
Jak II: Playthrough Part 10: Finding Artifacts for Soothsayers & Monkey Birds (+ Dark Power 2)
Through Ashelin's help, you get a Security Pass that lets you into the bazaar area of Haven City.
True to its name, these bazaar areas are Middle-Eastern themed with sandy yellow pathways and long sprawls of shops and markets.
One bazaar area is more compact and does not permit zoomers, only allowing them through a highway to reach the palace perimeter. Meanwhile, there's a second bazaar area that's much more open and freely allows zoomers through it, and it is located between two green garden areas.
You will find Onin's tent in the compact bazaar. She is the blind, old soothsayer that Ashelin was talking about.
----------
When the duo walks inside, Daxter getting a quick biting surprise by Onin's monkaw (part-monkey, part-macaw) interpreter, Pecker. No doubt he'll but heads with Daxter, a lot!
Anyway, through Onin's mystic hand signs and gestures, she has apparently met Jak, before, but Jak doesn't know how.
She also knows that Jak has arrived in her tent to learn about the Seal of Mar, which is actually the first clue to the Tomb of Mar.
The next step is for Jak & Daxter to venture through the Precursor Mountain Temple and recover its 3 artifacts.
----------
The door to this area is in one of the garden areas of Haven City. The invisible wall that prevents Zoomers from going through its door is much further away from the door itself than usual.
I like this area. It feels more like most levels in the first game where it combines peaceful nature with Precursor architecture. The only thing dangerous about it are the Dark Eco pools, rolling boulders, and Metal Heads you'll find, here.
----------
And now for the artifact's paths:
- I first get the Lens. The path towards this includes a big rhino Metal Head that can only be hurt by shooting at its chest when it raises its front legs.
-- Jak & Daxter eventually stand under a really bright light. It nearly burns Daxter's tail off while Jak goes for the Lens.
- The second one I get is the Prism. This involves taking down another rhino Metal Head, and then scaling a huge cliff flooded with a downpour of boulders.
-- Daxter easily snatches the floating Prism from its contraption, completely unaware of the whole thing falling apart.
- The third and last artifact I get is the Shards. A cool path here involves muscling through a horde of frog Metal Heads. Very nice to kill them all with Dark Jak, and probably the best hotspot for Skull Gem gathering (which won't matter in THIS normal playthrough, however...). This path also has you hit around cubes to make pathways to get across a Dark Eco pool, before having to fight one more rhino Metal Head.
-- Daxter picks up the Shards, and gets shaken around by their vibrating energy.
Once you're done (whether or not you wanna find the many Precursor Orbs found here). It's time to leave this temple, for now.
----------
I get enough Skull Gems for the Oracle in the Slums to give Jak his second Dark power.
The Dark Blast replaces his uppercut punch, and Dark Jak spins around in the air while electrocuting every target around him. It has better reach than the Dark Bomb!