Jagged Alliance 3 from Haemimont Games

[Strange Fellow]

Although Blood has a ridiculously OP unique active skill which helps. Not sure if anyone else has anything as ridiculously good.

I don't think anyone beats Blood for individual machete-rape performance, but the likes of Dr. Q and Igor are also very strong in different ways. The truth is that any merc with exceptional physical stats can be built to be a ridiculous killing machine with all the AP-, MP- and Grit-recuperating abilities you can pick up. I'm sure an IMP could do the job, although a solo playthrough will require a bunch of reloading and metagaming no matter what.

 

[Yosharian]

After using Blood a lot the I am really considering going with one-man stealth machete rape gang for my second playthrough of this on my IMP merc.

Although Blood has a ridiculously OP unique active skill which helps. Not sure if anyone else has anything as ridiculously good.

Yeah Blood is super underrated

 

[Yosharian]

Sniper rifle with a silencer - the game is ruined. I see no reason to use anything else, i see no reason to make a melee char

Uhuh, how about we compare and contrast my melee IMP with my dedicated stealth sniper from my last playthrough, can you guess which one was an overpowered one man army?

Spoiler

Once you get autocrit on melee, the game is pretty much over

Shit's insane

 

[Mortmal]

As for the woke part, I'll explain again. Wokeness often involves glorifying minorities, and by minorities, it's always black, not Navajo of course, nice, cultured people , quality people. In this case, the good guys, the president and her daughter, are portrayed as black. As you mentioned, it's a fictive African country. Then, explain to me why the evil character, the colonel who is grandchien military, who leads the Grand Chien army, commits war crimes, and is portrayed as white. Why isn't he black like ALL the others? At least the major, who is the lesser evil and also white, is a foreign mercenary, which makes a little sense. When other developers do the same things, when wotc do exactly the same thing people scream woke. Why should this one get a free pass?

Because we can find directly from history exactly the same scenarios. Rhodesia, Sierra Leone and countless other African countries could be given as examples. It's mainstream interpretation of history that has the tone of "the whites were in the wrong", this is not some new trait that only the Woke have. Even if we accept Haemimont wanted to push some woke anti-white message, I would say this is the way to do it. Hide the message behind something that is plausible- White war criminal leading an military group in Africa? Plausible even if cliche and on the nose. Black, Asian, gay, trans tolkienesque dwarfs living together with Black, Asian,gay, trans elfs, humans and daemons ? Impossible even if it's fantasy world.

The repentance and blaming whites for all evils is still something recent, directly imported from the United States, and yes, woke. We'll see in their next game, but I'm sure to be right just with their kowtow at the beginning of the game.

 

[BlackAdderBG]

blaming whites for all evils is still something recent, directly imported from the United States, and yes, woke.

Oh sweet summer child, open any soviet history book written during the cold war and weep.

their kowtow at the beginning of the game

Again can you show about what you are talking here?

 

[destinae vomitus]

The truth is that any merc with exceptional physical stats can be built to be a ridiculous killing machine with all the AP-, MP- and Grit-recuperating abilities you can pick up. I'm sure an IMP could do the job

Hand-to-Hand is what truly makes melee OP, and an IMP is the only one that can have it alongside the Martial Artist trait to guarantee that those attacks of opportunity will land and hurt even more. Once you're leveled up and have a machete you can just plant yourself into the middle of a bunch of enemies while initiating combat and get free kills as they try to shoot or scramble away, it's retarded and completely broken.

 

[gurugeorge]

Caught up with this finally. It's not really my favourite type of scenario (I prefer s-f and fantasy to cod rl), but I have to say it's enjoyable to play. I think it's one of those games where the developers prioritized getting the combat gameplay sitting right over the niceties - although they didn't do too badly with the niceties either, but there are still some too-basic elements and rough edges and I expect they'll be adjusting QOL things for a while yet (though they could conceivably just leave that up to modders, as the game seems to have a fairly healthy modding scene). It's still a teensy bit clunkier in the UI than one would wish for, but not too annoying.

At any rate, the combat gameplay has a great, moreish flow to it (max diff ofc, you need to be in a bit of danger of having great chunks blown out of you, and having to avoid that annoying injury downtime, in order to force you to do the kinds of more cautious gameplay things that make the game more interesting to play) and the drops and enemy groups are well paced enough to keep up a good feeling of getting more goodies and progression as the game goes on. The RPG side of it is surprisingly good too (e.g. there have been a few ponderable choices to make so far).

It's true that some things feel a bit OP in and of themselves (e.g. stealth sniping, melee), but the seeming OP-ness doesn't amount to imbalance (at least so far) because the enemies have decent AI and are no pushover, so the seeming OP-ness feels kind of right and satisfying in context. But that may change (I've just explored some of the coastal region and a bit inland, and gotten the North mine).

I rather like the militia mechanic (i.e. the counterattacks from the enemy) and in fact all the Operations are well balanced as immersive time sinks (e.g. the injury downtime being annoying enough to make you want to avoid it, but not so annoying as to be dispiriting). Again, there's a good flow to it all.

The music is interesting because while I don't think any of the orchestral stuff is very catchy tune-wise, it rattles along ok in the background, and the real orchestra sound gives it a quality feel, while the "native" music bits are surprisingly good and atmospheric.

Also, while I'm not that fond of comic banter in games, there are some great lines here and there, well delivered by the actors (e.g. Fox, "This is too hard for me - and that's not something I say very often" )

 

[NotSweeper]

while the "native" music bits are surprisingly good and atmospheric.

Spoiler

 

[razvedchiki]

any mods for harder gameplay?

 

[geno]

any mods for harder gameplay?

You mean besides the extra campaign settings in the last patch? I'm not familiar with the mod scene.

 

[Alienman]

any mods for harder gameplay?

Probably the one that buff damage to all weapons, but it works both ways.

 

[gurugeorge]

Modding is funny with this, from looking at now, it seems the game had a healthy modding community for a while and then some updates broke the game and some of the modders gave up or left. But there are still modders making things, and some have taken up the task of revitalizing the mods that were doing well before. But it doesn't seem like a modding meta has set in yet for what's the best general upgrade to the gameplay itself. There are tons of merc mods of variable quality, and a few QOL things here and there, though again not so much since the last update (which ironically was supposed to be mod friendly ).

 

[Serus]

blaming whites for all evils is still something recent, directly imported from the United States, and yes, woke.

Oh sweet summer child, open any soviet history book written during the cold war and weep.

their kowtow at the beginning of the game

Again can you show about what you are talking here?

No one reads soviet history books from cold war era nowadays. Whatever you two are talking about has nothing to do with those.

 

[Old One]

There are tons of merc mods of variable quality

Have you tried any you though were very good?

 

[gurugeorge]

There are tons of merc mods of variable quality

Have you tried any you though were very good?

I've tried keys' ones and a few others. I wouldn't say any of them are "very" good - they all have little flaws, like e.g. one has a good voice and 3-d model, but a crappy full portrait, etc. - but keys,' otherguys' and MattP's ones are quite decent. Some lean into a more "realistic" military mode, others more into the "80s movie exaggerated characters idea," but sometimes too far in either direction.

 

[Papill0n]

Modding is funny with this, from looking at now, it seems the game had a healthy modding community for a while and then some updates broke the game and some of the modders gave up or left. But there are still modders making things, and some have taken up the task of revitalizing the mods that were doing well before. But it doesn't seem like a modding meta has set in yet for what's the best general upgrade to the gameplay itself. There are tons of merc mods of variable quality, and a few QOL things here and there, though again not so much since the last update (which ironically was supposed to be mod friendly ).

That's the usual dilemma between mods and updates/patches. I had to end/abandon a few projects because of this mechanism.

I was late to the party with Ja3 and have no Idea which mods still work with the latest version and if they are any good. I guess I'll just have to try some merc mods because the default mercs I have used all of them quite extensively by now except for shadow, the pesky bugger didn't want to join :/

 

[RunningWolf]

Im 30 hours into the game and biggest problems for me are:
1) There's basically no reason to use automatic weapons, except MGs.
2) Stealth is overpowered and enemies are blind. Im thinking about never using it.
3) Too few enemies even on hardest difficulty with "more enemies" option, at least in the first half of the game where i am. Im swimming in explosives because i don't use it on less than 3 enemies, so barely ever.
4) AI is retarded. For all the AI hype we still cant program enemies that can do basic tactics. At this point i don't even bother spreading my team around.
5) Night vision goggles should be a helmet mod, not its replacement, its annoying to swap depending on time of day and takes up valuable inventory space.
6) Need for 3 personality traits limits your team selection. I think the next run i will cheat myself all 3 dialogue traits so i dont need to worry about them.
7) Ugly women yet attractive men. It says that its parodies old action movies but i cant remember a single one with an ugly action chick.

With all that said, we cant play old games forever and the game does some things right. Id rate it slightly above Silent Storm.

 

[Strange Fellow]

3) Too few enemies even on hardest difficulty with "more enemies" option, at least in the first half of the game where i am. Im swimming in explosives because i don't use it on less than 3 enemies, so barely ever.

If the game is too easy, push further inland and try to complete the main objective.

6) Need for 3 personality traits limits your team selection. I think the next run i will cheat myself all 3 dialogue traits so i dont need to worry about them.

You don't need this, and thinking you do is a symptom of completionism brain. If you or a loved one is suffering from completionism brain, please seek help immediately.

 

[Papill0n]

Im 30 hours into the game and biggest problems for me are:
1) There's basically no reason to use automatic weapons, except MGs.
2) Stealth is overpowered and enemies are blind. Im thinking about never using it.
3) Too few enemies even on hardest difficulty with "more enemies" option, at least in the first half of the game where i am. Im swimming in explosives because i don't use it on less than 3 enemies, so barely ever.
4) AI is retarded. For all the AI hype we still cant program enemies that can do basic tactics. At this point i don't even bother spreading my team around.
5) Night vision goggles should be a helmet mod, not its replacement, its annoying to swap depending on time of day and takes up valuable inventory space.
6) Need for 3 personality traits limits your team selection. I think the next run i will cheat myself all 3 dialogue traits so i dont need to worry about them.
7) Ugly women yet attractive men. It says that its parodies old action movies but i cant remember a single one with an ugly action chick.

With all that said, we cant play old games forever and the game does some things right. Id rate it slightly above Silent Storm.

1) I am fond of using assault rifles with mercs that have autofire skill (Pierre with a nicely modded AUG is starting to hit a lot) and even SMGs with Smiley, Len or others. Len has wasted countless enemies with a modified MP5k from the flea market. MG's are ammo sinks in comparison, and it takes a while into the game for mercs to have good perks to go along with regular MG usage.
2) True. OTOH, running face first with a bunch of shotgun tanks into a horde of enemies until they notice and you start right in their face is a valid option in this game as well. Smart pause allows to meanwhile set up machine gun cones or sniper ambushes. Battle initiation is complete bonkers, it's like a different game until the first true turn starts.
3) Using explosives because you need to?? Using explosives because it is fun! Larry, Fidel, Barry, you can do fun things with explosives. Same is true for RPG-7 once you find them. Mortars are meh, but grenade launcher are also fun (but they are noob tubes, use RPGs for coolness instead).
4) AI is quite the disaster, especially for how immersion-breaking game-ish their behaviour is at times. There's 6 mercs armed to the teeth pointing their machine guns at me. Hmmm, how about I run through their entire group, take cover behind a small stone on the other side of their position and fire a single pistol shot from there. What could possibly go wrong?
5) Is retarded. Probably a balancing thing but still retarded and annoying. Does the AI actually ever aim at our heads? At least you can still switch the goggles for free when placing mercs in battle, but it wastes your time and inventory slots. Just one more inventory slot couldn't be too hard, could it?
6) I hate that one too. Very much limits early game squad composition (the early game seems to be heaviest with skill-check and personality-check nonsense quest options). Along with a few other weird choices they made, like leadership speeding up team travel so much but we only have 1-2 high leadership characters in the entire game... We sorely miss Stephen Rothman as an alternative to Raider...
7) Lol @ attractive men? :D Generally I think there are not enough good NPCs (female or male) and some are just like copies of each other. How many badass grannies does it take to take out a WW2-era mad scientist/arrogant doctor?

Be sure to play it for a bit longer. For me one thing that works well to motivate me way into late game is the perk selection on level up together with chosing and modifying the matching equipment to the perk. Anyone who has ever placed Spike behind a .50 cal machine gun has probably had the same laughter of disbelief that I had. Seriously put him behind a .50 cal at some point :D

Strategically, the game becomes kind of dull because any remarkable attack (except some beyond-the-rule-big-event) will go through the same sectors pretty much all the time and it's almost always the same sectors that have enemies. I think the game could be improved quite a bit on the strategic level with more Ja2 style roaming patrols or the like. So you can fight them in different sectors. Not always the same spots.

 

[Modron]

You guys didn't solo the game?

 

[razvedchiki]

them snipers are overpowered firing from stealth, the kar98k you find in the second map (what happended to the moisin's hm?) can one shoot anyone.
the only limiting factor is their ammo. also jebus christ the half turn the enemies get to reposition!

 

[Beowulf]

what happended to the moisin's hm?

Perhaps the devs need to learn more about the famous russian African campaigns in WW2.

 

[deuxhero]

I can understand why they used Kar98k and MG42 for the setting, but I think that since they went that route they should have also included the Zastava M76 so 8mm Mauser had a bit more legs and wasn't just restricted to those two early game weapons.

 

[spectre]

I can understand why they used Kar98k and MG42 for the setting, but I think that since they went that route they should have also included the Zastava M76 so 8mm Mauser had a bit more legs and wasn't just restricted to those two early game weapons.

One could argue that the Zastava is basically a slightly different breed SVD, though having it chambered in a different caliber would be nice, similar to to Flay's winchester putting .45 to work.
Plenty of legit cold shoot the 7,92x57, personally, I'd love a FG42 as a unique weapon for the later game.

Any brave soul out there did a deep dive into the mods? I've only done quick sweep of the nexus, most of the stuff are AI-upscaled mercs from JA2 (a few look decent, but some are just... fucking bad).
There's something called 3.13, but it looks like it just fucks over the game balance by throwing elite diamond shipment squads at you. So far nothing really groundbreaking.
Although I like the looks of the Bleeding Mod, and there are some gun rebalance choices which would need a more careful look. Rato's Rebalance looks like an interesting take,
as there seems to be an actual objective to have firefights end with bleeding and incapacitation.

 

[3 others]

Rato's Rebalance is a good mod. It adds a directional stance to weapons where firing at the same/close by targets requires less action points than shooting at targets outside the merc's view, a recoil system where strong characters have an easier time keeping their aim on target, full damage to autofire but increased critical hit chance for single shots, a short-range malus to scoped-up long distance rifles, bigger awareness cones around enemies to discourage overpowered melee kills, and plenty of other stuff. I would only recommend it after reaching the halfway point of normal JA3 first.

Smart Overwatch is useful. It stops your soldiers wasting their overwatch shots on impossible attempts at the target's torso and instead aiming for visible body parts. You can also manually set shot types and targets for overwatch.

I think the... uhh... Exit Wounds(?) option when starting a new game incorporates similar bleeding penalties as the defunct Bleeding Mod. It was introduced in 1.4 or 1.5.

Pinned Down is a good addition too. It causes your mercs and enemies both start losing action points from just getting shot at. Not sure if the Nexusmods version is still compatible, the one in Steam Workshop is more recent.

As for just QoL stuff, I like Interface Tweaks that adds all sorts of sensible ideas to the UI, mainly in the inventory. There were also SAY THE LINES -mods which cause all applicable merc banters to fire when there's a trigger for it in the conversation so you'll have multiple dudes interjecting when they have something to say. That one probably doesn't work in the current game, unfortunately.