Interview JA3D posers and pontifications at Strategy Core

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Jagged Alliance 3D

<a href="http://www.strategycore.co.uk/pg/e32006ja3d">Strategy Core</a> has a <a href="http://www.strategycore.co.uk/pg/e32006ja3d">fairly long interview</a> with <b>Elena Melnikova</b> of <a href="http://www.mistgames.ru/">MISTLand</a> about <a href="http://www.mistgames.ru/eng/projects.php?project_id=2">Jagged Alliance 3D</a>. After the whole real time vs. turn based debockle many moon ago, I'm a little leery of this project. Anyway, here's a bit on the mission stuff:
<br>
<blockquote><b>How non-linear is the game? Are there some missions that have to be completed?</b>
<br>
Yes, there are main missions that must be completed before you continue the game. The player can choose whether or not to do the side missions. But again, the idea is to stay within the Jagged Alliance universe, not to create a game far outside what fans have loved in the past.</blockquote>
<br>
Funny, I don't remember linear missions in <a href="http://www.jaggedalliance2.com/">Jagged Alliance 2</a>.
<br>
<br>
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[Zomg]

Debacle.

Anyway, yeah, these guys are useless.

 

[Drakron]

Strategy First signed a deal so their games are now STEAM delivered.

It does not matter to me how JA3D ends up since it always require STEAM activation and my system will remain STEAM clean.

 

[Jason]

Strategy First games do not require Steam. SE4 and Dangerous Waters are the only games Strategy First is selling through Steam so far and you can buy them non-Steam as well.

And Saint, stay the hell off of our turf, mofo.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

And Saint, stay the hell off of our turf, mofo.

STFU, bitches! Jagged Alliance has always been a dungeon crawler!

 

[LCJr.]

I think this baby is going to go down like the Hindenburg.

 

[Dhruin]

MiSTland South. 'Nuff said. The only entertainment this game will offer is the "can they stuff it up more than their previous titles?" speculation.

 

[SanguinePenguin]

I actually just got Jagged Alliance 2 Gold a couple days ago. Tried the demo first anyway and the combat seemed pretty neat, but in the full game there's a greater sense of not knowing exactly what you're doing both in the tactical sense and combat mechanics in general mostly because you don't get any percentages of any sort except for item durability.

 

[Abernathy]

MiSTland South. 'Nuff said. The only entertainment this game will offer is the "can they stuff it up more than their previous titles?" speculation.

I'm inclined to agree, unfortuately. Although Richard Therrien seems to be keeping his personal finger on the pulse, and he's always come across like he does genuinely care about the series and the fans.

I am waiting to be satisfied that I have something I can label Alpha before moving and have the company spend marketing cash.

Once I have a more or less solid projected released date (something that IMO can potentially be reached with acceptable results) we will start getting that part of the show rolling.

http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000359

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The graphics look pretty bloody rough, but hopefully the gameplay and characterisations will more than make up for it.

 

[Rhombus]

The game's gonna sell great.. I mean just look at their posters

http://img147.imagevenue.com/img.php?lo ... flier1.jpg

b00bs!

 

[Balor]

Yuck!
Fallot: Brotherhood of Steel anyone?

 

[Azael]

Ivan was in one of the screenshots, not that it was a big surprise that he'd be back. Then again, who gives a shit, it's likely that this game will suck more than a German hooker during the World Cup.

 

[Abernathy]

The game's gonna sell great.. I mean just look at their posters

http://img147.imagevenue.com/img.php?lo ... flier1.jpg

b00bs!

Yeah, agreed. Although the JA2 box does feature what looks like a female body-builder type, the new one's way over the top and totally unnecessary. Let's just hope it's just a concept so far.

I had a cleanout of old games a while back and somehow managed to get rid of BOTH Baldur's Gates, BOTH Fallouts, AND JA1! I must have been insane!

Anyway, if my memory serves me, I seem to recall even the original JA has a sexy female on the cover, so it's forgivable, in a way. But there again I'm a hopeful fanboi. I do hope they change it though, it's pretty crass.

 

[headache]

I actually just got Jagged Alliance 2 Gold a couple days ago . . . you don't get any percentages of any sort except for item durability.

Hit the "F" key with your cursor over your target. (Read the manual, there is a learning curve... also that's in in-game help.)

Or go here: http://v113.ja2mods.de. To-hit bars are visible over targets with this mod.

 

[SanguinePenguin]

I heard 1.13 sends some things out of whack once the AI gets the Barret rifles, plus I want to finish vanilla 1.12 first.

The formula for a standard to hit calculation is available on the website so the F key helps there a bit, but when you start to involve things like cover and running it's hard to tell how much if at all that effects the equation.

I've perused some of the tips/tactics out there, but a lot them assume you're well armed in every city except Drassen and others have a bunch of spoilers so I want to restrain myself on those. The other ones involve baiting the AI into ambushes and it's hard to tell if that's really a "nice" strategy and not abuse. Playing on novice at the moment, although I've read that novice can set your game off because you'll find less guns and ammunition.

Silent Storm Gold finally arrived in the mail too. Seems pretty good as well, and offers more tactical options with seemingly more realistic behaving AI which strangely enough makes it easier.

 

[LlamaGod]

I enjoyed Silent Storm alot, but then again I played through solo as a sniper and mostly did random battles.

So all I did was fight and raise my dudes stats. I dunno, I had fun atleast.

I was level 10 before I even started the storyline.

 

[headache]

@Penguin:

Perhaps you should try Silent Storm first. I played Silent Storm before JA2, then looking for more such enjoyment, realized (gleaned from the wisdom of the Codex mainly) that JA2 was the classic inspiration.

But talk about out-of-whack! Even more than the infamous Panzerkleins, the energy weapons in the late game with which you can just about insta-kill anything from anywhere, through solid walls, hurl the game light-years away from the whack (so to speak). Due to these issues, I never finished it. Does the Gold version change any of this?

If not, don't take it too seriously. Playing crazy like LlamaGod sounds like an approach with the right spirit (if a bit extreme for me).

JA2 is a holisitic, balanced experience-- managing your money, your equipment, splitting squads, deciding how to advance over every sector. I've spent years with it now and love it-- maybe it's not perfect if you wish to play in such an analytical, number-crunching fashion (which I don't begrudge) but it is damn close.

 

[LlamaGod]

It was kinda fun playing as a solo Sniper, focusing on your main skills but still raising skills outside your class because you need them, like medic and grenades.

Fun moments would just crop up, where i'm near dead and retreat into the second floor of a building, bandaging myself up and as 2 British soldiers run up the stairs. I throw a grenade down the stairs and hide in the bathroom. One managed to survive and makes it to the door, so I switch to my side arm machine gun and fire straight through the door on full auto.

Then I sneak up into the attic and use the window there as a sniper roost.

Alot of cool situations come up playing solo, it's just neat.

I remember getting cornered into a room by a bunch of dudes, so I threw a grenade on the other side of the room and blew a hole in the floor and then used that to make my escape into the basement. I shot at the oven down there and blew off half the house.

 

[headache]

Yes, SS may well be more fun tactically (though I don't know if it's any easier to figure out all the percentages-- oh, it's coming back to me that the console you can bring up gives you lots of numbers if you want to run checks all the time).

The rag-doll physics in SS are often extremely amusing too. It's been lamented before, but oh what it could have been. Imagining full JA strategy plus SS graphics and tactics... I'm sighing out loud here. Now I'm depressed and I'll probably have to play JA2 some more to get over it.

 

[LlamaGod]

yeah, I never really got into the bad of it all. I just played it like some sort of turn-based action RPG.

The combat was fun, so hey.

 

[SanguinePenguin]

Well in JA2 I took Drassen, and found by accident a SAM site and later Skyrider. I took the shooting range and realized I probably should have broken down and bought the wire clippers a long time ago. I feel like this game is one of those not meant to be beaten the first time around, which is not a bad thing but I can be pretty uptight in these type of things sometimes. It sure is addictive though. I started at 10 p.m. and meant to play for one game day and after what felt like 15 mins turned out to be 4 hours.

I haven't gotten to the robots yet in SS but so far it's pretty awesome. As far as I know Gold just includes the lastest versions of Silent Storm and Silent Storm Sentinels starforce free. There's a "No Panzerklein" mod for one or both of them but I always want to play a game in its original form first. The accents are hilarious and it has some interesting... stereotypes going on there. If tactical turn based games weren't so woefully ignored, someone might have noticed and complained. The only thing wrong with the game is that interesting plot developments are squandered, and in certain cases, coupled with the game's silliness can be a little disturbing. For instance, in the Allied campaign a search for a British Major, who's supplying the Germans with info, creates a misunderstanding which leads to the slaughter of a whole mess of Allied troops by the player's team. I guess I may be taking things too seriously but I admit I was a little unnerved.

The plan was that JA2 and SS Gold was to lead into Hammer and Sickle and then Brigade E5 (which is out when?). But maybe I should save JA2 for last. I don't know.

 

[Kizmiaz]

T... Brigade E5 (which is out when?)

I saw July mentioned somewhere.