Mod support is confirmed!

[ArulcoFan]

11 hours ago, Lunokhod said:

So gay. 😄

I am not going to say anything 🤣

IFISPEAK

[ShadowMagic]

On 6/9/2023 at 2:21 PM, Stuurminator said:

Can you explain what your thought process is here? Do you think the developers said "We need to free up money for multiplayer, so we're going to design, model, and render bad designs instead of good ones"?

Exactly that.

 

[ShadowMagic]

On 6/9/2023 at 2:21 PM, Stuurminator said:

Can you explain what your thought process is here? Do you think the developers said "We need to free up money for multiplayer, so we're going to design, model, and render bad designs instead of good ones"?

double post

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by ShadowMagic

[DonBilbo]

4 hours ago, ShadowMagic said:

Exactly that.

 

I guess that’s what happened then. Sounds absolutely plausible… not. But your answer made me laugh. So thanks for that 😄. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by DonBilbo

[Stuurminator]

6 hours ago, ShadowMagic said:

Exactly that.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, so if you are, please excuse me. In short, I don't think the designs we have can be attributed to multiplayer. I don't think all of them fit, but I don't think the ones I dislike are cheap or rushed out the door - I just don't think they match the characters. Budget, in my mind, was not the problem there.

[ShadowMagic]

18 hours ago, Stuurminator said:

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, so if you are, please excuse me. In short, I don't think the designs we have can be attributed to multiplayer. I don't think all of them fit, but I don't think the ones I dislike are cheap or rushed out the door - I just don't think they match the characters. Budget, in my mind, was not the problem there.

Then what would be the reason they kind of neglected character portraying in this game? They even had Ian Currie on board. How many of the characters got through Q&A dep. is puzzling me. 

Also, those Snype dialogues that are intended to bring back some of the JA humor? It all feels over the top to me. Take Igor (the mime player) for example. Yes, we know that he likes to drink liquor but no need to constantly emphasize it, hence stereotype it. There has been put so much weight on it that it ain't even funny any more at some point. Hope you know what I mean?
In JA2 he didnt need to say he would open up a bottle of Vodka to celebrate his contract. He was just straight professional and to the point. It feels a bit clownesque this way and basically the problem with characters in Tropico Alliance 3 in general.

Kinda the same with the first Dumb and Dumber movie, versus Dumb and Dumberer. Both had the same main actors but the second movie simply sucked big time and flopped because they 'exaggerated' it. Eventually the audience just be like "yeah, yeah, now we know already".

I don't know man, it all feels really amateuristic for what I have seen so far. Perhaps it's Balkan humor which is generally hard to grasp for outsiders.

Hopefully they will surprise us upon release and remodeled the characters enough.

Edited June 13, 2023 by ShadowMagic

[Jaywalker]

Flanderization is the name of the process.

JA3 writing, from all we've seen so far, suffers from extensive "flanderization".

Traits that in the previous game were minor details of the mercenaries private life are now being made front and center of their entire personality.

To a person with any amount of intelligence, this is exhausting and insulting.

To someone that remembers them fondly from the previous games, JA2 especially, this is a desecration of sorts.

The only kind of people who would find it "endearing" are the types that intend to spend no more than 10-20 hours with the game, "streamers" and "butterflies", who'll pop the game for a few evenings while it's new and then never again, lest the joke wears thin.

[Stuurminator]

4 hours ago, ShadowMagic said:

Then what would be the reason they kind of neglected character portraying in this game? They even had Ian Currie on board. How many of the characters got through Q&A dep. is puzzling me. 

Also, those Snype dialogues that are intended to bring back some of the JA humor? It all feels over the top to me. Take Igor (the mime player) for example. Yes, we know that he likes to drink liquor but no need to constantly emphasize it, hence stereotype it. There has been put so much weight on it that it ain't even funny any more at some point. Hope you know what I mean?
In JA2 he didnt need to say he would open up a bottle of Vodka to celebrate his contract. He was just straight professional and to the point. It feels a bit clownesque this way and basically the problem with characters in Tropico Alliance 3 in general.

I remember Igor being one of the goofier characters in JA2. Even then, they leaned on his alcoholism a bit too hard. That's just a minor detail, though, as I agree with your point that the writing in this game looks inferior to JA2. Characters are too stereotyped or are too different from their depictions in earlier games.

I don't agree that this was due to the budget. I think the game's writers are just not on the same level as JA2's, but the developers do not recognize this. Ian Currie is not a magic bullet to prevent this, either; he also created JA1 and DG, but many of the mercenaries in those games (mostly the ones that didn't make the cut for JA2) were also stereotyped and one-dimensional in the same way they are in JA3. For all I know, Ian Currie may be the reason, or part of the reason, the writing is what it is.

[Stuurminator]

To expand on my point, I think part of the problem is that this is clearly a passion project. The game is being made by a relatively small team (compared to AAA games, at least) of what are probably longtime JA fans motivated by their love of the games and think they know how to do it justice. Unfortunately, writing is one of those things that everyone thinks they're good at, but relatively few people actually are.

I'm sure that if I were (somehow) writing for this game, I'd write up what I think are perfect interpretations of these characters, but many others would think are pale imitations. I suspect the devs are in a similar situation and either don't realize their writing is flawed or just can't bear to turn that creative control over to someone else. This isn't a problem you can fix just by throwing more money at it.

Sorry for the double post, but you lose your ability to edit posts almost immediately on this forum.

[Xeth Nyrrow]

1 hour ago, Stuurminator said:

For all I know, Ian Currie may be the reason, or part of the reason, the writing is what it is.

This was my take too as he was brought on board specifically to do writing. Another possibility is that it's assumed the characters were going to be the same as JA1 & 2 and not, "evolved" in JA3 though they should have adjusted stats too in that case.

[Solaris_Wave]

Wasn't there concern that Steroid was overdoing it in JA3, regarding him talking about his muscles and having them oiled? I wonder how often he will talk about such things throughout the game?

Maybe, if each character's stereotype is mentioned during the hiring process and sporadically throughout the game, then that should be okay. If it is something that always comes up and becomes their sole personality, it will possibly get too annoying.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Solaris_Wave

[ShadowMagic]

14 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

Wasn't there concern that Steroid was overdoing it in JA3, regarding him talking about his muscles and having them oiled? I wonder how often he will talk about such things throughout the game?

Maybe, if each character's stereotype is mentioned during the hiring process and sporadically throughout the game, then that should be okay. If it is something that always comes up and becomes their sole personality, it will possibly get too annoying.

You can count on it, they will exaggerate big time. Also happen to notice Steriod has this 'special' trait which is some sort of Hulk meets Iron man meets TJ Combo (Killer Instinct, red.) punch that let's it enemy fly 3 feet through the air? Saw it on ingame footage. Cringeworthy and completely over the top.

It's despicable if you ask me, to portrait Mercs this way as if they are some sort of Marvel figures. It's simply not funny anymore and completely (i'm gonna use that term from now on) 'Flandarized' indeed.

I'm sure as hell the mod community will mod this game to the ground and pay tribute to JA once available. Starting with a complete rework of character portraits and dialogues. You probably won't even recognize Haemimont's product anymore 😄 

Edited June 14, 2023 by ShadowMagic

[AgentQi]

Yes Baby! externalized XML is the way to go!

i want

32 IMPs

20 traits

700 starting skill points

and more

[Solaris_Wave]

I too have expressed my concerns over some of those perks. Just as @ShadowMagic has said, a lot of them just make them seem like comic book superheroes and they take the game into levels of absurdity. Having perks that lower action point cost to use certain weapons, slightly increased reflexes or endurance, better recoil, steadier aim, longer duration before needing to rest, etc., are the kind of perks that I am happy to see. I don't want to see perks that lets a merc Dragon Punch an enemy ten feet into the air.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Solaris_Wave