LoboNocturno Posted May 27, 2023 Share Posted May 27, 2023 14 hours ago, Lunokhod said: OMG they should have at least remove the cravat from Barry away, even at work I don't like to wear it then Barry with it in the battlefield? No way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elenhil Posted May 28, 2023 Share Posted May 28, 2023 22 hours ago, LoboNocturno said: OMG they should have at least remove the cravat from Barry away, even at work I don't like to wear it then Barry with it in the battlefield? No way! I think the cravat is the least of Barry's problems. Compared to JA2 where Barry had a youngish, friendly face (and character, mind you), this Barry looks outright mean (blame the ubiquitous head tilt) AND old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elenhil Posted May 28, 2023 Share Posted May 28, 2023 On 5/24/2023 at 9:58 PM, DonBilbo said: Have a look here These AI-generated portraits are, in fact, weirdly reminiscent of the current hand-drawn JA3 ones in that they make stupid baseless changes. Like, why is the AI's version of Dr. Q. suddenly smiling? It makes the character totally different. And the answer to my question is: (dare I call it that) artistic sources. AI algorithms use photos of, inevitably, smiling people to teach themselves. H's human artists unconsciously (or is it consciously?) use things like Fortnite imagery. And the result is essentially the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solaris_Wave Posted May 28, 2023 Share Posted May 28, 2023 5 hours ago, elenhil said: H's human artists unconsciously (or is it consciously?) use things like Fortnite imagery. Hopefully, they don't follow Fortnite too closely. Otherwise, the next merc will look like a banana with sunglasses. If that is where the smirking expressions come from (and it wouldn't surprise me, even though I purposely know nothing about Fortnite), that kind of thing is less likely to happen with older, seasoned veterans. Most mercs would probably just have a face looking straight ahead, maybe to the side, or if smiling, it was a photo taken during one of their previous tours. Barry looks as if he is regretting wearing that red tie with his other clothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WILDFIRE Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 Barry looks so different I really can not recognize him. His facial expression is also so grim and aggressive. Right now I can not tell why the devs choose this design. Maybe with more context the design makes sense. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowMagic Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 None of them are well drawn. The whole art style is completely off and something you have seen in a dozen of other modern games. Way too cartoonic for a game that is set in a war torn country. Oh well, just fired up JA2 again and on my way to San Mona, steal KingPin's cash so I can afford hiring Shadow. I can resign the rest of them then 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solaris_Wave Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 (edited) Every time I look at Barry's angry, sombre face for JA3, he looks nothing like his JA2 version. Not only that but he looks a lot like Mike from GTA V. Edited May 31, 2023 by Solaris_Wave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeth Nyrrow Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 Barry going dark actually feels like a natural evolution of a seasoned merc seeing a lot of action. I liken it to him doing a full tour on Arulco and, "seeing stuff". Magic going from grim mr. business to chipper swag daddy makes less sense though. Maybe he took his friend Ice's advice to lighten up a bit too much? LOL! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solaris_Wave Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 I wonder if there has been any written documentation, either by Ian Currie or someone else, for the changes in character for the mercs? What I am specifically pinpointing here is deliberate canonical changes to their personalities. Are they just a reimagining of each character or something more script led? Why does Barry look like his day at the hardware store turned into a bloody gunfight, while Funky Magic (his new, full and complete name) now gets his groove on at the Soul Train? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remi1987 Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 YouTube comments as well as Discord complain too about the new look of Magic the salsa teacher 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solaris_Wave Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 (edited) I wonder how Haemimont could have created the mercs any differently for JA3? Could they have handled them without criticism? When you look at their JA2 versions, the mercs haven't got that much personality in their portraits, except for a certain few. Shadow looks characteristic of a serious professional by way of his face camo, Ivan has his ushanka and stern look to define his Russian Ivan Danko inspiration, Fox has her long hair and choker. Many though are just faces (not that we had a problem with that). It is only really in JA3 that I can see that there is more flamboyance to each portrait. Each portrait now stands out more, for better and worse. Was there an alternative that could have been employed by the artists, that conveyed their individualism without making them all look like similar soldiers? This is not a criticism at anybody who has said anything against their look (because I'm one of them) but more of an observation and curiosity. By trying to bring them more to life, was criticism inevitable? Edited May 31, 2023 by Solaris_Wave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeth Nyrrow Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 2 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said: When you look at their JA2 versions, the mercs haven't got that much personality in their portraits, except for a certain few. It's not just the portraits though, the voice acting and dialog are also larges parts of it with some big misses there (such as Magic). They wouldn't be able to please everyone for sure but I think if they stayed truer to merc foundations there would have been less vocal opposition. The real irony is that isn't this the part of the game that Ian Currie was hired specifically to handle? Maybe it was more story quest stuff but it seems to me this is the main reason to have him on the team: for character continuity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuurminator Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 7 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said: I wonder if there has been any written documentation, either by Ian Currie or someone else, for the changes in character for the mercs? What I am specifically pinpointing here is deliberate canonical changes to their personalities. Are they just a reimagining of each character or something more script led? I don't think anyone at Haemimont said "Let's write and design our returning cast out of character!" I think they tried to do the characters justice and just missed the mark in some places. Capturing the voice of someone else's character is harder than it looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Povok Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 8 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said: Could they have handled them without criticism? This is obviously an impossible task. There is always someone that is going to complain about a certain feature, because he just doesn't like it. And there's always someone that's going to trash talk everything. BUT if practicaly everybody that is familliar with the game aggree that something doesn't work (like Magic's portrait), well then there is surely something to it and it should be addressed because then something obviously is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MateKiddleton Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 Personally the one that misses most for me is Ivan's portrait. He's just too friendly looking now and not rough enough. Magic is second, but I can live with it. On the other hand, I like Meltdown's new gang leader look, and Mouse looks fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WILDFIRE Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 I think Wolf is still one of the best looking new designs. His outfit fits the battlefield and you can recognize him. I wish all character designs would be like this. I guess the devs chose Wesley Snipes as a role model for the JA3 Magic design, because as far as I remember he wore this hat in Expendables 3. But I am not 100% sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunokhod Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 2 hours ago, MateKiddleton said: He's just too friendly looking now and not rough enough. Like everyone else in this game. 2 hours ago, MateKiddleton said: Mouse looks fantastic. Really? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowMagic Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 (edited) I wonder if anyone at Haemimont has ever played JA1 and/or JA2 (incl. JA:DG)? If so, who would ever approve this current art style and mutiliation of characters? They would do justice to those classic JA games by renaming this game and just completely let go of the Jagged Alliance theme and it's original characters. Because, no offence here, this game has very little to do with Jagged Alliance. It's an insult really. Like most of the other failed attempts before. Edited June 1, 2023 by ShadowMagic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WILDFIRE Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 I simply miss the mature atmosphere of JA2. The cartoony art style and the missing animated portraits are aspects that kill most of the atmosphere for me. JA2 was a game for adults and now I think the serious background is missing, because I see funny quests and characters in JA3 all the time. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scope112 Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 (edited) The art style of JA3 isn't based on staying in line with the tone of the previous games (JA1 and JA2). It just follows the same art templates that they have used in previous games. It's just lazy design work. Let me show you an example. The following screenshot is from one of their former games, Victor Vran. Looks awfully familiar, right? Edited June 1, 2023 by scope112 Missing info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zwolf Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 I'm sorry to hear that some people don't like it. Personally I don't mind at all, game doesn't need to be an exact copy, I just need it to be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scope112 Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 (edited) Same art style across different games: Jagged Alliance 3 Viktor Vran (Another Haehimont Game) Edited June 1, 2023 by scope112 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuurminator Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 24 minutes ago, scope112 said: Same art style across different games: I wouldn't call it the same art style. It's the same presentation - a static 3D render of the speaker with text alongside - but JA's character design is more realistic. Viktor Vran's character designs are obviously fantastical, while both of the characters in your JA screenshots are wearing clothes that people actually wear in real life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solaris_Wave Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 I agree, it is the same presentation. Whether it is the same artist(s) or a similar style, you can see that the two games have the same vibrant colours for the characters, even if the fashion is entirely different. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elenhil Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 6 hours ago, WILDFIRE said: JA2 was a game for adults Teenage me disagrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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