First impressions

[ninjalex]

I spent 8 hours yesterday playing, so I'll say I'm invested. Coming up on 10-15 hours somewhere now. I'm having a lot of fun, what about you?

There is a thread for some grievances already, but I'd like to make a first impressions thread.

+ The game looks great

+ Combat feels pretty good, overwatch works pretty well! It's not as good as JA2 but I can't put my finger on what, that's just the "feeling"

+ Solid stupid banter and jokes(thanks Steroid for being Steroid and Fox for hitting on me every time I hit a shot)

 

- Some keymapping that is lacking, it's difficult to micromanage your team when you have to tab through. Especially when you need to set up fast overwatch

- It's annoying that climbing a ladder makes you unable to do any other things, which leads to not being able to start combat because somebody on the other side of the map is climbing a ladder

- HEALING IS SO NON-EXISTENT. I mean, I have a med kit in my inventory, but because I don't have meds I can't heal. That's kinda weird. And am I really dependent on harvesting on maps to get enough heal? Maybe I just haven't discovered the right place.

- Still unsure about scramble movement rounds, but they are somewhat negated by proper overwatch.

 

I'm enjoying myself. It feels good. There are some pet peeves, some mechanisms I feel are lacking and some things I wished were different. But all in all it's pretty solid.

I think with mods this game can go from a pretty solid game to an incredible game. The foundation is there.

So what do you guys think?

 

Edited July 15, 2023 by ninjalex

[Uncle Nick]

OMG! NGL, this game is hard, but in a good way. Haven't been challenged so much by a game, in such a long time.

Thank You Ian, Thank You HG, Thank You THQ Nordic, Thank You everyone who worked on the game. 

Friggin can't stop playing. I'm here just for a short break. Leaving now, to jump right back in. SeeYa! 

[Grim]

23 minutes ago, ninjalex said:

- HEALING IS SO NON-EXISTENT. I mean, I have a med kit in my inventory, but because I don't have meds I can't heal. That's kinda weird. And am I really dependent on harvesting on maps to get enough heal? Maybe I just haven't discovered the right place.

Healing is done in two steps
1) Healing open wounds (dark part of the health bar). It is done with a med pack and preferably someone with good medicine skill. You can fill med packs with meds but I wouldn't recommend it as med packs can be found easily during the campaign. You may heal that part just with resting (not sure).

2) Healing the closed wounds (gray part of the health bar). It can be done with doctoring operation, using meds. Meds can be found in containers (explre the maps carefully) and harvesting plants (explore even more!). BUT beware that simply resting normally or in R&R heals quite well. Don't spend meds for just a few HPs lacking.

[ninjalex]

6 minutes ago, Grim said:

2) Healing the closed wounds (gray part of the health bar). It can be done with doctoring operation, using meds. Meds can be found in containers (explre the maps carefully) and harvesting plants (explore even more!). BUT beware that simply resting normally or in R&R heals quite well. Don't spend meds for just a few HPs lacking.

Yeah I know this, I just find that having constant lack of meds makes it difficult to heal. But resting and R&R also heals is interesting, I will try that. My experience from JA2 is constant healing and that it takes super long if you dont actively doctor.

[D13]

I'm 10 hours in, and unfortunately the more I play, the more I realize it's just not my type of game. Not a bad game, there are many good pieces - the nice music, interesting maps, pretty graphics and sounds.

But combat is the most important piece, and combat just doesn't feel like what I enjoy about JA2: scenario evaluation -> tactical planning -> execution of plan with exact control over my side of the battle (all while I can have a sandwich in one hand). The JA3 mix of turn-based and real-time tactics means if I don't click fast and precise enough, I'm frequently off to a bad start, regardless of tactics.

In addition, some combat internals seem opaque, and what should be an informed decision becomes guesswork. I don't mean CtH, but enemy line of sight, danger zones, AP budgeting beyond the current turn, ...

To me the game often feels more like work than fun: I have to work to get into a situation that is fun, and until then, I'm not fighting the enemy but the game itself. I have to reload savegames because of this, which kills my motivation to figure out a "perfect" battle plan, because I know something will go wrong anyway. I'm just never as much in control about my side of the battle as in JA2, and I don't feel as responsible for the outcome, including the fate of my mercs.

Minor annoyances are the occasionally odd camera angles, and restricted views near the edge of the map that make it difficult to see what's going on. I also think one can't zoom out enough which makes some sectors feel like I'm playing JA2 on 640x480, making it hard to fully grasp the sector layout. Satellite view (O) is an option but then I lose height perception. Inventory is really poor but this has already been discussed at length.

There is one message on the Steam forum that resonated strongly with me: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1084160/discussions/0/7405656898321245175/?ctp=3#c7405656898321656321 (not sure if the author is "our" @GODSPEED )

I hope there will be a mod or cheatmode to enter sectors at will, as I don't think I will bother with the campaign but would like to explore Grand Chien in its entirety.

 

[GODSPEED]

20 minutes ago, D13 said:

There is one message on the Steam forum that resonated strongly with me: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1084160/discussions/0/7405656898321245175/?ctp=3#c7405656898321656321 (not sure if the author is "our" @GODSPEED )

Yes, that is me. 🤝

 

Even after some more hours in, I've put it down a bit. I really don't hate it.. but too many things piss me off.

 

The things that piss me off, well apart from the teenage mercs trying real hard to sound funny, ate the very arbitrary "rules".

 

Example being something rain, fog or a dust storm map.

Reality: weather will affect your vision, movement, energy and whatever tools you use.

JA2: weather affects visibility range, stamina/breath. 1.13 added such things as weapon reliability, jamming.

JA3: weather barely affects vision, you see the enemies, but the weather gives a debuff to your shooting distance. Weather creates a debuff so that all hits can only be grazing hits. Grazing hits are forced low damage hits.

 

Jagged Alliance 3 is like the bastard child of JA's stat system combined with Dungeons & Dragons 5e.

The stats are all there, but the translation of the information to the gamer is not logical or grounded in something I can "naturally" comprehend. I have to learn the games arbitrary rules; meaning I am constantly bogged down by overwhelming ui windows with buff/debuff info.

 

That's fine for some. Not what I've come to expect from a Jagged Alliance title though.

 

 

[LXant]

Since I already gave my thoughts on the things I'd like to improve here, I'll take the opportunity to give my positive feedback in this thread.

For one, I love the music and art style, it captures the feel of the old games while coming in a more modern look. The merc management, the notebook, the map, all of that feels like I always imagined a new JA to look like. Well done.

I also appreciate that we can make our own merc via the IMP test. It's especially well received by me since it likely wasn't always planned to include it.

What I also like is the combat range, which is on average bigger than in modern turn-based tactical games (like XCOM). It could be bigger, yes, but it's not in a bad place right now and I can engage enemies at a good distance.

The big variety of ammo, the weapon modding, the inventory space (which is determined by strength) all make sense and have great potential.

Then there's the modding support. Whatever weaknesses the game currently has, it's only a question of time before mods bring some variety or unbalance the game in a way which the devs would never dare. That the game comes with the (very convenient) Steam Workshop is a huge bonus in my books.

Would I recommend it? Probably, but not to everyone. And that's for the reasons @GODSPEED already mentioned. You're often fighting arbitrary rules set by the game that don't make much sense. Just now I had an encounter with two crocodiles in a foggy area. Why do I need 6 headshots to kill one single animal? Why does it get free 60+ dmg melee crits in a 2m radius around it? Some enemies are just overtuned, and with the forced grazing hits in fog you kind of have to get close here. I don't appreciate challenges that don't make much sense, it just feels too game-y.

And now I ran out of ammo for my AK, after killing a group of enemies that came with AK's, but didn't drop any loot/ammo. What should've felt like a victory feels like a loss. I won, yet I'm off worse thanks to it.

But the good thing is that those details are just a question of balance, not of inherent flaws around which the entire game was built. It's not a bad game by any means, and probably the best 'true' JA successor after JA2. That alone is more than I could've hoped for, given the disastrous track record of horrible JA games in the last decade or two.

So, for all the little things that annoy me, I'm overall happy with the final product. Well done, devs, well done.

[Frank]

Quote

So what do you guys think?

So far I'm loving it. I'm getting that crazy feeling I had when I played JA and JA2 for the first time: the joy of combat, the sense of freedom and exploration, the desire to just get through one more battle before going to bed.

I've only played it for six hours so far, but I think that we, after a quarter of a century, finally have a worthy new member of the JA family.

[Jaywalker]

It's Wasteland 3 without the parts that made Wasteland 3 suck (critter spam and gamebreaking bugs), I am content, especially at the pricepoint.

Also, modding in the future will give the game some real long legs if it picks up, and even if it doesn't it'll be enough for me to have my own fun later on.

[LoboNocturno]

So far after playing it around 10 hours, it is most definitely fun to play. The best part of Jagged Alliance 3 is surely the environment & nature sounds. The gameplay is also fun (at least so far) BUT what really annoyed me is, they did nearly nothing to the BETA version, no new animations added, explosions still dont knock the enemies down (i blowed 4 enemies to pieces though by 1 of Barry`s special grenades which was a lil wow moment but still there should be more animations, the animations feels also totally like a indie game most times) then seems like the sniper rifles are the saviour of our game (sniping from distance with a good marksmanship combined with dexterity is the best strategy to clean the enemies), our so loved assault rifles from JA2 has much less impact and pistols are also pretty useless (especially when a bit stronger enemies start to come, though Team Haemimont said the pistols will be useful still end of the game ?, didnt see it as yet)

 

I conquered the last sector of Ernie Island with a Gewehr 98 (with Buns), AK47 (with Igor), Double Barrel (with Barry) and a Uzi (with Wendigo, IMP) could not really find anything better. I must admit it was not that easy on Commando, so i restarted that sector a few times, once Pierre comes with his guards to you, its a pain in the @$$ to take him down, he comes just like Terminator and once he is very close to you, he will launch his deadly melee attacks with his machete which will kill you with just 2 blows. I had mostly success with Buns sniping silently most of the enemies or you can also take the enemies in real time quietly as well but its weird and once the enemies are alerted they bullrush on you, i shot to Pierre`s head with pistols, Uzi & Double Barrel from near distance but the man losing very few HP each time, you really need to keep him at bay or throw a bomb on him. Yes throwing is also 1 of the most effective methods in JA3 after sniping, so to have few good throwers in your squad will lots of sense. Like i said i killed with Barry 4 enemies at once with "Shaped Charges".

 

Also find the gameplay also a lil hectic, changed the mouse controls to old school, could not play at all with the right mouse click, then the inventory is also a lil shaky imo, could have done better but thats it from me for now, dont want to cry too much in my first impression. 

[just_dont]

So far it feels pretty great. It's not particularly hard (on the highest difficulty), but that would be better left for modders anyway. The rules of engagement are certainly not JA2, but that's not really a bad thing.

I don't mind a large step away from realism in general, but still I'd rather have it in check in certain particular moments (like enemies showering you with unlimited shots while providing absolutely no loot when dead). But again, I understand considerations that were leading to that - any kind of "true looting" would return us to JA2 times again, where it wasn't even remotely possible to run out of ammo enemies were using. On the other hand, the "parts" abstraction works pretty okay for the crafting/modification purposes.

Some game mechanics feel somewhat undercooked - like sound alerts, firing small firearms won't aggro enemies literally 50 meters away? Really? Mines exploding from bullets but not from grenades? Grenades themselves blasting down walls but at the same time not displacing enemies? People throwing knives like bricks?

But those are pretty little things; in general the combat feels quite good. I'm sure that with more patches and balancing (and maybe mods) things will turn out perfect.

 

PS: Not sure why people are making big fuss over, say, weather effects. Fog DOES reduce vision range pretty heavily (along with grazing mechanic), like it should. Not like it matters too much when you're having Livewire in your team, but it does.

[Solaris_Wave]

13 hours ago, GODSPEED said:

JA3: weather barely affects vision, you see the enemies, but the weather gives a debuff to your shooting distance. Weather creates a debuff so that all hits can only be grazing hits. Grazing hits are forced low damage hits.

I read in Steam that grazing hits affect your mercs damage ability but the enemy soldiers don't have the same penalty? Is this true? If so, that is something that will hopefully be patched, either because it was a bug or because it was a deliberate decision that in reality, is utterly unreasonable.

 

12 hours ago, LXant said:

Just now I had an encounter with two crocodiles in a foggy area. Why do I need 6 headshots to kill one single animal? Why does it get free 60+ dmg melee crits in a 2m radius around it? Some enemies are just overtuned, and with the forced grazing hits in fog you kind of have to get close here. I don't appreciate challenges that don't make much sense, it just feels too game-y.

What kind of weapon were you using that needed six headshots to kill a croc? I am curious about this. It also sounds as if those shots were forced to be grazing shots due to the fog.

I have said it before. Fog should limit your ability to see the enemy. It would also dampen sound. It wouldn't make a bullet weaker though. Once you see an enemy and pull the trigger, that bullet would do what it would have done in clear conditions, especially at the closer ranges possibly forced by fog.

It just sounds like a "Wouldn't it be cool if…" idea that was agreed upon and would elevate a threat such as a crocodile. The thing is, you are then forced to close in with the animal to where, it being a close combat orientated creature, then gets the advantage. It also sounds, from your description, like it gets some short ranged area of effect attack. With me being unable to buy and play the game at present, I can only speculate on what it is like and as you say, it sounds like one of those 'gamey' implementations.

 

12 hours ago, LXant said:

And now I ran out of ammo for my AK, after killing a group of enemies that came with AK's, but didn't drop any loot/ammo. What should've felt like a victory feels like a loss. I won, yet I'm off worse thanks to it.

Just reading that sounds like it would get on my nerves! There is no logic to that unless all those enemies expended their entire inventory of ammo. I read elsewhere on Steam that enemies seem to have infinite ammo and then as soon as they die, magically have nothing remaining.

Ammo should almost always be available in some capacity.

What happens if you run out of ammo and a series of losses or hard-won victories ensures you have no scrap and no ammo or weapons are retrieved from fallen enemies? Do you have to quit and start a new campaign? How do you continue if ammo is hard to come by, it cannot be salvaged or bought? Again, this is a question I am asking because I am currently unable to play JA3.

 

10 hours ago, LoboNocturno said:

The gameplay is also fun (at least so far) BUT what really annoyed me is, they did nearly nothing to the BETA version, no new animations added, explosions still dont knock the enemies down

We all voiced our opinions on those previews showing enemies seemingly unfazed by explosions. I thought that they would have addressed that.

 

10 hours ago, LoboNocturno said:

seems like the sniper rifles are the saviour of our game (sniping from distance with a good marksmanship combined with dexterity is the best strategy to clean the enemies), our so loved assault rifles from JA2 has much less impact and pistols are also pretty useless (especially when a bit stronger enemies start to come, though Team Haemimont said the pistols will be useful still end of the game ?, didnt see it as yet)

This bothers me as my first ever post in these forums went into my criticisms of JA2 (despite my obvious fondness for it) and the dominance of aimed headshots. Sniper rifles were so powerful in the game or were at least that way for me. Handguns were used as starting weapons and then done away with pretty quickly. I maintained that handguns would always remain relevant and that JA3 should employ them as such. If your primary weapon jams or needs reloading while enemies are present and in close proximity, you switch to your handgun, just like in real life. Yes, they are mostly weaker but they are quick to draw and quick to aim. They should excel in close quarters or when climbing a ladder.

 

10 hours ago, just_dont said:

Mines exploding from bullets but not from grenades? Grenades themselves blasting down walls but at the same time not displacing enemies?

Hopefully, they can be patched.

[Melliores]

@GODSPEED Fog does impede visual range in JA3. Even when you are not in combat but in a town, all the NPCs have a ??? over their heads and your range of vision is fairly limited. Most of the NPCs will be hidden by the fog and will only be revealed when you get closer.

You can still use explosives and grenades in fog conditions and they are pretty powerful. To be able to get normal hits instead of grazing ones, you will need to approach closer to your target, preferably with an automatic weapon. I think the fog malus is intended as a direct impediment to snipers, making you adapt your tactics or simply wait for the fog to disperse in a few hours (when possible).

Heavy rain is also interesting - you have lower weapon reliability but most importantly, every Aim level now costs 2 AP instead of 1. That also makes sense - it is not easy to aim under heavy rainfall, trying to focus on a target covered by a blanket of raindrops and some wind possibly.

@Solaris_Wave Handguns (pistols and revolvers) are very much useful all throughout the game. In JA3 each type of weapon have their own special attack and for handguns this is a type of shooting advance - you spend 5 AP but move and produce a single shot at the end of your movement. This allows you to move from cover to cover and get a good hit. Then you should still have ample AP left to either go on Overwatch or produce another shot or two. The trick is to pick your handgun carefully, as currently there are not that many of them in the game and because they have limited number of modding slots, their most important trait is the ammo caliber they are using.

[LXant]

2 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

What kind of weapon were you using that needed six headshots to kill a croc? I am curious about this. It also sounds as if those shots were forced to be grazing shots due to the fog.

I have said it before. Fog should limit your ability to see the enemy. It would also dampen sound. It wouldn't make a bullet weaker though. Once you see an enemy and pull the trigger, that bullet would do what it would have done in clear conditions, especially at the closer ranges possibly forced by fog.

It just sounds like a "Wouldn't it be cool if…" idea that was agreed upon and would elevate a threat such as a crocodile. The thing is, you are then forced to close in with the animal to where, it being a close combat orientated creature, then gets the advantage. It also sounds, from your description, like it gets some short ranged area of effect attack. With me being unable to buy and play the game at present, I can only speculate on what it is like and as you say, it sounds like one of those 'gamey' implementations.

I had two Gewehr 98 rifles, one AK 47, one Uzi, one MP40 and one .44 Peacemaker. Due to the fog I made sure to be close enough to not have grazing hits, which was dangerous, as crocodiles get automatic overwatch in a radius of 2 tiles around them and can move and attack over a bigger distance each turn.

36 headshot dmg from 5 tiles away, at max aim, look like this. You can also see how little 36 dmg are actually taking off from the total HP, which is somewhere at ~150 hp.

 

I have a Kevlar vest, which gives me 40% dmg reduction when hit. Crocs have 50%. Why can't we make suits of Croc leather for the same effect, if the game makes them more durable than modern Kevlar?

[LoboNocturno]

@LXant Didnt encounter any crocs as yet since i went to the north directly to the desert area. But i noticed already with Pierre (as he had some better armor), was keep shooting him from close range with AK47, Double Barrel, Uzi & Peacemaker but he was only losing small amount of HP each time, seems like the crocs are even way tougher (in real life it takes only 1 headshot to kill a croc (unless this is mutant animal), so it should not take more then 2 shots to the head, could may agree if it could take 3 - 4 body shots). 

[Raeven]

3 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

There is no logic to that unless all those enemies expended their entire inventory of ammo. I read elsewhere on Steam that enemies seem to have infinite ammo and then as soon as they die, magically have nothing remaining.

The logic is, the game is intentionally designed to limit ammo drops. It's perfectly logical, it's just not realistic, because it's not trying to be. 

It works the exact same way in JA1 and JA2. 

[LXant]

@LoboNocturno

As you see in the name, it's not a mutated croc, just a normal animal. Either the guns are underpowered, or enemies are way overtuned. I'd say it's a mix of both.

With boss characters like Pierre I'm actually okay with a bit of unrealistic dmg sponge behaviour. If he dropped dead from a single pistol headshot, it would make the game trivial. The fight is memorable exactly because I had to focus fire on him.

But for normal unnamed enemies, for random ecounters, for nameless grunts? Headshot = kill. End of story. That they throw a lot of enemies at you, all of which can tank dmg as good as Pierre does, is just overtuning things way too much.

The appeal of the game is that we play a bunch of elite fighters against a military junta. While we're tough, tanky, high-accuracy and high-dmg output, stealthy and incredibly versatile, the enemy has none of that, but better supplies, numbers and initial control over the map. That is supposed to be the basic setup. Some key positions are then held by their elite, maybe even by a tank, and that gets you to the limit of your abilities, a tough nut to crack.

But that's not what happens in the game. The enemy militia is also tough, tanky, high-accuracy and high dmg output, with incredibly good self-dissolving equipment, while still bringing huge numbers and unlimited supplies (which we can't take for ourselves) to the table.

Just now I had entered a sector that I was told had 8 enemies in it. But when I enter the sector, a cutscene plays and I get 30 seconds to prepare for an assault of 15 enemies. They all come at once, in one big group, each one of them can tank two hits to the face before the 3rd drops them. They all come with sniper rifles, assault rifles and shotguns, they throw grenades and my cover is a bunch of cars, which can (and will) blow up in my face if I don't move quickly. Not to mention that I don't have enough ammo to actually kill all of them, and they don't drop enough to replace what I have to shoot at them. It's frustrating game design.

I think a combat rebalance is in order.

[sandman25dcsss]

7 minutes ago, LXant said:

I think a combat rebalance is in order.

I am not sure. Are you playing on the last difficulty level? Primary difference between difficulty levels should be number of shots it takes to kill an enemy. If all ordinary enemies die from a single headshot no matter what difficulty level, you are left with either increasing number of enemies or decreasing your own accuracy. First option does not work that well because of stealth kills, second option either does not work or makes the game too random depending on exact accuracy penalty.

Edited July 16, 2023 by sandman25dcsss

[just_dont]

It's pretty fine for animals to be quite tough, otherwise they will always be a non-factor. JA2 cats were extremely bullet-spongey as well, unless you specifically used high-power HP bullets.

[LXant]

1 minute ago, sandman25dcsss said:

I am not sure. Are you playing on the last difficulty level? Primary difference between difficulty levels should be number of shots it takes to kill an enemy. If all ordinary enemies die from a single headshot no matter what difficulty level, you are left with either increasing number of enemies or decreasing your own accuracy. First option does not work that well because of stealth kills, second option either does not work or makes the game too random depending on exact accuracy penalty.

Instead we're left with standard enemies able to tank hits to the head. I know, it's a game and all that, so I expect that to a certain degree. But still, it's a game about shooting people. A game that tries to include realism. So why don't they die when I shoot them right into their face?

I think it was a mistake to include aiming at body parts, at least in the current state of combat. By offering options like a headshot, they opened the door to realism, but then pulled back at the last possible moment by removing the realistic consequences of actually getting shot in the head. Same with hits to the arms or legs. Hit to the arms: they drop their weapon. Hit to the leg: enemy drops to the ground. But neither happens, they get a slight debuff to accuracy, but then still fire suppressive fire from across the screen hit me behind full cover. Where does such a state of combat leave us?

And no, I'm not playing the highest difficulty. For the time being, to get a feel for the game and its mechanics, I play on the recommended standard difficulty. I don't know what higher difficulties actually do. Do they give the enemy better stats? Do you get higher item wearout, higher scrap costs and less money from mines? I don't know.

What I know is that shooting someone in the head with a gun, outside of a boss fight, should kill them. Leave dmg sponges to the higher difficulties, which suspend realism in favor of an unrealistic challenge.

[sandman25dcsss]

8 minutes ago, LXant said:

Instead we're left with standard enemies able to tank hits to the head. I know, it's a game and all that, so I expect that to a certain degree. But still, it's a game about shooting people. A game that tries to include realism. So why don't they die when I shoot them right into their face?

I think it was a mistake to include aiming at body parts, at least in the current state of combat. By offering options like a headshot, they opened the door to realism, but then pulled back at the last possible moment by removing the realistic consequences of actually getting shot in the head. Same with hits to the arms or legs. Hit to the arms: they drop their weapon. Hit to the leg: enemy drops to the ground. But neither happens, they get a slight debuff to accuracy, but then still fire suppressive fire from across the screen hit me behind full cover. Where does such a state of combat leave us?

And no, I'm not playing the highest difficulty. For the time being, to get a feel for the game and its mechanics, I play on the recommended standard difficulty. I don't know what higher difficulties actually do. Do they give the enemy better stats? Do you get higher item wearout, higher scrap costs and less money from mines? I don't know.

What I know is that shooting someone in the head with a gun, outside of a boss fight, should kill them. Leave dmg sponges to the higher difficulties, which suspend realism in favor of an unrealistic challenge.

Sorry, I am not clear what you are suggesting to differentiate difficulty levels.

Roleplaying and realism are good as long at they do not hurt game play and balance which are more important for most players.

I treat headshot as "much more damage and much lower accuracy", that's all.

Edited July 16, 2023 by sandman25dcsss

[Tzg]

Folks - THIS IS a JAGGED ALLIANCE game - and very good one (in my opinion) not an ULTRAREALISTIC MILSIM OF MERCENARIES. 

these games were never ultrarealistic - there was always element of goofiness and crazines especially with animals : 

- JA 1 - foooking electric eel could kill your best merc in a second

- JA 2 - bloodcats and aliens 🙂 I mean seriously 

 

Jagged Alliance games (1, DG, 2, 2.5) were always a pisstake on the genre - nothing else, nothing less. And pisstake done really well. Some folks with 1.13 turned it into something different - which is fine - everyone to their own. BUT 1.13 changed game and took it soul. 
Jagged Alliance 3 has the original soul - and yes there are issues and problems but in general game is AWESOME - really good. 

I spent like 18h so far. And its been nothing but fun. Banter (yes immature! it supposed to be like that!) between mercs, the overly grotesque mercs, the weapons, the different outcomes based on the merc and your own ability of playing and choices you make - it is brilliant. 

Someone mentioned problems with Pierre - well, the beauty of this game is ... you can play it your own way. For example set mg-42 on approach, and send another merc to the tower , repair/fix the big ass machine gun and use it to kill most of the enemies and send others towards pre-prepared mg ... amazing!  
 

[Melliores]

@LXant

If you want to be pedant about headshots, it depends on the wound, the caliber of the projectile, as well as the entry and exit (if any) spots. People have been known to have survived a musket ball to the head (those are both bigger and heavier than almost all modern calibers), an axe to the skull and even a metal rod jammed in your head in some freak industrial accident.

Now all those wounds will definitely leave you at the least scarred for life, but you can survive.

In my experience with JA3 on Mission Impossible difficulty, a Brute (those guys with shotguns, lots of health and good armour) can survive a shot to the head with a shotgun dealing 70-75 damage. However that Brute only has just a few HP remaining and any hit will bring it down. So it is still a bit realistic but not over the top one.

The best would be headshots to impose a certain status on the target. However due to game balance (you almost always being the attacker) I can see why this would make players go for headshots even more. And why the dev team decided to not overbuff them.

@Tzg

Well put sir. I did use the machine gun on the watch tower, combined with a sniper on top of the roof on the main building. I also attacked at night, giving Pierre's band little choice but to run towards the machine gun. The gunner alone (Omryn) had 4 or 5 kills just from Overwatch shots. 🙂

Edited July 16, 2023 by Melliores

[LXant]

26 minutes ago, Melliores said:

The best would be headshots to impose a certain status on the target. However due to game balance (you almost always being the attacker) I can see why this would make players go for headshots even more. And why the dev team decided to not overbuff them.

That is what I mean. Splitting the head open, putting a bullet in it, is more than just a little bit of inconvenient pain that can be safely ignored. It's something that is life-threatening, usually lethal, and should leave the victim - if alive - at the very least incapacitated.

There's no way someone with a bullet or an axe in the head could just walk it off and shoot back as if it was nothing.

The game is missing this currently. Shooting someone in the arm gives a bigger penalty to accuracy than shooting someone in the head. That seems awfully wrong.

[Tzg]

52 minutes ago, LXant said:

That is what I mean. Splitting the head open, putting a bullet in it, is more than just a little bit of inconvenient pain that can be safely ignored. It's something that is life-threatening, usually lethal, and should leave the victim - if alive - at the very least incapacitated.

There's no way someone with a bullet or an axe in the head could just walk it off and shoot back as if it was nothing.

The game is missing this currently. Shooting someone in the arm gives a bigger penalty to accuracy than shooting someone in the head. That seems awfully wrong.

Not true. You can literally blow enemies heads off. With one shot. Boom and dude has no head and dies instantly like in JA2 or Fallout. 
 

JA games including this one are heavy on stats and parameters. Exactly as it was in JA2 you need right tool for this job. Simple.