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PC Jagged Alliance 3

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PC Jagged Alliance 3

Unread postby icycalm » 17 Sep 2021 22:05

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Whoa!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084 ... lliance_3/

Looks legit. Nothing like the recent crappy Jagged Alliance: Rage. However, all I am thinking while watching the trailer is, "These assets would sure make for a great Modern d20 addition to TaleSpire".

Haemimont Games wrote:The country of Grand Chien is thrown into chaos when the elected president goes missing and the paramilitary force known as “the Legion” seizes control. Hire mercs, meet interesting characters, and fight in tactically deep turn-based combat in this true successor to a beloved franchise.


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Haemimont Games wrote:Grand Chien, a nation of rich natural resources and deep political divides, is thrown into chaos when the elected president goes missing and a paramilitary force known as “The Legion” seizes control of the countryside. Now, the President’s family has pulled together all their resources, including an arrangement with the powerful Adonis corporation, to hire a group of skilled mercenaries tasked with finding the President and bringing order back to the country.

In Jagged Alliance 3, select from a huge cast of mercenaries all with their own unique personalities, quirks, and backstories. Then go out and explore Grand Chien as you meet new people, earn money, grow your team, and ultimately make your own decisions that will decide the country’s fate.
FEATURES

  • Engage in rich, tactical turn-based combat
  • Recruit from a large cast of unique mercenaries, including many familiar fan favorites
  • Loot, salvage, and customize an arsenal of weaponry and equipment
  • Choose from a wide array of special perks to customize your mercs as they level up
  • Decide the fate of Grand Chien in an open RPG structure
  • Control territory, train the locals, command multiple parties, and defend against enemy forces in an alive, active world
  • Experience the campaign with friends in online co-op mode


Announcement Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48b3BIU7vVY

TBA.
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icycalm
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Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
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Re: PC Jagged Alliance 3

Unread postby icycalm » 11 Aug 2023 18:40

This is a pretty good game apparently. It sounds like a 4/5, 3.5/5 at worst, going by the first review. The second one is more like 3/5. Plus there is 2P co-op.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/alas1815/ ... ed/1084160

Alas wrote:Jagged Alliance was a minor hit from the mid-'90s. Offering an eclectic mix of tactical and RPG elements, it was able to carve up a modest following and start its own franchise. It was the second numbered game in the series though, Jagged Alliance 2, that made it a household name among gamers of that generation. Rightly so, it was nothing short of one of the greatest games ever made and is a perennial personal favourite. It also proved a tough act to follow. Throughout the years since, various companies came to own the rights to the franchise and several spin-offs were released ranging in quality from passable to abysmal. For the longest time it seemed like the series was just wasting away in limbo. Until about a week ago, at long last, a full 24 years since the previous numbered sequel, Jagged Alliance 3 came to be. Let's see if it manages to live up to its fabled predecessor and breathe new life to this venerable franchise.

The premise will be quite familiar to veterans of the series. The country of Grand Chien, a small African ex-French colony rich in diamonds, is in turmoil. A mysterious warlord known simply as "the Major" has kidnapped its president and a civil war is looming. The president's daughter, aided by a corporation interested in the diamond mines, hires AIM, the renowned mercenary company, to help restore order. The player is tasked with picking and leading a group of those AIM mercs in a guerilla campaign to rescue the president and topple the Major. In the true spirit of the series, the player will have to manage the finances of the campaign, navigate the strategic map to capture cities and most importantly mines in order to bankroll the expedition, as well as lead the mercs in turn-based tactical combat and through RPG-lite missions and exploration. Oh and there was no mistake, no, the country is indeed called Big Dog in French. In other words, as is tradition, the game doesn't shy away from humour and satire.

The primary gameplay focus is on tactical combat. That's what most of the game revolves around. In that respect the game is rather reminiscent of the modern XCOM series by Firaxis. I wouldn't say it innovates all that much. The options on offer are certainly more limited when compared to Jagged Alliance 2. The game has fewer weapons and fewer items. It also suffers from a rather obvious lack of balance and finetuning. Several weapon classes like pistols or SMGs have almost no practical use, while LMGs can dominate the battlefield but consume too much precious ammo that can't be easily replaced, all this makes the stealthy sniper approach almost mandatory. Twice so by the endgame when enemies annoyingly get increasingly spongy. Whatever shortcomings there may be though, this is a proven formula and the game does employ it with success. Combat is fun to play and looks good in the process too. It retains a good balance between positioning and engaging with enemies for example, an often problematic element in such games. The highly destructible tactical maps themselves are another highlight, offering excellent verticality and interesting layouts. Few things are as satisfying as firing a rocket at enemies hiding behind a wall and watching as half the building comes crashing down on their heads.

The strategic aspect of the game will also feel quite familiar to returning fans. Its focus is on navigating a map of the region, setting targets for merc squads and managing finances. It's an excellent aspect of the series and it's great to see it return. Some of the new additions like diamond mine shipments that can be ambushed for extra money are more than welcome. Unfortunately though, there are limitations here too. Coordinating attacks between squads for example is very unintuitive. Additionally, the game limits the number of mercs that can be hired at once to merely 15. Why? Does AIM not want my money? That gives the player only 2 full squads of 6 mercs, which further restricts strategic operations. The lack of a proper equipment shop is another palpable omission. And then comes one of the most surprising choices. The diamond mines, all of them, run dry fast. The game does not warn you that this is the case and conceptually it makes no sense. The whole plot revolves around controlling the production of diamonds, yet the moment the player touches them *poof* they go. Sort of like a reverse Midas. This means the game does not allow you to ever form a stable income eliminating a number of previously valid playstyles. I hope the developers realize just how daft this design choice was and at least make it optional in a future patch.

Core gameplay aside, anyone who knows anything about this series will tell you that the heart and soul of Jagged Alliance is the mercs. This lovable, dysfunctional and diverse group of rogues, weirdos, sycophants, action heroes and psychos. Each of them oozed personality. Their relationships with one other, their likes and dislikes, it provided the series with incredible depth. It appears that the developers of this sequel loved those characters and understood their significance also. Certainly there are many mercs missing, but the ones that do return are lovingly recreated. I enjoyed simply staring at their renders from time to time. Even the voices are for the most part great. I had long thought that nothing could ever come close to the voice overs of Jagged Alliance 2, yet those here are not only faithful but absolutely serviceable. Some, perhaps, are even better. This is a veritable cornucopia of fanservice. If I had to nitpick, I'd say it's too much. The mercs can come across as flanderised with their most prominent character features exaggerated. It made me wonder at times if the writers didn't have the chops to develop them properly and had to resort to, admittedly entertaining, fanfic. Either way, that's nitpicking. For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of the game.

To conclude, does this sequel truly manage to live up to Jagged Alliance 2? Well, maybe not, but it does get close enough to breathe new life to the franchise. I'd argue it gets closer than anything has so far and close enough to a legend, sounds good enough to me. Indeed, this is a very respectable effort and I certainly recommend it to all fans of the series, but also fans of tactical games and classic RPGs in general. It does lack some polish and it does need to be better balanced in a number of areas, I do hope the developers will not abandon this game but nurture it via patches so that it can fully realise its great potential. With any luck, they will also reintroduce some of the missing mercs at some point. I'm really looking forward to that possibility, even in the form of paid expansions. No matter, the point, folks, is that Jagged Alliance is finally back in action. For real this time. That's reason enough to be content. At least for a while.


https://steamcommunity.com/id/liquidid/ ... ed/1084160

Liquid ID wrote:Is JA3 playable? Yes. Now let me explain the thumbs down.

This is based on a 20 year old game, transitioned to 3D graphics (limited), with the strategic depth cut back in numerous ways, and still using 20 year old system that dont hold up anymore.

For anyone who is familiar with JA2, this is not nearly as in-depth or fleshed out. This does capture the feel of Jagged Alliance, if JA was ported to mobile. The merc personalities are fun and the voice lines are good.

The art style is nice but the UI is a little clunky and many actions require keyboard shortcuts since there is no associated UI element.
Customization/appearance options are ZERO. Mercs do not show what gear they are wearing. Your custom-made merc has 3 options for male and 3 for female. None are great and can't be changed.
No walking. Mercs either run everywhere or crouchwalk. Not enough animation budget and this is noticeable in other areas.

Maps are small. Tactical positioning opportunities are very limited, especially with half a dozen mercs and a dozen enemies all on the same map. As soon as a fight starts, it will resolve with very little change in positioning, mostly just adjusting for cover. You don't get much room to move before a fight is forced, either forward or back to tactically fall back.

Guns are balanced in an arcade fashion. They have to be considering the short engagement ranges on small maps. SMGs are weak and have abysmal range, shotgun are almost point blank only options, AR/MGs are king for multi-target versatility, and marksman rifles are one of the few ways to get consistent one/two ♥♥♥♥ kills.
Guns are weak. You can headshot an enemy 4 times before they go down... unarmored. Unless you're sniping.
Combined/related to low gun damage is the high health pool of enemies. I havent played a shooter with bullet sponges this bad since Division 2.

Stealth is almost unusable. Stealth kills before combat are a waste of time; one hit kills on unaware enemies is RANDOM and if you dont succeed then youre at a disadvantage when combat starts. There are more dedicated stealth oriented mercs, so I guess you use them because RNG for everyone else is garbage. Oh and an enemy facing away from you will eventually hear you even if youre behind them in full cover a fair distance away not moving, but without a specialized stealth merc. I guess my merc farted.

You cannot pause in the pre-combat phase to set up your mercs properly. Its realtime, one at a time and the game doesnt even pause when enemies are sighted, get close, are becoming aware, etc. If you like RTS tactical shooters, thats what it feels like for the first 15 seconds before the first bullet flies.. and its usually the enemy's because they spotted you when you didnt even see them offscreen.

Enemies clearly do not follow the same action point system mercs do. Either that or the enemey has genetically modified supersoldiers who can 1) be shot in the head 3 times b) run 15 feet while jumping over a low fence and around chest high barrels c) run behind you, and then d) turn around and shoot you. all on one turn! They are also deadly accurate when shooting you in the head with burst fire while youre behind half-height cover. Half height cover in this game is useless (except to actually take cover behind which uses your whole turn/actions).

There is no economy of buying/selling guns. If you find a merchant, they may sell 2 guns. And wont buy. All money comes from running around maps looting/stealing from locals after a fight.
No vehicles.
No swimming.
Lots of unlikeable NPCs.

And the graphics issues. Lots of reports of instability or incompatability with higher end setups and options. I am fully capable of 1440p but I had to run 1080 with medium settings until I turned reflections and AO off (on/off are the only options here). Also neither resolution plays ncie with my multi-monitor setup. Alt-tabbing works but this game and WIndows 10 fight over resolution switching and monitor offset settings.

So... if you want some XCOM turn based action on a small scale with troops who have actual personalities, but you want slimmed down strategic management, and you are OK with most of the issues I've mentioned... then Id recommend JA3. On sale. Half price or lower.

I love JA2. A lot. I like JA3.. a little. But less as my time with the game goes on.

Oh and lastly.. mods. There is mod support coming. No one knows the extent or ease of the mod tools. A lazy excuse to the issues I noted is "wait for mods". No, core gameplay issues should be part of the base game content.
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icycalm
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