Who is this guy ? Main Villain or Merc ?

[LoboNocturno]

I know all of us asked the same thing to ourselves who is that black guy on the main cover ? A new merc or a villain (main villain) ?

Nobody in here knows it so far and it will be kind of surprise to us. The portrait of him is a lil foggy but also the biggest (if we dont count Ivan`s AK) of all in the cover so it might be possibly 1 of our main villains? A African rebel leader, warlord ?

 

Actually i also think there should be a few African mercs playable for us, even if its not from AIM but as NPCs.

[Grim]

I generally agree with you.
Since all the other characters are mercs, it's plausible that this guys is a new merc. He may be the equivalent of Miguel (rebel chief in JA2), or Ira/Dimitri in the sense that you meet him there and he comes with you, with his knowledge of the country.
I don't think he is the main vilain. I guess he would have been represented differently if that was the case. As, not looking away, a more malicious or ferocious gaze, in opposition of the mercs in the frame, etc.
 

Interesting topic anyway.

[LoboNocturno]

45 minutes ago, Grim said:

I generally agree with you.
Since all the other characters are mercs, it's plausible that this guys is a new merc. He may be the equivalent of Miguel (rebel chief in JA2), or Ira/Dimitri in the sense that you meet him there and he comes with you, with his knowledge of the country.
I don't think he is the main vilain. I guess he would have been represented differently if that was the case. As, not looking away, a more malicious or ferocious gaze, in opposition of the mercs in the frame, etc.
 

Interesting topic anyway.

Oh ok sure it could be as well our guide of the country of the resistance group like Miguel and the other few playable characters hiding inside the bunker.

Do you think our main villain will be also a African ? or a sadist foreigner from Western World ?

In my opinion it would be more cool if it would be a African, with heavy accent a rebel leader or warlord is pretty possible. A fictional Idi Amin or Charles Taylor (who also hand his hands on blood diamonds). 😉

A foreign main villain would not be so bad either who wants to confuse the country and take power as a second option but am surely more with the first option.

 

May the African warlord will hire foreign elite mercs like our famous black mercs in the past who are well trained and equipped with better gears. Just hoping apart the main villain we will be having this time also few middle bosses with names. In Jagged Alliance 2 we dont really had it apart Mike.

 

Also hoping there will come at times some scenes when we win or lose a sector like it was happening in JA2 with Deidranna and Eliot, it will add on additional atmosphere to the story.

[Hongweibing]

Good question, I tend to agree with Grim's comment above, though the guy could theoretically be the villain (certainly since stylistically, the cover image harkens back to the cover of the original JA, where you had the villain on the cover). That said, in the second trailer you had a short scene (from 1:00 to 1:03 in the showcase trailer) of four mercs (I can only recognize the new merc Fauda there), and there is also what seems to be an African merc, he might be the guy on the cover, in the sense that he is (probably) African and bald. On the other hand, I do not see facial tattoos on him (though we only see the other side of his face) and he has no headband. 

 

And also, since we are talking about the mercs available in JA3 (and since we know from the interview there are supposed to be around 40 of them), I figured a full list of the known mercs to date could be useful to some: 

Returning:

1 Barry
2 Buns
3 Fidel
4 Grizzly
5 Grunty
6 Hitman
7 Ice
8 Igor
9 Ivan
10 MD
11 Meltdown
12 Raven
13 Red
14 Steroid
15 Tex
16 Vicki
17 Wolf

 

New:

18 Fauda
19 Livewire 
20 Omryn
21 Smiley

 

Unconfirmed:

22 Bald African guy

23 Biff (unclear whether he is playable)

[LoboNocturno]

3 hours ago, Hongweibing said:

Good question, I tend to agree with Grim's comment above, though the guy could theoretically be the villain (certainly since stylistically, the cover image harkens back to the cover of the original JA, where you had the villain on the cover). That said, in the second trailer you had a short scene (from 1:00 to 1:03 in the showcase trailer) of four mercs (I can only recognize the new merc Fauda there), and there is also what seems to be an African merc, he might be the guy on the cover, in the sense that he is (probably) African and bald. On the other hand, I do not see facial tattoos on him (though we only see the other side of his face) and he has no headband. 

 

And also, since we are talking about the mercs available in JA3 (and since we know from the interview there are supposed to be around 40 of them), I figured a full list of the known mercs to date could be useful to some: 

Returning:

1 Barry
2 Buns
3 Fidel
4 Grizzly
5 Grunty
6 Hitman
7 Ice
8 Igor
9 Ivan
10 MD
11 Meltdown
12 Raven
13 Red
14 Steroid
15 Tex
16 Vicki
17 Wolf

 

New:

18 Fauda
19 Livewire 
20 Omryn
21 Smiley

 

Unconfirmed:

22 Bald African guy

23 Biff (unclear whether he is playable)

Yes that bald African guy on the cover could be him.

 

You forgot to mention Shadow (1 of JA2 favorite mercs) his also in the first trailer, showing only his name on the map.

[Wigen]

13 minutes ago, LoboNocturno said:

You forgot to mention Shadow (1 of JA2 favorite mercs) his also in the first trailer, showing only his name on the map.

It's worth adding that Len was also on this trailer (Len Squad).

 

It is possible that the mercenary in the cap from the screen above may be one.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Wigen

[Kordanor]

Here is the full list of all characters I could spot in all the material so far:

Returning (23/30):
Ivan
Vicki
Buns
Fidel
Len
Shadow
Igor
Wolf
Hitman
Steroid
Tex
Meltdown
MD
Red
Raven
Barry
Grunty
Nails
Dr. Q
Raider
Ice
Blood
Grizzly
 

New (5/10):
Fauda
Smiley
Omryn
Livewire
Kalyna (unclear)

Regarding the black guy on the cover I go with Hongweibing, assuming this is a reference in style to the first Jagged Alliance game.

Regarding the 3 seconds of the trailer:

Nice catch, didnt even look into that one. However I dont see any black guy there. They all have white skin.
Left: Female, brown open hair (white skin on arms). Possibly Raven
Left Center: Male, Bald (white skin on head): No Idea. The only know Merc coming to mind is Jimmy Upton from JA1, but this would surprise me.
Right Center: Male, grey Hair, kind of a barrett (white skin on arms). Possibly Fidel if you ignore the color of the barrett.
Right: Male or Female, ponytail (white skin on arms), likely Fauda

[Wigen]

3 hours ago, Kordanor said:

Blood

When and where? 🤔 

Oh, I know where. I rememberd. 😁

Edited September 13, 2022 by Wigen

[LoboNocturno]

3 hours ago, Kordanor said:

Here is the full list of all characters I could spot in all the material so far:

Returning (23/30):
Ivan
Vicki
Buns
Fidel
Len
Shadow
Igor
Wolf
Hitman
Steroid
Tex
Meltdown
MD
Red
Raven
Barry
Grunty
Nails
Dr. Q
Raider
Ice
Blood
Grizzly
 

New (5/10):
Fauda
Smiley
Omryn
Livewire
Kalyna (unclear)

Regarding the black guy on the cover I go with Hongweibing, assuming this is a reference in style to the first Jagged Alliance game.

Regarding the 3 seconds of the trailer:

Nice catch, didnt even look into that one. However I dont see any black guy there. They all have white skin.
Left: Female, brown open hair (white skin on arms). Possibly Raven
Left Center: Male, Bald (white skin on head): No Idea. The only know Merc coming to mind is Jimmy Upton from JA1, but this would surprise me.
Right Center: Male, grey Hair, kind of a barrett (white skin on arms). Possibly Fidel if you ignore the color of the barrett.
Right: Male or Female, ponytail (white skin on arms), likely Fauda

Once again nice analyse, the bald guy if you really assume his white its very possibly the psycho Bull.

[LoboNocturno]

Who else you would like to see in there ?

 

I wish Hector Alvarez could make a return from JA1 as his also very immune to hot weather conditions, would suit perfectly to Gran Chien. He is on my first squad in JA1 right now, with a little training he can develop to a very decent merc, i love to train weak mercs i like to very decent stats so i can hold them on my first squad. Also used Duncan a lot in my first squad back in JA2.

[LoboNocturno]

Would welcome a return of Carl "Reaper" Sheppards as well, was 1 of the more quiet but 1 of best overall mercs around in JA2.

 

Cant wait to see the remaining mercs, with the several RPCs guess there will be easily over 40 playable characters.

Carl

[Wigen]

The attachment isn't working.

[LoboNocturno]

On 10/17/2022 at 1:00 PM, Wigen said:

The attachment isn't working.

[Solaris_Wave]

Reading that bio makes Reaper sound like a cross between Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell and Bennett from the movie, Commando!

[Hendrix]

10 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

Bennett from the movie, Commando!

NOW THATS A MAIN VILLAIN! 🤣

[Solaris_Wave]

I wonder if there will an '80s style action hero for a new merc? An impossible blend of John Matrix, John Rambo, Dutch, Snake Plissken, every Chuck Norris character and Nikolai Rachenko (Red Scorpion), who's stats are fully maxed out. You know the type. Their backup sidearm is an M60 light machine gun, the handle of their huge combat knife has a hidden compartment which contains another knife, their bandanna signifies their rank, any six-shot revolver they have fires ten bullets without reloading, their frag grenades create massive fireballs, they fire in slow-motion while their personal theme music starts up, their kill count numbers that of a small town, they snap necks to the sound of breaking celery and their roundhouse kick sends bad guys through concrete walls before they crash into randomly placed explosive barrels…all the while delivering snappy one-liners everytime a villain gets killed.

[Hendrix]

8 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

I wonder if there will an '80s style action hero for a new merc? An impossible blend of John Matrix, John Rambo, Dutch, Snake Plissken, every Chuck Norris character and Nikolai Rachenko (Red Scorpion), who's stats are fully maxed out. You know the type. Their backup sidearm is an M60 light machine gun, the handle of their huge combat knife has a hidden compartment which contains another knife, th

eir bandanna signifies their rank, any six-shot revolver they have fires ten bullets without reloading, their frag grenades create massive fireballs, they fire in slow-motion while their personal theme music starts up, their kill count numbers that of a small town, they snap necks to the sound of breaking celery and their roundhouse kick sends bad guys through concrete walls before they crash into randomly placed explosive barrels…all the while delivering snappy one-liners everytime a villain gets killed.

We can dream, right?

Jokes aside, I greatly appreciate the "realistic" approach in JA2. No matter how bad-ass merc you got or how good equipment they have, you can not be reacless and expect the merc to come out on top of the situation. Gear and merc skills are multipliers, but the actual outcome of the battle is the players skill, and maybe a bit of luck, to utilise the mercs skill and gear in the "right" way. Unlike other games were you relly on a characters build and +2 equipment.

 

8 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

Their backup sidearm is an M60 light machine gun,

Weeeell, during my army days when carrying the KSP58 (FN MAG) machinegun, you had to carry your personal AK5 (FN FNC) as a backup. 😂 (The reason was that the MG was considered to be a squad weapon and not a personal weapon). No it was not cool or made you feel like a action hero, it was just very very heavy.

[LoboNocturno]

On 10/21/2022 at 2:22 AM, Solaris_Wave said:

Reading that bio makes Reaper sound like a cross between Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell and Bennett from the movie, Commando!

Reaper could be also a ideal villain imo, i would not mind if some of previous JA2 mercs will be working for the enemy ally like Mike in JA2. Gus, Magic or Reaper would suit in imo.

[LoboNocturno]

I was just analysing about Fauda a little, i think i like her already, she is a Arab woman (fauda means chaos in Arabic), there is even a Netflix Serie called Fauda. Guess she will be also from Palestine or Syria (got a good feeling she will come from a war zone country so Palestine or Syria as her nationality will suit perfectly.)

She uses already a Arabic word in 1 of her speeches (when she is throwing the grenade) "Good! Send the bastards back to Shaitan!" Shaitan, Sheytan means Devil. Hope she will be using more Arabic words which will make it more exotic.

 

I dont know her stats or her skills as yet but i like her already and guess will be adding her to my team.

 

 

[LoboNocturno]

Also loving her outfit, she has 1 of the best outfits so far i seen from all characters, i mean a realistic combat look as some of the characters looks way odd imo, as example like Hitman with his pink shirt or Ivan with his WW2 outfit (could give him most definitely a more modern look) with Ushanka in Africa idk. All characters should have outfits more suitable to the hot & humid tropical African weather conditions you know, anything else looks seriously very odd. So Fauda`s outfit is even the best so far imo, Fidel own also looks good, maybe his beret could be green instead of red, i mean going to the battlefield with red beret is like been a open target to the enemies lol. Grizzly will be having a black beret, hope his outfit will be also nice and realistic (maybe his suit will be black as well? Kind of black ops vybes.) or really cant wait to see Shadow`s outfit, he will surely blend in perfectly to the African environment with his green camo military outfit.

[Solaris_Wave]

On 10/22/2022 at 7:40 AM, Hendrix said:

We can dream, right?

Jokes aside, I greatly appreciate the "realistic" approach in JA2. No matter how bad-ass merc you got or how good equipment they have, you can not be reacless and expect the merc to come out on top of the situation. Gear and merc skills are multipliers, but the actual outcome of the battle is the players skill, and maybe a bit of luck, to utilise the mercs skill and gear in the "right" way. Unlike other games were you relly on a characters build and +2 equipment.

 

Weeeell, during my army days when carrying the KSP58 (FN MAG) machinegun, you had to carry your personal AK5 (FN FNC) as a backup. 😂 (The reason was that the MG was considered to be a squad weapon and not a personal weapon). No it was not cool or made you feel like a action hero, it was just very very heavy.

The more realistic setting of JA2 was one of the main factors in drawing me to the game. In fact, it was one of those games that I decided I instantly wanted to buy, even though I don't remember it having too much publicity at the time, possibly because JA1 was mostly under the radar.

I really liked how there was an emphasis on teamwork and there was no super soldier that could perform every role. It really was a true squad based game. There was always the vulnerability of your mercs, no matter how good they were or would become. Use of cover and teamwork were paramount.

 

Speaking of your time in the army, I don't know how large a person you are (or were) but carrying a GPMG and also an assault rifle must have been misery, not to mention cumbersome. I would have thought that a pistol or SMG as your secondary would have been preferable. It isn't just two weighty guns you were carrying (especially the FN MAG/KSP58) but also the ammo for both. Granted, the AK5 will give you more firepower than a pistol or SMG, but in my view, if you are already in a situation where you are using the AK5, you are probably in a situation where your squad wants you to use the FN MAG anyway. Then again, I don't know Swedish military doctrine.

That is one thing that often featured in '80s action movies: the sequence where the hero tools up with rocket launchers, light machine gun, a shotgun, SMG, pistol, grenades, claymores, C4 and multiple knives. There was no consideration about the weight of all those guns, let alone the ammo that miraculously appeared from nowhere. In fact, those movie sequences were even brilliantly parodied in the movie spoof, Loaded Weapon with Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson. Weird Al Yankovic's movie, UHF also had a brilliant parody of Rambo II, not to mention Hotshots: Part Deux sending up the whole Rambo trilogy (at the time).

[Hendrix]

13 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

Speaking of your time in the army, I don't know how large a person you are (or were) but carrying a GPMG and also an assault rifle must have been misery, not to mention cumbersome. I would have thought that a pistol or SMG as your secondary would have been preferable. It isn't just two weighty guns you were carrying (especially the FN MAG/KSP58) but also the ammo for both. Granted, the AK5 will give you more firepower than a pistol or SMG, but in my view, if you are already in a situation where you are using the AK5, you are probably in a situation where your squad wants you to use the FN MAG anyway. Then again, I don't know Swedish military doctrine.

To clarify I was not a professional soldier, I went trough conscription service back in -02/-03 after "high school". I was just trained to be regular cannon fodder, not some cool Marine/Ranger type conscription as some do.

I am 185cm tall and thanks to sports I was in decent shape back then but nothing special. Still carrying all that weight was indeed a misery!

SMG's and pistols (Carl Gustaf M45 and Glock 17) were not issued at all to conscripts were I was, although we trained quite a bit with pistols for some reason. Besides, the AK5 and M45 weights just about the same so that really did not matter.

I gave my AK5 mags to the others in the squad and strapped the AK as hard as I could to my backpack to get it out of the way as much as possible during marches and exercises. Just as you stated, movies seldom show the pure misery of hauling heavy gear for hours and/or days or just how cumbersome and unwieldy all that stuff really is once you get into a combat situation.

The FN MAG is a beast though! The ones we used were still very reliable and accurate despite decades of conscript-abuse. So I get why the US is deciding to rechambering them to their new fancy 6.5 cartridge instead of ditching the MAG. Kinda funny but when Sweden originally adopted the FN MAG it was chambered for the 6,5x55. A bit latter they switched to 7.62x51, I would guess at the same time they adopted the G3 as the main weapon.

[Solaris_Wave]

Adoption of calibres has always been an odd thing, with most post-WWII situations going for standardisation. Even though Sweden isn't a NATO member (at the time of writing this), I guess it makes sense to have commonality with the rifle calibres. Things tend to be East vs. West and countries pick a side on whether they want North American and Western Europe influence in their choice of hardware, or Russian/Soviet and Chinese. Sure, many countries use different firearms, often unique to that country or region, but choice of cartridges usually fall on one side or the other.

Again, with the adoption of calibres, that always changes. You get debates and popularity shifts between 9mm Parabellum and .45 ACP, which never seems to end. You have the rise and fall in popularity with .40 S&W, with 9mm seeing improvements, as well as rarer but devoted users of 10mm and .357 SIG. While that is more for law enforcement and civilian use, the militaries of the Western world see just as much. The U.S. was adamant about having 7.62x51mm for infantry rifles and LMGs, even rejecting the British .280 and shutting down the future of the EM-2 rifle. After plenty of faffing about, broken promises and contracts, they went in a different direction anyway, having two calibres (the other being 5.56mm) that now remains a NATO standard. 5.56mm performance varies on who you talk to, what environment it is used in, what gun it is fired out of and what day of the week it is. As you stated in your post, the U.S. then started looking at 6mm calibres to bridge the gap between 5.56mm and 7.62mm NATO. I guess they are thinking that Sweden had the right idea after all. After re-chambering from 6.5mm to 7.62mm, I wouldn't be surprised if the Swedish military top brass are sighing and telling the U.S. to make their minds up, now looking at the prospect of re-chambering the FN MAGs back to something similar to what they started with!

[LoboNocturno]

Smiley outfit doesnt look bad either, white hat, white tshirt jeans with white shoes. Lets see what kind of merc he will be ? Guess a joker type of guy lol.

 

Am i the only 1 here who is zooming to all screenshots and analyzing the environments ? and so curious about the mercs outfits ? 😃

 

Would like to see some photos and analyses from you guys too.

[Solaris_Wave]

I have been checking out the screenshots as best as I can, as they aren't too clear in terms of resolution. It is all looking very nice so far, however.
 

There was talk in The Portraits thread about whether your mercs will wear different outfits or camo. It is hard to say, even from these screenshots but I am guessing that looking at Ivan with his blue shirt and Smiley, who looks like he just came from a country club before tooling up, their outfits might remain the same throughout the game, purely as a means of identification and individuality. Then again, there may be change or alternatively, character model presets to choose from. Ivan's icon shows him wearing a ushanka, whereas his 3D model shows his wearing a blue beret.