Scheduling Jak & Daxter
Words by Rebecca Johnson.
I've been an expert at stressing myself out from a very early age.
For no tangible reason, I’ve always had a lot of work to get through before I could sleep. As the night wore on, eight-year-old me would do what I called: Scheduling.
I did most of my scheduling in a little pink notebook. I got free with Girl Talk magazine and upon its completion each page front and back was filled from top to bottom in pencil, gel pen, ink and crayon lists. There was one list for each night either dated or vaguely labelled tonight. Each entry was ruled with a single line at the bottom. As each task was completed it was crossed out or ticked and unfinished items were transferred to the next day. I honestly should have been putting this down on my CV as administration experience.
The following are the tasks of utmost importance that needed such accounting:
Read (Sometimes I would indicate chapters)
Knitting (as far as I remember it was a pink scarf and five rows were required nightly)
Write a poem
Write my story
Hospital (At one point I was making a mock scene in a hospital in a shoebox. The beds were being made from loo rolls and sellotaped extensively)
Write in my Diary
And a whole host of other things that absolutely had to get done before I fell asleep. So it was definitely not the most healthy view of productivity.
Around this time, I also began playing my all-time favourite game: Jak and Daxter and the Precursor Legacy, a Playstation 2 game made in 2001 by Naughty Dog. I absolutely loved it. It happens to be one of those now cliched “collect-athons.” where you collect items in order to move to the next area. So of course, the collecting everything aspect appealed to me. Upon pausing the game, a to-do list of sorts even greets you showing you how many “powercells” you have collected in the area and how many left to go. But my preoccupation with productivity aside I think Jak and Daxter is one of the best games ever made for lots of reasons. (But I am slightly biased I will admit)
The game is set up in a very straight forward but satisfying way. It’s an open plan world with four main areas: Sandover Village, Rock Village, Volcanic Crater and Gol and Maia’s Citadel) that branch off into lots of separate, distinct places.
You need to collect “powercells” to advance to each new area and you have the freedom to go wherever you want to find them in whichever order. The world is designed for free exploration. This really appealed to me as a child and still does to this day. I've seen some crazy speed-runners on Youtube or Twitch fully capitalising on this to complete the game in record times. The current world record for completing 100 per cent of the game is 53 minutes and 57 seconds.
The whole game is also very vibrant with bright colours, characters and quirky designs. It has been criticised in the past for trying to mash together two different art styles to pander to two different markets, trying to combine both Disney and anime characteristics and appealing to neither. But I have to disagree with this, I think it is a wonderfully unique and vibrant style that is perfect for creating its original world.
Each character is very distinct and has a personality to support their role in the game. There are no bland NPC's. A sleepy farmer gives you a powercell for rounding up his bison, an armour-clad hero sobs after being defeated in Rock Village, there is always a nice little bit of characterisation.
The lore and story of the game is very immersive. The basic plot is that Daxter gets changed into an “ottsel” and Jak and Daxter spend the game trying to get to Gol so that he can change him back into a human. Alongside this basic plot we are told of ancient precursors and see the relics of them left around the world. There are ancient temples that make hollow noises as you walk over them, strange artefacts and ancient platforms activated by eco (balls of energy in the game that give Jak special abilities). There is just a level of intrigue to the story of the game that hints of a larger world. It suggests the characters live on after you switch the PS2 off to go and have dinner. There is something about it that captures the imagination. Creativity leaks from each little detail and you can find little secrets and points of interest everywhere.
There are also a few gimmicks and quirks that I have always loved and enjoyed immensely in the game such as: Jumping on the head of the giant plant monster in the jungle area after you have killed it to reveal more orbs. Finally catching the sculptor’s muse on misty island after chasing it around for so long and watching its trail of glitter. Sliding down the slides in the Lost precursor city (This was a particular favourite part of the game, me and my sister used to fight over who got to do the slide bit) and if you swim too far out into the sea a jaws theme-like heartbeat nose will be heard as a large orange fish swims up and swallows you to prevent you from reaching the edges of the world Truman show style and breaking the illusion that the world does not go on forever.
I could wax lyrical about Jak and Daxter all day. Clearly a large part of it that appealed to me then and even now is the collecting aspect of it. Upon replaying the game and gaining a greater familiarity each time, it became easier to complete and easier to get to 100% each time. Which I loved. And the familiarity of returning again and again was like visiting an old friend.
Each time I come back the same world greets me. Nothing changes. The villagers greet me with the same missions, the farmer sleeps on, the hero is still crying after his defeat, there are still 101 powercells to be found, the fish will still get me if I swim too far out, the same comfortable boundaries are there. But I am of course different each time and visiting the same world again and again will always bring that home to me.
I am no longer ticking off that I’ve read a chapter of a book or finished colouring something and the little pink Girl Talk notebook is like a precursor artefact now, falling apart. The to-do lists I’m usually procrastinating from now have gradually become loftier and more abstract.
From:
Finish homework
Get a good leaving cert
Don’t drop out of college
To:
Get a job in animation
Get A job
Move out
(And other such impossible tasks).
New stresses and worries come up constantly. New things that need to be done that take time and patience and cannot be done before the night is out. But the game is comfortably do-able and in the realm of the known. It can be completed in less than 3 hours. The to-do list is always the same and I know each task like the back of my hand.
Revisiting the game offers some downtime and also puts my to- do lists in perspective. It brings me back to a time where finishing a book or finishing a line of knitting was extremely important. I can now see that I really should have just been going to bed and not worrying in the slightest. Replaying the game makes me see that if I viewed that as the be all and end all back then, then maybe the things I stress about now will seem insignificant when I am hopefully dusting off the ol' PS2 when I'm 80 years old. Returning to the status quo of Jak and Daxter every once in a while, will always be a treat. The unchanging characters and world will always give me an interesting view of my own perspectives on life. It reassures me that just as my to- do lists and perspectives have changed in the past, and my goals and ambitions have moved, they will change again. So there really never is a reason to worry.
I think it’s important that everyone has something like Jak and Daxter. Whether it be a game, a song, book, movie... anything. Returning to these unchanging, evergreen friends can offer a space to examine your own perspective.
So in uncertain times, read your favourite book again, watch your favourite movie, re-watch your comfort series. I urge you to revisit your favourite things when you feel overwhelmed with too much work and worry. They might offer you comfort and a different view of your situation if you are feeling overworked and stressed out.
Sometimes you just have to have to fit something like Jak and Daxter into the schedule.
Rebecca is an illustrator and Background Artist from Kildare. She enjoys walking her crazy dog, being roommates with her three-legged cat and has way too many orchids on her windowsill. She is currently having no luck growing a succulent plant from a succulent petal. More hopefully however, she’s working on lots of new creative projects in her spare time.
You can find her on:
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