Kordanor

Only modern games, possibly taking XCom as a blueprint. Back in the days, CTH was not always shown. JA1 , JA DG, JA2 didnt Show the chance. Neither did XCom (the original) or Terror from the Deep. The thing is, that in nuXCom the Hitchance needs to be displayed as you only have 4 characters each with 1 attack (2 actions: 1 Attack + 1 Move). So you need to weigh in chances exactly for every single action. A miss of a single shot might also end up being super frustrating, a downward spiral very quick. With old XCom and Jagged Alliance that is not the case. Old XCom you had many more characters, and you had Time Units (TU), same as JAs Action Points. So you could shoot like up to 10-15 times per turn. So each shot has much less of an impact and things start to "average out".

You mean exclusion? As a CTH display is not included.

But CTH is not a part of JA2, nor from JA1. So CTH is definitely not the "right direction" to make it more like JA2.

Afaik these abilities were only introduced AFTER they switched away from CTH to add some additional "free shots" to generate more chaos.

Is that also true for Burst attacks? Like you either any of your bullets hits the arm, or nothing at all for example?

They already mentioned that the game will gave (at least) one gun store. Some granny selling guns. Something like Bobby Ray would probably even reduce replayability, as it normalizes accessibility. That said, Bobby Ray wasn't that great in JA2 anyways. I used it mostly for Ammo and Health/Mechanical Kits and stuff like that, as regarding weapons it was usually behind what I found already. JA 2 1.13 might have changed that quite a bit. Bobby Ray didnt exist in previous JAs either though. JA DG hat Mickey auctioning off random stuff, which was quite fun in multiplayer.

That's great to hear! I think I know the answer, but this might be a good point to bring it up again: I guess that AP for shooting is now the same for everyone? JA1/DG/JA2 spent about a page or two in the manual to explain how fast mercs can run further, but not shoot more often. And this is being done be calculating the AP used to shoot depending on the AP available. So that Turtle in theory can have as many shots as Skully, while Skully can run much farther. I don't want to argue for or against that system, as this did come with significant drawbacks: 1. Not intuitive at all 2. Rounding could lead to the opposite effect (a slow merc now being able to shoot more often than a fast one) I guess with a reduction of total available AP this would make it even more problematic. I am fine with an overwatch system, as long as its not working like in XCom. From what I can see in the streams it works pretty much as Interrupt replacement (multiple shots, viewing angle). Only drawback is that you can't move. But it gets much more intuitive to use. From the feedback of german Press/Streamers I saw so far they are saying though that it's far too strong later on, wich is something which should be adjusted somehow.

There is booze in the game and Igor I think has a special ability which makes him better with knives if he is drunk.

The problem is something like RPS articles which are basically: I played XCom, XCom has CTH and is great. JA3 is like XCom but has no CTH, therefore its bad. And personally I think JA should cater towards the JA community and not towards the XCom community.

Ah, alright, yeah, thats more on the UI side. And if resolution allowed it back then, JA1/2 might have had that as well I guess. But back then the resolution just wasn't high enough to make it look pretty. Instead UFO as well as JA1 used a "reserve" option, which was basically the same. Once the merc ran a certain range, he automatically stopped so that you can still shoot.

I dont want to put you out of context, and I think that is a nice list. I just want to put a comment on each of these: colorful can/can't shoot movement boundaries (visual) Not sure what you mean with boundaries. Or do you mean the interface? You can also add, that it's 3D (and 3D = Xcom apparently, but at least it's not 3D= realtime anymore) ui (visual) Yep, modern interface looks like modern interface. ^^ half/full covers (visual) Yeah, this seems to confuse people, who apparently only know XCom but no other games which use covers differently camera shots (visual) Yep reduced max ap, so ap costs can't be finely tuned (gameplay) I don't disagree about the tendency, but of course there is still a long way from like 24 down to 12, compared to the 2 by xcom. I'd say it's still nothing like XCom in that regard. Plenty of granuality. But definitely less than in JA1/2 (turning around, Stamina based AP, reduced AP for shooting again, reculaculated AP needed for shooting so that slow mercs can shoot as often...) squad inventory (with ammo etc.) (gameplay) Guess so, don't remember squad inventory or anything like that in NuXCom and havent played XCom2 simplified inventory (gameplay) Yes, but still closer to JA2 and especially JA1 than XCom. no energy bar (gameplay) Yep unrealistic perks (like more dmg to limbs, or free actions after dmging) (gameplay) Yep (I don't dislike it and I also dont think its unrealistic though) overwatch (gameplay) Same as with the shield Icons. Generelly yes, but ofc the implementation is totally different, and there are plenty of other games which also use overwatch differently than XCom. JA3 implementation of overwatch is closer to interrupts in JA1/2 than it is to overwatch in XCom combat start repositioning (gameplay) Yes! enemies' detection system (area based, not sound / los based) (gameplay) Well, it is LOS based. But there might be some truth to that. Would need to see more gameplay. per map quests (gameplay) and its' quest log (visual) Is that an XCom thing visually? enemy types (all look same, have same equipment, does same things / per category) (gameplay) Yes, probably a necessity. Unless you make them all the same visually. But yea, definitely closer to XCom here than to JA2. Separated enemy clusters (only few of them goes after you after shooting) (gameplay) Haven't seen enough of the game to judge that. Might actually be a good thing, so you can't just exploit KI and kill everyone in a single "overwatch trap" like you could in JA2. free weapons (blood having endless throwing knives + skill, barry pooping granades etc.) Yeah...I think for the knives that's fine to remove micromanagement. But with (seemingly overpowered) grenades I do see an issue. Not sure if thats a thing in XCom. action bar with skills that costs full ap to do something, or merge actions for less ap cost (gameplay) Yep. Don't think that's necessarily a bad choice, but yeah, thats XCom-like.

@Claudius33I think that's a bit of an idealist approach, but one which I think will not work for most people, and which will also give very different impressions. A game like Dark Souls or FTL would have had a completely different representation if you could just freely save during the games all the time. They would feel completely differently. And I think with adding the CTH values, the game would leave a very different impression - and that's also what the developers say, which is why they removed it in the first place. So instead of having the RPS article of complaining about missing CTH values, you would then have others complaining about the game being too easy, not enough chaos going on or different things. And I think only a minority would dare to disable the CTH, because...well...you are massively profiting from it. I think only the most hardcore players who basically memorized everything would actually disable that. I am actually an advocate for not having a CTH value, but I think if it was available, I would use it (and not disable it), as I would put myself to an artificial disadvantage otherwise. Unless it's part of a super-easy mode or something like that, where it really feels like "ok this is training wheels, you want to try without them?" But again, this might then piss off other players. You might even end up with JA veterans who don't like having CTH values now, as this hasn't been a thing in previous JA games. So like with FTL: yes, they might have lost a few customers by not having a "save and reload anywhere" feature, but I don't think the game would have been popular in the first place if this was available.

Additional options always sound good on paper, but I don't think that they aren't always a good thing in reality, if they break the developers vision. What I mean is that on a game like Jagged Alliance Ironman Mode is a nice optional thing, because the game is not designed around ironman, a game like FTL on the other hand, would completely break apart if you have ironman as optional. People would just play through it, and then possibly even complain that the game sucks and is too small and easy. And I think the same could be true with some stuff here: Show CtH: There was a paradigm change within Haemimont to remove CtH, and at the same time they also seem to have added the Abilities which basically give you extra shots here and there for a discount, to basically create more chaos, have everyone shoot more often. If you add CtH back then this is clearly the more advantageous way to play, which would destroy the developers vision on how the game is meant to be played, and possibly destroy there balancing with it. I am quite sure, that this would lead to totally different gameplay, and the game would be much easier that way, basically meaning that they would need to also implement a difficulty increase, which somehow would need to be selected at the same time to even things out, which makes it even more problematic. Enemy repositioning: This is also tied together with other game mechanics. If your merc group can attack all enemies in open positions in the first round, and ideally then kill every one of then right away, that would throw balancing off. You would now need to implement mechanics which counter that. Like higher viewing ranges (enemies see you earlier) and similar. I don't think that having this optional would work. It would basically lead to fights which are only consisting of setting up positions and then destroying the enemies within 1-2 turns. ESPECIALLY if hit chances are also shown. So I think a toggle will not work. I am not a fan of repositioning either, but I think it should be removed and the balance by other means (enemy viewing distance and other components) needs to be rebalanced to compensate. Show cover: I don't see the benefit of removing that. It just leans in to people who claim that JA is too close to XCom, but which seem to have played no other tactics games besides of that. Cover works very differently than in XCom. People who like XCom are irritated that cover is not working like they think it would, people who despise everything xcom did, claim that the game with showing cover is too close to XCom whithout actually understanding how the mechanics work. I see why it could feel like a thing which should naturally be hidden to please these two camps. But I think that this would just be a cave-in to players who have no idea how things work, and at the same time this would open up a batch of new problems. For example some abilities you have require cover. Example: Frogleaping – increased Free Move range when starting your turn in Cover. If you don't show cover symbols, it would mean that basically it's down to luck (experience) whether this actually counts as "cover" for that purpose or not. Which can make it feel very frustrating. Cover symbols are not something XCom exclusive and they work very differently in other games where they are used. Phoenix Point being one example, Urban Strife being another. In both games they are just a helpful indication. And I think people should just get away from their XCom perception. Having the display optional would create a batch of new balancing problems / lead to a lot of frustration. Show LoS: I think this is something which is so obvious that players should know what they get into when they really remove it. I think it will lead to a more frustrating experience, but players who disable that, are certainly absolutely aware of that. I would not disable this myself, but here I see the least harm to implement an option to do so. It certainly will make the game much harder, but I feel like thats then exactly how you would expect it.

Yeah, I will buy it anyways too. But still, demo can make sense. Even after release. It's not unheard of. ^^

I doubt the AI is due to having low difficulty or untrained enemies. The latter makes a nice excuse but its not very realistic. Historically AI is almost never something which is "held back" by difficulty or scaled by it. Bots in FPS being an exception, because in that case its down to reaction time.

One other thing: I just watched the Preview of Joerg Langer, a journalist who is following and reporting about JA since the olden days. While he generally likes the game, he is actually contradicting two points which I mentioned: -He says the AI is relatively stupid. Enemies act very individually, not as if they had a "plan" of some sort (regarding how they act together) -His biggest criticism was actually inventory management. Swamped in items, not having any sorting or filtering options.

I think you get a suppression debuff now. But I don't know exactly what it's doing. But guess it also reduces AP. One thing which came to my mind which is actually very XCom Like is the alerting of others and the extra movement turn. Maybe this also leaves a very strong impression as it's so prominent.

I played the DG and also the JA2 demo back then and after seeing a JA3 stream I think it would actually work perfectly for that. You could basically just have a demo version of the first island. Demos are also getting more and more popular again, probably to generate some more early hype around the games. There have been tons of demos lately, e.g. in steams "next" events where developers showed off their current projects.

I still don't get how people can say that the gameplay "is xcom". There is basically nothing in common with XCom. Besides of being 3D now, having a 3D camera, and having a modern interface. Mechanically it's still closer to the Original JA. -AP instead of 2 Actions -Realistic Hit calculations instead of simplified system (which I think confuses streamers quite a bit as cover doesnt work as they learnt from XCom) -Different Aiming system -You can shoot multiple times -Yes there is overwatch now, but overwatch is more versatile than in XCom and in that way right in between XCom and interruption of JA. (in XCom its a designated action, in JA you can either spend all your AP, but then you shoot multiple times, or you only spend the remainder of your AP after you already shot, you have to look into the right direction). Only the adaption of Perks can be seen as something closer to XCom....oooor...any other RPG.

Here, when the grenade hits: Jagged Alliance 3 | Showcase Trailer 2022

Tip when loading a foggy area is "Ranged attacks against concealed foes may become granzing hits" And they are then displayed right away when aiming (little red stripes), seems to happen every single time then, even on very close distances at 10 tiles or so. https://clips.twitch.tv/DullPrettyWerewolfTinyFace-nZe77--myfZC3xkR In this example you can also see the enemy Extra Turn Exhaustion is now a debuff you get at some point. So it is tracked, but it's not gradual. So I think at some point you will get an "exhaust" debuff, then you need to back to the city and use "R&R" for 18h to get rid of the debuff and then you are ready again.

Haven't read all the entries here, so I guess lots of things have already been mentioned, but still, wanted to share my opinion here. ^^ What I liked: -Difficulty settings for "True Ironman" (no manual save loading) and "JA Ironman" (no saving during combat) -Quest Design seems to be quite branched and deep, not just "be the hero" and be the "A-hole" answers like in Bioware. Seems like Grey areas going on here. Also more and deeper than expected -AI seems to be "ok". I am saying "ok" because it's hard to judge and in JA2 it was less than ok (they just ran into your traps like lemmings). Like how the enemies on Steinwallen Stream didnt come out of the bunker but just repositioned within it, and AI was also praised in the gamestar preview -Interface management looked to be quite easy and intuitive -How strongly Mercs injected themselves into dialogues with their own comments What I disliked: -Respositioning Turn of enemies. It would be fine if they spot you first. But If they ALWAYS get it (except stealth kills) it takes away the fun of setting your team up -Enemy vs Merc "durability": From Steinwallens Stream it very much looked like there was a big difference between how much both could take.Enemies usually died with two shots. But it felt like his mercs were almost invincible. His mercs took burst after burst and only got a scratch. Even an enemy bursting one of his mercs point blank was totally harmless. These things would have gotten you killed in previous JA games. So it felt a bit like enemies are "trash monsters" which are being killed in large numbers, but they were not equal to your mercs like they were in previous games. Felt more like Jagged Alliance Online in that regard. -Chance based upgrade actions. This WILL cause savescumming for everyone not playing on true ironman. Better to just have minimum requirements. Or maybe have a (known) skill at which the crafting is guaranteed to work -Only gracing hits during fog...that made no sense to me -some fiddely setup in realtime sometimes with enemies running around, patrolling. That could already be problematic in JA2. Maybe a hotkey to manually enter turn based mode for navigation pre-combat would be great. (alternatively a pause in realtime mode) Where I am sceptical: -I am a bit sceptical of the simplified AP system and the removal of stamina. Sleeping is also not a thing anymore. Apparently you will get a debuff and you need to get back to the city and use R&R to remove the debuff. That's something where I guess I would need to see it first until it convinces me. AP system is more basic. Faster mercs will be able to shoot more often than slower ones (in JA1/2 that was not the case). Merks wont get exhausted in combat anymore. Probably all not a big deal, but it still takes away a bit of "realism". Some things might actually turn out to be better though, as for the AP system could cause some weird effects in JA2 (exhausted person being able to shoot much more often than a fit guy due to rounding issues). -Frequency of long Merc Barks might get annoying quickly (if they are not just saying "roger" but more like a one sentence "funny" bark they repeat over and over

Haha, thanks, will give it a shot!

You never watched A-Team? I think you should. And I think JA is following that line. And less the one of ARMA.

They mentioned in the past, that they are not going for the cheapest option, but try to find people with the right accents and whatnot (that was in the gamescom stream). And actually there are plenty of lines to record. JA2 already had several lines (ofc not as much as a protagonist in Mass Effect or so) and in JA2 they also had voice actors doing multiple characters, most likely to save costs. And JA3 will have much more dialogue. Why do you think there are "only" 40 Characters? Certainly not because of the portrait art. 😛 I am not saying that 90% of the costs for a character is the voice acting, but it's likely the biggest single position, probably before creating the unique character model (which also must not clip and whatnot).