Dark eco

Dark eco droplets from Jak II
General information
Sage(s)	Gol Acheron Tym
Function	Corruption Raw power
Purpose
All games	Hazard
Jak II	Dark Jak powers Dark mod
Jak 3	Dark Jak powers Dark mod
Jak X: Combat Racing	Upgrade racing weapons
The Lost Frontier	Purchase eco skills

Dark eco is one of the six types of eco in the Jak and Daxter series. It is a dark, poisonous substance with the ability to transform, infect and sometimes kill any life form or object it comes in contact with. It is considered severely unstable, and the opposite of light eco. It is also responsible for Daxter's transformation from human to ottsel, and Jak's acquisition of dark powers. It was used throughout the series for various purposes including dark eco experiments on humans, weapons, currency, and fuel.

Dark eco is one of the few colors of eco known to crystallize. Dark crystalline constructs detonate upon or shortly after coming in contact with another object, though were only seen in The Precursor Legacy and The Lost Frontier. Dark eco crystals were used during Jak 3 to power the Planetary Defense System however, but did not act in the same way.

There were two known sages of dark eco in the series. In the past (during The Precursor Legacy), the sage of dark eco was Gol Acheron. In the future (during The Lost Frontier), Tym became the dark eco sage. Unlike Gol Acheron, Tym was not transformed by dark eco, nor did he appear to be affected by it in any way.

History

The Precursor Legacy

Massively mutated plant.

Dark eco acted primarily as a hazardous gameplay element during The Precursor Legacy. It could be found in boxes, large barrels, and explosive crystalline constructs. Quicksand lurkers and spiders spit dark eco projectiles as an attack which would harm people just as if they were to touch other dark eco infused objects. Dark eco was also found as a concentrated liquid form in large vats known as silos, and if one were to fall into one would die. However, Daxter (luckily) survived a submersion in dark eco and resurfaced in the form of an ottsel—this only due to the dark eco containing the essence of the Precursors.

Hazardous dark eco barrels

Gol Acheron and Maia were siblings who studied dark eco, and were overexposed to the substance which affected them physically and mentally. Gol Acheron was the sage of dark eco, and was warned by Samos Hagai, the sage of green eco, not to experiment with it too much. Gol did not heed Samos' warning, and was therefore ultimately destroyed by dark eco when Jak defeated them in their Precursor robot after battling them. Gol and Maia falsely believed that they could control dark eco, and release it by opening a dark eco silo to reshape the world to their liking, though this was part of the dementia following their mental alteration after being exposed.

Jak II and Jak 3

In Jak II, Jak was subject to large, near-lethal amounts of dark eco poisoning as a prisoner under the Dark Warrior Program conducted by Baron Praxis, shortly after arriving to the future after the events of The Precursor Legacy. As stated by Baron Praxis, the dark eco injections should have either turned Jak into a supreme dark warrior or killed him, but because of Jak's previously showcased eco channeling capabilities, he was able to survive the injections. During Jak II as well as Jak 3, Jak was able to transform into a darker alter ego known as Dark Jak, and slowly gained more and more control with help from the oracle who granted him control over dark powers such as Dark Bomb and Dark Blast. Dark eco spheres would be dropped by enemies who were defeated, allowing Jak to collect them to fuel his dark eco reservoir, allowing him to use Dark Jak.

Liquid dark eco concentrate again made an appearance, and, as with the first game, would kill Jak if he happened to fall into one. A Morph Gun mod also used dark eco, and specialized in powerful, destructive weaponry. In Jak 3, dark eco vents made their first appearance and could automatically refuel Jak's eco reserve full.

Jak X: Combat Racing

During Jak X: Combat Racing dark eco could be collected when enemy vehicles were destroyed, which would fill up the player's vehicle's dark eco meter. Once the meter was full, the car would get stronger, health would be restored, gain a more powerful boost and an upgraded version of all of its red/yellow eco weapons. The player would lose their dark eco if they died, starting from scratch with an empty bar again after respawning.

Note that large amounts of dark eco would be collected when destroying opponent racecars or firing the turbo assist weapon, but small amounts of dark eco would be collected when destroying drone cars or taking damage from opponent racers' weapons.

The Lost Frontier

During The Lost Frontier, Jak lost the ability to transform into Dark Jak (not without causing himself excruciating pain attempting to do so) due to an imbalance in the worlds supply of eco. Daxter could transform into a darker alter ego after being drenched in liquid dark eco after falling in Aeropa's sewerage system. Dark Daxter sections only appeared in certain points of the game, and could not be done at any time like Dark Jak. The main antagonists, Aeropans, were also powered by dark eco, and were an example of a successful Dark Warrior Program, unlike the Baron's attempt in Jak II.

Similar to Jak II and Jak 3, dark eco spheres could be collected after defeating enemies, except now the dark eco spheres were used by Keira to convert the dark eco into colored eco to give Jak eco skills, which enhanced his melee attacks and eco powers.

Characteristics

Appearance

A dark eco crystal.

Dark eco carries a dark purple color. When in its liquefied form, it resembles a dark, almost black liquid with a purple, oily sheen with purple spherical spurts shooting from its surface. When in crystal form, it has two different appearances: large crystalline constructs which detonate upon touching, often with a shifting energy inside or around its surface, and then there are the smaller crystals embedded in Precursor metal which resemble normal crystals in a purple color. The smaller crystals do not detonate upon touching.

Dark eco is often constantly shifting, suggesting its disturbed nature. When in smaller amounts, it conforms to a small sphere of shifting ovals. Dark eco is often represented in dark eco-powered objects as a purple cloud or electricity.

Humans, animals, and plants

Dark eco is able to infect, mutate, and sometimes control living organisms. The first example of this being in The Precursor Legacy with the dark eco plant, a plant that crept inside a canister of dark eco and mutated into a giant monster. Later, Gol Acheron, the sage of dark eco, and Maia, his sister and dark eco scientist, were severely warped and infected by dark eco after being exposed to too much of the substance, resulting in labored and affected breathing, darker, aged skin, and altered physical traits, as well as psychological alteration such as dementia. Daxter is a special case, as when Jak accidently pushed him into the tube of Dark Eco, instead of it killing him (which it most likely would have), it changed him into an ottsel. Later in Jak II, Jak was severely affected by torturous dark eco injections. When channeling his darker state, his skin and hair turned a uniform white, he sprouted black horns, his pupils grew to the entire size of his eye socket—making his eyes appear completely black, his posture altered animalistically, he grew large black claws, and he would expel purple bolts of dark energy from his body. He also underwent mental alteration while in this form, losing cognitive reasoning and the ability to speak, and other common human traits. Daxter was also given the ability to transform into a dark form, and grew in size exponentially, but was able to speak.

Dark Jak

Animals were also susceptible to dark eco infection, as seen with the mutant apes, voltaic eels, and Precursor ottsels who transformed into Dark Makers.

Plants were especially susceptible to dark eco infection, seen in both The Precursor Legacy and Jak 3. Dark eco-infected plants often grew in size and turned purple. In Jak 3, they resembled dark eco pods that were glowing like gems and had dark purple roots trailing from them.

Weaponry

Dark eco is used several times in weaponry and other devices. The first, or more common example of this being in Jak's dark mod, which is powered by metal orbs of dark eco. Metal Heads also used dark eco blasters, which shot bolts of dark eco projectiles towards their enemies (see cloaker, spyder gunner, rapid gunner, wasp, metal jacket, centurion, sling blaster). Lurkers were also known to spit a purple, hazardous substance, and while this is likely dark eco, remains unconfirmed. Dark eco has also been used to upgrade normal weapons powered by other colors of eco, particularly in combat racing.

Dark eco was also used in the form of bombs. One early example being the dark eco canister, which Jak used to kill a bone armor lurker in The Precursor Legacy. Other dark eco bombs were also seen (see metal head beast).

Eco prisms

Dark eco is able to be split into all four colored ecos when passed through an eco prism, suggesting dark eco contains the negative or inverted properties of all eco, opposite of light eco which is composed of the rest of the colors.

Reversal

Both green eco and light eco have shown the ability to reverse or repair the effects of dark eco. Green eco is used numerous times to heal dark eco-infected plants, and is considered the counterbalance to dark eco. Light eco is the polar opposite of dark eco, taking every property of dark eco's and carries the same but reversed. It is considered the direct counterpart to dark eco. The presence of light eco in Jak also helped balance some of the more damaging effects of dark eco. Additionally, how dark eco can be divided to create other colors of eco, inversely it takes all four colors of eco to create light eco.