Pretty much. Just fucking huge Jasper was needed to be squished in something big. So basically the gems made her an unlimited storage container and used her to pull out any artifacts they needed. When she started getting independent, she had Steven basically play charades with her to be like Lapis using the mirror to use Steven's words to talk.

Lapis has her little water creatures coming on to earth like rain and then forming into basically aqua goo monsters. And yes, Peridot is exactly like that. It also makes Jasper fucking freaked out that FUCKING PERIDOT IS NOT LOCKED WITH HER IN FUSION IN THE CENTRE OF A VOLCANO.