such a bastard they'll probably cite him not telling Jak that Damas was his father until after Damas died and then taunting him over it instead of any of the actual crimes he committed.
• Moral Event Horizon: When exactly Count Veger crossed it is up for debate, but it's widely accepted that he crossed it. Many point to his gloating to Jak immediately after Damas' death as one. He could have told Jak Damas was his dad at several points and he would have lost nothing for it. Him suddenly deciding to tell him Damas was his father right after Damas dies and Jak figures it out for himself displays a casual malice and cruelty.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • The charging noise of the Wave Concussor, the sound of the Mass Inverter waves, and the Nuke 'em Super Nova blast.
  • Light Jak's regeneration invokes this with a high-pitched crystaline humming noise as your health fills back up.
• Narm: The battles between the Freedom League and the Metal Heads/KG bots become hard to take seriously, especially after the War Factory is destroyed. The entire city sans the port consists of endlessly respawning soldiers and enemies killing each other over and over. You can't even help effectively because the FL troops are just Palette Swaps of the original guards, so your weapons will automatically target them too.
• Nightmare Fuel: The Dark Makers aren't pretty.
• Player Punch: Damas's death makes you want to Kill Veger With Fire.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The Hellcrap Cruiser went from being useless in Jak II to being instrumental in a certain mission.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The Titan suit again, though this time at least it only has one mission.
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: The game is much easier than Jak II; checkpoints are far more forgiving and frequent, the new weapon upgrades can clear rooms easier, and Jak's abilities now include healing and being able to change into his Dark or Light forms without filling the entire bar up.
• Sequel Difficulty Spike: The gun missions from the first game were a bit easier because the jump -> spin kick -> shoot method would affix bullets on all enemies and avoid all innocents. Not the case this time around, which means you have to complete the objectives legitimately.
• Shocking Moments: There are quite a few in this game such as the Precursors actually being ottsels like Daxter with highly advanced technology, Jak being the son of Damus or Jak possibly being the Mar.
• Strangled by the Red String: Another downplayed example. This game gives a few ship teasing between Jak and Ashelin, but downplays Keira's role, leading fans to assume that the first two are in a relationship. It doesn't help that there's an implied kiss at the end between them, and to be fair, the second game also had moments between them. As a result, Keira was given a larger role in the next games to fix this (although The Lost Frontier wasn't well received by fans) .
• Tear Jerker: Damas's death. He dies in Jak's arms, never knowing that Jak is really his son, Mar. All Damas says was that it was an honor to fight with Jak and that the people need him.
• That One Level: The Nintendo Hard Pac-Man esque minigame in the power station. It becomes a lot easier though once you realize that you can speed up Daxter's movement.
  • You'll hate the Mission at the Marauder Stronghold. First part is easy, defeat 60 at their base, the second half less so as you have to catch four escaping vehicles in a time limit.
• Underused Game Mechanic:
  • Jak's new Dark Eco ability of Invisibility. Aside from an once-visited volcano level, it could only be used at the Monk's Precursor Temple monastery, thus meaning any use of it this for any stealth based tactics (or for that matter any sort of stealth-based missions) outside that location is denied to players. Granted while there is an unlockable ability to turn invisible by pressing the triangle button in Dark Jak form, but that only becomes available after completing the game (though it is somewhat subverted if someone buys it from the Secrets menu and then starts a New Game on Hero Mode).
  • During the sections that you play as Daxter, it is possible to kick while hanging from ceiling grates. Since there are no enemies or breakable objects up there, this is never put to any kind of use.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Seem. The feminine voice really doesn't help in that regard.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The two commercials that have the Not His Sled treatment have remarkable animation similar to the works of Pixar.
• Win Back the Crowd: For those who were unhappy with the drastic Genre Shift Naughty Dog made between Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Jak II: Renegade, Jak 3 offered more of a happy medium between the two.

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