Artificial Difficulty ruining tactics

[GODSPEED]

1 hour ago, 5Cents said:

1.
Maybe the problem with this reinvention of this game, that its idea was created almost 30 years ago.
You couldnt expect, Jagged could be same or been an renewed retail-Version of 1.13.
The development was created in another time, from a team on another continent. The market and the targetgroup changed.
The problem of some fans, i think, are their pent up expectations. Metavira is history, arulco is over..

2.
I wouldnt swap roles to devs. It seems some guys here and there would never been satisfied, most parts that they have seen (mentionable: not played) they only criticise.
Instead of being thankful for dev diaries or Ian Curries involvment, they just behave like some trolls, they are sceptical, pessimictic and overcritical, like they were hired from deidranna. I dont get it. Nobody is forced to like or buy it.

 

3.
Yes, its not the old Jagged. Yes, i think there are some issues. But Hey! im glad, having survive till now, to play another Jagged-title game.

1.
I repeat this often.
What is the point of releasing a game with the numbered version in it, if it's to re-invent it?

An example I like is how Jurassic World did things. I'm a fan of the 1993 Jurassic Park. It sits at my top favourite movie of all time, along with Alien and Star Wars. At one point, they decided, ok... we want to re-imagine Jurassic Park. But it will be more modern, it will feel more action oriented, more explosive. Let's respect the fans of the old and also make it for fans of the new; Jurassic World.

Jagged Alliance 2 built upon Jagged Alliance 1. Right?
If you're going to continue with Jagged Alliance 3, it should build upon JA2. Right!


2.
Pent up expectations.
Well yeah.. naturally! Many of us here have been playing the game steady and many of its mods for the past 20 years.
Some people call themselves fans, played it once or twice in their youth, came back 20 years later.. "oh yeah! that was a great game!! Can't wait for 3" without even remembering WHAT the game is.

I, like many others here, have followed EACH and EVERY step as Jagged Alliance 3 was initially announced back in early 2000's, only to have so many twists and turns and crap attempts. When a game is this dear to your heart, you take it seriously after so many failed attempts. I can't tell you how excited we all were when Flashback was announced. They even announced that they were working with modders and Shanga was one of their ressources to help them stay faithful. Flashback is among the worst games I've actually ever played. I finished it and hated it, and the negativity around it is well deserved.

Flashback had decision after decision criticized.. The devs would release their ideas, their work so far.. and we would say "hey! no please don't do that!!". They would not listen. Over and over and over. Even Shanga got pissed and tired and said he didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore. ...and look what was released.


3.
You are glad it has survived.
Me too! But to whom do we owe the fact it survived for so long?
The stock JA2? That game was forgotten even from the start. TBS games are never popular. And look at the modding community for it! The way they work the code, make new stories, entire new worlds and complete overhauls of the game. 1.13 is definitely the reason Jagged Alliance 2 is even still talked about. The drive from the modding community to continually expand what is possible in the game. Those are the fans, they are the reason the game is even in the minds of anyone to make nowadays.

Who even wants a Jagged Alliance game, other than the hardcore fans? No one! No one even knows what Jagged Alliance is.

Just look at all the comments in youtube videos. "Wow! this is like a new Wasteland 3", "Yay!! Another Xcom!" "Oh no, not another xcom clone", "hey! this looks alot like Mutant Year Zero!", "What!! And I never even heard of Jagged Alliance 1 or 2".

Only the die-hard fans of Jagged Alliance want another game. So, I think it's kind of normal that you see many critical response.



I have deep respect for Haemimont Games. When they first announced the game like 2-3 years ago.. y first reaction was: "Are they crazy!? did they never see the reactions the fans have whenever a new JA game is announced or comes out?"


That's what passion does. Intensity comes with it.

[D13]

About enemy visibility, line of sight, fog of war - watch this video for 30 seconds, it shows how enemies become visible and then invisible again based on LoS and light. A few minutes later (1:09:30) the player is even surprised by a previously invisible enemy stepping out of a doorway right below his mercs:

 

[Tuckus]

1 hour ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

I've watched multiple german uploaders gameplay videos where they have constant awareness of where the enemies are in a sector with zero line of sight.

Could have something to do with difficulty setting. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if fog of war is gone

[GODSPEED]

11 minutes ago, D13 said:

About enemy visibility, line of sight, fog of war - watch this video for 30 seconds, it shows how enemies become visible and then invisible again based on LoS and light. A few minutes later (1:09:30) the player is even surprised by a previously invisible enemy stepping out of a doorway right below his mercs.

Thank you for clearing that up! I've been trying to delay watching such long videos. Glad it's there.

Still, a few concerns with combat; @1:12:xx, when combat is finished, there are enemies literally one building away.. and they in no way even bother to join the battle.

Battles all seem to be secluded to 3-4 enemies and that's it. I really hope this is either something that can be tweaked or it can be changed.

Also, anyone know if enemies will climb ladders?

(JA2) Later versions of 1.13 changed this behaviour in enemies, so it could be dangerous if you weren't prepared and expect to be a sniping god because you camp a roof. Camping a roof and suddenly being shot at from 2-3 enemies that climbed the roof behind you really makes you think twice about that decision.

[D13]

5 minutes ago, GODSPEED said:

Still, a few concerns with combat; @1:12:xx, when combat is finished, there are enemies literally one building away.. and they in no way even bother to join the battle.

I agree, in fact it may have been the same battle I had in mind while writing this:

 

I hope they've adjusted it somehow, otherwise enemies appear deaf.

JA2 had the same issue to a degree, as it was never realistic to use a machine gun in one corner of the typical eight-house mini village, and not every single enemy becoming aware of it right away. Yet somehow we got used to the game mechanics and then it was fine (but admittedly the discrepancy between realistic expectation and actual enemy awareness was not as extreme as in the above video)

[Jaywalker]

1 hour ago, D13 said:

JA2 had the same issue to a degree, as it was never realistic to use a machine gun in one corner of the typical eight-house mini village, and not every single enemy becoming aware of it right away. Yet somehow we got used to the game mechanics and then it was fine (but admittedly the discrepancy between realistic expectation and actual enemy awareness was not as extreme as in the above video)

All action in JA2 was by necessity scaled down: guns with an accurate range of a few dozen meters, to say nothing of the effective one, could barely be accurately fired across the street and that was also about as far as the sound they made carried... but when you alerted an enemy sector to your presence, the only times they wouldn't all come running was when they were setting up an indoor ambush.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Jaywalker

[Dr.Kuhn]

2 hours ago, D13 said:

About enemy visibility, line of sight, fog of war - watch this video for 30 seconds, it shows how enemies become visible and then invisible again based on LoS and light. A few minutes later (1:09:30) the player is even surprised by a previously invisible enemy stepping out of a doorway right below his mercs:

 

This is interesting since I haven't seen any night battles with the german players. Leaves me a bit confused that the night atmosphere is closer to normal Jagged alliance visuals but day time is like you have total awareness of the enemies at all times.

A glimmer of hope for the night combat then.

[Raeven]

3 hours ago, GODSPEED said:

I, like many others here, have followed EACH and EVERY step as Jagged Alliance 3 was initially announced back in early 2000's, only to have so many twists and turns and crap attempts. When a game is this dear to your heart, you take it seriously after so many failed attempts. I can't tell you how excited we all were when Flashback was announced. They even announced that they were working with modders and Shanga was one of their ressources to help them stay faithful. Flashback is among the worst games I've actually ever played. I finished it and hated it, and the negativity around it is well deserved.

Hey, I get you. I was there too. I don't even know what my username on the bears pit was, but I was on the threads while the community was going back and forth on whether to back the project. Then Ian Currie chimed in and was basically like, 'if not now, when?', and then everyone (including me) backed it. I still remember staying up into the wee hours to see if it would reach its kickstarter goal, and it squeaked above its goal with mere hours to spare in the campaign. I remember that one guy on the forum being like, "Relax - it's gonna happen". And then we were all so excited, and yeah the game was so bad I honestly never even bothered installing it despite being a backer, haha. After it was all over, the dev was posting butthurt comments about people leaving bad steam reviews for the game. 

So yeah. I get it. The trauma is real! haha

[Solaris_Wave]

6 hours ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

I've watched multiple german uploaders gameplay videos where they have constant awareness of where the enemies are in a sector with zero line of sight.

Is this a reference to no Fog Of War (like everyone else has asked) or because the maps may be smaller, or more narrow, that you have an idea of where enemies are?

[Solaris_Wave]

5 hours ago, GODSPEED said:

Battles all seem to be secluded to 3-4 enemies and that's it. I really hope this is either something that can be tweaked or it can be changed.

If that is the case, that would suck. Not only that, but it would show that XCOM reboot's influence still reigns supreme.

I haven't seen the video yet but I am hoping that if enemy response was low in numbers and only a few were attacking, it might be because your team were using suppressed weapons, which would lower the noise of your gunfire. That said, don't the enemy have radios?

[Claudius33]

Chill, I've seen a big battle on a large map (Koinsky videos in French), the first city on the main continent near a diamond mine, if I remember correctly.

They were surely more than 4 enemies, the battle was concentrated on a part of the map, meaning they did come, they even tried by two different ways.  

[D13]

Come to think of it - in JA2 you could often stay in your defensive position that you had chosen to engage the first enemy, and from there take out many others that rushed towards you (with the enemy spending APs on movement and shooting while yours were spent exclusively on shooting).

Now, JA3 has this new mechanic where enemies use their first half-turn to seek cover after becoming aware of a merc. If that were to be combined with the heightened awareness of JA2 enemies, it should make for interesting battles: when you enter a sector, enemies are patrolling in the open, blissfully unaware. Once they spot you or hear gunfire, the nearest ones actively fight you, while those farther away take defensive positions, forcing you to take a different tactical approach than for the first group.

But to have enemies loitering next to the fish market while their fellow legionnaires are getting shot at across the street doesn't feel right. 

 

[5Cents]

1 hour ago, D13 said:

Come to think of it - in JA2 you could often stay in your defensive position that you had chosen to engage the first enemy, and from there take out many others that rushed towards you (with the enemy spending APs on movement and shooting while yours were spent exclusively on shooting).

Now, JA3 has this new mechanic where enemies use their first half-turn to seek cover after becoming aware of a merc. If that were to be combined with the heightened awareness of JA2 enemies, it should make for interesting battles: when you enter a sector, enemies are patrolling in the open, blissfully unaware. Once they spot you or hear gunfire, the nearest ones actively fight you, while those farther away take defensive positions, forcing you to take a different tactical approach than for the first group.

But to have enemies loitering next to the fish market while their fellow legionnaires are getting shot at across the street doesn't feel right. 

 

Taking-Cover KI would be a nice new feature. I think or hope, the KI is better, than JA2. Because the beviour was not very reasonable many times and well, sometimes very suicidal. 😆

Also hope for any modding controllable militia, if ki wont behave any better like JA2.
Many times the KI militia was acting like cannonfodder and a waste of $.

[Jaywalker]

All of this repositioning nonsense would also be meaningfully eliminated by having individual initiative... or, you know, interruptions... like in JA2; where a surprised enemy is not completely defenseless, since they have the AP to defend themselves if their skill and experience permits it.

[5Cents]

12 hours ago, GODSPEED said:

1.
I repeat this often.
What is the point of releasing a game with the numbered version in it, if it's to re-invent it?

An example I like is how Jurassic World did things. I'm a fan of the 1993 Jurassic Park. It sits at my top favourite movie of all time, along with Alien and Star Wars. At one point, they decided, ok... we want to re-imagine Jurassic Park. But it will be more modern, it will feel more action oriented, more explosive. Let's respect the fans of the old and also make it for fans of the new; Jurassic World.

Jagged Alliance 2 built upon Jagged Alliance 1. Right?
If you're going to continue with Jagged Alliance 3, it should build upon JA2. Right!


2.
Pent up expectations.
Well yeah.. naturally! Many of us here have been playing the game steady and many of its mods for the past 20 years.
Some people call themselves fans, played it once or twice in their youth, came back 20 years later.. "oh yeah! that was a great game!! Can't wait for 3" without even remembering WHAT the game is.

I, like many others here, have followed EACH and EVERY step as Jagged Alliance 3 was initially announced back in early 2000's, only to have so many twists and turns and crap attempts. When a game is this dear to your heart, you take it seriously after so many failed attempts. I can't tell you how excited we all were when Flashback was announced. They even announced that they were working with modders and Shanga was one of their ressources to help them stay faithful. Flashback is among the worst games I've actually ever played. I finished it and hated it, and the negativity around it is well deserved.

Flashback had decision after decision criticized.. The devs would release their ideas, their work so far.. and we would say "hey! no please don't do that!!". They would not listen. Over and over and over. Even Shanga got pissed and tired and said he didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore. ...and look what was released.


3.
You are glad it has survived.
Me too! But to whom do we owe the fact it survived for so long?
The stock JA2? That game was forgotten even from the start. TBS games are never popular. And look at the modding community for it! The way they work the code, make new stories, entire new worlds and complete overhauls of the game. 1.13 is definitely the reason Jagged Alliance 2 is even still talked about. The drive from the modding community to continually expand what is possible in the game. Those are the fans, they are the reason the game is even in the minds of anyone to make nowadays.

Who even wants a Jagged Alliance game, other than the hardcore fans? No one! No one even knows what Jagged Alliance is.

Just look at all the comments in youtube videos. "Wow! this is like a new Wasteland 3", "Yay!! Another Xcom!" "Oh no, not another xcom clone", "hey! this looks alot like Mutant Year Zero!", "What!! And I never even heard of Jagged Alliance 1 or 2".

Only the die-hard fans of Jagged Alliance want another game. So, I think it's kind of normal that you see many critical response.



I have deep respect for Haemimont Games. When they first announced the game like 2-3 years ago.. y first reaction was: "Are they crazy!? did they never see the reactions the fans have whenever a new JA game is announced or comes out?"


That's what passion does. Intensity comes with it.

Thanks for your answer👍and telling your opinion, appreciation.

1. You took the example JP. Well i really loved the first one. But then there followed the sequels.and Jurassic World..and for me, that felt like groundhog day. When theres a new part out i always thinking seriously? How many times you can tell a story from 1993 over and over again and every time it becomes worse and worse. 😆 But people buy it.

Same with SW, im just astonished about that unimaginative movies but billionaire money printing industry.

But its not to offend you. Its just to show my point of view or taste and sometimes you are fan of something but you have different feelings about the topic:

What about Alien? I Love Alien Franchise too. Prometheus series are really good example for getting Shitstorm from Fans.  Prometheus for me was a further development from original idea. I really enjoyed the new ideas. But most fans, didnt like to see them. They just want, what they allready know and was 'godgiven'. Will see how Alien series on Amazon will be accepted.

2.and 3. Im okay with that & understand a bit better now and share some of your thoughts.

But even if i played JA1-2 manymany times, i am open minded to some changes. Never played flashback and all these clones.
For me 1.13 was really fun to play, but actually it's not Jagged Alliance for me, too. With that load of changes and mods and new possiblities it created a new game, imo.
Its like some fans wanted it to be. Good it kept franchise alive.

So..with that point of view think its rightfully that someone else can create a roundbase game calling it Jagged Alliance 3, implementing some changes and improvements (hopefully KI).

Who dares wins. If not, true fans will had known this before... 😆

[D13]

On 7/7/2023 at 1:25 AM, GODSPEED said:

Also, anyone know if enemies will climb ladders?

Yes 🙂

[WILDFIRE]

@GODSPEED: I also followed all the projects since Jagged Alliance 2 and was in contact with the devs. When Flashback was announced I was so excited and checked every day if the project was successful on kickstarter. I put my heart and soul in these projects as good as I could, because I wanted a good successor of JA2 so badly. 

 

So maybe many people can't understand why the game is so important to us. It is not just another game it is a part of our lives. Maybe this sounds a little bit extreme but just as Star Wars or Terminator it is a part of our past that we enjoyed when we were younger and that we enjoy to this day. There are not many products that can create this feeling.

 

No one can expect when a dev team wants to create a successor of a legendary game that the fans are pleased with everything. In my opinion the game must feel like the old titles and in some areas (animated portraits for example) we won't get the game we wanted or imagined. But maybe in the gaming industry of today with a limited budget it is not possible to create the game we expect with all the features we think the game needs. 

 

That sounds really negative but I mean that in a positive way. We get a Jagged Alliance 3 that will be a good game with good graphics and a tactical basis true to its roots. Maybe we are lucky that we get that when we look at the market and the big competition. The publisher has faith in this old franchise although many people of today don't know the product. It is a risk and I guess it is not a small one.

 

When I think about old legendary games I think about Diablo 2 or Age of Empires 2. Got these titles perfect successors? No! They were different and not exactly what every fan wanted. And these companies have way more money to create great games. So I wanted to say that we should be thankful that we get JA3 after all these years and maybe it will not be what we expected or wanted but for sure it will be a really good game and when could we say that in the last 20 years?

[ShadowMagic]

7 minutes ago, WILDFIRE said:

wanted to say that we should be thankful that we get JA3 after all these years and maybe it will not be what we expected or wanted but for sure it will be a really good game and when could we say that in the last 20 years?

Nobody is ungrateful here but some are truly dissapointed with some of the decisions made. Decisions that take away some core elements of JA and being either replaced by mechanics from other games (overwatch, shared inventory) or simply not getting enough attention (Merc portraits and bio's).
We/they are simply concerned (read: convinced) this won't do the franchise any good. A hybrid of JA and Xcom or whatever most probably will only satisfy a small band of "hey I played JA once type of 'fans'".

[WILDFIRE]

@ShadowMagic: I also expected a different game in some areas but why can't you see the positive features? We get a lively beautiful game world with a detailed strategic map, weather effects, day and night circle and a deep combat that is true to the JA roots. Sure some important features are missing and not everything is how we expected but you can't only see the negative side.

 

I am really disappointed with the lifeless portraits but I still appreciate the love for the detailed game world. I have to point out that JA3 is definitely not a nuXCOM copy, because the mechanics work completely different.(No CTH)

 

Maybe there are elements from other games but in some cases they can also improve the experience.(the deeper RPG dialogue system with choices)

[GODSPEED]

7 hours ago, WILDFIRE said:

@ShadowMagic: ...but why can't you see the positive features?

Answer:

8 hours ago, ShadowMagic said:

Nobody is ungrateful here but some are truly dissapointed with some of the decisions made. Decisions that take away some core elements of JA and being either replaced by mechanics from other games (overwatch, shared inventory) or simply not getting enough attention (Merc portraits and bio's).

^ My thoughts EXACTLY!

@WILDFIRE: Many of us fans DON'T WANT any of the core to change.

Here is a tiny example or two:
Why remove Interrupts and replace it with Overwatch? How many fans of JA2 have been asking for the removal of it?

That was a core feature that made JA2 pretty unique compared to many other Turn-Based games. It was deeply affected by the Attributes/Stats/Level of a merc. Great mercs could even react to sound. Sometimes you got an interrupt without even seeing an enemy. Moving one step with that merc could show an enemy previously hidden. This "translates" to a mercs' finely tuned ability to listen to his surroundings. You also see high level enemies display this kind of attention to their surroundings.

Now, we have overwatch instead. So you can only "watch" a cone in front, and regardless how good or attentive a merc is, everything comes down to a more board-game like feature. The enemy can be next to him, as long as it isn't in that cone, too bad!


Now, you'll defend overwatch and say it might be a good feature, I don't know. The point is, we've seen this repeated for every attempt at JA. EVERY single time a game was made, they decided to change things. So far, all we are left with is a bunch of failed attempts. Or games we never play a second time. We see this repeated here..

 

8 hours ago, WILDFIRE said:

We get a lively beautiful game world with a detailed strategic map, weather effects, day and night circle and a deep combat that is true to the JA roots. Sure some important features are missing and not everything is how we expected but you can't only see the negative side.

I am really disappointed with the lifeless portraits but I still appreciate the love for the detailed game world. I have to point out that JA3 is definitely not a nuXCOM copy, because the mechanics work completely different.(No CTH)

If graphics were everything. I wouldn't still be playing JA2. Yes, most of us (I believe) would have wanted something like a refresh of the graphics. I mean, who prefers uglier graphics right? So yes, I'm happy that the gameworld looks good. But looks don't make the game. JA2 might be "basic" for graphics, but it has weather, day/night, etc.. so it's pretty basic to have that.

I often say I feel the game looks and feels like a nu-xcom. And even after watching way more content than I wanted, most of the game looks like a twist on xcom.

From the UI, to the overwatch, to the inventory, to the guns that don't have stats the same way at all, to the perks and even to the way each gun doesn't seem to care about the ammunition used, as the gun itself is either armor piercing, or this or that bonus, when that should be ammo related. The way the U.I. works, and the way the camera pans, the way targeting enemies it's way less fluid and simple like it used to be.

In JA2, I can mouse over any body part, on any enemy at any time. It's simple, efficient, quick and doesn't "waste" my time. I right click to aim more (or mouse wheel in 1.13) and left click to fire. It's so damn simple. Now, we get this system that locks onto the enemy (like xcom), once locked on, then you can click different things. Why can't I just move my mouse around at my leisure?

Why is this such a concern? Because, TBS games are already "slow", last thing I want is a UI to slow me down like in JA Rage! it tells me the game will play like xcom (new), where everything is small encounters. It almost makes the game feel extremely lightweight, like a deep computer game, but streamlined so I can play on tablet/mobile. Chance-to-Hit is still in the game, they simply hid the % from the UI.

 

8 hours ago, WILDFIRE said:

Maybe there are elements from other games but in some cases they can also improve the experience.(the deeper RPG dialogue system with choices)

Yes, I would hope they could expand on JA2; dialogue, factions, allegiances.

I'm sure you already know this, I'm not trying to be insulting.. but if a game takes 4 years to make (example);, so much % of time is dedicated to working different elements of the game to finalize it?

Tell me, would it not have been better to simply leave the core of the game intact? Keep all the stats, attributes, weight, movement... everything exactly the same! Imagine all that time that could be focused on creating allegiances, factions, branching stories. Instead of dividing all that time to implement changes to the core game, testing it, etc..

What JA2 fans want most isn't a re-imagining of the core game, but simply new scenarios, expansions on factions system, making choices, new mercs, new land.

So they spent alot of time changing the core, the weapons... everything that JA2 is already loved for and adored by its fans.



But it's like I also think. I'm that generation that really like JA2 and have always played it regularly. The game is not aimed for me. It is aimed for the new generation. Those who will showcase it on twitch, youtube, streamers...

[Raeven]

They have said in the last dev stream that a variety of interrupts types will exist, not just overwatch. They won't be just arbitrary AP though.

[D13]

Regarding overwatch - 1.13 added two related features to the game: vision cones, and that players could "activate" scopes by readying their guns (resulting in a longer but narrower vision cone). You would spend a few APs at the end of your turn to set that up to control a tactically important area, at the risk of being more easily flanked. The purpose was not to get an interrupt and then decide what  do to, but to get an interrupt and then shoot at whatever caused the interrupt. Based on what I've seen so far, I view JA3's overwatch as a more sophisticated implementation of this "scope vision" mechanism that originated from the very core of the JA community.

[sandman25dcsss]

30 minutes ago, GODSPEED said:

Moving one step with that merc could show an enemy previously hidden.

Does it mean optimal behavior in JA2 was to move with that particular merc 1 tile, check surrounding to make sure no new enemies appear in sight, move 1 tile again, check surrounding to make sure no new enemies appear in sight, move 1 tile again and so on?

Then I can see why devs removed that feature.

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by sandman25dcsss

[Tuckus]

1 hour ago, sandman25dcsss said:

Does it mean optimal behavior in JA2 was to move with that particular merc 1 tile, check surrounding to make sure no new enemies appear in sight, move 1 tile again, check surrounding to make sure no new enemies appear in sight, move 1 tile again and so on?

Then I can see why devs removed that feature.

 

Basically the first tile of a move cost an additional AP. So you certainly had theoption to advance one tile at a time. I know some people around here really do not like options of this kind

[Koinsky]

Greetings all 

 

Still waiting for initial reviews to jump in. Still, from all i've seen this may be as good as it gets regarding an update on the JA franchise. I have played a lot of JA2 in all it's incarnations, so that's where i come from.
I don't know how much i will enjoy or not JA3, but one thing that stood out for me from the devs live streams was a focus on balance. I understand that need. JA2 was however never about balance. Actually the opposite. So much so that this was the only game i ever played on the hardest difficulty. Because it made the game easyer, once you had some insights on things. 

And the same happened with all the mods and such.

So i completely understand a modern game designer to produce a balanced game that is not about exploiting primitive or questionable AI, and loot systems, to mention those i exploited most. Maybe those who complain are better men than me and can discipline themselves in order to have the experience they desire, regardless of the game flaws. More power to them.
 

For me JA2 was mostly about the character, the personality, of the mercs. X-Com (both old and new, and also Phoenix Point, if this means anything to you), feel generic. I dont really care for the soldiers, no matter the fancy hats and costumizable camo. 


So, if that personality is there and i can find a way to become the battlefield god i once became, i'm good.