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.

Good points Reloecc.

Yes, it's promising. I'm looking forward to play this game too.

I don't agree with you about every proposition you made here. Yet, we talked about having at least 2 different sets for each merc elsewhere, and it would allow some variation like that.

I guess they are dealing with weapon preferences more like in JA2, via perks and other stats. It is more about having boni at certain weapon handlings (auto weapons, ambidextruous, heavy weapons...) rather than channeling in specific marksmanships. You can still use the weapon you want with a character, but he would be better using another since he has that perk improving it. Stats influence that too. With high dex you can aim better (sniper), with high agi you can be more mobile (handgun, smg, shotgun), etc.

Well, you said it, it's a 'silly merc', or a wanabe merc like many in deadly games. The term wanabe suits him well, actually. He was a wanabe cowboy, wanabe actor, wanabe merc, etc. He's in his fantasy world. Giving him 88 mrk imo will make him playable, but honestly he shouldn't have that, and should die on the field, or with a lot of luck go through. He's so funny though 🙂 There always was this type of mercs in the roster, so bad but cheap, there because they had their own harsh reason (mad, broke, delusional, outlaw...). They were not supposed to survive the day, but god, how it was delightful to assemble a team of loosers like that and make it to the end anyway. I loved that way more than playing with the top heads. To each their own I guess.

Those are very good options. I had similar wishes but can Haemimont do it at this stage of development? I don't know.

Hmm, where did you see that ? It's old news, no? There was a draft already in january with this type of questionnary.

I don't mind you asking, I'm from France. In the end, I mean that they stopped supporting the game quickly after launch. They were supposed to make additionnal minis for the mercs with a partner. No news about that at this date. I sent questions on their site, got an answer promising to adress it, and never heard of it again. About translations. I have no info about other languages, I never read anything about it except french translation I am about to explain (feel free to ignore, it's boring stuff ! 😉 ) During the kickstarter campaign, they sent copies of the rulebook prototype to be translated to groups of people. I was part of one of those. We worked hard on the translation and sent them back a fully translated copy, both by mail and available online. We never got any answer after that. After launch, there was a kickstarter update saying a french volunteer had made a translation, and they shared the file. It had nothing to do with our translation, the file was crude, nothing to be compared to the paperback rulebook in the box, and the translation was not that great if I remember well. I really don't understand why they didn't end correctly what they started with us, and probably other groups. They could have sent volunteer translators the final rulebook (word) file so we could work on it and send back a copy to them for approval and share to the backers. Everything was in place and ready for that but they didn't. It's sad. Anyway, the game is good and I don't want to darken the picture with the aftermath of the kickstarter. I guess they went a bit broke like many boardgame creators and had to move to other projects. I'd really like you to enjoy it and other people to discover and play this game. Once again, the game mechanics are great.

Yes, I have it. It was made by Underground Games via a Kickstarter -> link to the page <- I pledged for the base game and the expansion. The guys behind Underground Games worked on jagged alliance online and shadowrun lockdown, for reference. I played the base game solo, and I liked it. I didn't try sci-fi expansion. As you say, it's like toggling on the sci-fi mode in JA2. It adds new underground zones, creatures and equipment. It seemed well done, but afaik you need to play the base game again with it (I didn't have the will to start over) and the difficulty seemed to grow significantly with it (base game is already tense). Note that they published a free matavira campaign playable with the base box, too. A word of advice, don't expect to play a boardgame copy 1:1 of JA2. This is a boardgame with Jagged Alliance flavor. It does a great job at being a boardgame. Interesting and accessible mechanics, a good balance in difficulty, nice progression thorough the campaign (weapons, enemies, maps, challenge...) The Jagged Alliance flavor is not as successful, as the illustrations differ too much from the base material, the notes here and there miss the target somewhat, and the campaign text/plot could have been better. But they made a great deal of work to put all they could of JA flavor into the game mechanics without bloating them too much. In the end, I quite liked playing that game. I would like to play it with my group of friends, but they never got in JA and I 'm afraid of their welcome of the game. I got quite involved in translating the game to my language during the kickstarter, the devs actually sending prototypes of the rules to small groups to translate, but they totally dropped the ball afterwards, offering no support to the groups of translators, their involvement, their translated files and else. I hoped to play with my friends with the translated rules to help for accomodation, but this move didn't help. The fluff texts on the weapons, allies and such didn't help too. They read really weird when you don't know JA universe. I've yet to try and invite them to play it some day, we'll see how it goes. I rewrote the intro to help the team dive in the game and its atmoshere properly, not sure if it will be enough. Anyway, have fun playing it !

While I somewhat agree with you (OP), I have some things to say as the devil's advocate 😉 1) Art Direction: It is colorful, and less gritty, real than JA2. It doesn't look like cartoonish to me, but I understand your feeling of a gap between the two games. I prefered JA2 on that regard, but Heamimont has its own style, let's see how it ends up to be with the whole picture. Concerning enemies, don't forget we are in a made up african country, and those may be of a specific faction. At least I like that they are recognisable and unique. We'll see them from distance, if you've painted miniatures, you know the details matter differently at that scale. Concerning mercs, yes they are colorful, but after thoughts, it might be ok with me, for similar reasons as above. On the tactical map, you will recognise each one easiliy, each one with his style. 2) Mercenary Portraits: I don't agree with you here. Nostalgia may fool you. Please go online or in game at look at JA2 portraits and then JA3 portraits, then read again your sentence. JA1, DG and 2 portraits were very real(istic), without any fuss. JA3 portraits convey more about the character, maybe a bit too much if you ask me. In JA2 they felt like passport photos or rather like having visio with them, which was a bit in advance of their time and unrealistic on the battlefield, but worked very well to convey emotions and wharacter with facial animations and voice. In JA3 they are somewhat closer to the tech of the time. You contact mercs via some kind of ICQ app, they have a less stric photo/portrait, and in game you talk with them with radio. Why would they have visio? I agree it conveys less character but it has its logic. I hope the conversations and chatter will do the work. On the positive side, it is possible we will be able to mod the portraits and body pictures, and that will be way easier if they are not animated. 3) Voice Overs: Hard to say anything about this at this moment as we haven't heard many voices. Lifewire's voice seem a bit irritating but maybe that's part of her character. It doesn't sound 'bad' in quality to me as of now. 4) XCOM 2 Copy Cat: I hear this a lot around. Well, slap me if you want, but I liked XCOM2. But that is not the matter 😉 I don't think JA3 has similar mechanics. Some things are revamped, modernized, but I don't see XCOM2. Could you elaborate on this? Maybe it's the overwatch (not similar and better than interrupt in JA2 imho)? The movement layout (only shows where you can go with current APs and stance it seems)? The special actions (might be a good thing to give something unique to a merc or a type of weapon)? 5) Combat Range: Hard to say anything about this at this time. It is a difficult balance to allow all playstyles, melee, pistol range, AR, up to sniper range on the same map. JA2 did cut weapon ranges by 10, but still, melee for example was still really hard to play. I'd personaly wouldnt want snipers to rule the game. It's more enjoyable to have CQC even if it's less realistic sometimes.

From the trailers and dev diary, my guess about the shots is : - There is a hidden CTH - If you score a hit, a path is calculated between the shooter's gun and the target (the body part aimed at), then a bullet is fired on this trajectory, with its own life (hitting this on the way). - If you miss, a random angle from the requested path is calculated, and the bullet follows its own trajectory, doing its bullets things, meeting people and objects on the way. I think (and hope) it is different from JA Flashback were the bullet trajectory was really fake. You could see the damage before the bullet even got out of the barrel of the gun.

What a surprise! Ian Currie as a writer for JA3?! Now, that's an accomplishment THQ & Haemimont, congratulations! This is very promising for the game, both the early project he agreed to work and, and the result after his involvement. I wish you a great success for this third installment of the franchise!

Thank you for the clarification, you saved many from a later disappointment here. What about the rest of LoboNocturno's post? He points at a very sensitive subject with "cosmetics" here. It has been discussed a lot here and on discord, and it was indeed very important in past games. Could you elaborate on this later, in a post or dev diary? It would be interesting to know what ends up in the game and if something can be modded in (animated portraits, models, equipment)

I second Kordanor's question. I'm quite interested in reading about this subject.

I guess 'point blank miss with a ranged weapon' would make sense. Realistic, because people are not freezed like in turn based games when they fight, and it is difficult to aim at a moving target especially when it's super close and menacing. Gameplay wise, it can be super infuriating, but on the other hand, if you want to implement close combat, it is mandatory, else you end up with ranged weapons way superior, and all the action points spent to move in + hit + expose not worth it. In JA2 melee already was etremely inefficient, as you ended up your turn being just in front of your melee victim with 0AP and him ready to shoot you with the best odds and all his actions points of the turn.

I very very much agree with Kordanor about the characters. There has been some debate on the Discord channel about their number. Is it enough? Will there be all mercs from previous games? Honestly, I don't want to play the same old cast, out of fridge as they were. I want interesting story, and characters with their own, like your predecessors did between JA1-JADG-JA2, and as Kordanor pointed out brillantly. I'd like continuing stories for the old mercs, playing them or learning how they went away from the job. That last part was the most fun moments in JA2 imho. Hamous and his truck, Mike working for the higher bidder, Speck retiring to create his ows merc agency online with Biff, and lastly the alumni. There is so much you can do with old merc stories on the periphery of the game. One may have changed for humanitarian actions and you meet them in a poor village, another might appear in the news for going psycho and killing a bunch of people, another acting as terrorist or freedom fighter, another selling weapons... There is a bunch of non player characters able to come back and offer their services too, weapon/explosive/armor sellers, head hunter, Chilvadori/Amanda sending help/money in good memory of your action, pilot (Skyrider), mechanics, tourists... I'd like new ones, with their pwn quirks, personalities, expertise. This is where you can put your own mark, talent and humor. I'd like all of them to evolve in the team and as individual during a playthrough. And thankfully, you seem to have all of that up to some degree if I read you well. That's great news! Please continue on that path.

Thank you for this first dev diary, I've been waiting for it eagerly, as many other people here! This is a clear presentation of the main features of the game, its philosophy, and that's a good starting point! But I can't wait to learn about the details, of course. When can we expect the next dev diary, and do you have a plan to release more at a regular basis?

I generally agree with you. Since all the other characters are mercs, it's plausible that this guys is a new merc. He may be the equivalent of Miguel (rebel chief in JA2), or Ira/Dimitri in the sense that you meet him there and he comes with you, with his knowledge of the country. I don't think he is the main vilain. I guess he would have been represented differently if that was the case. As, not looking away, a more malicious or ferocious gaze, in opposition of the mercs in the frame, etc. Interesting topic anyway.

Well there are two schools of thought on this topic, those in favor of armor and gadgets appearing on the model and portrait, and those in favor of a recognisable model at all times. Both have been there for a long time in this genre of games, I remember several discussions about it in Wasteland forums for example. I for one was in favor of a WYSIWYG approach (Everything must appear on the model and portrait), but over time I felt more in more inclined to go to the other side. As other people already said, all characters end up looking the same, and loose their personnality, especially when you have to equip certain gear for the stats and not the looks. There are several options possible taking a bit from both schools. Toggles to show or not, models but not portraits, a generic visible armor when one is equipped... I guess I'm Ok with their approach, with detailled portraits and models, very recognisable and representative of the character.

About sound design, I noticed in the trailers that the bullet casings falling to the ground were doing a lot of noise, a bit too much actually. It's a detail, but I hope they will tone it down a bit.

In the gamescom interview, they made clear that the mercs will be voiced. Already 500000 words have been voiced already, and they said more sessions were to come. They have prepared huge preparation documents for each mercs and they said it helped them a lot for the voice casting. If all that is not enough to confirm that mercs and more will be voiced, I don't know what will.

The interview was very interesting, reassuring, and dense! Thank you for that! One of the only dissapointing things for me was the absence of vehicles. I loved the icecream truck, hummer, and the Chopper in JA2. Especially the third one changed the strategic game when you could finally use it. The tanks were one of the final interesting challenge, even if very punitive. The hidden CTH story is a very very good sign for me that the dev team is on a good track. Later they added some infos about quests and RPG elements going in the same way. YES! That's it! Let the player experiment, feel what is the thing to do, rather than telling him the steps with a list, an exclamation mark or another directive way. Make it intuitive. Same for chatting with people. In JA2 you only had different approaches, and you had to look for subtle tips to understand the situation. That was immersive! Character feedback is excellent. It helps the player understand the situation, and gives the merc some character via the sentence. All good! I was very happy to hear that you are very early free to do what you want, to choose your approach. That was one of the great things about JA2, and honestly, I wish they had made more options available. The replayability was a bit hindered because of that. If you can improve on that side, go for it! More strategic places, more and diverse allies, maybe more sides to choose, and therefore endings for the story. That would be great! No answer for IMP means there will be some kind of IMP, I guess, but maybe not how we know it. I don't think it's mandatory, but it surely was great in JA2, and the questionnaire to get it was both diegetic and hilarious. Everything related to the laptop and the other diegetin UI Enlightened my day too. Please add as much stuff as you can there, sites, documents, mails, etc. I loved in JA2 that you received a briefing and study of the place you are about Arulco, its history, important people, cities, little stuff like that immerse you both in the place and in your rôle. The second trailer had amazing humor in the details of the laptop. I can't wait to see the full extend of it in the game. Well, that's a lot to digest, but as many on the discord, I came hesitant, and left reassured. Many good things were said about this game. I'm looking forward to read some devlogs I hope sooner than later.

Maybe some people will offend at this, there is always some, and nowadays they are loud on internet, with many relays for their opinion. Honestly, I don't care. Ivan is a character from the last century, soviet union, its fall and all (hammer&sickle on the hat as you noticed). He's clearly inspired by the character of Arnold Schwartzenegger in "Red Heat". He's not a soldier or mercenary of 2022 in Ukraine, no. He doesn't look like it in the artwork either. Putting an Ukrainian character on the cover would go the wrong way imho. Is there even one in the roster? Again, it's the wrong time. The game happens in early 2000' if I read right. If the devs feels like changing the art to avoid problems, fine, but I won't push it.

Ok, don't beat me on this one, but I've started playing Farcry 6, and it has some Jagged alliance vibes. Of course, it's not a tactical/strategy/rpg game, but a FPS in an open world. Yet, the setting and plot does part of the substitute job in absence of JA3. It's the Farcry game closest to JA2 you can get.