The other JA2s

Having shitloads of fun with JA2 1.13 again. Gotta love JA2 gameplay, too bad there's not more of it...

... but wait, there is! Unfinished Business and another expansion I forgot the name of. Expansion or standalone or whatever.

I don't know much about them, but the general opinion I've read around the net is that they're not as awesome as JA2. Why? What do they lack? And are they worth getting anyway? If yes, any mods for them?

Or should I not bother and continue having fun with JA2?

 

There were at least two commercially released mods of JAII. One of them even by different publishers and both with shitloads of DRAMA. I believe it was called Wildfire or something. Don't know if it is any better than 1.13. Then again, I prefer the stock game to unbalanced mods filled with feature overload.

 

Ah yeah, Wildfire was the name of that second expansion/standalone/whatever which I forgot. Also I think that one was the most negatively recieved of the series.

Is it worth tracking down either Wildfire or Unfinished business, or is either/both of them crap?

 

Unfinished Business was called hard by reviewers but wasn't judged to be too bad. Never played Wildfire. The website looks shit though with loads of engrish.

http://www.zuxxez.com/en/ja2--wildfire.html

If you dig around a little you can find plenty of the drama involved with that expansion/mod. The maker also comes across as a bit of a twerp. I doubt it really is any good.

 

The main problem with unfinished business is that it's pretty railroaded, you just visit sector after sector after sector and kill all opposition. There are a few mercs to find and some quests to do, but it is limited.

In short, the combat is still good and still there, but the whole overmap and economy is gone. Hence, UB feels like JA2 chopped in half.

The second one, I reckon you're referring to Wildfire. Have to say, I didn't play it too much (didn't like it), at first glance it looks like slightly harder, updated JA2. Some changes were made to mercs, slight changes to quests, tweaks to various gun stats, and the engine was updated. It is supposedly a bit more difficult both due to slightly upped AI and due to some changes in which town happiness is handled.

If you're looking or something different, don't bother,virtually all of the engine updates in Wildfire (like higher resolution ) are already in 1.13.

So, I'd say don't bother, mosty because 1.13 is vastly superior, and you WILL miss all the added features.
BUT: UB came with a map editor, which resulted in many neat mini-mods, look them up.

And speaking of mods, there are pretty good ones out there, some are slighly inane (Deidrianna Lives, and it's still pretty good), but there are really good ones - Urban Chaos, that Vietnam mod, etc.
You'll have to look up if they were ported over to 1.13 though. I remember at least some have been.
If you want moar JA2, that's your best bet imo.

Although keep in mind, that JA2 map seems to be hardcoded, so most mods will just redo the city names and surrounding sectors. Not that it's bad, but I somehow feel cheated when looking at the same old Arulco under a different name.

 

Unfinished Business is pretty meh.

It's basically a corridor from point A to point B
The hard difficulty comes from you not being able to just go and buy stuff, you have to scavenge.

Best viewed as "I want more JA2 combat" expansion.

There is a Vietnam mod for UB though, which has a potential to be interesting - considering JA2's gameplay. But I never got around to trying it.

 

Speaking of JA2 mods. I second Urban Chaos. Played it before 1.13 rolled in. And it was pretty good. Never finished though.

You start with no equipment, cuz you arrive into civil airport. Tangos are coming at you gun blazing. So you have to rush to the baggage section to claim your stuff under fire. Or use airport security crappy pistols.

I think all pre-1.13 mods are polished now(after all this time) and/or their 1.13 ports are not half-assed. So you are good whichever you choose.

 

Absolutely no reason NOT to get and play UB. Not only is the campaign in it fun (if really short), there are several mods for it that are fun to play, most notably the excellent Vietnam SOG '69 mod that has you mowing down gooks en masse in a series of often surprisingly tough battles.

Wildfire is essentially JA2 with next to no added content but 3000x more enemies witn better guns. Seriously, you'll fight like ten guys with assault rifles on the first fucking map.

Leave this shit the FUCK alone, trying to sell this to consumers as a new product when it's just an extremely uninspired revamp made ten times more annoying and difficult.

 

UC also saw the return of some mercs from JA and DG, and they were very well done indeed. UC's grand, wish it worked for 1.13.

 

When I look at the new mercs in Wildfire I could puke.

If you are interested in a compromise, there is a mod which allows to play standard 1.13 game with the new maps from Wildfire

I posted some info how to get the Wildfire mod working and some impressions and screens, which you can find in this thread: http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic ... &start=100

My ultimate impression was mixed. The initial maps were fantastic, but from there it got downwards with more and more filler and generic buildings in the towns. Looks like the creators ran out of steam before they finished. The mod is definitely not crap though.

Now all the effort goes into making 1.13 harder and more incomprehensible. Oh if only they would direct a substantial part that effort into a really new map ..

 

http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ub ... 990&page=1

Latest 1.13 versions have the new mercs integrated into vanilla - just dump wf6.06 onto that and you'll get the maps as well. The new mercs are shit, though. The maps are worth a try

 

Is there a list of the new mercs anywhere? Do they have new (animated) portraits?

 

Unfinished Business is to JA2 what the Private Military Company DLC is to ArmA2. I.e. a linear, mission-driven, short campaign that gets annoying at times, but on a great base engine.

 

What? Wildfire Mercs will now be in every game?

Hey, I would never download something that, it would spell the end of my interest in new versions of Ja2 1.13.



This ain't JA2, this is horrible shit.

 

Urban Chaos is probably your best bet

 

Did they ever finish that mod that was going to allow you to play Urban Chaos maps in 1.13?

 

You mean UC-1.13 hybrid? If so then yes.

Last time I played it it was still bit buggy (occasional CTD when moving between sectors) but definetly playable.

 

Yep, apparently Wildfire mercs (Monk, Henning etc.) are in by default now, just installed the new 1.13 version.

Never played Wildfire, so I have to ask what specifically is wrong with them? The descriptions are very poorly done (lots of typos, bad grammar/syntax and general silliness), but the portraits and the voiceovers don't seem too horrible at first glance (given that most of them are supposed to have cheesy European accents anyway). Mind you, I haven't really played with them yet, I just checked a few out on the first map.

 

Those Wildfire mercenary portraits look somewhat weird. And Dr. Colin... sheesh, Sephiroth says hi.

 

Plus you can buy sniper rifles right off. This is the kind of crap that makes me hate modders.

As to why to hate them, I guess it is taste but they are just awful.

 

I hated that goddamn "Deidranna Lives!" mod. Absolutely unfair. Shitty design.

 

Be prepared to open a shitload of containers if you play Urban Chaos.

 

I just downloaded the latest 1.13.
At first I was rather pleasantly surprised at the number of features added (some of them pretty nice, on paper),
but then I noticed what constitutes their idea of "new and improved" chance to hit, and went all fuuuu.

Seriously though, whose brilliant idea was it to slap a -7 to hit modifier on a 7x rifle scope?

Good thing all this shit is reversible. Although I'm having doubts, does anyone actually playtest this shit?

 

You can change both the amount of guns and the quality of Bobby Ray's stock(dependent on game progress) in 1.13 from the start new game menu. It's even more configurable if you can be bothered to change cfg and ini files. You can't be lazy and use mods bro, it will always be unsatisfying.

Wildfire maps are good. There's a release on the Bear's pit that includes 1.13, wildfire maps, ham, and another mod whose name escapes me that balances the traits and makes more of them useful that offers, in my opinion, the best ja2 experience out there.

Edit: It's not a release, rather a thread that give instructions on where to download and how to put together the mods.