Who is your favourite merc?

[WILDFIRE]

Hello Jagged Alliance fans,

 

now that we have talked so much about our favourite weapons and mechanics, what about the mercs? Who is your favourite one and why? Do you have a TOP3? What do you expect from the brand new JA3 mercs? What are the best merc quirks and claims? Lets talk about it!

 

My favourite merc is Shadow, because he is a great camouflage master with excellent stats. 92 accuracy, what else do you need? Also his ice cold comments brighten up my day.

 

I hope in JA3 we still get the dark humour and tough comments we all remember from JA2 and the good old 80s action movies.

 

[LoboNocturno]

Top 3 ?

 

Am most definitely going with Fidel Dahan, a loco Cuban psychopath of Arab origin, fearless, has very cool and funny quotes with his Cuban accent and also throws some Spanish words (wish there was some more Latino Spanish speaking mercs, would highly welcome a comeback of Hector Alvarez), his stats are pretty good a super all arounder.

 

Ivan Dolvich, ex Soviet officer representing Russia very proudly, overall 1 of the best mercs, can be very deciding in the battlefield, has also very interesting comments with his Russian accent mixed with some Russian words. A must for me in the first squad. Also suits perfectly together with Fidel, 2 socialist warriors.

 

Then as third according from the JA3 list so far i would surely go with Vicki, she is my favorite female merc of all, very flamboyant, her Jamaican accent is also very hot (really like the way she speaks in the first trailer), overall very useful in battle but also in fixing stuff.

 

Like i said if there would be few more Latino mercs i would be so happy, it would also boost Jagged Alliance more in the Spanish speaking community as well, at least a Mexican and a Colombian merc its normally a must (were in reality so many sicarios come from). I really like Miguel Cordona in JA2, too bad he joins you towards the end of the game but he was always in my final squad.

 

There must be also few African mercs, apart just from Blood! Especially in JA3 now, even if not from AIM there should be 2 or 3 playable NPC mercs in this part.

 

Other than that i also like the psycho Bull (especially in early game and for his hand to hand combat), Grizzly is another good choice, also a very good friend of Bull. Both possibly more for my 2.squad. Shadow is surely also 1 of the best all arounders but not a very huge fan of him. Igor could be a choice as well for my 2.team.

 

Hope there will be some other cool mercs, especially Latino & African, doesnt matter from AIM or as NPC.

Would also highly welcome Hector Alvarez`s return which i dont think will happen though.

 

And hoping we will be able to create our own merc with more details (more portraits and voice varieties to choice) this time.

 

My first 6 er squad would be like this then :

 

Fidel - Ivan - Vicki - African merc 1 - Latino merc 1 & my own merc.

 

 

[Flowable]

We already had a topic for this one:

Do you have a favorite merc? (JA1, JA2, Wildfire, etc..) - Page 2 - General Discussion - Jagged Alliance Community

Since i haven't replied on the topic i will do it here instread. In no particular order:

- M.D.
- Ice
- Raven

Edited September 19, 2022 by Flowable

[PbScoops]

My top 3 (4)

1. Shadow

2. Fox

3. Gus Tarballs*

*if dead mercs count, Snake inches out Gus

[AmnesiaLab]

For Jagged Alliance 1:  Tex. He's hilarious. Super happy he's back. I'm assuming he's actually going to be good, like he was in Unfinished Business.

For Jagged Alliance 2:  Trevor. I love his vibe, and while he may be expensive for his level, his skills make up for it and progress super fast thanks to his high wisdom. Malice and Meltdown are fun ones for early game. The first time Malice saw a Crepitus, I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe.

[Kordanor]

My list is very different. I dont really have a clear "top 3", as it also very much depends on the perspective.

For example, some of the guys I liked to play the most in JA2 were Razor and Haywire. They are just such a crazy team wish so funny comments, that it would be a shame to not take them. Also they are very good in regards of price/performance.

Some of my favorites of JA1/ JA DG (who dont appear in JA2) in terms of personality and (german) voice acting were:

Jimmy Upton: Horrible aim, mostly technician. But he is kind of a Bruce Willis "Die Hard" type of guy.
Speck T Kline: Also a technician. Maybe because he was kind of the only Nerd/Geek there?
Carl "It" Goodman: A very dumb but wholesome guy. A bit like Samson from Sesamy Street. You got to like him.

Some of the other guys i liked and took regularly and prefer to others (again, excluding mercs appearing in JA2):
Needle: Bad Shot, but nice Doctor. Also kind of interesting that in JA1 we actually had 2 mercs with eye problems: Needle and Wally.
Mitch: Anoher great Doc, but expensive
Smoke: As cool and cheap explosive specialist
Leech: Kind of a cool assasin sniper with a look of Burt Reynolds

Some characters I especially like from JA2:
Razor & Haywire as mentioned before.
Robert James Sullivan "Scully": The only super expensive merc which I kind of feel a connection to. However I almost never took him in JA2 due to the price. I think I liked to have him in JA or JA DG.
Larry Roachburn: The only Roachburn left in the JA series, and its the craziest/most broken one. Also a bit hard to handle as you dont want that he becomes addicted again. But he is such a cool and funny guy with some of the best comments in the game.
In the German Version "Alrulco ist scheisse man!...Entzug war viel besser...da haben wir Wachsmalstifte bekommen..."
Grizzly, Fox and Wolf: They overall were just a great team of cheap and sympathetic mercs who also have sympathies amongst each other.

And that is pretty much it.
I can kinda understand that Ivan is so popular, as he is kinda iconic, only speaking Russian in JA1 was kind of cool (though I doubt the majority even played JA1), and he was very good and cheap.
But especially for Fidel or Shadow I don't quite get the popularity.

[LoboNocturno]

8 hours ago, Kordanor said:

My list is very different. I dont really have a clear "top 3", as it also very much depends on the perspective.

For example, some of the guys I liked to play the most in JA2 were Razor and Haywire. They are just such a crazy team wish so funny comments, that it would be a shame to not take them. Also they are very good in regards of price/performance.

Some of my favorites of JA1/ JA DG (who dont appear in JA2) in terms of personality and (german) voice acting were:

Jimmy Upton: Horrible aim, mostly technician. But he is kind of a Bruce Willis "Die Hard" type of guy.
Speck T Kline: Also a technician. Maybe because he was kind of the only Nerd/Geek there?
Carl "It" Goodman: A very dumb but wholesome guy. A bit like Samson from Sesamy Street. You got to like him.

Some of the other guys i liked and took regularly and prefer to others (again, excluding mercs appearing in JA2):
Needle: Bad Shot, but nice Doctor. Also kind of interesting that in JA1 we actually had 2 mercs with eye problems: Needle and Wally.
Mitch: Anoher great Doc, but expensive
Smoke: As cool and cheap explosive specialist
Leech: Kind of a cool assasin sniper with a look of Burt Reynolds

Some characters I especially like from JA2:
Razor & Haywire as mentioned before.
Robert James Sullivan "Scully": The only super expensive merc which I kind of feel a connection to. However I almost never took him in JA2 due to the price. I think I liked to have him in JA or JA DG.
Larry Roachburn: The only Roachburn left in the JA series, and its the craziest/most broken one. Also a bit hard to handle as you dont want that he becomes addicted again. But he is such a cool and funny guy with some of the best comments in the game.
In the German Version "Alrulco ist scheisse man!...Entzug war viel besser...da haben wir Wachsmalstifte bekommen..."
Grizzly, Fox and Wolf: They overall were just a great team of cheap and sympathetic mercs who also have sympathies amongst each other.

And that is pretty much it.
I can kinda understand that Ivan is so popular, as he is kinda iconic, only speaking Russian in JA1 was kind of cool (though I doubt the majority even played JA1), and he was very good and cheap.
But especially for Fidel or Shadow I don't quite get the popularity.

A very odd selection for sure, but i like who takes the weaker mercs who they like and make them stronger later on in the game, i did this all the time with the prisoner Duncan in JA2 cause i really liked him the way he suffered and got tortured so i had to train him to become a decent soldier so i can keep him in my first squad to seek sweet revenge. Did the same thing with Hector Alvarez in JA1, trained him nearly to a elite merc.

 

Ivan Dolvich is without doubt a legend and cause of him (may also a lil of Igor) there are so many Jagged Alliance fans and players from Russia.

 

The same thing goes for Fidel Dahan, a true legend thats the reason he is also in the first intro, he is pretty much the 1 who is representing us the Latinos in the game, like i always mention there should be minimum 2 or 3 more Spanish speaking mercs, imo way too many American mercs are involved which is not so nice & fair, it could be divided much better overall like 10-12 Americans, 10-12 Europeans, 7-8 Latinos, 5-6 African and 5-6 Asian & Arab mercs as example all with their own unique accents and languages. It would also make Jagged Alliance much more popular around the world.

 

Shadow is surely also a JA2 legend without a doubt, i can imagine lots of military fans loves him cause of his stealth skills, seriousness, a true pro.

[Kordanor]

@LoboNocturno
Yeah, same here. I mean I am also taking lots of other cheap mercs. Hector was a cool Merc in JA1 / DG (and I think my friends second favorite after Lynx) and I also liked Ice, but I wouldn't consider them my favorites. Also other mercs Like Grunty, Barry, Biff, Hurl, and so on...I mean they were all cheap and decent, and I'd take them, but I wouldn't consider them special or my favorites.

I don't think that Mercs need like a somehow "even" spread of different origins and I also don't think it would matter a lot.
Some spread in general is cool ofc, but I'd rather see people from additional backgrounds, rather than an "even" spread to get the distribution equivalent to population or to add a bunch of Brazilian Mercs to hope for Brazilian Players.

Ofc coming with some stereotypical backgrounds which are ofc always a balancing act. Like I would like to see a native american, and it would be cool if he had some of that background in his comments, or like a very grim finnish sniper. Maybe some tech geek from india with a strong indian accent. Or maybe an ex-mossad agent.

But obviously these can all easily start some controversies. Someone will always be unhappy about how their culture is represented.
Being a bit over the top however is what it makes interesting and fun.
 

[LoboNocturno]

8 hours ago, Kordanor said:

@LoboNocturno
Yeah, same here. I mean I am also taking lots of other cheap mercs. Hector was a cool Merc in JA1 / DG (and I think my friends second favorite after Lynx) and I also liked Ice, but I wouldn't consider them my favorites. Also other mercs Like Grunty, Barry, Biff, Hurl, and so on...I mean they were all cheap and decent, and I'd take them, but I wouldn't consider them special or my favorites.

I don't think that Mercs need like a somehow "even" spread of different origins and I also don't think it would matter a lot.
Some spread in general is cool ofc, but I'd rather see people from additional backgrounds, rather than an "even" spread to get the distribution equivalent to population or to add a bunch of Brazilian Mercs to hope for Brazilian Players.

Ofc coming with some stereotypical backgrounds which are ofc always a balancing act. Like I would like to see a native american, and it would be cool if he had some of that background in his comments, or like a very grim finnish sniper. Maybe some tech geek from india with a strong indian accent. Or maybe an ex-mossad agent.

But obviously these can all easily start some controversies. Someone will always be unhappy about how their culture is represented.
Being a bit over the top however is what it makes interesting and fun.
 

It would still caught much more fan base if they would do it that way trust me. We gave the best example with Ivan as mainly cause of him Jagged Alliance has a good amount of fan base in Russia. Could be the same with Grunty in Germany, Grunty also throws now and then some German words. Its surely not everything like you said as the background and their stories is also important to some of us but imagine it would be still very cool to have a few mercs of every region like Street Fighter spread it pretty well imo.

 

Yes i could imagine a Ex Mossad agent in Jagged Alliance with some hebrew accent, though Israelis are hated most parts of the world so it could bring also lots of controversial opinions, especially after whats happening in the recent times and the death of Al Jazeera journalist.

A Indian tech geek would also suit especially to Biff`s M.E.R.C. team and would be pretty funny imo.

We had a Brazilian like (i know in the game his as Arulcan) RPC merc already in JA2 with Miguel`s right hand Carlos Da Souza.

But they could bring a unique Brazilian merc in AIM, who speaks with Portuguese accent and throws some Portuguese words in, heat resistance and jungle, night ops could be his traits as example.

A Mexican merc would also suit perfectly, a ex sicario as example, it would boost the Mexican community a lot in Mexico & USA.

A Turkish merc would also be cool, who throws in some Turkish words, lots of gamers there as well so it would make a good boost to have more Jagged Alliance fans and players.

Would love to see some more G type of mercs etc... There could be created lots of cool characters may it will not be in JA3 but hopefully further on in JA4 (in next 4 or 5 years).

 

Just hoping we will still get few more cool exotic mercs, as i mentioned before in other topics 2 or 3 playable RPC African (Gran Chien) mercs is a MUST in Gran Chien just like Miguel, Carlos, Dimitri & Ira in JA2.

 

And last but not least to create our own merc with details.

[Kordanor]

In Germany the game was localized to German with German voices. While Grunty is ok, I don't think anyone got great sympathies for him. I am not sure if I ever took Thor in my team (his Berlin accent is hilarious though from listening to his game files).

There also had been a Russian localization with russian voices and a polish version with polish voices. I doubt that the national characters changed much. Maybe Ivan a bit, but probably not a lot (also consider the other tactics games being successful or even rightout developed in Russia). Also doubt that Steroid is responsible for the game being popular in Poland. 😉

[LoboNocturno]

22 minutes ago, Kordanor said:

In Germany the game was localized to German with German voices. While Grunty is ok, I don't think anyone got great sympathies for him. I am not sure if I ever took Thor in my team (his Berlin accent is hilarious though from listening to his game files).

There also had been a Russian localization with russian voices and a polish version with polish voices. I doubt that the national characters changed much. Maybe Ivan a bit, but probably not a lot (also consider the other tactics games being successful or even rightout developed in Russia). Also doubt that Steroid is responsible for the game being popular in Poland. 😉

Oh yes Thor Kaufmann was also German yeap. 😃

 

Could be true since Steroid wasn't so popular and lacked in swang imo but if I was Polish I think I would most definitely take him just to heard the word "kurwa" itself. 😄

 

That's why am saying Ivan & Fidel are whole different level with great personalities and charisma. 

 

BTW am not a fan at all of localization even if its made well, always prefer to hear their orginal voices, also in movies. All of the mercs have to communicate somehow in 1 major language which is English but throwing in between some slang or their native languages will be like the seasoning of the soup. 😉

Just like in orginal JA1 I didn't really complained a bit that Ivan spoke %90 Russian even if I didn't even understood what he was saying but it was a very cool feeling indeed, you could deeply feel his attitude already.

[Mike]

Well best Team for me Mike Magic Shadow.

Fav. Mercs to start with

JA2 Lynx and M.D.

General Fav Mercs: Grunty, Ice and Wolf

[jcd]

1. Ivan Dolvich
2. Dr. Q
3. Razor

[Wigen]

My favourite TOP 3 is:

1. It will be difficult to choose the most favorite one, but I think Raven is relatively cheap and this is probably the best shooter (it's not about points, but about reality). Raven is great with any type of weapon, she is not too conflicting.

2. Buzz

3. Scope

[Tommerhawk]

My favs are in the beginning for sure Grunty (in JA1 and 2) and Blood in JA2. Because I like night missions at the beginning to clear the maps only with throwing knifes 😉 Later I like Thor, Ivan, Colby and so on. Sometimes I started with Ice also, not bad. Malice is a lil bit strange but I like him. But Grunty is my Fav :)

[Tommerhawk]

The problem at least in Wildfire with Malice is, that Ira do not like him. Means you need to put Malice or Ira in a town to train troops for defense as far as I remember 🙂

[Steroid]

I aahm tha best.

[Hendrix]

*clears throat*

[Solaris_Wave]

*Also clears throat*

No, really. I digitally inserted myself into the game, just like in the movie, TRON, fought all the bad guys, won the campaign and then brought myself back out of the game, just in time for dinner and light dancing.

[LoboNocturno]

Igor Dolvich with Oufit

 

Unkown Merc or Enemy ?

[Solaris_Wave]

I am guessing that the lower picture is an enemy soldier, if only because the developers might stick to JA2's depiction of enemies and their experience level (yellow for lowest, red for standard and black for veterans).

[LoboNocturno]

12 minutes ago, Solaris_Wave said:

I am guessing that the lower picture is an enemy soldier, if only because the developers might stick to JA2's depiction of enemies and their experience level (yellow for lowest, red for standard and black for veterans).

Could be yes, do you think it will be like that ? In my opinion it would look somehow monoton. Enemies should have some random or green military clothing as well with camo etc... 

 

Btw i like Igor`s outfit, he looks suitable to the African environment much more then Ivan, though maybe helmet instead of beret ?

[Solaris_Wave]

I was just thinking about that, regarding the red outfit. It was okay for JA2 because the graphics had a slight cartoon quality to them. For JA3's fidelity, I would have thought that the enemies would look better in the following way:

Enemy militia, poorly trained troops or armed civilians to wear random clothing, with possible and occasional addition of load-bearing webbing.

Standard enemy soldiers to wear African camo battledress, load-bearing apparel and beret. Officers wear a beret with a different colour.

Experienced enemy troops or hired enemy mercenaries to wear more fancy camo, body armour and helmets.

There could also be the inclusion of a rank above the soldier's 3D model.

[Juugo]

1. Lynx. Think I started to like Lynx mostly because I was very young ( way too young for this violence 😄 ) when I first played JA and he was the only few mercs I was able to kill anyone. Then, when JA2 came out, Lynx was in my group from day one almost everytime (that Mini-14 and 99 MRK made me almost sad for the rest of the group). I also liked his quite serious personality and the drama with Buzz.

2. Snake. He was one of those cheaper mercs who could shoot decently. He was also really cool and no suprise he was friends with Ice. The sad thing here is that he was written out between Deadly Games and JA2, shot in the head. 😞

 

3. Thor. Funny looking and sounding guy who has all the traits to become your supersoldier.

 

But I think JA has never been only about which characters are the best and best fit into your team, but more about personalities. So, Hamous should make a comeback. Maybe he is actually selling ice cream this time?

 

And then there is the best character ever. He speaks with heavy accent, but no, its not Ivan, but Reuban! It may be a bit strange how he was able to serve in AIM after killing his family with a hedge trimmer, but finally before JA2 he was send back to his native Romania to serve a life sentence (x6). But maybe he finds out his "friends" need help and swims to Grand Chien. He could do that.

[alfius]

On 11/4/2022 at 2:27 PM, Juugo said:

But I think JA has never been only about which characters are the best and best fit into your team, but more about personalities. 

So true! 
And +for Lynx