Jak and Daxter/Setting

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alien Sky: Green Sun, anybody?
  • A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away
  • Asteroids Monster
  • Bad Future: Subverted in that the future is actually the present in this case. It's more a case of a Good Past.
  • Blood Sport: The Arena Battles in Jak 3 are officially citizenship tests, but also double as Gladiator Games challenges. Combat Racing in Jak X.
  • Call a Smeerp a Rabbit: The characters' Pointy Ears are never commented upon, and they have occasionally been outright referred to as humans. A good chunk of the Fandom still insists on calling them elves.
    • The subheading for the Japanese release of TLF is actually "Elf to Itachi no Daibouken" (The Elf and Weasel's Big Adventure), so at least in one language, they're officially elves.
  • Chaos Architecture: Haven City significantly changes between Jak II and 3, to the point where it's ridiculous—while the docks are the same, the water slums have been completely overhauled, the sewers are nothing like the ones in Jak II, and the regular slums have had some slight changes made. All in the span of a year, in the midst of a war, after the palace has collapsed.
  • City of Canals: Haven City. It's pretty polluted, though. It Gets Better by at least Jak X.
  • Crapsack World: Starting in Jak II, many areas in the wilderness are infested by the Metal Heads, who have destroyed most settlements made by humanity. Haven City is safe from the Metal Heads until the shield walls shut down, but it's choking with pollution, full of crime and poverty, and it's ruled with an iron fist by Baron Praxis. In Jak 3, Haven City takes a turn for the worse, as much of the northern part of town is destroyed when the palace is shot down, and the slums have been wrecked by the Metal Heads, who have created an organic hive in the northern farm area. On top of that, the Krimzon Guard Robots conquered the factories and created a floating base, leaving only the Port and the New Town inhabited. The Wasteland on the other hand is a massive unforgiving desert with some pretty bad sandstorms, but Spargus is not quite that bad, though the inhabitants are all armed with guns and short tempers. By Jak X, things get much better for Haven City, as the slums and industrial areas are once again free, but the newly introduced Kras City is far more sleazy and corrupt than Haven City ever used to be, and the frosty Icelands are even more desolate than the Wasteland.
  • Cypher Language: The Precursor markings actually mean something, and there are translation guides online.
  • The Empire: Baron Praxis and his Krimzon Guard
  • The Gods Must Be Lazy: Why the hell are the Precursors, the "most powerful beings in the universe," relying on a mortal man (whose amazingness was quite possibly given to him by the Precursors) to solve their problems? Commented on by Daxter in the third game, right before The Reveal.
  • Green Rocks: Eco. Also available in Red, Yellow, Blue, Dark, and Light.
    • Sickly Green Glow: Inverted with the healing Green Eco.
    • Psycho Serum: Dark Eco
    • At many points throughout the series, we do see crystals of green eco, so yeah, we also have literal Green Rocks.
  • Horde of Alien Locusts: Metal Heads
  • Human Aliens
    • Our Elves Are Different: The characters have elf-ears but seem to be otherwise no different from humans, and are even referred to as "humans" on more than one occasion.
    • Pointy Ears: Subverted. The characters' ears aren't used to indicate that they are inhuman or supernatural.
    • Rubber Forehead Aliens
  • Lethal Lava Land: The Fire Canyon and the Lava Tube in TPL, the Dig from Jak II, and the Volcano and the Spargus Arena in Jak 3.
  • Lost Technology: The Precursors left their crap everywhere.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Ottsels and yakkows and monkaws oh my!
    • Otters and weasels belong to the same zoological family, and could plausibly crossbreed. Same goes for yaks and cows. Monkaws, uh...you're on your own.
  • Oh My Gods: "By the Precursors" seems to be Samos' stand-in for "Oh my God." Mar's name is also used as an oath, with characters exclaiming "Thank Mar you're here!"
    • Interestingly averted at the end of Jak 3 and Jak X, when Jak famously says "Oh my God." Escpecially considering that in 3 he was standing before his Gods.
  • Physical Gods / Powers That Be: The Precursors, again. They (supposedly) all died out before even the first game, and they were stated to be an ancient, super-advanced race. However, they are often invoked as if they were gods (see above), and the second game hints at their true nature. The third game finally out-and-out confirms it.
  • Precursors
  • Scenery Gorn: The ruined areas of Haven City in Jak 3. What's even more unnerving is that there are parts of the ruined city that can be recognized from Jak II, making the point (that this place really has gone to Hell in a handbasket) hit that closer to home.
  • Serious Business: Combat Racing.
  • Shooting Gallery: There's one in the Haven City Port in Jak II and 3.
  • Sky Pirates: Phoenix and his band in TLF.
  • Steampunk: The Lava Tube and Gol and Maia's Citadel in the first game qualify. Later, the sequels toned down on the Steampunk-Style technology, going for a more Cyberpunk look.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The Krimzon Guards don't notice you until you hit one of them, or if you're taking on a mission against them.
    • Plus, no one seems bothered by the fact that Daxter is a talking rodent muskrat ottsel who rides on Jak's shoulder.
  • Used Future: Haven City features grungy industrial areas, rusty floating vehicles, and badly polluted waters, despite being a futuristic city. The surrounding areas aren't much better, either, as the Metal Heads have taken over.
  • Vice City: Pretty much every human settlement.
  • Womb Level: The deepest part of the Metal Head nest.

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