WILDFIRE

@LoboNocturno: Six Days in Fallujah was already tested by some real veteran soldiers who got early access to the game. So I don't mean the fanbase is huge rather the player base is hardcore and they tested how realistic the game is. They all love the game so far.

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.

@Lunokhod: For me JA3 is a mixed bag as I stated. Some elements are great like the sector graphics or the music. The combat at its core is true to Jagged Alliance without the CTH. So in this case we get the original feeling but with some smaller changes like the perks. As I mentioned I am not a fan of everything but I guess we get a good game. I am just not sure if we get a great successor of JA2. Jagged Alliance 2 will be forever my powerful classic Ferrari so I don't know what you drive.

I think Jagged Alliance is a franchise that somehow is flying under the radar but still is very popular in its genre. That is what I really like. It should be a game for the true fans. If a game franchise gets too popular you can be sure that it will be changed to please other audiences and I don't want that. That is the reason why JA2 is still so popular in the community, because nothing comes close. Why should you drive a soulless modernized Tesla when you can enjoy a powerful Ferrari old timer? It is close to perfection so for me I just need modernized graphics, a new story and some improvements for the UI/inventory. I guess we get that with JA3 but still some elements like the missing animated portraits or the way too cartoony art style kills a lot of atmosphere. So I hope in the end that JA3 feels like a true successor even if I know that some aspects lack the soul of JA2.

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.

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.

I like that every sector tells its own story and that they are designed to reflect the damage the villages received from the war that takes place in Grand Chien. I hope your choices in the dialogues really have a big impact on your team and the game world. I think it would be great if some crazy mercs could even screw up some dialogues so that they say something that you didn't want. In this case you have to think about hiring some mercs, because they maybe good on the battlefield but are dangerous in the dialogues.

@ninjalex: Yes the Star Wars comparison is pretty accurate. I thought about that the same way. The humour must come from the inside and should not be the main reason why some characters even speak. First and foremost the characters must be serious not humorous caricatures. The main reason why most of the humour in JA2 works is because the jokes come out of the mouth of a dead serious person.

That is exactly what I mean. The personality came from the inside and was not a gimmick. Now the characters are on the nose obviously direct about their special quirks and that is not natural. It feels off and silly sometimes. That the mercs in JA3 in some ways are more on a surface level is the perfect description.

I wanted to point out that Jagged Alliance 2(also with mod 1.13) is more of a hardcore niche game like Ready or Not or Six Days in Fallujah. These games have also a great fanbase. In my opinion that are more accurate comparisons when you look at current successful projects with a hardcore background.

For me the mercs in JA2 were serious professionals but with their own quirks and soul. In JA3 I have the impression that all characters are just their quirks and the grounded professional background is completely missing. They are just over the top caricatures now and the soul is somehow gone. That is something that I really hate in modern gaming. In many games like Rainbow Six Siege for example the characters are now young and fancy teens with colorful hairstyles while the game is about professional soldiers that fight against brutal terrorism organizations. Rainbow Six, Battlefield just as JA2 were mostly about serious soldiers and now the characters turned somehow into a pile of fun over the top caricatures. With JA3 I don't want to judge too early, because the game isn't even finished yet and I know that some characters have a really good design but there are examples like Magic or Hitman where you think they fit in a dance club or holiday resort but not on the battlefield.

Still I hope there will be some improvements regarding the portraits, gameplay mechanics, inventory and animations in the final build, because in the latest trailer I saw zero changes. We all posted some great feedback over the last year so hopefully the game benefited of that.

@Elite77: Maybe they didn't realize how advanced the audiences are but they do now. As I mentioned the gaming industry changed a lot in the last ten years so you can not lump everything together. Still there are simpler titles like Call of Duty MW2, GTA 5, PUBG or Fortnite that generate a lot of money. I think it is great that the hardcore players now get more attention and that games like Tarkov, Hunt: Showdown or Elden Ring sell very well. But I wouldn't say they completely dominate the charts. They are rising and that is good also for games like Jagged Alliance, because the wide audience now might appreciate a game that is a little bit more hardcore and complex. I just wish the art style would fit more it's hardcore gameplay mechanics.

@Elite77: I know all of this so you do not have to tell me. Ask this question the developers. I wonder by myself for a long time why some decisions were made by the devs but I see some possible reasons. As I mentioned one is to get more attention, because Far Cry and Fortnite are popular games. You can see that Games like Rainbow Six Siege or Modern Warfare 1/2 had a more serious base but integrated colorful/cartoony operator later to please a wider audience. So your argument is not completely true. These titles as well as Fortnite sell way more copies/skins/DLCs than for example the FromSoftware Games. The gaming industry is a complex field when you want to analyse successful concepts. Another reason for the current art direction could be that the designer thinks that the colorful and cartoony look fits the colorful 3D environments. As I mentioned before I think Jagged Alliance is a raw diamond like the FromSoftware Games and should be evolved but I can understand that the devs in some ways chose a saver route for the art direction to get the most attention for the game. In my opinion a realistic, serious and grounded art style could have also worked to get a big sales number but now that the game is nearly finished we will not get that I guess.

Publishers and developers often try to copy elements from successful games to create their own title, even more when the genre is a niche. But today the more niche titles like the first FromSoftware Games can reach now millions of players. So the gaming industry has changed a lot in the last ten years. I think the Jagged Alliance franchise is a raw diamond that is like the FromSoftware Games. It should not be changed but evolved and only the wide audience must understand what it is. What if the FromSoftware Games would be dumbed down in the past? No one would remember these games today. So overall I know what the JA3 devs try to do. Keep the core gameplay from JA2 but mix it with a Far Cry over the top art style to reach a wider audience. I can not blame them for that, because overall it is still a true Jagged Alliance Game and not a nuXCOM Game. In the end I just wish we would have the more serious and realistic art style of JA2 but I guess that is something we might get with JA4. So history repeats itself just with different games when you look at the changes from Diablo 3 to Diablo 4.

I mean Magic is the perfect example that the art direction feels off sometimes. Why must he smile and why does he have to wear this hat? I can understand that the devs want their own style for the game but some mercs are serious and brutal characters. In JA3 some mercs look like happy fortnite characters and are not the same anymore. That happy colorful tone changes the whole vibe of the game.

@Frank: No one thinks that there will be big changes regarding the art direction but maybe some smaller improvements for the portraits should be possible for example that some mercs look more serious and do not smile so heavily or that the colors get reduced a little bit. By the way this feedback is more than a year old and I wanted to point out that it is just sad that there are zero improvements in this area. Overall I was more referring to Grims post where he says that some people just want a JA2 remaster. I think JA3 should not be exactly like JA2 but it should definitely have the same atmosphere. For me I just want a modernized JA2 in a 3D environment with a new story but also with the same realistic tone. @Lunokhod: You are wrong if you think that titles like Fortnite do not influence the gaming industry heavily. Even more serious games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 have cartoony skins for kids. So the only plausible reason for me why the game is more cartoony and colorful is to please a wide audience.

We give feedback so that the game can be improved. In the latest trailer I could not see that something has changed regarding the cartoony art style/portraits. When the game is released feedback will be useless, because there is no room to improve some elements.

I also hope that the laptop will be integrated in some missions. I mean with the laptop you can communicate with the world outside the game world so there are so many possibilities to work with that. It could be its own strategic layer to organize stuff with your laptop also in missions/quests. As I mentioned a black market to buy weapons or you could directly communicate with the main villain to negotiate about resources or hostages.

JA2 has a realistic look as you can see on Shadows portrait/face. The cartoony art style of JA3 simply feels out of place, because the JA2 vibe is the opposite of that. It is mostly a realistic and grounded world and not some kind of over the top modern Far Cry.

It is fairly simple. The overall tone is too cartoony. Many characters look happy while they are in reality brutal and serious mercs. That is not fitting and also the missing animated portraits are definitely a big atmosphere killer. JA2 was so special, because the mercs felt so alive and were a part of your team.

For my part I wish the game would be darker, more serious and less cartoony. Also the missing animated portraits really hurt the atmosphere. These aspects could be in a modern JA3 without turning the mainstream audience away. I want a modernized JA3 but with the dark and serious tone of JA2. I guess this is not too much to ask for. It is the exact same discussion with Diablo 3. Many people didn't like the colorful design of everything and now what happened? We get a dark, serious and more brutal Diablo with part 4. The tone is something that could be more like JA2 but in a 3D environment.

@Povok: Yes it is. I am really excited and can not wait to get my own team on a new dangerous mission.

Yes I still hope that the enemies will look more serious in the second half of the game. I guess this colorful cartoony art direction is there to please the mainstream audience. I prefer a darker and more realistic tone but I can live with the current direction.

Release is July the 14th 2023! New Feature Trailer here: