Quests and open world

[WILDFIRE]

Hello Jagged Alliance 3 Devs and fans,

 

lets talk about the quest system and the open world/sectors. What can we expect? I know its a lttle bit early to take a deep dive, because we havent seen much of the world yet but I hope our suggestions here can give the Devs some inspiration and that this thread can influence the game in a positive way.

 

The quests  

I would like to see multilayered missions where the player has the freedom of choice how and in which order they can handle the tasks. Types of missions could be:

- Rescue missions: Save people and gather allies for the resistance 

- Target missions: Defuse bombs or kill specific enemies/bosses

- Escort missions: Escort citizens or VIPs to save places

- Investigation missions: Search areas to find clues for specific tasks like hunting down a killer  

- Discovery missions: Search areas for resources, loot to craft weapons or help the resistance   

- Delivery missions: Deliver important messages, informations or items that can decide the fate of an sector/area

- Secret operations: Sneak behind enemy lines and dont trigger the alarm 

 

The open world 

The island of Grand Chien should have open sectors where the players have total freedom how and in which order they free the areas. Also in battle the areas must get bigger and wider to allow different tactics. At the moment we just saw more limited smaller sectors. The different levels of terrain are also needed for deeper tactics and ambushes. I hope later in the game we can climb the roofs of buildings to get our snipers in position.

 

So what do you guys think? What quests/missions and what kind of game world would you like to see?

Edited September 4, 2022 by WILDFIRE

[Jos the Jackal]

I'd like to see some sabotage quests (blow up X, or cause X amount of damage), assassination quests, maybe search and rescue or breakout (of jail, etc.) 

Agree on having some more open spaces for ambushes, long range battles, etc. 

[LoboNocturno]

19 hours ago, Jos the Jackal said:

I'd like to see some sabotage quests (blow up X, or cause X amount of damage), assassination quests, maybe search and rescue or breakout (of jail, etc.) 

Agree on having some more open spaces for ambushes, long range battles, etc. 

The jail raid in JA2 was 1 of the most fun parts imo, then we rescue Duncan (1 of my favourite mercs in JA2). Hope there will not be time limited rescue missions (i didnt liked at all) like in XCom 2.

 

Side quests like Kingpin & his hitmans or the Blood cats from JA2 would be cool indeed.

 

In this open world there should be also additional danger to us not only from the enemy allies but also from wild animals, such crocodiles etc would suit in perfectly to the game atmosphere (especially around the swamp) imo. It not a must for me but dont mind if they add up to the game also a sci-fiction mode where creepy creatures will appear.

[WILDFIRE]

I would also like to see night operations where the mercs must sneak into camps or bases to steal specific informations or to kill a target without getting seen.

 

To deal with wild animals in this african setting is really natural and should also be considered. Maybe hunting could be part of some missions so that the resources could help the resistance.

[Solaris_Wave]

Those are some great ideas that have been mentioned. There was plenty of variety in JA2, giving you access to more money, better equipment, air mobility and so on. Some of the mission types mentioned, such as sneaking in and killing a high value target or stealing something, I would like to see but they didn't present themselves in JA2 (at least for me). I only really used stealth at the beginning of a battle to get into position and set up optimal fire zones. Battles always ended up with the elimination of the enemies in that sector so you could move around freely. There was never a situation where the enemies were more numerous than you could handle, and would largely remain intact and in control of a sector after you completed your mission. Implementing the scenario where asymmetrical, guerilla hit-and-run combat takes place would be an interesting change to the more standard elimination of enemy presence and taking control of the sector.

 

I too, am not a fan of time limits in games (why do developers love them so much?) as they often get used in the most annoying ways possible. A particular favourite of game design is having to escape a facility that is going to blow up, because of your mission objective, and then having to remember which route to take to get back out, all the while enemies seem intent on trying to kill you, instead of trying to flee themselves. They come across as mindless drones with no thought of survival.

There have been games with fake time limits, where an alarm is going off and you are supposed to escape, adding to the tension, but the countdown to obliteration (and having to reload a save point if you fail) only starts towards the end when the exit is in sight. Max Payne 1 and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon did this (with the latter having a parody of the finale in Aliens). I haven't played the recent X-COM 2 yet but I bought it in a sale, intending to only play it modded, as I was aware of complaints of time limits and I didn't like the X-COM reboot. It seems that for many gamers, time limits are unwelcome and instead of creating tension, it just creates frustration.

Maybe if there are some timed missions in JA3, it would be intercepting a convoy that is driving through a sector. The convoy of vehicles don't appear straight away, giving you time to set up an ambush, deploy land mines and explosives. Once they appear on the road, they are going to try to keep going, intending to protect whatever cargo they have and get to their destination.

[LoboNocturno]

On 9/9/2022 at 9:34 AM, WILDFIRE said:

I would also like to see night operations where the mercs must sneak into camps or bases to steal specific informations or to kill a target without getting seen.

 

To deal with wild animals in this african setting is really natural and should also be considered. Maybe hunting could be part of some missions so that the resources could help the resistance.

I can only leave my sign under this comment, wild animals is a must that will give us headache now and then. Nile crocodiles inside the swamp its a must, we already seen screenshots were our mercs are inside a swamp halfway though.

Maybe the Gaboon viper could be also there, the biggest viper of the world with the biggest fangs of all snakes, very sluggish but a master of camouflage, some people back in Africa dead from it already as its very easily to step on as it looks just like a leaf in woodland and forest ground. Once we get bitten we should need a antidote or our merc will be dying within 24 hours or so as example, but those cases should be in rare occasions.

 

Facing a lion would be another cool stuff as we had blood cats (something like a experimental tigers or jaguars) in JA2 or facing hungry hyena clan that will surround us out of nowhere around the savannah.

 

What else ? or a angry hippo (its Africas number 1 serial killer against humans in real life) that will attack us suddenly out of the water i dont know. 😄

[Solaris_Wave]

Hopefully, the animals won't discriminate against who they attack and will also attack enemy soldiers.

[LoboNocturno]

2 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

Hopefully, the animals won't discriminate against who they attack and will also attack enemy soldiers.

I agree with you but but wild animals will possibly appear more likely in empty sectors were we are walking freely i think but would be also cool if they suddenly appear while we are in a shoot out.

[Solaris_Wave]

That is kind of what I am thinking, with them being an unexpected encounter for both sides. Although, wouldn't animals be scared away by all the gunfire?

Now that I have said that, it does make me think how it could really make for a tense situation if your mercs were trying to be stealthy. Imagine creeping around at night, trying to close in on an enemy compound when suddenly, a leopard or crocodile decides that now would be a good time to catch some prey?

[WILDFIRE]

I had a little special idea for some rescue missions. What if mercs could be kidnapped and taken hostage? The squad that saves the merc could get a morale boost and some mercs could get a stronger binding.   

[LoboNocturno]

4 hours ago, WILDFIRE said:

I had a little special idea for some rescue missions. What if mercs could be kidnapped and taken hostage? The squad that saves the merc could get a morale boost and some mercs could get a stronger binding.   

Just like in XCom 2 eeeh 😜

Though back in Jagged Alliance 2 we also had a similar situation like that were our few mercs was getting tortured by Mike.

[WILDFIRE]

Yes JA2 had so many great ideas and missions. Too many to count them all. I hope to see also more personal stories for every specific merc to give them more background and depth. Maybe some mercs come to Grand Chien for revenge or have their own little mission. 

[Solaris_Wave]

I wonder if there will be the optional sci-fi encounters in JA3, like there was in JA2? The first time I played the game, I kept those activated, because I didn't know what it was all about. It was quite a surprise when the important northern airfield I captured was attacked at night by giant bugs. I remember there was a cool moment when one of the NPC militia that I had trained to defend the airfield, killed one bug near the checkpoint gate and said, "Alright!" I was pleased for him, as well as thinking how good it was that the trained militia could hold their own.

Further on in the whole sci-fi quest, you find and fight the bug Queen. Getting the royal jelly could be used to further toughen your body armour.

On further plays of JA2, I disabled the sci-fi element and I am glad the developers gave you that option. On the whole of it, I prefer keeping a modern day squad based shooter as grounded as possible.

[LoboNocturno]

14 minutes ago, Solaris_Wave said:

I wonder if there will be the optional sci-fi encounters in JA3, like there was in JA2? The first time I played the game, I kept those activated, because I didn't know what it was all about. It was quite a surprise when the important northern airfield I captured was attacked at night by giant bugs. I remember there was a cool moment when one of the NPC militia that I had trained to defend the airfield, killed one bug near the checkpoint gate and said, "Alright!" I was pleased for him, as well as thinking how good it was that the trained militia could hold their own.

Further on in the whole sci-fi quest, you find and fight the bug Queen. Getting the royal jelly could be used to further toughen your body armour.

On further plays of JA2, I disabled the sci-fi element and I am glad the developers gave you that option. On the whole of it, I prefer keeping a modern day squad based shooter as grounded as possible.

Would not be bad as optional, in Jagged Alliance Rage we also have blist zombies and those experentimental berserker soldiers who got tough armour which is surely not so realistic but alright as optional.

The game was harder to beat though in JA2 in sci-fi mode as the alien bugs were giving us additional headache, then we had also 3 or 4 level below where we had to hunt down the queen, there was also something of a hidden underground prison were was a few named NPCs who were gravely wounded and would talk in fear with us as i can remember.

 

I also not really a fan fighting against unrealistic creatures and thats 1 of the reasons am not such a big XCom fan.

 

Better bring instead of strange aliens enemy vehicles (dont mind if they will be stable like in JA2, of course would be better if they could move around a little) like tanks or armored vehicles with torrent guns that we have to crack down with RPGs or Mortars.

 

And some wild animals will surely suit in to the environment a lot.

[LoboNocturno]

1 hour ago, WILDFIRE said:

Yes JA2 had so many great ideas and missions. Too many to count them all. I hope to see also more personal stories for every specific merc to give them more background and depth. Maybe some mercs come to Grand Chien for revenge or have their own little mission. 

I dont know if anyone from AIM will be having such feelings but there should be at least a few native NPCs mercs like Miguel Cordona and his crew who will be seeking for revenge.

[Solaris_Wave]

Natural encounters sounds better to me (i.e. facing wild animals during a battle with enemy soldiers).

Another thing that would be interesting would be, not just facing enemy soldiers that vary in their experience, but maybe facing higher grade mercenaries, private military contractors or special forces that are employed by the enemy. Their weapons and equipment are different, as are their skills. With them, there are a variety of side missions and quests. They aren't simply like facing veteran enemy soldiers who try to retake a sector, as with JA2. Instead, they are trying to disrupt your operations, destroy supplies and so on. They are more likely to attack at night, be more stealthy and are lesser in numbers. Basically, they are experienced competition especially employed because your presence is causing the war to swing in your favour.

[WILDFIRE]

To fight against higher grade mercenaries is a great idea. Why should the main villain not hire mercenaries too? What if we could negotiate with enemy mercenaries and convince them to fight for our team? That would give the game even more depth.

 

I also hope NPCs can join our team or will become bad mercenaries depending on how we solve specific quests.

[Solaris_Wave]

I was also thinking about there being a lone enemy sniper who has been hired. A signature character to fear. How to actually implement this, I am not entirely certain (which is why I wasn't at first sure about suggesting such an enemy). After all, you would only fear him or her, if they were able to hunt and kill your mercs and trained militia, building up a tally and a reputation. If they were found and killed easily, or refused to leave the battlefield until either your mercs or they were killed, it wouldn't amount to anything. They could however, be somewhere on the battlefield, as part of a larger enemy force but leave the combat zone without you knowing exactly when. Their skill with a sniper rifle would be enough to kill off several allied militia quickly, while hitting, injuring or possibly killing one of your mercs. They then harass you throughout the course of the game.

There could be something really fearful about knowing there is a lone sniper out there, doing their own thing and hired to cause havoc. I am picturing movies like Enemy At The Gates and Behind Enemy Lines. It also reminds me of one of my favourite series of books as a teenager. It was the Freeway Warrior series and they were 'choose your own adventure' style game books. In Book 3, you are travelling closely with three other characters (while the rest of the survivors throughout the previous books travel in a convoy). It is only towards the end of Book 3, that this sniper appears and starts hunting your little group down, picking you off slowly one-by-one, while keeping track of you. When it is just you left, after him tracking you when you tried to flee, you are forced to confront him in an abandoned town, with your skills versus his. If you manage to kill him, you find out that he was a well known assassin that was hired by the terrorist group, that eventually caused the nuclear holocaust that creates the setting for the books.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Solaris_Wave

[LoboNocturno]

3 hours ago, WILDFIRE said:

To fight against higher grade mercenaries is a great idea. Why should the main villain not hire mercenaries too? What if we could negotiate with enemy mercenaries and convince them to fight for our team? That would give the game even more depth.

 

I also hope NPCs can join our team or will become bad mercenaries depending on how we solve specific quests.

I mean the famous black mercs who are well trained and equipped with better gear was already in previous JA series but would also like to see some more enemy mercs with names, something like mid bosses. I found it really cool how many (i think like 5 or 6, if anyone can name them and even with their pics would be really cool nostalgy) named bounty hunters Kingpin had in JA2, once you steal his money he would sent them after you 1 by 1 and they would appear suddenly out of nowhere and able to kill at least 1 or 2 of your mercs. Hope once our mercs die on the portrait will also appear a skull pic.

[WILDFIRE]

I am talking about enemy mercenaries with unique name, character and background who have special abilities and are way stronger than the normal soldiers. So yes more in the category of bosses or boss squads. I think such encounters where we are getting hunted by elite troops takes it to the next level.