WILDFIRE

I mean you can create believable colorful enemy militia without giving them these really unfitting tribal masks and color paintings. That cartoony design takes away so much atmosphere, because you can not take these enemies serious. Overall the art direction feels sometimes over the top and not grounded like the new Far Cry Games but JA2 was mostly gritty, realistic and serious.

Thank you guys for this nice new dev diary. I really like the clean event time line and that the overview in the strategic layer is very good. That is also some kind of modernization. Reduce unnecessary stuff and focus on the important information. Still I wish there would be more details like a flickering hire screen. I mean you contact a merc with a video call so interferences are normal and that is good for the atmosphere. Maybe we get more small animations in the portraits and the conversations. I know we maybe will not get fully animated portraits but the more small animated details we get the better. Everything helps. It is important that the UI, portraits and conversations feel alive. JA2 created its believable world with so many small details.

I am not sure about the current loot system. I do not like the idea that you can only find loot at specific places. Also these big loot/object icons give the impression that you play more of a console title. I want to loot nearly all objects in a room/environment and not everything should be presented in a obvious way. There should be also secret places with secret loot so that you can have fun while you explore all areas.

@Godzilla: I played JA2 since day one and know the Bears Pit Forum and Fanbase since around 2002. I followed every project after JA2 and was always in contact with the specific devs to give feedback and to help as best I could. So you can say I am extremely dedicated. But it is not about you and me. Here in this forum and on other platforms we talked already multiple times about the combat system/CTH months ago. And the majority liked the idea of a more chaotic combat system without CTH, because it feels more natural and realistic. Is it perfect? No! Surely it has its own flaws but the visible CTH is also not perfect. We discussed the current combat system with all the advantages and disadvantages so often and now you come in and you think you know everything better. Feedback is always good but in a respectful way. I never said that everything is wrong with a visible CTH. It surely has its own advantages but it feels more like the nuXCOMs and not like the original Jagged Alliance. So as I said before you can not please everyone and maybe there is no perfect solution regarding the combat system. We still have to wait to test the game by ourselves. But maybe you will like the game more than you think right now.

I still hope the stealth mode and AI work in the end as intended. Right now I rarely saw that a stealth approach really worked, because the enemies spotted the mercs very easy and the stealth attack often rang the alarm immediately. Sure maybe that is intentional but I hope they find the right balance so that stealth is not easy but still possible and rewarding. As Grim already mentioned regarding the inventory system the devs really simplified the clutter which is a good thing but still I think weight, backpacks, LBE gear and different weapon sizes for the inventory space are definitely missing. The missing animations for knocked over enemies and for a wounded status need to be added. The same goes for a better body and voice feedback when mercs/enemies get hit by a bullet. Visible wounds would be a nice addition. And the bullet trajectory problem where you aim for a specific body part but if you miss you can not hit another part is something that really needs to be reworked.

@Godzilla: You think you know better than many JA2 veterans here including me, the devs, streamers and the creator of Jagged Alliance himself. You tell us that we do not know what we are talking about while you get nearly zero support. Jagged Alliance 1/2 worked without CTH and the streamers who played the Beta of JA3 rarely lost soldiers. The combat system worked maybe not perfectly (it is a Beta) but it worked and I never heard feedback that the missing CTH destroys the game. Think about yourself and learn to respect the opinion of others. I can understand your fears regarding the combat system. But I am not here to tell you that you are clueless. I want a combat system that does not feel casual and restricted. If you want something else I can respect that but the game is nearly finished now and CTH is not a part of it.

I like that the overview in the inventory is good but overall it feels too simplified. Elements like weight, different weapon sizes, backpacks, LBE gear and weapon mags are definitely missing. And as I often mentioned a sort function is also very important.

@Godzilla: The current combat system gives you the vague accuracy informations in the crosshair menu with a plus or minus for various aspects like merc stats, environment or the body part you aim at. Aside from that the mercs tell you directly if they are sure if they hit the target or not and a range bar helps you to know if you can reach your target. All this informations are more vague but are enough if you know your mercs, the equipment and the positioning of your squad. But if you do not like the current combat system I guess JA3 is then not the right game for you.

@DougS2K: I agree with the points you mentioned. The inventory is too simplified and I also would like to see merchants where you can buy weapons, ammo and mods.

@Godzilla: You can read that in the Bears Pit Forum and here. Not everyone was sure about the visible CTH in JA2 v1.13. Some liked it but some did not. I trust the decision the JA3 devs made when they think their system works and feels good. But we all can only judge the combat system when we play it by ourselves. So lets wait and see.

I also love the mod 1.13, because it adds great features like the improved inventory system and AI. But CTH was one of the features that always split the community. You can see that also in the Bears Pit Forum. It is one of the features that was not mature so if the devs of JA3 think their combat system works and feels good I trust them.

@Stuurminator: v1.13 is a mod with great features but CTH is not necessarily a part of it. And no not every Jagged Alliance player agrees with you on this topic as you see in this poll and in many other threads.

Funny I also saw these portraits in this game a month ago and thought exactly the same. So sad that we do not get this realistic look for the portraits. It looks so much better. But I guess the art designer is maybe not the same, because the Haemimont Games Team is big. But I wish the whole art direction would be like this. Gritty, serious and realistic.

Playing with a visible CTH in JA3 is like playing a FromSoftware Game with an easier difficulty. It is not meant to be that way. It is not designed to please nuXCOM players instead the focus is to give Jagged Alliance players a true experience. Showing the CTH simply changes the whole game and experience.

I think it is strange that some people think no visible CTH is totally wrong while JA1 and JA2 were the same. JA3 is true to the Jagged Alliance roots and some people still complain. There are some other elements like the not animated portraits/lifeless conversations or the inventory system that should be improved but the not visible CTH is definitely not a problem for me.

It is fairly simple. It is like watching an action movie where the enemies shoot thousands of bullets at the hero and he barely got hit. It is boring and unrealistic. The tension and unpredictability without the visible CTH creates the impression that you are in a real shootout. Your decisions no matter how good they are can lead into total chaos. I like that, because it does not feel restricted. The result of every combat can be totally different. Sure maybe some people want more control and informations and I can understand that but JA3 is true to the Jagged Alliance roots so this decision is the right way.

The devs can play test the game all the time and if they and also streamers think the game feels good with the current combat system why have some people (that can not play the game) still the opinion it is bad? Jagged Alliance is not nuXCOM! When will these people understand that? If all devs had to do what the current standard is we would all play the same game over and over again. I suggest the critics should play the game for more than 10 hours by themselves before they say the combat system is wrong. I say the devs should stick to their guns! Some people also cried over the FromSoftware Games in the beginning and now they are extremely popular. Sometimes the critics have to see the bigger picture. I do not like when devs have to back down, because some people think they know better. I am definitely against an optional visible CTH, because it is against the intentional way the devs wanted you to play the game. It is against their vision. So if you want to play a game with CTH you can have that with the nuXCOMs. But JA3 is then not the game for you.

I think also in real life you can only guess if you hit a target. There are no percentage numbers. A weapons expert for example can say that he hits a target very sure, because he is very experienced but depending on the distance, weapon condition and weapon behavior the result is different every time. Also you as a player must decide if you think the next shot will hit your target depending on the informations you have. Not a percentage number should take the decision that you have to make. Where is the fun when you only look for the magical 90% and above numbers to continue your next steps? It just feels restricted and less realistic. With the current combat system you have to look into your mercs abilities while you decide your next tactical step. You have to think about the positioning of your team, the distances, chosen weapons and so on. That diversifies the experience way more and gives the combat system its depth.

I also hope that these colorful enemies are just the local militia that fights in the early areas of the game and that we get realistic looking troops later. Diversified groups of enemies is a good thing but these masked/face painted soldiers are too cartoony in my opinion.

I also like the tension and unpredictability that the current combat system has. It is true to Jagged Alliance so there is no need to change that if it feels natural and less restricted. The more JA3 has its own realistic approach and less the generic nuXCOM mechanics the better in my opinion. Only for new players that do not understand the current system we need tutorial menus that help to explain everything in detail.

That is what I mean. I do not want that JA3 follows the standard, because the people are too lazy to learn something new. But the current JA3 combat system should also be logic while it is chaotic at the same time.

I just read the Rock, Paper, Shotgun article about JA3 where the author criticizes all the vague informations shown in the current combat system. They say that the informations are very confusing and do not tell you exactly what they mean in the overall context. I am open in this discussion, because maybe there is no right or wrong. For me I appreciate every aspect that tries to go away from the typical nuXCOM formula. But I know that the shown numbers in JA3 can also be confusing. I am just afraid that the people are too used to the nuXCOM combat that they can not try something different but I want more freedom. I would like to see a combat that is chaotic (where things can go wrong like jamming weapons, where the own bullets can hit team members or civilians/the environment, where mercs do unexpected actions, where the bullet trajectory is not predictable every time) but at the same time the combat result should be plausible at the end. I hope the chaotic approach and the shown informations in JA3 make sense and that tutorial menus help to explain everything in detail. Sure all this is useless when there is no logic behind the current combat system/crosshair menu.

@Stuurminator: I talk about optional quests. I think there are many possibilities to create intensive rescue missions with or without time limits.

@Reloecc: Sure the balancing must be right and the combat results should feel logical. I hope the combat invites you to try different strategies and weapons (that can fail sometimes) but also rewards you if you choose the best logical decision in that specific situation. Total random chaos is not what I want.

There are so many possibilities for features. For example the devs could integrate a interrogation menu where different merc organizations are connected, so that you can exchange captive enemy mercs for resources or weapons. Or you could poach the best mercs that the villain commands.