What kind of characters/mercs you would like to see in JA ?

[LoboNocturno]

As its 1 of our main topics, what kind of mercs we would like to see in the upcoming DLC`s for JA3 or further sequels ?

Most of us can be complaining here from what we have seen so far of the JA3 characters as they are too colorful & cartoony so i would like us to discuss here what kind of characters/mercs you would like to see in Jagged Alliance ?

 

My own opinion is also that there should be more serious (realistic), battlefield ready characters with some dark humour. Most of them should have a military, paramilitary or also some criminal (who worked for cartel, guerrilla, mafia etc...) backgrounds. Of course there can be few funny & colourful characters too for a laughter but not many. Thats why the outfits should also look somehow battlefield ready (doesnt mean they all have to wear camouflaged uniforms) and not like they are going to a holiday which is already a optic minus and flavour killer for many of us.

 

I would also like to mention, there should be more mercs of different countries, which would also very possibly boost up the total audience of Jagged Alliance. For my taste there are way too many American mercs (it could be reduced imo), we dont have even a South American merc in it (except Hector Alvarez in JA1 from Venezuela, 1 of my favourites), which is honestly very disappointing, i mean 1 of the most ruthless mercenaries & sicarios comes from our continent and we dont have even 1 in there, there should be at least 4 or 5 from different South American countries. As well we dont have African mercs, other then Blood in there, there could be at least few more, may some more European mercs from various countries that we didnt had before (France, Spain, Ukraine, Turkey etc...).

 

 

[Solaris_Wave]

[Reloecc]

For me personaly.. I don't care about mercs nationality. To be intereseting, they need some background coresponding their behaviour. But if they are from europe, asia or africa.. doesn't matter. I am not really projecting myself into mercs, so I don't need them to be of specific voice or color. But we all know where you comming from talking about "boosting the audience".

What I do care is realism and practicality.. in JA games. I may play Saints row if I need to see colors and craziness.

It's all ok to have Tex arriving in his cowboy suit to a first rendezvous. But if he's staying on my team of proffesional mercernaries.. I want him taking his job seriously. And if he's not able to (as the devs said they don't want mercs to change their appearance based on gear) he has not place in here.

So answering your question, what kind of characters I'd like to see? Professionals. Both aspirants and well-know ones. But those I can teach and control to be the best one. 

[LoboNocturno]

Like to throw in here some suitable characters that may could inspired by later on in character creations.

 

Roberto "Poison" Ramos

Was really 1 of my favourite characters in Narcos (series), a Colombian professional sicario, 1 of Pablo`s elites. Very brutal and ruthless who also had some dark humour though. Also works pretty similar just like a merc, who was also very loyal to his employer. A Poison like character would suit to Jagged Alliance %110.

 

Here some more additional info about him ; https://narcos.fandom.com/wiki/Roberto_Ramos#:~:text=Poison was a blood thirsty,during his early smuggling days.

 

There is also a turn based game called Narcos : Rise of the Cartels, where he is in. 

 

The Spanish command voices itself getting me so excited, so to have few South American mercs, with heavy spanish accent, who also throws in some Spanish words now and then would be a huge booster to the Latino gaming community overall for sure. Jagged Alliance without South American mercs its like a nice soup without salt in it imo.

 

Memati Baş

A very loyal mafia right hand, simply a epic character, back in Turkiye he is a legend. A similar Turkish character like this would bring more Turkish audience, where are lots of gamers.

 

Read here his incredible story :   https://valley-of-the-wolves.fandom.com/tr/wiki/Memati_Baş

 

 

 

[Lunokhod]

12 hours ago, Reloecc said:

It's all ok to have Tex arriving in his cowboy suit to a first rendezvous. But if he's staying on my team of proffesional mercernaries.. I want him taking his job seriously. And if he's not able to (as the devs said they don't want mercs to change their appearance based on gear) he has not place in here.

Feel u man. One of the biggest mistakes developers make. As a result, you will manage some kind of clown squad without bodyarmors until the end of the game. But still you can use your imagination, like in 1999 in JA2. ^__^

[votadc]

Isn't the game about colourful people that are able to think out of the picture and defeat professional serious bad guys (except Elliot)?

More professional and serious mercenaries should be the most expensive but low cost mercenaries with experience should be colourful: they aren't expensive because they are weird 

About mercenaries of Africa there Is also Cliff (a boer) and a North african medic (only in ja1). Mouse bio mentions She was performing in North africa, She Is surely a french citizen.

[anon474]

1 hour ago, votadc said:

Isn't the game about colourful people that are able to think out of the picture and defeat professional serious bad guys (except Elliot)?

More professional and serious mercenaries should be the most expensive but low cost mercenaries with experience should be colourful: they aren't expensive because they are weird 

About mercenaries of Africa there Is also Cliff (a boer) and a North african medic (only in ja1). Mouse bio mentions She was performing in North africa, She Is surely a french citizen.

colourful personalities doesn't mean ridiculous or comical, colourful can be a WWE wrestler. is stone cold steve austin not colourful? colourful just means not muted, not toned down, having a emotion, looking cool, sticking out. Colourful isn't just a clown, colourful is a muscled tank-top wearing guy with a 6-oclock shadow carrying a grenade launcher. Colourful just means not boring, not beige, having a personality of any kind, sticking out in any way, and that way can be comedy, but it can also be looking very cool and interesting.

There should be a wider conversation about what constitutes colourful mercenaries vs comedic ones, I think. Also a lot of colourful mercs are unintentionally comedic. Maddog isn't comedic on purpose, he's just a bit crazy and very weird, you find him in a weird location. Maddog isn't comedic because writers wrote him as comedic, he's comedic because the idea of a random guy you find in a junkyard who then joins you and always says weird things undermining the seriousness of the plot is inherently hilarious and funny, but not intentional.

Predator, the schwarzenegger movie, was an IDEAL example, in my opinion, of how a cast should be made to look colorful. They don't get that much playtime, but look at how predator has all of these characters, they have a guy in a boonie hat who's hispanic or native american looking, has a huge face, looks really crazy, they have jesse ventura who has a minigun, they have appollo creed actor who also has a unique hat and look. Everybody has different guns and preferred weapons that gives them character, there's a lot of different ethnicities and backgrounds and things you can infer about their background from their ethnicity and personalities, they presumably have different motivations, they have very different personalities, some are serious, some look criminal, some look unhappy or realize how tough the job is in front of them, others just want to finish the deployment and go eat a sandwich. This is a great example of characterization where there is differentiation between characters based on: clothing, color of clothing, camo pattern, type of clothing, weapon type and preferred fighting style, ethnicity and background, hat choice, personality.

Edited April 9, 2023 by anon474

[Lunokhod]

1 hour ago, votadc said:

More professional and serious mercenaries should be the most expensive but low cost mercenaries with experience should be colourful: they aren't expensive because they are weird

Yes, looks like this is the only one way to see someone who really ready to suicide mission. Pretty sure Shadow will be dressed like a soldier. But I think they should used multiple types of bodies. Sort of JA2. So u can use visible armors and helmets on it. But they choose another way and this is terrible. Do u saw Hitman? Guy in pink shirt goes to fight with african rebels... what a joke... Btw those rebels looks like a joke too.

[anon474]

2 minutes ago, Lunokhod said:

Yes, looks like this is the only one way to see someone who really ready to suicide mission. Pretty sure Shadow will be dressed like a soldier. But I think they should used multiple types of bodies. Sort of JA2. So u can use visible armors and helmets on it. But they choose another way and this is terrible. Do u saw Hitman? Guy in pink shirt goes to fight with african rebels... what a joke... Btw those rebels looks like a joke too.

I don't mind hitman looking like hitman, I mean in pictures for JA2 he looked like a guy from miami vice anyways. It's just 1 guy.

Basically the dresscode should mostly be: either jeans and some top to give mercs that tacticool look, or it should be soldiers. Tex I think works, especially if you can put some armor on him.

[DougS2K]

4 hours ago, Lunokhod said:

Feel u man. One of the biggest mistakes developers make. As a result, you will manage some kind of clown squad without bodyarmors until the end of the game. But still you can use your imagination, like in 1999 in JA2. ^__^

JA2 1.13 had the option to show armor and gear so having the option in JA3 for those that do want it would be nice. Options are always a welcomed addition. 

[uri91]

 

[uri91]

It would be cool to add

[DougS2K]

For me, I'd just like to see a lot of the cheaper mercs added in addition to the big names in the game. A lot of the mercs from MERC were good at filling out teams on a budget. Also, being able to recruit mercs we come across in the world is always a nice addition and easier on the wallet. You can always find a role for them somewhere.

[Solaris_Wave]

I think there are a lot of good comments here. Colourful personalities but not necessarily colourful attire is what is needed. Sure, you don't want them all looking similar because unless there is constant narrative, like with a movie or true RPG game, those similar looking characters will blend in with one another.

The A-Team TV series was obviously for kids, despite its intro, who would be fine with tongue-in-cheek characters. I mentioned this in another thread but a few years later, as a kid, I was into Action Force toys (a.k.a. G.I. Joe but without the Americanisation). Many of the characters had distinct looks that were almost paramilitary in style and not really professional looking. You believed it possible because you were a child. That said, there were also plenty of characters that, while different looking, all fit together. Lots of characters would still have army colours and military equipment.

For JA3, some mercs will be more affluent than others (e.g. Hitman) but I often try to think what kind of person they are to make them think that they would make good mercenaries in the first place. They have to have prior experience doing something, where they feel that job opportunities in general work has dried up and they have a lot of experience to put to good use. If they look too cartoony, like toys, then the game itself will be more cartoony as an effect. Also, the mercs that look the most colourful will give the impression that they decided to become a mercenary as soon as they graduated from school. They are not serious enough and they are not wise enough.

Tex would look better with body armour. He can still retain his look just fine but with the added vest. He would look a little like some Texas police in that regard as they are seen wearing cowboy hats along with body armour.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Solaris_Wave

[Lunokhod]

1 hour ago, Solaris_Wave said:

Tex would look better with body armour. He can still retain his look just fine but with the added vest. He would look a little like some Texas police in that regard as they are seen wearing cowboy hats along with body armour.

Ure Goddamn right! So they need japaness dude who is sort of Texes cowboy. What they did? Put him into the style of Hollywood Western actor or something with some shitty old revolvers. What a f*ck is this? Jesus Christ this is stupid. How those guys(devs) dont understand so simple things? Let me show them...   

[LoboNocturno]

@anon474The Predator crew was surely legendary, especially the native guy would suit to Jagged Alliance perfectly.

 

@LunokhodMost definitely the sheriff style suited him much better then the original 1.

[votadc]

Nails not being able to use a body armour was fun and colourful. Having a fixed attire can be an issue in the new game. Btw even Roger Dyno Wittman that was One of the most clownish didn't use a Dyno costume on the field.

[Grim]

Many interesting comments here. 👍

Diversity, in its broad meaning, is key (IMHO).
Mercenaries from different places, cultures, humor, value, style... This is how each player can find his own team from his own preference.
The full on military sims can recruit the top mercs in their camo suits, talking in military code and all.
Those who prefer playing a team of cheap weirdos and make the impossible to beat the army underdog style, they should be able, too.

Options are usually good.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Grim

[SWi74]

On 4/8/2023 at 11:55 PM, LoboNocturno said:

As its 1 of our main topics, what kind of mercs we would like to see

I always thought Roy Dupuis' Michael was one of the baddest operatives of that age. Guy couldn't express emotions, he was that professional in a field he did not choose. He would be expensive. Nikita? Sure! A lot cheaper, unprofessional, insubordinate, colorful, but perfect for other missions.

Even Madeline and the Director are interesting characters. Walter the elderly gunsmith? Birkoff the IT specialist that froze when put in the field...

On 4/9/2023 at 8:41 PM, Solaris_Wave said:

Colourful personalities but not necessarily colourful attire

Dex : Consider us your reinforcements.

Blade : What? You amateurs are supposed to be helping me? You? Look at you. You're kids. You're not ready to roll with this. I mean, look at the way you're dressed. What, that's supposed to be tactical?

[about Hannibal's name tag] 

Blade : What is this? What is that? "Fuck you." It's a joke, huh? What the fuck is wrong with y'all? You think this is a joke? You think this is a fucking sit-com?

Hannibal King : Okay, first off, that's just rude. Second, I'm pretty sure we saved your ass back there.

[Hendrix]

Got some mercs from another old game (Wages of War: The Business of Battle) that I think would fit in nicely in JA's setting. I picked a few (I belive the total in the game was around 60) with backgrounds and or origins I thought would be diversed from the ones already in JA. 

Other than these I would like to see a Native American merc and a crazy Icelandic guy believing he is a Viking.

 

Blackbeard

Van Clyff received his nickname from his younger days as a gun runner, plus his resemblance to the famous pirate.  On his 24th birthday, Olaf was caught smuggling guns into Turkey and spent eight years in a Turkish prison.  Two years later he joined a mercenary force that led a raid on that same prison.  On that mission, he lost his eye. 

 

Dragon

Born in USA, but has been living in Japan since age 5.  Began studying Uechi-Ryu Karate at age 11.  Owns 5 martial arts schools in Japan.  Has been contracting as a mercenary for the past 11 years.  Says it keeps him "sharp."  His hobby is skeet shooting in which he holds 4 world medals.

 

El Toro

A former street fighter, Manuel was recruited by the Mexican Government to combat the drug trade.  He worked undercover for the Mexican Police for 2 years but grew tired of fighting a "losing battle."  

 

Li

Tsu Li, a distant descendent of Genghis Kahn, was raised in Outer Mongolia and studied in the temples of Tibet.  A warrior, philosopher, and Zen Master, Kahn has been on only one mercenary mission.  He is sought after for his discipline and commitment.

 

Nick

On August 19, 1997, Kurakis and 3 accomplices robbed the FBI payroll truck in front of the Bureau's Washington, D.C. headquarters.  Kurakis was later arrested when stopped on a routine traffic violation in Los Angeles, but escaped the FBI while being transported back to D.C.  He has worked part-time as a merc for the last two years.  

 

Sawbones

Moreau was trained by the French Army as a medic.  Now an intern at a Paris hospital, he hires out as a mercenary for the thrill of fighting.  The grandson of a top officer, Moreau comes from a proud military family whose service dates back to Napoleon.

[Lunokhod]

I would prefer 3 full animated and full developed characters instead of 40 strange guys. Something like:

Scope - sniper and captain with good leadership

Shadow - special ops guy (stealth action guy who can climb walls for example)

Ivan - heavy weapon soldier + explosive

+ hired local guys and active militia

But its already goes wrong. So forget what i just said. Quality is more important than quantity. Thats what i want to say.

 

[LoboNocturno]

2 hours ago, Lunokhod said:

I would prefer 3 full animated and full developed characters instead of 40 strange guys. Something like:

Scope - sniper and captain with good leadership

Shadow - special ops guy (stealth action guy who can climb walls for example)

Ivan - heavy weapon soldier + explosive

+ hired local guys and active militia

But its already goes wrong. So forget what i just said. Quality is more important than quantity. Thats what i want to say.

 

I also prefer the RPC`s more then the AIM mercs especially in 1.13. My own character (I.M.P.), Dimitri, Miguel and 2 or 3 mercs from A.I.M. are enough still 2/3 of the game most times, its also good to save your budget. You dont really need to hire 5 or 6 AIM mercs still late game. I also like to leave in each town 1 merc for training militia and so i can also jump into the battle sometimes (would interest me, do you also jump to the raided sector even if you have only 1 merc?).

 

So it would make sense to make may 5 - 7 less mercs but have 5 or 7 more RPC`s around the map.

It was said we would be having around 40 mercs, which means together with the RPC`s may it will easily reach to 50 mercs.

 

@Hendrix Lets see what kind of background Omryn has ? He looks kinda like a native American or also like a Mongolian (Asiatic look). 

[Hendrix]

@LoboNocturno

5 min of Google Omryn states that it means Robust Fellow in Chukchi.

Taken from Wikipedia: "The Chukchi are a Siberian indigenous people native to the Chukchi Peninsula, the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean all within modern Russia."

If this is correct, it might be a nood to JA2 that planed to have a Inuit merc.

[LoboNocturno]

@Hendrix Which means he could have possibly a Russian nationality ? 

Also in the last dev stream, Boyan mentioned about Omryn`s talent that he has a 360 degree overwatch, he must be like the native guy from Predator somehow with 6th sense.

See here in 40:16

Omryn talent

[Hendrix]

@LoboNocturno

Not that I know but I didn't get a "Billy" (the character in Predator) feel of Omryn. Omryn is shown shortly in this trailer starting at 1:38.