Jagged Alliance Of Jagged Alliance 2 (and its various mods/expansions/sourceports)

[KafkaBot]

I played it a while ago, but want to delve into it more now. Issue is, I played the version from the second link above; is it in any way different from the "classic" version that is being offered as DLC for Wildfire? Which one is the "better" choice?

 

[Strange Fellow]

I have one question for you cultured gents: which of the two versions of Jagged Alliance 2 on GOG is the "superior" one?

The store currently has two different offerings:

https://af.gog.com/game/jagged_alliance_2_classic?as=1649904300 - which is offered as DLC for Wildfire

https://af.gog.com/en/game/jagged_alliance_2?as=1649904300 - the one I own

Some in the reviews claim the "classic" version above is the "original" one, how different is it from the "non-classic" version? Which one should I play? It IS a bit suspicious that the classic version is just DLC for Wildfire, but games aren't exactly strangers to corporate fuckery.

Corporate fuckery is indeed the culprit here. I'm fairly certain the two products are the exact same thing. I don't think anyone really knows about the legality of Wildfire's current publisher selling the original game as DLC for a standalone mod based on the original game (lol). I think the simple answer is that nobody has given enough of a shit to challenge them on it yet.

In any case, what you want to do is play Stracciatella, which is unequivocally the best way to play the original JA2. Stracciatella needs the original game files just for the assets and proof of ownership, so it won't matter at all which version you use, as long as it's recognised by the installer.

 

[KafkaBot]

I have one question for you cultured gents: which of the two versions of Jagged Alliance 2 on GOG is the "superior" one?

The store currently has two different offerings:

https://af.gog.com/game/jagged_alliance_2_classic?as=1649904300 - which is offered as DLC for Wildfire

https://af.gog.com/en/game/jagged_alliance_2?as=1649904300 - the one I own

Some in the reviews claim the "classic" version above is the "original" one, how different is it from the "non-classic" version? Which one should I play? It IS a bit suspicious that the classic version is just DLC for Wildfire, but games aren't exactly strangers to corporate fuckery.

Corporate fuckery is indeed the culprit here. I'm fairly certain the two products are the exact same thing. I don't think anyone really knows about the legality of Wildfire's current publisher selling the original game as DLC for a standalone mod based on the original game (lol). I think the simple answer is that nobody has given enough of a shit to challenge them on it yet.

In any case, what you want to do is play Stracciatella, which is unequivocally the best way to play the original JA2. Stracciatella needs the original game files just for the assets and proof of ownership, so it won't matter at all which version you use, as long as it's recognised by the installer.

Thanks! Downloading Stracciatella now.

Also, if those two versions are indeed the same, this is hilarious. Two identical versions of the same game would be bad enough; one of them being offered as DLC for a fucking mod is icing on the cake.

 

[Cologno]

Just remember to give Pablo some coffee money. Thread made me remember I had this bookmarked: https://storage.rcs-rds.ro/links/4729f8d6-f44b-42b7-aa3e-e0ddc6deead6?path=/, archive for most of the big mods. IIRC you need UB for some overhauls, like SOG Vietnam '69.

 

[Popot]

I have one question for you cultured gents: which of the two versions of Jagged Alliance 2 on GOG is the "superior" one?

The store currently has two different offerings:

https://af.gog.com/game/jagged_alliance_2_classic?as=1649904300 - which is offered as DLC for Wildfire

https://af.gog.com/en/game/jagged_alliance_2?as=1649904300 - the one I own

Some in the reviews claim the "classic" version above is the "original" one, how different is it from the "non-classic" version? Which one should I play? It IS a bit suspicious that the classic version is just DLC for Wildfire, but games aren't exactly strangers to corporate fuckery.

Corporate fuckery is indeed the culprit here. I'm fairly certain the two products are the exact same thing. I don't think anyone really knows about the legality of Wildfire's current publisher selling the original game as DLC for a standalone mod based on the original game (lol). I think the simple answer is that nobody has given enough of a shit to challenge them on it yet.

In any case, what you want to do is play Stracciatella, which is unequivocally the best way to play the original JA2. Stracciatella needs the original game files just for the assets and proof of ownership, so it won't matter at all which version you use, as long as it's recognised by the installer.

Thanks! Downloading Stracciatella now.

Also, if those two versions are indeed the same, this is hilarious. Two identical versions of the same game would be bad enough; one of them being offered as DLC for a fucking mod is icing on the cake.

Those versions are slightly different, the Topware one is a ripoff.
https://af.gog.com/forum/general/jagged_alliance_2_classic/post8?as=1649904300

The regular JA2 (sold by Strategy First) is version 1.12 (normally reserved for the Gold Pack but eh). It's standalone, and doesn't include or require any other part of the series to run.

The JA2 Classic (sold by TopWare) is only available as a DLC for Wildfire and is version 1.03 (not even 1.07, which was the last pre-Gold build). And the base price is $2 higher.

And no, the version tag for the installers is not correct either - 6.08 was a version exclusive to the Russian release; the latest English one is 6.04 and the latest German one is 6.06.
___________________

The rights to JA1, JA2 and their standalone expansions are notoriously a maze. TopWare got the rights to Wildfire in 2005 when i-Deal Games invoked breach of contract with then-rightsholder of the IP, Strategy First, and sought someone else to publish a fixed version. The catch with vanilla JA2 is that the original boxed release of Wildfire also included JA2 alongside Wildfire, and that's probably why nobody bat an eye when JA2 Classic appeared on the S-store in 2017. And the reason how they have such an ancient build is that the original TopWare (the one that was closed in 2001, of which the current TopWare is the successor of) was the original German publisher of the game, and released it 3 months before the rest of the world got the game.