Jagged Alliance 3 from Haemimont Games

[Alienman]

I like scavenging, but I would prefer if it's for things that don't break reality too much. Let's go through the tiers of immersion breaking that JA3 goes through.

1. Stop complaining tier: Enemies don't drop their equipment. This is a standard videogame mechanic and should be expected. Obviously done for balance and to encourage scrounging. This is fine, it's a JA standard.

2. Okay that's pretty bad tier: Some ragtag bunch of assholes who can't even afford clothes or clean drinking water is vastly better equipped than you.

3. My immurshun is broken tier: When mercs (who canonically have done at least some jobs before) show up to the gig in a t-shirt, flip-flops, and a double-barrel shotgun. The gun nut in me is double-overed in cringe laughter. Brodudes, the Remington Model 870 has existed since 1950 and is like 500 bucks.

4. Infinite jest tier: So you capture a fourth-world village and need to arm the people against their oppressors. Okay, you throw them a few Browning Hi-powers (kek) right? Nope, they're fully armed with FAMAS and whatever the fuck bullpup that you magically pull out off your ass. I was very tempted to shoot them to see if they dropped the things.

Jagged Alliance is satire but this is too much satire.

On 2, I wouldn't say they are vastly better equipped, at least not in the beginning. Most of them have bolt action rifles and SMGs, which you get plenty of soon enough.

On 3, this is one of the aspects I like. These are just some crazy dudes and gals (merc tourists) who signed up for AIM, and if you want the real military dudes you got to pay for it. Maybe the weapon smuggling just cost too much for anything heavier. Live off the land type of deal. I remember watching a documentary about south african mercenaries somewhere in Africa, and just getting a small speed boat was a major pain in the ass. I think they had one AK which they shared within the group. Most of the time they just bluffed their way through stuff, but eventually they got government support and got more equipment.

On 4. I agree with this, but it has been like that since the first JA. Not sure how to balance it. But there is a cost for setting up militia, so I assume weapons are included, but then the fact remains why we can't order from that source. Don't know how to balance it.

 

[Alienman]

The IMP really sticks out like a sore thumb compared to all the other mercs. I actually like the tongue-in-cheek outspokenness in the dialogue and interjects of each regular merc, and having a slot occupied by someone who might as well be saying nothing for how generic they are feels off to me.

I've had Nails, Buns, and Livewire in my first squad covering the Psycho, Negotiator, and Scoundrel traits respectively, and there's been a surprising amount of instances where they speak up to your benefit.

I just view my guy as the silent strong type of leader that for the most part just keep his mouth closed, unless he is talking to important people. However, it is a shame he isn't saying much. I guess they just not wanted to project a personality on him that some might have disliked.

 

[Lemming42]

Got the dev mod that shows chance to hit. Literally improved my enjoyment of the game by like a factor of ten. All credit to the devs for providing the option, and I actually love that they've done it like this instead of as a toggle in the options menu.

Lol @ this battle that occurs after you get out of the "ghost" basement at the old mansion. Proximity C4 and grenade launcher, battle over in two turns.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Overall I'm enjoying my time with the game and as someone who listed for 20 years JA2 like one of his all-time favourites I'm more than a bit perplexed at reading some of the demented rants about "massive flaws" in this game that quite frankly applied even for the old school ones.

The three aspects that I'm finding annoying so far would be:

- The system used to initiate combat is fucking garbage and half of the time you can't even be sure of what's not working, exactly.
- these goddamn mouse pointers on interactive scenario props are finicky at best and you need the precision and cold blood of a fucking surgeon to correctly click on something at the first attempt.

- The inventory is trash, both in terms of functionality AND readability.

 

[bobocrunch]

Got the dev mod that shows chance to hit. Literally improved my enjoyment of the game by like a factor of ten. All credit to the devs for providing the option, and I actually love that they've done it like this instead of as a toggle in the options menu.

Lol @ this battle that occurs after you get out of the "ghost" basement at the old mansion. Proximity C4 and grenade launcher, battle over in two turns.

This battle is almost making me turn the difficulty down because of how fucking insane it is, I don't know if I went too early but the HP bloat is getting retarded. I even cheesed it by hopping to satcom and trying to leave (it forces you into the battle but let me deploy, so I'm trying to hold the mansion)
Hitman: 60 hp
Random Knife-Wielding African (1/10): 100 hp, takes 3 bursts to kill

 

[Lemming42]

Yeah it's a pretty brutal battle. Spamming the shit out of explosives as soon as the battle starts is critical, I doubt I'd have made it otherwise. The groups who spawn near the shed in the corner and the MG guy both walk into proximity mines, then you nade the leader and his pals twice with the nade launcher and switch to the rocket launcher to mop up the guys who are still alive after stepping on C4.

Even then I had a bit of trouble with the guys who rush in from the entrance afterwards.

I have spent pretty much all my explosives on this so if there's another battle that needs cheesing somehwere down the line then I'm fucked.

 

[bobocrunch]

Yeah it's a pretty brutal battle. Spamming the shit out of explosives as soon as the battle starts is critical, I doubt I'd have made it otherwise. The groups who spawn near the shed in the corner and the MG guy both walk into proximity mines, then you nade the leader and his pals twice with the nade launcher and switch to the rocket launcher to mop up the guys who are still alive after stepping on C4.

Even then I had a bit of trouble with the guys who rush in from the entrance afterwards.

I have spent pretty much all my explosives on this so if there's another battle that needs cheesing somehwere down the line then I'm fucked.

Are they supposed to walk into mines if you leave the basement normally? Might be why the fight was so tough for me, but I ended up abusing the AI and funneling them up a staircase after using a sniper to bait. Still lost my IMP dude but that's whatever. With 0 meds and not even AK ammo after this fight, it's looking pretty dire

 

[udm]

I'm more than a bit perplexed at reading some of the demented rants about "massive flaws" in this game that quite frankly applied even for the old school ones.

I mean, it's really just Archangel. Everyone else seems pretty rational about the issues.

 

[Reject_666_6]

 

[Tyranicon]

So I tested, and it doesn't seem like there's any way to get two squads to participate in the same combat? At least not offensively, maybe you can defend towns with two squads or more.

Goodbye overwhelming turn economy. I'll miss those rare times when I had 10 dudes gangbanging the shit out of some poor redshirt. Not like I could afford it with how stingy this game is with money anyways.

 

[Lemming42]

Just moving them into the same square seemed to work for me. I had one squad on an enemy-occupied square, had them wait a couple days while the reinforcement squad arrived, then just deployed them both together on the deployment screen.

Dunno if there's a unit limit though, my first squad was four people and my second squad was two.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Started a new game and finished the tutorial island

Overall annoyance aside I ended up enjoying the game. Having locations being actually designed set piece helps a lot with enjoyment of tactical game

 

[Beowulf]

Just moving them into the same square seemed to work for me. I had one squad on an enemy-occupied square, had them wait a couple days while the reinforcement squad arrived, then just deployed them both together on the deployment screen.

Dunno if there's a unit limit though, my first squad was four people and my second squad was two.

I had a defensive battle with 2 squads - 9 mercs combined.

 

[TheSoul]

How good is the banter from the mercs?

 

[Beowulf]

How good is the banter from the mercs?

On par with JA2 I'd say, judging from my playthrough so far. They also inject their views during conversations with NPC's.
Except for the new mercs - they're all bad to a varying degree. I actually fired the dangerhair girl as I couldn't listen to her voicelines and I prefer my JA3 experience to be pristine.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I've had Nails, Buns, and Livewire in my first squad covering the Psycho, Negotiator, and Scoundrel traits respectively, and there's been a surprising amount of instances where they speak up to your benefit.

Fox also has the Scoundrel trait, and she has good banter with Lilura Buns, although it makes the latter cost more when extending her contract.

Fox: I kinda feel sorry for those Legion boys. Some of them are really cute. Like that last guy who ran away from us. He had the body of a puma. Mrrreow.
Buns: Ugh...One would with a sense of propriety should know not to give in to such...temptations. Not that I would have expected anything different from you.
Fox: So you agree he was a...what was it...temptation? Interesting. Wasn't he a bit too young for you?
Buns: *blushing* Missing the point completely as always...And he was not that much younger than me...AND I WAS DEFINITELY NOT LOOKING!
Fox: You should loosen up.
Buns: I think having one loose woman on the squad is more than enough.

 

[raeven]

I'm having fun. Is it perfect? Far from it. The free move system is bad, but I also knew it was there before buying.
I hope it gets modded out because it removes risk and reward. If I as a player plan for a nice tactical setup, I should be rewarded. Likewise, if I as a player mess up my tactical setup, I should be punished. I'm very early in the game, but in general, I think it's a good game, but not on the level of previous numbered JAs, but we already knew chances of that happening were slim. AI could also use some improvements. Enemies have a tendency to rush a bit too much.

There are still mercs that don't like each other. One merc gets bullied by another merc, so to join, they wanted more money. I like the character creation for your merc. Moment to moment gameplay is decent. Inventory management is acceptable. I don't get the graphcis complaint. Looks good for the type of game it is, and I have no problem with designs. It's disappointing that you don't see equipped armor, but I also knew about this before buying the game. Can mods fix it? It would be nice.

In short, not in the league of JA 1/2, still a solid TBT game.

I'm having a lot of fun using overwatch to interrupt the free move turn. Moving my mercs into perfect position, then having someone silently creep up behind for a stealth kill - if they get seen, the enemies move and my trap springs, wiping them out. Pretty fun.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Found Courage the Cowardly Dog

 

[mondblut]

3. My immurshun is broken tier: When mercs (who canonically have done at least some jobs before) show up to the gig in a t-shirt, flip-flops, and a double-barrel shotgun. The gun nut in me is double-overed in cringe laughter. Brodudes, the Remington Model 870 has existed since 1950 and is like 500 bucks.

But muh character pershonality! Be happy you can still swap that shotgun out. In JA4, he will only accept double-barrel blunderbuss, double-barrel hand cannon and double-barrel shotgun-chainsaw-laser. Because muh character pershonality.

 

[Alienman]

The Legion decided the best way to attack a town with 18 soldiers was through a small blocked-off street. It didn't end well for them. Those poor fuckers all died in the same turn. I don't think I have ever killed that many in any tactical game before, in one turn that is.

Grenades, RPG rocket, and a machinegun cut them all down.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It' a minor thing, but it really annoys me that when you click on something with the entire team selected it makes the interaction randomly rather than with the mercenary who has the highest skill for the case.
I don't really think it serves the scope of "making the game feel more like a simulation and less as a puzzle", It's just a minor but constant annoyance when moving around and clicking on "interactable".

 

[Stavrophore]

The opinions of people who had bought the game and then say "i expected better, but...it's not so bad" after refund time had expired, should be approached with caution, as often they are unconsciously rationalizing their purchase despite flaws. If you like the xcom alike games then fine, but please don't expect that everyone will accept or rationalize every franchise or game becoming like that and be fine with it.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Yeah, the opinions of people who never played it and just want to bitch are so much more reliable.

 

[Stavrophore]

Yeah, the opinion of people who never played it and just want to bitch are so much more reliable.

Ive played it for few hours and uninstalled.

 

[m_s0]

How good is the banter from the mercs?

On par with JA2 I'd say, judging from my playthrough so far.

It exceeded my expectations after the trailers, but it's not on par with JA2. The edges are very clearly filed off, for starters.