Jagged Alliance 3 News

[baby arm]

And I'm willing to bet they'll use Starforce on it.

I doubt it. Peter Games (tee hee) released Brigade E5 in Germany with Starforce, but Strategy First released BE5 in North America without any evil copy protection.

[alanschu]

I only got as far as the line that mentioned Silent Storm and knew it was doomed.

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Not a fan of Silent Storm?

 

 

I thought it had a phenomenal squad based combat engine personally.

[Darque]

Haven't played it, I heard it too had Starforce.

[Deraldin]

Haven't played it, I heard it too had Starforce. 

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I'd heard that too, however I can't seem to find any trance of it on my system after installing S^2.

[Sand]

I don't think the American version has it. Silent Storm is a very interesting game.

[Slowtrain]

* There will be no more militia training and sector defense, because players supposedly don't like micro-management. The focus will be shifted towards combat and away from economics. As for strategy, the focus will be on missions, rather than on conquering territory.

Translation: We can't be bothered to do a JA3, because, frankly, we don't know how to get the mix right that creates a total greater than the sum of it's parts.

 

Yet another mediocre squad combat game in the horizon. I'm surprised that they didn't throw in real-time action too, just to rub some salt in the wound.

 

 

Jagged Alliance franchise...

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Amen!

 

The chances of this being good are um low. Even if one just takes it as a squad-based tactical cimbat game unrelated to JA2.

 

JA2 was one of those rare games in which everything just clicked, probably more luck than anything else. JA was nothing special and JA3 wil most likely be also nothing special.

 

Removing some of the best parts of JA2 is hardly a formula for making a JA3.

 

As Gorth says, another mediocre squad-based combat game. At best maybe it achieves the level of a Fallout:Tactics.

[The.Donut]

*dies a little inside*

[Hurlshort]

Wow, surprised at all the doomsayers here. This is phenomenal news compared to what was going to happen to the JA series. First off, Nival is one of the only decent Russian publishers that has released playable games in the US (Akella is the only other off the top of my head.) They developed an engine capable of handling turn based combat in a 3D world, and they've used it very succesfully in games like Silent Storm, Heroes of Might and Magic, Hammer and Sickle, and Night Watch. I've played every one of these games, and while they aren't perfect, they are all very playable and feature excellent turn based battles.

 

People seem upset about the lack of militia training and economics. I can see that, but they also stated that all the RPG and combat aspects will be the same, and those are the core of JA. Nival will also be working closely with Strategy First. A few months ago that would have meant nothing, but after SF pulled the plug on MistLand, my opinion of them skyrocketed. They showed a ballsiness I though was long dead and made a decision to save the JA license from butchers.

 

Oh yeah, Silent Storm never had Starforce, although Hammer and Sickle did. But that's old news, as Starforce has been thoroughly abandonded by the industry.

 

My inner fanboy is extremely excited about this announcement. JA3 doesn't need to be as good as JA2, that's unrealistic, but if it's as good as Silent Storm, I'll be satisfied.

[Darque]

Oh yeah, Silent Storm never had Starforce, although Hammer and Sickle did.  But that's old news, as Starforce has been thoroughly abandonded by the industry.

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That's good to know. I reaaaaaaaaaaally wanted Silent Storm, almost bought it but didn't when I heard the possibility of Starforce on it.

 

I'll have to get a copy now.

 

Shame Nightwatch had it though.

[Gorth]

They developed an engine capable of handling turn based combat in a 3D world, and they've used it very succesfully in games like Silent Storm, Heroes of Might and Magic, Hammer and Sickle, and Night Watch.  I've played every one of these games, and while they aren't perfect, they are all very playable and feature excellent turn based battles. 

I've only tried Heroes of Might and Magic (V I presume?) of those on the list, and frankly, I'm not sure that is a recommendation. While technically, it might be very good, I found it completely lacking in the "Soul and Atmosphere" department.

 

Jagged Alliance is more than just turn based combat to me.

[Darque]

Jagged Alliance is more than just turn based combat to me.

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You got that right.

[alanschu]

Like all games I'll wait and see, but naturally I'll hope it is good.

 

I'd rather a small chance of having a good Jagged Alliance sequel, then no chance.

[Hell Kitty]

I just want a modern era game in the Silent Storm engine.

[Dhruin]

*Stuff about Nival*

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Where did get the info that Nival would be working closely on the game? I assume F3 and Akella licensed the Silent Storm engine but that doesn't mean Nival will have any input on the game.

 

----

 

On JA3 in general...good luck with the optimism. Richard Therrien is incompetent (see hiring Mistland South in the first place and then arguing publically with them over whether JA3D was realtime or turnbased, plus Strategy First's recent history in general), Akella hasn't done anything useful for a while (see Metalheart: Replicants Rampage and otherwise, they've remade Sea Dogs twice but not actually improved it), F3 is new, and (assuming Nival is involved), each of their subsequent SS games have been getting worse.

[Slowtrain]

Removing the entire sector-based aspect of Jag 2 is like Bethesda announcing that Fallout 3 is going to be released with no dialogue of any sort. Such a fundamental aspect of the game is being removed that it begs the question, why bother?

 

The answer of course, is because it's a lot easier and cheaper to do a bunch of pre-set missions + random encounters than create the dynamic campaign aspects that made Jag 2 so cool.

[Morgoth]

Don't bother with JA3: It will be a dead-born child. Heck, maybe I should dig out JA2 and give it a real chance now. Are there any additional mods you can recommend me?

[Hurlshort]

Removing the entire sector-based aspect of Jag 2 is like Bethesda announcing that Fallout 3 is going to be released with no dialogue of any sort.  Such a fundamental aspect of the game is being removed that it begs the question, why bother?

 

The answer of course, is because it's a lot easier and cheaper to do a bunch of pre-set missions + random encounters than create the dynamic campaign aspects that made Jag 2 so cool.

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Again, I don't really expect this game to compare to JA2. That was a work of art. But I had a blast with Silent Storm and JA: Deadly Games, and this sounds like a melding of the two. The reason I bring up Deadly Games isn't because of the multiplayer, which I never got working very well, but because if the finely crafted maps that were available to play. I still remember a map called the Alamo where your entire team was surrounded by enemies from every direction, and it was a total beast to survive through.

 

edit: the Nival comments are because several of the F3 developers are from Nival. I'm assuming they know how to use the engine well.

Edited December 30, 2006 by Hurlshot

[alanschu]

Removing the entire sector-based aspect of Jag 2 is like Bethesda announcing that Fallout 3 is going to be released with no dialogue of any sort.  Such a fundamental aspect of the game is being removed that it begs the question, why bother?

 

The answer of course, is because it's a lot easier and cheaper to do a bunch of pre-set missions + random encounters than create the dynamic campaign aspects that made Jag 2 so cool.

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Was it really the dynamic campaign that made the game so cool?

[Diamond]

I hated to defend cities in JA2 all the time as they were so easy to fall. It made me rush through the campaign, because the more I waited/were exploring, the more raid groups I was getting near the cities.

[Gorth]

I hated to defend cities in JA2 all the time as they were so easy to fall. It made me rush through the campaign, because the more I waited/were exploring, the more raid groups I was getting near the cities.

You are joking?

[Diamond]

No, I'm serious.

 

Not that I'm supporting getting rid of it altogether, but I still think it should be changed. It was very very easy to lose the city in automatic combat, even if you have veteran units there.

[Darque]

That's why you left people on site and did the battle yourself.

[Gorth]

No, I'm serious.

 

Not that I'm supporting getting rid of it altogether, but I still think it should be changed. It was very very easy to lose the city in automatic combat, even if you have veteran units there.

What difficulty setting are you playing on? Just curious if that affects the militias skill when fighting off enemy troops.

[Diamond]

I don't remember as I played it 4+ years ago, but I distinctly remember that was the biggest irritating thing.

 

Maybe I should give it another shot then.

Edited December 31, 2006 by Diamond

[Gorth]

The only ones I remember beeing able to overrun a well trained milita were the Crepax (Sp?) critters that would ocme out of the mines at night. And that only until I kill the bug queen. Otherwise, a militia with both veteran and elite troops in it will be able to hold off pretty much anything the queen throws at them. Goes for SAM sites as well.