Hurlshort

My money problems cleared up pretty well after I captured that 2nd mine. I was flush by the end of the game (although not as flush as Biff!) Ammo and meds became a bit more of an issue, depending on the squad. You can craft ammo on maps that have the little repair logo. 5.56 ammo is definitely one I craft regularly, as well as the right kind of 7.62 ammo for machine guns. I wouldn't say the game is hard. There are certain objectives that are very difficult to pull off. There is a lot of room for experimentation, and so if one strategy didn't work, it was easy to find another. There were also some bugs, but that isn't a surprise for a game like this. I'm also curious how quickly the modding community changes stuff up. JA3 1.13 seems like a given at some point.

I think I need to expand on my final review of the game with some backstory. I bought Jagged Alliance when I was in high school somewhat randomly. My mom had dragged me to the Great Mall for something, which was a bit of a drive. I convinced her that my patience for shopping deserved something, so we went into a Walden Bookstore. This was back when bookstores sold video games, and I came across this title from Sir-Tech that looked interesting. I bugged my mom to let me get the game instead of a book and she relented. It was a diamond in the rough, for sure. A couple years go by and I'm almost out of High School, and I find Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games at Fry's Electronics. I buy it. It isn't a traditional campaign like the other one, and it is supposed to let you play against other people online. Unfortunately I had limited internet and never got to play against others, but I was able to download maps. There was some really good ones. I played the Alamo dozens of times. Next we find me in college, working a boring office job making copies and moving furniture. A demo comes across the somewhat new internet for JA2. I download it and take it home, since I had no internet in my college frat house. I played the heck out of it, but the game itself was delayed...and delayed...and delayed some more. Finally it released, and it almost seemed like Sir-Tech closed their doors the next day. But the game, despite a ton of bugs, was perfect. It was strategic and humorous and unlike anything else. It had some of the magic of Xcom, but it was also its own thing entirely. I played it for years, and then fans overhauled it, and I played 1.13 for more years. I also played Wildfire, which was not so charming but at least had some of the strategy to it. I avoided most of the bad attempts at rebooting it. I kickstarted one that turned out pretty bad. Then I heard JA3 was being worked on, but they had the original developer, Ian Currie. That sparked my interest. Unsurprisingly, Ian Currie found a new home quickly after Sir-Tech went under. He joined an MMO company called Turbine and ended up being a lead on my other favorite game ever, Lord of the Rings Online. There is definitely some magic in his work. He was at Turbine for close to 2 decades, but had retired. So I was excited he had a hand in it, but worried that he was just a retired advisor with a limited role. My worries were unfounded. Jagged Alliance 3 is definitely the sequel I was waiting for for 23 years. I'd go so far as to say it was worth the wait. I'm very content with the idea I got to return to the world of AIM, and I believe this iteration will tide me over for a good while.

I finished the game. I'm already pretty excited about another playthrough, but I'll wait a bit. Game was very much worth it.

I kickstarted it and I've already played it a bit, but I'm still waiting for the full release to start a serious campaign. They expect to be done with it within the year (a year from now, so 2024), so it's not too far off. I like to support the smaller developers this way, as I know that $30 or whatever goes a long way for them. Big AAA releases can sit and spin. I'll buy them when they've worked out all the bugs.

It looks like the free mercs don't count towards the cap. I only have 2 (plus my AIM guy.)

Agh, I meant to quote this post amd ended up reporting it. Sorry, my fingers are stupid when using my phone. Anyways, the story sounds like some sort of dystopian fiction that is banned in libraries that used to exist.

I don't want to spoil anything, but play nice with Che for now. It is worth it. I'm 50 hours in. I have real world stuff going on, so that's pretty amazing. It's simply the perfect sequel to JA2 and JA2 1.13. I'm super happy. I go to sleep thinking about missions and wake up ready to implement strategies. I'm close to the end now. Technically I really only have 2 areas I need to take to win the game, but I'm procrastinating so I can just explore the areas. I have 3 good squads rolling and they are all pretty unique.

Quests are a bit buggy. I'm not too surprised, since some are super complex, but I've had a couple issues with completing stuff.

I noticed some reviews were complaining about the humor, but I'm getting a kick out of. The Beast is my favorite character so far.

Oh man, things went sideways fast for me. I think I'm going to survive, but don't get too comfortable, folks. Also, I'm a bit bummed you can only recruit 16 mercs. I thought the cap would be 3 squads, but it's a bit short of that. Might be time to cut some contracts short (Omryn is already gone) and pick up some of the gold mercs.

The most difficult part of the game, at least once you get some money squirreled away and a decent squad of mercs, is managing ammo, weapon condition and health supplies. That seems fairly realistic. This map is huge though, with a lot of content. It is going to be immensely replayable.

My daughter made pozole for my family, who were visiting from Georgia. She made it super hot, so we all sat around fanning ourselves. They all finished it though, so it was definitely a good burn. It was a green pozole with chicken.

I was vocally negative about it from episode 1. I actually got the whole family to watch it and was excited, as the books were a big part of my teenage years. They were all smart and wandered off after the first episode. I kept watching, mostly because I was re-reading the books and it was somewhat interesting to compare them. They basically gave it the CW treatment. But yeah, I'm usually not vocally negative about stuff because I rarely watch stuff I don't like long enough to bother speaking on it.

Reading Bob Odenkirk's book on making that movie was pretty hilarious. He's had a bizarre career.

Man, Dr. Q is a stud. He can knock people unconscious, pummel them to death, and then still run away with free moves. Plus he's a doctor.

I did the same thing. That northern mine looks isolated and tempting, but that is a deadly crew guarding it. I might try it now that I have better gear and some levels under my belt. Explosives experts are pretty dang important. There is a lot of stuff rigged to blow up on the maps, plus a few minefields. Red is solid for the price. I'm trying to be nice to a bunch of communists in the northern part of the map, since they are helping me fight the Legion, but they are a bit annoying. Kind of like our forum commies.

Bleh. Maybe I'll watch it. I finished the first season. I'm still pretty low on it though.

Boo. I just started my second squad and have them working in the south, while my main squad heads north. Quests are very well done so far and I'm enjoying a fair amount of the characters I meet. I had a brother ask me to save his sister, and when I found her, she had already stabbed one of her captors and was fighting back. I helped her finish them off. When I returned her to her brother, Nails commented that the sister has much bigger balls than him. As I said, the map is much more dynamic than JA2, so that's a pleasant surprise. My second squad is Omryn (don't recruit him!), a Ukrainian mechanic I can't remember, Dr. Q, and I sent Hitman with them to keep them somewhat safe. My main squad is pretty effective now. My custom Merc is the sniper, Red is on the machine gun, Thor is my medic and sneaky guy, Nails and Livewire round it our with decent rifles.

JA3 - Machine guns are crazy in this game. I mean, it has some limitations, but a properly placed MG is an absolute terror on the battlefield.

Yep. It's fantastic.

One thing JA3 does better than JA2 - The map is huge and complicated and feels like a real place. In both JA1 and JA2, you just kind of worked your way across the square map until you had it conquered. This map is a lot more dynamic. I just took over my 2nd mine and now I'm thinking about fielding a 2nd squad. Still broke though. Also Omryn is terrible and I think I'm letting him go at the end of his contract. I hired Nails because I needed a psycho for a quest, and he is a good back up bomb guy for Red.

I fought once without the machine gun and once without it. What a difference! I'm now trying to take over Fleatown. I'm also still always broke, Mercenary life is pricey!

Congrats. I assume you wrestle a crocodile at the ceremony.

Knock on wood, but this game has been surprisingly stable and bug-free so far. Quite a feat, given how buggy JA2 was.

New Xcom is definitely an entirely different type of game from old Xcom, so I get your worries, but JA3 is very close to the template that JA2 created. Get it. It's good.